FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Pitch Black is the second arc of The Underground series

Chapter 9 of 22

Falling Away

The blue vixen sat uncomfortably at the bar in Delirium. She hated this part of her life. It was that uncertainty of when Alias would be coming back, if at all. Where she knew very well that Alias could take care of himself, it didn't stop her mind from playing on the ‘what-if's" that lingered in her brain. This wasn't like the movies where everything would always play out all right. She had witnessed first hand that things could happen suddenly and without warning. A stray bullet could catch Alias at any point, ending his life. Where he was quite resilient to the pummelings he took on the job, he wasn't invincible. Bullets could kill him, falls could cripple him, and knives could cut him. Jenna just had to block those images from her mind, and remind herself of Alias's abilities and the fact that he had been doing this for a long time. Still, they had left Alias hours ago, night had set in, Delirium became alive with the activity of party goers that danced the night away, and still there was no sign of Alias.

"Jesus..."

Jenna turned to her left, looking at a distressed Mick.

"I can't believe I dragged you all into this. I told you, you should have cut me loose earlier..." Mick stated, looking depressed. He was dressed casually, however, without the appearance of looking like a playboy. Jenna remembered how he looked back in Palamont when he was decked out in name brand designer clothing, and gelled hair. Now he was in some of Alias's baggy cargo pants and a simple t-shirt. His appearance seemed to match his mood.

"Hey, come on." Jenna reassured. "What else could you have done? If you hadn't found us, this might not be a Bloody Mary all over my shirt." She swallowed. "Alias will be fine..." She nodded. "He always is..."

"I just fucking hate feeling helpless like this..." He grumbled. "I should have gone with him, I should be out there helping."

The vixen moved her paw gently to his shoulder, clasping it in a friendly manner. "You'll be back on your feet before you know it. Besides, you've already put in an order for Alias, and we both know how he loves his guns."

"None so much as this one."

A large chrome sniper rifle slammed down in front of both Jenna and Mick. The duo spun around, to be met by the black fox.

"Holy shit..." Mick reveled in amazement, looking down at the gun.

"I know, right?" Alias replied.

He picked up the rifle and looked down the scope. "This is like, military issue shit; special ops or something." Mick shook his head, pulling the bolt back to examine the chamber. "Damn... This isn't some slapstick assassin."

"He's StormRaven..." Alias paused, "... was StormRaven."

Mick shrugged. "Then that explains it."

Jenna scowled, trying to decipher The Underground jargon. "What's storm raven?"

"Private security firm." Alias replied in his dark tone. "Do wetwork for governments, wealthy citizens, and apparently whoever is after me."

"What happened to the hitman?" Jenna asked. "And what took so long?"

"Did a swan dive off a five story building." Alias replied walking behind the bar so he could face Mick and Jenna. "But not before I got this." He reached his paw into his coat pocket and pulled out a small silver PDA. "I wanted to be sure he was alone, so I waited for night to fall, then weaved my way through The Underground. If he had backup, I had to lose them. I didn't want to lead them here of all places."

"But you got his Blackberry." Mick stated, sounding triumphant.

Alias's attention went to Mick. "Don't look so happy. He was going after you." He said in a grave tone. "The only problem is the email he got with all your information came from an anonymous account." Jenna watched as he turned his attention back to her, sliding the Blackberry to her. "Think you can do anything with it?"

The vixen paused, then picked up the tiny PDA. She clicked around, eyes scanning the LCD screen for information. As she looked at the fake email address, it was plain to see it was some kind of standard address scrambler, probably bounced through a few servers.

"Actually, it looks pretty basic. Give me a few hours with the Blackwell, and I probably can back trace it." She replied.

"You use the Blackwell?" Mick asked, raising an eyebrow.

Jenna nodded. "Yeah, why?"

Mick looked impressed. "Because that thing is confusing as hell! How do you even navigate the interface?" Thinking about the last time he had tried to operate Alias's laptop computer, which was like nothing he had ever seen before.

"Are you kidding me?" Jenna scoffed. "It's a beautiful machine! I know a few guys from school who would cream their pants if they got to play around with something that advanced."

"Can you tell she was working to be a CIS major?" Alias asked in a sarcastic tone as he fixed himself a glass of Scotch, half listening to their conversation.

Mick let out an amused laugh. "Hot damn, you're a computer geek?"

"Thin ice, Mick... very thin ice." Alias warned as Jenna glared at Mick, her eyes beginning to burn through him.

"Yeah, you're right." Jenna shot back sharply. "I guess I have to be some fat ass, socially inept guy who lives in his mom's basement to have an interest in computers. My bad."

Mick raised his paws in defeat, however still smiling. "Whoa, hey, easy. Just didn't see that coming. Most chicks just aren't into that."

"That's so not true!" Jenna defended herself as Abby walked behind the bar, shooing Alias out of her sovereign territory. She hated it when she got shit for liking computers and how they worked. Apparently she just looked like she was some ditz.

Mick looked over at Abby. "Hey Abby." He asked. "Do you know what a giga is?"

Even though Mick had pronounced it more like "jigga", which was a pet peeve of hers, Jenna breathed a sigh of relief as the calico nodded. "Yeah sure." She replied.

"See?" Jenna asked, chest puffing out in dignity.

Abby cocked her head to the side. "Isn't that what they needed to power that time machine?"

"Damn it!" Jenna hissed, chest deflating.

"Hah!" Mick shot back, looking cocky. "Case and point."

"I call bullshit! You said it that way on purpose!"

"You want to go for round two?" Mick asked, smiling.

"No..." Jenna grumbled. "Asshole." She replied in a snarky tone, however, couldn't repress a smile when she saw Mick laughing.

In all this, Jenna couldn't help but notice Alias had grown increasingly quiet. After Abby had driven him from he bar, he walked around behind her where he stood in silence holding his drink. He seemed to be in a trance, looking at her, but not at her face, and not where other guys usually tended to stare. It was lower. Glancing down, she looked at the dark rust colored stain from where she had spilled her drink down the front of her when they had been attacked. She remembered looking up at Alias as he worked to help her, holding his paw down where she could only guess he thought she had been shot. At the time Jenna hadn't had the opportunity to process what she had seen, but she saw something different in Alias's emerald eyes. It was unlike most anything she had ever seen in him before. As he continued to stare at her shirt in a trance, it finally registered with her what it was.

It was fear.

"Ok, what's the joke?" Abby's voice cut through the air. "Did you just make fun of me?" She asked, looking at Mick.

"Who me?" Mick replied, still in his sarcastic tone. "Never!"

Abby laughed femininely. "Buddy, we'll throw down right here! And I'm a girl, so I'm allowed to fight dirty!"

The two continued to tease each other, but that all seemed to fade away as Jenna looked back at her mercenary. He had a look that made her feel like he was miles from where they stood now. It was as if in his eyes the stain of the tomato juice transformed into the real thing; her blood. She had been in danger before; she had been shot at before. Why was Alias looking like he head nearly lost her?

"Hey," she said quietly, ignoring Mick and Abby, "you ok?" She asked softly.

Alias didn't answer right away. Again he seemed not to even hear the world around him. He didn't even seem to hear her. The vixen desperately longed to know the thoughts that were running through his head. What could it be that had Alias zoned out like this?

Time slowed for Jenna as she watched as the rocks glass slipped from Alias's paw, shattering as it smashed against the glass floor of the club, flying into pieces.

Alias snapped out of his trance. "Fuck!" He cried out, stepping back as scotch and ice cubes scattered around them. He looked at the ground in disbelief. "God damn it..." He grunted.

"Whoa, you ok over there, Alias?" Abby called from the bar.

"Um, yeah... I just, uh." Jenna scowled confused at his erratic behavior. Since when did Alias ever make a party foul? He didn't. It was like his own personal sin to waste Scotch. "Sorry, I was just being a fucking idiot." Alias concluded, bending down to gather the pieces.

"Oh hey, no. Don't worry about it, really. I'll take care of it." Abby insisted, grabbing a broom and dustpan from behind the bar, looking concerned. "Is everything ok, Alias?"

Again, he seemed to zone out. His attention was down at the shattered glass.

"What?" He asked out of habit. "I mean, yeah, I'm fine. I just..." He paused, looking around him. Mick and Abby looking concerned, and even Jenna troubled by his behavior. "I just... dropped the glass."

With that, the black fox turned and began walking towards the doors. Jenna looked from Alias back to Mick and Abby. However, they looked as confused as she. None of them knew what exactly to say at this point. It was just so damned odd.

Jenna slid off her barstool and weaved her way through the crowd, catching up with Alias. The vixen reached out, taking a hold of his paw, which flinched as expected.

"Hey," she said, standing in the mob of clubbers, "where are you going?"

He turned, looking down at her, holding that faraway look in his eyes. "I need to go see someone." He replied slowly. "I shouldn't be too long."

An emotional chill fell over Jenna as she saw herself being blocked from Alias's feelings. What was so wrong with him? He had been fine just a few minutes ago. Was it the sniper? Something the sniper had said about who was after him?

"You want some company?" She asked, hoping deep down he'd say yes. "I don't mind if you don't mind."

Her heart sank as the black fox slowly shook his head.

"Thanks, but this is something I need to take care of by myself." He replied. "Just, um... be careful." He said nodding, then turned and left.

The blue vixen stood there confused and a little crestfallen. She never expected Alias to confess his every thought to her, but more than anything she wanted to be there for him, especially at times like this. In her heart of hearts, she wished that Alias trusted her enough to confide in her. Because it would mean so much to Jenna knowing she had somehow eased his pain.