Red, White, and Blue Chapter 7
#7 of Red, White, and Blue
UPDATE Y'ALL. AGAIN. More deyiffication (no I didn't just make that up, why?). If you're wondering why, check the update on chapter 4. If you don't feel like it, tl;dr the RWB smut was bad, so I got rid of it. Otherwise, this chapter (and hoo boy did I forget how long it was) is unedited from its original form.
Chapter 7: Stand Up
December 9, 2011
Approximately One Month After Elimination of Vladimir Romanova
Off the Coast of St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands
The Black Hawk helicopter flew over the Caribbean, its elite crew listening to "Fortunate Son" being played out of a set of speakers in the heavily modified chopper. The combat members of Strike Team 13 plus their technological specialist Pavel Svrbada were riding toward a private island determined to be a base of some sort for Igor Kossenko's global mafia syndicate. Blake Tannehill sat on the edge of the passenger compartment, his legs hanging off the side of the aircraft and his rifle cradled in his arms. He heard snickering behind him and turned around to see what all the commotion was about. Lo and behold, Travis Langley had taken his helmet off and was in the process of tying a red band around his forehead. Blake scoffed, "You know he dies at the end of the book, right?" The brown fox looked at him agitatedly, "Hey, spoilers, brah. You know, I just love the smell of napalm-fried raccoon in the morning." "Hey," Alex interjected seemingly seriously, "Knock it off guys. Or I'll have you both play Russian Roulette, six bullets in the chamber." "That's fine," added Kris, "So long as you don't kill off Manny. We've got a shrimp company to start once we get home." "Hey, back in 'Nam, the closest thing we got to shrimp were cockroaches we pulled out of the Mekong," Carlisle parodied.
An annoyed voice came from a Slovakian wolf using a laptop, "Have you all had enough? We're not even in Asia." "Oh thank you, Captain Obvious," Travis replied mockingly, "I wasn't aware that it only took three hours to get to our staging area instead of like, twelve." "Yeah, and we didn't even get to Platoon or Full Metal Jacket yet," Alex mock-complained. Pavel massaged the bridge of his snout while the soldiers laughed at the absurdity of the Vietnam movie references while on the way to actually risk their lives in some nameless island in the Caribbean. Blake, still holding his rifle, a spiffy Mk 12 SPR, probably much more caringly than he'd ever held a female, appeased Pavel by asking him for some mission intel. "Right," the wolf agreed, eager to contribute something to the team, "The mysterious island we are en route to is a known base for Igor Kossenko. We don't know much about its specific layout, but what we do know is that it's a multileveled complex that's used as an armory for Kossenko in the West." "Multileveled, on a small island out here? How does that work?" Zimmerman questioned. "With the exception of St. Croix," Pavel expounded, "The Virgin Islands are volcanic in origin, meaning the islands are basically mountains that extend above the waterline, so you could feasibly dig in them."
"Alright, enough geology crap," Manny threw in, "so we're gonna blow this place, right?" "Why yes, yes we are," Alexei answered. "We have a general idea of where the central arms stockpile is in the facility, so we infiltrate, plant explosives, leave, and kablooie," he informed them. Travis inquired, "Rules on Tangoes?" "Expendable. If they've got a gun, send 'em to the Great Beyond," Pavlov declared, "With the exception of someone super-important maybe. But chances are we won't have to worry about that, so yeah, blow anyone away that's not us. Oh and Pavel will be staying in the chopper as a base to provide surveillance with his awesome Gamma ray UAV thing, and Mansfield and Shadowstep will be watching and most likely critiquing us from back at HQ. Anyone else I missed?" "Heh," Blake snickered, "What about Elise?" "Eh, I dunno," Alex said shrugging his shoulders, "probably making some sandwiches for when we get back." Kris shook his head, "You know, Pavlov, it's a good thing you're not a writer of some sorts. Putting a quasi-misogynist comment like that in a story would probably draw some serious disdain from the feminist crowd." "Yeah, good thing for that," Alex agreed, nodding his head.
"Hey Alex," Pavel called out, "Did you say Gamma Ray UAV?" Alex nodded his head, and the wolf continued, "You have no idea what that is, do you? Aren't you in some sort of university-level Chemistry class, too?" "I know what it is in the sense that it's both something dangerous and a Beck song," Alexei shrugged, "Look, I'm sorry, we don't do nuclear chemistry until second semester." Feeling bad about calling his friend out, Pavel told Alex that it was fine and he apologized. Obnoxious as ever, Travis put an arm around Pavel and Alex and commented, "Hey guys, cheer up, we're about to go blow somethin' up! It doesn't get any better than this. Also, once we get back to the good old USA, the three of us should go do somethin', y'know, as the kits of the group." The wolf and husky looked at each other and agreed, and Alex asked what the Rambo getup was for, as all of the members of the team wore green jungle camouflage, but as previously stated, Travis had accented this with a red headband. The fox picked up a light machine gun from the helicopter floor and stated that that was the reason why.
"I do not understand, though," Langley complained, holding his C9A2, "Why our machine guns have to be Canadian as well. Wouldn't it be easier to just give us the original American M249 Para's? Practically the same thing anyway." Blake turned around and lectured, "The C9 suits this mission's parameters better than a standard M249 would. Besides, the American 'original' is just a version of the Belgian Minimi platform anyway. Regardless, I think I see the island, are we ready to go?" Pavlov ordered his team up, and everyone checked their equipment one last time. Alexei had the same standard H.U.R.T. C8SFW carbine he always used in addition to his twin Glocks, Kris had switched out his carbine for a full C7A2 rifle, and Manny got to bring the heat with a brand new AA-12 automatic shotgun fed by a 32-round drum magazine. As the helicopter neared the beach and some of the team members prepared the ropes to repel down, Travis refused to wear his helmet, citing if he got shot in the head he'd rather just die and get it over with than be partially shot and become a vegetable or something. Alexei called him an idiot, but told him it was his funeral, and let him continue sans-headgear.
The aircraft at last reached the shore, and the team slid down the ropes dangling from its sides, landing on the hard packed sand. Pavlov gave Svrbada a thumbs-up signifying that all members had made it safely, and the wolf pulled up the ropes as the chopper flew away. Alexei held one finger up and twirled it around, signaling for his teammates to fall in around him, then flicked it forward to tell them to advance into the mangroves just beyond the shoreline. He mentally checked that those who carried suppressors for their weapons (himself, Kris, and Blake) all had them attached as they progressed through the maze of roots. Periodically Pavel would make himself known over the radio and give them course corrections to get to the "back door" of the complex. Langley muttered a few oaths as he lugged his machine gun through the dirt and muck, the buzzing of the insects around them constantly violating his unprotected ears. Pavlov called for a halt as Svrbada relayed a new set of navigational instructions, and he felt a chill go down his spine when he looked above him and saw a yellow and black spider the size of his paw scurrying across a web between two mangroves.
"Good God," uttered Zimmerman semi-sarcastically, crouched beside Pavlov, "I'm more afraid of this swamp than the damn OpFor. If this place kills me, Alex, tell my mate I love her." The husky snapped his head to face him, "You have a mate?" "Yeah," the Doberman sighed, "A pretty Newfie. Met her when I was still with the Canadian Forces, even before I joined JTF-2." "Awesome, I'm going to pretend that spider is the 'The More You Know' star, as that's basically the only thing keeping me from pissing down my leg right now," Alexei choked out, referencing his abject hatred of spiders. Zimmerman chuckled to himself shortly before the team started moving again, much to the relief of the squad leader. As they ventured higher in elevation, the swamp thinned out, and they came to the edge of a clearing, where they could see a smallish-looking building. Pavel's reconnaissance confirmed that this was the entrance they were looking for, and it was also to be the extraction zone once the explosives were planted. Pavel notified the team of several heat signatures around the building, and they took a moment to locate all enemies in the real world. Once this was accomplished, Alex, Blake, and Kris took up positions at the division between the vegetation and the opening. On Alex's command, they fired a couple of bursts simultaneously, dropping the exterior guards soundlessly and instantly, rosy puffs bursting into the air over where they fell.
Travis seamlessly stepped out into the grassy clearing and dove on the ground, ready to provide cover fire for the advancing squad. Alex, Kris, and Manny moved swiftly towards the entrance until two investigating guards emerged from the door. The trio promptly hit the dirt, and Langley riddled one opponent with automatic fire. As he took aim at the other, a heavy bullet removed a good chunk of the enemy's face. The fox called Blake a "fucking showoff" before hoisting his gun and moving forward to catch up with the rest of the group.
They swiftly advanced to the door, stepping around the broken, bloody bodies of the deceased guards. Zimmerman mentioned that they would have to get in and get out quickly, as there was no way the opposition would be unaware of their existence for long. Examining the door in front of him, Pavlov said, "Hey Pavel, we've reached a kind of impasse here." When Svrbada asked what was wrong, Alexei continued, "Yeah, the door's locked." "Maybe you should try knocking," Carlisle suggested facetiously. Ignoring the cheetah, Pavel asked Pavlov to describe the entrance. The husky proceeded to tell Pavel about the electronically controlled door, and the wolf interrupted him mid-sentence and asked if there was a certain jack on the control panel. When Pavlov found that there was indeed the one he was looking for, Svrbada told him that there was a piece of electronic equipment that he had slipped into his kit that would allow him to remotely access the base's security system. Alexei reached into the pocket in his vest that Pavel told him to and, lo and behold, produced a small black device. "You know, you could have just given this to me like, normally," the husky said. The wolf laughed, "Now where's the fun in that?"
After putting Pavel's "electro-jammer-something-or-other", as Carlisle put it, in the intended slot, the door magically opened and the team sauntered inside. In addition to being able to go wherever they wanted, Pavel had managed to loop the security camera footage in key areas so they couldn't be detected (a feat which Kris had previously thought could only be pulled off in movies), and he also was able to track them inside using the H.U.R.T. satellite and UAV tracking system and a map of the complex he had just discovered. Pavel led the team through the winding hallways as they crept along the most convoluted path possible to avoid detection. Right at the edge of the weapon dump, they came across two enemies talking in front of the entrance, both facing away from them. Alex tapped Zimmerman on the shoulder, pointed at the guards, and drew a finger across his throat. The husky and Doberman advanced forwards silently, and Alexei simultaneously clamped his paw over one guards snout and kicked his knee out, and slashed his throat with a Marine-style KA-BAR knife, while Kris made a similar maneuver. "Nice work Alex," Kristoff congratulated, "but where are we going to hide the bodies? There isn't exactly an overabundance of broom closets in this place." The husky's eyes opened wider, "Right... How 'bout we just leave 'em here and pray nobody finds them 'till the place blows?" "Whatever you say, Chief," Zimmerman conceded.
Without further ado, the team entered the cavernous ammo dump. Blake let out a low whistle, "Real testament to slumlord engineering, this." "Yeah, too bad it will all be atomized by the time we blow this joint," responded Travis, already placing plastic explosives on some of the crates. The dump, as the purpose of the installation, was indeed big. Real big. Lots of shiny explody-things in there too. Rockets, rifle grenades, more than a dozen varieties of small arms ammunition, fuel, antipersonnel mines, even a couple of surface-to-air missiles were present. H.U.R.T. had struck a gold mine here. It was like black market Wal-Mart. After spending several minutes rigging the place to become a towering inferno, the team gathered up again and started to head out the way they came. And that's when the shit hit the fan.
"Just how stupid do you Americans think we are?" called a heavily, and I mean heavily accented female Russian voice from the entrance way. Kris rolled his eyes, and despite the pressure, nonchalantly raised his paw and joked, "Actually, I'm Canadian. It's different." "SHUT UP," cried the Malamute, "you miscreants don't know what's in store for you. You might destroy this outpost , but you are all going down with it." "Ooh, miscreants. Pretty big word for someone who can't speak English," Blake slammed, "Oh yeah, what was that last part again?" "You are all going to die here," Anastasia Kossenko clarified, "especially you, Alexei Pavlov." "Aw, come on," Langley called in mock complaint, "Just cuz he's the leader? Why does he get preferential treatment?" "Because he ripped my best friend away from me," she glared, "And now it's personal." Alexei stared blankly at the Russian, who was clothed not unattractively in a sleeveless shirt that showed off just a peek of her ample bust and camouflage military-style pants that got tighter in all the right places, and merely uttered, "What." "Da, Alexei. Natalya is with you now, so she considers me to be her enemy. She was one of the only people I could ever talk to, and now she won't talk to me at all," Anastasia expounded.
Pavlov cocked his head to the side a little, "So... that's... it? Nothing about 'down with America' or 'fuck the capitalist pigs'? You're just ticked that Natalya won't talk to you? Isn't there another way to solve this problem besides shooting us in the face?" "I do not think so, Mr. Pavlov. And in a few minutes, you will not be thinking about anything," the Malamute taunted before raising an alarm and running away. "Well fuck," Pavlov said flatly, "At least we have all the time in the world to kill these guys, then make our escape, right? Right?" "Yeah, about that," Manny responded, "The bombs were set with a time delay so they would go off if something happened to us." Alexei sighed, "Lovely," as the first set of goons came to the entrance. This first group, however, did not present much of a problem, as Travis had already been in a prone position with his C9 and fired some fifty rounds into the doorway, mercilessly cutting down the aggressors as Kris and Alex began to contribute to the suppressive fire. The trade-off of rounds wasn't actually so much of that as it was just an imposition of lead from the H.U.R.T. side, as the wave of attackers fell so quickly that they discharged more blood than shell casings.
With the welcoming committee out of the way, the team scrambled through the mess of broken bodies and attempted to take the shortest route out of the place, as guided by Pavel Svrbada. Seeing that he would have little need for his sniper rifle any longer, Blake shouldered his Mk12 and pulled a H&K MP7 sub-machine gun seemingly out of nowhere. Still wielding his LMG, Travis glanced at Blake and commented, "Yeah, I'm not gonna ask." Pavel told them to turn a corner toward the complex mess hall, and as they complied with the order an enemy jumped out in front of them. Time practically slowed down as the adversary brought his weapon to bear, but Manny shot in and delivered a hefty dose of buckshot into his chest, causing him to fly back and crash onto the floor. What was previously his torso had been turned into a sickening mockery of feline anatomy, and he died before he hit the ground.
They proceeded into the mess hall, where they were met with stiff resistance. Zimmerman instinctively flipped a table and took cover behind it, joined by Carlisle and Tannehill. Pavlov and Langley slid over to a nearby table that was already flipped, the fox hitting his head on one of the legs in the process. "See? Shoulda worn a helmet," reprimanded Alexei to the fox, who was now rubbing his forehead with a paw. Pinned down by the oppressive torrent of bullets, a frustrated Travis swore and cooked off a hand grenade before chucking it over the top of the table. The perfectly timed detonation went off just above the heads of a large concentration of enemies, killing the closest with the shockwave and eliminating several others with the shrapnel. The blast also disoriented the other mostly greenhorn enemies, and the team used this to their advantage, storming their position and running them over.
Pavel announced they were just about out of the complex as they exited the mess hall, and they were about to make the last sprint when by some stroke of luck Anastasia passed right in front of them, flanked by two guards. Kris smashed his shoulder into one of the guards, driving him in to the other and the combined mass into the wall with a resounding thud and a few cracks from the victims. As the Doberman handled the losers, Manny attempted to tackle Anastasia, failing miserably as she deftly performed a Heisman-level stutter step juke. Unfortunately, she couldn't come up with another sicknasty dodge so quickly, as Alexei's linebacker instincts took over, locking his arms around her waist and driving her sideways as Travis hurdled over him and took her to the ground for the coup de grace.
Travis kept the Malamute pinned to the ground while the other four made sure there were no other enemies nearby. Anastasia continued to struggle underneath Langley, insisting they would gain nothing by capturing her. Kris moved in to help take control of the situation, but an explosion of unknown origin rocked the complex. Taking advantage of the situation, Kossenko skillfully slipped out of Travis' hold and threw a knee up into his crotch, causing him to shout in agony before being thrown off his target. By the time the others realized what had happened, she was already out of sight.
"Okay," Pavlov said agitatedly, "what the HELL just happened?" "I don't know. The charges aren't set to blow for another five minutes," Manny explained. "Then let's not stay to find out," Alex declared, "Pavel, are you guys in position?" "Yes, we just saw another helicopter leave the compound," said the wolf, "Anastasia was most likely on board." "Dammit," cursed Pavlov, "Can't win 'em all. Travis, can you, like, walk after that impressive spectacle of inadequacy?" "Well enough," Travis said, struggling to his feet, "Fuck a helmet; I should've worn a cup."
The team successfully fled the building, racing to the waiting helicopter. One by one they all clambered in, with the stumbling brown fox being the last to arrive. The chopper lifted off, and as they flew away, they could see a pillar of fire erupt from where the complex used to be. Mansfield came on over the radio and congratulated them on an accomplished mission, albeit with a few blips. The Rottweiler told them that they would get Anastasia another day, and to celebrate the destruction of a major western mafia outpost instead of focusing on that one small faux pas. Before switching off, the Director left some closing words, "We don't know how, but Kossenko seems to always be one step ahead of us. With this in mind, the six of you did magnificently well under pressure and dealt a severe blow to our enemy's capabilities. I think all of you deserve some R&R to recover now, and Travis? May I suggest icing that for the rest of the day? Your pride will still be in pain but at least you'll feel it less physically."
*****
"He's an idiot, a misogynist, a leech and an asshole," Elise McAlester flamed, sitting at her desk the day after the Virgin Islands op, "Isn't there any way you could kick him off the team?" Alexei Pavlov stood behind her, massaging her shoulders as he declined, "No, I can't forcibly remove Travis Langley from the team. I don't have that power, and he is getting pretty good with that machine gun when he's not getting kicked in the plums." Elise giggled, "I thought that was hilarious. He deserved it." Apparently the previous weekend Elise had finally capitulated to Travis' pleading for a date, and judging by her current opinions of him, it went fantastic. Not. "He really reinforced my policy of 'no dating H.U.R.T. members'. I figured it couldn't be that bad, but it was. He treated me like some kind of object the entire night, then had the gall to try to kiss me," the dingo recalled. Alex asked how she responded to that, and she answered, "I slapped him again. I hope he was spitting blood all week. If he had even mentioned anything past that, I would have killed him. Violently." For some reason, Alexei didn't think the temperamental Australian secretary was exaggerating.
"So what's up with you? You're obviously not afraid of physical contact with me anymore," the dingo turned the conversation around, "And where did you get such skilled paws?" "My father always told me to know some useful non-combat skills. When you can't take someone out outright, it's good to have some backup plans to get under their fur and make them vulnerable. This is why it just so happens that I'm a decent masseuse," Alexei explained. Elise shifted her head to the side, looking at him out of the corner of her eye, and asked flirtatiously, "Oh, so are you trying to make me vulnerable now?"
-In the following scene, Alexei's thoughts will be signified with [brackets] and Elise's with (parentheses)-
[Uh-oh. I'm not sure I wanna go down this path.] Alex tentatively kept rubbing Elise's shoulders, wary of doing anything stupid, replying, "I can tell you that you're definitely not in any danger." (Hm, I like where this is going...) Elise continued on with her playful dialogue, "So, are you some kind of shoulder specialist, or do you do other places too?" [DANGER! DANGER, WILL ROBINSON!] "I, uh, yeah. But you see that's part of the premium package," Alex stated, attempting to walk the thin line between pissing off Elise and feeling guilty about Natalya. ("premium package"? What the Hell are you playing at? Alright Mr. Masseuse, I have my own methods of making you vulnerable. Come on boobs, don't fail me now.) Elise shifted in her seat slightly, giving Alex a better view of her exceptional rack and asked with faux innocence, "And what do I have to do to get the 'premium package'?" [fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck] "It's, ah, um, currently not for sale at the time, eh... heh..." (Aw, he's so cute when he's flustered. Gotta admit I do feel a little dirty doing this when his girlfriend's only a couple of miles away, but I kinda like the feeling. I think I may like the rewards too.)
Elise put a finger to her mouth and made an exaggerated face of disappointment, "Aw... There's really nothing I can do?" [This isn't even fair. Gotta stop myself from getting turned on... Dead kittens... crying orphans... Assassin's Creed's ending... Steven Tyler. There we go.] "Sorry, not today," Alexei held out, much to Elise's dissatisfaction, "I gotta go meet Travis and Pavel at the motor pool, like, three minutes ago." (Fuck my life.) Elise tilted her head all the way back so she was looking straight up at Alex, "If you say so. Some other time then." Now what? Do I just leave? I should probably do something, but I don't want to do anything that could possibly upset Natalya... It's just that I'm so confused. I'm not really sure whether Elise even likes me or not anymore. I don't want to get smacked like Travis... [Alright, I think this will be neutral enough.] Alexei started to lower his snout to Elise's, inching closer. (Yeeeeeeeeeeeessss!) And then the husky redirected from her snout, planting a light kiss on her forehead. (Wait, what? No! On the lips, you moron!) Alex bid the dingo good night, and exited the office. Elise sat flabbergasted and stared of into space, questioning the effectiveness of her powers of seduction.
*****
Alexei made it to the H.U.R.T. garage, slightly perturbed about his previous encounter. Waiting for him there were Travis Langley and Pavel Svrbada, the former looking very impatient. The brown fox asked where Alex had been in an exasperated tone, and the husky replied honestly that he had been with Elise, and added on that he was fairly certain she was coming on to him. "Wouldn't surprise me," Travis said bitterly, "She's still completely fuckin' in love with you." "I don't get it," Alex protested, "She said she wouldn't get between me and Natalya, but she does stuff like this?" "Look, alls I know is, when we went out last weekend, your name came up more than mine did," Langley admitted. Alex brought up how Elise had claimed that Travis was a pain, and the fox confessed, "Yeah, I guess I got a little frustrated. I just wish she wouldn't have accepted instead of going and making me feel like a dumbass. Also I wish she would stop hitting me, because she hits really hard."
"Ok ok we get it," Pavel threw in, "You both like the same female, and one of you can't have her because he's already with a ridiculously hot one, and the other's feelings are unrequited. Now that everyone has the actual story so far, can you both just give up on her so we can go do... whatever the Hell we're doing tonight?" Both Alex and Travis looked at the ground for a few seconds, and then Travis spoke up again, "Pavel's right. Whatever happens happens. And that leads us directly into tonight's entertainment. Gentlemen, we are going to cruise Virginia at slightly way over legal speeds for a while, then I'll introduce the two of you to bar-hopping." Pavel raised an eyebrow, "Isn't all of that completely illegal, considering neither of you are 21?" "Pavel," Travis addressed the wolf, shaking his head, "That's why God invented fake I.D.'s. Plus, we're with H.U.R.T., and that practically gives us diplomatic immunity if we get pulled over." Alexei squinted his eyes, "How?" "Don't ask stupid questions, Alex," the fox responded jokingly, not really knowing how the process worked himself, "and as for our transportation this evening, I give you this beauty." Travis pointed to a blue convertible Ford Mustang GT and beamed.
"Wait," Pavlov called, "So you think a convertible is a good idea in DC in December? Dude it's fucking snowing outside!" "Hey it's only a light drift. We'll put the top up when we're parked. Besides, both of you are built for winter, I should be the one complaining," Langley retorted. "And after all our messing around in the bars?" Pavel questioned. "Then," Travis said, a sly grin appearing on his face, "We each find a female to mess around with. Alternatively we could all use the same one, but I wasn't sure if you guys would be ok with that." Pavel crossed his arms and looked at the fox with suspicion, "So you mean picking up hookers then?" Langley put a paw on Svrbada's shoulder and shook his head, "Nah, brah, this ain't Slovakia. This is America, where you can pick up some bimbo that will get you the same results for zero the price if you know where to look. And I know where to look." "I'm not cheating on Natalya with 'some bimbo'," Alex said bluntly, accenting the last two words with finger quotes. "Suit yourself," Travis said, shrugging his shoulders. Alexei asked if it was really a mystery to him why Elise didn't like him, and he responded soberly, "No, but that doesn't make the sting of my romantic inadequacies any less painful. So are you guys in or not?" Alex and Pavel looked at each other, sighed, and both agreed, much to the brightening of Travis' spirits.
*****
A few hours later, the trio cruised down downtown DC, blasting the Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Higher Ground" with the mustang's top down, heading for the final stop of the night. Alex chilled in the middle of the back seat with his arms around the headrests on either side of him; Pavel in the passenger seat with his feet up on the dash; and Travis in the driver's seat, commandeering the car extremely well given his slight intoxication. The fox pulled into a free parking spot along the road, and turned off the car, claiming it to be the finale of the evening. Alex observed the joint, and his first impressions were of disappointment. For being so far inside the city, the place kind of looked like a hole in the wall, even for a dive. "How fitting," the husky mumbled to Pavel after disembarking from the car, "Travis' spot to pick up cheap thrills looks like a cheap thrill itself." Pavel nodded, "Yeah, this was the worst idea ever."
That last statement was a little hyperbolic though, as up until this point, the two had been having a fairly good time. Travis had somehow picked up some mad driving skills while in the CIA, and he took them on one hell of a ride through the mountains, taking corners at breakneck speed and booming music off a special CD he burned just for the occasion. Alex remembered the cool, breezy, careless feeling of the wind blowing through his fur, and enjoyed the hilarious conversations he shared with his two comrades during the journey. As they worked their way back toward the city, Travis had held true to his promise, and the three of them popped in and out of several bars on the route to their current position. Only a little tipsy at the moment, Alexei followed his two friends into the sketchy establishment.
The inside of the building was suspiciously vacant of people, save for one lone bartender manning his decrepit post in the decaying room. Travis walked up to the bar and got the aged bulldog's attention. The bartender started to gruffly ask what Travis wanted until he turned around and saw the source of the voice, then smiled broadly and gave the fox a friendly whack on the shoulder, "Hey! Travis! What's up, my man?" "Oh, nothin' much," the fox replied with a smirk, "Just wanna give a couple of my buddies here a wild night. Mind if I get three tickets to the Underground?" "Ah, you don't even need to ask, brother," the bulldog complied, pressing some sort of switch under the counter and causing a door completely hidden in the wall to swing open, revealing a spiral staircase leading downward. Travis thanked the dog and signaled for Pavel and Alexei (who were both a little nervous now) to follow him down the stairs.
Upon reaching the bottom of the staircase, the trio walked through a doorway revealing and arched basement area with lights, tables, a fully stocked bar, a stage in the middle, and barmaids wearing outfits that could be considered "clothing" only in a very loose sense of the word. There were only a few other patrons in the joint, which gave Alex the clue that for some reason it was highly exclusive, and it was blatantly obvious why its occupants were there. In the time since their arrival, Alex had already witnessed two newly formed couples exit the area. "Ok Travis," Pavlov said shakily as they sat down at a table, "How exactly did you find this place again?" The fox ordered a round of beers for the group from a scantily-clad attendee before he answered, "Back when I was still the CIA's new golden boy, my handler was one cool dude. There was this mission I completed out in Afghanistan that he said I pulled off so well, he'd give me an awesome reward. He took me here the night after I got back, and aw man, that shit was intense. So basically once you get in here the first time, ol' Frankie upstairs remembers your face, and you're good to go in anytime unless ya do somethin' drastic. Which means you guys can now come here any time you like if you so choose."
Yeah, no, I don't think so, thought Alexei as the lighting changed colors and music started playing as a lioness took the stage in the center of the basement. "So I guess this is kind of a VIP place," the husky thought aloud, "I think I can almost recognize some of the people here... Holy shit, is that the Vice President?!" Travis swiveled around in his chair, looked briefly, then faced Alex again, uttering a simple "Yup." "You talk so calmly about this," Pavel said inquisitively, "How often do you come here?" "Eh, a few times a week," the fox said to the shocked expressions of his friends, "It's a really great stress reliever." "Dude, you have a problem," Alex said disapprovingly, "Why not just get a girlfriend?" "I tried," Langley sighed, "And she smacked me in the face because I wasn't cool with her daydreaming about your dick." "Elise is not the only female in the world," Pavel said sympathetically. "I'm aware," retorted the fox, "And that's why I come here. It's so much easier to just have a female for one night, without commitment, than to have to fret about an actual girlfriend."
"That's kind of a sad view," the wolf observed, "I bet there's someone there for you. Anastasia Kossenko perhaps?" Travis made an expression of mock-contemplation, "Eh... She's got a pretty face, nice ass... Not that I'd ever tap it though because she's a fuckin' psycho." "Aw, she was just bustin' your balls a bit," Alex snickered, "Is that your only case against her?" "Isn't it enough? I mean, if some girl kicked you in the nads you'd be hesitant to jump into bed with her too," Travis justified. Alex and Pavel both conceded that point as Travis looked past the husky and tossed in, "Oh yeah, I forgot to mention this: Because of the, y'know, 'open' nature of this place, a lot of the people here, both males and females, are really, ah, forward." Alex gave Travis a quizzical look just before a sultry voice came from behind him, "Hey there, puppy." Pavlov turned around to meet a pair of rather large, brown, furry breasts in his face, and upon looking upward, found they were attached to a curvy brown bear in her early to mid thirties with medium length chestnut hair. She leaned over her paws on the round table, somehow finding an angle to put her cleavage right where Alexei couldn't not see it. The top of her dress was somewhat loose, and as Alex quickly and accidentally found out, she was not wearing a bra.
"You look surprised," the bear said in a flirtatious tone, "This your first time here?" Alex nodded his head, trying in vain not to let his eyes linger on her chest. The bear giggled and said seductively, "Mmm, it's okay to look, honey. I'll tell you what: why don't we go somewhere more private where we can do something a little more than look?" After the last words, she slowly licked her lips and waited for Alex's response. To her surprise, the husky responded, "No, I'm already waiting for someone for tonight, sorry." The bear puffed out her lip and mock-pouted, "Aw, that's too bad. Some other time, sexy?" Alex choked out, "Yeah, sure," and the bear went back to sit at another table with some other females. "Well," Travis complimented, "You handled that exceptionally well for someone who doesn't want to get laid." "I'm not cheating on Natalya," Alex reiterated flatly. Travis rolled his eyes, "Yeah, yeah, I get it. That was Veronica Banks by the way. She's a charming female, really." Pavel put some things together in his mind and tested his theory, "Wait, so you know the names of the females here? If you do only one-night stands, then why would you bother remembering names? Do you repeat with some?" "Yes I do," Langley confirmed, "As you can tell, there isn't really an overabundance of females to choose from because it's so exclusive, so I've slept with a few of them here several times, Veronica included. She's pretty great really. Practically a feral in bed, and her mate hasn't found out about it once."
The other two's jaws dropped. "Wow, I think I need to go take a shower now, I feel that gross," Alex stammered out. Pavel seconded the notion. "Well then, I think I'm ready to take my leave," the fox said, standing up, "Either of you guys want the car?" They said he could have it, and he went over to where Veronica was, and after about thirty seconds' worth of discussion, the bear led Travis out of the club by the paw to some unknown location.
After Travis left, Pavel instantaneously confided in Pavlov that it probably wasn't their kind of place. Alex agreed without a doubt, and proposed that they not come back here if they could help it. Pavel concurred, and mentioned that his opinion of Travis was somewhat lowered. "I don't know," Alex contemplated, "Our work isn't exactly easy, and if this is how he can cope with it all, I guess that's fine. We all have our flaws, and he's still our friend. But hey, would you look at that? It's a radical subject change! For a computer geek, you're in really good shape. What gives?" The wolf scratched his head and cracked a smile, "Heh, I used to play hockey. I was good at it too. Even made the Slovak national under-17 team one year. Then I discovered the internet, and it went bad from there. Computers started running my life more than sports, but I never stopped working out completely. I still run almost every day and work out in the H.U.R.T. fitness center sometimes. I guess you could say that's how I cope with it. What about you, Alexei?" "Natalya is my coping system," the husky said shyly, wary of the fact that he was still in a place where a "committed relationship" just wasn't a thing.
Pavel stared unenthusiastically at the table after Alex's response, and the husky asked if something was wrong. "No... It's just that Travis has this place, and you have females falling all over you all the time, and I know it sounds dumb but I want that too," the wolf admitted. "You mean female company? You're gonna need to be more specific," said Pavlov, "If you just wanna get laid, then I'm authorized to call you an idiot, because you have a quite sufficiently populated room of females who would go home with you in a heartbeat here." "I know," sighed Svrbada, "But I don't want just a one night stand; I want something more meaningful. Is that unusual?" "No, I don't think it is," Alexei said soberly, "I know I feel the same way, and even Travis has some sort of unconscious desire for love, too. Just look at his deal with Elise." Pavel nodded and asked if with that said, they could leave now, but Alex grinned, "Not so fast."
Pavel raised an eyebrow, and Alexei revealed his reasoning, "I detect an anomaly here. Look behind you, far corner of the bar, right against the wall." "The one talking to the bartender?" "Yup. Tell me what you see." "Um... She's sitting alone, not wearing revealing clothing, and talking to another female?" "Exactly. And what does that tell you?" "... She's a lesbian?" Pavlov's eyes opened wider and then returned to normal size, "Uh, possibly. But look at what she's holding." "Is that a book?" "Yep. Would someone who's just looking for a fling bring a fucking book to this place?" "No, but couldn't that also show that she's not interested in anyone?" "It could. But at least she appears to be somewhat normal. Give her a shot, come on I'll back you up." "I don't know Alex... Your arguments were pretty unconvincing..." "What's the worst that can happen? You only live once. That could be your future mate up there for all you know." "And what are the chances of that?" "Low. Very low. But still." "Fine, let's get this over with."
The pair left the table and walked over to the female in question, an average size grey wolf, much like Pavel except for the difference in fur coloration, with longish dark brown hair and facial features Alexei perceived as being much more attractive than the other occupants', even with their relative shortage of makeup. Her outfit, as pointed out before, showed very little skin on her body, with a reasonably tight black jacket on top, and similarly colored long pants and boots on the bottom. Alex approached her first, asking gentlemanly if the seats adjacent to her were taken, and she hesitated for a second or two before allowing them to take the spots, with Pavel between Alex and the female wolf, as per the husky's orders. The female German shepherd bartender that their new acquaintance had been conversing with barely noticeably sighed and rolled her eyes before resting her elbows and paws on the counter and asking in a tone that matched the environment, "Can I get you boys anything?" Picking up on the bartender's contempt and personally noting that gratuitous cleavage was just the way shit got done in the place, Alex smiled casually, "Nah, I think we're good. We can do without the show, too. We're not here for that; we get enough excitement as is. Thanks anyway."
That got a reaction. The bartender was taken aback by the lack of horniness of the newcomer, and after taking a second to get a hold of herself, appeared pleasantly surprised. She glanced at her lupine friend, who also looked up at the comment, and smiled and winked before walking away to take care of some other customers. "Alright, I'll bite," the wolfess spoke up, "If you aren't here for free sex, what are you here for?" "We could ask the same question of you," Alexei countered, "But I suppose you did ask first. Our friend took us here for some action, and promptly left with a lady-friend. Only thing is, this really isn't our scene. I've already got a loving girlfriend, and my friend here isn't interested in throwaway vaginas. My name's Alexei Pavlov, and his is Pavel Svrbada, by the way. So what's your story?" "Alexei and Pavel? You guys foreign? Anyway, yeah my roommate's the bartender. I don't know how or why she got the job, and I don't want to know. I come down here every once in a while to keep her sane, but I seriously hate it here. These people disgust me," the wolf explicated, "Oh right, and I'm Stacey Fawkes. I know, I'm a wolf named fox, you can laugh it up all you want."
Alexei surreptitiously elbowed Pavel in the gut, signifying that it was his turn to speak, and Svrbada told Stacey, "First, yes we're foreign. I am from Slovakia, and Alexei is from Russia. And we figured this wasn't your favorite place, either, and that's why we came over here. You seemed like the only other normal person in here." Nicely done, Alexei thought, you're learning. "So you came over here for a normal person to talk to? How quaint," Stacey said cynically. "Well it wasn't just that," Pavel corrected, "When I looked around this room, I saw a variety of females in various states of dress -or undress rather- and they all blended into a kind of furry blur. But then I saw you sitting here, and you stuck out in the crowd. There was something special, I could just tell." Well fuck. That was impressive, Pavlov pondered, there must be something in the beer here that boosts your bullshitting skill. Stacey's fur took a redder hue after Pavel's damn near poetic statement, "Wow... I... don't know what to say... You speak really eloquently for English being your second language..." "When does your friend get off work? I'd like to take you somewhere less offensive, but I don't want you to abandon your friend either." The female wolf's eyes shifted to the bartender, who gave her a knowing smile and a nod, despite Alex and Pavel being fairly certain she couldn't have possibly heard that last dialogue. Stacey squeaked out shyly, "I don't think she'll have a problem with me leaving early tonight. Could you just take me home? I'm afraid I'd fall asleep if I did much else tonight. I don't live far; we could walk..."
Pavel readily agreed to the plan, fist bumping Alex stealthily as the three of them exited the place. Once they were completely outside the building, Alexei made up a story of how Shadowstep had said he needed to get back home, and that he couldn't go with them. The husky wished them good night as he walked in the opposite direction toward the closest metro station with a wide grin on his face. He was a damn good matchmaker, he thought to himself.
Some time later, Alex was walking down the last stretch to get to the Shadowstep residence, enjoying the fresh winter air when he heard his "Lonely Boy" ringtone go off from inside his pocket. Taking out his phone, he saw it the call wasn't from any of his contacts, but it had a local area code. Out of curiosity more than anything, he answered and tentatively said hello as he put the phone to his ear. "Alex? I didn't think you'd actually pick up. It's Elise, I got your number from Shadowstep," said the Australian on the other end of the line. Alexei calmly asked the dingo why the hell she was calling him at 1 o'clock on a Sunday morning. "I'm sorry, I just got home," she explained, "And I wanted to apologize for earlier tonight. It was wrong of me to play with you like that." "You called to apologize for that? Elise, you were stressed out. It's not that big of a deal," Alex comforted her, "Maybe if we were more open to each other, these misunderstandings wouldn't happen." Ironically hiding her true feelings, Elise agreed, "Yeah, maybe we should be more open." After a short awkward silence, the dingo spoke again, "So... what did Travis have you do tonight?"
"Found out he's a really good driver," Pavlov opened up, "He flew through the backroads... We must've been doing 140 at times. Then we came back to the city, hung around in the bar scene and just kinda hung out. The three of us had some real good conversations, and it was actually really fun." Notice Alexei mentioned nothing of Travis' sex club. "So are you home now?" Elise asked. "Uh, no," Alex replied, "I'm currently walking to my house. I'm a few minutes away still." Elise then questioned what happened to Travis and Pavel, and Alex sheepishly answered that they each went home with a different female. "Ugh," Elise snarled, "I'd expect that out of that bastard Travis, but I thought Pavel was better than that." The husky quickly jumped to his lupine friend's defense, assuring that Pavel was in no way using the girl he found, once again saying nothing of his vulpine comrade. The dingo told Pavlov that she believed him, yet continued that she wondered how the technologically-minded wolf was doing with his new "friend." Alex found himself contemplating the same thing as he walked through the light snow on the street of his adoptive household.
Meanwhile, across town at the apartment of Stacey Fawkes...
Pavel Svrbada sat on a couch, unable to believe his luck. He had walked into that gallery of fuck-ups expecting the absolute worst, and for the most part, it had delivered. But one good thing had come out of it, and right now that good thing was snuggled up to him, her arms around his chest and her snout nuzzling his neck. Stroking Stacey's hair and placidly scratching her ear with a paw, the Slovakian reflected on how well they had hit it off on that short walk to her place, with Pavel quickly discovering she was an English major in her senior year of college, and promptly thanking himself for reading all of the English literature he did while still living in Bratislava. They talked about philosophy and poetry, and Pavel finally got a chance to unleash his sappy side, which had been suppressed at H.U.R.T. because of its overbearing manly masculine manliness (except for Elise, who never really talked to him. She seemed to only have time for Alex outside of work, with Travis now officially on her hit list), but was a huge hit with his new significant other (?).
By the time they entered her apartment, she was already walking beside him, clinging to his arm. Once she took off her jacket and boots, Pavel noticed that her body had the most subtle of curves to it, and that underneath her outer façade, she was actually quite beautiful, although she was apparently decidedly reluctant to show it. By the current point, he had already gotten a phone number and a legitimate first date planned, but he didn't want to go home anytime soon. He thought this must be what Alex felt when he was with Natalya as he put his free paw under Stacey's chin and gently yet briefly kissed her. It wasn't their first kiss of the night, but this one set something off. The wolfess shifted her paws from Pavel's chest to around his neck and moved to a kneeling position on the couch, directly facing him. In response, Svrbada twisted around to similarly face her, but remaining seated, and placed his paws on her back, sliding them up and down as he looked into her eyes. They simultaneously drew closer and locked lips repeatedly, continuing the process for an extended period of time, with their combined mass gradually falling in Stacey's direction. Eventually they wound up essentially lying on the couch, with Pavel on top still continuing the embrace.
He broke off, commenting that it was late, and that he should probably be getting home. Stacey told him not to go, citing that the city was dangerous at this time of night. "I work for a private security company," Pavel lied, hiding his true top secret profession, "I can defend myself." "I guess that explains your friend's 'excitement' comment at the bar," Stacey noted, playing with some of the grayish-brown fur around Pavel's collarbone, "But suppose I don't want you to leave. You could spend the night here." Pavel looked at her caringly, "Are you sure this isn't moving too fast for you? We just met tonight, remember?" "I know," the wolfess said softly, practically whispering, "But it feels like so much more... I feel like I can trust you to stay with me. I'm not intending for anything, um, special to occur, but, whatever happens happens. If we sleep together tonight, I trust you to be there in the morning, and for our date on Tuesday. Now, lover, take me to bed."
Sufficiently convinced, Pavel got off of Stacey and, praying the workouts he put in would help him out here, scooped her up and carried her to her bedroom, supporting her legs with one arm and her back with the other while she put her arms around his neck. He laid her easily on the bed, kissed her deeply and walked over to the bedroom door, closed it, and locked it, hearing the definitive click before returning to his waiting female.
About fifteen minutes later, the German shepherd bartender from the club walked into the apartment she shared with Stacey, and noticing the wolf's bedroom door was closed and an unfamiliar jacket lay draped over the couch, approached the door of her roommate and best friend's living quarters. She put her ear to the door and heard faint sounds of bedsprings rhythmically shifting and pleasured vocalizations from a voice she recognized as none other than Stacey's. The German shepherd smiled to herself and retreated to her room to get some much needed shut-eye.
*****
The next morning, Pavel Svrbada woke up to find himself staring at an unfamiliar ceiling. He needed a moment to take inventory. Had last night really happened? He rolled to his side, and upon seeing a completely naked female wolf laying on her side facing away from him, he concluded that yes, last night did indeed happen. He stroked her gray fluffy tail to make sure he wasn't still dreaming, then moved over and draped one arm over her body, resting it just below her ample breasts and letting the warmth from her smooth fur seep into his own. Stacey began to stir as Pavel lovingly nuzzled the back of her neck. She rolled over to face him, telling him good morning and kissing his nose. He grabbed her in response and embraced her deeply, Stacey giggling under his affectionate onslaught, slipping in between kisses, "Pavel... I've... got... stuff to... mmph... do." "Oh really?" Pavel asked doubtingly, now on all fours on top of Stacey, "Like what? You can't have classes, it's a Sunday." "I have errands to run," Stacey claimed, sliding her paws on her thin lover's tight pecs. "You have all day for that. They can wait," Svrbada declared, stepping up the frequency of oral contact. "Okay," the wolfess capitulated, the male above her already in position, "I guess one more time couldn't hurt... But after this I really have to- Oh, PAVEL!"
About twenty minutes later, the couple lay adjacent to each other, catching their breath from their most recent romp. Stacey sat up, turned and kissed Pavel, and informed him that she was going to go take a shower, adding with a giggle that he could meet her roommate while she was there. He watched her slip on nothing but a pair of flimsy panties and an oversized t-shirt before she left the bedroom with a final wink. Pavel took a deep breath and silently thanked Alexei for hooking him up with a very wonderful female, then dragged himself out of bed and put his clothes back on. He stepped into the main area of the apartment slowly and saw the German shepherd from the club look at him from the kitchen, who called out to him amiably, "Good morning, sunshine!" Svrbada sniffed the air, and tracked a nearly hypnotically fantastic aroma to where the female was standing.
"Hope you're okay with waffles and bacon. It's our typical Sunday breakfast," Stacey's roommate said before introducing herself, "I'm Antonia Schellenbach by the way, but all my friends just call me Toni." "That sounds amazing," remarked Pavel, referring to the food. Walking toward the small kitchen and briefly looking over Toni, dressed in an inconspicuous purple t-shirt and generic black athletic shorts, Pavel deduced with certainty that Alex had called her correctly the previous night. She wasn't naturally the flirtatious character she played at the bar; she was in reality down-to-earth, and she shied away from attention. Svrbada introduced himself, and proceeded to ask, "So your friends call you Toni... Am I your friend?" "Well that depends," Toni explained, looking at the wolf out of the corner of her eye, "I've never seen Stacey let someone into her pants that quickly, so you must either be a talented con-male, or someone very, very special for her. So are you staying with her, or was this just a one-shot deal for you?" Pavel's ears fell slightly and he rhetorically asked, "I'm still here, am I not? I'm not planning on leaving her anytime soon." "Then yes, you may call me Toni," she said with a smile before briefly turning dark and intimidating, "But if you hurt Stacey at all, ever, then I'll be cooking you for Sunday breakfast, got it?" To Toni's surprise, Pavel was largely unphased by the threat. He wasn't kidding when he said he had a tough job. "Alright, got it," the wolf said calmly, "Wouldn't have dreamed of hurting her anyway. It shouldn't be a problem."
"Wow... I usually scare most of her prospective boyfriends away," Antonia confessed, "I guess you're not bad for her... On the surface anyway. But I guess only time will tell. So, coffee? Orange juice?" "Uh, juice," Pavel decided before inquiring, "So why does a nice fur like you work in that shithole?" "Trust me, you have no idea how much of a shithole it really is," she grumbled, "But it pays very good money, enough to support both me and Stacey comfortably, so I make the sacrifice." Pavel sat down at the small four-person table that was set up by the kitchen, and Toni brought the food to the table and sat down as well. About two minutes later, Stacey stepped out of the bathroom, wearing the same clothes she had gone into it with, but looking a little damper and smelling of shampoo. She walked straight toward Pavel, who sat with his back toward the bathroom, slid her arms around his neck, and kissed him deeply. Pavel could almost still feel her tongue flicking around inside his mouth after she broke off, her mesmerizing taste still lingering as she walked over to the other occupant of the table and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. Wait, what? That wasn't right. But oh yes, that did just happen. Svrbada looked at the two, jaw agape, and realizing the horrible state of confusion her new boyfriend was in, Stacey rapidly explained, "No, no! It's not what you think! Toni and I aren't involved, we're just really close and that's how we're used to greeting each other at home."
The wolfess was absolutely mortified, and was experiencing considerable fear of losing the one-of-a-kind male that had swept her off her feet. "It's... um... it's okay," said Pavel unsurely, "I don't mind if you kiss her. A little more warning would have been nice, though." "I'm sorry, Pavel," apologized Stacey as she sat down opposite the Slovak wolf, "But I assure you, Toni has her place and you have yours. You're my boyfriend now and she's not going to take away from any of that." She shot the German shepherd the scariest expression that Svrbada had seen come from her in the short time that he had known her, and Toni got the message loud and clear. The rest of breakfast went on peacefully and without controversy, with the three discussing more random topics until the meal was finished. By the time they left the table and Pavel followed Stacy back to her bedroom, Toni had lost any edge she might have had, and everybody seemed to get along pretty well so far.
Once the couple was back in the bedroom, Stacey once again apologized for what she perceived as a fiasco at breakfast, and Pavel reassured her that everything was okay. She said that Toni had at times been jealous of her past boyfriends, but promised that she wouldn't let her get between them, because so far everything had been different with him. She also tacked on that she would "repay" him for having to go through that, but that it would have to be later, because she wanted to go get her stuff done then. She took off her loose t-shirt, leaving her standing bare-chested in front of Pavel while she searched for a bra, and prompting Svrbada to jokingly ask why they had to wait if she was already taking off her clothes. Stacey laughed and rolled her eyes, sticking her tongue out at him after she clasped the undergarment, covering the intimate parts of her anatomy. She put on a pair of pants, a short-sleeved shirt, and a reasonably tight sweater on, all in her customary black. Once she was ready to go, the pair gathered up the rest of their things and headed to the door, saying goodbye to Toni and exiting the apartment. Out of the building and on the sidewalk, Pavel and Stacey embraced one last time before going their separate ways until their next meeting.
*****
Reverting back to our protagonist, we find the super sled dog at his locker after school the following Friday. It had actually been a pretty stellar week. Football season was over, he hadn't been thrust into any do-or-die world saving situations, and school was out for winter break. He didn't even have to take his exams, because the public school system had switched the exam dates to after the break. He knew this would bite him in the ass in the end, but in the meantime, hey, no school. The day was pretty darn cold for the area, but they didn't get a flake of snow. The sky was bright baby blue for as far as the eye could see. Also bright blue was the jacket of Natalya Romanova, who practically pounced on Alexei as he stepped away from his locker, telling him that she missed him, despite the last time they had seen each other being all of three hours ago. While this might seem like she was being unreasonably clingy, it was her convoluted way of showing her gratitude for how much she appreciated all of her boyfriend's help with overcoming the loss of her father (even more impressive considering her boyfriend was the one that shot him). Also, she was really clingy. But it was mostly about the dead daddy thing.
"But wait," it dawns on you, "It's all great and awesome that Natalya's feeling mentally better and giving Alex gratuitous snuggles, but where the hell did she go? I mean, her father just got shot in the face. Even when Alexei, who is an elite professional killer, lost his parental unit, he had to be effectively adopted. What happened with Natalya?" Well, reader, that's a good question. What went down after the Romanova raid was something Alex couldn't explain, Bronco couldn't explain, Natalya couldn't explain, and strangely to everyone else and herself, Stephanie Hemingway couldn't explain. At first, Alex and Shadowstep had suggested Natalya stay with them, but Mandy Shadowstep had been adamantly against that, arguing that couples shouldn't move in together while they're still in high school, no matter the circumstances. So that didn't happen. But Natalya found refuge in the most unexpected of places: the Hemingway Household.
You see, in the time since Stephanie's enraged breakup with Alexei, she had started talking to Natalya, and her fury had been slowly but surely replaced with sympathy and compassion. By the time the cat learned of Natalya's father's death, (though she was told it was from "medical complications") she had healed her past wounds with her ex-boyfriends current girlfriend to the point that she petitioned her parents to let her stay with them. The offer was met with some suspicion by Alexei and Natalya, who assumed Stephanie was going to kill the vixen in her sleep, but seeing no other option, Natalya went to live with the Hemingways, and incredibly, she was still alive. An added benefit came a couple of days after the raid, when Stephanie got a new boy-toy, and the dregs of her jealousy of Natalya seemed to fade away beyond recognition. Out of this event also came the revelation of Kurt's crush, and Alex understood how that could have been awkward. Nevertheless, the two newer couples of the group were both surviving for the most part without drama. The other members of the group, however, found the rapid increase of Stephanie and Natalya to be a little too accepting over such a short period of time, and Leah said it was like "Deuce Ex Machine Gun". At the time of her saying this, her present friends looked at her with blank expressions, until Dex picked up where she was trying to go and corrected, "Oh! Leah, it's Deus ex Machina. But yeah. I agree. I think the guy who's writing your life needs to step it up a notch, Alex. This is just ridiculous."
And so went the living of Natalya with Stephanie, and that brings us back to the present day, with the red fox still holding onto Alexei as they exited the school building and met up with Kurt and Stephanie out by the street. Considering it was the last day of school for the semester, and it was friggin' cold out, the group had decided not to hang out in the courtyard today, as they would be together plenty over the break. Contradictory to the sound logic of the group as a whole, Natalya had decided that morning that walking home would be a great idea, so the four friends set off on foot for the metro station that would take them out to the suburb where three of them now lived (Kurt was going to Stephanie's house for the evening).
They rode the train and walked down the last stretch of the journey, making light conversation and cracking the occasional joke, with Kurt's usually reserved self being even quieter, as he was far more interested in his grip on Stephanie's paw than anything else. Once the two couples got to the Hemingways' house, Alexei neglected to invite the cat and wolf to hang out at his place with he and Natalya; he knew Kurt just wanted to be with Stephanie right then. So, after seeing their friends into the house, Alex continued on with Natalya, putting his arm around her and pulling her in tightly, temporarily burying his snout in the soft red hair on the top of her head. She told him she loved him and kissed his cheek as they walked up to the Shadowsteps' front door.
Upon entering the house and walking up the staircase to Alexei's room, Natalya came to a realization and asked if they were supposed to take Alex's adoptive freshman sister Jessica home too, but Alex responded that it wasn't necessary because she was staying over at a friend's house that night. Reassured that they had no worries, Natalya followed her boyfriend into his room. This was the second time Natalya spent the night with Alexei, though the first time, like all their other dates up until this point, didn't involve intimacy. Natalya had told Alex that she had too much on her mind to focus on sex, and Alex was content to stay celibate with his love for a little longer; the sex would come eventually.
Inside Alexei's room, Natalya had taken off her blue jacket and shoes, leaving her in a tight-fitting purple long-sleeve shirt and equally form-fitting navy blue jeans. Alexei also removed unnecessary outerwear, keeping his black Slipknot t-shirt and loose jeans on. They wasted no time in cuddling up on the couch and selecting a movie to watch to get the evening started, starkly reminding Alexei of a similar date with a feline down the street, one who might already be sleeping with his best friend. Just as quickly as she came to his mind, however, Stephanie disappeared, and he held Natalya tightly, nuzzling and kissing her while waiting for the movie to start.
*****
Hours later, after a couple of movies and a break for a delicious dinner with the Shadowsteps, Alexei and Natalya made idle conversation in the husky's room, with Alex lounging on the couch and Natalya lying on his bed. Eventually, Alex remembered something from his last mission and decided to bring it up, "Hey Natalya, strange question: whatever happened to your friendship with Anastasia Kossenkova?" "Um... I stopped answering her calls after Papa died," the vixen replied uneasily, "She's your enemy, and I only want to be with you. Why do you ask?" "When we were out in the Virgin Islands last week, we encountered her. More than anything, she didn't seem as upset about us being on naturally opposite sides as losing your friendship," Alex confided, "I feel kinda bad. She's still a fur, y'know? I don't know how anyone can survive in a life like that without great support. She can't deserve that." "Alexei, you're making me feel horrible," Natalya said, "Was I that wrong in separating myself from her?" "No," Alex calmed her down, "You didn't do anything wrong. It's been a really difficult few months for all of us, it's perfectly natural to not have everything worked out flawlessly. But, if you want to that is, could you maybe talk to her again? Not only would it improve her mood, but it could also help us indirectly if it causes her to be less antagonistic to us." "I guess I could call her," Natalya said, "Alexei... I'm sorry, but could you please leave the room while I'm talking to her?" The husky knowingly acquiesced and walked out of his room while his beloved girlfriend pressed the call button on her phone under Anastasia.
Putting the phone to her ear, Natalya heard the other end ring several times before a familiar voice answered nervously in Russian, "Hello?" Likewise in Russian, Natalya began, "Ana? It's Natalya. I called to apologize." After a short silence, Ana questioned pointedly, "Why? I'm your enemy now, aren't I?" "No, you're not," Natalya shot back, "Your cause is my enemy, not you personally. I think that I was wrong before, and that even if we can't be allies, we can still be friends." Natalya heard a faint sniffle come from the Malamute as she continued, "Of course I want to still be friends, but why the sudden change of heart?" "Alexei told me about what you said in the Virgin Islands," the vixen expounded, "He said he felt so guilty, and that's what made me think about how unjustly I had treated you. I'm sorry, Ana." "Thank you. Thank you so much, Natalya. You don't know what this means to me," Kossenko said, her tears of joy practically audible. Natalya said she was just happy to have a friend back, and they talked for about ten more minutes before Ana said she had to go, and Natalya hung up with a sigh. She got up and opened the bedroom door, telling Alexei he could come back inside.
The husky ventured back into the room and sat on the couch again, and Natalya closed and locked the door before joining him. She told him she had worked things out with Anastasia, and squeezed his torso like a boa constrictor, sighing once again. Seeking to take her mind off of the Russian Malamute, Alexei commented on the black markings on her snout fur, tracing them gently with his thumbs and asking if she knew what they were for. She said she had no idea, and that she didn't really even notice them anymore. "Well I think they're beautiful," the husky said meaningfully, "I think you're beautiful." He softly pressed his lips to hers, letting them linger for a few seconds before breaking off and telling her he loved her. She looked deep into his blue eyes with her big, gorgeous brown ones and put a paw on his chest, decisively telling him, "Alexei... I want to." Alex caressed her side with a paw as he asked if she was sure, and she confirmed that she was before passionately and repeatedly kissing him.
Following a passionate romp and after lying next to each other panting for a few minutes, trying to catch their breath, they rolled to face each other, and smiled broadly. Alex held Natalya, her head nestled just beneath his, and the fox likewise extended her arms around her husky. "Alexei," she said softly, any noise coming from her mouth music to Alexei's ears right then, "We did it. After seventeen years, our first time." "I couldn't have asked for more," the husky whispered, nuzzling the top of her head. The fox giggled, "So I was better than Stephanie?" "Oh God, way better. And I mean WAY better. She's not even in the same league as you," Alexei emphasized. Natalya suddenly sobered out, pleading, "Alexei, please don't let go." "I couldn't even fathom doing that," the husky reassured her, smoothing out her ruffled scarlet tresses. A lone tear coursed down the side of Natalya's snout, and unable to bear seeing his love be upset, he asked what was wrong. "Nothing's wrong," she said into his chest, "I'm just so happy. I love you so much..." "I love you too, Natalya," he told her, shortly before they fell into an exhausted, contented sleep, still unwaveringly holding each other.
*****
Sunlight poured through Alexei's window the following morning, unwelcomingly rousing him from his slumber. He genuinely hadn't wanted the previous night to ever end, but here he was, lying in bed nude with his stellar girlfriend. Of course she was still a plus. Simply being cuddled up with Natalya like he was that morning made Alex feel like he was the king of the world. He would kill anyone that would try to take her from him right now; he wouldn't have been able to cope with the loss. Natalya shifted against his chest, evidently feeling the morning sunlight's effects as well. She moved so that her head was level with his and opened one eye, smiling and telling him good morning. Alexei smiled back, moved her tussled hair out of her face, and kissed her forehead. She chided that that wasn't good enough before taking charge and kissing him on the lips, commenting afterwards that she didn't want to get up yet.
In agreement, Alexei idly scratched behind Natalya's ears. After lying in silence for a couple of minutes, Natalya openly wondered if Alexei would ever find time to settle down with his current occupation. Momentarily caught off guard by the question, the husky claimed that it wouldn't be a problem, citing Bronco Shadowstep's success in that department. "You're not Bronco," the vixen rebuffed. "Astute observation, my love," Alex replied, raising his eyebrows. "Ugh, you know what I mean," Natalya groaned, not really all that put off by her boyfriend's humor, "Where are we going to be in, I don't know, two years?" "That's a long way away," Pavlov attempted, "You never know what could happen in..." Alex faded out as Natalya broke eye contact, took his paws into hers and reestablished eye contact, quietly saying his name. You could almost see a cartoony ACME anvil fall on Alex's head as he got what Natalya was getting at. Trying to keep himself calm, the husky asked, "Natalya... Are you talking about getting mated?"
The vixen's lack of change in her expression confirmed this without words, and while Alexei kept his cool on the outside, internally he was fucking freaking out. He was NOT ready for that. "Okay... Natalya, you know I love you, but this is just too much right now. There's just way too much going on for us to think about marriage right now. Plus, we've only been together for like, two months. Who knows what problems we'll encounter down the road? I think we need a lot more time before we decide anything that important." "But I don't want anybody else. I've already made up my mind," Natalya fought. "I could die anytime I go to work," Alexei emphasized, "Shouldn't you not put all your eggs in one basket?" "I've come to grips with your being in a dangerous profession. I'm willing to take my risks as well," Natalya resolved. "I think we need to discuss this more thoroughly later. But for now, let's just take it easy," Alex said, caressing the side of her face with his paw. His paw moved down the side of her body, from her arm to her hip and back again as the couple caringly kissed each other. Natalya started to slide a paw down Alex's torso, but was rudely interrupted by a deafening banging on the door.
Both the husky and fox nearly jumped out of their fur at the noise, and Alexei instinctively sat straight up, ready to fend off a potential intruder, while Natalya stayed lying down on the bed. Bronco's blunt, slightly Southern-accented voice came through the door, slightly relaxing Alex, "Hey Alex, I don't wanna know what you two love birds are doin' in there, but I suggest you finish quickly. We got a bit of an emergency." Alexei sat propped up on his arms, the light strain causing his taut muscles to appear more clearly, and asked, "What kind of emergency?" "Svrbada got a bead on Kossenko. He's in Washington." A chill went up Pavlov's spine; that was all he needed to hear. He looked apologetically at his vixen, but she smiled weakly at him, telling him to do what he needed to do. He asked Bronco when they were leaving, and the black cat responded, "About fifteen minutes ago, hurry your ass up, son!" Alex leapt out of bed, speedily throwing on a shirt and pair of H.U.R.T. issue fatigue pants, slipping on his shoes, and preparing to leave the room. Before he left though, he looked back at the naked red fox still sitting in his bed, hugging her knees and generally looking helpless. He mentally kicked himself for almost leaving without saying goodbye, walked back to the bed, took her head in his paws and gave her an impassioned kiss before reiterating that he loved her and leaving the room, saying goodbye to the worried-looking fox as he walked away.
*****
After rushing to H.U.R.T. headquarters, Alexei took a seat in the briefing room along with his teammates, Svrbada, Shadowstep, and Mansfield. "Gentlemen," the Rottweiler addressed, "I don't have much time so I'll make this snappy. This is the moment you all, especially you, Pavlov, have been waiting for since this team was formed. Your objective today is simple: get that son of a bitch Igor Kossenko, dead or alive. The brass above me wants him dragged back here kicking so we can get information out of him, but between you and me, I wouldn't mind one goddamn bit if you shot him dead right then and there. Thanks to your wonderful tracking skills, Svrbada, we've finally got him in our sights, and it's up to you guys to end this right here, right now. Mr. Shadowstep, you have the floor."
The black cat moved to the front of the room and began to give his strategic briefing, "Alright boys, this is where we've tracked Kossenko to, a formally considered abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of the District. Because of the importance of this mission, and the expected amount of resistance involved, Teams 2 and 7 are already on station for support. They will enter through the doors marked -here- and -here-, and y'all will go in -here-. All of you except for you, Tannehill. You'll be keeping overwatch from this hill. If any tangoes pop out of this joint, pop 'em. Beyond points of entry, I don't have much else to tell you. This is a hunt, men, and I want this cocksucker's head stuffed on my wall by tonight, got it? Loadouts will be the same as the Virgin Islands op. Any questions? No? Then get moving, we've got to be out of here ASAP!"
The combat personnel hustled to the locker room, and proceeded to change into their black uniforms. While Alexei was finishing up with his clothes, Travis attempted to break the icy, tense silence by pointing out the patch of discolored fur on Alex's neck. "Looks like someone got lucky," the moderately obnoxious fox commented, "Hope you kept some of that luck for today, brah." Pavlov continued to put on his vest and belt, making sure all his equipment was in its proper space, including his twin Glocks, as the team shakily made small talk, trying to alleviate some of the tension. Once he was fully dressed, Alex loaded a magazine into his C8SFW and held it in one paw, his helmet in the other as he followed the other four out of the locker room and went to the motor pool, where their truck would be waiting.
Upon his arrival at the garage, he walked toward the truck, but turned around as he heard a feminine voice call his name. He stopped and waited as Elise McAlester moved as fast as she could in her heels to catch up to him. She reached him, slightly out of breath, and pulled off her heart pendant necklace from around her neck, informing him, "This has always been good luck for me. I want you to have it right now; you need it far more than I do." Alex accepted, and Elise lightly put it around his neck and tucked the pendant behind his vest, warning, "I expect this back in one piece, Pavlov." The husky smiled and promised he would bring it back, turning to leave, but Elise grabbed his arm, "Wait, one more thing." The dingo put her arms around Alex's neck and pulled him in for a deep, passionate kiss, before breaking off and ordering him, "I expect you back in one piece, too. Be. Safe." Alex nodded, and hustled to the truck, the taste of Elise still in his mouth. Clambering into the truck, he found Travis wouldn't make eye contact with him. He must've seen what just happened, and still been upset over his rejection. Pavlov put his helmet on, sat across from Langley, and put a paw on his shoulder, "Hey, Travis, you good? I need you with me on this one." "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," the fox said, recovering, "Just fucking peachy."
The team rode out to the site in silence, leading Alex to contemplate the morality of acquiescing to Elise's advances. It was probably the worst thing he could have done for Natalya, but he justified it, at least temporarily, through Elise's non-suggestion of mating, and the fact that Natalya would never know. Not wanting to let internal distress affect him during his mission though, he forced the thoughts out of his mind and focused on his assignment. He was killing Kossenko. Today. No exceptions. His heart began to race as the truck stopped, letting Blake out at his sniping post, then continued on to drop off the rest of the team. Soon afterwards, Pavlov led the other members out of the truck to their entry point, an emergency door along the wall. Seeing it was unguarded, the team approached it and waited for their signal. On the way there, the place had seemed familiar to Alexei, and at the last moment before they entered, he realized it was the same warehouse that Evgeni Trevelyan used as a base. The site of his last assignment before his father was killed was set to be where Kossenko would fall as well. He grimly told his team to stack up, and Zimmerman placed a breaching charge on the door. With one word from Shadowstep, all three teams blew their charges simultaneously, and the assault began with a vengeance.
The team surged through the smoke and dust created by the blast and took cover behind a row of crates, consciously not thinking about what exactly might be in them. The team divided in two, with Kris and Manny providing suppressive fire while Alex and Travis rolled to another set of crates further up, flanking the foremost group of enemies. Alex deftly eliminated the closest opponents as Travis laid down a curtain of lead on the further targets with his LMG. As Alex turned his sights to help out Langley, he heard explosions reverberate from another location of the warehouse, signaling that the other teams were in the thick of it as well. Not long after, he heard a cry come in over the radio, "This is Team 2, we're pinned down in Sector 1, requesting immediate assistance!" Still skirmishing with enemies near his entry point, Alex called Kris and Manny over to where he and Travis were holding their positions. Once they arrived, he told them, "Alright, Team 2's in trouble. We can't all go, but a couple of us can break the stalemate. Zimmerman, Carlisle, that means you two. Flank around the hostiles in Sector 1 and give Hartwell's boys some breathing room. Team 7 has been encountering less resistance; Langley, you and I are going to link up with them and go huntin'. Hoo-rah?" The rest of the team grunted their affirmation with a mirrored "hoo-rah" and the Doberman and cheetah headed away from the immediate fight to carry out their orders.
Alexei then looked to Travis and signaled to cook off a grenade. Both the husky and fox did so, and on Alex's command, threw them over their cover and behind the opposition's. The two blasts went off simultaneously, tearing through the defenders with shockwaves and shrapnel. Gunfire coming at them decreased drastically, and Travis and Alexei grinned, exchanging a fist bump. "So, no hard feelings about Elise?" Alex asked, reloading his carbine. "No worries, bro. I figured out she's not my type anyway," Langley replied, similarly loading a fresh box into his machine gun, "Though you still gotta give me the scouting report on Natalya. I'm not blind, you two were definitely not just playin' Monopoly or somethin' last night." "Hey, maybe it was an intense game of Monopoly," Pavlov laughed. "Nah, couldn't be. I might believe it if you said Twister, though," Langley jested. "I'm gonna do you a favor and not tell her you said that. So how about we get to busting Kossenko?" Alex suggested, already starting to move. "Oh please," Travis said, following suit, "By all means. Let's fry this motherfucker."
The pair moved out of cover toward where the hostiles were placed before. Only four were left, and Alexei pulled out his Glocks and vaulted the boxes, kicking an enemy in the head in the process. He held the goon upright and used him as a human shield, taking down two of the others before running out of ammo in the magazine of his free paw's pistol. The last one stood nervously holding his AK with the barrel pointed at Alexei, who to the guard's puzzlement was still smiling. Suddenly there was a loud boom, and the guard thought nothing more, as Travis had fired a shot from his .50 caliber Desert Eagle pistol through his skull, killing him before he hit the ground. The fox theatrically blew on the muzzle of his gun and holstered it, asking rhetorically, "Now what would you ever do without me?" "Well I'd probably be in less fear for my own safety," Pavlov commented dryly, dropping the now bullet-riddled enemy he was holding and reloading his Glock, "Gee, Travis, with the 100-something round machine gun and the .50 cal pistol, someone might think you're overcompensating for something." "Yeah well shaddap Balto. We still got another team to meet, remember?"
Clear of immediate danger, Alex called Team 7's leader, Frank Thoresen, over the radio, "Hey Thoresen, how's it going on your end?" "Just fine. We're going after Kossenko," the serious-sounding grizzly replied. Advancing carefully, Pavlov asked, "Care for two more?" "You and Langley? Ha, I don't think so. You rooks can fetch us some beers for when we've bagged the guy," Thoresen replied haughtily. "Yo, dipshit, we're on the same side," Travis exclaimed. "So? Just because you're on the team doesn't mean you get to play," the bear said, "Go after him if you want, but you're not coming with us." Pavlov kicked a piece of debris on the ground in frustration, and Travis calmed him, "Hey Alex, if they don't want in, fuck 'em. We don't need them, they're scrubs anyway. Call up Kris and Manny." Regaining his composure, Alexei contacted his other two team members, resulting in a response from Carlisle, "No can do, man. It's like goddamn D-Day up in here. These guys ain't green, neither. Sorry chief, there's no way we can get out of this mess intact for at least another couple of minutes."
"Well, fuck," Pavlov said to Travis, "Looks like it's you and me, pal. Hey Pavel, you got a status on Kossenko?" "He's in one of two locations. Both look guarded, but Team 7's providing a bit of a distraction. OpFor is pouring in to fight them, so you two could feasibly slip around them and hit both targets. Be careful, though. He has to have something up his sleeve," the wolf informed them. Alexei directed Travis to walk silently beside him in the general direction of Team 7. The husky heard footsteps and told Travis to hit the deck. A solid dozen armed guards ran past them toward Thoresen's team, and two walked behind the pack, attempting to make sure that no one was sneaking around. They weren't very good at their job. Alex signaled for Langley to take the closer one as he got in position and pulled out a slender knife from his vest. He had been wanting to try this out for a while. He carefully held it by the blade, avoiding the sharp edges, and with a flick of his wrist, sent it spinning toward the far adversary, lodging it into his neck. The guard fell to his knees, attempting to cry out, but all that came out was a gargling noise as the blood poured out of his severed artery. His companion snapped around to look at his partner, but before he could alert anyone else, Travis kicked out the back of his knee and threw him to the ground, finishing him off by slamming the butt of his machine gun into the goon's face, leaving it a bloody, pulpy mess.
The pair nodded at each other with satisfaction and prepared to move on when Svrbada came on, "I do not want to rain on your parade, but you have new orders straight from Mansfield. You have to help out Team 7. They are in a whole world of shit right now." "Pavel, they refused our help before," Alexei said acidly. "No," the gruff voice of David Mansfield jutted in, "Frank Thoresen refused your help before. He will face consequences for his actions. But right now there are four other members of that team that are in dire need of support. We suspect they've already taken casualties. Get a move on, Pavlov. We take care of our own." The husky sighed, then set off running toward Team 7's position, his brown vulpine companion close at his heels. They got to the contested section, and provided suppressive fire to relieve some of the pressure on Team 7. After a few seconds of this, Alex and Travis began more purposefully discharging their weapons, knocking out several hostiles. One peeked out from behind cover, only to meet a burst of lead from Alexei's carbine to the face. The husky then snapped to his right and fired two bursts to the chest of another opponent, dropping him to the floor. Meanwhile, Travis fired a wave of bullets over an enemy defensive position, cutting down everyone who looked above cover at all. With the enemy force reduced to practically nothing, the pair scrambled over to Team 7's position.
Travis yelled to one of the members for a sitrep, and he shakily responded that they had two members wounded beyond fighting capacity, and that he and one other could still feasibly fight, but were hit as well. Pavlov grimly asked command if they had heard that, and Mansfield confirmed, giving Team 7 permission to evacuate the premises. Alexei relayed to them that they had had enough for one day, and told them to focus on getting out safely, but suddeny remembered something, "Hey, where in the hell is your squad leader?" "He heard someone say Kossenko's name, and he dashed off to get him. He made it out of this area unscathed for sure, I don't know what happened after that. He went either through the door directly across from us or the one over there," the wounded soldier recalled, gesturing with a paw. "Alright soldier, thank you very much. Stay safe," Pavlov said before turning to Travis, "Those were the entrances that led to Kossenko's potential positions. You take the closest one, I'll handle the other. Pavel, can you keep track of both of us?" "That would be risky," the wolf declined, "I'll watch Travis, you'll be linked up with Kieran McLaren. He's capable enough." "Alright, solid," the husky stated, "Travis, good luck, bro. See you on the other side." "Same to you," the fox reciprocated starting to trot over to his target.
Going through the door, Langley found himself in a tight, winding hallway and cursed his affinity for heavy weapons. Acting practically, he shouldered his LMG and drew his Desert Eagle, preparing himself for close encounters. He snapped around a corner, finger on the trigger. A couple of turns later he found a pair of shot-up corpses. This had to be the way Thoresen went down. "Pavel," Travis asked, "Can you see any enemies on the scopes?" "There are two heat signatures in a room a little past where you are, then several more behind that one." "Alright, Thoresen was definitely here. I bet he's one of those heat signatures," the fox said grimly. "Then you better hustle," Pavel said, "It looks like those two people are engaging." Travis sprinted over to the entrance to the room, and he saw that indeed Thoresen was in there, fighting Kossenko. However, it wasn't Igor Kossenko, but rather Anastasia. Christ, not this bitch again, thought Langley as the bear and Malamute began fighting.
Thoresen had tried to sneak up on her, but she spun around, kicking him in the head and sending him rolling back on his heels. She then charged him, knocking him to the ground, and snapped his elbow, causing him to cry out in pain and to release the pistol he was holding. She picked the gun off the ground and fired it once before tossing it aside. Travis couldn't have helped even if he wanted to; it happened way too fast. Nevertheless, he brought his pistol to bear on her, and called out, "Anastasia Kossenko! Get on the ground, now!" The Malamute spun around and staggered backward in surprise, then quickly regrouped and taunted him smugly, "I remember you. Travis Langley, is it not? Have your balls healed any? What about your pride?" "Look lady, I don't think you're the one in position to be talkin' like that right now. Last time I checked the gun's pointed at you." The Malamute laughed, "Nothing is ever so simple, Travis. You can thank Pavlov for this." Anastasia reached behind her, then there was a boom, and smoke poured into the room, obscuring Langley's vision.
So this is it, Travis thought, this is how it ends. Killed by a female while blind. Awesome. The fox braced for imminent death, but as the smoke dissipated, he found that he was somehow still unharmed. Anastasia was nowhere to be seen, though. He looked around several more times. She was definitely gone. Frank Thoresen, on the other hand, was not. At least not from the room. One look at the clean bullet wound right between his eyes told Travis everything he needed to know. Thoresen was dead. "Pavel?" Travis asked rhetorically, "I think I need some help understanding what in the hell just happened here."
In the next hall over, Alexei had been facing fairly stiff resistance, and his eye in the sky wasn't really helping. "Get that guy over there," McLaren would say, "No, the other over there!" In a similar room to the one Travis was in, Alex had advanced practically nowhere, and he was starting to get both frustrated and a little scared. The hostiles were practically breathing down his neck, and he had no support. Right as he felt the situation was about to go out of control, he heard a faint voice on the radio that wasn't McLaren's, "Oi, you! Out of the chair, right now!" McLaren appeared to put up some sort of protest, but then a barrage of rustling noises came about, as if someone physically forced him out, and then a familiar, equally sweet and sour voice spoke to him, "Alex? It's Elise. That arse wasn't cutting it. I'll get you out of this, I promise. There are two hostiles under cover at your 10 o'clock. Wait for it... Go, hit them now." Alex quickly peeked around his cover, snapped his carbine to bear and seamlessly picked off the two opponents. On Elise's signals, he popped his gun up over the barrier, taking out another pawful in quick succession, then sprinted over to a further position, hopping over some barrels and bashing some poor sap's head in with the back end of his gun, then proceeding to mow down a row of baddies with a Glock magazine. Under Elise's guidance, he cleared the entire room in just under a minute.
"Elise, I could kiss you right now," Pavlov said in disbelief, reloading his weapons as he raced down the ensuing hallway toward the loading dock of the warehouse complex. "I'll collect on that later," the dingo said, "A bunch of hostiles just piled into a truck at the loading dock. Alex, this looks important, you've got to hit it now!" Elise told him there were three guards waiting on the platform and gave him their positions. Alexei surged through the doorway and tore apart the guards with gunfire. The truck had already pulled away though, and as Alex looked at it through his scope, he could see the scarred white wolf looking out the back with a smirk on his face. Pavlov collected himself. He had one shot to hit the tire of the truck and stop Kossenko right then and there. He concentrated, aiming above and to the side of the tire to account for wind and gravity, and tensely pulled the trigger. The world seemed to slow to a snail's pace as the bullet neared the wheel. It got closer and closer, until finally, it made contact. With the ground. Alexei fell to his knees as it dawned on him that he missed the shot. He tore off his helmet and threw it to the floor in anger, his head dropping with ears drooped.
Travis Langley ran onto the platform, and was informed of what happened by Pavel and Elise. He grabbed Alexei by the shoulder and tried to soothe him, "Hey, we'll get him next time." Alex slowly got back up to his feet, and got ready to leave this damned place behind.
*****
Back in the H.U.R.T. command center, Mansfield got on a headset and spoke to Alexei directly, "Pavlov. You did everything you could. It wasn't meant to happen today. Don't worry about any debriefing, you're free to go home. Sometimes even the best can't do the impossible, Pavlov. Rest up." The Rottweiler set down the headset, then barked out, "McAlester, my office! RIGHT NOW." The dingo nervously followed Mansfield until they reached his office, and sat down in a chair at his desk. "Elise," Mansfield spoke calmly, "What the hell was that?" "You saw how incompetent McLaren was! I was just trying to help Alex," she pleaded. "You realize I could fire you for this," Mansfield half-asked. The dingo cast a crestfallen look at the desk and grasped at an empty spot over her collarbone. The director gave her an inquisitive look and asked where her necklace was. "I gave it to Alex... for good luck," Elise nearly sobbed.
"Elise, you're not fired," Mansfield said softly, "In fact, you're getting a promotion of sorts. What you showed me today was initiative and skill, and while you're still nowhere close to getting a sniper spot, I will give you a shot at being a coordinator for Strike Team 13. What this entails is you doing precisely what you did today for every one of their operations. You will effectively be Pavel Svrbada's assistant, and you will do whatever he tells you to do. When Strike Team 13 is not deployed, you will resume your duties as my personal secretary. Understood?" She nodded, and the Rottweiler added, "One more thing: all this will give you twice the workload you already have, so I'll cut you some slack. All H.U.R.T. restrictions on intra-organizational relationships will not apply to you. You're free to consort with Alexei as you please." Elise hugged Mansfield across the desk and eagerly thanked him for everything, and he told her that she should get back to work.
*****
After riding back to H.U.R.T. HQ and changing back into street clothes in silence, Alexei Pavlov sat quietly in the facility's locker room. Noticing he was still there, Travis Langley and Pavel Svrbada sat on a bench across from him, about to try to cheer him up a bit. Langley's first tactic was to distract him from Igor Kossenko, sort of, "Hey, Alex, back in the warehouse I came face to face with Anastasia again. Bad news, my life flashed before my eyes again. Good news, I don't have to wear an ice pack on my crotch this time." For the first time since the shot, Alexei cracked half a smile, and the fox continued, "Man, she had me. All this smoke came in outta nowhere. I coulda sworn I was toast, but she left me alone and disappeared. She said I could thank you for that. Any idea what she was talkin' about?" "Thank me? You should thank Natalya," Alexei explained, "She sorta patched things up with Ana, and she dropped my name a couple times in the process, so maybe she was just returning the favor for getting her back with one of her friends by saving one of mine." Pavel wondered openly, "What about Thoresen then? In case you haven't heard, Anastasia shot him in the face."
Alex's eyes suddenly opened wider, "Evidently I had not heard. Part of me wants to say he deserved it, but, Christ. He was still on our side. That could have been one of us." He shook the thought out of his head and carried on, "Though, it probably wouldn't have taken a psychic to figure out he wasn't one of our friends. She spared you because she knew you were on my team. Thoresen was just a fur in a uniform." "I'm still a little unnerved that she knew my name though," Travis said, then grinned devilishly, "Wait, I'm supposed to thank Natalya? That reminds me. You still haven't given me the lowdown, loverboy." Alex's facial fur tinged red, and Travis laughed almost to the point of cackling, "Alright, fine, I'll start. So I went to Veronica's place and she took my-" "Ah, stop! Look, what do you want me to say?" "Well was she good?" "Yeah, unbelievable." "So why do you have trouble talking about her?" "Look, Travis, the whole romp was graphically detailed earlier in the chapter why don't you look up there if you're so interested?" "Graphically detailed? Chapter? Alex, what the McFuck are you talking about?"
The husky stared like a deer in headlights, "I... Have no clue. I feel like I just smashed through... a wall of some sort." "Alright. I'm not gonna go any further with this right now then," Langley said cautiously, "But I still expect an actual description later." Alex nodded, and Pavel noticed a glimmer coming off the husky's neck. He squinted his eyes and asked, "Alex, do you normally wear a necklace?" Pavlov nearly jumped into the air, saying quickly, "Ohshitohshit! SorryguysIgottagodosomethingthanksforcheeringmeupkthxbai!"
Travis looked at Pavel after Alex dashed out of the room and asked, "Man, what is with him sometimes?" Pavel shrugged his shoulders as the wolf and fox left the locker room.
*****
Elise McAlester sat at her desk. Still. She had been sitting there for almost an hour now, and she had gotten somewhere between none and also none of her work done. She couldn't help it; she was so wrapped up in thinking about... things. Her new gig, Alex, maybe being able to go on the road, Alex, her need to clean up the apartment, Alex, brief thought to her secretarial duties, Alex, whether Mansfield's opinion of her actually changed that day... Wait, shit, did she mention Alex? Yeah, she couldn't help that, either. She wanted her husky there. Oh sure, that fox bitch of his might object to her calling him that, but she just didn't give a shit. As far as she was concerned, Alex was hers; that slut could eat her heart out. He deserved better anyway. And so she waited for something to happen, for him to walk through the office door and sweep her off her feet. She heard a knock on the doorframe and her heart stopped.
Looking up, she saw the weary husky standing before her, and she rushed to her feet and went around the desk and hugged him tightly, her heart now beating out of her chest like a schoolgirl with her first boyfriend. Alex returned the hug, firmly squeezing the shapely dingo as she rapidly spat out, "Alex I'm so sorry I should've acted sooner but I was too late and I made you miss Kossenko and it's all my fault." Alexei gently shushed her, and stroking her blonde hair with a paw softly spoke, "It's not your fault. I couldn't have asked you to do any more." Elise tightened her hold on Alex and informed him, "I suppose... Have you heard I got a new job? I get to work with Pavel in telling you where to go now, for all your missions." "As if my life wasn't stressful enough," Alex teased, "Now I have you bossing me around?" Taking the joke, Elise smiled at him, then snuggled in closer to him, burying her head in his chest and accidentally scraping herself on something under Alex's t-shirt.
She pulled back slightly, and Alexei chuckled, "Ah, right, my actual reason for coming here. I believe this is yours?" He removed his arms from around her and pulled Elise's pendant off his neck and put it on hers. "I brought it back in one piece, just like you asked," the husky added. Elise thanked him, then looked at the floor and asked if that was the only reason he actually went to see her. "No. There's one more thing," Pavlov answered. He pushed up on the bottom of her snout with his finger so she looked into his eyes, and moved his snout closer to hers, slowing down as their noses briefly touched, then pressed his lips against hers, closing his eyes and kissing her deeply. Pleasantly surprised by the show of affection, Elise placed her paws on the back of Alex's head then ran them down his fur until they hung limp over his shoulders. She knew she would regret it later, but she was dying to ask. She separated her mouth from his and whispered, "What about Natalya?" "I love Natalya," Alexei started (fuck), "And I do feel horrible for doing this," (dammit, shouldn't have asked), "But she's... odd sometimes," (better... I think), "And I'm not ready to split with her or anything," (nope. I hate my life), "But I think I need to get my head straightened out," (what.), "Elise, I can't promise you that you'll be the only female in my life," (well no shit, Sherlock), "But I can say that whenever I'm with you, I'm yours, at least for now." (HA! Suck it, fox bitch! MY husky wants ME!)
Pavlov thought he felt the temperature of the room get slightly colder as Elise asked, "Alex... Do you really mean that?" He nodded. "I still wish I was the only one, but this will do for now. C'mere, sexy," Elise said, at first with a fairly innocent look, then with a seductively mischievous expression, grabbing him by the collar and aggressively kissing him, her tail wagging out of control. Whatever chill Alex had experienced before quickly faded away as the office heated up like a sauna. He returned the embrace, sliding his paws to different positions on her back until he decided to spice things up, reaching down and grabbing a pawful of her ass. That would have been a literal death sentence with just about anyone else, but in this case just intensified Elise's movements, her oral assault now ferocious enough that Alexei was starting to worry that she might accidentally bite off his tongue. Not really slowed down by this at all, Alex matched Elise's increased speed, and the pair shuffled back as a unit until they hit the desk, and Elise hopped up on it, sitting and wrapping her legs around Alex's as they continued making out, her claws digging into his chest through his shirt. His snout dropped to her neck, but Elise stopped him there.
Alexei queried if something was wrong, and the dingo replied, "No, oh God no... I just think if we keep going like this I'm going to yell at you to straight up take me over the desk, and I think I might actually get fired for that." Alexei blushed deep red, and Elise suggested they go snuggle more calmly in the chairs on the other side of the room. Alex agreed.
Looking on unnoticed from his office door, Mansfield observed the husky and dingo hold and nuzzle each other, one of Alexei's paws caressing Elise's side. He was happy to see Elise had finally found someone, even if that someone was involved with somebody else at the same time. He felt fairly sure of the fact that Alex wasn't planning on using Elise because of his lack of asking her for sex, the way he looked into her eyes, the fact that he at first shied away from two-timing, the friendship he already formed with her, and his lack of asking her for sex. That was highly unusual for a suitor of Elise. Also, it was good that Alex genuinely cared for her, because if he didn't, Mansfield would have torn his head off with his bare paws. He smiled inwardly and closed the door, leaving the pair to themselves.
*****
Not too long later, Alexei found himself entering his room at the Shadowsteps', about ready to crash from exhaustion. Upon opening the door however, he found a now dressed Natalya still sitting on his bed. The vixen flung off the bed and threw her arms around him, "Alexei! I've been so worried, what happened?" Pavlov felt much more than a pang of guilt as he explained that he wasn't able to get Kossenko, and that the mission didn't go at all as planned. "Alexei... I'm so sorry," Natalya said. "No, Natalya," Alex turned the conversation around, attempting to reconcile a transgression she had no knowledge of, "I should be apologizing to you. I shouldn't have dashed off this morning as emotionlessly as I did. And as for mating, I shouldn't have forced you away so quickly." "Alexei... you did nothing wrong. You had to go. I understand. And I shouldn't have been so forward with getting mated; I didn't mean to be so forceful. I just wanted to suggest it. I love you, Alexei," Natalya told him, resting her head between his head and his shoulder. "I love you too Natalya," Pavlov declared, holding the fox closely and wishing internally that he had never met Elise.