FSE

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Year: Unknown.

Time: Unknown.

Location: Unknown.

I quickly scanned over the room with both eyes, making note of the most dangerous people and aiming to take them out first. Overall, Artsua and the Reptile were the only ones who posed any threat, though I knew just how dangerous the Reptile was and resolved to take him out after Artsua. The Canine was still in shock from how I managed to shake up his plans, making him an easy kill. I quickly raised both claws and placed them on both sides of his head, instinctively locating the soft-points of his skull and pressing into them with as much force as I could manage.

At first, I expected to feel the same jolt of electricity that I felt the last few times I tried to hurt him; but this time, I felt nothing. I hardly even felt Artsua's flesh being pierced by both my claws as I dug them in as far as I could, incapacitating him in a split second. But I wasn't satisfied with just that. I quickly withdrew one claw and swiped it along his throat, tearing through his jugular as if it was made of paper. Now satisfied that I had killed him once and for all, I withdrew both claws and let them fall to my sides as the Canine's body fell backwards and onto the floor.

I made short work of everyone else in the room as soon as Artsua's body hit the floor. The Reptile quickly leaped at me from behind, raising one claw in an attempt to claw my neck in the same way that I did to Artsua. Unfortunately for him, I had already stepped to one side with a speed even more unnatural than his and avoiding his swipe by barely an inch. I snatched the Reptile's handgun from its holster as soon as he was in front of me, quickly aimed it at his head and pulled the trigger. The bullet had lodged itself in the base of his spine, drawing almost no blood at all as the Reptile fell to the floor next to Artsua.

There were only three people left in the room, excluding me, one of which I needed to keep alive. I wasted no time and aimed at the two doctors standing next to each other and holding their arms above their heads in an attempt to surrender. At first, my body and I were fully committed to killing everyone in the room except for Doctor Mason, but now I was beginning to have second thoughts. After a few seconds of rapid thought, I finally made a decision and shot the remaining two doctors in the leg, slowing them down if they made an attempt to stop me in whatever way they could. That just left me and the White Wolf left standing.

"...I need you." I said bluntly, holding the handgun up to her head with only a few feet between us. "Artsua had a plan to take back the South-East district, and I'm willing to bet he has a backup plan just in case...well, in case_this_ happened."

"What makes you think I'd help you stay in control?" The Wolf retorted. I could already see her right paw reaching down to her waist slowly, gripping a small and concealed handgun. I lifted my handgun to aim at her head as a warning.

"Because I'm asking nicely." I replied, getting even closer to pulling the trigger. "Artsua had the wrong idea. If everything goes according to his plan, you'll be doing less repairing and more damaging."

"Artsua's plan is swift and thorough." Mason objected, flipping out her handgun and aiming at my head. I still hadn't pulled the trigger. She could still be useful. "By the end of today, the South-East district will be free of your kind for good."

"No it won't." I replied bluntly. If I was going to persuade her, I had to pull out one of the lessons that Viggo taught me. "...There's one thing you need to know about keeping people happy. If the police all just strolled into the South-East district and arrested every single person who broke the law in one way or another, your jails would be pretty full. Our clients would soon be discovered as well. The economy will be fucked, riots will follow from that. What you need is a light touch; crack down on us one at a time. That way, everything is stable, everything is organised."

"...aren't you supposed to persuade us to stop altogether?" Mason asked after processing everything I just said. My aim wasn't to stop people from trying to break down the club; that would be almost impossible. It was easier for both sides if we kept things small and organised.

"I don't do miracles." I retorted, smiling at her and motioning at her lab coat. "I'm going to need some clothes if I'm going to get out of here. So why don't you go ahead and give me that lab coat of yours."

As she eased off her coat, I took a quick glance at the suit of armour, still dormant in the large glass cabinet to my left. I noticed that the spikes on the interior - intended to bind the user to the suit permanently - could be removed...curious.

"I'm going to need someone to strap me into that suit as well." I hinted to her as she tossed me her lab coat. I tossed away my handgun, sensing that we weren't going to shoot each other just yet...maybe not at all.

I walked over to the glass cabinet with Doctor Mason as soon as I buttoned the lab coat up, providing some protection from the metal that made up the armour. We kept an eye on each other as Mason unlocked the cabinet at her own pace, expertly reaching inside and feeling around the exterior of the suit, finding what looked like small pressure-points arranged along it. The Wolf slowly pressed against each individual point, causing the spikes on the interior of the suit to clip off and fall harmlessly to the floor.

"You're really going to trust me with this thing?" I asked the Wolf as I stepped up to the suit, making sure all the spikes were removed. Once I was satisfied, I cautiously turned around and stepped backwards into the suit, manoeuvring my body into place.

"Right now I trust you as much as I trusted Artsua." She retorted, possibly hinting her mistrust for Artsua. It seemed the Dog didn't have many friends, even in his 'workspace'. I smiled at her briefly as she stepped up to lock in the suit. "Why do you need this suit anyway? Artsua is dead."

"If I want to get out of here, I have to play my part." I hinted to her. If I made it seem as if my mind had really been wiped and my body was now bound to the suit, I would be able to get out with no trouble. "That's why I need you to guide me out of here so I can sort this whole mess out."

"And how do you intend to do that?" Doctor Mason asked, done with locking the suit and letting me step out to get the hang of walking around in a tin-suit. Overall, it was no different from all the other biosuits I've worn. The most armour was fitted around the non-flexible areas of my body, like my chest, my kneecaps and elbows, making it easy for me to move around.

"You're going to help me call it all off." I replied bluntly, allowing her to take the lead and guide me out of the white-tiled room and into the equally as white corridors. "First, I need to get back to the Club; then we'll be having a long talk on how we're going to deal with this."

I flexed my neck and adjusted my sight so I could properly see through the lime-green facemask and breathe through the ventilator just in front of my mouth. Even through the coloured facemask, it was hard to keep track of a White Wolf walking through a white corridor. Nevertheless, she managed to guide me out in only a matter of minutes.

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As soon as we were out on the streets, I looked around to see where I was actually being held. The streets were very narrow and could barely enable two people to pass one another or walk side by side. The warehouses were also a dead giveaway, telling me that I had been held captive in the same place I had been captured. The South-East warehouse district! I cursed under my breath and looked behind me at the building that held me. It looked like a mere four-story warehouse from outside. An impressive disguise for a laboratory used to experiment on Bearded Dragons, I thought bitterly. I looked back at Doctor Mason to make sure she didn't run off or do anything stupid.

"What day is it?" I asked her, turning around and pacing back and forth, still thinking of an idea to deal with the current situation. By the end of the day, there was a very good chance that there wouldn't be a Club to go back to...and the sun was already beginning to set.

"The twentieth of May." Mason replied bluntly, still holding her handgun in one paw. "It's also about five o'clock in the afternoon, so you don't have much time."

"Do you have a phone?" I demanded, receiving a quick nod from the Wolf as she pulled a phone from one of her pockets. She handed me the phone as soon as I stuck one claw out, fully prepared to dial the only number I ever had to memorise.

"One-seven-two-seven-five..." I muttered the phone number, making sure I dialled it all in correctly. Hopefully there would be someone on the other side to pick up.

"...Hello? Who is this?" I heard a familiar Avian voice ask over the phone. Fawx had finally picked up after barely a couple of seconds. Just like him to answer his phone as soon as it rang.

"Dad, this is Rush." I said bluntly, hearing a small gasping noise from Fawx as soon as I mentioned my name. Unfortunately, Fawx didn't have a grasp of the situation and began to shoot out questions. Where was I, what happened to me, why didn't I call him sooner? "Fawx, listen. I can explain everything, just send someone to pick me up and take me back to the club as soon as possible. I'm in the South-East warehouse district, next to warehouse fourteen."

"...I'll come personally to pick you up." Fawx replied quietly, probably under a lot of stress and confusion. He probably thought I was dead. Elle probably thought that way too, although we only ever see each other once or twice a month anyway.

So we waited - Mason and I. It was the only thing we could do, other than trying to conjure up a plan. I leaned against the wall just parallel with the warehouse that had held me and tried to look at things logically again. Artsua was dead, so it was no simple matter of calling things off. It was almost certain that Artsua was the only person who could stop tonight's events, if he ever even thought about the option. The only person I had left was Doctor Mason. At the most, she could start the crackdown on the South-East district, and what good would that do us? The only option I could think of was to kill every single person on the opposite side; and even then, I had no idea how many there were...

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After about five minutes of waiting for Fawx to arrive. Overall it was reasonable timing for him, though I could tell that Doctor Mason was impressed by how 'quick' he had arrived. I detached my body from the wall as soon as I saw Fawx's red limousine snaking along the road. My body instinctively stopped just a few feet from the limousine as it pulled over, letting the back door closest to me open up, revealing a crimson Avian inside.

"You look like you've taken a red marker to your body." Fawx insulted me, stepping out quickly and stopping just in front of me so we were face to face. To me, this was a casual greeting considering I went missing for four days. I was about to speak up just before the Avian struck me across the face with the back of his talon. "Where the HELL have you been?"

"Investigating...then spending four days in captivity." I smiled at him, holding both arms out and letting him take one more step up to me, hugging me tightly and laughing whilst patting me on the back a couple of times.

I explained everything that happened over the past two or three days to Fawx. How Artsua had set everything up, how he managed to capture me, what he did to me over the past four days, and finally how I managed to kill him (in extensive detail). It took some persuading to get the Avian to stop aiming him gun at the White Wolf behind me. He finally settled down once I explained that the Club was at risk of...well, going to pot if we didn't act now. All three of us stepped into the limousine as soon as I finished my story. Unfortunately, Fawx had a bit of bad news to share with_us_, too.

"So...I got a call shortly before I arrived." Fawx said grimly, scratching the back of his head and trying to put things into words. "It was Artsua...he said he'd come along and give the Club a visit..."