Those Marked in Red
"Where there is much light, the shadow is deep"
When the first explosive was detonated, the furs nearest the explosion were instantly incinerated. Some would call them the lucky ones.
"Holy.. Fucking shit", were the only discernible words that could be heard in the initial aftershock of the explosion, as the volume of terrified screams belonging to the last remaining party goers took precedence over just about every other sound at that moment.
These words came from the coyote guard standing stalk still with his maw agape, at his post near front entrance of the estate. Debris had just begun to fall back to earth when one could now hear the wails of the soon to die mixed with that of the cries of horribly wounded.
The coyote looked to his immediate left and saw that the ferret guard was in no different state of shock then he. They just stood there, slightly stooped forward. A look of mutual disbelief plastered stupidly on their faces, as they watched the rag tag group of survivors run from corpse to mutilated corpse in an attempt to find anyone they may have known. This in turn of events, turned out to be nearly impossible as one charred and burnt body except for some aesthetic differences in anatomy looked indiscernible from another, and none of got too close to ground zero, who would even bother with the bits and pieces around there?
Those were the individuals whom still possessed enough of a spine to search the wreckage, most just huddled together in a blubbering mass not caring who they held onto for comfort. When the coyote looked into the eyes of his ferret companion, he saw a mirror of his own fears and emotions along with fires of the burning vehicles and bodies reflected in them. Both of them had yet to move a muscle then the coyote seemed to snap out of his entranced state of mind and run over to his ferret companion.
"Shit!" he said, more to himself then to anyone else.
The ferret also seemed to come around; he shook his head and a couple times then looked to the fast approaching coyote for guidance.
"Come on get yourself together" he said quite calmly in light of what had just occurred.
More guards started arriving from different locations around the perimeter and from inside the estate.
"Gather the survivors under the archway of the main entrance to the house. And one of you house guard's call the fire department and anyone else nearest by that may be able to help". Some caught on quickly and left to do as they were told. Still, some others remained staring at coyote as expecting to give some kind explanation as to why this happened. "This isn't the time for idle chit chat; we must act, quit your gawking and get to it NOW!!!"
That was all it took for most, the rest were subject to a severe boxing of the ears until the severity of the situation finally dawned on them and they started to go about their appointed tasks with a renewed vigor. The coyote sighed to himself and started look around his eyes pausing at the main site of the explosion, and began to take stock of the situation. His gaze fell upon a pretty female dolphin clutching the hand of a charred orca carcass. She was shaking, tears cut clean lines down her dust covered face, and she would open her mouth frequently as if to moan, but no sound came out.
The coyote, feeling genuinely sorry for her plight started to make his way towards her with the hope that he may be able to consul her in some way.
He then noticed a stray party invitation half buried under some rubble from the initial explosion and despite himself, had to check it out. He brushed away some of the rocks and picked it up. When he opened it up he recognized it almost immediately. It was the invitation of the red she wolf that he had denied entrance to the party, and the very same individual whom afterward, young master Peter had escorted on his arm into the estate himself. The coyote then looked around front entrance; he couldn't see either of them. What if they were still inside the house, he panicked and had begun to run towards the white marble stairs that led up the front doors of the estate calling his ferret guard friend to him.
But he didn't get very far as this where his life was to end.
A shadow centered on the top of his head then grew rapidly; its owner was quick to follow. A gray furred and white feathered gryphon landed squarely on the coyotes' shoulders. His velocity alone shattered the coyote's collarbones and snapped his vertebrae like a twig. The rest of the coyotes' body crumpled under the weight of the large gryphon and flattened into a pathetic heap of hair and gore. The coyotes left femur was also broken and now protruded through the meat of his right leg, a white bone almost as pure a white as that of the gryphon's feathers. Although the coyotes' death was almost instantaneous, a sharp gasp was heard by the ferret behind him. But when he turned, he was met with the business end of the gryphon's claymore that he carried on his back.
The blade found its mark as it split the ferret's sternum, and continued on to protrude out his back between the shoulder blades until it was stopped by its hilt. The ferret, being caught in mid stride, twisted and bucked at an unnatural angle before he hit the ground hit the ground on his side and skidded to a halt with his mouth open in wonderment as his mind tried to piece together what had just happened, his eyes had already begun to glaze over. The gryphon slowly lowered his heavily muscled throwing arm, flexed his massive shoulders and stepped off the shattered corpse of the coyote.
"Teh" he grunted as he spied what he had come for.
"Always leaving a trail for others to pick up. Damn, it's like she wants to get herself killed"
He strode over to half buried party invitation that had flown from the coyote's paw upon impact, and squatted to pick it up.
"Hmmm, this makes two, but knowing her she probably did it on purpose just to make my job more complicated."
Turning the small piece of paper once over in his strong claws, he placed in it the right pocket of his black cargo pants and stood.
"Well, I see no reason to remain here any longer"
With that he extended his impressive 30ft wingspan, dug the talons on his feet into the now loose gravel of the estate parking lot, bunched the muscles in his legs beneath him and aimed himself at the upturned hilt of his sword that still pinned the ferret to the ground. He kicked off parallel to the ground and snatched his great sword from the body of the fallen ferret as if it weighed nothing. He then angled his wings to send himself over the top of the three story estate, with a few mighty beats of his wings; propelled himself further skywards then banked left and began to fly east.
As he glided effortlessly trough the clouds he began to speak softly to himself.
"Perhaps these times will pass like the others which divided us, that which has left the innocent slain, killed along with us the killers."
He put a claw to his white feathered brow, the transparent membrane descended from under his eyelids, to shield his eyes from the glare of the rising sun. He turned over on his back and began to slowly lose altitude.
"But when the shame of this time puts its burning fingers to our faces. Who will erase the ruthlessness of the memories hidden in the spilling of innocent blood?"
He flew on in a somber state of mind. But it wasn't too long before his destination came into view a small concrete dome hidden amidst the remote mountainous terrain of an undisclosed location hidden to the world.
It was this is place that always seemed to be his chain to that of which no matter how high he flew; he could never seem to free himself. The white gryphon alighted delicately on a boulder despite his massive size, a few feet away from the gray dome. This was just one of many entrances to the underground catacombs of his employers.
The white gryphon put one claw to a small transmitter on his left hip his other to the receiver in white feathered tuft that was his right ear.
"Present at gateway zero two dash one" the response was immediate as these entrances would only open as part of a predetermined scheduled event. The verbal code was only a small security detail.
The voice that answered was female:
"On time as usual Blizzie, good to have you back"
The gryphon looked towards the sun. For some reason or another, the sun was still the same vivid red as it was earlier that day; this unnerved him to some degree.
"Sometimes... I wonder"
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The Debriefing
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A counsel of five sat in a half circle around a lone crimson figure in a bloodstained dress. This counsel consisted of a female lynx with half her right ear missing and a male silver fox with dark slitted eyes. These two sat on the left curve of the semi-circle.
On the right, but not directly across from them was a small brown dormouse that didn't seem to be able to find a comfortable sitting position. And next to him sat a magnificent twelve pointed stag with his eyes closed, as if expecting to be entertained by something of grand measure.
In the center sat the imposing figure of an aging male badger. He sat leaning forwards with his elbows holding his weight while in his paws he held a few documents that of which held detailed information of the latest mission statistics pertaining to the individual who now stood before his counsel. The badger tapped the papers vertically on his desk to straiten them, and then laid them down in front of him. He sat back in his chair and interlaced his fingers looking directly at the red shewolf before him. He opened his graying muzzle to speak but was unintentionally cut of by the high pitched sqeaks of the dormouse.
"Your actions in the field today were completely out of line and totally against protocol, what you did almost compromised your entire mission as well as that of the agents participating on objective orders nearest your position. This is totally unacceptable and I for one will not
stand for any further"
"Quiet yourself Newel" spoke the stag in a deep baritone,
The dormouse snapped his head around in an exaggerated surprised motion and looked up defiantly at the stag that interrupted him in his verbal assault on the wolf.
"How do you expect to be taken seriously in this chamber when you can't even control your
own outbursts?"
The stag said, calmly turning his antlered head to look down at the small
creature next to him with large black eyes.
"Well I" the mouse started, but was again cut off.
"You've also interrupted the head of the counsel as he was about to speak. Please, hold your tongue and be patient".
With that being said the dormouse snapped his mouth shut and slumped down in his seat.
"Thank you Bracken", said the aging badger.
"But I must request that any further reprimands of your fellow counsel members be left to me, as I am quite capable of maintaining the order in my own chambers".
The stag nodded graciously to his superior.
"Apologies sir".
The badger waved the stag's apology and turned his attention back to the red she wolf standing at attention.
Though I would not have worded it the same, Councilmen Newel does present a rather good point."
The lynx was next to speak.
"You completed your objective yes, but not in the way our client specifically outlined for the events prior to the elimination to the target. That being the case, we lost a large amount of the payment that was originally agreed upon due to his special requests not being carried out."
The lynx paused and looked at the badger, which nodded his consent that she continue; this
was misread by the dormouse as a sign for her to stop.
"The client" she began as the dormouse stood again and spoke over the lynx.
"In you briefing for which I was present, it was clearly stated that in order for us to receive full lucratively of the stated payment. You were to ruin the party with the assistance of the other agents on site to make the target experience great disappointment and then proceed to kill a few of his closest friends at the party in front of him. To fill him with grief and
sadness!"
The dormouse was practically screeching by now, much to the dismay of the stag next to him whom was doing his level best not to smash the dormouse's face into the table on which he now stood.
"You were then above all, supposed to torture the target till death not use the special poison developed by Wraith, to be used only for certain executive assignments with the approval of
one of the council members"
"It was approved" the red she wolf said rather airily,
"Wha what!" the dormouse looked aghast at being interrupted by one other then the counsel.
"It... was... approved" she said emphasizing each word as they hung in the air.
The dormouse stood stock still then started to shake violently, he raised an accusing finger to the red she wolf.
"You arrogant little cur!"
"Newel" said the badger too softly for the enraged creature to hear.
"How dare you speak out to me before given permission to do so, I'll have you killed for this outrage, hell I even do it myself just so I can show you the severity of the consequences"
As the dormouse continued his onslaught on the unflinching wolf, the badger leaned slightly towards the silver fox and looked at him in a way that asked a question without saying a word.
The fox, who had remained silent this whole time, spoke so only the badger could hear.
"Sometimes when treading amidst the battlefield of ideas, one must choose to move towards or away from the sound of gunfire".
The badger gave his answer with a small motion of his paw towards the ranting dormouse, and with that the order was given.
The fox drew a small blade from his thigh and in one fluid motion hurled the small projectile, hitting his mark on the back of the dormouse's neck severing the vocal cords in his throat, and passing on through to clang of the marble wall on the other side of the room. The dormouse clutched his neck with his paws then fell with a sickening thud onto the marble floor where he twitched pathetically as the life drained out of him.
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All the floors, walls, and even the ceiling were made of a special marble for just that particular reason.
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The stag's features showed a noticeable amount of relief with this expected turn of events.
"If it is the sound of a mad gunman you hear, sometimes it is better to shoot, him then take away his gun"
The badger said with a slight chuckle to himself
A muscle in the red she wolfs jaw twitched but it went unnoticed.
"Ahem" the badger cleared his throat to speak.
"Thank you Alastor, and again I must say that I would not have worded it the same way.
But he did have a point."
He paused to see if anyone wished to speak, but no one did so he continued.
"You showed blatant disregard for orders given to you by the client through the council, I'm quite sure you remember what they were so I will not waste any more of my or the councils
time with further reiteration or deliberation of the facts as they have been presented".
The dormouse's corpse gave an odd spasm which made the female lynx snort a little with laughter at the sight of this before she silenced herself with a paw over her scarred muzzle.
The silver fox reached under the table and pulled out a sealed envelope which he then handed over to the badger.
"I have here, your punishment and orders for your next mission which I have decided shall be one in the same"
He placed a dull claw underneath the adhesive flap of the envelope.
"Do you have anything you wish to say in your defense before I pass on the written
contents and sentence of this document to you?"
The red she wolf raised her beautiful head proudly and without any fear in her song like voice and declared:
"I will accept and carry out any punishment as it is passed onto by me you, or the council in
which you lead." Her golden eyes betrayed nothing, and her tail hung motionless behind her.
"Very well" the badger said, as he opened the envelope and withdrew its contents.
"Your orders and punishment for objective failures in you most recent mission are as follows:
"One, you will proceed to coordinates marked on the map included with this document,
where you will find a small dwelling that is inhabited by an amateur spy that has recently obtained some incriminating information against one of our more prominent clients. This is unacceptable to the client, and he has requested that we silence this spy before he becomes any more of a nuisance to him."
"Two, upon arrival if the target is not at the designated location, you are to remain in position until the targets return. You are not permitted to leave this location until the target is eliminated. You will not be compensated for the amount of time required for acquisition of the target."
"Three, if/when the target arrives you are to kill on sight. Failure to eliminate the target after a period of thirty five days, Will result the dispatch of a second agent whose mission objectives will be identical to the previous agent, but with two additional objectives that of which being: discrete assessment situation and if necessary. The elimination of aforementioned agent in the case of compromised circumstances."
"Four, Completion of the mission upon elimination of the target will enable the agent to R.T.B
The badger then placed the documents in front of him and interlaced his paws on his cold marble desk.
"We do not a have a picture of the target but it is described as a young male wolf with dark fur of brown or black as per the information given. Because of the remote location of his dwelling he is the only one known to ever leave and return to it. So it would be just a small matter of misfortune if an individual wolf should happen upon the target area and enter the cabin out of curiosity. But if that is the case, simply wait out the thirty five day period for the second agent to arrive and we'll act accordingly from there."
The female lynx had regained enough of her nerve to speak again,
"I have already taken the liberty of selecting your follow up agent. He will be able to provide assistance to you should the situation call for it. But in light of the consequences of a mission failed, his identity will be withheld for security purposes."
The stag, eyeing the she wolfs present condition nodded at the lynx then spoke,
"You will be allowed cleanse yourself from the obvious aftereffects of your last mission. But you will not be allowed to access any equipment above that of an entry level agent on their first mission.
He swiveled his large brown ears and added,
"I have personally seen to that"
The badger then rose to his footpaws with documents, and started to make his way towards the red she wolf.
"Then; my esteemed colleagues, if you don't have anything more to add?"
He turned his striped head to look at each member in turn, including the still form of the dormouse and finally the fox.
"Alastor?" he asked.
The silver fox opened the palms of his paws symbolizing that he had no additional comment.
"Very well then" said the badger as he came to stand in front the she wolf.
"Do you understand your mission and the consequences of failure?"
The she wolf straitened her back, as well as perked her tail in a curious manner.
"Sir, yes I do sir"
"Here are the documents, dismissed"
The badger handed her the envelope and placed his paws behind his wide back. The red she wolf accepted the documents turned on her heel, and started to walk away when the badger spoke again to her back.
"O and one more thing Larka."
She stopped dead; it tended to be a very dangerous situation when an agent's real name was used in such a seemingly innocent way by this particular individual.
"I am aware that your blade still carries an unused portion of that poison, and would just
like to say that you may keep it and utilize as you see fit in your latest mission"
Larka was so tense that her tail curled itself around her leg against her will. The badgers black lips drew back into a smile that revealed blunt yellowed fangs, his eyes glinting evilly.
"The only reason I mention this, is because I wouldn't want you to be under the impression that you were required to return it to chemical storage. As that would be according to proper protocol, and this was of course you first priority after leaving these chambers correct?"
Larka stood in her red dress, caked in the coagulated blood of the white tiger she had killed just hours before.
"Of course sir"
Her voice seemed a little hoarse when she spoke but nonetheless betrayed nothing. She silently walked out of the room and let the doors close behind her. The stag stood from where he sat and walked around his own desk stopping just in front of the pooled blood from the freshly slain dormouse. The lynx and fox also stood and after a brief round of salutations, left the chambers through opposite exits near the back from whence they had entered. The badger stood chuckling,
"Always it is those marked in red" he said to himself
The stag stepped over the dormouse's body careful not to get any blood on his hooves, paws in his coat pockets.
"I'm sorry sir did you say something?"
The badger tuned to face him paws akimbo,
"If I had spoken words that were meant for your ears, I would have spoken to directly. Do not insult my manners Bracken." The stag withdrew his paws from his pockets and waved them in front of him.
"No sir please accept my humblest apologies, I merely thought"
The badger interrupted him,
"No apparently you didn't think, and drop the damn formalities the counsel is no longer in session. Call me by my name, no more of this sir this and sir that crap".
"Forgive me Brume; I just had one other question that I had to ask to ask before I excuse
myself.
The badger, still with his paws on his hips looked expectant and slightly annoyed.
"That is well... how did you know about her blade carrying another amount of poison? This modification wasn't in the database, I checked it"
"As is your duty as weapon specialist for this facility" completed the badger,
"I have known of this, since Alastor brought it to my attention quite some time ago as is his job, to keep a watchful eye on all the proceedings of this organization below me".
The deer stag nodded sagely but said nothing, so Brume continued,
"You see bracken" he said as he walked back toward his marble desk,
"I have kept a watchful eye on Miss.Larka almost since the day she came to us those many years ago. And she has developed into a superb agent in that time wouldn't you agree?"
"Yes Brume" nodded the stag.
"So much so that she tends to remind me of one such agent that had come before her and displayed similar characteristics early on in his career".
The stag looked puzzled for a moment, and then realization hit him.
"Brume, you don't mean him do you?"
Brume sat down in the lazyfur chair behind his desk and grunted,
"Aye the very same, he has been the only agent in the history of the organization to ascend to the level in which he was able to simply leave without consequence due to the fact that none at the time could match his skill in tactics, espionage, or combat ability."
The badger started to scratch his blunt claws audibly on his desktop. This plummet in the badger's mood was making the stag increasingly uneasy, the air in the room seemed to be getting thick and seemed like it was becoming harder to breathe.
"What was I to do?" the badger said agitatedly more to himself then to the freighted deer stag,
"What was I to do? Was I to send every agent at my disposal to locate an individual that couldn't be detected, to kill a creature that had never been injured?! This bastard never gave any indication that he would leave the organization, let alone disappear on me without a trace".
The badger glared intensely at the doors across the room, almost as if he expected the thing of which he spoke to waltz right in, prostrate before him and beg for his forgiveness.
"I was humiliated, I could do nothing, what was I to do?!" he repeated, this time directing the question towards Bracken whom at this had unknowingly been backing up and was now standing in the cold puddle of blood from the all but forgotten dormouse. He almost fell as he bumped into the limp body.
"I'm not sure sir I probly would have done the same thing in your position" said the stag
forgetting his grammar somewhat.
That being said, the badger seemed to calm down and regain some of his lost composure.
"Again Bracken, I request that you use my name right now".
"Yes Brume" said the stag with some disgust as he noticed where it was he now stood.
"Not to worry as I now, have her." He said with a large smile on his gray muzzle that made him look quite devious.
"She is the one, the one I will forge into an even greater warrior then he ever was. She will be my tool for his destruction. I have learned from my mistakes, and I will have my
revenge".
"She is almost where I need her, almost perfect. All I need to do now is make her completely loyal to me." He said this as he ran his long tongue over his teeth with a hungry look in his eyes.
"All there is left to do, is make her mine".
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Meanwhile, Larka entered the main lobby on her way to her living quarters
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Larka clutched her new orders and punishment behind her back as she walked among several other agents of various species and rank. It was not unusual for agents on their return to be covered in blood and gore. But for some reason she tended to draw more attentive looks then the other times she had passed by. It was most likely because the documents in which she carried were bordered in black instead of her usual red. And that meant that she was under direct orders from the council to carry out a mission that was also a punishment. This alone tended to mean that it was a suicide mission or that even if the agent survived; they would be required to kill themselves or allow themselves to be killed by a fellow agent.
None had spoken to her, as few ever did anyway, but it got on her nerves a bit.
"Oi Larka!" a deep booming voice called out her name. She turned to see a great white gryphon shoving his way past some dragons whom he was near their size so they didn't seem to mind, in an effort to get her attention. She sighed and let her ears fall flat against her head as he came to a puffing halt in font of her.
"Really now Blizzie was that really necessary?" she said as he tried to catch his breath
"Couldn't you have just followed me into the living quarters and spoken to me there? Instead of barreling through everyone else just to say hi?"
She paused, and the gryphon stood before her fumbling with a few documents of his own bordered in white, until he found what he was looking for.
"It's always questions with you isn't it?" he said to her.
Larka arched an eyebrow.
"Here" said the gryphon, "you dropped this"
He presented her with the tattered invitation to the party that was her last assignment. She looked at it, then to him.
"And what is it that you expect me to do with that?"
"Questions, questions, questions, it's always questions with you, and would you just take it".
She didn't move,
"F.Y.I you left this at the scene of your last mission, and you know as well as I that's a big no no, so come on just take it so I can prepare for my next mission".
Larka still made no effort to remove to paper from the outstretched gryphons claws. Instead she leaned forward and sniffed it.
"What the hell are you doing?" he said letting his arm drop to his side.
She looked up at him,
"This stupid thing didn't even do its job and plus, it is heavy with my scent I have no use for it. How bout you keep it and we'll call it even".
The gryphon frowned, clacked his beak and ruffled his wings, caught slightly off guard by her response.
"And why should I do that? And what do you mean call it even"
He said doing a bad impression of her voice.
"Now look who's asking questions" Larka said perking her pretty ears.
The gryphon tried to cuff her over the head, but the she wolf easily evaded the maneuver and stood back giggling sweetly at him.
"Come on stop playing around Larka this could get you, not to mention me, into serious trouble down the line.
She just looked at him with glee dancing in her golden eyes.
He held up the documents in his opposite claw
"This is what I mean; I have been given a mission to oversee the completion of an objective by some newbie agent. I'm babysitting for crying out loud not to mention that if she fails to complete her objective. I'll have to fly out there, do it for her and then kill the hapless bitch".
The emotion in Larka's eyes had gone, they were now completely blank
"So not only am I babysitting but I'm also on clean-up crew as well I mean come on damn it, this kind of shit can only get worse for you and everyone else you work with if you don't start following your orders to the letter".
"Was that all the information they gave you about the agent?" Larka asked,
"That it is a female?"
The gryphon shrugged his massive shoulders,
"That and it was some form of canine or something, not that it really makes much of a difference".
Larka's tail curled itself around her leg
"Either way if I had to kill them, I'd have to kill them, regardless of whom it was or what they may be. I don't really care though"
Larka's tail shot straight out behind her in indignation, but it went unnoticed by the gryphon and when she spoke her well trained voice betrayed nothing of her emotions.
"Could you have requested more information on the target?"
"Why would I? Are you saying I should get to know those I am to kill before I kill them? Come on now that just seems a little too"
"Answer the question" Larka said abruptly in a none too friendly way.
The gryphon eyed her for a moment then spoke his next words very cautiously
"Yes I suppose I could have. But the thought never crossed my mind for the reasons I earlier explained."
"I see" she said turning her head to look a marble pillar that suddenly seemed very interesting to her.
"Look Larka I'm sorry if I"
The white gryphon attempted to break the tension between them, but Larka cut him off again,
"It was nothing, don't worry about it"
"But" he started
"Hey we both have missions to prepare for, I'll see you later ok."
"Ok" he said, reluctant to let the conversation end there.
Larka nodded to him and walked off in the direction of the living quarters.
As he watched her go he noticed for the first time what she had concealed behind her back. He felt sick, like someone had just punched him in the gut.
He didn't notice the silver fox standing a few tail lengths behind him. He had been there since he begun his conversation with Larka, and now he to moved toward the direction of his own living quarters.
"There are some that say you must not pass, or come too near that wicked glass; are they afraid that you will see, A little one that looks akin to thee?; With a small mouth to whisper low, The very thing they fear you'd know"-