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Location: Wastelands, The Director's Refuge, Labs.

Closest City: Falsetto.

Time: 01:05am.

Year: 2180, March 15th.

We all stood still; me, Elise, and the Black Wolf. Me and Elise were aiming at the Wolf, who was aiming at Elise. We outnumbered him, but I still couldn't bring myself to pull the trigger; not without putting Elise in danger. I kept tapping my left foot, listening to the silence; I gritted my teeth and took a quiet but deep breath, and planned to shoot forwards and disarm the Wolf. Unfortunately, he had got me first. I took a sudden step forwards and felt a sudden shot of pain go right through my right leg, making me fall to the ground.

"I'd stay right there if I were you." The Wolf said, with his pistol aimed down at my head. "My name's Joseph; and I plan to take those keys of yours."

I was writhing in pain, and grasping my leg to try and stop the bleeding. No bones were broken, but it still hurt like hell. I could only lie there and think; his name had reminded me of something. After a few more seconds of silence I had figured it out. This was Joseph; the same Joseph that we had heard from in Old Arpeggio; the same Joseph hat was assumed to have been Rosie. But why was he here? By the look of the briefcase he was carrying, I could tell that he had found the money that we were searching for all this time.

"You wouldn't think about killing him." Elise said stubbornly, still aiming her rifle at the Wolf's body. "You know that I would kill you before you get the chance."

"If you really meant it, you would have shot me already." Joseph retorted, keeping his gun aimed at my head. "Besides, I'm getting rather good at killing. For example, I killed your father just half an hour ago."

I looked over at Elise, who started to shake slightly. I could see her eyes water slightly, and she dropped her rifle to the ground. After a few seconds of silence, Elise shot forwards, pulling out a pistol from her belt holster; unfortunately, Joseph had pulled his trigger, sending a bullet through her left shoulder, causing Elise to toppling forwards and onto the cold hard floor. She screamed in pain, but mostly anger, and tried to get up just before Joseph kicked her to the ground again.

"Why are you doing this?" I growled. I wasn't looking for a 'good-Samaritan' reason, but simply looking for a motive. "Why aren't you dead? We killed you back in Old Arpeggio."

"That wasn't actually me." Joseph answered, leaning down and whispering into my ears. "I created it to draw you two into a much larger trap."

"What the hell are you talking about?" I grunted, still lying on the floor, but looking up to the barrel of Joseph's pistol.

"Did you think that The Director controlled this Hunt?" Joseph asked rhetorically, grabbing my neck with his spare hand and pulling me up to him. "You'd be wrong. Who do you think made Rosie? Who do you think gave Enhime a key and hinted him about the hunt?"

"I was there when Arpeggio burned." Joseph continued, lowering his voice to a growl; "I survived in stasis until 2140. I broke out and escaped Arpeggio. After traveling the world for over twenty years, I finally found that radio signal. I had to kill half a dozen Dragons to gain that single key. Hell, I had to earn the trust of that bastard Enhime in order to get him to take the key-."

"So why did you let Rosie kill Enhime and take all those keys?" I asked, trying to get to the source of his plans. "What do you have to gain if we took all the keys?"

"It's simple, really." Joseph answered, letting go of me so that I dropped to the floor again, sending a shot of pain through my leg again. "I let Rosie take some keys and commanded him to hide out in Old Arpeggio, where Elise knew it would go. When you killed Rosie, I was able to track you through Epitaph."

"I knew that you'd get all the remaining keys. It's not surprising, considering Elise had the most firepower out of everyone else. When you broke into the Falsetto Archives, I knew exactly where I needed to go to find The Director...and kill him."

I started to shake on the ground; a small pool of blood was slowly growing next to my legs, and the skin under my fur was starting to go pale and blend in with the color of my fur. I was bleeding out, and soon I would be dead. I began to sob softly on the ground and breathe heavily, almost gasping for air.

"Don't worry, you won't die." Joseph reassured me. I could tell that he was talking about both of us. He got up and walked over to one of the lab tables, where he picked out a small container; he laid it down next to me and opened it up, revealing four syringes; only three contained something; the other was empty.

"This is what The Director did during his time here." Joseph growled, pulling out a single syringe; "The poor bastard took his time. This is M-179; it stops bodily growth completely, and restores any damaged skin. Think of it like that fable called 'The Fountain of Youth', only it just keeps you the age you are."

I backed away in fear as Joseph drew closer to me, holding the syringe in his left hand. I wasn't afraid of needles, just what was inside them. What if he was lying? What if it was a poison? I would rather just get shot in the head and be put out of my misery rather than that. Unfortunately, Joseph had grabbed me by the neck, and I was too weak from blood loss to resist. I simply let him push the needle slowly into my wrist, and let whatever was inside mix into my blood.

"You'll make a perfect specimen for my project." Joseph whispered to himself, placing the syringe back in the metal box and picking out another one; "Just one half bred Wolf to go."

I was about to look over at Elise and tell her to run, but she had already done so. The only thing left of her was a small pool of blood. She was nowhere to be found from what I saw. I heard Joseph curse under his breath and pull out his pistol; I didn't see why if he was going to inject Elise with something that would save her. I wondered what Joseph meant by 'project'.

The effects of the injection started to kick in. I had stopped shivering, and had begun to breathe normally. I couldn't feel anything; as if my whole body had gone numb. I directed my eyes down to my injured leg, which had stopped bleeding. The bullet that was implanted in my leg had been forced out, and the flesh had started to heal in a matter of seconds.

I turned my head over to Joseph, who was already walking slowly around the room, looking for Elise. Unfortunately, I couldn't see her either; though I did have a chance to stop Joseph right there. My body was still a little numb, and I was barely able to move my arm over to one of my pistols that were just in reach. I grabbed it with as much strength as I could put into my arm and lifted it up to face Joseph, who was still searching without any luck.

"Come on." I growled quietly to myself; "Put some strength into it, bastard Fox."

My body felt like it had a mind of its own; it slowly lifted my pistol up and followed Joseph around the room until he was in clear range. Unfortunately, he had noticed me aiming my pistol at him and had stridden over to me before I could pull the trigger, grabbing my neck again and almost snapping it.

"Killing you would be a waste." The Wolf growled, suffocating me so that I would pass out; "I still need you for something."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a shadow start to move. I was slowly losing consciousness, but I knew what was going to happen. My vision was starting to blur, but I felt Joseph let go of my neck and saw him get up quickly, firing his pistol at whatever was behind me. Unfortunately for him, he had been shot back at least seven times, throwing him back; he was slumped on the floor in front of me in a big, bloody heap. Elise staggered into view, holding onto her left shoulder, which was dripping with blood. I started to gain consciousness again and get up to grab Elise, who was just starting to fall over.

"Easy, I've got you." I reassured, stroking Elise's back and laying her down softly on the floor. "You look like you've lost a lot of blood."

I leant over to the metal case that was still lying on the floor and pulled out another syringe containing M-179. Elise had obviously seen the syringe because the next thing I knew, she held out her right arm weakly.

"I wouldn't want to die being this close to the money." Elise smiled weakly, closing her eyes. "Hurry up and inject me with it, then."

"Just stay still." I whispered into her ear, spreading her fur out and revealing a bare patch of flesh. I pushed the needle in carefully and injected her with the chemical.

I sat back and watched Elise start to tense and un-tense. Her blood covered flesh started to close up, and her skin had started to return color. I had to wait a few more minutes until she finally got up, breathing in deeply, and out again. Her eyes were half closed, and she blinked slowly, as if she had just woken up from a very long sleep.

"It's a good thing you brought her back." I heard a voice laugh behind me. I turned around and saw that Joseph was still alive, and holding an empty syringe; he had just injected himself with the last shot of M-179. "I'd hate to have only one test subject."

"We can easily kill you again." I retorted, getting up with Elise. "You've just put us back in the situation we were in before."

"Only I have the bigger gun." Joseph laughed, holding up Elise's rifle; "Now let's keep moving up to that ship of yours."

I cursed under my breath; so did Elise. We couldn't reach for our weapons without Joseph shooting us down first thing. We both simply submitted and marched over to the elevator with Joseph. He was right about one thing.

We had certainly fallen into his trap...