Where should I start?
     --I have... no idea.
On Earth sounds good. But first, a cup of green tea... This is a long tale... and you'll need the caffine.. 
      --I'll last. (He chuckles.)
Hmm. Alright. Not a big tea person? Anyhow. You know I'm from Rourkeshire... right?
     --Nuh-uh.
No?!
     --I didn't.
     --I don't know a thing. (He chuckles.)
Alright... No wonder you get confused.
     --Yeah. I tend to do that anyway, though. (He chuckles again.)
(He nods.) Alright. From the VERY beginning, then.

---~-~([])~-~---

Prologue

~(-)~

The wind blew hard, and for a moment he feared he would lose his balance and plummet to the ground. Gripping the edge of the roof tightly, he waited for the gust to pass, and swiftly scurried over the edge of the building, the thick blanket of falling snow already covering any trace that anyone had been there in the first place.
Relatively safe, for now, he silently sighed in relief. There was no room for failure, not with everything that was at stake. Having rested a moment, he crept toward the ventilation duct, knowing he was completely invisible to the security cameras that guarded the otherwise barren roof.
Let’s hope the incinerator’s off… he thought to himself as he approached. He dismantled the grate and was greeted with a blast of warm air, which he hoped was merely due to the internal heating of the building. 
Luckily it was. 
Double checking to make sure his Stopper was in place, he leapt into the duct. Unluckily, it turns out, the day’s trash had been an exceedingly larger amount than usual, and he realized as he plunged towards it that he’d set his line about 6 inches too long - ensuring a headfirst dive into half a ton of garbage. 
WHOMP.

Bloodyhell... 

Despite the loud landing, he emerged from the trash chute relatively unharmed (though smelling a bit like yesterday’s fish chowder) and completely unnoticed. Wringing the last of the fish juice out his tail, he noted with a bit of disappointment that the warehouse was completely deserted.  So much for a welcome party! 
The warehouse was certainly large – about the size of a small football stadium, its vaulted ceilings rose at least fifty feet. It was filled about 2/3 of the way with crates and boxes of various sizes and shapes. One of the room’s walls sported two large loading docks with a control panel between them. This was the target of his first objective.
As he approached the checkpoint, he peered into a nearby crate, pausing briefly to take a photograph or two. Sodium Tricalcium, Ether of Calmodiar, Nitro-choranad Glicerate? How many illicit substances are these guys harboring? The MagiGuard Department would have a field day with all this! 
Wasting no more time, he planted a small black box no larger than 3 inches long on the underside of the control panel – hardly noticeable in the dim light of the warehouse. A single, red LED light blinked once, indicating that the device was activated.
So far, so good. 
He took another deep breath to fight the urge to rush through the rest of the mission, for although time was clearly of the utmost importance, he knew that if he was too hasty, he’d surely get caught, and all would be lost. 
So it was with caution that he entered the adjoining facility. 

~(-)~

The fluorescent lights buzzed dimly from above. The light from the setting sun glowed like tiger stripes, a hot amber on the linoleum floor as it seeped through the barred windows in her makeshift cell. 
Still, despite its shoddiness in appearance, it was an effective prison. She hated that she had even managed to put herself in this position anyway, but at the time, the risk had seemed necessary.
Now it just seemed stupid.
The people she had come to save were now dead, anyway. They were killed right where she could see them die – the victims of science experiments gone wrong. She glanced at the equipment on the far side of the lab, and shuddered. Since she had been caged, nearly a dozen foxes and musicats had died before her eyes, and she was completely powerless to stop it from happening. 
So, she watched.
She watched out of respect for the souls of her friends that had been torn from their bodies. She also watched to see if she could understand how the process worked, so that when it became her time, she could figure out a way to escape.
The problem was, there were apparently different plans for her.
Much different.
She frowned at the thought. 
She hadn’t cried when it happened – she didn’t give him the satisfaction. It still hurt like a son-of-a-bitch, though. She had no doubt that he would kill her, but now she knew he couldn’t afford to do that. Not now that she would be bearing his child. 

~(-)~

I.C.A.R.U.S. Project

FOR AUTHORIZED EYES ONLY. 
FAILURE TO COMPLY WILL RESULT IN INSTANT TERMINATION.

Date: November 4, 1982

Subject(s): Vul00042)-x and Vul00043-x

Tests administered: 18, H6, Alpha7, ZNQ, 110
(Incomplete due to subject termination)

Results:

Subjects proved very useful per being Mother and Daughter. Gene tested positive in #V42 (Mother) and negative in #V43 (Daughter), reinforcing results from previous subjects. #V42 was further tested as and confirmed for Extrosensory Perception (8), Clairvoyance (29), and Pre-cognition (58). #V43 showed no signs of anomaly. 

Further tests confirm that gene does have an effect on Vulpines, in addition to the already confirmed Feline and Lupine species. However, while the gene does not exist at all in any known Lupine bloodline to date, data indicates that it does exist in certain Vulpine lines, however rare, suggesting interspecies breeding in certain Vulpine genealogies with an affected Feline.

It is interesting to note that while the gene does occur in these bloodlines, it closely resembles a gene naturally created by Vulpines, so the effects of the gene in question are much less potent in Vulpines, but also allows them to pass it on to subsequent generations – without the presence of Feline DNA. 

It may be possible for a specimen with an altered DNA structure to include this gene (or an altered one derived from it) can be passed down subsequent generations if the non-carrier is a Feline. Would the gene be discarded as a mutation, as it seems to have been done in the other species, or would the crossing of species cause the gene, untouched OR further mutated to specific properties, to become permanent, and therefore carry on to future generations? 

~(-)~

The last box had been placed. Its red glow went unnoticed in the bright fluorescent light that flooded the hallway. It had been an exceedingly more difficult task than he had expected, for what the warehouse had lacked in security, the complex below it certainly took up the slack twofold. As if they were expecting someone, he thought. 

He glanced at his watch. 

It read 00:26:19.

He had 26 minutes to find her.

~(-)~

"Rest well, my dear. You'll need to keep your strength up for what we have instore for you..." The man in black laughed - a pleasant, barking laugh that would have been more at home around a fireplace with good friends than in this storage closet turned labratory... turned prison. He turned and left her bruised and battered in the corner, sobbing, knowing he would return much sooner rather than later.

For the first time in her life, Sarah Danyals had experienced true despair.

~(-)~

He entered the hallway and stopped dead in his tracks. The man whom his intellegence had briefed him on had just turned the corner, now headed in the direction he was just walking. The games the man had been playing thusfar would end. Right now.

Or, would have, if not for the sounds he heard coming from the room behind him.

He turned toward the door.

~(-)~

She heard the sound of the keypad and shuttered.

"No... not again... not so soon..."

She had decided not to willingly submit to him, but it did her little good in the end. Before she could influence him, he'd injected her with a fluid she had come to recognize all too well. It was the same substance each of her friends had been injected with before they became subject to his will. A substance that ultimately meant one thing. Death.

It's not surprising, then, that it took her a moment to realize that whoever was trying to enter had failed their first two keypad entries. She had never seen Mal'nioto enter an erroneous door code. The wolf's assistants would be quick to correct their errors on the second try, knowing full well that after a third failed attempt, the keypad would shut down.

Any glimmer of hope that she felt toward the possibility of a rescue died when the keypad did just that. Whoever it was would soon find themselves in this room against their will once they were caught... as a failed third attempt at entry also activated a silent alarm to indicate that there had been a potential breach of security. 

Her despair returned completely with the sound of the small explosion on the other side of the door.

~(-)~

"Bloody hell." He cursed as the keypad went dim. Surely they'd be upon him, soon. Knowing he had less than 8 minutes until the detonators went off, he pulled a device from his bag and placed it on the deactivated keypad. It exploded.

Reaching into the gaping hole in the wall, he tripped the safety toggle-catch on the door and swung it open. He sighed in relief when he saw the woman imprisoned there.

It was his wife.

~(-)~

"Sarah!"
"James!"
He rushed over to the cage and used the last of his explosives to blow the door open. "Hello darling. Sorry I'm late, I ran into a little traffic on the way." He took her into his arms and held her for a moment.
They kissed.
"You always did know how to make a grand entrance, James. Now let's get the hell outta here before they catch us."
"Anything you say, my pet."
He led her through the corridor and handed her an extra pistol. Running toward the nearest exit, they had just enough time to see Mal'nioto flee into the warehouse before the building went up in flames. 
When they caught up, the wolf was already halfway up a ropeladder to a waiting helcopter. He saw the couple enter and laughed his too-polite laugh. "Haha. You'll pay for this Danyals! Your whole family will suffer for what I've lost today!!"
"Think again, you bastard." 
James Danyals lobbed a thermite grenade at Darrius E. Malnioto. White fire surrounded the man who was the world's biggest threat as he fell from his ladder in a burning crumpled mess. 

---~-~([])~-~---

Alright.
VERY begining.
I grew up on a small island military base about 10 miles off the coast of England.
     --(He nods.) Alright.
It was an international base... namely belonging to every and no government.
     --Hrm.
Keep in mind this is all classified.. but since you're involved now... and I trust you... you get to hear this.
     --(He chuckles.) I'll keep it in mind...
This base is run by a group called The Allegiance. It's a world wide organization whose main function is to make sure there are no disruptions in the every day life in nearly 99.999% of the world's population... keeping everyone ignorant of things that they should not know. Major global disaster.... I'm sure you get the idea...
     --(He nods.) Kinda sounds like something I should've known about.
Perhaps. But, in order to be completely effective... they were given complete governing control on Earth.. All major countries report to their command... willingly. Mostly because they are in charge of doing what is best for the plannet as a WHOLE. Anyone in the organization is loyal to no one country, and yet completely serves all countries. The only loyalty is to the orgainization. All new recruits are put through extensive psychologiocal treatment to break all lingering bonds. Most new recruits are the offspring of other members.... you get the idea.
     --Mm.
Children are raised near the base, but separate from operations. They know enough about the organization that their parents can talk about them freely infront of them... but if they choose not to contiue in their parents' footsteps, they are welcome to leave. No one ever does.
     --Why?
Too fantastic an oportunity to miss. It's in our blood.

Sometimes... even literally.

---~-~([])~-~---