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Chapter 8: Breaking Barriers

Peter awoke suddenly, a noise blasted out of the bathroom, someone probably dropped something. He looked around the living room to see Alopex had vanished and the movie was over. You'd think she'd at least have the courtesy of waking him up so he didn't have to sleep on the couch. Then a sight coming from the corridor took him by surprise.

The Arctic Fox mutant was completely Naked, her old purple face paint was back, but she stood completely in the nude. Lucky for Peter's developing mind, he couldn't see any of the more private parts of her body, either due to excess fur covering them or the angle that he spotted her from. “Like what you see?" She said in a soft tone.

“Alopex?! What the hell are you doing? Put some clothes on before anyone sees you!" Al pretended not to listen, rushing towards Pete and pinning him on the couch. “Al! Stop, they're going to fin-"

“Would you shut up? I know what you want, I've seen the way you looked at me. You like me don't you? Admit it to yourself Petey, you want all this" Al showed off as she spoke. Peter had a hard time even comprehending the situation he was in, it felt like a fantasy come to life.

“I… Don't know what I want…" The two stared at one another for a few seconds, then the fox hugged him tight. And Peter could swear she was crying. “Al? What's wrong?"

-

A lone man sat in a circle of candles, he meditated, concentrating in finding balance within himself. He wore armor that covered his face and body, a trait that made him seem ready to strike out into battle at any minute. Yet he was so focused on his inner peace that he was unable to notice a new visitor. A quiet intruder who sneaked her way across the room, she was here for payback.

Getting here was surprisingly easy, the man didn't have any guards positioned. He firmly believed that his reputation was enough to scare off any would be assassins. But the woman that had invaded his space of meditation was no mere assassin, in fact, she wasn't even human.

She was a mutant, an arctic fox the size of a man, and with unmatched skills in the field of stealth. Years ago this man had turned her into a monster, ripped her from her life, her family. She could never forgive him or let go, she knew he'd never stop hurting or torturing others. The mutant had to put an end to his reign of terror.

With one swift move she slashed her tail across the air, releasing a gust of wind that put out the candles. The room was filled by darkness, and the man sat up having noticed the alert his attacker delivered. He had to wait for the fox to make the first strike, or at least until his eyes got used to the darkness. The shadows that surrounded him still prevented any sort of visual contact with her. She however, had eyes trained by nature itself, fully designed to thrive in this darkness.

“Impressive, but you're still not good enough to beat him. You'll have to run off with your tail between your legs again." That voice… It didn't come from either of the warriors in the room, it must have been some outside source. Yet it sounded so strange, almost like it came from inside the fox's head. The fact that the man slowly made his way towards her without even acknowledging it, seemed to suggest it really was some spirit speaking to her. “He may be human, but his eyes are getting used to the darkness. Your advantage is dying, when will you finally make use of it?" Again with that same voice, it sounded like an adult woman, she had a japanese accent, yet something about it was off, the mutant had only heard one person like that in her life. If this was the same person that spoke to her now, then this had to be some form of trick, an illusion designed to mock or even kill her.

While she was cast in thought over the strange voices that accompanied her, the man rushed towards her direction. His armor had twin blades coming out of his gauntlets, which he now slashed towards his attacker. The mutant blocked his strike using one of her Kamas, she might've been distracted, but the darkness did a good enough job hindering her opponents precision. In fact, it was like she fought a man she had never met. His movements were sluggish, amateurish, lacking technique. So poor were his attacks, that she easily performed a counter strike, shoving the blade of her other Kama into his mask.

He screamed in agony for a few seconds before falling to the ground, red poured from his helmet. “No… It can't be that easy, he didn't even block my attack, he…" The fox stood, murmuring to herself over the quick death of the man that had destroyed her life. What was meant to be a moment of catharsis, was now just a moment of pure confusion. “Must have been a faker, some fool put in his place to get killed. The Shredder would never be defeated in a single strike." She jumped at her fallen enemy, using her clawed hands to remove the kana that pierced his head and the mask that concealed his face.

What she witnessed made her heart freeze in fear. The dead man was not the devious ninja clan leader known as the Shredder, but someone else, someone that Alopex considered a friend. “Sad isn't it? But it's what happens when you bring innocents into this game, deep down you knew how this would end. Unfortunately for him, he made the mistake of trusting someone like you. Foxes are tricksters after all, he should've known better." There was the voice again, mocking the mutant for her mistake.

“I never… Please, I never meant to hurt him, I'm not a…" She couldn't bring herself to finish that sentence, all the fox could do is hold his lifeless body and cry.

-

“Al, wake up, you're choking me!" Peter could barely move as Alopex held him tight, she murmured random words and seemed to be crying. Her tail wagged, her ears twitched and she kept kicking his leg. This went on for almost a minute, as he struggled to get her out of this frenzied sleepwalker-like state.

The mutant tightened her embrace. “I'm so sorry, please, I didn't want to hurt you!" She kept holding him, it reached a point where even her large fluffy tail was trying to constrict Pete like a snake.

Watching the scene was Jacob, who had returned home early in the morning to find the two teenagers sleeping together on the couch. "Ok, that's enough" Suddenly, he grabbed Alopex and attempted to pull her away with a swift motion. However his movements were so quick they scared the mutant, who hadn't previously noticed his presence. Most likely due to the stress and shock from her nightmare.

She jumped away from his grasp and fell onto the living room floor. Sluggish and tired, it was like she hadn't slept a second. "Ouch. What happened?"

"Well, It's 6am on a sunday. Normally I would be sleeping, but Peter was almost screaming at you to let him go when I got here." Al panted as Jack complained to them.

"When did you come back from the shop?"

"I've been back for quite a while Peter, saw two people sitting on the couch and thought you noticed me come in. I was basically asleep already, Saturdays drain my energy a lot" Jacob had gotten only a few good hours of sleep, and this situation had stolen a good few more.

"I apologize Mr. Manners, I had some night terrors." As she spoke, the animalistic quirks she showed during her nightmare became less pronounced. Her ears stood in place, her tail ceased wagging and her posture straightened. Peter noticed this change in behavior, it felt as if she wanted to appear more human, had she been trained to do this?

Pete got up, realizing that neither of them would be sleeping any time soon. Jack however went back to his room, barely acknowledging Alopex's apology by giving her a small grumble and a passive nod. Hopefully some more sleep would make him less grumpy. "Al, what kind of nightmare did you have?" Pete asked, paying attention as the fox relaxed and allowed her tail to wag again.

"I don't remember really, I don't dream often. Guess the change of scenario probably caused it." She couldn't exactly tell what happened in the dream, it felt so foggy to her now. Yet she knew it was something so terrible it was best left forgotten. "Peter, aren't you… afraid of me?" Alopex looked anxious, she sat beside Pete again, hoping he would give her an honest answer. "You've talked about the things I've done. Your Uncle said he thought of me like a child soldier, and when I heard that, I wanted to tell him it wasn't true, but it was. I was stolen from my home and turned into a weapon, dammit! I've killed people Peter, and hurt a lot more, but you still let me into your hom-"

"Al, you need to stop worrying about what people made you do. You're your own person now. Plus, I'm going to help you move forward! You deserve a lot more than what a psycho evil ninja clan could give you." Pete smiled and jumped off the couch triumphantly. To him this was an opportunity to help someone in need and bring some excitement to his life. Letting her go to deal with her troubles alone felt like the wrong thing to do. He held his hand out for her, which she took without hesitation, if that's what he truly believed, then she should take this chance. "Now, how about we head out, i've got some good plans for today""

-

The air outside was cold, autumn was in full swing and the temperature steadily declined. Something that was very unfortunate for Pete, considering he left his coat at his parents' house. Al didn't even notice, to her the climate was even a bit warmer than it should be. Her fur generally maintained most of its winter coat for the entire year, probably an unfortunate side effect of getting mutated. Hopefully this new home had mild summers, or at least a nice air conditioner "Al I'm gonna rush back in and grab a coat, meet me at the clearing" The teenage boy was about to run back home when Alopex grabbed his arm.

“Wait, I need to say something." Peter was shaking from the cold breeze, but endured to hear what she had to tell him. “I want to say thanks, I know it's tough to deal with someone like me. I have a lot of… things I need to heal from, but you treat me like an equal. It's the first time anyone has done that to me since I got mutated. When I got here I threatened to kill you, but you still took me in. And the things you showed me! I had never played a video game before, yet yesterday we played together for hours. We even watched an old monster movie, sure you fell asleep 30 minutes in, but you tried your best to stay awake. It feels good to have someone that likes you, that tries their best to be nice to you, someone that takes you in when everyone throws you out. So, thanks for everything. From now on, I'll try my best to give back." Her heart was beating fast, she laid it all out for him. Sure she didn't need to recap what they had done together, but she wanted to highlight how much he had given her.

Pete had no idea how to respond. He could see Alopex's animal quirks acting up again, her tail wagged, her ears twitched and her posture almost made it look like she'd drop on all fours and sprint away if something spooked her. However, he saw one thing that made her look more human than before, she was blushing. “I saw someone that needed my help and I helped them, it's what my family always told me to do. Plus you're actually pretty fun to hang out with" They smiled at one another, there was something forming here, yet he couldn't get certain things out of his mind. Was he feeling something deep for this mutant? Was she feeling the same? Was this the first time either of them had a true friendship with someone and thus mistook it for something more?

He was always playing it safe, being told what to do, where to go. But sleeping at his uncle's house was a sudden move that had gotten approval from his parents, he finally managed to get some freedom. Suddenly he remembered his dream, it all felt so real back then. Maybe it was a sign of feelings he had bottled up. He hoped he was making the right decision, the last thing he wanted to do was force Alopex to do something she didn't want to.. He slowly approached Alopex, putting his hands around her shoulders, her soft fur felt incredible to touch. “Peter? I… I've never - I mean we met 2 days ago - Do you really want to do something like that with someone like me?'

Peter let go of Al, thinking he had gone too far. “Al, I'm sorry, the last thing I want to do is force you to-"

“Petey, you can't force me to do anything. This is new for me too, but we can do it together" Right as she finished speaking, their lips touched and soon they were kissing each other for the first time. Alopex's short snout allowed their kiss to be less awkward than Peter believed it would be. It wasn't perfect, or very long, they didn't start making out, exploring each other's mouths with their tongues or anything that couples in the movies did. It was just a short kiss to represent the start of a relationship that extended beyond friendship. When it ended, they stared at one another for a few seconds, Al's tail wagged so much it started to blow away leaves that had fallen around them.

Then Pete noticed the cold breeze again, his body was shivering. The mutant noticed his plight and decided to help, pulling him in for a hug and coiling har tail around his torso “You're cold… Let me help you a bit"

They stayed like this for a few moments, enjoying each other's company and heat. It was a new beginning for both of them, and while they weren't sure if this truly meant they were a couple now, they knew that there was a firmly established bond between them. Unfortunately, Pete realized they couldn't stay like this forever, so he let go of Alopex, who backed away as well. “I'm going to grab a coat, meet me at the clearing" Al nodded and smiled at him. Looking at her like this made him feel something deep inside, maybe he was finally going through those changes his father told him about.

-

There was a noise, someone dropped something right outside her room. It wasn't a loud sound, so she was the only one to hear it, she had always been a light sleeper. "Who's there?!" She yelled out after noticing how early it was, her mom would usually take care of the store at this time, so it couldn't be her. Was it her dad? Her Uncle? No, they took their sleeping time very seriously, there was only one person that could be awake in the house during this hour.

"Hey dumbass! What the hell are you doing?" Agatha whispered at her brother, who picked up a baseball bat from the floor. "It's 6 in the morning, you know dad doesn't want you getting bad sleep, if he finds out, you won't be sleeping outside this house ever again hehehe" Her smug laughter served as a way of rubbing salt in Peter's wound, there was no way he was going to leave this without doing her a favor.

"Go back to sleep. I'm just picking stuff up for Uncle Jack" She raised her eyebrow at his reply, there was no way she'd buy such a shoddy excuse. "Ugh, fine. What do you want to forget about this?"

Agatha felt generous today, so she decided to make a simple request "I want to meet her"

"What? She's not-" Peter realized lying wasn't going to work. His sister read straight through him. He had no choice but to spill the beans. "Fine, guess it's better you meet her now anyway, meet me at the swing. I'll give you a briefing on everything"

Before she could reply Pete ran down the stairs. Whatever was up with this girl wasn't just the usual case of shyness over introducing a friend to the family. "Yeah 'friend' and if anyone would buy that" Agatha snickered to herself, still… maybe she should be careful anyway.

-

"Pete? You there?" Agatha called out, right as she arrived at the large tree in the backyard of the Manner's household. The cold morning breeze and the ominous ambience of the forest surrounded her. "Come out right now or I'm telling Dad!"

"I'm here you little tattle tale. Calm yourself, a bit" Peter spoke as he appeared out of the forest. He didn't have time to warn Al of her upcoming visitor, but he hoped things would go better than how they went with Jacob. "Let's lay out some ground rules: Alopex had a rough night, so I want you to be on your best behavior. That means you won't scream when you see her. I know her appearance can be a shock, but she's a good person and I'm sure you two will get along."

"Any more orders Sargent?" She replied with a grimace "Show me your alien girlfriend already!"

"Alien Girlfriend?! What are you talking about?"

"Calm down dumbass. I'm not 100% sure she's an alien, but she has to be something like that if you and Uncle Jack are hiding her. If she was a normal person I would've met her already. Plus, I know your friends, and I certainly haven't met anyone with a name like Alopex. A name, might I add, that would fit pretty well for an alien." She really saw right through his lies, Peter wondered what made her hold this information in during lunch. But her smug smile showed she was planning on using it during a moment like this.

"Fine, but she's not an alien" Pete spoke as they made their way into the forest. Agatha was excited, she knew that this girl couldn't be an ordinary teenager. There had to be some crazy secret that made Pete and Jacob hide her. Her heart beat fast as she and her brother entered the clearing. It looked empty, yet she couldn't shake the feeling that she was being watched. “Al you can come out. This is my sister Agatha, she wanted to meet you"

“Sorry, I had to make sure we wouldn't get a repeat of the standoff your uncle did." Alopex said as she leaped from one of the nearby trees, landing in front of the siblings. “Hello there! My name is Alopex, as I'm sure Peter told you already. Nice to meet you Agatha."

Agatha stood in place, mouth wide open with a face of pure shock. “Alien girlfriend…" She whispered to herself. The young girl rushed towards the mutant fox poking, squeezing and pulling random parts of her body. Al simply allowed herself to be examined, afraid that she could cause more problems by reacting. “You're an Arctic Fox! I thought you'd be one of those dumb big headed aliens from the movies. But you're a walking, talking arctic fox! That's incredible!"

“I'm not an alien, but thank you" Alopex and Agatha held hands, the young human girl had a spark in her eyes, like she was witnessing something she'd always dreamed of seeing.

“What are you then? And uh… are you wearing my dress?"

“Well, I'm a mutant. Years ago some very bad people wanted to make a weapon. They stole wild animals from their homes and used them for horrible experiments. Eventually they changed me from a normal fox into… well, this" Al let go of Agatha, and gestured to herself. The young animal lover listened with a sad expression upon hearing about the horrors her new friend went through. “Things were not great after that, I was forced to work for those bad people, and they treated me as a weapon to be used as they pleased. But one day, I had enough and made a daring escape!" Suddenly the mutant shifted her tone into a more playful storyteller, clearly trying to entertain Agatha more than telling the whole story. “I was pretty hurt during my escape, so I hitched a ride and met your Brother. He helped patch me up, and here we are. A nice group of friends!" Alopex made a goofy expression as she finished up her tale, Agatha giggled in response. "Hope you don't mind me borrowing your dress. I don't really have any clothes of my own that aren't bloody rags."

“It's ok you can keep the dress, my good old big bro will buy me a new one." She winked at his direction, clearly intending on actually making good on this debt in the future. "I get it now Pete. Your mutant girlfriend really is cool" Her brother had given up on correcting her insistence on calling Al his girlfriend. The fox angrily stared at Peter, hoping that he would say something. "Ohhhh I get it, it's one of those 'not fully oficial' teenager things."

"No it's not! Listen Agatha, whatever you do, you can't tell anyone about this. Whatever you think is going on here, isn't what's actually happening. Me and Uncle Jack are gonna show her to mom and dad next sunday and you can't ruin that." Peter desperately tried pleading to his sister, hoping that she would listen to him and not immediately spill the beans to the rest of the family.

“Pete, wake up! The moment you show her to our parents they'll get so mad you'll probably be locked in your room forever. Which wouldn't be that bad for me honestly… I mean, do you know how much I have to wait when you oversleep? Hmmm… Alright, I'll help out with your plan." The girl smiled, knowing there wasn't much the newly formed pair could do about her. Her brother stared with a grimace as her smugness only grew.

The teen sighed, maybe he could at least have some fun and go back to his original plan for Sunday Morning. "Why don't we practice some baseball?"

-

The morning passed like a flash, none of the three had stopped to think about how Agatha and Peter weren't meant to be here, that their family would soon wake up and realize their kids were both missing. Yet they were so entranced by the fun, that whatever surrounded them felt like the least important thing in the world.

“Are you ready to miss my special shot again?" Alopex taunted Pete as he stood in position to swing his bat and finally break his long streak of misses. “Here I was thinking you were the best baseball player in the world, but you can't even get a single hit in!" Agatha giggled as she watched from the sidelines, merely seeing Al play was enough entertainment for her. She analyzed the mutant and every move she made, taking mental notes for the paper she was going to write on this. She could become the most famous zoologist on the planet if she was the first person to document and study a new species like that.

"I was going easy on you, but now you forced my hand!" Peter got ready, he couldn't let the Mutant continue to humiliate him like this. She probably has a lot of training on the field of throwing things thanks to her past as a ninja. Daggers, ninja stars, people, you name it and she probably knew how to toss it with deadly accuracy. Yet, it was still hard to believe she was a killer at some point. She looked so innocent, being finally allowed to use her skills on something other than assassinations.

"BATTER UP!" Agatha yelled out as Alopex made her decisive throw. The ball traveled like a rocket towards Pete, it all occurred in a split second, he twisted his body and swung as hard as he could, aiming to finally send the barreling projectile towards a home run. Then… BAM! As the ball and the bat connected, the swinger succeeded in his mission, hitting the projectile so hard it went flying towards his house. Where they hoped it would land peacefully in the backyard.

-

"What the?" Tom exclaimed as a baseball crashed through the window. He grabbed it and ran outside, ready to give his kids a lesson. “PETER!"

Pete and Agatha heard birds fly away from their father's scream. There was no escaping from him this time, all they could do is tell Alopex to hide and pretend that this was a 2 person game. “Dad?..." Peter said Meekly as he heard his father reach the clearing.

“Peter! Do you know what you…" As he reached the clearing, Tom noticed that his daughter would also be on the receiving end of his lesson. “Agatha and Peter, you two broke the living room window! Not only were you here playing without my permission, but you damaged our own home! Someone could easily break in now…" He shook his head, all he wanted was for his children to be safe. Yet here they were hiding in a clearing and throwing baseballs at their house. “Any more incidents like this and I'm moving that damn fence! Now both of you, to your rooms, and Pete! You better hope your Uncle has a good argument to justify this, or else you're never sleeping outside our house again!"

“But dad…"

“Don't you 'but dad' me son, this is a very bad way to start my day. It's making me seriously reconsider if I should allow that friend of yours to live here" His father's words made him feel deep desperation. Did he set back all the progress he was making into getting Alopex to live with him? “Come on you two, let's head back home before you break anything else"

-

Peter and Agatha had to spend the next few hours with their father, listening to him complain about how irresponsible they were. Not stopping even as he prepared lunch and Peter sneakily saved some for Al. The two siblings would be on a short leash for the following week, hopefully their dad was in better spirits by next sunday. After a while he finally let them go back to their rooms to spend the rest of the day.

“Off to a rough start with your dad aren't I?" Alopex spoke as she entered Peter's room through his window. Tom had forbidden his kids from playing any video games as punishment for breaking the window, so now, all Pete could do is watch his very limited selection of TV channels while sitting in bed. “Guess we'll be watching whatever's on TV for now" She sat beside Pete in the bed, holding his hand.

“At least I got that home run before Dad ended the game" They chuckled to each other.

“I'll admit, you took a while to get that hit, but it was quite impressive. Let me give some congratulations to the best baseball player in the world, Peter Manners!" She moved in and gave him a quick kiss, Peter became beet red from shyness.

“So… I think they have an old monster movie marathon playing on one of these public access channels"

“Guess we know what we're doing with our Sunday afternoon then…" The two of them sat closer to each other and peacefully watched as men in rubber suits chased helpless civilians. While the day had some rough patches, things were moving fast towards a more interesting direction for Peter and Al.