The Procyon trio, following the pair of Foxen made their way to a clearing in the forest and stopped to size the scene up. It was an odd little tent village with about twenty tents set up in a haphazardly circular fashion. Night had fallen now upon the wildlands, and the only light this far from civilization were from a few campfires scattered around the makeshift village that cast flickering shadows across the scene.
All three brothers clicked an option to turn on a night vision app on their viewers. They could only see a few Titans mulling about the place, a few by one of the campfires and a few more moving some crates outside a tent.
“How many Titans are here total?’ Rocky asked the tall Foxen who had led them there. He seemed to think about it for a moment.
“Not as many as it looks. Most of them are away. There’s probably only ten-twelve Titans here right now.”
Ricky narrowed his eyes, studying the Foxen for any weaknesses or chinks in his story. He was not quite sure what to believe.
“And where are your things being held?”
Atani held out a clawed finger towards the middle of the camp. The largest tent was right in the center, and Ricky could see a few shadows moving inside from the light of some fire-lanterns burning within to provide light in the darkness.
“Great. That will be the toughest one to sneak into.” Ricky said while scanning the camp for any advantages. “What do you guys think?” He turned and asked his brothers.
“Really? No sweat.” Rocky winked. “I’ll take the lead. You guys back me up. We’ll have to move fast to incapacitate the few people inside.”
The other two nodded back at him and he began making his way around the trees, circling the nearest campfire and keeping just outside its sphere of illumination. Rocky came out of the tree line in the darkness and moved swiftly to the nearest tent. He waited a moment to make sure his advance was not noticed and then moved on, waving the others up. There were many variables at play, including not knowing how many sentries may yet be watching out for them.
Wolton stayed back along the edge of the trees with the two science bots and the two Foxen. He watched with interest for as long as he could before he lost the trio within the shadows of the night.
The skinniest of the brothers, Rocky crept swiftly and silently from tent to tent, making his way closer to the target with every passing moment. The element of surprise was their friend, and every moment wasted was another opportunity to get caught. In a matter of two minutes they had traversed the distance from the outskirts to the heart of the camp.
Rocky knelt outside the tent, eager to hear the voices within. There were a pair of Titans talking, but as far as he could tell, it was only two. He held up two fingers to the others, who nodded in understanding. They would have to go in and hit hard and fast, knock the two out inside before they could raise an alarm.
Rocky counted to three and then lifted the bottom of the tent to sneak inside. The other two both entered from different angles, effectively surrounding the tent. Rocky saw them first, a pair of Titans in a bed, with one standing in the center of the room with his back to the bed, as if guarding the entrance. Rocco pounced upon him before he could react, closing his hand over his mouth as he clubbed him over the head.
Rocky and Ricky both threw aside the sheets to find something other than what they had been expecting. Two female Canids half clothed. One of them began to open her mouth as her sleepy eyes realized they did not recognize the strangers standing over their beds.
Both brothers picked a female and clasped a hand over their mouths to keep them from screaming. The female that Rocky began to wrestle with bit down hard on his hand.
“Ow!” He blurted, then reached into his utility belt, producing a small rectangular object.
Flipping a switch on the side, a bluish electric stun beam briefly lit the tent, and both females in the bed were now unconscious.
Rocky turned back to the tent and began looking around. Something occurred to him suddenly and he silently took his question to their private channel.
“What exactly are we looking for in here?”
“The daft little Foxen didn’t really elaborate, did he?” Ricky responded.
There were heaps of possessions scattered across the tent and the pair began to rifle through everything as quickly as possible.
Rocky found a few sparkly bits of rock-jewelry and held them up. Ricky shook his head and frowned. He was not sure what they were looking for exactly…but was quite sure it was not something so petty. A loud crash from the middle of the tent made them both jump and they turned in unison. Rocco had smashed a large chest on the ground, breaking the hinges and popping the lid open. They both gave him dirty looks, but he just shrugged and gave a thumbs-up.
“Here it is.”
The two came over to peer inside the lid. There were several data pads and just like the Foxen had said, dozens of antique heirlooms. Under a few more pieces of mostly broken looking pieces of technology they saw something shiny underneath. The bottom of the chest was lined with titanium bars, worth a small fortune to a tech buyer for the material alone.
Lights flooded the dark room and before the trio could react, they were surrounded. At first about ten armed Titans appeared from the doorway, and Rocco braced his weapon, ready for a fight. But then ten more came in from behind them, and they were surrounded just like that. These Titans were dressed in the same manner as the Foxen, garbed in bright gaudy colors with many fancy baubles.
“Who are you thieves?” One of the armed members of the group demanded, he was a Rodentia with an eyepatch and a bionic arm.
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“Why does everyone think we’re thieves?” Ricky muttered under his breath.
“Maybe ‘cause we keep stealing things.” Rocky responded.
“It was rhetorical.”
“So are your brains.”
“You must be bold, to steal from us!” The Rodentia barked with a hearty but cold laugh.
“Uh.” Ricky did not have a plan, but he began talking, in hopes something would present itself as he went. “There seems to be a misunderstanding here. You see, we weren’t trying to steal anything from you…it appears as though we were victims here the same as you.”
Rocky looked at his brother in surprise.
“We are?” His bemused voice sounded in the chat.
“You’re standing before me, the Warlord Khesh, telling me that you are victims while standing inside my treasure room?” The Rodentia seemed amused and lowered his weapon slightly. He appeared as though he was interested to see where Ricky would go with this. Maybe even as much as Ricky was.
“This outta be good.” Rocky said.
“Pipe Down.” Ricky returned.
“Mighty Warlord, we seek your wisdom in this matter. Hear my story before you pass judgement.”
The smaller but fierce looking warlord looked them over and then nodded. He did not seem to be threatened much by them. Perhaps because they were surrounded by at least twenty guns. More than that actually since several were brandishing a pistol in each hand. The Zenith Corporation had outlawed everyone on the planet from privately owning weapons with the few exceptions of their own “peacekeepers” and security forces decades ago. How had this group of wastrels gathered so many?
“Very well.” Khesh made a grand gesture with his arm towards the three Procyons in the center of the tent. “Tell your story.”
“It is obvious now that we have ourselves been duped by a con-artist by the name of Atani. Do you know this Titan?”
Some of the room gasped. Many others began laughing mockingly at the mention of the name. The Warlord Khesh himself did not seem amused and scowled back at Ricky.
“He was a small-time thief from around these parts. Swindled many people out of their possessions.” One of the Felids next to the warlord spoke. “We robbed him two days ago and left him and his girl in the woods.” He ended the statement with a roaring laugh, one that the rest of the gathering echoed.
“He hired us to take back his possessions from what he said was a Zenith camp outside of town. The only reason we agreed was to stick it to those lousy corporate rat-bastards.”
The others glared suspiciously at the trio before them.
“And why would you do that?” Asked the Rodentia Warlord.
“Because we are…uh…” Ricky glanced at his brothers, his words began coming out on their own. “Rebels. We’re part of the Union.”
“Oh?” Several members of the gathering lowered their weapons at this, and Ricky knew he had found something to exploit.
“Yes. We have been fighting against the oppression and injustice for months now. In fact, we just came from Kinnade Square where we attacked and looted a Zenith stronghold.”
“You can actually check that on the Titannet if you don’t believe him.” Rocky said, already pulling a holodisplay of a recent newscast and broadcast it in the open space between them.
“Witnesses say the carnage was wrought by only three rebel extremists, patrols have been dispatched to find and capture these dangerous outlaws, described as Procyons by security experts…” Rocky turned the bright broadcast off then, abruptly dimming the tent once more to only the light of the flashlights pointed at them.
“Wait, you said that Atani wanted you to get his belongings back?” The warlord mused for a moment. “But why are you in my tent? We were keeping his things in the female tent.” His eyes went wide. “Shit! Get ‘im boys! Go!”
An explosion rocked the camp outside, followed by a group of small firework pops that Ricky recognized as smoke bombs.
“That sonofabitch.” Ricky stamped his foot angrily. “Did he just use us as decoys?”
Half of the group left the tent in a hurry, including the entire group that had entered with the so-called warlord. The trio turned to face the group remaining behind them.
“All just a misunderstanding…” Ricky smiled innocently at them.
The brothers did not need to speak their next intentions, they were completely in sync with what needed to happen next. Immediately all three pulled out some form of melee weapon, Rocco, his twin batons, Rocky, a pole that extended at both ends, and Ricky had an energy knife that glowed to life.
Before the group could react or even to see their peril, the Procyon brothers were upon them, smashing and striking and slashing with a fury and desperation that was hard to counter. A few instinctively dropped their firearms and reached for their own close quarter weapons, but the three brothers worked in a trained unison that made them more than a match for the superior numbers remaining. With a combination of speed and violence of motion, they attacked first and attacked hard, not giving their opponents much time to coordinate a unified offense.
The Procyon brothers’ strategy was this simple, not for the fact that they were brilliantly skilled more so than the rest of their adversaries, but that they simply attacked with such aggression as to leave their opponents rocked back on their heels, scrambling for defense against the onslaught. And when they had them in that position, they kept them there, hammering and slashing and pounding until they were all incapacitated.
“That one has an Axiom!” Rocky pointed towards the ground.
“Oh, so he does!” Ricky quickly leaned down to eject the magnetized cartridge out from in front of the trigger guard. Not surprisingly, it was brand new, and Ricky quickly exchanged his for the fresh one. He then began to rifle through the others’ belongings, looking for any more ammo.
“I got .50 cal here Roc.” Rocky tossed a few mags across the tent to his brother who caught them easily.
Without more than a sideways glance, the three exited the tent through the front flap and readied for combat. The sounds of gunfire were already spattering when they emerged. Half of the group of the Warlord’s men were now chasing a figure back towards the woods.
“Atani.” Ricky growled into the comms.
A tracer round flew by Ricky’s head and left a smoking hole through the tent, snapping him away from the chase in the distance and back to the here and now. Smoke filled the camp from several canisters that Atani had unleashed moments ago, and Ricki saw his opportunity. As the camp was scattered and divided in their attention, he made his move, motioning the others to follow.
Ricky plunged through the remaining thickly gathered smoke as a few of the warlord’s men fired in their direction. They moved from cover to cover as best they could, headed towards the tree line. Rocco brought up the rear, covering them with bursts of fire from his rifle as they moved. Most of them scattered when fired upon, and none seemed to follow, at least not yet.
When they made it to the tree line Ricky spotted Wolton, still in his lab clothes, but did not see either of the Foxen or the science robots they had brought this far.
“You still have your Etcher?” He asked.
Wolton fumbled around and pulled it out from his bag he had been carrying.
“Get it ready, you might need it.” Ricky said over the sounds of shouting and gunfire in the camp behind them. “What happened?” He motioned towards the spot where they had last seen their robots and the Foxen pair.
“They took off with their stuff and the robots.” Wolton shrugged helplessly. “I couldn’t really stop them. They were armed.” He held up the big pistol he had out now, as if he had forgotten about it until that moment. “Even with this, I’m a scientist, not a warrior.”
Just as the Canids were subdivided into different species, so were the Procyons, although not as many varieties existed among those. Ricky and his brothers were among the most common variety, which was known as the Lotor, while Wolton was much smaller and his fur thinner, a species not from Gunrock known as the Cancrivorous. Their coloring was different as well. The brothers’ fur was mostly gray, while the scientists was a darker shade, with some brown mixed in.
Ricky clapped his hand on the smaller Procyon’s shoulder.
“It’s not your fault.” He looked behind him to make sure both brothers were at his back. “We can’t stay here. C’mon, let’s get you back to this Union in Kallerish. Hope they’re expecting you.”