(AN/ Hey folks it's Garouge/Crewefox here with another chapter of Star of Ceartais. As always thank you to everyone who liked, followed, faved, reblogged and reviewed the last update. Thank you to the awesome SOC development team for their story ideas, beta reading and art that they devolp for this tale. So without further ado let's get cracking with this chapter...)
Chapter 9 – The Star Rises
Robyn looked outside to see a dozen members of the Razors approaching them, armed to the teeth and had murder in mind "Oh this is just great." Robyn moaned, desperately trying to figure out a way to get her, Hannah and Kodi out of this alive.
"We need to get out here!" Hannah stated with force, detecting the shapes of the dozen or so enemies and the smell of the oil coming from their guns.
Kodi looked at the metallic door and a strategy quickly materialised in his brain "Robyn can you tear this door of it's hinges?"
"Yeah, but what's the play?" Robyn asked, all the while yanking the steel door from it's frame.
"We're going to use it to shield us from gunfire then slowly back out towards the hole in the fence." Kodi laid out "if they get too close Hannah can shoot them, got it?"
Hannah cocked her shotgun and breathed "Got it."
"Alright let's do this." Robyn rallied, lifting the heavy door and taking point as she led her friend's out of the shed, as soon as she stepped outside bullets started raining down on the makeshift shield. "Damn it!"
The gunfire stopped abruptly, replaced by the sound of three sets of rushed footfalls coming towards them, Hannah popped out from behind the shield and detected three medium sized mammals racing towards them, she fired off a rock salt shot that struck a badger in the chest causing him to fall to the ground with a large cry of agony, Hannah quickly pumped the shotgun again and fired another round at a raccoon wielding a dagger stunning him. Kodi spotted a goat with a tire iron coming at him and dodged the swiping swing before cracking him with a solid punch to the jaw sending the goat into unconsciousness.
"Shoot those little bastards!" A bull Rhino bellowed, signalling his lackeys to continue firing. Hannah and Kodi hastily retreated back behind the makeshift shield Robyn was holding as she was slowly and steadily eased back towards their exit point.
"This door isn't going to last much longer!" Robyn yelled in alarm, noticing a few bullets starting to come through the metal, narrowly missing the trio.
"Just a little more!" Kodi encouraged, able to see the hole. But then the sound of gunfire was masked by what sounded like a jet engine, everyone including the Razors looked up to see Spitfire soaring thirty feet above them before landing between the would be heroes and the Razors. "Oh my god." Robyn uttered in amazement "It's him."
"Spitfire!" Kodi gasped "Holy crap he really is a robot!"
"No," Hannah cut in "it's a machine mostly but I can hear a heartbeat, it's small but it's in there."
Spitfire raised it's arms and revealed it's concealed rapid fire tranq dart guns before saying through a heavily modified voice "Let these brats go and I won't hurt you."
"Fat chance tin can, they took what was ours!" The Rhino leader threw back.
"Which you took from someone else," Spitfire reminded "now stand down before I put you all down."
"I'd like to see you try." The Rhino blustered, holding a large crowbar.
"Gladly." Spitfire replied, before shooting it's twin lasers out of the mech's eyes, the red beams hitting the crowbars and heating it up in an instant causing the Rhino to burn his hands and drop it with a scream. The remaining Razors began to shoot at the mech, she shot a trio of darts with all three hitting the targets before electrifying her fists and leaping the others, delivering knockout blow after knockout blow, when she got to the Rhino who now cowering in fear she twirled and forced her powerful mechanized tail into the gang leader's face rendering him unconscious. Spitfire then powered down her electro fists and made her tranq guns disappear back into her arms, she then turned around ready to berate Robyn, Hannah and Kodi…but they weren't there. "Spitfire to Maid, I've lost sight of Robyn and the others." Spitfire spoke into her comm.
"They fled while you were fighting, they're in a pick up truck travelling west," Marian responded over the radio "Oh crap, they've got a car and two bikes chasing them they must be Razors!"
"I'll take care of them don't worry." Spitfire promised before blasting off into the evening sky.
Half a mile away Kodi was tearing down the streets of Sherwood dodging and surviving around other cars to avoid the pursuers. "These guys are tenacious, I'll give them that." Kodi gave a nervous laugh as he narrowly dodged a city bus, but one of the bikes clipped it and the razor went flying onto the pavement "One down."
"Kodi we need to get away from crowded areas, someone innocent might get hurt!" Robyn shouted, looking out the back window.
"I'm working on it!" Kodi barked, maintaining his speed.
Hannah took a deep breath before rolling down the passenger window "Robyn hold onto to my waist."
"What? Why?" Robyn stressed.
Hannah got out the handgun she looted from the Armadillo earlier and flicked the safety off before saying "I'm going to shoot out that guy's tires." She began leaning out of the window with Robyn's paws tightly gripped around her waist, she could sense the muscle car chasing them, the density of the metal body was the clearest but she could also detect the thinner rubber of the tires, she lined up her shot and fired, the bullet found it's mark perfectly as the right front tire burst causing the muscle car to spin out of control and hit a fire hydrant. "That's two down!" Hannah shouted, going back into the cab of the truck. But before the three friends could figure out a way to deal with the final gang member on the bike Spitfire swooped down and lifted the possum off his bike and toss him into a tree.
"He's back!" Robyn panicked as Spitfire carefully landed in the back of the truck, causing the the suspension to shake quite a bit.
"Pull over!" Spitfire commanded in it's synthesised tone.
"We're the good guys!" Robyn responded holding up her hands to show she had no weapons.
"I don't care, find a quiet spot and pull the hell over!" Spitfire ordered.
"Guys we best do what he says." Kodi said begrudgingly, the two girls lowered their heads in defeat and started thinking about the monumental amount of trouble they were in.
Kodi pulled into the grounds of a warehouse ruined during the Wave and turned off the engine, the three teens got out of the car with their stomachs turning with dread. "Take off those masks, you all look stupid." Spitfire bossed, getting out of the back of the truck, the mech was just slightly taller than Kodi but a lot more intimidating.
"Hey these protect our identities." Robyn protested, pointing to her ski mask.
"Oh really…Robyn Wilde." Spitfire stated "Hannah Savage and Kodi Jones."
"We're dead." Kodi whimpered, wondering how his parents would react.
"How did you…" Robyn began to ask.
"Let's just say a little bird told me who you fools are," Spitfire scorned "and besides two of you are hybrids, any bad guy only has to do a furbook search to find out who you two are."
"We were only trying to help." Hannah reasoned, taking off her mask "To be like you. We were taking back the medicine they stole from the community centre."
"I'm a walking tank, what makes you…." Spitfire began to shout but then realised "wait a sec, you're blind yet I saw you use that gun, and that shotgun back at the junkyard."
"It's complicated." Hannah dodged.
"Listen Spitfire you're not the only hero anymore, we can help." Robyn argued, pulling off her ski mask along with Kodi.
"Oh yeah, so what can you do apart from mouth off?" Spitfire asked critically.
"Well if you must know." Robyn smirked, setting down the holdall full of meds before propelling herself thirty feet into the air with a jump then landing back on the ground with no trouble. "And that's only one of my powers."
Spitfire was quiet for a moment, inside the mech Olivia was gobsmacked, project steel blood had really altered Hannah and Robyn's bodies, the scientist in her wanted to ask a multitude of questions but she decided to play it cool and continued onto Kodi "And what about you?"
"I'm the getaway driver." Kodi answered, a little embarrassed that he had no gifts to show off.
Spitfire then looked at the bag of meds and quickly made a decision "Here's what's going to happen I'm going to drop these meds back to the community centre, then we're going to go to my place and have a serious chat." Spitfire informed.
"Wait so we're not in trouble?" Robyn asked with hope.
"Oh no you're in trouble all right but not with your folks, I think it's time you met the Maid." Spitfire corrected, picking up the holdall full of prescription drugs.
000
Kion was stood across the street from the army recruitment centre still debating whether or not this was the best decision for him to take, his mind was divided into three; option one was to go inside and sign up then hopefully uncover what happened to his sister, option two was to go back to the Priderock family home and try and forgive his parents but he wasn't ready for that and the third option, well that option was only shown to him a couple of hours before…
TWO HOURS EARLER…
Kion walked into the quiet convenience store with Jasiri the good Samaritan hyena beside him, Kion was mentally kicking himself for bothering a complete stranger with his problems but at the same time he wanted comfort even it was off someone he didn't know, Kion would've preferred it though if Jasiri wasn't so distractingly divine. Kion was not very open when it came to his preferences in mammals he was attracted to, it wasn't that he was ashamed he was just private when he came to matters of romance…not that he had ever had a girlfriend. He knew from age twelve that he was an inter, he found girls of opposite species more alluring than lionesses but he never acted upon these feelings, his first major crush was a springbok girl in his eighth grade class but he was always chickened out before trying to ask her out. And now at eighteen he was still as inexperienced as he was back then despite being very handsome, with any girl he liked he always thought they were out of his league. Kion stole a glance at the bewitching hyena and felt the heat under his fur rise, she had a natural beauty that couldn't be hidden even with the tacky convenience store uniform, her two top shiny white fangs just protruded with a slight overbite but Kion found that rather cute and the perfume she was wearing reminded Kion of blackcurrants. "Steve I'm taking my fifteen minute break now." Jasiri informed the very bored looking teenage ram at the counter messing around on his phone.
"Sure, take your time, isn't like we're swamped today." Steve the ram replied, not looking up from his phone's screen.
"Come on, let's get you cleaned up." Jasiri urged Kion, her voice had a happy bounce to it and her accent was certainly not American but the lion couldn't place it.
"Right." Kion replied in a timid manner, the bloody faced feline was lead around to the staff room.
"Take a seat, I'll get something to get that blood off your face." Jasiri smiled, motioning to an old sofa in the corner.
Kion sat down and hesitantly said "You don't have to do this."
"No I don't but I want to," Jasiri corrected, filling up a bowl of warm water "you seem like you're have a shitty day, I can't just ignore someone when they're like that."
"…Thank you." Kion responded "Your accent it's not local."
"Ten points to you captain obvious." Jasiri chuckled, walking over.
"Sorry I meant to say where are you from?" Kion back peddled.
Jasiri sat beside Kion, set the bowl down on the table and answered "I'm South African, I've lived in the states since I was fourteen." She took a clean wash cloth and dipped it in the warm water.
"You go to school around here?" Kion asked, trying his best not to stare at the pretty girl beside him.
"I graduated high school last year, I'm 19," Jasiri informed, leaning in closer with the cloth "this might hurt."
Kion braced himself for the upcoming pain, as soon as Jasiri started to wipe the blood away from his swollen nose Kion hissed in pain but remained still.
"Damn it takes a lot of force to land this kind of hit on a lion, who did this?" Jasiri enquired.
"My mom." Kion sighed, closing his eyes.
"Your mom did this!?" Jasiri gasped "You should call the cops!"
"She is a cop." Kion said, replaying the confrontation in his head.
"That's even worse, if she's abusive she needs to be stopped." Jasiri fretted, still washing away the blood.
"This was the first time…ever. Even when I was cub she never did this and Dad just stood there and watched." Kion lamented.
"I know it's not my business but what started this?" Jasiri asked with a caring voice.
"My sister, she went missing the night of the wave...things have been bad at home since then." Kion told, unsure of why he was revealing something so private to a mammal he didn't know.
"I'm so sorry," Jasiri sympathised "I can't imagine what that must be like. So what happened to cause this mess?"
"My parents have given up on finding my sister alive but I know she's out there, she was nowhere near the coast when the wave hit, she was at the barracks." Kion answered, unknowingly sounding angry. "I told my parents that Kiara would be ashamed of the two of them, that's when my Mom snapped."
Jasiri put her paw upon Kion's "That sounds horrible." She commented with empathy.
"I hate them." Kion muttered, not registering Jasiri's touch.
"Listen Red, I know I'm just some random mammal you just met but take my advice; don't do anything rash. Sleep on it. I know what your Mom did was wrong but just think before you do something that can't come back from." Jasiri offered her wisdom.
"I can't go home, I'll just end up getting angry." Kion said, his voice weak.
"Then stay at a friend's place or if you're really struggling I know someone looking for a room mate close by, I'll put in a good word for you." Jasiri smiled warmly, as washed away the last speckles of blood "And if you ever need to talk then I know a certain hyena who's a pretty good listener."
Kion smiled for the first time in hours, he had only known this mammal for less than five minutes but Kion could tell that she possessed a caring nature that was hard to find.
NOW…
Kion had left the convenience store about an hour ago and had slowly walked back into the city centre and had rooted himself across the street from the recruitment centre, Jasiri had given him a friendly hug before leaving and reminded him to stop by and talk whenever. The hyena's advice kept repeating in his head 'Sleep on it.', he was beginning to think maybe this whole army idea was foolhardy but the thought of Kiara was stopping him walking away. "Maybe I should ask the others?" Kion asked himself, knowing Robyn, Hannah and Kodi would give him sound counsel on this issue. "I could crash at Kodi's tonight." He thought out loud, reaching for his phone.
ZAAAAAAPPPPPP!
A few seconds of paralysing pain coursed through Kodi's body, his body trembled and his teeth clenched to stop himself screaming before crashing to the ground in an unconscious state. Above Kion's sleeping body was a Sun Bear in black military fatigues and was wearing a baseball cap the wrong way round, in his right hand was a taser and in his left a radio which was brought to his mouth "This is Cloudkicker, I have the subject." He said in a confident manner.
000
Nick and Judy had clocked off from work at the same time, the pair of them drove home chatting normally with Nick purposely avoiding the conversation regarding Bogo's offer of running for mayor, even if Nick wasn't talking about the issue it was clear that it was on his mind, the usual smooth talking, wise cracking vulpine's persona had been substituted with a quiet and deep thinking exterior. The married couple walked into their apartment finding a note from Robyn saying that she was at Kodi's for some 'Video game marathon' this corresponded with a text from Wade Jones earlier, "I'm going to take a shower first ok?" Judy mentioned, she noticed that Nick was lost in his thoughts.
"Um, sure. I'll make us some dinner." Nick replied, thinking that preparing a meal might take his mind off of the situation. As Judy trotted off to the bathroom Nick went to the fridge and gathered some ingredients for a Spanish omelette with a beetroot salad on the side. Nick decided to prepare the salad first and as he was chopping the veggies his mind cycled back to the possibility of becoming mayor I can't be mayor, I don't know how to run a city, I know how to be a cop…but and that was the factor there was a 'but' in his thinking, logically he knew becoming mayor would be a stupid idea but what if he did, could he help the city that he loved? Could he be a strong enough leader for the mammals or this city? Could he stay true to himself and not be corrupted by the power? Maybe but the truth was Nick was too scared to find out.
Nick had made very little progress in prepping the salad when he heard Judy's voice speak "Hey Slick."
Nick set the chopping knife down and sighed "Sorry Carrots I'm not in the mood for cooking, how about we order some Indian fo-" Nick turned around and his words ceased as his emerald eyes fell upon the love of his life; there Judith Laverne Wilde stood in the doorway dressed in a Basque with matching knickers and stockings that comp;imented the colour of Judy's amethyst's eyes, Nick's jaw was wide as he tried to soak up every ounce of beauty radiating off the bunny.
Judy stepped over to Nick with a satisfied smile on her face before using her paw to gently close Nick's mouth before saying "We've both had a rough day, you're thinking about stuff too much and Robyn's hanging out at Kodi's so we're alone, let's just forget everything and enjoy ourselves." It wasn't a question, it wasn't an order either, it was a meeting of minds, Nicks lightly laughed at the fact that his sly bunny always knew what he needed.
About an hour or so later Nick and Judy were laying in the bed entangled in one another's arms feeling the warmth of their love with every heartbeat "Damn Fluff…" Nick breathed, treasuring the moment.
"Right back at you, dumb fox." Judy gave a tired smile, nuzzling into Nick's chest.
"I love you." Nick whispered before kissing Judy atop of her head between her ears.
"Love you too." Judy said on impulse "…I think you can do it."
"What?" Nick mumbled.
"I think you can be mayor." Judy affirmed.
"Woah, I thought we were forgetting stuff right now?" Nick replied, sounding slightly nervous.
"No this was what we needed," Judy corrected "I need to ask you something Nick, why don't you think you can be mayor?"
Nick took a moment to gather his thoughts, he knew he couldn't lie to Judy so he had to admit "I'm not good enough."
"Why would you think that?" Judy chastised, resisting the urge to punch Nick in the arm.
"Because I was never always an honest guy, I was a hustler and now the powerful position in the city is up for grabs, can I still be me with all that power?" Nick vented.
"You can Nick, you've changed, you're a good cop and the mammal I love most on this earth, you're confident with everything else, so be confident now." Judy rallied.
"You should be mayor, you've got more brains and leadership skills." Nick deflected.
"True," Judy smirked "but I'm a cop through and through. I won't force you into a decision but just know I'll be in your corner whatever you choose."
"Thanks Carrots." Nick replied with sincerity, his decision now clear.
000
Spitfire had instructed the three wannabe heroes to stay in the pick up truck while she went to the Sherwood community centre and handed over the recovered meds back to a very surprised Alana Clearwater, the doe was too awestruck to properly thank the mechanized vigilante. Spitfire returned to the truck and got into the front passenger seat with Kodi driving and Robyn and Hannah in the back cab, the mech just fitted inside the vehicle. "Head for the Business sector towards the city centre." Spitfire ordered.
"Sure." Kodi complied, half of him nervous and the other half excited.
"So who's this Maid lady? Did she build you?" Robyn enquired, wondering who on earth would be allied with a robot.
"I'm not a robot, this is just a suit." Spitfire corrected.
"I knew it." Hannah nodded in satisfaction, knowing she detected a heartbeat from within the metal powerhouse.
"So is the Maid your boss?" Kodi probed, keeping his eyes on the road.
"No, I guess you could say she's one of my teachers." Spitifire answered.
"Wait someone taught you to be a superhero? Hang on, you said one of your teachers, who are the others?" Robyn dug.
"Enough questions, you'll find out everything once we get to the bunker." Spitfire stated.
"Bunker? Is that your secret base?" Robyn asked further.
"What did I just say?" Spitifre threw back.
The remainder of the journey was in silence with only directions to the bunker being relayed by Spitfire to Kodi, when they came to an alley beside the Dawson tech building Spitfire pressed a button on her arm revealing the opening to the underground roadway to the Bunker. Kodi was amazed by this and obediently drove down the winding tunnel until they reached the bottom. "Home sweet home." Spitfire said wistfully wile everyone piled out of the truck.
"Holy crap!" Kodi gawped as he took in the surroundings.
"It's like a video game." Robyn added, offering her arm to Hannah
"Does it look cool?" Hannah asked, taking a soft hold on her girlfriend's arm.
"It looks awesome." Robyn smiled, briefly forgetting that she was in trouble.
"Come on, let's head to the armoury, I need to get out of my suit." Spitfire beckoned, leading the three teens down a corridor and into a room that made Robyn gasp upon gazing on it. On the left wall there were bows of all shapes and sizes with quiver upon quiver of different arrow types on display, on the right wall was a range of melee weapons including batons, nun chucks and staves along with different types of tranq guns from pistols all the way up to sniper rifles, in the centre of the room were three docking stations with spare Spitfire mechs occupying two of them and on the back wall were four glass cases with mannequins wearing different costumes within.
"Oh my god." Kodi mumbled, stopping himself from grabbing some weapons off the walls and playing with them.
"Let me get out of this thing and I'll explain what this place is." Spitifre said before stepping into the vacant docking station for her mech, the feet locked in then the arms went into slots where power cables automatically went into ports. The suit powered down and the chest cavity opened to reveal Olivia Dawson climbing out of the cockpit.
"Olivia!?" Robyn gasped, completely caught off guard.
"I knew the heartbeat was small but a mouse, that's a surprise." Hannah uttered, sensing Olivia's shape coming out of the mech.
"The Robot Vigilante is a billionaire scientist, it makes so much sense!" Kodi laughed in disbelief. "Also you're female, I thought you were a guy!"
"Can you help me out of this? I don't want to use the ladders." Olivia asked, taking her neural link helmet off.
"Oh sure." Robyn dashed over and offered her paw as a platform.
"Thanks," Olivia complied, stepping onto Robyn's paw "set me on that desk over there." Pointing to a work station with a mouth sized desk on top of it along with a rodent sized fridge full of sweets and sugary drinks.
Robyn brought Olivia over while asking "So all this time you've been Spitfire?"
"Since I was sixteen." Olivia confirmed, hopping down from Hannah's paw and heading straight to the fridge.
"This is so cool, I've got so many questions!" Robyn yipped, sounding hyped.
"Actually we have some questions for you!" A stern voice boomed from the armoury entrance.
Everyone turned around to face the doorway and if the teens had been surprised by Olivia's reveal well nothing could prepare them for the sight of Marian and Robin Senior in this secret base. "You three have got a lot of explaining to do!" Marian seethed, her face like thunder.
"Nana? Granddad?" Robyn mumbled, feeling more confused than intimidated.
"Wait what are you doing here!?" Kodi asked, completely flummoxed.
"Marian is the Maid." Hannah said, sounding sure of herself.
"Bingo," Olivia smiled, opening a can of mountain dew and taking a sip "meet the OG heroes of Zootopia; The Maid and The Hood."
"Heroes? What?" Robyn uttered, trying to piece everything together.
"Line up, all three of you!" Marian boomed, the three would be vigilantes did as they were told in an instance, even if they were perplexed by all this they weren't going to argue with the furious vixen. Once they were lined up Marain marched over and gave all three a sharp clip around the ear, having to jump up to reach Kodi while shouting "You three idiots!"
"Oww.." Kodi groaned, rubbing his sore head.
"Easy my love, they've been through enough tonight." Robin senior said diplomatically.
"They could've been killed." Marian justified her anger.
"Nana, Granddad what's going on? What did Olivia mean when she said you two were heroes?" Robyn questioned, barely feeling the slap around the head.
"Never mind that, what the hell were you doing at the Razors compound?" Marian butted in.
"Taking back the medicine they stole from the community centre." Hannah answered, stepping forward.
"Noble but foolish," Robin senior sighed "you could've died tonight."
"That might be a little hard for Robyn." Kodi couldn't help but say.
"What do you mean?" Robin senior asked, picking up on the odd comment.
"You want to explain this one?" Kodi asked Robyn.
Robyn sighed and went over to the melee weapon wall, picked up a dagger then said cautiously "Try not to freak out."
"Robyn?" Marian sounded, her curiosity overtaking her anger ever so slightly.
Robyn held out her arm and slashed quickly across her forearm causing Robin senior to yell "Why did you do that!?"
"Get the first aid kit!" Olivia barked as blood poured from the hybrid's arm.
"No need." Robyn assured, the wound quickly closed up leaving only excess blood behind.
Marian, Robin Senior and Olivia were dumbstruck by this 'Miracle', the three were silent for a moment until Hannah spoke "Me and Robyn are a little different, we have gifts."
"HOLY SHIT I CREATED SUPER HEROES!" Olivia cheered loudly, dropping her drink. "What are your powers?!"
"As far as I can tell Robyn possess super strength, rapid healing and can jump really high. As for me I can sense objects and mammals around me like static, my other senses are heightened and my reflexes are super quick." Hannah explained, trying her best to be the calm one in this situation.
"Steel Blood did this to you!? I can't believe it, it was only supposed to help you two beat septicaemia and now look at you!" Olivia gushed, her mind on fire with theories.
"Wait I have some questions." Robyn spoke up turning to her grandparents "Why are you two here?"
Marian was still in state of shock upon seeing Hannah's power luckily Robin senior spoke up "We trained Olivia how to fight crime, now we work as her support team."
"But why? How? Who's the Maid and the Hood!?" Robyn babbled.
Robin senior walked over to the four glass cases with mannequins in them, the first one was a blank fox dummy with a green hooded tunic, black pants and gold gauntlets then told with pride in his voice "Years ago a small band of vigilantes stole from the corrupted rich of Zootopia and gave the spoils to the poor, as well as fighting crime and injustice wherever they found it; they were called the Maid Marian gang or MM gang for short."
"Maid Marian?" Robyn repeated, looking at her grandmother "You started a vigilante group?"
"Y-yes." Marian answered, trying to compose herself. "I was the Maid, we fought for justice in the UK before taking refuge in Zootopia and continuing our work of stealing from the rich and giving to the poor."
Hannah who was absorbing all this info had to ask "Do you two have powers?"
"Ha ha ha, no, no such luck." Robin senior "I'm skilled with a bow and Marian is good in a scrap and was the team's hacker."
Kodi stepped over to Robyn and grinned "Dude your grandparents are bad ass."
"This is too much." Robyn moaned, starting to get a headache. The red furred hybrid leant on one of the glass cases and looked at the costume inside. It was a green sneaking suit and judging from the curves it was meant for a vixen, with a small yellow domino mask on the eyes of the mannequin and topped off with a yellow hunter's hat with a red feather sticking out of it. "Is this the Maid's outfit?"
"No." A voice answered from the doorway, Luna Wilde stepped into the room with a nervous expression on her muzzle "It was mine."
"Luna!?" Hannah crowed.
"Great who's next? Are Mr and Mrs Savage going to show up?" Kodi half joked.
Robyn was becoming more and more confused with each passing second, her mind was in a state of paradox she wanted to block everything out while also wanting to know everything. "You're a hero too?" Robyn asked, struggling to keep up with all these revelations.
"Was," Luna answered, walking over to her baby sister "they used to call me Andraste."
"Was? Lu, this is all too crazy." Robyn stressed.
Luna could see the baffled look in Robyn's eyes, her body was tense, her expression was jittery so Luna did what any good sister would do; she pulled Robyn into a hug, after a few seconds Robyn de-tensed and hugged back. "Oh Robbie, there's so much you don't know."
"Then tell me." Robyn willed, still hugging her big sister.
"Ok, it's time you knew the truth about our family." Luna agreed, ready to reveal all to Robyn, Hannah and Kodi.
000
Kion was slipping in and out of conscious, he didn't have the strength to open his eyes but he could hear stuff, at first he could hear the hum of an engine; he must be in a car or a van. Then he could smell a clinical scent that reminded him of a hospital, he could hear a multitude of voices, the beep of a heart monitor, then he felt a needle going into his arm and then nothing…
He managed to open his eyes a few hours later, he felt exhausted and for some reason his lower spine throbbed with pain. With his blurred vision Kion could see he was in a hospital bed, shirtless and chained to the railings on the side, he didn't have the strength to call for help but he did notice the two blurry figures at the foot of his bed. "I must thank you Kit, this subject is perfect for the program." One of them said, it was a female voice which sounded local.
"Happy to oblige Doctor Willis," The figure known as Kit replied, his voice was a deep and confident male voice "was the elixir system installed successfully?"
"It's at the base of his spine to prevent him tampering with it, we shall begin testing his abilities in the morning after we install the control chip in the elixir pump." Willis replied.
"Well if he's anything like his sister the tests should be interesting." Kit commented.
What? What did he say? Kion's mind flashed.
"Ah yes remember I remember Sergeant Priderock's first transformation, she showed unprecedented skill." Willis added, sounding impressed.
Kiara! They know about Kiara! I need to get out of here and find her! Kion panicked internally.
"The way she threw that tank, I've never seen anything like it." Kit said with a sense of praise.
"Hopefully her brother can live up to her example." Willis wished "Hang on his heart rate is going up."
Kion snapped open his eyes before growling "W-where is she?" He looked at the figures there was a male sun bear in combat fatigues and wearing a baseball cap while a female pygmy hippo in green surgical scrubs looked at Kion with alarm.
"Is he supposed to be awake yet?" Kit asked, backing away slightly.
"The sedative was meant to last til morning." Willis fretted, running to the drug cabinet to fetch something to put Kion back to sleep.
"Kiara! Where is she!?" Kion bellowed, he felt more awake than ever as he struggled against his bonds.
"Get the drugs Willis or I'm going to get a strike team in here!" Kit yelled, un-holstering his pistol and aiming it at Kion.
Normally Kion would be scared but right now his body felt on fire, his muscles felt like they were going to explode, his heart was thundering at an insane rate. Kion looked at his handcuffed wrists and watched as his golden fur turned to a stark white and his arms bulged snapping the cuffs right off. Kit fired off two shots as Kion began to grow larger only for the bullets to bounce off of him, all his fur was white now apart from his mane that was red as the rage in his heart.
"Retreat!" Kit shouted, grabbing Dr Willis and rushing out the door.
"WHERE IS MY SISTER?!" Kion gave a primal scream as his body continued to transform in a herculean fashion. Kion didn't have time to think about what was happening to his body, this was his one chance to find out what happened to Kiara, all the questions could wait, right now he had to catch that bear and hippo. Kion who usually six foot two inches tall now stood around thirteen feet with muscles that looked like they could power through anything. The transformed Lion took a deep breath before letting out a deafening roar then bust through the small door frame to the room and began chasing his captors.
(AN/ DUN DUN DUN! Kion's got a power!? What does his captors know about Kiara? Did you like it? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW! Next time on Star of Ceartais; Luna has a crazy idea, Kion goes on the rampage and the trio of new heroes get a chance to prove themselves. Please review and c ya soon...)