Animals

Chapter 3

March 18, 2018

Chicago

The Freelancers had many safehouses, some near major landmarks, to act quickly in case of terrorist or chemical attacks. But the Freelancer HQ was the main hub that tied them all together. Situated in a plain warehouse, the majority of it was built underground when the organization was first started. Designed like a cold war bunker, the HQ housed loads of manpower, weapons, and enough room for 5,000 people. The Freelancer Headquarters was a tremendous monument built in secret to keep the public out of Freelancer affairs. And for 30 years the bunker has been the stronghold of the Chicago Branch of the Freelancer Initiative.

While it would be hard for outsiders to get inside the building, all it took for a Freelancer to enter was an ID card and a security check. Fenrir was ready as he went past metal detectors, x-ray machines, and other devices used to check for possible rouge agents. It was very rare, so rare that not many current agents even remembered one of their own going rouge, but Takashi never really talked about the exact situation that occurred. But whatever had happened, these security measures were necessary in order to weed out possible traitors.

Finally, Fenrir had made it down the main hallway, passing into the elevator and sighing as the doors closed. "Goddamn."

Thankfully, the elevator went down to the bottom quickly, opening into the main lobby of the HQ. It was always quiet down here because, despite the large compound, not many people were deployed full time. The majority of Freelancers were stationed at other safe-houses across the country, and others were embedded inside criminal organizations to spy and report on possible activities. Fenrir was one of the 125 mammals stationed here on site, under the command of Samantha Bowman, the director of North-east Freelancer Division.

The wolf walked into Bowman's office, files in his paw. Sam Bowman, a coyote, was the one in control of the entire Division, with her Brother, Asher, being her second-in-command. Some mammals under her command would consider her harsh, but those close to her could see a rare soft side that still held a strong core. She, along with a few other mammals around the base, was one of the few people that Fenrir really was friends with on a daily basis.

Sam sat in the usual place, in her chair behind an extremely cluttered desk. She sighed, placing a paw against her head of brownish-gold fur. Despite the looks of it, she always kept everything organized, even when it might seem messy. She kept herself busy with the work. Despite the amount of secrecy placed in Freelancer, there was way too much downtime. So now the coyote looked through old missions, just to not get bored. Her ears perked up at the sound of footsteps at her door.

She waited, then spoke. "Enter."

Then entered Fenrir, golden eyes and grey fur that would make most females come rushing. But Sam knew he didn't swing that way. She just saw him as a close friend and comrade.

The coyote smirked at the obviously tired wolf. "You're up early. Don't you usually sleep in?"

The wolf nodded. "Yeah. But Anderson rang me up. Old elk always looking for a favor after I retired from the force."

Sam nodded, brushing a few files off the desk as she attempted to make her desk look presentable. "And what favor makes you come here so early? I know you avoid this place like the plague due to all the security we have." Like Fenrir, Sam disliked how much the security has turned up over the past years. There was just way too much for one incident that even she had little knowledge of.

Fenrir walked over to the desk, placing the files down on the table. "Anderson thinks there's some conspiracy with this guys death and the CIA. And some weird thing with Takashi's tech. Like out of a zombie movie or some shit."

Sam picked them up, pawing through them with a indifferent expression. When she came upon the picture of the heart, she had a small look of shock, before smirking.

"Well, this is interesting. This is not Takashi tech. Pretty damn close though." She pulled out the picture of the still pink beating heart, with the dark metal device embedded in it.

"It's not?"" Fenrir never really got into the history of the mammal's technology. He knew that Takashi had created many new inventions, some related to medical needs for drug addiction and other devices regulated for certain situations. And that was just what the public was given. Takashi was the main supplier of Freelancers tech, giving them the edge over common terrorists with drones and equipment. Not many of Takashi's tech leaked out into the criminal circle unless it somehow goes under the radar.

"The metal structure is dark grey. Takashi's Heartmod's are usually a lighter grey. Also, seems like there's a extra hole right here." Sam pointed to the device, and Fenrir could see it had a small hole, small enough for a needle. "This has to be Black Market. They sell mods for drug users and other undesirables, mostly to get a profit for both the drugs and more money from a customer. Can't have their customer dying on them."

Fenrir shrugged. "Yet he's dead. Still, how the hell is the heart still going?"

Sam packed up the rest of Fenrir's files from her desk, organizing them together neatly as she could. "There's a "bug" with the older versions of Heartmods, where they continue beating even after the host died. They fixed it before I was born, but It's still around in these older models."

The wolf sighed. "So, now what?" Fenrir felt like nothing had really been answered. Yeah, he found out about the bobcat's phantom heart, but he wanted to find out a motive or at least some sort of starting point. He was never really the detective sort, he was mostly the one knocking doors and taking down suspects. He enjoyed that part of the job back then. Now he had nothing to do except find something to keep himself entertained.

Sam had gotten the files together, and now held them all in her paw. "Well, its possible that the people who sold him the heartmod got mad at him, possibly for some slight, killed him, and took his organs to show that they don't fuck around. Pretty brutal, right?"

Fenrir nodded. His time on the force had let him see the true side of Chicago, one that was not glamorous or normal. People killed in thousands of ways, multiple crimes, things that he wished he had never seen. It was a hard life that he had lived then. The dark side of Chicago pulled mammals into it, turning them into animals fighting for their lives. It was that dark side that forced him to leave, and ye-

"Earth to Fen?"

Fenrir could see he had gotten lost in thought, and had ignored Sam at the door. "You coming?"

"To where?"

Sam groaned in frustration. "My brother! He has a contact that has dealt with the Black Market. He wants to meet somewhere public. Let's go!"

Location Unknown

The fox sighed, paws tensing up as he entered the numbers into a old phone. As soon as it rang, it was picked up.

The voice that spoke was old, yet also contained a willingness to put up a fight. "Who the hell it thi-"

"Redd." The foxes voice was young yet has a twinge of annoyance with having to put up with the person on the phone.

The voice on the other side muttered something before returning to the call. "Well, is it done?"

Redd smirked. "Done exactly the way you wanted it. Everyone thinks its a classic stab and grab while CIA's going in circles trying to find who killed their man. They don't call me Crimson for nothing, Russo.

The voice on the other side let out a sigh of relief. " Grazie agli dei, he would have done a number on us. What about the heartmod?"

The fox stopped. "It's.... dealt with. If it's a Black Market heartmod, the CIA have no chance of tracking it back to you."

"Then what about Freelancer? You knew their ways. Do you think they will-"

"They won't. Just rest easy Russo, you're free. Goodbye."

The fox clicked off the phone, silencing Russo before he could speak anymore. He had heard enough from the paranoid rat. Freelancer, really? Why would they get into a case like this?