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Snow Blind

"It's cold out here..."

"That's the point..."

Corsair Airfield

3:27 AM

December 10th

In the distance, perhaps you'd see them; little black dots among a sea of pure white snow. Amid a storm of wind and ice, you'd be forgiven for thinking your imagination was playing tricks on you; that they were nothing more than mirages. Who would be out here among such extreme temperatures? Where the air alone was in the lower teens, and the wind chill was well below zero? Making matters worse, one could barely see more than several feet ahead of them. It was nothing but darkness; a void of shadows, with only a few flickering lights in the distance to signal civilization.

But these two men? No... they were not here for civilization. They were here for... something else...

"Maybe we should have dressed warmer..."

One was a fox...

"Won't you shut up...?"

The other was a bear...

Both were dressed in black coats which covered them from head to toe. They were stuffy, with multiple ridges and insulated insides, but even this was not enough to fight off the cold; only mitigate it. And yet, they didn't appear too bothered by the intense weather they were enduring. The fox may have acted snarky and cocky, but he and the bear both moved with a confident and professional stride. The snow, while thick, did very little to impede them.

Deeper...

Deeper...

Deeper...

"I can see it..." said the bear, his voice a grumble.

"Haaah... finally..." replied the fox at his side, his hand sliding into his coat's pocket, "Any more of this, and I would've had to tell the colonel I quit. I'm not a snow fox, you know."

"Won't you take this seriously?" the bear growled as he glanced at his partner, who merely shrugged his shoulders.

"I am taking this seriously!" the fox countered with a wry grin, "I'm a country boy, you know!"

"Hrrggghh..."

Why oh why did he have to be partnered up with him? He swore the colonel chose the fox specifically to go on this mission, just to annoy him. Fine, fine... it was a simple one anyway. Besides, he wouldn't be partnered with him for long as their destination finally came into view.

It was brown, it was old, and it had warm amber lights gleaming through its stained glass windows. It was a church. A simple church among a field of snow and ice. Aged, yet warm... approachable... a safe haven against the wicked blizzard.

Golden Hope Church, was it's name, going by the sign outside of it.

"Look's like someone's here... as expected," the fox murmured, while the bear gritted his teeth.

"Let's just get this over with..." he growled as he stepped forward.

His powerful hand fell upon the door, pushing and pushing and pushing, where it sent an audible 'CREEEEAAAAAAAK!' through the windy land. But once that door begrudgingly opened... ahh... a lovely explosion of hot air graced their cold features.

"Fuuuh... I almost forgot what heat felt like," muttered the fox as he and his partner walked inside, "Boy howdy... the weather is _not_making it easier for us!"

His hands moved up, pulling down his jacket's hood and removing his beanie hat, revealing his young features. Blond hair and cold blue eyes, he had a smug appearance befitting his snarky personality. This was in stark contrast to the bear beside him, who upon removing his hood and beanie hat, appeared to be incredibly stoic and serious. His hair and fur were brown, and his eyes were so brown, they might as well have been black.

"Hello!? Someone there?" called a voice from the inner sanctum of the church, causing the two to turned towards it.

Stepping through the doorway of the lobby, the two entered inside proper, gazing upon the church's many pews and pulpit.... where in the center of it was a dog. He was laxly dressed considering the blizzard outside, wearing not but jeans and a sweater. But with the the vacuum cleaner he had in hand, it was clear that the dog was this church's custodian.

"What the... what are you two doin' here?" asked the dog, "Ain't it a bit too late for someone to be coming to church?"

"I could ask you the same thing!" replied the fox with a charming smile, "Sorry, sir, we were just walking into town from the resort, when this storm whipped up. Would've taken us too long to just go back, so we pushed on. Saw the church had its lights on, so we decided to duck inside before Mother Nature gave us frostbite!"

"Ah... I see," said the dog as he gave the fox a smile, "I know what ya mean. I swear, this storm came up outta nowhere..." he faced the windows, "I was supposed to be outta here an hour ago, but this damn blizzard just refuses to let up... oops..." he then shifted again, facing the statue in the center of the pulpit, "Sorry, God. Shouldn't be cursin' in your house."

"What are you doing in here anyway?" asked the bear, to which the custodian raised an eyebrow.

"Well, we had a little get together earlier tonight. I just hung out to clean everything. That way I don't have to clean it all come Sunday mornin'," replied the dog.

"So... the congregation is already over?" the bear asked, "No one else is here but you?"

"Yeah... should be... everyone else took their cars and...?" he stopped, then looked down, "Wait a tic... you said you came in from the resort and the blizzard whipped up? But... ain't the resort on the other side of town?"

He turned around.

His eyes fell upon the silver barrel of a silenced pistol.

"Took ya long enough," the fox said, before he--

POW! POW!

Thump!

The barrel of his pistol smoked after having pumped two bullets into the chest of the dog before him. He fell down quickly and gasped for breath, desperately trying to breathe, only for life to wane. Gazing up, his expression became confused, and he watched as the fox loomed over him with a smile on his face.

And then...

Everything started to get...

...

...

"Aaah...?"

He didn't last long.

Standing up straight, the fox gave a sigh before switching the lever of his pistol, putting it back into the safety. Then his gaze shifted, looking up towards the statue of Jesus on the cross. And despite having just killed a man... the fox chuckled.

"Sorry God!" he said with a sarcastic grin, "But, hey! You can't send me to Hell twice!"

"You're talking too much again," said the bear as he too loomed over the fresh corpse of the dog with them, "Let's hurry and start setting things up..." he eyed the custodian again, then kicked his leg, "And let's dump his body outside. I don't want him funking up the place."

"Yeah, yeah," muttered the fox as he gripped the dog's body, "What a crock..."

As he began dragging the custodian's lifeless body away, the bear reached into his jacket. First, he produced a flask, bringing it too his lips and taking a few heavy swigs of whatever alcohol he had inside. Then after placing it away, he reached inside his opposing pocket to pull out not a phone... but a radio.

He flipped its switch.

"This is Blitzen. The Clubhouse is open."

"Good..." a voice replied... cold... uncaring... indifferent... professional, "Set up some reindeer games. We'll be over soon."

...

Act 1: Honeymoon River

She had said it before. She said it to her friends. She said it to her Maid of Honor. She said it to her family. She said it during the party. She had said it to everyone and anyone willing to hear her. She had said it again and again and again, and she was sure she'd say it again and again and again, many days after this. Assuming of course, nothing of such great importance ever happened again... which right now at this moment, that didn't likely.

Yesterday... was the happiest day of this bunny's life.

A warm, gilded light pierced through the blades of their window, illuminating a soft bedroom. Outside it was oh so cold, with snow having covered the sidewalks, the roads, and the wind chill was blistering. But in here, in this bedroom in this hotel... things couldn't have been any warmer.

She sat on the edge of the mattress, this tall, statuesque beauty powerful in stance, and stout in appearance. A wolfess, one whose fur was as red and as blazing as the flames from a jet engine, or the rays of the setting sun. Her figure was just as brilliant, being the toned build of an amazon, with musculature upon her arms, her legs, her shoulders, her stomach; everywhere. But not so much that the image of her femininity was ruined... no, it was only enhanced by the athletic grace of her powerful build.

From her head spilled messy red hair, which flowed and flowed and flowed. It was undone, a bit slick too, having grown that way thanks to the sweat which stained her brilliant and radiant form. Sweat from some strenuous activity like... running, or... wresting, or... fucking, or... making love.

Yeah, that last one; making love.

Nude from the waist up, the wolfess' green eyes gazed out the window before her, while a smile adorned her cheeks. It had taken so long to get here, but now that she was, she wouldn't give it up for the entire life. The feeling in and of itself was more amazing now than it had ever been. She tried tricking herself into playing it off simply, as if things wouldn't change that much upon getting married.

She was wrong. And ya'know what? She was happier for it.

And then those hands.

Those soft.

Lovely.

Dainty hands.

The hands belonging to the one she adored so very, very much.

They reached up, first gripping upon her shoulders, then pulling the rest of her body up. The wolfess leaned forward a bit as a smile adorned her lips, before feeling the touch of breasts to her toned back. They pushed in, pressed against her, followed by the lovely, needy, passionate groan of the other one in her bed. But before the wolfess could speak, she felt lips press to her cheek, then to her neck, before she leaned in to groan against her.

"Luca..." whispered her lover, "Yesterday was the happiest day of my life."

In contrast, she was the wolfess' exact opposite. Where as the redhead was tall, she was short. Where as her lover was a cop, she was a baker. Where as the wolfess was, well, a wolf, she was a hare.

She was a brown rabbit, one whose coat was as chocolaty as her eyes were. Compared to the redhead, she was soft and curvy, cute and plush, especially in regards to her chest, hips, thighs and butt. Her hair was shorter and curlier than her lovers, though it too was matted down in a sheen of passionate sweat which had formed during yesterday's events.

Yesterday's events... ah yes... that day that led to them having those _rings_on their fingers.

Veronica North was a name everyone in Document City knew. It was hard not to know the friendly owner of Pastry Puffs, a bakery whose sweet treats were only beaten by Veronica herself. Infinitely friendly, the hare would give hugs to complete strangers if it would brighten up their day.

But no one, and I mean no one, had her heart quite like her big bad wolf. And was with that heart that Veronica found herself waking up this morning, her first day not as Veronica North, but as Veronica Salem.

Ooooooooooh! Just thinking about that sent thrilling little shivers down her spine!

The hare was over the moon! The hare was a beaming fool! The hare had a smile so big, it could light up a room! The hare... the hare...

"Roni," said the wolfess, her voice booming and powerful, "You can let go now..."

"Hhnn? No, Luca... never... in fact..." Pull!"Gotcha!"

She wasn't the strongest person in the world, in fact, there were arguments to be made that she was among the weakest! The bunny barely weighed over a hundred and ten pounds, let alone she had practically no muscle mass! She was fit, but normally so in comparison to the literally amazon she was with.

But the amazon fell back, resting in the bed while her wife positioned herself above her. Those dainty lapine hands sat down besides the head of the wolfess, pinning her place. And while the bunny - Veronica - grinned from cheek to cheek, her spouse, her wife, her big bad wolf, stared back up with a smile and a chuckle.

She was always so cool, always so coy, always so calm; there was almost nothing in life that could shake this wolfess.

Her name was Lucretia, Lucretia Salem, and today was not only the start of her and her wife's honeymoon, but it was also the start to the rest of their lives.

"I still can't believe it," Veronica said as she gazed into the eyes of her lover, "Haah... I always dreamed about us getting married, I knew one day we'd get married but... but..." she closed her eyes, just to bask in the feeling of everything, "But this still goes beyond my wildest dreams, Luca. I can't believe it."

"Heh... you better believe it," Luca replied as she placed her hands upon Veronica's cheeks, clinching them, "Because it happened... and..."

"And...?"

"I didn't get to say it yesterday," her head drifted closer, "But you looked absolutely delicious in your wedding dress."

"Hnn... you're right... you didn't say it yesterday... mmfff..."

Their lips met, entering into a passionate kiss that seemed to go on and on and on. Lips to lips, tongues wrestling with tongues, and passionate moans traded between the duo. Lucretia fell back into the bed with Veronica atop her, their eyes closed as they focused on nothing but their lip lock.

Neither side wanted it to stop, but both knew they needed to breath. Yes, even the amazon needed to take her paces; the hare just had that affect on her. No... they just had that affect on one another.

"Nmmm... if we wake up like this every morning for the rest of our lives, I don't think I could be any happier," Veronica commented, making Lucretia chuckle.

"You're such a romantic," Luca said as she leaned up, "But..."

"Heh... but I'm your romantic," the hare added, "Though... you can be so romantic yourself, Luca... heh..."

"Hmph... well... if you say so," she whilst clutching the hare close by her shoulders, "Come on; we have the rest of the day to get through. There's a ski resort with our name on it, and from what I remember the pamphlet saying, it's buffet is open 24/7!"

"Oh Lucretiaaaaa~!"

Laughing aloud, she hugged close to her lover, snuggling her cute little head into the wolfess' grand chest. Lucretia laughed too, and embraced her wife close as they toiled upon the bed. Laughter soon shifted into giggles, which simmered into kisses, then morphed into moans. All along, their tongues continued to writhe and twist and dance with one another as they hummed and groaned and melted into the couch.

"Nhhgh... Lucretia..." Veronica groaned as their lips separated, "We have to go... hnnggh... and find our room... hhhnnn... before the roads get busy... and... aaahnnn~ we need to shower... and dress and... hnnghh..."

"A little bit longer," was Luca's response, "I'm having much more fun eating my chocolate little bunny..."

"Luuuucaaaaa~~~" the hare groaned, desperately wanting to snuggle in closer to the wolfess, but knowing she could not, "Gooly gosh... oh Luca... you're making this so hard but..." she shook her head and - after a few more moments - gained the strength to pull back, "But we really need to go... besides..." and then she shot the wolf back her own sensual gaze, "There will be plenty of time to feast on defenseless hares later when we get to our room in the resort."

"Plenty of time you say?" Lucretia countered with a wry grin, causing her chocolate bunny to giggle.

"Oh yes... plenty of time... I don't think we'll have to be worried about the snow or the cold when we have each other to keep warm," Veronica replied, her hand gently tracing down her wife's chest, "So... let's focus on getting our things together and collecting our stuff. Then we can focus on more trite pleasantries."

"Heh... okay... lead the way..."

The hare smiled again, giving this beaming expression that was sure to light up a room. And Lucretia could only replied with that muted smile of her own, though it was no less powerful and lovely in its own right. After a few more moments, Veronica pulled away from her wife, rolling off of the bed and onto her feet, where her eyes trailed towards their luggage in the corner.

They rushed in here so fast last night, pulling off suits and gowns, leaving it all messily strewn on the floor. And from the looks of things, they weren't too keen on putting them back on. Good thing they were going to meet with her brother one last time before they headed off for their destination. Ya'know, trade off the things they didn't need; that wedding dress and suit... though... Lucretia looked so fetching in her suit. Hmmm...

"Roni...?" Lucretia muttered, noticing how her wife seemed to just stop in the middle of the room like she did.

"S-sorry!" she replied, blushing as she apologized, "I was just... thinking, I guess! Everything's going so amazingly, dear! Oscar's coming to get our things, Samantha's staying out with Nina and her family, Gaius and Aurelia are heading back to Oceanside! All that's left for us is to get on to the ski resort! It'll be just you and me for an entire week! Just you... hnn..." she cradled herself, "Just you and me..."

Luca's hand fell upon her shoulder, clutching gently.

"Yeah... just you and me," the wolfess said, "Now let's get going. Get the shower ready..."

"Hee-hee... now you're being the quick one," Veronica replied.

Briefly Veronica clutched Lucretia's hand, holding it softly, before making way for the hotel's shower. Lucretia lingered behind however, stretching her arms out and groaning while her eyes fell upon her phone. Picking it up, she checked for a few messages, seeing if anyone texted her throughout the night. There was nothing...

But there were a few news pop-ups.

Austrian Arms Dealer to be delivered to American Forces on December 11 __th.

Today was December 10 __th.

...

Cold... uncaring... indifferent... professional...

The fighting style of Systema requires one to be a master of both their bodies, and their art. For being merely 'okay' in one, and not the other, causes one to reveal unnecessary weaknesses. To switch styles from boxing, to grappling, to kicks, to throws; it all requires precision, practice, and the knowledge not only of one's self, but of their opponent. For being merely 'good' is once again not good enough.

One must be cold, uncaring, indifferent, professional... and even_callous_ if need be...

He was naked. Completely naked. From head to toe, not one inch of clothes sat upon his rippling, muscular form. A man, a wolf, tall and stout, strong and statuesque in every meaning of the word. Though not bulky, he was far from being considered lean, and instead was something in the middle. Still, his strong build proved himself a dangerous man, doubly so as he practiced his martial art.

His fur was black, gray, and white, but oh so perfectly symmetrical: back at the shoulders, white in the middle, and graying with every closer inch. It was also such a sleek, well-maintained pelt as well. A bit wilder perhaps - especially at his arms - but it wouldn't be out of place on the body of a chic fox.

But there was a brutality to it, a shear, raw power to his build that would make others falter. Gazing upon him was like gazing at a machine made for one thing and one thing alone.

And that thing was...

A punch here, a kick there, a retreat as he held his stance. His chest raised up and down, taking in a deep, deep breath as his eyes looked out towards his window... while his ears picked up the sounds coming from a nearby laptop.

It was a newscast from DBC Station; a popular news station. On the screen showed a young feline, dressed in a business formal suit with a microphone up to her lips. She appeared to be very serious, even as she stood on the runway of a cold, snowy airport.

"Today, it's December 10th in Vienna, Austria at 7 o'clock pm," she said as her stance grew more firm, "After several years of hunting, Interpol and American forces have finally captured infamous arms dealer Rudolph Gruber, who was hiding in his personal mansion in the Middle East. After having first been taken to his home country of Austria where he was tried, Rudolph is now being brought to America to serve out his multiple life sentences. However..."

The camera shifted, zooming in down the lane to reveal a human man. He was a blond, middle aged man, dressed like a businessman, and he had handcuffs binding together both his hands and ankles. He was a prisoner, one who was being guided down the lane with armed soldiers at his sides. Despite this, he casually walked with a smile on his lips, and even waved at the many cameras placed to witness such an event.

"Rudolph Gruber could be seen smiling and waving at cameras as he was hauled off for his plane," continued the broadcast, "He certainly doesn't look like a man who is about to spend the rest of his life in pr--"

CLICK!

The wolf tensed up as he slapped his hand upon his laptop's surface, cutting the broadcast short. This was live, meaning the arms dealer would be taking his flight in the oncoming hours.... which means it was about time for him to get to work.

A quick shower, a quick dress, and the wolf was emerging from his hotel room, a suitcase in hand. Marching down the halls, his eyes were locked ahead, serious and stern, focused and driven.

He was not alone.

On his sides, the other doors in this hall opened up, and from them stepped out men of equal size and stature to him. Sure, they were of different species - a tiger here, a lion there, a goat, a bear - but they all appeared incredibly serious and stern. They weren't mere holiday goers...

They appeared to be... military...

...

SKYRAIL!!!

Ski Resort and Spa!

That last bit is very important, because you can't just say _Skyrail!_You have to say...

SKYRAIL!!!

Ski Resort and Spa!

Yeah! All of it!

Have you ever been to Mount Vincent? Have you ever even heard of Mount Vincent? I'm not surprised. Not many people actually bring up the name 'Mount Vincent'. They typically bring up what's located _at_Mount Vincent, more than they do its name.

Mount Vincent is home not only to Vincent City, located a bit of ways up north from Willington City, but it's also home to the famous, comfiest, most beautiful ski resort in all of North America.

Say it with me...

SKYRAIL!!!

Ski Resort and Spa!

Vertically, Skyrail stands at an amazing 4,350 feet... which would be 1325 meters, give or take for our Metric users. Its top most elevation is 5529 feet, while it's base elevation is 1165 feet. Making matters even better for you skiers and snowboarders alike, beautiful Skyrail gets 250 inches of snowfall each year.

And that's not even getting into what _truly_makes Skyrail so special.

You see, Skyrail is not just one_ski resort. No, technically, it's _two. For Mount Vincent is not just one mountainous peak, but two. Affectionately named Big Dipper and Little Dipper, Mount Vincent is two mountainous peaks resting beside one another, like two natural towers that point to the heavens. Atop Big Dipper, rests Skyrail James, a grand castle of sorts filled with all major amenities one would need in this life, and the next. Over a hundred luxury rooms, an all you can eat buffet that runs 24/7, a spa filled with over a dozen fully trained masseuses and hot tubs, and of course, the actual ski tops itself, from which many a thrill seekers set out to take on Skyrails infamous 'Demon's Pass', a trail that runs from the summit of Big Dipper, all the way down to the base of Little Dipper.

And then you have Skyrail Tracy; the lower half of Skyrail which rests upon Little Dipper itself. While not as jam-packed with things to do as its bigger brother, Skyrail Tracy plays hosts to many extra conveniences not found on James. Most popular among them is Tracy's on location gym, famous for being where the hybrid's league American Basketball team once practiced at some years ago. Not only do you have the grandiose Skyrail gift shop located here, but it too shares James' amazing buffet.

And yet, even with all of this, even with its amazing thrills and wonderful pleasantries, that's _still_not what Skyrail is famous for. No, for when you hear the name Skyrail, you think of those twin castles, clinging to one another via their famous gondola rails. From afar on a clear, sunny day, you can see them ferrying their citizens together, going from the base to the summit in an endless dance. It's a sight so mesmerizing, so beautiful, that many get stricken in awe of it, even to this day.

And now, it was _their_turn to be amazed by it. Whom, you may ask? The Salems? Well... not quite. Try the--

"Allen Powell!"

"Hrrrggghmph! Y-yeah, Jessica?"

Damn, why'd his wife have to bring so much crap with them? His luggage was light, and he's a six foot tall human guy! His wife's a four foot tall rabbit, and yet she needed _two_cases of luggage compared to his one? Haaaaah...

God... he loved that woman...

Allen Johnson Powell, or just 'Al' to his friends and everyone else, was a young, human man. Fair skin, black hair, blue eyes, and a surprisingly fit build. His hair had that stupid little s-curl at the top, he had freckles running along his face, a goatee on his chin, and despite his physical build, the features on his face were rather smooth.

If not a bit annoyed.

"B-be careful with that, Al!" a louder voice echoed from his side, "All of my things are in those suitcases."

"Yeah, I noticed," he replied with dry wit, "Guh..."

Placing down the two suitcases before him, he looked over to his side where that voice came from, his gaze dropping on a rabbit. Her fur was a snow-white, her hair a golden blonde, and her eyes a wonderful blue. Her expression however... was far more uppity, far more snarky and superior, even as she stuck her nose up at her husband.

Jessica Powell was a lot of things. 'Reserved' was not one of them.

"You don't have to be so cruel, Allen!" said the hare as she marched up to her husband, "I know you don't care to have everything needed, but please, at least try to make me happy! We'll be up here at Skyrail for an entire week! I want to make sure I have _everything_I need!"

"That's just the thing, dear," he said whilst stretching up, "Hrrnngh... we're only here for a week; we aren't _living_here."

"Still... I refuse to be caught with my pants down," she replied, to which he rolled his eyes.

"Like that time in--"

"DON'T YOU SAY IT! Gosh, Allen! You can be such a child!"

Stammering in place, the rabbit leered at her husband with her cheeks puffed out and her eyes full of annoyance, while Allen himself gave another sigh... which shifted into a smile. Was it him, or was his wife even cuter when she was angry at him? Guess that's a feeling only he could understand.

Oh well...

The City of Vincent was a quaint little place. While it was no large, grand metropolis like, say, Willington or Document, it was rather sizable in its own right. A popular tourist attraction as well, it was one's first stop before heading up to Skyrail proper, and thus many could find little trinkets and valuables that depicted the resort's famous gondola ride.

But that's not all Vincent had to it, for it also owns a military base within its perimeter. Corsair Airfield was installed decades ago for a hypothetical attack from Europe (commonly believed to be some unrealistic Nazi assault), where it's seen use ever since, normally as a training ground for new recruits before being sent to other bases.

So in a way, Vincent City is much like Skyrail; a city of twins. You have Vincent Mountain with its twin peaks, Skyrail with Skyrail James and Skyrail Tracy, and Vincent City itself, with the luxurious ski resort one way, and the professional military base the other. And much like the gondola ride which have enamored so many, Vincent City is the threads that hold these two distant parts together.

"B-be careful with those!" said Jessica as a bellhop collected her and her husband's things, "It's going to Room 227!"

"I think they know dear," Allen said as he placed his hand upon her shoulder, "It's going to be fine."

"Hoooh! Skyrail opens up only at the end of the year," Jessica muttered, "I just don't want to miss out on anything! It's a once in a lifetime moment, Al, and I'll be damned if I miss even a moment of it!"

"Jeeze, who are you married too?" her husband replied as he removed the beanie from his head, "Mr. Skyrail himself or me?"

"And uh... how many Lamborghini do you own?"

Allen leered at his wife, who leered back with equal amounts of sass. Scratch what he said before; dealing with his wife's superior attitude could be quite the trying experience.

Before them was the main entrance to Skyrail: a location known as Skyrail Jr. Yes, there are actually _three_main Skyrail buildings, though Jr. is often forgotten, and for good reason. Jr. is nothing more than an entrance to Skyrail proper, being placed in the city, where one would then get upon a gondola ride that leads them up to Skyrail Tracy.

Nevertheless, Skyrail Jr. carries itself like a hotel's entrance, with bellhops and receptionists walking around. Since Skyrail hadn't yet opened properly, everyone was gathered in the main lobby of the building, where tables and chairs had been set up. The air was loud with dozens of conversations going on at one moment, though a large number of people were congregated around the back, and for good reason.

As the grand opening for Skyrail began, set out for their customers was an entire table filled with only _some_of the appetizing meals the buffet will have proper when time came. Which means that, yes, the table was filled to the brim with people eating.

And Allen was poised to be one of them.

His stomach grumbled and he clawed at the air, realizing that all he's had today was a cup of coffee, and that's it. Now that he was in this lobby, where the smell of food was strong, he felt his mouth begin to water. Oh, he was so desperately, relentlessly hungry, and his stomach audibly growled.

"I just... want to..." Allen muttered, causing his wife to roll her eyes.

"Go ahead, Al," she said, before grinning, "I know you want to."

"Oh yesssss..."

Quickly rushing for the food, Allen pushed through the other people and made way for the main table with a plate in hand. Jessica smiled as she leaned back, watching her husband started to fill up his plate with a various assortments of meals, meaning she had no doubt that he'd have a stomach ache later on.

Jessica could wait. She preferred her things lighter anyway.

Sitting at a nearby table, Jessica leaned on her hand and watched as her husband continued filling his plate. He may have been a bit of a dry goofball, but he was _her_dry goofball. Seeing him indulge in his voracious vices made her giggle, all as this silly, passionate look sat on her face. There was nothing else to focus on, nothing...

And yet...

"I know that look," said a voice to Jessica's side, making her ears perk as she turned to face it, "You're married too?"

"Ummm...?"

Her eyes fell upon... another hare. This one was of similar height and age to her, though this other rabbit's fur was brown, along with her hair and eyes. She also appeared to be more round, more cute, compared to Jessica's more slender and superior expression. But this other hare didn't seem to mind her more annoyed look, instead smiling towards her.

"Um... were you talking to me...?" Jessica asked as she looked at this other rabbit.

"Of course I was, silly!" she answered with a glowing smile, "You're the only one else at the table! Oh, sorry; I jumped the gun," then she extended her hand, "My name's Veronica. Veronica No--... no... wait... hee-hee! Sorry again! I'm not a 'North' anymore! I'm Veronica_Salem_now!"

Jessica continued eyeing this friendly rabbit as she gave her a curious and confused look. Yet the hare - Veronica - never relented; either in her glowing smile or with her extended hand. It caused the blonde to bring her gaze down, looking at this rabbit's hand to see a wedding ring on her finger.

Slowly, Jessica extended her hand, taking hold Veronica's hand in her own to give it a shake.

"Um... nice to meet you, Veronica. I'm Jessica Powell," she said as friendly as possible... though it still sounded rather aggressive. Veronica didn't seem to mind, "Going by your words, are you a newlywed too?"

"Ah-ha! I am! I just got married!" Veronica said with a cheery giggle, before suddenly bringing it to a stop, "Oh! But you said 'too', right? So... you're also a newlywed?"

"Uhnm... more or less," Jessica repeated, making the fellow hare cock her head.

"'More or less'?" she repeated, "What does that mean?"

"Uhhh... it means..." she muttered, only to cut herself off as realization donned on her. Yeah, she didn't _know_this rabbit, did she? And while Jessica adores having light conversation - usually of the gossipy kind - she wasn't going to just start airing out her grievances with her husband with someone she's just met.

Veronica seemed to notice this too, and she pulled back a tiny bit... but that didn't stop a tiny smile from adorning her cheeks.

"If something is going on between you and your spouse, I think you can handle it," Veronica stated, "The way you look at them is so very, very lovely."

Jessica pulled back, confused by Veronica's statement, and wondering how she was supposed to respond aside from--

"Ummm...?"

A warmth and kindness flowed from the hare, though it left Jessica feeling strange. She even pulled back, with Veronica getting the hint. Clearly, the blonde wasn't nearly as friendly as she was. Either that, or this was an uncomfortable conversation to have. So much so that...

"Who's your husband?"

Jessica was quick to change the conversation...

"Hee-hee! Well... you can say _she's_a bit different," Veronica replied, while a dreamy expression took over her face.

"Uhm...she?" Jessica repeated, only to have the other hare point toward the table in the distance.

It took Jessica a bit to notice who exactly Veronica was pointing at, but when her eyes fell on her, there was no way she could gaze away. It wasn't enough that the wolfess in question was, well, a wolfess; did she have to be so _tall_too? And with such brilliant red fur and hair? The towering wolf was an amazon, one in a tan jacket and tan pants... and was currently filling her mouth with food.

She didn't just eat a little bit; she ate damn near _everything_that was there! Tossing food into her mouth like she was throwing objects into a void! Jessica even gawked in shear surprise, impressed and even mortified by how relentless this wolf was! And she thought Allen was bad when it came to his love of food...

"Tee-hee! That's my darling Lucretia," Veronica said as a dreamy sigh left her lips, "Aaah... isn't she perfect?"

Yeeeeaaaaah, more like absolutely horrifying. And that feeling only exploded when the wolfess turned to face them, trapping Jessica like a deer caught in headlights. Her fight or flight even kicked in, as if screaming at her to run away right now before that predator snatched her into her jaws.

But when she came in closer...

And closer...

And closer...

And closer...

Jessica felt trapped.

That is until the wolfess spoke.

"That's some good fucking food, Veronica," she said as she stared at her wife, "If this is what they're going to have 24/7 up at Skyrail, I don't think I'll _ever_leave the food court."

"Oh, Luca! Don't say that!" Veronica said, "We have all week to explore and enjoy Skyrail! Don't waist it all eating! If that's all you were going to do, we might as well never left home!"

"Yeeeaaaaah... heh..." the red wolf said, before drawing her gaze over towards Jessica, "Who're you?"

"Ummnn... uh...?" the blonde muttered as she gazed upon the towering lupine above her.

"Her name is Jessica," Veronica answered, "I just met her; she's a newlywed like us!"

"She is? Heh... well..." the wolf extended her hand, "My names Lucretia Salem, it's nice to meet you Jessica."

"Hnnmm! She's my big bad wolf," Veronica added on for extra emphasis.

"Lucretia... Salem...?" a voice suddenly said from the side, drawing her gaze over.

Walking up from the side was a human guy. He stood at six feet tall, had black hair, and was holding two plates filled with food in both hands. And yet, despite his height, he was still overshadowed by the wolfess before him. Unlike his wife, he didn't let that get to him, and instead looked her in the eye with an eyebrow raised.

"You said your name was Lucretia Salem, right?" Allen asked, "That... sounds familiar... have we met before?"

"I remember a lot of things, but I don't remember meeting you," Lucretia said whilst shaking her head, "Do you live in Document City?"

"No... I live in Willington," he answered, before shrugging his shoulders, "Aah... oh well... hmph... the name's Allen, but you can call me 'Al'. Everyone does!"

"Nice to meet you, Allen," Lucretia said before shaking his head, "Huh... firm handshake! And if I were to wager a bit..." she placed her hand on her chin, "You're... military?_Perhaps..._ex-military?"

"Holy shit, you're good," he replied, "Uh... yeah, I'm military! Or, well, was Military. I'm not in the army anymore. How'd you know?"

"My Luca's a detective," Veronica said as she lovingly stroked Lucretia's free hand, "She can learn a lot about a person just by looking at them! It's honestly scary!"

"Well... it's just my job," Lucretia said with a grin and shrug of her shoulders, "So don't think too much about it. Besides, my family knows a thing or two about military. I've got an eye for these kinds of things."

"They're newlyweds like we are," the hare added, causing Lucretia to raise an eyebrow... and Allen as well.

"We're newlyweds...?" he repeated in a confused manner, "Uhh... does being married for a _year_still count as being newlyweds...?" he then looked at his wife, who began sweating profusely, "Jessi... did you tell them we were newlyweds?"

"I didn't say that... exactly," the hare replied, making him cock his head, "All I said was--"

Bing! Bong!

Hello everyone, and welcome to Skyrail,_said a woman's voice from over the intercom, causing everyone to stop, _We at Team Skyrail would like to thank all of you wonderful patrons who have come to witness our grand winter opening. Please, head over to the front gates leading to Skyrail Tracy. There, our terminals will help decide and dictate who takes the gondola rides first. Once again, we thank you for coming, and hope you all enjoy your stay at Skyrail! Ski Resort and Spa!

"Well... guess that's our message to get a move on," Luca said as she stared down at her wife, "Let's go, Roni."

"Ah shit..." Allen replied, "I didn't get the chance to eat my food..."

...

Act 2: Oncoming Tempest

This was a ski resort, right? So... why the hell was things so damn_stuffy?_Bodies to bodies, voices talking over voices, slow, arduous lines! It was less like a ski resort, and more like an airplane terminal! Huh... they did call them terminals over the intercom, didn't they? Guess she should've been keyed in on that.

Side by side and hand in hand, Lucretia and Veronica stood in a long line leading up to the Skyrail gates. They needed to get through these lanes in order to bored the gondola which would bring them to Skyrail Tracy... then they'd need to take _another_gondola ride to bring them up to Skyrail James! Damn, that had to be, like, one gondola ride too many!

Oh well, she had her wife with her; that made things more than worth it. Standing here, hands held with Veronica, clutching one another close; just the warmth of the hare brought a pleasant feeling to Lucretia. They didn't talk, nor did they need to talk in order to enjoy each other's company. Though every now and then, Veronica could cling to her arm, snuggle close, and just giggle in this joyous feeling together.

"I can't wait until we get up to our room," whispered the hare, making Lucretia look away from her room, "Just you and me in a luxury hotel... the mountain around us... ah... it's going to be amazing, Luca."

"Hmph... well... you know me," replied the wolfess as she held the hare close, "We could've just been alone in our old apartment, and I wouldn't of minded. So long as I'm with you."

"Ooooooh! You sweet-talker you," Veronica whispered as she clung closer, "You don't need to try and butter me up; I'm all yours already."

She snuggled in closer again, causing Lucretia to wrap her arm around her shoulders to try embrace her wife. She was about to say something, perhaps along the lines of 'you're so cuddly', but before the wolfess could speak...

"NEXT!"

They were called toward the terminal next, stepping up to the workers manning the station. Through the glass doors they could see the gondola which they would be boarding soon. Naturally, they were in the 'GOING' lane, as they would be heading towards Skyrail Tracy, and then up to Skyrail James after that. But on the other side of the room there was a comparatively _empty_lane. That lane was the 'COMING' lane... and a gondola was approaching.

As Veronica spoke with the attendants, indulging in some small talk, Lucretia watched as the oncoming gondola ride came to a halt. It didn't take long for whoever was inside to dismount, exiting and entering into the terminal proper. And leading the pack was... another wolf.

He was as tall as Lucretia, perhaps an inch or two taller than she was. His musculature was equal to hers as well, being someone who was athletically inclined. A raw, almost _savage_strength was exuded from this man, even though he appeared calm and composed. It was enough to chill one's blood.

Dressed in a snow coat, he emerged from the gondola with other men of equal stature at his sides and back. Leading the pack, he walked towards the exit lane, completely focused and indifferent to everything around them. He and his men were professionals, but professionals in what? Well...

Like Luca said before; she knows military types when she sees them. The way these men carried themselves, the way they walked; everything utterly screamed'soldier'. But she didn't need to be told this to know this, for if one just looked at that other wolf's eyes, his cold, uncaring, indifferent, professional eyes, then they too would think of them as being soldiers.

But... there was something _familiar_about him. Had she... seen him before?

"Luca?" Veronica called, "Aren't you coming?"

"Huh? Yeah... yeah... I'm coming..."

...

The circular castle of Skyrail James. Resting on the side of Mount Vincent's summit, its glowing lights can pierce even through the void of night, making it appear as if the stars themselves have descended into our atmosphere. And with the gondola's constantly sliding, back to forth, Skyrail truly lives up to its beloved name.

They say those who come here are so awe-stricken, that whatever problems they have, they instantly forget it. Clearly, those people have never met Allen and Jessica Powell.

"You told them we were newlyweds?"

"I didn't tell them we were newlyweds!"

"So... what? You _implied_that we're newlyweds?"

"Rrgh! D-dammit, Allen!"

With a mighty grunt, Jessica crossed her arms and sighed as she sat upon the edge of the bed. The rooms Skyrail owned were top of the line in terms of shear majesty. Not only were they wide and spacious, with a flat screen TV that streamed, but it also had an amazing bed the likes of which royalty would shiver in, and opulent bathrooms that you'd wish to sit in for hours! And the pièce de résistance, the coup de grâce, would have to be the glorious sights one can see from their room's amazing balcony! For as great as the bedrooms can be - and they most certainly are - nothing compares to the beauty of nature!

Assuming of course, you are blessed with one of the rooms that have a balcony. Hey, not all rooms are born equal!

The Powells were blessed with one such room... though they clearly didn't take advantage of such a beautiful sight. Jessica, sitting on the bed, stewing in her anger as her eyes closed shut and her cheeks turned red. Allen, searching through their luggage while he eyed his wife in an annoyed manner. The both of them were frustrated, though only one of them had the will to speak up about it.

"Why did you tell them that, Jessi?" Allen asked as he stood up from his luggage.

"Pfft!? Why wouldn't I say that?" she replied whilst shooting him a glare, "Al! I... hah...! We've had this conversation before! Ever since you came back from the army, you're... hah! You're like a different person! I feel like at times I don't even know you! Besides, we may have been married for a year, but I didn't even see you for most of it!"

"Again with this conversation," he bemoaned as he walked towards her, "Jessi, I'm sorry I was serving my country! Maybe next time when I'm broke, and need cash for college, I'll start working at a fat food restaurant. I'll be in Georgetown after, what, ten years?"

His sarcastic tone made her ears twitch, and caused her to look at him in an equally as sharp manner. Jessica opened her mouth a few times to retort, but it only serve the annoy and frustrate her anymore.

"Dammit, Allen! You're not listening!" she stated as she looked away.

"I think you're the one who's not listening," he replied with a shake of his head, "It seems like every other day we have this argument. You say I wasn't there, I say I was doing my best, then we just go to bed angry and... just wait until it happens again..." he sighed and gripped the bridge of his nose, "Didn't we agree to just... let all of that slide until after our vacation?"

Reaching for his wife, Allen placed his hand on her knee... but she didn't budge. Her eyes remained focused on the distance, and her face retained its rigidity. Allen waited a few moments for his wife to relax and calm down... but it was clear she wouldn't. At least, not right away.

"Haaaah... typical..." he muttered as he pulled away, his frustrations once again ballooning.

Walking towards their luggage, he pulled one of his jackets and put it on his shoulders, causing Jessica to raise an eyebrow.

"Where are you going?" she asked through gritted teeth.

"I don't know. The buffet, maybe?" he replied, his eyes locked on the door, "I just need to... fucking cool off..."

Jessica wanted to follow him... but she just didn't have the will to do so.

...

Things... couldn't be any different just a few doors down. From room 227, to 219...

"Mmmff! Mmmm! Mmmph!"

"Mmmm... mmmmm... mmmfff..."

The sweet lips of her wife... nothing could really beat it. The way it pressed to her lips, kissing... again... and then again... and then again... haaah... followed by the tongue which wiggled and writhed inside of her mouth, and the passionate moans they gave... yes... truly nothing could rival it.

This glorious bedroom was the backdrop as Lucretia and Veronica kissed one another. The hare was atop her wife, pressing their lips to one another in sumptuous kiss after sumptuous kiss. The only time their mouths broke was to breath for air... only to go right back in when they were ready.

"You're fucking amazing, Lucretia," Veronica whispered. The wolfess grinned.

"_Only_amazing?" she replied, causing the hare to giggle.

"Hee-hee! Okay... perfect? Then!"

"Nuh-uh-uh!" Lucretia said, her deep voice reverberating through the air as she even wagged her finger, "Not that either."

"Hm?Not perfect?" Veronica muttered, genuinely confused... before realization donned on her, "Oh! Oooooooh! Hee-hee-hee! I know, I know it. You're not amazing, nor are you perfect. Hmmph..." she leaned in, snuggling her little head into Lucretia's neck, "You're big. And your bad. You're my big bad wolf..."

"Damn straight... haaaah..."

Placing her hand upon Veronica's back, Luca hugged her wife in close and groaned, snuggling close to her love while they both turned to face their balcony together. Out in the distance were nothing but clouds and snow as they danced upon the range of Mount Vincent. It was beautiful, even with the darkness of night, and... and...

"Hmm... looks like a _blizzard's_coming," Lucretia remarked, causing Veronica's ears to twitch.

"Really...? I hope no one gets caught out in that..." the hare stated, before pushing herself up to look at her wife, "Fortunately for us, we're all nice and snug and warm... and I think things are a bit to get nice and hot."

"Really? It's going to get hot?" Luca retorted.

"Mm-hm... so hot that..." Veronica looked at the bathroom, "I'll need to change without someone's prying eyes checking it out..."

"Ooooooh~ that does sound pretty hot," the wolfess replied, "I can't wait to see it..."

"Mm-hmm... I bet you can't... just let me..."

Slipping off of Lucretia, Veronica got down on her dainty little feet and casually strolled towards the bathroom door, her little cotton tail shaking to help flaunt her taut ass. And Lucretia - like some stereotypical 1940s carpenter - ogled her wife's body without a shame in the world.

"Mmm..."

Up until it slipped through the bathroom door and out from view.

Damn... she wanted to follow her inside. In fact, she just might... but first...

Leaning up from the bed, Lucretia slipped her hand into her pocket to pull out her phone. Inquisitive by nature, the wolfess was always checking her phone to make sure everything was going okay. Whether it be with local news in her city, or make sure their home city didn't suddenly explode, Lucretia was the type of person who needed to make sure everything was okay. Veronica had warned her about it, but hey, the wolf's a detective; it's literally her job to search for trouble!

Instead she got a text from Samantha, updating her that, yes, everything was going well at Veronica's cousin's house. Luca doubted it though... Nina North and her family were a odd bunch. But as important as that is, the wolfess was more concern with this news bubble that suddenly popped up.

Austrian arms dealer Rudolph Gruber's plane has taken off form Veinna. He is expected to arrive in America by on the morning of December 11 __th.

"Right... that arms dealer guy," Lucretia muttered as she checked her phone, "Hmm...

Tapping the news blurb with her finger, she brought up an article that detailed everything she needed to know. How Interpol and American forces had been hunting for Rudolph for years, and how he had supplied weapons to many a terrorist cells and dictators all around the world. How he was located in a mansion in the Middle East, and subsequently arrested by a squad lead by a--

"Colonel Stuart Mason..." Lucretia whispered allowed.

And then she scrolled down a little bit more, where there was a photo of Colonel Mason.

And her eyes grew wide.

It was the same_wolf_ she saw just earlier that day. The same black and gray fur. The same athletic and strong build. The samecold, uncaring, indifferent, professional eyes. About the only change from this picture and from the wolf she saw, would have to be the hair; it was cut short in the photo! But this photo was taken a year ago; time had clearly changed.

But... wait...

Why was Colonel Mason here of all places? And...

"Hold up, hold up," Lucretia said, her heart picking up as she began reading further.

After a protracted battle in the courts, Rudolph was found guilty of arms dealing, among many, many other crimes. He was then sentence to life of prison in a yet unnamed maximum security jail somewhere in America. But that's not what was important; what was important was the last little bit at the bottom.

He was going to be delivered to America on December 11th; that much Lucretia already knew. However, it said that the airfield he was being taken too was a military airfield. It's name?

Corsair Airfield...

Luca's eyes doubled in size s she read that name to herself. That... no, she had to be crazy, right? She had to be at least a little_bit crazy, right? There's no way that the Corsair Airfield they were talking about, was the _same_Corsair Airfield that was right outside of Vincent City, right? _RIGHT!?

"This... has gotta be a joke," Lucretia bemoaned as she stood up from her bed, her eyes cutting again towards the balcony.

Walking through the glass doors to the balcony proper, the wolfess stared over the banister towards the lands in the distance. As snow thickened in the air, she could just _barely_see Corsair Airfield in the far distance. Blinking lights upon a runway; yes, that had to be the airfield. So soon, Rudolph Gruber's plane would be arriving.

But why was Colonel Mason here? Was he just checking to make sure the arms dealer's arrival went by smoothly? It is possible that he could have somecriminal connections that expand worldwide. But if that's the case, then why was the colonel and those men he was with - who Lucretia assumed were his squad - at Skyrail? Wouldn't they be staying on base?

Remember earlier? How Lucretia's a naturally inquisitive person? She picks through crime like a shark searches for food. And this right here? Right here? Yeah, this reeked_of_blood!

"Oooooh Luuuucaaaaaaa~~~! My big bad wooooooolff~!" Veronica's voice called from the bathroom, "I'm ready to be ea-- what are you doing?"

The hare had changed, taking off every bit of clothing to instead replace it with nothing but a red robe. It was sensually draped on her body to just barely tease what was beneath, and she had even gone through the trouble of tying her hair into pigtails. But instead of coming face to face with a hungry wolfess who was ready to devour her, she instead came face to face with Lucretia's back.

The wolfess had reached under their bed, pulling out her backpack. But instead of said backpack wasn't anything simple like, say, a jacket or a night clothes, but instead a black box.

Lucretia opened the box, revealing its contents. That being a pistol - an M1911 to be exact - contained in a foam case, along with three extra clips of ammunition, and a scope.

"Roni, I'll be back in a little bit," said Lucretia, much to the hare's confusion.

"L-L-L-Luca! What's going on!?" she asked, instantly worried.

"I'm... not sure yet," she answered, "Hopefully nothing. I just saw something and..."

Shaking her head, Lucretia reached into her backpack, pulling out her pistol's shoulder holster and putting it on. Putting her gun inside and stuffing in her extra clips as well, there was one last thing Lucretia needed; her badge. Fortunately, she _never_leaves home without it.

Pulling it from her pocket, the wolfess attached it to her strap, then grabbed her jacket and put it on her shoulders.

"Luca, you're arming yourself," Veronica muttered as she clung to her wife's arm, "Please, tell me what's going on!"

"I'm just... ya'know... being a bit... nosy," Lucretia replied with a sheepish grin... only to grow more serious, "Stay in here, okay? I'll text you if I find nothing, but..." she looked to the distance, "I'm just a little afraid that something is about to go down..."

"Oh... Luca..." Veronica swallowed her spit... only to smile, "You know I trust you... always..."

...

"Alright boys... you know your job and so do I. Let's not hesitate."

Skyrail Tracy's food court was as spacious as it was loud, and even now with it being on the cusp of night, it was filled to the brim with people. A multitude of conversations were going on at the moment, but only one of them was truly important.

This one chair, somewhere close to the back. Men dressed in jackets, some of which were bearing the seal of Skyrail itself. So they worked here? Perhaps, but these men seemed far too... overqualified for their jobs. They weren't your simple, average joes, but something...more.

One was a lion, the other a human, another a dog of some sorts, and the last a jackal. These men had been sitting together for quite a while now, getting meals and eating, but mostly focusing on the time.

The time...

"You know your jobs, men," said the jackal, causing the others to nod, "Let's not mess up on our duties... clocks...?"

The other men raised their phones.

"Synchronized..." said the lion.

"Good... no more hesitating. We have to get back to our game of Risk."

Once again they all nodded, where they stood up from their table. However, a keen eye would note that one of them was leaving with a bag they didn't come in with. But it was all so slight, all so quick; no one would have possibly noticed anything out of the ordinary.

No one... but her...

That lion? That lion! She saw that lion disembark from the gondola behind Colonel Mason. And that dog too! He was there as well! But those other guys... she's never seen them before. And her eyes were absolutely screaming'military'.

Who the hell were those guys?

Standing at the entrance of the buffet, Lucretia watched as the group dispersed; two heading one way - the human and jackal - and two heading the other - the lion and the dog. She couldn't follow all of them at once; she was just one person! And she may just be a tinge paranoid! But there were a few of things going on that just didn't sit well with the wolfess; she needed to assuage these fears.

Hopefully...

Tugging at the sleeves of her jacket, Lucretia focused her gaze upon the lion and dog. As a wolfess, she was naturally skilled in the art of tracking prey, and her time as a policewoman only enhanced this. Following behind, keeping her distance, using the blend of people to drown herself out as she came closer and closer.

These men came to a maintenance door, the dog casually looking left and right while the lion pulled out keys. Unlocking the door, he opened it up for himself and his partner, where the duo slipped inside and out of view. Lucretia waited a few moments, then rushed for the door herself, pulling on it where--

"Shit... locked... hrggh..."

Her head cut from the left to the right, searching for someone who could help her. Fortunately, there was a janitor nearby, and after convincing him to help (as in, showing him her badge), had the door open and was slipping inside.

It was colder in here than it was outside, being a place meant for cold-hard business, and not luxury. The walls were gray, the floors were ceiling was gray, for everything was made out of cruel concrete. Must be hell on the workers who actually work here, but then again, the area was surprisingly sparse of people... as in, no one was here.

Roaming inside deeper, Lucretia found out why; this was the resort's luggage room. Conveyors ran between conveyors like the worlds most maddening highway, all of them filled with bags and suitcases and God knows what else. Staring at it all, Lucretia gave a sigh, both in shear awe and horror; she did not want to work here.

But, focus Lucretia, focus! Where did that lion and dog go? Peering through the jungle of machinery and bags, the wolfess could see not but more bags and other random objects... though she could see some lines shifting through them. Not a lot, but enough...

"Hnmm..."

"Mm?"

"Alright, let's hurry this up," she overheard, a deep voice... it must belong to the lion, "the sooner we get this through, the sooner we can get back to the church."

"Stupid... don't say that out loud! We have things planned for a fucking reason!" he shifted slightly, "This place is crawling with more people than I thought..." he looked around in a curious manner, "Let's get this going..."

"Church...?" Lucretia whispered lowly, "What church...?"

"Alright... pass me the transceiver..."

"Got it..."

Shit, she couldn't see what they were doing or where they were! Bags! Bags everywhere! Bags, bags, bags! Big ones, small ones! Brown ones, white ones! Cheap ones, expensive ones! Just a whole lot of fucking bags! She knew those men were nearby, but between them and the sound of machines, Lucretia couldn't tell where they were! But since she could hear them, she assumed they were--

"Lucretia!"

"GAH!? MMFPHH!?"

She turned around, eyes dropping upon...

"Allen!?"

Yes, Allen! Of all the people in the world she would have expected to see, the last person she could imagine would be that random guy she and Veronica met at the food court a few hours ago! He - like her - was crouching behind a conveyor belt, and he was also just as confused as she was.

"Allen? What are you doing here?" Lucretia whispered through gritted teeth, her expression frantic, "_How_did you get in here?"

"I saw you come in after you convinced that janitor," he whispered back, "And... I guess I got a little curious, so I snuck inside myself. The door didn't close for a few moments, and I slipped inside. You're a detective, right? You looked serious... is something going on?"

"I don't know yet, I'm just--"

"GET DOWN!"

"What!?"

POW!!!

A bullet whizzed by, followed by the crackling sound of a silenced pistol...

"OOFF!?"

Allen's back slammed down upon the ground, coaxing a grunt from his lips. Luca dove forward, tackling him to the ground and saving the both of them from a bullet to the head. He gasped, then looked up, but the wolfess wasn't planning on sticking around any further.

"MOVE!" she shouted.

That order... it almost instantly kicked Allen's reflexes into gear. He didn't need to be told again.

Quickly getting to his feet, the duo rushed for a machine in the distance, keeping their bodies low as they hid behind it. Allen - naturally alerted by the gunshot - gained an alerted expression, wondering who just tried to shoot them. But Lucretia was more composed, and unzipping her jacket, she revealed her gun strap. Withdrawing her pistol, she readied it in her hand, while Allen opened his mouth to speak. But she silenced him by way of a hand gesture... and behind...

THUNK!

"Fuck... where'd they go...?" muttered the dog as he looked at his surroundings, his pistol trained on the are before him.

"Where are they, Miller?" the lion asked as he peered below from his vantage spot.

"I don't know! They were here but now they aren't!" the dog - Miller - said as he stepped forward, "Just keep working on the transceiver, Cochrane. I'll handle these two..."

Keeping his gun aimed forward, Miller slowly approached the machine at the end of the lane. There weren't many places they could have gone, so he figured that was where they were hiding. Slowly, slowly, slowly he stepped forward... and then he hopped around the corner to see--

"Nothing...?"THWAK!"AAH!?"

No, not nothing; a fist!

With no warning, Lucretia's fist struck against his jaw, snapping his head aside and knocking him aback. He stood on unsteady feet, wobbled in his stance, but Lucretia wasn't finished yet. Diving in, the wolfess slammed her shoulder against his chest, knocking him and under a conveyor belt. Basked in shadows, the dog almost had no time to retaliate against the angry wolfess who was upon him.

Almost...

Lucretia pulled back her fist and launched it forward.

Miller_blocked_it.

Shooting Luca back a gaze of equal anger, the dog quickly countered with a punch of his own, striking at the wolfess' chest. She blocked the blow to, giving her just enough time to punch him in the chest. But unlike last time, he was more than capable of managing himself, tanking the blow before countering with a kick to her gut. There was considerable force behind the blow; almost enough to wind her. But Lucretia's no ordinary detective.

As the dog readied his pistol, she dove into him, wrapping her arms around his waist, and picking him up from off the ground. He was astonished, amazed, and before he knew it--

THWAM!

His back was slammed against the roof of the conveyor above him! There was so much force behind the press, it caused objects on the other side to wobble briefly! And then Lucretia let him drop, where she was sure the fight was out of him.

She was wrong...

THWAK!

"Gah!?"

With a swift kick up, Miller struck Lucretia in the gut, forcing her back from him as he quickly got upon his feet. But before she could chase him, he bolted for the other side of the steel jungle, vanishing among the myriad of bags and luggage.

"Fuck..." Lucretia said as she readied her pistol in hand... she knew he wasn't done yet.

Chasing him out there would be foolish; he'd just shoot her as soon as she rounded the corner. So Luca pulled back, retreating to the opposing side of the room, where she once again hid herself among the machines and conveyor belts. Whoever these guys were, they meant business if they immediately tried to shoot her and Allen, which further proved her fears.

Something was about to go down...

Teeth gritted, Lucretia's hand slipped inside of her jacket, pulling out - of all things - a scrunchie.

"Okay, fine," she muttered allowed whilst tying her hair back into a ponytail, "If you want to fuck with me this Christmas, then let's fucking do it!"

And without another word, she vanished among the endless humdrum of the luggage area.

Up above on a catwalk, half-behind a machine was a lion; his name was Cochrane. In his hand was a strange little machine, one he plugged up into a pole immediately before him, causing wires to sputter briefly, and sparks to emit. It all died down quickly, but his racing heart continued on its accelerated pace.

Someone was in here with him, someone who had his partner on the ropes. So withdrawing his own pistol, the lion quickly descended down into the maze of machines, standing among the bags and suitcases. He wanted to call out for Miller, but he feared doing so would alert whoever it is that was trying to stop them. So he kept his cool, and mounted upon a moving conveyor belt. Gazing down, he searched for their assailant, looking around when--

Thump! Thump!

"Hmph!"

He turned towards the sound, his pistol raised up where he saw--

"Mill..."

And then he grew silent.

The dog was right there in front of him, his pistol ready too, and the duo nodded at one another. With a mere gesture of his hand, Cochrane told Miller to approach from a wide angle, while he approached more directly. Nodding, the dog did as he was told, then ducked down as he made his way more to the left. Cochrane meanwhile hopped down from his vantage point, where he slowly started walking into the presumed direction of their attacker.

Step... step... stop... he looked around. Nothing.

Step... step... stop... he looked around. Nothing again.

Step... step... step... stop...

A shadow emerged behind him. Cochrane turned around.

It was too late.

WHAM!

With a powerful uppercut, Lucretia struck the lion's chin, throwing him back upon a rolling conveyor belt. He quickly struggled, trying to get back on his feet and ready his gun, but--

"Nuh-uh-uh! Fuck that!" Lucretia snapped, and with a swift _KICK!_of her leg, she sent his pistol flying from his hand.

Grunting, Cochrane pulled up, just in time to be tackled to the conveyor belt by the redhead above him. Her hands slammed on his wrists, where her surprising strength kept him pinned to the ground as they rolled on and on. But for as strong as she was, he was a lion, and a trained one at that. Quickly he rolled back, kicking Lucretia off of his body and sending her toppling into luggage. But by the time Cochrane got to his feet, she had done likewise, and now the two were staring at one another.

But Lucretia was armed.

"Who the hell are you!?" she snapped as she pointed her pistol forward, "And what the fuck is going on!?"

"Who the hell are you!?" he replied, though he didn't even bother to raise his hand.

"Fuck you! I'm the bitch with a gun!" she snapped back, "So answer my damn question; who are you, and--"

"LUCRETIA! WATCH OUT!!!"

Her ears tickled in the air, the cry coming out just in time to make her leap forward.

POW!

A bullet whizzed overhead, missing by mere inches as Lucretia's shoulder struck Cochrane, sending him over the edge of the conveyor belt... and her along with him.

But the two didn't just fall on solid ground, no; they fell upon _another_conveyor belt. Luggage was tossed aside by their impact, but it did little to stymie the lion. Getting to his feet, he launched himself at Lucretia with vicious intent, smacking her gun clear from her hand, and then wrapping his hand around her throat. Quickly it squeezed, pressing air from her lungs, but the wolfess didn't budge.

"YOU FUCK!" she growled through clinched teeth, before--

THWAK!

Her fist struck his jaw with enough force to knock him back... but like Miller before, he didn't stay back. Once again, Cochrane threw himself at Lucretia, throwing a punch that she blocked. Again and again he punched her, with her blocking every blow with precision. The lion was good...

But Luca was better...

Cochrane drew back, then threw a punch aimed straight for Lucretia's head. But with a wry grin, she ducked down, dodging the blow just in time. Her counter was swift; an uppercut straight to his gut that forced spit from his maw. The second blow was more precise; a left hook straight for his jaw that had so much force behind it, the lion was thrown back upon the conveyor belt.

Dazed and confused, he looked up to the ceiling overhead, then down to the red wolf who stood before him. Her gaze was deadly, her skill doubly so... but then her expression grew wide. It was just enough of a moment for Cochrane to pull out the knife on his hip, ready to stab the wolfess dead. But...

Grrrrrrrrrrnnn...

That noise...

GRRRRRRRRNNN...

What was that noise?

GRRRRRRRRNNN!!!

What was that--!?

Oh...that was that noise...

Cochrane looked up... and saw a metal roller coming towards his head. It was used to help settle the luggage into a hatchway, a hatchway that had no clearance for a being of his side. By the time he realized what was going to happen...

It was too late...

His head slipped inside the gateway and--

"GRRAAAAAAAHHAHAAAAAAAH!!!"

His roars filled the air.

Whatever was on the other side... huh... it wasn't pretty. The roller crushed Cochrane's head, and helped obscure whatever horror became of him and his face. But Lucretia could see the blood, could see the sparks and steam, and could hear the roaring screams. And though the lion's bulky build jammed the machine, it never fully stopped it. It just kept turning and turning and turning, and it never stopped turning.

Not even when the screams stopped.

"Holy shit..." Luca muttered to herself, before staring down towards the rest of the luggage area... just in time to see-- "YOU!"

The dog from before - Miller! He was running in the opposite direction of where she came from, forcing Lucretia to leap over the conveyor belt and down to the ground floor! Throwing caution to the wind, Luca leaped clear over conveyor belts and suitcases in her desperate attempt to catch him.

But he was too far away, and had fear pulsing through his veins. He even knocked over objects to obscure her chase, no matter how valiant it was. But even that wasn't enough to fully stop Lucretia, no. What stopped her... was...

"FREEZE!"

Bright lights fell on Lucretia's back, causing her eyes to widen and he feet to come to a halt. Exhaling deeply, the wolfess looked over her shoulder to see... Skyrail security. Their guns were drawn and pointed towards her, much to her annoyance.

"Good going, guys!" she said sarcastically, "But the guy you really want is getting away!"

"Do you have the ID to prove it!?" shouted one of the guards, causing Lucretia to grit her teeth.

"Yeah, it's right..." she palmed at her hips, "It's right... it's right..." and her eyes grew wide.

Lucretia could perfectly envision her wallet... sitting on the nightstand next to the bed in her room. Son of a bitch; she forgot to bring her wallet!

"Oh fuck..." she muttered as a forced, sheepish grin appeared on her lips, "Umm... it's up on _James?_Heh... ohh..."

...

Act 3: Shadow Drop

Oooooh! This had Veronica's fur all ruffled!

Lucretia had left little over an hour ago, and yet the hare hadn't gotten not a call or text from the wolfess. This wasn't surprising; Luca was as skilled with her phone as a mechanic is skilled with cybersecurity! But Veronica hoped that if things were as dangerous as the wolfess claimed they were, she would at the very least keep her wife updated on information. From the looks of things... no...

"Ooooh... Luca... please, tell me what's going on," Veronica bemoaned as she crossed her arms and gazed out the window.

Having put on more appropriate clothing, the hare had left her room, now standing in a hallway to gaze out from one of Skyrail's opulent windows. Far below she saw Skyrail Tracy, its splendorous lights piercing through the steadily thickening fog of a blizzard. In a way, she felt like she could see Lucretia, feel her presence even... but the hare knew that was just wistful thinking. And as time went on with her texts being ignored, the hare couldn't help but feel a bit...

Uneasy...

"Veronica...?" a voice suddenly called, making her snap her gaze over.

"O-oh! Jessica!" she said, greeting her fellow hare with a smile, "How are you?"

"I'm... fine..." the blonde replied with a sigh as she joined Veronica at her side to also gaze down upon Skyrail Tracy, "I just saw you standing out here all by yourself, and thought I'd strike up a conversation..." she rose an eyebrow, "Is... something the matter? Where's your wife?"

"Oh... uhm... she's down there," Veronica answered as she gestured towards Skyrail Tracy.

"Well you're in luck, because my husband is also down there," Jessica said as a sarcastic grin took over her face, "What, did you guys get into an argument too?"

"Oh heavens no," said the brunette with a shake of her head, "Golly gosh... I can't even remember a time of Luca and I _ever_arguing. We may disagree on things, but we never get into an argument, and never to the degree that we have to part from one another..." she raised an eyebrow at Jessica, "Is... that what happened to you?"

"Umm..."

Jessica began twirling hair around her digit while she eyed Veronica. The hare spoke in such a starry-eyed manner of her wife, which was something the blonde couldn't really relate too. They _never_got into an argument? Even over petty things? That sounded like a purely impossible relationship in Jessica's eyes.

But she didn't sense any maliciousness from Veronica. No, what the brunette said, she did so with the utmost sincerity. Even more so, she appeared to be more sad for Jessica! As if the idea that she had such a big argument with her husband that he needed to leave, was painful for her.

"You're... really weird, Veronica," Jessica said, causing the brunette to give her a knowing smile.

"Heh... I get that a lot," she said, "But... whatever is going on between you and your husband, I hope you two can overcome it. I don't know why you implied that you two were newlyweds; I can only assume you had your reasons for doing so. But I hope you two learn why you got married in the first place! If you have been married for a year, you both see _something_there between each other."

"Aaah... I..."

"You got married for a reason... I hope that reason is still strong in the both of you..."

"Hmmm... I..."

Jessica closed her eyes as Veronica's words drifted in her head. This hare was a saccharine woman, almost annoyingly so... but she was _right._Deep down inside, the blonde still felt that love for her husband, even during that long time they were apart. Some spouses would have been unfaithful during such a time, but not her.

But it was hard, and they had both changed so much.

"Well... I..."

Beep~! Beep~!

A small tune played, causing Veronica's ears to perk up, and her face to do likewise. Reaching into her pocket, the hare pulled out her phone, for the tune was her text message notification. Making things even better, it was a message from Lucretia! Finally, she'd know what was going on!

But that smile...

"Veronica...? Is something wrong?"

It didn't last long.

"Oh Luca..." muttered the hare.

Pack up our things. We're leaving, said the message.

...

"Here's your gun and shield, detective!"

"Thank you..."

So... Skyrail had an infirmary. Yeah, yeah, that's obvious, but it's still good to know!

It had been, what? Thirty or so minutes since her little shoot out in the luggage area? And here Lucretia found herself, in Skyrail Tracy's infirmary, a few bandages having been placed on her following the blows she took. She was in a far better position than the other guy.

Ziiiiiiiip!

Across the room, the corpse of the lion was zipped up, placed in a body bag that obscured his corpse. Placed on a stretcher soon after, he was wheeled out by paramedics who were quickly mobilized to deal with this. So far, everything was going according to procedure. Unfortunately, that wouldn't be lasting long.

"HEY! HEY! HEY! MOVE THE HELL OUT OF THE WAY!"

The shouting pierced the air, sounding off through the doors and making Lucretia's ears perk up. Having been a police officer for years, she could understand even the slightest enunciation in a voice like that. To her, it screamed--

"Police Chief...?"

"HEY! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!? OPEN THIS DAMN DOOR!"

"Right away, chief!"

"Haffgh... on opening day no less... what a rip..."

The door to the infirmary opened up, revealing...

A mole? A very short, very stubby, very _grumpy_mole. He was older than Lucretia by, like, twenty years, with graying hair, and a very, very sour disposition. Dressed in business formal, he had a badge on his chest... but Lucretia wasn't sure if it was a real police officer's badge, or just for show.

She was sure of one thing...

"YOU!" the mole shouted as he pointed at her.

Boy, was he fucking loud.

"What? M-me?" Luca replied as she pointed at herself.

"YES, YOU!" he snapped before marching up towards her, "What the hell did you think you were doing, Detective Salem!? Is it normal for you to bring your pistol on vacation to ski resorts!?"

"I did my research; concealed weapons are allowed in this state," Luca replied, before tensing up, "Wait! Hold the fuck up; you're making it seam like this shit was _may_fault!"

"It is your fault! And quiet down missy!" replied the mole as his glare tightened, "You think that DCPD badge'll get you a free meal here in Skyrail? Or that we'll just kiss your feet?"

"I'd prefer a professional courtesy," Lucretia retorted whilst leering at him.

"Tch! On opening day of Skyrail? Give me a fuckin' break, detective!"

"Okay, fine, then why not just the 'professional' part?" Lucretia snapped back with a shake of her fist, "You've got a dead body on hand, but I don't see anything in Skyrail Tracy being shut down! We need the cops up here, we gotta shut the building down and start dusting for prints!"

"Dusting for prints? For what?" the mole asked, "It doesn't take a fucking scientist to see that we have just some stupid luggage snatcher on our hands! There's no way we're closing down Skyrail on opening day, just because of some dumbass thief!"

"Fucking luggage snatcher; is that what you're boiling it down to?" Lucretia snarled, "That guy and his partner had silencers on their pistols!_Silencers!_And we're not talking about some simple hunting ones; this was full military grade stuff, Captain...? Uh... actually..." she raised an eyebrow, "What is your name again?"

"Lorenzo," he replied with a toss of his hand, "And don't you come in here tryin' to tell me how to do my own fuckin' job, Mrs. Salem! You startin' to believe your own damned press! Yeah, I know who you are, what with that whole shit that went down in Document City a couple years ago. Just cuz the TV thought you were hot shit, don't make it so! This time you're in my little pond, and and I'm the big fit that runs it. Now you capped some lowlife, fine! I'll send your fucking Captain in Document a fucking commendation letter!" he pointed at the door with his thumb, "Now get outta here, Salem. We'll handle it from here..."

Lucretia leered at the mole, annoyed and frustrated... but ultimately she relented. This wasn't here place, and sooner or later, she'd be forced to leave by his guards. So she just stood up and left, her jacket pulled over to cover her strap, and her expression one of disdain.

Whatever... she was getting Veronica, and they were getting out of here. The last thing she wanted was for her wife to be put in danger when something goes down... and something definitely was about to go down.

"Hey, Luca," a familiar and more friendly voice called as she emerged from the infirmary.

"Huh? Allen... you're okay," Lucretia said.

He was just leaning on the wall, waiting for her. And now that she was here, he gave her a warm and kind smile.

"Boy am I happy to see you," he said, "I was afraid they'd think you were a bad guy because of your gun."

"The only troubles I had is dealing with that mole they have for a captain," Lucretia said with a wave of her hand, "But it's okay..." she then smiled at him, "But, hey, thanks for that heads up earlier in the luggage room. I would've been shot if you hadn't warned me about that dog."

"Well... what do you think they were up to?" Allen asked with an eyebrow raised, "Didn't they mention something about a... uh... what was it now? Transceiver or something like that?"

"Tch... whatever it is, we're not going to know," Luca muttered, "The captain of the guard - Lorenzo - said he's handling it, but I think he's more focused on Skyrail turning a profit than he is about dealing with problems."

"Sounds like my boss," Allen said with a grin, "So what's your professional diagnosis on our situation?"

"I say we leave," she answered, "Whatever the hell's about to happen, I don't want my wife in the middle of it."

"Hm... I agree," he gestured for the gondola's, "Let's get up to Tracy and go home. I'm sure my Jessica'll argue against it, but after you just killed a guy, I don't think she'll complain for long!"

"Well... let's go..."

They turned away, but...

"Salem? Lucretia Salem?" a voice called out to her, "May I have a word with you?"

...

I'm here outside of Cosair Airfield where, in a few hours, the plane of notorious arms dealer, Rudolph Gruber will descend. We were barred entry by the guards on duty, but we - as well as many other camera crews - are still weathering the storm to watch as Gruber is delivered to American forces for tri--

Tap!

"Little blood sucking leeches..."

All around him were the soft and warm walls of the church. Religious iconography was to be expected; crosses, Jesus on the cross, angels, the last supper, all of it. Within he toiled, leering at the frozen screen of his laptop. This broadcast was live, and time was winding down. Soon, they'd need to start.

Soon, they'd need to...

"Colonel! Miller's back!" a voice called from beyond.

"_Only_Miller...?" he muttered.

From the back, he emerged. This tall, powerful, strong wolf, one with such cold, uncaring, indifferent, professional eyes. The man who is Colonel Mason is many things. 'Compassionate' is not one of them. Dressed in a black overcoat, he came out of the rooms in the back to emerge within the church's main sanctuary.

Or what was once the main sanctuary.

Little Hope Church was one of many churches that dot a rural country side. Small, simple, out of the way, and ultimately forgettable. It was just a place of piteous worship, and nothing else.

Until now that is.

The pews had been moved aside, making way for a sanctuary that had been utterly transformed. No longer did it look simple and rural, for many machines had been placed around. What once was a church now looked like a command center, with men stationed at these machines as they performed their duties.

But what duties? Well... those duties...

"Miller," called Mason as he stood at the head of the pulpit, watching as the dog rushed inside, "Where is Cochrane."

"Cochrane's... Cochrane... haah..." the dog stopped, panting momentarily, "Haaah... Cochrane's dead..."

"Dead?" answered someone else, a fox as he arose from his station, "Wait, whoa, whoa, Cochrane's dead!?"

A silence befell over the church, as all the men inside stared to one another, before focusing their gaze upon their leader. But Colonel Mason remained stoic, and his eyes slowly closed. The wolf was focused and serious, and when he stared back at his subordinates, his gaze remained...

You guessed it...

Cold, uncaring, indifferent, professional...

"The mission," Mason said, "Did you accomplish your mission?"

"We did, but--"

"But...? But?" the wolf repeated before sighing deeply, "It's okay. This mission was a dangerous one. A lost of lives was to be expected... haah..." he shook his head, "All that matters is the mission. The transceiver, was it placed?"

"Yes, we were successfully capable of locking the transceiver in place," he stated, "There were no mistake made in the process, and I doubt the transceiver will be located or even removed in time."

"For your sake, I hope so," Mason stated, "Or else you'll be sharing the same fate as Cochrane..." his gaze turned, looking at a radio machine in front of him, "But... who is it that killed Cochrane? It shouldn't have been any of Prancer's men."

"It wasn't," said Miller, "At least, I don't think it was. It... hm... it..." he closed his eyes, "It was a wolf. A wolfess. Red fur, tall... she had a badge on her gun strap. _Detective_it said. But I can't remember its numbers, and I don't recognize the style. But it did say... uh... umm... D... D... right! DCPD! It was DCPD..."

"DCPD...?" Mason repeated, eyebrow raised, "Sounds... familiar..."

"And a red wolf?" said a bear nearby, walking up with his arms crossed, "That sounds _doubly_familiar..."

"Hmm... O'Reilly," he called, making the fox in the church perk up, "Look up a red wolf who works for the DCPD."

"Got it colonel!"

"Everyone else? It's time we mobilized all of Santa's Reindeer," he nodded, "You know what that means..."

They all nodded, the fox in particular grinning with delight as he threw himself at his command console. Mason meanwhile put on a headset, and turned it on. In a couple of seconds, the machines in the church were humming to life, with everyone getting into position. It didn't take long for the fox from before to shoot his colonel a gaze.

"Flip the switches..."

...

So... the control center of Skyrail wasn't on James, but was in Tracy? Guess it makes since. It's easier to spread out from the middle as oppose to starting out from the top, right?

All around Lucretia there were computer screens, with many, many people working about to make sure the entirety of the ski resort went by as perfectly as could be. Feet rushed left and right as subordinates did their duties, performing them with an efficiency expected of them.

And in the center of it all, gazing through the tower at the top towards the wonderful castle opposing them, was Lucretia. Her hands were in her jacket's pockets and her face was resolute, worried about her wife. She could only hope Veronica got her text, and was done packing up their things. Something was about to go down, and Lucretia could feel it.

"So what is your professional opinion on things, Detective Salem..." a more gruff and strong voice echoed from behind.

Luca sighed and looked over, her eyes falling on a man, a human man. Fair skin, slick black hair, a more pensive face; he looked remarkably handsome, and for a very good reason. He was Mr. Skyrail himself: Edward Grant! One of the richest men in the world, and certainly the richest man on the east coast, he exuded a magnanimous if rather stern visage. Considering the shooting and subsequent death that occurred on opening day of his resort, this sternness was warranted.

"My professional opinion?" Lucretia muttered before crossing her arms, "I'm not sure. That guy down there wasn't some luggage snatcher, not with his skills, and not with his gun. He was clearly aiming or something... bigger, but I'm not sure what that bigger is quite yet. If I had to say it..." she closed her eyes, "I think it has something to do with that Austrian arms dealer, Rudolph Gruber."

"Why is that?" Edward asked with an eyebrow raised, "We have nothing to do with Rudolph's arrest; we're just a ski resort."

"I know that, but..." she shook her head, "I saw Colonel Stuart Mason today leaving the gondola, the guy who originally found and arrested Rudolph in the first place. And with Corsair Airfield so close by, I..." she stopped and closed her eyes, trying to settle her thoughts, "Look, I know this might sound crazy, but I think... but I think it's going be an old bait and switch. I'm afraid they're going to do something to Skyrail to mask the fact that they're going after Rudolph."

"But why?" asked Edward, "Even if Colonel Mason is planning to go after Rudolph, he's the guy who originally captured him in the first place. Why would he suddenly turn around and change turncoat?"

"I don't know... money, I guess?" Lucretia said with a shrug of her arm, "I'm not quite sure yet, and I know this sounds outlandish... but this is _way_too coincidental to be just that; a coincidence..." turning, she faced Skyrail James, "I'm worried is all... I know this may sound impossible, and I know you don't want to since this is opening day, but... I think we should really evacuate the place. At least until we know why those guys were in the luggage room in the first place."

"The luggage room you say...?" a voice suddenly echoed from behind.

Both Lucretia and Edward turned, their gazes falling on a nearby squirrel. She had a slant, sharp look in her eye, with black hair, a tired look in her eye, and a diminutive height. Dressed like a business woman, an air of professionalism wafted around her form, and this was only enhanced as she moved.

"The luggage is what I overheard, right?" asked the squirrel, to which Lucretia raised an eyebrow.

"Mrs. Salem, this is our Chief Engineer, Sarah Barnes," Edward introduced, "If it deals with computers and machines, then she knows it."

"You brought up the luggage area, correct?" said the sullen-eyed squirrel as she pulled out her tablet, "If memory serves, the luggage area is the location of Skyrail's main cellphone tower."

"Cellphone tower...?" Lucretia repeated, to which Sarah nodded.

"Yes, unlike other places, we have our own personal cellphone and internet tower in order to promote strong reception. We don't want people missing out on posting their pictures and the like. So our main internet and cellphone tower all go through the same line. And that line starts..."

"In the luggage area...?" the wolfess said.

"Yes, in the luggage area," the squirrel confirmed, "The base runs through there, along with many of the wires needed to keep the tower running. If they do have a transceiver of some sort attached to the wires within, they're probably connected in on our cellphone and internet connection. They'd be able to copy things like messages, recordings... even our search history if they wanted to!"

"Then... we need to find and remove the transceiver! We can't let them do that!" Lucretia said said, "It must still be in the luggage area! I knew there was more to things than just some fucking luggage thief!"

"Sarah, have Lorenzo check the luggage room for a transceiver, we need to cut things down immediately," Edward said, making the squirrel nod.

"Right away, sir."

Quickly retreating to her station, the tech-savvy squirrel pulled out her phone, cycled through her contacts, located Lorenzo's name, clicked on it... only for _nothing_to go through. Instead, she got an automatic message telling her that--

"Oh fuck..."

"Oh fuck...?" repeated Edward, "What's wrong, Sarah?"

She turned to face him.

"I think we may have been too late," she answered whilst showing him her phone, "I'm getting no reception."

"You're getting _no_reception? But... I thought you said the transceiver could listen in our conversations," Lucretia said.

"Maybe... maybe it's not_actually a transceiver," replied the squirrel, "Maybe it's... actually a _jammer. I don't think they want to listen in on our conversations. I think they want to keep us from _telling_anyone about it."

"Shit..." Edward muttered as he pointed towards another subordinate, "Coleman! Get down there and tell Lorenzo to find that damned jammer! I'm not about too--" Thwooooom...!"Wh... what?"

That noise... that noise...

Why had everything suddenly gone dark?

Everyone in the command center gazed around, incapable of seeing anything as they were suddenly thrown into darkness. The lights were off and the computer screens were too, flickering and sputtering as if someone was constantly tossing the light switch up and down. Before they knew it, the lights had returned, but things couldn't be said for the computer screens.

They were on too... but all of them were glitched. Screens flickered on and off, images were distorted, and any attempts to move navigate the madness was rendered moot. The entire command center quickly descended into a madness as everyone struggled to make sense out of the chaos.

"Back up systems won't come on!" a technician called out.

"Switch to another terminal!" Edward shouted back.

"We can't! Something's blocking the way!" someone retorted.

"Fuck!! Call the damn power company!" he barked next.

"No dice! How would we do that if the phone lines are down!" another voice replied.

"Sarah! What's going on!" he called, making the squirrel stand from her console.

"I don't know, everything just seems to have--"

"Oh my God..." Lucretia said, cutting her off, "Look!"

Pointing towards the window, she caused everyone to gaze out, staring at Skyrail James... where all at once, its lights suddenly turned off. Making matters worse, the beloved gondolas of Skyrail all came to a halt, hanging between the two stations like suspended bells. All at once with no warning...

Skyrail grew silent...

Darkness and shadows befell the land, reducing the once twinkling castles to nothing but husks. And with the blizzard starting to whirl in the air around them, visibility quickly grew obscured. After a few moments, all they could see of Skyrail James was its ghostly image as snow and wind coated its walls. The only other lights were the weak ones strengthened by Skyrail's backup power... though they wouldn't last forever.

"Sarah..." Edward said as he walked to the edge of his banister, placing his hands upon it, "Please give me news... _any_news..."

"Systems_dead_, sir. All of them," was the squirrel's response.

He let his head drop as the darkened lights of the command center cascaded around him, his expression lost considering the situation. And after rubbing his forehead, he slowly looked over to the wolfess standing beside him, reading her surprisingly stoic face. Lucretia called this a mile away... even if she wished she was wrong.

"Is this what you were expecting, Salem?" he asked, to which she shook her head.

"No... this is just the _start_of it..." she answered.

And as if on cue...

Bing! Bong!

Edward's eyes grew wide.

"The intercom system?" he muttered, though Lucretia shook her head.

"No... it's gotta be them..."

Attention Skyrail Tower, Attention, boomed a strong and militant voice, shaking many of those within from the sound of it alone,I think by now I've got your attention, and I know your recorders go 24 hours around the clock so I'll be quick. Feel free to play me back later at your leisure.

"Who is that...?" Lucretia muttered as everyone gazed up.

"And how'd he get on this line!?" Edward growled.

"The transceiver...?" Sarah proposed, only to shake her head, "No, that's impossible; it couldn't do that much all at once!"

They say that the blind are eager for guidance. Now that you are deaf, mute, and blind, you must be praying for freedom from your infliction. Allow me then to offer the guidance you are so desperately in search for. Who I am is unimportant, but what I want? Well... unless you want Skyrail's name to go down in infamy, then what I want is very important.

On the first day of Skyrail's opening, it is customary for Edward Grant to make an appearance and greet his patrons. With that in mind, I believe I've made my threats very clear, Mr. Grant. In an hour's time, on the furthest wooden house on Snowcrest Trail, one of my men will be stationed. You will deliver to him a bag of 30 million dollars in physical cash. The bag may be of your choice. When the money has been received and confirmed, power shall be generously returned to Skyrail, and our business will end. However, if the money is not delivered in the allotted time, Skyrail shall become the coffin to over 100 people, the majority of which are innocent civilians and families. I don't think I need to tell you why that is a bad thing. And thus concludes are conversation. Have a nice day.

Bing! Bong!

A silence befell the area as everyone stared at one another, trying to decipher and pick apart the words they heard. Power stolen, a distant cabin, and 30 million dollars? This was a giant _heist!?_They couldn't believe what they were hearing, let alone what they were experiencing! It just sounded too crazy, too extreme!

But it was happening...

"Now what, sir?" said Sarah as she faced Edward, "We can't control anything, and with that jammer in the way, it'll be impossible to reach the police or anyone in a timely manner!"

Edward paused and ran his hand through his hair before saying,

"I--"

"WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON UP HERE!?"

Everyone turned to face the entrance to the tower, their eyes falling upon a certain loud and grumpy mole.

"Lorenzo," said Edward as he marched up towards him, "You got here fast."

"Why's the power goin' all haywire, why did the gondola stop... and what--" he pointed at Lucretia, "Is she doing here!?"

"I don't know; my fucking job!?" Lucretia shouted back as she leered down upon the mole, "And maybe if you did your job, we wouldn't be knee-deep in shit like we are right now!"

"What did you say!?"

"YOU TWO! CALM DOWN!" Edward barked as he stood between the both of them, "We don't have time to argue and bicker among ourselves!" he then shifted his gaze to the mole, "Some nut-job has gotten their hands on our machines, Lorenzo. They're controlling the place, and we can't get anything moving. Unless we deliver to them 30 million dollars, they're gonna turn Skyrail into a graveyard."

"What!? That's what's going on with the power!?" the mole replied as his gaze shifted towards Skyrail James in the distance, "Fuck! Shit!? Well what are we going to do?"

"That's what we're trying to figure out," Edward muttered, only for Sarah to raise her hand.

"Wait! I have an idea!" she said as she rose her hand, "Remember? Relay Tower 12?"

"Relay Tower 12? What's that?" Luca asked.

"Decades ago, Mount Vincent had 20 relay towers; one every two miles," Sarah explained, "It lead from the summit of the mountain, all the outskirts of Vincent City. They were put there to help those lost in the snow message civilization, and even use the towers as a marker to get back to the city. When Mr. Grant bought the lands and created Skyrail, he destroyed all the Relay Towers except for number 12! We use it now as a gift shop, but the tower's still up and it still works!"

"But didn't those guys turn off our power?" Luca asked, though the squirrel shook her head.

"Since the relay tower is decades old, it runs on the _city's_power grid, not ours!" she answered, "If we drudge up the old relay system, we can contact the police and Corsair Airfield for support if we need to! We can only use Morse code, but that's better than nothing!"

"Then we'll use it," Edward said quickly, before shifting his gaze to his chief of security, "Lorezno, mobilize your best men and take Sarah with you to Relay Tower 12. Be careful, if we thought of this, there's a chance they did likewise."

"Don't worry sir, I have the best men this side of the damn country. We'll get to that tower in no time," the mole said, much to Lucretia's chagrin.

"_Now_you're getting serious," she grumbled beneath her breath, garnering a glare from the mole.

"And I thank you for your comments, Detective," he said through clinched teeth, "Now you are free to wait in Skyrail Tracy's food court while we handle this. I got a first class unit here! I'm talking ex-SWAT and ex-SEALs. We don't need any Monday morning quarterbacks!"

"Monday morning!? My wife's up there on Skyrail James, and those bastards are fucking with it! That makes me a player on the fucking field, got it!? And if you got off your fat as when I told you to, maybe we wouldn't be in this shit now!"

"Alright! That's it! I've had enough! Security!" Lorenzo shouted, calling over a couple of the men he came in with, "Please, escort Mrs. Salem out of the command center while we handle things!"

"You think you're kicking me out!" the wolfess replied.

"That badge of yours don't mean shit here!" the mole snarled, "And I have no qualms locking you up in our containment room if necessary!"

Lucretia's rage was absolutely boiling by now, almost to the point that she came close to decking the mole in the chin. But her eyes graced over to Edward, who sighed and shook his head. Though her frustrations were still strong, she ultimately relented, accepting his gesture. It was best to just leave instead of getting into a heated argument with Lorenzo, even if he was being incredibly childish about this situation.

So when the hand of one of his guards fell on her shoulders, she shook him off.

"I can walk myself, thank you," she growled before turning to head through the doors.

Her ears and tail were up, burning with a rage that refused to simmer, and everyone watched as Lucretia was led out... before the door closed shut.

"We could have used her help," Edward muttered, though Lorenzo shook his head.

"She's just a detective," he replied, "She's not qualified to handle a situation like this."

"Still... more hands on deck would solve our problems," he countered, "It's not like we have soldiers on hand."

"Well... you do have one," another voice answered.

Rising from a nearby staircase was Allen, who appeared serious and stern. He too had been guided up here along with Lucretia, though he remained mostly silent while the conversations were going on. Now that the stage had been set, he rose to do his part.

"I'm former military and current first responder: Private Allen Powell," he explained, "I was a combat medic when I served my time. I know you have ex-SWAT and ex-SEALs, but do you have someone who can keep everyone alive? Just put a First Aid Kit in my hand, and I'll handle the rest."

Abrasive as he is, Lorenzo naturally wanted to disagree, regardless of Allen's credentials... but his team _didn't_have a combat medic. Besides, if he was a first responder, then it was his job to lend assistance. In the end, it wasn't his call to give, for Edward said,

"Take him."

"What? Are you sure, sir?" Lorenzo countered.

"Yeah, I'm sure. We're already burning time, and I'm not about to send away another gifted horse," Edward explained, before shifting his gaze back to Allen, "Get suited up, Mr. Powell. We've got an hour before the deadline hits. We need communications up in half that time," he then turned to face the squirrel behind him, "Are you ready too, Sarah?"

"Yeah... let's do it, to it!"

...

Chaos. Shear chaos.

Up on Skyrail James, the buffet was raucous with a near rampaging fury. Why were the lights off, why couldn't anyone call anybody, what happened to the internet; just what the hell was going on!? There were too many questions, and the only people who could answer them - those in charge of Skyrail James - couldn't answer any of the questions.

Making matters worse for everyone? There was the _chilling_air. The back up generator didn't take into account pleasantries like a heater, as it only powered necessities. And while some would clearly label something like heat a necessity in a frozen land, clearly the architect disagreed.

Fortunately, the central viewing area of Skyrail James had a fireplace, one that was soon lit and burning. The steady flame and heat was enough to quell some, but not all. Conversations were still going on, many were still confused, and while the guards in charge of Skyrail James were keeping the peace, they were just as confused as everyone else.

And then there was Veronica. Ever the sweet heart, she'd be in there trying to quell those who were worried... but she was worried herself. Sitting in her dark bedroom, she stared out the windows towards Skyrail Tracy below, where the blizzard had only grown thicker. Now she could barely see the rooftop of the fellow building, which further left her in a state of distress.

Where was Lucretia? Was she okay? Oh... that's all she worried about...

"Veronica...?" a voice came from the door, causing her to straighten up.

Looking over the shoulder, her eyes fell upon Jessica. The fellow hare was dressed in her jacket, needing its warmth to stave off the cold. Lingering at the door, the blonde waited for Veronica's approval before entering, where she walked up to the brunette's side.

"Are you... okay, Veronica?" Jessica asked, to which the chocolate bunny took in a deep breath.

"I'm...._physically_okay," she answered, before shaking her head, "Mentally though? I'm not so sure..." her eyes closed shut, "I don't know what's going on... and I'm worried about my wife..." she took in a deep breath, "I'm scared..."

Veronica never admitted to her fears, mostly because in her life, there wasn't much to fear. Sure, there's just the random accidents and incidents in life, but in her eyes, it's best not to worry and fret over theoretical situations. But this? This wasn't 'theoretical'; this was happening. And like the last time this happened, she felt so useless. No, this was even worse; at least then she was with Lucretia. This time...

They were both all alone...

"So... um... like... I know we don't know what's going on, and our spouses are God knows where but... do you wanna talk?" Jessica asked, garnering Veronica's gaze.

She smiled gently whilst offering her hand, a gesture that warmed the chocolate bunny's heart. So she reached back and gently took the blonde's hand into her own.

"Thank you," Roni said softly, "I needed this..."

"Heh... I needed it too," Jessica replied with a wry grin, before glancing out towards the window, "You were right earlier. When we had our other conversation? I love Allen. I love him so much. It's just that..." she closed her eyes, "I'm always worried about him. He grew up in a soldiers house, got taught about how important it is to put others first, and he believes that. It's that same stupid chivalry that made me fall in love with him in the first place. But..." she shook her head, "I don't know... maybe I'm older now but... when we got married, he left to serve our country. We were young and filled with that romantic rush. Thought it would be... ya'know... heh... thought it would be cool if we got married before he went off. But the reality of the situation is... we were just gone from one another for so long. So many things he missed. He didn't see my brother go to college, he missed his own grandfather's death, he missed my grandmother's death. Haaah... there were many moments I wish he was there with me so we can just hold one another... but it couldn't happen."

She clutched Veronica's hand closer, holding it near as she gave a longing gaze to the distance. It brought up old feelings she had, ones she didn't want to experience again, which is why she felt such anger towards Allen. Him coming back, them being together... things just weren't the same as they used to be.

They could never be the same as they used to be...

But...

"Here..."

"Hm? Veronica, what are you-- nmmff?"

It was a hug.

A nice, warm, gentle, hug. The chocolate hare wrapped her arms around the fellow bunny, embracing and holding her close. It at first left Jessica confused, but she slowly began to warm up to Veronica, and eventually reached out to hug her back.

"Mmff... thanks for that," she said as they pulled away, where the brunette was now smiling.

"Hee-hee! I may be a Salem now, but I'm a North since birth. My family loves hugs," Veronica explained, "I'm not going to pretend to know what goes on in your relationship with your husband, nor am I going to pretend that I know what it feels like to not see your spouse for a year. If I didn't see Lucretia for a day, I'd probably be really upset! But I'm happy to know that you do still love Allen. And I know it, I know he loves you too; I can hear it in his voice! These ears aren't for show. Maybe you just need to give it time. As you said, things are different now... but they _won't_be different forever. You'll remember why you got married in the first place. People grow up and older, but they don't change. He's still the chivalrous guy you feel in love with."

Once again, Veronica proved how much of a saccharine woman she was. So sweet, so bubbly, almost to an annoying degree. But... hey, it was actually working. Jessica even smiled as she was given that reassurance that, yes, they did love one another. It may feel like they argue more often than not, but it was just growing pains. They kinda skipped this step when he left for a year, didn't they?

Huff...

"Now... let's just try to keep our spirits up," Veronica said with a hook of her arm through the air, "Whatever's going on, I'm sure it'll be over soon. I'm sure of it!"

"Yeah... I'm sure too."

...

"Just once, I'd like a regular, normal Christmas! Eggnog, a fucking Christmas tree, a little turkey! But, no! I gotta sneak into a motherfucking garage, and steal a damn snowmobile!"

Any good snow-lander is want to have at least one snowmobile! And a ski resort would need to have at least a dozen! And a ski resort that allows one to rent out snowmobiles, would need to have even more than that! So in this garage filled with snowmobiles beside snowmobiles, she just needed to borrow one.

She'll ask for forgiveness later...

Lorenzo and his gang had already left, taking a van meant for snow travel up the mountainside. Lucretia - not going to just stand idly by while her life was in danger - decided to give chase. Sure, the mole said they didn't need her help, but to hell with that! She wasn't helping them; she was helping Veronica!

Fortunately, a long life of busting criminals had blessed Luca with the innate knowledge needed to properly steal a vehicle. Snowmobiles are no different.

It was dark and empty in this garage, cold too, and with the power off, the only way to open up the shutter doors was by good old fashion grit and strength. Good thing Lucretia had a plethora of both. So gripping the chains, she manually pulled them down until the doors were open, letting in a blistering gust of wind and snow. Fuck, she felt it nipping at her flesh beneath her fur, but dammit, she didn't care.

She just needed to push forward...

"Alright... let's get going..." Luca muttered as she mounted her snowmobile.

Before her was a lane that had already been trodden again and again and again. But Lucretia was smart, having gotten her hands upon a pamphlet that had a map of the entire resort on it. All she needed to do was get to the heart; the halfway point between Skyrail Tracy, and Skyrail James. There would be Relay Tower 12.

"Don't worry, Veronica," she said beneath her breath, "I'm coming for you..."

She twisted the throttle...

Vrrrm! Vrrrrm!!! VRRRRRRRMMMM!!!

And she peeled out from within!

...

Act 4: Snow Blind

"Oh man... this is _not_how I imagined I'd be spending my holidays..."

Sarah's voice fell upon deaf ears as she rode int the back of the bulky van. Laptop in hand, the tech-savvy squirrel could only look around to the other men in the car, reading their serious faces. It was just her and seven other men, all of which looked as if the world was coming to an end. So her lighthearted comment was just that; a lighthearted comment. She just wanted to brighten up at least _some_of the moods felt by everyone else... but it clearly didn't work.

As if anything could brighten up this moment...

The ski resort grounds had many natural roads that led up and down the mountains, typically used for maintenance vehicles such as this one. The sides were light with lamppost, drawing attention to the fact that they were some people out here, though few. Most were fellow workers, but a few were civilians trying to make way back to one of the major buildings. How many more were out here on opening day?

"This sucks...?" muttered Allen as he gazed out the windows, "I hope Lorenzo is getting these people inside. That blizzard's gonna kill them if he doesn't."

"Lorenzo's doing his job, we just have to do ours," said the leader - a leopard - of this little commando unit, "Relay Tower 12 is just up this way..." he looked over his shoulder towards Sarah, "You can get us in contact with help, right?"

"I can, and I will. Let's just hope nothing happens in the meantime," she answered.

"Alright then. Charles, there's the relay tower. Let's get in."

Relay Tower 12. Against the more modern amenities around it, including the two castle-like structures - it still owned its aged and warn appearance. Kept more for historical importance as oppose to actual practical use, it stands tall within the heart the ski lanes like a testament to time. Over the years, it had been partly modified to be one of many horns placed around for the intercom system, but not much else.

At the base of the tower was Relay Accessories; a gift shop, and a rather popular one at that. If someone brings you a holiday card from Skyrail, they got it from in here. What once was the tower's specialized hut was transformed into this gift shop, though its old functions still remain with it too being a popular attraction.

"Okay, we just need to wire everything back, and we'll be able to send a message to the police station," Sarah explained as they got out the car, "It shouldn't take too long; maybe lest than five minutes."

"Okay, just get it going," said the leopard as he stepped forward towards a guard standing duty at the gift shop, "You there! We need all hands on deck! I want you to stand guard at the perimeter with my men!"

But the guard standing duty already did not budge. His back remained turned to the leopard, his eyes locked on the relay station. It alerted the squad's leader, who placed his hand on his shoulder.

"Hey! Didn't you listen!?" he shouted, "Or are you deaf! We need help out here!"

"Oh... I heard you. Loud and clear... sir..." a snide voice echoed from under the hood of the man before him.

He turned around, and...

BANG!

The sound cracked through the cold silent air of the landscape around him, causing Sarah to give a sharp, loud gasp. Everyone turned to face the leopard, watching as his body fell back like a sack of rocks. He crumbled upon his back, motionless and still... dead.

While the man who stood above him did so with a pistol in hand, revealing the face of a grinning jackal. All of time was in slow motion while everyone scrambled, with Sarah caught in the middle; still like a statue. She couldn't believe what was happening, and before she knew it, the barrel of his gun was leveling towards her. She screamed the loudest she's ever screamed in her entire life, but it somehow went silent, even to her.

But...

"MOVE IT, SARAH!"

"OOF!?"

She was picked up off her feet, scooped into the arms of Allen who quickly dove behind the van, just in time to dodge a series of--

BANG BANG BANG!!!

Bullets became flying, not just from the jackal, but from elsewhere. The squad didn't know it, but there was a _group_of men surrounding them; all covered by the thick blanket of snow. And while the jackal they saw had a pistol, the others...

RA-TATATATATATATATATATA!!!

Full automatic guns of some sort. Machine guns? Sub-machine guns? It didn't matter; they were in far over their head.

"DAMMIT! IT WAS A TRAP!" shouted out the second in command of this group, "THEY ALREADY GOT TED!" he shook his head, "JANSEN! FIRE BA--"BANG!"AHH!?"

He fell back, landing near Sarah and Allen... dead.

"Holy shit!? What the fuck is happening!?" Sarah cried, though Al kept his cool.

"Dammit..."

He continued holding the squirrel close who huddled to him for protection while the bullets continued flying all around them. They couldn't see their enemies in the fog of snow and ice, but they could see the flashes of muzzle fire, among other things. It ripped and roared through the distance, and before they knew it...

"H-h-holy shit...!? I--"

Sarah's voice got caught as the once thunderous area grew deathly silent. She looked around, ears and tail perking, where she saw nothing but_bodies_. The six men sent to protect them - Lorenzo's elite squad of ex-SWAT and ex-SEALs - were all dead. Blood stained the snows as once live flesh were reduced to nothing but corpses in a short amount of time. Sarah - gasping - quickly covered her mouth in shear shock, struggling to keep her voice in, while Allen held her close.

"I've got this," he said whilst readying a pistol, "I've been in this situation before. Though..." he shrugged his shoulders, "There was more desert then. Same difference, right?"

He was trying to be reassuring, but it didn't work. They were surrounded on all sides by some unknown assailants, and those unknown assailants were coming even closer. They couldn't see them, but they could hear them, crunching through the snow below; heavy boots upon ice and blood. Crunching... crunching... crunching...

Gun...

"We got a couple over here," said a voice, making Sarah flinch and Allen tense up.

And his gaze met the barrel of an H&K MP5. The black gun, the silenced barrel, the cold steel of an iron sights; he never thought he'd be on the receiving end of one these. But he remained tense and rigid, baiting his time as they were held hostage. If he was alone, this would be easy, but with Sarah here... no, he couldn't risk it.

But...

"Boy howdy..." muttered the gunman from above; the leopard who started this mess, "This just isn't your lucky day..."

"Who are you?" Allen snapped back, though the gunman merely shrugged his shoulders.

"In the end, it doesn't matter..." a light gleamed upon his body, "We're just doing this for--" VRRRRRRRMM!"What the he--" THWAK!"GAH!?"

It all happened so fast. A gun, the howl of a machine, followed by a jet-black vehicle! A... _snowmobile?_Yes, a snowmobile! It flew forward, striking the leopard by the side, and launching him through the air. He fell on his back, but by the time he pulled himself up,

BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!

They tore through his chest, riddle putting a swift yet painful end to the assailing leopard. Confused, the two looked up, their eyes falling on--

"LUCRETIA!?"

"MOVE!" the wolfess shouted back.

The speed, the pumping blood, the alertness of her mind; Lucretia threw herself off of the snowmobile, hand reaching out for the MP5 clutched in the hands of the dead leopard. A quick swipe and she scooped it up, holding it in her hands where she looked to the distance. Green eyes like lights against the darkness of the blizzard around her, she unleashed a torrent of bullets towards snowy dunes. They ripped and rippled through the air, forcing two men to rush for cover, less they be stricken by her wayward bullets. She couldn't focus for too long on them, as more bullets came flying, whizzing overhead and forcing Lucretia to dive for cover behind the black van Sarah and Allen road in on.

Her back pressed to it, Lucretia checked the MP5 in hand, wondering how - once again - she was wielding one of these guns so close to Christmas day. Seriously, was it a curse that she was destined to fight terrorists or thieves or whatever the fuck in December? Next time, she's fucking hibernating, and she doesn't care if wolves don't hibernate!

Focus, Lucretia, focus! There were five men out there with guns, all of them pointing at her!

As bullets pelted the other side of the van, denting metal and shattering glass, Lucretia readied her gun. No hesitation; the moment there was a break in cacophony, she popped over the corner and--

RA-TATATATATATATATATA!!!

Bullets pierced the air, shattering snow and roaring towards the gift shop in the distance. There was a man in said gift shop, one she had forced down for cover. For the rest, her eyes scattered to search for them. A man there behind another snowmobile, another man over there between some poles, a third guy who was--

"FUCK!?"

RA-TATATATATATA!!!

She ducked just in time, dodging bullets which struck the hood of the car and flew overhead. Dammit, there were too many people around with too many vantage points; she couldn't handle them all at once! If she over extended, someone else will riddle her to death with bullets! She needed to be smarter! She needed to be...

"Wait...! I got it!"

Lucretia pulled out her pistol, took aim, and--

BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!

BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!

BLAM!

Each bullet struck their target, but no one was hit... because she wasn't aiming at anyone. Lucretia was aiming at the lights!

One by one they were shattered into pieces, covering the land in shdows which made it impossible to stare through. The men gawked in surprise, but Lucretia was already moving. Under the cover of darkness, she made way for the one man between the poles. He heard her coming, but by the time he saw her--

WHAM!

It was too late.

Being punched by Lucretia isn't like being punched by just any wolf. It's akin to being punched by a trained boxer, if not even worse! The vicious blow immediately winded the man in front of her (she assumed him to be a bear considering how bulky he was) and sent him tumbling back into the pole behind him. He scrambled for his gun, but Lucretia was quicker, and swatted it out of the way.

RA-TATATATATATA!!!

The bullets continued roaring out, followed by the fierce muzzle flash which brightened up the darkness. It drew over the eyes of his allies, who just briefly got glimpses of their partner as the wolfess completely dominated him in close combat. By the time they realized what was happening...

BLAM! BLAM!

Lucretia finished their partner with two bullets to the chest. He fell back, resting against the pole behind him as his head held low. The wolfess didn't stick around for much longer, and quickly retreated into the shadows. Just in time too, because--

RA-TATATATATATATATATATATATATA!!!

"WHERE ARE YOU, YOU FUCKING BITCH!?"

One of the men stepped forward, firing wildly into Lucretia's general direction. He knew she was over here; they all saw her here last! Soon, his wild firing was joined by his partner, who also came in to spray his bullets into the wild yonder. Neither side could see the redhead, and with their vicious firing, they couldn't _hear_her either.

Good...

Just a short walk up, and--

BLAM! BLAM!

One body, down.

"WHAT THE!?" BLAM! BLAM!"AAHH!?"

Another body, down.

That's... three down! Two more to go! One was in the gift shop, the other was--

Click!

"Huh?" Lucretia said as she turned to suddenly face, "WHAT THE!?"

Lights!

Vrrrm! Vrrrrm!

In front of her were the headlights of a snowmobile, illuminating the path ahead, and the red wolfess who was caught in its gaze. But on the snowmobile was not one man, but two!

VRRRRMMM!!!

The vehicle came roaring towards her, with one man controlling the vehicle, and the other readying his MP5. He straightened up, aimed down the sights of his gun, and--

RA-TATATATATATATATATA!!!

The wicked bullets of his gun howled through the air, forcing Lucretia to make a break for fences in the distance. Leaping over it, she fell into a snow embankment, and tumbled down its edge. Amid the chaos, she accidentally lost grip on her pistol, losing it the snow. And with the darkness she caused, she couldn't so easily get her hands on it.

"FUCK!" she growled, only to be cut short by the howl of the snowmobile.

In the distance, it drifted and turned, once again trapping the wolfess in its sights. As the man riding shotgun reloaded his gun, the one driving squeezed upon the gas, causing their vehicle to come roaring towards her. This was stupid! This was really stupid! But what other choice did she have!

What choice? The _simplest_choice. Lucretia ran _towards_the oncoming snowmobile!

It came closer and she came closer, giving the man on the back no time to pop his clip in place. One moment they were rushing to kill the redhead. The next moment, the redhead was right in their faces. In a fraction of a second, Lucretia leaped, ducked her head down, pusher her shoulder forward, and--

THWAK!

"GAAH!?"

"AAAH!?"

Her body like a missile, the wolfess struck both men, knocking them clear off of their snowmobile. All three rolled into the snow, while the snowmobile kept going into the distance where it eventually crashed into a snow mound. As the howl of its treads pierced the air, the men who once commandeered it stood up.

THWAK!

WHAM!

Only to be kicked back down.

As if pain was some foreign concept to Lucretia, the wolfess was already back on her feet and growling like the vicious beast she was. One of the men quickly threw himself at her, but she stood her ground, and instead turned the tables on him. The two rolled into a ball upon the snow, with Lucretia on top, punching and clawing at his face. Given a reprieve, his partner got up to help him, but even as he tried to get the jump on the redhead, she shot a foot into his gut, kicking him back.

"Wait your fucking turn!" she snarled, only too-- WHAM!"Gah!? Dammit!"

The punch to her face forced her back and off of him, and the man from behind quickly tackled her. But - once again - Lucretia utterly_refused_ to go down! Not yet! No yet! She turned, brought up her elbow, and--

_SLAMMED_it right down upon the spine of her attacker!

"AGGH!?"

He fell face-first into the snow, giving Luca enough time to deal with the man in front of her. He rushed for her and she rushed back, his arms slamming on her shoulders, but her hands falling on his waist. Briefly the two tussled in this combined hold, both trying to topple the other, and both failing. Eventually the man pulled back... with Lucretia _allowing_him to do so.

But when he did put some feet between them, he felt... lighter. His hand even dropped to his waist and...

Oh...

His gun was gone.

He looked up...

Lucretia was holding it.

RA-TATATATATATATATATA!!!

The bullets ripped into him, blocked not by the jacket he wore. Each one met flesh, killing and dropping him almost instantly.

And then there was one...

"RAH!"

And this 'one' still had some fight left in him!

Luca turned around, now giving a face that was more annoyed than it was bloodthirsty. The man before her was a feline of some sort, and with his knife in hand, he swung desperately in an attempt to kill her. Each swipe missed however; Lucretia was just as skilled in close-quarters combat as she was from afar. And after one swing too many, she grabbed his wrist, and then twisted it so hard, that a vicious--

CRACK!

Noise echoed through the air.

"AAAAAHH-HAAAAAAH!?" the feline roared as bones and joints were shattered.

But Luca wasn't done. And with one push...

"MMFFFPH!?"

The blade of his knife pushed between his chest, severing arteries with deadly precision.

The feline stepped back as his blade choked him, filling lungs with blood that soon came spurting from his mouth. He tried standing, but his feet suddenly felt light... in fact, his entire _body_felt light. His eyes then rolled back, he gave another breath that got choked, and before he knew it...

Thud!

He fell into the snow...

Dead...

With a deep breath, Lucretia stood up. That was five men, right? Five men she counted... and five men who were now dead. Great. Fucking perfect. She had five dead terrorists or criminals or whatever, and six dead guards.

"Haaaah... fuck..."

The relay tower... they needed to get to the relay tower...

"Lucretia!? Are you okay?" called a voice from the edge of the snowy hillside, her eyes falling on Allen.

"Yeah, Al... I'm fine," she answered before crawling up to join him, "Now let's get to the relay tower to--"

"OH NO!?"

That voice... it was--

"SARAH!?" Allen and Lucretia cried in unison.

Together they ran for the gift shop, noticing how strange it was that the squirrel was running _away_from it.

"GET DOWN!" she shouted, right when--

KA-THOOOOOOOOOMMM!!!

A wicked explosion roared out as the gift shop - and the relay tower - both went up in a glorious ball of wood and flames! The force of the detonation was so great, that even with their distance, Lucretia and Allen were knocked back by it! The ground even rumbled if not outright quaking for meters around, shaking the trio to their cores. They were unaffected by the blast, but that's not what was important.

Lucretia and Allen slowly got back to their feet and got over to Sarah, helping the squirrel stand as well. Then all three of them gazed at the relay tower. They were astonished... well... not Luca. No, she wasn't surprised. Disappointed, but not surprised.

"Bait..." she said aloud as they watched the fire dance, "Just something to jerk us around. Make Lorenzo waste his best men. Make us waste our time. Time we don't have..." she then looked up towards Skyrail James in the distance, "Time _they_don't have..."

"I can't believe this..." Allen muttered, "If the relay tower is destroyed and we can't use it..." he looked at Sarah, "What now?"

"I don't know... I..." Crunch... crunch... "Hm? L-Luca? Where are you going?"

"I gotta get up to Skyrail James," she answered flatly, "There's no if ands or buts about it. You two can head back to Tracy but... I'd much rather be where my wife is and not out here."

"Then I'm coming too," Allen said whilst stepping forward as well, "I'm not leaving Jessica up there in that cold coffin by herself. I rather be with her than away from her. Besides... if there are more terrorists, at least you'll have some back up."

"B-b-but! W-w-wait, you guys!" Sarah called as she gripped their arms, "You can't leave yet! You... hahh... L-Lucretia..." she faced her, "You're a detective, right?"

"Uh... yeah?"

"And you said you saw Colonel Mason disembark from the gondola this morning, right?"

"Yes... I did..."

"And that he and his men were wearing Skyrail uniforms, right?"

"What are you getting at?" Allen asked, to which the squirrel took in a deep breath.

"Okay... listen to me... hmmm... so months ago, I realized something strange. As head engineer, I like to check through all of Skyrail's systems before opening day. I want to check wires, computers, fucking TVs; if it has wires running through it, I want to make sure everything is going well! I usually make these rounds with the head of our maintenance crew following with me... but..."

"But...? What?" Luca asked.

"That's the thing; a month ago, our old maintenance crew - including the men in charge of things like painting - were all fired."

"Fired... why?" Allen asked, to which Sarah shrugged her shoulders.

"I don't know!" she said, "I was just as shocked as you are! But the thing is... you see... hah... I may lose my job over this, but I don't care considering the circumstances. Skyrail's been going in the red for several _years_now. Each season we make less money than we did the last. So when they got fired, I thought Mr. Grant was just cutting costs. But... then we suddenly hired an entirely _new_team a month ago. No warning, no prior knowledge, no nothing; I was just suddenly reading a bunch of new names on the list of workers we have."

"Did you recognize any of these names?" Lucretia inquired with an eyebrow raised, though Sarah shook her head.

"Not one of them," she answered, "And Unfortunately, I've never met them either. Once again, I didn't think anything of it! I just thought we were hiring new guys who'd work for less than our old ones, since we do need maintenance workers and the like. But now I'm thinking... what if those guys we hired weren't normal guys... what if they were Colonel Mason and his men?"

"That would explain why they were getting off the gondola this morning... but..." Lucretia shrugged her shoulders, "That doesn't make any sense... why wait until just earlier to put the transceiver? And why did they bother coming here in the first place?"

"The transceiver was probably my doing," Sarah explained, "I check the luggage room to make sure the belts are working before the guests arrive. I would have _definitely_noticed a transceiver being placed upon the base of our communications tower, among anything else being out of the ordinary."

"Damn... they had you figured out, Sarah. Meaning..." Luca muttered, to which the squirrel nodded.

"I think someone who knows me really well is telling them this information. Someone who could also hire them. And there's only one person who knows this much..."

"Grant..." Allen muttered, "But... no... the way he was acting up there in the command center... you're telling me that was all pretend? Why would he even help these guys; what doe he serve to gain?"

"Remember what Sarah just said?" Lucretia asked, "Skyrail's losing money. What's a surefire way of getting a lot of money really fast?_Insurance._If these guys steal a lot of money from him, and cause some property damage like that," she pointed at the flames, "Then he's looking at a nice, fat paycheck. He closes up Skyrail, he gets the money, he retires to a lovely little country side somewhere. At least, that's my idea."

"I really hope it's not like that," Sarah said as she wilted a bit, "I'm hopeful that this is all coincidence... that I'm just grasping for straws... but..." she shook her head, "It really feels that way. It really feels like Mr. Grant is--"

Bzzzt!

Beep! Beep!

"Prancer, respond. Have they come to the relay tower? ... Prancer? Prancer!"

That voice. that voice was _familiar_to them. That voice... it was cold, uncaring, indifferent, professional. That voice... they had heard it before. It was the same voice that spoke through them on the intercom. That voice... where was it coming from?

Lucretia looked down and around, her gaze falling on the nearby corpse of one of her victims. Running for it, she checked his body, finding a beeping radio on his hip.

"A radio? Of course! That doesn't rely on communication towers to work!" said Sarah as she watched Lucretia pick it off of corpse, "But uh... what are you going to do with it?"

"Well... he's looking for someone, right? It would be rude to keep him on hold," Lucretia answered where she flicked her thumb upon its switch.

The voice on the other end was getting louder.

"Prancer! Respond now! Pran--"

"Prancer? What, are the reindeer games in town? I hope you invited Rudolph too,Colonel Mason..."

And a silence befell the area. Not even the flames of the nearby fire could be heard, as Allen, Sarah and Lucretia focused their attentions on the radio in hand. They waited for response, any response... and boy did they get it.

"Detective Salem," said that cold voice on the other end, "The heroine policewoman who saved the Olympia Mall hostages... am I correct?"

Luca swallowed her spit.

"Yeah... you're correct," she answered.

"I read about you in People magazine," continued on the voice, "You seemed out of your leage on Nightline, though..."

"Yeah, Colonel, we were both famous for five minutes," Lucretia countered, "I saw you get shit-canned by Congress on TV. So tell me, how much money is Rudolph paying you to turn traitor?"

"I think it was Cardinal Richelieu who said it best: Treason is merely a matter of dates. This country has to learn it can't keep cutting the legs off of men like Rudolph. Men with the guts to stand up against people like Al-Qaeda, like the Taliban, like Russia. While we're twiddling our thumbs in America trying to figure out if or when we should get involved with crises, men like Rudolph aren't afraid to arm the courageous rebels who fight against these terrors."

"You stupid fuck!" Lucretia snarled back, "He's a damn arms dealer; he'll give guns to anyone willing to pay for it! Besides, lesson one of your little teachings start with killing guards and innocents? Then what's lesson two? The atom bomb!?"

Again silence befell them all... but this didn't last anywhere near as long as it did before.

"Oh... I'm sure we can find something in the middle..." Colonel Mason whispered.

Skkktzzz!

The radio died, causing Lucretia to look at Allen and Sarah, who stared back.

"What no--" THWOOM! THWOOM! THWOOM!"Ah!?"

Suddenly and all around them... there was _lights!_They illuminated the entirety of Skyrail, as if someone flipped all the switches all at once. Luca, Al and Sarah all winced in unison, before gazing around to their surroundings. Why were the lights suddenly on? And not just for the resort's grounds, but the buildings too! Power seemed to return!

But why?

"What the...?" muttered Allen, "Uh... guys..." he pointed towards the distance, "Please tell me that's not what I think it is..."

Both Lucretia and Sarah stared towards where he was pointing at, their eyes falling upon the towers which kept Skyrail's beloved gondola's moving. And at the tip of these towers, where the wires met them in fact were blinking red lights. Sarah's eyes grew wide at the sight of them.

"Please tell me that's normal," Allen said.

Sarah shook her head...

"They're... they're..."

...

KA-THOOOOOOOOOMMM!!!

"AAAH!?"

"HUAAAH!?"

An explosion? Was that what they just heard? An explosion!? They just heard an explosion!?

It was cold up here on Skyrail James. Far, far colder than it had been before as the heat flowed out. Needing warmth, Veronica and Jessica both huddled under the chocolate bunny's covers, using them as best they could. Side by side, hugging one another, sharing silly stories; if things were different, this would be like some sleepover from years past.

But no...

And all of this was shattered the moment that explosion roared out.

Veronica and Jessica rushed to the windows, peering out towards the sudden ball of fire that erupted in the center of the ski resort's grounds. Flames and smog flowed high into the sky, no doubt choking those around it. If they were afraid before, well, those fears only exploded as they gazed at the raging inferno.

"What the hell is going on?" Jessica muttered, while Veronica shook her head.

"Oh Luca... please tell me you're okay... please tell me..."

Moments passed by as the two grew silent, and they could hear others on Skyrail James start to scream and holler. What was going on? Why was the power still out? And what was with that explosion? Whatever those in charge had done to quell everyone, was rapidly deteriorating! But then...

Out of nowhere...

THWOOM! THWOOM! THWOOM!

Veronica and Jessica sprung up, for suddenly and without warning... the lights... they...

"Are on...? They're on?" said Jessica as she gazed up, "Why are the lights on... ah!? Whatever happened must be over! We must be getting saved now!"

The blonde said it quickly... but it was clear she herself didn't believe those words. It was hopeful, wishful thinking, but the explosion and fire said otherwise. Veronica however, remained silent and instead checked her phone, attempting to call Lucretia.

Nothing went through...

"Things are going to get worse..." Veronica whispered as she stared at Jessica, before looking out towards the hanging gondolas, "Luca must be rubbing off on me, because things are going to get..." her eyes doubled in size and she began quivering, "Oh no..."

"Oh no...?" Jessica repeated before looking at the window.

"JESSICA, GET DOWN, NOW!!!"

KRACK-THOOOOOM!!!

A vicious explosion.

KRACK-THOOOOM!!!

Another vicious explosion!

KRACK-THOOOOM!!!

A third vicious explosion!!!

KRACK-THOOOOM!!!

KRACK-THOOOOM!!!

KRACK-THOOOOM!!!

One moment, the void of a blizzard covered night was as silent and as still as a church during prayer. The next moment, it was alight with fiery explosion after fiery explosion! Explosions far greater than the one that destroyed the relay tower. Explosions far greater than anyone had ever seen before.

And they happened on the gondola rides.

At the tops of the towers that ferry them from one side of Skyrail to the other, there were untold amounts of explosions set. C4 one could assume but in the end, it matters not. Once armed, these bombs did what bombs do best...

They blew up... they blew up gooooood...

The steel cables that held Skyrail's gondolas were instantly snapped as the force of the explosions were enough to mangle their holders if not tear them outright. The stands themselves were bent and mangled, all but falling and breaking apart in a glorious display of horrible disaster. And once the cables were undone, the gondolas fell, collapsing through the air in gnarled fireballs of ruined metal and shattering glass.

One. By one. By one.

And down here - on ground zero - Lucretia, Allen and Sarah could only stare up... before the raining fireballs came towards them.

"MOOOOOVEEEE!!!" Luca cried, where she quickly scooped up the squirrel in her arms.

Together, the trio ran for the safest place they could find; the snow embankment. Leaping over the edge of the fence, they tumbled and rolled down the snowy incline, while up above the fiery destruction fell. Even with the distance they covered, the heat from the flames was enough to make the temperature do a complete 180! From barely pushing past 18 degrees, to now being near 100!

On the grounds below, the trio writhed from the impact of their tumble, while they stared up to the blazing hell created in Colonel Mason's wake. Lucretia was the first to stand as she peered at the inferno, mortified as tears began brimming in her eyes. It was more than just needing the gondolas in place to get people safely down from Skyrail James, but she had to wonder...

Were there people still on board? People who were just... no... no...

She shook her head, refusing to entertain such a thought... but knowing she'd have to anyway. Teeth against teeth, she screwed her eyes shut, while her arms wiped away some of the tears she shed.

"You son of a bitch...!" she snarled at the wind, "You son of a bitch!"

Bzzzt!

Beep! Beep!

It was Mason. Lucretia pulled up the radio to speak, but he did so first.

"And thus concludes our object lesson this evening," he said... cold... uncaring... indifferent... professional, "If the money we requested is ready on time and unmolested in the location we established, then further lessons can be avoided."

"YOU SON OF A--"

Skkktzzz!

"Mason? Mason!? MASON!!! ANSWER ME NOW YOU FUCK!"

Lucretia shook the radio, but to no avail. It was dead silent, and required a code in order to be activated. And with the numerical keypad on its surface, that code could be anything. Annoyed and frustrated, the wolfess came close to punching the radio, if not outright tossing it into the fire before her, but that would do very little. Making matters even worse...

Thwooooom...!

The power went off once again, basking everything in shadows... save for the raging inferno that now carved through Skyrail like a scar. Again they were put in the darkness, with no way of knowing where to go, or even what to do.

"Shit!? Where are these guys!?" Lucretia snarled out to the wind, her anger having reached a crescendo, "They blow up a fucking gondola, and we're just sitting here twiddling our thumbs together like damned school children!?"

"Lucretia, please. Yelling out loud isn't going to help anyone!" Allen replied, and though the wolfess understood what he was saying, it did little for her ballooning rage.

"I'm not just going to stand here and do nothing while my wife freezes to death, and these fucks get whatever the hell they're after!" she countered, "I swear, I'm gonna find them, and I'm gonna fuck them up once I do!"

"WAAAAIIT!!!" Sarah suddenly shouted, causing the two to stop and look at her, "Okay! Let me think... hmmmmph...!" she tensed up and closed her eyes, before letting out a deep breath, "Alright, I got it! So... I was thinking about how these guys got hold over our power, right? One transceiver in our communications tower isn't going to control the entirety of Skyrail! And even if they did hijack some of our systems, they couldn't control everything like they have. Not unless they were piggybacking off our power supply. And if they're piggybacking off of our power supply, then they have to be close by! They have to be in a place where they can hot-wire our cords and manipulate them to their whims!"

"So... what are you trying to say? That they're nearby?" Allen asked, though Sarah shook her head.

"No! Well... not exactly! See... um... okay, so if Mr. Grant did hire them, and has been feeding them information about Skyrail, then they must be as knowledgeable on its intricacies as I am," Sarah claimed, "I wasn't working here when Skyrail was first built, but I came on after its first season of operation. When I did, I made sure to study everything_I possibly could about this place, where I learned something..." she pointed to the distance, "Skyrail was originally going to be a lot_larger. Mr. Grant bought more than just this land on Mount Vincent, but he also bought land that was close to Corsair Airfield. They had begun construction and everything, before fine tuning their original plans and canceling whatever project they originally began. My assumption is that those men are using that old, defunct wire lines to take control over Skyrail's power!"

"Then where is it?" Lucretia asked, to which Sarah shook her head.

"I don't know," she answered begrudgingly, "But if we can get back up to the command center, I can find the plans they had and use them to pinpoint their location."

Luca and Al looked at one another, trading knowing glances, before the wolfess brought her eyes over towards Skyrail James. With the flames dancing high, and the castle perched on its snowy mountain, things looked even more bleak, more desolate, more distant. But Lucretia didn't give up, wouldn't give up. She'd save not only Veronica, but everyone else in this ski resort, so help her God!

And that motherfucker Mason? Oh... he'd get his soon...

"Let's go..." she said.

Everyone nodded.

...

"By God..."

There wasn't much that would silence Lorenzo. He was loud, abrasive, annoying on a good day, and absolutely terrible on the worse. But this? Even this could quiet the mole.

In the command center of Skyrail Tracy, everyone watched as the resort's famous and beloved gondolas were reduced to nothing but steel and fire. The 'skyrail' that the resort is named after, gone now, and right before their eyes. Astonishment ran through everyone, while some distant crying could be heard... but not one soul could really speak. It was horrible. Utterly horrible.

"Fucking... Christ," muttered Lorenzo as he shook his head, "Eileen! Have you gotten in contact with the police... the fire department, whoever!?"

"N-n-no, sir," a voice answered, shivering and quaking with tears, "I... the phone lines are still down."

"Dammit!" he slammed his fist upon the guardrail, "Fuck! Well... someone has to have seen the Skyrail explode! We have to get some help sooner or later! God!" he ran his hands through his hair, "This is crazy... this is too crazy... this is--" THUNK!"What the!?"

Everyone turned, facing the entrance to the command center, where suddenly Lucretia, Allen and Sarah returned. Astonished, they all pulled back, while the battle warn trio walked up straight up to the main platform. Even Lorenzo - for all his bust and blunder - couldn't help but be awe-stricken as the red wolf marched up to him and shouted out,

"Where the hell is Grant!?"

Hearing that seemed to snap Lorenzo to his senses.

"Salem!? The hell are you doing back up here; I told the guards outside to--"

"Can it, Lorenzo! I asked a damn question; where the hell is Grant at!?" she shouted, cutting him off.

"Listen, I've had it up to hear with your damn insubordinate attitude, Mrs. Salem! As you can tell, we kinda have a fucking crisis on hand; I don't have time to deal with your bitchy attitude!" the mole snapped, to which Sarah stepped in front of him.

"Then deal with mine," said the squirrel, cutting him short, "Lorenzo... something serious is going on here; you can see it and I can see it. Since the beginning, this was targetted!"

"Duh, they want the money! 30 million dollars! You heard that too, Sarah!" the mole countered, though she shook her head.

"Yes and no. The money was just a red-herring! It was just... wait..." she looked around, "Where's Mr. Grant?"

"He left not too long after you guys did," he said, "He went to his safe to collect the money, and now he's heading to the furthest house on Snowcrest Trail; just as he was told to do..." the mole raised an eye, "Why? He's trying to save everyone."

"He's not!" Sarah said, "He's not going to drop the money off and be done with it; he's in on this whole ordeal!"

"WHAT!? Where the hell do you get off saying something like that!? Do you even have any proof!?" Lorenzo shouted, causing Lucretia to step forward.

"Actually, we do," the squirrel answered, "Remember all those people Mr. Grant suddenly hired to replace the old maintenance team? Did you ever meet any of them?"

He shook his head.

"No... I... I didn't..." Lorenzo said as he gave her a perplexed look.

"Lucretia said she saw a wolf named Mason leave disembark from the gondola when we were opening," Sarah continued on, "And that they were wearing uniforms they could only get if they worked here. Not only that, but when we got to Relay Tower 12 before it was destroyed, we were jumped by men wearing our guard uniforms. Look, I know it's hard to believe, but we both know how downhill Skyrail has gone for the past few years. The entire maintenance crew was fired, but then these guys were suddenly hired, and I just have to know..." she raised an eyebrow, "Have you met _any_of them?"

Lorenzo grew silent, reading the pleading, if not outright desperate face Sarah had on. She needed_him to believe this; to believe _her. If Lucretia or even Allen told them this, he would have laughed it off without a second thought. But for these words to leave Sarah? Well...

"Holy shit... I can't believe I'm listening to this..." the mole muttered.

"You said Mr. Grant left to deliver the money, right?" Lucretia asked as she stepped forward, "When he left... did he leave alone?"

"Yeah, he did," Lorenzo said, "He said he didn't want to give them any potential hostages, so he went himself."

Luca and Allen looked at one another, trading glances.

"Now I've worked a lot of jobs, but I've never had a boss this genial before," said the human, "There's no way in hell he's just going to give himself up like that."

"Believe it," Sarah said, "If you told me a Mr. Grant would take a bullet for his janitor, I'd believe you. He's an incredibly affable and kind man. Christmas bonuses and everything; the whole nine yards. The idea that he'd be in on this is just... too much... that's the unbelievable thing."

"Desperate times call for desperate measures," Lucretia remarked, "If Skyrail really is going down the gutter, he probably did this out of desperation," she shook her head, "but that doesn't forgive any of this. A crime is a crime, no matter what. Okay then..." she stepped back, "This house on Snowcrest Trail... where is it?"

"It's probably Staff Cabin 27. We have multiple little cabins placed around the resort grounds to store things we need," Sarah answered, "But even Staff Cabin 27 is out of the way. It's really old and we haven't used it for storage in years. The only way they'd know about it is if someone told them about it," her face grew longer, "Oh Mr. Grant, why?"

"So what do we do now?" Lorenzo asked, "Mr. Grant's probably halfway there to Staff Cabin 27."

"If he's taking a van, he'll have to take the snow roads to make it there," Lucretia countered, "But if we have some take a snowmobile, they'll be able to cut through the foliage. We can make it there in time, but we gotta send someone who knows what they're doing."

"Then send me," Allen said as he placed his hand on his chest, "I know you just got out there and took down five guys by yourself, Lucretia, but I'm sure I can take down a rich guy and a thug or two."

"Still, you shouldn't go alone. Colonel Mason's men had that tower locked down. There's a chance he'll have this one locked down too," Lucretia said, though Allen shook his head.

"I don't think so. Remember, they wanted Lorenzo's best men dead, and maybe Sarah too," he countered, "But if Mr. Grant really is in on this, there'd be no reason to do so. Besides, I don't think this Colonel Mason guy has that much manpower to keep the entirety of the resort hostage, especially if it's true and he's really going after that Rudolph guy. Personally, I don't think there was ever a chance we got out of this without the gondola dying. If this whole plan has been nothing more than a giant ruse to mask their true intentions, they'd need some destruction."

"Wait! Whoa, whoa, whoa! What the hell is goin' on right now!?" Lorenzo roared, "I need to be caught up on this! Colonel Mason!? What the hell does some Colonel Mason have to do with this shit!?"

"He's the one behind this all!" Sarah answered, "And he's actually going after Rudolph Gruber, the arms dealer who's being sent to Corsair Airfield! This whole robbery has been nothing but a ruse perpetrated by him and Mr. Grant! Mr. Grant gets insurance money, Mason gets Rudolph, everyone walks away happy, except for the people dead! That 30 million dollars is probably just Mr. Grant's payment in all of this!"

"Ooookaaaaay... so..." Lorenzo pointed at Allen, "If you're going after Mr. Grant..." then he pointed at Lucretia, "Where are you going?"

"Me? I'm going after Colonel Mason myself. Which reminds me..." Lucretia said before sweeping her eyes towards--, "Sarah!"

"Huh? Oh! Right! The wires! Over here, Lucretia!"

Together, the red wolfess and squirrel made way for a section at the edge of the room. Quickly, Sarah darted around, searching through a shelf in front of her for--

"Ah-ha! Found them!"

"Found what?" Luca asked.

"Skyrail's initial plans," she answered, "I keep them here like maps so I can easily locate things if anyone goes awry. I'll just check through here and... and... and... okay! Gotcha!"

Moving to a desk, Sarah flattened the building's plans out, showing Lucretia a map that was several years old by now. There were scratches here, markings there, some spilled coffee, but it was all still so very legible. They could see everything; Skyrail James, Tracy and Junior, as well as the many, many trails and routes that run through the resort. Among them were the many wires that run beneath the resort's grounds, keeping things running properly.

But it went beyond that.

"Right... here..." said Sarah as she pointed at one specific wire, "This is the one... it runs straight through the city, under the road and right over here. Then it segments off to plug us directly into the city's power grid."

"I see but... this map is too under-detailed; it only shows the resort's grounds," Lucretia said, "How would I even know where this wire stops at?"

"Right, right, right... ummm...! Okay, so, like, remember what I said earlier?" Sarah said as she reached for a nearby map of Vincent City, "About how Skyrail was originally going to be larger? If I overlay this map of Vincent City over it, and line everything up like... so... okay, we'll see where the wire ends! And it's right where the old plans stop! Right here!"

Lucretia looked at the map. Right where Sarah was pointing was a church. It's name was 'Golden Hope'.

"Golden Hope...?" Lucretia said as she eyed the map, "It was built four years ago. This map was made on year ago. This is where the wire stops. If anyone were to plug themselves into this wire, they could hijack our things, which is what Colonel Mason did. Again, the only person who could possibly know about this is Mr. Grant. He's the only one besides me who'd have access to this information."

"Damn... Mr. Grant's a piece of work, really," Lucretia said before giving Sarah a smile, "Thanks so much for this, Sarah. If I was single, I'd swear I'd kiss you!"

"Umm... uh... th-thanks...?" muttered the squirrel with a shy blush, only for Lucretia to grab her hand and pull her back to the center platform, "Whoa!"

"Alright you guys, we've got our plan," Lucretia said as she returned to Allen and Lorenzo, "Al and Lorenzo, you've gotta stop Mr. Grant. I don't care how you do it, just get it done, and be safe..." she then pointed to herself with her thumb, "Meanwhile, me and Sarah are heading to Golden Hope Church!"

"W-w-wait!? I'm going with you!?" said the squirrel.

"Yes! Because as smart as I am, I'm not smart enough to return power to Skyrail. We still have people up there freezing their asses off, and we're gonna save them!"

"Oh... yeah... g-guess that makes sense... okay then..." she nodded affirmatively, "Let's go!"

"Alright... I can trust you guys, right?" Lucretia said as she faced Lorenzo and Allen, who both nodded.

"I can't believe I'm agreein' to this, and I don't necessarily think 100% that Mr. Grant's done anything wrong but... we're just sittin' ducks otherwise," the mole muttered, "So me and Mr. Powell here'll do our bests!"

"You do your best and survive, Lucretia," Allen said, to which the wolfess nodded and then grinned.

"What? Me die? Out here? I wouldn't even imagine it!" she said whilst chuckling, "Roni and I are gonna have _nine_kids and grow old together; I can't do that if I'm dead! And you are too! You be safe, Allen!"

"Safe for... what, exactly?" he asked, "Safe to grow old with Jessica together, or safe to have nine kids?"

"Both? Preferably the nine kids first?"

"Holy shit, are you trying to kill me by heart attack!? Nine kids!? In this day in age!?"

"Hey, Veronica wants a big family! There's no way in hell I'm suffering through that shit alone! And after tonight, we're friends for life, so get ready for it!"

"Haaah... I should've just stayed in Eastgate!"

"Um! Guys!" Sarah spoke up, "We really should get moving!"

"Right! Right!" said Lucretia as she pointed for the door, "Everyone, move!"

...

Act 5: Die Hard

"Did you see that explosion!?"

"It happened at Skyrail! Look, we gotta move, quick!"

"Alright, get going, get going! Someone find the Major, stat! And tell air patrol to cancel Rudolph's landing! Have him land at Russell Airfield instead!"

Heh... they fell for it. Hook, line, and sinker.

Corsair Airfield wasn't used very often. Typically, it was seen as a practice run for new recruits in the Air Force, but never for the reasons you'd think. Instead of jumping into jets and flying around at sonic speeds... most new recruits came here to learn how to _clean_those fancy jets they'd one day get to fly. So, yeah, it was a boring little military base, one where most of the action went to first responders learning how to pilot things like medical helicopters.

Yes, the medics see more action than the soldiers do, and no, this bit of irony is not lost on them.

Now however, things were completely different. Privates, lieutenants, majors; it didn't matter. Once those explosion roared out, everyone was up in arms. From grunts to first responders, they were all rushing to get suited up, armed, and then into vehicles, riding out quickly and leaving the military sparse save for the noncombatants who were performing their duties. It was the simple things like maintenance workers, the defense monitors, and - in this case--

POW! POW! POW!

The_air patrol..._

Ba-Dump!

"Boy oh boy!" said a certain sly fox, "These guys fell for it, just as we thought!"

"Do you ever shut up?"

Corsair Airfield had been taken control of... and no one even noticed...

Two bodies fell, having been suddenly and callously killed like so many before them. There was no warning, no preamble; this bear and fox just walked inside, and gunned them down without a moment's hesitation. With the base in as much chaos as it was, no one noticed nor heard them. And to truly make sure no one noticed, the bear and fox picked up these two corpses, stuffing them into a nearby closet.

"And that takes care of that!" said the fox with a cheery smile, though the bear beside him was less enthusiastic.

"Hugggh... notify the Clubhouse. I'll get in contact with Rudolph's plane."

"Got it!"

Grinning from cheek to cheek, the fox pulled a radio from his hip, punching in a quick code before flipping its switch. Raising it up, he said,

"Donder, this is Blitzen. Gotta say, those reindeer games got really flashy! I'm surprised; I wasn't expecting them to occur so soon!"

"Things changed, Blitzen," replied the cold voice on the other end, "I take it that Santa's Workshop has been properly taken care of?"

"Sure has. All those naughty little elves have run out, and those left well..." the fox shrugged his shoulders, "They won't be too problematic. It seems as if everyone was jumping to watch those games. Can't really blame them; you know I love my explosions."

"Oh don't worry, there will be _more_of that once we're in the skies," replied the voice with a certain, sinister edge to it, "But we need to focus first. Has Rudolph's sleigh arrived yet?"

"Almost Donder. We're in control of air however. Once we get that first call, we'll handle everything else."

"Good. I'm coming over to Santa's Workshop. Make sure everything goes well."

"Got it, Donder!"

Skkktzzz!

"You heard him, right, Danny?" said the fox to the bear, but said bear was shaking his head.

"Corsair Tower to FM-1, do you copy, over?" he said into the earpiece, "Good, yes, everything is going just as planned. You are to come in on runway 2, I repeat, runway 2. Don't worry, we got ya."

The fox grinned.

...

Time. This was all a matter of time. If they mucked things up even a little bit, Mason flies off with Rudolph, and they get off Scott-fucking-free. Sure, they may arrest Mr. Grant and whatever men were left open if they catch them, but that's about it. And Lucretia... she utterly _refuses_to lose. Just ask her brother-in-law; she _hates_losing!

And this was the biggest game she's ever played.

"Lucretia, watch it!"

"I got it, I got it!"

Their snowmobile zoomed over snow and ice, roaring towards the distance. Golden Hope Church was directly west of Skyrail, with the power connecting them being a straight line. All Lucretia had to do was go in one solid direction; never straying from her path. It was a long ride, but before they knew it, endless fields gave way to trees. And soon after that, trees gave way to--

"There it is!"

"Fuck yeah, let's go!"

Golden Hope Church... heh... reminded Lucretia of old churches she used to go to as a child. Wouldn't look too out of place with a bunch of wolves hanging out around it.

Zooming up to it, Lucretia parked right outside its perimeter, using the cover of the blizzard to block her. Together, she and Sarah got off the vehicle and ducked behind the church's fence, with the wolfess readying her pistol.

"Oh boy... I hope there won't be anymore shooting," said the squirrel, though Luca shook her head.

"Something feels... off hear..." she muttered.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"The lights," Lucretia said as she pointed at the church, "They're all_off_..."

"R-really? Um... hah... shit, you're right. H-huh!? Lucretia, what are you doing?"

Suddenly, the wolfess leaped over the edge of the fence, her pistol at the ready as she checked the surrounding area. Sarah watched her from her safe spot, wondering what the wolfess was doing, and why she was being so blatant. They could get shot at from any moment, didn't she know that!? But...

"Sarah, they're gone!" Lucretia suddenly shouted.

"Huh? Are you sure about that?" the squirrel asked.

"Yeah! Do you see this? All these lines?" Luca said as she pointed around, "They took snowmobiles and got outta here... and I think I know where," she turned around, "Let's get inside and check."

"C-coming!"

Together, the two barged their way into the church, with Lucretia naturally leading the charge. But as they flipped switches to turn on the lights, they came to the realization that the church was indeed empty. Even more so, once they came to the building's sanctuary...

"Holy shit..." muttered the squirrel as her eyes fell upon the many machines placed around, "It's like... a near perfect copy of our command center. This is how they controlled everything! I'm... I'm almost amazed by it..."

"Can you use it to return power to the resort?" Lucretia asked, to which Sarah nodded.

"Yeah... it may take a bit cuz I'm all alone, but I can manage..."

"Good... then I gotta get outta here," the wolfess said as she turned, much to the squirrel's surprise.

"WH-WHAT!? Lucretia, are you leaving me!?" she asked, making the wolfess chuckle.

"You're a smart woman, Sarah; I can trust you to return power to Skyrail," she said, "And I know all of Mason's goons have probably left with him, so you don't have to worry about that! But me? Well... I've gotta plane to catch!"

...

He felt shame. Honest and truthfully, he felt shame. He felt shame that he got Sarah killed, he felt shame that he agreed to this in the first place, he felt shame that he was putting so many innocent people's lives at risk, he felt mortified when Skyrail's gondolas went up in a fiery explosion, but most of all, he felt shame that this all happened in the first place.

But in the end, desperate times do call for desperate measures, and he was one desperate, desperate man.

Edward Grant was one of the richest men in the world, and he often appeared to his subordinates as a kind, if not outright benevolent CEO. And, yes, while there's always be people who naturally thought ill of him due to his affluence, he himself tried to be a good man. But nothing about this was 'good' in the least bit. When that damn wolf came up to him, well, he had no choice but to say yes.

How he even got wind of that information, Edward would never know, but in the end, it matters not. Here he was in this van, riding down Snowcrest Trail towards the hidden house in the distance.

"Alright, Mr. Grant," said the driver of the van, a bulky looking hog, "Let's hurry this up before the cops show."

"You're enjoying this too much," he growled back, though the hog chuckled.

They were such a sinister gang, but that did not forgive Grant's part in all of this... nor did it forgive his continued cowardice. He had the ability to end all of this before it happened, perhaps even be seen as a hero... but being a hero does not bring money, and he was in desperate, desperate need of money. Losing thirty million dollars is one thing when he was looking towards an even greater payout. After the insurance hits, plus the extra money given to him from that arms dealer, Grant was looking to pocket around one _billion_dollars.

So, yeah, 30 million for 1 _billion?_Doesn't take a mathematician to see how good those odds were.

"Alright, here's the house," said the hog driving the car, "Let's hurry this up, Mr. Grant."

"Grrrgghh..."

He hated how much the hog was enjoying this, but that didn't stop him from getting out of the van. Together, he and the hog walked out towards the derelict hut, ready to make the trade off. In his hands laid a bag of thirty million dollars; enough money to make the lives of normal people. Where this money would go after this, well, Edward didn't know, though he figured it would stay in the hands of the men here.

He just needed to do his part, then he could wash his hands free of this mess...

Together he and the hog got out of the car, where they walked up to Staff Cabin 27 together. Clutching the bag of money close, Edward checked his surroundings, while the hog walked up to the door of the cabin. Was it him, or was there something off_about this place? Edward hadn't been here in a long time, but that's not the problem. The problem was the snowmobiles standing outside of the cabin. There were _three. Wasn't he only supposed to be meeting _two_men out here?

The hog didn't seem to notice nor care. He just walked up to the door, grabbed the knob, and then gleefully exclaimed,

"After today, I am going to spend the rest of my days in sunny Cambodia!"

He opened the door...

WHAM!

"Gah!?"

"Not yet, pal..."

The hog tumbled back and fell into the snow, stunning Edward who drew his eyes up to the door of the cabin in front of him. His eyes befell--

"Allen!?"

The young man stepped down and cracked his knuckles, his eyes filled with anger. The hog he punched was quick to get back up, where he snarled at Allen above him. Throwing himself at the combat medic, he threw a fist which Al easily blocked, and then countered with one of his own. His punch slammed into the hog's gut, winding him, followed by another punch to the face, another punch to the face, and finally, one swift kick which knocked him down to the ground. The hog didn't stay down though, and was quick to try and stand... only...

Click!

"Nuh-uh-uh! Stay down!" Allen said as he placed a gun to the hog's head.

"A-A-Allen!? What are you doing here?" asked Grant as he hugged the bag of money close to his chest, "I thought you were--"

"What? Dead? Me and Sarah?" he replied as he faced Edward, "You know, I figured there was something weird about how you sent Sarah and I to that damned relay tower. You _knew_it was bugged, didn't you? You knew it was bugged, and that these guys were guarding it! You send us and Lorenzo's best me to check the tower, and then we all get killed. Without Lorenzo's men, there's no one conceivably good enough to stop these goons, and with Sarah dead, no one could possibly figure out a way to stop Colonel Mason's plan. And I guess if I died, heh, that's just extra icing on the cake, huh?"

"Wait... Sarah's not...?" Edward mumbled, to which Allen shook his head.

"No, she's not, because Officer Salem saved us," he answered, "In a way, I'm thankful that she and Lorenzo got into that little spat. If they hadn't and she went with us to the tower, that trap might have killed all of us. But now, the game's over, Edward. We know you're in on this to some degree..."

He opened his mouth to speak, but no words left him. Instead, Mr. Grant gazed over towards the door way to Staff Cabin 27, where he watched as a shadow emerged from within. There were two guys stationed here, right? It would take two guys to take them out. And that other guy was...

"Lorenzo...?" Edward muttered as he mole revealed himself.

"Please, Mr. Grant," he said, "I got two unconscious men locked up in here. Let's not make this any more problematic than it needs to be..."

A defeated groan left Edward, who looked down to the ground with his head held low. Even the hold he had on his bag of money grew slack. There were words he wanted to say, but be it from shear shame or the need to protect himself legally, he did not speak them. He didn't need to speak though; the look on his paled face confirmed everything to Allen and Lorenzo before him.

"Alright. Let's get back Skyrail..." the mole muttered as he prepared a pair of handcuffs, "First we gotta deal with his hog eyesore over here..."

But as he walked down to join Allen at his side, something _amazing_happened. Something that had everyone turning to face Skyrail's buildings in the distance.

THWOOM! THWOOM! THWOOM!

Everywhere, all at once! From Skyrail Tracy up to Skyrail James! Even on the snowy paths far below! Everywhere!

The lights - the _power -_it all came back! And even the raging inferno in the middle - the one belonging to the once beloved gondolas - was enough to block out the beauty of Skyrail's castles when the lights came back.

"Holy shit..." Allen said with a smile, "They did it! They actually fucking did it!"

But the night was far from over...

...

FM-1, or 'Foreign Military-1' for those initiated. It was a simple jet, being used only for the transportation of military personnel, and absolutely nothing else. This was not a plane meant for luxury in the least bit, no, this was meant for business and only business, and more specifically, _military_business.

It's armored hull was camouflage green, its size appropriately bulky. When it drifted over the eastern seaboard, it somehow missed the pillar of flames which stood over Skyrail. How could they see it with this thick blizzard flowing in the air. Fortunately, when they came to their destination of Corsair Airfield, the lights of runway 2 were visible upon descending closer and closer to the ground.

Everything went off without a hitch. The landing, the eventual skidding to a halt, and its turn into landing bay number six. The metal gates of the landing bay were quickly closed to block out the wind and snow, and the door to the plane was steadily opened. Its walkway descended to the ground floor, and men emerged; human men who were apart of the Austrian Armed Forces. Tasked with guarding their precious cargo, they came armed as the met with the American soldiers who greeted them.

"Good evening, gentleman," said the wolf, taking the leader of the AAF off guard.

"You are not... Major Stormwell," he said, "He was supposed to meet us when handling the prisoner."

"I apologize, it's so near Christmas and the like. Major Stormwell's wife made a specific kind of pasta for him... it did not sit well with his stomach," the wolf said as he smiled and placed his hand upon his chest, "I'm an Colonel Stuart Mason. I'll be the one taking Rudolph into custody."

The leader of the AAF nodded, then turned to face the doorway. With a call and a gesture of his hand, men from within began ferrying their precious cargo out of the plane: Rudolph Gruber. He emerged with a smile on his face, one that grew silently devilish when his gaze met that of Colonel Mason. The wolf tipped his hat at the businessman, but he did not budge until his men confirmed his health.

"Are you okay, Mr. Gruber?" Mason asked, his tone halfway between sounding sarcastic but also genuine.

"The flight was stuffy," replied the blond man, "But I've had far, far worse."

"Well then, do not worry," said the wolf, "Your next flight will be far more comfortable..."

Mason then stepped back, where he turned to face his men. Giving them affirmative nods, he shifted his gaze one last time to face the AAF men before him.

"Thank you, soldiers," he said, "Thus ends a multi-year search for Mr. Gruber... I cannot thank you enough..." he then pointed forward, "You have fulfilled your purposes..."

And his men pulled out guns...

"WAIT, WHA--" was all one of the soldiers could say, before--

RA-TATATATATATATATATATATATATA!!!

They were instantly gunned down.

Bullets suddenly ripped through flesh, murdering the men of the Austrian Armed Forces without a moment's hesitation. They reduced to not but corpse on the ground, while Colonel Mason stood tall and above. Even through it all, he remained as indifferent and callous as he could possibly be.

And then his hand dropped... and the bullet's stopped...

"Well now... that's one way to make an entrance," Rudolph quipped as he looked at Colonel Mason, "I'm hoping there will be a lot less of that where we're going."

"Believe me, Mr. Gruber, where we are going, there's nothing but sunny beaches and blue ocean waves," Mason replied as his lips broke out into a grin. "By the time anyone knows it, we'll be safely over the skies and over Mexico," he then turned to face his men, "Alright boys, let's get going. That plane isn't going to fly itself!"

They all nodded, grinned too, before turning to face the entrance of this landing bay. Leaving through the doors with Rudolph in tow, the group of men made way for the bay standing parallel to the previous one. Just a quick walk over and--

"Wow... heh... you guys spared no expenses, did you?"

This was a military base, right? So... why was there a luxury private jet here? It was silver in color, with a chic and elegant design, and powerful turbine engines. And though, yes, it may seem out of place among the cold and efficient military vehicles in the area, it was actually an impounded vehicle from notorious drug smuggler Esperanza. Now, it was their ticket to freedom.

"Miller, is the jet's engines full?" asked Mason as he approached the vehicle.

"Everything's ready to go, Colonel," replied the dog, "We just need to head south, and we'll be out of the air space in a couple moments. Frances and Morton should be arriving soon, so..." he faced one of his men, the bear, "Jackson, prepare the jet. I'll open the gates."

"Right away, sir!"

The air was strong and lighthearted, as smiles adorned the faces of the men within the landing bay. Once the door to the private jet was open, everyone was pushing inside, save for Colonel Mason. He lingered about outside, his eyes staring over to the office that hung over the gate's entrance. Within were the gate's switch, and once he flipped it, they'd be out on the runway.

"I have had enough snow for one lifetime," Mason muttered to himself as he began walking off.

The wolf climbed the bay's catwalks as his men got into the jet, heading into the direction of the gate's controls. Stepping inside the office, he casually turned the switches needed to open the gates, causing them to spread open and sending a gust of cold wind and snow to billow inside. He groaned, his annoyances now aimed towards Mother Nature, but there's no way for him to get vengeance on her. So he headed back to the jet, getting inside where already his men were partying inside. Drinking, recanting their stories, smoking, and telling everyone of what they planned on doing once they hit South America.

He meanwhile pushed towards the cockpit of this private jet, where Rudolph was sitting. Excitement was palpable on the arms dealer, who grinned from cheek to cheek.

"I'm happy that of all the people who could have 'arrested' me, it was you," he said, "Someone... sensible."

"Don't worry sir, now it's all smooth sailing," said Mason as he began flipping switches with practiced ease and skill, "We'll below the equator in no time. We just need to..." Grrrrrrrrrrnnnnn!"Huh...?"

"Um... Mason? What's going on?"

The gates! The gates he just opened... were now closing. Confused, both Mason and Rudolph looked at one another, before the wolf leaned in to peer at the office that controlled the gate. There he saw... a shadow. Someone else was in here with them, someone who wasn't a part of his squad.

And Mason had more than just an idea of who it was.

"Is everything okay, Mason?" Rudolph asked as the wolf stood up.

"It's fine, really," he replied, "I'll handle it personally..."

As the jet began roaring to life, Mason disembarked from within and stared up to the overhanging catwalks. He saw nothing and no one, though now there was this eerie silence. Keeping himself alert, the wolf pulled a knife from his hip and brandished it in his hand, while he climbed the catwalks to once again return to the office which commanded the gate's of the bay. No one was inside, so he walked in and once again flipped the switches. The gates sent out their loud 'Grrrrrrrrrrnnnnn!' noise, and he was stepping back.

His eyes grew wide...

"HAAAH!"

WHAM!

"OOF!?"

And he was sent flying.

A sudden kick to his chest from out of nowhere, and Mason was knocked over the banister of the catwalk. He fell down, collapsing upon another catwalk just below, which stopped him from falling upon the cold, hard concrete floor below. Another shadow soon dropped, landing upon the catwalk with a loud,

THUD!

He looked up.

_Lucretia_stared back.

"Colonel Stuart Mason! You are under arrest for treason, hostage taking, murder, plan to commit murder, a destruction of public property, a whole buncha other shit I don't care to list off, and generally, pissing me the fuck off!" Lucretia shouted as she stepped forward, "You're hereby under arrest, and yadda-yadda-yadda!"

"Heh heh heh... you... are one fine cop, Salem," he said as he stood up to meet her.

"Oh please, don't insult me; I'm a fucking detective," she countered.

"Yes, yes, you are right. _Detective_Salem," he replied as he readied his knife, "But don't you think terrorist take downs are a bit above your pay grade? Once at a mall is a fluke, don't you realize that?"

"So, what, twice at a ski resort proves I know a thing or two about this shit?" Lucretia snarled, "Besides, I don't give a fuck what you call yourself! Terrorists or not; a criminal is a criminal is a criminal! And if there's one thing a Salem does best - if there's one thing I do best - it's take down motherfucking criminals! So are you turning yourself in - which I highly doubt - or are you going to make this fucking interesting?"

"Oh you don't need to ask that question, Salem. You already know the answer."

"You bet your fucking ass-- RAH!"

He had a knife in hand, but Lucretia didn't care. Like a red blur, the amazon of a wolfess tossed herself at her opponent, launching a fist that Mason blocked. She then delivered another punch and another punch, but each one was blocked by him.

But damn did those punches _hurt!_Lucretia wasn't a normal opponent; she knew how to fight, and had the strength to back it. Blocking her blows was like trying to stop iron bars from falling upon him.

But there's a difference between fighting a common criminal, and fighting a trained soldier like he was. And though Lucretia was strong, he had equal strength to hers, something that took the wolfess of guard. She wasn't used to someone being able to match her outside of her family members!

So when Mason kicked at her hip, she nearly buckled and was knocked aside aside, her body meeting the cold banister of the catwalk they battled upon. Quickly readying his knife, the colonel went back after the redhead, lashing at the air in front of her. She dodged the first two swipes, then countered with a punch to his chest, followed by a blow to his stomach... only to get headbutted for her troubles.

The blow stung both Mason and Lucretia, causing the two to part once again. Gotta say, if this were some old samurai film, the two would admit to the other being their equal. Mason even grinned in a sadistic manner as blood pumped through his veins. And for Luca, heh, if this was a simple boxing match at her local gym, she'd be offering him a few bottles of beer after.

If only things were that jovial...

"You know, you would have made a fine soldier, Salem," Mason said as he straightened up, "You have that relentless drive that would have made searching out and catching enemies so much easier. I almost feel ashamed that I have to snuff out such talent! We could really use more men like you!"

"Oh stuff the fucking praise!" Lucretia growled back as she pointed at him, "Hearing it from a man like you - a man who hold's civilians_hostage_- makes my fucking blood curdle!"

"Well, what? You expect me to snatch Rudolph from under America's nose without a distraction?" the colonel countered, "That's all the holding of Skyrail has been: a distraction! We hold it hostage, we blow up a few things, eventually the police and army catch wind of it, and they leave the base completely unguarded!"

"So, what, you were _always_planning on blowing up the gondolas?" Luca asked, to which Mason nodded.

"Unfortunately, yes. Your killing my men only speed up the process," he answered, "I needed the jammer in place as well to make sure you all didn't call the police too quickly. If things happened too fast, Corsair tower would have told Rudolph's plane to land elsewhere, and we would have failed."

"And let me guess... Mr. Grant helped a lot when it came to pulling this all off, didn't he?" the red wolf said, drawing a chuckle to Mason's lips.

"My, my, you truly are a perceptive detective, aren't you, Salem?" he said, "Yes, you're right; Mr. Grant was incredibly helpful. He gave us all the information we needed. To his credit, he did think against it, but after a bit more convincing considering all the money he's bleeding, he quickly got onboard. Heh heh heh... oh money... it will make even good men go bad."

"No, I disagree," Lucretia growled, "There's not enough money in the world that would make good men betray their country, or make good men put innocents at risk! You all felt pressure put on you, and you cracked! You were never good men; this just revealed your _true_colors!" her eyes settled in, "Now then, if you're gonna try and kill me, just come over here and do it! Don't bore me while you're at it!"

"Heh heh...!" Mason grinned as he ran his hand along his lips, "Right away..."

Now it was his turn to go on the offense, rushing at her with near blinding speeds. Knife raised high, he brought it down upon Lucretia's chest, but she blocked and held him off. It was a ruse however, and with both hands there to keep his knife from stabbing him, Lucretia had very little to defend himself from his legs.

So he kicked her...

THWAK!

"Nmmph!?"

And he kicked her again...

THWAK!

"Gggghh!?"

And he kicked her again!

THWAK!

"Aaah-haaah!?"

His legs and knees struck Lucretia's hips and guts, weakening her stance and nearly making her fall over. Nearly. For as strong as Mason was, Luca proved to be just as resilient, and utterly refused to be topped by his strikes. She then countered with one of her own, first striking his gut, then kicking him away, putting distance between the two as she raised her hands. Likewise, Mason readied his knife.

"Tell me, Salem, what do you plan on doing even if you succeed in beating me?" he asked, "That plane down there is filled with my men, all of which are armed. Even if you somehow best me in this little fight, they'll all come out and kill you."

"Oh believe me, I know _exactly_what to do to deal with you," Lucretia countered, "So don't you worry your cute little head about it."

"Oooooooh... heh heh heh..." he spun his knife around, "Then I'm looking forward to it, Salem. Let's make this a fun one before I retire! HAAH!"

Again he rushed her, and again, Lucretia was put on the defensive. But throughout this night, suffering fight after fight, chase after chase, the wolfess was feeling... slow. She was tired, drained, and despite her resilience, Mason could see and feel it. Her once refined movements were now slacking, and her powerful stance was now flaccid. And though Lucretia's resolve and spirit was as strong as ever, that didn't translate to her physical aptitude.

Meanwhile, Mason had spent all night within the warm confides of a church, and hadn't left it until now. He was at his A-game, and his A-game was pretty fucking good!

He dove again, launching a punch at Lucretia's face she had no time to block. When it connected, it dazed the wolf and forced her back, but Mason wasn't done. Another punch, and then another punch, and then another punch! Each one landed on Lucretia's face, and each one forced her stance to wobble! Before she knew it, her back was to the banister once again, and she was pinned by his body. His knife feel, aiming with her throat...

"Nngh!"

But Lucretia gripped his wrist, stopping his knife just inches shy from her neck. However, this was only delaying the inevitable. Mason was pushing down harder and harder; the knife was getting closer and closer! Soon, he'd be stabbing her, regardless of if she wanted him to or not.

"Any last words, Detective Salem!?" Mason snarled as his crazed and frenetic look met her green ones.

"Yeah, a few!" she snarled back through gritted teeth, "Yippee-ki-yay, motherfucker!"

And then...

There went gravity.

Lucretia pulled back, allowing herself to drop over the edge of the banister... and Mason along with her. He flipped over the edge, but she grabbed upon the catwalk, holding it tightly and stopping herself from dropping. The same could not be for the colonel, who fell through the air, before landing a few feet away. But he did not land on the cold, concrete floor, no... he landed on something metal.

He landed on the private jet's wing. But he didn't just land on the wing, he landed on the wing's turbine engine.

His legs kicked over its edge, feeling the intense suction force of the spiraling fans as they began pulling on him. Eyes wide, he realized what was happening, and it caused him to kick and claw at the wing's edge. He tried pulling himself over, but to no avail; the turbine engines were just too strong!

"Get off! Get offffff!!!" Mason growled as he clawed and scratched his way to safety... but it just wasn't happening!

And then his coat...

His coat got caught in the engine.

And once his coat tails got caught in the engine, _he_got caught in the engine. And once he got caught in the engine... well...

It's not enough that a turbine's engine grinds flesh to death, no. It does do that, and anyone unfortunate enough to fall inside one would meet a most gruesome, horrible death. But anyone on_the plane - especially one of such a modest, small size like this - would perhaps meet an even _gruesomer_fate. For it's not the sudden deaths that are most painful, but the slow_burning ones that are!

Zzzzooooo... THOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMM!!!

"GAH!? SHIT!? AAAH!?"

In an instant, before anyone on the plane knew what was going on, a wicked explosion roared from the turbine engine. That explosion coursed through the rest of the wing, which itself traveled through the rest of the plane. And once it touched the plane's gas, well...

Game over!

The once elegant plane was reduced to nothing but a raging inferno, while Lucretia pulled herself upon the catwalk and curled up. For the third time that night, she was forced to withstand the raw power of a vicious explosion! And for the third time that night, she took it on without hesitation.

But, damn, she was really going to need a new jacket after this mess...

Lucretia's ears rumbled as the explosion rocked her, and the heat was nearly enough to cook her body. The flames too, oh the flames, they burned and they singed! But with her being up here on the catwalks, she was_just_ far enough away to not be burned alive. And as if a guardian angel was sitting on her shoulder, none of the shrapnel fell on her body.

So there Lucretia laid, the flames of the plane dancing below her, while she swore she heard some wayward cries of pain. With that, Mason, Rudolph, and all of their men, were completely and utterly dead.

Lucretia slowly raised up, clutching herself close as pain rumbled through her form. She was _thiiiiiissss_close to failing, and she knew it. If she hadn't been so quick with her thoughts, she may have been the dead one. But it wasn't money or fame that drove the heroine to win, no. It was the desire for justice... and more importantly, the love of her wife.

Her wife...

Lucretia smiled.

Turning away, she slowly limped her down the catwalks, getting back onto ground floor and leaving turning for the exit. By now, Sarah returned power to Skyrail; Lucretia believed that with all of her heart. She just needed to figure out how she was going to explain the insanity that happened throughout the night. There were a lot of bodies dead on this military base by Mason's men, and with the colonel and his gang dead - along with Rudolph - she couldn't use them as witnesses to their own crimes.

Or could she?

Because being the ever wily wolf she is, Lucretia recorded _everything._From the moment she and Mason started fighting, she had her phone recording every detail. His plan, Mr. Grant's role in everything, even their deaths; she recorded it all. Now she just needed to get out of here and not freeze to death in the blizzard.

Lucretia emerged from the landing bay, walking out upon the runways of the military airfield... and her eyes grew wide.

Driving down them were _police_vehicles. From basic squad cars to full on SWAT vans, they drove down the runway and stopped a few yards away from Lucretia. Stuck in place, the wolfess watched as the doors to the cars opened up, their blinding lights blocking her vision.

"HANDS UP WHERE I CAN SEE THEM!" shouted one of the police officers, making Luca groan as she did as she was told.

"Again with this? Hggghh..."

But as she stood there with her arms raised up... a voice pierced the air.

"Lucretia!" it called, making her ears twitch.

"Sarah?"

...

Act 6: Fade Out

Helicopters! Helicopters! Helicopters everywhere! The sky was absolutely alight with helicopters! From the tips of Skyrail James, down here to the city of Vincent, if you looked up, you'd see helicopters! Some were dousing water upon the once beloved gondolas of skyrail, but most were occupied with the roofs of Skyrail James, rescuing the trapped civilians within. It took a lot of manpower, more manpower than the Vincent Police Department and Fire Department even had! But they weren't alone, for other cities and even towns from nearby all pitched in, sending their helicopters over to help the ski resort.

Once information spread, it flowed faster than river rapids!

Noble Heart Hospital was the central hospital of Vincent City, and right now, it was busier than it had been in decades. The rooftops were constantly making way for helicopters which landed down, letting civilians free so that doctors could reach them. Ushered into the buildings, quicker and quicker still! Some were okay, suffering only minor injuries during the ordeal. Others just needed to sit in a warm place! Some older civilians needed full medical attention however. Regardless, it was all hands on deck as everyone worked together to do their parts!

For years to come, they'd talk about the horrible terrorists attacks that befell Skyrail... but they'd also talk about the heroics of the first responders who rushed in to save lives. This day would go down in infamy for Vincent City... but those day were far from now. For now?

For now...

For now, dainty lapine feet got down from a helicopter. Here on this rooftop, there were other helicopters whirring as other hostages were set free. Groups upon groups of people surrounded the area, clumped together in a crowd of civilians, doctors, cops, and other personnel. But for this hare, for this chocolate bunny, she had her eyes searched only for one.

She knew she was here. She knew it! She could _feel_it! She could...

"Lucretia!" Veronica called as she stared through the droves of people, "Lucretia! Lucrettiaaaaaa!"

Her voice was drowned out by the myriad of other conversations going on around her, not to mention the helicopters over head, but that didn't stop her from roaring her little heart out. Again and again, she called for her lover, her big bad wolf, her wife! And...

And...

It all happened in slow motion. The parting of bodies, separating like curtains at just the perfect moment to reveal... her. The red wolf. Standing tall. Her clothes burned and singed in certain areas, her face covered in bandages here and there, her expression a bit tired... but those eyes were a green glow, and her lips were a warm smile. She looked so cool, as if she hadn't just weathered a hostage crisis, and hadn't just taken down the mastermind behind it all. Because in the end, none of that mattered, not to Lucretia.

No... only she mattered...

"Luca..." Veronica said breathlessly, before breaking out into a full on sprint, "LUCRETIAAAAA!!!"

Running to her wife, she quickly dove into Luca's arms, hugging her as close and as powerfully as she could. So much tears welled within Veronica's eyes, she even sobbed and wheezed, but dammit was she so_happy!Seeing her wolfess stand tall, feeling these strong arms wrap around her body; by God, this was _amazing!

"Hoooh... oh Luca... oooohh..." groaned the hare as she snuggled against her wife's bosom, "You're... you're okay... oooh... you're alive!"

"Heh... did you think I'd die from this?" Lucretia replied sarcastically, "C'mon... it'll take more than that to bring this wolf down..."

Amid her tears, a smile broke out over Veronica's lips, and she laughed at the statement. Leave it to her big bad wolf to play things so coy, as if she hadn't been fighting all night. Because while the bunny may not be aware of how much battling her wife did, she could feel it and even smell it on her body. The sweat, the burns, everything; Lucretia had one hell of a night.

"Hey! Luca!" a voice called from the other side, making their eyes slide over.

It was...

"Allen! Jessica! You're alright!"

They stood idly by near another elevator, being checked on briefly by a pair of doctors. Jessica, a bit tired but still smiling, and Allen, having band aids applied to his face. But more importantly, the both of them were holding hands tightly with one another.

"It's good to see you're alright, detective," Allen said as he faced Lucretia.

"Same here," the wolfess replied before raising an eyebrow, "You and Lorenzo dealt with Mr. Grant?"

"Well... it's all in the police's hands now. I'm not sure if anyone'll believe anything we say. At least, not without Sarah's word," he replied, making Lucretia chuckle.

"Oh, they will... though right now, I don't think it really matters," Lucretia said as she hugged Veronica close, "And honestly... haaah... all I care about is having a nice, long sleep."

"Here, here to that," Jessica said as she clutched her husband's hand close, "This is... too crazy a day for this hare. I don't want anymore 'adventures' like this."

"Hey... come on, let's get inside," Veronica said whilst pointing to the hospital's rooftop entrance, "I think... I've seen enough snow for one lifetime."

"Ugh... I hear that..." Allen said.

And so, hand in hand with their spouses, Lucretia, Veronica, Allen and Jessica all walked for the hospital's entrance.

The wolfess was the heroine of this story; the one who called to attention the emanate danger, and fought tooth and nail to bring those responsible to justice. But for tonight, and perhaps only for tonight, she and her wife were just part of the crowd.

And with that...

We fade out!