Author's Note: Hello Lads and Ladies

On a little writing streak the last weeks. Feeling good about progress. See you in chapter 15!

Edited by: SuperAverageFoxyboy, The Dude Who likes Tanks

Enjoy!

-Portal

The one lesson that Taishiro taught Richard in complete passive unawareness was that work could be a black hole. Taishiro didn't have a partner, didn't play games of any kind, watched barely any television, and didn't read much besides scientific publications and the news. The most prized possession held dearly by the deer was his key card and ID. The two items he required to enter the state-of-the-art research branch of the Edobutsu General Hospital.

Unlike any of the other doctors, Taishiro and his science staff entered the lab through the basement entrance at the back of the building, the pathway being enclosed by the L-shaped Admin block.

When the doctors entered they were met with a corridor of about ten yards, at the end of which through a glass door you either continued onward straight to the lower part of Radiology or followed the branching off hallway into the brand-new research wing of the lowest floor of the hospital. Right at the turning point where the branch split a small security office, overlooking the turn, a small window allowing a check for the right security permits, letting the security guards do their job without the hassle of standing up.

Now the security guards were laying on the floor, one with bruises around their neck, the other with pen-sized holes in their jugular.

Richard leaned against the wall looking outside listening for noise. When the main door opened he had a small window of time before things were bound to go wrong. There were Cerberus agents in the building for some unforeseen reason that neither Melon nor his men had foretold.

Most mercenaries were becoming paranoid that they had been intercepted, but It was all the same to Richard. He had survived worse messes in even bleaker places. His pulse remained In the normal parameter, his finger resting on the radio.

The countdown in his head reached twenty seconds remaining and the noise of the door opening kicked things into gear. He flicked on the radio switch, broadcasting himself to his compatriots. As the door swung open he pressed the play button on the cassette tape hanging at his belt.

"Present your hands behind your back, Walk towards the door, Cooperation yields survival." Melon's voice spoke through the recording, Striking panic into the group of doctors, the security guard leading them grabbing for his gun.

Richard pulled the trigger first, the first shot entering his lower intestine, causing him to double over. The second one straight to his dome sent him tumbling over dead. The sounds coming from the silencer were short bangs that were gone as soon as they had shown up. Some of them screamed, bad idea.

Richard moved forward, firing a warning shot at the floor, sending the group into a hurried silence as the herding instinct of the Equestrian, Caprid, and Equestrian alike. They remained standing among themselves, watching him in panic.

He motioned more aggressively the second time, taking a step forward. Things were moving too slowly, and they were still in fight or flight. The only horse moved forward, setting in for a charge.

The resulting bang echoed through the halls and the group screamed. The timer in Richard's head restarted, counting down from forty-five. The shot was necessary, but it just closed up the window of time. The silencer hadn't stopped the actual bang, but it stopped the reverb that would echo down the halls straight into the wasp's nests of Cerberus operatives. Their screams however were not silenced.

45, 44, 43, 42

Richard shoved the gun into the face of Dr. Nori, the goat yelping in surprise as it begged for mercy.

"Please don't do this... we're just researchers."

39, 38, 37

He didn't have time to care. He threw Nori forward into the group, hands cable tied. He grabbed for the remaining cable ties and pressed them into one of the researcher's hands. The zebra however looked at him with resolve, throwing the cable ties to the ground.

15, 14, 13

The second bang turned the already desperate situation into an everything or nothing.

"Urgent Urgent Urgent." The calm voice on the music player proclaimed after a single button push, the radio coming to life.

"Loud and Clear." "Copy that."

He kicked forwards, shoving the group to the floor. They fell over like bowling pins, scattering over the floor. He knew Taishiro was the head researcher and he knew that Dr. Carol was assistant to the head researcher.

He grabbed the deer's arm, who tried to punch his way out of the grasp yet the feathery arm hid muscles that looked like tectonic plates when you got a good look at them. Carol put up a similar fight although she held onto a fellow researcher.

"Let me go!" Was all she could muster to scream, her weight effectively doubled.

10, 9, 8, 7

The door to the outside burst open, the alarm to the hospital blaring out in the background. The countdown in his mind subsided. The colors of the emergency lighting only amplified the burning rage that ruptured out.

He slid Taishiro over the floor with all the strength in his arm, nearly dislocating the deer's shoulder. His compatriots standing at the door grabbed onto the dear, cable tying and lifting him out.

Then the rage and madness subsided as something entirely different happened. Surprise was inevitable. It was aggressive, volatile, and yet still a baked-in part of every singular thing happening everywhere all at once. No plan was truly fail-safe. Some were closer, some were less, but none was 100 percent fail-safe.

The firing of an assault rifle in such close quarters guaranteed a hit. A bullet penetrated his shoulder and Richard grits his beak. He relinquished his grasp on Carol who made herself as small as possible on the ground. He grabbed for his pistol and fired a shot in the direction of the shooter, only to hear a falling behind him. He didn't need to turn around to know that the compatriot was now deceased.

The shot hit the lower armor plating of the Cerberus Uniform, the cyber-esque-looking armor shielding the wearer of at least a couple of first hits.

Richard grabbed for Carol and continued shooting. The Cerberus Operative had emptied his gun and now again was doing his best work in surprising the eagle. With full force the assault rifle flew forward, hitting Richard's arm just right enough to launch the pistol from his grip. And instead of running away, the goddamn operative charged in.

Voiceless just as Richard chose to be, voiceless as life itself had chosen to be, did the operative charge him as if his own life held no meaning besides protecting another. Richard only barely realized that one bullet shot through, a slight bit of blood gushing from the shot through the side of the lower abdomen. Richard surmised the hit as non-lethal, too close to the bone, too far away from vitals.

He was hit against the wall and again was forced by the rules of nature to release Carol. The punches were fierce and although they were not as effective as the attacker hoped they did momentarily knock the wind out of Richard.

Richard was amazed, the sheer amount of courage this little operative seemed to muster was so much more than he had ever expected.

Richard reared his arm around, too quick for the black-clad canine to duck out of the way. The strong swing made him tumble for a moment, yet his grip merely let go only to grasp for him again. Before Richard could swing twice he felt a kick to his diaphragm. He felt close to nothing, the muscles in his torso absorbing the shock like it was a breeze.

"Hands in the air!" Richard allowed himself a split second to register two more operatives running from the hall. Playtime was over.

With a kick of his own, the operative stumbled over the body of the horse that had charged. Meanwhile, Richard immediately bolted for the door, the operatives opening fire. Another Bullet tore through his arm, resulting in a groan. He only heard running behind him, the voiceless operative still following suit. He turned around and expertly punched right into the mask. His knuckles hurt as the operative tumbled down the stairs knocking against the dead Omnivora henchman. Richard knew that he had died the most honorable death, to fall to a competent opponent.

Richard ran like the wind, pulling up his sleeves. He swung his arms in full strength and his feet stopped touching the ground. He wasn't a big fan of flying, never was. He thought it was cheating out on a good chase, however, his philosophy was that a mission in jeopardy had no rule book. Anything was fair game.

He landed not far from where he took off first, the parking garage behind the auxiliary building housing the dentistry and storage. He landed on the top platform and pulled out his car keys. He sat down in his Delorean and twisted the key in the ignition, activating the mechanical howl of the engine.

Surprise was simply part of the job description. To be mad at things not working out was to be mad at the nature of life. However, Richard found a little solace against the frustration. That canine was a certain height, and the details mattered here. He was the tallest of any of his compatriots simply because his eye line was roughly Richard's jugular. And the only wolf with that sort of body height was Beastar Legosi.

Legosi saw nothing but the body, the open doorway standing in a black void, the hybrid's lifeless body at the bottom of the stairs. His features locked into shock, blood pooling around him. He was black and white, the world around him revolving, yet he was stuck in the past.

Legosi felt like he had killed a version of himself, someone more unfortunate than he was. Someone like Leano.

"So you get it now." The voice was dark, saturated by calm and settled resentment.

"To kill is our purpose, To take away is what we're meant to do."

"Shut up," Legosi answered the bear dryly.

"You can't feign being unaffected here, I can see through that."

"Shut up," Legosi repeated himself."

"You did as I did, live with the-"

"SHUT UP!" The void echoed as the tremor shook the void at its foundation, vibrating anything within. Yet both Legosi and Riz remained standing completely still.

"He wasn't my enemy, he was just lost... you have no idea what it's like to accidentally kill... you did it on purpose."

"That's a lie. You know my story."

"I don't, I never will. Your secret is Rex's secret now, I'm just an onlooker." Legosi looked coldly at the visage of a past friend.

"You took your story with you when Louis impaled you."

Riz remained affect-less, a perfect recreation of a person long gone. The teddy bear that no one would think could harbor such strength.

"That doesn't stop you from feeling guilt."

Legosi ran forward and jammed a fist into the figure, yet as soon as it would've connected the apparition phased into the darkness. He looked down at his hands and began to think clearer.

"I get it... you're saying my impulse to fight my problems away is just as your philosophy leads you to killing in the first place. The same Philosophy having gotten me to kill someone who needed my help, not my scorn."

He turned to the doorway and Riz reappeared, looking down at the hybrid. He crouched down and placed a bouquet of white flowers on the deceased boy.

"He wasn't much older than you, or me if I was still alive." Riz's affectless demeanor was replaced by somberness. Legosi walked up and joined him in looking down at the body.

"I've... I've made a mistake." Tears swelled down Legosi's eyes.

"Just because I killed them doesn't mean I did not feel for them. Yet I was a monster because even though I felt guilt, I still carried on my horrid acts. Even if the world was not free of fault for setting me on that path, and I should have been helped by many people that have just passed me by, I damned myself by continuing with what I clearly knew to be wrong. I was a coward too afraid to look into the mirror and recognize that I had become something evil, something dark... A shadow of who I used to be, of who I wanted to be." Riz cried identical tears.

"To fight for what you love is an honorable thing, but it is easy to be misguided. You need to take time to focus and realize what you should be fighting in order to protect what you do love. A tyrant is only successful by making people believe his cause is to protect their ideals, not his."

"What are you telling me? To fight for Melon instead?" Riz locked eyes with Legosi, yet instead of entirely black button eyes that seemed to be entirely empty, shining blue eyes peaked back at him. His eye color when he was still young, prior to his reptilian eyes settling in.

"Maybe, maybe not. Melon fights without much consideration for other life."

The room gained a bit more form. The hallway now appearing, the black and white bodies of Dr. Zoyechka and Dr. Ludwig appearing behind them.

"But who should I fight for then?" He looked over to his phantom friend only for Tokugawa to smile back at him.

"For yourself mostly Legosi. Your ideals and your feelings, cause they are just as valid as anyone else's. All you need is a little help and the resources to do it so... I think you know where I am going with this."

Legosi gave Tokugawa's imitation a hug, pressing himself against it as his tears fell into the void.

"Thank you." The imitation grabbed for his arms and broke the hug, Legosi seeing now a mirror image of himself, again crying identical tears.

"It's all about giving yourself a chance."

Legosi felt a nudge at his side, a gigantic spotlight opening above him, the dulled voices of his fellow privates talking.

He looked at his inner self and smiled, the mirror image doing the same.

It's all about giving yourself a chance.

"Legosi! You still breathing?"

Legosi grasped at his head, the helmet having lessened the blow to his cranium.

"You got lucky there."

He sat up and looked behind himself, his neck flaring up in soreness. Half an inch to the left and he would've hit his head on the door frame.

"Did you get him?"

"Negative."

Legosi heaved himself onto his legs, his teammates pulling him up.

"Easy, Easy... take it easy Legosi."'

Legosi was on his legs a moment later and was already on his way to the top of the stairs, where he came to find nothing but the empty back garden of the hospital. Most hedges and flowers were cut shallow enough to allow easy overseeing to allow better monitoring of patients. But the method of containing the wounded wasn't apt for holding a mercenary.

Legosi looked down at himself, a trail of blood leading down his armor. He placed a finger on the front wound, wincing slightly. With his free hand he felt along his back until with a wince he found the exit hole. He felt somewhat relieved knowing it wasn't stuck within him somewhere.

He looked again over the garden and pulled at his full-face mask helmet in frustration, the metal casing only relinquishing after he had pressed the opening button at the bottom, the helmet opening up from below, allowing him to remove it.

The helmet fell to the floor as he stared beyond the garden.

Every hornet has its nest...where else but in the black market?

After the clean-up crew showed up Legosi sat down obediently for the medical exam, the doctor patching him up with soft padding pressed to the wounds, held tight by a bandage around his stomach. He thanked the personnel and went on his way to the locker room, where Captain was waiting.

The praise seemed empty to him, he knew Captain meant it but to him it meant nothing.

"Thank you, sir." Were the only words leaving the wolf's muzzle.

He braced on forward, sitting down on his bike back to the EL Train, where more people awaited, some of whom wanted selfies, others wanted autographs. He played the part and again thought that he in no way would've been jealous of Louis if he knew what came with it.

He reached his stop and walked through the streets, his home. He had tried so hard to be the person that was gonna change the state from inside out but the only place where that behavior led him was the blood of a young man not much unlike himself on his hands. He never knew the guy, might even have been a horrible person on the inside, but now all that he was was a symbol for something much more horrible.

"Louis, Just Call me tomorrow... We need to talk some more." He left the message on the receiver and then put his phone back into his pocket. He felt a special type of jadedness, the sadness and anger within him wanted to burst out in hot tears, but they didn't. It was weird pressure behind his face that felt like it was being pulled from behind.

He stored his bike in the shed beside the parking lot and walked through the little nook, a single pathway at the bottom of the building that divided the stairwell from the Renter's office. He had long gone home already, not that his presence would have proven to be much of a hassle.

He stood in front of his door and hesitated to grab his keys. He looked out to the city and felt irritated that he couldn't look at it over all the buildings. He wasn't done with today, he wasn't done with all these feelings.

He opened the door and walked inside, Juno already hard at work preparing everything.

"Hi, Honey." She walked up and gave him a hug and a kiss. He remained standing in the small wardrobe area.

"Mind packing up dinner for a picnic? I wanna go for a walk."Legosi stated, remaining in his jacket.

Juno looked between the table and her mate, considering the offer.

"I'm pretty tired, can't we eat dinner here? Not feeling like walking right now."

"How about eating on the roof? I need to breathe fresh air."

"That works," Juno replied with a smile, and the two packed up the dishes into containers. Legosi sniffing the steam.

"It smells good." He gave her a smirk and grabbed her by the hand, leading her outside.

The roof was empty tonight. They settled on one of the little sofas and overlooked their little neighborhood, an ocean of different types of roofs all around them.

"Why are you so tense... what happened at work?" Her hand was on his shoulder and Legosi pondered.

"I got a little hurt." He lifted his shirt to show the bandage, Juno immediately hovering over it.

"By Rex, what happened? Did you get shot, why didn't you tell me that first."

"Didn't want to unload on you before you ate, you had a long day too." He looked across the roof, that solemn expression on his face.

"I was just thinking, I'm not doing what I should be doing... I-..." He stopped for a moment, looking for the right words. A small stream of tears ran down his muzzle.

"I shot someone today... someone who might have been me if I didn't have people like Grandpa, Louis, or you..." He was holding up better than he thought he would, the tears warm, his voice shaky, but the words were clear. Juno was brushing over his back, the touch a welcome act of consoling.

"I'm not being a hero, I just killed someone like me... I'm not doing anything to help anyone!" He grabbed at his head as if the pressure of inside was threatening to break out. Juno stayed silent, if not in the fear of not finding the right word then for the reason of wanting to let him depressurize.

"I'll talk with Louis tomorrow and then meet up with Tokugawa... I just can't go on looking for Yahya in good conscience."

"I understand."

Legosi grasped Juno's hand on his shoulder, softly squeezing it.

"How's your job going?"

The question caused Juno to gaze into space like he so often liked to do. He thought she might be looking for the proper words, yet he was certain she already had an opinion on the matter.

"Awful... It's managing suffering, day in day out." He put his arm around her, her head like clockwork landing on his shoulder.

"The reason I even kept working past the first week was always you... I didn't want to leave all the work to you..."

"Juno... You never had to impress me."

"I didn't want to impress you... well maybe a little, but more so I wanted to show myself that I was capable of doing good too..." Juno's tone matched her boyfriend's. One of shared lament.

"Tomorrow I'll change things... for the better. This won't go on any longer..." Legosi felt the passion return to him, Juno separating herself from his hug.

"How?"

"Tokugawa," Legosi answered with full honesty. It was clear that his patience had come to an absolute end.

"Be careful though... I don't want to be a martyr's wife." She hugged him again. Legosi froze for a moment, Juno looking at him.

"Are you ok?"

Legosi could only laugh, surprise on his face as it sunk in what she had just said.

"That was the first time you called yourself a wife."

Juno smiled with endearing eyes staring deeply into his.

"I said we had growing up to do, but not no."

Legosi kissed her on the lips his hand cupping her face gently. They melted into each other, soon in each other's arms just holding eye contact.

"Then we have a plan... you beautiful wolf."

Richard walked away from the storage units, leaving his car in the garage there. He descended the stairs to the metro, not wasting much time with a cigarette, and hopped onto the next train.

The ride to his destination was filled with thoughts, most of which were plans on how to apprehend Beastar Legosi. The wolf had actively hindered the mission's progression and wasted their very valuable time.

He made it to HQ where he was treated by the medical team, dressed in bandages, and given a few painkillers. Standard fanfare, about as normal as a doctor's appointment. Afterward, he rummaged through the filing in the back of the store, large maps of the city on multiple large tables. The radio man waved him hello, a quick salute coming in reply. He grabbed the file he was looking for and turned around only to see Melon already standing there.

"What the hell happened?" Richard answered Melon's question by throwing the folder in front of him on the table. He watched his boss's eyes go through stages of recognition and anger. He looked up at Richard, who simply held up his index fingers one in front of the other, forming an X.

Melon looked at the file, looked at the gesture in Richard's hand, and then looked away for a moment. Richard loved to see his philosophy at work, Melon formulating his plans without any needless input slowing the process.

"Plan it, Plan it good. The cleaner the snag, the better. And keep it on the down low, if Yahya notices a Beastar missing he'll call down a hellfire worse than anything we've ever seen."

Richard smirked as his boss walked away. He was counting on it.