Copyright: This work of FanFiction is the intellectual property of K-NICE and her IRL persona. No copying, distributing or editing of this material is permitted without the express permission of the creator, K-Nice, under United States copyright law.

K-Nice, 1999 

The early morning gloom left a cold feeling in Remy's spine. He could feel icy fingers strumming his vertebrae. He longed for the warmth of his bed but stifled the desire by moving into action. Six hours of dark, cold, lonely waiting was about to pay off. He made several final keystrokes on the laptop
computer he crouched over. His trench coat was stretched under and around it to protect its delicate parts from the gritty sand of the Nevada desert. The mountains were too far away to effectively to hide the sun and there was only an hour before day would break over the horizon. He held his breath as he waited for the big payoff. The screen blinked twice in rapid succession and a countdown screen appeared. He almost groaned in disgust. The security network was responding to the virus much faster than anticipated. It would take longer than he had hoped to shut down the system and the shutdown would last for a short period of time. Remy checked his watch and set it to match the countdown.

He slipped his hand into his trenchcoat and pulled out his cellphone. He hoped he could make this call while the computer's transfered data at each other. Punching an intricate sequence of numbers, wondering what would happen if he got one wrong. The only warning he had was a soft "click" but he held the phone at arms length as it set off a piercing alarm. 'That's enough to give away my position, isn't chere?' he mused as he brought the phone back to his ear.

"This is Raven, speak now or I'll buzz you again."

"Listen careful now Raven, I'm at the Center and your "window of opportunity" just got narrower. And my fee just got higher, tu comprends?"

"Yeah, yeah, If you want the best you have to pay for it, right. Fine. When do we move?"

Raven heard silence and waited with baited breath to hear his next words. She was ready to move in any direction depending on what he said.

"It's already started, chère. With only one change of plans. It all goes down in 30 minutes, not 45. Starting 3 minutes ago."
 

She slippd into the shadows moments before the appearance of a guard, the one that usually lead the prisoners to the cafeteria or showers. It would not seem strange for him to order certain prisoners to another location. All she had to do was convince him to remove the power dampening collar around her neck so she could shape-shift.

Raven concealed the alarm she had rigged from left over parts in the clock radio she had "accidentally broken." She had to lower herself quite abit to those human pigs just to get the darn thing but it was the key to getting them out of the Center. She had found an electronics major among the prisoners and she had created a way of communicating with the outside by pirating cellphone signals. Tonight was the final culmination of weeks of planning.

Raven's mind sped ahead of her as she threw herself at the guard. The plan called for her to wheddle, plead and seduce until he freed her but now plans
had changed. She grabbed his arm and twisted it around. He heard the crack of his arm breaking before he even saw her. She snatched his tazer and pressed it to his face, causing a ragged gash as he fell unconcious from the charge and the pain. She dragged his heavy body back into the shadows and lay it carefully. As she backed away she was convinced that he was just passed out drunk, or even sleeping on the job, not dying slowly in a pool of his own blood. She hoped it was enough to convince the other guards to leave him alone or else her little plan was going nowhere very quickly.
 

Remy scooted on his belly across the beams in the crawl space under the guard station. He didn't mind the grime or the confined space, though he was glad he had left his coat where it coudl stay relatively clean. He did mind that the access door seemed to be blocked by a chair. Remy pulled out a card and tried to charge it.

There wasn't even a fizzle.

The dampening field was still up.

He checked the LED on his watch as it counted down to the 25 minute window he hoped his hacking had bought them. The numbers speed toward "00:25:00" and he remained motionless in anticipation. At "00:24:59" Remy placed is fingers on the hinges of the door and quietly desintergated the pins. Then he charged the card and slipped it through the slit of the trap door.

The response was fast and loud. The guard who had been sitting on the door leapt up and landed on his rear. His four companions aimed their weapons at the site of the explosion. One of them gave the count, while another lifted the trapdoor. He was thrown off balance as it freed from its hinges. In the
seconds that the door hide him from their sight, Remy charged five cards and sent them flying. Without pausing he kicked the chair over and vaulted behind the desk. He checked his watch again: "00:24:01"