It struck Lisa as inappropriate just how quickly they got back to the others. A complicated journey through a maze of dark underground tunnels should take more than a few minutes, otherwise it was hardly a journey at all. More of an excursion, or a trip.
So it was after a short trip through the dark that they reached their temporary hideout...
Lisa had to admit, it was more impressive than she had expected. Dimly lit by a few stubborn bulbs was what she could only describe as an underground warehouse. One that was both oddly warm and much larger than she would have expected from a space originally carved out by smugglers several centuries ago.
signs of tools, signs of multiple tools, signs of multiple methods
Or the original space had been much smaller and later smugglers had added to it.
That would explain the bizarre mix of packaging lying around the place. Everything from some scattered barrels that looked truly ancient, to stacks of rusted steel crates, to a heap of dusty plastic wrap off in one corner.
Sprawled atop a wooden pallet was a pitifully moaning lump that she recognised. However before she could call out to it, someone else spoke right into her ear.
"You found us."
Her heart leapt even higher than she did, but she did at least refrain from screaming. All the surprises lately were improving her reactions.
Whirling on the spot she started working herself up to yell at Rachel for giving her such a fright, only to deflate when she found the dog-loving girl blinking guilelessly back at her. Going by the dogs emerging from a dark alcove behind her, Lisa figured that she must have been standing guard. In there she'd have had a clear view of the entrance tunnel -the only way in or out that Lisa could see- and wouldn't have been easily spotted.
'Can't really scream at her for being cautious.'
"Hey Rachel, this place is great, how'd you find it?"
Instead of replying, Rachel grunted and nodded at where Taylor was shrinking and squirming underneath a surprisingly clean pile of cloth. Then the pile inflated and Lisa recognised it as one of her old dressing gowns. Now draped over a rapidly transforming Taylor.
After belting the robe tightly closed, she turned and smiled shyly at both other girls.
"I uh, lead Rachel here. We kinda found Alec along the way. After we split up she was looking for a place to wait for them to stop looking for us and like I told you, my dad liked to tell me about these tunnels. "
Somewhere in her recollection, Taylor had drifted into a memory, talking less to them and more just to hear herself remember. She wandered over to a particular crate that looked a lot less dusty than the others.
"He showed me this place just over two years ago, told me how it was one of the only ones that the cops never found...he loved that story."
Lisa couldn't help but let her power loose just a little, something about how Taylor brushed her hand across the crate.
uneven dust pattern, regular pattern of disturbance, pattern fits place setting, pattern fits wine glasses, expensive meal
There was no need for her power to fill in the rest, it was unlikely that Taylor and her Dad had had a meal with wine. The sinking feeling in her gut only made her more certain.
"Your parents, they had an anniversary here. Didn't they."
"...The last one before my mom...before she...and um, and a few other times over the years. They really liked this place."
"Taylor I am so so sorry. We can go find somewhere else-"
"What? No!" Taylor snapped out of her memories and whirled to face them, "No, I wasn't, I didn't mean it like that."
Taking a deep breath she gathered herself and met Lisa's gaze head on.
"Trust me, they'd have approved of us using it to hide from someone like that cow. It was just a nice memory is all."
Relaxing a little, Lisa let herself agree. It was a nice story. She could even see it in her mind's eye. The man who the news channels had been harassing all week -looking younger and happier than he had in those ambush interviews- sitting across the crate from a woman with Taylor's hair. A picnic laid out between them while they exchanged smiles and stories of the smugglers who had traded in the very place they were sitting.
Lisa had never really understood romance, or what was so appealing about it, and she'd certainly never gotten up the guts to share that fact with anyone. Imagining that scene still made her feel something. Loneliness, perhaps? Or maybe a longing for parents who sneaked into smugglers' dens instead of...
She shook that fantasy off with the familiarity of harsh practice. Their neglect was an old wound and her attention would only make it fester.
A certain pitiful lump seemed like a much better target for her attention. So she gave the girls a grin and sauntered over to Alec's pallet of misery.
Once she got closer the good humour died fast. He was ghost pale and shaking and clutching his scarf wrapped arm close to his chest. The covering did little to hide the four clear bends in it, only one of which could be his elbow. In place of the usual lazy grin, he was biting his lip hard enough to draw blood. When he say her his eyes focused on her with an intensity that was almost frightening, clearly desperate for distraction.
"Y-you look like shit Alec. Guess frisbee with Glory Girl is an extreme sport."
He snorted a laugh through clenched teeth, managing to unlock his jaw enough to reply, "Fuck you too you skinny bitch, see if I save your ass again."
'There's no way that he took that hit and it only damaged his arm. I'm guessing ribs too, maybe something internal...it's incredible that he made it down here in this state.'
Reaching carefully into one of her belt pouches, Lisa kept his attention away from it as best she could, "As I recall, it was me saving your scrawny ass." She had a good idea what he would say if he saw what was in it but she couldn't just leave him like this.
"What've you got there?" His voice was hard and his gaze had pierced her sleight-of-hand. There was no point lying about it any further so she pulled out the little auto-injector of morphine and waved it cheerily in the air.
"Something to help you with the pain."
"Don't be stupid, how the fuck am I going to get out of here high on that shit?"
"How are you going to get out of here if you can barely move Alec? Just take the morphine-"
"And get left behind. I know how this works Lisa. Keep that needle away from me."
She considered trying to reassure him, then abandoned the idea. Alec was hardly trusting at the best of times. With as much pain as he seemed to be in there wasn't much hope of convincing him they wouldn't leave him to save themselves.
"Maybe I can help?" Taylor spoke up at her side.
Alec shot an incredulous glare at her, "How the fuck are you going to help? Make me a pitbull with a broken leg instead?"
Taylor took several steps back from the force of his response, starting to shy away when Rachel stepped up behind her. Confidence had never been deficient in the heavy-set girl, and she must have lent some to Taylor by standing at her back because she squared her shoulders and strode right up to Alec's makeshift bed.
"I think I can heal you. Like I healed myself, um, well I guess you didn't see that, but I can heal myself and I can probably heal you too. Maybe." Despite trailing into insecurity somewhere along the way, Taylor had a hopeful expression when she finished. Looking to Alec for his verdict.
"Maybe? You can shove maybe up your ass." Alec burst her bubble.
"You got another idea?" Rachel growled.
There was no reply. Lisa might have thought he'd passed out if his eyes weren't still fixed on her hands. Not that he was in any state to stop her...
'I really hope it doesn't come to that...still...'
"He has a point Taylor." She found herself saying, "Do you know for sure that you can give people regeneration? I thought you'd only turned people into normal dogs."
"No but I could feel other forms inside them. All the same ones that are inside me."
"That's not the only consideration."
Rachel and Taylor both looked mystified, forcing Lisa to just come out and say it.
"Taylor, have you ever heard of Teacher?"
"...um, yeah, he's the guy who made someone- Hey! You think I'm trying to brainwash you guys?!" Anger was written across her entire body at the perceived accusation.
"No!" Lisa hurried to reassure her, "No, I know you're not like that. It's just that powers like yours...Well sometimes they have other effects. And neither of the people that you've transformed have been seen since."
"So what? You think that I might have fucked with their heads?"
"Accidentally. I'm not saying you meant to. Just that it's possible. Are you sure that it isn't?"
That question dispelled the rage and left her looking unsure.
"Use it on me then." Rachel chose that moment to remind them of her presence.
Lisa sputtered, "Wha- Rachel that's-"
"If it fucks with my head then you'll know. Right?"
"Of course."
"Then she can use it on me first, if it works she can heal Alec. That cool with you Taylor?"
"Rachel you can't just..." Lisa found her words deserting her at the look on Rachel's face. Rather than the anger Lisa had been expecting, she looked determined. Ready for the consequences.
"We need to fix him up if we want a shot at escaping." Rachel jabbed a thumb towards the 'him' in question, "You need to watch the test. Taylor can't test it on herself. That leaves me."
'That's...surprisingly sound logic.'
Left without a good reason to disagree, Lisa bit her lip as she ran through a few potential arguments in her head. They'd need to sneak past the white hats if they wanted to get away, which would be almost impossible with Alec in the state he was in. Finally she had to admit to herself that it was the best idea they had.
With a begrudging nod, Lisa looked around and said, "That area's clearest. We should do it over there." Then she lead the way over to a space near one wall, about the size of their loft's living room and at least twice as tall. That it had a convenient stack of crates for her to sit on was just happy coincidence.
By the time she'd hauled her tired body up to her intended perch, Rachel had removed her heavy coat and was standing in just a t-shirt and her skirt. She rubbed at her exposed arms, staring resolutely at Taylor as the younger girl paced rapidly back and forth in front of her. Right when Lisa was about to speak up, she found her courage and grabbed Rachel's elbow.
At first nothing happened, Taylor got a contemplative look on her face and Rachel went very very tense.
schlorp
Then Rachel had fur. Fine auburn hair sprouted from her skin wherever Lisa could see it and probably across the rest of her as well, though she was so intent on Taylor that she didn't notice at first. Lisa had to admit that the double take she directed at her hands was pretty funny. Even if the joke was ruined by the way she gasped and began frantically checking her body.
"What happened!? Did it go wrong?!" Rachel almost shrieked.
"No." Taylor had both hands out and was clearly trying to calm her down, "I just figured it was best to try one of my human-ish forms first. Keep from wrecking your clothes."
"But-! I thought you were just gonna make me into a dog!"
'This is definitely out of character, but it doesn't seem like any kind of control' unusually open reaction, unusual display of emotion, uninhibited display of emotion 'Wait...that could explain quite a lot.'
Taylor had struggled to describe her rampage through the school and Lisa hadn't wanted to push her. It had seemed like a fairly standard trauma induced mental break and she'd left it at that...but what if it wasn't.
If Taylor's power came with heightened emotions then her rampage was easy to understand. Anger at her trigger plus a power that took the brakes off equalled berserk rage. All of her outbursts since coming to stay with them had followed the same pattern, always accompanied by transformation. Which might mean that was the limit of the mental effects.
Pulling her attention back to the warehouse, Lisa found Rachel was almost hyperventilating now.
'Weird, I'd have expected more anger from her.'
Instead she was clinging to Taylor's hand and looking up at her without a hint of blame. Which was concerning.
Decided she's learned enough, Lisa yelled "Rachel, it's fine!" Then flinched as, instead of showing any kind of relief, Rachel literally snarled at her. Anger turned to confusion just as quickly.
"It feels really weird Lisa, she didn't mean it but something's happened."
"You just need to calm down. It's not fucking with your head or anything-" 'I think.' "-it's just making you feel things stronger than normal. Once you get used to it it should be easy to control yourself." 'I hope.'
Sure enough her breathing began to normalise, finally slowing to a normal pace. Moving with exaggerated caution Rachel brought a hand up to her face and examined her new fur. Peering especially closely at the tough little claws that Lisa hadn't noticed at first.
calm, no imposed emotions, emotional effect only removes inhibition, emotional effect does not prevent rational thought, emotional effect does not alter thoughts
Unsure how much she could trust her power on this one, Lisa dropped down from the crate stack and bought herself some time to think.
"Pretty cool. I like that colour on you Rachel." The girl in question didn't respond, either ignoring her or too absorbed to pay attention, Lisa redirected her conversation to Taylor, "Good job Taylor. It does seem like a pretty huge effort for just a little fur and some claws but once she's used to it we can try something bigger."
"Um," Taylor didn't flinch at the two stares suddenly fixed on her, but it seemed like a close thing, "It's not just fur. I gave her everything I could. That form's focused on regeneration but there's improved strength, toughness, and a bunch more stuff."
"...Oh."
'That's...that could change...everything.'
Desperately reigning in her rising hopes, Lisa reminded herself that it wouldn't be worth much if it fried her brain. Not to mention that Taylor might be wrong.
"Are you sure? Even if that's what you meant to give her, we still need to check that it worked."
Rachel shrugged and poked at her left arm with the fingers of her right hand. Realisation came a moment too late and she swept her claws along her own skin as Lisa was opening her mouth to tell her not to do it. Blood sprayed across the warehouse floor and Lisa rushed over to her while pulling out her medical supplies.
"What the hell were you thinking!? She gave you strength too, we could have just tested...that..." Her voice trailed off as she wiped away blood to find the wounds and found bare skin. No, there were a few red lines, already fading to pink, then turning the same shade as the rest of Rachel's forearm. It had taken maybe a few seconds to heal.
Feeling a little numb, Lisa returned the bandages to their usual place.
"It's kind of like balancing a budget, or making a character in one of those games with all the numbers. Since that form has really high regeneration it doesn't have much else, just a bunch of small boosts, but the healing is fast and should work for just about anything."
"Awesome, it works. You fucks want to heal me any time today?!" Alec reminded them of why they'd been testing things to start with.
Taylor looked askance to Lisa and she couldn't see a reason not to nod. It wasn't like the mental effects would even do anything to Alec with his fucked up emotions. So, leaving Rachel standing around looking a little stunned, Lisa trailed behind as Taylor ran over to his pallet and placed a gentle hand on his forehead. Her eye's widened and she turned a panicked look towards Lisa.
"He has a fever!" She hissed in the way of someone trying to whisper across an entire room.
"Yeah, he does, so maybe hurry up and fix me." Alec snapped.
Looking down at him, Taylor wrung her hands and said, "I'm not sure if I can fix a fever. Does regeneration work for stuff like that?"
"Why the hell are you asking me? Oi Lisa, does regeneration fix fevers."
Lisa cocked an eyebrow, "Does it really matter?"
"Guess not, but if I turn into a giant fever monster then you guys aren't allowed to kill me."
'If it was anyone else I'd take that as a sign they were turning delirious.'
With a firm nod to Taylor, Lisa settled back in a very relaxed and unworried posture. Meaning her hands were in her pockets and thus no one could see her crossing her fingers.
By now the sound of the transformation was becoming familiar, if no less disconcerting for that.
Like with Rachel, a layer of fur was the obvious sign that he had been transformed, though this time Lisa picked up on the smaller differences. Claws at each finger tip, a slight thickening of those limbs she could see, and even some subtle changes to his facial structure. Nothing too shocking really. It was almost anti-climatic.
His voice was a smidge deeper, "Is that it?"
Then his arm started writhing like it was caught in a hurricane. Alec's response surprised absolutely no one.
"Motherfuck piece of cunting shit! Fucking cock-sucking fuuuuck!" Was just the introduction to the veritable seminar on profanity that he began screaming.
However despite the obvious pain and some truly nauseating snapping sounds issuing from his arm, Lisa power kept her calm.
healing delayed, delay due to pre-existing injury, delay irrelevant to healing efficacy, healing complete in two point six seconds, healing complete in
So Lisa limited herself to a comforting hand on Taylor's shoulders and using that hand to pull her back from where Alec would be done healing right...about...
The writhing stopped. His mouth took a few moments to catch up, "-bollock-munching whore of a...hey...it doesn't hurt any more."
He sat up slowly and smoothly, pulling himself upright on core strength alone, stretching both arms out as he did so. There wasn't even a sign of which one was injured...except for some bloody tears in his sleeve that made Lisa incredibly glad she hadn't seen his injured arm without the scarf covering it. He flexed both arms, slowly at first then faster and rougher until he was throwing himself from side to side with each movement. Finally he hurled too much weight to one side and overbalanced right off the pallet, rolling to the floor in a jumble of limbs that had both girls rushing forward to help him up.
Only instead of the scowl Lisa was expecting to find on his face, he was wearing the biggest smile she'd ever seen. The kind of honest smile that Alec never wore, that she didn't think he was even capable of, and just to creep her out even more he arched his back and began laughing. Loudly and with a level of glee that would have been infectious if it wasn't so disturbing.
"Okay Alec..." The laughter didn't stop, "I think that's enough..." If anything he laughed harder, "You have a great pretend laugh, please stop."
"He's not pretending." Rachel said, sounding even more confused than Lisa felt.
"What? How would you know that?" Even as she said it, her focus was on Rachel as much as Alec. As confused as she had sounded, it hadn't come with any kind of uncertainty. Lisa knew the other girl wouldn't -couldn't- answer her question, but the answer came to her regardless.
Rachel was looking at Alec the same way she had occasionally looked at Taylor. Like she wasn't sure what she was looking at, and with something else beneath that uncertainty, something Lisa finally recognised.
'Understanding.' understanding
So somehow a girl who couldn't tell a smile from a snarl could suddenly read human body language...except that wasn't it at all. Lisa's power bridged the gap enough for it not to matter, but when she was transformed Taylor's body language shifted. It took on elements that had reminded Lisa of a dog, not a complete alteration, but maybe enough that someone with a supernatural understanding of such cues could read them.
Which left the mystery of Alec...and if Rachel was right and he was laughing genuinely, something which should have been impossible given what his father had done to him...
She looked at Alec, really looked at him, and let her power infer what it could without her assumptions holding it back.
happy, relieved, happy, confused, emotionally numb, happy, emotional damage overridden by removal of emotional inhibition, happy, unable to understand emotional input, confused at emotional input, happy, happy
"Huh." Alec's laughter was finally dying down and Lisa found herself leaning forward, deeply curious as to what he would do next.
Laughter became a grin that threatened to take his head off and he clambered to his feet.
"Holy fuck, how are you not tripping out over this? It feels amazing. Amazing!" He broke off into a fit of giggling and then practically skipped over to his abandoned pallet to grab his sceptre, muttering cheerfully about needing to grab a new phone from the loft. The way he began twirling it through his fingers had Lisa imagining the consequences of a fumble with the electrified end, but asking him to stop ran the risk that he'd start laughing again.
It was kind of creepy.
"So...I guess I'm up next." Lisa mumbled as she tugged off her gloves. Telling herself that Alec's reaction was due to his unique issues didn't make it any more appealing...but she couldn't ignore the list of benefits Taylor had recited. Especially with them trapped like this.
Some advantages were worth risks. Even the risk of mental alterations that might fuck up the only good thing about her.
Taylor came close enough to hug her, then reached up to cup her cheek. Lisa caught her hand an inch away from making contact.
"Um..." 'I don't know if I can do this.'
"Lisa? Are you okay?"
She wasn't. Just thinking of something messing with her mind made her sick with horror. However the others had done it and if she didn't do the same then she'd only be making herself into a burden. So Lisa reached for her pride and let in give her the strength she needed.
"I'm fine, I was just wondering if you had anything sleeker available? I don't think a normal dog would look that great on me."
Her flimsy excuse for hesitating had more effect than she'd intended. Taylor pulled back her hand and scrunched her face in thought. After almost a minute of what Lisa assumed to be some kind of internal search, Taylor nodded and looked up at her with a smile that was downright mischievous.
"I do have more than just dogs, and I think I found one you'll like."
Lisa forced herself to return the smile and clasp Taylor's hand in both of her own.
Then she felt it. Like every cell in her body was stretching a kink out of its back and shrinking at the same time. By the time she became aware of the layer of warmth covering her body Taylor had already released her hand and stepped back.
There was a mirror in her belt, somehow despite her claws it was even easier to pull it out then normal. Apprehension flooded her as she brought it up to her face, then she turned it around and saw...a fox.
Overall her facial structure had barely changed. She didn't have an animal head or anything, but the fur and the slight shifts in her nose and her cheeks, it all screamed fox. The tail she realised was swaying gently behind her, that just confirmed it.
"I hope you like it, you've always kind of reminded me of a fox so..."
Lisa answered with a frantic sequence of nods. She loved it! She had a big bushy fox tail, and it was beautiful. She was beautiful. If only her mother could see her now then she'd have no choice but to admit it.
Thinking of her mother reminded her of all the horrible things that the woman used to tell her. Of being told to diet and to exercise and to eat more and eat less. She was sniffing and rubbing her eyes by the time her thoughts drifted back to when her mother had gone through her closet and thrown all her favourite clothes on the floor and told her that she was too old for frills and pastel colours and they would need to get her a whole new wardrobe but she had wanted to keep some of her favourites and her mom had...had...
Lisa held her cheek and tried not to sob, she knew that she had to fight it. That she could get control of herself like the others had but it was so hard and thinking of her mother just made her think of her father and then that made her think of Rex and then she really wanted to cry and-
Warmth. It scattered her memories and brought her back to the underground warehouse. To where she was crouching on the floor and someone had thrown thick strong arms around her. Someone that smelt of dogs and sweat and comfort.
Simply having those arms around her made her feel stronger. Strong enough to stand up to the memories. She was stronger than them. She was bigger than them. She was tougher than them. She was...actually getting bigger.
It hit her like a bucket of ice water with a complementary bolt of pain down her spine.
Rachel was hugging her and -only marginally more shocking- Rachel was using her power on her. Already she could feel her bones creaking and her muscles straining at her skin. She was standing up and several steps away from Rachel before another thought could cross her mind.
The other girl had gone from roughly the same height as her to nearly a foot shorter, but it was her eyes that drew Lisa's attention.
They were so kind. So gentle. Filled with understanding. With acceptance.
She hated them.
One long stride closed the distance. "Why the fuck did you use your power on me dumbass!" Lisa shouted right in her face.
Rachel didn't even flinch. Just reached out, as if she was going to give her a hug.
Lisa slapped her hands away. Probably hard enough to do some damage, not that she cared. In fact she wanted to hurt Rachel. Anything to break that mask and get at the anger that had to be beneath the gentle lie.
not angry
No one could look at her like that. No one could see what she was really like and...
concerned
-and...
understands
-and not hate her. Not look down on her. Not treat her like the selfish little fool that-
Arms closed around her again and Lisa almost, almost, let the tears out. Instead she took the deepest breath that she could, and got herself back under control.
Meditation wasn't something she'd ever been great at, but the slow rhythm of a half-remembered mantra helped her to slow her heart beat. By the time she'd done that her breathing was back to normal, which distracted her long enough for the turmoil in her heart to calm down.
This time she withdrew from Rachel's arms slowly. Careful even as she shrunk back down, Rachel withdrawing the boost that she had given -Lisa guessed- without even realising she was doing it.
Cautiously, Lisa reached for an emotional memory to test her control, only for it to feel...more, but not the overpowering assault of a few minutes ago. Emotions still came faster, more freely and stronger. Just not as much stronger.
'Maybe it's only the first time there's a huge effect?'
Looking around, Rachel supported that theory, but Alec was still vibrating with glee over in the corner. He was throwing himself into the pile of plastic wrap, then rolling away and doing it again, over and over and over...but then Alec was probably a special case.
Yeah, it made sense for the first time to be extra potent. Presumably that had been why Taylor rampaged at Winslow but had only had minor outbursts since. Well, something about that theory still didn't sit right with her but even she had to call it a day sometimes. She could figure out the rest later.
"So guys, who's up for getting out of here?"
Rachel looked at her approvingly, then bit her lip in an almost comical 'thinking face'. Lisa was just about to ask her what had occurred to her when she grit her teeth and looked very intently at her navel.
Then she grew a foot taller and sprouted a row of stubby little horns across her brow.
"Wait! No! That wasn't my plan at all!"
After she had gotten everyone calmed down and listening to her plan instead of jumping to conclusions about what it involved, getting out of the PRT perimeter had turned out to be hilariously easy.
Attacking head on had appealed to Lisa in a way it normally didn't. Which meant she was even less willing to do things that way than she normally was. They had had no idea how many heroes were waiting for them on the streets, nor what the PRT had brought in to aid them. For all they knew Alexandria herself might have dropped in for some tea and a quick beatdown. So, as tempting as it had been to see what happened if Rachel gave one of them a serious boost, they'd opted for a slightly sneakier approach.
Which meant turning into a pack of stray dogs.
It had involved a fair bit of embarrassment. Starting with the discussion over how to deal with clothing. Alec had advocated for just leaving it where it was, Rachel had argued that she liked her coat and Lisa had reminded them both that she had her gear with her and there was no way in hell she was leaving without it. They'd just started talking about tying their clothes to one another when Lisa remembered the roll of emergency loot bags she had tucked into one of her pouches. Though the other three had persisted in calling them gym bags despite her insistence.
Which had lead to the real embarrassing part, wherein they'd rigged layers of plastic packing wrap into a privacy curtain and taken turns to strip down, pack their clothes into one of the bags and reach a hand through for Taylor to grasp. Then there'd been about ten minutes of awkwardly stumbling around trying to get used to having four legs and no hands before finally they had been ready.
Rachel had had the easiest time of it. Not because she'd been especially good at walking on four legs, but because as soon as she'd been transformed her dogs had dashed over to her and stuck so close to her side that she hadn't been able to fall over.
Once they could walk straight, each of them took a bag in their mouth and Rachel barked at her dogs until they gave her some space. Then they'd all barked at Alec -which had felt strangely satisfying- until he stopped chasing his new tail and calmed down. Then they'd headed off into the tunnels.
Unlike on the way there, when she'd had only a flashlight and the sound of Taylor's claws to guide her, this time Lisa was able to see the tunnel they were walking through. Her vision hadn't lost any colour with the transformation, but her new night vision attested that her eyes had been changed in some way. Showing her concrete and pipes and an incredible quantity of cobwebs.
Being able to see the tunnel hadn't made the route any less confusing and Lisa had passed the time by wondering how long it had taken Taylor to memorise the directions to this little hideaway. Not that she was surprised. If her parents had shown her a secret underground lair then Lisa would probably have refused to leave it for a month, let alone memorising the way to get to it.
Honestly Lisa still really wanted an underground base. Unfortunately after a few dozen twists and turns she'd been forced to abandon any ideas of claiming this one for her own. The PRT agent stomping through the tunnels made sure of that.
They'd heard the boots long before they got close enough to peek at them through a grate set low in one wall. Their were two of them, well-armed and wearing helmets Lisa knew for a fact contained night vision tech, stomping down a parallel tunnel. Except they hadn't been stomping at all. When she got a look at them Lisa realised that it wasn't that their footsteps were loud, it was that her hearing was really really good.
Which had given her all sorts of ideas.
Avoiding arrest had struck her as more important, so she put them to the back of her mind and got back to following Taylor through the tunnels. Though even with the hostile boots echoing around them Lisa hadn't been worried, not after they ghosted past the first few.
They were almost to the end of the tunnels when they heard it, a low din of sirens and voices. It was coming from the direction of the exit.
The others had pulled back, a scent her power identified as fear creeping into the air. Lisa hadn't hesitated at all. Instead she'd woofed for their attention and once she had it, she lead the way back through the last few turns. There she found a vent covered by a rusted old grille, nothing unusual down here, and the scent of salt air.
With a very vulpine grin, she flicked her bushy tail towards the grille and waited for them to see it.
The very tip of her tail was fluttering ever so slightly in a breeze.
The metal gave way in a single swipe of Taylor's claws, then they were scrambling up it as fast as they could. A long climb in a cramped, dark tube before they abruptly piled into one another in a mess of legs and claws and screeching metal and light.
They tumbled out into the fresh air. Fragments of the metal grille falling together with them.
Sure it hurt when they hit the sidewalk, but Lisa was more concerned with the flood of fresh air all around them. She hadn't even noticed how stale the air was down in the tunnels until she got a wonderful fox-sized lungful of sweet sweet salty air. Most important of all, the distinctive sounds of a PRT perimeter were almost inaudible. They were free and clear.
The others were just as happy with their surroundings as she was, Alec was literally bouncing up and down.
Rachel loosed a happy woof, then when she had their attention, she dashed off down the street.
Lisa followed her just for the joy of it. Running had never appealed to her before, but something about four legs made all the difference. Maybe it was being so close to the ground. Feeling its texture with every step. Sometimes gross and slushy, sometimes firm and satisfying beneath her paws.
Streets passed in a blur, so maybe it was the speed that made it so much fun. Then again the scream as they rushed by a girl on the sidewalk was pretty satisfying too.
'Wasn't that Dana? I'll need to apologise to her later.'
In fact it was so much fun that Lisa didn't realise they weren't heading towards the loft until they were running along the dockside.
Before she could say -bark- anything, Rachel lead them inland again. Warehouses loomed on every side, one of them with a gaping hole in the front wall that Lisa was surprised they didn't head for. Instead Rachel lead them on until they reached a narrow alleyway strewn with the debris of several years of neglect.
While they picked their way towards what looked like a dead end, Lisa began to suspect that this might be where Rachel had intended to lead them when they first set out. Then Rachel set her weight against a dumpster and heaved it out of the way to reveal a ragged hole in the wall, vanishing through it with her dogs close behind her.
The three of them left behind traded glances, then followed her through into...well...it wasn't what Lisa was expecting.
What had she expected? Some kind of abandoned storage room, maybe an old office.
Definitely not a hidden garden.
If she had to guess, Lisa would say that it was a forgotten space. The kind of thing that always happened when too many people owned windowless buildings too close together. All of them looked at their walls and assumed that their property ended exactly where the walls did, that whatever was on the other side must be their neighbours'. So whatever was actually between those walls got left to fend for itself.
Of course that was usually a few square feet of dust and cobwebs, not a space at least the size of their loft and blanketed in greenery. Oh, and then there was the tree. A huge damn tree standing over them, its canopy reaching out to the walls on every side.
Stepping onto soft grass, Lisa attempted a fox laugh when she noticed that it even smelt nice in this place. The laugh worked surprisingly well, kind of a barking chuckle.
Rachel was lying against the trunk of the-
oak
-oak tree. She looked peaceful. Mostly because she was taking a nap.
Grinning a fox grin at the way Alec started dashing around the grass, exploring bushes and overgrown crates, Lisa decided to join her...friend.
Not long after she lay down for a nap of her own, Taylor joined them.
The breeze on her skin woke Lisa up.
Thankfully she got her hands over her mouth before her scream could wake everyone else.
Her clothes bag was close enough for her to reach it, then it was just a matter of getting dressed as quickly as humanly possible and keeping her gaze firmly on the canopy above them. Once she was done Lisa nudged Rachel with her foot until the butch girl stirred, then she threw the relevant bag at her and waited for her to get dressed.
Taylor was, unlike the rest of them, still transformed. Judging by the angle of the shadows it wasn't even noon, which was enough to get a rough guess of how long the transformations had lasted. Somewhere between one and two hours. Useful to know.
'...okay, can't just pretend he's not here.'
Since searching for Alec would risk the nightmarish scenario of seeing Alec naked, Lisa opted to yell, "Alec! Wake up and get some clothes on."
"Why?" Said a familiar voice that was far too close for comfort.
She very carefully did not turn around.
"Because if I see you without clothes on then I might just shoot you."
"Well then I'll just drape this here," There was a rustle of cloth over flesh, "And the dork can turn me back without anyone burning out their innocent little retinas."
"You want to transform again?" Lisa was beyond incredulous. How could he have forgotten what just happened. They run across town and gone to sleep in a secret garden. That was impressive even by drunken story standards.
"You want to try the mask plan again?"
She had to admit he had a point. Even so when they got Taylor awake, Lisa was very clear that she would once again be the last of them to transform. If she saw even a hint that things were about to degrade into another romp through the streets then she was pulling the plug.
As such it was a relief when all three transformations brought nothing close to what they had the first time. Rachel and Alec both kept their cool, and Lisa herself felt...well it was hard to describe the difference. She was certain the effect was still present. It just wasn't keeping her from thinking clearly any more.
Looking around confirmed it. Rachel was standing in the same vaguely threatening posture she always did, simply converted into a four limbed version. Meanwhile Alec was especially subdued. Lisa wondered if that meant the disinhibition had only worked on him the first time, or he just didn't feel as happy this time around.
At least Rachel didn't glare at her when she took the lead. So one good thing had come of this whole disaster. Possibly.
They moved cautiously this time. No mad dashes through the streets. Wherever possible they stayed in the shadows. Where they had to come out in the open it was never for longer than absolutely necessary. Always from cover to cover.
This way it took them the best part of an hour to get back to the loft, by which time it was past noon and Lisa was wishing she'd just rolled over and gone back to sleep that morning. She could barely believe that they still had so much of the day left to go.
They nudged the street door open and scurried inside before pushing it shut again. Lisa huffed a sigh out of her long furry nose and wandered if she could get away with calling it a night mid-afternoon. When the others clambered rapidly up the loft stairs, she opted to drag herself upwards one step at a time. Until finally she could toss her bag into the loft with a flick of her head and heave herself up that last step to find the one thing she had forgotten staring down at her.
Brian was holding a cup of tea in one hand and his phone in the other. If she'd looked at either object she'd have noticed immediately that his hands were white-knuckled and shaking slightly, but his face demanded all of her focus.
In much the same way that a ticking bomb tended to.
"So, since I'm guessing you're Lisa, would you mind telling me what the hell is going on?"
'I probably should have left him a note.'