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A new Beginning

“Oh for God’s sake…” Virgil sighed upon getting to her floor. One of the building’s grouchier tenants, a grizzled old ram, was standing outside her apartment as slightly muted rock music filled the hall.
Just what Virgil needed. She was already irritated from having to make an evening run to the store due to her current roommate’s ravenous appetite, not to mention the worsening of her genetic survival instinct side effect, and she was NOT in the mood for dealing with the same guy that complained about the sound of her feet on the floor as she did some home practicing on her belly dancing.

“Ah, there you are!” The ram accused.
“Your roommate just slammed the door in my face after I came up to complain about the noise! If you don’t do something about her, I’m going to get the landlord and see you both evicted!”

“I’m really sorry, Mr. Doffing.” Virgil apologized.
“I’ll talk with her.”

“You’d better. Because the next time I have to walk up those damned stairs, I’m bringing an eviction notice!” Mr. Doffing snapped.

“… we have an elevator here you know.”

“Gah, nothing but vertical metal coffins! I haven’t stepped foot in an elevator yet, and I don’t plan to anytime soon!”
Grumbling about the day’s youth, the ram sauntered back down the hall, disappearing into the stairwell, the sound of his hooves clopping just barely audible over the still playing music.
Once he was gone, Virgil pushed her key into the door lock and turned, pushing the door open to be met with the pounding beat of music.

“Kelly! Turn it down!” Virgil yelled over the noise.

The roadrunner’s head popped up from the couch, where she’d been lounging.
“Hey, Vi.” Kelly waved.
“Sorry, what was that?”

Virgil responded by walking over to her sound setup, and pushing the power button.

“You know, I thought you’d appreciate music, being a stripper and all.” Kelly rolled her eyes.

“Oh shut up.” Virgil said, knowing full well Kelly was joking in that accusation.
“I’m letting you live here, the least you can do is try not to get me evic… please tell me you didn’t answer the door dressed like that.”

Kelly was lounging in a sports bra and a pair of Virgil’s lacier undergarments.

“You should’ve seen that old goat’s face.” Kelly chuckled.
“Got the blood flowing where it hasn’t in a loooong time.”

“God, Kelly!” Virgil cringed, looking away from the bird.
“Seriously, you have headphones! Use them!”

Virgil brought the groceries she’d purchased to the kitchen. Virgil was no clean freak, and her apartment hadn’t exactly been tidy before Kelly… but it was getting to the point where even Virgil was getting a little uncomfortable.

“You get the chili?” Kelly called over, rising from the couch with a stretch and ruffle of feathers.

“Yes. And the hot dogs, and microwave pizzas, and the chocolate milk…”

“Awesome.” Kelly clacked her beak with glee, already going to retrieve some of the food items.
“I owe you one.”

“You owe me more than one…” Virgil muttered as she tossed some used paper plates into the trash.
“Do you have to wear my stuff though?”

“I do when I’m out of clean clothes to wear.” Kelly affirmed.
“Besides. Your stuff is pretty comfy.”

Virgil managed to tolerate Kelly. Despite how open she was about being a freeloader; the roadrunner had become a good friend to her. Virgil just wished she’d maybe contribute to the rent. Or buy her own food. Or even just wear a shirt or pants around the apartment, instead of going the bare minimum. It was only through Virgil’s own urging that Kelly begrudgingly admitted to wearing tops. Even if the roadrunner didn’t have any reason to. Being a pureblood avian, she had a complete lack of breasts. After all, why would she need them. It’s not like she’d need to feed any offspring being an egg layer.
Even so… having another girl walk around topless in her apartment had made Virgil EXTREMELY uncomfortable.

“So, what’re we going to do today? Bust up a few GCF patrol cars? Save some helpless anthro from a trap? Go on some spy mission to Paris?” Kelly listed off in amusement.

“No. After what happened at the GCF… I need to lay low for a while.” Virgil said.
“I’m planning on going to Telokey’s later to check up on him. I haven’t seen much of him lately, and I’m kind of worried.”

Virgil had heard it from him over the phone what happened with the street trap. And Virgil swore that the next time she saw Endal… that dragon was getting kicked. Hard.

“Oh, your little bat fling?” Kelly chuckled.

Virgil rolled her eyes. She didn’t usually engage Kelly’s teasing nature, and this time was no exception.
“You want to come with me? I haven’t officially introduced the two of you just yet.”

Kelly thought it over.
“Mmm… nah. I’m good just chilling around here.” She decided.

“Suit yourself. But please… for the love of God… don’t anger any more tenants.” Virgil begged.

“Nooooo promises.” Kelly said as she began scrolling on Virgil’s tablet.

Virgil, sighing, turned towards her apartment’s door.

“Oh, Vi. Gonna need your help later.” Kelly perked up as she recalled something, stopping the Azer from leaving just yet.
“Before I got transferred from jail to the Gaunts place, I had my brother move a bunch of my stuff into a self-storage unit. You don’t want me wearing your stuff all the time? Help me get some of my clothes out of there and bring em back here. If you do, I’ll let you take something for yourself out of there.” The roadrunner winked.

Virgil had to say, it sounded like a decent enough proposal. Though she doubted she’d have it in her heart to take something from the roadrunner, given all she’d been through. The fact Kelly had a brother was news to her though…

“We’ll see.” Virgil said, not ready to commit to anything just yet. After all, who knew how busy she’d be.
Grabbing her purse from the coat hook, she stepped out of the apartment, heading for Telokey’s place.

~~~~~

The sun was already beginning to set behind the buildings of the city Virgil had come to call home. She was still relatively new here… but she’d come to love this city more than anywhere else. The anthro populated parts of it were always so lively. Granted lively encompassed the negative as well as the positive on occasion. No city was perfect. But to Virgil, this city almost was.
She thought back to her days attending school with Telokey. He had just sort of been around. Virgil had never put any interest in him before. But seeing the face of someone from a simpler time here in the city had been a very welcome sight.
Virgil had never really had too many friends throughout school. An owl girl in elementary school, an alligator girl she’d actually roomed with after her adoptive parents’ death in high school. But even then, Virgil had never really taken the time to know any of them to the point where she would consider them besties. She supposed she’d always just been more of a loner. Being a species that many considered a rare treasure more than anything had helped with that.

“What I wouldn’t give to just see another Azer someday…” She sighed inwardly, but quickly repressed that thinking. No sense in worsening her condition.
Snapping out of her brooding, Virgil saw she’d arrived at Telokey’s building. She could of course have flown, but when she’d said she had wanted to lay low, she’d meant it. Plus… she was feeling pretty lazy. Especially given how hard she’d worked at dance class today. Once again, it looked like she would be chosen to represent the class for an upcoming recital. Telokey might have a shot too, if Virgil could get him to come back to class.

Virgil sauntered up to the front door, brushing off the bottom of her paws on the welcome mat before stepping into the building. Unlike Virgil’s apartment building, this one didn’t have an elevator. Virgil COULD of course fly in through Telokey’s window. He kept it unlocked since he had two… well, now one… friend with wings. But given the scare Telokey had gone through, she decided against it. He’d gotten so freaked, he hadn’t even been able to stay in his own apartment, and had roomed with another friend of his for a few weeks. She’d do his heart a favor and knock like a normal person.
It took her a few minutes to remember correctly which floor and room number Telokey was on. She’d only been here once to make sure he got home safe, and hadn’t even been inside his apartment. But she found it eventually, the telltale smell of seasoned eggs and bacon drifting down the hall. Telokey couldn’t go one meal without trying to make it taste like something from a restaurant…
Virgil knocked on the door, hearing the sound of a cooking pan being set down onto the stove as Telokey hurried to open the door.

“Who is it?” His voice asked from the other side. Virgil rose an eyebrow. Usually he opened right up. This whole thing must’ve REALLY shook him up…

“It’s me, Telo.” Virgil answered.
“Just came to check up on you.”

There was the sound of the chain lock being removed followed by the sound of the bolt being drawn back before Telokey opened the door. There he stood, looking as fine as ever. Though it looked like he’d really let the fur crest on his chest go a while without grooming. It went up around his neck, giving him a very fluffy look.
“Hey Virgil.” Telokey greeted.
“I’m just now fixing breakfast. Want some? Though it’d be more like dinner for you.”

Virgil smiled. Telokey seemed as peppy as usual. That was good. What had happened hadn’t had any lasting traumatic effect on him.
“Forget about food. How are you doing?” Virgil asked.
“I got your text and asked around about what happened, but I want the full story from you. If you’re up for it, that is. I mean, from what you told me… it was pretty scary.”

Telokey waved it off though.
“Nah, I can tell you.” He said.
“I’m over it now. It was… pretty scary, yeah. But I’m safe now. They didn’t get my name, so they can’t trace me. The most I have to worry about is if they got video of me. But even then, I didn’t do anything wrong. Nothing they could bring up in an actual court anyways.”
Telokey motioned Virgil into his apartment, the Azer following him in. This was the first time she’d ever actually been in here, and it was a lot more sparse on furniture than she’d thought. A couch, a desk with a closed laptop at it, and a cheap entertainment center a TV sat on along with a gaming system and some DVD cases.

“Yeah, I know. It’s not much.” Telokey said sheepishly, taking a seat on the couch.
“But it works.”

Virgil sat down at the opposite end of the couch. It was… uncomfortably scratchy.
“So, that night. What happened? You said something about a street trap?”

Telokey nodded, beginning to recount the events of that night. Everything from Derek’s miraculous rescue to Endal abandoning him after he was shot with a tranquilizer dart. A few of these details Virgil had known herself. She had gone walking down club street one night, gathering information. But hearing this firsthand account really hit her. This wasn’t just some farfetched tale. This had happened here, in this city, to a friend of hers.
Virgil wasn’t sure why she did what she did. Maybe it was simply an expression of relief. Maybe it was because a friend that had come to mean a lot to her ever since she arrived here had almost been unfairly taken out of her life. Whatever the reason, Virgil soon found herself hugging Telokey, having leaned across the no man’s land of the middle of the couch to hug him. This in turn caused Telokey to blush until Virgil pulled away.

“Um… sorry.” She apologized.
“I’m just… REALLY relieved to hear you’re ok.”

“Hey, it’s fine.” Telokey smiled.
“I enjoy a hug just as much as the next guy.”

Virgil gave the bat a pat on the back, glad to see him smile.
“How… did Derek manage to open the trap as quick as he had?” Virgil asked. That detail had bothered her. It didn’t make sense that some random human had been able to open it at the drop of a hat.
Telokey opened his mouth to answer… but then began to think about it himself. How HAD Derek managed to open the trap? It all seemed too coincidental…

“I honestly don’t know.” Telokey shrugged.
“Maybe he just knows how to hack? I mean… isn’t that what hackers do? Hack stuff?”

“I don’t think that’s how it works, Telo.” Virgil chuckled. She’d definitely have a talk with this Derek.
“But yeah, glad you’re ok. The other girls are really worried about you In the class.”

“Dang… I should’ve checked in with them.” Telokey groaned.
“Sorry, I’ve just been a little unsteady. Derek told me the tranquilizer the dart pumped in me is designed to be long lasting. He got most of it out of my system, but I’m still a little unsteady on my feet where dancing is concerned. I’ve tried to keep up with my practicing here… but it’s been hard.”

“Don’t push yourself too hard, Reuben.” Virgil advised.
“If you fall and twist your ankle or something like that, then there goes your chances at making the recital.”

“I know, I know.” Telokey waved off.
“Night of lights again, right?”

Virgil nodded. Last year, she and Telokey had danced one heck of a duet together at the annual December celebration. They hadn’t been the only act… but their performance together had really cemented them as a duo in the public’s eye.

“Well then, I guess I should go out and enjoy the fresh air. Get some nice food. Show everyone I’m ok.” The silver bat beamed.
“Wouldn’t want to separate the two of us on such a big night.”

Virgil nodded in affirmation.
“I’d hope not. None of the other girls have an outfit that goes so well with mine onstage.”

Telokey’s ears twitched for a second. He was catching… a vibe from Virgil. One he wasn’t liking.
“Hey… Virgil. Are you ok?” He asked, expression turning to one of concern.

Virgil snapped up.
“Hmm? Me? Yeah, I’m fine.” She said, putting on a smile. But Telokey wasn’t buying it.

“Virgil… come on.” He said.
“I mean… I’m pretty good at figuring out when something’s wrong, and you just don’t seem yourself right now. And I should know. I see you almost every day at class.”

Virgil sighed. Seems everyone was starting to catch onto her changing mood. Telokey, the girls in her class. All except Kelly, but that was probably because her attention was focused on other parts of Virgil.

“Look… don’t freak out about this, ok?” Virgil said to Telokey.

“Oh God… do you have cancer?” Telokey asked, wide eyed.

“Telo, come on.” Virgil said, unable to help but chuckle.
“If I had cancer, I would’ve told you first. Or any terminal illness, really.”

Telokey didn’t buy that excuse.
“But something’s wrong now and you haven’t told me what it is.”

“... you’re right. And I’m sorry.” She said, sighing again.
“Look, I take it you’ve done some looking up on my species at some point?”

Telokey had indeed. The fact Azers could produce a mild venom had been especially shocking.
“Yeah. I’d love to hear you sing someday. I read all Azers have a beautiful singing voice.”

Virgil smiled at his naivety for a brief moment.
“Then you know about what happens to an Azer when they’re away from others of their own kind for too long, right?”

Now it was Telokey’s turn for his expression to grow grim.
“Um… afraid not. I didn’t see anything about that.”

“Well… it’s not pretty.” Virgil began.
“Basically, we’re sort of meant to be groups. Some survival instinct from our wild cousins. If we’re away from others of our kind for too long, then… well… we sorta lose the will to live.”

Telokey shivered a little. The idea of Virgil, the happy, fun loving Azer he’d come to know and lov… and CHERISH being depressed like that…

“But… you’ve been living on your own for a while. Almost your whole life without your parents. You’re in your twenties. You’re going to be alright… right?”

Virgil nodded solemnly.
“Yeah. I guess hardly knowing my parents has its benefits. But every so often… well… the feeling’s there. I was… in a bad state when my adoptive parents died. Even if they weren’t blood, they were my family.”

Telokey looked at Virgil with the same look as he had when she’d told him about her species endangered status. As if she could just blow away like dust in the wind.

“But… you know what?” Virgil said, brightening up a bit.
“Ever since I came here… it’s gotten a lot better. You, and the girls, and Kelly…”

“Who?”

“Oh, my new roommate. I’ll be sure to introduce you to her. Basically… even with this condition of mine, I’ve been doing great since coming here. Being around all these anthros… around you all… it’s really helped me.” She smiled.
“So you don’t have to worry about me, ok? I have my lows, like, the one I’m in the middle of, but they aren’t threatening like they used to be. And I really owe you for that.”

“M-me?” Telokey asked, a bit flustered at the statement.
“What did I do?”

“Uh, you’re kidding me, right?” She chuckled.
“I didn’t know anyone here. Hell, I didn’t expect to run into anyone I knew here. I came here to try and just lay low and not have much a life. I… honestly didn’t want a busy social life.”

Telokey was a bit taken aback by this. Virgil had always seemed eager to partake in the sights and sounds of the city.
But then again, HE had been the one dragging her around to see them all.

“But you got me into belly dancing. And our first performance together made me a familiar sort of face around the city. And when people come up asking for a selfie with you… it makes you feel pretty good.”

Telokey raised an eyebrow.
“People have been asking to take selfies with you?”

“Heck yeah.” She smiled gleefully, tail flicking.
“Mostly guys. A few eager fangirls. They’re super cool though, and they aren’t, like, obsessive or anything. And I only run into about two a week. Maybe three.”

Telokey had to admit he was a tad bit jealous…
But Virgil was the prettier out of the two of them. Her silky, shining fur. Her deep pink eyes…

“Telokey? Would you?”

Crap.
“Huh? Oh, sorry. The… the drug just still has me feeling sleepy on occasion.” Telokey said sheepishly.
“What was that?”

“I was wondering if you would like to meet up sometime tonight? Maybe see a movie?” Virgil suggested.
“I mean, it’s been a while since the two of us just hung out.”

“Yes!” Telokey nodded enthusiastically. Time with Virgil was time well spent.
“I’d love to! There’s a new restaurant exclusively for nocturnals that opened. It’s underground in an old wine cellar, but it’s real classy. Some kind of jazz club. And yeah, you’re not nocturnal, but you should be fine with me. I’m a bat after all. We’re kind of a big deal in the nocturnal community.”

“Then it’s a date.” Virgil winked.

Telokey blinked.
“A date?”

“Uh… yeah? Come on, it’s not our first one. We’ve been on dates before. We’ve been out to dinner plenty of times. Seen plenty of movies, just the two of us. What did you think those were?’ She giggled.

“Well… I mean… I thought you just were being friendly.” Telokey shrugged.
“Entertaining me. I didn’t think those were, you know, actual dates.”

Virgil leaned forward a little bit.
“Did you want them to be?” She asked, tail flicking expectantly.

Telokey didn’t need to think too hard about this answer, despite how sudden the question seemed. He supposed he’d always considered Virgil more than just another friend.
“Yes, I did.” He responded with a bright smile, leaning forward a little himself.
“I mean… I know we didn’t know each other too well in school. But I’ve really liked getting to know you better here. You’re beautiful and you’re nice… and… I really want you to be mine?”
Telokey mentally slapped himself. Who says “I want you to be mine”? People in erotica novels, that’s who.

“You’ve got a way with words, Telo.” Virgil said with a chuckle, leaning forward more to plant a light kiss on his nose, resulting in Telokey developing a deep blush. That had been… unexpected. But wonderful to receive. The meaning behind the gesture was clear.
“Yes. I’ll be yours. Only if you’ll be mine.”

Telokey was in a bit of a daze, trying to process how this had even come about so quickly. The friend he’d harbored a crush on… liked him back? Virgil had accepted his advances? He wasn’t a hopeless romantic who didn’t understand boundaries!
“I will.” He smiled, possum tail flicking just as eagerly as Virgil’s tail.
“I’m yours too.”
The two leaned forward, both planting a kiss on the others’ muzzle. Telokey and Virgil both felt warm and fuzzy on the inside. Not only that, but safe. Like nothing could hurt them. Not even the GCF…
The two held the kiss for a while, Telokey wrapping his wings around Virgil, and Virgil wrapping her arms around Telokey as they just shared in their newfound relationship status.

~~~~~

Virgil had a spring in her step as she left Telokey’s apartment, wings fluttering. She was in a spectacular mood. And why wouldn’t she be? Reuben Telokey, a bat she’d come to adore and love, had accepted her feelings of affection while also revealing he had similar feelings in a wonderfully sappy way. She would totally hold that “I want you to be mine” against him for a while.
But that happy mood fizzled out soon enough as her task at hand became her sole focus. She’d have plenty of time to be happy with Telokey later. For now, she had someone very specific she wanted to have a word with.
Derek Montreal.

She’d gotten a basic idea of where he had set up shop from Telokey following a rather heated session of kissing on his couch…
Virgil shook her head. She needed to focus.
”Just calm down, Vi. Yes, you haven’t had a boyfriend in a while. Don’t get too eager and scare him off. Just stay cool.”
Taking a deep breath, she turned down the next street. As per the norm, Bunt’s was open. Derek’s store, an interesting looking establishment called BlackShine Ind. Factory Outlet had been setup directly across from it. Virgil had given it a few odd glances, but never would have thought that THIS was where Derek was set up. Virgil was a bit curious as to what he sold here, as the items on display in the window didn’t offer much of a guess. Mannequins modeling various clothing items that all seemed to be made of some PVC like material. She almost wanted to say rubber looking at them…
Steeling herself, Virgil pushed open the door, greeted by the cool rush of the store’s AC, a pleasant ding dong noise, and a powerful but pleasant scent.
”Yeah, definitely rubber.” She confirmed as she walked into the store. It certainly had an… interesting theme to it.
Wherever Virgil looked, she saw racks of rubber clothing. Pants, tops, jackets, socks, and even some swimwear.
“Oh, that looks cute…” She muttered as she looked at a pale pink rubber tank top.

“And it’s on sale.” A voice said behind Virgil, urging her to turn around.
An ox anthro stood behind her, wearing an employee’s uniform.
“I can take it up to the register if you’d like while you keep shopping.”

“Oh no, I was just thinking out loud.” Virgil said, waving it off.
“Though out of curiosity… how much is it?”

“Twenty five dollars. It’s usually thirty five.” The ox smiled.

“Uh… I’ll think about it.” She said, seriously considering it. It looked super cute and matched her style perfectly.
“I’m actually here to speak with the owner, a Derek Montreal.”

The ox raised an eyebrow.
“Did you have an appointment?”

Now it was Virgil’s turn to raise an eyebrow. The manager of a retail store had appointments?
“Uh… no. I just wanted to thank him. He really helped a friend of mine out a few days ago. Hell, probably saved his life.”

The ox beamed with pride.
“That sounds like him alright. Let me get him for you.” The ox smiled, clopping off into the back, leaving Virgil to browse the store. She had to admit the shiny clothing had an odd appeal to it. She wondered if there were fitting rooms she could use to go try some of the stuff on?
She didn’t get the chance to though as a smiling human came into view. Virgil assumed this was Derek, and she was already thinking he was the friendliest looking human she’d ever seen.

“Hello, miss.” He greeted.
“Something I can help you with?”

“Yes sir.” Virgil nodded, pleased to not hear racial slandering or a passive aggressive tone come from a human’s mouth. Their deep voices were actually kind of pleasant in that respect.
“Are you Derek Montreal?”

“Yes ma’am.” Derek confirmed with a smile.
“If you’re looking for a job, I’d be happy to consider you. Once you fill out an application anyways.”

“Oh, sorry. I’m not here to apply for a job.” Virgil corrected.
“I just wanted to thank you for doing what you did for Telokey, my anthro friend you saved.”

“Oh, you’re a friend of his?” Derek inquired, his bright smile never leaving his face.
“Well, no need to thank me ma’am. I just did what I could for him.”

“You did more than help him though from what I hear.” Virgil continued, now trying to steer the conversation towards the topic she wanted to address.
“I hear you managed to hack a Packers street trap?”

Derek seemed unprepared for being confronted about this.
“Heh… well, I wouldn’t say hacked. More just picked the lock on it is all.”

Virgil wasn’t buying that though. According to the stories she’d heard, they’d tried and failed to pick the lock since it required some sort of chip key. And Virgil was more than prepared to call Derek out on that.
“I heard that lock picking didn’t work on the trap.” Virgil said, hands on her hips.
“Come on, Derek. Stop bullshitting me. I know you know something about these traps you aren’t letting on. Not just anyone can crack one of those open.”

Derek gave out a sigh.
“Here, walk with me. I’ll tell you what you want to know.”
He nodded back in the direction of a door labelled “employees only”.

“Can I get it in writing you’re not going to kill me back there to keep me quiet?” Virgil asked, half joking… but also half serious.

“Don’t worry, miss…?”

“Amatsu. Virgil Amatsu.”

“Don’t worry, miss Amatsu. I’m not a secret agent, if that’s what you’re worried about.” Derek chuckled.
“I just have some things I don’t want to talk about out In the open.”

“But you’d like to talk in private with me?” She asked.

“Well, you’re curious.” He said with a shrug.
“And I feel like you have your own reasons for asking you don’t want to disclose.”

”Got that right.” She thought to herself.

Derek opened the door for her, allowing Virgil to walk in. A few items due for stocking lay in plastic bins along one wall, a table with a money counter weight for counting down the register along another. Through a side door was the break room, where an avian girl and human male were enjoying a lunch break together.
Derek led Virgil to a closed door, using his keys to open it up to his office.

“You… certainly seem to like rubber.” She said, seeing that all three of the chairs, two in front of his desk and his own personal chair, were padded with it.

“Well, my company manufactures it. Why not put it to good use?” Derek asked rhetorically, sitting down in his seat while Virgil took a seat across from him. She had to admit, the rubber padding on the seat was really comfortable. God, everything here looked so cool. She’d probably drop a few dollars before she left.

“Anyways,” Derek began as he made himself comfortable.
“You want to know how I knew to open the trap.”
It wasn’t a question. It was a statement.
“Long story short, I used to work for Packers.”

Virgil raised her eyebrows a bit in surprise… and yet, she’d sort of guessed this was the case.
“You must really trust me to tell me this on the spot.” Virgil said, arms crossed.

“Well, I wouldn’t go that far.” Derek said, staring right back at her.
“But yes, I worked for them in their R&D department for a few years. Mostly worked on the appliances they manufactured… but I had a hand in few of their security system designs. Including a generation three urban camouflage trap.”

Virgil stiffened a little bit upon hearing this.
“Those wouldn’t happen to be the street traps here… would they?” Virgil asked, beginning to start to get a grasp at what was happening here.

“In a sense. The software they use is the same, but the hardware is much more advanced than the ones I worked on.” Derek explained.
“Street traps were used quite a bit during the anthro riots back in the day, but they were crude and more often than not didn’t work. Packers had me working on improving the design. And I did. And since I cut ties with them, they improved on it even more.”

“So… you hacked that street trap in the alleyway… because you helped design it?”

“Yes… I did.” Derek sighed.
“And that wasn’t the only one they’ve tossed out onto the city streets. After that breakout, they’ve been looking to fill the empty cells, and these street traps are their best bet. They only activate at night, they work pretty well as what they’re disguised as during the day, and the GCF patrols empty the traps before the sun rises.”

Virgil was making note of all of this information.
“How do you know about these other traps?” Virgil asked.

Derek smirked.
“They’re easy enough to find, if you know what to look for. And I do.”
He clacked away on the laptop he had set up on his desk for a minute or so before flipping it around for Virgil to see.
“The traps broadcast a special signal to patrol cars when they’ve been activated. In the city, it’s next to impossible to narrow down where the signal is coming from if you don’t know what you’re looking for.”

Displayed on the laptop was a satellite view of the city, red dots marking it all over. Virgil forgot just how far Blumberg reached. Suburbs, the fancy uptown, the lively downtown, the abandoned and derelict old city, the “flesh district”, where the majority of humans lived, and the fringe, where Blumberg University, some country clubs, the paintball course… and the Gaunts correctional facility were. And there were red dots in all those areas.

“… how many are there total?” Virgil asked.

“Twenty four. Three per district.” Derek explained.
“That one in the alleyway though… it’s sort of strange. An odd place to put it…”

“You know about these traps, why haven’t you done anything about them!?” Virgil exclaimed angrily at the man in front of her.

Derek sighed.
“I can’t destroy them or disable them. I don’t know how. All I know is how to open them. But 24 traps all around the city? I can’t stake out all of them at once all through the night. I’m working on writing a virus I can upload into them, but it’s a losing battle. They’ll just repair it. I hope to just start handing out some maps on paper to anthros to tell them where the traps are so they can stay away from them.”

Virgil half heard the end of that last sentence.
Derek couldn’t disable the traps. But they were designed by Packers. And Virgil had disabled an entire facility’s security system recently. A security system designed by Packers…

“You mind if I have a copy of that map, Mr. Montreal?” Virgil asked.
“I can make my own copies if I need to, but I’d love to help get these circulating.”

“Of course.” Derek nodded, beginning to print out the map he’d made. But only for downtown.

“You… mind if I have maps for all the districts?” Virgil asked.

“Why? You live here, don’t you? Why would you need to pass around maps for other districts?”

Virgil quickly debated whether or not she should tell Derek about her plans…
”No. He’s nice… but I can’t risk telling anyone about this.”
“Sorry, you’re right.” Virgil conceded, accepting the printout of downtown Blumberg’s trap locations.
“I’ll be sure to make some copies and pass them around. Thanks again.”

“Anytime, Miss Amatsu.” Derek smiled, standing and extending his hand to Virgil to shake, which the Azer did.
“Now, is there anything else I can do for you?”

Virgil stopped to think if there was anything else she’d needed to ask of Derek.
“Actually, now that you mention it… do you have any of those pink tank tops I saw out there with wing holes? Oh, and maybe some of those shorts with a hole for my tail…”

~~~~~

“About time you got back.” Kelly said from the couch as she watched the hit anthro civil rights comedy,

“About time you got dressed.” Virgil quipped back, seeing she’d at least put on a loose fitting t-shirt and shorts. Not hers at least.

“I thought you were going to Telephone’s place?” Kelly asked as she eyed the black plastic shopping bags Virgil was toting.

“I did.” She confirmed, not even bothering to correct the blatant disfiguring of Telokey’s name as she set the bags on the counter.
“But then I made a detour to a clothing store to talk with someone.”

Kelly, stood up from the couch, her curiosity piqued.
“Aw Vi, you shouldn’t have.” Kelly laughed as she looked in one of the bags.
“Holy crap. Didn’t know you were into this.”

“What?” Virgil said, raising an eyebrow.
“It’s just fashion. Cool fashion.”

“I don’t think “cool” is the way to describe something like this.” Kelly laughed as she held up some of the latex shorts Virgil had purchased.
“Kinky, maybe.”

“Oh come on, they looked cute!” Virgil objected, snatching them away.

“Hey, I’m not complaining seeing you wear them.” Kelly chuckled.

Virgil sighed, putting her hands in her face.
“Kelly… I hate to burst your bubble, but I am not gay. I am not bi. I am straight.”

“Heh, I know.” Kelly laughed, patting her back.
“Doesn’t mean I can’t admire you.”

Virgil just rolled her eyes as she took the bags into her room. She saw the plastic bin under her bed was sticking out slightly…
“Kelly? Were you messing with my armor?” Virgil asked as she pulled it out all the way, opening it up. Nestled in some blankets was the experimental riot control armor suit. The visor was still cracked slightly from the golf club hit delivered by Mr. Namco. At least it was only at the corner, and the helmet still worked. And under the suit was a yellow, remote-like device with a black LED screen. Lizard’s multi tool.
A remote that, as far as Virgil could tell, could interface with almost any electronic. She had no idea where it had come from, if Lizard had built it himself, or how it even worked. At least, the interface was user friendly.
She’d tried it herself one night. Disabled a speaker, took control of a security camera (not much use if the multi tool wasn’t plugged into a device with a proper screen) and even caused a vending machine to dispense a spritz soda. She’d went home before she got too carried away and did something she regretted. Virgil needed to find a better place to hide it though if Kelly was getting nosy.

“I just wanted to see if the helmet was ok!” Kelly responded.
“But I couldn’t figure out how to turn it back on, so I just put it back!”

Virgil wished she’d stolen a user’s manual from the storage facility she’d taken the suit from. A feat that would have been impossible if Lizard hadn’t mentioned the facility before, as well as left her the multi tool that let her bypass all the security. She’d used that suit to save so many.
And now it looked like it would be time to use it again to save a few more.

Sighing, she removed the suit and helmet from the container, laying them out on her bed before pocketing the multi tool. Looks like Vi would be coming back once again.

“Hey… Kelly?” Virgil said as she walked back into the living room where the roadrunner was lounging on the couch.

“Yeah?” Kelly asked, turning around at the seriousness of Virgil’s tone.
“What’s up?”

Virgil took a seat on the opposite end of the couch, thinking about how to go about asking what she needed to.
“So… my detour wasn’t just to get clothes.” Virgil began.
“I went to talk to someone who’d saved Telokey.”

Kelly’s interest was piqued.
“Did you sleep with them to thank them?”

“God, Kelly… no!” Virgil snapped, earning an odd look from her.
“Sorry, sorry… just a bit stressed right now.”

“Hey, it’s all good.” Kelly said with a smile.
“Every girl has that time of the month. At least you don’t lay an actual egg.”

“Kelly, could you just shut the hell up for five minutes!” Virgil shouted in anger. She was not in the mood to deal with her sarcastic attitude right now. Especially considering what she was planning had a lot of risks.
“Five minutes! Just let me talk for five minutes without any cracks, jokes, or innuendos! Please!?”

That shut Kelly up for good. She hadn’t seen Virgil like this before. And she didn’t like it.

“Thank you.” Virgil said, giving her hands a small jolt to emphasize the point.
“Ok, so, I went to talk with the man who saved Telokey. A human. See, Telokey almost got kidnapped by a GCF patrol. This human saved him. But… Telokey got caught saving an anthro from some kind of street trap.”

Kelly opened her beak, as if to ask a question, but closed it.

“… yes, Kelly?” Virgil asked.

“When you say street trap, are you talking about a street bum that looks like a hot girl but is really a guy, or something else?”

“... I’m talking about a photo booth that locks up whenever an anthro sets foot in it at night.” Virgil explained, having to take several deep breaths to avoid from blowing up at Kelly again. She just didn’t know when to quit.
“It was in an alleyway for some reason, but it had still managed to trap someone inside. But this human, Derek, saved the anthro. He managed to open it up.”

“How’d he manage to do that?” Kelly asked.

Virgil didn’t think revealing Derek’s secret to Kelly would be the best idea…
“Opening it is simple enough. But the fact of the matter is that it’s still active. And the worst part is that it isn’t the only one.”
Virgil stood up, walking to her purse and pulling out the map printout Derek had given her, handing it to Kelly.
“There are three traps per district. That means besides the photobooth, there could be a Blue Box, soda machine, ATM, you name it, swallowing up anthros and holding them there for a GCF patrol to come pick up.”

Kelly looked pretty pissed off at this news.
“… damn.” She finally said.
“But… this map shows where they are, right?”

“Yeah, it does.” Virgil said.
“And I’m going to go and destroy them.”

Kelly’s pissed off look turned to one of glee.
“Fuck yeah!” She chirped.
“What are you going to do? Douse em in gasoline and light them up? Stuff them with explosive and send em sky high? Drop them right on the GCF’s roof with a helicopter?”

Virgil couldn’t help but let a smile form across her face at how pleasant all those suggestions sounded
“No, nothing like that. They’d have to be durable since dragon anthros can breathe fire. No, my gauntlet can send a surge through them and destroy their circuits.”
Virgil was lying about that. She didn’t know if her suit’s stun gauntlet could do that. No, she planned to use the multi tool. With luck, it would be able to interface with the trap and destroy it.

“Lame.” Kelly grumbled.
“But hey, if it works.”

“Which brings me to my next point…” Virgil continued, her expression growing grim.
“I… could use a lookout.”
Virgil knew Kelly had been in critical condition when she’d saved her. Somewhere out there on the internet was a pay per view snuff film of her getting gutted by some unwilling anthro with a knife who’d done it to save their own skin. She’d healed tremendously since Virgil had brought her in… but the Azer was still worried about her friend. And the last thing Virgil didn’t want to do was put her in danger. But…
“The GCF patrols have kicked up. I’m not sure if they’ll get a signal when I destroy one or if they’re being monitored now after what happened to the last one… but I just need someone to keep an eye out for me while I disable the traps. I can’t risk getting caught, let alone seen. If even one GCF goon spots me, they’ll have every patrol in the city on my tai…”

“Say no more, Virgil.” Kelly said with a dismissive wave of her hand.
“I’ll be your eye in the sky for ya.”

Virgil had honestly expected SOME objection. Maybe even a small grumble. She certainly hadn’t expected Kelly to accept partnering up with her against the same people who had tortured her and then flat out tried to kill her.
“You’re… really ok with this?” Virgil asked her.
“It could be dangerous.”

Kelly rolled her eyes, leaning forward.
“Vi… those bastards beat me. Humiliated me. Tortured me. Hell, they broke me. And even when they had broke me, that man, Namco, still decided to kill me in one of his little movies. If me just looking around for you while you smash their precious toys gets back at them in any way, then fuck yeah, I’m going to join in.”

Virgil looked at Kelly with respect. If she could go through all that then still be able to act the way she did after getting out, then she was stronger than she looked.
“Alright then.” Virgil nodded.
“I want you to take a nap now. I’m going to do the same. We’ll be going out tonight to hit the three traps around here, and I need you well rested.”

“What time is this going down?” Kelly asked.

Virgil thought. Best time to take down the traps would probably be…
“One.” She answered.
“One o’clock. That should be around the time the afternoon to night patrols switch out with the late night to early morning patrols. The patrol cars will be driving back to Gaunts to switch off with their replacements. Gaunts is on the fringe of the city, and we’re right in the middle of it. It’ll give us a few minutes to hit the traps quickly. Maybe even knock them out before the patrols even get to where we are.”

“You’d think they’d wait until their relief gets to them instead of just heading back when their shift ends.” Kelly chuckled.

“That’s probably what they’re supposed to do, but they don’t have the discipline of the police.” Virgil said.
“Good news for us they don’t.”
Virgil stood from the couch, letting out a yawn, more to mentally prep herself for sleep than anything. She could feel her heart pumping at the thought of hitting the streets in her armor again. The rigorous crash course of training Lizard had put her through had been good… but already she could feel herself growing soft. Losing touch with her skill. Maybe a night out could do her some good. She didn’t want to go back to being as helpless as she had been before.

“Sleep well, Kelly.” Virgil said with a smile.

“You too, Vi.” Kelly waved back, groaning as she stretched and laid back on her pillow.
Virgil herself left to her room, passing out the guest room she was still trying to clear out for Kelly along the way. Granted Kelly might not be staying with her forever… but it was just common courtesy. Plus, Virgil would rather the roadrunner lounge half nude in her very own room instead of the room Virgil passed through and spent the most time in while home every day. But Virgil would take care of that some other time.

She soon stepped into her room where she laid her armor out on the floor, setting the helmet on her desk. After this, she would need to find out how to charge her armor. It’d still be good for protection, but she’d lose some very important functions. At least the multi tool was USB charged.
Virgil went ahead and plugged it into her phone charger, tossing one of her belly dance veils over it to hide it. Even here, she didn’t feel safe leaving it out in the open.

Once she memorized the location of all the items she’d need for tonight, she turned off the lights to her room.
One would think Virgil would have a hard time sleeping. After all, she was about to throw herself once more at a multi million dollar company responsible for the persecution and murder of anthros, as well as the funding of some more prolific anthro hunter unions. And she had a remote control, a suit, and a bird with a minor criminal record as an ally.
But as she closed her eyes, pulling the sheets up, planning out things she could do with Telokey in the future brought her the peace she needed to eventually drift off to sleep…

Description
A new Beginning

“Oh for God’s sake…” Virgil sighed upon getting to her floor. One of the building’s grouchier tenants, a grizzled old ram, was standing outside her apartment as slightly muted rock music filled the hall.
Just what Virgil needed. She was already irritated from having to make an evening run to the store due to her current roommate’s ravenous appetite, not to mention the worsening of her genetic survival instinct side effect, and she was NOT in the mood for dealing with the same guy that complained about the sound of her feet on the floor as she did some home practicing on her belly dancing.

“Ah, there you are!” The ram accused.
“Your roommate just slammed the door in my face after I came up to complain about the noise! If you don’t do something about her, I’m going to get the landlord and see you both evicted!”

“I’m really sorry, Mr. Doffing.” Virgil apologized.
“I’ll talk with her.”

“You’d better. Because the next time I have to walk up those damned stairs, I’m bringing an eviction notice!” Mr. Doffing snapped.

“… we have an elevator here you know.”

“Gah, nothing but vertical metal coffins! I haven’t stepped foot in an elevator yet, and I don’t plan to anytime soon!”
Grumbling about the day’s youth, the ram sauntered back down the hall, disappearing into the stairwell, the sound of his hooves clopping just barely audible over the still playing music.
Once he was gone, Virgil pushed her key into the door lock and turned, pushing the door open to be met with the pounding beat of music.

“Kelly! Turn it down!” Virgil yelled over the noise.

The roadrunner’s head popped up from the couch, where she’d been lounging.
“Hey, Vi.” Kelly waved.
“Sorry, what was that?”

Virgil responded by walking over to her sound setup, and pushing the power button.

“You know, I thought you’d appreciate music, being a stripper and all.” Kelly rolled her eyes.

“Oh shut up.” Virgil said, knowing full well Kelly was joking in that accusation.
“I’m letting you live here, the least you can do is try not to get me evic… please tell me you didn’t answer the door dressed like that.”

Kelly was lounging in a sports bra and a pair of Virgil’s lacier undergarments.

“You should’ve seen that old goat’s face.” Kelly chuckled.
“Got the blood flowing where it hasn’t in a loooong time.”

“God, Kelly!” Virgil cringed, looking away from the bird.
“Seriously, you have headphones! Use them!”

Virgil brought the groceries she’d purchased to the kitchen. Virgil was no clean freak, and her apartment hadn’t exactly been tidy before Kelly… but it was getting to the point where even Virgil was getting a little uncomfortable.

“You get the chili?” Kelly called over, rising from the couch with a stretch and ruffle of feathers.

“Yes. And the hot dogs, and microwave pizzas, and the chocolate milk…”

“Awesome.” Kelly clacked her beak with glee, already going to retrieve some of the food items.
“I owe you one.”

“You owe me more than one…” Virgil muttered as she tossed some used paper plates into the trash.
“Do you have to wear my stuff though?”

“I do when I’m out of clean clothes to wear.” Kelly affirmed.
“Besides. Your stuff is pretty comfy.”

Virgil managed to tolerate Kelly. Despite how open she was about being a freeloader; the roadrunner had become a good friend to her. Virgil just wished she’d maybe contribute to the rent. Or buy her own food. Or even just wear a shirt or pants around the apartment, instead of going the bare minimum. It was only through Virgil’s own urging that Kelly begrudgingly admitted to wearing tops. Even if the roadrunner didn’t have any reason to. Being a pureblood avian, she had a complete lack of breasts. After all, why would she need them. It’s not like she’d need to feed any offspring being an egg layer.
Even so… having another girl walk around topless in her apartment had made Virgil EXTREMELY uncomfortable.

“So, what’re we going to do today? Bust up a few GCF patrol cars? Save some helpless anthro from a trap? Go on some spy mission to Paris?” Kelly listed off in amusement.

“No. After what happened at the GCF… I need to lay low for a while.” Virgil said.
“I’m planning on going to Telokey’s later to check up on him. I haven’t seen much of him lately, and I’m kind of worried.”

Virgil had heard it from him over the phone what happened with the street trap. And Virgil swore that the next time she saw Endal… that dragon was getting kicked. Hard.

“Oh, your little bat fling?” Kelly chuckled.

Virgil rolled her eyes. She didn’t usually engage Kelly’s teasing nature, and this time was no exception.
“You want to come with me? I haven’t officially introduced the two of you just yet.”

Kelly thought it over.
“Mmm… nah. I’m good just chilling around here.” She decided.

“Suit yourself. But please… for the love of God… don’t anger any more tenants.” Virgil begged.

“Nooooo promises.” Kelly said as she began scrolling on Virgil’s tablet.

Virgil, sighing, turned towards her apartment’s door.

“Oh, Vi. Gonna need your help later.” Kelly perked up as she recalled something, stopping the Azer from leaving just yet.
“Before I got transferred from jail to the Gaunts place, I had my brother move a bunch of my stuff into a self-storage unit. You don’t want me wearing your stuff all the time? Help me get some of my clothes out of there and bring em back here. If you do, I’ll let you take something for yourself out of there.” The roadrunner winked.

Virgil had to say, it sounded like a decent enough proposal. Though she doubted she’d have it in her heart to take something from the roadrunner, given all she’d been through. The fact Kelly had a brother was news to her though…

“We’ll see.” Virgil said, not ready to commit to anything just yet. After all, who knew how busy she’d be.
Grabbing her purse from the coat hook, she stepped out of the apartment, heading for Telokey’s place.

~~~~~

The sun was already beginning to set behind the buildings of the city Virgil had come to call home. She was still relatively new here… but she’d come to love this city more than anywhere else. The anthro populated parts of it were always so lively. Granted lively encompassed the negative as well as the positive on occasion. No city was perfect. But to Virgil, this city almost was.
She thought back to her days attending school with Telokey. He had just sort of been around. Virgil had never put any interest in him before. But seeing the face of someone from a simpler time here in the city had been a very welcome sight.
Virgil had never really had too many friends throughout school. An owl girl in elementary school, an alligator girl she’d actually roomed with after her adoptive parents’ death in high school. But even then, Virgil had never really taken the time to know any of them to the point where she would consider them besties. She supposed she’d always just been more of a loner. Being a species that many considered a rare treasure more than anything had helped with that.

“What I wouldn’t give to just see another Azer someday…” She sighed inwardly, but quickly repressed that thinking. No sense in worsening her condition.
Snapping out of her brooding, Virgil saw she’d arrived at Telokey’s building. She could of course have flown, but when she’d said she had wanted to lay low, she’d meant it. Plus… she was feeling pretty lazy. Especially given how hard she’d worked at dance class today. Once again, it looked like she would be chosen to represent the class for an upcoming recital. Telokey might have a shot too, if Virgil could get him to come back to class.

Virgil sauntered up to the front door, brushing off the bottom of her paws on the welcome mat before stepping into the building. Unlike Virgil’s apartment building, this one didn’t have an elevator. Virgil COULD of course fly in through Telokey’s window. He kept it unlocked since he had two… well, now one… friend with wings. But given the scare Telokey had gone through, she decided against it. He’d gotten so freaked, he hadn’t even been able to stay in his own apartment, and had roomed with another friend of his for a few weeks. She’d do his heart a favor and knock like a normal person.
It took her a few minutes to remember correctly which floor and room number Telokey was on. She’d only been here once to make sure he got home safe, and hadn’t even been inside his apartment. But she found it eventually, the telltale smell of seasoned eggs and bacon drifting down the hall. Telokey couldn’t go one meal without trying to make it taste like something from a restaurant…
Virgil knocked on the door, hearing the sound of a cooking pan being set down onto the stove as Telokey hurried to open the door.

“Who is it?” His voice asked from the other side. Virgil rose an eyebrow. Usually he opened right up. This whole thing must’ve REALLY shook him up…

“It’s me, Telo.” Virgil answered.
“Just came to check up on you.”

There was the sound of the chain lock being removed followed by the sound of the bolt being drawn back before Telokey opened the door. There he stood, looking as fine as ever. Though it looked like he’d really let the fur crest on his chest go a while without grooming. It went up around his neck, giving him a very fluffy look.
“Hey Virgil.” Telokey greeted.
“I’m just now fixing breakfast. Want some? Though it’d be more like dinner for you.”

Virgil smiled. Telokey seemed as peppy as usual. That was good. What had happened hadn’t had any lasting traumatic effect on him.
“Forget about food. How are you doing?” Virgil asked.
“I got your text and asked around about what happened, but I want the full story from you. If you’re up for it, that is. I mean, from what you told me… it was pretty scary.”

Telokey waved it off though.
“Nah, I can tell you.” He said.
“I’m over it now. It was… pretty scary, yeah. But I’m safe now. They didn’t get my name, so they can’t trace me. The most I have to worry about is if they got video of me. But even then, I didn’t do anything wrong. Nothing they could bring up in an actual court anyways.”
Telokey motioned Virgil into his apartment, the Azer following him in. This was the first time she’d ever actually been in here, and it was a lot more sparse on furniture than she’d thought. A couch, a desk with a closed laptop at it, and a cheap entertainment center a TV sat on along with a gaming system and some DVD cases.

“Yeah, I know. It’s not much.” Telokey said sheepishly, taking a seat on the couch.
“But it works.”

Virgil sat down at the opposite end of the couch. It was… uncomfortably scratchy.
“So, that night. What happened? You said something about a street trap?”

Telokey nodded, beginning to recount the events of that night. Everything from Derek’s miraculous rescue to Endal abandoning him after he was shot with a tranquilizer dart. A few of these details Virgil had known herself. She had gone walking down club street one night, gathering information. But hearing this firsthand account really hit her. This wasn’t just some farfetched tale. This had happened here, in this city, to a friend of hers.
Virgil wasn’t sure why she did what she did. Maybe it was simply an expression of relief. Maybe it was because a friend that had come to mean a lot to her ever since she arrived here had almost been unfairly taken out of her life. Whatever the reason, Virgil soon found herself hugging Telokey, having leaned across the no man’s land of the middle of the couch to hug him. This in turn caused Telokey to blush until Virgil pulled away.

“Um… sorry.” She apologized.
“I’m just… REALLY relieved to hear you’re ok.”

“Hey, it’s fine.” Telokey smiled.
“I enjoy a hug just as much as the next guy.”

Virgil gave the bat a pat on the back, glad to see him smile.
“How… did Derek manage to open the trap as quick as he had?” Virgil asked. That detail had bothered her. It didn’t make sense that some random human had been able to open it at the drop of a hat.
Telokey opened his mouth to answer… but then began to think about it himself. How HAD Derek managed to open the trap? It all seemed too coincidental…

“I honestly don’t know.” Telokey shrugged.
“Maybe he just knows how to hack? I mean… isn’t that what hackers do? Hack stuff?”

“I don’t think that’s how it works, Telo.” Virgil chuckled. She’d definitely have a talk with this Derek.
“But yeah, glad you’re ok. The other girls are really worried about you In the class.”

“Dang… I should’ve checked in with them.” Telokey groaned.
“Sorry, I’ve just been a little unsteady. Derek told me the tranquilizer the dart pumped in me is designed to be long lasting. He got most of it out of my system, but I’m still a little unsteady on my feet where dancing is concerned. I’ve tried to keep up with my practicing here… but it’s been hard.”

“Don’t push yourself too hard, Reuben.” Virgil advised.
“If you fall and twist your ankle or something like that, then there goes your chances at making the recital.”

“I know, I know.” Telokey waved off.
“Night of lights again, right?”

Virgil nodded. Last year, she and Telokey had danced one heck of a duet together at the annual December celebration. They hadn’t been the only act… but their performance together had really cemented them as a duo in the public’s eye.

“Well then, I guess I should go out and enjoy the fresh air. Get some nice food. Show everyone I’m ok.” The silver bat beamed.
“Wouldn’t want to separate the two of us on such a big night.”

Virgil nodded in affirmation.
“I’d hope not. None of the other girls have an outfit that goes so well with mine onstage.”

Telokey’s ears twitched for a second. He was catching… a vibe from Virgil. One he wasn’t liking.
“Hey… Virgil. Are you ok?” He asked, expression turning to one of concern.

Virgil snapped up.
“Hmm? Me? Yeah, I’m fine.” She said, putting on a smile. But Telokey wasn’t buying it.

“Virgil… come on.” He said.
“I mean… I’m pretty good at figuring out when something’s wrong, and you just don’t seem yourself right now. And I should know. I see you almost every day at class.”

Virgil sighed. Seems everyone was starting to catch onto her changing mood. Telokey, the girls in her class. All except Kelly, but that was probably because her attention was focused on other parts of Virgil.

“Look… don’t freak out about this, ok?” Virgil said to Telokey.

“Oh God… do you have cancer?” Telokey asked, wide eyed.

“Telo, come on.” Virgil said, unable to help but chuckle.
“If I had cancer, I would’ve told you first. Or any terminal illness, really.”

Telokey didn’t buy that excuse.
“But something’s wrong now and you haven’t told me what it is.”

“... you’re right. And I’m sorry.” She said, sighing again.
“Look, I take it you’ve done some looking up on my species at some point?”

Telokey had indeed. The fact Azers could produce a mild venom had been especially shocking.
“Yeah. I’d love to hear you sing someday. I read all Azers have a beautiful singing voice.”

Virgil smiled at his naivety for a brief moment.
“Then you know about what happens to an Azer when they’re away from others of their own kind for too long, right?”

Now it was Telokey’s turn for his expression to grow grim.
“Um… afraid not. I didn’t see anything about that.”

“Well… it’s not pretty.” Virgil began.
“Basically, we’re sort of meant to be groups. Some survival instinct from our wild cousins. If we’re away from others of our kind for too long, then… well… we sorta lose the will to live.”

Telokey shivered a little. The idea of Virgil, the happy, fun loving Azer he’d come to know and lov… and CHERISH being depressed like that…

“But… you’ve been living on your own for a while. Almost your whole life without your parents. You’re in your twenties. You’re going to be alright… right?”

Virgil nodded solemnly.
“Yeah. I guess hardly knowing my parents has its benefits. But every so often… well… the feeling’s there. I was… in a bad state when my adoptive parents died. Even if they weren’t blood, they were my family.”

Telokey looked at Virgil with the same look as he had when she’d told him about her species endangered status. As if she could just blow away like dust in the wind.

“But… you know what?” Virgil said, brightening up a bit.
“Ever since I came here… it’s gotten a lot better. You, and the girls, and Kelly…”

“Who?”

“Oh, my new roommate. I’ll be sure to introduce you to her. Basically… even with this condition of mine, I’ve been doing great since coming here. Being around all these anthros… around you all… it’s really helped me.” She smiled.
“So you don’t have to worry about me, ok? I have my lows, like, the one I’m in the middle of, but they aren’t threatening like they used to be. And I really owe you for that.”

“M-me?” Telokey asked, a bit flustered at the statement.
“What did I do?”

“Uh, you’re kidding me, right?” She chuckled.
“I didn’t know anyone here. Hell, I didn’t expect to run into anyone I knew here. I came here to try and just lay low and not have much a life. I… honestly didn’t want a busy social life.”

Telokey was a bit taken aback by this. Virgil had always seemed eager to partake in the sights and sounds of the city.
But then again, HE had been the one dragging her around to see them all.

“But you got me into belly dancing. And our first performance together made me a familiar sort of face around the city. And when people come up asking for a selfie with you… it makes you feel pretty good.”

Telokey raised an eyebrow.
“People have been asking to take selfies with you?”

“Heck yeah.” She smiled gleefully, tail flicking.
“Mostly guys. A few eager fangirls. They’re super cool though, and they aren’t, like, obsessive or anything. And I only run into about two a week. Maybe three.”

Telokey had to admit he was a tad bit jealous…
But Virgil was the prettier out of the two of them. Her silky, shining fur. Her deep pink eyes…

“Telokey? Would you?”

Crap.
“Huh? Oh, sorry. The… the drug just still has me feeling sleepy on occasion.” Telokey said sheepishly.
“What was that?”

“I was wondering if you would like to meet up sometime tonight? Maybe see a movie?” Virgil suggested.
“I mean, it’s been a while since the two of us just hung out.”

“Yes!” Telokey nodded enthusiastically. Time with Virgil was time well spent.
“I’d love to! There’s a new restaurant exclusively for nocturnals that opened. It’s underground in an old wine cellar, but it’s real classy. Some kind of jazz club. And yeah, you’re not nocturnal, but you should be fine with me. I’m a bat after all. We’re kind of a big deal in the nocturnal community.”

“Then it’s a date.” Virgil winked.

Telokey blinked.
“A date?”

“Uh… yeah? Come on, it’s not our first one. We’ve been on dates before. We’ve been out to dinner plenty of times. Seen plenty of movies, just the two of us. What did you think those were?’ She giggled.

“Well… I mean… I thought you just were being friendly.” Telokey shrugged.
“Entertaining me. I didn’t think those were, you know, actual dates.”

Virgil leaned forward a little bit.
“Did you want them to be?” She asked, tail flicking expectantly.

Telokey didn’t need to think too hard about this answer, despite how sudden the question seemed. He supposed he’d always considered Virgil more than just another friend.
“Yes, I did.” He responded with a bright smile, leaning forward a little himself.
“I mean… I know we didn’t know each other too well in school. But I’ve really liked getting to know you better here. You’re beautiful and you’re nice… and… I really want you to be mine?”
Telokey mentally slapped himself. Who says “I want you to be mine”? People in erotica novels, that’s who.

“You’ve got a way with words, Telo.” Virgil said with a chuckle, leaning forward more to plant a light kiss on his nose, resulting in Telokey developing a deep blush. That had been… unexpected. But wonderful to receive. The meaning behind the gesture was clear.
“Yes. I’ll be yours. Only if you’ll be mine.”

Telokey was in a bit of a daze, trying to process how this had even come about so quickly. The friend he’d harbored a crush on… liked him back? Virgil had accepted his advances? He wasn’t a hopeless romantic who didn’t understand boundaries!
“I will.” He smiled, possum tail flicking just as eagerly as Virgil’s tail.
“I’m yours too.”
The two leaned forward, both planting a kiss on the others’ muzzle. Telokey and Virgil both felt warm and fuzzy on the inside. Not only that, but safe. Like nothing could hurt them. Not even the GCF…
The two held the kiss for a while, Telokey wrapping his wings around Virgil, and Virgil wrapping her arms around Telokey as they just shared in their newfound relationship status.

~~~~~

Virgil had a spring in her step as she left Telokey’s apartment, wings fluttering. She was in a spectacular mood. And why wouldn’t she be? Reuben Telokey, a bat she’d come to adore and love, had accepted her feelings of affection while also revealing he had similar feelings in a wonderfully sappy way. She would totally hold that “I want you to be mine” against him for a while.
But that happy mood fizzled out soon enough as her task at hand became her sole focus. She’d have plenty of time to be happy with Telokey later. For now, she had someone very specific she wanted to have a word with.
Derek Montreal.

She’d gotten a basic idea of where he had set up shop from Telokey following a rather heated session of kissing on his couch…
Virgil shook her head. She needed to focus.
”Just calm down, Vi. Yes, you haven’t had a boyfriend in a while. Don’t get too eager and scare him off. Just stay cool.”
Taking a deep breath, she turned down the next street. As per the norm, Bunt’s was open. Derek’s store, an interesting looking establishment called BlackShine Ind. Factory Outlet had been setup directly across from it. Virgil had given it a few odd glances, but never would have thought that THIS was where Derek was set up. Virgil was a bit curious as to what he sold here, as the items on display in the window didn’t offer much of a guess. Mannequins modeling various clothing items that all seemed to be made of some PVC like material. She almost wanted to say rubber looking at them…
Steeling herself, Virgil pushed open the door, greeted by the cool rush of the store’s AC, a pleasant ding dong noise, and a powerful but pleasant scent.
”Yeah, definitely rubber.” She confirmed as she walked into the store. It certainly had an… interesting theme to it.
Wherever Virgil looked, she saw racks of rubber clothing. Pants, tops, jackets, socks, and even some swimwear.
“Oh, that looks cute…” She muttered as she looked at a pale pink rubber tank top.

“And it’s on sale.” A voice said behind Virgil, urging her to turn around.
An ox anthro stood behind her, wearing an employee’s uniform.
“I can take it up to the register if you’d like while you keep shopping.”

“Oh no, I was just thinking out loud.” Virgil said, waving it off.
“Though out of curiosity… how much is it?”

“Twenty five dollars. It’s usually thirty five.” The ox smiled.

“Uh… I’ll think about it.” She said, seriously considering it. It looked super cute and matched her style perfectly.
“I’m actually here to speak with the owner, a Derek Montreal.”

The ox raised an eyebrow.
“Did you have an appointment?”

Now it was Virgil’s turn to raise an eyebrow. The manager of a retail store had appointments?
“Uh… no. I just wanted to thank him. He really helped a friend of mine out a few days ago. Hell, probably saved his life.”

The ox beamed with pride.
“That sounds like him alright. Let me get him for you.” The ox smiled, clopping off into the back, leaving Virgil to browse the store. She had to admit the shiny clothing had an odd appeal to it. She wondered if there were fitting rooms she could use to go try some of the stuff on?
She didn’t get the chance to though as a smiling human came into view. Virgil assumed this was Derek, and she was already thinking he was the friendliest looking human she’d ever seen.

“Hello, miss.” He greeted.
“Something I can help you with?”

“Yes sir.” Virgil nodded, pleased to not hear racial slandering or a passive aggressive tone come from a human’s mouth. Their deep voices were actually kind of pleasant in that respect.
“Are you Derek Montreal?”

“Yes ma’am.” Derek confirmed with a smile.
“If you’re looking for a job, I’d be happy to consider you. Once you fill out an application anyways.”

“Oh, sorry. I’m not here to apply for a job.” Virgil corrected.
“I just wanted to thank you for doing what you did for Telokey, my anthro friend you saved.”

“Oh, you’re a friend of his?” Derek inquired, his bright smile never leaving his face.
“Well, no need to thank me ma’am. I just did what I could for him.”

“You did more than help him though from what I hear.” Virgil continued, now trying to steer the conversation towards the topic she wanted to address.
“I hear you managed to hack a Packers street trap?”

Derek seemed unprepared for being confronted about this.
“Heh… well, I wouldn’t say hacked. More just picked the lock on it is all.”

Virgil wasn’t buying that though. According to the stories she’d heard, they’d tried and failed to pick the lock since it required some sort of chip key. And Virgil was more than prepared to call Derek out on that.
“I heard that lock picking didn’t work on the trap.” Virgil said, hands on her hips.
“Come on, Derek. Stop bullshitting me. I know you know something about these traps you aren’t letting on. Not just anyone can crack one of those open.”

Derek gave out a sigh.
“Here, walk with me. I’ll tell you what you want to know.”
He nodded back in the direction of a door labelled “employees only”.

“Can I get it in writing you’re not going to kill me back there to keep me quiet?” Virgil asked, half joking… but also half serious.

“Don’t worry, miss…?”

“Amatsu. Virgil Amatsu.”

“Don’t worry, miss Amatsu. I’m not a secret agent, if that’s what you’re worried about.” Derek chuckled.
“I just have some things I don’t want to talk about out In the open.”

“But you’d like to talk in private with me?” She asked.

“Well, you’re curious.” He said with a shrug.
“And I feel like you have your own reasons for asking you don’t want to disclose.”

”Got that right.” She thought to herself.

Derek opened the door for her, allowing Virgil to walk in. A few items due for stocking lay in plastic bins along one wall, a table with a money counter weight for counting down the register along another. Through a side door was the break room, where an avian girl and human male were enjoying a lunch break together.
Derek led Virgil to a closed door, using his keys to open it up to his office.

“You… certainly seem to like rubber.” She said, seeing that all three of the chairs, two in front of his desk and his own personal chair, were padded with it.

“Well, my company manufactures it. Why not put it to good use?” Derek asked rhetorically, sitting down in his seat while Virgil took a seat across from him. She had to admit, the rubber padding on the seat was really comfortable. God, everything here looked so cool. She’d probably drop a few dollars before she left.

“Anyways,” Derek began as he made himself comfortable.
“You want to know how I knew to open the trap.”
It wasn’t a question. It was a statement.
“Long story short, I used to work for Packers.”

Virgil raised her eyebrows a bit in surprise… and yet, she’d sort of guessed this was the case.
“You must really trust me to tell me this on the spot.” Virgil said, arms crossed.

“Well, I wouldn’t go that far.” Derek said, staring right back at her.
“But yes, I worked for them in their R&D department for a few years. Mostly worked on the appliances they manufactured… but I had a hand in few of their security system designs. Including a generation three urban camouflage trap.”

Virgil stiffened a little bit upon hearing this.
“Those wouldn’t happen to be the street traps here… would they?” Virgil asked, beginning to start to get a grasp at what was happening here.

“In a sense. The software they use is the same, but the hardware is much more advanced than the ones I worked on.” Derek explained.
“Street traps were used quite a bit during the anthro riots back in the day, but they were crude and more often than not didn’t work. Packers had me working on improving the design. And I did. And since I cut ties with them, they improved on it even more.”

“So… you hacked that street trap in the alleyway… because you helped design it?”

“Yes… I did.” Derek sighed.
“And that wasn’t the only one they’ve tossed out onto the city streets. After that breakout, they’ve been looking to fill the empty cells, and these street traps are their best bet. They only activate at night, they work pretty well as what they’re disguised as during the day, and the GCF patrols empty the traps before the sun rises.”

Virgil was making note of all of this information.
“How do you know about these other traps?” Virgil asked.

Derek smirked.
“They’re easy enough to find, if you know what to look for. And I do.”
He clacked away on the laptop he had set up on his desk for a minute or so before flipping it around for Virgil to see.
“The traps broadcast a special signal to patrol cars when they’ve been activated. In the city, it’s next to impossible to narrow down where the signal is coming from if you don’t know what you’re looking for.”

Displayed on the laptop was a satellite view of the city, red dots marking it all over. Virgil forgot just how far Blumberg reached. Suburbs, the fancy uptown, the lively downtown, the abandoned and derelict old city, the “flesh district”, where the majority of humans lived, and the fringe, where Blumberg University, some country clubs, the paintball course… and the Gaunts correctional facility were. And there were red dots in all those areas.

“… how many are there total?” Virgil asked.

“Twenty four. Three per district.” Derek explained.
“That one in the alleyway though… it’s sort of strange. An odd place to put it…”

“You know about these traps, why haven’t you done anything about them!?” Virgil exclaimed angrily at the man in front of her.

Derek sighed.
“I can’t destroy them or disable them. I don’t know how. All I know is how to open them. But 24 traps all around the city? I can’t stake out all of them at once all through the night. I’m working on writing a virus I can upload into them, but it’s a losing battle. They’ll just repair it. I hope to just start handing out some maps on paper to anthros to tell them where the traps are so they can stay away from them.”

Virgil half heard the end of that last sentence.
Derek couldn’t disable the traps. But they were designed by Packers. And Virgil had disabled an entire facility’s security system recently. A security system designed by Packers…

“You mind if I have a copy of that map, Mr. Montreal?” Virgil asked.
“I can make my own copies if I need to, but I’d love to help get these circulating.”

“Of course.” Derek nodded, beginning to print out the map he’d made. But only for downtown.

“You… mind if I have maps for all the districts?” Virgil asked.

“Why? You live here, don’t you? Why would you need to pass around maps for other districts?”

Virgil quickly debated whether or not she should tell Derek about her plans…
”No. He’s nice… but I can’t risk telling anyone about this.”
“Sorry, you’re right.” Virgil conceded, accepting the printout of downtown Blumberg’s trap locations.
“I’ll be sure to make some copies and pass them around. Thanks again.”

“Anytime, Miss Amatsu.” Derek smiled, standing and extending his hand to Virgil to shake, which the Azer did.
“Now, is there anything else I can do for you?”

Virgil stopped to think if there was anything else she’d needed to ask of Derek.
“Actually, now that you mention it… do you have any of those pink tank tops I saw out there with wing holes? Oh, and maybe some of those shorts with a hole for my tail…”

~~~~~

“About time you got back.” Kelly said from the couch as she watched the hit anthro civil rights comedy,

“About time you got dressed.” Virgil quipped back, seeing she’d at least put on a loose fitting t-shirt and shorts. Not hers at least.

“I thought you were going to Telephone’s place?” Kelly asked as she eyed the black plastic shopping bags Virgil was toting.

“I did.” She confirmed, not even bothering to correct the blatant disfiguring of Telokey’s name as she set the bags on the counter.
“But then I made a detour to a clothing store to talk with someone.”

Kelly, stood up from the couch, her curiosity piqued.
“Aw Vi, you shouldn’t have.” Kelly laughed as she looked in one of the bags.
“Holy crap. Didn’t know you were into this.”

“What?” Virgil said, raising an eyebrow.
“It’s just fashion. Cool fashion.”

“I don’t think “cool” is the way to describe something like this.” Kelly laughed as she held up some of the latex shorts Virgil had purchased.
“Kinky, maybe.”

“Oh come on, they looked cute!” Virgil objected, snatching them away.

“Hey, I’m not complaining seeing you wear them.” Kelly chuckled.

Virgil sighed, putting her hands in her face.
“Kelly… I hate to burst your bubble, but I am not gay. I am not bi. I am straight.”

“Heh, I know.” Kelly laughed, patting her back.
“Doesn’t mean I can’t admire you.”

Virgil just rolled her eyes as she took the bags into her room. She saw the plastic bin under her bed was sticking out slightly…
“Kelly? Were you messing with my armor?” Virgil asked as she pulled it out all the way, opening it up. Nestled in some blankets was the experimental riot control armor suit. The visor was still cracked slightly from the golf club hit delivered by Mr. Namco. At least it was only at the corner, and the helmet still worked. And under the suit was a yellow, remote-like device with a black LED screen. Lizard’s multi tool.
A remote that, as far as Virgil could tell, could interface with almost any electronic. She had no idea where it had come from, if Lizard had built it himself, or how it even worked. At least, the interface was user friendly.
She’d tried it herself one night. Disabled a speaker, took control of a security camera (not much use if the multi tool wasn’t plugged into a device with a proper screen) and even caused a vending machine to dispense a spritz soda. She’d went home before she got too carried away and did something she regretted. Virgil needed to find a better place to hide it though if Kelly was getting nosy.

“I just wanted to see if the helmet was ok!” Kelly responded.
“But I couldn’t figure out how to turn it back on, so I just put it back!”

Virgil wished she’d stolen a user’s manual from the storage facility she’d taken the suit from. A feat that would have been impossible if Lizard hadn’t mentioned the facility before, as well as left her the multi tool that let her bypass all the security. She’d used that suit to save so many.
And now it looked like it would be time to use it again to save a few more.

Sighing, she removed the suit and helmet from the container, laying them out on her bed before pocketing the multi tool. Looks like Vi would be coming back once again.

“Hey… Kelly?” Virgil said as she walked back into the living room where the roadrunner was lounging on the couch.

“Yeah?” Kelly asked, turning around at the seriousness of Virgil’s tone.
“What’s up?”

Virgil took a seat on the opposite end of the couch, thinking about how to go about asking what she needed to.
“So… my detour wasn’t just to get clothes.” Virgil began.
“I went to talk to someone who’d saved Telokey.”

Kelly’s interest was piqued.
“Did you sleep with them to thank them?”

“God, Kelly… no!” Virgil snapped, earning an odd look from her.
“Sorry, sorry… just a bit stressed right now.”

“Hey, it’s all good.” Kelly said with a smile.
“Every girl has that time of the month. At least you don’t lay an actual egg.”

“Kelly, could you just shut the hell up for five minutes!” Virgil shouted in anger. She was not in the mood to deal with her sarcastic attitude right now. Especially considering what she was planning had a lot of risks.
“Five minutes! Just let me talk for five minutes without any cracks, jokes, or innuendos! Please!?”

That shut Kelly up for good. She hadn’t seen Virgil like this before. And she didn’t like it.

“Thank you.” Virgil said, giving her hands a small jolt to emphasize the point.
“Ok, so, I went to talk with the man who saved Telokey. A human. See, Telokey almost got kidnapped by a GCF patrol. This human saved him. But… Telokey got caught saving an anthro from some kind of street trap.”

Kelly opened her beak, as if to ask a question, but closed it.

“… yes, Kelly?” Virgil asked.

“When you say street trap, are you talking about a street bum that looks like a hot girl but is really a guy, or something else?”

“... I’m talking about a photo booth that locks up whenever an anthro sets foot in it at night.” Virgil explained, having to take several deep breaths to avoid from blowing up at Kelly again. She just didn’t know when to quit.
“It was in an alleyway for some reason, but it had still managed to trap someone inside. But this human, Derek, saved the anthro. He managed to open it up.”

“How’d he manage to do that?” Kelly asked.

Virgil didn’t think revealing Derek’s secret to Kelly would be the best idea…
“Opening it is simple enough. But the fact of the matter is that it’s still active. And the worst part is that it isn’t the only one.”
Virgil stood up, walking to her purse and pulling out the map printout Derek had given her, handing it to Kelly.
“There are three traps per district. That means besides the photobooth, there could be a Blue Box, soda machine, ATM, you name it, swallowing up anthros and holding them there for a GCF patrol to come pick up.”

Kelly looked pretty pissed off at this news.
“… damn.” She finally said.
“But… this map shows where they are, right?”

“Yeah, it does.” Virgil said.
“And I’m going to go and destroy them.”

Kelly’s pissed off look turned to one of glee.
“Fuck yeah!” She chirped.
“What are you going to do? Douse em in gasoline and light them up? Stuff them with explosive and send em sky high? Drop them right on the GCF’s roof with a helicopter?”

Virgil couldn’t help but let a smile form across her face at how pleasant all those suggestions sounded
“No, nothing like that. They’d have to be durable since dragon anthros can breathe fire. No, my gauntlet can send a surge through them and destroy their circuits.”
Virgil was lying about that. She didn’t know if her suit’s stun gauntlet could do that. No, she planned to use the multi tool. With luck, it would be able to interface with the trap and destroy it.

“Lame.” Kelly grumbled.
“But hey, if it works.”

“Which brings me to my next point…” Virgil continued, her expression growing grim.
“I… could use a lookout.”
Virgil knew Kelly had been in critical condition when she’d saved her. Somewhere out there on the internet was a pay per view snuff film of her getting gutted by some unwilling anthro with a knife who’d done it to save their own skin. She’d healed tremendously since Virgil had brought her in… but the Azer was still worried about her friend. And the last thing Virgil didn’t want to do was put her in danger. But…
“The GCF patrols have kicked up. I’m not sure if they’ll get a signal when I destroy one or if they’re being monitored now after what happened to the last one… but I just need someone to keep an eye out for me while I disable the traps. I can’t risk getting caught, let alone seen. If even one GCF goon spots me, they’ll have every patrol in the city on my tai…”

“Say no more, Virgil.” Kelly said with a dismissive wave of her hand.
“I’ll be your eye in the sky for ya.”

Virgil had honestly expected SOME objection. Maybe even a small grumble. She certainly hadn’t expected Kelly to accept partnering up with her against the same people who had tortured her and then flat out tried to kill her.
“You’re… really ok with this?” Virgil asked her.
“It could be dangerous.”

Kelly rolled her eyes, leaning forward.
“Vi… those bastards beat me. Humiliated me. Tortured me. Hell, they broke me. And even when they had broke me, that man, Namco, still decided to kill me in one of his little movies. If me just looking around for you while you smash their precious toys gets back at them in any way, then fuck yeah, I’m going to join in.”

Virgil looked at Kelly with respect. If she could go through all that then still be able to act the way she did after getting out, then she was stronger than she looked.
“Alright then.” Virgil nodded.
“I want you to take a nap now. I’m going to do the same. We’ll be going out tonight to hit the three traps around here, and I need you well rested.”

“What time is this going down?” Kelly asked.

Virgil thought. Best time to take down the traps would probably be…
“One.” She answered.
“One o’clock. That should be around the time the afternoon to night patrols switch out with the late night to early morning patrols. The patrol cars will be driving back to Gaunts to switch off with their replacements. Gaunts is on the fringe of the city, and we’re right in the middle of it. It’ll give us a few minutes to hit the traps quickly. Maybe even knock them out before the patrols even get to where we are.”

“You’d think they’d wait until their relief gets to them instead of just heading back when their shift ends.” Kelly chuckled.

“That’s probably what they’re supposed to do, but they don’t have the discipline of the police.” Virgil said.
“Good news for us they don’t.”
Virgil stood from the couch, letting out a yawn, more to mentally prep herself for sleep than anything. She could feel her heart pumping at the thought of hitting the streets in her armor again. The rigorous crash course of training Lizard had put her through had been good… but already she could feel herself growing soft. Losing touch with her skill. Maybe a night out could do her some good. She didn’t want to go back to being as helpless as she had been before.

“Sleep well, Kelly.” Virgil said with a smile.

“You too, Vi.” Kelly waved back, groaning as she stretched and laid back on her pillow.
Virgil herself left to her room, passing out the guest room she was still trying to clear out for Kelly along the way. Granted Kelly might not be staying with her forever… but it was just common courtesy. Plus, Virgil would rather the roadrunner lounge half nude in her very own room instead of the room Virgil passed through and spent the most time in while home every day. But Virgil would take care of that some other time.

She soon stepped into her room where she laid her armor out on the floor, setting the helmet on her desk. After this, she would need to find out how to charge her armor. It’d still be good for protection, but she’d lose some very important functions. At least the multi tool was USB charged.
Virgil went ahead and plugged it into her phone charger, tossing one of her belly dance veils over it to hide it. Even here, she didn’t feel safe leaving it out in the open.

Once she memorized the location of all the items she’d need for tonight, she turned off the lights to her room.
One would think Virgil would have a hard time sleeping. After all, she was about to throw herself once more at a multi million dollar company responsible for the persecution and murder of anthros, as well as the funding of some more prolific anthro hunter unions. And she had a remote control, a suit, and a bird with a minor criminal record as an ally.
But as she closed her eyes, pulling the sheets up, planning out things she could do with Telokey in the future brought her the peace she needed to eventually drift off to sleep…