Thomas stepped out of the saloon while updating his notes. He looked up as he put the notebook away and spotted Oscar along with a craggy, scar-faced man standing by their horses in the road by the general store. Thomas had interacted with Oscar a few times previously and found him to be a slimy and odious individual and so had no interest in interacting with him again if it wasn’t required. Tucking back into the shadow cast by the saloon's awning roof, he stayed and watched as another man walked out of the general store. Slightly taller than average, with a scruffy beard and a hard look in his eyes.

Thomas had never met this man, but he was familiar with who he was. He had read the extensive files that Mr Porter had on Billy Ferguson and his exploits. From his time in the Free states army as a Sergeant Major in the Anomalous Threat Battalion, through to his time as a freelance hunter including his involvement in the 1868 San Francisco Terrantites attack and the resulting earthquake, and finally the last couple of years working as part of the organization. Everything he had read indicated that Mr Ferguson was an extremely dangerous man with a habit of getting into, and out of, situations that would kill most people.

The trio passed Thomas without noticing him on their way towards Blackwater canyon. Remounting his horse, he trotted back to the farm as the sun began to work its way across the sky. Stopping in at the barn/ workshop, he gave the bottle of chloroform to Mr Liu, who thanked him and said he would have “it” ready by the morning. Thomas then went about a few chores around the farm before turning in.

Thomas rose early, partly to get a start on the day and partly due to the nerves he felt about what they were planning on doing that day. Even with being up early he found Mr Liu out in his workshop already, hard at work on a variety of gadgets that Thomas couldn’t Identify.

“It is another good morning!” Said Mr Liu when he saw Thomas “It is also important day today. Here, I have prepared device. When required, simple twist and throw.” he added while handing over a metallic cylinder. “Make sure you stay clear of cloud”

Thomas nodded in appreciation then walked over to a map laid out on one of the benches. He pointed to the mark indicating the old mine and then gave a thumbs up.

“Yes, I am all ready to begin the procedures in the mine” replied Mr Liu, with a serious look crossing his face.

Thomas shook the man's hand before heading back out of the barn, mounting a horse, and joining the small group of men waiting outside the farm's front gate. A wave in the direction of the hills was enough to get the entourage on the move.

They moved through the hills, through a small copse of trees, through a shallow canyon system, and down to the Gila river. They slowly picked their way along the river bank until they came to a massive rock jutting out from the cliff face. Thomas raised his hand in a signal to stop. Dismounting, he leaned out to see past the boulder. There, at the base of the cliff was the cave that the tracker had told him about. There, they should find a family of phoenix foxes and if they have their timing right, the female should be weak from giving birth.

Thomas slowly crept up the stony river bank, doing his best to keep the noise to a minimum. He flattened himself against the cliff face and inched toward the entrance of the cave until he was able to see inside.

In the cave lay a phoenix fox vixen, exhausted from birthing a kid that was currently suckling from her teat. Over them stood the enormous and obviously powerful male phoenix fox who was alternating between grooming the vixen and grooming his offspring.

The sight gave Thomas pause over what he was to do next. Here was a family of creatures that very few people had even heard of and those who had heard of them thought they were nothing more than a myth. Legendary magical beasts with a population count so low that they could remain hidden from all but the most dogged and intentional search for them, and he was tasked with capturing the new mother.

He shook his head to compose himself, he had done worse and sentimentality had never stood in his way before. The canister of chloroform twisted with a hiss and a click. It bounced with a metallic twang as Thomas threw it into the cave, alerting the male fox that something was happening. It turned on the spot where the sound came from and went to investigate the object.

As the fox sniffed at the item, it popped open and began to disperse its contents directly into the muzzle of the magic beast.

The room began to fill with chloroform. The impact was obvious on the fox as it started to hack and stumble. Getting his feet back under him, he arched his back, snarled, and ignited with immense flames.

Outside of the cave, Thomas peered in and didn’t notice one of the men rushing in just after he had thrown the canister until it was too late. The fool of a man ran into the cloud of gas and began to gasp. His sputtering and choking altered the fox to his position. It charged, crashing into the man and sending him flying into the wall of the cave with a meaty thud and the pop of bones breaking. The fox tried to get back to his family, but was overcome by the chloroform, stumbling and falling to the ground.

Thomas held his hand up, telling the other men to wait until the cloud began to dissipate. Once it was clear, the men rushed in carrying the chainmail net made of the special magic dampening metal and draped it over the male fox. The net wouldn’t be able to hold the fox for long but it would give them time to cage up the female and get away.

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The men next carried in a cage made from the same metal and placed it on the ground next to where the vixen lay unconscious. Thomas carefully removed the pup and placed it next to its father before helping to move the mother into the cage.

“What about him?” asked the leader of the mercenaries indicating to the man who had rushed into the cave early.

Thomas simply shook his head, they didn’t have the manpower to carry him out even if he had survived the crushing blow.

The crew carried the cage along the river bank, struggling and stumbling in the loose rock and soft sand. Eventually they got to the entrance to the shallow canyon where they had left a horse and cart. They hefted the captive fox up and the driver got the horse moving. Winding their way back out of the canyon and through the copse of trees. They turned off in the opposite direction to Blackwater and worked their way down the back of one of the larger hills until they found the entrance to the mine tucked between two shoulders that jutted out.

A small encampment had been set up outside of the entrance, several large tents and a number of carriages and carts were all neatly lined up. The party stopped briefly to chat to the men who were guarding the mine before heading in. The main chamber of the mine was dominated by an enormous rock that was entwined in roots that originated from the ceiling of the cave. A vast array of equipment had already been set up with equipment for smelting, and forging dotted around as well as a section of the cave that had been set up with delicate and intricate laboratory equipment.

Mr Liu appeared from behind towering glassware when he heard the men come in.

“Yes, good, you have arrived. Please to put the subject over here” he indicated to a solid wooden bench with nothing else on it.

Doing as they were told, the men backed the cart up and shifted the cage over to the bench. The fox within was still too weak to stand let alone try to escape.

“Ain’t cha’ worried what that thing’ll do once she wakes up?” asked one of the crew

“No, the…meteor” said Mr Liu waving to the enormous rock “The metal, it stops magic. So close to so much, she will not have power to escape.”

“If ya say so, I’m happy to wait outside though”

“Yes. All should wait outside. Work is delicate. I must prepare for the arrival of last component”

Doing as they were asked, the rest of the men headed outside to the camp, happy to sit around and get paid for it. Thomas stayed inside, he had been tasked with ensuring the success of this project, even though he hadn’t been told what exactly it was, and so intended to stay near the action. Finding himself a seat, he relaxed and watched as Mr Liu went to work setting up various machines. The most important seemed to be a large tank filled with a viscous goo that was being recirculated through a pump. Mr Liu would occasionally check the temperature and flow rate, making small adjustments until it was where he wanted it.

Thomas was unsure how long he waited and being underground he had nothing to indicate what time of day it was. His waiting was eventually interrupted by the appearance of the man from the post office. He wordlessly handed over a bag to Thomas before disappearing back up the tunnel.

“Ah, is that the final piece!” said Mr Liu with a tinge of excitement in his voice as he hurried over and took the bag. From it he pulled a large fragment of crystal. It was obviously magical in nature but Thomas had never seen its like before. It was devoid of any of the colors that indicated the other types of crystal.

“Come, see”. Mr Liu had submerged the crystal in the tank of goo and was chipping a small piece off. Thomas recognized what he was doing next. He began to shape the crystal to fit into a bullet as you would do with any other magic crystal. But then he stood it up and started to drill a tiny hole in the tip.

“If you would be so kind as to pluck one strand of fur from fox, please.”

Thomas did as he was asked, and using a pair of pliers, plucked a single strand

“Now pass to me in oil”

Again Thomas did as he was asked, handing the tweezers to Mr Liu in the tub of oil.

“Ah yes, very good. Has root intact. Now for good part”

Holding the bullet with a pair of forceps and the hair with the tweezers, he began to thread the hair into the hole he had just drilled.

He stopped before he pushed it all the way in “You should close eyes when I say”

He then pushed the rest of the hair all the way into the crystal bullet “Now!”

Thomas closed his eyes, but even still he could see a light through his eyelids and feel a heat coming from the tank even through the oil and glass. The light became brighter and brighter until it was hurting his eyes through his eyelids. Just as he was about to try and get away, it began to subside. When he could no longer sense the light or the heat he opened his eyes and was met by bright spots and streaks in his vision. After a moment these began to subside and he was able to focus on the bullet in the tank.

The crystal was no longer devoid of color, it now danced with glowing reds, oranges, yellows, and occasional blues and greens. Vastly more vibrant and alive than what you would see in a fire crystal.

“Hahaha! Is good!” yelled Mr Liu looking at his work and then to Thomas who gave him a look that indicated that he wasn’t sure what had just happened.

“Ah Mr Porter has not told you all, yes? Compartmentalization, yes? Well…I tell you anyway.” Mr liu said with a sly smile “The crystal, it take on properties of other type of magic. I put phoenix fox hair in and bullet gain power of phoenix fox. Phoenix fox can come back from dead. Bullet allow you to bring people back from dead. Or should. We may have to test.”

It took awhile for Thomas to wrap his head around what he was being told. This was beyond anything Mr Porter had done before. Sure, he had used magic crystal to build all kinds of items and machines that could do amazing things. But this, bringing people back from the dead, this was almost too much. The implications of this started to crash over Thomas. People would do almost anything to get their hands on this technology and by controlling it, Mr Porter may just be the most powerful person on the planet. If the general public learned about the existence of this..this…Phoenix shot, there would be mayhem as people tried desperately to get a hold of it.

As these thoughts tumbled through Thomas’ head he was brought back to the now by Mr Liu talking

“Now we must wait for oil to recalibrate. It take awhile, but if settings not right then reaction not stable. Must keep everyone out”

Thomas was ok with that, the less people knew about what they were doing here the better