《Heirs of Humanity》


 The stolen baby

    Chapter One


    Someone was getting shot at again.


    That was the first, annoyed thought that penetrated the fog of interrupted sleep for Rei. Grumbling in displeasure the young man pushed himself up from his lumpy bed, and to his filthy window. He figured if some idiot could manage to ruin his rest by getting their ass shot off by the Leo¡¯s, than at least he could derive some entertainment from watching.


    Rei peered into the foggy darkness outside, the mist stained a crimson red by the sign of the strip bar beneath his dingy room. At first he saw nothing, but his quick eyes soon locked onto a stumbling figure. Like something out of a cookie cutter vid-show, that was when she happened to look up.


    There was nothing generic about her face. Angelic would have been Rei¡¯s description if it wasn¡¯t for his dedicated belief that there was no such thing. Angelic, and even from three stories away he could tell her expression was a mix of terror and despair.


    ¡°To bad she pissed off the Leo¡¯s.¡± He muttered, shaking his head. The distinctive sound of sonic stunners ripped the air, causing Rei to wince even from inside his apartment. The woman stumbled under the sonic assault of a near miss that blew an empty trash bin spinning across the street, a gaping hole blown in the polymer belying the lethal power of those so called ¡°stunners¡±.


    The girl stayed on her feet, which impressed Rei, and kept running clumsily along. Rei¡¯s mental cheering for her turned to confusion as her pursuers appeared from the Undercity mists.


    They didn¡¯t wear the distinctive white and blue body armor suits of street Law Enforcement Officers, simply called Leo¡¯s by most, but instead were covered in the simple canvas greatcoats preferred by most Undercity dwellers. Indeed, he¡¯d have mistaken them for street punks himself, if not for the hand artillery they carried. A civilian getting caught with one of those would find themselves summarily executed by a pissed off Leo at best, sentenced to a year of hard labor in the swamps at worse. Generally, carrying firearms of any sort was a quick way to commit suicide in the City.


    The young man didn¡¯t know what possessed him at that point. He found himself running for his apartment door, grabbing his own coat on the way out. He cursed himself as a fool even as his feet pounded down the rickety stairwell of the building, stopping only as his shoulder forced open the alleyway door.


    ¡°They probably already got her.¡± He muttered to himself as he slid to the corner of the building, pushing his back against the grimy concrete to hide his profile. Carefully he peered around the corner.


    His eyes met those of the panicked woman¡¯s who stood less than half a meter away. Instinctively Rei¡¯s arm snaked out and grabbed the female, almost causing her to drop the awkward bundle she was carrying. Roughly he pulled her into the shadowy alley next to him.


    She squeaked in surprise, any other sounds were blocked by his rough hand over her mouth. He held a finger up to his lips, shushing her quiet then turned back to the alley corner to listen, and he silently cursed at what he heard.


    ¡°Fuck. Where¡¯d she go?¡± One of the men whispered in the distance. That immediately marked them as a cut above most. Even frustrated, Rei noticed, they were smart enough to remember how easily sound traveled. Most humans wouldn¡¯t have heard the man at the distance they were still at.


    His partner was just as cautious. ¡°I saw movement towards that alley. Go!¡± Their footsteps, which had paused during their short conversation, began again but slower, quieter.


    That revealed to Rei that they must know it was a dead end. Otherwise they¡¯d be hurrying to catch the fleeing woman. ¡°Fucking great.¡± Rei thought to himself. He turned back to the girl, and jerked in surprise at the extremely indignant glare she was giving him. Only then did he realize his left hand was still clamped around her mouth.


    Rei shrugged to himself, figuring he¡¯d apologize later, if he bothered remembering. ¡°End of alley. Hurry!¡± He hissed even more softly than the goons had, while pushing her in the direction he wanted her to go. Rei watched just long enough to confirm she was moving, before turning his attention back to the street outside the alley.


    The footsteps were closer; the men¡¯s shadows were inky blotches in the light reflected by the wet pavement. They were too close for the young man to risk stealing a peek, so he instead pressed his back harder still into the wall. He slid his hands into the short, billowing sleeves of his coat.


    One second, two seconds, three seconds¡­ Rei counted them off silently as he listened to the men draw closer. At the count of five, when he felt they were where he needed them to be, he acted.


    His hands slid free from the loose sleeves as he slid around the corner. The first man had no time to even notice Rei before a length of steel drove into his chest, quickly staining his shirt a dark crimson.


    Rei, feeling the distinctive pulse in his knifes hilt as his victims heart tried desperately to beat around the blade buried in it, let that knife go even as he stepped towards the second man brandishing the other.


    The young man once again took note of the shocking competence of the goons as that second man tried desperately to bring a gun to bear on him in spite of surprise. Unfortunately for him, skill could only make up for so much, and could not balance the advantage of Rei¡¯s ambush and superior reflexes.


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    The first swipe of Rei¡¯s knife took the man across the underside of the wrist, opening the flesh and sending the stunner spinning off into the fog. Stepping forward and into his target Rei followed up with a second slash, this one ripping the honed blade through the second goon¡¯s throat, sending him gagging on his own blood to the pavement. The man''s blood added a darker red stain to the brighter tone of the clubs light, as he shuddered and died.


    Rei noticed a small device in the ear of his first victim, who had slumped against the wall. The young man pulled it off the corpse, and held it up to his own ear.


    ¡°All teams report. Who has that woman in sight?¡± A voice, which demanded answers more than it asked for them, barked through the compact communicator. Rei cursed again, silently, and dropped the ear piece into a nearby sewer grate before wrenching his dagger free of the first body with a grunt, turned, and dashed back down the alley and the woman.


    When he found her she gasped, staring in horror at his blood stained hands and knives. ¡°I don¡¯t know how or why you managed to get InSec after you, but I better get both of us gone before they arrive.¡± He barked sharply, pulling her after him as he jerked back open the supposedly secured door he¡¯d earlier exited through.


    He felt the woman shift her bundle, whatever it was, in her arms and follow him. Quickly they were back up the stairs and in his one room apartment.


    Rei pulled off his coat, causing the woman to yelp and turn around with a blush at seeing his nakedness. He chuckled in spite of the crap situation he¡¯d found himself in, and pulled on his pants and a black t-shirt he¡¯d worn the day before. Shoving newly socked feet into his boots, he grabbed the bag he always kept packed and headed once more for the door.


    ¡°Come on.¡± He ordered, walking quickly out of the room he planned to never see again. Part of him sincerely hoped she¡¯d hesitate to follow him long enough that he¡¯d loose her at the stairwell, but she didn¡¯t. His sensitive ears heard her follow behind him, and hesitate when he passed the downward stairwell in favor of the roof access.


    ¡°Why are you going up?¡± She asked her voice soft as if she feared drawing her hunters¡¯ attention.


    ¡°Because they¡¯ll be here any second, if they aren¡¯t already, and I have a way to avoid them completely.¡± He replied, not bothering to stop or look back. She hurried to follow, and managed to slip out the jimmied roof door, tight on his heels.


    Rei didn¡¯t slow his pace as he walked towards the back of the building, to a foot wide plank of polymer construction strut that he¡¯d bridged the gap with long ago. It crossed the fifteen meter deep canyon of an alley, to the roof of the building behind his. ¡°We¡¯re lucky we¡¯re close to the arcology wall.¡± He commented softly. ¡°Near a district center half or more of the buildings don¡¯t have roofs, since they¡¯re supports for up-town. You go first.¡±


    ¡°Go¡­ you mean you want me to cross that?¡± The woman asked, obviously appalled. ¡°You¡¯re crazy! I¡¯ll drop¡­¡±


    Rei¡¯s frustration at the situation, and impatience with the woman who¡¯d brought it to his doorstep, took him. He grabbed the bundle out of her arms, and growled ¡°Go, or I¡¯ll drop it for you!¡±


    She looked terrified at the thought, but shut up and obeyed, walking carefully across the chasm. While she inched across Rei scanned the ceiling of Undercity, the artificial cavern¡¯s roof was the haven of law enforcement patrol and administrative gondolas, but he was relieved to see neither spotlights nor shadows moving above them. When she was across he quickly followed after her.


    He rolled his eyes at the angry expression she was giving him. ¡°Here¡¯s your purse, lady.¡± He muttered while pushing the cloth wrapped bundle back into her arms. ¡°Now come on.¡±


    Quickly he pulled the building strut across the gap after them, leaving it on the rooftop as he led the reluctantly following woman across. They reached the opposite end of the roof, which was an arcology wall. Two meters above that rooftop was the distinctive inset shadow and glowing red keypad of a public transportation maintenance hatch.


    The woman watched him start up the minimalist ladder made of rebar, towards the hatch. ¡°You can¡¯t mean to go in there! You need an access code to open one of those!¡± She cried.


    ¡°Yes.¡± He replied, punching in the code that a month ago he¡¯d watched a maintenance worker tap in. ¡°Fortunately I know one.¡± He commented, thanking a nonexistent god once again for bureaucratic laziness.


    If he¡¯d had to pry the console open and hack it, it would have taken at least ten minutes, and they more than likely didn¡¯t have it.


    The pad blinked from red to green, and he pulled the door open with a hydraulic hiss of internal mechanisms. Slipping into the cylindrical tunnel, he dropped to a knee and held out his hands. ¡°Give me that, and get up here.¡±


    Reluctantly, she lifted her bundle up to him, and followed. He moved back, letting her climb into the cramped, one and a half meter wide tunnel. ¡°Close the door.¡± He said, watching as she obeyed.


    Rei sat down, gesturing for her to do the same. ¡°Catch your breath. It¡¯ll take them at least half an hour to think of checking up here, if they ever do.¡± He watched her settle, staring at the bundle he was holding but he could tell she was too tired from running, chased by men with guns, to resist the call of even a moments rest.


    ¡°I¡¯m Marigold.¡± She said, sighing. ¡°Thank you.¡±


    ¡°Rei.¡± He replied, ignoring her thanks. Instead he took the chance to look her over carefully. Beautiful, in an old world sense, she had the slightly asymmetrical features of someone who came across their looks honestly. Granted, only someone like him would notice the subtle imperfections, but for most surface folks these days that very beauty would cause most people to avoid her. As for him, looks accounted for little more than aesthetics.


    The cut of her dress, a very modest cut, were the height of fashion in the Uppercity. The same was true of her hairstyle, which in spite of the wet, and obvious stresses of the night, remained a severe and painful looking bun to Rei¡¯s ¡°unrefined¡± eyes.


    ¡°So why¡­¡± He started to ask, when the bundle in his arms moved. He looked down and unwrapped the bundle, ignoring Marigolds cry, and her attempts to get up and stop him in the tight, curved workspace. Rei stared down as his hand revealed the face of an infant, its skin the pale white of new paper. The baby yawned, and opened its eyes. Bright pink orbs gazed up trustingly into Rei¡¯s own brown. His blood ran cold. ¡°This¡­ this is a Siren baby¡­ You stole a baby? Who does that?¡± He stuttered.


    ¡°Shit.¡± The word seemed inappropriate from Marigolds innocent looking lips, but summed things up nicely.

 Chapter Two Stolen Biological Sample

    Chapter Two Stolen Biological Sample


    The heels of Natalia¡¯s hard-soled military issue boots clicked over the immaculate white floor of InSec Central. A file was neatly tucked under her arm.  Other soldiers and officers glanced at her then looked away with a shrug, even though her deep red hair was cut in the human fashion, long in the front and short in the back to show the her unscarred neck, her brick red uniform and physical beauty declared that she was not human.


    She walked into the foyer of her commander¡¯s office. His secretary glanced up then gave Natalia a look of mild distaste ¡°Colonel Trencher will be with you in a moment.¡± She drawled.


    Natalia was used to distaste. She was a Kitsune, Homo Vulpes, and even though she was respected for her position as a Major in the ISF, Intelligence and Special Forces, the fact that she wasn¡¯t human would forever be held against her by some. Most days she didn¡¯t let it bother her. She had a good life, a promising career, and a great team. Although, she could admit to herself, there were days she wanted to slap people.


    Natalia sat in a plastic chair, setting the file neatly in her lap. She glanced up at the map on the wall it pictured the whole of the Australasia Federation, including InSec headquarters and training on New Guinea and the cr¨¨che and training grounds on Tasmania where she and her team had been raised.


    Trencher¡¯s door opened and another Major, a human male in this case, walked out. The man didn¡¯t even look at her as he left the office. Natalia fought the urge to shake her head; Major Christopher Maprel was famous in the Kitsune corps for his dislike of the sub-human species, and his misogynistic view of women. Since she was both there was hatred between them that dated back to the academy.


    ¡°Major Natalia, come in!¡± The Colonel smiled, standing at the doorway and waving her into his office. Natalia stood and walked in with her head held high. She stood at attention and saluted.  ¡°At ease Major, have a seat.¡± The older man urged.


    ¡°Thank you, Sir.¡± Said Natalia, as she took a seat in front of his glass topped desk.


    ¡°How is your team?¡± He inquired, settling himself into a more deeply padded, comfortable looking chair.


    ¡°They are performing well sir, although we do miss Sergeant Cassidy. Specialist Aaron seems to be fitting in well though.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s good. I really hate changing people on intelligence teams, but we couldn¡¯t leave you a man short.¡± He commented. ¡°But you know how it is, the needs of the program, and all that.¡±


    ¡°If I may ask sir, how is Cassidy¡¯s pregnancy progressing?¡± Cassidy Aiko, one of Natalia¡¯s Sirens, had requested permission to breed. The request had been granted and Cassidy was soon flown out to the Osaka medical bay to be inseminated and have her baby. Sirens did not breed well, with complications in birth more often than not killing mother and child. But Cassidy had been desperate. She wanted her own children more than anything and had often volunteered for the cr¨¨che whenever she had a vacation. She had been willing to take the risks to have a child.


    ¡°I have not had a report yet about Sergeant Cassidy, but I will make a request to Osaka for that information.¡±


    ¡°Thank you, sir, it would mean a lot to the team.¡±


    The Colonel nodded, smiling, before he turned more serious. ¡°Now you have the report on your last mission?¡±


    ¡°Yes sir.¡± Natalia handed him the file. ¡°The mission was a success; we were able to infiltrate and capture the crew cooking the Demon. No one escaped. The chemist was executed, as per the restricted substances law five-two-one, and his men are now on their way to the Eastern Swamp rehabilitation camp.¡±  Natalia allowed little of her own scorn to flavor her voice, she had no use for drugs and Demon was a particularly nasty, addictive cocktail that increased the users, strength, agility and stamina at the cost of reason and good health. Most users died when their hearts exploded from the strain.


    ¡°Excellent work Natalia, as usual.¡± her commander said with a warm smile. ¡°I will authorize a bonus for your team.¡±


    ¡°Thank you, sir.¡±


    ¡°Now, I have a new assignment for you.¡±


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    The only sign of the eagerness that swept through Natalia¡¯s body was a slight smile that warmed her impassive face, she lived for the hunt.


    The commander handed her his own file, ¡°This is Marigold Sullivan, RN. Up until twenty-four hours ago she was a nurse in the Sydney Central hospital. Yesterday, Ms. Sullivan stole a dangerous biological sample from the hospital and murdered the three InSec agents sent to recover it. We now believe that she may have defected to an anarchist movement and is to be terminated under the anti-bio terror laws.¡±


    She doesn¡¯t look like an Anarchist¡­Heh, almost none of them do. Natalia mused to herself.  ¡°I understand sir, are we to recover the sample?¡±


    ¡°No, it¡¯s destruction is being handled by another team. When you locate Ms. Sullivan, report in immediately so that the Bio-hazard team can respond.¡±


    ¡°Yes Sir.¡±


    ¡°The file in your hands holds all the information we have on Ms. Jacobs, good luck, and good hunting.¡±


    Natalia stood and saluted once more. ¡°Thank you, sir. We won¡¯t let you down.¡±


    ¡°You never have before, so don¡¯t think you¡¯ll start now. Dismissed.¡±


    Natalia walked back through the maze of halls, taking an elevator down to her team¡¯s habitation level. She quickly reached the doors of their apartments and waved her ID chip in front of the security plate. The floor plan of their joint living quarters was set up with a large central great room, with twenty rooms for herself and her men exiting off it. Lounging on a couch was one of her Sirens, a male named Takada. ¡°How¡¯d it go Talia?¡± He asked


    ¡°Not bad, Colonel issued a bonus to us for the Demon case.¡±


    Takada cracked one of his rare smiles. ¡°Nice. What about Cassidy?¡±


    ¡°He said he¡¯d contact Osaka and see if he could get an update.¡± She rested a hand on the man¡¯s shoulder. Takada and Cassidy, had been close, and it was his genetic material that they were using for her pregnancy. Natalia knew he was worried sick about her.


    A second Siren came in her skin as white as snow. She looked at the two and sighed. ¡°No word yet¡­damn.¡±


    ¡°Sorry Regin.¡±


    ¡°Not your fault.¡± The Siren¡¯s bright, blue eyes widened. ¡°We have a new assignment!¡±


    Natalia laughed. She was used to her Sirens picking up her surface thoughts. When you worked with the psychics you got used to it, or you got transferred.  ¡°Yes, and I will tell you about it when everyone gets here.¡±


    Outside their floor all military formality was observed, but inside Natalia and her team were family. Like most of the military Kitsune and Sirens, they had been raised by the government; they had been marked at a young age for Intelligence and had been brought up with a group of other orphans and human sub-types like themselves, including almost every member of the team. As they got older the groups where divided again and those who didn¡¯t have the aptitude for intelligence and security were re-assigned.


    The five Sirens, two of the humans, and seven Kitsune in her team were her brothers and sisters. She was loyal to them, and they were loyal to her.


    ¡°Gather the others and meet me in the war room.¡± Natalia instructed Takada while striding to her office and the team¡¯s central briefing area. ¡°I¡¯ll go over the details once everyone¡¯s there.¡±


    Fortunately, the entire team was in their quarters, so it was only a matter of minutes before they were gathered together, and not long after that Natalia had finished her brief summary of the mission. ¡°Dang, shame this one fell to the grunts.¡± Said Shido, a male Kitsune. ¡°The humans may like ¡®em plain but I like some sparkle.¡±


    The group chuckled. Like most military personnel Shido had been given long term birth control implants, and his team considered that a good thing since one of his life¡¯s goals seemed to be to sleep with every woman in the tower. The sterilization was reversible, but it kept personnel from getting or causing pregnancies at inconvenient times.


    Natalia sat up into her ¡®Commander¡¯ pose, immediately the giggling stopped like a switch had been thrown. ¡°Down boy. This woman has already taken out three men.¡± Said Natalia. ¡°Just ¡®cause she looks like a daisy doesn¡¯t mean she is one.¡±


    ¡°Our target was last seen entering the Sydney fourth district Undercity. It is quite likely that she will try to hide in the slums since she knows we are after her. Sirens you are going to partner off with the strike team, I am not taking any risks of you getting your heads punched in by some ass with a chip on his shoulder, and neither should you.¡± She took a moment to give her new Siren, Aaron, a long look. She had heard that he could be a bit of a hotshot.


    ¡°Scan the crowds, it is a long shot that we will find her or any allies by trolling, but it is a start. Any data that looks important, but not related to our goal should be forwarded to Frank.¡±


    ¡°Shido you and Meredith are on the computers. I want to know everything about this girl and check her finances. I don¡¯t think she¡¯s dumb enough to use her cred-chip, but people have surprised us before.¡± She held up her hand before Meredith could complain. ¡°I know it¡¯s ¡°all in the file¡± but I am not going to fail a mission because some pencil pusher down in research clocked out early.¡±


    Meredith was the new human on the team, a later recruit and not a creche born child like the rest. Their old human tech specialist Mark had been promoted and transferred. Natalia disliked the woman; she was lazy and thought she was better than the ¡®sub-humans¡¯ even though Natalia and Shido both outranked her. If she doesn¡¯t shape up soon, I am going to request she be transferred. She¡¯d do great under Christopher.


    ¡°Finally, for the strike personnel, those of you not pairing with Sirens immediately are off duty. You will rotate, every third day.  Sirens, I know this is a heavy workload on you so I want a four day on one off rotation. Takada I want a schedule written up by nine hundred tomorrow. Does everyone understand their assignments?¡± Natalia looked around the table, watching her teammates nod. ¡°Dismissed!¡±

 Chapter Three: Kitsune

    Chapter Three


    Rei walked several paces behind Marigold: the magnetic rails of a transit tube-way only a hand¡¯s breadth above his head. Only part of him was paying attention to walking, or the girl. Most of it was taken up by the conversation they¡¯d had in the maintenance crawlway.


    Marigold claimed to be a nurse, right out of the Sidney Central Hospital. Usually working in the emergency room, she¡¯d gone into nursing to save lives. At least, that was what she had said.


    Normally she¡¯d have no reason to leave her precious ER, nor did she have authorization to enter high security sections of the hospital like the incinerator room. A girlfriend of hers from nurse¡¯s training had needed a night off for her anniversary, so Marigold had offered to take her shift in the long-term care wing. When the Floor Nurse had handed her a keycard and ordered her to pull a cart of sharps left by the day shift down to the incinerator she didn¡¯t argue, not wanting to get either her or her friend into trouble with the older woman, even by pointing out she wasn¡¯t authorized to go there yet. She figured the other nurse knew.


    Rei could buy that happening easily enough, even with the nearly pandemic fear of biological waste left over from the weapons used during the Wars of Madness a century ago. He¡¯d benefited from other people¡¯s laziness often enough in the past. It¡¯s what happened next that seemed unbelievable, even to a cynic like him.


    She¡¯d gotten down to the security door and opened it to find the InSec Officer usually present absent from his desk. Knowing she had to check the waste in with him, she had called out, and even poked her head into the incinerator room to find him.


    That is where, she claimed, she found the infant she was carrying now.


    Even then it was luck, from what she had described. The bag, and Rei refused to ponder what kind of sick mind would shove a living baby into a plastic bag, had been left on top of a pile of burnable waste, and had fallen open wide enough to allow the child to breathe. She¡¯d rushed in and pulled the child out, only to discover that what she had thought was a simple mistake had been an intentional act of execution.


    That¡¯s when she left the hospital and drew the officially mandated execution squads.


    Rei fingered the biological waste disposal tag, the very proof that Marigold had found in the bag with the baby, with absent horror. He read the biohazard warnings, looking at the bright red symbols warning of death and sickness before flipping it over. In the messy scrawl of a doctor was written the name ¡°Baby boy Weatherly¡± where the tag demanded a description of the waste to be destroyed. It sent a chill up Rei¡¯s spine that, instead of a birth certificate, this was the only official documentation of the child¡¯s birth.


    True, rumors of governmental plans to kill off both Kitsune and Siren populations were nothing new. Urban legends of racially motivated death squads, suicide missions for military teams of both in the field, and even secret sterilization programs abounded. He could count on one hand, in sobering realization, the number of Sirens he knew and all of them were either ex-military or home births from the poorest of Undercity neighborhoods.


    The high-pitched whine, nearly inaudible even to him, of the electromagnetic rails warming up pulled him out of his thoughts. He surged forward and pulled Marigold down to the tunnel¡¯s filthy floor. Thirty seconds later a tube train, the maglev subway used to connect all the parts of the city, roared overhead at over 500 kilometers per hour.


    Rei frowned down at the silent, sleeping baby in the nurse¡¯s arms. ¡°Are you sure he¡¯s okay? I ain¡¯t an expert, or anything, but even I want to cry out when one of those lousy things goes by. Shouldn¡¯t he be screaming?¡±


    ¡°I stole some sedatives on the way out of the hospital. Their risky with such a young infant, but I couldn¡¯t take the chance of him crying while we ran away.¡±


    ¡°Why were you so sure that Pinky represents some big plot? I mean, you¡¯re right, and the tag was creepy as hell, but it could just be some sicko in the hospital.¡± Rei asked, denial making him want to prove it was all just a mistake.


    Marigold looked away, a flash of sadness filling her eyes as she did. ¡°This child was the only one I found alive¡­ not the only child I found.¡± She whispered, before beginning to trudge silently down the walk path again.


    ¡°Oh,¡± Was the only response Rei could muster.


    He let them walk on for another fifteen minutes, neither one of them speaking the entire time. He only broke the quiet when he saw the lights of a station ahead of them. ¡°Do you have your cred-chip?¡± He asked.


    ¡°Yes¡­ but wouldn¡¯t they be watching for it?¡±


    The man nodded, pleased she had realized that. ¡°Obviously. However, not everyone knows that. Now hand it over.¡±


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    Curious and reluctant Marigold handed her chip over. Rei smiled, and gestured for her to sit and wait for him there in the tunnel. He then walked to the track maintenance hatch a few meters further down the path. A few moments, and one more stolen code later, he was on the crowded platform.


    After over an hour of solitude with only the pensive Marigold, an unconscious baby, and his thoughts to keep him company the sudden press of humanity was jarring. Hundreds of factory laborers rubbed shoulders with dozens of suited office workers. Twelve food carts, islands of madness amid a sea of human chaos, played automated ads advertising everything from hot dogs that might just have been made from dogs to okinomiaki whose meat might have conceivably been made from protein, in hopes of making a sale. The scent of human sweat mingling with the misted anti-pathogenic sprays used by the Public Health Authorities to prevent the spread of disease among such crowds assaulted his sensitive nose as much as the sight of the crowd and the sound of the barkers attacked his other senses.


    And all of this was at one AM. Rei could only thank whatever devil pretended to be a god that he wasn¡¯t fighting the morning rush.


    Rei pushed through the crowd, deeper onto the platform. He only had to drive one fist into the face of a poorly trained pickpocket before he reached his destination.


    A lady¡¯s restroom, marked out of order with a cheap paper sign that had yellowed with age.


    He slid into the door, closing it, which effectively blocked the sound of the crowd outside. ¡°Mulligan, are you here?¡± Rei called out as he stepped into the room proper.


    Two thugs, mountains of muscle topped by heads like fists, glared at him even as the tiny woman he sought appeared from the handicapped stall she used as an office. ¡°Rei? Um¡­ This isn¡¯t about that cred-chip I sold you, is it? I swear I had no idea¡­¡±


    ¡°That it was burnt, or that I¡¯d have to take a three-story header out of a Leo gondola?¡± Rei finished for her, causing the woman to wince. ¡°I should hope not.¡±


    ¡°Still¡­ If you¡¯re looking to get even¡­¡± The woman eyed her muscle, looking far less sure of herself than she should.


    ¡°If I was, they¡¯d already be bleeding on the linoleum.¡± Rei assured her, disregarding the two heavies¡¯ snarls. He was far more interested, and satisfied, in the new pallor of Mulligan¡¯s skin.


    She knew him well. Her thugs didn¡¯t know him at all.


    ¡°No.¡± Rei continued, after letting the threat sink in. ¡°I find myself with a green class cred-chip and a desperate need for a clean one that I myself can use.¡±


    ¡°Why not use that one?¡± Mulligan asked, suspiciously. ¡°I know your ways, and know you wouldn¡¯t bring it to me unless you were desperate.¡±


    In response he handed the green plastic device over to Mulligan. A spinning electronic picture of the petite Marigold was clear to see. ¡°I¡¯m good and shifty, but that¡¯s a bit out of even my ability to play pretend, don¡¯t you know?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. You¡¯d look good as a blond.¡± The suddenly more confident Mulligan snickered. ¡°But all I have is a Red Chip.¡±


    ¡°Mulligan!¡±


    ¡°Okay, okay¡­ I have a yellow.¡± She admitted, suddenly nervous again. ¡°You have a pic?¡±


    ¡°I can load it. Give me the card.¡± Rei barked. He didn¡¯t trust her to not screw up coding the picture, and he was more than decent with a computer himself.


    Mulligan dashed back into her stall, returning moments later with a yellow cred-chip, the micro-screen set into the yellow plastic absent of any spinning imagery.


    ¡°Good doing business with you.¡± Rei said pleasantly. His only regret was that he couldn¡¯t be there when Mulligan, or whatever high-end client of hers, used the chip and had the wrath of hell fall on their heads. Revenge was a dish best served cold, or so he¡¯d heard.


    He backed out of the bathroom, the thugs choosing not to take the invitation to attack offered by his feral smile to them as he exited. Only minutes after entering, he found himself back out in the crowd with what he needed.


    Unfortunately, that was the last thing to go right.


    Almost the instant he turned away from the door he came face to face with Marigold¡¯s image on a news screen. The scroll underneath outlined her theft of unidentified ¡°dangerous biological substances¡± from the Central Hospital, and her murder of three security officers in the process of leaving. He questioned the count of three dead, but didn¡¯t take the time to worry about it.


    Stepping away from the wall and grabbing the stocking cap from a drunken man¡¯s head, he was careful to neither look around nor run, since both would just draw notice he really didn¡¯t want right now. The cursing, he knew, would go unnoticed by the crowd.


    Marigold was on him when, almost ten minutes later, he stepped out of the service hatch. ¡°What took you so long? I was afraid you had abandoned me!¡±


    ¡°Shut it for a second.¡± Rei snapped, ripping the cap from his head, and holding it out to her. ¡°Put this on.¡±


    ¡°What¡­ why?¡±


    ¡°Because you are painted all over the news screens.¡± He was gratified by her gasp and look of near panic. ¡°I know a place we can go where you¡¯ll be safe, but we need to use the train to get there and your hair is a bit too eye catching.¡±


    ¡°What about you?¡± Marigold asked. ¡°What if someone saw us together?¡±


    ¡°I need a few minutes of quiet.¡± He replied, sinking down to the dirty concrete and closing his eyes.


    ¡°Why?¡± Marigold asked, causing him to open them again to glare up at her. ¡°Right, right¡­ quiet. Sorry.¡±


    Rei closed his eyes again and concentrated on the feeling of himself. After only a few seconds of concentration he could feel the cloth against his skin and the cool tunnel air on his face with an intensity that only he, and people like him, could understand.


    Once he was centered, he focused his attention on his hair, or more precisely the still living core of his hair. While human hair was, essentially, dead matter that wasn¡¯t the case for him. Only the outer shell and about an inch past the tip of the core were actually waste, with the inner core being a mix of nerves and tissue. It hurt like hell when someone pulled on it, or it was cut, but it also allowed him to control several facets of his hair, including its color.


    Neither he, nor others like him, had ever found the language to describe the feel of color. All they knew was it could be felt, and after he found that particular wavelength of tingling, he let it go.


    A minute after he closed his eyes the last of the tingling passed, and with a shake of his head and a running of his hands through his hair, he cleared the dust from his formerly brown mane. He fished a lady¡¯s compact out of a coat pocket and peered at himself in the mirror. ¡°Hey, I do look good as a blond!¡±


    He looked up at Marigold, and barely resisted the urge to burst out laughing at the pole axed expression she wore.


    ¡°You¡­ You¡¯re a Kitsune!¡±

 Chapter Four: Child of the Deep

    Chapter Four


    ¡°What was your first clue?¡± Rei asked with feigned innocence and concern. ¡°Was it my ears? They¡¯re too pointy, aren¡¯t they?¡±


    He could only chuckle as he watched Marigold grope for words, her mouth opening and closing with the attempts of half formed thoughts to escape. The fact that she looked at his, not at all pointed, ears just added to his mirth. ¡°Yes, I am a Kitsune. Don¡¯t tell me a heroic young woman like your self, who steals babies from government execution programs, is bothered by that! At least not while you¡¯re carrying Pinky there.¡±


    ¡°No! It doesn¡¯t bother me. Not really¡­¡± Marigold winced at the doubt on his face, and in her own voice tone. ¡°My older brother is¡­ well like you. It was just a surprise. I mean, I saw your neck earlier. You don¡¯t have the seal!¡± The last part was said half in accusation.


    ¡°You mean that tattoo they force on newborns, so they can¡¯t hide what they are?¡± At her awkward nod, Rei shrugged. ¡°You¡¯re right, I don¡¯t have it. My sister and I were born in the Undercity, in our parent¡¯s home. We don¡¯t officially exist, and as such we never officially got tagged. It¡¯s made my life much easier, let me tell you.¡±


    ¡°How can you survive like that? I mean, with rationing and the tracking of resources wouldn¡¯t they have noticed you running around by now?¡±


    Rei stood, brushing the remnants of his old hair off of his coat. ¡°Nope. The civil service kiosks are so flooded down here that they give white chips out like candy, and fill out the forms with fiction later. A few even put them into candy bowls and count them at the end of the day so they know how many automatically filled out forms they should file the next morning.¡±


    ¡°But white is barely sustenance living! There¡¯s no real quality of life there.¡± Marigold argued.


    ¡°I could debate that survival has a quality all its own, but that would be a bit hypocritical of me.¡± He pulled out the yellow chip he¡¯d gotten from Mulligan. ¡°The¡­ we¡¯ll call them the criminal element¡­ have managed to work their way into our Fine Bureaucracy, and arrange for a few extra mid range chips, mostly reds and yellows, to be printed without being ordered. If you know who to talk to, they¡¯re only a little hard to get, though with some risks.¡±


    Marigold nodded with an appalled look on her face. ¡°Getting caught with a falsified Ration Credit Chip can get you sent to one year in the Reclamation projects!¡±


    ¡°Considering you¡¯re being hunted by buggie¡­ sorry, InSec¡­ death squads for stealing a baby, I don¡¯t think you have to worry about that.¡± Rei chuckled. ¡°All though for those who are a bit less willing to risk death in the swamps, there¡¯s barter and service for trade. You¡¯d be amazed how many people are willing to exchange luxuries just to get a sofa moved, for instance.¡±


    Rei was satisfied by her lack of response to that, and pulled her to the maintenance hatch, and the crowds beyond.


    Under half an hour later Rei was still leading Marigold through the crowd, although the access hatch was now several kilometers behind them. His grip on her elbow was firm, mostly to prevent the press of the crowded street from pulling her away from him.


    Marigold was looking around her in shock and disgust, taking in the sights their unwholesome surroundings offered her. To one side she watched, shocked, as a scantily clad Kitsune girl, complete with canine ears on the top of her head, was arguing the price of sex in canned protein with a drunken laborer. On the opposite side of the street the cries of a woman, being kicked by two filthy men as she laid curled around herself on the ground drew her attention. A third dirty man, blood still visible on his shirt, used what was most likely that woman¡¯s credit chip to buy liquor from an unconcerned looking vendor.


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    ¡°This is where we¡¯ll be safe?¡± She hissed frantically, convinced the Kitsune who was holding her arm was planning to sell her to a pimp, or worse. The only reason she didn¡¯t pull away and try to run was several of the well dressed, dead eyed men had watched her pass by already, with hungry expressions on their faces.


    ¡°Hell no. I¡¯m not safe here!¡± Rei stated emphatically. ¡°If I left you alone, you¡¯d end up just so much meat on a Feral¡¯s table by morning.¡±


    ¡°A Feral?¡± Marigold asked.


    ¡°You don¡¯t want a definition.¡± Rei assured her. Fortunately, she didn¡¯t notice him flash a knife at a group of evil looking Kitsune and Humans as they passed. The human ears they were wearing as decoration might have given her that definition.


    ¡°Then where are we going?¡± She inquired instead.


    ¡°Funny you should ask.¡± Rei commented, pulling her suddenly out of the middle of the street, and into the front doors of a sleazy motel. ¡°We¡¯re going here.¡±


    Marigold¡¯s nose wrinkled up as scents assaulted it. The lobby reeked of sweat, blood, and other substances that she refused to let her self identify. A rickety stairwell disappeared into the upper floors of the building, around the shaft of an elevator with an ¡°Out of order¡± sign plastered across the doors. The yellowing sign, scrawled with a marker on paper stolen from a computer somewhere, showed that it had likely been there for some time.


    That was one of the subtlest, and yet most jarring, differences between Uppercity and Undercity for Marigold. In the Uppercity, if something broke maintenance teams or repair men were called almost instantly, and arrived nearly as quick. Down in the Undercity it seemed the people dealt with such issues by plastering signs on the broken technology, before beginning to ignore the now useless object.


    While pondering that, Marigold almost missed Rei pulling her away from the front desk of the motel with a key in his hand. She hadn¡¯t even noticed him talk to the counterperson, who seemed to be pointedly ignoring them now.


    Silently she followed him upstairs, and into the small room he¡¯d rented for them. The bed was stained by just about every color of human fluid, and the bathroom reeked worse than anything the nurse had ever experienced. ¡°You don¡¯t mean to stay here!¡± She exclaimed.


    ¡°Nice as it is, nope.¡± Rei smirked. He waved the key¡¯s fob over a picture on the wall, and with a hiss of pressurized air it slid open along what she¡¯d thought was simply a seem in the peeling wallpaper.


    Marigold could only stare on in amazement, unsure of what she was seeing or even what questions to ask. Rei just grinned and pulled the girl and baby into what looked like a well kept elevator car behind him. ¡°Isn¡¯t this broken?¡± Marigold finally managed to stutter out.


    ¡°Oh yeah, the stupid thing misses the lobby every time.¡± Rei replied with a bark of ironic laughter as he hit the button marked Lobby, and Marigold felt the car begin to descend.


    And a minute later it was still descending. ¡°How¡­ where is this thing taking us?¡±


    ¡°To the Deep.¡± was his reply. As if Rei¡¯s answer was a stage queue, the doors slid open to reveal a cavern a quarter the size of an Undercity district, filled with small huts and people going on about their own business.


    Marigold hesitantly followed the Kitsune out, once again peering around. This time her disgust from above was replaced with wonder.


    The roof of the cave, she couldn¡¯t think of what else to call the cavern, was only four or five meters above the floor. A strange glowing substance, that looked for all the world like moss in some Uppercity decorative planters except for its luminescence. Those small plants cast otherworldly pools of green and purple light erratically around the path between huts.


    The people, too, were different. They passed children playing, with handmade toys and each other without a care in the world, only the watchful eye of a parent to keep them safe. Other people seemed to be performing crafts of various sorts, or chatting, or in several cases taking care of small groups of strange, loud birds.


    ¡°What are those?¡± Marigold finally worked up the courage to ask, gesturing at one of the creatures.


    Rei, glancing at it, shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s a chicken.¡± Marigold looked up at him, and marveled at how very unimpressed he was by everything they were walking by. That¡¯s when it hit her.


    ¡°You¡¯re from here.¡± She stated, more then asked.


    ¡°Yep.¡± Rei nodded. ¡°A born and bred Deep dweller, that¡¯s me.¡±


    They soon came to a larger building, distinctive for its electric lighting. Marigold almost held back as Rei entered the structure, not sure what she was going to see when they entered. She cried out when a strange woman walked up to Rei and smacked him up the side of the head.


    ¡°And where the hell have you been?¡± The woman demanded.


    ¡°Shit sis¡­¡± Rei growled, rubbing his head. ¡°It¡¯s good to see you too.¡±

 Chapter 5 On the Hunt

    Chapter Five


    Shido walked into Natalia¡¯s office, there was a bounce in his stride that told her the fox had good news. He glanced around, taking in all the shelves of books that covered most of the small room. Most Kitsune took up a ¡®creative¡¯ hobby; it was actively encouraged by their superiors. Creative thinking was critical in being able to adapt their shape shifting to any situation. Natalia, for her part, loved to write as well as read. She loved thinking up stories about the people she and her team watched over, preferring to write by hand rather than typing on a data pad. A large blank book, bound in synth-leather rested on her desk with a dark purple pen settled on the cover as proof of her hobby.


    ¡°Got a hit on the target¡¯s cred-chip. Looks like our lady was setting herself up with a rice bank. I got hits at a half dozen markets. All but one were for staples, the last transaction was at a shoe store.¡± There was a wry look on Shido¡¯s face, ¡°What is it with chicks and shoes anyway?¡±


    ¡°I have no idea.¡± Natalia frowned. ¡°I could understand hitting the food places, that could be her getting ready to go to ground, but why shoes? What kind of shoes?¡±


    Shido checked his notes. ¡°Um¡­ Sparklers, by Glitterflick.¡± he chuckled as he ran the shoe¡¯s name through the data band on his wrist. ¡°Four-inch platforms, with three-inch see-through heels and built programmable holo-flashers. It also laces up the leg with nano-ribbons guaranteed not to slip.¡± He smirked as he looked up at her ¡°Hey Talia, I bet they would look great on you!¡±


    Natalia rolled her eyes as she activated the comp-pad build into her desk. It lit up with an electric green screen. ¡°Unless our nurse has decided to change professions, I¡¯m betting she ditched her cred-chip. Proves she¡¯s not a complete idiot.¡±


    ¡°Does that mean the chip¡¯s a dead end?¡±


    ¡°No, we are still going to follow the money. Whoever has that chip may have seen the subject, and even if they didn¡¯t ID theft is a serious crime, as is resource hording.¡± Natalia began typing into the comp-pad, noting her strategies and assignments so she could make her report later. ¡°We are going to run this doubled up, muscle and subtle, put the scare into people so they turn the subject over. I want, Takada and Regin, from our Sirens team.¡± she thought for a bit, ¡°Lucas, Saki, and Osamu from the strike squads, and I¡¯ll put Robert on standby if we need a sniper. Shido you¡¯re in for computers, unless you¡¯d rather have Meredith take the field assignment?¡±


    Shido sneered, ¡°I¡¯ll take it¡­ Natalia-¡± he shifted slightly in his shoes, straitening his posture subtlety. Natalia¡¯s eyes went serious and calm as her lieutenant spoke to her.


    ¡°Major. I would like to request specialist Anderson be transferred to another unit. Her work quality is inconsistent, unless a human or superior is directly watching her. I believe her prejudices against the Kitsune and Siren human-subtypes make her a possible danger to the unit. It is my strong recommendation that she either be demoted or moved to a unit where trust is not integral to the team¡¯s survival in the field.¡±


    ¡°Your recommendation has been noted. I will file her papers for a transfer, since I agree with your assessment.¡± Natalia sat back in her chair. ¡°Have Meredith run the vid on each of the transactions. I want to know who was using that cred-chip. She is to have a full report on my desk by o-eight-hundred tomorrow.¡±


    ¡°Yes sir.¡± Shido relaxed, ¡°How is your new story coming?¡±


    ¡°Not bad, I decided that he is cheating on his wife.¡± Natalia stroked the leather of the bound book with one hand, savoring the textures against her tuned skin.


    ¡°That bastard! Whatever will Sarah do?¡± Shido asked.


    ¡°I haven¡¯t decided yet.¡± Her pad beeped lightly at her. She leaned forward and accessed her profile. The blood drained from her face as she read the missive from Military Research and Development.


    ¡°Talia what¡¯s wrong!¡±


    The Kitsune woman swallowed, her eye¡¯s haunted. ¡°I¡¯ve been selected to breed. I have one month to select a mate from the approved list.¡± Shido stepped towards her, but she shook her head. ¡°Dismissed!¡± She barked.


    ¡°Tal-¡°


    ¡°I said ¡®dismissed!¡¯¡±


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    Shido walked, reluctantly, out of the room and she could hear the locks slide into place behind him.


    Alone in her office Natalia fought her way through her panic attack. A few seconds later the lock on her door de-activated and pearl¨Cskinned woman walked in, her ice pale eyes showing their worry. Without hesitation Noriko walked over to Natalia and scooped her up and held her close.


    ¡°It¡¯s okay. We¡¯re here. We won¡¯t leave.¡± the woman murmured, her words in a voice like rich cream that whispered in both her ears and her mind. Natalia curled into the psychic and let her sweet mental voice sooth the terror that gripped her, and eased her into a healing, or at least calming sleep.


    Natalia knew it was going to be a bad day, the file that Meredith had put together on the person using the cred-chip was crap, it was obvious that she had let the logistics computer do all the work. And the human woman had left her office crying after the Kitsune had balled her out, shouting that Natalia was a racist.


    The Kitsune woman rubbed her temple as a stress headache started to worm its way behind her eyes. Shido had dropped his file, detailing the same incident, on her desk at seven, and was now doing research on the shopper.


    I shouldn¡¯t let the breeding order get to me; I knew it was coming[/i]. The Kitsune¡¯s ability to tune, manipulating their bodies functions, and shape shift was measured in dan, ranging from first dan that could pretty much only manage something small like eye color, to ninth dan which could supposedly transform their entire body. Natalia was unaware of any ninth dan Kitsune actually existing; she was a seventh dan, and one of, if not the, most powerful tuners in the military. She was a field agent, which meant she spent a lot of time in the thick of trouble, InSec wanted to make sure that her superior Kitsune genetics were passed on. They wanted a ninth dan and believed that by selective breeding they would get one.


    Get your head out of the ozone field. You have a mission, worry about having to breed later. [/i] Natalia stood and walked out of her office to her team¡¯s common room, Shido and most of the others stood as she approached. All of them were wearing the uniforms of InSec regulars, rust for the Kitsune, light blue for Sirens, and gray for the Humans.


    Natalia smiled her approval. Takada had redone his makeup and skin dyes, so his white skin was a soft tan, and his snowy hair was a soft blonde. The blonde worked well with his blue eyes, and to her opinion, looked sharp with the human uniform they both were wearing. Regin wore the traditional blue uniform of a siren, her long silver hair braided severely away from her face, and her skin un-colored by cosmetics.


    Newly enlisted hated dealing with the Sirens, not because of their native psionic abilities, but because they all ¡°looked alike¡± a fact that the blue-eyed albinos found hysterical.


    It was a quick ride through the tubes from InSec central to the Undercity, people noticing the Sirens giving them a wide berth. They moved like one creature onto the Sydney platform and walked into the ¡°out of order¡± women¡¯s bathroom. Inside Saki, Osamu, and Lucas grinned over the bound forms of a petite woman, and her two goons.


    Natalia stepped up to the woman, her voice cold and clinical. ¡°Abigail Mulligan, you are charged with resource hording, ID theft, and abetting a terrorist.¡± She listened for a second as Regin telepathically forwarded additional information from the strike team. ¡°You are also charged with the possession of illegal substances, street names Demon and Pixi dust. Plead your case.¡±


    ¡°Please, I meant no harm ma¡¯am! I swear I didn¡¯t!¡±


    ¡°Tell me where you got the green cred-chip.¡± Natalia looked over at Regin who nodded subtlety to let her leader know she was watching the criminal¡¯s mind.


    ¡°I got it from a young man, he said he found it. I was going to turn it in but I¡­¡± She cringed as Natalia held one hand up.


    ¡°Please, if you are going to lie to me, at least do it well. Tell me about the man you got the chip from.¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s a troublesome boy, always picking things up.¡±


    ¡°I have the image Major; the male is a Kitsune.¡± Regin said out loud in an irritated voice. The Siren had once told Natalia that lies felt like sandpaper on the brain and that they were very annoying.


    ¡°What is the Kitsune¡¯s name?¡±


    ¡°Ren.¡± The woman said quickly


    ¡°Rei.¡± Corrected the psychic.


    ¡°Specialist Saki, please tune your nose, see if you can catch his sent.¡± Her eyes, currently a cold green, never left Mulligan¡¯s face.


    Saki¡¯s face twisted up in concentration for a minute as she tuned her sense olfactory centers. Once done she moved around the small chamber, letting her nose investigate. A few moments later she shook her head. ¡°Sorry Major, this room''s soaked with to many scents, and most of them are a bit¡­ overpowering.¡±


    Natalia nodded, having kept her gaze on the sweating human woman. ¡°How often does Rei tune?¡±


    ¡°A-all the time ma¡¯am.¡±


    ¡°That appears to be true.¡± Regin commented. ¡°This Rei looks like he¡¯s at least a fourth dan and I would be more inclined to put him higher, possibly five or six judging from her memories.¡±


    ¡°What districts does Rei Work?¡±


    ¡°I-I don¡¯t know, he gets around. He hangs out a lot in the Melbourne district, I know that!¡±


    Natalia looked away from the woman to the two bruised and terrified goons. It was a deliberate pause to give the woman a chance to let her mind ramble about Rei, so that Regin could try to find some information that would help the team.


    ¡°She¡¯s angry, she thinks that he set her up for this because she sold him a bad cred-chip and he got picked up by a Leo team.¡± The Siren said a few moments later.


    ¡°Then they may have a record on him. Lucas, please contact the local Leo administration gondola. Let them know we have a pickup for them. These two look like they will be able to help our frontier efforts quite effectively.¡± Takada ¡®led¡¯ Regin out of the building as Natalia pulled her sonic gun from a holster on her hip and fired it into Mulligan¡¯s head, popping it like a melon.


    ¡°Lucas after you contact the Leos, please put a call in to public works. I want them to clean this mess up. They can also fix the bathroom while they¡¯re at it.¡±

 Chapter Six, The Price of Safety

    Chapter Six, The Price of Safety


    ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s a pleasure to see you again too Rei. Now where have you been?¡± Rei¡¯s sister demanded, before her eyes locked onto Marigold, noticing her for the first time. ¡°And who the hell is this? Do you know what Alexander is going to do when he realizes you brought a stranger down here?¡±


    ¡°I have an idea, yeah. But hey, since you¡¯re awake and all, could you look this kid over?¡±


    Marigold didn¡¯t have time to react as Rei pulled the baby she carried from her arms, holding the infant up for his sister to see.


    The still unnamed woman gasped, stopping cold for an instant before taking the child into her own arms. ¡°A pink-eyed Siren? Alive?¡±


    ¡°Strange way to react, Kay¡­ I mean being surprised Pinky¡¯s alive and all.¡± Rei¡¯s voice was cold. ¡°I mean, considering I was somewhat shocked by Marigold here telling me how she¡¯d found him on the top of a pile of dead babies in a hospital incinerator room.¡±


    ¡°Rei¡­¡± Kay tried to interrupt, to stop his rant, but the male Kitsune was having none of it.


    ¡°I play eye in the sky for Alexander, despite it being painfully evident that I¡¯m not really welcome around here, and yet something like this¡­ which scares the shit out of me by the way¡­ doesn¡¯t even seem to be a surprise to you. Why is that?¡±


    ¡°That is because it isn¡¯t a surprise.¡± A soft, almost sepulchral voice from directly behind her caused Marigold to jump and spin around. She found herself eye to eye with the glare of a ghostly pale and wire thin man.


    A man with vivid pink eyes.


    ¡°The Australasian Grand Council decided, in their infinite wisdom, to execute ninety percent of newborn Sirens not delivered through their breeding programs about eighteen years ago. The same decision required the immediate destruction of every pink eyed newborn no matter where they were delivered.¡±


    ¡°And you didn¡¯t think I should know about this?¡± Rei demanded.


    ¡°No.¡± The pale man said his wrinkled brow tightening as he focused his glare on Rei. ¡°Frankly, it would have inspired you to do something stupid. Or stupider than usual, as the case may be.¡±


    ¡°But why?¡± Marigold spoke up, before she could stop herself. ¡°Why kill infants?¡±


    ¡°In the grand scheme of things, it¡¯s because of fear. Sirens, even more than Kitsune shape shifters, frightens those in power. As for the specific targeting of pink eyed sirens... that is due to the statistically proven tendency we have towards greater psionic power and talents.¡± The pale man replied, holding out his hand for Marigold. ¡°I do not believe we have been properly introduced?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I¡­ I¡¯m Marigold Sullivan.¡±


    ¡°Marigold ¡­ My name is Alexander. And, I¡¯m afraid, I must apologize to you.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t you dare!¡± Rei snarled behind her, causing Marigold to look back to see his sister physically pulling him away from her, and Alexander, despite the seemingly larger man¡¯s attempts to pull free.


    ¡°Apologize? Why?¡± Marigold asked, looking back at the older man nervously.


    Alexander smiled sadly. ¡°This.¡±


    Marigold¡¯s world vanished in a flash of blinding pain, like someone had ripped her skull open and poured salt on every exposed nerve they could find, only worse. Every event and footnote of her life, every sin and triumph, marched through her vision like a parade of soldiers who treaded across her optic nerve with sandpaper soled boots. She didn¡¯t hear herself scream, although she knew somewhere inside her that she must have. She also didn¡¯t see the floor rush up to meet her.


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    Marigold groaned as she returned to consciousness. Dimly she could hear two male voices, muffled just enough to be incomprehensible to her ringing ears, arguing. A cold, wet towel was pressed to her forehead as she moaned. ¡°Don¡¯t open your eyes yet.¡± A female voice, dimly Marigold remembered it as belonging to Rei¡¯s sister, instructed. ¡°Your optic nerves are going to be a bit jumbled for at least a few more minutes. Just lay back and rest.¡±


    ¡°Wha¡­ what happened?¡± Marigold managed to stutter out, inspiring a sigh from the other woman.


    ¡°You were Deep Probed.¡±


    ¡°Deep Probed?¡± Marigold worked the words around in her mouth. ¡°What does that mean?¡±


    ¡°In simple terms, he forced your mind to pump all the information stored in the memory centers of your brain through your optical and auditory centers, so he could watch them. It was so he could be sure you could be trusted.¡±


    ¡°It hurt¡­¡±


    ¡°I know.¡± Kay said softly. ¡°That¡¯s why he apologized.¡± She continued weakly.


    ¡°Does it hurt for him to do that, too?¡± Marigold asked. She very sincerely hoped so.


    Kay paused, and instead of answering she said ¡°Open your eyes, slowly. Your sight should be recovered by now.¡±


    Reluctantly, after the hesitant tone in Kay¡¯s statement, Marigold opened her eyes. It took a few moments for them to clear before they focused on the Kitsune woman. The other woman sighed and looked relieved. ¡°You can see me.¡± It wasn¡¯t a question, and in fact Marigold suspected she hadn¡¯t meant to say it.


    ¡°Was it possible that I might not have?¡± the nurse demanded.


    Another pregnant pause, only this time Kay did answer. ¡°In very rare cases a Deep Probe has been known to cause permanent blindness and deafness.¡±


    ¡°Not to mention comas!¡± Rei¡¯s angry voice startled both women, neither having heard the door to the small room open. ¡°And heart attacks, and deaths¡­ but who cares as long as this perfect little hole in the ground is preserved, right?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right!¡± Alexander yelled, following Rei into the room. The Kitsune male scoffed visibly as he sat down on the bed Marigold laid upon. ¡°There are people up there who would destroy us the second they found out we existed.¡±


    ¡°And how many people don¡¯t know where their mothers and fathers live because of the need for your so-called safety?¡± Rei demanded. ¡°How many memories have you deleted¡­ and how many died in the process?¡±


    ¡°Many. Not that I think you¡¯re attempts to scare Marigold are appropriate.¡± Alexander replied coldly. ¡°And there are more than a few here who have ¡®forgotten¡¯ their children even exist, for the same reason. They were threats to our community and our safety here.¡±


    ¡°Oh, a veiled threat! I¡¯m honored.¡± Rei snarled. ¡°We both know Kay¡¯s taken precautions so you can¡¯t do that to her and me. Your star gene-splicer is too valuable for you to risk her leaving, after all.¡±


    ¡°Rei! That¡¯s enough!¡± Kay snapped. That was the last straw for the baby, who had been nearly forgotten in a crib in the corner of the same room. His piercing cries filled the small bedchamber with the klaxon of his fear. Kay rose and hurried to the crib and tried to calm the child.


    Rei, enraged and unable to do anything about it, stood and tried to push Alexander bodily out of his path. The older man grabbed the younger¡¯s arm, stopping him. ¡°You are not my enemy Rei, no matter how much you seem to want to be. Your help among our agents in the City is invaluable, but you¡¯re always welcome here if it¡¯s grown to be too much for you.¡±


    ¡°Up there, at least, I have choices. Down here, you take those away from us.¡± Rei snarled. He jerked his arm free and was gone an instant later.


    ¡°Are¡­ are you going to delete my memories?¡± Marigold asked as Kay rushed through the door after her brother, the baby in her arms.


    ¡°No.¡± Alexander replied, sitting heavily in the chair Kay had just moments ago vacated. ¡°You are no threat, especially not with an older, Kitsune, sibling.¡± Alexander smiled softly. ¡°And he''s a Captain in the expeditionary force, no less!¡±


    ¡°Um¡­ Yes¡­¡± Marigold nodded, not comfortable with how much this man knew about her.


    ¡°You¡¯re very proud of him, look up to him, even though his Kitsune shape shifting intimidates you at times.¡± Alexander smiled softly. ¡°To be fair, Rei intimidates me sometimes, even if I can kick his ass two falls out of three.¡±


    ¡°How? I saw him¡­ against those InSec men¡­¡±


    ¡°I was an InSec assassin, before I went rogue and found this place Marigold. I can read his moves as he decides to make them. Even as tuned as he is, that¡¯s a very real advantage for me.¡±


    Marigold nodded, her eyes searching the man''s face. ¡°You aren¡¯t going to let me leave here, are you?¡±


    ¡°Your heart condition wouldn¡¯t let you survive the deletion I¡¯d have to do to allow it, no.¡± Alexander spoke softly, but firmly. ¡°Frankly it¡¯s blind luck that it didn¡¯t kill you when I probed you. For what it¡¯s worth, I won¡¯t risk removing the memory of your brother so you¡¯ll be able to keep him in your heart, though you can¡¯t visit him.¡±


    ¡°Were you? Really sorry I mean?¡±


    Alexander stood, walking to the door of the bed chamber. ¡°When I apologized before probing you?¡±


    ¡°Yes?¡±


    He switched off the light. ¡°No.¡± He answered calmly. He shut the door, leaving her in darkness and with her own thoughts.

 Chapter Seven Ferals

    Chapter Seven


    Natalia had just slid into bed, sighing as the cool sheets embraced her, when someone banged on her door. ¡°Someone had better be dead!¡± she yelled, flinging off the blankets and padding towards the sliding door. She didn¡¯t bother throwing a robe on over the short t-shirt and shorts she preferred for sleep wear. Body modesty wasn¡¯t a problem for most Kitsune, even one with her past, and if it bothered whoever was at the door, tough.


    She regretted her apathy instantly when the door slid open to reveal Shido. The male blinked in surprise, then grinned. ¡°Pink? I would have never guessed!¡±


    ¡°Tell me what you want, quickly, or I will throw you out the window and see if you can grow wings before hitting the pavement.¡± She growled. It was perhaps ironic that the Kitsune, who could adapt to most other human ills easily, needed at least as much sleep as a normal human, if not more. That fact amused the Sirens who averaged only four hours of sleep each night, and would regularly accuse their Kitsune and Human colleagues of being lazy.


    Since Natalia had spent nearly twenty hours straight running down dead end leads on the Nurse/bio-waste case she had really been looking forward to shutting down for at least a few hours of precious sleep.


    ¡°We got a call on the Nurse thing.¡± Shido said, bringing her out of her exhaustion induced fog. ¡°A gang of Ferals turned up near where the sweeper team got wiped. Oh, and guess what the best part is?¡±


    ¡°One of the Ferals is called Rei?¡±


    ¡°The leader, as a matter of fact.¡± Shido nodded. ¡°It seems this pack has been operating in the sector for the last year, but the Leos didn¡¯t know where they were holding up. The investigation team stumbled onto it by chance while checking on one of our less promising leads.¡±


    Natalia winced, realizing that the discovery might not have been a good thing for the Leos. Ferals were one half street gang, one half nihilistic cult, and all cannibals. They had grown out of the food shortages that had crippled the newly formed Australasian Federation in the dark days following the Wars of Madness. They convinced themselves that they gained magical powers by the consumption of Kitsune, Human, and Siren flesh.


    As a perverse twist of irony, they were also the most egalitarian organization in the entire Undercity, due to having both Kitsune and Humans in every pack. Sirens, who were usually reluctant to do harm to another person, even after military training, had only ever contributed one member to the group.


    Over seventy people were still in vegetative states at Sydney Central Hospital from the attempt to take that sociopath down, even thirty years later.


    ¡°What¡¯s their status?¡± Natalia asked, dreading the answer.


    ¡°Good news on that front. The team saw a known member of the gang enter the place, an abandoned tenement scheduled for urban renewal, whenever someone gets around to voting on it, before they approached it.¡± Shido replied. ¡°Over thirty of the freaks are inside according to Spy drones, though. The local Leo commander is, understandably, calling for Special Forces support for their own strike teams. We got the call instead of the Rangers, due to the nurse case.¡±


    Natalia nodded. ¡°Get the team up and armed. I want to move in ten minutes.¡±


    ¡°Yes Sir.¡± Shido was gone almost instantly, leaving Natalia to slip back into her room to collect her personal body armor and weapons.


    The Leo scene commander looked relieved when the team¡¯s vehicle pulled up to his mobile command center, a relief that didn¡¯t fade when Kitsune and Sirens poured out of it. That told Natalia the man was unusually open minded for a Leo officer, and that he was scared out of his mind. This marked him as competent to her way of thinking.


    He shook her hand without hesitation, which did surprise her. ¡°Major Aiko? I¡¯m Captain Jonathan Morris. I run the S-4 district precinct.¡±


    ¡°Call me Natalia.¡± The Kitsune officer said, hiding her wince. Among the Kitsune and Sirens in the military surnames were shared between entire cr¨¨che classes and so could get confusing quickly. She realized there was no way he could have known, but it frequently grating on nerves when the Human officers forgot. ¡°Our people are about to be going into the hot place together, so I think we can afford a bit of familiarity. What¡¯s your situation?¡±


    ¡°Jack.¡± The man insisted. ¡°We have thirty living beings inside the house, with three of them likely prisoners.¡±


    As he spoke, the captain guided them to a bank of holo-screens manned by uniformed technicians. The screens were surrounded by armored Leos. Two of the screens showed the view from what were probably sniper positions, while three others showed the distinctive fish eyed view of the tiny, spider like spy drone¡¯s single visual receptor.


    ¡°What do we know about these Ferals?¡± Shido asked.


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    A Leo, in an unusual set of patrol armor marked with red strips where the other men had white, stepped forward. ¡°They¡¯re nasty pieces of work, and we think this is the bulk of S-4 and S-3¡¯s active cannibals. It looks like some sort of weird, communal safe house.¡±


    Natalia nodded, and finally noticed the speaker¡¯s scent. ¡°I didn¡¯t know there were any Kitsune in the Law Enforcement Office.¡±


    ¡°Four of us, total.¡± The Kitsune replied. ¡°Officer, formerly Gunnery Sergeant, Lee Corelli at your service, Major.¡±


    ¡°Glad to have you here, Gunny.¡± Natalia smiled. ¡°What¡¯s the Kitsune to Human ratio in this group?¡±


    ¡°Well, depending on how you count the first dan¡­¡± His tone suggested he didn¡¯t count them for much of anything. ¡°They¡¯re split about fifty-fifty. None above third dan, from reports, with the exception of their leader.¡±


    ¡°Rei.¡± Shido muttered.


    ¡°Yes sir. He claims to be the ¡®Soul¡¯ of the group, and a seventh dan.¡±


    ¡°No problem with his ego.¡± Natalia commented, turning her attention back to the holo-screens. ¡°Looks like they¡¯ve mostly settled in for the night.¡±


    ¡°Only seven are up and moving, from what we¡¯ve seen Ma¡¯am.¡± One of the technicians confirmed.


    The Kitsune major turned to the Leo captain. ¡°What boots do you have on the ground, Jack?¡±


    ¡°Two six-man squads, all with military or door breaching experience. I could call in more manpower, but I hesitate to bring virgins in on a mess this nasty¡­ excuse the expression.¡±


    ¡°I agree. Green officers would just get in the way.¡± Natalia nodded. ¡°I count two doors?¡±


    ¡°Two. And the windows are poly, so they aren¡¯t going to be busting through them in a hurry, unless they take them at a dead run and don¡¯t mind a broken rib or six.¡±


    Natalia nodded. ¡°Gunny, your team is with me.¡± She turned to her own people. ¡°Aaron and Regin are to monitor my team for casualties while Takada and Noriko will do the same for team two. Haru is on backup and escapee tracing. Sorry Haru, I know Ferals give you a headache.¡±


    ¡°Shido, you help the techs. Kylee and Robert, I want you to find additional sniper spots to pick off runners.¡±


    ¡°Osamu, Miyako¡­ you¡¯re joining team two, and I want Miyako taking charge of that team.¡± Her questioning look to the Leo Captain got a nod of agreement. She didn¡¯t need to ask for his approval, but it was polite to at least acknowledge the man. ¡°Allison, you¡¯re taking Gregory, Saki, and Lucas in as team three. Your primary goal is the rescue and security of those prisoners. Secondarily you will act as reinforcements if teams one or two get into trouble.¡±


    The four Kitsune nodded, Saki a bit reluctantly. She was an Ex-ranger, and preferred to be point on door busting missions.¡± Sorry Saki, but you¡¯re EMT training is more important than that assault rifle you insist on toting around.¡± She told the sixteen year old Kitsune.


    ¡°All teams set for lethal force. We don¡¯t need prisoners, if they don¡¯t surrender on their own. Snipers, you have five minutes to find perches. Door teams, you have ten minutes to get into place.¡± She closed. ¡°Move it people.¡±


    It took them eight minutes. Mentally, Natalia made a note to put Captain Morris in for a commendation, with as tight of a house as he ran he deserved it. ¡°We ready to go, Gunny?¡±


    ¡°Hell Sir, I thought you were taking a nap! That being an officer¡¯s prerogative and all.¡±


    Natalia smirked and keyed her headsets comm. ¡°Go! Go! Go!¡±


    A human Leo on both teams used an old fashioned, semi-automatic shotgun to blow the doors off their hinges and within seconds her people were in and shooting at anyone stupid enough to move, which was most of them. Natalia managed not to wince at the sound of sixteen sonic pistols firing, the cacophony painful even through her sound cancelling headphones. Instead she concentrated on lining the sights of her gun up with targets and pulling the trigger.


    ¡°Team three, the stairs are clear! Go!¡± She heard Shido¡¯s voice through the headsets built in comm, and smiled. It wasn¡¯t often that a raid went this smooth. She took a chance to look around and noted only a few of the Leo¡¯s were limping, and no one was down or dead except Ferals. The cult considered surrender to be a sign of weakness, and the weak were worthy only of being meat.


    ¡°Clear!¡± Rang out from both the Gunny, as well as from Miyuko on the opposite side of the buildings open floor.


    ¡°Secure the wounded, and verify the dead¡­¡±


    Natalia¡¯s orders were interrupted by Shido¡¯s voice. ¡°Saki! Shit! Some big ass freak just took her in the side. They went through a window, into the alley.¡±


    ¡°I have no shot! The Alley¡¯s blind.¡± Kylee Sparrowhawk¡¯s voice reported with voice tense.


    ¡°Same here!¡± Yelled Robert through his own comm.


    Natalia had started running before either of them spoke, already out the door by the time Robert had called out with the sound of the ex-gunnery sergeants boots pounding behind her. She took the turn around the alley¡¯s corner at a dead run, a pair of steps along the opposite building¡¯s wall instead of the ground assisting that turn. She saw a muscle bound form standing over Saki¡¯s bloody body, lifting a long knife for a stab at the girl¡¯s chest. Natalia didn¡¯t have to think, her hand was already aiming her gun, and the sonic pistol barked twice.


    Both shots took the behemoth center of mass, but instead of falling he spun towards Natalia and threw his knife at an impossible speed. Knowing she couldn¡¯t dodge effectively at a run, the Kitsune woman brought her gun up to block the projectile. Plastic and sparks exploded around her as the weapon disintegrated in her hand.


    She didn¡¯t so much as miss a step as she dropped the defunct gun. Her shoulder plowed into the huge man in a tackle that would have been pretty for a man twice Natalia¡¯s size.


    He grunted, and went down, but with impossible agility he kicked her off with enough force to send her three meters into the air, continuing on her previous trajectory into the concrete dead end of the alley.


    Natalia flipped in mid air, and planted her feet into the cement wall. The exquisite pain of an instant change flowed through her hands as she willed them into claws, and used the energy stored in her still compressing knees to launch from the hard surface she¡¯d landed on like an angry bullet ricocheting, only more dangerous.


    Her claws took the man through the neck as she passed over him. She ripped out his throat in a spray of viscera, even as a burst from Saki¡¯s assault rifle destroyed his spine. Hitting the ground, Natalia paused to check the corpse only long enough to confirm he was dead, before turning to the Gunny and Saki.


    She was relieved to see the young Kitsune  was already trying to convince the older male that she was fine.


    ¡°Well¡­¡± Shido, who had come around the corner just as Natalia landed, snarked. ¡°We know Saki can¡¯t grow wings!¡±


    He didn¡¯t manage to dodge the trashcan lid the girl in question threw at him.

 Chapter 8 Deep Dystopia

    Chapter Eight


    Kay almost ran over Rei, so suddenly did he stop after exiting the small laboratory and hospital. ¡°What¡¯s wrong Rei? You don¡¯t normally let yourself care that much. Especially not for a woman you just met.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not the woman, Kay.¡± Rei sighed, his dark eyes scanning the cavern. The lab sat on one end of the cave, near the elevator and at the top of the gentle slope that dominated the otherwise flat floor. He could see dozens of homes, little one and two room huts, with people milling about on their daily business. ¡°It¡¯s just¡­ it¡¯s getting worse up there.¡±


    ¡°Talk to me, Rei. Tell me what¡¯s wrong.¡±


    He sighed, and walked over to a small bench someone had built next to the clinic door. He gestured for Kay to sit next to him, as he gathered his thoughts.


    ¡°We¡¯re all of twenty four years old, Kay. By Kitsune standards, we¡¯re only adults because we can reproduce. I¡¯ve been on the surface since I was sixteen, well before even the Expeditionary forces allow Kitsune to join the field units.¡± He said. ¡°I was pressed into service, while still a child or something like that. I learned to lie, cheat, steal and smuggle just to survive.¡±


    ¡°You chose to go, Rei. Mother and Father didn¡¯t make you.¡±


    ¡°And they didn¡¯t make you, either.¡± Rei smiled, looking at his sister with a rare softening of his often angry expression. ¡°You went up there at that time too, didn¡¯t you?¡±


    ¡°I was different, Rei.¡± She sighed. ¡°I was going to school. I mean, I know you resented that, but the Deep could only risk creating one fake identity. I know you¡¯d have liked to have gone to university too, but it just wasn¡¯t possible.¡±


    ¡°I know. And I have never held that against you, or been bothered by it.¡± Rei insisted, not for the first time. ¡°Mrs. Watanabe did okay teaching us the basics, and I did alright on my own learning to hack a computer or con an idiot or three. I even kept an eye on you and that human boyfriend of yours¡­ what was his name?¡±


    ¡°Harrison. Oh god, I haven¡¯t thought about him in years!¡±


    ¡°Good thing, too. He joined InSec right out of college.¡± Rei shrugged with a chuckle. ¡°Worked out for me though. I just happened to be using the same face I was using when you introduced us one day when I got caught up in a riot¡­ and no I wasn¡¯t part of it. He was in the riot squad putting it down, and managed to convince his partner to let me slip off. Just in time too, they opened up with the sonic hell a minute later.¡±


    ¡°Well¡­ at least he¡¯s doing well.¡± Kay sighed. Rei just nodded. ¡°Then what¡¯s bothering you? What do you mean its worse?¡±


    ¡°Every year there¡¯s more and more people in Undercity. Not just Kitsune getting thrown out by their parents, but human kids, some of them younger then us when we got sent up there. The City is running out of jobs, and resources aren¡¯t exactly becoming easier to find. Cred, if you can find it, just doesn¡¯t seem to be going as far anymore.¡±


    ¡°All the more reason to keep this place safe Rei. I know you disagree with Alexander¡­¡±


    ¡°About a lot of things.¡± Rei growled. ¡°And this place is one of them. Tell me the truth, how long do you think it¡¯s going to last?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s been here since before we were born.¡± Kay snapped. ¡°Alexander put it together thirty years ago, shortly after he left InSec.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, thirty years. A fraction of the time the City¡¯s been up there, filling to the brim.¡± Rei agreed. ¡°And in that time, how many coops full of chickens were killed by some bug, or how many epidemics whittled down the humans and Sirens? Hell, Kay, you¡¯re the one who told me how mom cried when dad died from that flu, before she went herself.  The freaking flu!¡± Rei stood, and began pacing. ¡°They have a freaking PILL for that up there!¡±


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    ¡°It¡¯s called anti-virals, Rei, and you have to take more than one pill.¡± Kay chided him. ¡°And that¡¯s why they decided to risk sending one of us to medical school, remember?¡±


    ¡°And you did well, too.¡± Rei smiled. ¡°Managed to work a Genetic Engineering minor into the mix as well. My sister, the double doctor.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m useful here. The Deep needed those skills.¡±


    ¡°I know. And since then you¡¯ve cloned how many flocks of chickens, genetically engineered to have half the lifespan but to drop twice the eggs of a normal bird?¡± Rei asked. ¡°Let¡¯s not forget the neo-crocs. You have to love food that will eat you if you move to slow. Although, to be fair, people upside haven¡¯t even seen the animals that supposedly produce their meat so I guess that¡¯s something.¡±


    ¡°The crocs mostly live on rats and garbage, and you know it.¡± Kay commented wryly.


    ¡°True¡­ and isn¡¯t it strange no one ever had to genetically engineer rats.¡± Rei commented, before shrugging it off. ¡°Of course, as far as I can tell, no one ever needed too.¡±


    ¡°But that¡¯s just it. People up there¡­¡± Rei waved vaguely at the ceiling. ¡°They aren¡¯t going to survive. Not the way they are, at any rate, but is it really all that better down here?¡±


    ¡°Of course it is! We might not have much, but at least it¡¯s ours. Not the states.¡±


    ¡°Except that most of it is stolen from the state.¡± Rei scoffed. ¡°And besides that, how big is the average hut we call homes down here. One room, maybe two, with a few dozen meters of floor space? Even the crappiest apartments up there have more room, especially when you have kids and get the dependent''s bonus to your housing credits.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, Credits that seem to be less if you happen to make the mistake of having a Kitsune child. Let¡¯s not forget what they¡¯re doing to Siren children up there!¡± Kay snapped back.


    Rei sighed. ¡°I¡¯m not sure that it¡¯s just the Sirens they¡¯re getting ready to kill en-mass.¡± He said softly.


    Kay looked at her brother, her eyes wide. She put her hand on Rei¡¯s shoulder and shook him firmly. ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°They¡¯ve started recruiting soldiers, Kay. And I¡¯m not talking out of the schools. I¡¯ve been seeing posters going up in the Undercity lately. Join the Army. Defend the City.¡±


    ¡°But there¡¯s no one left to defend it from.¡± Kay stated, though her tone was unsure. ¡°The Lunar and Martian colonies have no reason to want to return, and the City is the only large settlement of humanity¡­ of any kind¡­ left on Earth!¡±


    Rei shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t know. Maybe they plan on giving those kids rifles, and having them kill off mega-salties and mutant dingo packs. Maybe they¡¯d like to expand the boarders of the City faster then the Expeditionary forces and penal work gangs have been managing. Either way, they¡¯re going to get those kids killed, be it by some mutant animal or a lingering bio-weapon just waiting for someone to walk through its dust.¡±


    Kay considered that, a pensive expression on her face. Her thoughts were interrupted when the baby nuzzled her, or more accurately her breast, causing the sharp eyed Rei to laugh out loud. ¡°Oh, you think that¡¯s funny, do you.¡± She demanded, closing her eyes as she sat back down on the bench, and beginning to concentrate.


    ¡°Hilarious.¡± He replied softly, knowing she wasn¡¯t listening to him anymore. He watched absently as his twin¡¯s breasts swelled. He didn¡¯t bother to look away when she opened her eyes and pulled open her shirt to let the small albino child latch onto the newly exposed, and lactating, nipple.


    ¡°Pervert.¡± She accused.


    ¡°Card carrying.¡± He agreed. ¡°How many families are down here, anyhow?¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re back up to a thousand total people, mostly Kitsune and Sirens with a few human relatives mixed in.¡± She replied, looking out over the settlement herself.


    ¡°What if something does happen Kay? How do we get all these people out if that army is meant to deal with groups like us?¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s¡­ evacuation plans.¡± Kay admitted. Rei raised an eyebrow, having not heard of any, but shrugged it off as just another thing Alexander didn¡¯t think he needed to know.


    ¡°And where do we run?¡±


    Kay sighed. ¡°You don¡¯t want to know.¡±


    ¡°Somehow, I knew you were going to say that.¡±  Rei admitted tiredly.


    Kay chuckled softly. ¡°So what are you going to do now? The kids would love it if you¡¯d stay with us, especially since they miss their favorite uncle.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m their only uncle.¡± Rei countered. ¡°I¡¯ll come back to stay for a few weeks in a while. For now, I just need to get out of here. If I see Alexander again to soon, I might just put my hand through his face.¡±


    ¡°I think he noticed.¡± Kay grinned. ¡°He slipped out the back while we were talking.¡±


    ¡°I know. For an assassin he walks kind of loud.¡±


    Kay shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s not like he can increase the pads of his feet like we can.¡±


    ¡°True.¡± Rei grudgingly admitted. ¡°But I¡¯m going to go up side at least one more time. Is there anything you want me to grab while I¡¯m up there? For the Deep, or you and the kids?¡±


    ¡°I doubt you can get me that gene sequencer I¡¯ve been wanting so¡­ how about a few toys? There¡¯s about twenty sets of Kitsune twins, and five more Siren children running about, and none of them have anything other than sock dolls to play with.¡±


    ¡°Rob a toy store, no problem.¡± Rei nodded. ¡°You know, that¡¯s something I¡¯ve always wanted to do.¡± He admitted.


    ¡°I¡¯m surprised it took you this long.¡± His sister commented wryly.

 Assignments

    Chapter Nine


    None of her team was on the streets today. No intelligent creature was going to be moving around in the chem-storms rain. Most of the buildings in the Uppercity had been coated in a thin plasticine shell that protected them from the infrequent bouts of acidic rain, chemicals strong enough to eat flesh, metal, and stone falling from the sky. There was still going to be damage, and there were still going to be bones in the street from people who had not gotten to shelter fast enough. Even in the damp halls of the Undercity, people were going to be unwilling to leave the safety of their homes. There were plenty of places that the acid rain would seep through and drip down even into the lowest levels. And acid burns could leave nasty scars even on Kitsune.


    Natalia hated the rain; she had lost her first man to it, a Siren named Kenta Aiko. That storm had come up unexpectedly, like this one. Kenta¡¯s partners Cassidy Aiko and Allison Yu had managed to race into a tiny lift stop that had been coated in Plasticine. There had only been room for two, Kenta had pushed his sisters into the tube and protected them from the acid with his body, standing between them and the rain.


    It had taken a long while for him to die, his entire back had melted away, and his spine had been visible in the spots that it hadn¡¯t been eaten away by the vicious acid. Cassidy still had scars on her hands from where she had held her brother up, held him as he died, held him as a shield against death, crying as they waited for the rain to stop.


    Natalia glanced around her small windowless war room. The white walls were covered in notes about their various projects as Shido laboriously worked his way through databases searching out information on one topic or another. A few of the other members of the team were also slogging their way through information, sitting around the large worktable.


    Even though they suspected Marigold Sullivan was dead, she was still one of the topics of their labors. Though why a girl that had been born in one of the more affluent communes, or baby farms as the Kitsune thought of the human dominated neighborhoods which were full of women doing their best have as many ¡®pure¡¯ human children as possible, would have thought fleeing to the Undercity would have saved her, Natalia didn¡¯t know.


    Those parts of her people¡¯s records were sealed. The Kitsune, Humans and Sirens raised by the military would never be told if they were ¡®donated¡¯ to the government or if they were the results of a government breeding programs. Not that Natalia cared, she had a family, and they were with her


    Natalia sighed, thinking of families, and looked down at her comp-screen. She was looking at a handsome fifth dan Kitsune male with an excellent military record. He was the fourth she had read about. She rubbed her temples. She knew it didn¡¯t matter how many pictures she looked at; she might as well throw a dart at the list. She didn¡¯t want to breed.


    She liked kids; she had even joined Cassidy in volunteering at the cr¨¨ches from time to time. She just couldn¡¯t tolerate the idea that one of these males would touch her, would more than touch her. She almost thanked god when her wrist unit went off.


    ¡°Major Natalia Yu.¡± she said almost eagerly.


    ¡°Major, Specialist Anderson¡¯s replacement is here, he¡¯s waiting in the commons.¡± said Miyako in her best honey toned voice. Natalia was always impressed at how well Miyako could tune her speech; the other Kitsune woman was good enough to fool most voice analyzers.


    With the power of a major pushing it, Meredith¡¯s transfer and her request for a replacement comp-tech had been completed almost impossibly fast. Natalia had been curious who the powers that be would assign to her team, and now she¡¯d get to find out. She powered down her comp, gleefully abandoning her mate hunt. While artificial insemination worked for both humans and Sirens, it did not work for Kitsune. For some reason implanted egg cells were always rejected, so Kitsune had to be created ¡°the old fashion way¡± with a male, a female, and a bed. She almost shuttered thinking about it but managed to control herself as she walked into the main room.


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    Standing in the front room with Miyako was a young human male with brown hair that had been buzz cut so short Natalia could see his scalp. Natalia resisted the urge to go down to personnel and start shooting. The young man was just that, young. He didn¡¯t even look old enough to grow a beard, and Natalia was willing to bet a month of cred-chips that this was his first assignment and his first time working with the human sub-races. His face had gone as pale as a Siren¡¯s when he had seen the rust color of her uniform.


    She walked up to him and waited for him to introduce himself. The human looked like he was ready to run back to his mother. ¡°What is your name Specialist?¡± Natalia asked after a full minute had passed, trying to tell him with her voice tone that he should have done his introduction without being asked.


    ¡°Specialist Douglas Acern from Comp-central reporting for duty.¡± He said, standing stiffly at attention, emphasis on stiff.


    ¡°At ease.¡± Natalia said. Gaia, this kid is terrified, what does he think I¡¯m going to do, eat him? Blech, he reeks of fear.


    ¡°Alright, most of the team is in the war-room, follow me. We¡¯ll get you introduced¡± Natalia walked back into the war-room; she heard the boy swallow as he noticed her bare-neck. She stopped and turned to him. She knew, to the uninitiated, the Kitsune seemed almost psionic in their ability to read people. But with hyper-tuned senses it was easy to read micro-expressions, or smell the changes in a person¡¯s scent signature, and seeing that she was unmarked was terrifying the boy even more.


    ¡°We are ISF, Specialist Acern. Information is a major part of our job. We must be able to go anywhere, so we don¡¯t wear seals. If we need them, we have temps issued by the military that will fool any scanner.¡± She turned and continued walking back to the war-room, her footsteps muffled by the thick white carpet.


    She coughed to draw her people¡¯s attention. ¡°Team this is our new comp-tech Specialist Douglas Acern.¡± Natalia watched as her team winced, sighed, or became aggravated as they looked at the terrified human. She doubted the daisy boy caught any of the quickly covered reactions, even from the humans on the team.


    ¡°My lieutenants are Shido Yu, who will be your direct superior, and Takada Aiko.¡± The Kitsune and Siren males both nodded their heads.


    ¡°Your colleagues on our Siren intelligence team, at least the ones that are here at the moment, are Aaron Nori, Haru Miko, and Noriko Aiko.¡± She gestured at each in turn. ¡°There are two more Sirens, Regin Aiko who is running errands, and Cassidy Aiko who has been temporarily reassigned to the breeding program and won¡¯t be returning for several months yet.¡±


    ¡°The members of our strike team that are here are Allison, Osamu, and Miyako Yu, whom you¡¯ve already met. Our human member is Lucas Herald. Not here are Gregory Yu and Saki St. James.¡± Natalia walked around the table in the middle of the room to her comp station and sat down ¡°Lastly there are our snipers, Specialist Kylee Sparowhawk, and Sergeant Robert Rogers who are both human, and as usual down at the range.¡±


    She smiled warmly at the boy ¡°Welcome to the family. Shido will brief you and get you up to speed.¡± She sighed as Shido led him out of the room, and to his new quarters.


    A few hours of research later had gleaned them a bit of information. ¡°Well, new boy comes from Perth.¡± Shido declared, after glancing lazily about to make sure Douglas Acern wasn¡¯t in the room. ¡°And his credentials are solid. If he can get over his fear, I think he¡¯d work out.¡±


    ¡°Except for the fact that he¡¯s damn near phobic of us.¡± Natalia pointed out. ¡°Do you think he¡¯d respond well to counseling?¡±


    ¡°I think it¡¯s worth a shot. It isn¡¯t the kid¡¯s fault that he got shipped up here, with us. Frankly, looking at his record, he¡¯d even requested to be put into human only units so I can¡¯t even imagine what sort of medications personnel were abusing when they assigned him.¡±


    ¡°Wonderful.¡± Natalia groaned and shook the concerns of their new computer technician out of her mind. ¡°Give me a status report on our current missions.¡±


    ¡°Well, Marigold hasn¡¯t turned up on any cameras, in any public places, or in Leo custody. I¡¯m leaning more and more towards her being dead.¡± Shido stated, turning back to his computer logs.


    Natalia turned to Takada, the ersatz leader of her Sirens. ¡°The Diana project needs us for another set of screenings, but that¡¯s not for another few days.¡± He informed her. ¡°I¡¯ve already made sure all of us have a day off before hand, though if you¡¯ll allow us to stop the random crowd swimming for this nurse it¡¯d probably make our lives easier.¡±


    Natalia frowned, considering his request. ¡°Not completely, no, but put only one Siren on random scan duty each day. The higher ups are still pressuring me about this, but I¡¯m not wasting too much energy on a woman who likely became a Feral entre. Anything else?¡±


    Everyone shook their heads.


    ¡°Good work team. You are dismissed. We will re-start patrols in Sydney and Melbourne tomorrow, or as soon as the rain stops, whichever comes first. I think we¡¯ll focus on the shopping zones¡± She allowed herself a guilty little grin as her people chuckled. The Kitsune Major checked the time on her wrist unit. ¡°Let¡¯s go order dinner.¡±

 Chapter 10 Fates Collide

    Chapter Ten


    Tension pulsed through the Undercity, Natalia took note of it, but it did not surprise her. The public areas were packed with irritable people trying to get the things they needed, after two days of being trapped inside because of rain. People were hungry and annoyed.


    She kept a close eye out, and one hand rested on her knife-stick. About fifty feet away Saki and Aaron were going through the line at an Okanomiaki booth, getting lunch. The pair looked like a dating couple of teenagers, even with the girls arm still in a sling. Aaron had died his skin a rich gold and his hair a sooty black, he looked very handsome next to the Saki, who had brown hair, brown eyes, and the pale skin of someone who rarely went to the sun spas.


    Something is off. I can¡¯t place my finger on it but this place feels like a nitro-bomb.  She took a moment to look over some jewelry on a cart. It was all plasticine, none of it real metal, but there was a pair of earrings in the shape of platypuses. They had been cleverly painted an emerald green with tiny foil flecks for eyes.


    Natalia smiled at the stand owner. ¡°I¡¯d like those, can you box ¡®em for me?¡± she asked as she pulled out a yellow cred-stick and waved it under a scanner as the happy vendor quickly packaged the earrings. She put the box in the inner pocket of the billowing vest that she was wearing.


    The one thing she truly hated about ¡®playing human¡¯ was the clothing. Human fashion for females called for either loose knee length gowns, or a very full cut shirt, both worn unbelted, and both where usually worn with a knee to ankle length over-vest with pockets on the inside and a frog closure just under the breast. The idea was to minimize the appearance of a waist, heaven forefend anyone know you were pregnant!¡±


    Kitsune fashion was the opposite, skin tight cat suits made of stretchy fabrics, or tiny tank tops that barely covered the chest with garters attaching the top to cargo pants with dozens of pockets. Kitsune had a reputation for promiscuity, but the truth was body modesty was silly for someone whose form was a reflection of their own desires.


    Miyako will like the platypuses¡­Platypi? Whatever, she loves odd earrings. Casually browsing the different stalls Natalia and her people scanned the crowds, more out of habit than any real need to find anyone or anything. Natalia also found herself expecting trouble, regretting having allowed Saki to talk her into a shopping trip in this less well patrolled district of Undercity


    Then there was an angry roar, and the tension in the air snapped as a small riot broke out around the small, fortunately armored and enclosed, civil service kiosk. Quickly the violence spread outward, as people began ransacking the stalls, and fighting over the right to loot shops.


    Natalia pulled her Knife-sticks out, styled after the Leo¡¯s shock-sticks. The difference was that, in addition to the taser, the ends of her sticks had retraceable blades that came out when she gripped a certain spot on the shaft. She ruthlessly tased combatants as she began to fight her way to the outside of the riot. She wondered how many people would get hurt or killed this time.


    She didn¡¯t try to stop it, she didn¡¯t have the tools or the man power, all she could do was try to get out of the way, and she knew that Saki and Aaron were doing the same thing. None of them wanted to be there when Riot Control came. She knew they would arrive quickly; riots were common after a bad storm so they were on full alert. She also knew that the crowd suppression tools would be used on everyone in the area, friend or foe.


    The crowd was thinner at the edges and Natalia prepared to make a run for the fallback point that had been set up for if her people got separated. Natalia noticed that she wasn¡¯t the only one making a break for it. Half-dozen males and two females were dragging a young woman away from the riot. Clutched in the woman¡¯s arms was a small child who was shrieking in terror, as they tried to pull him from his mother. The assailants all wore necklaces made of dried ears that sent shivers down Natalia¡¯s spine.


    Ferals!  Without hesitation, Natalia sprinted towards the gang, As she ran she re-Tuned her body, hardening her skin for natural armor, reinforcing the muscles and bones in her arms and legs, and shaping razor sharp bone hard claws on both of her hands. She hated Ferals, it was a feeling that was shared by most of the military and every resident of the Undercities; almost everyone not well off enough to live on the surface had a friend or family member that had ended up on a Feral¡¯s dinner table. The cultists bragged about how they were strong, because they ate real meat, not the vat grown clone meat or the protein pastes that most people consumed.


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    With an almost silent snap the blades of her sticks popped free just before she attacked a male feral, whose scream at being stabbed by the electrically charged knife was brief as Natalia¡¯s weapon found his heart.


    Rei was happy to finally get out of the hotel. He¡¯d chosen to leave the Deep shortly after his sister had gone back into her clinic. Unfortunately, when he¡¯d come up it was raining.


    The Kitsune man had never really understood what lunatic came up with the idea of giving the Undercity rain. When ever the Uppercity, the only part of the Arcologies which made up the City that actually sat on the surface to suffer real weather, were hit by either a mundane cloudburst or a rarer and highly lethal chem-storm, huge spouts in the ceiling of the effected areas of the Undercity also kicked to life. Granted, no matter what the intensity of the rain on the surface, Undercity rain was always a steady light rain but the water was filled with anti-pathogenic chemicals which irritated even Kitsune skin and stank enough to bring tears to the eyes. No one who could help it went out in it.


    Granted, during the chem-storms the risk of walking into a leaky area existed, but stories of it happening were few and far between and the Undercity rain usually cut the acids enough to prevent real, lasting harm on the occasion it did. That, however, only explained one ¡°rainstorm¡± out of every dozen.


    The rest of the time it was probably because some Uppercity psychologist had written a paper on how steady weather cycles would make the Undercities more natural feeling, thus calming the population and bringing a sense of unity between the Upper and Undercity inhabitants. Rei absently wondered how big of a bonus the jerk had gotten for that particular line of bull.


    Fortunately for him the hotel was mostly empty, and the innkeeper had taken pity on him by providing a room till the artificial weather had passed. Rei could have almost kissed the man, since his only other option had been to go back down to the Deep and crash with his sister¡¯s family. Either way the rain had finally stopped allowing him to set out cheerfully on his way.


    So of course, that was when the riot started.


    Granted, Rei had found himself on the very edge of the swirling stream of human chaos and had quickly managed to slip out of the stupidity flooded streets but it forced him to skirt around the yelling and shattered glass sounds of looting instead of heading directly for the tube-way which was his destination. Thanks to those sounds, and Rei¡¯s tuned hearing, it was easy to avoid the rioters.


    Most of them, anyway. The Kitsune male came to a stop as he watched a woman, dressed in the flowing fashions preferred by human females, run with a grace only a Kitsune could produce, crashing into a mass of Ferals who were dragging a screaming woman and child along with them. Silver flashed as the bladed end of her street modded shock-stick bit into the heart of one of the lunatics, sending him convulsing to the pavement.


    Rei leaned against a wall as, before the gang had a chance to realize what had happened, a second fell to a well delivered axe kick which most likely shattered one of the man¡¯s shoulders. That¡¯s when the Ferals turned, and the fight began in earnest.


    Rei debated joining in, but the erstwhile victims, a mother and toddler, were running away and the Kitsune girl was holding her own, so he saw no reason to. Ferals were fundamentally cowards and scavengers, so when enough of them were injured Rei was sure they¡¯d run.


    As if to prove the point, one of the two Feral females broke ranks. Unfortunately she made a beeline for the scared mother. Rei cursed and pushed off the wall to give chase when the strange Kitsune¡¯s shock stick spun out of the fighting mob and took the runner, blade first, in the neck. The falling corpse was all the urging the mother needed to pick up the pace and run around a corner.


    The problem, Rei realized instantly, was that their savior was now left unarmed in a pack of five Ferals.


    Rei watched the fight, hoping two dead and another unconscious would be enough to scare off the pack, but the girl wasn¡¯t so lucky. Especially when the man, which even Rei had thought was out of the fight with a shattered shoulder, grabbed her ankle from his prone position and jerked her off balance.


    That in and of it¡¯s self wouldn¡¯t have been enough to turn the tide. Unfortunately for the girl he¡¯d timed his attack with her blocking a thrust kick from a husky Kitsune. The combination of a straight line kick with her sudden loss of footing sent her tumbling to the ground. The Ferals howled and pounced, sensing a victory and dinner well earned.


    The rearmost pair of Ferals howled again as Rei¡¯s knives sought out and found their backs, removing them quickly from the fight. The young Kitsune almost burst out laughing at the look of surprise on the prone girl¡¯s face as he pulled one of the three pinning her down off of her. A simple, inelegant body slam planted him on top of the one who¡¯d tripped her, removing them from the fight and freeing Rei¡¯s hands to defend himself from a human Feral who quickly switched targets to him. ¡°What? You think you¡¯re the only good Samaritan down here?¡±


    She clawed the last of the men struggling with her in the neck, removing him from the land of the living. Rolling to her feet in the same motion she said ¡°Yes, actually.¡±


    ¡°How pessimistic.¡± Rei chided her, blocking a three-punch combo from the last remaining gang member. A lightning-fast punch sent him to the land of nod. ¡°A lovely thing like you shouldn¡¯t be so down on the world.¡±


    The girl chuckled. ¡°Maybe not.¡± She admitted. ¡°And thank you. They¡¯d have had me if you hadn¡¯t of shown up.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not so sure of that.¡± Rei commented with a grin.


    She didn¡¯t know if it was that devil may care smile or the alluring, musky scent of his body which caused her to slip and give her real name. ¡°I¡¯m Natalia.¡± She introduced herself, smiling and offering her hand even as she cursed herself for violating her own standard operating procedures.


    He shook her hand, ignoring the claws, as his smile deepened. ¡°They call me Rei.¡±

 Chapter 11, Attraction

    Chapter Eleven


    Rei?  Natalia mentally shook her head, and chuckled at her own moment of shock. It¡¯s a common name don¡¯t get yourself worked up.  The smell of him was making it hard to think, humans made first impressions based on sight, Kitsune made them by scent. Natalia was willing to bet this male was a seventh dan like her, which was the only reason she could think of which would make him smell so good.


    She walked over to the dead female and pulled her shock-stick free; she cleaned it using a bit of the Feral¡¯s shirt. It gave her time to steady her nerves. ¡°I should thank you properly.¡± She watched as interest sparked in the male¡¯s eyes, and remembered what that phrase could mean in Undercity. She barely repressed a shudder. ¡°I meant can I buy you dinner.¡±


    ¡°Sure¡±, said Rei his eyes still sparkling.


    ¡°I know a good Italian place not far from here, if the riot hasn¡¯t gotten that far...¡± Both Kitsune winced as the piercing sound of sonic pistols began echoing through the street. The Riot Patrol had arrived and was now viciously putting down the violence, with smoke bombs, flash bangs, and sonic pistols set to area disbursement.


    ¡°Anywhere is better than here!¡± shouted Rei ¡°Lead on.¡± The two ran down the street, away from the small market that had become a war zone


    They worked their way to a restaurant and got a table. Natalia excused herself to run to the lady¡¯s room to wash the blood from the fight off of her hands. Once safely locked in a cramped stall she quickly tapped out a missive to her team that she was safe, and that she was buying dinner for a civilian who had helped her get out of the riot.


    Seconds later she breathed a sigh of relief as two messages pinged back in. Aaron¡¯s just said. ¡°All clear.¡± Saki¡¯s said ¡°All clear. Is he cute?¡±


    Natalia rolled her eyes. Saki was only sixteen, and next to Shido was the most mischievous of her people. Natalia smirked ¡°Yes he is cute, and he smells as good as a no-limit cred-chip.¡± Figuring it¡¯d get a rise out of the girl.


    ¡°Score! You go have fun; I¡¯ll keep the stiff off your back.¡±


    Aaron had just been released from the cr¨¨ches, counter to what they had been told. He was a bit stodgy even for a Siren. Saki loved teasing him. Both of them had come late to Natalia¡¯s team, Saki had replaced a young Kitsune who had gotten killed by Ferals on his day off, and Aaron to replace Cassidy, who had gone to be a mother.


    Natalia walked back out to the table, enjoying the rich red colors painted on the walls, she wished she was wearing something other than baggy human clothes, or that she had grown her hair to a proper length or done anything to seem more Kitsune and less Human.


    She sat at the table and handed her yellow cred-chip to the waiter, who then gave them menus.


    ¡°So what brings you to this part of the City? I know I haven¡¯t seen you before?¡± Rei observed.


    ¡°Bad luck, or good luck, depending on your point of view. I was buying a present for a friend of mine.¡± She blinked and checked her pocket. The box had been completely crushed by her fall. She carefully pulled the box apart, and smiled as she pulled the earrings out, unbroken.


    ¡°Hand cut and carved plasticine. Nice.¡± Rei said. ¡°Are they supposed to be green?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think so¡­Maybe. It doesn¡¯t matter, she likes weird jewelry.¡±


    ¡°Heh if there was ever a mascot for the Kitsune it would be the Platypuses. Platipi, whatever.


    Natalia laughed, as she carefully wrapped the earrings in a folded napkin and slid them back into her pocket. ¡°I was wondering the same thing earlier. So Rei, what brought you to the riot today?¡±


    ¡°Same thing that drove a lot of these morons and daisies out, I was stir crazy from being stuck inside.¡±


    The waiter came back with two glasses of clear iced water and took their order. He didn¡¯t bat an eyelash as the two patrons both ordered two entrees. Natalia was starved, she had done a lot of shifting in that fight, and her stomach was now telling her it was time to pay the piper.


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    Once the waiter left Rei scooted closer to her, and she was torn between scooting away to get him out of her personal space or scooting closer so she could breathe the scent of him in. She had heard that some Kitsune could attract others with an almost irresistible natural pheromone; she hadn¡¯t believed it till now.  She forced herself not to move.


    ¡°Natalia. How is it a pretty creature like you managed to go unsealed?¡±


    The glass of water was cool in her hand as she took a sip debating about what she wanted to say. ¡°My father bribed the officials to make sure the scanners weren¡¯t working the day I was born. He¡¯s an official up in Perth, and couldn¡¯t afford to have a subbie child, so he did what he could to stack the odds.¡± She said, using one of her stock cover stories. This wasn¡¯t the first time she¡¯d been forced to shift wearing a human persona, and probably wouldn¡¯t be the last.


    ¡°Nice. So you actually live in Human-topia?¡±


    ¡°No.¡± Natalia laughed. Human-topia was about right. The Perth district didn¡¯t allow any Kitsune or Sirens to have housing or run businesses in their precious walls. ¡°He lives in Perth, I was fostered out in Adelaide when my, oh so human, little brother was born.¡±


    ¡°Ah.¡±


    ¡°What about you?¡±


    He gave her a jaunty grin, ¡°I was born and raised in the Undercity, and I do odd jobs, here and there. It¡¯s not glamorous but it¡¯s a living.¡±


    ¡°My dad sends me money to stay away from home.¡± Natalia returned. ¡°I sometimes pick up a temp job here or there. It¡¯s hard to find steady work, even when you can pass for human.¡±


    Rei sadly nodded, his eyes brightening as the waiter began bringing their food. The protein heavy meal covered the table, and for a few minutes neither of them spoke as they worked on feeding their over-clocked metabolisms.


    Their conversation, once it began again, wandered easily from topic to topic as they sipped the clear water.  Natalia couldn¡¯t remember feeling so at ease with anyone that hadn¡¯t been raised with her. Rei was intelligent, and considerate, and didn¡¯t bring up the past, he didn¡¯t want to talk about his and he didn¡¯t expect her to.


    She glanced down at her comm and was startled at how much time had passed. ¡°I really should get going. I was supposed to have met up with some friends an hour ago.¡± She remembered Shido and Takada who were always trying to get her to have interests outside of their cr¨¨che. Her heart pounded in her throat; she didn¡¯t know why. ¡°I have next Thursday off. I¡­don¡¯t suppose.¡± She cursed the nervousness in her voice. ¡°I don¡¯t suppose you¡¯d maybe like to get together?¡±


    Rei smiled as he considered the female Kitsune¡¯s question. Normally the rogue preferred to live his life as a ghost, most people only ever seeing him once before he shifted form and vanished from their lives. This time, however, he found himself wanting more.


    It was out of character for him, and he knew it, but she was intelligent, funny, and her scent was damn near addictive. A heady mix of honest sweat and enticing musk, it caused a stirring in him that was more than physical. He knew what it could mean, having been lectured to about Kitsune sexual and emotional responses since puberty by the teachers in the Deep, but he couldn¡¯t help but want to spend more time with her.


    He decided to take the chance. ¡°I¡¯ve got nothing going on Thursday, so I¡¯d love to. Do you know where the civil service kiosk in district four is?¡±


    ¡°Sydney district four? Yes.¡± She couldn¡¯t help but look perplexed by his question, which caused him to smile more.


    ¡°Well about two blocks down is a little, family run Vietnamese style noodle shop which is like a piece of heaven fallen to Earth. Have you ever had Vietnamese food?¡±


    ¡°No, but you make it sound wonderful.¡±


    Rei grinned, standing as she did and walking her to the door of the restaurant. ¡°Meet me at the kiosk around seven that evening. This time, I¡¯m buying.¡± He was still smiling when, ten minutes later, he stepped aboard a thankfully deserted tube-car.


    Sitting under the public security camera he closed his eyes and thought about the girl he¡¯d just left. Natalia hadn¡¯t told him the entire truth about herself, not that he blamed her having held more than a few things back himself. The euphemism of odd jobs, which both of them had used during their conversation, was nearly slang for smuggling and theft among Kitsune in Undercity. She also lacked the retiring nature of an Uppercity princess, though he did believe the story about her father. It was actually a story he¡¯d heard before, and you couldn¡¯t go a month without another kid or young adult being revealed on the news channels after having passed as human for years.


    Her martial arts skills actually supported her story, since they were definitely dojo learned, not straight street fighting like his own. A common method for getting exercise and learning self-defense, the martial arts were alive and well in the City, though her teacher must have been excellent for her to translate class based skills into a real street battle.


    In fact, there was only one thing keeping him from worrying that she was a Leo, or worse yet InSec, officer and that was her shock-stick. That modded toy with its crudely elegant snap blade was pure street and not the weapon of even a good undercover officer. In Rei¡¯s experience even the best of the Leos forgot that, on the street, the blade was king. Natalia had obviously learned that the hard way.


    ¡°Next station, Sydney Shopping Torus. We remind our Kitsune passengers to remember that shape shifting in public areas is a public safety violation. Please be considerate to your fellow shoppers.¡±


    Rei chuckled and checked the car to make sure it remained vacant except for him. That message never stopped amusing him since shifting in public was more of a personal safety issue with twitchy Leos and shopkeepers patrolling the torus. Standing, he ran his fingers through his now black hair as he stepped onto the boarding platform.


    Kay had requested toys for her munchkins, and with the Leos busy with dozens of riots throughout Sydney there was no better time to get them.

 Chapter 12 Family fun

    Chapter Twelve


    It took all of Natalia¡¯s willpower not to blush as she walked into her war room. Her people were buzzing happily as she walked in, Shido and Allison both gave her a thumbs up. It had taken Saki less than five minutes to tell the rest of the team that their Major had ¡°met someone.¡± And the news had now had twenty-four hours to work its way through the entire team.


    ¡°Alright guys I need reports.¡±


    ¡°Ooh.¡± Said Regin. ¡°He is cute.¡± The Siren woman had a wicked grin on her face.   Natalia rubbed her temple. Normally she didn¡¯t mind the psychics picking up her surface thoughts, they couldn¡¯t help it really, but at times she did need to remind them that she did know how to deal with their poking. She began mentally humming an annoying little jingle that had been on the holo-vid and that the whole team had found annoying, she smiled as the Sirens all winced.


    ¡°Yes, I met a male. Yes, we had dinner. No, nothing happened, so you can get those dirty thoughts out of your head Shido.¡± She looked around the table and realized they were all hanging on every word. She sat back, and shook her head as they all leaned forward. Natalia laughed. ¡°Yes, I am going to see him again, we are going to have dinner on Thursday.¡±


    The team cheered, and Saki gave her a one armed hug. ¡°Guys it¡¯s just¡­it¡¯s a¡­¡± she paled as she realized what she had set in motion.


    Shido pried Saki off her and gently rubbed at the tension building in her shoulders. ¡°It¡¯s a date.¡± His usually laughing eyes were more serious now. ¡°I¡¯m proud of you, sister.¡±


    Natalia rested her hand on Shido¡¯s he was the only member of her team that had gone through some of the advanced classes that she had been put through. Of all her siblings he was the only one who understood how terrified her impromptu decision made her. The Sirens knew, but seeing and experiencing were two different things.


    ¡°It¡¯s not like she¡¯s getting married guys.¡± Shido said in a warm voice. He leaned over and hugged her bathing the Kitsune woman in his comforting, familiar scent. ¡°Aww! Our little Talia¡¯s all grown up!¡±


    Natalia¡¯s face turned red as her team laughed, and she head butted the quick-mouthed prankster, grinning wickedly as he cursed in pain. ¡°Alright people, let¡¯s try and get some work done.¡± The team quickly took seats around the table.


    ¡°Now where are we with the nurse case?¡±


    ¡°The nurse has fallen completely off the grid.¡± Said Shido, ¡°I¡¯ve had Douglas running recognition software through every freaking video feed we can get our hands on and she hasn¡¯t popped anywhere. I¡¯m certain she ended up on those Ferals'' table. Face it, none of the information we have on this girl points to her being anything but an Uppercity daisy. There is almost no way she¡¯d survive in Undercity. Not this long.¡±


    Natalia nodded then frowned as she realized the computer terminal next to Shido¡¯s was empty. ¡°Where is Douglas? This is supposed to be a team meeting.¡±


    Shido took a deep breath. ¡°I told him not to come¡­ Major, Specialist Acern is a Xenophobe. He cannot work in a mixed species environment, and his assignment to this unit is either, a punishment for him, an attempt to sabotage this team, or the mistake of a grossly incompetent personnel employee. It is my feeling that he will work best for the team if segregated and allowed to work alone with supervision and monitoring.¡±


    Irritation went over the faces of most of the team. ¡°Understood.¡± said Natalia in a resigned voice. ¡°We will proceed with your recommendations until we can transfer him to a unit he is better equipped to deal with. I am requiring that he go at least twice a week to see a therapist to deal with the Phobia.  Please make sure that he gets on rotation with one of the head shrinkers.¡±


    ¡°Yes Major.¡±


    ¡°The nurse¡¯s trail is cold, and I¡¯m not willing to waste any more resources on her, unless someone can give me a compelling reason why I should.¡± She glanced around the table, getting only blank expressions and shaken heads in response. ¡°That¡¯s what I thought. We are going to continue working this case, however the Tower agrees with our assessment that the nurse has likely been the victim of some misadventure in Undercity, so it is being moved from a class red operation to a yellow.¡±


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    Various members of the team nodded. It was disappointing to be unable to complete a mission, it meant a hit to the team¡¯s reputation and bonus level, but they were professionals, and they recognized that this case was not going to be an easy one to solve. Especially not when the target they were supposed to deal with had been someone else¡¯s dinner. Throw in that the only lead they had was the name Rei, basically the ¡°John Smith¡± of the Kitsune community due to its multi-gender nature, and there was literally nothing to go on.


    ¡°Now, as I said we are not dropping this case, not until we have confirmation that the target is dead. However, we have two new cases. Shido, you, Miyako, Lucas, Noriko and I are going to be running the undercover security for a series of parties being held by the Grand Council, they are trying to raise more support for the frontier projects.¡±


    ¡°The rest of you are going to move on to a new drug case, there is a new chem, street name Genie. We are to track it down to the source and execute anybody with the formula.¡±


    She paused, making sure she had the teams full attention. ¡°This is a nasty, nasty new chem, and the formula includes Kitsune bone marrow. It is being used as a beauty enhancer, and sexual stimulant. Basically it makes you feel pretty and¡­in the mood. It also gives a false sense of invulnerability. We have already had several people step in front of maglev¡¯s believing that they could stop the train with their body. Genie also leaves the mind extremely open to suggestion, there is a  report in Melbourne stating that one murder suspect used it on his neighbor, had the drugged man torture the suspect¡¯s  wife to death, before ordering his victim to jump out a fortieth story window.


    Natalia handed out copies of the files to her team, including handing an extra one to Shido to give Douglas. ¡°Questions?¡±


    No one spoke, ¡°Dismissed.¡± Natalia stood and walked out of the war room and into her office. She noticed the reminder that she had not yet contacted MRD with her mate choice, and bit her lip unhappily as she typed a report to send to her superiors.


    She was not surprised when Shido and Noriko came in her office and closed the door. They were the two of the three people she was closest to in their family, the only one missing was Takada.


    ¡°How are you doing?¡± asked Noriko as she walked around the desk to stand next to Natalia. The sweet Siren had used die to make her skin the color of coffee, with rich auburn hair. Noriko had a unique gift to link with a troubled mind and sooth it. MRD and mental health was constantly borrowing her to try to figure out how she did it and if it could be taught.


    ¡°I¡¯m mostly alright.¡± Natalia leaned back in her chair. ¡°I am stressed, but¡­ there¡¯s not much I can do about that.¡±


    ¡°Does your civilian know what you are?¡± asked Shido.


    ¡°No, I told him I was the daughter of a Perth official.¡±


    Shido sat on the edge of Natalia¡¯s desk rolling her purple pen across the cover of her book. ¡°I know this may be a bit early but you need to be ready.¡±


    ¡°For what?¡±


    ¡°To tell him the truth, Natalia. You are going to the breeders in less than a month. If this thing works for you, and I pray to Gaia it does, you are going to need to talk to him about what is expected of you. It would be cruel to walk up to a man who cares about you and tell him you¡¯re pregnant with another guy¡¯s child.¡±


    ¡°But it may not be like that, it may not be romantic at all, we could just be friends.¡±


    ¡°Bullshit Talia, your releasing pheromones like a teenager with their first crush; you¡¯re attracted to him and that¡¯s wonderful!¡±


    ¡°Talia, I know your training in¡­personal relationships was very traumatic, but I don¡¯t want you to throw away something that could make you happy. That¡¯s all any of us want, to see you happy.¡± Noriko said in her sweet voice.


    Natalia smiled at her best friends, ¡°You two are not going to let me chicken out, are you?¡±


    ¡°Nope. You are going on that date if we have to deliver you there ourselves.¡±


    Natalia sighed, and decided a change of topic was in order. ¡°Oh, Shido, I know you are a bit overworked but you are going to need to run backgrounds on all the guests to the Council¡¯s parties, and I don¡¯t want Douglas working completely alone on the Genie case. I am authorizing you to go down to personnel and requisition a new comp-tech. We need another set of hands, and apparently they can¡¯t find their ass with a map and GPS coordinates. If they give you too much flack send them back to me and I¡¯ll chew on them for a bit.¡±


    ¡°Nice way to change the subject Talia.¡± Shido chuckled. ¡°But I wouldn¡¯t mind going a couple rounds with personnel. Kylee, Robert, and Luke are great, but Meredith and Douglass are total flakes; although Douglass is at least a daisy with skills.


    Noriko shook her head, obviously amused by something going on in Shido¡¯s mind. ¡°I heard from another Siren that we got Douglass because of Meredith, she bribed somebody to make sure they sent someone even more inappropriate, because she was angry that we wouldn¡¯t let her skate on her ¡®cute human tushie¡¯¡±


    All three rolled their eyes, there were too many humans, even within InSec, who felt entitled to special treatment because of their genetics. It was annoying. ¡°Her tushie wasn¡¯t even that cute.¡± Shido felt the need to point out.


    ¡°Come on you two, I¡¯ll spot you a drink down at the pub.¡± Natalia stood and closed her comp-pad. ¡°It¡¯s been a hell of a couple of days.¡±

 Chapter Thirteen Rei Junior

    Chapter Thirteen


    The soft cries of the baby woke Marigold from a fitful sleep. The nurse was still sharing a small recovery room in the strange clinic with the child she had saved, though it wasn¡¯t by choice. The Deep Scan that Alexander had performed, while not lethal, had caused strain to her heart which had long ago been damaged by a childhood fever. The stress and weakness had left her bedridden for several days.


    As she rose, stiffly, from her cot she admitted she likely should stay in bed, crying child or no crying child. Still, the small pleading voice called to something deeper in the nurse than a desire for her own comfort, and she stumbled on weakened legs to the crib.


    ¡°Shhh¡­ what¡¯s wrong?¡± Marigold asked, reaching out to rub the little one¡¯s tummy comfortingly. ¡°You hungry? Or maybe you need¡­ changed¡­¡± Marigold frowned, feeling warmth through the pajama¡¯s the child was wearing. She moved her hand from his stomach to his forehead and felt the heated skin under her fingertips. ¡°You¡¯re hot, little one. Are you not feeling good?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s probably a mild allergic reaction or cold caused by the molds and fungi down here.¡± Kay¡¯s voice startled Marigold, causing her to try and turn towards the sound. She stumbled and nearly fell, but the surprisingly strong Kitsune doctor caught her and helped her settle into a plastic rocking chair next to the crib. ¡°Whoa now. You¡¯ve been stuck on your back for a while. Let your legs remember how to work.¡±


    Kay turned to the baby, and performed a swift but gentle examination. ¡°Yeah, just a bit of congestion. He¡¯ll be fine. The atmosphere down here is thick with stuff you don¡¯t find up-side. You¡¯re congested too, I¡¯d wager.¡±


    Marigold nodded. ¡°I assumed it was just a cold from running around in unheated tunnels with Rei.¡±


    ¡°That didn¡¯t help, I¡¯m sure. Still, you¡¯ll both be fine given a few days to get used to the Deep.¡± Kay¡¯s tone turned chiding. ¡°That is, assuming my new heart patient doesn¡¯t kill herself before then. Did you hurt yourself, disobeying your doctor¡¯s orders?¡±


    ¡°No! No, I¡¯m fine.¡± Marigold reassured Rei¡¯s sibling.


    Kay frowned, raising an eyebrow in obvious disbelief. ¡°Fine, eh? Did you feel any blurring of vision, or sudden dizziness?¡±


    ¡°No, and no weakness outside of my legs, which are probably just stiff anyway.¡±


    Kay nodded, taking a hold of the other woman¡¯s wrist to check her pulse. A flash of a pocket light, and a few other quick tests followed before the Kitsune nodded. ¡°You¡¯ll live¡­ and if you are going to be getting up for the little one anyhow, I think you¡¯re strong enough to feed him.¡±


    Marigold took the baby as Kay lifted him from the crib and offered the child to her. A pre-readied bottle quickly followed, and Marigold found herself rocking a hungry, eating baby. ¡°I still can¡¯t¡­ you know.¡±


    ¡°Believe what happened to him? I can¡¯t either, but that¡¯s because we¡¯re decent people.¡± Kay growled, leaning against the wall and watching the nurse with the child. ¡°So, have you thought of a name for the boy?¡±


    ¡°Me? But he¡¯s not my baby.¡± Marigold argued, only to receive a shaking of the head and a smile from Kay.


    ¡°You saved him from an incinerator. I reckon that makes you as close to his mother as anyone has a right to claim.¡± Kay stated frankly. ¡°And if you don¡¯t want to take care of him, that¡¯s no problem. There are plenty of folks down here who¡¯ll take him in, but I think he¡¯ll need more of a name than ¡®Pinky.¡¯¡± Kay shook her head at that tidbit of her brother¡¯s wit.


    Marigold nodded, sighing. ¡°I guess I¡¯ll have to think about it.¡±


    ¡°I suggest Rei Junior. It¡¯ll annoy my brother to no end, and I live for stuff like that.¡± Both women giggled as the baby pushed the bottle clumsily away and burped.       ¡°Okay, Rei Junior it is, but we¡¯ll call him RJ for short.¡± Marigold stated with a chuckle. ¡°I think he¡¯s done.¡±


    Kay nodded, reclaiming the baby and settling him in the crib. ¡°Polite little thing, isn¡¯t he, burping himself.¡± Kay winked back. ¡°Siren babies actually do that a lot, for some reason. I think they sense we women really don¡¯t want to deal with the hassle.¡±


    ¡°So around two years old, Siren children are nightmares, huh?¡±


    ¡°Good guess.¡± Kay nodded. ¡°God help me, I might have trouble finding my children when they want to keep playing with the other kids, but at least I can surprise them!¡±  Kay turned back to Marigold, and watched as the other woman carefully pulled herself to her feet. ¡°No shakiness now?¡± She asked.


    ¡°No. I think I just needed to get up.¡±


    ¡°Well then, I suspect a walk will do you more good right now than lying back down.¡± Kay commented. ¡°Would you like a look around your new home?¡± She smiled as Marigold nodded eagerly. ¡°Good. I¡¯ll grab you some clean clothing.¡±


    ¡°Thank you!¡± Marigold said eagerly.


    She was less eager a few minutes later, as she looked over the outfit Kay brought her. ¡°Um¡­ where¡¯s my clothing¡­ if you don¡¯t mind me asking?¡±


    Kay struggled to hide a smirk as she watched the human woman. She was sure Marigold thought she was hiding her distaste for the mid-rift length shirt and loose fitting pants she¡¯d been offered, but for a Kitsune as skilled at reading micro-expressions as Kay she might as well have been yelling about it from the roof tops. ¡°Unfortunately they got some of the lubricants the engineer¡¯s use on the maglev track¡¯s moving parts. It¡¯s a little hard on fabrics so¡­ your dress disintegrated when I washed it.¡±


    ¡°Oh.¡±


    ¡°As your doctor, I can assure you that there¡¯s no way someone is going to think a fit girl like you is pregnant. And even the human women dress more or less like I do down here.¡±


    The truth was Kay had more modest, by human standards, clothing but she¡¯d decided that Marigold needed to acclimate to her new home quickly. The fear of even looking pregnant, caused in human women by the spontaneous appearance of Kitsune, Sirens, and even more startling mutations in their children, was absent in the Deep. Even surface Kitsune wore more practical garments, wanting freedom of movement, in comparison to the modest, almost Victorian dress preferred by up-side human women.


    A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    ¡°I¡¯ll¡­ just go change then.¡± Marigold declared, causing Kay¡¯s smile to widen even further. She visibly set her shoulders and marched into the tiny bathing area off of the recovery room and shut the door.


    ¡°Poor humans.¡± Kay whispered to the drowsing Siren baby in the crib. ¡°They think they hide their feelings so well, don¡¯t they.¡± She grinned as the baby smiled, before drifting off to sleep.


    Soon, with a quick admonition to Kay¡¯s assistant in the clinic-cum-lab to listen for the baby, the women were off. Marigold eagerly looked around, even looking down in wonder at the gravel path on which they walked. A child of plasticine and concrete, the simple path was a novelty for her. ¡°What exactly is this place?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Well, we call it, as you¡¯ve probably already figured out, the Deep. Mostly, I suspect, because it¡¯s under just about everything else.¡± Kay replied, gesturing vaguely at the ceiling of the cave. ¡°Alexander found the original cavern shortly before he left the ISF, something about an apocalyptic terrorist cult that was using it as a training facility. He reported the whole thing collapsed in the process of his team destroying the cult when in fact only about a quarter of the original chamber was destroyed.¡±


    ¡°He must have been planning to leave already.¡± Marigold observed.


    ¡°He had been planning his escape for about a year or so, from what he¡¯s said. He¡¯d been hiding away caches of weapons and equipment for about that long before he found our cave, intending to start an armed revolution that never actually got off the ground. He¡¯s never told me exactly why he abandoned that plan.¡±


    ¡°Instead, after he left and let the heat die down, he began recruiting likely families from the Undercity. He was actually targeting all the Kitsune and Sirens he could find and thought he could trust, though he never suggested refusing their human relatives refuge among us. Over several years the foundation of our little community was created.¡±


    ¡°Was the glowing moss already here?¡±


    ¡°Oh hell no.¡± Kay chuckled. ¡°That¡¯s my creation. Before I whipped this stuff up they were trying to maintain electric lighting through out the cavern, with unreliable results.¡±


    ¡°You gene spliced this moss?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s lichen, actually, and yes I did.¡± Kay said with a small hint of pride in her voice. ¡°It was my first project after I returned from schooling upstairs. It really wasn¡¯t that hard, since similar plants already existed. I just increased it¡¯s luminosity a bit, and made it a bit more robust.¡±


    Kay gestured at a chicken coop as they continued walking. ¡°Actually those are my creations too. For decades we struggled with whatever livestock we could manage to raise down here, and whatever surface supplies we could steal to supplement our unhappy and unproductive animals. These guys, all clones of my originals, don¡¯t care about light and lay eggs faster than their naturally born relatives. Granted, their life span is a fraction of those same relatives, but it¡¯s not hard to force grow new batches and we can eat them when they get to old to lay.¡±


    ¡°But why bother? With vat grown meat and hydroponic farming it seems overly complex.¡±


    ¡°Oh, we use those technologies too, don¡¯t get me wrong.¡± Kay said while gesturing at another well-lit building off in the distance. ¡°The problem is, frankly, the Kitsune.¡±


    Marigold looked at Kay surprised, causing the woman to chuckle. ¡°Surprised to hear a Kitsune say that, aren¡¯t you.¡± Kay teased.


    ¡°I am.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m a Kitsune, but I¡¯m also a scientist, and science demands honesty.¡± Kay stated. ¡°About seventy-five percent of our population down here are Kitsune and we need about twice the protein allowance that a normal Human or Siren. We also process meat and eggs much more efficiently than we do plant based proteins. Tuning and Shape shifting take their tolls.¡±


    ¡°Rei used that term too. Tuning I mean.¡±


    ¡°Its slang for small physical alterations to Kitsune bodies, meant to improve some specific ability. Most commonly that means altering our eyes and ears to be more sensitive, or our fast twitch muscle profile to allow for faster reaction times. If you talk about a higher dan Kitsune like Rei it can appear down right magical when he gets going.¡±


    ¡°Sorry for interrupting, I was just curious.¡±


    Kay waved her off. ¡°It was an honest question. But that very tuning is what causes our dependence on meat. All the chickens you see are actually owned by Kitsune families, who keep them and use their eggs to lessen their pressure on the community¡¯s resources as a whole. In the end it takes about as much effort for us to create a chicken, who lays eggs for a year, as it does for a few dozen pounds of vat-beef.¡±


    ¡°I guess that makes sense.¡± Marigold admitted.


    They¡¯d been walking down the path, following the subtle slope of the cavern, as they spoke and came to a thick pillar of living rock which had formed as part of the original cavern. When they walked around it Marigold gasped, her eyes falling upon a waterfall.


    It looked magical, glowing lichens of green and lavender surrounding the small but happily bubbling fall as it poured into a large pool. ¡°How lovely!¡± She exclaimed, half jogging towards the feature, wanting to get a better look.


    She gasped as Kay¡¯s hand snaked out and grabbed her by the arm, forcing her to come to an abrupt stop. ¡°Whoa there, let¡¯s be careful shall we.¡± Kay chided, as she scooped up a stone from the path and hurled it into the pool.


    The splash caused by the stone disturbed several of what Marigold had taken as simple boulders, the sharp teeth of one of the small crocodiles snapping at the disturbed water in search of food. ¡°Wha¡­ what are those? What are they doing here?¡± She demanded.


    Kay led her to the short fence surrounding the pool. ¡°They¡¯re small, fresh water crocodiles, genetically re-engineered of course. Primarily, they serve as biological waste disposal since I tweaked their stomach and intestines to digest almost anything not completely toxic. Periodically we stun one, and cut off their tails which I engineered them to re-grow. When one of them gets to big, we fish it out and butcher it, processing the meat.¡±


    Her hand pointed out the lip of the pond, which rose nearly a foot above the surface of the water. ¡°The ledge generally keeps them trapped in the pool, but every now and then one manages to find his way up behind the fence. It¡¯s best to approach with caution, just in case.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll¡­ I¡¯ll keep that in mind.¡± Marigold swallowed, turning to look back up the caves shallowly graded length. ¡°It seems almost idyllic down here.¡± She commented as she gazed over hundreds of houses and dozens of people going about their day.


    ¡°That is, sadly, an illusion.¡± Kay sighed. ¡°Only a few buildings have electricity, for example, and even fewer have running water. Those that do have to have cisterns which need to be refilled by hand on a regular basis.¡± A gesture pointed out a communal latrine made of plastic and settled into a carved groove in the ground. ¡°Unless you¡¯re a person with specialized skills you get stuck on a waste disposal detail to empty the outhouses at least once a month.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think I want to do that job.¡± Marigold admitted, causing Kay to chuckle.


    ¡°Frankly I suspect those are what keep Rei in Undercity.¡± She admitted. ¡°But you, fortunately, are a trained nurse in a community of a thousand who had maybe five such people before you arrived. Add in only two medical doctors, and you¡¯re fairly safe from such duties.¡±


    ¡°Thank Gaia.¡± Marigold sighed before she frowned. ¡°What else is bad down here?¡±


    ¡°A wise question.¡± The gravelly voice of Alexander was soft enough not to startle either woman. Instead it just drew their attention to the Siren as he walked slowly towards them with a grim smile. ¡°The threat of wide spread illness among this tightly grouped mass of humanity is on top of the list, as is the potential for the Australasian Council finding out we exist and ordering us destroyed.¡±


    ¡°I¡­ I guess I¡¯ve made that worse for you, haven¡¯t I.¡± Marigold quietly admitted.


    ¡°Not fundamentally.¡± Alexander assured her. ¡°But they are looking for you amazingly hard, so I¡¯m going to have to pull back some plans. Still, I can¡¯t blame you for doing the right thing, now can I?¡±


    Even though the man smiled, Marigold suspected he could easily hold it against her, if he chose to. She managed to contain a shiver as the Siren turned his attention to Kay.


    ¡°Have you showed her the escape tunnels?¡±


    ¡°Not yet.¡±


    ¡°Do. Then, if you can, send a message to Rei from the hotel and tell him I need to speak with him. Immediately.¡±

 Chapter 14, Roses

    Chapter Fourteen


    Rei grumbled as the elevator slid down into the Deep, straightening his collar for the umpteenth time since leaving his bolt hole. His sister¡¯s call had come that morning, and his estimate of travel times had forced him to dress for his date before heading out. He¡¯d had to close off his sweat gland to prevent the rush from producing perspiration which would visibly stain the vibrantly white shirt he wore.


    Fortunately, the atmospheric plants of Undercity were working overtime, keeping the ambient temperature on the cold side of comfortable, or he¡¯d have passed out before making it a kilometer.


    Stepping off the elevator and onto a gravel path he trudged to his sister¡¯s clinic. He didn¡¯t bother to knock, walking straight through the door and by his sister¡¯s work table towards the bathroom.


    ¡°Rei?¡± Kay called out, watching him pass by her place at a microscope, blinking as he ignored her. ¡°Rei? Hello?¡±


    He shut the door on her, stripping off his nice shirt. With a sigh he let his body go and moaned in relief as his body temperature returned to something approaching normal, dampening a rag to wipe off the glistening sweat that had suddenly coated his skin.


    ¡°Rei! Are you al¡­woof¡­?¡± Kay, who had jerked the door open, waved her hand in front of her nose, clearing the sudden smell of sweat and pheromones. ¡°What are you¡­?¡±


    ¡°What am I what?¡± Rei demanded. ¡°I¡¯m here like our lord and master¡­ demands¡­ why are you looking at me funny?¡±


    Kay ignored him, instead focusing on tuning her nose and sense of smell, inhaling her brother¡¯s scent once more. ¡°Your pheromones are¡­ off¡­¡±


    Rei winced then pushed past his sister. ¡°Don¡¯t be stupid. Now tell me what Alexander thinks he needs.¡±


    ¡°No¡­ they aren¡¯t off¡­¡± Kay corrected herself, ignoring her brother. ¡°They¡¯re different, with just a hint of something¡­ feminine?¡± Kay¡¯s sudden smile caused Rei to seriously consider running, especially when she picked up his synth-silk shirt and held it up in triumph. ¡°You¡¯ve met someone!¡±


    ¡°Oh geeze!¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s her name? I know she¡¯s a Kitsune, your own scent is telling me that.¡±


    Rei considered blustering through her questions without answering, but with a sigh accepted it would never work. ¡°Natalia, and yes¡­ she¡¯s a Kitsune.¡± His expression changed to a glare directed at his sister. ¡°And since I have less than two hours to deal with whatever it is Alexander wants, and to cross the Sydney district to meet her, can we save your questioning for later? Please?¡±


    ¡°Ohhh¡­ My brothers in love!¡± Kay teased, though she was sincerely happy for him.


    Neither she, nor Rei, noticed Alexander enter the clinic. ¡°What poor creature is doomed to have this one¡¯s affection now?¡± The Siren asked sardonically.


    ¡°Never you mind! What do you want?¡± Rei growled.


    ¡°To the point today, hmm? Fair enough.¡± Alexander shrugged. ¡°InSec has a Special Forces hit squad trying to track down Marigold and¡­ young Rei Junior.¡± Alexander managed to not snicker at the stricken look on the Kitsune males face, all though Rei¡¯s own twin lacked his self control. ¡°I haven¡¯t figured out which team it is, or who¡¯s on it, but I have locked the operation down to a specific ISF colonel. He¡¯s holding a large dinner party in a little over a week.¡±


    Rei shrugged. ¡°So? Those government types throw parties all the time.¡±


    ¡°I want you to crash the party, and see if you can learn anything. I¡¯m hoping you¡¯ll over hear the name for the team¡¯s leader, or something else I can use to track them down. Once I have that I can find the team and¡­ correct their investigation.¡±


    ¡°By correct you mean send them after someone else, who¡¯ll likely kill them, or get killed by them, and prove to be a dead end.¡± Rei shrugged, not particularly bothered by it. ¡°Sure, I should be able to get in. I have a buddy who does a lot of hiring for day labor, and works with the biggest caterer in Sydney. If this Colonel¡¯s any kind of mover and shaker, he¡¯ll use them.¡±


    ¡°Excellent.¡± Alexander held out a data-chip. ¡°This contains everything I do know about this man, and his projects. He¡¯s a nasty piece of work, fair warning.¡±


    ¡°Whatever.¡± Rei took the chip. ¡°I have a date I need to get to, so if you¡¯re done?¡± Alexander nodded, and Rei headed for the door while reclaiming his shirt from his sister, waving in response to her telling him to be careful.


    Once he was gone Kay sighed. ¡°I meant to tell him to ask Mrs. Sengdali for a bouquet of flowers for his girlfriend.¡±


    ¡°I did it for him. She¡¯ll be meeting him at the elevator.¡± Alexander said with a malicious grin. ¡°It¡¯ll annoy the hell out of him.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re bad.¡± Kay said with a giggle.


    Rei, reluctantly carrying a small bundle of roses, drifted around the final corner to his destination. He immediately began scanning the crowd around the kiosk looking for Natalia. His eager senses caught her scent only seconds before his eyes settled on her. Both took his breath away.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!


    Natalia stood, scanning the crowd herself but not seeing him yet, dressed in a deep purple, full body skin-suit. The dark sheath was highlighted by threads of gold which seemed to caress the curves they accentuated. A short, black skirt of synth-leather hugged her hips, doing nothing to conceal the feminine grace of her thighs from appreciative male eyes. In contrast the black and purple running shoes she wore were a practical choice that brought a smile to his face.


    The woman in the package was no less eye catching than the package it¡¯s self. Her hair was darker now compared to the last time they¡¯d met, nearly the color of garnets with purple highlights adding to the exotic tone of her curls. The whole beautiful mass was loose, except for the top which she had twisted into a tight bun, pinned by what Rei suspected were punch daggers. Her lips held just a hint of pink, as though they had just recently been kissed and a strand of copper collared glass pearls and purple kangaroo earrings added a whimsical element to her ensemble.


    The grey overcoat, heavy where Rei knew she kept her bladed shock-stick, was a boring frame surrounding the living artwork that was the Kitsune girl, and was unimportant. He stepped, suddenly nervous, into the crowd to approach the divine creature who had deigned to dine with him.


    He managed to reach her before she spotted him, so his appearance was as much of a surprise as the flowers he offered her. ¡°I realize they in no way compare to your beauty, but tradition older then time its self insists a lady receives flowers from any serious gentleman.¡±


    Natalia blushed, causing him to smile and his heart to pound, as she took the small arrangement. ¡°Thank you, but aren¡¯t flowers like these expensive?¡±


    Rei shrugged. ¡°For you? I doubt anything I buy would be worthy¡­ but I have a friend who gets them for me quite cheaply.¡± ¡®Assuming you ignore bruises to my dignity¡¯ he left unsaid.


    Her smile, which only deepened at his compliment, was worth such a small price. ¡°Shall we find ourselves dinner?¡± He asked, offering his arm to her.


    Natalia hesitated before settling her hand into the crook of his arm. ¡°Let¡¯s.¡±


    He led her through the crowded streets, and into the small restaurant. As usual for that time of evening it was busy, but luck was with them, and they were quickly shown to a table. ¡°So how was your week?¡± Rei asked as he held her chair.


    Natalia, with a nod of thanks, sat and waited for him to settle into his own seat before answering. ¡°It wasn¡¯t great, until now at least.¡± She smiled shyly and took a deep breath. Rei¡¯s scent mingled with the spicy odor of well-prepared food in a, to her, intoxicating blend. ¡°Yours?¡±


    ¡°Up until this morning, fairly quiet. A¡­ friend of mine needed me to swing by his place earlier. That¡¯s why I was running behind, and I might be a bit rumpled from the hurry.¡±


    The female Kitsune leaned back, looking over his nearly pristine appearance before making a show of looking at the time on her com-band. ¡°You¡¯re about five minutes early, as of right now, and you look reasonably presentable.¡± She winked mischievously in response to his arched eyebrow and grin.


    ¡°Ah, but you beat me here, so I lost the chance to spend even more of my evening with you! That is plenty late for me.¡±


    ¡°You are a horrible flirt.¡± She laughed with a blush.


    ¡°Now, now¡­¡± Rei countered. ¡°By the pink in your cheeks and that smile I suspect I¡¯m a very good flirt, indeed!¡±


    His grin deepened as her cheeks became even redder. The waiter appeared with menus, and the young couple began to discuss dinner choices. The whole time Rei was convinced his evening couldn¡¯t get any better.


    Natalia was so glad her team wasn¡¯t there to see the blush that seemed tattooed across her face; she was going to catch enough flack from the roses. She wanted to bury her nose in them, and she couldn¡¯t keep from stroking the satiny textures of the buds with her tuned skin.


    She¡¯d never been given flowers before and didn¡¯t understand why her heart would not behave itself as it thundered merrily in her chest. Rei was dressed far nicer than their first meeting and his synth-silk shirt looked as soft as the roses. She wanted to reach out and pet it so that she could confirm rather or not it was.


    The food at the Vietnamese restaurant was as good as Rei had promised, although the cynic that lived in the back of Natalia¡¯s head wondered what it would have tasted like when Vietnam was a country, and not just another nuke poisoned hell.


    After the meal they walked through one of the Undercity shopping districts. It was as close a thing to a park the Undercity had, there were even a few stone tree sculptures, covered in moss and lichen.


    ¡°You seem¡­Jumpy tonight, is everything alright?¡± asked Rei.


    ¡°Y-yes.¡± Natalia bowed her head. ¡°I-I have never done anything like this before.¡±


    ¡°Like what?¡±


    ¡°A date.¡± Natalia muttered. She wasn¡¯t sure how to take the incredulous look on Rei¡¯s face.


    ¡°You¡¯ve never dated, as in ever?¡± Rei¡¯s tone was shocked. ¡°How can it be that someone like you has never gone out?¡±


    Natalia sat on a bench under one of the stone trees and looked up, for a few moments she watched as a spider worked on its web, and wondered at how similar her life was to a spider. ¡°I was never really interested in seeing anyone.¡±


    Rei smiled and sat next to her, she felt her instincts fight each other, half wanting to lean onto his shoulder, and half terrified that he was so close, that he could touch her. ¡°But you chose to see me?¡±


    She smiled. ¡°I did,¡± I chose this. That should make a difference right? ¡°You¡­ I don¡¯t know. There was something about you.¡± her comm blinked at her reminding that she only had a half an hour to get to the tube to get home. She swallowed nervously. ¡°Shido said that I¡­needed to be open about things.¡±


    ¡°Who¡¯s Shido?¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s my¡­ best friend; he¡¯s like a brother to me.¡±


    Rei nodded and rested a hand on her shoulder. Natalia resisted the urge to throw him. It was an ingrained response to being touched. She failed to cover the wince, and saw the concern in his face.


    ¡°I. I. I.¡± She hated the slippery fear that gripped her stomach. ¡°I have, had very bad experiences, with¡­being¡­I mean.¡± She shook her head in irritation. She would not be ruled by fear. She was an InSec officer in the ISF, fear was not in the dress code. ¡°I have had very bad experiences with sex. I was hurt very badly.¡± There I said it. She closed her eyes, if he left now she did not want to watch.


    Natalia opened her eyes as she felt him take her hand, she could see anger in his deep brown eyes, but she also saw care, she did not see rejection.


    ¡°I am honored.¡± He kissed her hand gently then stood and helped her to her feet, ¡°When is your next free day?¡±


    ¡°Sunday.¡±


    ¡°Well then, I guess I should be getting you back to the tube. Meet me at the station on Sunday?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll be there.¡± Natalia smiled. They held hands like teenagers as Rei walked with her to the Sydney tube station. Natalia blushed as she saw the knowing looks of the Kitsune they passed. As they came to the station Rei caught her other hand, so both were held by his. He kissed the backs of her hands, letting his lips caress her tuned skin, causing a shiver to run down her spine. Reluctantly Natalia released his hands and turned to enter the station, her heart racing in terror and wonder.


    The tram zoomed off, caring her back to the tower and her team. She knew they would all be sitting in the commons waiting for her to get home so they could pounce on her for details. The only thing she wasn¡¯t sure of was if it would be Shido, Takada, or Saki that would lead the interrogation to come.

 Chapter 15, Fly on the wall

    Chapter Fifteen


    The Champaign was a beautiful color, a soft inviting peach that promised tastiness inside its bubbly depths. Natalia couldn¡¯t help but wish it tasted as good as it looked. The delicate flute of real glass rested lightly in her hand, as she drifted through the crowd. Her hair was pinned up with pretty plasticine combs, and her long dark blue, tunic gown, was slit up the sides to the knees, it left one shoulder bare and the other was completely encased in an angel wing styled sleeve. It was the height of couture fashion. Silvery glass pearls dangled from her wrist, neck and ears.


    She looked like she belonged in the Sydney Council hall, a strange fanlike building modeled after an opera house that had been destroyed in the wars. The carpets were a thick plush silver, and the walls were an opalescent white, called mother of pearl. Hanging from the ceiling where chandeliers made of clear quartz crystals, the whole effect made Natalia feel like she was a gemstone, stuck in an all-white jewelry box.


    Servers floated through the room holding trays of drinks and tiny hors d''oeuvres. She plucked a tiny cracker from a tray, and savored the taste of real fish, not clone meat but meat from an actual vat grown fish. The one good thing about this kind of assignment is the food. Her eyes flickered as she saw a weapon hidden in the coat of one of the guests. She was guessing it was some kind of Taser, doubting anyone would be dumb enough to bring an actual firearm. She felt a soft pulse in her brain as Noriko acknowledged the visual, and moments later Lucas, dressed as a security guard, walked up to the guest and claimed the Taser, informing him that it would be held at the coat check. For successfully finding a weapon, Natalia treated herself to another snack, nearly licking her lips at the taste of cheese.


    She and her team were there to spot threats and security breaches that normal Leo security couldn¡¯t, Shido and her tuned their noses to the point where Natalia seriously considered asking several guests to leave for the sins of not bathing, or bathing in perfumes that hurt her hypersensitive nose.


    She wished she didn¡¯t need to keep her nose on so high a tuning, but even in upper crust crowds like this drugs could cause issues. She had already located three other weapons and two people who had to be dealing Pixie Dust they had so much of the euphoric on them.


    Shido had posted himself at the long buffet table to make sure no-one tampered with the food. The male Kitsune looked quite happy, and unless Natalia was missing her guess, quite full of the expensive real food. She walked up to the buffet table, and Shido smiled at her, handing her a mushroom that had been stuffed with fish and cheese before being deep fried.


    ¡°If all the parties are like this, I¡¯m going to gain five pounds¡±. Shido said.


    ¡°The way you eat, I believe it.¡± Natalia stated sarcastically. ¡°Why don¡¯t you go dance. I¡¯m a bit hungry.¡±


    The male slid off to flirt with the many Uppercity women attending the party. None of them would know what he really was, but Shido enjoyed any woman who had a bit of ¡°sparkle¡± to her.


    Natalia grazed on the delicate foods on the table. While she did enjoy it, part of her hated the waste of it all. She knew not all of the food would be eaten, that a lot would be thrown away, and she also knew that many families in Undercity would literally kill to have the protein that would be just thrown away after the party.


    Don¡¯t be so negative, it¡¯s parties like this one that will build support so we can funnel more resources into the reclamation projects. And the further they get the more resources we all will have.  She nibbled on some lovely tempura fried vegetables as she watched one of the Sydney council members have a ¡®secret¡¯ meeting with his mistress. She understood why it was necessary to have ISF at parties like these; they were big glowing targets for anarchists and other anti-government and anti-military groups. But it still felt like a waste of her skills.  Tomorrow, I get to see Rei, I wonder what he would make of all this?  She mentally shook her head, now was not the time to think of the intoxicating male. She was working, and she was a professional. She focused her mind, mentally shouting, Noriko report please?


    Natalia felt a warmth bloom in her mind letting her know her friend had heard her. A minute later the Siren woman¡¯s creamy voice whispered into her mind Lucas is checking the doors, Shido is working the dance floor, and Miyako is working the main body of the party. No major threats have been located, but it is still early, and the main guests have not arrived yet.


    Keep me posted.


    Of course Major.


    Natalia sighed and set the now flat Champaign on a tray and selected a glass of wine. She was a bit more pleased by the sweet flavor that left a pleasant heat in her stomach. Unlike the human guests she did not have to worry about inebriation, her metabolism worked far too efficiently for that.


    She sighed as her mind again drifted to Rei and the date they¡¯d gone on then blinked as she realized she was not imagining his scent. Quickly she scanned the room, spotting him carrying a tray of discarded drinks. He was on the other side of the hall, and wearing a very different face from the one she was familiar with. She would not have noticed him at all if it wasn¡¯t for her over tuned nose.


    Her heart started pounding in her chest. She knew he did odd jobs, which meant that he was likely here to spy on someone. That didn¡¯t bother her, she was positive there were at least two dozen spies working the crowd, it was just a surprise seeing him. She also knew it was possible that they could blow each other¡¯s cover if she wasn¡¯t careful, human women in dresses like hers did not talk to the help.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    Quickly she walked to the bathroom and pulled a pen out of the pocket hidden in the angel sleeve of her gown. She wrote a quick note on the napkin that had come with her drink.


    Noriko?


    So your boyfriend is here. Interesting. It¡¯s good to know you have something in common.


    Can you please have Miyako meet me in the lady¡¯s room? I need her to deliver a note.


    I am already relaying the message, she is on the way.


    Thank you Noriko. Natalia mentally sighed


    My pleasure. Wait till Saki hears about this.


    Oh Gaia¡­ Natalia whimpered


    Noriko Laughed. Our Saki has little hearts in her head.


    She¡¯s young.


    And a romantic, unlike our ice princess Major.


    Shut up. Natalia tuned her pheromone glands and focused them into her pointer finger, using them to smear her scent into the napkin. To another Kitsune it was better than a signature. She let her glands return to normal as Miyako came into the restroom. The girls traded napkins as they washed hands, before they went back out to the party. Natalia watched as the ebon haired Kitsune made her way to Rei. Natalia smiled, turned, and walked outside ¡®to cool off a bit.¡±


    She moved easily to a small cul-de-sac hidden by a large plasticine tree and waited to see if Rei would answer her note.


    Rei was very seriously considering abandoning the party, and the job Alexander had given him. His head had been buzzing with a headache since he¡¯d woken up that morning, after he¡¯d spent several nights tormenting himself with nightmares about whatever horrible things had happened to Natalia to make her frightened of him even touching her, and he¡¯d heard nothing interesting except that the Councilman from Darwin was allergic to seafood. That had only been interesting because he¡¯d been offering a tray of tuna rolls to the man at the time.


    He sighed and resisted the urge to rub his forehead as the buzzing peaked into pain for a moment, just as a man set an empty glass on his tray, thanking whatever lunatic ran the universe when it faded back to a dull roar once again.


    ¡°My you are a cutey.¡± A woman in a fine dress said, he was too distracted by his head to care if she was Kitsune or Human, commented as she slid up next to him. She set a napkin with a small note scrawled on it on his tray before she slipped back into the crowd.


    ¡°Well, at least I still have the old charm.¡± Rei muttered to himself, as he picked up the napkin and began to ball it up to throw away. He paused when he caught the rich scent of Natalia. He looked around, trying to find her, confused, when he realized the aroma was coming from the napkin. Slipping away from the crowd, he opened it carefully.


    ¡°Meet me next to the plasticine tree.¡± The note read, with her scent nearly saturating the cheap paper. He inhaled a few times, and noted his head seemed to clear just slightly as he focused his thoughts upon her. Smiling, he spotted the garden doors and drifted towards them, slipping the napkin into his pocket.


    He quickly managed to find Natalia, hidden from the view of the party as a whole. He smiled as she spotted him and waved him over. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect to bump into you here. You do move in odd social circles.¡±


    ¡°I could say the same about you.¡± Natalia commented dryly. ¡°My¡­ father wanted me to keep track of who was snubbing or kissing the asses of who.¡±


    Rei nodded. ¡°Yeah, I noticed it was like a really polite dingo dominance fight in there. Lovely party.¡±


    Natalia giggled, before turning serious. ¡°Please tell me you are just here spying on the guests, Rei.¡±


    ¡°I can honestly say my intentions are pure.¡± Rei said, with a smile. He, technically, was spying on the host after all. ¡°I did tell you I do odd jobs from time to time. That¡¯s not ALWAYS¡¯S a euphemism you know¡­ though I find it fascinating you automatically assumed it was.¡± He winked.


    ¡°Well¡­ yes¡­ um¡­¡± Natalia blushed. ¡°Okay, so I haven¡¯t been completely upfront about what I do¡­ but¡­¡±


    ¡°No worries, sweet heart. We¡¯ve only just had our first¡­ second¡­ let¡¯s go with second date. You can save the next world stopping revelation for¡­¡±


    He gasped, the pain in his head suddenly spiking. For a few moments he couldn¡¯t even see straight and when the blinding pain faded the buzzing had graduated to an actual migraine.


    ¡°Are you okay?¡± Natalia asked, worried.


    ¡°Yeah¡­ yeah¡­ Just a really, really¡­ really bad headache¡­ it¡¯s been bothering me all day but it just got worse.¡±


    Natalia took his arm and guided him to a bench, sitting him down. ¡°I¡¯ll get the catering manager, and you can tell him that you¡¯re going home.¡±


    ¡°But I won¡¯t get paid!¡± Rei argued, trying to stand up. It was a testament to how bad his head hurt that she needed to put no effort into holding him down with the one hand on his shoulder.


    ¡°I¡¯ll pay you if you¡¯re that hard up for cash. You need to go home¡­¡±


    ¡°Fine¡­¡± Alexander could kiss his ass. Then a thought occurred to him and he smiled wickedly¡­ or wearily, he wasn¡¯t sure which. ¡°But only if you¡¯ll go with me?¡±


    ¡°Wh¡­what?¡±


    ¡°Come on¡­ I¡¯m not safe to travel Undercity alone like this! Walk me home. I promise to be a perfect gentleman.¡± He winced as a dropped platter, hitting the stone walkway somewhere nearby, caused shards of pain to radiate through his skull. ¡°If for no other reason than I can¡¯t really do anything else.¡±


    Natalia chewed her lip. ¡°You wait out here for a little while, and I¡¯ll come and get you. I need to talk to a couple of people before I go.¡±


    Rei nodded and smiled as he admired the view as she walked away from him. He¡¯d never actually shown someone where he really lived but was suddenly looking forward to showing Natalia.


    Alexander sighed, slumping to his padded chair. He watched the other twelve Sirens, the most powerful of the Deep Dweller and skilled in joining him in gestalt, either slumped or passed out asleep from the effort of maintaining a connection to Rei for so long.


    It had been a pain to locate him in the morning, but they¡¯d gathered a bit of useful data by using him as a Trojan horse through which to invade party goers¡¯ minds from. Most of the information was just useful from a potential black mail or equipment theft standpoint, however. No one they read was both knowledgeable of the investigation into Marigold, and lacked shields.


    Rei¡¯s new girlfriend, however, had proven the most interesting. While her surface thoughts had been all worries for Rei, her deeper thoughts had been unreadable. That required training, even to resist through a proxy, and that meant she was InSec.


    Planting the suggestion to bring her home had cost them the link, but that was okay. If she was close to Rei, she was probably the person they needed to probe. There was no resisting a Deep Probe when standing in Alexander¡¯s presence.


    It was a shame she¡¯d most likely die in the process, but Rei would get over it.

 Chapter, 16 Sydney station

    Chapter Sixteen


    If not for her training Natalia wouldn¡¯t have noticed the warmth that had touched her mind. It was not the subtle light touch of one of her Sirens, so she knew that Noriko had not been spying on her. Whoever had done the scan was use to brute force, not skill. Noriko.


    How is your male?


    He has a blinder of a headache. I¡¯m going to take him home.


    No worries, Noriko assured her, we can cover here, and it looks like the most interesting thing that might happen is a council member¡¯s wife confronting her husband about his cheating.


    Don¡¯t be so sure of that Noriko. Natalia warned her. I felt another Siren do a scan. I blocked anything but surface, so I don¡¯t believe he got any information, but you are the only Siren supposed to be here.


    That¡¯s not good; we have a lot of important people here.


    I want you to call Takada and Haru to back you up. See if you can locate the Siren.


    Yes, Major. Do you have any other orders?


    Natalia paused to think. Shido is in charge, while I¡¯m out, have him pull another Kitsune in to replace me, not Saki, she¡¯s too young and still getting over her injuries from the Feral fight even if she¡¯s nearly healed. Use either Allison, or Osamu, both of them are sensitive to psychic tampering.


    Yes Sir. You will report in to let us know you are safe?


    I promise. Natalia moved to the coat check and retrieved her long coat then sneaked into the servant¡¯s bathroom. She shrugged the human clothing off and slipped into a dark blue skin suit hidden in her coats pocket. She undid the hidden seal at the bottom of the coat and turned it inside out, transforming her elegant black coat into a street appropriate grey one. She pulled a light blue synth-silk hip scarf out of the coats new pockets and wrapped it securely around her waist. She pulled the silver glass pearls off and put them in the hidden pocket of the angel sleeve of her human dress, before she pulled her sonic pistol out to put into her coat pocket. Natalia pulled her shoes off, pressed a button on the bottom of the stilettos and folded the heels up into the bottom of the shoe. Natalia slipped the now flat soled shoes back on.


    As she dressed, she worked on shifting her body so no one would see her human persona leave. She turned her short wavy red hair to a waist length honey blonde. Next she shifted her eyes to a bright blue, and sharpened her cheekbones, her lips becoming full and rosy and her skin paled to a soft Undercity white. She carefully folded the couture dress and sealed it inside a hiding pocket at the bottom of her coat.


    Natalia stepped out of the stall and checked the mirror; she made a small adjustment to the shape of her nose then walked out into the kitchen. She waved goodbye to the other servers as she went out the door and made her way back to the tree. ¡°Alright, let¡¯s go¡±


    Rei¡¯s eyes widened slightly, not recognizing the woman till he caught her scent. He grinned wearily. ¡°So do blondes really have more fun?¡±


    ¡°Apparently, since I¡¯m ditching work to take your sorry, sick butt home.¡± Natalia said, helping him to his feet. Her tone was teasing, although it still showed her reluctance to leave her job.


    They took a lift down into the Undercity. Rei grabbed Natalia¡¯s hand to keep from being separated from her in the rush of people.


    ¡°Where are we going?¡± asked Natalia.


    ¡°Sydney Station.¡± Said Rei wincing in agony as thousands of voices battered into his ears,


    ¡°Tune down your ears, before they start bleeding.¡± A wave of nausea ripped through her stomach at the scent of to many people. ¡°Ugg! I forgot to un-tune my nose.¡±


    Rei chuckled, ¡°You going to be alright? I would not want to get a hyper-tuned scent of this place.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think I¡¯m going to want to eat for a week, but I¡¯ll be okay.¡± She said as she turned down her olfactory senses so she could bear to breath. Then they began fighting their way through the crowd, when someone grabbed Natalia¡¯s long blonde hair and yanked her back. She yelped in pain, shards of electricity seeming to flow along her nerve embedded hair cores.


    ¡°Gimme your-¡° The would be mugger¡¯s words where cut short as Natalia spun and kicked him hard in the gut, the man went down gasping as the Kitsune woman gently touched her now extremely tender head. ¡°Asshole.¡± She muttered


    Rei quickly bent over the gasping man and relieved him of his cred-chip. The theft did not overly bother Natalia, in the Undercity you did what you had to, to survive. They left the mugger gasping on the ground as they continued with the crowd towards the Sydney station.


    Natalia saw a Health Services booth and pulled Rei towards it, she handed them her green cred-chip. ¡°I need two soothers, one for headache, one for nausea. The clerk, checking a screen and confirming neither of them were marked Kitsune, nodded and scanned her chip before handing her two small cups of fluids.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.


    ¡°Purple for the headache, Pink for the stomach issues, please remember, if symptoms last longer than twenty four hours to immediately report to the nearest health center.¡± The bored man intoned, repeating a mantra he delivered a dozen times an hour.


    Natalia handed Rei the soother as she drank the sweet pink fluid. Almost immediately her stomach settled, she tossed the cup into a small recycler. Rei tossed his empty cup in behind hers.


    ¡°Feeling any better?¡± Natalia asked as they moved into the crowd again


    ¡°A little, my head still feels like somebody took a shock-stick to it.¡±


    ¡°Sydney station is just ahead, soon we¡¯ll have you home and you can sleep it off.¡±


    Rei pulled her hand, ¡°Come on we need to go this way.¡±


    ¡°But Sydney station is-¡°


    ¡°Trust me! I know where I¡¯m going.¡±


    Reluctantly, Natalia followed the other Kitsune as he walked through less crowded streets close to the district¡¯s walls. He led her into a small tenement and up the stairs.


    She began to think she¡¯d mistaken his directions, and that he had said he lived near Sydney station, when he continued up past the last floor and to the roof access. The door, which was supposed to be kept locked by Council ordinance opened easily for him. ¡°We¡¯re almost there, don¡¯t worry.¡±


    Natalia wasn¡¯t sure if he was reassuring her, or himself.


    They walked to the back of the roof, which was actually the wall of the arcology its self. Natalia realized his destination before they¡¯d reached it. ¡°You¡¯re going to access a maintenance department hatch?¡±


    ¡°Sure. Do it all the time. They never change the codes.¡± Rei murmured in response, tapping a code and slipping into the portal in question, Natalia followed close on his heels.


    A few short ladders and one cramped tunnel later, they were in the Sydney/Melbourne tube-way. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t taking the train be easier?¡± Natalia commented dryly.


    Rei didn¡¯t answer, instead walking over to a grate on the wall of the tunnel. He began prying it off with his hands. ¡°What are you doing? That¡¯s an air pressure release grate! Don¡¯t tell me you¡­ live in there?¡±


    Natalia hadn¡¯t bothered hiding her disdain for the very idea. A year ago she¡¯d been forced to hide in one while investigating a drug smuggling ring and the two meter by two meter square, with barely one and a half meter of ceiling clearance, weren¡¯t very comfortable. The tunnels leading out of that first chamber weren¡¯t any better, quickly dropping from one meter to less than half a centimeter wide three kilometers away on the surface. The tiny holes, intended to let pressure built up by the high speed maglev trains, were small enough to prevent any animals from wandering into the arcology, and those few insects that might hide in the small tunnels generally wouldn¡¯t travel that far without the promise of food.


    ¡°No.¡± Rei grumbled, which relieved the woman behind him, and set the grate aside. He stepped into the pitch black hole, and Natalia stepped to follow him only to stop with a yelp when bright lights kicked on from inside. A few seconds later Rei drove a small cart out of the hole. ¡°I¡­ Think you had better drive. Do you think you could handle it?¡± Rei asked softly, slipping over in the simple plastic bench seat and away from the steering yoke.


    Natalia could only stare in shock for a few moments. The ownership of personal vehicles was extremely rare in the City, requiring strict licensing and proof of actual need. Even her own commanding officer did not qualify for a personal car, and her team could only use their transport lorry when a security or military situation warranted its use. The fact that Rei had somehow managed to acquire one was nothing less than astonishing!


    Granted, as she walked closer and climbed behind the small carts wheel, it wasn¡¯t much of a vehicle. Under two meters long, it had no roof or doors, seats for two people if they were very friendly, and a small flat-bed behind those seats. It was electric, which wasn¡¯t unusual, but was obviously older than any vehicle had a right to be.


    ¡°Drive towards Melbourne, about one hour. I¡­ think I¡¯m going to rest my eyes for a while.¡±


    Natalia turned to argue, not wanting to be gone for so long a time, but the drawn expression on his too pale face silenced her. With a quick message tapped to Shido, telling him she¡¯d be gone until the next morning at least, she pushed down on the throttle pedal, and they were off into the dark.


    An eternal hour later Natalia nudged the softly snoring Rei awake. He blinked, peering around blearily as he tried to reorient himself, then he gestured to a discolored portion of the wall at the edge of the stopped cart¡¯s lights.


    ¡°Pull up there.¡± He ordered, and Natalia did. She was surprised when, as they pulled closer, the discoloration resolved itself into a short stairway leading into a small depression in the wall. Rei climbed out with Natalia hot on his heels, and led her up those stairs to a heavy, plasticine door. The Kitsune male pulled a key from his long coat¡¯s pocket and unlocked the door leading her inside. She heard an echo as he flipped a switch in the wall.


    For a moment nothing happened, and then lights began flickering to life. They revealed a huge, open room with plain concrete pillars and several doors exiting off of it. ¡°What is this place?¡± Natalia asked, having never seen so large an area without people filling it.


    ¡°It¡¯s a Tunnel Construction Project dorm.¡± Rei replied as he began walking across the plain, cracked floor. ¡°About a century ago, when resources were tight, they used hand labor to dig out the tube-way tunnels. The higher ups, who didn¡¯t want to waste what few vehicles they had at the time on ferrying workers back and forth from the end of the tunnels, decided that building these off of them about every fifteen kilometers would be more economical. Then the poor bastards only had to walk so far to get to a bed after a twelve hour long shift of digging.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve seen documentaries on the project.¡± Natalia admitted. ¡°But those said these were collapsed after the last teams passed them.¡±


    ¡°Most were.¡± Rei acknowledged. ¡°There¡¯s probably half a dozen doors to nowhere behind us along that tunnel. They even chipped out the stairs. This one must have just been missed, probably because of some bureaucrat somewhere.¡±


    ¡°Are there more like this one?¡± Natalia asked, dreading his answer. The number of Ferals or other terrorist groups that could make use of places like this was a chilling thought.


    ¡°I actually spent a month searching, once.¡± Rei admitted. ¡°There¡¯s a half collapsed one out Perth way, and a pristine one only about thirty clicks from Darwin. A band of human and Kitsune prostitutes found it somehow and converted it into a brothel. It seems that white bread, ¡®humanville¡¯ types pay big for a piece of Kitsune tail. Or so the girls told me, at least.¡±


    He didn¡¯t notice her sigh of relief, instead reaching another door and digging in his pockets for another key. ¡°Did you know these places could house a thousand workers, or more, and had offices for the administrators too? All blown out of the rock and used for a few months before everyone relocated and they collapsed the whole thing.¡± He shook his head, and, finally finding his key, unlocked the door in front of him, marked ¡®Foreman¡¯. ¡°Here we go. Welcome to The House of Rei.¡±

 Chapter 17, Tampering

    Chapter Seventeen


    Eagerly, and surprising herself by feeling so eager, Natalia slid into the room in front of Rei and took a look around. She didn¡¯t know what to expect. It certainly wasn¡¯t what she found.


    The room was fairly small, especially when compared to the huge space outside its door. Several computers, obviously cobbled together from parts salvaged here and there, dominated the lone, battered desk in one corner. Rei¡¯s bed was a large futon shoved in the opposite corner with a rack holding various clothing. A few posters and art prints tried to cheer up the gray walls, and succeeded a little better than she might have expected if they¡¯d just been described to her. A slightly worn, Persian style rug covered the floor.


    ¡°Somewhat spartan, isn¡¯t it.¡± She said. She didn¡¯t know why it surprised her that it was, but it did. Rei came off as so confident and had a talent for commanding the space around him so well, that she¡¯d begun to imagine some Ali Baba style treasure cave.


    ¡°Yeah. I know. I didn¡¯t have a lot growing up, though, and I guess I never got used to really having stuff. You can hang your coat on that hook there.¡± He gestured vaguely, obviously not feeling well, still.


    ¡°Did that soother help at all?¡± Natalia asked, worried.


    Rei shrugged. ¡°A little bit. Took the edge off. Problem is there was more edge behind that one.¡± He shrugged off his own coat and tossed it on the futon, sitting next to it and gesturing to the office chair in front of his desk. ¡°Sit down.¡±


    Natalia did, her leg bumping a foot locker she¡¯d not noticed at first. Absently she opened the unlocked box, Rei not seeing until she¡¯d already opened. It. ¡°Well¡­ this is a bit more what I was expecting.¡± Natalia commented with wide eyes.


    A dozen knives were slid into sheathes nailed into the roof of the box, with several longer blades, some qualifying as short swords, on the top of the bundled goods inside. Under the swords was at least one suit of Leo patrol armor and a pair of sonic pistols. ¡°My Rei, there are some things you didn¡¯t mention.¡± She growled.


    ¡°Oh come on, it¡¯s not like that.¡± He groaned. ¡°I stumbled across the guns and armor in the possession of a couple of Ferals I rolled about six months back. I figured there wasn¡¯t any reason to leave it, it might come in useful someday, and out here it¡¯s not like anyone was likely to find it!¡±


    ¡°And if they did, you¡¯d find yourself getting a sonic bolt right to the back of your head.¡± Natalia yelled. ¡°Would they have been useful then?¡±


    ¡°Owww¡­¡± Was Rei¡¯s cringing response, causing Natalia to wince.


    ¡°Sorry¡­ but I¡¯d really hate to see you get shot over something you thought ¡®might be useful.¡¯¡±


    Rei grunted, and laid back. His headache was no better, and for some reason he was sure that bringing her home with him should have helped with that. His thoughts paused, and he considered that carefully. It didn¡¯t make sense to him, why should bringing her home have helped a headache?


    Natalia¡¯s voice ruined his ruminations. ¡°Oh, who¡¯s that?¡± she asked while standing and walking to the small table next to his futon. She picked up a small, framed photo of a person whose eyes made her think he was Rei standing next to a pretty girl. ¡°An ex-girlfriend?¡± She asked, slightly annoyed.


    ¡°No¡­ geesh, suspicious aren¡¯t you.¡± Rei grumbled. ¡°That¡¯s my sister. If you scent the photo, you¡¯ll smell me and her on it.¡±


    Natalia did as he suggested and marveled at the mingled scents. She was sure picking his sister out of a crowd would be easy, for her at least, as her scent was amazingly similar to her brothers. Feminine highlights where he had male, with just a little less potency suggesting she wasn¡¯t as high a dan as her sibling.


    ¡°Is she an odd jobs girl, too?¡± Natalia asked.


    ¡°No. She¡¯s a geneticist.¡±


    Natalia turned and stared at Rei, though he couldn¡¯t see it since he had thrown his arm over his eyes to block out the light. Geneticists weren¡¯t all that common, the science being held in some contempt by the public after all the varieties of biological and chemical weapons unleashed during the Wars of Madness. More than even Nuclear weapons the human race was still recovering from their use. More than one person suspected that Sirens and Kitsune were caused by some bug or another, unleashed on innocent civilians during the chaos of the wars, though no one had ever proven it.


    Due to that, the study of Genetics required someone with a perfect personal record, and a near perfect record for their parents, to even begin to study seriously. From what she¡¯d been told by Rei his family wouldn¡¯t have had the background to allow for such an education, even if she¡¯d managed to get into an advanced program.


    Natalia decided to hold off asking about that, for the time being, and instead looked closely at the picture. ¡°I don¡¯t recognize where this was taken. Was that a park in some other district?¡±


    Rei sat up suddenly, at that question, and took the picture out of her hands with a clumsy but lightning quick grab. He froze as he looked at it and she could almost see an internal debate happen inside of him.


    Then, for some reason unknown to her, his color improved and the strained expression he¡¯d been suffering faded away. ¡°I know¡­ would you like to meet her?¡±


    ¡°Your sister?¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    Natalia shrugged. ¡°Sure¡­ but aren¡¯t you feeling bad?¡±


    ¡°Actually¡­ I¡¯m suddenly feeling much better. Weird.¡± He shrugged, and jumped up to grab his coat. ¡°Come on. Let¡¯s go.¡±


    The entire trip back towards Sydney, Rei had ignored her questions of where they were going or replied with ¡°It¡¯s a surprise.¡± Natalia found that extremely worrisome.


    The sudden disappearance of his headache, and return of his energy, was also suspicious to her. It had taken her most of the ride to Sydney to put her finger on why. ¡°The Siren!¡± She muttered, just as they entered the tube-way terminal.


    ¡°Huh? Where?¡± Rei looked around the crowd, searching for an albino among the sea of humanity. He spotted an elderly looking one off to the side with a handwritten sign offering to ¡®guide¡¯ those, who paid him a small amount of credit, in matters of the heart. He snickered as a pair of teenagers approached the old man nervously. ¡°Oh, that. It¡¯s a common scam, but it works well for the few Sirens who buy into the whole guru thing. Everyone wants to be told that the one they¡¯re with is ¡®the one¡¯. Kitsune, of course, kind of know when it happens.¡±If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    ¡°What are you talking about?¡± Natalia, who hadn¡¯t seen the fortune teller, asked confused. ¡°And what do you mean Kitsune know?¡±


    It was Rei¡¯s turn to look at her incredulously, and then he grinned. ¡°Oh no. No way am I explaining that! I¡¯ll let you ask Kay.¡±


    ¡°Who the heck is Kay?¡±


    ¡°Oh, sorry. She¡¯s my sister.¡±


    Natalia blinked. ¡°You¡¯re parents named you Rei and Kay? Kind of cruel, don¡¯t you think?¡±


    Rei just shrugged in response.


    Before she could ask him several other questions about comments he¡¯d been making, Rei looked at the sign and cursed. ¡°We missed the S-3 shuttle. We¡¯ll have to wait a quarter hour for the next one.¡±


    ¡°Works for me, I need to use the lady¡¯s room.¡± Natalia said, gesturing towards the door.


    ¡°Naw¡­ That stupid thing is broken on this concourse.¡± Rei stated. ¡°You¡¯ll have to hold it.¡±


    ¡°No it¡¯s not.¡± Natalia assured the male, pulling him with her to the door. She almost giggled at his look of shock.


    ¡°They fixed something? Down here?¡± Rei swallowed, unconsciously looking around for looming InSec or Leo watchers. ¡°Weird.¡±


    ¡°Just let me slip in. I¡¯ll be back in a minute.¡± Natalia said, already half through the door and shaking her head. She missed his worried expression as he watched her enter the door.


    Natalia took a moment to actually use the facilities before activating her wrist-com once she confirmed the restroom was empty. It seemed Rei wasn¡¯t the only one struggling with the idea of it actually having been repaired.


    ¡°Shido here, and if you dialed me in the throws of passion¡­ keep going!¡±


    ¡°Pervert.¡± Natalia growled. ¡°No. I wanted to see if you guys found the Siren who probed me at the party.¡±


    ¡°Sorry, Talia, but that¡¯s a neg. We searched the next three blocks over, and didn¡¯t find anything. How¡¯s Rei.¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s why I¡¯m calling. The headache cleared up suddenly, and he¡¯s now taking me someplace else, apparently to introduce me to his sister but I¡¯m not sure that¡¯s the case.¡±


    ¡°Why¡­ oh¡­¡± Shido had always been a little quicker on the psi-ops side of their business than Natalia herself. ¡°He suddenly got better when he made the decision. You think he got tweaked by the Siren.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. He¡¯s dragging me to Sydney Undercity district 3. Could you get the team together and settle in somewhere down there. I might be wrong, and Rei might just be prone to migraines that suddenly come and go like that, but I do not like how this looks.¡±


    ¡°No problem, dear sister, though frankly if he went to the trouble of taking you home first, he should have at least made a move!¡±


    ¡°Shido!¡±


    ¡°Right, right¡­ I¡¯m on it.¡±


    ¡°Oh, and could you make sure to list Rei on the team¡¯s official witnesses and informants list. It seems he has a few more bad habits then I previously thought.¡± Natalia grumbled.


    ¡°How bad.¡± Natalia had to smile at the suddenly protective tone in Shido¡¯s voice.


    ¡°A propensity for picking up things he shouldn¡¯t have, nothing to nefarious.¡± She replied.


    ¡°Well, okay then. If we don¡¯t hold that against Saki, we can¡¯t hold it against your boyfriend. I¡¯ll rouse the team. If things look harry shock-stick the boy-toy and drag both your asses back to us. We¡¯ll set up in the Leo gondola repair depot in the south quadrant.¡±


    ¡°Thanks Shido.¡± She disconnected the link, and slipped out. Rei was quickly by her side.


    The man looked, for all the world, as though he hadn¡¯t expected her to come out. ¡°Did it actually work?¡± He asked.


    Natalia blinked, raising an eyebrow. ¡°Yes¡­ Why wouldn¡¯t it have?¡±


    Rei didn¡¯t answer, instead eying the door as he pulled her towards the boarding area of the platform. She pondered asking about his queer behavior, but decided against it.


    A quick tube ride later they were walking through a truly decrepit section of the Undercity. The eyes of pimps and Ferals made her want to pull out her stick or gun just to remind them of their manners. ¡°Where, exactly, are we going? This doesn¡¯t look like the sort of place that a geneticist would live.¡±


    ¡°It doesn¡¯t, does it?¡± Rei chuckled, pausing mid step as if a thought had just struck him. She watched him wrestle with whatever it was internally, his expression confused for several moments, before he shook it off and began leading her along again. She felt the hairs on the back of her neck raise.


    The hotel they entered was the sort of place she suspected a cheap John would take a hooker, assuming of course they weren¡¯t so cheap as to want to have his fun in an alley somewhere. Privately she suspected that an alley would have been more hygienic.


    ¡°Hey, could I rent two oh seven again?¡± Rei asked. ¡°I loved the view.¡± The second part sounded sarcastic to her ears, and she expected some sort of sarcastic response from the desk person in return. Instead he looked nervous, and at her.


    ¡°Um. You sure? The bathrooms kind of rough.¡± The man commented, and alarm bells started going off in Natalia¡¯s head, taking over for the slight buzzing of concern she¡¯d been feeling. The man¡¯s tone was clumsy, as if he was looking for an excuse to not give them that room. She realized, suddenly, that what she¡¯d taken as a joke on Rei¡¯s part was a code, or specific request for a specific reason.


    ¡°Rei¡­ maybe we could come¡­ later?¡± Natalia asked, not wanting to continue for more reasons than just concern about a Siren. She suddenly, for some reason she refused to analyze, didn¡¯t want to know more about Rei, at least not until she could warn him that she was with InSec. She knew that very sensation meant she should pursue whatever he wanted to show her, but she didn¡¯t want him to suffer for whatever it was.


    She realized that if he was harmed, it would hurt her somewhere very deep inside.


    ¡°Just give me the key.¡± Rei growled, and reluctantly the desk manager handed him a heavy fob and electronic key. Rei turned, and with a hand on her elbow led her up the stairs.


    The room they entered was even worse than the desk attendant had suggested. Silently she thanked Gaia that she¡¯d toned down her nose when they first had come Undercity. ¡°What are we¡­?¡±


    Rei, driven by something internal, had stopped paying attention to Natalia other than to confirm she was with him. He¡¯d crossed over to the painting of an Uppercity spire immediately on closing the room¡¯s door, and waved the fob over it. A door that apparently slid open far too slowly for his satisfaction appeared as if by magic in the wall.


    He pulled her into the elevator before she could ask any questions, and hit the button. ¡°Where are we going, Rei. Talk to me.¡±


    He didn¡¯t respond, and his eye¡¯s had gone glassy. ¡°Kay will be excited. She was asking me about you earlier.¡± He said, though Natalia wasn¡¯t sure if he knew she was even there.


    Moments later the doors slid open and, with his hand still firmly gripping her arm, he stepped out onto a gravel path. Natalia found herself at a loss for words, and forgot the questions she¡¯d had only moments ago.


    Instead she gazed over the storybook like cavern, filled with little huts which were surrounded by people and birds she thought were chickens, all of whom were going on about their day. As Rei pulled her along, she marveled at the luminescent moss which seemed to replace electric lighting in the fairy cavern she¡¯d found her self in. People nodded at them as they passed, looking at her questioningly but yelling greetings to Rei as though they knew him well.


    She realized that they were walking towards a well lit building, odd when compared with the rest of the structures that Natalia could see because it was well lit and modern looking. She heard Rei curse, saying ¡°Now she takes a walk.¡± as he pulled her suddenly down another path, apparently to intercept two women who were walking away from them.


    Once they got close to the women, Rei called out ¡°Hey Kay, you were asking about that girl I met!¡± and they turned around. Natalia froze and her blood turned to ice.


    One woman was the Kitsune from the photo, not terribly changed from the moment that it was taken. The other woman, she realized in horror, was Marigold Sullivan, the nurse from her investigation.


    ¡°Rei! What the hell were you thinking?¡± Natalia heard his sister yelling, though the InSec officer ignored it as the repercussions of what she¡¯d found became clear. ¡°Alexander is going to blow a gasket!¡±


    ¡°Alex¡­ Alexander¡­ but¡­ he doesn¡¯t¡­ do¡­¡± Rei¡¯s face, clouded and confused for so long, suddenly cleared. ¡°What¡­ what am I¡­ Natalia! Um¡­ I can explain!¡±


    ¡°You didn¡¯t know you were bringing me here, did you.¡± Natalia stated, though it could have sounded like a question.


    ¡°No.¡± A grim voice said from behind her. ¡°I made him do it.¡±


    Natalia and Rei both turned, Natalia taking a step back at the cold gaze the Siren who had spoken was giving her. ¡°I am sorry Rei, but you wouldn¡¯t have brought her willingly.¡±


    Then Natalia¡¯s world exploded into a super-nova of pain.

 Chapter 18, Assault

    Chapter Eighteen


    With quick fingers on his comp-pad Shido began making arrangements for their team to pull out of the party.  It wasn¡¯t difficult. All it took was him saying they may have a lead on the Genie case. He didn¡¯t doubt that Natalia¡¯s boyfriend had been tampered with, Natalia¡¯s instincts where too good and those instincts were why she was the Major and he was a Lieutenant. Takada, Noriko, and Haru, all dressed as servers met him in the back, and Lucas, Osamu, and Miyako followed as soon as they where out of their ¡®play clothing.¡±


    The other half of the team, still working the Genie case, was going to meet them at the Tube repair depot. Saki, much to her annoyance was told to stay at Central. Her ribs had still not fully recovered. Shido knew she wasn¡¯t going to stay put, the sixteen year old Kitsune girl looked up to Natalia like a big sister and if her big sister was in trouble she was going to be there.


    The question is, is the Siren after her boy toy or after Talia? He thought as he monitored the tracking device in her comm.


    Indeed it is. Commented Takada, worry flavoring his mind voice.


    Shido didn¡¯t have to be a Siren to sense the worry in the team. Natalia was more than their boss, she was their sister. They had been raised together since they were babies, and the idea that anything would happen to their practical, loving foster sibling was anathema.


    He set the comm to record her progress and switched his view. He saw Allison¡¯s team had already gotten to the depot, and he noted a single dot far away moving towards them. Saki, he mentally groaned.


    ¡°You didn¡¯t really expect her to stay at the tower?¡± Noriko asked sarcastically.


    ¡°No, but Talia would have yelled at me if I hadn¡¯t given the order. She¡¯s pretty protective of Saki.¡±


    ¡°True.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯ll take her at least three hours this time of day to get through all the tubes, if she doesn¡¯t miss any of the interchanges.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s family.¡±


    ¡°Yup.¡± Shido flipped back to monitoring Natalia. This guy had better be worth the trouble, if he gets her hurt I am going to make him wish he¡¯d been born female. Shido squawked angrily as suddenly Talia¡¯s signal dropped off the map.


    ¡°What the Hell!¡± cursed Shido as he franticly tapped on his pad.


    ¡°What is it?¡± Miyako said leaning over.


    ¡°He just lost Talia¡¯s tracer.¡± Noriko replied for the distracted Kitsune.


    Shido pounded a full alert into the pad alerting the whole team to the fact Natalie¡¯s beacon had gone off network.  Dammit Natalia, you better not be walking into a trap!


    Natalia screamed, as the Siren tore into her mind, she felt his icy hatred, and the cool sense of triumph that filled him as he psionicly raped her, as he prepared to kill her. However she had been raised with psychics, she had been probed before. The woman fell back on training that had been pounded into her mind and body.  She gathered all the physical and emotional agony of her life and forged it into a blade, shoving it into the Siren¡¯s brain.  Torture, rape, and death, she poured it all into the male, without hesitation or mercy.


    She felt him scream as she fell to the ground, the whole exchange taking less than three heartbeats. Her body jerked and twitched from sensory overload that also left her blind and deaf. Rei, run. Please Gaia, see him to safety. Her consciousness faded; her body too weak from the attack and counter attack to keep her out of slumber¡¯s embrace.


    Rei, his mind still whirling with the return of conscious thought, didn¡¯t react instantly to Natalia¡¯s scream or her falling to the ground. Instead his sister reached out and caught her. Though Kay¡¯s mind was also reeling, both from the dawning look of betrayal on her twin¡¯s face, and by the richness and completeness of the scent of joining between him and the Kitsune woman now in her arms.


    A bond that Alexander hadn¡¯t realized was there. He never had a chance to discover it, as Natalia¡¯s attack caused him to scream and stumble back.


    That scream was a wakeup call for Rei, who cried out his own rag, and dove towards the reeling Siren, not even bothering to draw his blades. The first punch took Alexander in the jaw, while the second took him in the gut. The older man went tumbling to the ground, rolling several meters down the sloped path and Rei began to follow. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.


    ¡°Rei! Stop!¡± Marigold yelled, realizing that there were several other Sirens with Alexander when the attack had started. Without thinking she shoved one of the albinos into the two next to him, adrenaline giving her more strength than she knew, causing the three men to fall upon the gravel path.


    Rei, realizing he was outnumbered, turned back towards the women and ran straight for Natalia. He scooped her up into his arms, out of his sisters. ¡°Tell Alexander to go fuck himself and his little hole in the ground!¡± He growled and began running to the elevator.


    One of the albinos recovered. Both Kay and Marigold felt the mind-numbing ripple of a psi bolt blow past them towards the Kitsune couple. Rei stumbled, but his mind was still jumbled from the breaking of Alexander¡¯s compulsion, which ironically provided him with some protection from the mental blow. The Siren growled and began to concentrate on forming a stronger spear of negative emotion and pain.


    Instead, he went to the land of Nod as Kay¡¯s fist drove into the back of his skull. A clumsy spinning crescent kick that Rei would have teased her for removed a second one from the fight as he tried to rise up off the ground. The third psychic looked up at her and froze. ¡°Do it. I want you to.¡± Kay said with a snarl on her pretty face.


    Meanwhile Rei reached the elevator, thanking whatever force it was that seemed to like him at that moment that the car was still open. He dove in, kicking the button that would return them to the surface.


    In his arms Natalia stirred. Groaning she blinked up at him, unsure for a moment of who he was. When her mind caught up with her eyes she whispered, ¡°Did we get away?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. If we¡¯re lucky my sister¡¯s killing that albino freak as we speak.¡±


    ¡°That¡­ That was really your sister?¡± Natalia asked, trying weakly to get out of his arms, and failing. With a sigh she relaxed into them, feeling strangely safe for as intimate a pose as they were in.


    Rei nodded. ¡°Yeah. The place we were in is called the Deep. It was supposed to just be a community for people who wanted to avoid the Australasian Council¡¯s edicts and hide from baby killers, but apparently it has become Alexander¡¯s personal kingdom.¡±


    Natalia blinked, trying to reconcile what he was saying with her own world view. ¡°Wait¡­ what do you mean baby killers? And why was that terrorist down there?¡±


    ¡°What terrorist?¡±


    ¡°The blond¡­ Marigold Sullivan¡­ she stole a biological waste container from Sydney Central.¡±


    ¡°A biological waste¡­ is that what the news is claiming she did?¡± Rei laughed a harsh bark of irony.


    ¡°The reports¡­. Yes¡­¡± Natalia struggled to remind herself that Rei didn¡¯t know what she was, at least not yet. ¡°She killed three InSec agents and stole a dangerous biological agent.¡±


    Rei shook his head. ¡°I hate to burst your bubble, but she didn¡¯t steal any contaminants, although the hospital sure thought he was waste. She found a baby, sitting in the incinerator room waiting to be burned alive, and stole him to save his life. From what she said there were several Siren bodies, all infants, lying around. The InSec agents, and there were two of them, were chasing her through the streets trying to kill her¡­ probably to get the baby back or to prevent her from reporting what she¡¯d seen to someone who might actually have been able to make the Council care.¡±


    ¡°What?¡± Natalia asked, struggling with him so she could regain her feet. ¡°Wait¡­ You¡¯re the Rei who was reported as being with her!¡±


    ¡°Ye¡­ wait, no news report mentioned me.¡± Rei paused, looking at her confused.


    Natalia sighed. ¡°Rei¡­ I have something to tell you, and I want you to know I had no idea you were in any way connected to Marigold Sullivan when we met. We had actually thought she was killed by Ferals several days ago.¡±


    ¡°We? Who, exactly, is we?¡± Rei demanded


    The door to the elevator opened, and he helped her to her feet, and to the door of the hotel room.


    ¡°I¡¯m¡­¡± Natalia half groaned. ¡°Rei, I¡¯m with ISF, Special Investigations division.¡± She looked up into his shocked eyes, wincing at the betrayal she saw forming there. ¡°Tell me the truth. Was it really a baby she stole? Did she really find it in a pile of murdered infants?¡±


    Rei considered lying, or running, but something told him to trust her. ¡°I can¡¯t be certain about the infants, but the look on her face, the horror as she spoke about it¡­ it was clear as if she¡¯d written it on her own forehead. She saw what she described, and when I found her she was carrying the infant in her arms with two InSec black ops guys shooting at her with Sonic Pistols set to lethal.¡±


    ¡°The hospital reported to us that she killed the guard over the incinerator, and stole a potential bio-weapon. We knew nothing about babies.¡±


    Rei scoffed. ¡°Alexander seemed pretty sure that the government has been killing off Siren kids for years, right out of the womb. Why should I believe you?¡±


    Natalia grabbed him by his cheeks, and forced him to look at her. ¡°Look at me Rei. Do I look like I¡¯m lying to you?¡±


    Rei looked at her, really looked at her. He opened and closed his mouth, then sighed. ¡°No, but Marigold wasn¡¯t lying either.¡±


    ¡°Then someone at that Hospital is committing murder on a scale I can¡¯t believe. There¡¯s been an upswing on anti-Siren sentiment among the Uppercity population in recent years¡­ Don¡¯t you think that it¡¯s more likely a few wackos got an evil idea in their head than a government cover up over what¡­ thousands of dead babies?¡± Natalia looked him in the eye. ¡°Which is most likely the truth? That one small group of people at one hospital is committing an unspeakable act and managing to cover it up, or that the government as a whole has gotten literally thousands of people to keep quiet about a program of genocide?¡±


    Rei sighed, and slumped. ¡°I guess you¡¯re right.¡± He admitted all be it reluctantly. ¡°But still¡­ what was Marigold supposed to do? Leave the baby there?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll get the arrest and execution order rescinded. I just need to contact my superiors, and you can come with us to bust up the baby murdering bastards Marigold found. She¡¯s invited too!¡±


    ¡°Sounds good.¡± Rei smiled wanly, and helped her out of the hotel room, to the stairs. They hit the street and managed to walk about five meters down the road when four Kitsune surrounded them and pointed sonic pistols at Rei¡¯s head.


    ¡°Please tell me these are friends of yours.¡± Rei said, freezing and raising the arm and hand that wasn¡¯t busy holding Natalia up.

 Chapter 19, Leadership

    Chapter Nineteen


    Alexander regained consciousness to the sound of Kay¡¯s angry voice yelling at someone. He blinked his eyes clear, and pushed himself up, dizzily, to his knees.


    ¡°I ought to kill you where you kneel, Alexander!¡± Kay was in his face before he had a chance to regain his bearings. ¡°How dare you tweak my brother or do that to his mate! You could have killed her!¡±


    ¡°Mate¡­what? She¡­ She was InSec¡­¡± He was stunned at how incoherent he sounded, as well as the fact that he couldn¡¯t seem to sort out why he was so incoherent. Natalia¡¯s lance of negative memories and psychological scars wasn¡¯t a psi-bolt by any conventional standard, but he¡¯d been open and actively receiving so it had worked just as well. It was something akin to a cherry bomb being dropped into a toilet. The cherry bomb couldn¡¯t do any damage to the system, unless it was flushed. His own arrogance had done the job for her.


    Rei¡¯s right jab, only dimly remembered as a sudden lance of purely physical pain followed by darkness, hadn¡¯t helped matters any.


    ¡°What are you talking about? Rei would know if she was just investigating him. He¡¯s not that distracted by a pretty ass!¡± Kay snarled. ¡°Besides that, they are fully bonded. You can tell by their scent! I hope to God they¡¯re using protection when they have sex, or we¡¯re going to have a miniaturized pair of them running around here very soon!¡± She muttered, with a grim smile.


    ¡°We won¡¯t have anything running around here.¡± Alexander countered, finally managing to pull his cognitive self-back together. He jerked back to his feet, less clumsily than when he¡¯d reclaimed his knees, and looked Kay in the eyes. ¡°Natalia wasn¡¯t investigating Rei, but she is an InSec major, as well as being the head of the investigation into Marigold.¡± He ignored the blond, who he just realized was crouched over a bleeding, semi-conscious Siren, when she gasped. ¡°I, and the Gestalt team, was following Rei at the party I sent him too, and her mental defenses all but screamed InSec. I chose, for the good of the deep, to implant the need to bring her down here so I could deep probe her and find out what they knew. I had no idea she and Rei were so close!¡±


    He grimaced, and grudgingly admitted to himself that he¡¯d made a mistake. She had all but given up the chase, but he didn¡¯t admit to the error. He was embarrassed enough without Kay knowing.


    ¡°You¡¯re telling me that you were floating around in Rei¡¯s mind, and you didn¡¯t realize they are a mated pair!¡± Her scorn was a physical thing, as was her disbelief. ¡°And you¡¯re trying to tell me my brother could love someone who¡¯d help cover up the killing of babies?¡±


    ¡°She thinks Marigold stole a bio-waste container.¡± Alexander sighed. ¡°As for knowing they were mated¡­ The migraine such things cause tends to slow down surface thoughts, and the connection was fragile enough at that range that I wasn¡¯t willing to risk paging through Rei¡¯s thoughts to find out what he thought of her in any detail. He¡¯d have noticed!¡±


    ¡°And have kicked your stupid ass out.¡± Kay yelled, before sighing. ¡°But now InSec knows we¡¯re here.¡± Kay turned to a nearby Kitsune, causing Alexander to realize they were surrounded by a crowd of people. ¡°Sound the alarms and get people to the evacuation tunnels.¡± She turned to Marigold. ¡°Is he alright?¡±


    ¡°He¡¯ll live, and he should be able to move safely.¡± The nurse replied, gesturing to one of the other Sirens to help the man to his feet. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    ¡°Then I need you to head to the clinic and get some people to help you start packing it up. Don¡¯t worry about the heavy equipment but grab the portable stuff fast.¡± Kay raised her voice, so the entire crowd could hear her. ¡°Spread out and tell people the alarms are not a drill. Families are only to grab one spare change of clothing and whatever food and supplies they think they¡¯ll need and can carry. Security teams go into the tunnels first, Mothers with children second, then everyone else.¡±


    Her expression turned grim, though her voice remained strong. ¡°I also need some volunteers to go last and defend our retreat if necessary.¡± The last was said in a reluctant tone.


    ¡°She knows about Rei¡¯s hidey hole.¡± Alexander sighed and felt no satisfaction at her going pale. That had, long ago, been determined to be the fall back point if the Deep ever became untenable, without Rei¡¯s consent. ¡°He took her there first, for some reason.¡±


    ¡°You told him to bring her home in your little hypnotic suggestion I suppose?¡±


    Alexander nodded.


    Kay sighed. ¡°Alexander¡­ this place hasn¡¯t been Rei¡¯s home for years. You honestly never realized how much he hated it here, did you.¡±


    ¡°I thought he just didn¡¯t like me.¡± The albino admitted. He¡¯d never really cared, one way or the other, though he did respect Rei¡¯s abilities as a fighter and a spy.


    ¡°Before now? He just found you annoying.¡± Kay¡¯s expression hardened. ¡°After you tried to kill his soul mate? He¡¯ll likely kill you the next time he sees you, if I¡¯m not there to stop him.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m surprised you would.¡± Alexander admitted. ¡°Try and stop him, I mean.¡±


    ¡°So am I. Medical School must have shoved more of that ¡®do no harm¡¯ stuff into me than I thought. A pity that.¡± Kay growled. ¡°But get this through your pale little forehead. You are no longer in charge of this community, or these people. You had your chance, and now I¡¯m taking over until we can figure out some more permanent, and less dangerous, arrangement. Now get your people, and tell them to get to the tunnels. We¡¯ll just have to hope Natalia doesn¡¯t realize we¡¯d run there, while we figure out a backup plan.¡±


    Her hard gaze locked on his pink eyes. ¡°I want you back here in five minutes. You and I just volunteered to be among the last people out.¡±


    Alexander nodded, and moved to obey her commands. Silently he seethed, but accepted that she was taking over, and it was due to his own mistakes and arrogance. He¡¯d have to take care to rebuild his influence.


    Alexander hurried along the gravel path, quickly reaching a small section of the town, somewhat separated from most of the Deep¡¯s clusters of huts, where the bulk of the Deep¡¯s Sirens called home. ¡°We are revealed. Pack lightly and bring all the food you can carry. We must leave immediately.¡± He ordered mentally, watching as his people hurried to obey his command. He, himself, always kept a bag ready for escape. It was a habit he had formed long before creating the Deep, and that he¡¯d never quite given up. He grabbed that satchel now and ran back to where he left Kay.


    He passed groups of people, some panicking and some calm in spite of their fear, throwing together bundles. He cursed himself for not insisting everyone keep an evacuation kit ready, but admitted it was another sample of his own arrogance. Privately he swore to himself to gain a hold on that particular monster within him.


    After a small amount of searching, he found Kay standing in front of her clinic barking orders to the thirty Kitsune, Sirens and Humans who made up her volunteer defense force. One man was handing old model sonic pistols from a case Alexander had insisted they keep at the clinic. He found it ironic that Kay, who had fought so hard to not have them in her laboratory and hospital, was now the one ordering them distributed.


    ¡°Make sure your sonics are fully charged, and your ear-protection is online. We have no idea when InSec will be here, so assume their coming down the elevator shaft now.¡± She instructed. ¡°Good luck, and keep your heads about you. I will not be leaving anyone behind, so don¡¯t you dare get yourselves killed! I don¡¯t want to have to carry you.¡±


    Alexander, accepting one of the offered sonic pistols with a nod, silently sighed. The doctor didn¡¯t have the cool logic or the ability to make the hard decisions needed to lead their people through such a dangerous time. He¡¯d have to make sure to take control at his earliest possible chance.


    The people deserved no less than the best leadership possible.

 Chapter 20, Betrayed

    Chapter Twenty


    ¡°Shido, stand down! I¡¯m alright.¡± Natalia wished her voice sounded better, it was weak and rough. Shido holstered his pistol though he looked unconvinced. He eyed Rei mistrustfully.


    Noriko winced, and walked over to Natalia, ¡°She¡¯s been Deep Scanned.¡± The female Siren gently touched Natalia¡¯s head, and she sighed gratefully as the Siren soothed the battered edges of her mind. ¡°I don¡¯t sense any permanent damage.¡±


    Natalia looked at Rei, the betrayal in his eyes tearing at her. ¡°Rei meet my team. The Kitsune are Shido, Miyuki, and Osamu Yu. The Sirens are, Noriko, and Takada Aiko, and Haru Miko. The human is Luke Herald. ¡°


    ¡°The rest of the team should be here in the next couple of minutes, we were closer to you when your comm came back on grid.¡± Shido said as he typed on his data pad, there was an odd look on his face as he kept deeply breathing in smelling the air.


    ¡°Alright-.¡± Natalia felt her legs buckle, and Rei and Noriko held her up. ¡°We need to report in.¡±


    ¡°You found the subject!¡± said Noriko in surprise. ¡°This was the Rei we were looking for, the one who helped her escape!¡±


    Immediately Shido re-pulled his gun.


    ¡°Specialist Noriko, you are speaking out of turn! Lieutenant, did I not order you to holster that weapon? Now do so before I kick your ass!¡± Natalia said, even in her weakened state her words held the snap of their old drill sergeants.


    Noriko blushed, and Shido jumped. Natalia looked around at her people with cool professional eyes. ¡°Yes, I found Marigold Sullivan, she is alive. However, InSec has been misled. Nurse Sullivan did not steal a bio-weapon. She stole an infant Siren, who had been marked for termination. Apparently, the Sydney Central Hospital has overstepped its bounds and is moving on its own anti-Siren agenda. Nurse Sullivan reported to Rei that she found multiple dead infants in the incinerator room that she found our ¡°bio-weapon¡±, a newborn infant, in.¡±


    Takada looked sickened, and the rest of the squad just looked pissed. Noriko moved over to Rei she inclined her head politely. ¡°Rei-san, with your permission I wish to check you for further tampering and make sure that you are undamaged.¡± For Noriko that stated her view on Rei, she was willing to offer her abilities to help him.


    Reluctantly Rei nodded, and Noriko slipped into his mind, enraged at the level of disregard that had been shown to him. However, her mental hands were gentle as cooling mists as she soothed and mended the ragged psy-wounds left by this ¡®Alexander¡¯s¡¯ attack. She felt Takada¡¯s silent agreement, as he remotely monitored her work.


    ¡°Better?¡± Noriko stepped back next to Takada


    Rei gave the albino woman a half grin. ¡°Much.¡±


    ¡°Once this is over I will teach you how to protect your mind.¡± said Haru. The InSec Kitsune looked shocked at the somber Siren, who almost never spoke out loud.


    ¡°Shido, please connect me with the Tower. It¡¯s time to make this right.¡±


    ¡°Yes, Sir!¡± Shido tapped onto his comm and opened a channel.


    Rei leaned over to Noriko. ¡°Why do they keep calling her ¡®Sir¡¯?¡¯ I know we¡¯re shape shifters and all but I can assure you she¡¯s a woman.¡±


    Noriko stared at Rei for a moment, before chuckling. ¡°It¡¯s a military thing, Rei. Just go along with it.¡±


    Natalia ignored them both in favor of her CO. ¡°Colonel Trencher. Major Natalia Yu reporting, we have located Marigold Sullivan. However, the situation is not what we were led to believe.


    Pouring a shot of whisky was the first thing Colonel Noah Trencher did as he disconnected from ISF team Yu-Aiko, then he got to work. He pulled up a map of the sector Natalia and her team was in, determining exactly where they were.


    Pressing a button on his consol, he had his secretary get him Special Operations, black op¡¯s, on the line. ¡°This is Colonel Noah Trencher. I need to speak to our people in City Management.¡±


    The functionary who had answered the line didn¡¯t bother to confirm his request, instead transferring him instantly. ¡°This is Major Christopher Marpel.¡±


    ¡°Major, this is Colonel Trencher. I need you to arrange for an accident.¡±


    ¡°May I inquire what has happened, Sir?¡± The Human officer asked, though the tapping of keys over the speaker told Trencher he was already beginning to obey.


    ¡°The Yu-Aiko team has been influenced by¡­ revolutionary forces. They are on the three thousandth block of Sydney Undercity District Four. We don¡¯t have time to do this clean for¡­ security reasons and I require something to destroy the building they are occupying, and anyone who may be in the area.¡±


    ¡°Did you say the Yu-Aiko team sir?¡±


    Trencher frowned. ¡°Yes Major. Is that a problem?¡±


    ¡°Not at all sir. Just a shame, such a group of up and comers falling and all.¡± The man''s voice held no hint of despair. That angered the Colonel, but he didn¡¯t waste the effort in correcting the younger man.


    ¡°Just get it done, Major.¡±


    ¡°Should I work to avoid civilian casualties?¡± The man asked.


    Trencher paused to think about the question, before sighing in resignation. ¡°No. This is a Red Class situation. Do what you need to do.¡± He ordered before disconnecting.


    He did not let himself feel the guilt that nibbled at the corners of his mind; if he did he never would have been able to excel at his job, a job that required many hard choices. It would have been better for everyone had the damn nurse gotten eaten by the Ferals like they had originally thought. He could only pray that Gaia would forgive him.


    The simple fact was that, if humanity was to survive, the Kitsune and the Sirens had to be either controlled or eliminated. People didn¡¯t know how many spontaneous Kitsune and Siren births were still happening. They didn¡¯t know, and didn¡¯t want to know.


    Trencher hated the fact that, in order to save his own race they had to destroy innocent infants who had done nothing wrong except be born with the wrong set of genetics. But that was not going to stop him from fulfilling his duties.


    For more than twenty years they had done everything they could to control the sub-human populations, destroying almost all the Sirens, and about fifty percent of Kitsune births. Female Kitsune always had twins, so it was easy enough to tell the family there was only one live birth, the extraneous twin would then either be eliminated or sent to the military cr¨¨ches.


    Even with this brutal pruning Kitsune made up about twenty present of the billion people living in the City, a series of arcologies that had only three million square miles of land. Even with the arcologies there was only so much space to spare, and only so many resources to feed and maintain the population.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.


    Especially now, since Luna was cutting back on its food exports. The moon people claimed that the federation owed them millions of cred in resources for the previous aid, and unless they were paid they were going to cut the Earth off.


    He took another shot of whiskey. He could not allow Project Beagle to become public knowledge. There would be too much fall out, too many families wondering if their ¡°still-birth¡± was really a Siren. It was his job to protect humanity. Someone had to.


    Natalia grinned at Shido. "The Colonel is sending re-enforcements to secure the hotel.


    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you tell him about the Deep?¡± asked Rei as he watched Noriko, help Natalia to a bench.


    ¡°Because he didn¡¯t need to know.¡± Natalia rubbed her temples. Not telling her commander about the Deep had been a difficult decision. ¡°I know too many Kitsune and Sirens who have died because of human intolerance. Your people are safe, they aren¡¯t hurting anyone and from what I saw they really aren¡¯t draining resources that the city needs. I can understand them wanting a sanctuary.¡±


    ¡°You will need to go down and get Marigold.¡± said Shido, ¡°They are going to want her here, and she is going to need to give evidence against the hospital to InSec Sirens.¡±


    ¡°I can do that.¡± said Rei. ¡°I may need to kill Alexander to take her, but I don¡¯t consider that a huge loss to the Deep.¡±


    ¡°Nor would I¡± growled Noriko. ¡°That ham-handed bastard.¡± The pale woman turned to her leader. ¡°Major, I would like to accompany Rei-san to the Deeps. If this ¡®Alexander¡¯ tries to tamper with Rei-san¡¯s mind or use psionic attacks he may need backup. Also having one of our people with him may show that we mean no harm.¡±


    ¡°I agree. Rei, would you mind taking Takada and Noriko with you?¡±


    ¡°No, I like the idea of having someone back me up against that albino snake.¡±


    ¡°Major are you sure you want to send both of us? That leaves Haru as the only Siren you have.¡±


    ¡°Alexander is strong. The strongest Siren I have felt in my mind.¡± Natalia looked into both her Sirens¡¯ eyes to emphasize how serious she was. ¡°He may have no finesse, but he does have power. I¡¯m not taking any risks. Are you armed?¡±


    Noriko shook her head. ¡°I only have my knives. The serving uniforms didn¡¯t have anywhere for me to hide a pistol.¡±


    ¡°I have a spare pistol.¡± Takada said handing it to her. ¡°I also have my knives, and a handful of flash bangs. We are expecting the Genie case to be messy so I over armed.¡±


    Natalia smiled at her team. This was why they were the best.


    ¡°Understood.¡± Rei and the two Sirens made their way back to the elevator. A few minutes later Alison arrived with the other half of the team, and Natalia quickly briefed them.


    ¡°Okay. Let¡¯s run this clean people, secure the hotel while we wait for transport. Remember we are dealing with a powerful rouge Siren, so keep sharp. Once we have Marigold secured, we are dealing with him. Shido, you¡¯re with me.¡±


    The team scattered, And Natalia, leaning on Shido¡¯s shoulder, made her way to the hotel lobby. ¡°Damn Deep Probes.¡± Natalia cursed; she hated feeling weak.


    ¡°You¡¯ll feel better after some sleep. And don¡¯t you dare go all noble, have Noriko monitor you. It will take twice as long for you to feel better if you are nightmaring all night, and you know you will. It¡¯s a side effect of the probe.¡± Shido¡¯s voice was stern and full of care as he checked his com for updates.


    ¡°Talia something¡¯s wrong. I¡¯m not seeing any messages through dispatch for our transport.¡±


    A steal whine came from overhead. Suddenly the building shook and the ceiling crashed down around them, the plasticine rebar snapping sending shards of shrapnel through the air. Shido threw himself onto Natalia, his tuned reflexes responding instinctively to protect her. Both of them screamed in pain as the cacophony of destruction battered their tuned ears, as they where buried in the collapsing building.


    Saki watched in horror as the Leo administrative gondola crashed into the shoddy looking hotel. She could see the Leos inside panicking through the windows as the clamps released from the archeology ceiling, and dropped the armored station forty meters down onto the hotel crushing it like a cheep can of protein.


    She ran her heart panicking. That was the building her team, her family, was in, but her head remained clear. This was her training; she had not been raised ISF but instead in a Ranger¡¯s cr¨¨che. She had been transferred out of the Rangers when an opening had come up for an ISF team. Rangers didn¡¯t panic. Fear was a murderer that could never be captured, but the wise learned how to avoid.


    She slid her slim body through a partially crushed window and began crawling through the rubble. She found two dead civilians in the rubble, her heart pounding as she continued moving, checking her comm periodically for her team¡¯s locations. She found Haru first, dead and half crushed by a fallen wall, his blue eyes staring blankly. Not far from Haru was Miyako, the saucy Kitsune woman was dead from hundreds of shards of plasticine that had shredded her body like a fragmentation grenade. She also found Lucas, but the only way she recognized him was by his scent. He¡¯d been buried by the ceiling and the smell of death mingled with his sweat under the rubble. She winced as she crawled over the pile of debris covering her friend¡¯s body, whispering a silent apology to him.


    She already knew Aaron, Takada and the other Siren had to be dead, they would be mind calling for help otherwise, but she hoped that some of the humans or Kitsune had survived. Saki prayed that she was doing more than searching for corpses.


    Her comm flashed as a message was broadcasted.


    ¡°All Leos report immediately to the three thousand block of sector Sydney three. There has been a terrorist attack. The area is to be sanitized. Terrorists may be dressed in InSec uniforms. Shoot to kill all Human-forms in the area. Repeat, shoot to kill all Human-forms in Area, there is to be no exceptions...¡±


    ¡°Sweet Gaia.¡± Saki whispered. ¡°We¡¯ve got to get out of here!¡± She found herself in the lobby. It was the first area she¡¯d found with any standing room. The ex-Ranger heard coughing and cursing, and carefully made her way towards the sound. She found Shido and Natalia, partially buried, in ceiling plaster.


    ¡°Hold on! Don¡¯t move. I¡¯ll get you out!¡± Saki winced as she speed tuned her muscles for extra strength, and began pulling the chunks of concrete off of her friends. Shido moaned as he was freed, and Saki could see that one of his arms was shattered. There were also a lot of lacerations on his back, both from placticine shards and from chunks of cement.


    ¡°Saki?¡± Whispered Natalia as she coughed.


    ¡°It¡¯s me big-sister. We need to get out of here!¡± Saki winced as she heard gunshots ring outside of the building.


    ¡°They are trying to kill us!¡± whispered Shido in horror.


    ¡°Saki, do you have your door cutter.¡± Natalia asked.


    ¡°Yes, I have my full kit. If I was going to get into trouble for disobeying orders, I wasn¡¯t going to get in more trouble for being under-equipped.¡±


    ¡°Open the elevator shaft.¡±


    The sixteen year old girl pulled a tube out of one of her numerous pouches, and carefully applied yellow paste it to the elevator door. It hissed and bubbled for a moment then Saki kicked it in, sending a three foot circle of the door spinning into the darkness. Without being told she began to set rappel lines in place. A loud whining sound caused all of the Kitsune to pause.


    ¡°Oh shit. That¡¯s the gondola¡¯s generator. It¡¯s going to explode!¡± Saki cursed and hurried, loading a web shot into her assault rifle¡¯s grenade launcher and shot it down the elevator shaft. Then she threw Shido into the tunnel, ignoring him as the wounded man shouted in terror as he fell into the darkness. There was no time to set proper rappels, let alone a repelling rig for an injured man. She and Natalia grabbed the one line she had set and climbed into the hole. Quickly the pair slid down the rope to the web that Saki had set, Shido was unconscious from the pain of landing on his bad arm.


    Saki and Natalia covered their injured brother with their bodies as a thunderous boom echoed through the elevator shaft, the pressure wave plastering them to the web. The edges of the resin mass began to fray and loose contact with the wall as dust and plasticine splinters rained down on them.


    Oh Gaia please let the web hold. Prayed Saki, as seconds seemed to turn into hours. Then there was only darkness and a silence broken only with the sounds of their breathing, Saki pulled out a glow rod and broke it, bathing them in an eerie greenish yellow light. The young Kitsune girl looked up. The elevator shaft was completely blocked by rubble.


    ¡°Saki, how many more web-charges do you have?¡± Asked Natalia,


    ¡°Um, I had a full clip, so five more.¡±


    ¡°Alright, Set a new web for us to put Shido on, I don¡¯t trust this one not to give out after taking that shockwave. After that I want you to fill in the tunnel above us. I don¡¯t want them to be able to follow.


    Neither woman spoke of the rest of their family joining them. If they had survived the building¡¯s fall they would not have survived the blast. Once they were out of danger they would mourn. Saki hoped it didn¡¯t break her sister. She¡¯d only been with the team two years, and it was tearing her up that out of the fifteen field agents, now there were only three. She couldn¡¯t imagine how much harder it was going to be for Talia, who had been raised all her life with them, and who had the responsibility of leading them.


    Saki set another web further down the shaft, and they used the remains of the first web to lower Shido to safety. Natalia began giving their brother-in-arms what medical attention she could while Saki climbed the shaft and set tiny ball shaped charges into the upper part of the concrete tunnel. She set a web to catch the rubble so it wouldn¡¯t land on their heads, and climbed back down to rejoin her teammates. The detonation was small, precise and filled another twenty feet of tunnel with rubble.


    ¡°Now what Major?¡±


    ¡°Now we climb down. We are going to have to carry Shido, and hope we don¡¯t injure him more.¡± Natalia reached out and hugged Saki to her, burying her face in Saki¡¯s hair. Saki returned her hug, taking comfort in her adopted big sister¡¯s scent.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go, we have a hard climb ahead of us.¡± Natalia said her, voice thick with unshed tears.

 Chapter 21, Cover up

    Rei groaned as he shook the cobwebs out of his head. He¡¯d hit the wall of the elevator when, without warning, it had suddenly dropped. He assumed it had hit the ground, and was thankful that, whatever had happened, it had waited as long as it did. The total shaft was over a hundred feet, and a fall could very easily have been lethal.


    ¡°Is everyone alright?¡± He asked. The compartment was dark, forcing him to feel around for the wall, and hopefully the door. His hand landed on something softer and warmer than the simple elevator.


    ¡°You are most definitely not my type.¡± muttered Takeda from underneath him, Rei jerked his hand back.


    ¡°Sorry. I was feeling for the door.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve found it, but I can¡¯t get it open.¡± Noriko spoke up from behind the disoriented men. Rei shifted, and guiding himself by finding the Siren¡¯s shoulder. By following her arm down he found the door, and the crack down its center.


    He closed his eyes, concentrating for several seconds. His fingers tingled and he felt them shift, the structure of his finger¡¯s nails, much like the hair of a Kitsune, being still vital and easily shifted.


    His claws slid into the crack, and with a grunt and straining of well tuned muscles, he pulled the doors most of the way open. He froze when a half-dozen guns were pointed at his face.


    ¡°Stop! Stand down!¡± Kay¡¯s voice called from somewhere behind the barrels of the guns, but Rei didn¡¯t dare look up. They had his full attention until his sister stepped between him and death.


    ¡°Holster them!¡± Kay commanded, before she spun to face her brother. ¡°Oh my god, Rei. Are you all right?¡±


    ¡°Just bumped¡­ and angry.¡± Rei growled the last part, surging forward towards Alexander who was standing a few meters behind his sister. Kay barely caught him, pulling him back and holding him away from the Siren.


    ¡°Look, I know you¡¯re pissed, but we need him! What are you doing back down here¡­ and who are they?¡± she asked, finally having realized there were two other people in the car with him.


    ¡°These are Takeda and Noriko. They¡¯re part of Natalia¡¯s team. It seems that Marigold must have found some private little death party at the hospital, since they reported she had stolen a bio-weapon or something. Natalia¡¯s up above getting it all cleared out but we need Marigold to turn evidence.¡±


    ¡°And what about the Deep?¡± Kay asked.


    ¡°Natalia didn¡¯t even mention it to her bosses.¡± He looked up, blinking at the sparking cables hanging from above. ¡°What the hell happened to the elevator?¡±


    ¡°Most likely? Natalia¡¯s boss.¡± Alexander stated calmly. ¡°We¡¯ve heard reports of baby Siren being destroyed at most major hospitals in the Federation. This isn¡¯t a localized event. They were most likely keeping the truth from their precious cr¨¨ches since they know what would happen if so many well trained personnel found out, and didn¡¯t like it.¡±


    ¡°What are you saying? They blew up the hotel just to cover up a dead baby? That would have killed dozens of innocent bystanders! There¡¯s no way they would.¡± Takeda stated, crossing his arms.


    Noriko, who had focused more on communicating with the surface, choose that moment to reel. ¡°Oh my¡­ no¡­ He¡¯s right.¡± She said, gasping. ¡°There are¡­ easily fifty people up their dying beneath the rubble. They¡­ I think they dropped a Leo gondola on the building. One of the big, administrative facility ones.¡±


    Takeda could only stare at his partner in shock, so Rei asked desperately ¡°What about Natalia? The rest of your team?¡±


    ¡°I¡­ I can¡¯t hear most of them. I think their dead. Natalia, Shido, and Saki are on their way down on repelling lines. Shido¡¯s injured.¡±


    Rei snarled, while Kay ordered one of the security men with her to run to the clinic and get her a medical kit. ¡°The evacuation will have to continue, they¡¯ll find the shaft, and the Deep, soon enough.¡± Alexander stated, crossing his arms.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    ¡°I know.¡± Kay agreed. ¡°How long till you¡¯re people get down here. That things going to be a monster of a climb.¡±


    ¡°Five minutes.¡± Noriko concentrated again, communicating with her team mates. ¡°Saki say¡¯s she slapped some door buster charges on the elevator shaft above them. The only places she could see light from the surface sealed up when she blew it.¡±


    Alexander nodded. ¡°That¡¯ll buy us some time. They¡¯ll be sweeping the area, killing anyone they find, for the next hour at least. We¡¯ll have time to pull more supplies into the escape tunnel before collapsing it.¡±


    ¡°Good.¡± Kay said, turning to her squad. ¡°I want you to head for the evacuation point, and grab as many able bodies as you can to start clearing out the emergency food stores and medical supplies.¡±


    ¡°What about here?¡± One of the men asked, looking up at the hole. ¡°I mean, are we sure these guys were really betrayed? It could be a trick.¡±


    Kay grimaced, and opened her mouth to reply, but Alexander beat her to it. ¡°No. I feel the three minds in the elevator shaft. They¡¯re saddened, angry, and very nearly panicked though their training is preventing fear from taking over.¡± He nodded at Noriko and Takeda. ¡°Their surprise was also natural. They have most definitely been betrayed.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯d be the expert.¡± Rei growled.


    ¡°That¡¯s enough!¡± Kay snapped at him. ¡°Look, I know you¡¯re pissed, and I agree you have good reason, but now is not the time.¡± The doctor turned to the security team. ¡°Go, and get everything you can. Now!¡±


    As they ran off, Kay cracked open the large medical bag, and began examining Takeda. ¡°So¡­ how, pray tell, did you meet an InSec team leader in the first place, much less end up dating her?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re asking me this now?¡± Rei stared at her, incredulous. ¡°When they just collapsed a building on top of us?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re on the razor¡¯s edge of anger and panic, and these two aren¡¯t doing much better.¡± Kay commented calmly, dabbing an antiseptic pad at a cut on the albino¡¯s forehead. ¡°Anything to prevent focusing on it right now should help.¡±


    ¡°I saved her from a group of Ferals.¡± He replied.


    ¡°The way I hear it, you helped her smack them around. What¡¯s this about saving her?¡± Shido¡¯s voice was a surprise, and the five people looked up to see him being lowered by a rope. He looked dizzy and battered, but he had a wan smile on his face.


    ¡°Shido!¡± Takeda yelled, brushing off Kay¡¯s ministrations and climbing the ruin of the elevator car to help guide him down. Kay, shrugging, gestured for Rei to help him and moved to examine Noriko.


    ¡°What the hell happened?¡± Takeda demanded, taking hold of the Kitsune lieutenants improvised climbing harness and brute forcing him away from some jagged metal and into Rei¡¯s waiting hands.


    Shido sighed, and grunted as his butt hit the ground. ¡°Talia called the boss, and told him what happened. He said¡­ He told us he was sending back up and that he was going to help! Instead they dropped a freaking gondola on us, and Saki said they were ordering Leo units in with a shoot on sight order for anyone not wearing Leo blue!¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re trying to sanitize the situation.¡± Alexander¡¯s dry voice commented, the older Siren having moved closer to listen to Shido¡¯s report. ¡°It¡¯s easier to cleanse your team than to try and convince them it¡¯s all a big misunderstanding.¡±


    ¡°Cleanse?¡± Natalia¡¯s voice drifted down from above their heads. Unlike Shido she wasn¡¯t wounded, and the pounding in her head was momentarily forgotten in rage. She released her rope and dropped down, trying to tackle the albino from six meters above his head. Alexander managed to dodge, and take a defensive, martial stance.


    ¡°Would you prefer I use the word kill?¡± Alexander sneered. ¡°Our mutual, former employers were so fond of euphemisms after all. I didn¡¯t want to push you too hard into your new life as rogue agents.¡±


    ¡°Our employers?¡± Natalia was brought up short, as was Shido and the two younger Sirens.


    ¡°Oh yes. I¡¯m formerly of the organization as well. I wasn¡¯t Law and Order division, though.¡± His smile was down right feral, and strange to see on his careworn face. ¡°I was black ops. A trained assassin.¡±


    ¡°Black ops doesn¡¯t have any Sirens.¡± Takeda argued. ¡°We aren¡¯t an optimal choice for hard missions.¡±


    Alexander smirked, though his eyes remained dark and angry. ¡°We used to be. Then I happened. I had no idea they¡¯d stopped using us for InSec dirty work, though. I feel strangely proud of myself.¡±


    ¡°Gee, I¡¯m sure that¡¯s hard.¡± Rei commented dryly.


    Shido choose that moment to interrupt the tense standoff. ¡°Guys, what are we going to do now?¡± He demanded.


    Kay, who had been bent over him, bandaging several severe cuts, replied. ¡°We get you a stretcher, and we move to the escape tunnels. Natalia, please tell me you didn¡¯t report Rei¡¯s bolt hole to your boss.¡±


    ¡°No¡­ Why?¡±


    Rei groaned, piecing together the hint. ¡°Because I¡¯m about to get a titanic amount of house guests. Unexpected house guests I might add.¡±


    ¡°Oh.¡±


    ¡°Hey guys?¡± A high pitched, feminine voice called from above. The whole crowd looked, with Rei and Kay blinking in disbelief and Alexander freezing.


    ¡°Who the hell is that?¡± Rei demanded.


    ¡°Saki.¡± Natalia replied, humor and pain mingling in her voice.


    The pixie like Kitsune girl, complete with pigtails, looked down the barrel of her non-standard issue assault rifle at Alexander, the barrel not drifting in the least, in spite of her dangling seven meters off the ground by a single rope. ¡°So¡­ Does this mean I shouldn¡¯t shoot him?¡±


    Rei opened his mouth, but was punched in the gut by his sister. ¡°Yes! It means you don¡¯t shoot him.¡± Kay called out.


    ¡°Yet.¡± Natalia corrected her. Both women ignored the dark glare directed at them by the Siren.

 Chapter 23, Nightmares

    Chapter Twenty-Three


    Saki slid down the rope and landed, before racing to embrace Takada and Noriko. The Sirens held the tiny Kitsune girl tight. Natalia looked at Kay, her face and demeanor was calm, but Natalia¡¯s eyes were pools of agony.


    ¡°What do you need us to do?¡±


    ¡°Help us carry supplies. Then help my brother get people settled in the barracks.¡± She looked at Rei, ¡°You probably want to run ahead and make sure no one tries to set up in your room or in the storerooms.¡±


    Rei looked at Natalia, but she was looking at her remaining people checking the Siren over. He understood, she wanted to make sure her team and family were alright, but there was something almost intimate about how she interacted with them that made him feel a bit jealous.


    ¡°All right. I¡¯ll see you there.¡± he jogged off.


    Kay looked at the newcomers, ¡°Come on, I¡¯ll have you all work on packing the infirmary I¡¯ll show you where it is...¡± She led them to the med bay and watched as the four InSec agents moved together to pack everything essential. All of them had gone through basic EMT training and knew what was necessary and portable.


    ¡°Hey Saki, can we web this together? We would be able to carry more if it wasn¡¯t so awkward¡± asked Takada his voice dull.


    ¡°Sure, let¡¯s also put this in the pile that should fill a web.¡±


    Kay saw how the three strangers were acting around the male Siren and pulled Natalia aside. ¡°Do I need to worry about him?¡±


    Natalia closed her eyes. ¡°Almost our entire family died today, and his mate, his pregnant mate is in the Osaka research facility. If they¡¯ve killed us they are probably going to kill her, if they haven¡¯t already.¡± Natalia stepped away, not wanting to be over sharp in her grief, none of this was Kay¡¯s fault.


    ¡°I¡¯m going to check on your friend, once we get to the hidey hole I want all of you to come to me for an exam. You all probably have splinters that should be removed.¡± Kay walked off. They needed to be together, and needed to be alone to morn their teammates.


    Natalia kept her face a mask of calm. Her people needed her to be strong, but her mind kept drifting to the rest of her family buried in stone. Quiet Haru and quirky Miyuki, somber Aaron the baby of the group, only fifteen and just out of training. Numbly she and her team moved medical supplies, and when that was done they moved food. People glared at her and the others angrily, she accepted their wrath as justified. Like her they had lost their home.


    Finally Saki, and a few of the Deep Dwellers, blew all the tunnels. In a fog Natalia continued to work, hauling boxes of supplies into storerooms and helping to set up the medical facility. She ordered Takada and Noriko to rest and promised Noriko that she would wake the Siren woman before she went to sleep. Natalia worked until she could barely stand, until she couldn¡¯t tune any more energy out of her battered body. She found an empty corner and slumped to the floor, her back against the wall and her head resting on her knees half hidden by boxes.


    Gone. They¡¯re all gone. No tears slid down her face, she didn¡¯t feel that she had the right to cry. It was her job to take care of her family. Instead, she had led them to death. My fault. I should have researched the issue before contacting the office. Then I would have known¡­ they would be alive. These people would not have been forced out of their homes. Rei¡­


    She swallowed. It was so hard to maintain. So hard not to cry, she had been trained not to cry, to not show weakness. It was also hard to fight back the grey exhaustion that hung from her every limb. She did not want to go to sleep, she did not want the ghosts of her friends haunting her dreams, did not want the nightmares she knew Alexander¡¯s probe and her counterattack had brought to the surface.


    However, sleep would not be denied and whimpering, Natalia fell asleep curled into a fetal ball next to the concrete wall. A half hour later she started screaming, ¡°No. no! no! NOOO! Please stop. It hurts! Please! Please! AAAAAH!¡± As she thrashed about her hair shifting to its normal red, bruises appeared on her wrists, throat, and ankles. She moaned, and it was the sound of someone who wanted to die, as Natalia became locked in nightmares, she was too weary to wake from.


    Rei had accepted that things weren¡¯t going to be normal for a very long time to come, although he couldn¡¯t help resenting it. With a sigh, and a barely swallowed curse directed towards Alexander, he stubbed his toe on yet another bundle that had been tossed seemingly randomly on the barracks floor.


    Unable to take the crowding, or the muttered sounds of crying and anger, any longer and unwilling to try and cross the room to reach his thankfully still private chambers, he slid instead into the small storeroom his sister had claimed for medical supplies.


    It was, thankfully, empty of people and the lights were soft. Rei was somewhat astonished to find the room organized, especially compared to the mess the rest of his home was in. Of course, with his sister in charge, he probably shouldn¡¯t have been surprised.


    He leaned back against the door, closing his eyes. His mind drifted over everything that had been lost that day, and was thankful it wasn¡¯t worse. Houses and clothing were easy to replace, given time, but no one had lost their lives.


    Rei winced, his tired mind catching up with its own thoughts and reminding him that wasn¡¯t the truth. Natalia¡¯s team, or what was left of it at least, was walking around in a daze at the loss of the men and women they had worked with for years. The young girl, Saki, was doing the best of the group but Rei wasn¡¯t sure if that was because she was a relative newcomer, just benefited from the resilience of all teenagers, or if she was by nature impervious to depression.


    A sudden screaming plea jerked Rei from his musings. ¡°Natalia?¡± He called out, recognizing her voice, above the sounds of a fight. He knew that some people held resentment towards the former InSec team, blaming them for the loss of the Deep and their homes. The thought of someone cornering Natalia with the idea of getting revenge chilled him to the bone.


    He hurdled a low row of boxes, knives naked in his hands, to find Natalia alone and thrashing about as if she was fighting an invisible foe. It took him a second of shocked watching to realize her eyes were closed, and that she was trapped in a nightmare.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    Dropping his blades to the dusty concrete floor, Rei approached her cautiously. ¡°Natalia? Natalia! It¡¯s me, Rei!¡± He called, hesitant at first to reach out at the wildly flailing woman. Then one of her fists hit a stack of boxes, almost causing it to tip over on her. He swallowed and surged forward to capture her wrists and pull her towards him to trap them between their bodies.


    ¡°Shh¡­ Calm down. I¡¯m here, and no one¡¯s going to hurt you. Shh¡­¡± He whispered into her ear, holding her tightly. He ignored her feet and legs, kicking him again and again. He accepted the pain, because she needed him to.


    Rei was not the only one who had hear Natalia¡¯s scream Saki ran in seconds after he had scooped her into his arms, then turned around and raced back out shouting for Noriko.


    The albino was at the door within a minute and Noriko dropped to her knees beside Rei. ¡°She was supposed to come get me before she went to bed!¡± Noriko growled as she placed one hand on Natalia¡¯s forehead. The effect was immediate as every muscle in the nightmare plagued woman¡¯s body went limp.


    ¡°What did you do?¡± asked Rei as ¡°And what the hell are these bruises?¡±


    ¡°I soothed her, it¡¯s a trick I have.¡± The exhausted looking Siren rubbed her eyes, The makeup she wore to hide the paper whiteness of her skin smeared. ¡°I am considered a mutant. I have the ability to heal psionic wounds. Unfortunately, I can¡¯t heal straight emotional trauma. All I can do is sooth it.¡± Natalia curled into Rei¡¯s arms and Noriko¡¯s eyes widened in surprise. ¡°She should come to now.¡± As if hearing her words Natalia¡¯s eyes fluttered open.


    She surged forward, Rei instinctively held on to her and Noriko grabbed the Kitsune woman¡¯s arm before she could attack.


    ¡°It¡¯s alright! You¡¯re safe.¡± Noriko¡¯s voice was low and throaty as she spoke her words with her mouth and her mind.


    ¡°Oh God! I¡¯m sorry!¡± Natalia whispered as her face turned crimson. She winced as she looked down and saw the bruising.


    ¡°You were supposed to come get me.¡± scolded the psychic.


    ¡°I wasn¡¯t ready to sleep yet.¡±


    Noriko looked at Rei, ¡°Can you take her somewhere to rest? And put some food in her?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Alright. I¡¯m going to tell Takada what¡¯s going on and check on Shido, after that I¡¯ll come check on her, and make sure she actually sleeps without nightmares.¡±


    Rei stood and picked Natalia up in his arms, she squeaked in protest as he carried her across the main hall of the barracks to his room.


    Natalia was mortified that she had fallen asleep, that her nightmares had caused her to scream so loudly that people were still looking at her oddly. Rei helped her to his bed, and she sat on the edge. He pulled out some protein jerky and a can of water from his desk and handed it to her. ¡°You haven¡¯t eaten anything since the party, have you?¡±


    ¡°No.¡± she said taking the jerky and chewing it. ¡°There was too much to do.¡±


    Rei¡¯s eyes were glued to the necklace of bruises at her throat. He sat next to her.


    She knew he wanted to know what was going on, why she had screamed and why there were bruises on her skin where there had been no injury.


    ¡°I was ten when it was decided that I would lead my team.¡± Natalia stared at the can of water. ¡°It was between me and Shido, but they decided on me.¡±


    ¡°Talia. You don¡¯t have to-¡°


    ¡°I do. You deserve the truth, especially after all the trouble I¡¯ve caused you. I was moved into an officer¡¯s track program, which meant I was taking officer¡¯s training on top of everything else that we had to learn.


    We started working in the field under another commander when we were thirteen. We worked easy cases to start seasoning us, the Sirens were brought in two years later. That¡¯s when we became a full team, but there was still training, still things for us to learn.


    When we turned eighteen I was pulled from my team for a special officer¡¯s training class.¡± Natalia¡¯s voice had sunk to a whisper as she stared at the floor. ¡°They didn¡¯t tell me what the class was, only that I needed to tune my skin up and what classroom to go to¡­they blindfolded me and rubbed something under my nose so I couldn¡¯t smell. Then¡­¡± she began to shake, her eyes closed. ¡°They¡­ took turns training me.¡± She dropped the can of water, unopened it rolled across the floor.


    ¡°Never cry; never show weakness, they hurt you more then. They recorded it. They made me watch while telling me what I had done wrong. Then¡­ they did it again, and again, and again. I fought so much they had to bind me to a table so they could¡­¡± she touched the bruise on her throat. ¡°So that they could continue¡­having¡­training me.¡±


    ¡°I was in training for about a month; I don¡¯t know how many people¡­instructed me. I broke. I couldn¡¯t take the training, it got where I would go catatonic as soon as the teachers touched me. Then they kicked me out of the class, they gave me my Majors brass then told me that was as far as I was going to go¡­¡±


    ¡°After I got back to my family, I think Noriko is the only reason I ever slept. She kept the nightmares away. Haru, Luke, Shido and the rest of my brothers did everything they could to make sure I could tolerate being around males.¡± Natalia sobbed and pressed the heels of her hand to her eyes as she thought about her dead brothers.


    ¡°About a year ago, I quit having the nightmares as often, maybe only once a week.¡± Natalia looked up at Rei. She hesitantly half reached for him before dropping her hands to her lap, clenching them into fists. ¡°I haven¡¯t had any nightmares since we met. Not until today. I had thought that maybe I was finally better. I mean, save for one panic attack, I didn¡¯t freak out that badly when they told me I was being ordered to the breeding program.¡±


    ¡°What?¡± Rei barked.


    ¡°That was one of the things I wanted to tell you. Not that it matters now, I suppose. I was supposed to pick a mate out of the fifth or sixth dan Kitsune in InSec to breed a child with.¡± Natalia yawned, exhaustion was taking its toll, Rei could tell only through force of will was she still awake.


    The tone of her voice told him the forced breeding was something she had accepted as normal, even though the very idea of it terrified her. Rei wanted to seethe, he wanted to lose his temper and hunt down those who hurt her, but he couldn¡¯t. She needed him to stay calm, to soothe her. Revenge could wait, and a dark part of him admitted vengeance was probably a pipe dream at best.


    He gently touched Natalia¡¯s cheek, lightly and carefully. He did not want to bring back even a ghost of the nightmares that haunted her. ¡°The dreams returning are probably because of¡­ everything that¡¯s happened today. I¡¯ll help you through it though, I promise, and my sister may have an idea how to help more. But for now, you¡¯re going to need to lay back and sleep. You still look like your dead where you sit.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re taking this more calmly than I would have expected.¡±


    ¡°No, I¡¯m not.¡± He assured her. ¡°If you had given me names, or told me where to find the people who had done that¡­ I¡¯d already be gone, halfcocked and all stupid. As it is I want to throw up just imagining what they put you through.¡±


    ¡°It was training for¡­¡±


    ¡°Stop.¡± Rei softly silenced her. ¡°It was ¡­ rape¡­ I don¡¯t care what they called it, or how they justified it, they should never have done that to you!¡± He took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down. ¡°You survived, that¡¯s what is important. Together we¡¯ll get you through these nightmares.¡± He pushed her, gently, down to a laying position. ¡°Now go to sleep.¡±


    ¡°But if I sleep¡­¡±


    ¡°You might dream.¡± Rei nodded, reaching into a drawer in the small table next to his futon. He pulled out a packet of pills. ¡°I have a talent for working myself up, so while I have no idea how you¡¯re feeling I have some idea of how to deal with the dreaming. They¡¯ll knock you on their ass, they have to for us, but even if you dream you sure as hell won¡¯t remember them.¡± He assured her. ¡°Now let¡¯s see you take one.¡±


    Reluctantly, and after a short staring contest, Natalia slid the small pills into her mouth and swallowed. Rei smiled softly at her. ¡°Now lay back. I¡¯ll sit here and keep an eye on you.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re going to keep me safe from my nightmares?¡± Natalia, already feeling sleep claiming her, asked groggily.


    Rei, sitting back in his chair, nodded then realized she had already fallen asleep. He let himself begin to drift off too. He knew his dreams would be filled with the horrors she had described to him.


    It was the least he could suffer, since she had been forced to live through them.

 Chapter 24 Council

    Chapter Twenty-four


    Rei returned to awareness to find a crook in his back and Natalia curled up around his pillow, her nose buried into it. He smiled, finding the tough woman¡¯s surprisingly innocent posture endearingly cute. His smile turned quickly to a frown as his memories of their conversation the night before returned.


    He stood and quietly padded to his door. Opening it he slid his head out, into the communal dormitory that made up the majority of the old public works facility, looking for one of Natalia¡¯s people. He found one of the Sirens. He couldn¡¯t recall her name, camped outside and as luck would have it, awake.


    ¡°Hey! I told Natalia I¡¯d look over her¡­ because¡­ um¡­¡± He stuttered, awkwardly. He didn¡¯t know how to bring up what he needed and began rethinking his idea to talk to his sister.


    ¡°She had nightmares about what our so-called superiors called training, and you promised to keep an eye on her and to protect her from her nightmares. Now you¡¯re wrestling internally with what she described them doing to her.¡± The woman said with a gentle smile. ¡°You find yourself bothered by the story so much, that you are afraid you¡¯ll seem bothered by Natalia, which isn¡¯t the case, so you want to find your sister to talk to her about it before Natalia wakes up.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not fair, you know.¡± Rei grumbled.


    The albino¡¯s smile deepened. ¡°True, but it¡¯s all on the surface of your mind, and you were talking yourself out of leaving. It¡¯s a good idea for you to go, especially since your sister is a medical doctor, so go. I¡¯ll keep an eye on her for you.¡±


    The Siren began to slide past him but paused. She leaned forward and sniffed Rei, only to wrinkle her brow in consternation.


    ¡°What was that about?¡± Rei asked, perplexed.


    She shrugged. ¡°Saki and Natalia both think you smell good, but Kitsune senses, particularly scent, don¡¯t always translate over to Siren¡¯s perceptions well. I just don¡¯t get it.¡± She concluded, walking the rest of the way into Rei¡¯s room, and shutting the door between them.


    Rei shook his head and started into the crowd filling what used to be just his place, muttering ¡°Weird.¡± He wrestled his way through the mass, asking several people along the way if they had seen his sister, and finally getting steered towards the small infirmary that, by the same administrative miracle as had saved the facility it¡¯s self, still had a few beds and shelving units.


    He slid inside, finding his sister examining the soul male Kitsune survivor among the former InSec team. ¡°Okay Shido, are you still in pain, or are the medications helping?¡± Rei heard her ask.


    ¡°Yeah, no¡­ I¡¯m fine. Well, except for the shattered arm, of course. And the dizziness kind of sucks. My vision¡¯s kind of blurry too.¡±


    ¡°Good.¡± Said Kay, mouth covering her smile as she looked down at the medication blitzed man.


    ¡°Hey, Kay? Do you have a few minutes to spare?¡± Rei called out, fully entering the infirmary.


    ¡°Unless you¡¯re hurt, no.¡± She replied, not bothering to look away from her examination of Shido¡¯s splinted arm. Kitsune, thanks to being able to manipulate just about any living tissue in their own body, recovered from injuries in a fraction of the time it took a Human, which made long term solutions like casts more hassle than help.


    ¡°Actually, it¡¯s about Natalia.¡± Rei stated. ¡°She¡­ um¡­ She had a nightmare, one that caused her to get bruised up pretty badly.¡±Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    ¡°Did she hit a wall or something?¡± Kay asked, finally looking up.


    ¡°No. They just¡­ formed.¡±


    ¡°Oh. That nightmare!¡± Shido chirped up. ¡°Fuck. She was finally getting over those, we thought.¡±


    ¡°She¡¯s done this before?¡± Both Kay and Rei said at the same time. Rei hadn¡¯t completely believed that Natalia¡¯s recent nightmare wasn¡¯t a strange event, even with what had happened to cause them. Shido¡¯s confirmation sent a shiver up his spine.


    ¡°Yeah, unfortunately. Ever since they gave her that ¡®Advanced Officer¡¯s Training¡¯¡± Shido sneered, making air quotes as he spoke.


    ¡°Training?¡± Kay leaned back; brow wrinkled. ¡°What kind of training could possibly leave mental scars that bad?¡±


    ¡°They raped her, Kay.¡± Rei sighed, looking away from her expression of horror and clenching his fists. His voice managed to stay steady. ¡°They did it multiple times, tying her down when she fought back. When they were done, they¡¯d show her the videos they were taking, and critique¡­. They¡¯d lie to her, and then do it all over again.¡±


    Kay¡¯s hand came to her mouth as she gasped, her eyes wide in horror. She looked at Shido who nodded.


    ¡°They called it resistance training. Some bullshit about making her resistant to interrogation.¡±


    Kay closed her eyes, whispering ¡°Oh my god.¡±


    ¡°She said it lasted about a month.¡± Rei growled, his nails digging into the palms of his hand. ¡°Then they just sent her back to her team, without any counseling or anything.¡±


    ¡°She¡¯s had nightmares ever since, for years now. They had been growing less frequent and had stopped completely just recently. We thought she was finally over them.¡±


    ¡°It was probably what happened to her¡­ your team that caused it.¡± Kay admitted. ¡°Emotional trauma of one type frequently calls up trauma that might be well buried at the same time. Even when they¡¯re unrelated.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know anything about that.¡± Rei stated. ¡°I just want to help her! I don¡¯t know how to do that either, since she can barely stand for a male to touch her.¡±


    ¡°Outside of the team, and Rei, he¡¯s understating the issue.¡± Shido said grimly. ¡°She once broke another officer¡¯s arm because he surprised her by putting a hand on her shoulder. I¡¯m frankly surprised your brother there isn¡¯t in traction yet.¡±


    Rei just sneered at the injured man, while Kay pursed her lips in thought. ¡°That¡¯s probably the Kizuna at work.¡± She commented after a moment.


    ¡°What the heck is a Kizuna?¡± Shido demanded.


    Rei and Kay both looked at Shido, amazed he hadn¡¯t noticed it. ¡°Their mating bond. You must be able to smell the change in Natalia.¡±


    ¡°What does Talia smelling funny have to do with sex?¡±


    ¡°Not sex. Mating.¡± Kay corrected him, staring. ¡°Rei and Natalia are a soul bonded, a mated couple.¡±


    ¡°Thanks sis.¡± Rei grumbled but was ignored by the other two.


    ¡°Good Job!¡± Shido congratulated him. ¡°How did you manage to marry my sister without me knowing?¡± He paused looking either confused or just dazed. ¡°And does she know?¡±


    ¡°He didn¡¯t do anything, Shido. It just happens.¡± Kay said, frowning. ¡°Do you mean to tell me you don¡¯t know about Kizuna? They¡¯re not married¡­ yet.¡±


    ¡°No?¡±


    Kay opened her mouth, to explain further, when Alexander stuck his head in the door. ¡°Kay, we need you for a strategy session.¡±


    ¡°In a few minutes, Alexander. We¡¯re a little busy here.¡±


    ¡°We need to do this now¡­ Ack!¡± The albino barely dodged a plastic pitcher, thrown by Shido.


    ¡°She said she¡¯s busy snowman, so bugger off.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll tell them you¡¯ll be along in a few.¡± The psychic said, disappearing behind a closing door.


    Kay sighed and moved the bed tray and its arsenal of throwable items, away from Shido. ¡°Does Natalia or Saki know about mating?¡±


    ¡°Well, there is the breeding program.¡± Shido admitted.


    ¡°The what?¡±


    Rei winced, having let that part slip his mind. ¡°InSec scheduled breeding for its troops. The Kitsune ones at least.¡±


    ¡°Siren too. Hell, if you want to make it past Captain, even humans have to be married.¡± Shido agreed.


    ¡°Natalia told me¡­ she was also being ordered to report for that.¡± Rei added.


    Kay sighed. ¡°I¡¯m not going to explain this twice. I¡¯ll grab Natalia and Saki later and bring them here so all five of us can go over Kitsune sexual education. Just what I need on top of everything else.¡±


    ¡°Sorry Kay.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s alright, Rei, you needed to tell me. If Natalia is suffering like you describe she¡¯s going to go nuts sorting out her physical and emotional responses to you.¡±


    ¡°Then why do you want me and Saki there? We aren¡¯t bonded to anyone.¡±


    ¡°Because it happens to a reasonably high number of Kitsune couples, eventually. Now, I want you to rest Shido.¡± Kay instructed, and walked towards Rei and the door. ¡°You, I need to come with me. We¡¯re going to need someone who knows the lay of the land for this meeting, and that pretty much means you right now. Alexander hasn¡¯t managed to contact his other surface agents. We¡¯ll have to find a new place to hide, and a safe way to get there.¡±


    ¡°Since InSec knows about us now, do you really think we¡¯ll have a chance?¡±


    ¡°I hope so.¡±


    Neither noticed the thoughtful look that crossed Shido¡¯s face as they left.

 Chapter 26, Sacrifices

    Chapter twenty-six


    Getting what she needed from Celina¡¯s home was as easy as Natalia had hoped. Once she had the chip, and a set of the woman¡¯s dirty clothing, she and Saki made their way to the Sydney station bathroom, which was still being ignored. Natalia wondered how long it would be until people started using it again.


    Natalia took a deep breath and began shape shifting and re-tuning her body. She shifted her hair to an ultra short blonde bob and her eyes turned a soft grey green. She changed her face so that it looked softer and rounder and added extra fat to her breasts and buttocks. Sergeant Celina Yu liked her curves. Lastly, she deadened her pheromone glands, and wiped her body down with cleaning fluid from the bathroom sink. She did not need Kitsune still loyal to InSec to pick up her scent.


    ¡°I don¡¯t like you going in alone.¡± Said Saki as Natalia stripped and changed into the used uniform, which covered her in her friend¡¯s scent.


    ¡°The more people go in the more likely we are to get caught.¡± Natalia said, her voice changing as she spoke, modifying it to match Celina¡¯s.


    Saki hugged her. ¡°Be safe.¡±


    She smiled. ¡°I can¡¯t, but I will be careful.¡±


    Natalia got onto the tram and leaned against the tube-train¡¯s wall concentrating on keeping her heart rate down. This is a mission, just like any other mission. She told herself. When the tube stopped, she sauntered out with the soft subtle twitching of her hips that Celina was known for. She looked at the InSec headquarters, gleaming white spires sparkling within a plasticine shell, looking like a haven against the muddy yellow brown of the sky. False promises she realized.


    She wished there was some way to let all the teams know what had happened, but she wasn¡¯t sure how to do it.


    She scanned Celina¡¯s chip and walked into the main building. People were milling around and there was an air of grief that hung over the place. Natalia¡¯s heart pounded in rage as she saw a small memorial set up for her and her team, a small paper sign bore a funerary haiku:


    They stood for the City.


    Dead in the name of Duty.


    May Gaia hold them.


    There was a framed picture of her team¡¯s graduation photo, as well as individual pictures. Surrounding it were dozens of small notes, messages for the dead left by grieving friends. She turned and walked away before she betrayed herself with either tears or rage. She picked up a file sitting on a desk as she walked past it and made her way to the elevator.


    It was hard to not break her cover, all around her she felt the ghosts of her team, whispering old memories to her. She took the elevator up to the twelfth floor, administrative offices, then snuck to the stairs that spiraled up and down the Tower. Shido used the stairs whenever he visited his lovers because they were not as heavily monitored.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    She made her way up the seven flights of stairs to her team¡¯s floor, and punched in the code Shido had seduced out of the maid. The door popped open, and Natalia slid in. It was like a punch in her stomach as a lifetime of scents filled her nose. She trembled as she walked through to the main living area, imagining Miyuki painting her nails, and Haru and Regin holding animated telepathic arguments. She stopped as the sick sweet smell of blood worked its way into her nose. She followed it to Douglas¡¯s room. She closed her eyes in pain as she saw a bloody smear on the computer. He was just a baby. He didn¡¯t know anything. He shouldn¡¯t even have been here!


    She turned and resolutely went into the old war room. The files had been ransacked. Shredded paper ankle deep covered the entire floor. And there were holes where the comp-pads had been ripped out of the table. She made her way to the chairs and began turning them over till she found Shido¡¯s, where she unscrewed the wheel and a small data chip fell into her hand.


    Carefully she began to shape a tiny pocket in her flesh, a tiny pouch just under her navel. She slipped the chip into the pouch and shifted it closed. She ran her hand over the area, and nodded. She didn¡¯t feel anything.


    She left the war-room, resisting the urge to go into her bedroom, or her office, although the stores of cred-chips she¡¯d stock up on were tempting.


    As she slipped back into the stairwell, closing the door behind her became one of the hardest things she had ever done because she knew she was closing the door on everything she had loved and been taught for the last twenty years.


    She began to work her way back down when the alarms went off. She ran for the door to the level she was on, and heard the door his as the pressurized locks went off sealing her in the stairwell. She rushed down to a security terminal and saw Celina¡¯s face flashing. Of course she would decide to come to central today. Why wouldn¡¯t she?  Damn it I just needed five more minutes and I would¡¯ve been clear!


    Natalia heard boots thundering up the stairs, she spun around and raced up. When she heard more steps going down, pinning her, she saw only one chance. She ran down the stairs, hardening her skin, and leapt into the half dozen men scaling them to send them tumbling down the stairs. She landed on her feet and moved to run when a stun bolt slammed into her back.


    Natalia grunted as she rolled down a half dozen steps. Before she could blink she was in shackles and five minutes later she found herself being pulled in front of Colonel Trencher.


    She could not keep the rage out of her eyes as she looked at him. This was the man who had ordered her team killed, who had murdered her family. He grabbed a needle and pulled a syringe of blood out of her arm. Putting a drop of it into an identifier unit, he blinked as he read the name.


    ¡°You killed them.¡± She hissed.


    ¡°I did what I had to so that humanity would survive.¡± He moved over to his desk and typed a quick message.


    ¡°If there had been any other way, I would have taken it. But for us to survive¡­sacrifices must be made.


    ¡°How about named. Haru! Aaron! Miyuki! They served, they fought, they bled to protect this City and you killed them, and Gaia knows how many others to keep your damned secrets!¡± Natalia snarled.


    ¡°Their sacrifices will be honored, and so will yours.¡± Trencher pulled a pistol out of his desk drawer and tuned it to lethal. Natalia glared at him, and raised her chin defiantly. His comm unit beeped and he glanced down. A sad look crossed his face as he holstered his weapon.


    ¡°That was command. I would have preferred to give you a clean death. You deserve that much for all your service. But I am being ordered to hand you over to Osaka for breeding.¡±


    He turned to the men holding her. ¡°Take her downstairs to the loading docks. I will arrange to have transport to meet you there. And gag her. She is not to speak to anyone.¡±


    One of the soldiers ripped the front out of her uniform and shoved it in her mouth before they half carried her down to the med bay and dragged her kicking body out to the bright green MRD van as she fought them with everything she had. They strapped her down then shoved another needle in her arm shooting something into her system that within moments had forced her into unconsciousness.

 Chapter 27, Osaka

    Chapter Twenty-Seven


    It hadn¡¯t actually taken long for Rei to lead the team around to all the stores of weapons and other supplies Alexander had convinced him to hide over the years. Rei had been sure, at the time, that the need to hoard exhibited by the Siren had been motivated by pure paranoia and so he¡¯d only bothered to set up more than a handful of depots. Now, Alexander had been proven right and Rei was simply amazed that none of them had been found.


    They returned with the last load only twelve hours after starting, sweaty and grimy from climbing through access tunnels and maintenance shafts. Rei didn¡¯t wait a minute, shoving his cheap duffle bag full of protein bars into the arms of the first person he saw, before running across the crowded barracks chamber for the infirmary.


    ¡°Any news?¡± He demanded, the door slamming into the wall as he burst through it, causing Marigold to yelp in fright.


    ¡°No.¡± Kay replied, looking distinctly unhappy. ¡°But district two is on the other side of Sydney, and we heard about a riot in D-3 which probably slowed her down. Saki and Natalia would have to walk back from the last station as well, so they aren¡¯t late¡­ yet.¡±


    ¡°Saki is.¡± Marigold pointed out from where she was removing Shido¡¯s splint.


    The other Kitsune male chuckled. ¡°No she isn¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°But the plan stated she was going to return when Natalia headed for InSec Central.¡± Marigold argued. ¡°And are you sure you want me to unbandage your arm?¡±


    ¡°No.¡± Kay grumbled, revealing to Rei why she was glaring at Shido. Rei chuckled in spite of his worry, knowing how little tolerance Kay had with recalcitrant patients. He¡¯d been on the receiving end of the same glare in the past.


    ¡°Yes.¡± The InSec male countered. ¡°It¡¯ll be tender for a while and maybe a bit fragile to be sure, but I pieced my bones back together.¡± He winked at the blond human. ¡°Although I will admit, the temptation of staying here and being cared for by a beauty like you is not easy to resist.¡±


    Marigold blushed, while Kay snorted. ¡°Didn¡¯t you use that same line on me when you tried to convince me to help you remove that?¡±


    ¡°You hit on my sister?¡± Rei glared at the other male.


    ¡°You go and bond, or whatever, with Natalia and you think you get to glare at me?¡± Shido waved Rei off. ¡°As for you, Doctor Kay, I meant every word I uttered to both you and the fair Marigold.¡±


    ¡°Stop it.¡± The blond muttered, blushing even more brightly.


    ¡°Regarding Saki,¡± He said, changing subjects while winking at Marigold to acknowledge her request as his motivation. ¡°She¡¯ll have shifted and followed our intrepid Talia to within sight of Central, if I don¡¯t miss my guess.¡±


    ¡°She¡¯d disobey Natalia¡¯s orders like that?¡± Kay asked, surprised.


    Shido shrugged. ¡°She was a Ranger and Forward Recon at that. No one moved alone, orders or no orders, in that organization. Not even the snipers. No, Saki will be along¡­¡±The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    Saki burst into the infirmary, gasping for breath. Rei, reeling from getting hit by the door, barely avoided toppling into a shelving unit.


    ¡°Shortly.¡± Shido finished with a frown, gaining his feet. ¡°What happened?¡±


    ¡°Major¡­ Captured¡­ MRD van took her¡­ Osaka tag.¡±


    Shido cursed. ¡°Was she alive?¡±


    ¡°Kicking and fighting Sir, like a mule.¡± Saki replied, completely oblivious to the fact that none of the other people in the room had ever seen a mule.


    ¡°What¡¯s MRD? And where did they take Natalia?¡± Rei demanded, panic slipping into his voice.


    ¡°Military Research and Development.¡± Shido replied. ¡°They¡¯re probably taking her to the Breeding Center.¡±


    ¡°But why? Why not just kill her?¡± Kay asked, wincing as her brother turned his angry glare on her. ¡°You know what I mean!¡±


    Shido frowned, thinking about that question himself. ¡°I¡¯m not certain but¡­ Natalia¡¯s the only seventh dan among InSec¡¯s Kitsune population. They probably plan to try and¡­ preserve her talents.¡±


    ¡°You mean turn her into a breeding cow!¡± Rei snarled.


    Alexander entered the infirmary, freezing at the tableau he found. ¡°I saw Saki running in here and¡­¡± He frowned, and closed his eyes to focus on the group¡¯s surface thoughts. ¡°Oh.¡±


    ¡°Oh? That¡¯s all you have to say?¡± Rei wheeled on Alexander. ¡°And what the hell do you think you¡¯re doing reading me again!¡±


    ¡°You are all yelling in your minds, boy!¡± the Siren growled back. ¡°I¡¯m frankly amazed you can¡¯t hear what everyone else is thinking!¡±


    ¡°Well, I¡¯m done yelling and thinking. I¡¯m about to start doing!¡± Rei declared. ¡°Get some of the security guys in here. We¡¯re going to go get her back.¡±


    ¡°No.¡±


    The entire room turned to stare, shocked, at Kay. ¡°What do you mean no?¡± Rei demanded.


    ¡°I meant you aren¡¯t going. No one is.¡±


    ¡°But¡­¡±


    Kay stepped up to Rei, her eyes locking onto his. ¡°This breeding facility is in the middle of the Osaka research facility, from what Shido¡¯s told me about it.¡± She stated calmly. ¡°It rests in the middle of just about every sociopathic goon InSec has. It would be suicide to even try.¡±


    ¡°We can¡¯t just leave her there!¡±


    ¡°Yes, we can.¡± Kay stated softly. ¡°And she¡¯d tell you the same thing, if she was here. You know she would.¡±


    Rei groped for words, for a response, then spun and stormed out of the infirmary with Marigold and Saki hot on his heels.


    ¡°For the record, I think you made the right choice.¡± Alexander commented, ignoring the glare the statement earned from Shido.


    Kay turned slowly to stare at the Siren. ¡°I don¡¯t care what you think.¡±


    It had taken Rei an hour to drive off Marigold, who had weathered his storm of rage and frustration much longer then Saki. Another couple of hours later and the bulk of the Deep¡¯s refugees slipped into their own fitful slumbers.


    Finally satisfied that no one was watching him, Rei returned to his own dark room, heading across the floor to the footlocker Natalia had looked in just a few short days before. He crouched and undid the lock, when the lights suddenly flickered to life.


    He spun around, finding Shido standing next to the door watching him. ¡°Well, looks like Saki was wrong.¡±


    ¡°Wrong about what?¡± Rei demanded. ¡°And why are you in my room?¡±


    ¡°She figured you would go for the armory. Of course, Natalia hadn¡¯t mentioned your predilection for collecting dangerous toys to her, like the Major did me. I assume you¡¯re going after her?¡±


    ¡°Rather you like it or not.¡± Rei growled, one hand forming claws.


    ¡°I like.¡± Shido commented, ignoring the weapon replacing Rei¡¯s hand. ¡°However, you might want to look at this.¡±


    The former InSec hacker held up a comp-pad, the screen filled with images of a large, medical looking building surrounded by Leo in full armor.


    ¡°Where is that?¡±


    ¡°This is MRD. They replaced the normal InSec security with Leo personnel, all of them straight humans. How do you plan to get past?¡±


    ¡°I hadn¡¯t figured that out yet.¡± Rei admitted. ¡°How¡¯d you get that image?¡±


    ¡°I hacked the Osaka security net. I can¡¯t see inside the building, or into any high security blocks, but I¡¯ve got a god¡¯s eye view of everything else.¡±


    ¡°Can you get maintenance cams and maps too?¡±


    Shido frowned but nodded. ¡°Sure, but why?¡±


    Rei smiled darkly and reached into his locker. Tossing a Leo helmet to Shido he said, ¡°Because now, I¡¯ve got a plan.¡±

 Chapter 28 Breeder

    Chapter Twenty-Eight


    The problem with drugs was that they did not work well on Kitsune. Their metabolisms tended to adjust to destroy or purge any foreign substances quickly. The strength of Natalia¡¯s shifting ability was working against the MRD team. They had run out of knock out drugs before they got to Osaka and now were dealing with a pissed off and highly skilled fighter. Even bound she managed to maim several of her tenders.


    It took four men to drag her out of the transport plane and into the Osaka Military research station¡¯s breeding facility. If InSec¡¯s building was a shining beacon that made a person feel protected and awed, the MRD¡¯s facility was a nest of warts, made of grey green stone covered with a thick plasticine shell. The walkways were made of ground shards of synthetic material, that drew blood anywhere they touched bare skin. Another two men came out of the building to aid in caring her.


    Natalia¡¯s hands were bound behind her back in special restraints designed to deal with shape shifters. In addition to the cuffs that went around her wrist, there was a rod of steel that pierced through her flesh to keep her from just shifting her hands to slip out of the shackles. There was a matching set of shackles on her ankles.


    Natalia had shifted her hands, despite the pain, so that each nail was tipped with a knife sharp claw, and anytime she could she took a toll in flesh. They dragged her past the Leos guarding the facility, the men not even deigning look at her.


    They walked up to the reception station were a nurse checked on her computer. ¡°Take her to room Forty three B, her first mate has already been contacted and is enroute.¡±


    ¡°Good, can I watch?¡± Said one of the men in an evil voice. ¡°They carried her up to the room, a doctor entering shortly later with a syringe. ¡°How about I make this a little easier for you lads.¡± He offered as he jammed the needle into her arm. A heaviness began to race through Natalia¡¯s system, making it harder and harder for her to struggle, harder and harder to move


    They pulled her half limp form into the breeding room and strapped her to a metallic table. The shackles on the table were like the ones they had used to restrain her, with an extra restraint, though lacking the flesh piercing bar, to go around her neck, holding her head down. Natalia tried to fight but her muscles would not respond. The panic racing through her system was almost more than she could deal with; she was on the verge of breaking, of falling into a catatonic state to avoid the horror. She was holding onto her sanity by a thread.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    She could see the doctor who had followed them into the room and a Kitsune male with dark brown eyes and short curly black hair. The Kitsune was wearing an all black uniform with no rank markings on his shoulder. Black Ops. The still cognizant part of Natalia¡¯s mind whispered as the doctor stepped up to her retrained form.


    ¡°How did you get her to stop struggling?¡± Asked the Kitsune in an appreciative voice.


    ¡°It is a new sedative we¡¯ve developed. We are just finishing the testing now.¡± said the doctor as he checked her vitals. ¡°Unfortunately, someone leaked part of the formula and now there is a degraded version on the streets. Maybe you heard of it? It¡¯s called Genie?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve heard of it, but not as a paralytic.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s the beauty of it. It responds differently in Human and Kitsune populations. You see in Humans it acts as an upper and gives them delusions of grandeur while making them very malleable. In Kitsune like yourself, it is a paralytic. Because the drug uses Kitsune genetic material it can affect your kind for a reasonable length of time, even with this one¡¯s dan rating it should be at least an hour before she can move.¡±


    ¡°Takes some of the fun out of it. Is she still aware?¡±


    ¡°Oh yes, completely.¡±


    ¡°Well maybe it will be fun, hey cutie, I¡¯m number two on your rotation, I can¡¯t wait to fill you with babies.¡±


    ¡°You know the rules. Wait till your allotted slot, No permanent or lasting damage to the breeders. Other than that, do your best. There is a nice bonus for impregnating her, better than normal because of her rating.¡±


    Natalia¡¯s heart was pounding in her chest, and terror scraped across her every nerve. She could do nothing, she couldn¡¯t fight, she couldn¡¯t move, because of the gag she couldn¡¯t even scream.


    ¡°Alright everything seems in order.¡± The doctor nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll leave you two to become acquainted if you want t Remember it¡¯s not your slot yet, you are just to guard her till her first partner comes.¡±


    Natalia heard the door hiss closed as the doctor left. She watched as the male came up to her with his own set of claws. Slowly he cut what was left of her clothing off of her and tossed it aside. The lab air was cool on her bare skin, and she felt nauseous at his touch. Don¡¯t panic, stay calm, you must stay calm. You can¡¯t escape if you panic; you can¡¯t escape if you go catatonic. You have to escape. Please Gaia, kill me quickly or help me escape.


    ¡°Blech... You smell awful! normally you high dan breeders smell better.¡± He walked across the room out of her line of vision. Suddenly an ice-cold spray of chemicals washed over Natalia, soaking her in the biting scent of antiseptic. She coughed and choked as the fluid ran down her nose.


    ¡°Maybe you will smell better after a bath.¡± Kitsune Guard leaned over her and sniffed.


    ¡°Eh, that¡¯s a bit better.¡± She could see the daggers still strapped to his thighs. Even now, with her completely helpless the black ops male was not unarmed. Looks like you need another bath. But I think I wanna hear your sweet voice. He used a claw to cut her gag before dousing her in more cleanser. Laughing as she supered and gasped, aiming at her face to half drown her. ¡°I hope your first partner isn¡¯t up to the job. ¡°I¡¯ve never been with a seventh Dan before.¡±


    The slim line of control she had broke as her mind went completely blank with panic, and her conscious mind fled to escape the brutality and pain of what was about to come.

 Chapter 29 Rescue.

    Chapter Twenty-Nine


    ¡°This isn¡¯t going to work.¡± Shido insisted, for the fifth time since he and Rei had left the tube-way tunnels and reached the surface of the research facility.


    ¡°That¡¯s what you said about sneaking onto Osaka through the maintenance shafts.¡± Rei pointed out, chuckling when the other Kitsune growled.


    Shido shook his helmeted head in denial. ¡°I still can¡¯t believe how few security cameras are down there! Or how easy they are to see!¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s because they¡¯re empty shells.¡± Rei grinned as the InSec man scoffed. ¡°Yes they are! They are meant to scare crooks out of using the tunnels. Law enforcement and InSec combined doesn¡¯t have a tenth of the manpower you¡¯d need to actually keep track of that much surveillance after all, and no one trusts autonomous AI¡¯s after the New Zealand incident about fifty years ago.¡±


    Shido winced. The AI administrator of the small, experimental expansion section of the City had gone buggy for some still unknown reason, and had turned on the fire suppression sprayers through out the facility, while simultaneously shutting off the drainage systems and internal transit. By the time an InSec team had breached its automated defenses and overridden the system over a thousand people had been killed in the resulting flooding and building collapses. Since then only the military used artificial intelligence, and only with human oversight.


    The two men¡¯s thoughts kept them occupied for the few minutes it took to reach the InSec Medical Services building, where Natalia was most likely being held.


    Shido swallowed, seeing dozens of Leo officers, all fingering their weapons as they scanned the streets in front of them. He straightened the helmet of his own set of armor. ¡°This isn¡¯t¡­¡±


    ¡°Yes it will. Now shut up and watch!¡± Rei hissed. Then, with his own swallow of fear and nervous adjusting of Leo ballistic plate, he waved to the only man with sergeant chevrons he saw. ¡°Hey? Who¡¯s in charge here?¡±


    The Sergeant responded by waving them to him, while looking over their armor. ¡°That would be me. You boys get dragged out here too?¡±


    ¡°Oh yeah.¡± Rei nodded, carefully keeping his look around them casual. ¡°Looks like we aren¡¯t the only ones with orders that didn¡¯t come with instructions.¡±


    ¡°Oh yeah, hurry up and do something. Gotta love it.¡± The Sergeant nodded. He didn¡¯t notice the soft sigh of relief Rei let slip out. ¡°Some stupid drill. Something about simulating what would happen if a Kitsune enhanced flu ripped up those multi-breed teams InSec loves so much.¡± He shrugged, obviously not bothered by the idea of what a flu that had fought through Kitsune adaption and immune systems could do, even though such an event was why the Undercity and public area¡¯s got misted with anti-pathogenic substances every day. ¡°Put us in charge of their hospital as a ¡®low intensity¡¯ test run of new protocols. It¡¯s a low intensity cluster fuck is more like it.¡±


    ¡°No kidding.¡± Shido agreed.


    ¡°Which district do you two come from, anyway?¡±


    ¡°Sydney D-4.¡± Rei answered.


    The sergeant whistled. ¡°No kidding? Shipped you more than a little ways, didn¡¯t they!¡±


    ¡°Yes they did, sorry about getting here late.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s all good.¡± The man waved off Shido¡¯s apology. ¡°Say, who is the Captain out at Sydney Four now? I used to be a training officer out that way.¡±


    Rei tried not to show his panic, scrambling to come up with a name on the fly. Shido saved him the trouble. ¡°Jack Morris. He¡¯s a good CO.¡±


    ¡°Morris? That snot nosed little punk?¡± The sergeant laughed. ¡°I was his partner on his rookie year. He was a good man then, too.¡±


    ¡°So, where do you need us, Sarge?¡± Rei asked, his heart rate and breathing back to normal.


    ¡°The morgue, if you can believe it.¡±


    Rei grimaced with obvious distaste in his voice. ¡°Why down there?¡±


    ¡°The dumb bastards didn¡¯t want to give us codes to their secured building, so they just unlocked the whole ground floor instead! You could just walk in and steal the toilet paper from their store rooms if you wanted to, if you can believe that!¡± He shook his head at the stupidity that such a decision required. ¡°The upper floors are still secured electronically, of course, but down here, it¡¯s all us with eyes and ears. Our stinking communications aren¡¯t even working with the local channels.¡±


    ¡°Well damn.¡± Shido commented, since it sounded like the other man wanted to hear something.


    ¡°Yeah¡­ but either way, I need someone down there, and you two did show up late.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ve got a heart of gold, Sarge.¡± Shido grumbled ruefully.


    ¡°Yeah, it coats the lead. Now get on with ya, the receptionist will direct you to where you have to go.¡±


    ¡°Yes sir.¡±


    They were both walking down the hallway, ignored by the people they were passing, only minutes later. ¡°I can not believe this is working.¡± Shido growled.


    ¡°Human nature, one-oh-one. If you have already pissed off your security, they will be disinclined to look deeper into a well supported story.¡± Rei explained. ¡°The sergeant¡¯s out of his home district, surrounded by a bunch of men he doesn¡¯t know, and who don¡¯t know him. Frankly, we¡¯re just two more potential problems in a barrel of crap he already had.¡± Rei chuckled. ¡°And the beautiful part is it¡¯s because your bosses thought it¡¯d enhance the security of the building!¡±


    ¡°True, but still¡­¡±


    They passed through the doors of the morgue, Rei pausing to read a sign reminding visitors that it was illegal to photograph a corpse outside of a funeral service. ¡°Why is InSec so worried about the rights of the dead?¡± Rei asked softly. Since the Wars of Madness, the dead were treated with a certain reverence by the only society to survive. As a historian had put it ¡°Far more have passed from this world, than still remain on its benighted surface.¡± After Marigold¡¯s discovery of the dead and dying Siren children in Sydney Central Hospital, however, Rei had assumed that the intelligence bureau was immune to such sympathies. If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    ¡°No, we only take pictures during murder investigations. We do still care, Rei. At least, most of us do.¡± Rei chose not to contradict Shido¡¯s point.


    ¡°¡­ She¡¯s to be listed as a fatal miscarriage, so do your best to make her look pretty for whatever funeral they hold.¡± They heard a male voice speak from around a corner. Shido stopped and carefully peeked around that wall.


    Rei, raising an eyebrow at the other man¡¯s stealthy posture, just continued around the corner. ¡°The sergeant outside directed us down here to provide security. Which of you three is in charge here?¡±


    Two orderlies turned and looked at him in surprise as he continued towards them, Shido softly cursing and following on his heels. The third lab coated man, the coroner, raised his hand. ¡°That would be me.¡±


    ¡°Oh good! I just wanted to know where you would like me and my partner here.¡± The last was said as Rei turned back to gesture at Shido who was still behind him. As he twisted back straight, he brought his fist up in a savage jab which took the first orderly in the nose, shattering it and sending him to the floor in an unconscious pile. Continuing the movement Rei drove his foot into the other orderly¡¯s knee, sending him down where another quick kick with his booted foot to the man¡¯s temple removed that man from consciousness as well.


    The coroner began running towards a scarlet button on the wall when the distinctive feedback hum of a sonic stunner initializing brought him up short. ¡°I¡¯d stand still, if I were you.¡± Shido stated calmly, his gun aimed rock steady at the lab coated man¡¯s head.


    Rei continued moving forward, walking around the sheet draped corpse on a gurney between him and the frightened doctor while being careful to stay out of Shido¡¯s line of fire. A quick blow to the back of the man¡¯s head from Rei¡¯s own pistol sent him to the floor with the first two.


    ¡°Seriously, have you done this before?¡± Shido demanded, holstering his gun and hefting one of the orderlies to put him in one of the empty drawers, Rei doing the same with the coroner.


    ¡°Not this, exactly, but the basic skills are the same.¡± Rei admitted. ¡°I¡¯m surprised you haven¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m usually technical support or tactical communications oversight. Natalia is our team¡¯s undercover specialist.¡±


    ¡°Ahh. Don¡¯t feel bad, I¡¯m a geek too.¡± Rei chuckled as he hefted the third man, considering his ruined nose and his ID picture. Concentrating, he felt the tingling pain of his face shifting into that of his first victim¡¯s unspoiled features. When he looked up he found Shido staring at him.


    ¡°How¡¯d you do that so fast?¡± The other Kitsune demanded.


    ¡°Natalia has to have done that in front of you before.¡± Rei commented dryly.


    Shido nodded. ¡°Yeah but she¡¯s¡­ seventh¡­ you¡¯re seventh dan?¡±


    ¡°Guilty.¡± Rei nodded. ¡°Now get your fifth dan butt in gear, and dupe his buddy already.¡±


    Shido nodded, then seeing something over Rei¡¯s shoulder he went pale. ¡°Shido?¡± Rei called as the other man pushed past him to the gurney, lifting the sheet off the corpse they had only moments before been fighting around.


    ¡°Oh¡­ Oh no¡­¡±


    Rei stepped back as the other Kitsune sobbed and began cursing while half cradling the dead woman he¡¯d uncovered. Rei swallowed before asking ¡°Is she a friend of yours?¡±


    ¡°Cassidy, my¡­ our sister. She was here to¡­ to breed. She so wanted a child.¡±


    Rei set a hand on the shaking man¡¯s shoulder. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but we have to move. We can¡¯t help her now. We have to get to Natalia before¡­¡±


    Shido sighed and rubbed the tears from his eyes as he set the dead woman back down on the gurney. ¡°Before she ends up here too, I know. Give me a minute.¡±


    It took two minutes, but a short time after he finished shifting they stepped out of the elevator on to the Kitsune Breeding Project floor. Rei winced at the heady mix of scents; Passion, lust, fear, and sweat mingling with antiseptic.


    Shido, Who¡¯d had a suspicion of what they¡¯d find, had taken the effort to tune down his sense of smell while shifting into the face he now wore. He moved over to the first door to peer through its small window. ¡°Empty.¡±


    Slowly they drifted down the line, most of the rooms unoccupied while a few had a waiting female sitting calmly inside on the small bed, or a pair of Kitsune already engaged. It wasn¡¯t until they were near the end of the long hall that Rei cursed, and pulled open a door.


    A woman sat, curled up and shivering in fear. Naked, she was bruised and battered, smelling of sex. She also smelled completely unfamiliar to Rei. ¡°Shido.¡± He hissed, summoning the other Kitsune.


    Shido appeared a moment later, and then cursed. ¡°Captain? Captain! Can you hear me?¡±


    ¡°You know her?¡±


    ¡°Captain Ritsko Mu. She was running the investigation team out of Melbourne last we met. She must have come up on the breeding schedule too.¡±


    Rei nodded grimly. ¡°Same training as Talia?¡±


    ¡°She was a team leader, so I would assume so.¡± Shido held out his wrist, willing the sweat glands to ooze pheromones. ¡°Come on Captain, you know me. I owe you twenty cred. It¡¯s Shido.¡± He murmured softly, like he was talking to a frightened child and not a military officer.


    ¡°Shido?¡± She whispered, looking up with what appeared to be hope in her eyes. ¡°I heard you were dead.¡±


    ¡°I got better.¡±


    Rei stood. ¡°There¡¯s only a couple more doors left. You help her, and I¡¯ll check them out.¡±


    ¡°Go.¡±


    The second to last room was another empty one. When he looked through the portal into the last room, Rei¡¯s heart nearly stopped even as his arms were ripping the door open and half off its hinges.


    Before Rei could get a good view of Natalia, a fist exploded into his jaw, sending him reeling across the hallway. A man wearing a black jumpsuit, the front zipper most of the way undone, pursued him out of ruined portal.


    Rei, quickly shaking off the blow, fired back with his own one two combo of punches, following with a quick snap kick. The punches were easily blocked by the skilled combatant, but the snap kick managed a glancing blow to the man¡¯s hip.


    ¡°Who are you?¡± Snarled the InSec Kitsune as he danced back and regained his balance. Rei could smell Natalia on the man¡¯s skin, and almost could taste the terror carried by her pheromones.


    ¡°I¡¯m the knight in shiny freaking armor, and she is mine! You knew she was mine! You could smell that she was taken, and you did this anyway you sick fuck!¡± Rei snarled as he threw caution aside and waded into the man¡¯s reach. Two savage blows drove into Rei¡¯s side, cracking ribs he was sure, but the enraged man ignored them. Rei¡¯s hands shifted painfully to claws, and took the InSec officer in the throat, sending the man gagging to the tiled floor. He spat on the dying man before turning back to the small room.


    Natalia lay naked and catatonic with an IV dripping some chemical into her blood. She was bound by her wrists, ankles, and neck to the bed with restraints sturdy enough to have been designed specifically for Kitsune. Rei almost vomited when he realized metal pins were driven through her limbs to assist in keeping her trapped. Bruises marred her pale hips and arms, and her wrists and ankles were rubbed raw where she¡¯d struggled against the restraints.


    ¡°Oh god no¡­¡± Rei half sobbed, surging across the room and looking over the restraints. One of his hands reached out of its own accord, caressing her matted red hair. He jerked back as she screamed and started fighting her bonds again, unaware of whom had just touched her.


    Closing his eyes, he duplicated Shido¡¯s trick but over his whole body. Once he was sure she could smell him, hearing her struggles begin to calm, he turned and began rifling through the drawers and glass fronted cabinets that lined the room¡¯s walls.


    ¡°Rei?¡±


    He heard Natalia¡¯s weak voice call out. He shoved the handful of pre-prepared syringes he¡¯d found into the pocket of his stolen scrubs and came to her. ¡°I¡¯m here.¡±


    ¡°You shouldn¡¯t have come¡­¡± She whispered.


    ¡°Bah, what¡¯s sneaking into a heavily fortified military complex between us?¡±


    A gasp alerted him to Shido¡¯s arrival. ¡°Check the hall.¡± Rei ordered him, seeing the other abused woman, wearing Shido¡¯s stolen lab coat, leaning against him for support. Shido¡¯s mouth worked for a few moments then with a nod they were gone.


    ¡°This is going to hurt, baby.¡± Rei said, his hand finding the bed¡¯s restraint controls.


    ¡°It did every other time¡­ you at least care.¡± Natalia said, tears filling her eyes.


    Rei closed his own, and pressed the button marked ¡®all release¡¯. Her scream of pain caused him to flinch and his heart to wither inside of his chest. Seconds later he injected the antibiotics and pain killers he¡¯d collected into her, and had scooped her into his arms.


    ¡°We¡¯re getting out of here, I promise.¡±


    ¡°How?¡± Natalia asked, shivering against him.


    Alarms began blaring, loudspeakers announcing an intruder alert.


    ¡°The hard way.¡± Rei growled. ¡°How else?¡±

 Chapter 30 X marks the spot

    Chapter Thirty


    The sweet, familiar smell filled her nose, instinct more than training or conscious decision told her it was safe, that she didn¡¯t have to attack the person holding her.


    You came. I don¡¯t know why but you came. She leaned her head into Rei¡¯s chest, as grateful for the warmth of his body as the soothing presence that his scent had. Her skin was still wet from her last hosing, and the over cool air of the lab felt like ice.


    Her limbs still felt heavy from the drugs in her system, it was hard to move. She could hear her blood drip on the hard white tile floor as it as it escaped from the wounds in her wrists and ankles. She tried to shift them closed, but it was hard to concentrate. She kept loosing the shift, though she finally closed the wounds.


    ¡°Got¡­it.¡± she whispered her voice harsh. ¡°Got, the chip.¡±


    Rei, carrying Natalia bridal style, shushed her. ¡°That¡¯s not important now. What¡¯s important is getting you out of here.¡± He left the breeding room at a half run, quickly coming to Shido and the woman leaning against him. ¡°I think they found the guys you knocked out.¡± Shido commented dryly, matching pace with the other male, pulling Ritsko along gently, but firmly.


    ¡°Apparently.¡± Rei agreed, heading for the elevator only to pull up short as the light above the doors lit. ¡°Damnit!¡± He yelled, redirecting quickly to the stairs, blowing through the door with Shido hot on his heels, the battered Captain pushing the door shut behind the group. Shido headed for the stairs leading down but Rei called out to him.


    ¡°No. This way.¡± He called, heading up the steps.


    ¡°There¡¯s nothing up there but storage and fuel tanks for the VTOL¡¯s.¡± Shido called out, rapidly pursuing the other man and his shivering cargo.


    ¡°No one think you¡¯d run up the stairs.¡± Rei assured him. Clumsily he jerked open the door to the next level, only to stop as a pair of sonic stunners were pointed at him. With reflexes well beyond human, Rei shoved the door shut again, ducking just as chunks of shrapnel blew out as lethal bullets of coherent sound blew small holes in the plasticine surface. ¡°Okay, they almost never expect it!¡± He yelled, shoving a knife into the door crack, lodging it just beneath the second hinge and wedging the portal shut. ¡°That won¡¯t hold long!¡±


    ¡°Then run faster!¡± Shido yelled, scooping the woman he was leading up the same way Rei was carrying Natalia as he followed his own advice, nearly diving down the stairs in his rush. He shoulder rammed the Leo officer stepping out onto the landing they¡¯d left only moments before back through the door, allowing Rei to kick it shut on his partner¡¯s face as he hurried past.


    Two floors down they burst out of the stairwell, thankfully onto a hall without Leos. ¡°Natalia, I know you hurt, but can you stand? And could you climb a ladder?¡± Rei asked. Weakly she nodded, which didn¡¯t convince him, but he accepted it. Drawing another knife from the sheath he concealed on his wrist he pried open the elevator door, wedging it open with the blade. Looking up he found the car above them, then he groped around beside the door, finding the maintenance ladder for the lift system. ¡°Okay, everyone follow me. We¡¯re going down to the bottom of the shaft.¡±


    Natalia followed quickly, her dazed state not preventing her from naked form from climbing into the shaft above the rapidly descending man. The other female followed moments later.


    Shido was preparing to swing out onto the ladder when two Leo officers burst through the stair¡¯s door. Shido squeezed a shot off with his own sonic stunner, taking the first man in the faceplate of his helmet and killing him instantly.


    The Leo¡¯s partner was nearly as fast on the draw, but nowhere near as accurate. A lethal setting bolt took Shido in the shoulder of his already abused arm, causing him to cry out in pain. A second shot from the Leo¡¯s gun screamed by his head, missing only because of Shido¡¯s tuned reflexes and luck. Shido fired back, taking the man center of mass with three quick blasts. Even with his armor, Shido knew they¡¯d prove fatal to the man.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    The former InSec officer felt a quick burst of guilt, having killed both men when they were just doing their duty, unaware of what the real stakes of everything were. He shrugged it off with a force of will and holstered his gun, using his remaining good hand to grab the first rung and swing out into the shaft.


    ¡°What do we do if the elevator starts moving?¡± Ritsko called out, trying to look neither up nor down the long shaft.


    Rei, crawling along the ladder a storey and a half beneath her, replied ¡°It won¡¯t. As long as that door¡¯s wedged open the safeties built into the system should lock the elevator down.¡±


    ¡°What if the guards come and start shooting at us from that open door?¡±


    Rei growled. ¡°Then we¡¯re fucked. What are you, a pessimist?¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡±


    ¡°Shido, how you doing?¡± Natalia called out, having noticed he wasn¡¯t climbing as fast as he should be.


    ¡°A Leo caught me in the shoulder. I took him down, but I¡¯m winged pretty badly.¡±


    ¡°Your bad arm?¡± Rei called up.


    Shido grimaced. ¡°Yeah. You¡¯re sister¡¯s going to kill me.¡±


    Rei couldn¡¯t help it, in spite of everything. He laughed. ¡°Maybe you¡¯ll be lucky and she¡¯ll just smother you in your sleep.¡±


    ¡°Oh, but to dream!¡±


    Ritsko cursed eloquently ¡°You¡¯re a pervert even here, after all this?¡±


    ¡°Damn it Ritsy¡­ A man can¡¯t help what he is!¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re a pig.¡±


    A chunk of concrete shattered off the wall, near where Shido was climbing. ¡°Well, unfortunately I¡¯m not one of the flying kind, so we need to hustle!¡±


    Rei, having nearly reached the bottom of the shaft, pushed off the ladder. He drew the sonic stunner out of his waist band as he fell, bringing it up and aiming at the lit hole that was the open elevator door. He squeezed off a couple of shots, all of them peppering the area below or above the door.


    Natalia, having reached him just in time to witness his poor marksmanship snatched the pistol from his hand and, propping herself clumsily against the shaft wall, aimed.


    ¡°You¡¯re drugged! You can¡¯t¡­¡±


    Both shots resulted in yells of pain, one followed by a body plummeting down the shaft, missing Shido and Ritsko by inches.


    ¡°Can¡¯t what?¡±


    ¡°Um¡­ Never mind.¡± Rei said, instead helping Shido off the ladder.


    He¡¯d just stepped back and opened his mouth when the last elevator door slid open, and a half dozen Kitsune, in InSec black, pointed weapons at them. One with major¡¯s insignia smiled darkly. ¡°Now, now¡­ no stealing the women.¡±


    ¡°Sorry, but you know how hard it is to get a date.¡± Rei snarled, drawing a weapon. He saw out of the corner of his eye both Natalia and Shido pointing their own weapons at the InSec men. Ritsko considered the Leo corpse at her feet, but didn¡¯t risk going for his weapon


    The Major just shook his head. ¡°You are outnumbered. You might get a shot or two off, and maybe kill a couple of us, but you¡¯ll all be dead. The women will at least get to live if you surrender now.¡±


    ¡°We would, but there are three things you aren¡¯t realizing.¡± Rei stated calmly, smiling ferally.


    ¡°What, pray tell is that?¡±


    ¡°Sir¡­¡± One of the black ops men spoke up. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we¡­¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s entertain ourselves for just a moment lieutenant.¡± The Major said. ¡°Go ahead, educate me.¡±


    ¡°One.¡± Rei said, stomping a foot as if for emphasis. ¡°You¡¯re assuming your men are better shots than we are.¡±


    ¡°At this range, hardly important.¡±


    Rei shrugged. ¡°Two.¡± Another stomp ¡°You¡¯re assuming the women are willing to surrender to what you were doing to them.¡±


    The Major shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s really irrelevant what they want at this point. What¡¯s the third point?¡±


    ¡°The third¡­¡± Rei stomped again. ¡°Is you should stand back.¡±


    With that he spun and wrapped Natalia in his arms, pulling her down as Shido did the same with Ritsko. A half second after his third stomp, before the Kitsune outside the door could think to fire, a series of deafening explosions ripped through the concrete in a precise circle around where the four fugitives stood. With agonizing slowness the cement block fell.


    The black ops Major, shaking off the concussive force of the blasts, realized the hole was there, and began to jump into it, only to take a full auto burst of magnetically accelerated bullets to his chest. Saki, her assault rifle braced against her shoulder, stepped out of the darkness and followed that burst up with several more. ¡°Get them going Rei. I got this!¡± She yelled, punctuating her words with gunfire.


    The four limped down the tunnel, Saki following them and sending rounds back the way they came to keep anyone who might want to follow them from doing so. Rei absently noticed an X drawn in chalk on the tunnel wall but didn¡¯t think much of it. When Saki reached that X she pulled a detonator out of her jacket and hit a button, causing the tunnel to collapse behind them.


    ¡°Man, those pussies didn¡¯t even try to chase us.¡± She complained.

 Chapter 31, Kaori kizuna

    Chapter Thirty-One


    Natalia wasn¡¯t sure when, but at some point, in their escape she had lost consciousness. She woke in the first aid center of the barracks. She jerked herself up to sitting, claws extended, a wave of vertigo washed through her.


    ¡°Woah! Easy. It¡¯s alright your safe now.¡± She heard a female voice say, it was familiar, Natalia shook her head, and she felt muzzy. A pretty dark haired Kitsune woman came into her line of sight, dressed in casual clothing.


    ¡°The painkillers we gave you are probably making you a bit dizzy, so try not to make any more sudden movements.¡±


    ¡°K-kay?¡± Natalia whispered her throat dry.


    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± The Kitsune woman popped open a can of water. ¡°Here have a drink; it will help clear your head.¡±


    The water tasted like liquid gold, but training told Natalia not to drink as much as she wanted, but to sip the water and let it settle.


    ¡°How long¡­have I been¡­gone?¡±


    ¡°Three days, One and a half captured, and one and a half here.¡±


    ¡°The others?¡±


    ¡°Rei and Saki are fine, Shido¡­well he will be alright, but his arm is not going to be functional for a while. He took a sonic stunner on full power; it pulverized the bone. It¡¯s going to take a while for even a fifth dan to shift heal that much damage.¡±


    ¡°How damaged am I?¡±


    ¡°Not that badly. After we filtered whatever chem they¡¯d injected you with out of your blood you started healing at a nice rate. The bruising is gone and the piercing wounds in your wrists and ankles are mostly healed; though they are going to be tender. You have some burns from the antimicrobial spray they used¡­But Rei and Shido got there in time. They didn¡¯t¡­ touch you. I examined you myself. You should be finished healing in the next day or so.¡±


    Kay sat on the bed next to Natalia, watching as the younger woman processed her words. It was hard for her to believe that this competent soldier and leader was only twenty. She had learned Natalia¡¯s age asking Shido the medical questions she had needed answered to treat Natalia. Shido had giggled when he saw the look on her face,


    ¡°Dang if you think Talia¡¯s young, Saki will blow your mind!¡± The drugged Kitsune had chortled. ¡°She¡¯s sixteen.¡±


    There had not been much she could do for Shido, so he was working with Saki training the Deep Dwellers on how to use the weapons that Alexander had horded for them.


    ¡°Were is Rei?¡± asked Natalia pulling Kay out of her reverie.


    ¡°Avoiding me. He is annoyed at me for yelling at him about¡­¡±


    ¡°Rescuing me?¡±


    ¡°Yes¡­I-I am sorry but the risk-¡°


    ¡°I understand. I would have done the same thing¡­Well I would have tried to sneak someone into the autopsy room to see if I had gotten the data...¡±


    ¡°Did you?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡± Natalia concentrated and a tiny slit appeared low on her belly. She reached in carefully with two claws and pulled out the tiny green chip.¡±


    ¡°Neat trick.¡± Kay said in an appreciative tone as she took the chip from the injured woman. ¡°Natalia, Shido brought something to my attention, something that¡­I had a hard time believing. And I want to talk to you about it now.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s called Kaori Kizuna. I¡¯m sure you know or have been taught that every Kitsune has their own distinctive scent. That is their Kaori. That¡¯s how we recognize each other, since visual recognition means nothing to a shape shifter.


    ¡°I¡¯ve never heard it called Kaori, but I know about scent.¡±If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    ¡°Kaori is more than just how you smell, its how your scent is perceived by other Kitsune. It¡¯s why to some people you smell, good, but to other¡¯s you smell bad. Kaori can tell up how powerful a person is, if their related to us, or even if they are mated.¡±


    Natalia was watching her with calm green eyes, Kay knew she had the other woman¡¯s undivided attention, and it was kind of creepy. ¡°Kaori is what allows us to recognize Kizuna. Kizuna is an old word for bond or fetter. We, Kitsune, use it to describe a force that is part biological, part emotional, and most believe part spiritual.


    ¡°I have never heard of this term. Why is it important to me?


    God, this is awkward Kay cleared her throat nervously, ¡°Sometimes when two Kitsune meet, their Kaori goes beyond pleasant, it becomes almost intoxicating. Kizuna happens almost immediately. Biologically it means that the two Kitsune are perfect genetic mates, the children born of Kizuna couples are always stronger. In fact after Kizuna is reached the chances of one of the bond mates, becoming pregnant with anyone else is almost negligible.


    ¡°You are talking about Rei.¡±


    ¡°Yes, and you. Kaori Kizuna goes two ways. You and he¡­ are bonded, I¡¯ll admit that this is the fastest bonding I have ever seen, but you two are also the only seventh dan I know about.¡± She noticed worry on the younger woman¡¯s face. It was nearly incomprehensible to Kay that Natalia would be afraid of something most Kitsune girls dreamed of.


    ¡°It¡¯s nothing to be afraid of, Kizuna is actually helping you. Rei told me about your¡­training.¡± She hissed the last word, letting her anger and distain caress it. ¡°Because of the bond that you are forming you have a chance to be with Rei in a way that you couldn¡¯t be with any other male. At least not without major psychiatric help. Your instincts are telling you that Rei is safe, even though that¡¯s contrary to everything you¡¯ve been taught.¡±


    ¡°I have no choice?¡± There was an odd despair in Natalia¡¯s face.


    ¡°Of course you have a choice. If you don¡¯t act on it eventually the Kizuna will fade, and his Kaori will no longer affect you. Having it happen so quickly is rare, usually people grow into Kizuna, over years.¡±


    Natalia relaxed. ¡°I have a choice. That is all that matters.¡±


    ¡°Rei wanted to know when you woke, but I wanted to talk to you first, I figured you would need an explanation for¡­.why your instincts and your training are at odds. Do you want me to get him?¡± Please say yes, please don¡¯t break my brother¡¯s heart. He needs you.


    ¡°Yes please.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll go get him.¡± Kay fled the tiny thrown together hospital to get Rei, and to take the data chip to Shido and Alexander so they could start planning the attack to win the Diana.


    Natalia sipped the water. Kizuna, Saki would have just called it love at first sight¡­I guess Kizuna is love at first scent? Am I in love? Is that why I feel the way I do? I would gladly kill for him. She stared down at the can. Can love happen so quickly?


    Rei walked into the room. ¡°Hey Talia¡­how are you feeling.¡±


    His scent drifted across the room and Natalia felt the last knot of worry in her stomach release. Seeing Rei... smelling him... was the proof that she needed that everything was right in her world. I am in¡­love. Gaia guard me.


    ¡°I¡¯m doing a lot better. Kay told me I should be completely healed in the next twenty four hours.


    ¡°That¡¯s good. I¡¯m glad.¡±


    ¡°Me too.¡± She waved at the bed next to her ¡°Come sit down, I¡¯m getting a crick in my neck from looking up at you.¡±


    Rei sat next to her, as close as he could without actually risking touching her. Natalia could almost sense him vibrating.


    ¡°Thank you, I know you got in trouble with your sister for going after me.¡±


    Rei chuckled. ¡°She actually thought I was going to listen to her¡­Your people are really good¡­Is it wrong that Saki scares me?¡±


    ¡°No, she scares a lot of people; she was top of her class in the Ranger units.¡± Natalia shrugged. Exhaustion began to weigh down on her again, reminding her of how much she had left to heal, and how much she had already instinctively shifted to repair ¡°They were rather annoyed when she got transferred to ISF.¡± Rei chuckled.


    Kay said I might be able to be with Rei in a way I can¡¯t with any other man¡­Not without several decades of therapy. Do I take the chance? Do I risk hurting him?


    ¡°Rei¡­¡±Natalia¡¯s voice was soft, uncertain. ¡°You like me, don¡¯t you? Me, not just my smell.¡±


    ¡°Your scent is what drew me to you in the first place, but I¡­like you for you. If you were not who you are¡­I don¡¯t know if I would like you as much¡­crap. That made no sense.¡±


    ¡°Rei¡­will you¡­¡± Natalia swallowed. I will not be ruled by fear, I will not let my training destroy this. ¡°Rei, will you¡­.kiss me?¡±


    She could smell his surprise as his eyes widened. Slowly he reached out and caressed her cheek, cupping it in his hand, his touch sent shivers of fear and anticipation through her. Rei pulled her forward, as he leaned towards her, ¡°Are you sure?¡± His voice was husky, and his scent, his Kaori, had become more potent. ¡°Are you sure this is what you want? I-I don¡¯t want to scare you or hurt you in any way.¡±


    ¡°I know.¡± Natalia closed the distance between them, hesitantly brushing her lips against his, part of her marveled at her boldness, but all she could really think about was how soft his lips felt, and how warm his hand was on her skin.


    Slowly Rei wrapped his free arm around her waist and pulled her closer, kissing her deeper. His hand slid away from her cheek to hold her to him. As the kiss broke Natalia rested her head on his chest, and he stroked her red hair. She could hear his heart beating hypnotically. She yawned, and then blushed. She didn¡¯t want to sleep, she didn¡¯t want to dream. She wanted to stay were she was, wrapped safely in Rei¡¯s arms.


    ¡°It¡¯s alright, sleep; heal. I won¡¯t leave you. I¡¯ll keep the nightmares away.¡±


    ¡°I trust you.¡± Natalia whispered as her eyes closed... She drifted off to sleep breathing his scent, wrapped in his arms. I love you.

 Chapter 32 Target

    Chapter Thirty-Two


    Several days of analysis followed, with the various technologically savvy members of the refugees wrestling the tacticians for time on the limited consols. The data stored on Shido¡¯s chip had been amazingly detailed and complete, which had proven to be an embarrassment of riches when one group of concerned mission planners had insisted Alexander scan the wounded man to make sure the chip wasn¡¯t just bait for a trap.


    Fortunately, Shido responded to medication in a positive way, and so hadn¡¯t minded the albino, under the eye of his own Siren friends, taking several hours to dig around in his mind concerning the chip and Diana project itself. Alexander, already reasonably certain of the InSec ex-patriots¡¯ sincerity, had happily vouched for him afterwards, putting that last kernel of concern to rest.


    With those assurances, work had progressed rapidly. Saki trained all the adults willing to fight in the coming, hopefully brief, conflict in the use of small arms. She never hesitated to work with any of her new and frequently older than her, students though Rei was quickly declared a lost cause when it came to marksmanship.


    Alexander and Kay spent hours around Natalia¡¯s hospital bed as they debated targets and potential tactics to employ in the most daring theft in human history. They also found themselves debating ¡®what if¡¯s¡¯.


    Rei, who had been sitting in on the last such conversation they were holding before meeting with the other leaders of the Deep community, was the one who finally asked the question they¡¯d been trying to avoid. ¡°What do we do if Luna doesn¡¯t accept us?¡±


    Alexander and Natalia winced, while the more optimistic Kay had simply frowned. ¡°We aren¡¯t sure.¡± Alexander admitted


    ¡°The problem is, we don¡¯t have a lot of options, or anyplace else to go.¡± Natalia continued. ¡°Diana can¡¯t go very far, so even if Mars was friendly to outsiders¡­ which it¡¯s not¡­ we couldn¡¯t hope to reach it before supplies ran dry.¡±


    Kay asked ¡°What about here? On Earth I mean.¡±


    ¡°North America is a nuclear hell, as is Europe and most of Asia.¡± Natalia replied. ¡°Africa and South America both are a bio-toxin soaked deserts, where exploratory teams can¡¯t seem to decide if the mutants or the chem storms kill the most of their men. The outback is, obviously, crawling with expeditionary and reclamation teams which would locate us in about an hour if we tried landing out there.¡±


    ¡°Isn¡¯t there anywhere that isn¡¯t a pest hole?¡± Rei demanded. ¡°I know our ancestors tried wiping life out completely, but were they really so good at it?¡±


    ¡°Nearly, yes.¡± Natalia sighed. ¡°There are a few islands out there that managed to escape more or less unscathed, but they¡¯re surrounded by oceans that didn¡¯t. For the most part they¡¯re also very small, and lack any resource other than being a landmass that isn¡¯t toxic.¡±


    Rei grimaced. ¡°What if we didn¡¯t ask the moon people for permanent sanctuary?¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Kay asked.


    ¡°Well¡­ I know Diana is designed to drop a long-term base as well as troops, right?¡± Rei asked, watching the others nod. ¡°Complete with some manufacturing capacity?¡±


    ¡°And gardens for food, yes.¡± Alexander agreed. ¡°But it¡¯s not enough to set up a truly permanent base. At best the facility could support us for a year before we¡¯d need a resupply on many essential things. Resupply I doubt Luna would want to give us, if we set up in their back yard without permission.¡±


    Rei waved that off. ¡°The Moon traded food for the water and materials to build habitats for expansion, habitats we will have ready to set up wherever they like. In exchange, we could ask them to let us use those facilities for the short term, and help us build a ship to go further, and leave them for them when we do. Make it more like a buddy crashing on your couch for a few days, and less like letting him move in and eat all your cereal.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a start, but building a long excursion vessel would take years. They¡¯d want more.¡± Natalia pointed out.


    ¡°So we use the Diana to come back here, and get them. Water is easily filtered out of waste, since we¡¯ve been doing it for as long as anyone can remember, and it can¡¯t be that hard to track down rare earths on these crappie continents you mentioned. Especially since no one exactly lives there to object.¡±


    If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    Kay and Alexander looked at each other, rolling the idea around in their heads. Alexander spoke first. ¡°It is feasible. I know Australasia has library data concerning deposits of what the Moon would need, as does Luna. I suppose the only reason they don¡¯t do that themselves is a lack of trans-atmospheric shuttles capable of landing in rough country, and Kitsune who can handle the environments.¡±


    ¡°The landing teams would be taking quite a risk but¡­ it might be our only choice.¡± Kay conceded. ¡°I¡¯ll get our scientifically minded folk working on that, and on where to go.¡±


    ¡°Then all that is left is the final selection of targets.¡± Alexander said, leaning back in his folding chair to look at Natalia, perched next to Rei on her bed. ¡°The Diana is the only obvious target, but I¡¯m willing to listen to why you think we should liberate the cr¨¨ches, much less why you think it would work.¡±


    ¡°Why we should is two fold.¡± Natalia stated. ¡°First off, considering what started all of this I don¡¯t feel comfortable leaving those children in InSec and the Governments hands.¡±


    ¡°I sympathize with the sentiment, but we can¡¯t base our decision off of a purely emotional or moralistic motivation.¡± Alexander commented coolly.


    ¡°This brings us to reason two.¡± Natalia barely managed not to growl. ¡°The community here is small, only about one thousand people total. That¡¯s not big enough to sustain itself genetically.¡±


    ¡°She¡¯s right there.¡± Kay admitted. ¡°The only reason we weren¡¯t going to have that problem in the Deep is we brought the occasional new person down.¡±


    ¡°The cr¨¨ches currently have something like three thousand plus children, and a hundred adult caretakers, who haven¡¯t entered true military training out on New Guinea. Considering the children are also¡­ stolen from parents all over the Australasian sphere they¡¯ve got to be a very genetically diverse group. That¡¯s counting the small human orphan cr¨¨che.¡±


    ¡°A valid argument.¡± Alexander admitted. ¡°But how to we convince them to come?¡±


    ¡°Sirens.¡± Natalia stated. ¡°You can¡¯t lie to each other, not effectively anyhow, so the Siren caretakers will trust what another of you tells them. The Kitsune caregivers will most likely go along with their psychic counterparts. The only humans in the cr¨¨che system are administrators, not caregivers, so they¡¯ll be easy to deal with.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll support Kay in trying to convince the council to make the cr¨¨che a target for liberation.¡± Alexander assured her. ¡°It¡¯ll help that we were already thinking of penetrating the Diana¡¯s building slip from that sub-district anyhow, since they built them right next door to each other.¡±


    ¡°Are we dumping the nutrient paste factory job?¡± Rei asked, receiving a nod from Alexander.


    ¡°The data we have says the food tanks on Diana are sufficient for three months of comfortable rations.¡± Kay said. ¡°That¡¯s assuming ten thousand plus adult soldiers. We¡¯ll have half that number at most, so that¡¯ll stretch them out to six months, more if we¡¯re careful. That¡¯ll give us plenty of time to set up the habitats, if everything works out.¡±


    ¡°So those are our only two targets?¡± Alexander asked.


    Kay spoke. ¡°No. I¡¯d like to suggest one more target.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± He asked.


    Kay lifted her personal computer pad, and called up an encyclopedia entry. She handed it to the albino, a picture of a large black cylinder dominating the screen. ¡°This is an Ark project genetics library. They have over a dozen of them on Osaka.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve read about those.¡± Natalia commented. ¡°They contain viable genetics for every pre-war specie known, don¡¯t they?¡±


    ¡°Not all of them. Our ancestors weren¡¯t that smart, or thorough.¡± Kay corrected her gently. ¡°They do however have a very comprehensive database just the same. The information and samples are supposedly even good enough to clone animals and plants from the catalogue.¡±


    ¡°I see why you want to steal one. It would be useful when starting our own colony.¡± Alexander admitted while reading the entry. ¡°But can they be safely moved?¡±


    ¡°Oh yes.¡± She nodded. ¡°We sent one to Luna, actually, my last year of graduate school. I was doing an internship in the facility when it happened.¡±


    ¡°They were meant as a genetic sample source in case we ever decided to try our hand at building an extra-solar colony generation ship.¡± Natalia added. ¡°In the documentary I remember seeing on them, they were the only project in that series that ever got past the design stage.¡±


    ¡°How big and hard to move are they?¡±


    ¡°I only saw one once, but I do remember three men managed to shift it onto the transportation lorry.¡±


    Alexander nodded. ¡°That¡¯s definitely a worthy secondary target, but how do we get them to the Diana? If we steal this in advance they¡¯ll figure out what we¡¯re planning to do.¡±


    ¡°I know the archive building she¡¯s talking about. It¡¯s not to far from the military archives.¡± Natalia jumped in. ¡°They¡¯re right off the landing strips, so if you send Saki or Shido with the strike team, they could steal a TAT-C, and meet the Diana in orbit.¡±


    ¡°Actually, I¡¯d make Shido the mission leader on that one.¡± Rei spoke up. ¡°He¡¯s good at hacking security, and from what he mentioned to me he¡¯s generally been tactical operations support. He¡¯s also the only special forces officer we have to spare since both you and Talia are running the primary op.¡± He stated, gesturing to Alexander.


    Alexander nodded. ¡°A good suggestion.¡± The albino conceded.


    ¡°Sounds like we have a plan.¡± Kay commented.


    ¡°Not yet.¡± The Siren corrected. ¡°It¡¯s more a proposal at this point. But in a week¡¯s time, it will be.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯d prefer two.¡± Natalia admitted


    ¡°In two weeks they¡¯ll have begun loading troops.¡± Rei said grimly. ¡°We¡¯ve only got one.¡±

 Chapter 33 Acceptance

    Chapter Thirty-Three


    Natalia watched Alexander and Kay leave. She did not like the Siren. As Saki would put it he made her trigger finger itchy. She stretched, the only reason she was still stuck in the hospital is that it was one of the few areas where Kay was certain people wouldn¡¯t surprise her. Physically she had healed from her ordeal on Osaka, but mentally¡­She was hair triggered, and the only people who could approach her safely were her team, Rei and Kay. She had broken Alexander¡¯s nose when he had startled her earlier that day. Kay had set it, and Alexander was still enough of a soldier that while he didn¡¯t admit that he was wrong, he didn¡¯t hold the attack against her.


    She looked at Rei, he looked exhausted. It had been two days since she had fallen asleep in his arms. It had been one of the most restful slumbers she had ever known. He had been gone when she awoke, called off by either Kay or Alexander for another emergency that required his attention, there seemed to be a lot of those. They hadn¡¯t had more than two minutes alone since her rescue.


    ¡°How long till the meeting?¡± asked Natalia.


    ¡°Half an hour.¡±


    He hasn¡¯t said anything, really, since he got me out of Osaka. Not since I kissed him. I know things have been busy and there is no time for¡­personal issues, but I wish¡­I wish I knew what he was thinking. The Deep Dwellers looked at her with a mixture of scorn and pity that was hard for Natalia to swallow; it made part of her wonder if Rei regretted meeting her.


    ¡°I¡¯m not planning to abandon you, you know.¡± Rei commented, looking at her with a smirk.


    ¡°What? What are you talking about?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re sitting there, wondering what I¡¯m thinking, letting angst and worries get to you that you don¡¯t need to have.¡± Rei shifted so he was facing her directly. ¡°Natalia, why is it that you don¡¯t trust me?¡±


    ¡°I do trust you! How could you say I don¡¯t?¡±


    ¡°And yet you¡¯re sitting there, staring at me with the expression of a teenager who¡¯s expecting me to run away because of an, admittedly major, hiccup in our relationship.¡± Rei countered. ¡°How is that not a lack of trust?¡±


    ¡°I just don¡¯t know what you¡¯re thinking! You haven¡¯t been around much since we got back, and I was worried you were rethinking our relationship.¡± Natalia yelled, angry.


    ¡°Well stop it.¡± Rei instructed, though his tone was softer than his choice of words. ¡°We aren¡¯t Sirens, so we can¡¯t know what the other one is thinking. And frankly, considering how hard it is for a Siren to find a life long mate¡­ I¡¯m not sure we aren¡¯t getting off easy.¡±


    Rei put his finger on Natalia¡¯s lips when she opened her mouth to argue, shushing her. ¡°No, let me talk. Your angst has sure as hell been whispering in your ear, so now it¡¯s my turn.¡± He stared at her until, reluctantly, she nodded.


    ¡°I¡¯ve been here every night, since you¡¯ve gotten back.¡± He stated. ¡°I¡¯ve been sleeping on a blanket, next to your bed like a nervous puppy. Kay¡¯s been teasing me about how ridiculous I¡¯ve been, honestly. The only reason you haven¡¯t noticed is I wake up before you do. I¡¯m not healing, so I don¡¯t need as much rest, even as much as you have improved.¡±


    ¡°When I¡¯m not here, or in one of the stupid arguments these idiots call meetings, I¡¯ve been with one of your team, keeping an eye on them and forcing the Deep Dwellers to accept them as part of the group.¡± Rei grinned wryly. ¡°Though Saki¡¯s gotten to the point of threatening to give me a savage beating if I don¡¯t stay away from her and her guns. Makes sense really¡­ she¡¯s got a few young foxes vying for her attention, and she¡¯s rather enjoying it, I suspect.¡±


    ¡°They better not be planning¡­¡± The finger returned to Natalia¡¯s lips. Rei chuckling.


    ¡°She¡¯s fine. They¡¯re all fine boys, and wisely frightened of the pixie of death.¡± He assured her. ¡°Now, can I return to talking about me, and us?¡±


    ¡°Yes¡­¡± Natalia said softly.


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    ¡°Good.¡± Rei sighed, and leaned back. ¡°The first couple of days you were back, I was in here just about every spare minute I could get. Kay¡¯s the one who chased me out. She was worried I¡¯d start smothering you. I can¡¯t say as I blame her, since I was acting a bit like a lovesick teenager.¡±


    ¡°That being said, Talia, I¡¯ve only hesitated on saying anything to you because you are so worried, so hesitant, yourself.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t understand.¡± She denied, though her voice was softer than she¡¯d meant it to be.


    ¡°You¡¯re a horrible liar.¡± Rei smiled. ¡°I know Kay finally broke down and explained the bond to you. Tell me the truth, how does it make you feel?¡±


    ¡°At first¡­ it scared me. I hadn¡¯t chosen it after all, and it had come out of nowhere.¡± Natalia admitted softly. ¡°But then Kay told me I¡­ well¡­¡±


    ¡°She told you that you could simply start avoiding me, and that eventually the bond would fade.¡± Rei continued for her. ¡°What did you feel when she told you that?¡±


    ¡°Better, since I had a choice.¡± Natalia admitted. ¡°No, more than better. I felt happy!¡±


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°Why what?¡±


    Rei chuckled and shook his head. ¡°Why were you happy?¡±


    Because I¡­ Could¡­¡± Natalia growled. ¡°Just because, okay.¡±


    ¡°No, not okay.¡± Rei stated frankly. ¡°Because what you aren¡¯t saying is part of why you¡¯re so angsty. So nervous. Or more accurately, it¡¯s because of what I haven¡¯t said, I suppose.¡±


    Natalia watched him sigh, looking away from her and off into the distance. ¡°What do you mean?¡± She asked.


    ¡°I¡¯m not really much better at relationships than you are, Talia.¡± Rei stated, instead of answering. ¡°I¡¯ve never really been good at letting people inside. A defense mechanism left over from when my parents died.¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t know¡­ that¡­¡± Natalia admitted.


    Rei shrugged. ¡°Why would you? I never talk about it, and Kay sure as hell wouldn¡¯t since she blames herself.¡± He said. ¡°You¡¯ve seen what can happen when the flu manages to take hold in a Kitsune, right?¡±


    ¡°Yes. It turns¡­ vicious.¡± Natalia shivered. When she was eighteen, half the Kitsune, Shido included, in the Sydney office had come down with such a flu. He¡¯d almost died and had broken several of his ribs by coughing too hard.


    ¡°One of those hit the Deep about four years ago.¡± Rei stated, still looking into the distance. Natalia realized he was staring at the past. ¡°I wasn¡¯t in the Deep at the time, and a Siren managed to contact me psychically before I took the elevator down during the whole mess. All but a handful of the Kitsune down there got it, my sister being one of those handfuls. Unfortunately our parents were not.¡±


    ¡°It presented mostly through high fevers and heavy vomiting. About all that could be done was to feed the victims through IV and try to keep them cool. My parents, realizing how busy Kay was, tried to treat themselves as best they could instead of telling her they were ill right away. They didn¡¯t want to be a burden.


    ¡°My mother, sick and barely able to walk, stumbled into my sister¡¯s lab maybe a day after they started feeling bad begging her to hurry, to help our father. By the time she had mother in bed, and had reached our parent¡¯s home, he was gone.¡± Natalia gasped, and reached out for him, but Rei didn¡¯t seem to notice. He was caught up in his memories.


    ¡°Mom didn¡¯t last much longer. Kay always said it was her heart, breaking, that killed her not the flu. I wasn¡¯t even allowed down until a month after my own parent¡¯s deaths.¡±


    Rei rose, pacing. ¡°There was a girl, I was kind of serious about her, that I was dating at the time. I was weeks away from revealing the Deep, and moving down there with her¡­ she was an Undercity rat, so she¡¯d have only been improving her stake in life by going¡­ when it all happened. I told her¡­ I told her my mother and father had died, and how.¡±


    ¡°She had moved out of our apartment by the time I got home the next night. I only had a note for a good bye.¡±


    ¡°Oh my god. I¡¯m so sorry.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡± Rei asked, looking at her confused. ¡°I¡¯m not. In the end, she wasn¡¯t who I was meant for.¡± He shrugged. ¡°She did tear me up inside fairly badly, though. After that I was all hot dates and fast affairs, nothing deep. Frankly, I wasn¡¯t that very different from Shido, except I didn¡¯t admire the asses of other people¡¯s sisters when their brothers were around.¡±


    ¡°I know you¡¯ve looked at my ass when he was in the room.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t have kids at the moment.¡± Rei pointed out. ¡°But, still, I was a mess. Then, I met you!¡±


    ¡°You met me¡­ but how did that change anything.¡±


    Rei sat back down, taking her hand into his. ¡°It changed everything, Talia. Unlike you I knew exactly what was happening to us, I could smell it. And I knew something that, even with my sister¡¯s explanation, you didn¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡±


    ¡°That if I didn¡¯t love you, the bond could never happen.¡± He said, softly and just for her. ¡°And that¡¯s the truth, Natalia. I love you, so much it hurts!¡±


    ¡°But if it hurts¡­¡± Natalia started, confused. Again his finger rested on her lips.


    ¡°It hurts, yes¡­ but it would hurt so much more if you were gone.¡± Rei said. ¡°The pain isn¡¯t because I love you, Natalia. It¡¯s because I don¡¯t know what I¡¯d do without you.¡±


    He smiled, leaning forward and gently kissing her. ¡°And that¡¯s what I hadn¡¯t said, until now. I was a chicken and waiting for you to say it first.¡± He looked down at his wrist and sighed. ¡°And now it¡¯s time for the meeting. Are you ready?¡±


    ¡°Yes¡­¡± Natalia whispered. She was silent as Rei took her hand and helped her to her feet. He loosened his grip, but she tightened hers. Slowly she brought her eyes up to his gaze. ¡°Rei¡­¡±


    ¡°Yes?¡±


    ¡°I¡­¡± She hesitated, and then blushed deeply as she took a deep breath. ¡°I love you too.¡±


    Rei smiled, watching her blush and look away. He followed her as she hurried out of the room, for the meeting. He had no choice, really.


    She still had not let go of his hand.

 Chapter 34, Raid

    Chapter Thirty-Four


    Hotori was a thirty year man, one of the first Kitsune literally born and bred for InSec. He was Black operations, specializing in sniper work, and his career was mostly under the radar where the council liked it. He had removed more than a few liberal politicians running for important posts over the years and every time the target had been taken down with a minimum of public fuss. He took pride in that fact, and had never once in his life questioned his duty to the service in all of that time.


    That is, until now.


    For nearly two weeks he, and most of the rest of the black ops division, had been paired out as glorified security guards for normally low security installations like the cr¨¨ches where he was stuck. He knew why, all because some slut from the investigative service had stumbled across a dark secret no one wanted anyone to know, and she might act to save some kids because of it.


    He sneered at the thought of someone being so impractical. He, unlike most of the human sub-race officers in InSec knew all about the purge of Siren and was completely in support of it. He hated the creepy little bastards, conveniently ignoring the fact that as a Kitsune most humans considered him just as strange. His opinion was, if the government ordered it, it was good enough for him.


    His thoughts and boredom meant he never saw the shadow separate from the bigger mass of the alley¡¯s darkness, nor did he hear it approach. His first and last warning was when a hand wrapped around his mouth that pulled back his face, and the sharp caress of a knife slitting his throat.


    Rei set the corpse down, glancing around to make sure he was the only guard at the selected entrance. ¡°Clear.¡± He whispered, trusting the small mastoid microphone pasted to his jaw to deliver the message to the rest of the strike team. He dragged his victim back into the alley and waited.


    Seven other men and Noriko Aiko from Natalia¡¯s team, the only woman selected for the mission, slid out of the sewer grate in the alley next to the sprawling, surface complex called simply the cr¨¨che. All of them were reasonably skilled in combat, though Noriko and Rei were the only ones with actual, real combat experience. Rei had been put in charge, though frankly he wasn¡¯t sure why.


    ¡°The guards are down, and no one seems to be at the entrance.¡± Rei whispered softly, holding up the ID badge from the man. ¡°From what Noriko says the place is less secure than InSec Central Command, so it won¡¯t care that a group of us is walking in but stay sharp incase something has changed.¡± He then counted out as he pointed at each team member other than Noriko. ¡°Everyone who I just counted even, you¡¯re with Noriko. Your job is to get to the caregiver¡¯s dorm and guard them while the lady convinces them to join us. Everyone with an odd number, you drew the short straw. You¡¯re coming with me to take out the administrators before they notice we¡¯re here. You¡¯re sure they¡¯re in a different dorm than the caregivers?¡± He asked, wanting to confirm the plan one last time.


    ¡°Absolutely certain.¡± Noriko assured him. ¡°Just follow the signs marked administration, and you¡¯ll come right to the offices. They have their quarters right behind those.


    ¡°I guess they don¡¯t get out much. Don¡¯t you hate bean counters?¡± He pressed his finger to the comm at his throat. ¡°Talia, this is Rei. We¡¯re getting ready to move.¡±


    ¡°Roger that, Rei.¡± Natalia¡¯s voice floated into his ear, where a small ear-bud was nestled. ¡°Saki¡¯s demolitions team has finished setting the charges in the access tunnels to the Diana. Tell us when you¡¯re in route, and we¡¯ll open the door for you.¡±


    ¡°Will do.¡± He replied. Looking at the men and one woman under his command Rei couldn¡¯t help but feel terrified. Not for himself, but for the people who were for some following his orders


    He managed to shake that off, nodding more to himself than his team. ¡°Let¡¯s go. Move out.¡±


    Natalia sighed and looked over at the small crowd of albinos surrounding Saki. Alexander had suggested, late in the planning stages, the use of psychic warfare against any troops that were mustered to resist them. She¡¯d originally scoffed until he, and Kay when she refused to believe him, described the concept of the gestalt.


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    Basically it involved a large number of well disciplined Siren joining together their psionic abilities, focusing through the strongest member of the collective to achieve what would be impossible for a normal, individual Siren. Where Natalia had seen Takeda, who was among the crowd, subdue a small band of rioters with difficulty in the past, Alexander claimed they could disrupt a reinforced battalion of trained soldiers together. Natalia sincerely didn¡¯t want to find out if he was right.


    She held up her com unit and pressed a button, keying a new channel to transmit on. ¡°Kay, this is Natalia. How¡¯s it going?¡±


    ¡°For the record, I want to post an official complaint at the weak security in the Cities tube-way tunnels. Not one camera that was real in over twenty kilometers!¡± The other woman observed.


    Natalia chuckled, and marveled again at how similar the twins were, when they weren¡¯t paying attention. ¡°As a Major in the Internal Security Service I will send a memo to my superiors. I¡¯m sure that¡¯ll get some action, immediately.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t bother.¡± Kay replied. ¡°All the non-combatants are with me, standing behind the smiley face Saki instructed us to stay behind. Why, by the way, did she use a smiley face?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s simple. If you stand in front of it, you won¡¯t be smiling.¡± Natalia commented dryly. ¡°Who has the detonator?¡±


    ¡°I have the primary, though apparently Saki has a master switch?¡±


    ¡°She would. We¡¯ll try to give you a heads up so you can make your own door, but if the hole suddenly blows open by it¡¯s self, don¡¯t ask questions. Just move.¡±


    ¡°Got it. How¡¯s Rei.¡±


    ¡°Just entering the cr¨¨che now.¡± Natalia replied. ¡°Natalia out.¡±


    She slid her assault rifle from its sling, settling it into her hands. She¡¯d been trained in them during her cr¨¨che days, but hadn¡¯t used one in years. ¡°We all good here?¡± She asked Alexander.


    ¡°Yes, though this one refuse to move.¡± His gesture pointed out the small form of Saki, a splash of color in a sea of albino¡¯s. ¡°Something about not trusting me alone with Takeda.¡±


    ¡°With your history? I couldn¡¯t imagine why.¡± Natalia commented dryly. ¡°I¡¯m going to move up to where the primary assault teams are. I¡¯ll contact you if there are any problems.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ll do the same. Good luck Major.¡±


    ¡°Thanks.¡±


    Rei drifted along, at the head of his small column of troops. All were armed with sonic pistols though he kept his holstered at the insistence of Saki. Even though she wasn¡¯t there with them, he was certain she¡¯d know if he touched it, and would hurt him very badly for it.


    ¡°Noriko here.¡± Rei heard in his ear, causing him to pause.


    ¡°Go.¡± He instructed, too close to the admin dorms to risk anything more than his terse response. He knew the rest of his team could hear what she said, saving him the effort of having to explain why they paused.


    ¡°We¡¯re good to go down here. It seems that a few of the black ops guys they had guarding the place weren¡¯t as good at their anti-psi ops training as they liked to believe. The care giving staff have known what¡¯s going on for days now, thanks to reading surface thoughts, but had been sitting on it because they didn¡¯t know what to do. They¡¯re ready to move on our say so.¡±


    ¡°Well, this is going smoothly isn¡¯t it?¡± One of Rei¡¯s men, Jim, said. Rei wheeled on him in shock.


    ¡°Did you really just say that?¡±


    No sooner had Rei asked the question then the door to the bathing facilities swung open, a slim brunette stepping out wearing nothing but a terry cloth robe. Rei¡¯s eyes locked on her own shocked expression and they both froze for a second. Then she began to run.


    Straight for an emergency alert button set into the wall.


    Rei cursed and dove after her, taking her legs just below the knees. The woman went down hard, but her hand came down on the plunger, causing alarm klaxons to pierce Rei¡¯s ears.


    ¡°What¡¯s going on? Rei?¡± Noriko called out; the alarms audible on her end of the radio as well.


    ¡°We¡¯re blown! Get the rug rats out. My team will try and engage the security forces and keep them off your ass!¡± Rei replied, punching the struggling woman in the head, and lurching to his feet.


    ¡°Get going, and Jim¡­ You¡¯re on freaking point!¡±


    Noriko growled as she spun to her team, and the crowd of half-dressed caregivers around them. ¡°Seems things went wrong! I need you go get the kids up and get them moving now!¡±


    ¡°What do you mean, you¡¯re blown?¡± Natalia asked, running to reach the assault teams. ¡°I spoke to Rei not even four minutes ago!¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know specifics Sir. I¡¯m assuming someone stumbled across Rei¡¯s team. Either way, we¡¯re going to be running with a bunch of sleepy kids.¡±


    ¡°ETA?¡±


    ¡°Do you remember the fire drills they put us through?¡± Noriko¡¯s voice was ironic, even though the scrambled comm. ¡°We¡¯ll be up and moving in about five minutes, ten tops. Give us ten to get to the hole.¡±


    ¡°Make it five. It¡¯s a wonderful morning for a run!¡±


    ¡°Roger that, Sir. Forced march for the four year olds, on the double.¡±


    ¡°Do your best, Noriko.¡± She keyed her com to Saki¡¯s channel, even as she got to the main group. ¡°Saki, tell Alexander to start that touchy feely gestalt thing of his. We¡¯re going to need it.¡± She instructed, before she turned to the man in charge of blowing the entry holes to the Diana¡¯s slip. ¡°Are your men ready?¡±


    ¡°And willing. Just give us the word.¡±


    Natalia sighed and glanced at her watch. ¡°Word. Blow the walls in eight.¡±

 Chapter 35, Ark

    The cr¨¨che security went down screaming; even so the plan never would have worked if the cr¨¨ches had been like a normal school. However these children had literally been raised to be in military units, and knew that procedures were in place for good reasons. The older kids, ranging from fourteen to seventeen, ran interface for the caretakers, spreading out among the younger kids to keep the evacuation tight and quick. Rei was surprised to see one group of teens break off and head down the eastern corridor. ¡°I have a group going the wrong way!¡± He reported over his comm.


    Noriko stopped for a second and listened. ¡°No they¡¯re the senior class. It¡¯s their job to get the infants out in case of an emergency. They¡¯ll meet us at the front doors.¡±


    Rei heard the sound of sonic pistols echo down the hall, and he wondered how many of the teens would die saving the infants. Then he realized, as he saw one of the kids running with a pistol in his hand, that the teens were executing the administrators who got between them and their goal.


    They ran through the halls, Rei scooping up a three year old who had tripped and dropped her red bag. She screamed and tried to struggle out of his arms as he ran past the bag.


    ¡°Kid we got no time for toys!¡± Another child, around seven holding a blue bag grabbed up the red one and handed it the girl.


    ¡°It¡¯s not toys, sir.¡± The child said. ¡°They¡¯re escape bags. They have clothes, food and a few cans of water in them. We are required to take them with us during Evac.¡±


    Rei appreciated how smooth the evacuation was going, but not so sure how he felt about a bunch of kids having a better evacuation protocol than the Deeps. At the same time part of him was pissed, he realized now that none of these kids had grabbed toys. He wasn¡¯t sure they had toys.


    As they came out he saw a bunch of teens with infants strapped to their bellies and huge awkward looking backpacks strapped to their backs. ¡°This way!¡± shouted Rei, waving the teens towards the transport tunnel that would lead them to Diana.


    ¡°Rei! We¡¯ve got black ops and infantry units coming up the road!¡± Noriko called over the radio, from near the back of the line. Rei cursed, as he considered the tunnel in front of him. He considered falling back, but the tunnels were to complex to just tell one of the teenagers how to get to the breaching hole and the Diana. ¡°Contact the gestalt and tell them to get their pale asses on it. We¡¯ve got to get these kids out of here! I¡¯ll lead them, everyone else with a gun, get to the back of the line, and lay down some covering fire.¡±


    Rei was privately proud of himself for remembering the phrase Saki kept using during her training sessions with the bigger guns.


    ¡°Takada! Things are hot! The Gestalt had a read on the black ops guys and had everyone ready to bug out, but there are more soldiers here than we had reason to anticipate. It looks like they¡¯ve re-enforced the garrison!¡± Noriko shouted to him with her mind. He felt her as she threw herself over a straggling seven year old as a blast went over their heads"


    ¡°I hear you Noriko. We just got word from Talia and are spinning the gestalt up now.¡±


    ¡°Is your backup in place?¡± Noriko asked


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    Takada looked at the group of Siren, the Deep albinos all had the paper white skin and silver white hair common to their race, and only Alexander had the mutation that made his eyes pink instead of ice blue. Takada¡¯s hair was still a soft blond. His last dye job hadn¡¯t washed out yet.


    ¡°They¡¯ve re-enforced the garrison, Rei and Noriko¡¯s teams are taking fire, and black ops doesn¡¯t care if they hit the kids.¡±


    ¡°Alright everyone lets save their hides.¡± Said Alexander


    Takada glanced at Saki, who sat on the ground polishing her rifle. She gave him the barest of nods before Takada slid into the gestalt.


    His breath was taken away at how much power was available by combining their minds. We could reach all the way to the tower! To all the Sirens in Australasia! He felt another mind brush his, lost in the gestalt. The others don¡¯t have the training to retain their minds in this? It¡¯s not that different from psy-linking for the team. He mentally walked to the front of the gestalt where all the power was funneled through Alexander¡¯s will. He watched as soldiers dropped, screaming and grabbing their heads, as the ice cold Siren battered at them with raw psionic force.


    That¡¯s the difference in our training, he is a hammer. I am a scalpel. Takeda thought to himself before projecting his thoughts to the Gestalt as a whole. Alexander. With all this power, why don¡¯t we inform the Sirens at the tower and throughout the city of what¡¯s going on? They will inform the Kitsune, and InSec and the military will have to deal with a whole branch of their top people, and a quarter the Cities population, revolting all at once. It should help keep the heat off of us and tell everyone the truth.


    No. Takada winced as Alexander¡¯s words burned through the Gestalt. The more people we involve the more chance we will be betrayed.


    Betrayed? We¡¯re abandoning earth, what is there to betray?


    We must think of our people first. Once we are safe then we will look at bringing in a few other people


    Takada heard some of the other minds arguing in the gestalt, before Alexander quieted them with a harsh burst of psi-strength. I know what I am doing. I know what is best for us.


    It took all his strength to resist Alexander¡¯s mental command to be silent and obey. He made one tiny gesture with his real hand.


    Saki saw Takada¡¯s hand twitch, per the plan that had been psionically buried almost too deep for her to remember, and stood, raising her rifle to her shoulder. She lined the sites up on the back of Alexander¡¯s pale head. ¡°Goodbye Asshole.¡± She muttered to the psionically deafened albino an instant before she pulled the trigger. His head exploded in a rain of blood and brain. She touched her comm.


    ¡°Natalia, this is Saki reporting in. Alexander has been eliminated. Takada is taking charge of the Sirens Gestalt.¡±


    Takada felt no guilt for ordering Alexander¡¯s death, Noriko had reported to both him and Natalia the amount of tampering he had done to the minds of the people living in the Deep. He had been a good man and a good leader, unfortunately he had also been a megalomaniacal bastard, he didn¡¯t want to share power, not with Kay, not with Takada, and certainly not with the hundreds of other Kitsune and Sirens that were living in the Tower.


    With a ruthlessness born of years of training in psionic combat he grabbed the gestalt before it could disperse and reached out to InSec Central and beyond, he felt hundreds, thousands of Sirens minds, some of them blinking in surprise as they recognized his mental signature.


    For those of you who know me, and thought I had died¡­ I am alive! For those of you who don¡¯t know me, I am a former InSec agent who, when my team discovered a dark truth about the society we served, our superiors tried to kill us. They managed to kill most of my team, and they also killed Cassidy, the woman I loved, who had been sent to breed on Osaka. Takada let them feel his pain, sending them the images he had pulled, out of Shido¡¯s mind, of his mate laying dead on a gurney her arms covered in needle marks.


    How many of our mates and children have ¡®died of a fatal miscarriage? He felt the sirens begin to growl as they thought of the many women who had died of that very cause over the years. Today I and a group of people who have survived this betrayal make a stand! Tell the Kitsune how we have been betrayed, only by working together will we survive to build a new future where our families will be safe! Today we make our own fate!


    Takada heard the mental battle cry of the Sirens, which was shortly followed by the enraged hissing of the Kitsune, as a not so tiny war broke out at the tower.


    He dropped the gestalt. He grimaced at the bits of Alexander¡¯s head on his shirt, and he ignored the Deep Dwellers screams of surprise and terror at finding their leader dead, as he hit his comm. ¡°Natalia, the Garrison at the cr¨¨ches is down. I also made a command decision. The gestalt was powerful enough to reach the Central. Now everyone knows the truth.¡±


    Chapter Thirty-Six


    ¡°Shido, report.¡±


    Natalia¡¯s voice brought Shido¡¯s pacing back and forth to a stop. ¡°Shido here. We¡¯re all in place, and Marcus has the breaching charges set. We¡¯re just waiting for the go ahead.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ve got the kids moving out here and have blown the walls to the Diana. You are authorized to go.¡±


    ¡°Roger that.¡± He replied. He wanted to ask why they¡¯d suddenly jumped ahead of schedule, but decided he¡¯d find out later if everything went off the way they were supposed to. He¡¯d been around the block a time or two, and had seen plenty of operations stall, or surge forward, without having any way to have predicted it beforehand. ¡°Everyone up! Lock and load. It seems you¡¯re not getting as long of a rest as I had hoped.¡±


    He sincerely regretted that lack of rest. His team had been forced to leave literally days earlier then everyone else, carrying food and equipment along the tube tunnels running along the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. While he was certain that the bulk of the tube ways were actually suspended well above the darkest depths, the constant damp that managed to seep into the tube-ways and the pressing weight of all that water around them had guaranteed no one had slept well on the three nights they¡¯d been forced to break for a rest in the tunnels.


    They¡¯d reached shore a day before and, after another rest, had double timed it to their destination to make sure they¡¯d get there in time. Thanks to a maintenance team they nearly stumbled into along the way they had very nearly been late. His demolitions guy had reported the explosives ready to go less than ten minutes before Natalia had contacted him.


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    He sighed, knowing nothing could be done about it, and instead turned his attention to helping one of his team members pull back on their equipment harness. He had to do it one handed, which is why he¡¯d left his gear on in spite of hoping for rest.


    Clumsily he moved his wounded arm, wincing slightly at the pain. He¡¯d managed to cobble enough together in the last week to where he would be able to pilot the trans-atmospheric transport they were going to have to steal, but it was useless for much else. Even then, his arm was sealed in a semi-articulated cast devised by Kay and Marigold over several days of experimentation. His arm looked more like a strange cybernetic implant than a naturally occurring limb.


    Unfortunately, nothing could be done about that either.


    He looked over his team, mostly burly Human and Kitsune men with one Siren rounding them out. He turned to the albino. ¡°Are we clear?¡±


    The psychic closed his eyes and Shido imagined he could feel the smaller man reach out to probe beyond the cement wall of the maintenance tunnel his team occupied. ¡°No one with in a hundred meters of our breach point.¡± The psychic reported after a minute of searching.


    ¡°That¡¯ll have to do. Mark, blow it.¡±


    Ten meters down the tunnel, just beyond a dog leg in the otherwise straight shaft, a small shaped charge blew open a hole just wide enough for his people to go through. Before the dust or echoes had cleared, Shido had started running down the tunnel with his team right behind him.


    They came out into the bottom of an elevator shaft of the bio-science archives building, Shido having unrepentantly stolen Rei¡¯s exit strategy from rescuing Natalia for his own purposes. He let one of his people lift and half throw him since it was the largest of the Kitsune. Shido drew his sonic pistol and covered that man as he pulled himself up, into the shaft, and began to force open the elevator door.


    They moved quickly, fortunately finding the building empty, and quickly reached the small, first story storage facility where they kept the Ark containers. All eight of his team paused to stare. ¡°Okay, that¡¯s more than a dozen.¡± One commented, Shido having to nod.


    There were over three dozen containers, of various sizes, and some were newer then others. Shido walked up to one of the smallest and keyed the computer screen nestled into its shell. Finding a status query window he tapped in a search for a random animal. ¡°Well, its got horses.¡± He commented. He remembered Kay saying something about horses being useful, which is the only reason he¡¯d thought of it.


    ¡°Try dog.¡± One of his team muttered.


    ¡°No, wait¡­¡± The Siren on his team slid over, and with a questioning look keyed in a long series of letters.


    Shido, looking over his shoulder, muttered ¡°Platypus? Come on, that¡¯s not a real animal? I mean, I¡¯ve seen pictures but¡­ oh.¡± The search, which had been running as he¡¯d spoken, came up positive for both genetic materiel and database information.


    The Siren and Kitsune looked at each other, the psychic nodding in agreement with Shido¡¯s thought before he could speak it. ¡°Yeah, if they bothered putting that in there, I¡¯m fairly sure it¡¯s complete.¡±


    ¡°But why make new pods, and why so much smaller than the others?¡± One of the Humans asked, still eyeing the room filled with calmly humming and blinking devices.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know that I care.¡± Shido stated frankly. ¡°This one¡¯s easier to carry, so we¡¯re taking it. Look, it¡¯s even got handles!¡±


    ¡°Well ain¡¯t that swell!¡± The big Kitsune, who¡¯d helped him into the elevator shaft, commented dryly, as he and the other three biggest guys grabbed the conveniently placed grips. The albino disconnected its power and monitoring cable from the wall as they lifted it.


    That was when everything went to hell.


    Alarm klaxons caused several of the Kitsune who had retuned their ears after the entry explosion to wince and curse. Lights flicked to life as a computerized voice began to report a breach of security in the Ark Project storage facility. ¡°Okay people, looks like we wore out our welcome. The pod in front, the rest of us will cover you guys.¡±


    ¡°And you.¡± The Siren said, shoving Shido out the door immediately after the pod. ¡°Without you we have no exit. Get that cute tush moving.¡±


    Shido, at a loss for words at a comment, which he normally welcomed, coming from the Male siren, only nodded and followed the pod and the men carrying it, drawing his sonic pistol with his one good arm.


    The Pod, Shido, and the people covering their backs, ran through the halls, and for a few short moments Shido began to think they¡¯d manage to make it out without any contact with security. Unfortunately, just as the pod was being lowered down into the tunnel, the two men watching door opened fire down the hall. ¡°We¡¯ve got company!¡± One called out.


    Shido moved to join them at the door, but was shouldered out of the way by his pale skinned minder, who stepped half out of the elevator to open fire with his own sonic pistol. Shido yelled at him to take better cover, but the eardrum tearing sound of sonic weaponry drowned out his commands and moment¡¯s later three lethal blasts struck the Siren center of mass. He crumpled to the floor, dead before he realized what had hit him.


    Shido, before he could move forward, was grabbed by Marcus, his demolitions expert and the largest human he¡¯d ever met, and was pushed to the hole. ¡°Move it! We still need you to fly us out of here!¡± he yelled. Shido growled, but nodded and dropped down through the hole.


    Moments later Marcus joined him, one of the two men who had held the door half hanging off of his shoulder with a bloody leg. ¡°Let¡¯s move!¡±


    ¡°What about Sam?¡± One of the other members of the team called out.


    ¡°He¡¯s not coming. Now go!¡±


    Shido hesitated, still hearing the sound of gun fire from within the shaft, but a significant look from Marcus caused him to nod. ¡°Move out! Pod first. Marcus, be ready with the tunnel charges.¡±


    ¡°Got them right here, Shido.¡±


    Again, Shido had stolen from someone else¡¯s playbook, this time it being Saki. Once they were around the corner he nodded to Marcus who hit the glowing red button on his radio detonator and the tunnel filled with dust and the sound of a series of explosions which collapsed the tunnel and likely parts of the building above it, behind them.


    It took them four minutes of hard running, Shido taking turns carrying the pod from time to time to let one man or another rest, before they reached the turn they needed. He called them to a halt two meters before the turn.


    Inching forward, Shido slid a small mirror from his pocket and held it carefully around the corner, just enough so he could see. What he saw made him curse.


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Marcus asked.


    ¡°The camera¡¯s on this tunnel. They sure as hell aren¡¯t fake.¡± He recognized the model, since they were common in InSec facilities. They¡¯d respond to heat, movement, or the commands of a monitoring operator at some distant security office, and he had no doubt they¡¯d be watching them. Especially after what they¡¯d just stolen.


    ¡°How far is the tarmac from where we are now?¡± Marcus asked softly, as if expecting to draw the camera¡¯s attention with noise. To be fair, Shido wasn¡¯t sure that wasn¡¯t a valid concern.


    ¡°It¡¯s about twenty meters to the access hatch. The good news is they¡¯ll have planes ready and fueled on the tarmac, but we¡¯ll hit the door, and be fighting snipers all the way to the planes.¡±


    ¡°No¡­ that¡¯s not what I meant Shido.¡± The demolitions man held up a pair of shaped charges, pulled from his equipment harness. ¡°I meant, how far until we¡¯re under the tarmac it¡¯s self?¡±


    Shido looked at the two charges, and smiled. ¡°About thirty meters. I hope we don¡¯t manage to put those under a plane¡¯s wheels.¡±


    ¡°Think positive, man.¡± Marcus chuckled. ¡°Even if we do, it¡¯ll go up, not down.¡±


    ¡°Sure. What¡¯s a little burning rocket fuel between friends? Is everyone ready?¡± Shido watched his people nod. ¡°Then let¡¯s go!¡±


    They burst into a run, the rest having been good for the men forced to lug the Ark, and Shido tried to ignore the cameras swinging towards them. He felt as though they were looking directly into his eyes.


    Then they were past. Ten meters, twenty down the tunnel. Shido counted out thirty paces and slid to a stop. ¡°Here! Now!¡± He ordered. ¡°Get the pod further forward!¡± He and Marcus jumped out of the way as they continued running by, dropping to the ground ten feet away and covering the black box with their bodies. ¡°Is that far enough?¡± Shido asked.


    ¡°Will have to be, move!¡± he and Shido jumped down the hall, landing next to the box, and with a beep Marcus hit the button, and unleashed hell.


    Coughing and gasping for breath Shido lurched to his feet as soon as the sound of falling rubble slowed. ¡°Get up! Get going! Move it!¡± He yelled, following his own advice and jumping up, half through the hole, before grabbing a length of rebar to pull him self the rest of the way out. His sonic pistol was in his hand, and firing at the small clump of security surrounding the TAT-C¡¯s he wanted before the next man was out of the hole.


    It seemed like an eternity, but only took seconds, for them to heft the case of genetic materials onto the tarmac, and half that time to begin running for one of the open cargo plane¡¯s doors. For the second time since everything had begun Shido allowed him self to feel optimism for their chances.


    One of the men carrying the pod suddenly went down in a burst of blood, his head taken off by a sniper¡¯s bullet, killing the man. Before Shido could even think to respond, Marcus had taken the man¡¯s place, lifting the scraping corner of the pod back off the ground and letting them get back to a full run.


    Another sniper¡¯s round took out his wounded man, who had been lagging behind the rest, before they reached the safety of the armored aircraft. Shido wasted no time, dropping his pistol on the plane¡¯s floor as he surged into the cockpit.


    Marcus followed him, clumsily sliding into the co-pilot¡¯s chair next to him. ¡°Can I help?¡±


    ¡°Flip that row of switches there.¡± Shido commanded, pointing at a collection of toggles on his console. ¡°Everyone better get strapped in!¡± He called back.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ve got a security vehicle driving right for us!¡± One of his men yelled in response.


    Shido cursed. ¡°From which direction?¡±


    ¡°Behind us!¡±


    Shido grinned maliciously, and hit the button that sealed the rear compartment. He heard his men yelp, and at least one thump as someone jumped into the sealing door from outside. ¡°Strap


    ¡°What about the security?¡±


    Shido grinned at Marcus. ¡°Beginning primary rocket test.¡± He replied, keying in the command even as he spoke.


    A roar, and a bright plume of flame, lit the tarmac and seconds later an out of control, burning ground car rolled past the plane. ¡°Test successful. Beginning taxi.¡± Shido chuckled, releasing the breaks and pushing up the in-atmosphere jets throttle.


    They rolled quickly towards the runways, but more security vehicles were moving into their path. ¡°Shit, they¡¯re going to block the runways.¡± Marcus yelled, snarling.


    ¡°Yeah¡­ but not the taxi way.¡± Shido replied. ¡°Everyone strapped in?¡±


    He didn¡¯t bother waiting for affirmatives, instead slamming the jet throttles forward, into their stops. The plane surged forward, pushing him and Marcus into their seats. Seconds later he felt the plane begin pulling, air flowing over its wings. Gently he pulled back on the yoke. He felt the nose lift up, just as he saw a security car whip off a runway and begin barreling towards them at a brake neck pace. The nose quickly blocked his view.


    ¡°We¡¯re not going to make it!¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re going to make it!¡± Shido corrected his co-pilot before he closed his eyes, not convinced he was right. A few seconds later, with no impact, he opened them again. They were up, and flying.


    ¡°Oh yeah¡­ We¡¯re off!¡± Shido crowed, hearing the cheers of what remained of his team behind him. ¡°Hold on boys, I¡¯ll key the rockets in about thirty¡­¡±


    Alarms began going off, and Shido began looking over the RADAR screens and alerts, desperately trying to find out why. ¡°Oh no¡­ No!¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°They¡¯ve got an Air to Air missile tracking us! They must have had them warm before we even got there!¡± The RADAR screen lit up with first one, then two small contacts rushing towards them at horrible speeds.


    Shido didn¡¯t waste time telling people to hold on tight. He didn¡¯t have time. Instead he grunted as he swung the aircraft over into a tight roll, diving towards the Earth in an attempt to loose the two missiles bent on their destruction. He kicked the plane into another sharp climb after only three seconds of power dive, wrestling with the bulky cargo craft. ¡°Come on baby¡­ You can do it¡­¡± He whispered, ignoring the alarms around him warning that he was exceeding the airframes designed tolerances.


    The missiles ripped by below them, Shido and Marcus both watching their rocket plumes roar past. Shido cursed and jerked the plane sideways as they exploded.


    Marcus was laughing. ¡°They missed!¡±


    ¡°Not by enough!¡± Shido growled, feeling small shards of shrapnel bounce off the skin of the aircraft¡¯s hull. Anti-aircraft weapons rarely relied on direct hits, instead working more like a shotgun, detonating when they got close to a target and deploying a cloud of shrapnel to actually kill it.


    Shido watched the alarms and warning lights, praying nothing would be damaged. No lights came on, so he sighed, and began to bank to begin another climb.


    The controls were sluggish. ¡°Marcus, go back and look out the cargo door¡¯s window. Tell me what you see.¡± He ordered calmly, still pulling the ship up slowly into a climb.


    Marcus scurried out of his seat and carefully climbed down into the cargo hold of the plane, cursing the incline as he gripped cargo straps along the ceiling. A few seconds later Shido heard him call out. ¡°It looks like something clipped the rear wing things back here. They¡¯re looking a little chewed up!¡±


    Shido cursed. ¡°Get strapped in, I¡¯m going to fire the rockets soon.¡±


    ¡°Is that safe, with those messed up?¡±


    ¡°Strap in.¡± Was Shido¡¯s reply. No more questions came from the back.


    Praying silently Shido slowly reached out for the rocket motor¡¯s main ignition switch. He pushed it. The thrust pushed him back into his seat, locking the control yoke in place and the ship on its course.


    He only hoped it would hold the course in spite of the damage, and not rip itself to shreds.

 Chapter 36 Gestalt

    The cr¨¨che security went down screaming; even so the plan never would have worked if the cr¨¨ches had been like a normal school. However, these children had literally been raised to be in military units, and knew that procedures were in place for good reasons. The older kids, ranging from fourteen to seventeen, ran interface for the caretakers, spreading out among the younger kids to keep the evacuation tight and quick. Rei was surprised to see one group of teens break off and head down the eastern corridor. ¡°I have a group going the wrong way!¡± He reported over his comm.


    Noriko stopped for a second and listened. ¡°No they¡¯re the senior class. It¡¯s their job to get the infants out in case of an emergency. They¡¯ll meet us at the front doors.¡±


    Rei heard the sound of sonic pistols echo down the hall, and he wondered how many of the teens would die saving the infants. Then he realized, as he saw one of the kids running with a pistol in his hand, that the teens were executing the administrators who got between them and their goal.


    They ran through the halls, Rei scooping up a three year old who had tripped and dropped her red bag. She screamed and tried to struggle out of his arms as he ran past the bag.


    ¡°Kid we got no time for toys!¡± Another child, around seven holding a blue bag grabbed up the red one and handed it the girl.


    ¡°It¡¯s not toys, sir.¡± The child said. ¡°They¡¯re escape bags. They have clothes, food and a few cans of water in them. We are required to take them with us during Evac.¡±


    Rei appreciated how smooth the evacuation was going, but not so sure how he felt about a bunch of kids having a better evacuation protocol than the Deeps. At the same time part of him was pissed, he realized now that none of these kids had grabbed toys. He wasn¡¯t sure they had toys.


    As they came out he saw a bunch of teens with infants strapped to their bellies and huge awkward looking backpacks strapped to their backs. ¡°This way!¡± shouted Rei, waving the teens towards the transport tunnel that would lead them to Diana.


    ¡°Rei! We¡¯ve got black ops and infantry units coming up the road!¡± Noriko called over the radio, from near the back of the line. Rei cursed, as he considered the tunnel in front of him. He considered falling back, but the tunnels were too complex to just tell one of the teenagers how to get to the breaching hole and the Diana. ¡°Contact the gestalt and tell them to get their pale asses on it. We¡¯ve got to get these kids out of here! I¡¯ll lead them, everyone else with a gun, get to the back of the line, and lay down some covering fire.¡±


    Rei was privately proud of himself for remembering the phrase Saki kept using during her training sessions with the bigger guns.


    ¡°Takada! Things are hot! The Gestalt had a read on the black ops guys and had everyone ready to bug out, but there are more soldiers here than we had reason to anticipate. It looks like they¡¯ve re-enforced the garrison!¡± Noriko shouted to him with her mind. He felt her as she threw herself over a straggling seven-year-old as a blast went over their heads"


    ¡°I hear you Noriko. We just got word from Talia and are spinning the gestalt up now.¡±


    ¡°Is your backup in place?¡± Noriko asked


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    Takada looked at the group of Siren, the Deep albinos all had the paper white skin and silver white hair common to their race, and only Alexander had the mutation that made his eyes pink instead of ice blue. Takada¡¯s hair was still a soft blond. His last dye job hadn¡¯t washed out yet.


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    ¡°They¡¯ve re-enforced the garrison, Rei and Noriko¡¯s teams are taking fire, and black ops doesn¡¯t care if they hit the kids.¡±


    ¡°Alright everyone let¡¯s save their hides.¡± Said Alexander


    Takada glanced at Saki, who sat on the ground polishing her rifle. She gave him the barest of nods before Takada slid into the gestalt.


    His breath was taken away at how much power was available by combining their minds. We could reach all the way to the tower! To all the Sirens in Australasia! He felt another mind brush his, lost in the gestalt. The others don¡¯t have the training to retain their minds in this? It¡¯s not that different from psy-linking for the team. He mentally walked to the front of the gestalt where all the power was funneled through Alexander¡¯s will. He watched as soldiers dropped, screaming and grabbing their heads, as the ice-cold Siren battered at them with raw psionic force.


    That¡¯s the difference in our training, he is a hammer. I am a scalpel. Takeda thought to himself before projecting his thoughts to the Gestalt as a whole. Alexander. With all this power, why don¡¯t we inform the Sirens at the tower and throughout the city of what¡¯s going on? They will inform the Kitsune, and InSec and the military will have to deal with a whole branch of their top people, and a quarter the Cities population, revolting all at once. It should help keep the heat off of us and tell everyone the truth.


    No. Takada winced as Alexander¡¯s words burned through the Gestalt. The more people we involve the more chance we will be betrayed.


    Betrayed? We¡¯re abandoning Earth, what is there to betray?


    We must think of our people first. Once we are safe then we will look at bringing in a few other people


    Takada heard some of the other minds arguing in the gestalt, before Alexander quieted them with a harsh burst of psi-strength. I know what I am doing. I know what is best for us.


    It took all his strength to resist Alexander¡¯s mental command to be silent and obey. He made one tiny gesture with his real hand.


    Saki saw Takada¡¯s hand twitch, per the plan that had been psionically buried almost too deep for her to remember, and stood, raising her rifle to her shoulder. She lined the sites up on the back of Alexander¡¯s pale head. ¡°Goodbye Asshole.¡± She muttered to the psionically deafened albino an instant before she pulled the trigger. His head exploded in a rain of blood and brain. She touched her comm.


    ¡°Natalia, this is Saki reporting in. Alexander has been eliminated. Takada is taking charge of the Sirens Gestalt.¡±


    Takada felt no guilt for ordering Alexander¡¯s death, Noriko had reported to both him and Natalia the amount of tampering he had done to the minds of the people living in the Deep. He had been a good man and a good leader, unfortunately he had also been a megalomaniacal bastard, he didn¡¯t want to share power, not with Kay, not with Takada, and certainly not with the hundreds of other Kitsune and Sirens that were living in the Tower.


    With a ruthlessness born of years of training in psionic combat he grabbed the gestalt before it could disperse and reached out to InSec Central and beyond, he felt hundreds, thousands of Sirens minds, some of them blinking in surprise as they recognized his mental signature.


    For those of you who know me, and thought I had died¡­ I am alive! For those of you who don¡¯t know me, I am a former InSec agent who, when my team discovered a dark truth about the society we served, our superiors tried to kill us. They managed to kill most of my team, and they also killed Cassidy, the woman I loved, who had been sent to breed on Osaka. Takada let them feel his pain, sending them the images he had pulled, out of Shido¡¯s mind, of his mate lying dead on a gurney her arms covered in needle marks.


    How many of our mates and children have ¡®died of a fatal miscarriage? He felt the sirens begin to growl as they thought of the many women who had died of that very cause over the years. Today I and a group of people who have survived this betrayal make a stand! Tell the Kitsune how we have been betrayed, only by working together will we survive to build a new future where our families will be safe! Today we make our own fate!


    Takada heard the mental battle cry of the Sirens, which was shortly followed by the enraged hissing of the Kitsune, as a not so tiny war broke out at the tower.


    He dropped the gestalt. He grimaced at the bits of Alexander¡¯s head on his shirt, and he ignored the Deep Dwellers screams of surprise and terror at finding their leader dead, as he hit his comm. ¡°Natalia, the Garrison at the cr¨¨ches is down. I also made a command decision. The gestalt was powerful enough to reach the Central. Now everyone knows the truth.¡±

 Chapter 37 Central

    Sergeant Mal Mu listened as his Siren teammates broadcasted Takada¡¯s message through the towers. Within sixty seconds the entire Mu/Atsuro ISF team was armed and on the move. Their Sirens also confirmed they weren¡¯t the only ones.


    Ritsko was on Osaka for breeding. I wonder¡­Rage burned in his heart. He had spent the last four years undoing the harm the Advanced officer¡¯s training had done to Ritsko. They had come to an understanding, and he had even bought a ring, when she had come up for breeding. Unfortunately, he was only a fourth dan, Ritsko was a sixth, which meant a minimum requirement of fifth dan to breed her, and since they weren¡¯t married the command had seen no reason to grant their appeal.


    As his team hit the stairs, they heard rifles and sonic pistols that let them know they were not the only team defecting. ¡°Yoshi! Get me a working comm. Sarah, connect with the other Sirens let all defecting teams know to communicate on channel forty two!¡±


    He grabbed the communications handset his underling was holding out for him and keyed the talk button. ¡°This is Sergeant Mal of the Mu/Atsuro team. I am taking command of this situation. We are moving to secure admin floor fourteen. I repeat we are moving on floor fourteen. We need to take out the command. Please call in with targets.¡±


    ¡°This is Major Kuno of Shi/Yaun, We are moving on the weapons depot on sub floor F.¡±


    ¡°This is Specialist Ami of Koi/Tendo We are taking heavy fire on floor eighteen we have six men down, requesting medical and backup!¡±


    ¡°If any one is listing from the Ki/Haki team please report to floor eighteen.¡± Mal yelled into his com as they raced up the stairs.


    ¡°We read you Mal, Ki/Haki are on the way.¡± said a female voice.


    Mal cursed as a stairwell door blew in and a half-dozen men in black and grey uniforms ran in firing blind down the stairs. Mal dropped down just in time to miss getting shot in the head, the Siren male behind him was not so lucky and took a shot in the gut, tumbling down the stairs. The six Kitsune fired up at the black ops agents.


    ¡°Down and cover!¡± shouted Shingi, their explosives expert as he threw a tiny round blast grenade up at the black ops troopers. Mal covered his head as the boom shook the stairwell and dropped bits of plaster and cement chips around them.


    ¡°Mal! Mal? do you read?¡±


    ¡°I read we have taken fire on floor thirteen and have a man down.¡±


    ¡°This is Lisa Cole in personnel. I now have the cameras, we have a helicopter approaching from the mainland, and a half-dozen men, including Colonel Trencher and Colonel Jacobs, are making an escape attempt up the eastern stairs. I am directing Ranger Specialist Hari to set reverse rappels. Blow a hole in the exterior wall you should start seeing lines within two minutes.¡±


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    ¡°Thanks for the assist Lisa, please contact-¡°


    ¡°I am directing Ranger team St. Anne to secure floor fourteen.


    ¡°You are a godsend Lisa remind me to put you in for a promotion.¡±


    ¡°From what government sir?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s a good question. We¡¯ll figure that out later.¡± He tuned his ears down as Shingi set up another charge and blew a large chunk out of the wall. Seconds later black cords with harnesses dropped down in front of the new hole, and the six Kitsune strapped in and began running up the white plasticine wall.


    Off to the side they could see the helicopter as it neared the building, then they heard a pop, and the helicopter began to spin out of control, Mal could see the neat quarter sized hole in the pilot¡¯s head.


    As it spun close to them Asa unclipped from her rappel and jumped at the floundering craft, pulling herself into the open gun bay, and throwing the two gunners out as it began to plummet to the ground.


    Mal continued running, with four others behind them. He didn¡¯t look back to see if Asa had succeeded in capturing the helicopter. The fact that there was no boom was a good sign.


    As he and his team pulled to the top of the building, they positioned themselves around the door. Thirty seconds later the door flew open and four human agents ran out laying cover fire for the two Colonels. Within seconds they had been gunned down by Mal¡¯s team and the Ranger. The two Colonels stared at the five Kitsune and the human ranger.


    ¡°You will not get away with this treason!¡± said Colonel Jacobs. A shot rang out and he fell dead, as the Ranger holstered his pistol.


    ¡°What do you want?¡± Asked Trencher. ¡°I am sure we can reach an agreement. After all, we all want what is best for best for the City.¡±


    ¡°You think you can wave a hand and make all this go away?¡± said Shingi, anger in his voice.


    ¡°Young man, I have quite a bit of power.¡±


    ¡°Enough to get them to quit killing Sirens?¡±


    ¡°I can probably work out something to protect Military personnel.¡±


    ¡°Not good enough.¡± Mal spat. ¡°Not good enough at all to make up for all the children you¡¯ve killed. ¡°For the murder of Specialist Cassidy Aiko, Haru Aiko, Aaron Miko, Miyuki Yu,-¡°


    ¡°Listen for humanity to survive. Sacrifices-¡°


    ¡°Regin Aiko, Douglas Acer, Kylee Sparowhawk.


    ¡°Listen Sergeant! I¡¯m trying to help you!¡± Trencher said his face paling as he looked up and saw his helicopter piloted by Asa Mu.


    ¡°Greg Rogers, Lucas Hunt, Allison Yu.¡± Mal nodded at two of his men who grabbed the Colonel


    ¡°You will never get away with this!¡±


    The two male Kitsune began dragging the human to the edge of the tower.


    ¡°Osamu Yu, and Gaia knows how many others. As acting commanding officer of the InSec Central tower I sentence you to death. This sentence is to be carried out immediately and there will be no appeal. May Gaia forgive you, because no one else will.¡± With that Mal lined a sonic blaster to Trenchers head and fired. The two Kitsune threw the corpse off the roof. They watched as he fell thirty stories down where he stained the glittering white plasticine path red as he hit the ground.


    ¡°This is acting commander Sergeant Mal Mu. Report.¡± He said into the comm.


    ¡°This is Lisa, the building has been secured. What are your orders, sir?¡±


    Mal scanned the area around InSec Central, taking in all he saw. Fires were burning in Sydney Central Hospital, and he suspected that wasn¡¯t the only fire burning, nor the only hospital hit.


    ¡°Take some men and secure the hospital.¡± He ordered. ¡°Consider the chief of staff and the entire neo-natal department culpable and deal with them accordingly. Then try and find out if we¡¯re the only group to get this far.¡±


    The world was changing. He only hoped it was changing for the better.

 Chapter 38, Rangers

    Chapter Thirty-Eight


    Natalia listened to the reports from her team, even as she watched kids stream by her, stopping where Kay and Marigold were waving them to the side, to join with the mass of refugee non-combatants from the Deep. Her thirty-man assault team stood ready, with the demolitions man holding the detonator. They were standing at the last wall before the Diana¡¯s building and launching slip. Rei appeared around the corner, dragging one of his team, injured, behind him. He quickly handed the wounded man off to his sister as Natalia approached.


    ¡°Status?¡±


    ¡°Noriko and the last of my guys are at the end of the column. I lost two men and a few of the kids to stray fire, but we got to the tunnels far enough ahead that we could blow them. I think Noriko said she had a few devices Saki had given her that she was going to plant¡­¡±


    The sound of an explosion, muffled but audible even over the footsteps and muffled sobbing of the children around them, reached their ears.


    ¡°Plant them along the way behind us.¡± Rei shrugged, finishing his statement. ¡°We won¡¯t be having anyone come after us that way, at least not any time soon.¡±


    ¡°Sounds good to me.¡± Natalia nodded and raised her voice. ¡°I want all the kids to keep their heads down and covered. Older students cover the infant¡¯s heads. You all get one minute to tune your ears to take the sound of a nearby explosion!¡± She yelled, nodding to the demolitions guy. She strode down the line, looking to make sure her orders were being obeyed, when she grabbed Marigold. ¡°I¡¯m going to need Kay to come out with the combat team to act as a medic. I want you to wait till I signal and bring those kids in after we¡¯ve cleared a path. Got me?¡±


    Marigold swallowed but nodded. ¡°We¡¯ll be right behind you, Major.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s what I wanted to hear.¡± Natalia smiled at the smaller blond. ¡°Check your kids. Then I want your head covered too.¡±


    Turning to Rei she looked him over critically, to make sure he wasn¡¯t injured. He grinned at her attention. ¡°What, making sure I¡¯m not broken?¡±


    ¡°I might need you in working order later.¡± Natalia commented, blushing when she realized how that could be taken. Rei chuckled but didn¡¯t return the unintentional double entendre. ¡°Get your unwounded people rounded up as they come in, and take the rear guard position on the kids. Your guys aren¡¯t carrying the heavy weapons the assault crew is fielding, so you¡¯re not going to be much help in the initial raid.¡±


    Rei frowned, wanting to argue, but knew he¡¯d be next to useless. The men selected for the assault squad were the best marksmen, armed with a mix of sniper rifles, and old fashioned assault weapons equipped with their small number of rocket propelled grenade launchers. They were praying the security inside the Diana facility was still as weak as Shido¡¯s information suggested, and those grenades where their method of handling the towers their few pictures showed inside. ¡°I¡¯ll cover your ass. But then, can you really blame me?¡±


    He winked, stealing a kiss which sent several of the older kids into giggles despite their fear, before he headed back down the tunnel and column of children still trickling in. Natalia, blushing, shushed the children and re-issued her orders to get down and covered.


    She keyed her headset. ¡°Saki, I¡¯m getting ready to breach the final wall. Rei and what¡¯s left of his team is on rear guard. Get the Sirens together and join up with him.¡±


    ¡°Yes sir.¡± Was the younger girls reply.


    Natalia turned and gestured to the demolitions man on her team. ¡°Raul, you ready to make me a door?¡±


    ¡°Sure, just as soon as you tell me if you want a decorative door, or just a simple slab.¡± He snarked back. Absently Natalia wondered if all explosives experts were crazy.


    ¡°How about big?¡±


    ¡°Big I can do.¡± He grinned, flipping the safety cover off the switch. ¡°Fire in the hole!¡±


    The explosion caused the children to scream and cry, none of them having been anywhere near as close to one of its scale before. Natalia ignored them and shouldered her assault rifle, bringing the sights to her eye even as she reached the jagged mouth of the new hole in the cement. Around her several others did the same, and the rest settled their rifle and grenade launcher combos onto their hips to absorb the kick. The dust slowly settled, and her sights settled on a stunned looking InSec officer. ¡°Fire at will!¡± She ordered.


    Saki almost rammed into Rei as she found the last stream of scared kids from the cr¨¨che and rounded the corner. Takeda was on her shoulder, barely able to walk. ¡°There you are!¡± Rei said, gesturing at one of his bigger men to take the albino from the small girl¡¯s shoulders. ¡°I was beginning to think you weren¡¯t coming. Where¡¯s the rest of the Gestalt team?¡±


    ¡°Half passed out, and trailing behind. I¡¯m not sure they¡¯ll make it without help.¡± Saki admitted. ¡°I grabbed Takada, but I¡¯ll need more people to go back after them, sir.¡±


    Rei looked at Saki, and at the last of the children going down the tunnel. Sounds of gunfire and grenade originated explosions drifted softly up the tunnel from where the fighting was. ¡°How far away is the gestalt team?¡±


    ¡°A hundred meters sir.¡±


    Rei did the math. The kids would be in the chamber before his people could reach the handful of Siren Saki had been forced to leave, with no one watching their backs. He considered the possibility of sending only a couple of his people with the girl, but quickly ruled against it. They¡¯d have to choose who to help, and who to leave.


    He got the job of leading them, so that was his job now. ¡°Natalia ordered us to cover the kids retreat. That¡¯s the priority.¡±


    ¡°We won¡¯t be able to come back for them once we reach the Diana.¡± Saki argued.


    Rei nodded. ¡°I know. But there¡¯s easily a hundred Siren among the refugees and I¡¯ve counted easily twice that number among the kids. Ten versus two hundred other innocents, and that¡¯s ignoring the Kitsune. The math isn¡¯t there, Saki.¡±


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    The girl grimaced, but nodded. ¡°We better get moving then.¡±


    ¡°Yes. We better.¡± Rei sighed. They moved down the tunnel to catch up with the children.


    Natalia brushed her red hair out of her eyes, sweat and chemical smoke stinging her them. She was over half way to the large, boxy shape of the Diana and had been relieved to find that resistance had been relatively light. Of her original thirty men she still had twenty-five of them, and none of those were wounded.


    ¡°Sven! Grab a few people and get that door open!¡± She yelled, gesturing to a large cargo and personnel loading ramp at the back of the ship. The other man, wielding an assault rifle, pointed at three other fighters and ran straight for the ship.


    Natalia turned and looked back, scanning the area behind them for enemy combatants. Seeing none she taped her headset live. ¡°Marigold, get the refugees moving! Make sure they know not to walk!¡±


    ¡°Yes Major!¡± Marigold¡¯s voice replied, and moments later running men, women, and children came out of the hole, heading for Natalia¡¯s position.


    ¡°You ten, go around the left side of the Diana! You ten, take the right. Make sure no one¡¯s trying to come around her to get at us!¡± Natalia ordered, before following the team she¡¯d sent to open the door. The hydraulics were already whining, the huge leaf of steel and ceramic lowering to the work floor. She spotted the bodies of two security men, next to the lock her people had used to enter, and slid in after them.


    ¡°Any on board resistance?¡± She asked, scanning the cavernous cargo hold of the experimental ship, her rifle lowered but the stock secured against her shoulder.


    ¡°No. There might be people further in, but none down here.¡±


    Natalia nodded, and keyed her com again. ¡°Saki, how are you doing?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve joined up with Rei. We¡¯re behind the refugees but it¡¯s going to be about five, ten minutes before we get to you.¡±


    Natalia walked to the lowering cargo ramp, gesturing to the refugee¡¯s who were already closing on the Diana to run up them. She froze; dread filling her, as she saw armed men in the clothing of Expeditionary Force Rangers appearing from the secured tube way station on the other side of the factory floor. ¡°Make it five. We¡¯ve got hard cases coming up from our eight o¡¯clock!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll start kicking the kids in their asses, sir. Saki out.¡±


    Natalia changed the ammo clip of her ammunition starved assault rifle and brought it to her shoulder. Scanning the orderly moving mass of Rangers she passed over target after target, finally finding one with a flash of brass on his shoulder. Her rifle barked and when she returned her sights to her target he was a corpse laying on the deck. ¡°I need my snipers at the cargo bay, NOW!¡± She yelled, hoping the teams on the side of the ship could hear her over the panicked refugees.


    Rei blinked as they left the dimly lit tunnel for the well lit, cavernous chamber that was the launch slip for the ship. Scanning around, he cursed as he saw men exchanging fire with defenders on the craft. His cursing turned viler when a grenade, launched by the Rangers, landed among a pack of refugees and exploded, sending their bodies flying, some in more than one piece.


    ¡°Saki!¡± He yelled, the girl appearing next to him an instant later. She cursed and pulled a wide, short tube off her back and pushed it into Rei¡¯s hand. ¡°Spare launcher. Try to hit big crowds. Even you should be able to manage that!¡±


    ¡°Gee, thanks!¡± Rei muttered, as he watched her launch a grenade from the barrel slung under her own assault rifle. He considered asking why she had two of the things in the first place, but decided he didn¡¯t want to know. Instead, he brought the borrowed weapon up to his shoulder and fired into the biggest crowd of soldiers he could see.


    He was satisfied when they met the same fate as the unarmed refugee¡¯s they had killed. ¡°Everyone not toting big bombs get your asses to the ship and help them defend!¡± He ordered, sliding a grenade off the back of Saki¡¯s bandolier and sliding it into the now empty tube in his hands. ¡°And hurry it up!¡± He yelled, firing another shot, scoring another handful of dead Rangers.


    ¡°Remind me to give Takada crap about missing these jokers.¡± Saki commented as she loaded another grenade into her launcher.


    ¡°No problem. Now start running.¡± Rei yelled, snatching the rifle out of Saki¡¯s hands, and pushing the launcher she¡¯d given him into her arms.


    ¡°What the hell!¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re our pilot. You need to get on that thing¡¯s bridge five minutes ago. I¡¯ll be right behind you!¡±


    ¡°You can¡¯t hit the broad side of a barn! Why¡¯d you take my gun?¡± She snarled


    ¡°Cause they¡¯ll shoot at the guy gunning at them, not the pretty girl who¡¯s just running, now haul ass!¡±


    Saki snarled again, but swept off her bandoleer of ammo and grenades and threw it over Rei¡¯s shoulder, and then she began running full tilt towards the Diana, passing scared refugees and children, unintentionally spurring them on to greater speed.


    Rei changed out the gauss rifle¡¯s clip and began running himself, aiming at the biggest masses of rangers and squeezing off bursts of fire at random. He winced as concrete, and steel tools began taking hits in return all around him. ¡°Oh god, this is so stupid! I can¡¯t even run fast like this!¡± he muttered, barely keeping up with the end of the line of refugees. ¡°Natalia¡¯s going to kill me.¡±


    Natalia grabbed Saki as she tore up the ramp. ¡°Where¡¯s Rei?¡± She demanded. Saki gestured behind her, pointing at the figure farthest in the back. ¡°What the hell is he doing there?¡±


    ¡°Drawing fire, like an idiot. Your kids had better take after you in the brain category!¡± Saki grunted.


    ¡°I¡¯ll kill him!¡±


    ¡°Only if he lives, which the idiot probably will. Where¡¯s the bridge?¡±


    Natalia grabbed one of her men and pushed him towards Saki. ¡°You two read the maps, same as me. Go find it and get this tub moving!¡±


    ¡°Right away, Major.¡± Saki sang as she ran with the other man on her heels.


    ¡°Everyone, give Rei covering fire! If a Ranger kills him before I get the chance, I will have someone¡¯s head on a platter!¡±


    Saki cursed, ripping the front of her shirt off to bind the hole in her leg. She glanced at the corpse of her partner, but shook him off and limped into the gore covered cabin that was the Diana¡¯s bridge.


    While the powers that be, in whatever they mistook for eternal wisdom, decided not to have personnel stationed on the Diana for the most part, they¡¯d apparently kept a small security team of four men in the bridge at all times. That was Saki¡¯s assumption at least, when she had come around the corner and found them all pointing weapons at her.


    She¡¯d thrown herself to the ground, hand drawing her sonic stunner as she went down, even as her partner came around the corner. Her partner squeezed off a burst, taking one man in the chest before he ate the remaining three men¡¯s fire himself.


    Her pistol free, Saki had planted two shots into the chest of the nearest man, then squeezed a third into the one behind him. Unfortunately, the last man standing had not panicked, and had drawn a tight bead on her. Reactions born of spending time in the toxic swamps that dominated most of Australia was all that allowed Saki to curl into a ball putting her own thigh between her chest and the InSec man¡¯s sonic pistol.


    She¡¯d felt her thigh shatter, and saw blood as the sound shred flesh, but it wasn¡¯t enough to put her down and she¡¯d had her pistol locked onto his head even as he¡¯d shot her. One last trigger pull and the man went down.


    Clumsily she climbed into the pilot¡¯s chair, tapping the screen and bringing it live. A quick scan showed all systems at nominal rest. Sighing, relieved that the ship wasn¡¯t behind schedule and unable to fly, she keyed her headset on. ¡°Natalia, this is Saki. I have the bridge.¡±


    ¡°Can she fly?¡± Natalia asked, the sound of gunfire making her hard to understand.


    ¡°Starting emergency activation now. I¡¯m not sure I¡¯ll get a chance to warn you before I shut the doors.¡±


    ¡°Stop talking and do it, Saki!¡±


    ¡°Yes Sir.¡±


    Saki¡¯s fingers began to fly, forcing systems into hard boots, and the engines to spin up without the proper pre-flight checks. It was reckless and stupid in an experimental craft, but Saki was smiling like a loon.


    This was what she lived for.