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Team Argos

Book 1: The Unveiling

Meanwhile 2...

By Jear77

Sasha

Sasha was a white Bengal Tiger. She was supposed to be a perfect little princess: delicate, flawless, and perfectly poised. But it just wasn't her. She was into gymnastics. As she grew up she became more of a tomboy who was more into martial arts than feminine things. She became an expert at a form of martial arts which combined the attacks of capoeira, and Tiger style of Shaolin, and the speed and elegance of the Crane style of Shaolin and gymnastics.

The discipline she learned from an early age in martial arts carried over to her schooling, where she got mostly As. Even though her grades were good, school wasn't a cakewalk. Because there were few anthro white Bengal tigers in her school, she became a target of bullying. When she saw anyone else who was a target of bullying, she stuck up for them as well. Due to her martial arts training she was able to avoid getting hurt. The bullies, on the other hand were not so lucky.

In the Hospital

The straightjacketed anthro hyena with bleached fur hummed merrily in his padded cell as he contracted his muscles, and adjusted his body. Doing this several times, he was able to loosen it where he wasn't quite so restrained. After a few more minutes he was able to remove the straightjacket completely. Piece of cake, he thought. Time to escape. Filling the room with pink tinged green gas he shot from his hands, and laying on the floor so the guard couldn't see him clearly, he cried "Guard! Guard!" he cried, coughing. "Get me out of here! The room is filling up with smoke."

Taking a deep breath while covering his nose and mouth with his shirt, the wolf deactivated the confinement field. As he stepped into the gas filled room, looking for the hyena, he saw the prone figure on the ground. As the wolf guard bent over and turned the hyena over with both of his hands, he was startled by the hyena kicking him in the balls. Instinctively, as he grabbed his family jewels, he lost the breath he was holding and, he sucked in the gas. As the pain in his balls went away, the gas started taking effect and a moment later started laughing manically. Taking the key from the laughing guard, the hyena walks out, and reactivates the field behind him, whistling a merry tune.

Sasha

In addition to having to deal with bullies, growing up she soon found out that strange things happened around her. Even back then they had Powered, but they weren't called as such, they were simply anthros with strange or unusual abilities. Anyone who had such abilities that directed them at her, had them mysteriously fail.

In time she would apply for MegaCorp police academy and pass with flying colors. Both her martial arts training and nullification abilities came in very handy. As she worked up in rank the other officers noticed her unique fighting style and she soon became the martial arts training coordinator for the entire division. Things would not stay so neat and tidy for long...

Several Days Earlier in the City's Sewers

Despite all the advancements after the breaking, sewers remained a disgusting, dirty, dank, and ofttimes dangerous place. Yet this is where a human-sized male anthro rat started his plan. He brought up an ocarina to his lips and played a haunting melody. Citywide, rodents - both anthro of all sizes and feral turned their heads to listen to the music that only they could hear. No matter their procession, they dropped whatever they were doing to heed the irresistible call to follow and obey, an urge that they could not rightly define nor deny. In mass exodus they swarmed toward the music. The anthro rat satisfied the music had done its job, sat back and waited.

Within a few days the entire region's rodent population reached the musician, he gestured grandly and said, "Welcome, brethren! We have much work to do."

Their wickedly glowing eyes registered sadistic glee.

Sasha

Sasha faced her male anthro wolf opponent in the MegaCorp's police dojo. Both were armed with sharp plastic blades mounted on their wrists. They circled each other, testing the space between them. The wolf surged forward with a battle cry. Sasha went up on one foot, lifted her arms like a crane, and spun out of his way as he charged towards her. As he turned, bringing moving his claws in circles, she leapt into the air to dive into him. Seeing the wolf's stance Sasha adjusted her body so that she landed on her claws. Spinning her body on the claws nimbly, and with great torque, she kicks him at the knee, causing him to collapse. As he goes down she nimble leaps to her feet and gives him her hand. "Getting better Ralf, but still need practice. You should have leapt back before I hit the ground, starting your counterattack. Try again." They go another few rounds, Sasha beating him soundly each time.

When they're done, Sasha starts heading for the showers, Ralph calls back to her. "Thanks for the lesson, Captain" Ralf said.

"No problem, Lieutenant."

As she left the showers, one of the Sergeants, a male anthro walrus whose nameplate read "Robins" stopped her. "Sasha?" Robins asked.

"I am."

"The Commander Williams asked me to tell you to meet him in his office."

The Hyena

Escaping the hospital the anthro hyena made his way through town. He broke into a smile as he came across a clothing store. Touching the window with a paw-pad, he starts melting the glass with an excretion from his paw-tips. Within a few moments he melts a hole large enough to climb through. Going through this outfit and that, tossing aside the ones he rejects, he finally decides to don a garish purple and yellow outfit which he feels compliments his bleached fur and neon green hair. Stepping out of the hole he created, he finds himself confronted by a pair of MegaCorp Minotaur police.

"FREEZE Scumbag!" one of the Minotaurs shouted at him.

"No. Laugh," the hyena says, ejecting pink-green gas from his paws that fills the area, obscuring him. While the Minotaurs laughed from the gas' effects, he escaped.

In The Fairy Realm

An official messenger ran up to the Royal Court, ignoring all who he passed. When he got to King Oberon and Queen Titania, he stopped and said "Puck has been reborn!"

"Where?" the king demanded to know.

"In the mortal realm," the messenger replied

"And just how do you know this?" the queen asked imperiously.

As she asked the question, a grey haired and bearded human wielding a staff catches up to the messenger and said, "I told him."

"You!" The queen said accusingly.

Turning to the human the king asked sharply, "What business is this of yours Merlin?"

"I think this should explain it," he said lifting his staff, gesturing in the air, chanting. A 'window' forms in midair showing the events that were transpiring, showing the 'outline' of the kitsune. "It seems he bonded with a mortal - a powerful mortal, but a mortal nonetheless. He's using far more power than he should. If he's not careful, he'll burn himself out and he'll die and you'll have to find him again. As far as how I found him, I wasn't looking for him, I just noticed something far more powerful than is usually in the mortal world and I investigated. I thought you should know."

As they watched, the kitsune collapsed, being caught by the saber tooth tiger, kissing him.

"He fell in love with a mortal." King Oberon nodded sagely, saying "This situation will bear some watching."

Sasha

Commander Keith Williams was muscular a tall anthro giraffe. He was also a no-nonsense type of a guy. Entering into his office, Sasha said "I was told to report to you."

"Yes, I've been expecting you. Please, sit down."

"May I ask what this is in regards to?"

"This will explain it," he said tossing her a tablet with all the relevant information in it."

Taking a moment to look it over, she said "You want me to infiltrate this group and find out what's going on?"

"Exactly," Williams said. As she gets up to leave he says "Sasha,"

"Yes, sir?"

"Be careful"

"I always am."

Elsewhere in the city...

The hedgehog news reporter says "the anthros that committed crimes with no knowledge of having done so have gone missing. An investigation is under way to determine what the cause is."

Shortly after, "... the wildfires raging out of control in the Eastern part of the continent, seem to have a cause. A anthro firefly, going by the name Firefly has been using his bioluminescence powers to set the forest afire. He's demanding money in the sum of..."

Then "...the investigation of the explosion that rocked the MegaCorp ink factory on Elson and Grahams showed that they were engaged in unauthorized ink reformulation designed to hack into computers with nanites. The both the engineer who approved the formula and the foreman who oversaw it were fired. The normal sized anthro spider, who got injured by falling into the vat of ink is still unconscious but has been upgraded to serious condition..."

Later on in the same broadcast "...The rioting anthros were stopped by the MegaCorp's riot police. Several hundred anthros were incarcerated with charges of disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, and others."

Sasha

Over the next several weeks, she monitored the comings and goings in an abandoned warehouse where the shadowy group she was told to infiltrate. One of the members was a Bengal tiger like herself, but with different markings. She knew something big was going to be happening soon, and if she didn't replace her she'd never find out what was happening in time. As they exited the warehouse one night, she followed the Bengal to a park. Getting out of the levi-vehicle, the Bengal told Sasha "if you're looking for trouble, you've just found it."

"Wrong. You have," Sasha said, showing her badge "Police."

The nameless Bengal sneered "Police don't scare me." Her eyes glowed for a moment. "Wait..." she said looking confused "Nothing's happening."

"That's right. I'm immune to your powers, whatever they are."

"Don't get too cocky. I still can fight you normally, you know."

Motioning her forward, Sasha said, "Bring it."

Elsewhere in the world...

The anthro hedgehog news reporter said "Wolven ambassador to Powered individuals Julius Wolfram was assassinated last night, after the riots yesterday. His body was found shot in the head on the balcony of the headquarters. MegaCorp police are still investigating leads in this case and do not have anyone in custody yet..."

"

"In other news, a rash of drug crimes have been occurring under the influence of a substance called P0W3R or Pumped, or simply P-ed on the streets. This substance seems to be not only highly addictive, but it grants the user special abilities that he or she did not have access to previously. All attempts to find out where it's being manufactured at have thus-far failed."

Sasha

The Bengal tiger dropped to the ground, grabbing a handful of dirt, flinging it at Sasha, attempting to blind her. Seeing what was happening, Sasha leapt into the air and landed behind her. The other Bengal rolled away just as Sasha's claws swished overhead. Sasha pursued, but not before the other Bengal regained her feet.

"We're evenly matched," the Bengal Sasha was chasing said, circling her defensively.

"I'm just getting warmed up," Sasha replied taking a step back, "but let's end this now. I don't have time to play." Tumbling forward faster than the other Bengal could react, clawing her in the stomach, pushing her back and causing her to stumble. Instantly regaining her feet, Sasha pursued, lifting her arms in a crane-like stance twirling on one foot, elbowing her opponent in the ear. While her opponent reeled she leapt up and savagely knocked her to the ground. The other tiger didn't move. Putting a Power blocking collar on her, she took her into the MegaCorp jail.

Taking her picture, she had a form-fitting mask made, and left out wearing the other Bengal tiger's purple robes, which had been cleaned so as not to arouse suspicion. Now to find out when the next meeting was...

Going back to the other Bengal tiger's apartment building, she didn't have long to wait to find out. When she arrived there was a message waiting on the vid-phone

In an abandoned warehouse

Eleven purple hooded robed anthros enter a large interior room with a large rectangular wooden table containing thirteen seats each with a symbol on each. The back of each of the robes contained a symbol that matched a seat. They entered silently and sat in their appropriate seat.

The figure at the 'head' of the table said "Let the Dark Assembly come to order. Monkey and Rat are not here, but they know the rules of the contest."

One by one they removed their hood and announced their species: Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Rooster, Dog, and Pig.

The leader removed his hood and announced, "Phoenix." Pressing a button inset in the table he brought up a vid screen and said "Oracle. Tell us what you know."

The young female anthro falcon said, sighing "Yes, master." Activating her powers, her eyes start to glow "They are called Team Argos. The team members are as follows:

"Argos, species: Minoraur. Current powers: teleportation through the Maze, limited omniscience, telepathy.

"Mirror, species: fox/ cat hybrid. Current powers: advanced martial arts training, incredible leaps, transport through Mirror World.

"X-Zorb, species: bear. Current powers: damage absorption, growth, and increased resilience.

"FyreFoxx, species fox. Current powers: five tailed kitsune, fire based abilities.

"Sway, species: saber tooth tiger. Current powers: increased resilience, persuasion.

"Shockwave, species: wolf. Current powers: hyper speed, instantaneous planning, hyper invention. Also deemed to be the field leader."

"Thank you, Oracle" Phoenix said. Continuing, he turned to the others and said "The contest is simple: defeat team Argos. You may partner with whoever you want, but only one can get the credit. Are there any questions?"

From the rafters, a garishly dressed anthro hyena landed on the table and asked "Can anyone join this little soiree?" He laughs maniacally, as he gassed the wolf and put a collar on him. saying I've got Dog." Turning to the wolf he says "C'mon, boy!" To the others he said, "By the way... you can call me Heckle Hyena!"