Chapter 1

A claw tipped finger ran easily along his slender jaw line, the soft hum of decision making driving him through his day while as he had to pick between option one and option two on a near constant bases. It seemed that the scientists in the alpha labs had been on a roll in coming up with newer and better productions as of late, some of which were leagues ahead of their competitors. When it came to genetic modifications there were many kinds that had vast improvements over many electronic and mechanical systems that came out. While many of the science labs were out trying to find out how to make humans better at doing whatever it is that they do it was Gencorp that stated clearly that mother nature had already designed improvements and that now was the time for such improvements to be made obvious to the public. Sure, cosmetic splicing wasn't as huge yet as it would be, but it was nature herself that inspired artists, granted creativity to the sculptor, and gave the other companies not only the ideas for how things could be improved in the human body, but granted the very materials that their electronic and mechanical systems needed to be created at all. This man that sat here pushing the buttons on his computer screen felt very secure in his business, felt unshakable of the work that they were doing, and while they were closing in on their annual rounds, he knew that it would be just as clean an operation as it was last year when he checked around as well. The easy smile that wrapped around his face allowed his vulpine-like ears to twitch, not only a director of product development in this great company, but a customer of the products that they deliver. Among the directors and managers of this building only him and one other had taken the steps to start the splicing process, only adding a few features here and there so that they could show off in public, but very willing to be showy if it helped to inspire others to mimic them. All they needed was a single big name celebrity endorsement and the fad would catch on, something to not only show the world what the new stage of fashion looked like, but also to display the natural strength and agility that came with splicing with creatures that grew up understanding the true laws of Darwin, survival of the fittest.

The sliding sigh of the front of his office spread the door to both sides down the middle, her leather boots touching easily on the plush blue carpet of his office while she made a quick and immediately movement towards the desk that had it's back to the wall of glass behind him. His fingers continued to type away at the keyboard trying the best way to direct funding towards the more productive labs and still keep the same motivation for the lower productive ones. Really the best way to figure that out would be to get a full report of what every lab was actively working on, but to walk all the way down there when he wasn't being forced to by his higher up?... Maybe he could wait a little longer. Those eyes turned towards the girl that had entered. Honestly, it was amazing that they even knew one another, he was the Director of Production Research, and she was simply a Manager of Finances for the West Wing. Honestly, if he was going to be transferring money around he really should be going through her to do it, but if she was here to fuss at him about it again then clearly she had some level of psychic powers while his finger hovered over the enter key in near frozen bewilderment. The reason that they did know one another was simply because of the waiting line for the splicing being offered to the employees only recently, these two had been the first to sign up, and while they both got the same treatment, something designated by some nerdy fan-boy as being the "neko" treatment, it was actually the least modified adjustment so it was clear that they'd both take small steps and go with that. What they ended up with was a bushy, bright silver tail on the well dress man, having to make a hole in his business pants just for it, slight claws at the hands clearly for decoration and not defense, and then the silver ears that set on top of his head. She also had ears over her head, but they weren't fox ears, her ears were far more feline and much darker, cat ears set in a dark raven black color to match the long and thin tail that ran out behind her, lashing here and there to mark her panic and annoyance. Clawed hands slapped down on his desk quickly, hers were far more functional than his were, but then again she did pay that extra few newyen to have them genetically hardened for that purpose. While that finger pointed at him directly her other hand gripped around what looked to be some kind of clear display picture with a document projected onto it.

"Herschel, why are you financing sixty-eight percent of our annual funds to alpha labs? The other departments need funding too even if they have long term projects." She spoke out easily with fire in their eyes. Despite that he held the position of director and her of manager the girl was actually around the same rank as he was. His job was to study up on the test results and products provided from the labs and hers was to provide appropriate funding in order to help mass produce the products once he gave his request against her knowledge of the business finances. Honestly, she really just felt that it had to be some kind of a mistake and he'd confused a six for a four or something, but the confused look over his face ended with him reaching his hand out for the file she was holding.

"What do you mean?" He asked easily curious about this as he was handled that file over giving him a chance to look over it, "I haven't submitted my report to you yet, and as fine work as they do that amount of backing is absolutely ludicrous"

She'd lean over the desk easily, moving her finger down the display in order to show off another area of the report, "You think that's weird? Look at how alpha uses almost eight times the amount of power as the other departments. Sure they work faster than the others, but there's no way they should be using this much."

He'd stand at that one, moving to brush his hand down his sweater-vest in order to better straighten it out, the collared shirt underneath helping to set itself as a holding place for his tie as he grunted a bit. "Let's go find out what those kids are doing, then."

***

The hum of the descending elevator passed the duo downward, their conversation heading into a different direction, talking about side effects, financial quota, and other random work and non-work related things. There wasn't much to consider regarding the conversation only because both were single and neither had children at all. It made for a dull ride, but one that allowed the two to arrive easily and safely at the floor where the alpha labs kept their research. when the doors finally opened it created a breath of fresh air, gave the two something to focus on that wasn't one another and with their eyes focusing easily into the alpha labs ears folded back in worry and curiosity as they found themselves looking on into a dark lab. The front of it seemed pretty empty, but it wasn't unheard of that a team would cut off power from one area in order to reserve power for another. Still the darkness of the movement room came as an odd surprise, as though the area had been abandoned, or something. The front of the labs were all but completely deserted with nothing around it. Tables with no tools, shelves with nothing stored in them, but there was an echoing sound in the distance, some kind of electrical tone that called out now and again like someone welding in the deep distance. It was easy enough to follow this sound, but the echoes drove the difficulty to pinpoint as they drew closer. With easy steps the two finally caught the sight of light reaching out from around a filing cabinet in the form of sparks ringing out in this place. Finally a sign of life in this dark office, a sign of activity that might prove that this lab was still in use at all in order to justify the power usage for this place.

The movement taken to round that corner the two figures watched the flashing lights, the glowing sight call out to them with a welding sparking call of zaps and metal forging. With the cause of this finally falling into their sights the girl turned her head to look over at the silver fox neko in order to see if he was still there, which he was, maybe a little too close where he seemed a bit more worried than she was. At the sight of the cause to this noise they were able to immediately realize that the device responsible for the sparks was just some automated machine, and while it was doing it's job in manufacturing cuts of metal that alone wouldn't be responsible for the energy drain that was being caused to the rest of the building, it also wouldn't be putting out their productions here either. With their bodies taking them to spread out a bit the black cat neko would round the corner more, while the silver fox looked back the way he had come to see if they'd missed something in entering this place, finally along the back wall she turned to see the odd design of the wall itself, it looked relatively normal, but there were some weird points were the wall didn't seem to perfectly match up with the floor or the ceiling. As she moved to hold herself closer against it in order to find out what the cause of this could be the wall was pushed on, moving it back away from her before it bumped into something, a sudden shifting that forced her to jump back with a sudden gasp.

"Hershel, come here and look at this, I found something." She said, having no idea if that was actually true, but the fact that a fake wall was there at all meant that something must have been back there, right?

The silver ears and tail of the mostly human figure came back around towards her, moving his posh outfit over around the machine that was still working and then looking at the wall she was trying to push against more. It had moved just a few inches before, but now it seemed to be entirely stuck and even as this girl started getting mad the gentleman that he was moved to pull her away from that wall. The easy smile across his lips gave a knowing grin so that as his hand moved to take hold of the edge of the wall closest to another wall he'd pull it slowly, opening that wall like a door and providing a nicely designed entrance for the two of them to slip through. She had to question how this fox knew that the wall opened that way, but as the words passed through her lips his finger only silently moved to aim at down near the machine where one could clearly see hinges along the wall itself, providing a near obvious direction for how the door here had to be opened. It didn't take a lot of detective work on his part, but then again these were geneticists not carpenters. With a roll of her eyes and an easy step to the side the girl moved to pass through first once again, knowing her partner's weak spine and wanting to make sure that she had herself in the line of danger if it came to it. In a way she felt responsible for him, knowing that he'd never be venturing down here and taking a look at this himself if he had the choice and that she kind of forced it on him, not to mention he was a bit cowardly at times and she didn't feel like getting trampled if he suddenly decided to turn tail and run.

What they saw inside of this room, though, wasn't anything to laugh at, it even stopped this girl dead in her tracks as he blinked and tried to piece together exactly what she was seeing. If nothing else it was now clear where all that power was going to, the green glows of long tubes reached up from the floor all the way towards the ceiling and while the lights were on back here so were all of the computer consoles. Normally this was well within the permitted range of any science facility, but what they saw inside of these glowing green tubes was what actually startled the two while they slowly ventured forth to look on at the horrors that they were being forced to discover. Different people, random individuals simply mounted in these tubes with various alterations to different species pressed over them. Some of these people were alive, but most were dead, and those that still managed to maintain their life was entirely due to the face that they were plugged into these machines. This girl wasn't the weak of stomach kind, but the sight of this made her wish that she was. People, innocent people, kept in decay and rot for the sake of having their gene's spliced with various things, it was these types of experiments that made her sick, made her angry, confused, and above all else allowed the both of them to know why Alpha Labs was getting such quick results and putting out product so easily.

It was clear to say that this type of research wasn't exactly legal and if this got out then the backlash would be horrible on the company entirely. That would put hundreds of people out of work. These few deserved justice, they deserved a proper funeral surrounded by loved ones, but those that would suffer on top of this horrible occurrence would well out rank that need of justice. Her fingers moved to start typing away at the keyboard, aiming to erase the research, force the scientists to start over, force the scientists to follow reasonable moral standards, and for many of them to need to find a new job with another company.

***

Those claw tipped fingers that were already moving across the keys, looking over the details of the time length these bodies had been here had only driven the black neko's ears to perk, her already pale skin to roll into a white as she was forced to witness the fact that these bodies were living when they were brought here, many of them against the person's will if the struggling scenes in the videos were any clue. The more they dug the further these two knew that this research needed to be destroyed and that the scientists needed to be held responsible for their lack of moral backing. It was hard to tell what the best moves here would be given the situation presented to them, but erasing everything just seemed like the correct thing to do, they wanted to make these events go away. Even the silver fox neko seemed to be on board with this decision as he started to do the same at another console, hoping to get as much of the information gathered destroyed as they could. It was the sound of leather stomping boots that finally stopped them from typing, halted their fingers across that keyboard so that they could turn their attention towards the wall they'd come through to get here. In only a flash the black rifle wielding men wearing bull body armor would round that corner, entering this room themselves and keeping those firearms pointed directly at these two. It was a surprise enough that someone would rush in like that and be so unfazed by the sites around them, but even more that they would charge forward with those rifles and aim it right at what they had to know where two of the higher ranking people in the entire building. Hands wrapped around elbows in order to pull them along, to draw them away from those consoles and out of that room entirely.

It was then that the man in charge of all this would step forward, would pass by his troops as these two were subdued, this man was just as well known as these two higher ups, a man with a military past and a record for defending not only the company he worked for, but also the bottom line that kept him going. It was hard to tell what kind of reputation he was really going to show here, but quite clear that this reputation was going to come out now that he was standing in front of them. Then again, these were higher positioned here, anyone else he might have shot them in the back of the head and pushed them out the back door, but these two would be missed, and on top of that they weren't shadow runners like his team were expecting to find, instead of was just two very concerned higher paid employees looking to keep the image of the corporation they worked for as shiny as possible, something that was nearly impossible these days. These were ideas that this man could get behind, but the bigger question came about if such actions would harm the company and quite clearly that answer was a flat out "yes". There was no way he could allow such a thing, a company that paid him and his men handsomely for the sake of protection was easily worthy of being protected by them, that's how market works, right? If people, employees were jumping in to try and harm those numbers then they needed to be handled appropriately. His order was clearly to take them to the security office, wanting to give them a chance to really explain themselves and as they were pulled away he'd make sure that his men closed that door back where it was supposed to be, not wanting anyone checking on the console just in case anything went wrong with it he didn't want his people to catch any blame.

The back of the security office was an easy enough place to figure out, it was lined with rooms that worked well as interrogation areas for accused employees to live in. Corporations were different in this time than they were long before. In the past a company was owned by specific countries that they were founded in and registered to, but for a while now these businesses were no longer under the law of regular government, they no longer answered to such things, and in many ways were considered their own independent countries with their own laws and even their own law enforcement. This meant that when employees stepped out of line there was no law coming to help them, the companies owned that law, they owned their personal police and where these two were being taken was to their own independent rooms. Shoved in without anyone sitting within and nothing but a table with two chairs to keep them company. Even as the two took seats, it was clear that they were in a lot of trouble here with no way of getting themselves out of it. By the time someone finally came in to talk to either of them they'd already been here for a while, the old sweat it out method of patient interrogation.

"So..." the man that entered placed a folder down on the table and leaned back in the seat to look at the posh man. "Director of Production Research. That's a pretty big title." He only paused here to get a reaction but interrupted him no matter what the man had to say, "So does that position give you the right to try and tamper with vital research to the company? Research that has helped to make the company, and yourself, very wealthy?"

The same questions were being asked to the dark neko as well, and her answer was a bit more direct, but still similar to her partner, "That research was being gathered in a morally corrupt way, we couldn't let it remain where it was. If you saw the research then you should know that those people were abducted and died in those tubes for the sake of experiments."

"The same experiments that you and Ms. Grason seem to have been involved in given your splicing, is that not correct Mr. Hershel?"

"We didn't mean to do anything wrong. I was doing my annual walk through of the facility early in order to see the products that the labs are trying to put out. It helps to direct funding."

"A production list that you receive by email everyday, and in a lab room that was hidden away from public eye. Were you planning to visit the other labs in the middle of the night as well?" The guard asked easily, clearly being condescending to this man.

"I'm sorry, but it's within our company authority to visit the labs anytime we see fit in order to check on their progress."

"Yes... Check on their progress, not tamper and delete vital research information, Ms. Grason, but I'll tell you want, I'll leave you be for a little while longer so that you can get your story straight, maybe Mr. Hershel will be a bit more helpful in giving us information."

***

The dark neko knew exactly what they were up to, she knew that they were just trying to crack her, to push the pressure on, to fight her answers and logic with their own until all she could do was admit to whatever it was that they were trying to force her into confessing to. She knew these processes, she understood their way of handling things entirely because of the fact that she'd had to do them herself. Having worked in a period of time for a company that no longer existed this girl was able to run security in those halls, a job that she'd taken in order to understand how these businesses worked when she was younger, but more importantly so that she could climb the ranks faster in the financial job that she was now in. A tactic that worked well, but even that didn't stop them from coming at her now that she was in their territory. Grason knew a few facts regarding these procedures, she especially knew that they could care less about the actual facts, only proving their own theories, and forcing someone to admit to what they wanted to hear. For her it was going to take a lot of work, days, weeks of effort to finally break her, but when she thought about her friend this girl knew that he was likely to only have a few hours at best. He was smart, he was firm, but he wasn't the kind of person that could stick out the heat of an interrogation. It was her fault that he was in there, it was her fault that he'd even gone down the lab to find out what was happening, so it had to be her responsibility to get him out of that room and out of this building.

Now that the guard was gone she could let out an easy sigh, her purse was still in her office, but thanks to only being the manager of finances they didn't really expect to find anything on her when they searched her, giving her more than enough hiding places to keep her smaller weapon of choice and as she reached down at her ankle and lifted the sock out of the way she'd draw out that small revolver. It wasn't much, but it could put the fear of god into someone easily enough. When she pulled it that neko would stand up quickly, gripping the revolver in both hands to fire it quickly at the lock on the door, blowing that metal lock into pieces to be spread into the hallway, now was her chance, she needed to act quickly and get out of here before the guards came back. a booted foot pressed to the doorway deliver a nice kick to it that broke that door frame allowing the door to open in the opposite directly it was designed to, but as she turned herself down this hall she'd quickly spin in the other direction and towards Hershel's room. This time she could turn the knob, finding it far easier to open a door that was only designed to lock on one side. As that door flung open quickly her hand returned to the gripping position on that firearm, and with a swift pull of the trigger would rip into the detective's body, dropping him quickly down to the floor while the posh silver fox worked to try and duck himself under the table, a tactic that lead to Grason lifting him quickly to his feet so that they could leave together, of course now the question came down to where they should go from here. Clearly they needed to go down, they needed to escape the building first, but how?

When she moved back out of the room Hershel followed, making sure to keep behind her as much as he could while she lead the way with her revolver. So far she'd fired twice, that meant she had four rounds left, and she'd have to use them carefully if she was going to get out of here alive. As she ducked her way towards that hall again the quickly opening fire on the two guards rushing down it and catching them both in the shoulders this time just where she wanted to hit them in order to quickly rush past. When she turned the corner that hand gripped her shoulder, turning her around just in time not to get shot but also just in time to hide behind a door that lead to a broom closet, but more importantly the water heaters for this floor. With these heaters rested here that means simply that there had to be service hatches to handle them, to follow the piping, and most importantly lead down to a lower level of the building. She had to wonder how Hershel even knew about this closet, but that was a question for another time when he wasn't pulling back the service hatch and she wasn't jumping in ahead of him to rush down a level of stairs towards and into the darkness the curled back around towards that boiler room. It solved the problem of getting away from the guards for now, but didn't assist them at all in the mystery of how to get out of the building. Even as they ran for that exit that should take them towards the first floor where they could try and escape out of the lobby the sound of the doors opening and the company soldiers already starting to rush down towards them, this forced the two back in the direction they came. Trapped down here while the firearm wielding personnel continued to fill this area left them with only one real choice, the only way out was to get lower, and as they found the sewer access and pried it up quickly the two jumped down to make their escape once and for all. They'd be back, but when they did it would be in order to finish this place off and to stop it's experiments once and for all.

Chapter 2

Their movement down the ladder took them into the darkness of the sewer, the red glow of the emergency lights that occasionally flashed served as the only illumination, but even most of those were failing to work. Many legends and mysteries tended to appear on the streets from what existed down here, some saying that they were giant rats, others claiming that far scarier and unnatural creatures had learned to take up the residence, but every single legend that came about clearly stated that these sewers were not something that anyone should ever try and visit, that those who tended to make their way down here always tended up forfeiting their very lives by doing so. While these two found their way onto solid concrete already the scent, the smell, the overwhelming disgust of the harsh odor wrapped around them, filling them, and forcing Hershel to immediately cover his nose with a loud call of one that was forced to take in such a horrendous smell for the first time, moving to take hold of his pants and even to pull up the legs and starting to imagine that he might even have to get rid of his shoes just because of what they would likely run into down here. It was then that he'd feel something in his pocket and upon releasing it found that item to be a cologne bottle that he quickly took in hand, arming himself against the smell and spraying it randomly into the air around him to try and find any level of relief from that vomit inducing stench.

Grason only shook her head to the motions, having a much better time dealing with the smell only because she'd worked on the lower levels of companies before, handled the more horrible assignments, and even pushed herself to start their journey forward, unlike him she'd heard of the legends of things down here, never having a reason or excuse to try and venture to this place, but the idea of what they could find was something that horrified her to the core and kept her senses up, wanting to make sure that no matter what they would make their way out of here without trouble. That revolver still held out, gripped in her hand while she started their journey through the sewers, she had no idea where to go, just knowing that if those guards followed them down this far then they would need to not be at the spot that they had entered at, and hoped that they could manage to find some kind of exit somewhere far enough away that they could head back to the surface. Both knew the length of the building, well enough, but not many people in the cities knew enough about the sewer structure to be able to find their way towards the next exit. They were limited to having to find one by pure randomness, by absolute accident in order to make their way out of this death trap that they found themselves in.

"Where should we go?" The black neko said softly over her shoulder towards the silver fox who only rolled his eyes, having believed that she had an idea this entire time as to where they were going.

He moved to spray his bottle once again, sighing at the face that it was starting to run low and absolutely not willing to be down here when it finally did. With the movement of the silver fox neko body pushing past hers he'd turn to take the lead on this, even releasing a little bit of a grumble that left her with her ears folded back over her head. In honestly there was some justice if he were to be upset with her. If she hadn't forced him to venture out from his office that day they likely would have prepared for his meeting and made some cover story and the man would still have his job and not be hunted by the company that he had currently been the director of. A posh job, a posh position, and settled into by a very posh person, but now they were wandering through a sewer hoping to make their way towards any possible exit that they happened to see. Even as Grason opened her mouth to speak out to him she was quickly quieted down by his hand lifting and moving to rub a sleeve over a metal plaque attached to the brick wall in order to clean it off for the sake of reading it. It was a street name, and this four way sewer tunnel was a street intersection, something that drove her to move towards the correct destination.

Hershel would finally speak up, looking back at the cat girl over his shoulder and again spraying the air around him. "We're at Washington and First. If we go a few blocks up we can go into a Gencorp warehouse were we store all of our rejected products. Things that either aren't in our companies direction, or simply weren't formulated properly and need to be deconstructed. It has a sewer entrance too."

"That's way you knew about the sewer access in the headquarters," Grason spoke up quickly in surprise, ears perking to the information, "You were studying different ways of getting between the warehouse and here. But why?"

"Do combat Runners. We're lucky that Bravo Labs didn't finish their product, they were making a laser net system to block the tunnel access to our building... What used to be our building."

Her ears again laid back in guilt from that, he didn't seem all to upset, more disgusted about having to be down here, but as they started to continue their journey towards the warehouse the sound of something behind them in a distance began to growl out at them, drawing their attention quickly and immediately to stop the two in their tracks, only the red glow provided light and none of that told them what lay in the shadows. The very sound of the growl, of the hiss, and the dozens that seemed to follow after these two knew that it was about time to get moving and find that exist. "We should get out of here," His voice spoke out easily in the most obvious statement that could be said at that time.

***

As the cover of that manhole slide across the concrete floor of this building with an easy grinding slide of metal on stone the movement of those clawed fingers gripped at the opening to slowly pull himself out and quickly turn around, the sound of bullets being fired down the length of the tunnel was something that echoed through the sewers and up into the building itself, but even the black neko would be climbing on the ladder making her up up towards the building itself just before her foot slipped on the step and a grey hand wrapped around it, gripping her foot quickly in order to start pulling her down in a hurry, a movement that jerked against her form and tested her finger strength on that step she gripped onto. The movement of her hand around that revolver quickly pulled the trigger despite the fact that she already knew there were no longer any rounds inside of it and when the audible click of the hammer come back down in contact with an empty casing all she could do was possibly the dumbest thing that she could possibly do in any situation. Her hand lifted quickly and even as her leg was being pulled the neko girl would make a hard and immediate throw downward with her gun in order to send it from her fingers and crashing against the fact of that creature that had gripped her, the flat of the steel would crash down, beating against it's face hard and sending it to release her foot while the pain coursed through it and giving her the time she needed to climb her way free and out of that manhole as well, the loud roar of those that had been following her called out from down below, but with Hershel moving to slide that cover back where it was supposed to go it feel perfectly in place in order to create a separation between them once again, something that left the silver fox neko to stand on the cover just to make sure that they wouldn't try to come up here after them.

"That was close," he said softly in his deepened voice, that hand that still gripped the now empty bottle tossed it to the side and then looked at the girl that had just almost not made it, "Are you OK, Grason?"

"I.. I think so." She was still sitting there looking at the cover, expecting whatever it was down there to throw Hershel off entirely and burst out after them, but when not even the metal thunk came what she saw instead was the hand that reached down to her, offering her help back to her feet once again, driving an easy smile from her lips as she used that grip to help pull herself back to her feet once more. Those black ears again folding while she thought about Hershel's situation, "Hey.. I'm really sorry I dragged you into this."

He only shook his head at the apology, knowing better than to believe that after he'd seen those bodies locked away in glowing tubes that he'd still be working there even if there was a way to fix that place. No, he was going to quit likely in a week at best after finishing out his workload and then be looking for another corporation to take him in as their own manager, or some other higher leveled research director. If anything he owed her a bit of a thank you for actually getting him pulled out of that position before the authorities found out what was going on in there by some random Runner that managed to slip through security and into the building, lord knows they already killed one CEO and attacked the other one within a few months. Maybe someday he would thank her for pulling him out of that work place that would make such practices, but as it existed now they were going to need to find a way to shut down that lab, to put an end to their abductions and forcing genetic experiments into people. He could only imagine how many more there were hidden throughout the place, but even that information would likely boggle the mind that it was able to happen below his radar. Usually Hershel was the kind of guy that kept close tabs on the experiments happening, but where they'd been leaving out vast bits of information in their reports there was no way for him to know that.

"We're going to need to find people that are able to go in and take out that lab, you know." The silver fox said to the girl as he lead her through this place towards the exit.

She stopped them when she heard this, getting a quickening worried look on her face and shaking her head slowly before moving to catch up with him. "No way, Hershel! This is our company, we need to solve this problem ourselves We can't outsource this one."

"I'm not going to make myself a dirty Shadow Runner just so that we can stop that. There are people far more equipped to handle the situation than we are." He responded quickly, having a light hatred for Runners in general thanks to the amount of damage that they tend to do in their race to prove justice, or whatever it was that they tend to believe themselves doing. Generally speaking he considered them to more or less be thieves and hoodlums that just happen to have the better gear than most of the security teams do because they don't tend to care about personal safety.

"We have gear," she said moving to the first box she saw and opening it quickly to reveal some glowing vials that she had no idea what was on there without looking at the manifest, "There's got to be something in this warehouse that we can suit up with."

He'd growl out a bit as he stormed over to her quickly closing that box and then turning back to her, "It's not our place to do that, Grason."

"Then who's is it? You and Davis were the ones that founded Gencorp, and Davis is dead. If anyone has the right to go in and tear that lab down, then it's you... And you're going to let me help you." She wasn't moving on this one, narrowing her gaze at him.

The determination of this girl proved that she was actually right, it was his business, he was one of the founding members and now the company was using what he sought out to build and doing such illegal things that he didn't even want to describe them, disgusting acts, horrifying acts. Someone had to take care of this, and while it would be easy to hire Runners to deal with it, would they be able to? Who was better equipped with knowledge of the building than him? Who knew the secret tunnels better than the man that helped to outline them? Nobody, if anything it was safer for him to go, and if nothing else he could make sure that the job actually got done and that the research would be wiped out instead of the possibility that a runner could copy the data and blackmail him to pay them continuously or else they would give that research back. No, he didn't trust runners, he didn't like them even in the least, but above all else, he wasn't going to stand there and let someone else try and use his company to make a profit for themselves. Grason was right, and he was going to need to handle this, he was going to need to deal with the problem on his own, and not trust that someone out there could do it for him. It was his company, and his mess, and he was going to need to clean it up.

With a nod the silver fox would move from her, turning away and moving around a corner to pull down a brown box that he'd open to reveal a silver case. "If we're going to do this then we're going to need to make sure that we have the right gear, and we have to watch each others backs in there." When a single movement the snaps on the sides and front all popped up at once and that silver lid was lifted revealing a battery pack that connected to what looked to be some kind of revolver. The design was basic, but it was huge as a piece, easily the size of a magnum with blue lines trailing down the length of the barrel on either side down into the chamber which itself housed a glowing ring. Around the entire cylinder. The weapon came in pairs easily along with a few dozen rounds all set in feeders, but each glowing in their own unique series of yellow, blue, and red. Upon looking at them the girl would step forward and lift one up, taking a look, even opening the cylinder in order to examine the entire weapon in one very easy movement. As curious as she was this girl was even more impressed that the weapon was so well crafted and machined in a company that handles specifically genetic research.

"Where did these come from?" She said, looking down the length of the open barrel and seeing the clean spiral that was the weapon with an easy smile on her lips.

He had to sigh to the question figuring that was going to be the case for a number of what he was likely to show her. "Well, when we started out some of the researchers had... confusion about what we were trying to do there. They thought we were making genetic weapons, kind of like an Anti-Runner squad, and were forming weapons to help aid in that endeavor So what you have there is the .44 Cast Revolver, it can fire regular bullets, OR it can fire these. Specially designed Cast Rounds. Each has an element modification cap that's triggered when it's fired, the yellow ones shoot electrified rounds, like a taser, the blue ones are Cyro Rounds that contain a nitrogen compound in the head so when it impacts it will crack the seal and freeze anything around it up to 10 feet. The red ones... Well.. Just don't use those, they're phosphate rounds kind of like fire-breath rounds that they sell in stores but smaller and more focused."

The black feline neko would look on at it, taking in what she was being told and quickly lift a set of yellow rounds from the case to feed into the weapon quickly before hitting the release button on the back of the feeder, allowing the taser rounds to settle down into their chambers before the cylinder was closed. The moment that she closed it the Cast Revolver's lights would change from a blue color to a yellow as the element of the rounds were calculated and the weapon itself adjusted both the sights and it's firing power in order to compensate for the difference in ammunition that was provided. A true smart gun if there ever was one. With the safety on her fingers quickly tossed the weapon in a tight spin that would force it into a quick and well practiced twirl around that trigger finger, first up and then back down where the holster would be if she was wearing it. If anything else, she had two of them and would need to find a way of carrying them, the holster of her old revolver that she chucked to get here simply wouldn't do thanks to it's smaller size and instead she'd need to look for one.

"It's going to be tiring hold these things all the time." She said, sounding like a mewling kitten looking to complain. It left Hershel rolling his eyes and moving his finger into the cast to lift the top display panel up in order to expose that holster belt.

"Will her highness be needing anything else?" He grumped at her making her roll her eyes right back at him as she pulled it free and started to wrap the belt around her waist in order to fasten it down quickly.

As she started to feed the grounds into her belt and holster the new revolvers that she had just been given this girl wouldn't notice Hershel moving off away from her again, the sound of shuffling around in the distance catching her attention is what finally drove her to look up and notice that she was alone here. She'd call for him, but there was no answer, another call, and a step forward to look around the corner and something suddenly impacted her face, wrapping around her head and forcing the girl to scream out, her fingers moving for her revolver only to suddenly realize that the movement of this thing was adjusted to the movement that she was making and with a grip of it she'd toss whatever it was down to the ground and point her weapon at it. As she looked on the object didn't move again, just resting there while the sound of laughter called her attention back to the silver fox that laughed at her extreme reaction to what was quite clearly a coat that now rested on the dusty floor of this place. Panting a bit while her body calmed down she narrowed her gaze at him but moved to put her weapon back on her side once again in order to reach down for this coat only to find a long brim hat to fall from it down to the floor. Hershel lifted the hat while she moved to wrap that coat around her body, plopping it easily onto the top of her head and helping to straighten out the brim a bit. Clearly a cowboy hat along with a long coat that opened at the sides down the length of her body to make way for her pistols she started to fasten the buttons at the front, getting this tightened down against her body using the few straps that were there.

"What is this?" She asked easily already realizing that it was a coat and more than willing to knee him right in the gut if he was going to try and point that out to her.

It was for his own safety that he wasn't the kind of person to really answer in that way and instead gave her a straight explanation. "Another item for the supposed genetic soldiers that we were said to be making. The hat has sensors in it around the band at at the crown of the brim that reads movement and calculates information to the coat in order to adjust your movements already in motion. Basically, if you're a good aim, it makes you a better aim, if your looking to bend it speeds up the process, makes things a bit lighter, braces your body better. That kind of thing. It also makes you look like something from the old western movie files. Too bad it doesn't come in white."

"I prefer black hats anyway," She retorted easily with a soft stretch of her tongue from her mouth, knowing full well what black hats mean in those movies, "What about you? What are you going to wear?"

He shrugged a bit to the question moving back down that long row and pulling a few cases down for himself, pulling the straps along them and wrapping them around his body so that while he carried one like a brief case the other two were simply wrapped around either side of his body. As he tossed the case he carried into the air it would quickly open and unfold, growing from the case and forming what looked to be a machine gun turret that quickly locked onto the girl. When she side stepped it would follow and as she moved to start backing away the clicking sound proved that it was trying to fire without any kind of ammunition being fed into it. After a few tries the turret simply shut down all on it's own and Hershel approached to reach down under it into the lit to pull up the head mount that would go over his left eye, a blue display with information, details, even targeting information designated by the turret itself. Of course the flashing red text that read that it was out of ammo preached at him, but that was ignorable by now. With his fingers moving to type at the controls in the lid the target that it had on the black neko quickly vanished while he made her an approved person not to be fired on, the weapon's form of a safety. Still Grason wasn't about to let this one go.

"What the hell? It tried to shoot me." She complained forwardly.

"Of course it did, it's never been configured. It's also never been loaded. Back when we were starting out the director of Security decided to purchase these for the company without asking anyone. Said it would help keep the security teams safe, but Davis and I saw it as a real danger given the range on these things. They're completely military, you know, so we got rid of him and had these sent to the warehouse for storage." He explained while typing away on the keyboard, quickly the display on his screen started to build onto three more displays in different colors, linking the other two turrets so that they wouldn't link onto the same target, and more importantly wouldn't fire on his himself or his friend here. More importantly as he reached down to pull up the feeder he'd connect it listening to the weapon as it clunked with a round entering it's chamber. The weapon was life, but more importantly when he flipped the other off of him to plant it down beside the first and started to connect it as well, they were both live. He didn't do this treatment to the third, but instead left it at his side while he pushed a button on his display glass to deactivate the two that were live so that they'd quickly fold back into the brief case design where he could strap one around his shoulder again and carry the first once more.

"I don't need any special clothes, I like the way I look." he explained easily enough and adjusted his best while moving towards the entrance of this place.

Chapter 3

For some runners it was about the outfit, armor and other components that improved what they could already do, enhance their skills widely so that they could make it through missions. These runners were the front of the cause, the look, the design, the imagine presented to the public of what a runner was and what a runner could do. They were the face, and presented that cool design, the dark leather, the hard image for people to cling to. For other it was about about the gear, the weapons, the upgrades, the secret little surprises that got them out of tight spots and away from danger, or in most cases dealing with danger when it came about. These runners had the secret shotgun hidden in a prosthetic limb, they had the upgraded muscular systems that drove the body past it's limits, the fake skin that made the body resistant to bullets, these were the people that looked normal, but had upgrades which allowed them to do amazing things. If the others were the face then these were the shadow, the not so obvious runners that existed everywhere and anywhere, able to fit in with normal society and tended to seek out those jobs that made running possible. For the most part they packed a far harder punch than most of the other runners, but were able to do so because they could get deeper into society before releasing what they really were, they could hide amongst the masses, amongst security, and then start dealing with issues there on the spot instead of having to fight their way through the head of the bulk to reach the objective.

No matter which side that a person decided to take themselves it always required both to do the jobs that needed to be done. Shadow Runners worked outside of the lay, handled assignments that combated the evils of the dominating corporations. They were thieves, murderers, bandits, thugs, but they sought out to do what was right and put a hurt on the businesses that would otherwise get away with hurting the citizens of the country. Corporations were the government now, they controlled the figure heads in the white house, purchases the judges and the police, and because of this they were able to get away with the most shady happenings possible. For those able to fight back, for those able to use those products made by the corporations to combat their corruption these runners stood tall, willing to take the jobs provided, and willing to take this war onto the purchased land of the businesses that have forgotten morality and humanity. For those finding themselves wronged by the businesses, and able to find them, they can always purchase the talents of a shadow running team to handle any job that happened their way. Not every mission came out as an absolute success, but it was very easy to figure that those runners worth their salt would keep on that mission until it was accomplished even until death.

"And you're sure that our codes still work?" Grason asked easily, her ears twitching through two small holes cut into the brim of the hair where it connected to the band, giving her a more comfortable way of wearing. Fingers moved to lift the brim just enough, looking up at the length of their own place of business and starting to doubt the plan that she had actually pushed to create.

Hershel answered easily enough, his hand gripping the brief case while the other two remained strapped around his body to cross over each shoulder. This way of carrying did little to take away from his usual posh outfit, his collared shirt and business vest that he liked to wear, but continued to hold that business man look that he strove to maintain even now that he wasn't technically in that position anymore. If nothing else he could find another job in a similar position, maybe have to spend a few years to work up to it, but he'd be up there once again without problem. "It's night time, Grason, nobody from the tech department is going to be around to disable our codes until the morning. You wanted to do this, and this is the only chance we have to, so let's go."

Even if he wanted to back out they were already back at the Gencorp building, staring up at it and while the moon held high in the night sky. The reality was that there wasn't going to be a lot of nighttime left so even standing here they were going to have to hurry and take on their own corporation in order to shut down the dark experiments being forced on random citizens of the Seattle area. It was the silver fox that moved to step forward, his eyes turning towards the two guards who looked back at him and even while he carried what looked to be his brief case they ordered him to stop in his tracks, something that he did quickly as he explained exactly who he was to them, but word spreads faster than foot and while they aimed their rifles at this man one even moved towards the guard shack in order to call in that they'd captured one of the two that escaped earlier. It was a call that would never go out, though, when the bright yellow flash would suddenly send the two of them dropping in hard convulsions while two of those electric rounds were emptied from their casing. These two tased men would be dropped to the ground instantly and while that black feline neko moved to catch up to the silver neko partner the two walked into the building together, swiping their ID's to listen for that very audible beep and the unlatching of the door before stepping into the building entirely. This company meant a lot to both of them and if they were no longer going to be working for this place, then they were absolutely going to make sure that nobody else would be harmed in the process. Nobody was going to use the company that Hershel had built from the ground up in order to do such horrible things, and he would see to it personally that such actions did not go unpunished.

***

These two new runners had made it this far, they'd disabled the guards at the gate, but even that wasn't going to last forever. Eventually those guards would be back in their feet again and when that happened these two knew that they'd be calling in the attack and this place was going to be set into lock down once again. This drove the two to hurry through the front door as it opened and their eyes rested on more guards that were quickly standing up. Grason went into action quickly, lifting her weapons at once with their yellow glow, the jacket moving to adjust her grip just enough so that when she fired both at once each bullet would hit center mass on the target and then be adjusted again to pull the trigger down once more and unleash enough pair of taser rounds that dropped the guards to the floor. The metal detector that was positioned here didn't bother the two where it had been to make sure people didn't sneak weapons into the labs these two would simply sidestep them, getting themselves out of the way of that alarm sounding death trap before it even started to become a real problem. It was likely that some camera was going to pick them up, to spot them, but that was where they were going to be moving quickly, where they needed to get to their target in a hurry so that the other forces wouldn't pile up on them before they had a chance to reach their goal. As this pair rushed their way through the building, through the lobby, through that bottom floor towards the elevator, a finger quickly pressed the bottom just as the doors to the stairs opened up, the movement of guards rushing down the flight left Grason to quickly open her right weapon, the remaining rounds bouncing from the cylinder to crash down against the floor while her hand moved behind her and swung up a feeder housed with blue rounds. Just when the firing started from the others the posh silver fox neko would lift his case up, blocking the bullets that would have crashed against him only for this black feline to pull her trigger quickly, not shooting the guards but instead opening fire on the doorway itself and then snapping herself around to do the same at the other side. The ice that splashed out from the impacts froze on spot, hammering into the doorway and closing off that door and those within it inside of a block of ice that was going to take a little bit to thaw. When the elevator dinged and opened they'd step in quickly, the feline leaning down to pick up her left over lightning rounds and then allowing the doors to close behind her with a flick of her tail.

The ride up was nice enough, and thanks to them only going to the next floor it became a quick race between the elevator opening and the two darting to the emergency doorway on either side of the room so that those she'd just blocked off down below couldn't rush up here to catch them, the heavy desks being slid quickly as possible in front of those doors in order to block off the path before Hershel would finally react, take the briefcase in his hand and around his body in order to place them both on the floor while his hand moved to the headset in his pocket and placed it on. While those cases would open quickly, folding out and the guns would start to take shape they were set ad ready for battle facing away from one another and directly at those doors. The same doors that were already beating against the desks to try and move them out of the way. When someone finally poked up his head in, though, the turret opened fire leaving him to retreat quickly back behind that door that did well to catch the bullets. Sparks hitting the reinforced doors and these turrets doing well to keep those guards at bay as the two raced their way quickly towards that back room, the wall had been placed back where it belonged, keeping that back area secret from most others while those that knew it was there could quickly spot the gap between the wall and the ceiling, could notice that edge not lying up just perfectly. When that neko's hand wrapped around the wall and pulled on it the door opened just as it was designed to gave way for the team to step their way in.

The glow of the green tubes did well to keep this place illuminated enough, but as their fingers started to tap at the keyboard there was a very clear problem that jumped up. The second that these two worked to log in again like they had earlier, putting in their higher grade passwords into the system the error came back quickly alerting them that there was an issue. The deep buzz that sounded reflected a red screen with the white letters that read that the password entered was invalid. Grason quickly looked to Hershel to question this, but he too was having this same error and in an instant they both immediately realized that they had been locked out of this system, something that stopped their attempts to end this horrible occurrence once and for all. The data could be erased, the computers couldn't be accessed, but there was something that they could do. Moving to pull her revolver once again into her hand and opening it the casing that once housed the blue rounds lifted, bouncing out quickly and instantly down towards the ground once again with a clear jingle and an easy ringing, her hand feeding the other color, the red rounds into the revolver, and as she closed that cylinder with a very fast twist of her wrist her finger moved to make sure that it lined up as it was designed to before starting to pull the trigger. The blast from the explosive rounds jerked her arm backward, but sent the firing burst across the tables and tubes, igniting the hidden room before the two ran out of it while she continued to unload all six bullets in order to destroy as much of this research as she was able to. She might not be able to force them to lose the progress that she had, but she could absolutely stop them from accomplishing more at the expense of these poor people.

***

As the lab burned behind them these two needed to leave this building, they needed to escape once again, but just as they rounded that corner back towards the elevators again it was clear that the guards had given up hope in entering through those side doors, something that Hershel was happy to accept while he started his way towards them, fingers moved to tap the side of his headset in order to signal those turrets to return to carry mode just as the elevator dinged. Ears perked at the sound, the sudden widening of eyes grew just as those doors started to open, but this silver fox wasn't about to freeze here on the spot, his hand moving to take hold of that very last briefcase from around his body, flipping it down onto the floor in front of him in order to listen to the click of the latches be released. This wasn't like the other machine gun turrets, as it opened it formed, the barrels growing quickly around in two rings as his fingers wrapped around the grips and the index would squeeze down on that trigger, even as the weapon was forming in it's double threat Gatling gun, reaching out quickly with the motors coming to life and spinning in a hurry, the rounds would start to be sent down range in a loud thunderous burst of fire that tore into the elevator shaft entirely even as the doors were sliding open. Those trapped in side had nowhere that they could go except to drop down to the ground at the bloodied force of the very high caliber weapon, a weapon that he had been hoping to avoid using, but there had to be a choice here, either they get out, or they die, and while killing people hadn't been his first hope for this mission it was something he was willing to do.

As the shifting movement of his grip on that firearm moved to make easily swipes side to side the high fire weapon cut through the metal doors, the supports, and the walls of the elevator like they weren't there to begin with. With his shifting movement taking him easily from side to the other his gritted teeth brought half of that cart down, the bottom half and the bodies rested in it dropping immediately and quickly down the length of the floor and back into the lobby once again leaving Grason to rush her way towards that exit so that she could keep the doors open for now, holding them in place while looking down at the still closed sliding doors below them. Hershel was right behind her, ready to get out of her and even while he moved to pick up the cases for the automated turrets he could see that the elevator was gone, having been taken out as a way to prevent others from coming up after them again. The fact that he'd had to open fire on them was one thing, but while he held the case out over that now gaping shaft the palm would open easily, allowing that case to fall and hit the bottom behind those closed sliding doors, the movement of that hand to his headset activated it, watching the turret fold out once more just before he'd follow it down there, not minding an easy twelve foot drop that his feline counterpart would follow in suit. Their hands moved to grip either side of that sliding door, pulling it and opening it just as those who had gathered in the lobby took aim at the turret that gave an easy and loud beep before opening fire on all of them at once. The return fire from those rifles couldn't cut through the stone wall and metal doors leaving the two new runners safe as the guards moved to scatter from in front of that door, spreading out quickly and leaving Hershel to take hold of that handle to close it up once more.

It was now Grason's turn, That hand gripped around her hat and with a fast flick of her wrist she'd send it out into the middle of the floor of the lobby. It still projected the data of those that were left back to the coat and with her fingers taking hold of those .44 caliber firearm, the lights across the barrel and cylinder quickly illuminated as she drew the revolvers from their holsters once again, spinning them quickly while she stepped free of the elevator doors with those weapons pointed out to her sides. The first trigger pull came from her left hand, firing it quickly as the electric wave shot out from that firearm and connected against the man standing there and watching him drop. This pulled the right hand up alongside the left to open fire with a blue light reaching down the length of the barrel and as that trigger was pulled the man quickly got covered in a sheet of ice, flash freezing the man on the spot just as rifle fire started to erupt behind this woman, her long coat sliding her leg back quickly, dropping her stance while the bullets flew over her head, but while she twisted herself quickly on her knee this dark neko would open fire again shooting another taser round to drop the person who had started opening fire only to fine that even more of them were doing the same. it would be suicide for them her to simply stay out in the open though, and while she could keep trying to dodge bullets her movement to dodge to the side behind a desk in this lobby was the smart one where she had the sudden chance to pull those triggers again. The desk didn't provide a lot of cover where the bullets ripped right through it, but it prevented them from telling exactly where she was without her poking her head out and this gave her enough of an advantage when she pulled those triggers once again. The hat did it's job of adjusting her fire and keeping her out of harms way, but it could only do so much and soon that neko felt the harsh agonizing sting of a round ripping through her shoulder, the spray of blood behind her marking her position on the wall, but even without being able to lift that arm much she continued on, knowing that if she stopped then it was all over for her. With a final pull of a trigger from her left revolver the sound of an audible click could be heard when she found herself out of rounds to fire from it, dropping that weapon on the spot, her body moving to rest down behind that ragged cover, but as she watched through the holes for the soldier to get closer her now free hand moved to take hold of that blue firearm, taking it from her damaged grip and pointing it through the table to open fire once more, the round ripping through that table just as theirs had and impacting this man the ice that sprayed out from the table top itself.

***

The guards were taken care of, for now, but there were always going to be more on the way, and here she was with her own crimson fluid running down the the length of her right arm while she sat there on the floor. Her one revolver gripped in her hand while the other was on the other side of the table, having been dropped to the floor when it became empty. Her teeth gritted at the pain, her revolving finding it's holster once again so that she could grip that shoulder just as her silver fox neko friend made his way towards her once again with all three cases, his free hand gripped that fallen revolver, returning it to the dark feline so that he could move to help her to her feet once again. The guards that they fought were only a front force, there were going to be more coming, and quickly now that these had been dealt with, especially given the fact that she hadn't killed anyone so those that were down for now where going to be backing up their backup pretty soon. These two needed to get out of here, they needed to escape now while there was a small window of opportunity for them to do so. while he worked to help lift this girl from the floor she winced, hissed, and even cried out in pain, but he did manage to get her onto her feet, returning that second firearm to her other holster as well, along with her hat which he quickly flipped over onto her head where it belonged, before starting for the door. Grason's movements weren't the fastest, but they absolutely weren't slow and the feline winced her way towards the exit in a hurry just as the ice covered doors burst to release the wave of soldiers that pooled out from them. Even as Hershel shoved his shoulder into the door, swinging it open wide the two managed to escape the building itself while the burst of gunfire echoed around them leaving these two to try and race away,

The movement of their rush was stopped once they were out in the yard, the sight of the guards that she'd downed earlier already being back up left the two with rifles pointed at them and even others were closing in on the side in order to try and pin them in place. With those behind them already pushing the door out of the way it left these two with a very clear drop of defeat, the knowledge that they'd gone as far as they could with what they had, who they were, and now they were going to be taken back in and likely discarded in a more professional manner drove the silver fox to try and find the solution. His friend, his partner, had been shot, she wasn't going to be able to fight back now and that left him as the only combatant to be able to do anything, but at the same time Hershel knew that if he tried anything then they'd fire upon the two of them on the spot. If it was just him then he wouldn't mind so much, but where Grason was involved he couldn't put her life on the line even while she was suffering from a bullet wound to her shoulder. The guards slowly moved to close in, slowly worked to get in closer so that they could be apprehended once again and taken back to those rear rooms. It was over, their efforts, their trek, it all ended here and these two had reached the end of their line. If nothing else they managed to stop progression of that research, but that was about all they'd done, and now they were going to be take down by the very company that they'd dedicated their lives to. If that was to be their fate then both could accept it, it sucked, but they could manage such a lot. But not today.

The brown furred beast crashed in like a wave, his body crushing into the soldiers where those that were unfortunate enough to be hit would be knocked to the side like they had been run into by a truck. That armored skin of his making a very effective weapon when this wolf moved at full speed, and the long swipe of his fist against those that were turning towards him would add to this by showing off exactly what happens when you combine a shield's defensive with a harsh hammering blow. Those that did manage to fire upon this towering creature found their rounds only hitting him and doing nothing, rounds bounding off, flattening against the skin, failing to even slow this monster down as he turned his crimson gaze towards these two in both wonder and curiosity. Even if he'd only showed up for some reason or another it left Hershel and Grason the moment of shock that they needed to get away, as these two were darting towards the exist those that would otherwise be stopping them were locked in the struggle that came from them trying to divide their attention between fighting this beast that was actually attacking them, and these two that they were supposed to be arresting. Where many quickly focused all of their attention on this attacking monster there were a few that set out to stop the higher ups from getting away, namely the two that were still by the gate, but as the two manimal vulpine showed up to take down these two from behind it ended the last of the resistance that was otherwise causing them to leave. With these two finally getting their chance to take off they'd be gone from here, rushing off along with their new-found colleagues that seemed to have their back. Once they were off corporate property these two were home free, Hershel's arm still wrapped under Grason's body, keeping her upright even as she continued to look blood thanks to that hole in her body. The guards wouldn't pursue her out here, they simply couldn't because doing so would be an act of pseudo-war which in itself had harsh consequences, ones that none of these soldiers will willing to face.

Chapter 4

Even now Hershel and Grason didn't consider themselves Runners, regardless of what they went through here, the gear that they put together from scraps, the attack on a large corporation, they weren't going to count themselves among the ranks of these three. The reasoning was because they didn't do this for profit, they weren't given a mission to attack this company, they simply went in on their own to handle a wrong that they wanted to try and correct. In the bottom sense of this the two had relatively failed, the databanks still carried the research information, and now not only did they not have access to that building anymore, but their faces were going to be plastered everywhere as traitors to their corporation. Runners were people that took quests to fight the immorality of businesses and companies so that they could perform tasks that the police would otherwise never use, put that pressure on, apply that force in order to keep corporations on the up and up. Runners were paid to retrieve and screw over anything that they were hired to do, and these two had done what they did as a means to simply write a wrong, to correct a problem. That was all. So while they currently looked like runners, had been shot at like runners, the two neko didn't think of themselves that way, but they did move away from that corporate building, traveling their distance from there to head down this street in the attempt to get some cover so that they could rest the girl down on a bench and look at what kind of damage that they were really going to be handling today.

It was Skie that looked over the wound, pulling the girl's shirt to the side after opening that coat so that he could have full view over what had happened. The bullet was deep, but it wasn't unreachable leaving the white vulpine to hold his hand backwards behind him, reaching out for the dark fox that stood there watching. Citrus quickly understood and moved to draw his knife out, placing the handle in his white partner's hand so that Skie could get to work on this. It wasn't going to be easy to get to this round, it was crushed against that bone and there was likely breakage here and there, if he didn't get all of those shards out then he was going to risk this young lady getting an infection so while he couldn't exactly dig around and pop that round out he did make a slightly longer cut along the center of that round hole, cutting deep into the shoulder at two points leading to and from this hole. That knife then did well to spread the cut, opening it wide as the area filled with even more blood, but it gave this white vulpine the chance to pull out the round that was lodged in there, and even keep it in one piece so that there weren't going to be any real bullet shrapnel left inside of that body. If anything this was a lucky break for both of them, but luck wasn't something known to be on the side of a Runner. As this girl cried out loudly at the cutting of her shoulder and the removal of the bullet she'd growl at this fox while her black feline ears folded back from the pain. Skie felt for her, she had only done her fist mission and was shot, but then again this vulpine wasn't the kind that was going to recognize them. This left the two safe for the most part, at least one would think that.

"Grason and Hershel." The larger brown wolf spoke their names out loud in a deep snarl, "You two better have a good reason why you're out at this time of night dressed like this." His voice demanded to be answered, his pulse even beating against him with the sheer amount of anger and hatred that he felt having to even say those names.

The silver foxes neko ears fold back at the sound of the tone that this man said his name in, but he had to admit that this group had managed to save their lives, even pulled that bullet from Grason's body, so in a way they had earned some kind of explanation. This guy clearly knew who they were so Hershel wasn't about to play twenty questions with him and just came out answering the unspoken question. "We're not with Gencorp anymore. We found out that Alpha labs were using people to run experiments on to make products with. We went in to try and put a stop to it, but security got in the way... twice."

The two vulpine turned their blue and orange eyes to look at one another, Skie even handing Citrus his knife back. Grason, even now, didn't look like she was in the best of shape, in a way she looked like someone that had just been shot. This neko girl was pale, fatigued looking, and clearly still in a series of pain. As much as Hershel wanted to explain more details about the story to them, his concern was first on his partner, his friend, the person that he considered to be more or less an equal to amount all other people. Without the bullet in her this girl would try to stand once more, finding that helping hand the silver fox to keep her standing and stable. As she looked to these others this girl still wasn't entirely registering everything that they were saying.

"She's still really hurt," The posh fox spoke up again to the others, "We really should take her to a hospital so that they can help her."

"No," Came the instant denial of that plan from the dark vulpine that looked over her and then to her friend, "You two already have your faces out there by now. If you go to a hospital then Gencorp guards will show up in a matter of minutes and the hospitals won't do anything to stop them. We've got a place to handle this, follow us."

Hershel moved to take hold of the girl, catching her and making sure that she was able to remain standing, but thought about the entire situation here and then back at these two. "Actually, you guys should follow me. I know a place we can stitch her up."

***

It was a few blocks down the road, their steps worked to carry this girl the long distance as they drew closer and closer to that storage warehouse for Gencorp. This place had a lot of things in it, but where they worked in a genetics corporation most of what was actually here was specifically ruined and expired energetic materials scheduled for destruction. The bit of gear that these two had gotten from this place wasn't even much and honestly was about it. Grason didn't like complete strangers fawning over her, watching her, tending to her wounds, but knew that Hershel simply didn't have that kind of experience, instead he was more of the person that memorized sewer charts, and delivery routes. As well stocked as a place like this would be, it wouldn't make a very good hangout for long, such places were monitored, looked after, and even if nothing came around tonight, there would be someone swooping by in the morning to pick up their shipment in order to destroy the latest manifest of rejected products. For now it was a pit stop, a place that they could be at for a few minutes in order to take care of what they needed to, the little bit of gear that did exist here was mostly on them, and what more that happened to be here was pretty well out-shadowed by the gear that these others had on them at this moment. Neither Hershel knew Grason seemed to recognize a single one of them, but without knowing their names it was going to be hard to pinpoint exactly who they were. Hunter had recognized them, he knew them by name thanks to his data feed from the company itself, but both Skie and Citrus hadn't gotten that feed, and instead were set to miss out on this one. It was an issue that Hershel planned to correct and while he kept himself close to the girl for both security and comfort the silver fox would speak out easily to them in order to try and learn a little bit more about this group, and try to build a bridge with them given that they just helped these two out.

"Thank you, all of you. You saved us back there." Hershel said, looking over the bleeding feline neko as she felt the wire finally starting to close that wound of hers.

Grason was an adult, she could handle a little pain, but this still really hurt. The hole that had been punched into her body, still throbbed and even while the bullet had been removed the addition of that cut in order to do it only made the entire area starting to numb up a bit. They didn't have any kind of healing paste, attempts to make such a thing had failed a long time ago, and nobody had really picked up the research mostly due to the fact that it wasn't something that seemed relatively possible. They had advanced styles of medical research and healing techniques more than they did a few hundred years ago, but they didn't have any of those supplies in this warehouse of failed developments. Instead it came down to the old fashion wire and needle, every stab that was made forced a loud gasp from her figure, her head leaning back while she felt the wire pull that wound shut. In time it was all over, but this woman still felt the need to call out, despite managing to keep her voice down. They were on the run, after all, and needed to keep a lower profile. In the end, the smiling face of that white fox would brush a strand of blue hair to the side and lightly informed her that he was done, tying off the stitch and returning the rest to those emergency supplies. This small issue was over, but it did bring about other questions, ones that Citrus would turn towards the silver fox to get given that the black neko was in no condition to really be answering questions.

"What issue do you have with Gencorp?" Usually a runner won't ask about the mission of another runner, but given the fact that they just had to rescue this duo he felt that he'd earned the right to be informed, especially give the fact that Gencorp was widely known to be their primary targets.

It was Hunter that spoke up, though, stepping in and growling out, "They shouldn't have any issues with Gencorp at all, they're both higher ups in the company." He answered in a gruff tone moving towards the window areas in order to try and keep out and see if this was some kind of set up or not.

"Oh, we have issues with Gencorp, all right," He said to the dark vulpine, shifting his gaze at the brown wolf who went into security, "We found out that they were running forced genetic experiments on people, but when we went in to shut those experiments down the security team attacked us. We geared up to try again, and got rid of the physical data, but couldn't get through to the electronic data to delete it."

"Yeah, we all know a few things about Gencorp's genetic experiments." It was then that Hershel finally started to look on at them, spotting them, seeing them, for what they were. In a way splicing wasn't a huge mystery, but with that touch of a clue he quickly realized that they were escapees from the same experiments that these two had just burned to the ground. It left the silver neko blinking at the idea that these people, though forced into the situation, were more like their brothers in arms at this case, it also told him that they were likely the runners that had killed the man he built a company with, though at this time the facts of what that man had planned for this corporation left Hershel with the confused feelings of not knowing if he was really the man that this silver vulpine neko had originally thought he was.

The conversation was something that was going to have to continue later on as the wolf stormed back over to these two. "They're here." he said, alerting everyone to the fact that these guards had managed to follow them, track them down to what essentially came down to being Gencorp company property.

***

Everyone was already working to load their weapons, getting their gear set up, and preparing themselves to have try and fight their way out, all except for Hunter that primarily used his fists as a weapon thanks to his bullet proof skin made possible by the research progressed by that man in front of him. His hand quickly reached out for that collared shirt and vest, moving to force Hershel against that shelf of random goods and easily trapping him down under vastly superior strength and capability. Those red eyes focused entirely on this silver fox, locking onto him with the deep and snarling growl from his lips. The only thing that was left out of this was the loud barking to try and intimidate his prey into admitting what he wanted to hear, instead it would be a spoken accusation, an all out blaming of their situation on this man that he was ready to put through the floor at the very first sign of his beliefs being true.

"You brought us here knowing that they'd come looking for us." Hunter said forcefully, naming his statement quite bluntly while the silver fox kicked at the floor, trying to find any footing at all, "You set us up!"

Hershel's breath coughed, his statement strained to rise form his throat, "Why would I lead the people that shot my friend to me and her? They attacked us, you guys just got involved."

Skie moved up to take hold of the canine's arm, aiming to try and pull at it lightly despite the fact that he knew that his vulpine body wasn't going to have the strength to pull this massively muscular brown canine away, but that white fox could absolutely try and make a case. "That actually makes sense, Hunter. We need to not get out of here now. We can't be fighting."

"Well, we're going to have to fight to get out of here, so buckle up." The female voice of Grason spoke, moving to try and push herself to her feet, but stumbling, even while her friend was released from the grip of that taller, stronger man, his silver ears twitched and his more human looking body would rush over to her, the tail whipping a bit side to side as he moved to help keep her up. It was clear that she'd lost a lot of blood, but the wound wasn't fatal, even where she stood she still bled a little bit, but for the most part the worst of it was over.

They all knew that what this feline said was true, that her words were correct. If they were going to be getting out of this warehouse then they needed to gear up, get themselves prepared to fight their way out, but most importantly they needed to work together. Even with the five of them it was going to be a hard battle, only five well prepared fighters against maybe a couple dozen guards which accounted to soldiers in corporate speak. While they couldn't provide any force while out there, once they were on company property it was all out, this fight was going to start the second that door was breached Citrus, Skie, Grason, all moving to reload their weapons while Hershel was already working to try and think of the next best option, planning, looking around. He didn't know much about these other three, but he knew that if they were all going to get out of this then they were going to need to use all of their skills, and if there's one thing that a director was able to do well, it was use the talents of others to accomplish his goals.