Abney sighed, "So close..." he mutters, only to yeek when he felt a gloved hand grab his scruff and yank him up. "ACK!" he yips, then looks to see who had of him now! He would look behind him only to see a young woman with full black attire and a long whitish ponytail tied behind her concealed face. All he could make out was her eyes, and after spending enough time with Malkara, he at least could deduce that the woman was of Asian descent. She didn't speak, but she proceeded to look him over before cradling him in her arms in a way that wasn't harmful, but wouldn't allow him to wiggle free as she began to walk back towards the undercity. He smiles a little as he saw the woman pull him into a cradle hold, eyes closed half way as he just leaned on the woman, not saying a word, but he figured she was a friend. As he went for the ride, he didn't know where the destination was, but he'd figure it out eventually, he figured. He would notice they were approaching the apartment complex in the undercity, but rather than getting near his home she took him upstairs to a door that always seemed locked. She held him close and relatively securely with one hand as her other hand raised up to the door panel, only showing her glove. He'd hear it click before the door opened before them and closed quickly after she entered. The room was dark and decorated with plenty of red accents, along with a set of dividers with a very interesting looking dragon Insignia etched onto them. They were also not alone as there was a male and what looked like an Android discussing something near the small kitchenette, only to get quiet once she got inside. Abney blinked a few times, then looked up at the woman for a moment, then turned his head to look around this lavish pad, giving a curious head tilt at those present as he kept quiet, thinking he just got nabbed yet again... "Twice in a row, what's next, snow?" he thinks to himself, then turned his attention back to the woman in question, this might work in his favor... maybe. She set the fox down gently on the couch before moving over to the bed and removing her mask. Once she stepped back out towards the center of the apartment she looked over towards her two roommates and began to speak. "Kono chīsana ko wa yakunitatsu kamo shirenai. Teire ga ikitodoite iru yō de, saigo ni hā no asashin ni taishite mo mochikotaete ita." [This little guy may prove useful. He seems well kept and was last holding his own against that assassin.] The male of the three turned to look at the feral after that and raised a brow, but simply gave a slight nod. Though he may not have understood what they were saying, Abney was getting an uncomfortable feeling that he might be in trouble again. The vulpix only knew three words out of what was said, which was 'little guy' and 'assassin', taking a deep breath in before he sighed slow and defeated. "What does this trio want from me..." he thought, before he just decided to ask. "Sooo... hi, I'm Abney, why'm I here?" he head tilts, keeping his tone kind, professional and very much not hostile at all. The girl remained quiet as it was clear she didn't understand him but the Android turned. The fox got a full view of this darkened Android with a very large Katana strapped to its hip. "They believe that you can help us. We are here to have a bit of a...conversation with this country's leader, yet we seem to be having difficulties getting anywhere near her." The pix head tilted at him, then asked curiously. "Do you want me to deliver a letter to her, then? Because I can try and get her attention, if you'd like" he said, then looked down at the bladed weapon. "HF Katana?" he asked curiously, just trying to be friendly as he didn't wanna play the numbers game with these three. The Android simply nodded before continuing, "The fact that you offered that means that you are capable of communicating with her. Letters simply will not do, is there any way you could arrange for a meet?" it responded. Though as it spoke, the fox could see vaguely past it, the male of the group was glaring in his direction as he leaned up against the counter with his arms crossed. His current posture revealed a faint bit of a tattoo that looked strikingly similar to the design on the dividers. Abney closed his eyes, seemingly thinking but he was checking how strong the link between him and Malkara was. "I can arrange a meeting yes, but do note, I'm not exactly 'important' in the Obsidian Tower, I'm just a running fox, so to speak" he said with a meek smile. "But she listens to me, sometimes, so if I go to her, what do I have to say? That two handsome gentlemen and a wonderful lady holding me right now wishes to speak with her in a neutral ground?" he knew that she could at least hear, but if he was very lucky, he was able to show her through his eyes what he was seeing, hopeful that she understood what he was doing wasn't of his own free will. Once the Android relayed what was said the male actually chuckled, "Yakutatazu no yūbin inu o tsurekaetta na. Soitsu o koroshite, sono meinu no chūi o hiku no ni tsukaou janai ka!" [You brought back a useless postal dog. I say we kill it and use that to get that bitches attention!] The girl however quickly ran over to the couch and stood between Abney and her partner. Malkara would not be able to see through his eyes unfortunately but she was able to hear him and definitely raised a few questions. Abney gulped hard, he had no damn clue what he just said, but he knew it wasn't friendly, a voice echoing in his own head. "Stupid stupid stupid... wait, maybe I can salvage this..." he then nervously held up a paw. "Please don't hurt me! I'll do it, I'll get her attention and she'll have no choice but to listen!" he nervously whined, looking at the woman as he hoped she would back him up, or at least convince them not to eat him alive! The young woman pleaded back in Japanese for a couple of minutes, and after what seemed like an argument, the man finally gave a dejected acceptance to the idea. The Android then informed the young fox that he should probably go quickly, moving to unlock the door. Abney would hear one last conversation piece before he was able to trot out. "Moshi kare ga shippai shi tari, anata no mujakina shinrai o uragittari shitara, watashi wa anata ni kare no kawa o hagu yō kyōsei shimasu." [If he fails or betrays your naive trust, I'm forcing you to skin him.] He quickly bolted, running from the room as he dashed out and stopped at the entrance to the undercity, looking at the door as he thought "Got it, first room at the top of the stairs" he then dashed off to go above ground, taking a breath as he stopped near the chemical plant entrance, panting softly as he spoke out loud. "What do I do... they were gonna murder me, an- w-why didn't I just torch the whole ass room?!" he growled, then stomped his foot hard on the ground. "tāmāde chǔnhuò!" [Stupid fucking idiot!] he sniffled, wiping some tears from his eyes before trying to pull himself back together. "Okay... okay... right..." he pants, pondering. "Quickest way to get arrested, that'll force a reaction from the tower" he muttered, then slowly turned his gaze in the direction of the EOC. "...Property damage." ----- Abney made his way across the bridge at Trinity-Yashika, eyeing up the EOC HQ like a hungry animal eyeballing a wounded animal... he just needed to break a few of their vehicles, leave a calling card of his abilities so they know he's a void user, and then give them a merry little chase, he played this whole plan out loud in his head, hoping Malkara wouldn't stay hands off with this, and would personally come to spank him for being a bad fox. He paced back and forth in front of the graveyard, questioning his own sanity some as he then worked around the building, looking for the perfect angle to start from... he then saw the fire bay of the station slowly opening. Perfect. "Please forgive me Allfather for all I am about to do..." he took a breath, then walked forward, moving in front of the station bay as he saw the engines inside, restocking. "Hey dandy dicks!" he shouts to hopefully get the officers attention, taking a deep breath before using Ice Beam on the engine in front of him, sending a shard of ice right up through the cab from the floor, and out through the roof. He then quickly ran and blasted the second one with Flamethrower, knowing it probably wouldn't be much to damage it per se, but it was enough to melt the tires and light fixtures. However, he did NOT anticipate the oxygen tanks, his eyes going wide as he heard the "PINGHISS" from the tanks, quickly grabbing as many officers around the engine as he could with telekinesis, yeeting them behind himself before the tanks exploded, collapsing the walkway above down into the bay below. "Shit shit shiiit..." he winces, hoping to God he hadn't killed someone, thankfully he hadn't, he turned quickly, then rolled to the right as Jack tried to tackle him, spraying him with Snowdrift before bolting for the woods. "What the fuck?!" yelped the Kangaroo, looking at the frozen patch on his uniform. "Someone call Briarthorn, we have a Void user gone rogue!" "What about Maria, should we call her too?" asked another one of the officers. "No, she just got out of the hospital and doesn't need to be chasing whatever the fuck that was" The call would go through, but considering it is so late in the evening at this point they were lucky to even get an answer as the AI assistant picked up the phone. "Briarthorn, how may I direct your call?" "I don't know who this would be directed to, but... We have a rogue void user on the loose, some kind of multi tailed fox, we are requesting backup to catch it, and maybe a fire crew to secure the HQ, lil shit caused an explosion" said the calling officer. "Understood, backup being sent now. Should I also inform Madame Yamora since she's in her office?" Rose replied quickly. "I would, yes" said the officer. "Last direction it went was toward the woods" "Noted, please stand by for backup." Rose responded as she Simultaneously dispatched a backup car and pinged Malkara's office. Once the ping was received, Malkara quickly stood up and growled out, hoping that it's not who she thought it was, and if it was hoping he wasn't corrupted. She quickly headed towards the opposite side of town. New Horizons sent out an ambulance, it's speed car and the vet car, and Ravenwood hauled in two engines to secure the EOC HQ, forming a defensive perimeter. Amazingly, the only injuries throughout this whole ordeal was a bruised rib on one of the K9s, and a mild case of frostbite on Jack's side... the damage was done, and indeed it was obvious who did it, it had Abney's signature all over it, and cameras also confirmed it was him. "I'm... not finding him in the registry ma'am, is that normal?" asked Tisra as the grey fox scrolled through personnel files, coming up empty. "Everything is either redacted, or just not there, and the only thing I can find is his ICA contract, his ID badge and his basic info, but nothing about void powers or even..." she looked toward the two destroyed engines. "...whatever the heck caused that." Abney had ran hard and fast, having reached the forest in record time, taking cover at the entrance of the feral sanctuary as he dug out a small den to hide in, using his signal deference to throw his void signature off to where it wasn't, but in a way, used that as 'bait' to wait to see who comes for him. "I'll handle him from here...Just make sure everybody is alright." the queen stated coldly as she stepped away from the officers and immediately went to trying to find the fox, now pissed. She used her abilities to access the same link he tried using earlier, only to get a sense of where he was as she began to head towards the forest. Abney gulped, waiting, he could sense she was tracking him now, and was doing his best to keep his signal off center, his eyes locked dead ahead as he stared out of the den, waiting, and waiting, and waiting still. She stopped as she stood between the frozen lake and the feral sanctuary as she couldn't quite tell his exact location. She then growled out one time, hoping he would hear her, "Abney, get your tails out here!" He gulped, the Vulpix was almost certain she wasn't going to risk her pelt out here... until he saw her, and the moment he heard her yell out for him, his signal shifted, going from right on top of her, to his hiding spot, the pix stepping out of the den as he lined up a charge, pawing twice at the ground before he bolted, heading right for her, he wasn't using any fancy ability or void power, but the moment he got close enough, he jumped, expecting to be grabbed. She definitely caught him and pinned him to the ground by his neck. "Smart move, now start talking...Are your bracelets malfunctioning, or did you run into one of the corrupted or something, because that's the only reason I could fathom for you to do something this stupid." He yipped at the pinning move, but didn't fight it, instead, one of his tails moved up, lashing up and outward, spraying embers into a pattern: a dragon. He then closed his eyes as he choked out a statement he hoped would buy him a knock out instead of death. "I have come bearing a message, but it seems my time has come, so now I have come for you" he squeezed his eyes shut tight, expecting to be punched for that. Her grip lightened as she glared down at him, merely keeping him in place now but not harming him yet. "Where the hell did you learn that symbol...You risked major exposure and multiple broken laws, not to mention possible death, to bring me a message like that?! Explain yourself." "N-Not. Willing." he winced. "They're watching me, I know they are, they're in the undercity and... wanna arrange a meeting" he said as he let out a small puff of cold steam from his mouth. "Please, know I wouldn't do this on my own..." Her tone remained cold, "A meeting?" He nodded yes, then sobbed slightly. "I was given a choice, get your attention, set up this dumb meeting, or... die." he said with a frown. "I don't know who the fuck these lot are, there's three of them, one female, one male, one chips-for-brains, heavy weapons, possibly Arasaka style armaments, they're wanting to meet you and talk out issues from what I was told, but the moment I said I wasn't important to the Obsidian Tower, they turned violent and wanted to kill me, I couldn't understand a word of their shit, well, bits and pieces, but pretty sure they're wanting to eat me alive..." he sighed, then tapped at her arm with his paw. "I'm aware I've got a lot to answer for, and a lot to do to make up for this, but..." he winced and spoke through his teeth. "I should have burnt them all alive! I was stupid, I was a fool, I was terrified for my life, for Rene's life, yours, and honestly I just... I just..." Once he was done explaining, her free hand reached for her radio as she called a Ravenwood contact. The next move she made though would probably scare the hell out of the fox, "Rene, come in." Rene's signal crackles for a moment, then shifts. "If this is about Suzanu, no, I didn't do it" Rene could definitely tell by the tone in her voice that something was wrong, "Meet me at the frozen lake in the National Forest to secure your damn Vulpix immediately. He is now under protective custody until transferred to a cell in Briarthorn." "The hell?" she blinks. "Be there in five minutes" ----- Rene looked confused as heck when she took the Vulpix, before giving a sigh, looking at Kira. "Right, headed to the tower with him, might as well get this stint in the cells over with right?" she then glanced down at the Vulpix for a moment. "And what did you even freakin' do?" "I... was coerced into working for some very bad people, and attacked the EOC to draw her out, and after that, she caught me and I did my stupid task." he explained. "I destroyed two of their fire engines, threw a few of their officers for a loop to save them from a blunder that blew up something in the bay, froze the side of one of their officers, and ran here, and I did surrender as I intended, because I didn't wanna truly fight, I... I was stupid" "..." Rene took a deep breath, then turned him upside down, holding him by the tails before slapping him on the left side of his face, then the right, only to pinch his nose hard. "You honestly think this is a proper way to do something?!" she growled, then fought the urge to punch him. "You are not to do this ever again, if someone corners you like that, you KILL THEM, do you understand me?" "Nrgh!" he winced, then whined out. "Y-Yes ma'am, I'm sorry ma'am, I'm no-" "bái chī!" she yelled [Idiot!] "wǒbúshì!" he yelled back [I am not!] "It was either do it or die, which would you prefer?!" "Death" she said coldly, before pulling him into a hug. "Fucking little traitorous brat... sigh..." Once that interaction ended Malkara turned to look towards Rene, still avoiding Abney, "I'd like to find where the rest of these traitors are. Once they are dealt with I will figure out how to handle this little incident. I need that little fox to tell me where that interaction took place." she stated coldly, treating the Vulpix like a small child...but at least she didn't kill him. "They're... in the undercity, second floor, first apartment, hard to miss a door that has a code lock on it" said Abney, then growled and kicked Rene as he spring boarded off of her. "I'm... leaving..." he said, turning to try and run off, only to get yanked back by the tails. "OW!" "Wrong again." said Rene, lifting him back up. "You're not leaving, you're going to the tower with me, and we're gonna sit in a cell, together, until this mess ends" she then reaches into her pocket, pulling out a piece of chocolate before stuffing it into his muzzle to shut him up. "Right, you have your information, see ya" she said quickly, turning on her heel to walk off with the fox in tow. She gave a short nod and allowed Rene to take him off towards Briarthorn, thinking on how to approach her next move in a manner that wouldn't get her killed. After Rene got to Briarthorn, she unhooked Abney's collar, entering the holding area before wrapping it up and around her wrist, holding it as she locked them both in the cell together, watching the Vulpix close, making sure he'd not do anything out of the ordinary in a situation like this. "Just... fucking... throw me away, please, I want to be gone from this stupid ass situation and never be seen again..." he hissed, curling up on the floor in the corner of the cell, hiding his face from view as he kept still. Rene shook her head and dug out his ID card from the collar pouch. "I'm not about to be made a fool of Abney..." she said, holding the card up as she made him look at her. "You made a mistake, and now, you're gonna make us both pay." she said, her fingers flaring with electricity from her implant as she heated the card up, letting it catch fire before she threw it onto the cell floor. "There... you're free, of them at least, but you're not getting away from me that easy." "Pleh... like I was any good at it anyway..." he mumbles, then curls back up as he goes quiet. After taking some time to calm herself down and grab a firearm and one of her knives, Malkara let out an exasperated sigh before mentally communicating with two separate people, the first one being Abney..."I'm not certain how strong this link between us really is, but please know that you're not in any danger and you will be released soon. You were placed in an impossible situation and I thank you for letting me know, the only reason I had you taken into custody was to protect you from what I do next." She then leaves one cryptic message for Tod if he's listening, "If you don't hear from me in the next 24 hours, hunt the red dragon." Abney heard the words in his mind, ears perking up from between his tails, then curled even tighter as all she got was "I'm sorry..." from him, she could definitely sense that the pix was very much not in a right state of mind, and that he was in a very dark place, almost as if he was walled off from trying to think about anything except his mistake. It was semi-easy to tune out, but it did worry anyone who was sensitive to emotions and to thought patterns, which meant her, Xavier, and a handful of others in regards to that manner of ability. Rene, even if she couldn't read minds, was worried for her little fox as well, she hadn't seen him this bad in a very long time, and now she had to watch him like a hawk, occasionally trying to make him snap out of his state of mind by making jokes, or making noise in general, or even poking him with her tail, anything to keep him from sinking too low. Tod opened one eye as he was just coming out of cryo-sleep as he heard that cryptic message. "More stupid?" he asked. Malkara would hear the fox's response and felt her heart sink slightly as she wondered if she was too harsh, but she wanted to keep up appearances in case they were actually stalking him. She knew full well that she wasn't able to just walk into the underground on her own and without cause, so she needed to think of a way to get their attention. After thinking for a few moments though, she realized that one of her forms would definitely be recognized by them but none of the other criminal factions below. She proceeded to shift into her red panda form that was last used in the excursion to China, though that still didn't fix the issue that she was risking walking into a three on one situation. She had an inkling that they were still hiding somewhere on her island and she knew that if she didn't tackle this head on they would keep coming for her regardless. Tod wouldn't get a response, but could tell something was up as she made her way up through one of the sewer entrances and out of sight. ----- A knock would be heard at the code locked door not long after contact was cut. Higashi [male] raised a brow, quickly ordering the Android to scan and see who it was. It took no time at all for the robotic companion to inform it's colleagues that it was indeed their target...eliciting an evil grin upon both Mae and Higashi as they told it to open the door. There's no way it would be that easy, right? The door would lock shut behind her as she now could see the other two seated calmly on the couch. It only became unsettling when she noticed the Uzi's beside them. She cleared her throat as she kept herself very close to the door, "Watashi no chūi o hiku tame ni tanin o odosu hitsuyō wa nakatta." [Threatening others to get my attention was unnecessary.] Higashi smirked, "Odoroka rerudeshou. Jibun ga joōda to omotte iru kono kiken'na mushi ni, dorehodo ōku no hito ga chikadzukou to shita ka, anata mo gozonjideshou." [You'd be surprised. I'm sure you're aware how many others tried to approach the treacherous bug that thinks she's a queen.] Mae piped up, "Have a seat Kira, let's chat." Malkara knew full-well the woman was using her old name on purpose due to its definition in Japan, which made her smile. "I don't go by 'Killer' anymore, but it's nice to see you know just who you're dealing with. I'm not moving, so why don't you get on with it." she replied, not dropping her guard. Mae seemed amused, but her partner was growing impatient, grabbing the Uzi next to his seat. No he wasn't aiming it yet his glare in her direction was hinting that it wasn't a question. Letting out a low growl, Malkara slowly moved to one of the chairs while not taking her eyes off of him. Higashi finally spoke, "I'm sure you're already in the process of tracking down the hacking group that attempted to steal your data a couple of weeks ago. We've been trying to wait for the good opportunity to speak with you, but it seems they got your attention first. You have caused so much destruction that the very core Yakuza itself is a bit shaky at the moment, which those unfortunate hackers are taking full advantage of where they can. You have two options here, either come back with us willingly and we take care of your little Roach problem...or you make things difficult and we see where the night leads." Malkara narrowed her eyes as she noticed he still hadn't let go of the gun, "My people are fully capable of tracking down the hackers ourselves, so why on earth would I ever associate with your group again considering everything you've done." Her defiant reply was met with an unexpected reaction as both of the ones on the couch pulled their black face coverings up over their mouths and noses. As if on cue, the robotic one of the three moved over towards the door and seemed to be fiddling with one of the buttons...before the vent in the room started to funnel in some kind of substance. She tried to get up immediately, only for the Android to force her back into the seat as the young woman beside her started to laugh. "You really thought that we would come speak with you unprepared?" Mae stated bluntly. She tried to struggle only for it to become more difficult to move as the seconds passed. It didn't take more than a couple of minutes before the paralytic solution fully kicked in. Mae stood up, "Let's try this again Kira...Our little friend is going to make you a little more open to the idea of coming back with us. We tried to do this in a civil manner but it seems you are just as irritating as they warned...I was looking forward to meeting your little bodyguard though." she chimed. The Android then pulled out a technical syringe and injected something unknown directly into her neck while she was immobilized. Unlike the other groups that had cornered her in attempts to kill her off, this group actually saw the practical application of her skills. Things went quiet for quite a while as the serum they had brought was intended to make her actually believe she was one of them. It temporarily blocked her memories of Aurora, and made it seem as though she accepted her father's original offer over 30 years ago. While Dimitri wouldn't be able to hear anything but a slight chuckle from the pair within, Tod would suddenly get very light headed with no explanation as to why. Dimitri would have noticed that apartment door opening again and four people walking out. The red panda he noticed earlier would be talking with the two humans in a casual manner as if nothing was wrong. If he understood anything in Japanese, he would have picked up that they were heading towards the docks. Tod finally woke up in sick bay as he looked around, his head was throbbing like he'd been hit by a lead pipe, but he noticed something off the bat, his sister's link was severed... he tried to call out to her mentally, but to no avail, sighing hard as he looked at Rosa. "We need to get to Earth and now, there's a very big problem and I'm about to have some fuckers for lunch" Rosa looked puzzled. "Well the ship is about to drop out of jump at the edge of Sol in about three hours, and will cruise burn til we reach Mars, then we can take a shuttle to Earth" she explained, trying to keep him calm. "Kira's fucking dead." he spat suddenly. "What!?" squeaked Rosa in surprise. "H-How are you so sure?" "I don't feel her presence anymore... that only means one thing..." he took a deep breath. "Either she's under the influence of Cardamine, which I doubt, or she's dead." he sat up in bed, only to wince as his head rang loudly and forced him back down. "Argh... fuuuck..." Little does he know that link is being suppressed, much like almost everything else in her life as they board a ship and leave Aurora, her simply thinking they were on the island tracking some target. The bad part though is them forcefully resetting her mind back to her assassin days in Japan would have very bad repercussions on not only her island, but her children as well unless it can be fixed. Ironically enough, the drug they were using is something known as the Black Poison Experiment and it was developed in one of the labs high up in the mountains of Hokkaido, the same lab she had raided almost two years ago when this whole mess with the Yakuza started. Black Poison is a very potent mind-altering amnestic, but unlike others of its kind it was not created to remove memories. Once injected via a major artery, this chemical resets a person's mind to a specific point in their life using suppressors and nano-technology. Being referred to by others as a form of brainwashing, this particular drug is specialized per dose to a each user's needs. The victims personal life is studied to a deep extent as the nano-transmitters are programmed to specifically reverse their memories as necessary. The memories are not erased, but merely rewritten in favor of the user, heavily suppressing the reality the victim came to know.