VIXEN - The Legend of the Five Totems

Chapter 24 - Cheetah and Red X

"So we'll show him some kindness, and all will be right in the world."

"Screw this. I need a beer."

"Is he even breathing?" Hyena asks. The trio have retreated to a nice hotel just a block away from the ragged path of destruction that Maksai has torn through the city. The suite is large, spacious, and very fit for a king, with heavy curtains, plush carpets, a fully-stocked beverage and snacking table, and downy couches and chaises that make the decorations of Maksai's palace seem utterly pedestrian by comparison. Cheetah has set Red X on one of the large fluffy beds. He has sunk deeply into its cushioning.

"Of course he is."

"Your sense of smell is that good?" Hyena asks with a heavy dose of doubt. "I don't see his chest moving. Plus, these gauntlets prevent us from sensing a pulse. And look at this fiber. It's stopped everything we've thrown at him so far. Sure, it's cut up and everything, but you see any signs of punctures? I don't know about you, but I've never seen body armor like this."

"Oh, stop being so technical, you daft heifer," Cheetah says, reaching for one of the American's gauntlets. As she fiddles with it to get it off, a catch is triggered and she jerks her hand back with a swear. There is a fresh cut across the inside of one of her fingers.

Hyena says nothing, but cannot help a sharp bark of surprise that quickly morphs into a titter of amusement.

"Get his helmet off," Cheetah says to her.

"No way. This is on you. You do what you want. I'm gonna have a beer with Barrera."

Hyena leaves the anthropomorphic cat to her own curiosity.

Cheetah growls. The cut is not very painful, and it has already begun to mend, but she does not like the idea that Hyena would be right about this. Still, she reaches forward for the mask, and hesitates. As she gazes down it, she makes out the hole in the white surface made when Barrera impaled it with one of his knives. Yet not even this could penetrate all the way through. The helmet is no simple thing, and she can't, for the life of her, identify a trigger to release. So she does what she can: she pokes and prods at it, and hopes to find some way in. It is frustrating, and as she grabs at his head, she becomes more jerky and violent with her movements.

Growling at Red X's mask, she shoves his head back into the pillows of the bed and storms off.

"No luck, huh?" Barrera asks her. He and Hyena have switched on the news and are watching the lack of progress on the progress of the Gored Ox. BBC News has wasted no time dispatching a journalist team to the wreckage Maksai has been tearing the city into. It has provided them with an English report of history in the making.

"Stupid mask won't come off."

"I told you. A nutter."

"Please. That word belongs to the Royal Islands. You sound a daft fool when you use it. What's the progress?"

"They can't find him," Hyena says. "It means he really did go to ground. When I was training to be a cop, we'd see criminals do this. Put a little pressure on them, and they'd retreat to a place that they think is safe. Nonetheless, patrols are out and the President has evacuated the capital. The outlying provinces are packed with people who've fled. A whole lot of other people are annoyed with the government for not being able to stop something like this. A bunch of businesses are still at it, though. Stupid people, only concerned with money. I guess watching the city blow up around them means nothing to 'em."