Shock to the System, Part 2

6:00 A.M.

Roth trudged home, a little beaten up from a late night of underground street brawling. He was fairly bruised, and bleeding a little around the mouth. His hands, though already wrapped, were the bloodiest of all though, most of it not actually his blood of course. Regardless, the fox simply could not wait to get home and rest. Almost seeming defeated, every inch of his body aching, he headed up the stairs, prepared to see Fausk collapsed on his couch, out like a light as always. Of course, that was before he lifted his head.

Instantly, he felt invigorated with the sensation that Fausk may be in danger, the door splintered and broken off of its hinges. Quickly, he rushed into his apartment and glanced around, trying to find out what happened to Fausk, only seeing her outerwear on the floor, and the sheets all in a pile. Roth's eyes quickly focused on a nearby clock to see what time it was before he bolted out the door frame and ran down the street.

It almost felt like he was running for hours, the wind biting at his face he was dashing along so fast. The pain was completely ignored as he quickly headed into an alley way and busted through a back door. The interior of the structure he had ran into was pretty dimly lit, seeming to prefer only natural lighting, and even then only through the windows covered in blinds. As the sun was only barely peeking up, it was very grim and morbidly dark, almost as if it was a crypt.

From behind Roth, a hand started to reach towards him to grab him. The fox was too used to being attacked, and with a slight twitch of his ear he had bent down, spacing his weight across his knees to slide under the hands and around the attacker just enough to deliver a sharp blow straight to the kidney. The attacker doubled over in pain and fell to his knees, while Roth quickly glanced around, seeing several more starting to move forward.

"Enough." A voice calmly uttered from somewhere beneath the dark depths, and a desk lamp on a table clicked on. Immediately, the group around Roth ceased and all moved back to their respective locations. Breathing heavily, the tired, beaten, and fatigued fox slowly headed towards the desk, stopping the required seven feet from it, as the voice continued. "You look like you're about to collapse, Roth. Must be important."

Roth stood calmly, chest still heaving to try to catch his breath from the long journey, not even sure himself how he was still standing. "My apartment--"

Though not much was seen from the figure, a hand did come into the light telling him to stop his sentence. "Yes, there were reports of a large scale police force breaking into your place. Oddly, I thought they were after you though."

The charcoal fox just blinked, as if he didn't understand. "A large police squad, in the slums?"

The figure just seemed to nod in the shadows, leaning a bit closer to the light, but still staying out of it, "Yes, SWAT and everything. Rumor has it they're planning on increasing patrols around here, which is bad for everyone."

Roth seemed to fumble for words, just standing there speechless, trying to figure out what he could have possibly done that would have warranted being a high priorety target by the police.

Almost as if sensing his confusion, the shadow continued, "After I figured they weren't after you, and Tesla was also spotted leaving that bar you work in after the initial arrest," The figure paused, leaning back slowly, "the final option was of course, that girlfriend of yours."

Light was slowly beginning to pour further into the room as Roth seemed to move within the blink of an eye, breaking the seven foot barrier and slamming his hands against the desk, "She's not my girlfriend!" He practically yelled. It wasn't that he didn't care for Fausk, he just did not appreciate everyone thinking it was a romantic interest.

The figure just chuckled and held up a hand for the guards which quickly started to move in as Roth moved forward. "So she was there. Provided the cops don't get her, she's not going to be welcome in the slums anymore. That increased police activity down here still won't be enough to stop a few hits." The figure stood up and moved into the light of the sun a little, showing off his pinstripe suit and fedora as he looked out into the street.

Roth's eyes followed him as he just lowered his ears and growled, "If you, or any of your men so much as touches her, I'll kill you myself, Vincent."

The raccoon turned to look towards him, just smirking a bit, "Provided the slums don't kill you and your girl first."