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The hound's knees buckled and he grabbed at Jim's narrow shoulder as he fell forward, "I'm undone...my work...all that I had...Emma was in those things...it was everything...everything I had left of her," he whispered at the inferno, "Jim...Jim, I'm sorry...I can't..."

And as he stared into the bleeding face of all he had lost, the old man uttered a breath encompassing the agony and suffering of a lifetime torn away. His lungs reverberated with cyclonic rage as he emptied his fury into the air, screaming and clawing at the shattered fragments of his very being as they swirled around him, blackened, out of reach.

His eyes blazed with the unbridled cataclysm of the storm as he bore witness to his own destruction, and they shed no tears to blur the horrific glory of his undoing.

As his breath failed and his eyes closed, he wrote two words in the ashes of his existence with mechanical strokes that bore his last willing thought.

My Regrets...

Jim watched in terror as the very life flew out of his beloved mentor, and he wrenched away from those restraining him to rush to his side.

"NO! Professor! Cornelius...!" he picked up the frighteningly light form, cradling the head that already seemed desiccated in the flickering light, "Please, not like this...I can't lose...not again..."

One hour earlier

Tuck tried to get away quickly after hiding the small canister of Pyrosteam crystals, but he was stopped as the Professor, Jim, and Jenny returned from a late meal. It had all seemed so perfect, so serendipitous since he had stalled during earlier opportunities to complete his mission. He eventually came back to the shop and saw them all leave at 10:30, and it had only taken 10 minutes to pick the complex lock on the front door without being seen by the occasional passerby. He had taken a little longer than would be ideal to navigate through the shop and enter the large, fenced-off back area, and even longer to bring himself to hide the crystals. But he had done it, and it all seemed clear until he saw the trio coming his direction after re-locking the door.

"Oh, excuse me, it's Mr. Tucker, isn't it?" Jim called cordially as he walked between his mentor and his girlfriend.

Tuck almost bolted then, but he had to seem casual, like this was just another chance encounter.

"Eh...good ev'ning, lov'lies. An' to you, gov'," the hyena said as he desperately tried to appear nonchalant. The Professor nodded with an appraising glance over the gruff thief.

"Was there another problem with your watch?" Jim asked. It was almost midnight, but no need to be impolite and he was in such a good mood.

"What...? Eh, I mean, no. Me tick's still tricks, squire. I was jes' happenin' by..."

"Jim," the Professor said with deliberate calmness, "I want you to go get your Guilty Gear device and give it to Jenny."

Jim started to question, but the look on the old hound's face made him rush to the shop to grab the device.

"What's the matter, Professor?" Jenny whispered nervously as she saw the hyena start to edge away.

"Stop where you are!" the hound yelled at the retreating Tuck. He froze. "Something is happening and I fear that..."

Jim rushed back out of the shop yelling questions. His mentor silenced him with another look.

"Jim, give the device to Jenny. Now you must hurry off, my dear, and don't come back no matter what you hear," the Professor whispered with an eye on the petrified hyena, "Quickly, take a cab back to your home and lock the door. Alert the constabulary that you thought you saw someone suspicious so that they will stay by your bakery."

"But, he's just a silly squaker, a regular customer even..." Jenny intoned with rising panic.

"Now, my dear, you mustn't delay," the Professor said in a voice that seemed all the more urgent for how quiet it was. Jenny ran off towards a cab station.

"Jim, you have to take the--"

"Lieutenant Cornelius!" a voice shouted from behind them.

The three turned and saw an approaching band of the Imperial Guard, led by a high ranking shire horse bearing a halberd in one paw and an intimidating scroll in the other.

"You are under arrest for suspicion of treason against the Imperium," He shouted as the guard formed a circle around the remaining three, "Your inventions have been directly linked to weapons of the Lowtack Empire, and we have been ordered to search your premises for contraband and stolen merchandise of the Pyrosteam Corporation."

The Professor looked coldly at the captain of the guard, "I am surprised that the Imperial Guard seems to have already forgotten my service to the Empire, even as you use my defunct title," he tapped his cane against the ground, betraying nervousness that was absent from his speech, "And to accuse me of needing anything created by those neophytic firestarters borders on stupidity."

A panther wearing a black cloak stepped out from behind one of the guard, "You should watch your aging tongue when referring to our loyal corporation," he said with a silvery hiss, "particularly when I have already presented evidence to the guard that you have illegally procured our crystals for your treacherous purposes."

"I didn't know that the Imperial Guard required...deputies," the Professor scoffed at the panther.

"Mr. Rheis is a representative of the Pyrosteam Corporation, and his service has been invaluable in tracking down the source of Lowtack's new weapons," the captain retorted with annoyance, "Imperial Guard, begin the search. Start with any machine that appears to be built for flying."

"You won't find anything," the old hound growled, "And even if you do, I can only suspect that this has all been Pyrosteam's doing. I look forward to counter suing the Corporation for this ridiculous posturing," he tried not to wince as he heard the crash of machinery from inside of the building.

"I would remind you that any discourse you choose to make will be taken in evidence," the captain said with almost bored authority.

"Sir! We have located their prototype flying machines! They bear similarities to the intelligence provided from the front, sir!" One of the guard reported with obvious fear.

"Yes, but the crystals..." Rheis hissed while looking sideways at Tuck, "Where are the crystals?"

"And I would remind you that this is our investigation, Mr. Rheis. You're only here to identify what we find," the shire horse grunted. "Now, hyena, what is your purpose in these proceedings?"

Tuck still couldn't move, it seemed like all of his years of running away from crimescenes had abandoned him. He turned slowly to face the guard, "I were jes'--"

"That is one of our informants," the panther interrupted, "He is a private investigator employed by the Pyrosteam Corporation and came here under our order to alert the constable in case the traitors tried to escape. Isn't that right, Mr. Tuck?" He intoned with a sly look.

"Eh, yeah," Tuck's deep eyes darted frantically around the group, "I were jes' followin' orders."

Jim's eyes boiled in anger as he began to move towards the hyena when a crash sounded from behind the workshop.

"Captain!" a voice screeched from inside, "We've found the crystals! They were in the flying machine's engine...Cor...they've been activated! GET OUT!"

A high pitched whine followed by a thunderous clap echoed from inside the workshop. Guards ran frantically from the building as those standing outside jumped back at a terrific explosion.

"Get the men out of there!" the captain yelled over the hissing screech of metal igniting, "Get out! Now! The whole place is going to go up!"

Jim and the Professor looked on as their workshop began to shear from the heat building inside of it, the unsealed Pyrosteam crystals superheating the air past the melting point of the structure. The whine kept growing as the pressure increased, and roaring flames erupted from openings in the building. It was a furnace. A furnace with all of their work trapped inside.

"Arrest the dog and his pup!" the captain screamed to his remaining guard as he pointed at the awestruck mentor and apprentice, "You are summarily charged with treason against the Imperium, and the murder of Imperial Guardsmen! Arrest them!"

But the Professor couldn't look away from the workshop as the heat inside liquidated his life's work. He didn't shudder as the roof collapsed on the cinders of his being. He just slowly lurched forward as his knees began to weaken...