The Courier Part 3

						By															
					   Timelord216

Matthias is © me. 
Shadow is © shadowflame18

“Thank you Shadow.” Matthias said. “The next few months are going to be long.”

SIX MONTHS LATER……

Shadow was running down a city street, dodging vehicles and street vendors every which way, while at the same time shouting into the Comm device in hir ear.

“I’m heading west down Morinth Avenue! I can’t see it anymore, but…SHIT!” Shi shouted, as a lumbering regulator landed in front of hir. 

COURIER SHADOW, CEASE YOUR EVASION, OR YOU WILL BE TERMINATED.

“Gotta catch me first, scrap metal!!” Shi shouted and detonated an EMP grenade.

The machine fell over for a second, but caught itself as Shadow disappeared down a maintenance alley. She ran as fast as she was taught by Matthias, controlling hir breath, and bouncing out of every stride. Shi came to a dead end and called back over the Comm.

“Uh, HELP! Need a little help!” Shi shouted into the comm, as shi heard the regulator bursting through the alley.

“I see you, now just relax and be ready to duck.” The voice on the comm said.

PREPARED TO BE TERMINATED, COURIER SHADOW.

The regulator found hir pressed against the wall. Shi closed hir eyes and ducked, covering hir head. 

A shot rang out, and the regulator exploded. A laugh of celebration was heard over the comm, followed by, “I told you so!”

A figure in a silver trench coat stepped up the stairs of the abandoned building calmly, carrying a violin case.  His Comm rang and a feminine voice called over it.
“I’m heading west down Morinth Avenue! I cant see it anymore, but…SHIT!” Shadows voice said over the comm.

The red panda raced up the 5 flights of stairs to the roof and opened his case, when he got to it. There were three different components to an average sized gun inside: a barrel, the main part of a rifle, and a stock. The panda quickly assembled them and aimed the gun to locate Shadow.

“Uh HELP! Need a little help!” Shadow shouted over the comm. 

It was Matthias, who spoke over the comm, smiling. He aimed the rifle at the regulator and clicked a switch. The gun flared to life.

“I see you, now relax and be ready to duck.” He said. 

The regulator opened its chest, ready to incinerate Shadow, but it didn’t get the chance. Matthias pulled the trigger, a shot rang out, and the regulator disintegrated into glowing blue goo. Matthias howled for joy.

“AHA! It worked! I told you so!!!!” Matthias shouted.

Shadow and Matthias met up at the local bar, VISIONS. Shadow hugged Matthias then slapped him.

“You cut it kind of close you jerk!” Shadow said over the music.

“OW! Why the hell are you always slapping me?! It worked didn’t it? I knew it would.” Matthias said, sitting down. 

“So what are you gonna call this new weapon?” The blue-goo gun?” Shadow said laughing at Matthias’ anger.

“Not definite, but James wants to call it the anti-material rifle. Can you believe it? We actually killed another!” Matthias said, ordering a couple of drinks.

“That makes over 19 we’ve killed in the last six months with that thing. And it costs billions to make regulators, so if we could modernize the AMR, then we’d be able to save a lot of lives.” Shadow said, taking her drink and running a finger through her hair.

“James has a working prototype.” Matthias said, undoing his hair band and letting his long hair run down his shoulders. “Its just a matter of stopping the guns from exploding. And even then he’s almost done fixing it.”

“It’s been a long road. For the both of us.” Matthias said, smiling and listening to the music.

“You more than me. 120 years for you, only six months for me. But all the same ill be glad when it’s all over.” Shadow said. 
Matthias finished his drink and got up, then stuck out his hand to Shadow. 

“Come on old friend. It’s time we had some practice.” Matthias said.

Shadow took his hand and they ran out of the club and took a cab to the outskirts. 

The place they landed was a small open lot. Some targets were placed at the end of the lot, all with burn marks.

“Go ahead.” Matthias said. 

Shadow smiled and growled deeply. Black flames erupted from hir arms, some ember falling and hitting the ground. Shi flipped to the left and torched one target. The target fell with ease at the fireball. Shi dove onto the ground, threw a fireball and jumped back up. The next target exploded. The clasped hir hand together for the next target, spun around and threw a very large fireball at the target. The target melted from the extreme heat. 

“You have the floor.” Shi said, bowing to Matthias.

Matthias cracked his knuckles and charged into the obstacle course. He shattered the first few walls with a punch for each. The thickest wall was protected by a gun, so he simply picked up a piece of a shattered wall and threw it at the gun, shattering it beyond repair, then tackled the wall with a kick, shattering it as well.

“ALRIGHT! That’s enough for today.” Lily said, coming up behind them. “Both of you shaved a couple minutes off of last time. Impressive, for as little time as you’ve had to control your skills.”

“Hey! Have some faith in your old man.” Matthias said, grinning.

“Emphasis on the OLD part.” Lily snickered, getting a laugh from Shadow. 

“Both of you can it!” Matthias said, laughing too.

The trio left in the cab lily arrived in and left for the citadel. The complex was busy as always, with couriers leaving and arriving. Matthias waved at Rudi the raccoon, the citadel’s resident whiz kid. Lily hugged her boyfriend and the two walked off for the training area after bidding Matthias and Shadow goodbye. Shadow and Matthias headed for the tech labs to see how James was doing on modernizing the AMR.

“Hey James!” Shadow said.

“Shadow! Your alive so I’m assuming the field test of the smaller version of the AMR was successful?” James said.

“You think?” Shi said, taking a seat.

“How long until mass production? I want these things in the hands of the couriers as fast as possible.” Matthias said.

“I've already had the technicians make about fifty, all of them identical to the one you took. No design flaws, no shortcuts, all the same design.” James said.

“Perfect. We have only about a couple hundred left to make. Keep on it.” Matthias said.

“DAD! Get up to training deck! Rudi’s in trouble!” Lily’s voice said over the comm’s.

Without a word, the duo shot off for the training deck. There, a wolf had Rudi in a headlock with a pistol against his head. Rudi was crying and begging to be let go.

“What the hell is going on?!” Matthias shouted.

“YOU! Panda! Your in charge here right? Give me the codes to the mainframe, or your boy here dies!!” The wolf roared.

“You…I saw you the day I visited the crime scene where Britt was killed!” Shadow said.

“GIVE THEM TO ME NOW!” The wolf roared and pointed the gun at Matthias. 

Rudi acted quick and jabbed the wolf in the throat, kicked him in the groin and flipped him on his back. Lily, shadow and Matthias carried him to a nearby room. Shadow taped his arms and legs to a chair, while Matthias asked lily to prepare everyone for evacuation. 

“Wait what?! We can’t!” Shadow said.

“If this prick got in, there’s a chance others got in. The citadel could be compromised, and we need to be ready to leave if need be.” Matthias said. “Lily, go honey.”

Lily took off with energy. Matthias punched the wolf in the face twice, then pulled his head up.

“Who are you?” Matthias growled.

“I…Work for the families…the ones who run the districts. They know of he citadel.” The wolf said. 

“How much? How much do they know?” Matthias said.

“They know everything. I have been told they will offer you amnesty, as long as you leave the city and never return. You and all other couriers.” The wolf said, smiling. “Oh and I'm to tell the female wolf, that her friend still lives.”

“I’m gonna give you till the count of 90 seconds to leave this place and tell the leaders I'm not stupid and that I know they won’t ever let us simply leave.” Matthias said, undoing the tape. 

The wolf took off in a panic. Matthias punched a wall and swore loudly. Shadow winced at his rage and stepped back.

“Matti? What do we do?” Shadow said. “Could britt still be alive?”

“Maybe. You never did see a body. As for us, we have to leave.” Matthias said.

He opened the comm so it broadcasted on all channels.

“Attention! This is Matthias. I’m afraid I must enact Courier action 001. Abandon the citadel. I repeat, abandon the citadel. It’s no longer safe here. The families know this place and will come soon enough. I will broadcast on emergency channels when I can, so keep on them only. And to all couriers outside of the citadel, stay away, or your life will be at risk. Remember our laws…stay on the run. Never look back, and beware the regulators.”

Matthias pressed a button and a klaxon alarm sounded. All over the citadel, couriers were grabbing things and scattering into the vortex manipulator, Arriving at different parts of the city. Across every district, couriers were on the run and hiding. Matthias fell to his knees and wiped tears from his eyes. 

“I don’t believe it. I failed again.” Matthias said.

“Come on. We can’t stay but we can hide out at VISIONS for awhile.” Lily said, walking back in with James in tow with some equipment.

The quartet of furs ran down the corridor to the vortex manipulator. Matthias whispered “I'm sorry”, then they all stepped away from the only home they had known for so long. The Vortex opened, then one after another, they jumped through, and arrived at VISIONS.

The Club was deserted, except for three humans at the bar. No music was playing, and the lights were dimmed. James pulled the bartended aside and whispered something in his ear. The stallion bartender’s eyes widened and he handed a key to James in reply.

“This way.” James said.

James led them up 3 flights of stairs, making Shadow swear at the walk. Lily kept running scans of the building, to make sure there were exits, should they have to leave in a hurry. Matthias’ eyes were ashamed and miserable at losing the citadel. James was explaining how he had used this rooftop apartment to court his likely boyfriends, like Britt.

“Here we are.” James said.

The apartment was very elegant. The bed was very large, about twice as large as a queen sized bed. The walls were silver, with a jukebox up against the wall by the bed. 

“There are two other beds in the other room, and they each have their own bathroom.” James said. “Take your pick. I'm off for a shower.”

Matthias threw his coat against the wall in the red bedroom wall and opened up a laptop from one of the equipment boxes. Shadow leaned against the doorframe and stared at him. In hir mind, he was the strongest person shi’s ever met, and here he was wallowing in his sorrow. 

“You okay old friend?” Shadow said, crossing hir arms. 
“…honestly, no. my hearts in pieces and my skin is crawling. I want to kill someone, rip the person that did this apart.” Matthias said. “I hate just sitting here.”

“Nobody likes it. I sure as hell don’t, but if the citadel was compromised then we couldn’t stay there.” Shadow said, sitting on the bed. 

“I failed again and its killing me.” Matthias said, Sitting next to hir. 

“What did you fail at? You got every one out this time and everyone’s in hiding thanks to the early warning from you! You haven’t failed. I have no intention of letting you.” Shadow said with a smile. 

“Heh, thanks. I think we should set up a game plan, to take out James’ dad. If his father falls, the city will start to free itself.” Matthias said. “Lily! Let’s go over the plan.”

“The building has 50 floors, the first 25 of which are just offices, almost always empty. Floors 26 through 33 are used for housing the regulators. That’s a key target. James and Lily, you will be on a tight schedule. Head for the main control hub for the regulators, and If you see a chance to blow it up, you take it. Shadow and me will run Floors 34 through 50, on the x-ray scopes to try and find Britt and James’ father. If Britt’s alive we’ll find him.  You…all know the risks. If I don’t make it back, Lily, the citadel is yours. Shadow, I would be proud to have you serve with he citadel as its new guardian.”

“You can give me the keys when you come back Dad.” Lily said. 

“*sigh* you and your lip” Matthias said with a laugh. “We’ll get a nights sleep then we’ll start the attack.”

The next morning, the team loaded up what they needed and “Borrowed” a couple of cars from the nightclub owner. They each said their good lucks to one another and left for their individual targets. 

Shadow and Matthias landed on the roof of the building, Paying the guards to go home for the day. 

“Okay shadow, plunge the tracker into the concrete. It’s tuned into Boss gerlock’s DNA, along with Britt’s DNA.” Matthias said.

Shadow nodded and with a loud crack, shi drove the technology into the concrete. It immediately transferred data to Matthias’ laptop. 

“I knew this was too easy. It says they are currently on the 43rd floor. But his has to be a trap.” Matthias said. “Uh huh. Thought so. 4 regulators guarding the room.” 

“You ready?” Shadow said, holding out hir hand.

“Always.” Matthias said, shaking hir hand, then running off with hir down the stairs.

James and lily arrived in the lobby of the building, the place was crawling with guards, and the odd regulator here and there. James walked right through the guards and pulled a fire alarm, making everyone panic and run for the doors. Across every floor, people were leaving their desks and heading for the exits. All except for Lily and James, who were hiding inside a closet while the regulators were busy trafficking everyone outside.

“I cannot believe that worked.” James said.

“It was your plan Jamie.” Lily said. “Okay. Dad’s on his way to Britt apparently. But he knows it’s a trap.”

“What does he plan to do?” James said, opening the door and seeing it was clear.

“What else?” Lily said, Loading ammo into an AMR. “Kill the regulators! Now lets get to the main control hub.”

Taking the elevator, Shadow and Matthias made it to floor 46 where Boss Gerlock and Britt were. Shadow’s hands were alive with heat.

“You wanna cool those things off kiddo? Your turning this into a sauna.” Matthias said.

“Sorry. Just tense. If Britt is alive, then why didn’t he contact me?” Shi said.

“I don’t know, but we’ll find out when we get there.” Matthias said, checking his ammo. 

“I-uh, never said thank you.” Shadow said, as the elevator came to a stop.

“You’ll never have to.” Matthias said with a smile.

The pair stepped off of the elevator and aimed their guns in different directions. 

“Clear.” Matthias whispered.

“Me too.” Shadow replied.

“This way.” Matthias said.

The walls were adorned with paintings from the abstract to the obscure in design, along with portraits of Boss Gerlock and the other district reps. Small tables had flowers and books on them, and music was playing.  Shouts could be heard from the room Shadow and Matthias stopped in front of. 

“Regulators. Two in front one in back. Watch your targets and stay down.” Matthias warned.

“I know this game. Let’s play.” Shadow smiled.

They kicked the door in, and Britt was being held by two regulators, beaten and bloodied, and Boss Gerlock Was holding a gun to him. Boss gerlock screamed “kill them”. The regulators holding Britt threw him against the wall, and opened fire. Shadow tossed 4 fireballs at the two near the door., taking out their guidance systems. Matthias jumped into the black one that was holding Britt and punched it so hard it broke in half. Shadow opened fire with her AMR and finished off her targets. The last regulator punched Matthias in the stomach, his gun flying and landing next to Britt. Matthias jumped back onto the regulator and kept punching until only scrap electronics was left.

“WOO! That felt good!” Shadow yelled. 

“Damn!” Matthias said, rubbing his stomach and panting, “now I KNOW I'm getting old.”

A  Loud bang, along with an Alarm sounded. The sprinklers turned on, and the room became soaked.

“And that would be my troublesome daughter.” Matthias sighed.

“BRITT NO!” Shadow shouted. 

A gunshot rang out and Boss Gerlock, with a hole in his chest, fell to the carpet and died in a pool of blood. Britt, tears falling from his face was standing over the boss’ lifeless body. Lily and James came running in, covered in ash.

“Serves you right you sick son of a bitch…” the young fox growled. 

“Britt?! BRITT!!” James yelled, then rushed into Britt’s arms.

“James…you came for me. I missed you.” Britt Sobbed.

Matthias swore and ran to The boss’s lifeless body and tried to revive him.

“No…NO! GODDAMMIT NO!” Matthias Roared. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done?!”

“Britt…how could you?” Shadow said.

“He deserved it. This bastard has been oppressing us for years! I stopped it! ME!” Britt yelled.

“I was going to negotiate with him! So we would never have to be afraid of the Government again! You, you little prick, you’ve doomed us all!” Matthias roared back.

“No.” James said over the commotion and Everyone looked at him.

“Now that my father’s dead, I am up next in line for District rep.” James said, looking at his father’s body.

“James, you can’t mean that.” Britt said. “It’s a job for cutthroats. You aren’t that evil.” 

“I’ve learned to be. Living with Matthias and the gang, I know how to be ruthless if I have to be. Plus, I can sign a bill to stop the slaughter of Couriers.” James explained.

“No!” Britt said, taking his hands. “I wont let you…become your father.” 

“Oh my love. You know me better than that.” James said, kissing him.

“Matthias.” Shadow said, making everyone look at hir. “What do you think?”

Matthias stood there, staring out the window at the city below. For a few minutes, he was silent. He finally spoke, not looking at anyone.

“It’s…The New High District Representative’s decision.” Matthias said quietly. “To be quite honest, it’s the only shot we have.”

“Oh and dad?” Lily said. “As a bonus, James wiped the data about the citadel. Its once again nothing but a rumor among non-couriers.”

“Oh you beauty!” Matthias said, Hugging James.

“Then it’s settled. I will claim a rouge regulator killed my father and make the arrangements. Until then, it’s best that the citadel be up and running again and you all stay out of sight. Best of luck to all of you.” James said.

The gang said their farewells and scattered after sirens were heard and a police force swarmed the building. Over the next year, James Gerlock, as High Representative, made it legal to be a courier, even employing some couriers for government use, making it safe to run information again. He even married Britt, who to this day remains James’ personal courier.

After declaring the citadel safe again, the flood of couriers coming and going returned to the busy complex. Lily went back to her duties as chief medical and science officer. Shadow stayed and remained the citadel’s High Guardian. Shi was even in charge of training other guardians. Shi and Matthias are still friends and running partners as couriers. Every once in a while, the gang always gets back together at the local bar “VISIONS” to swap stories and reminisce on days when the fight was won.

**CONCLUDED**