In the alley, the sergeant eyed the foxboy as he did his work.  When he finished and helped Collins to his feet, he grunted with approval.<br/><br/>"Not bad, cadet," he said with a grin.  "Fenson, take rear guard.  Janus, you're on point.  We've got a brigade to get back to."<br/><br/>"Finally," muttered Janus, leading the way with his switchblade.<br/><br/>The group passed from alley to alley, trying to avoid the chaos in the streets until they rejoined with their brigade.  Collins alternated between wobbling, belching, and groaning with the pain in his shoulder.  He gave the foxboy quite a hard time managing to stay upright, as he leaned heavily on him.<br/><br/>After they had gone but four blocks, Collins fell to his knee and yelped with the pain of it.  He clutched at the foxboy's arm for balance.  The sergeant shot a look at him, and suddenly Janus shouted, "Night guards!"<br/><br/>Without warning, three night guardsmen, a wolf and two foxes, were rushing down the alley towards them, wielding their clubs and snarling.  Janus jumped back as the wolf swung at him, darting in with his switchblade.  The sergeant charged at the nearest fox, swinging his sword from the shoulder to try for a decapitation.  The remaining fox pressed the attack onward towards the foxboy and Collins.<br/><br/>---<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">"Sorry to interupt your broadcasts in such a state of emergency, people...  My name is Mark Karogen Jr... I am begging all sides to put down thier weapons. Lentan, I know you're wanting what's right, but you're doing it in a way that will only bring death and hate."</span><br/><br/>"What the mother FUCK!"  Lentan shoved himself away from the desk and shot to his feet, fuming.  Karogen!  How much was it to ask that he leave Lentan alone?!  He took a breath, calming himself.  It was bad form to reveal a supposedly secret organization's leader on the air, but it was worse form to punish a man for his beliefs.  Lentan pulled his chair back toward the desk and sat down.  This was an open war now, so he was open game.  It was only a matter of time before House Shenzai figured out who he was; Karogen only sped the process up a little.<br/><br/>Still... what more would Karogen reveal?  He resolved not to let him have a chance.  As the K5 News Anchor was showing surveillance photos of "the rebel called Lentan" to his viewing audience, Eric keyed his radio.  "Oil Rig, Oil Rig, this is Dead Coney.  Over."<br/><br/>"Dead Coney, this is Oil Rig, we gotcha."<br/><br/>"Change of plans concerning 1440 Hempstead," said Lentan.  "Cut the power to that building and place a guard on it.  Nobody goes in or out.  Over."<br/><br/>"Dead Coney, roger."<br/><br/>Lentan leaned back in his chair.  The S.E.M. would be deaf and dumb with no power.  Karogen brought it on himself.  Suddenly another thought occurred to Lentan.  If the House or any important fur got a sniff of Karogen's message, who would they target for more information?  Lentan stiffened.  Karogen was a pain in the ass, but the Bitch would tear him apart.<br/><br/>He couldn't rush the S.E.M. to safety - she would find them if they were anywhere in Kazmer.  Granted, relocating them would give them more of a chance, but...  if he kept them in the apartment building, that would be the first place she would look.  And his men would have to fend hers off.  Then maybe, just maybe, Karogen would see that there was no dealing with the furs.  Not yet.  He keyed his radio again.  The Fifth Brigade had a new agenda: defend 1440 Hempstead at all costs.<br/><br/>The three men in the gas station across from 1440 Hempstead emerged, checking this way and that for the enemy as they approached the building.  Fifteen more men from the Fifth Brigade's rear guard joined them, surrounding the building as the three pulled open a manhole and crawled inside, finding the master switch that shut off the whole block.  In moments, 1440 Hempstead Avenue and its neighboring buildings went dark.<br/><br/>---<br/><br/>All the men in the butcher's shop jumped as a sudden noise erupted from a nearby room.  The two men closest to that room dashed inside, ready to kill anything they found.  What they did find was a rock on the floor.  One of the men signaled to the major with the pistol that they needed more men.<br/><br/>The major motioned five more men into the butcher's shop, and they spread out into the various rooms, turning on the lights and stealthily checking for anything out of the ordinary.  None of them payed any attention to the hole in the ceiling that the anthro-fox had tore.  When all of the rooms had been checked, the major called out to the colonel, "All clear.  He must've run off."<br/><br/>"All right," said the colonel.  "Secure the building.  Any sign of Lemko's squad?"<br/><br/>"No, sir."<br/><br/>"Weird.  Well, let's get this place fortified."<br/><br/>With that, the men set about barricading themselves within the butcher's shop.