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Fire Fox #5 - Enter IntraNet


ABOARD THE FLASH PLUGIN
FURTH YEAR 2015

Mark rises from his slumber a few hours later, sliding over and sitting up at the side of his bed.  Sighing and stretching, he soon rises further and pads over to the door, causing it to slide open and reveal the rest of the ship.
"I'm back," he proclaims as he leans against the doorframe, "what'd I miss?"
Lupin and the other turn their heads back to him, with Martin being the first to reply.
"Welcome back, Captain!"
"Yeah, yeah, good to be back Marty.  We there yet?"
"Actually," Lupin says while returning to the controls, "we are."
The fox heads over to the controls and looks to the dusty tan planet before them.  Much if not all of the planet appears to be a dry desert, with cracks in its surface visible from even this distance.
"Yeah, that's the one!  Alright, now the FUN part begins!"
He retakes his own seat at the control panel and looks to the remaining crew.
"Alright, kids, get ready to land!"
"Yes, Captain!"

_______________________________________


PLANET DAEGON IV
MINUTES LATER

The starship seamlessly enters the atmosphere and touches ground without a hitch.  Once the Flash Plugin is docked safely, Mark and Lupin jump up from their seats and assemble their gear.  The fox returns his badged brown jacket to his frame along with his pants and boots.  Then, his dark gray flare guns, Razzle on his right and Dazzle on his left, go into their thigh holsters.  Lastly, Mark takes up Mozilla and pulls a switch barely in front of the D-shaped handle guard, causing the weapon to compact itself until its entire frame fits within said shape.  Once it's finished, Mark dons a strap onto one shoulder and attaches the weapon to rest on his back.
"Now," he says as he turns to the three new recruits, "our mission begins.  We're called Dumpers because we DUMP scrap metal onto others to turn a profit, but before we can do that, we need the scrap metal itself.  So, where do we get it?"
"Seemingly uninhabited planets?"  Zen replies, somewhat sarcastically.
"You're partially right, but not quite!  You guys...and gal...would be surprised just how many starships crash out in this wild universe of ours!  We, the Dumpers, track down these crash sites that are unbeknownst to the general public.  Then, assuming the pilot and passengers are of course 100% DEAD, we rip up and salvage what's left to return it to suppliers.  It's as simple as that.  The hard part is simply getting the scraps, and it sure as hell doesn't get any easier today."
"Really?"  Martin shyly pries.  "Why's that?"
"Oh, you'll find out soon enough.  Now come on, everyone gather whatever you need and let's head out there!"

Mark leads the team out of the ship and onto the planet's terrain, their feet resting upon the dry, cracked platform.  Stepping ahead of the others, the fox points to the one thing on the noticeable surface that isn't flat.
"There!  That cave's where we're headed!  Our bounty's inside!"
"Makes sense," Jim remarks, "considering it's the only damn thing on this planet..."
"Oh, it's not the ONLY thing.  Trust me."
Mark continues toward the cave, prompting the others to follow.  Martin takes a few moments and recollects his belongings to carry them more effectively, then he hurries to reclaim his spot among them.
"S-So why are there so many planets with the name Daegon?  What classifies them all together?"
Mark stops.
"The Daegon planets all have one important thing in common.  On most inhabited planets, evolution ran its normal course to make people like you and me.  But, on these Daegon planets, evolution went horribly wrong...and all of their inhabitants turned into..."
Then, as if on cue, a big bellowing roar echoes out from the cave before them, and it is soon accompanied by a blast of fire that seems to take up the entire structure.  The eyes of the three new recruits widen, but Lupin and Mark lack the shock.  Mark, in particular, just sighs.
"...dragons.  Fucking enormous, pea-brained, terrifying dragons."
The fox then turns around to address the group.
"Well, our mission's in there, so...any volunteers?"
"T-To go IN THERE?  W-With a DRAGON???"
"Yep!  No way of gettin' past it now."
Lupin then steps forward with a smirk upon his muzzle.
"I believe we had a deal that you would handle anything that breathes fire."
"Ah, we did, didn't we?  Fair enough!  Best to teach the kiddies than lead them off to their deaths, eh?"
Mark retrieves Mozilla from his back and makes the weapon expand outward once again, briefly checking the rest of his equipment in preparation for the fight.
"So," Martin interjects, "you're just gonna rush in there???"
"I sure am, Marty."
"Th-this is insane!"
"Eh, could be worse."
"What???  How???"
"Well," Lupin cuts in, "we could be in the Soakers."
"The Soakers?  What are they?"
"They're liquidators."  Mark replies, failing to hold back a laugh.  "Pfft!  Get it?  Liquidators!  Ya can't write this stuff!"
"How is being a liquidator worse than...THIS?"
"Well it sure as hell wouldn't be as fun!  Alright, I'm ready to go."
Resting the large weapon onto his shoulder, Mark walks over to the crow in the party and places a paw around his upper arm.
"Alright, Jim, you're the oldest of the newbies.  If anything happens to me and Lupin...like, say, getting murdered by an uncontrollable rage monster...then you're in charge.  It'll all be on you.  ...No pressure."
With that, Mark returns to the cave before them and, with a twirl of Mozilla, he starts forward again.
"Alright, let me show ya how it's done!"
Casually, the fox continues into the cave, his frame disappearing within the entrance's shadow.  The rest of the crew watches the cave closely with anticipation, waiting for something...ANYTHING...to happen.  The next source of stimulation, however, is another roar from the dragon within the cave.  Quickly following, powerful flames burst from the cave entrance after already filling the entirety of its interior.  The three newbies gasp and jump back as the flames emerge, bringing Martin to look back and forth between the cave and his Chief Officer.
"That's it.  He's dead.  He's gotta be dead!  Y-You just let your friend walk right in there...all alone!"
Despite the situation, Lupin remains smug and unshaken, not even looking to Martin.  The wolf keeps his eyes on the cave, acknowledging the newbie only with his words.
"Wait for it...  Just...wait for it..."
Both skeptical and trusting, Martin turns his head back toward the cave, watching it closely.  Soon enough, the entire body of the cave bursts open from the force of the volatile force dragon.  With a scaly dark brown body and stone-like spikes in abundance on its frame, the enormous beast balances on its back legs to almost stand and flail his front legs about.  It seems as though it's fighting something, or rather trying to shake something off.  Sure enough, Mark can be seen riding atop its neck, his fur unsinged while only a few scorch marks are present on his clothes.  Zen is the first to point him out.
"Holy shit; look at that!"
"I don't believe it..."  Jim adds, the cigarette falling from his beak.
The dragon tramples and bucks away from where the cave used to be, but Mark manages to hang on throughout the struggling.  Regaining his footing, the fox aims his trusty weapon downward, point-blank with the mighty beast's neck, and he gives it a few shots.  Mozilla's mighty rounds, revealed to be big dense balls of fire, burn all the way through the creature's thick neck and come out at the bottom.  The various holes left by the fireballs' paths widen and connect until the dragon's head completely detaches from the rest of its body, bringing the now-lifeless colossus crashing down with its former momentum.  Successfully bracing from the crash, Mark then climbs safely down from his position atop the neck and shoulders.  Resting Mozilla against his shoulder, he then strolls back over to the group.  Lupin remains as relaxed as ever, but the three newcomers are blown away, asking different parts of the same question.
"How..."
"...Did you..."
"...DO THAT???"
"What do you mean?"  The fox replies.  "Good old Mozilla here can burn through anything!  Was a piece of cake!"
"Not THAT," Martin proclaims, "the other thing!  How'd you survive that fire???"
"Oh, right.  So fun fact!  I actually have this unusual innate ability to withstand really high temperatures.  Had it ever since I can remember."  
"THAT's why he handles the hot stuff," Lupin adds.
"Don't try that at home, kids!  Anyway, the scraps are out in the open and unprotected now.  They're actually pretty resistant material, so they should've made it through all of...that.  Shall we?"
Mark heads back up to the ship, motioning for the others to follow.  Lupin, however, has to push the stiff and speechless newbies back toward it.

Lupin and the newbies reenter the ship a short time after Mark, and the wolf goes to his seat in front only to find the fox's weapon taking it up instead, even wearing the seatbelt.
"Ha ha," Lupin scoffs, "very funny..."
Mark shrugs innocently.
"What?  She called shotgun!  We were ALL in view of the ship, so it counts."
Lupin sighs and simply turns back around to return to the new recruits.
"So, it should be noted that not EVERY assignment is protected by a big, fire-breathing dragon."
"Yeah," Mark adds, "I think that's only the second one this week!"
"Anyway, now that the obstacle's out of the way, we're gonna pick up the materials from our ship.  Every Dumper-designated starship is fitted with magnetic plates on its underbelly, making for easy collection and transportation of useful materials.  We simply need to fly over the pile of scraps, turn on the magnet, and then we'll be off to see our buyer!  As we did before, we'll get the information of our buyer from Red."
As Lupin explains, Mark moves the ship over to what was the cave, hovering over the revealed disorganized pile of scrap metals.  Then, grabbing hold of a particular lever on the control panel, Mark slowly elevates it to activate the magnetic panels.  The lever in question began in a middle position, so on top of its ability to deactivate, the magnetic panels could also be set to repel.  Upon activation, the metal scrap begins to levitate towards the underbelly of the Flash Plugin, eventually latching onto it with lots of metallic clanking.  Once everything's retrieved, Mark brings up a communication with Red, returning the image of the red chimp to the raising hologram screen.
"Hey Red!  Just lettin' ya know we've got the goods."
"Wow, you're...actually makin' good time for once."
"Yeah, yeah.  Anyway, who's our buyer?"
"I'm sure you remember our old friend Rattison."
"Who, Rattison Blu?  Sure I do!  So planet Gravitas then, right?  Ah, that planet's fun!"
"That's the one.  You know he's a really big fan and client of ours, so be sure ta treat him nice."
"Of course!  You can count on us, Big Red!"
Mark reaches to end the communication, but Red beats him to it and the screen goes to static on its own.  Shrugging it off, he then turns back to Lupin and the rest of the crew.
"I'm sure he'll find something to CHEW us out about when we get back.  Anyway, you heard the man!  On to planet Gravitas!"
The remaining crew takes their seats and buckle up.  Lupin has to take a seat in the back with the others, as Mozilla is safely secured in the passenger's seat by Mark.  Once the pilot sees that everyone is strapped in, he prompts the ship to lift off and depart from Daegon IV.

_______________________________________


PLANET GRAVITAS
HOURS LATER

Gravitas is a planet similar to Daegon IV in terms of its dry, desert-like surface, but the two are complete opposites when it comes to their populations.  Gravitas is civilized and modernized, with many cities with shops and amenities taking up its surface.  These cities also happen to be inhabited with beings of normal size and stature, many sharing similarity with Furth natives.  Upon its discovery, the planet was already well suited for habitation despite its dry nature.  There's just one catch...

Still piloting the Flash Plugin, Mark's ship enters Gravitas's atmosphere without a hitch.  A few cities are within sight as they descend, but Mark doesn't land the vessel anywhere near them.  Instead, the ship touches down a long range from them, making the cities hardly visible from the crew's surface view.  Once they're safe on the ground, Mark silences the ship and takes up his key, rising from his chair.
"Here we are!"
"So," Martin begins, "this is Gravitas, huh?"
Zen scoffs.
"Doesn't look much different than the other pile of rocks we just came from."
"Oh," replies Mark, "you'd be surprised!  See, unlike that planet, THIS one is ACTUALLY civilized.  Ya know, with cities and everything.  They're not overly-extravagant ones; they keep it simple around here.  BUT, they have all the modern-day amenities you'd expect, plus some other ones!"
"Anything else we should know, Captain?"  Martin asks.
Mark pauses to approach the side panel door of his ship before continuing.
"I'm so glad you asked, Marty!  You see, there is ONE important thing.  When this planet was first discovered, it came already suitable for life.  There was no need to terraform or alter atmospheric conditions to keep a civilization sustained.  However, that doesn't mean the planet's perfect.  Although it's habitable, the planet suffers from a weak gravitational pull.  Make sure you keep your feet on the ground; we don't want you drawing unnecessary attention by floating around.  Speaking of attention, that reminds me..."
He then looks to Lupin.
"Badges off."
"Yup, badges off."
Mark reaches and removes the gold-and-brown Dumper badge attached to the left sleeve of his jacket, stowing it in the inside pocket for safe keeping.  Lupin does the same with his own identical badge.
"If Red gave you guys anything," Mark continues to the recruits, "anything scummy or shady, take it off and hide it.  You guys remember when I said what we do is illegal, right?  Well, since this planet's all civilized and whatnot, there are people that could report us and even bring us in.  Put simply, cops flock around here."
"Cops?"  Jim asks, skeptically.  "You telling me there's some kind of 'space cops' flying around?"
"That's exactly right, Jim!  They're freaking literal space cops.  I'll show ya what I mean when we get in town.  Trust me; ya can't miss their posts.  Alright, grab your stuff and let's go!"
The crew hides anything suspicious on their frames while Mark retrieves Mozilla from the passenger's seat, pulling the switch to once again compress the weapon back into the "D" shape and return it to his back.
"Don't worry, baby, I'd NEVER forget you!"

Everyone disembarks from the Flash Plugin, then Mark locks it up while pointing ahead to the speck of a city in the distance.
"Our client's in that city, so that's where we're headed."
"Right," Jim sighs, "and you thought the best way to get there was to park in the middle of nowhere..."
Mark shakes his head and smirks, returning to them to pat the crow's shoulder.
"Why ya gotta break balls, Jim?  I know what I'm doing.  You just saw me kill a giant freaking dragon a couple hours ago, right?  Ya don't think I've got a plan?"
"Well," Zen cuts in, "got anything in that plan faster than walking to the city?"
"I sure do!  Just wait for it."
Slinging his arms around both of their shoulders, Mark leans on Jim and Zen as the whole crew waits.  Soon enough, a shuttle car-ship appears in the distance and eventually heads right to them, stopping merely feet away.
"New arrivals," the ship's artificial voice begins, "welcome to planet Gravitas.  Our complimentary shuttle service will take you to the city.  Please hop aboard."
"See?  Gravitas likes their shuttles.  It's safer for us to park way out here.  More discreet.  And we'll still get there in no time!"
The recruits shrug it off and hop into the shuttle, and once Mark and Lupin accompany them, the car-ship starts its return trip to the city.

Within minutes, the shuttle brings the crew to the city limit and stops so they can depart.  The majority of Gravitas's urban structures are square, rectangular, or even cube-shaped, constructed of dense and heavy charcoal-gray stone to avoid issues with the planet's weak gravity.  As Mark explained, normal-sized citizens -- many of which wearing cloaks or hoods to negate the wind and sand -- navigate the unpaved streets toward seemingly-civilized shop vendors and businesses.  It's perhaps more akin to a desert bazaar of sorts, but at least that's far more civilized than giant bunnies and dragons.  Many more vehicles, such as hover-bikes and an abundance of other shuttles, also permeate the streets.
"Alright everyone," Mark continues, "just lay low, watch your pockets...the usual stuff."
Mark and Lupin casually proceed through the town, and in normal fashion, the recruits follow.  Martin notices a rock protruding through the sand in his path and gently hops over to avoid it, but he finds his feet don't return to the ground as expected.  Instead, he remains suspended a couple of inches in the air, kicking and flailing a bit as he floats.
"Uh, C-Captain...?"
Somehow already knowing what happened, and to who, Mark reaches back and pulls one of Martin's feet back onto the ground.  This actually works, allowing the otter to retain his footing with both legs and finding that they actually stay there.
"Feet stay on the ground, Marty."
"Y-Yes, Captain..."
As they progress, the recruits take notice of many screens hovering above eye level that seem to convey encouraging messages to the planet's populace.  Many of them have different slogans, but they all share one prominent word in common: IntraNet.  Finally, Jim stops at one of the screens and stares up at it.
"IntraNet, huh?  These the 'space cops' you were talkin' about?"
Mark turns back to him and looks up at the screen.
"Yup, that's them.  A bunch of bureaucratic pseudo-superheroes that act as the universe's police force.  They despise any kinds of wrongdoing on their turf, us included.  There's literally hundreds of 'em, so they've probably got some goons crawlin' around here.  Just keep your heads down and we'll be fine.  Come on."
Mark pats his shoulder and continues on, but Jim stays in place and looks back up to the sign, reading it once again...

"We proudly defend Gravitas and many other planets across the universe.
We guarantee your safety and work hard to preserve your wellbeing.
IntraNet: You're Connected. You're Protected."

After traversing the crowds for a few minutes, the crew comes to the entrance of a medium-sized business, labeled above its doorway with a large neon light depicting a martini glass with a rat tail coming out.
"Well kids," Mark proclaims, "this is it!  The Rat Pack Lounge!"
Turning back to them, the fox steps aside and motions for the others to enter.
"Ladies first."
Suspicious of what to expect, the new recruits hesitantly walk to the entrance and go in.  Then, in a much more relaxed manner, Mark and Lupin follow.  None of them notice the figure in a blue, silver, and black metallic tech suit hiding among the crowd as they enter, but the figure takes notice of them.

The Dumper crew enters the main area of the lounge, which mostly shares a likeness with many other nightclubs of the cosmos.  Booths, chairs, tables, a lavish open bar, and a stage with live entertainment pounding out music fill in the atmosphere.  It's surprising that the music couldn't be heard outside the club's walls, considering the establishment is partially outdoors, with kaleidoscope-esque holes left in the ceiling that shine beams of light on the fun and debauchery.  All too used to the experience, Mark and Lupin feel right at home as they make their way to the bar.
"Hey barky," the fox shouts to pierce all the noise, "get me an Angry Balls!  That's a shot of Fireball whiskey with a pint of hard cider!  Oh, and tell Mr. Blu we're here with his order."
The bartender acknowledges his order with a nod and begins to prepare it, also pressing and holding a button on a concealed communication center.
"Your usuals are here, Mr. Blu."  The barkeep leans in to say on the discreet com-link.
In response, a voice having what resembles a cockney British accent blares into his earpiece.
"Ah, good!  Keep 'em at the bar; I'll be there shortly!"
"Of course, sir."
The barkeep mixes Mark's glass full of golden goodness and drops it off near him, prompting the fox to place some Chainj -- the intergalactic currency -- in its place when he lifts it to his maw.
"Aww yeah, that's the stuff!"
He takes a few swigs of the apple-cinnamon alcohol before slamming the heavy glass back down on the bar, sighing with satisfaction.
"Behold," Lupin says to the recruits with a smirk, "the Dumper in his natural habitat."
Zen chuckles while the others simply smile, Mark included.  He knows Lupin's just having fun too.
Soon after, the doors to the side of the stage swing open, revealing a rat with a thin upper body but a bottom-heavy frame altogether.  He sports traditional formal clothing that he likely didn't buy, or at least that he paid nothing near full price for, with a matching cane and bowler hat that he tips as he strolls along.  Although the yellow-white natural and pink-purple artificial light within the club masks it, his fur is a faded light blue-gray color, almost as if it were died blue some time ago and nearly washed out.  Upon multiple interactions with this patron over the years, however, Mark and Lupin know by now that this is his natural fur color.  The rat spots his clients at the bar, spreading his arms as he approaches and proclaims.
"Well, look who it is!  If it ain't me favorite scumbags!"
Mark puts his now nearly-finished drink back on the bar and turns to him, glad as usual to be in good company.
"Ratty, you son of a plague-carrier!  It's been a while!"
"Too long, mate.  Too long.  I trust you've got my order?"
"Why else would we be here, eh?"
"Right, right!  Well then, why don't we head on back, where things are more quiet-like?"
"Of course, of course!  Hope you don't mind us bringing the kids along; you know how Red is."
"Yeah, I know too well.  Bring 'em along.  This way!"
Rattison gestures back to the door he came from as he makes his way back to it.  Mark looks to the recruits and gestures the same way.
"Alright, follow us to see how the negotiations go down."
Mark follows Rattison through the doors, and soon the others follow.  As they head there, Zen leans in toward Lupin.
"Scumbag?  Plague-carrier?  I think I like how you guys do business."
Lupin smirks.
"Hey, we know we're the scourge of the universe, so why dance around it.  Am I right?"
"I get ya.  Right to the point.  It's a great way to go."
After everyone goes through the doorway, a guard closes the doors behind them.  Having transitioned from the crowd outside, the same figure in the tech suit discreetly watches them enter, lifting an arm afterwards to use his communication device.  Once the activating ping sound emits, a distorted male voice comes out of the suit to report to whoever is on the other end of the com-link.
"Target is here.  Send a squad to my location; I'll take it from there."
Another voice, this one with a formal British accent, replies.
"Confirmed, Number 127.  Standby for reinforcements."

Rattison and the crew enter an extensively-decorated private room with gray stone walls, then the rat takes the one seat on the far side of it, sighing with relief.
"So," he begins with some small-talk to Mark, "Red's got ya training the wee recruits again, eh?"
"Yeah.  It's just the same old, same old; no big deal."
Rattison grins and props his legs up on the chair's companion ottoman.
"Well, I hope you're gonna set a good example for 'em, like givin' me a good deal fer once."
"Aww, come on Blu, don't be like that!  You know we always negotiate and come to a good price for us both.  Red loves ya like a brother; we wouldn't sell you short."
"I'd certainly like to think that, but these days, we can't just go trustin' what his errand boys say."
"Fine, fine.  How much Chainj were you lookin' to pay then?"
At that moment, the wall with the door bursts open, revealing a party of at least a dozen furs in varying clothing of blue and silver/gray when the smoke clears. Leading them is the figure in the tech suit.  The figure's helmet conceals his entire head with a silver base, and everything in front below the eyes is covered with a large blue cone, effectively concealing any indication of what species of creature it covers.  The suit itself is mostly made up of silver and black parts, but a deep blue pervades the suit's chest, shoulders, crotch, knees, outer thighs, clawed feet, and the hands with slightly-elongated fingers.  Centering the chest of the suit is an indented, illuminated, and multicolored wheel design that seems to be its power source.  Red lights also accent the knuckles and wrists, as well as form a line above the chest and around the shoulders.  The red lights also terrifyingly fill the helmet's two eye slits that the figure within undoubtedly sees out of.  Lastly, on his chest lies the IntraNet badge: a downward-facing triangle at the top, pointing into a "V" shape that goes into a horizontal ring or halo, with all pieces colored silver with blue outlines.  This same badge is present on the outfits of the figure's entire squadron as well.
The room's occupants naturally turn their attention to the intrusion, and Rattison Blu jumps to his feet, but they do nothing afterwards.  Their frames tensed by the rude entrance, they all stand their ground as the figure in the tech suit begins to pace around them, the distorted male voice coming out of the helmet once again.
"Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.  I do hope you'll pardon our intrusion.  It's just...well...let's call it intuition."
The IntraNet officer continues to pace around the room's occupants, meeting all of their on-edge expressions with his red eye slits.  The other officers, in the meantime, occupy the room and surround the Dumpers, aiming their weapons accordingly.
"You see," their leader continues, "it's our job to find and suppress any signs of villainy, wrongdoing, or even black-market operations.  Now, if I was the one doing any of that, I certainly think I would do it in the private back room of a shady nightclub..."
He then comes to Rattison Blu.
"...And I would certainly look like you..."
Then he turns and meets Mark's tense gaze, although standing a few inches taller than the fox does.
"...And you look like someone I already know.  I'd certainly wear a uniform like yours if I was...oh, let's say...salvaging shipwrecks for parts and selling them to shady buyers for a profit?  Isn't that right, MARK E. PYRE?"
Mark turns stiff as the officer chuckles and paces in front of him, continuing his monologues.
"It's so cute that you Dumpers think we can't find you if you take your badges off.  I personally like your choice of brown, though.  It's very becoming, considering your place in the universe."
Rattison strengthens the grip on his cane as he cuts into the conversation.
"I know who you blokes think you are...but you still forgot one thing."
The officer sighs and turns back over to Rattison.
"Yeah?  And what's that?"
Then, several guards under the rat's employ burst from the wall d�cor and hold their armaments to the heads of the other IntraNet officers.
"This is MY club, and ya don't just go barging into MY club.  Or ya do...and ya don't come back out."
Taking notice as their odds of winning this potential fight increase, Mark turns his head back to Lupin behind him.  The wolf gives him a nod, then Mark nods back and turns his head to focus on the recruits.
"So," he whispers to them, "how many of you are armed?"
"I am," replies Zen.
"Me too," Jim follows up.
"I-I've got one too," Martin shyly answers.
Mark nods and grins.
"Alright, good.  Now...follow my lead."
The fox looks to either side, taking notice of how the surrounding IntraNet officers are positioned.  There happens to be an officer on either side of him.  Just the way he wants it.  As the officers are distracted by the goons and weapons to their own heads, Mark slowly reaches down and puts his paws around the handles of Razzle and Dazzle.
"Alright...3...2...1..."
Then, all of a sudden, Mark springs into action, quickly dropping down to a knee and firing one flare gun in both directions.  Rattison's goons manage to move out of the way in time, but the two officers are propelled into the walls behind them from the force of the flares, knocking them unconscious.  They fly back so comically that one would think it was done with wire-work, but it's simply the planet's weak gravity at work.  With that, the battle begins!  The goons and IntraNet officers begin fighting each other, with some of Rattison's men getting to knock them unconscious while the officers with faster reflexes throw the susceptible goons across the room.  Among that chaos, Lupin and the other Dumpers take aim and fire at the still-active officers.  Before the leading officer turns back around, Mark comes up from his kneeling stance and punches him in the crotch, having to only withdraw and shake his paw from the painful collision with metal.  The leading officer turns and looks down at Mark, who smirks up at him innocently and shrugs.
"He-he...well, it was worth a shot..."
Angered, the officer grabs Mark's shirt collar, lifts him up, then hurls him across the room to collide with one of the walls.  The fox isn't knocked unconscious by the blow, but he isn't unscathed either.  Struggling to get up, the leading officer begins to approach but is cutoff by Rattison's cane.  For some reason, the officer stops at this gesture, meanwhile Blu looks to Lupin.
"Get your friends outta here.  My boys'll hold 'em off."
Lupin nods in acknowledgement as he and the recruits fight their way out of the club.  He looks back to Mark only to find the fox returning to his feet and following right after them.
"Let's get the hell outta here!"
The Dumpers make their way out of the private area then effectively out of the club altogether.  Meanwhile, Rattison and the lead officer are still in a standoff.
"You broke into MY place of business," the rat begins with a stern glare, "so your quarrel's with me."
"Oh if only that were true.  Unfortunately, it's the fox we want, and you just helped him get away..."
The officer then breaks Rattison's cane, grabs him by the throat, and harshly slams him down onto the stone floor.  The rat wriggles and gasps for air under the metallic grasp around his neck, and he watches with terror as the officer extends his other palm out, revealing a circular pad upon it that can fire energy blasts.  He then proceeds to fire one such blast right through the heart of Rattison Blu, effectively silencing his gasps and ending his wriggling.  He leaves the dead body in place then tends to his squad members, ushering them out to follow their assigned target.
"Let's go; Pyre's not getting away again!"

Back outside, the Dumpers quickly track down some various shuttles and vehicles nearby.
"Split up!"  Mark commands them.  "It'll better our chances.  And don't lead 'em back to the ship!"
Nodding in acknowledgement, the crew disperses.  Lupin takes a shuttle with Martin, Zen and Jim find their own hover-bike, and Mark takes his own shuttle.
"Where would you like to be transported?"  The shuttle AI asks the fox.
"Just get me the hell outta this town!"
Their three vehicles fly on through the town and beyond in separate directions, but only before the reemerging IntraNet agents see who went where.  The leading officer divides his squad into three smaller teams, commanding one to follow the bike and another to follow Lupin's shuttle.
"The rest of you, follow me.  Pyre's ours."
The other officers need vehicles of their own to pursue the Dumpers, and their positions give them permission to "borrow" the vehicles of more nearby locals to do so.  The leader, however, can use his tech suit to fly on his own, and he bursts into flight as soon as he completes his orders.  The others assigned to back him up obtain their vehicles and follow as best they can.

Now outside the city, Mark's shuttle travels through a canyon range in an attempt to shake the tailing officers.  Despite their efforts to separate, all three Dumper ships end up in the canyons, albeit with some distance between them.  The leader, however, catches up to Mark first, and he's too good to be tricked by such simple tactics.  The fox turns his head back to take notice of the figure closing in.
"Back for more, huh?"
While the shuttle continues at full speed, Mark stands and turns to the imminent threat, retrieving Mozilla from his back.
"We'll see how ya like this!"
At the same time, however, the officer extends and aims his energy blaster, firing at the vessel Mark currently stands upon.  Unfortunately, the fox realizes this all too late.
"Oh shit..."
The commercial-grade car-ship explodes upon impact, propelling Mark and the uncompressed Mozilla into the air in different directions.  The fox watches in terror as his beloved weapon of choice slips from his grasp, leaving him to float in the air alone.  It is at this point that -- at least from Mark's perspective -- everything starts to move in slow-motion, the fire and rubble taking an extended period of time to dissipate around him.  Seemingly needing an emotional theme for his next action, the Dumper places his headphones back upon his ears and presses play on his trusty iPod.  A slow string harmony begins to play, seemingly sounding like a symphonic band is warming up to play a Classical piece, but anyone that's seen the movie "Armageddon" knows what comes next.  While the officer and his subordinates watch on, Mark treats the low gravity like a full swimming pool and starts to "swim" in the direction of his trademark weapon, dodging and pushing off pieces of rubble in the process.  At the same time, the strings give way to piano and the iconic vocals of Steven Tyler...

"I could stay awake...just to HEAR you BREATHING...
Watch you smile while you are sleeping,
While you're far away and dreaming,
I could spend my life...in this SWEET SURRENDER...
I could stay lost in this moment...forever..."

Mark swims through the air, coming closer and closer to his love.  With their collision imminent, Mark opens his arms and legs, almost looking to pounce and latch onto the weapon.

"Every moment spent with you is a moment I TREASURE..."

Mark closes his arms and legs around Mozilla as they reunite in midair in time with the downbeat of the song's Chorus.  As the fox lovingly embraces his gun, the officers and Dumpers watch from their own various positions.  Lupin applies a paw to his face and shakes his head in embarrassment, but everyone else seems either shocked or astounded by the event.  Everyone except the officer in the tech suit, that is, for his expression cannot be seen.  Zen and Martin burst with laughter, but Jim just stares and comments.
"Man, he really loves that gun."

"I don't wanna CLOSE my EYES,
I don't wanna FALL ASLEEP,
'Cause I'd miss you baby,
And I don't wanna miss a thing!
'Cause even when I DREAM of YOU,
The sweetest dream would NEVER do,
I'd still miss you baby,
And I don't wanna miss a thing!"

With the Chorus over, Mark ends the loving embrace with his weapon and proceeds to turn it in the direction of the still-pursuing IntraNet officers.

"Lying close to you...feeling YOUR heart BEATING...
And I'm wondering what you're dreaming,
Wondering if it's me you're SEEING!"

The lead officer's subordinates widen their eyes and shake their head in fear, realizing what their target is preparing to do.  In return, Mark grins as wide and toothily as he can, answering their head shakes with a confident nod that screams "too bad; this is happening, and I'm gonna enjoy every second of it".

"Then I kiss your eyes...and thank God WE'RE TOGETHER...
And I just wanna stay with you,
In this moment FOREVER...
Forever and ever!"

Then, with his maw agape with ecstatic and psychotic laughter, Mark proceeds to chaotically fire Mozilla's fireball rounds at the officers, the fox's happiness and their terror still perfectly captured in the ongoing slow-motion.

"I don't wanna CLOSE my EYES,
I don't wanna FALL ASLEEP,
'Cause I'd miss you baby,
And I don't wanna miss a thing!
'Cause even when I DREAM of YOU,
The sweetest dream would NEVER do,
I'd still miss you baby,
And I don't wanna miss a thing!"

The terrified subordinates try and veer their various shuttles out of the rounds' trajectory, and by doing so they crash into the sides of the canyon, flying and floating out to land onto the rocky ground.  Their leader, on the other hand, continues to dodge the rounds as he gets closer to Mark. The fox continues to fire carelessly, even though the close proximity of the figure is making his expressionless helmet seem to give off a look of menace.

"I don't wanna miss one SMILE...
I don't wanna miss one kiss...
I just wanna be with you,
Right here with you,
Just like this..."
I just wanna hold you close...
I feel your heart so close to MINE...
And just stay here in this moment,
For all the rest of time...
Yeah, yeah, YEAH!"

At this Chorus's impact, one of Mozilla's rounds grazes one of the officer's hands and legs, enough to damage the jet propulsion keeping him in midair.  He starts to fall back and, to be safe, Mark manages to graze the other leg and damage its jet as well.  With that, the officer starts to lose speed and altitude drastically, eventually falling to the ground below.

"I don't wanna CLOSE my EYES,
I don't wanna FALL ASLEEP,
'Cause I'd miss you baby,
And I don't wanna miss a thing!
'Cause even when I DREAM of YOU,
The sweetest dream would NEVER do,
I'd still miss you baby,
And I don't wanna miss a thing!"

Now that the coast is clear, Lupin turns the shuttle to position it under Mark, who is finally on his way back down.

"I don't wanna close my eyes,
I don't wanna fall asleep,
'Cause I'd miss you, baby,
And I don't wanna miss a thing!"

Snapping out of the slow-motion sequence, Mark and Mozilla land safely in the shuttle with Lupin and Martin.
"Let's go home, Lupin."  The fox casually commands.
The wolf nods and turns the shuttle out of the canyon to head back to the Flash Plugin.

"'Cause even when I DREAM OF YOU,
The SWEETEST dream would never do!
I'd still miss you baby,
And I don't wanna miss a thing!"
DON'T wanna close my eyes!
I don't wanna FALL asleep, yeah!
I don't wanna miss a thing!"

The song fades out as Mark and party do in the distance.  The leading IntraNet officer slowly rises to his feet and turns to his fallen comrades, making sure they're alright, which they all seem to be.  But their vehicles are totaled, as is the tech suit's jets, so the Dumpers will successfully get away again.  Soon, a communication comes in through the arm of the tech suit.  It's the same British voice as before.
"127, report."
The leader sighs and slowly raises his arm to his helmet.
"They got away, sir...again."
"I see.  Report back to base A.S.A.P."
"Yes, sir.  I might need a pick-up, though..."
The communication now ended, the leader watches on as Mark's ship takes flight off in the distance, leaving the planet's atmosphere soon after.


HELL YEAH.  THAT.  JUST.  HAPPENED!
SEE?  WEREN'T THOSE THIRTEEN-AND-A-HALF PAGES OF AWESOMENESS WORTH THE WAIT?

WELP, THAT WAS THE BEST PART OF THE STORY; IT'S ALL DOWNHILL AFTER THIS...
...KIDDING!  WE'RE NOT EVEN TO THE GOOD STUFF YET, BELIEVE IT OR NOT!  

ANYWAY, SHIT'S GONNA START GETTING REAL REALLY SOON, SO LOOK FORWARD TO THAT!