Chapter Text
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Chapter 17: Monkey Business (Part 5).
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“We’re homeee…” Ekabet sighs, his voice deprived of energy as Stone looks over to the living room, “Where are they?” He thought, finding no signs of Arkhis or Osiris anywhere, [Fshhh…] The sound of running water catches their attention.
“Hey, did one of y’all leave the water running?” Ekabet asks, coming over to the kitchen, “Maybe BV turned it on and forgot to turn it off?” Stone suggests—Knowing that the drone can self-refill itself using the tap water, “Nah, that’s not how drones work.” Ekabet turns off the sink’s water, wondering if the two occupants ever thought of the rising water prices in the area.
“Hey, Arky! Did one of you all forget to turn the water off?!” He exclaims, slightly frustrated at their ignorance, “Ugh, where are they?” He turns to Stone, who is inspecting his surroundings, “Hmm…” The place looks mildly dirty, though the scent of fish may be responsible for that.
“They’re still here, maybe they went upstairs?” Stone deduces, doubtful they’ve left the house, “Yeah, maybe.” Ekabet raids the fridge while Stone goes to the stairs, “I’ll see if they’re up here.” He says, noticing the scent of fish getting stronger.
“Alright, I’ll see if there’s anything for us to eat.” While Ekabet tends to the fridge for edibles, Stone goes up the stairs and calls out their name, “Osiris? Arkhis? You two there?” The saltiness adds a layer to the fishy smell in the air.
He goes past the door where he and Ekabet sleep, going past Arky’s and eventually stopping at Osiris’s, the smell getting stronger he could barely breathe without coughing, “Hey—” Before he got a chance to say anything, the door opens wide and a pair of hands—one of which is webbed—snoops him inside.
“Agh!” He yelps in surprise as the door closes, “Shh!” Arky shushes him as he recovers from the ambush from their grip, “Sigh… What the hell are you two doing?” He whispers back, amused and slightly annoyed by their random act that almost made him punch out of instinct.
“We’re planning on scaring Ekabet! But you had to ruin it!” Osiris mutters, clearly not planned for the hairless monkey in mind, “We did get a good yelp out of you.” Arky chuckles, then sniffs him subconsciously, “Ugh… Damn. He smells way too sweaty!” She thought, looking at his green shirt with a wolf logo and black boxer shorts, noticing a bump near the crotch.
“What the—” She was captivated by his size, “Well, sorry for ruining your little hide & seek.” Stone comments, turning around to face Osiris while leaving Arkhis stunned, “Did one of you leave the sink running? That’d waste a lot of water.” Osiris’s gaze diverts when Stone faces her.
“Well, I thought it’d compensate for the scare factor.” She admits, Stone sighs and shakes his head, “It would’ve taken more than that to scare me, y’know?” He chuckles, “Though I think I have a better plan to scare him.” A devious smirk comes on his face.
“Hmm, let’s hear it,” Osiris smirked too, and then Arkhis snapped out of her trance.
“What?”
—
Meanwhile, a dispatched team of FOA agents discreetly pulls over in a van silently floating on the tarmac, using equipment to listen in on their conversation, hidden by the darkness of the night.
—
“What are they talking about?” A husky Silvarian asks his Feline partner, who is a panther, “Something about a plan? Nothing else, just some ordinary banter.” The panther replies, tuning in the equipment on his ergonomic headphones designed for his species, which looks like a headset used by call center agents with some mild modifications like a left eye hologram showing statistics.
“Banter? Are you sure?” The Silvarian asks again, “I’m sure of it, why are we crossing other civvies into the mix? We’ve run a background check on the trio and they’re more or less related to each other, none of them have criminal records so they’re clean.” He answers, listening in on his headset for additional clues that might unveil themselves.
“Still, the fact that these three sheltered a potential terrorist doesn’t make sense—Maybe this guy is holding him hostage?” The Silvarian is unsure if this “Stone” individual, a name he ridiculed with his co-workers, is responsible or, in some way, connected to the accident in Leyland, they plan to raid the house when everyone’s asleep but doing so might put the lives of the three at risk.
“I doubt it, these three sound fine around him, so I don’t think there’s anything to be afraid of—” A howl-like scream in the panther’s ergonomic headset took him out of the conversation, “What was that?” The Silvarian asks, hearing the scream as the Feline frantically tunes in on the conversation.
“I don’t know, let me check.”
—
Back at the house, Ekabet catches his breath after getting jumped by Osiris and Stone, the latter bursts out laughing at Ekabet’s scream while the former teases Ekabet’s tail.
—
“Dude, what the hell!?” Ekabet exclaims, tucking his tail away from Osiris while Stone laughs, “Sorry! Ah, god. The scream you just made!” Stone says before having another laugh, “f*ck off, that was not my scream!” Ekabet feels embarrassed all over while the blue shark twists in humor.
“Haha! That sounds like a scream from a young Silvarian!” Osiris retorts, laughing along with Stone as her gills get sprayed by BV, “Shut up! You heard it wrong!” While the three are having a banter, Arkhis goes past them all and walks down the stairs.
“You guys wanna eat? I’m kinda hungry.” She yawns, her raccoon tail softly grasping the railings of the stairs, “Yeah, what do we have in the fridge?” After messing with Ekabet’s head, Osiris’s attention shifts to food, releasing her grip on Ekabet, “Owie…” Ekabet rubs his ruffled head as Stone checks up on him.
“You alright?” Stone smiles at him while he receives a glare from Ekabet, “Hell no… I’m going to be embarrassed for f*cking life remembering that scream.” Ekabet plants a palm on his forehead, Stone chuckles and pats his back.
“You’ll have moments like that, though I think mine is more embarrassing than yours,” Stone says, remembering an embarrassing memory of him getting caught with his mates stealing mango juice and pizza in the cafeteria by his boss.
They were subjected to cycling forty kilometers, a ten-kilometer run, and swimming one and a half kilometers, “I’m surprised that we had to do what is essentially a triathlon. Though we completed it in the end, just barely.” Stone feels the exhaustion taking a toll on his body after he swam through a lake and barely landed ashore, the look on his boss’s face tells him he’s mildly impressed by his efforts.
“If I had the chance to punch that motherf*cker in the face without repercussions I would’ve taken it.” He thought, wanting to release all his pent-up rage towards his boss, “Like what?” Ekabet asks, his tail flicking away Osiris’s scent.
“Well, like getting caught with the boys stealing food at three AM, that was a nightmare.” As they descend the stairs, he continues his little story, “We got punished a lot for it… I wouldn’t want to do that again since the punishment lasted a whole day.” Before Ekabet could ask what punishment Stone had gotten, the sound of dishes and cutlery clinking caught their attention.
“Aww, bummer. We only have fruits and barely any meat!” Osiris says, picking out a slice of meat from the freezer while Arkhis prepares the table, “Well, that’s your fault, not us. Ms. Glutton.” Arky retorts, placing the dishes on the table.
“Damn, I have to go to the wet market tomorrow.” Miffed at her dwindling meat supply, Osiris savors the last piece of meat on a frying pan, “Do cows exist here?” Is the thought that crossed Stone’s mind while Osiris turned on the electric stove, “Oh? You’re not going raw this time?” Ekabet asks, confusing Stone even more.
“I thought she ate raw meat?” Stone thought as they approached the table, “Well, not this time. This is tonight's last meat, so it’d better taste good!” She says, cranking the heat to very high, the scent of meat lingers in the room, “Don’t get too crazy on the cooking, Ossy.” Arkhis warns after finishing the preparations on the table, “Yeah, yeah. I’ll be careful.” Osiris replies, her gills inhaling the delicious scent of cooked meat.
Sitting at the left beside Ekabet, he wonders what food they have for tonight, “Obviously no meat because of Osiris.” Stone thought, missing the sensation of delicious meat on his tongue, “Man, I miss eating meat. If only we could eat some.” He’s been stuck to salad dressings and fruits for the past few days, so eating meat is a fleeting feeling he wants to relish again.
“Gosh, Osiris. You’re greedy on the meat, at least let us have some!” Ekabet protests, telling Stone’s thoughts out loud, “Sorry, Ek. You know how us Kimorians do it, we need meat to sustain ourselves.” She teases, opening a cabinet and pulling out some spices.
“Are those… seaweed and salt?” Stone sees her sprinkling them on the meat, “What about us though? Don’t we need it to sustain ourselves too?” He turns to Stone, catching him staring at her cooking, “Right, Stone?” Ekabet passes the attention to Stone.
“Ah, great.” Osiris thought, “Now those two will band together and start acting like undisciplined brats.” She glimpses over her shoulders to Stone, who looks uninterested in the conversation, “Well, I could hold out for a day or two eating veggies and fruits.” Stone’s answer surprised Osiris, considering how a guy like him usually partners with Ekabet.
“What? Bro, our muscles are going to turn to mush!” Ekabet says as Stone smiles at him, “Nuh-uh, you just want meat, do you?” His smile turns to a co*cky grin, “Well, uh—” Ekabet stutters, knowing Stone caught him in his game.
“Pfft, shut up you two, I have some beef jerky stored somewhere around here,” Arkhis goes to one of the cabinets, bringing out a jar of dry beef slices, “What?! You have those hidden!?” Osiris says, surprised at Arky’s secret stash of meat.
“Duh, of course!” She opens the jar and upends it, pouring one for their dishes, with Osiris being the exception, “I’m never trusting you again…” Osiris says dramatically as if to act hurt, “Oh, please.” Arkhis remains stoic to her playful act while grabbing some fruits from the fruit basket.
“Anyway, here’s your food, guys.” She serves them a pair of berries, the texture is a strange yellowish color. “Reminds me of lemons but tiny.” Stone thought, plucking one out from the rest and eating it.
“Huh, it tastes like lemons…” He comments, savoring the flavor, “Lemons? What’s that?” Ekabet asks, curious at his comment, “It’s a kind of fruit back at my home. They taste sour, just like these.” He plucks out a branch of the yellow-colored berries.
“And talking about home…” Osiris comes in with the frying pan, putting the cooked meat on her plate across from Stone’s, “Where’d you come from?” She asks, not out of curiosity, but out of apprehension, anxious to hear Stone’s answer.
He hesitates, “Well,” He eventually answers, “From California, in Southern Gatsikhan.” He wonders if they’re trying to decipher his origins. They continue eating, but he notices he gets stares from Arkhis and Osiris, watching them glance at each other as if to say something non-verbally.
The night goes on with Stone chatting with Ekabet while the raccoon and blue shark converse privately. After dinner, Ekabet hit the bed first, leaving Stone, Arkhis, and Osiris awake. While Stone is chilling in the living room, he randomly remembers his equipment settling in Osiris’s pickup truck.
Stone speaks up, “Hey, Osiris?” Osiris was washing the dishes while Arkhis lay on the couch with Stone, her tail partially blocking Stone’s vision while her leg dangles off the edge, “Yeah?” Stone grabs Arkhis’s tail out of annoyance, prompting her to ‘eep!’ while he turns to Osiris over the couch, facing her stare.
“I’ve been wondering something,” He asks, ignoring Arkhis’s buzzing of him touching her tail, “I know what they’re thinking about.” Stone knows the type of stare he noticed earlier, knowing they wanted his true, unfiltered origins, “Should I tell them? Now’s the perfect moment since Ekabet is sleeping.” He wonders if dropping such a truth bomb on them might inevitably kick him out of the house, making him homeless.
The world isn’t perfect, he knows this because of the G2 District. That, and the clans controlling each district.
And what about the things he doesn’t know? He’s been getting this gut feeling something’s bad about to happen, and he knows this peaceful (albeit weird) life wouldn’t last soon.
The FOA, Leyland National Park, the stupidly ludicrous fact that he’s in another world, and how he’s acting like nothing happened while he lives out his life in an alien civilization that could potentially pose a threat to mankind.
He knows he’s not from this world, a foreign visitor—An interloper who doesn’t belong here. And yet this world offers him a better life here than on Earth. Sure, there are things like racism and poverty that exist, but life without fighting and running and gunning is a good change of pace for once.
Sometimes he gets urges to kill, and he knows he’ll be bored at the end of the fight, so he tries to drown this feeling by training, engaging in sparring and fights, and socializing with people, it’s cheesy advice, yes, but it worked out for him to not kill anyone on accident.
Who knows, maybe he could get back to Earth, perhaps get a huge bonus from his boss for discovering an alien world—Then again, shadowy organizations would kill him for that, not wanting to disclose that there’s life out there other than Earth.
“f*ck it, I feel guilty for hiding the truth from them,” Why was he doing this? Stone isn’t the one to disclose and spill the beans to those he knows little about—Did the times of him killing people get the best of him? Maybe the faces of those dead men and the subsequent payment he gets in return rusted away his nerves of steel?
Did his comrades from his unit come and go all this way for some worthless green paper? Did the powder and blood spilled over some unknown lands start to make him self-conscious? Or is it because he has very few friends—Or what he would call friends anyway, made him self-reflect on his decisions and regret missing out on a young, fulfilling life?
And yet, he’s here, in some random alien world far from Earth, inhabited by talking, walking animals, with concepts of technology found in science fiction to be real. All because of a goddamn glowing rock that his boss wanted to get for his stupid client, and for what?
“I didn’t come all the way here to die in some random alien world full of talking animals because of a rock.” He thought, so then what for? “I don’t know… Being away from Earth seems like a nice change of pace for living without being f*cked by the political and geological environment.” Then is that truly your reason for living here? In a house, that’s in a random neighborhood, in a city filled with the good and the bad? On a planet that is inhabited by these things?
“What’s wrong with me?” He thought, “I should be seeking answers as to why I’ve been here, I know Dandrosyte, or the f*cking Arkenstone or whatever, is the one responsible for taking me here.” Was he this lazy before? Stone finds it shameful how he’s apathetic until now, how he’s enjoying a mildly peaceful life without having to be stuck in an underground facility drowned in an intense atmosphere.
What about the Dead Watch Battalion? He doubts they miss him that much, but he knows they’ll avenge his death for those who ripped him off, even though they don’t know he’s alive in some alien world.
Or what about Arky, Osiris, and most importantly his best monkey friend, Ekabet? Are they the true friends he perceives them to be and not just some person with ulterior motives? It seems unlikely since they’ve been supportive of him thus far.
At least they speak English, or what sounds like English anyway, “I won’t get far asking these two without exposing myself.” He already pictured two scenarios in his mind, if he asked if teleportation technology existed after telling them he was from another world these two would look at him weirdly.
Or if he continues to lie and keep the truth to himself, they’ll grow suspicious and distrustful of him, even resorting to calling the police if they think he’s some unknown stowaway from a different land.
“Sigh…” He’s left with those options on how to tell them he’s from another world, should he disclose to them as a matter-of-factly that he’s an alien from a different world then and there? While he didn’t care for their reactions nor the consequences that’ll follow, and for some odd reason Stone was, as much as he hates to admit it, a little afraid.
“What is it?” Osiris’s words lifted him to reality, catching a glimpse of Arkhis staring at him, anticipating the words that got caught at the tip of his tongue, “Agh, f*ck it. What do I have to lose with these three?” He thought, “Do you all want to know where I came from?” The sudden question took them all by surprise.
“What?” Arkhis says, dumbfounded by Stone’s bluntness, “Well, you guys already figured it out, right?” Stone leans on the couch, placing his arms behind his head, “Since Ekabet is asleep, might as well tell you two while he’s gone.” He turns his head to Arkhis with a smile.
“Though I want you all to guess where I came from.” He says with a playful manner, crossing his legs while watching their expressions, “Uh… Okay?” Was all Arkhis could say, “So you’re not from Gatsikhan Union?” Stone shakes his head at Arkhis’s question, “Nope.” He casually replies, his smile growing wider upon seeing the confusion on her face.
“Hmm… Did you come from Brezsion?” He shakes his head again, “Agh, just tell us already!” Osiris impatiently quips, not wanting to play Stone’s games anymore, “Fine, fine… But you have to promise me not to tell Ekabet about this.” The sudden tone change in Stone’s voice changed the mood in the room.
“Alright, I’ll promise,” Arkhis says, leaning beside Stone, her tail wrapping around one of his crossed legs, “Unless it’s nothing important, I’m fine with it.” Oh, Osiris. You poor, fishy child, “Ah. About that…” Stone turns his head over his shoulders, barely seeing Osiris in the corner of his eye.
“It’s kind of important.” Osiris became still momentarily before coming over to the couch and leaning behind Stone on the couch, “Sigh… You know, we’ve—” BV sprays her gills and leaves the room after interrupting her, “Ahem, you know, we’ve been meaning to ask you about that too. Where you came from, that is.” She resumes, her gills refreshed by the drone.
“I’m glad you’ve asked, Osiris.” He turns to Arkhis, “I’m also sorry for practically living off your backs, so I think explaining how I got here might answer some of your questions.” Stone silently inhales, mentally preparing himself—there’s no turning back now.
“Well, we’re listening,” Osiris says, leaning on the couch’s arm, “My gosh, Ossy. Let him take a moment.” Arkhis strongly rebukes as the blue shark timidly apologizes shortly after.
Stone audibly exhales, catching the two’s attention.
“Uh, where do I start?”
—
Back at the van, the two agents listen intently, recording the conversation that might answer some of their questions.
—
“I guess you guys know the whole thing surrounding Leyland National Park, right?” The Feline glances at the Silvarian, anticipating any crucial information that might warrant an order from their superiors while switching the audio to the van’s speaker for easier hearing.
“What about it? Wait, are you connected to the entire EMP thingy?!” The voice, who they presume belongs to the Arckland, exclaims, “Yeah, but I’m not responsible for those things. But—” Another voice interjects.
“You’re not a criminal, right?” The cautious undertone from the Kimorian suggests, “What? No! I’m not a criminal! And I’m not responsible for everything that came afterward!” Stone claims, defending himself while the Kimorian remains doubtful.
“But, I am responsible for how I came here in the first place.” A weary sigh emits from the van’s speakers, “But first, would you guys believe me if I said I came from another world?” The Feline stares at the Silvarian, wondering if the things they’ve heard are right.
“Are these guys on drugs?” The Silvarian agent asks, “Uh, I don’t know. I doubt they are.” The Feline remains impartial to the Silvarian’s judgment. The speakers riled up again, interrupting their short conversation, “Pfft—Really? Are you serious?” The Kimorian asks, the following silence implying he’s serious.
“Wait, you’re serious?” A chuckle escapes from their suspect, “Yeah, I mean, why’d you think I look like this? Surely there are no monkeys, erm, well Cercops out there that look like me.” The agents glanced at each other, “What’s a ‘monkey’?” The word sounded foreign to them, it was their first time hearing such a word.
“What’s a ‘monkey’?” The Arckland asks, seemingly transmitting the agent’s question, “Oh, it’s like what Cercops are. Except they’re primitive and tend to walk on all fours back in my world. Think of it as an early version of your kind back then.” A squeaky laughter comes over the speaker, “That’s ridiculous! So you have Cercops in your world that is essentially a dumbed-down version of themselves?” The Kimorian asks, seemingly unfazed by the details disclosed to her, if anything, she was amused by it.
“I’m surprised you’re taking this well. How about you, Arkhis?” A ten-second silence is enough to be an answer for Stone, “Okay, I don’t think you’re taking this well, then.” He sarcastically remarks, “What—Wait, wait, wait!” Arkhis stops him, wanting some background context behind his statement.
“You came here, from another world? How is that possible?” A follow-up question comes from the Kimorian, “And how’d you get here by the way? You’re not like some experiment gone wrong, right?” Stone chuckles again, returning to the topic at hand.
“Let’s rewind to before the incident at Leyland happened. I worked for a mercenary company—Well, I used to work for them, and one day I got a job to attack a convoy.” He stalls in his conversation, trying to recall the memories of the convoy mission, “I had to take this glowing rock for my boss’s client being transported by the convoy, I believe it’s the same one as those Dandrosyte you guys used to power all of your infrastructure.” The agents in the van remain listless, sharing glances while listening to the hairless Cercops.
“So I took it, got in one of their vehicles, then the thing started glowing so bright it was powerful like the sun. And, wouldn’t you know it, I ended up in the park. And yes, the vehicle came with me, the glowing rock—The Dandrosyte, is nowhere to be seen. Only my equipment and other stuff remained intact.” He said, correcting himself in the middle of his monologue.
“Then came you two, where I had to hide behind a rock. And you know the rest of the story.” A laugh echoes from the speakers, “I don’t know if it’s just fate, but I’m glad you two sheltered me. To be honest, I’m… scared sh*tless knowing I’m in an alien world, full of walking, talking people like you who I consider animals back at home.” Stone admitted, openly sharing his thoughts with them.
“So thank you, even if it means nothing. I appreciate you two for helping me when I could’ve been wandering the streets looking like a weird homeless veteran. Hell, I might be treated like trash considering how racist everyone is.” Stone remembers the racist remarks he and Ekabet had gotten during their time at the bus stop.
An audible shifting of something heavy barely crackled in the speakers, “Woah, Arkhis?” He remarked, surprised at her hugging him out of the blue, “I was wondering when you’ll be honest, so consider this as my way of saying thank you.” She said, and then a chuckle followed.
“My goodness, your first reaction to finding out that a guy is from another world is to hug him?” The Kimorian comments, “So now I’ve told you, can I ask you all another thing?” He asks, “Do you know of any teleportation technology? I mean, you guys must’ve had it since you have that big-ass planet ring in the sky. I just wanna know if I can go back home someday.” An uncomfortable silence grows over the audio.
“Uhm, about that…”
—
While the agents listen to Arkhis explaining to Stone that teleportation tech is nowhere near close to becoming real, a vehicle housing a band of Lukinians, or hyenas, lurks on the streets of G3, hell-bent on finding out the hairless Cercops that humiliated their clan.
—
“Where the f*ck is this chink?” One of the female hyenas murmured, annoyed their target was nowhere in sight, “Calm the f*ck down, he’s here somewhere. One of them on SpaZm took a pic of him walking around here.” Another female hyena says, attempting to calm down her pack’s nerves.
“That f*cking chink took Swifter to the Cherimbas! Who knows what they’ve done to him?!” She exclaims, “I ain’t calming down until I get my f*cking pack brother back!” She says, a scrape of laughter escaping the last few words of her sentence.
“Saski, calm the f*ck down.” A male hyena speaks up—It was Jasil, “I—” She stammers, her ears bending backward, “I’m sorry. I just, I f*cking hate that no-fur looking chank.” Saski says, frustrated at their humiliating loss of a male.
“We’ll get him, he’s not that far since our hacker thinks he’s in this crappy-looking neighborhood.” He looks out their window, the window being part of a van—One that looks like what kidnappers use when they kidnap their targets, except it’s covered with armor covering the windshields and sides, looking like it came from Mad Max.
“I’m glad she used the traffic cams to track him down, I owe her one,” Saski says as a smile forms on her face, though her smile turns to a scowl when she remembers the human from earlier, “I’ll get that f*cking chink when I see him.” Saski holds back her vengeance while the other girls in the van silently share her resentment, wanting to get a piece of the hairless Cercops named “Stone” and torture him in every way possible.
“And his name is, what, Stone? What the hell kind of name is Stone?” The other hyenas in the van laugh at Jasil’s joke, “Must be doing what his ancestors do best!” Another adds, stoking the laughter even louder while Saski remains silent, her thoughts only containing one thing.
“I’ll kill him.”
—
Back at the house, Stone wore his combat clothes after having trouble finding them with Arkhis’s help (she moved them to her drawer), he showed the patches and other things on his shirt like the flag of the United States, including the grayed-out Dead Watch Battalion badge on his right shoulder.
—
“That’s where I came from, the U.S.A., United States of America.” Stone proudly points to his flag patch, “Is that a nation of yours?” Osiris asks, “Yeah, the land of the free, or so they claim to be.” He sarcastically says, leaning behind the couch near Arkhis.
“I thought you were cosplaying or something,” Osiris says, “Is that a real nation? Surely you’re not playing with us.” Arkhis doubts the authenticity of Stone’s claims, “Pfft—Of course! Let me get my backpack.” He goes to the door to grab his stuff from Osiris’s truck.
“Wait, what kind of stuff do you have anyway?” Arkhis yells out the door as Stone goes to the back, opening the tarp covering the back to grab his backpack, “Just some otherworldly stuff, why?” He jokes, closing the tarp after.
Meanwhile, the agents watch him down the driveway at a distance, reporting the situation to their command. The joke sent mixed signals to the panther and wolf considering the context of the problem, almost causing them to panic.
He closes the door behind them, “Look, I have stuff like guns!” He brings out the USP, scaring Arkhis and Osiris when he points the barrel at them, “Whoops, sorry.” He holstered his USP after checking the barrel and the magazine.
“What do you have in your backpack? It’s nothing dangerous, right?” Checking the contents of his back he found a couple of flares, a folded rope ladder, two magazines for his USP, and three for his G36C, the latter being folded for easier storage.
There’s a climbing pick, a crash ax, a (crumpled) box of matches, a big and small cardboard ammunition box for his primary and secondary, and the destroyed jammers, the antenna and controls unrepairable beyond control thanks to the fall, “It’s just some survival gear, oh, and my MRE rations.” He brings out the squashed MRE and opens it, consisting of (very) mashed potatoes and gravy.
“Egh.” Arkhis recoils in disgust at the crushed contents while Stone uses the wooden spoon packaged inside, nodding in satisfaction upon tasting the food, “It’s still edible! You want some?” Arkhis shakes her head, “Yeah!” Osiris takes the chance after smelling the crispy air of the food that Stone is eating.
She devours the food while Stone brings out his G36C, checking the scope attached to the top, “What’s that?” Stone puts the sling on him, unfolding the stock while checking the barrel and the ammo, making sure the safety is on while pointing the gun away from them, “Another gun, way bigger than the one I had earlier.” He says as Arkhis shakes her head in dismay.
“Great, we’ve housed a criminal.” Arkhis stated, stroking her ears anxiously as her tail swayed uncontrollably, “Hey if I were a criminal you two wouldn’t be here.” He retorts, putting away his primary as he pulls the destroyed jammers out of his backpack.
“Hmm? What’s that?” Arkhis asks while Stone places them on the table, “It’s a jammer, I don’t think it works anymore since it broke.” Arkhis was surprised to hear this, “You have a jammer?! What—Okay.” She gives up trying to make sense of him, concluding he’s truly a person from another world.
“You know, when I thought of meeting an alien, I thought it’d look a lot like those bugs from Tarkanian, but I never thought it’d be a furless version of a Cercops.” Stone chuckles at Arkhis’s comment, “I thought the same thing too. But I never thought it’d be walking, talking animals from my world.” Stone says, sharing the thought with Arkhis.
“I’m surprised you guys don’t have any teleportation technology considering you have that big f*cking ring in the sky,” He says, zipping up his backpack and wearing it, “You mean the LIFT ring?” He tilts his head at Osiris’s sentence.
“It’s an abbreviation for Lightweight-Isolated-Fast-Transportation, LIFT,” Arkhis quells his confusion after seeing it on his face, “Oh, that’s neat. Is it like those maglev trains?” Arkhis becomes confused, “A what?” Stone sighs, knowing his vocabulary isn’t the same as theirs.
“Well, a maglev is short for magnetic levitation—Wait, you guys do know magnets, right?” They nod, “We’re not that stupid,” Osiris chuckles, “Anyway, we do have those trains, though they use Dandrosyte.” She says, her gills moving as if they were alive, slightly unnerving Stone.
“I figured.” Stone thought, wondering what wasn’t used by Dandrosyte anymore, “I wanna ask you something—how did Dandrosyte come to your world?” Stone shrugs at the raccoon, “That I don’t know, but what I do know is that it’s connected to this world, er, solar system. By the way, what’s the name of your system?” The raccoon and the blue shark share a glance, then glance back at Stone.
“Wow, you really aren’t kidding when you say you’re from another world.” Osiris says, followed by Arkhis, “Yeah, I thought you were just playing.” Arkhis adds, “What—Of course I’m not kidding! I’m serious!” He frustratingly sighs, “You guys think I’ve made all that convoy stuff up?” They subtly nod, further pissing him off.
“Look, just tell me the name of your solar system, please?” Arkhis scratches her tail out of guilt, “Well, it’s the Bronan System, why?” Stone seems to stare into space, “I’m just… wondering if it’s worth living here or going back to Earth, my home.” Osiris and Arkhis share another glance, this time of pity and empathy.
“Well, I don’t think I’ll be going back home anytime soon, considering how it’s screwed up by global climate change and a pandemic so… I think I’ll live here for the rest of my life.” He concludes, ending the existential threat on a good note with a joyful expression while the expression of Arkhis and Osiris changes to one of concern.
“Living on a planet full of talking animals is probably one thing I hadn’t expected in my lifetime.” He says, “Though racism is an issue, I think I’ll be fine living with you all. I’ll get a job, get some money to pay off some bills, and live a peaceful life without being f*cking screamed at by my pedantic boss.” Stone had an ever-growing smile on his face.
“Eh, I get that. Being screamed and yelled at when you’re working isn’t a good morale boost.” Osiris says, relating to Stone’s experience, “But are you sure you want to live here? What if someone knows you’re from another world? Aren’t they going to dissect you? Ask you where you come from?” Stone scoffs, shaking his head in disbelief.
“Pfft, no. If they knew, they’d have already busted the door down. There’s no one listening to our conversation outside, well, not that I know yet.” Meanwhile, the agents listening to the conversation from their van stared at each other in apprehension.
“Don’t jinx yourself,” Arkhis says to Stone, “And I think it’d be best for you to stay here and lay low. You’re like a very, and I mean a very important guy.” Arkhis emphasized his importance, “Like, you’re proof you’re from another world, an alien!” She excitedly exclaims, jumping from the couch to Stone.
“Yeah, uh, about that…” Stone winces, remembering something, “Did you guys check social media recently? More specifically, SpaZm?” Osiris and Arkhis appear confused, wondering what he meant, “Uhm, you’ll see what I mean.” Osiris doesn’t like his words and checks SpaZm using her phone.
“Oh no…” Osiris sees the viral video of Stone fighting a gang of Lukinians, “What is it?” Arkhis asks, blissfully unaware of the chaos on Osiris’s phone, “Look at this.” She flips her phone to show Arkhis the problem.
“What?!” She grabs the phone from her webbed hands, “Stone, what is this!?” She shows the video to Stone, “Well, a bunch of Lukinians ganging up on me. It turns out they had a beef with the Cherimbas, the gym Osiris used to go to. We had a little chase with them since they thought we were part of the gang, poor Ekabet had to run like hell.” Stone says, chuckling like a madman.
“Oh, and they all wanted to say hi to you, Osiris.” Osiris shoots a toothy grin at Stone, flashing him with her sharp shark teeth, “And what’s this?” Arkhis shows Stone another video, the person recording the video is in the interior of a bus stop.
“Uh…” He watches himself grab Ekabet’s tail hostage, causing a disturbance in the bus. He turns the phone off and waves his hand, “Oh, Ekabet and I were just playing, that’s all.” Stone says, a co*cky grin occupying his face.
“Do you have any idea how freaking screwed you are?! Oh my god…” Arkhis freaks out, returning the phone to Osiris while her tail wraps itself around her, hiding her face out of embarrassment.
“My goodness, you’re going viral on SpaZm!” Osiris exclaims, watching the number beside the electric icon going up, “Uh, way too viral.” She adds, seeing the number hitting five hundred thousand, “As usual, the comments are racist, hmm…” She sorts the comments from the top, seeing electric borders around a single comment.
“Look! One of them said you’re one hot chink!” Stone became confused, “A what?” She shows him the comment, “Damn he's hot.” He reads, followed by some crying robot emojis, “ Wait, isn’t this the same guy that beat up those LM guys?” Another comment pointed out, he dismisses it and goes to read another one.
“I wanna be pounded by—Okay, that’s enough.” He turns down her phone, “If I step out in public, people will probably swarm me in droves. At that point, I think I’d rather stay in my room all day.” Stone surmises, looking out the window, failing to see the van silently floating on the street shrouded in darkness.
“Yeah, good point.” Osiris agrees as Arkhis internally panics, “But what about you finding a job?” Arkhis asks, prompting Stone to think, “Well, when things cool down I’ll find one, probably doing some mercenary work.” Stone answers, thinking he could excel in mercenary work since that’s his only job experience, it’ll suck to get one because his résumé is back on Earth.
“Seriously, mercenary work?” Arkhis says, standing up from the couch, “What? Is there something wrong with it?” Her words confuse Stone, “I know this won’t sound much since you’re already a mercenary, but Stone, I think that’s one hell of a dangerous job.” Stone nods, not getting her point.
“Yes, and?” She sighs, “Look, from where you came from, it sounds like you’ve fought your kind for a long time. Here, it’s a lot more dangerous, let’s be real here for a second.” Stone listens to her, not letting his ego go first, “Tell me, did you fight any other race besides yours?” He shakes his head, the point slowly crossing his mind.
“You’ve said it yourself, you’re in an alien world, and fighting inhabitants you don’t know much about is not a good way to get yourself accustomed to it.” Stone sees her point, prompting him to think again, “Yeah, you’re right.” He says, gripping the straps of his backpack.
“Still, I feel like I’m leeching off you. I should contribute by using my experience and skills in my field and making money.” Arkhis huffs loudly, “Stone, we don’t need that much money, we’re living fine as it is.” She says as Stone raises an eyebrow.
“Oh, yeah? Care to tell me how you got your money?” He wonders how they get their income considering he doesn’t see them going out that much, “W-Well, uhm… From my parents.” Stone shakes his head in disbelief, turning to Osiris and expecting something better.
“What about you, Osiris?” Osiris hums pleasantly, “From underwater fighting!” She exclaims proudly as her gills get sprayed by BV. Then her body sulks over, appearing less larger than meets the eye.
“Well, I gotta admit, it ain’t turning out so well. I almost got killed two weeks ago because some random guy betting on me lost all of his creds and got mad at me, safe to say he’s been banned from joining the audience in my fights in the future.” She says, knowing this fighting career is unsustainable to her life in the long run.
“That, and the pay is sh*t, barely covers our taxes.” She hisses in frustration, wondering if she’ll get a decent wage someday, “ We’re living as fine as it is —Pfft, yeah, no.” Stone mocks Arkhis, seeing her tail wag flusteredly, embarrassment evident on her face.
“L-Look, I don’t want you getting killed out there, okay?” The raccoon says, acting like a worried mother, “Don’t worry, I’ve met more… unsavory individuals during my mercenary career, some that I detest even more than my company, so I know how to survive.” Stone says, a traumatic memory flooding his mind momentarily.
An image of a man smiling at him while everything is devoid of color—Only black and white contrasted the unnerving image, he lies exhausted on the cold, cement floor. His weakened legs and his numbed, stiff arms made it impossible to move a muscle, all he could do was raise his head to stare at the smiling man.
The man wore nothing but a military cap and prescription glasses, his beard cleanly shaven with discipline. He had an M1911 pointed at Stone, customized with engravings of gold and silver, the barrel was smoking after the man shot a bullet into the floor inches away from Stone’s head.
The man’s mouth moved, though nothing audible came out of his mouth, only ringing and the sound of his heartbeat reverberated through his ears.
“Stone?” Stone gets fished back to reality, “Uh, anyway. I think I’ll be fine so long as I don’t bother other mercs in my work.” Arkhis appears unconvinced, still worried for Stone’s life, “Sigh… There’s no way of convincing you, but I’m still worried since you’re like concrete proof aliens exist!” Stone nods at her statement.
“That’s true, but did anyone care? At that point many would know I don’t belong here and yet they act as if I belonged here in the first place,” He thinks for a second, “Or maybe I’m just that similar to Ekabet’s kind.” He concluded, and then Arkhis had another question springing in her mind.
“And talking about kinds, what are you exactly? You say you’re similar to Ekabet’s race, the Cercops, yet you look… uncanny.” Arkhis pauses as Osiris adds herself to the conversation, “Yeah, no offense, Stone. But you look unusual and usual at the same time.” Arkhis scoffs at Osiris.
“That’s what uncanny means, dummy.” She flicks Osiris’s fin in playful retaliation.
“Well, my kind, er, hom*o sapiens, or humans I guess,” He pauses, briefly remembering his high school history subject lessons, “We walk upright, just like you all do. Except we have no body hair because of how hot my ancestors had to live in.” Arkhis and Osiris listen to his little history lesson.
“That explains how I’m mostly devoid of fur, except my head because you don’t want your brain getting cooked on the inside.” Stone finishes, somewhat fascinated at his race’s evolutionary history.
“So that’s why you have that little bit of hair on your head, I thought it was because of some sort of hair growth disease.” She jokes, laughing with Osiris as the drone sprays her gills and goes to the kitchen to refill itself.
“Oh, haha.” Stone sarcastically mocks, “I should probably get my bag back at the pickup truck, maybe I could get some job offers of being a mercenary.” He says, containing his excitement at the last words of his sentence.
The jobs here won’t be that much, but the thought of him meeting other mercenaries and tackling challenges in a new environment sounds dangerous but exciting to him, perhaps he’ll have a Silvarian partner, maybe they can help him track his bounties more efficiently since they’re canines.
Or maybe an Avian partner could help him do recon and radio in the exact spot and position of the target by being the eyes in the skies. The opportunities are endless, “Wait,” Osiris stops him from going to the door, “Are you going to go outside with that outfit? Ain’t someone going to get suspicious?” She pointed out his military gear and weapons on him, surely this would bat an eye at his clothing, right?
“Nah, it’s dark outside. Nobody will see me.” Responded Stone, hoping no one would be out at this hour, “You’re so reckless, Stony boy.” Arkhis plays with his name, goes to the door, and glances out the front yard, the street lights barely illuminating Osiris’s pickup truck on the road.
“It’ll be a quick minute, I’m fast.” Stone dares himself, glancing beside Arkhis, his scent getting her dazed, “O-Okay.” She steps to the side, letting him the freedom to move, “Don’t trip yourself over, alright?” Osiris warns, not wanting to let the reckless human hurt himself by accident.
“Yes, mom.” Stone sarcastically remarks, walking out the door and tackling the cold, empty air of the G3 District as he walks towards her pickup truck.
Meanwhile, the van holding the pair of FOA agents looked at each other frantically and calmly made their way to the cabin, observing Stone with cautious interest, “I never thought that an alien like him looks a lot like Cercops.” The panther remarks, watching him waltz over to the pickup truck.
“Well, I never thought I’d be hearing freaking aliens today, and seeing one in person.” The wolf wittily retorts, “As if our lives aren’t crazy enough yet. We have ferals coming in from the western side of the wall, crime is rampant in G2, everything is inflated, and here we are, watching and listening to a Cercops guy claiming he’s from another world.” The wolf summarizes the craziness of life, getting tired of living in interesting times.
“Oh, don’t believe it so wholeheartedly. Maybe he took some Karpe’ace.” The panther doubts the conversation he and his partner eavesdropped on, though the possibility of Stone doing drugs doesn’t sound so feasible considering his ghost record.
“Yeah, I doubt that. The guy didn’t even buy anything from the past week aside from going to that gym in G2 where the Cherimbas hang out.” The wolf is uncertain whether or not Stone is a threat, but what he is certain of is Stone having ties to the incident at Leyland, perhaps he can answer some of their questions and ascertain if he’s a terrorist or a foreign enemy.
The wolf remembers something crucial from his superior, something about Stone being an alien, he laughs at the ridiculous idea, and so does his panther partner, but now it doesn’t sound funny when the conversation they listened to sounded authentic and sincere.
“So Rachel was right, then?” His panther partner looks him in the eye, “What? Wait, no—You’re not taking up Rachel’s idea, right?” The panther says in disbelief, wondering if his partner lost his mind.
“Of course I do! How do you explain his sudden appearance at the park—how he knows the f*cking incident? Even our Avian witness’s description matches up! And look at the guns he’s packing! It’s not even remotely related to ours.” He points out the guns Stone is carrying, his G36C slinging about on his front.
“Calm down, okay?” The panther says, attempting to calm the wolf’s nerves, “I don’t think I’ll be calm when I hear aliens getting involved, did you radio this to command already?” The wolf asks, “Not yet, I’ll tell them now.” The wolf nods, “Good, we can’t let this guy slide.” The wolf feels relieved, but a light at the turn of the street catches his attention.
“Huh, what’s that?” The wolf says, catching the panther’s attention while reaching for the radio.
The laughing matter gang lurks on the street, watching the neighborhood for their target—
”Look! Is that him over there?!” The female hyena in the passenger’s seat in the cabin yells, catching the attention of their (mostly) male gang, “Pull up! Let’s see if that’s him!” The male hyena driver pulls up to the side of the road a few meters away from Stone.
“Mm-hm! That’s him alright, that f*cking chink bastard!” Saski feels blood rushing in her body, and the anticipation of jumping the vulnerable hairless Cercops fills her mind with excitement, “Let’s get him! Come on guys!” The van drifted to a halting screech near the pavement, barely missing Osiris’s pickup truck as the van
“What the f*ck?” Stone’s instincts told him they were dangerous, subconsciously he pulled his sling to get hold of his primary and flicked the safety off, putting his G36C at the ready, “Are those hyenas?” The van doors opened and out came the gangs of the laughing matter.
“Get him!” They circled Osiris’s truck at blistering speed, with Saski leading the charge and Jasil behind her, “sh*t! It’s the Lukinians!” The wolf agent said, prompting his partner to call for help as the former jumped out of the van with a standard-issued VA-19, which appears to be the baby of an MP7 and a Kriss Vector.
The gun itself is an upgrade from the VA-11. Just like the VA-11, the trigger guard extends from the bottom of the magazine well and connects to the barrel of the gun, acting as an improvised guideline for the 9mm magazine, the magazine itself is very similar to the ones that Kriss Vector uses.
Instead of bullets being contained within casings, the bullets themselves are caseless, which means the bullets pack more mass, and mass equals more damage depending on the bullet’s size.
When chambered in the barrel behind them is a small bullet encasing mechanism that connects within the gun’s Dandro-powered mini-railing system that propels the bullets forward using electrical energy rather than kinetic, leaving a powderless discharge.
“Don’t let them get him—”
[BA-BA-BANG!]
The panther’s words were disrupted and his ears were replaced with ringing discomfort, his face winced in pain upon his senses being overloaded by the loud banging, the same goes for his wolf partner who stumbled to the ground upon the loud discharges of Stone’s G36C.
The other hyenas cowered in fear and retreated behind Osiris’s truck, some even came back to the van. The one that Stone shot is Saski, who dropped to the ground holding her knife, clutching her clothed sides impacted by his bullets, yelling in great pain while Jasil glances beside the hood of the truck.
“C’mon, you motherf*ckers! Back for round 2?!” He yells, unfazed by the ear-piercing sound his gun makes, “f*ck…” He muttered, realizing the lights were turning on in the other houses, “Stone?! What was that!?” Arkhis came running outside, followed by Osiris from behind, both had a panicked look on their faces.
“It’s those f*cking Lukinians from G2!” He responds, keeping his sights on the Lukinians hiding behind the truck and their van, “I knew they would come here, they were looking for me!” Stone exclaims, pointing his rifle at Saski.
“No!” Jasil comes out from the side, rushing towards Stone, “Jasil! Get back—”
[BA-BANG!]
“Agh!” Jasil stumbles to the side, clutching his legs, “Get back inside!” He shouts, seeing the other hyenas grabbing something in their van, probably a weapon to shoot him with, “sh*t!” Stone yells, retreating to the house with Arkhis and Osiris, his gun trained on the two injured hyenas until he gets inside, locking the door behind him.
“What the f*ck was that!?” Arkhis yells as Stone watches them out the window grabbing their injured comrades to the van, “They’re gonna shoot at us, I think.” Stone answers, “What!?” Arkhis yells, “I said they’re going to shoot us!” Stone answers again loudly, “What!?” He shakes his head in annoyance.
“What did you say, Stone?” Osiris mutters weakly, slightly affected by the loud discharges of his gun.
“I forgot about tinnitus, f*ck.” He also remembered they might be more sensitive to sound so… they will have to cover their ears.
Back at the agents, they recovered not long after and the ringing in their ears subsided, seeing the situation unfold in front of them made them pick up speed and act out on the aggressors of the fight, “Get the weapons! We’re going to light this f*cker up!” The Lukinian ordered after seeing him retreat to the house.
“Guys, I think we might need backup!” The panther says to the radio, fast approaching the van holding the Lukinians with his wolf partner, “What the—” They catch one Lukinian with a weapon in her hands, looking like a makeshift MP40 outfitted with magnets and a mini-railing system similar to the VA-19.
“sh*t!” She tries to aim her weapon at the wolf agent and instead gets shot twice in the shoulder and breast, the VA-19 making a distinct crack and zipping sound mixed in, similar to that of a laser gun.
His panther partner covered his three o’clock by shooting a few rounds into another hyena going around the van when they heard shots at the back, he too dropped to the ground, killed by two shots in the chest and one in the head.
“f*ck, we’re getting flanked!” One of the hyenas said, bringing attention to the new players in the playground, “Damn, fall back!” The agents fall back to a house, ducking behind a low-rise wall surrounding the front yard for cover.
The sounds of bullets [Whizz!] past them as electric crackles from the Lukinian’s weapons, propelling the projectiles towards their direction, some hitting the wall they’re hiding behind, “My ear’s hurt…” The panther mutters, his auditory senses still damaged by the loud bangs of Stone’s weapon, exacerbated by the sounds of crackling energy weapons.
“At least it’s not as loud as that guy’s!” The wolf exclaims, retaliating by shooting a few shots back at the Lukinians, inadvertently hitting Osiris’s truck a few were hiding behind, “No! My truck!” Osiris watches the chaos unfold on the street, at this point Ekabet is groggily going down the stairs while Stone goes to the 2nd-floor window for a vantage point.
“Huh? Stone? What’s going on—” Stone goes past him, “Those f*cking Lukinians are back!” He exclaims rushedly, going to Arkhis’s bedroom where her windows view the street, “What?! Oh, f*ck!” He turns around and follows Stone to Arkhis’s room, he watches as Stone crouches near the window sill, scoping in to count the heads of their enemies.
“Eleven of them…“ He says, putting his scope on that one hyena walking to their home.
[BANG! BANG!]
The loud banging made everyone pause momentarily before continuing to shoot, “Ten more.” He mutters, seeing the hyena behind the truck drop dead, “WHAT THE f*ck DUDE?! WHAT’S GOING ON!?” Ekabet panics from the loud discharges while Stone remains focused, setting his sights on another hyena.
“I’m surprised you’re up just now.” He says—[BANG!]—before putting another one to rest, “That’s nine left…” He retreats to the back of the room with Ekabet, grabbing him along the way into the hallway to avoid retaliatory shots from the hyenas, nearly avoiding the bullets directed at them and landing at the wall.
“W-Well, I’m a heavy sleeper so I guess I didn’t notice it, ow my ears…” Stone chuckles at his comment, “Gosh, you’re like Ripper, my best machine gunner.” He says, pulling out the magazine for his primary, counting the bullets through the transparent material.
“One, two… and one in the chamber. So that means I only have three shots left. Heh, I forgot to refill my mag,” Stone says in mild annoyance, “I have about three shots—care to refill them?” Stone requests Ekabet, unloading and offering the dry magazine to the monkey shaking out of fear, “D-Dude, I thought those were for show.” Stone chuckles, “Yeah, they are for show. They’re for showing we’re not to f*ck with.” He replies, swapping the magazine for a fresh one in his kevlar vest, slapping the magazine’s bottom to ensure it’s in place.
“Now go and protect Arkhis and Osiris downstairs, I don’t want any of these annoying hyenas hurting you guys,” Ekabet is confused by the word ‘hyena’ but he assumes he refers to the Lukinians, “A-Alright, just—just don’t get shot, alright?” Stone nods, “No promises, now go!” He says with a resounding yell, watching him go downstairs.
“Sigh, everything just seems to follow me back from home…” He sighs, mentally exhausted from all his past fights he’s desensitized to.
When the agents felt the pressure from the Lukinians die down a bit, they simultaneously went out of cover and shot the two hyenas taking a knee near the van. The shots landed successfully on the first hyena, causing him to fall and flail on the floor, writhing in pain, but the shots on the second one barely missed and moved into cover in response.
At this point, the agents were out of cover and ran like hell to their van to use their higher-caliber weapons, even going on all fours to travel faster, “Kill those f*cking flanking idiots! KILL THEM!” The remaining female hyena shouted, ordering her men to shoot at the wolf and the panther.
Their shots landed on the road, some even hitting the houses on accident, a few putting holes in the cars parked in driveways. Unluckily, two landed on the panther’s back, causing him to stumble along on the floor and hit the front bumper, “Ugh!” He groans while his wolf partner grabs him by the collarbone of his shirt using his maw and dragging him beside the van, opening the door to provide cover.
Meanwhile, Stone moves to a different spot, going downstairs, through the kitchen, and eventually to the side yard, flanking the hyenas’ exposed flank at the left of their house, “Got you…” Stone mutters, seeing one had her head out in the open. He aims down his scope and settles his sights on her, steadying his aim and finally pressing the trigger.
“UGH! YOU USELESS IDIOTS—!”
[BANG!]
The bullet pierced through the side of her head, pushing the group into disarray as they panicked upon seeing their female leader falter to the ground with a hole in her head, “That’s eight left.” Stone counted, the smoke of his gun condensed by the cold air.
“f*ck! She’s dead!” One of them yelled, sending the group into a frenzy, the other half focused on shooting Stone and the other at the agents. Stone goes into cover, avoiding the shots as he retreats to the kitchen through the side door. He locks the door behind him and notices a raccoon shaking behind the counter, holding her legs and putting her head between her arms, her tail and fur had goosebumps all over it.
“STONE!” Osiris comes rushing toward him, “You alright!?” She says, catching Stone staring in the kitchen and Osiris’s eyes divert to the direction where he’s staring, “Yeah, but Arkhis—” She rushes to Arkhis’s side, “Arkhis, Arkhis! Hey!” She yells, snapping the poor rattled raccoon out of her shaken mind.
“O-Osiris?” Seeing her eyes full of fear made Stone feel heavy, he’s seen many people’s eyes filled with fear, some with anger, and none had fazed him, not letting emotions get the best of his rational thinking during duty, yet something about her expression didn’t sit right with him.
For the first time, Stone felt… terrible, “f*ck…” His eyes darted to Ekabet guarding the door with a ripped-off chair leg, the base visibly chewed through by shark teeth, “S-Stone! You’re alright!” Ekabet exclaims, relieved to see his friend in one piece.
He was about to say something to Ekabet but the sounds of fighting outside brought him back to his senses, “Damn it.” Stone turns to the side door, spotting shadows across the walls, fast approaching their position, “Osiris, get Arkhis to safety.” Osiris turns to Stone, then back at Arkhis, “C’mon, Arky! Let’s go!” She exclaims, urging the raccoon to stand as they retreat to her room for safety.
Outside, half of the hyenas focused on overwhelming the agents hiding away in the van, shooting their crooked, poorly crafted MP40s as their bullets impacted the front bumper, the bulletproof window, and the top of the van’s roof, a few bounced off the vehicle and landed on the tarmac instead.
“Damn it!” The wolf shouted, pulling his partner to the back of the van, “You okay?!” He asks him, feeling the panther’s body writhe in pain, “Ugh…” He groaned in reply, “sh*t…” He opens the door and retreats into the van, putting his partner away from harm’s way.
“You f*ckers!” He retaliates by shooting at their van, forcing some of the hyenas to cover, “!” He notices a hyena planning to sneak up a shot, so he suppresses the moment he tries to poke his head out, scraping away the hyena’s shoulder as he retreats into cover.
[Bang! Bang! Click!]
The sound of a click sounded way more silent than earlier, the wolf goes back to cover to get a spare magazine for his weapon, checking up on his partner while covering their flank, “Hey, get up!” He shouted, pulling out a munitions box lying underneath their monitor’s desk and grabbing a fresh magazine from the box, inserting the magazine using the guideline into the mag well.
[Ka-chink!]
He checks the barrel after pulling the charging handle of the VA-19, a glint inside tells him the weapon’s ready to discharge, “Damn it…” He smells them getting near the van, hearing them panting and huffing towards their way, “Grr—f*ck.” He growls, going to the left and shooting two hyenas.
“Agh!” One stumbled to the ground after his leg and belly area got shot, “sh*t!” His friend hides behind the front bumper, meanwhile, the panther regains consciousness and notices a faint painting beside the truck, “Ugh…” He finds his gun lying half-drawn on his holster, he grabs it and points the sights at the Lukinian coming around the corner.
[Bang! Bang!]
Two shots hit him in the end, dropping the poor bastard like a sack of potatoes, “Ahahaha…” He hears the anxiety-driven laughter of his friend as the hyena retreats to the van, “Where are you going?!” The hyena hiding near the front bumper screams, only to be silenced by a couple of shots from the panther’s gun, making him cower away in fear as he too runs to the van.
“f*ck off!” The panther hisses in disdain, his gun trained on the van’s cabin, seeing the two Lukinians run out of sight and retreat to the van in cowardice, giving them some breathing room for once.
“Hey, you alright—” He aims the weapon at his partner coming around the right, who instinctively raises his hands as a show of submission, “Calm down, it’s me.” The panther lowers his gun, “You scared me.” The panther huffs, clutching his back in pain.
“Here let me help,” The wolf comes over to him as the panther scooches over, letting his digitigrade legs dangle at the edge, the scent of blood strong in the air, “Luckily it went through, going by the blood on your shirt.” He concludes, opening the shirt by the buttons.
“Is there a medkit? It’s somewhere around at the back.” The panther feels the pressure on his body lessen when the shirt comes off, leaving his dark fur out in the cold air, the pain stinging him to half-consciousness as the winds blow against his face, “I’ll go grab it and you deal with treating yourself, I’ll go see those Lukinian bastards a lesson, and once I’m done I’ll go help you with your wounds.” The wolf said, seeking vengeance for causing pain for his panther partner.
“Dude, wait—” Before he could get a word in, a loud albeit muffled bang from the house stopped them in their tracks for a split moment, “Ugh, my ears…” The panther says, the ringing present in his ears as his wolf partner finds the medical bag under the desk’s compartment, the yellow texture contrasted with a blue heart with a cardiogram aptly plastered over it.
“What the hell’s happening?” The panther mutters as the bag gets dragged across the van, “Here,” He zips the bag open, revealing the medical bandages, stitches, and disinfectant inside, “I’ll go get those Lukis and deal with the wound, then get our guy if we’re able to.” He says before jumping out of the van and rushing towards the Laughing Matter van.
“Reckless idiot…”
A couple of seconds earlier, Stone had his pistol and knife out, his left hand prepped to stab the first hyena to come through the kitchen door, “Here we GO!” The hyena announced before kicking the door open, then got stabbed in the neck the moment he stepped foot into the house, dropping his MP40-like weapon to the ground.
“Oh f*ck—” A loud [BANG!] interrupted the following hyena as Stone’s USP discharged a round into his shoulder, effectively rendering him useless as he dropped to the ground along with his gun. The other two hyenas armed with Kukris tried to get a jump at Stone—but since their dead Lukinian brother acted like a wall between them he used this opportunity to get up close and pushed the body towards one of their comrades.
“Oof!” The hyena gets bodied by the dead hyena, who is terrified to see his dead brethren up close. Before Stone can enact his next step of action, the hyena tackles him through the door and slides across the kitchen floor, “You f*cking chinky bitch!” Disarming him of his gun in the process, they eventually stop near Ekabet’s feet who was scared sh*tless upon seeing death for the first time.
“Ahh! Get away!” Ekabet screams, struggling to lift the table leg in the air before letting gravity do all the work, hitting the hyena’s back to some effect, “Ow!” This gives Stone a chance to recover his bearings, he delivers a swift right hook with his closed hand, failing to use the blade due to close contact.
He pushes the hyena away, making the Lukinian stumble backward as his back crashes into the fridge. Stone stands up and spots his gun lying on the floor across the counter but focuses his attention on the two home invaders at hand, “Oh, you f*cking limpdicks, you guys are really fulfilling your clan’s name now, huh?” Stone puns, finding them to be a true laughing matter indeed.
“You’ll regret messing with us.” One of them tries to intimidate him, only to be laughed at in reply, “You guys are puss*es, you know that?” He turns to Ekabet, who is trembling in fear, “Go and protect the two upstairs, I’ll handle these two,” Stone mutters, “N-No dude, I’ll help!” Ekabet sucks up his fears and grabs a kitchen knife, surprising Stone.
“Tsk!” The hyenas clicked their tongue upon seeing another variable added to the mix as they brought out their kukris, “Try not to get sliced apart, alright?” Stone warns, going into a fighting stance while Ekabet remains alert at the Lukinians.
“Ahahaha!” One of them charges at Stone laughing maniacally, “Sigh…” Stone dodges the kukri coming towards his throat and retaliates by stabbing the hyena’s torso twice in succession, this time hitting the armpit area where the thick layer of protection failed to protect, “Agh!” The hyena tries to do a roundhouse kick.
But the pain in his armpit halves the speed and proficiency in his kick, letting Stone have the upper hand to block the kick to his head using his hand, “Stone!” Ekabet exclaims in tensed worry, but the chortling from the other hyena takes his attention away.
“Oh no!” Ekabet’s grip on the knife falters when the hyena charges toward him, he instinctively ducks in time to avoid a horizontal slash, the blade hitting the marble counter, “f*ck!” The blade got stuck a few centimeters on the counter, unaware of Ekabet about to drive his knife into his chest.
“Oof!” The blade pierced through the fabric but not deep enough to cut the skin, “You f*cking chink!” The hyena’s kukri lets go of the counter and tries kissing Ekabet’s head, “Awawah!” Ekabet jumps back in time to dodge a strike to his sides, making nonsensical noises in the process.
“Ngh!” Stone is focused on dodging and doing consecutive strikes whenever the opportunity presents itself, the hyena in front of him is covered in slash marks, exposing the fabric within the protective vest, “You’d be f*cking Swiss cheese if it ain’t for that stupid vest.” Stone casually dodges another kukri, barely scraping against his scalp as he goes behind the hyena to stab him in the back.
“Agh!” The knife pierced through the hyena’s fur as Stone pulled it out, jerking his knife to get rid of the blood staining the blade as the hyena limps onto the counter, the blood loss diminishing his strength, feeling the grip on his kukri becoming weaker.
“Hah!” Ekabet dodges another strike, the kukri making distinct [clang!] sounds whenever the hyena misses, “Stone, help me!” Stone sees the hyena approaching Ekabet, “Goddamn it.” Stone rushes forward to the weakened hyena facing the counter, he grabs his back and slides him across the counter, leaving a river of blood along the way as he crashes into his friend.
“Gah!” They fall to the ground after colliding, lying helplessly on the bloody, slippery floor, “Ekabet, the gun!” Stone shouts, Ekabet looks down to see Stone’s USP at his feet, “Here!” He ducks to grab the pistol and gives it to Stone, Stone leans a little higher over the counter, aims his sights at the poor duo who realize what’s going to happen, and shoots the two vulnerable hyenas four times.
[BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!]
Thankfully Ekabet already had his ears covered by the time he shot them.
The stiff bodies of the hyenas lie cold on the floor, voluntarily twitching as the sound of blood sipping out of their bodies fills the room with a pungent smell of iron, powder, and rust, “O-Oh my god…” Ekabet was traumatized by the macabre sight in front of him, Stone lowered his pistol after seeing their lifeless bodies let go of their kukri.
The kukri clattering to the ground snaps Ekabet out, “S-Stone! What the f*ck do we do!?” He screams, “sh*t, uh…” It was Stone’s first time having a friend’s place invaded, so trying to hide the bodies was out of the question, “Call the police, or whatever kind of authority you have here.” Stone goes upstairs, but not before killing the hyena trying to crawl away in the side yard.
[BANG!]
“That’s taken care of,” He sighs, turning to Ekabet with a scowl, “Let’s go check on Arkhis and Osiris,” Ekabet’s eyes were glued to Stone’s bloody scowl, “Ekabet?” Ekabet stands frozen at the sight of a killer, the thought never crossed his mind until now, “EKABET!” Stone screams at him, lightly slapping him in the face a few times to snap him out of his trance.
“W-Wha—?” Stone shakes his head, “Let’s check on the two!” Ekabet glances over Stone’s shoulders and sees the dead pair of hyenas lying in the side yard, “O-Okay…” They go to the stairs in the living room and hear a faint crying in Osiris’s room unaffected by the carnage.
“Osiris, Arkhis! You two okay?!” Stone opens the door and reflexively dodges a lampshade thrown by Osiris, hitting Ekabet in the face by accident, ”OW!” Ekabet touches his face, feeling his nose getting numbed by the lampshade, “O-Oh, sh*t! Sorry, Ek!” Osiris apologizes, then focuses her attention on a bloody Stone.
All color in the room fades in Stone’s eyes when he sees them backed up to a drawer with a mirror. He sees his bloody self staring in the mirror, causing a flash of him being in military gear, all dirtied and bloodied from head to toe. The stressful moment causes him to stumble on the bed’s railings, forcing him back to reality.
Osiris grew concerned at his state, “What the f*ck happened to you?” In her arms was Arkhis, who had her face buried in her shoulders out of fear. Stone recovers and stands upright, holstering his USP, “I… I dealt with the Lukinians.” He turns around to see Arkhis’s room in the hall, through her window he sees a wolf approaching the vehicle where the LM gang used to transport themselves.
“Are you guys okay?” He approaches them, then notices his hands are quite bloody from the fight, “Y-Yeah, we’re fine.” Osiris winces in disgust at the strong scent of blood musking the room, “You should probably get a shower.” She says, “Heh, yeah. I could use one right now,” He turned his attention to Arkhis, who was still crying.
“Is Arkhis okay?” Osiris strokes Arkhis’s fur, “Yeah, she’s fine, although a bit scared.” Stone nods, turning around to face Ekabet, “Did you call the police already?” He asks, “I—” Osiris interrupts Ekabet, “I already called them.” She says, showing him her phone, where the operator on the other end is trying to talk to her.
“Good, I…” He looks down, guilt growing in his heart after seeing Arkhis like that, “I think I should run, guys.” Osiris and Ekabet appear shocked by his statement, Arkhis stopped crying when she heard him, “What?! Why!?” Ekabet asks while Osiris and Arkhis remain silent, understanding Stone’s reasons after what he told them.
“I’m sorry, Ekabet. They will think I’m a criminal—” Stone says before getting interrupted.
“You will be one if you freaking bail the scene!” Ekabet retorts.
“I can’t afford to be interrogated!” Stone tries to reason with him.
“Why are you even running in the first place!?” This question makes him hesitate to speak.
“Stone…?” Stone appears internally conflicted, “I think Osiris and Arkhis will explain it to you when I’m gone.” Stone tries to leave the room but is stopped by a raccoon.
“What—” Arkhis hugs him, “NO! Please don’t leave…” She rejects the idea of leaving Stone to fend for himself, him being all alone in an alien world, “Arkhis, you know what’s going to happen to me if they find me and apprehend me.” Osiris stands up and approaches Stone.
“He does have a point, Arkhis.” Osiris said, putting her webbed hand on her furry shoulder, “I mean, if I were in his shoes, I definitely would’ve run by now.” Arkhis glares at Osiris, disappointed she’s taking Stone’s side of the conversation.
“I-I can’t, not after all this time.” Arkhis sympathizes with Stone’s predicament, relating herself to him when she was lost when she was a child in G2, the confusion, fear, and pressure of being alone in such an alien environment she’s unfamiliar with stuck with her to adulthood.
“Arkhis…” Stone politely pushes her, making her stare into his eyes, “I can’t let you guys be jailed because of me,” Ekabet stares at Osiris, both nodding in agreement, “And I can’t let you guys be associated with me, and if they found out, they’ll ask you a plethora of questions, ones that relate to my origin,” He sighs, gathering the courage to speak his honest thought, “I just don’t want to hurt you guys, okay?” He says, ending his monologue on a heavy note.
“...” Silence took over the conversation, and then the sound of something screeching outside caught their attention.
“sh*t!” The wolf agent tries to get in the LM’s van but discovers that the doors are locked, and when he tries to go to the driver’s side the van starts and bails the scene, leaving behind their dead comrades in shame, “Damn it.” He growls, going back to their FOA van.
“You okay?” The panther nods, having used water to clean his wounds and covered them in dressings, “It’s still open, I can’t stitch my back without your help.” The wolf nods, motioning for him to turn around, which he did.
He grabs the supplies of stitches and needles and begins to drag away the bandages covering the two wounds, and after a few successful cross stitches and a small ointment to promote healing, the wolf goes to the house, “Wait, let me cover you.” The panther goes to the wolf, having worn his vest over his wounds.
“Dude, you’re hurt, I don’t want you getting killed.” The wolf persists in his concerns over his panther friend, “What about you, huh?” The panther checks his half-filled magazine while the wolf reloads his weapon, both approaching the front yard as he sighs.
“Fine, don’t blame me if you get shot again.” The wolf says, standing beside the doorway as his panther partner does the same, “You ready?” The panther nods, “Go!” He opens the door and invades the living room, spotting their suspect between Arkhis and Ekabet on the stairs.
“What the—” Before Ekabet could put another word in, Stone grabbed Arkhis as he pulled out his USP, soliciting a yelp from the raccoon, “Let her go, Stone!” The wolf says, “Stone what the f*ck are you doing!?” Osiris yells, trying to get to Stone but Ekabet blocks his way.
“Trust me.” He whispers just loud enough for Arkhis to hear, winking his eye at Osiris, “What!? You got something in your eye?!” She was too mad to notice his signals, “Who the f*ck are you two?” He asks, pointing his USP at them.
“FOA, now drop your f*cking weapon.” The panther ordered, “Great, now this world’s FBI is on my ass,” Stone muttered in mild annoyance, “No f*cking way, I ain’t going with you f*cks. How about you drop your weapons, or this little raccoon girl dies.” Stone says, aiming his pistol at her.
“Don’t you f*cking dare.” The wolf growls as his claw subconsciously itches the trigger, “Cover your ears.” Stone whispers, pointing his gun up and pulling the trigger after Arkhis covers her ears.
[BANG!]
“Oh, f*ck!” The loud discharge disoriented everyone except Stone and Arkhis, the human used this opportunity to get past Ekabet and stand in the center of the room, putting a couch between himself and the agents, “I’m not playing, you two.” He says, pointing the weapon at Arkhis’s head, making her whimper out of fear.
“Drop your f*cking weapon, or she dies.” He seriously said, ordering the agents to drop their weapons, “f*ck…” They hesitated, up until the panther lowered his gun, “What the f*ck are you doing? Aim your weapon!” The wolf says, not letting his ego be defeated as he still had his VA-19 trained on Stone.
“Oh for f*ck’s sake, curb your f*cking pride for once, Tasintsk.” The wolf named Tasintsk clicks his tongue and lowers his weapon, “f*ck’s sake.” And drops it to the ground, “Now you drop it.” Stone aims his USP to the panther, easing Arkhis’s mind.
“Do it, you f*cking puss*.” Stone says with a snide remark, chuckling upon seeing the panther dropping his weapon, “Alright, Osiris,” He turns his head to her, “Tie those two up on the couch, I want to ask them a couple of questions.” Osiris glares at Stone. She carries out his order by using the agent’s cuffs on themselves as they sit down.
“Good.” Stone let go of Arkhis, “You okay?” He pats her head, only to get a swat of her tail in reply, “Ow. I deserved that.” He rubs his face, “f*ck you, Stone! You almost made me piss myself!” Arkhis ranted, stomping over to Osiris who was understandably pissed as well.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to use you.” He chuckles, turning his attention to the two agents sitting on the couch, “So…” Stone places a foot on the coffee table near the couch, “How much did you two hear of everything before the shootout?” He asks, he knows they use some device to tap in on their conversation.
“I ain’t going to tell you—” The wolf gets interjected by Tasintsk, “Everything, from start to end.” The wolf growls in anger, “Don’t just f*cking tell him stuff, Rick!” Stone is surprised to hear a normal-sounding name for once. “And what, you’d rather we let him kill us? I’d rather be alive at the end of this.” Rick says, knowing that the outcome of retelling the events that happened today is more valuable than death.
“Well, to be frank, Tastisnk, you’re quite uncooperative,” Stone says, butchering the Silvarian’s name, “It’s Tasintsk, not Tastisnk!” Stone rolls his eyes, “Ehh, Potaytoh Potahtoh—I don’t care, you two were here before the shootout, and I’d say that’s an invasion of privacy.” Stone says, bringing the law into the conversation.
“And talking about invasion… where’d you come from?” Rick asks him, wanting to get to the bottom of this, “Oh, c’mon dude… you’re not believing that, are you?” Tasintsk says in disbelief, “I’m from Earth, just some random ass planet that’s probably very far away or god knows what,” He says, leaning further onto the coffee table.
“And if you ask another f*cking question again, I’d put a bullet in your kneecaps, that’s your last “free question” card, okay?” He calmly stated, seeing the panther nod his head, “Anyway, how did you two get to hear our conversation?” He knows he won’t have much time left before the cops arrive, but it’ll help to quell some of his questions with answers.
“Well, we used one of your phones, the old model I believe.” Osiris brings up hers, “You mean this?” The panther nods, “Well, that explains it.” He shakes his head, “And here I foolishly thought we were having a private conversation.” He says, mildly disappointed at his lack of caution.
“Another question,” He gets off the coffee table and loops around it, “How much do you know about me?” Rick stares at Tasintsk, knowing the latter has more information about Stone, “What about you, Ca-ching?” Stone says, deliberately ruining his name to get a reaction out of him.
He sighs and sucks up his pride, disappointing Stone, “Sigh… We’ve only known you ever since you appeared in the RIRA database, anything else after that we’ve already seen, your fight with the LM, the, uh, tail-grabber reputation you got on SpaZm, and your trip to G2.” Tasintsk answered, waiting for Stone’s next question.
“Wait, I got a reputation for grabbing tails? Huh… I thought that was normal.” He commented, shrugging his shoulders and smiling at Ekabet, “Seems like we’re viral, dude.” He cracks a joke, expecting a laugh or a chuckle in reply, but they stay silent.
“Well, sh*t.” He says with controlled anger at himself, but suddenly… Stone notices the ears of everyone perking up, “What’s wrong?” He asks as Arkhis turns to him with a scared look on her face.
“It’s the police.” Crap.
“Last question,” He pulls out his USP and aims at the wolf, “Does anyone know I’m from another world?” The wolf glares at him, “No, aside from us two.” He huffs in frustration, “Great, I just made a bigger f*cking mess, so much for staying under the radar. Great job, me.” He whips his pistol at the wolf to distill some of his frustration, “Agh!” He exclaims in pain, “What the f*ck!? I answered your question!” Stone chuckles at the canine beast.
“Oh, believe me, that was the least painful thing I could do.” He says, switching the half-spent magazine from his USP for a fresh one, “And think of that as my way of saying thank you for being honest for once.” He turns to Arkhis and the others, ignoring the agents for a moment, “No matter what, you three should stay vague—Don’t let them get the truth out of you, alright? And stay in line with each other, don’t change your story.” Stone says to them, getting his words.
“Especially you Ekabet, they’re most likely going to pressure you the most.” Ekabet shakily nods his head, “And as for you two,” He turns to face the agents, “I hate to admit it, but you guys are pretty important to your FOA or whatever,” He grabs their cuffs, making them stand up as they make their way to the door.
“Where are you taking them?” Osiris asks, getting between Stone and the door, “To the front yard, show them they’re fine. Now please excuse me.” He butts through Osiris and drops the agents to the front yard, motioning for them to sit down.
“Y-You’re not going to kill them, right?” Arkhis worryingly asks, “What? Of course not! If I did, they’d use every inch of their resources to find me.” He watches a lot of cop videos in his free time, and he knows the moment he kills one of their mates, it’ll be like kicking a hornet's nest.
“That, and I don’t like recklessly killing more people who are harmless.” He says, making them bundle together, “Alright, I guess this is how we part our ways,” He laughs awkwardly, “What a hell of a way to say goodbye.” He remarks, checking his backpack and whipping out his primary.
“And also, I’m sorry for all that has happened, I just—” He turns to the agents, “Destruction just follows me, you know? And I’m not saying that to justify myself, you know? I, uh—” Stone’s rambling gets interrupted by Arkhis hugging him, “Just… shut up, alright?” Stone gradually accepts the hug, patting her back and stroking her fur.
“Okay…?” The shark and the monkey looked at each other, “Group hug?” The shark suggests, “Eh, why not?” The three got into a group hug with Stone, leaving the two cuffed agents bewildered by their friendship, “I never expected to get a group hug after all of that.” Stone thought, pleasantly surprised by the sudden group hug by his friends.
The sirens in the distance interrupted their group hug moment, “Guys, I know you want this hug to last, but I think I should go,” They let go of him, “And uh, Osiris, I know this is kind of wrong to ask but… can I borrow your phone to get out of here?” Osiris squeak laughs at his question, “You mean you want it? Pfft—here ya go, rocky boy. Consider it as thanks for saving our asses from the Lukinians” She passes the old phone model to him.
“Thanks, and uh, I guess you guys can take care of these two?” The agents look at him concerned, “No, you’re not going to die.” They visibly relax upon his words, “Yeah, we’ll just tell the police what happens, though I’m not sure if these two will tell the same story as we do.” Ekabet made a point, staring at the two agents in doubt.
“Well, I don’t care what they told the FOA, just as long as you three are fine and free to go.” He says, “Oh, you have no idea how much the FOA will do to find you…” Tasintsk warns him, and then the sound of something buzzing catches his attention—It’s BV, Osiris’s water drone! It was coming to spray water on her again.
He uses the drone to spray water all over the agents, humiliating them even further, “Uff! No! My fur!” Rick says, getting caught in the crossfire, “Anyway, I guess I’ll see you guys never. Oh, and sorry for your truck.” He lets go of the drone and waves at them goodbye as the drone relentlessly assaults the agents with water, he goes to the house across the street and jumps over the fence while holding his primary.
The sounds of sirens grew closer, “That was… something.” Ekabet says, the image of Stone’s bloody face ingrained in his mind, reminding him of a time when he faced a bloody Cercops murdering someone in the alleyway back on Brezsion.
“Who would’ve thought we’ve got a f*cking alien from a different world?” Osiris adds, then stares at Arkhis suspiciously, “What?” A toothy grin comes over her face, “You did like him, didn’t you?” Osiris teases, “Heh, I guess I do…” Arkhis submits to her fishy friend’s teasing, letting the blue shark feel proud for once.
“Uh, guys?” Ekabet points at her truck, “What about the truck?” The truck was riddled with bullet holes, most of the windows were gone except for one, and the hood popped open from the firefight.
“Great, my dad is not going to like this,” Osiris dejectedly says, predicting her dad showering her with rage, “Let’s hope your insurance covers this.” Ekabet optimistically says, the blue shark is still doubtful of his words.
“I hope so…” Osiris hopes it won’t be bad enough to cripple them into debt.
The sirens grow closer, “Here they come.” Ekabet says as they see police cars from the GGPD pulled over to the street, lighting the streets in flashes of blue and yellow as officers come out of their vehicles with their VA-19s withdrawn.
“What the f*ck happened here?!” One of the GGDP officers who got out is a dog resembling a German Shepherd howls in dismay, seeing the carnage in front of her fills her with dread as the smell of gunpowder lingers in the air.
“Do you smell gunpowder?” Her labrador partner points out, her nose catching the scent of blood and the distinct smell of gunpowder lingering in the air, “The detective will deal with that later—” She turns to the other officers getting out of their cruisers, “Right now, our priority is securing the bodies and setting up the perimeter and asking any witnesses of what happened, go!” As they carry out their job, the shepherd and the labrador look around and see Arkhis’s group standing in the front yard of their house with two detained FOA agents.
“Look.” The labrador points at the group, “Let’s go and talk to them.” While the other officers were setting up the perimeter, the labrador and the shepherd approached Arkhis and her two friends, the group exchanged glances at each other and discreetly nodded, remembering Stone’s words and heeding his advice.
“I hope he’ll be alright…” Arkhis thought to herself, wishing Stone a safe journey to exit the city.
To where? She doesn’t know, but she hopes he’ll live someplace else that isn’t as strictly surveilled by their government. The fact that life exists, even if hearsay from the alien himself, besides their own, is enough to convince her that something will happen to their world.
She hopes her beliefs will come true in the end, even if it might spell doom to the world…
…
