Purrcy had stayed in her body as long as possible, protecting herself as best she could, until the electricity coursing through her was too much. She slipped out and inside. The strain on her center of magic was becoming too much. She wasn't fighting it. That would make it worse.
She quickly wove a special shield over her center of magic to prevent the magic from leaking out and to prevent anything from getting in this time. The shield would soak up any MP coming out, convert it to HP to heal that muscle and help it relax without tearing. It was the best she could do, then even her spirit had to flee from her body.
It went unconscious but it wasn't until she saw what the monitor on the machine was showing that she understood. They could see one thing she'd not considered. Purrcy wrote one more code spell and counterfed it down the line from her body into the machine along the lines they were reading.
It overwrote the program on the computer so that it modified that data line request and display on a decreasing scale until it flat-lined. The technician began to slowly decrease the output of the machine and her body tensed for that long flopped, but nothing relaxed on its own. That was going to take a long time to recover from.
She watched as a door was opened from a room on the other hallway. The technician and another man lifted her body and carried it into the next room, put her on a gurney, covered her face even, and the second man rolled her body away. The technician went back into the room and began the report summary and cleaning the equipment.
Purrcy made sure her program change was permanently written into the code wherever it was in the building so that those who came after her would get the shorter and non-permanent damage, then she flew along her connection to her body. It was being wheeled into an ambulance style vehicle, although perhaps crossed with a hearse it was so short in comparison to civilian ambulances.
She slipped into the vehicle and rode as a passenger. The drive was short - only to the docks. That was concerning. They passed a number of U.S. military ships until they reached a dock that was set out closer to the bay. The vehicle drove into the ship and was closed in with a loud and dull clang that reverberated.
The ship's engines, already at a low hum, increased in whine and sound and the ship was pulling out of port, even if she didn't really know it. She stayed curled up next to her body as long as she could, until her time ran out and she had to enter it. The excruciating pain was brief as unconsciousness claimed her.
-:-:-:-:-
The next time Purrcy woke up, her muscles were straining so tight she could barely breathe. That meant she woke up in a panic, with enough fear to overcome the level of restraints on the emotion. She had to slip out of her body again to see why and what was going on.
This time, it was a little different. This time the electrical restraints were making her tense up one section of her body at a time. And she wasn't in a chair. She was still lying on a gurney, strapped down. That wasn't surprising considering how badly it was being strained. She was currently arching around her upper middle with her arms reaching straight out.
Immediately she flew into herself to confirm that her web-like bandage on her center of magic was reinforced and sufficient to hold. She called up hormones to begin working in that area to both protect it with extreme flexibility and with natural pain killers. As that worked, she headed back out again to look at the monitor, staying very small and invisible.
Comparing the lines with what she'd seen before, she picked out the damaging one, then set up code that would make it so that the electrodes that were around her lower middle would read exactly the same as the upper ones were right at that moment, regardless of what might come out of her.
She watched the monitors with trepidation as the electricity was finally moved down. When it looked like that code was functioning the way she needed it to be, she went back inside, but was immediately thrown back out. Even if the magic bandage held, her spirit couldn't abide being in the middle of that level of energy. It was an evil energy if it had to be compared to anything, even though technically electricity was neither good nor evil on its own any more than grass or fire was.
Purrcy shivered in a corner of the room, eventually not able to watch anything but the monitor, counting the seconds until they decided they weren't going to get the readings they wanted. Did they not understand that a woman her age couldn't survive such treatment? Having already had it once, it wasn't going to be good having a second treatment in this much more an intense manner.
When they were done and arguing about the results, she slipped into her body, heartsick, and it cried her tears for her, silent because her muscles couldn't move to do any more than that.
When Purrcy awoke again, she could feel hands at her wrists. Her eyes snapped open and a young Asian man was just putting her hand down, the wrist electrodes strapped on again. "No!" she cried. "I can't take another one!" The man startled a little but looked at her almost dispassionately. "I don't know what you're doing, but I am old. My body won't live through another one. Please, don't."
The young man moved and the railing on her gurney caught his lab coat. Underneath it was a uniform. She didn't recognize anything on it, but she wouldn't anyway. She sobbed once. She had no idea why the U.S. Military had traded her to an Asian military, had no idea what they thought they would accomplish by killing her, but if they really didn't care about gently learning from one, then they were experimenting on far more than one or a few.
This time, Purrcy's anger rose above the limits. She slipped out and wrote code with almost abandon. She slipped it into this computer, then searched for every computer that had code like it or related to it within the range she could reach.
When it was planted as a hidden bomb everywhere she could find, she returned to see that they were getting ready to start the machine up. Her hand to her mouth, she trembled, then wondered why Michael hadn't come. Surely he should have come when she was so afraid the last time. Had she forgotten to call him? Or had he not been able to come?
That made her so afraid she did call him immediately, both to come save her and to let her know he was okay. She waited as the button was pressed to begin the experiment yet again. She waited as her body began to tremble.
She called again and again, until, unable to bear watching herself be tortured to death, she rose up out of the building she was in and called for Michael one last time, despairing that he was still alive now, or even on the same continent since she had no idea where the ship had taken her.
At the same time, she felt her link to her body fading. She finished the call, then followed the link back, slipping inside her body, knowing it made no difference. She was dead if she stayed out, dead if she went back in.
-:-:-:-:-
Michael was four hours north of Iwakuni by wing, black against a black sky. He would check at the Japan military port first. If he didn't find Purrcy there, he would get to Log Horizon and have Akatsuki purchase an international plane ticket for him to the States and go hunting there, unless he heard from Stiletto otherwise, although he didn't want to get the guild involved any more than he had to.
Suddenly, he felt the call he'd been waiting for. He made sure all of him, physical and everything, went this time. It was painful and it took time instead of being instantaneous, but he was dragged along in the wake of something and broke through whatever it was that had been separating them, Purrcy's desperate call enough to finally link them so he could.
It didn't take him long to take in Purrcy's situation. Her body was in decreasing convulsions on the gurney. Her face was deathly pale as if the deed were already done.
With despair in his own heart, and wrath rising, he slashed with his swords at the wires attached to either side of her, disconnecting her from the machine. A return slash took out the machine. The technician had already cried out and leaped backwards from his station. It sparked, keeping him away from them for a time, but the door was being opened from the outside.
Michael had Purrcy in his lower arms and was flying upwards. They were through the ceiling and then three more floors as fast as he could get them moving. They shot out of the roof and kept going until they were too high for the searchlights of the compound to find them. He kept moving. They would find him nonetheless.
Looking back down at where he'd come from and the surroundings of it, he recognized it from above. It was indeed the Japan military base south of Tokyo. He would have never made it in time if Purrcy hadn't found a way to call him. He was too far from Gareth. He would never make it.
Michael flew south for the closest mountain, over the small city that was along the coast and fed the base. His heart cried out for help in any way for his wife. Perhaps water would help her like it had him, Stiletto, and Gareth. He decreased his altitude a little, passing over a train line.
Using his natural instincts, he could smell a small stream near the country road he was passing over. He swooped down and hid under a small bridge. He held Purrcy with two arms and with two arms stripped her, putting her clothing where it wouldn't get wet.
He gently lay her in the cold water, hoping that wasn't going to be more unhealthy, but having no other alternative. He rubbed each of her hands in the water, then scooped up some water to pour a little in her mouth. He moved her head side to side, then opened her mouth again to let the water dribble out. It was awkward and he hoped enough.
Michael set Purrcy on top of some pebbles in a shallow section of the stream, then scrubbed and rinsed himself. Carefully he scrubbed her, trying to be gentle with her tortured muscles, although perhaps massaging them in that way would also help them. Purrcy was barely breathing. The massaging of her chest and upper back seemed to help a little with that. Her heartbeat was erratic and more slow than not.
He could barely stand waiting the time it took to let her soak, so he lay down in the water with her to hold her since that's what he needed. "Please, Purrcy. Don't die. I'll get you to healing soon, I promise," he begged. There was no response and no change. He trembled while he held her until he realized they were both as purified as they were going to get.
Michael dried Purrcy as best he could and got her dressed again, wishing for that magic here, too, of just being able to put on anything magically. As he climbed out from under the small bridge, carrying Purrcy carefully, he looked back towards the road to make sure there weren't any cars coming and noticed at the edge there were three white flags, marked with the sign of a shrine.
He stared at the flags, then turned and looked the other way. Standing at the foot of the rise of the mountain was a torii gate, the entrance to the path of the seeker of the shrine.* He was in the air and standing before it without realizing he'd moved much. He gave a shiver, the wind on him cold since he was still wet.
Desperate for any healing any shrine could possibly give Purrcy, Michael bowed before that entrance, his heart and full intent on only that. He walked through the gate and was transported up the mountain to be standing in front of another set of torii gates, many of them leaning precariously. They didn't look like they'd fall on him in the next few seconds.
He walked through them, the lane filled with green growth and surrounded by tall trees as if it were an odd elvin pathway. Only one thin path wove its way through that greenery under the red gates to say that anyone still came to worship at this shrine.
Michael held Purrcy closely to his chest, his lower arms ready to defend them if needed this time. There was a stretch of climbing with no torii, and then he could just make out the small, open shrine past another set of torii gates. He walked through them and arrived at the entrance.
He clapped with his free hands, bowed, pulled on the bell rope, then entered the shrine. Individual benches were on either side, set for worshipers to contemplate and converse with their god. He nearly jumped as two statues suddenly came into his view, dark in this dark night. They were foxes, but thin lithe ones, unusual in that way, but they were still foxes.
He sank down to his knees in front of the seat of the shrine. "Thank you, Inari, for bringing me to one of your shrines. Please, heal Purrcy. Don't let her die. And if she must, then take me, too. I want to be wherever she is."
He carefully lay Purrcy out, head towards the seat of Inari since in that aisle was the only room to do so, given the small size of the shrine and the wooden benches on either side. He lay down next to her and wrapped his arms around her, pillowing her head on his upper arm.
He kissed her forehead, still far too cool; kissed her lips, far too lifeless and papery; spread a wing over her to keep her warm; and kept vigil as best he could through his grief and fear, trying for faith so that he could help her heal as well.
When Michael had recovered enough from his own exertions, he kissed Purrcy again. This time it was the kiss to transfer his own life and health to her. Little by little he let it flow into her, not wanting to overwhelm her system, until he'd given her so much he was dizzy with the loss. He stopped then, not wanting to die if she would live.
As they both lay there nearly insensible, he thought he saw foxes come, and foxtails, to dance around them. One-tails, two-tails, three-tails, and even a four-tail, until finally a white glow he couldn't clearly make out arrived.
He was already nearly to passing out, but as his eyes closed a final time, it looked like it could have been a true kitsune messenger of Inari, the white muzzle and ears beautiful and the halo behind it made of the ten white fluffy tails. Michael's heart made his one last prayer, which was the same as the first, and his consciousness fled.
-:-:-:-:-
The dawn was just arriving and with it came hesitant footsteps into the shrine. Michael roused enough to recognize them, but not enough to be able to move.
"What is it?" a querulous old man's voice said in consternation to himself as he approached slowly. "Here I've come to the shrine like any morning, ...to offer the day's offering as I've done for years ...and today a strange thing has come in the night - and stayed." There was a pause, then a whispered, "Is it dead?"
Michael swallowed. His throat was parched, but he seemed to have recovered most if not all of his HP. "Please," he said quietly, "we need food and water."
After a long pause, during which there surprisingly wasn't running away noises, the old voice said, "Not dead." He sounded quite disappointed. "Surely one such as you would have died in this place overnight?"
"No, but if my wife has I'll wish I had," Michael said sadly. He slowly moved his wing to fold it back. It ached from holding it still in the one position half the night in the moist mountain air. He kept Purrcy's lower half covered so she wouldn't chill too much.
As his eyes took her in, his upper hand reached for her. "Hah...what have they done to you?" he moaned softly. He ran his fingers into her hair, as white as snow from the crown to the tips. He rested his hand on her neck, feeling a slow more steady heartbeat than he'd found during the night. Her chest rose and fell slowly as well as if she were in deep sleep. He hoped that was all it was.
He closed his eyes and rested his forehead on hers. "And you're fevered as well?" It was almost a cry of despair. "Who will heal you?" He wished for Gareth, but Gareth wouldn't come like Michael could come to Purrcy. "If you can live another day, the others may be able to reach us and heal you. Can you live that long?"
The old man cleared his throat and Michael turned his head just enough to look at him. He was an old priest, likely one who lived on this mountain somewhere. "I won't harm you," Michael said. "You may place the offering. My wife and I were claimed by Inari a long time ago. I brought her here so she might receive some comfort and healing. When I saw her last, before she was taken and nearly killed, her hair was dark."
He closed his eyes and rested forehead to forehead again. "All because she chose to love instead of kill." The sorrow overwhelmed him and he barely paid attention to the priest moving around them carefully to set the bowls of water and salt down in the main alcove of the shrine in the place of offering.
When he was out of reach again, the old priest paused one more time, then cleared his throat. "People do come. It ...probably wouldn't be good for you to stay?"
"Close the shrine," Michael requested. He moved his wing back up to cover Purrcy and put a shield of invisibility over them. The priest moved out of the small shrine, assumedly to place the rope over the entrance that marked a shrine was closed to entry, although worshipers could still stand outside and pray.
Michael prayed quietly, not having any other option until Purrcy was strong enough to move again. "Father God, please. Let this end. Please let me have my wife and let us rest from this burden. Inari, if this time was to be our reward, please let us return to being human only." He shivered.
"And ...if you aren't willing to give her up, please...," he took a breath, trying to breathe around the tears, "please," he whispered, "let those who know and want to cause her harm forget so that she can serve with joy instead of fear and anger. Whatever is chosen for her, let me always remain by her side in whatever capacity she needs me and let us live in peace the remainder of our days."
He shifted to hold her closer, his other wing scraping softly on the rock floor. Hungry, thirsty, he lay there drifting in and out of awareness as he continued to feed her small amounts of his own HP, although by now she surely would have built up her own naturally. It was her unnatural stillness that was most worrisome, although she still breathed.
Finally, in the late afternoon after another random visit from some random seeker, Michael woke up enough to go looking inside of Purrcy. Her center of magic showed signs of being torn, with dark pink along the edges. But it didn't look overstretched or swollen, which seemed a little odd. More like it was just slowly relaxing back into position like all of her other muscles were.
Deep inside, though, it was angry and red and when he approached it closer to peer inside, a wave of heat washed over him. The fever came from there...again.
Michael was about to cast a purification spell when he heard voices outside. This would wait, he supposed, particularly if he was going to have to fight off something or other. He returned to his body and listened. It was two voices, in chant together. He lifted his head and looked out of the shrine.
The old priest and a woman not much younger than him dressed in a priestess kimono were both chanting and looking a cross between afraid and concerned. It was a waste, that chant, since their intention was directed at him, but maybe it would help them calm down a little. He allowed the invisibility to leave at the end of the chant. The priestess gasped, but her husband grabbed her hand to prevent her from running.
"Thank you for the blessing," Michael said calmly, trying for soft enough to not frighten them, "but it isn't me that needs it. It's my wife. Will you cast it again on her? She can't heal because she's been possessed."
"Then will you go away?" the priest asked, trying for firm scolding. It came out as more frightened, but Michael understood.
"If she is well enough to move, yes."
They took deep breaths and began the chant again. Michael gently released Purrcy and slowly sat up, watching her from the spirit realm. As soon as the chant finished, two medium-large yokai that looked terrible and ugly rose from her belly. Michael had two hands around each neck immediately, not letting them fly away.
He twisted and snapped both their necks at the same time while purification flames poured out of his fists and into the yokai. They withered and writhed until they were nothing but pale smoke that dissipated and disappeared.
Michael put his hands down on Purrcy's side and went inside to look and see. While it was still raw, the inside of the center of magic was no longer so hot and seemed to be cooling, slowly.
Michael returned to his body. "It was sufficient for now. There may be more, but that has cooled her enough now to continue to heal. Thank you." He looked at the husband and wife standing outside the shrine. They were staring at him wide eyed. He gave them a little bit of a cynical smile and he felt an ear twitch where an ear didn't belong. He reached up a hand and found there really was one there.
"Ah...I'd forgotten," he said. He'd forgotten that killing yokai meant titles earned on Theldesia became 'titles' on Earth. He looked over his shoulder and saw that indeed, both tails had come out as well, and his muzzle brushed over his shoulder as he moved again. He worked at putting the fox aspect away until he had it. "That will take some getting used to, I think."
He dropped his head and wanted to cry again. "It isn't the answer I wanted Inari. Why will you not let her go?" He knew he wasn't going to get an answer.
"Then have you answered the other half? When we return will all those who wanted to harm her and me and those who travel with us have forgotten us so we can live in peace while we accomplish whatever goals yet remain? Or will I come to hate you, too? Please bring my wife back to me so that she can remind me not to hate." Michael reached out and held Purrcy's hand between both of his hands.
There was movement at the entrance to the shrine. "What more can we do to help you leave?" the priest asked.
"Food and water. Then if she's recovered enough, we'll leave when it's dark enough for me to not be seen," Michael answered.
"We need to remove the offering," the priest said.
Michael looked over to the sun. It was setting already. "But," the querulous voice of the priestess was kind for all it was timid, "we brought food and water with us."
Michael rose and realized he was in his priest's robes, having paid attention to the fox aspect, but not to the fact he'd returned to human form - since that was normal. He sighed. "I don't like that answer either Inari." But he didn't complain in his heart too deeply.
He picked up the salt and water offering and carried them to the rope. He handed them soberly to the priest. "When we leave tonight, I'll open the shrine again so you'll know we aren't present."
As the hands of the priest came up to take the bowls, Michael cast the spell to erase his memory, on a delay setting for down the lane. He went to the priestess and held his hands out. Trembling slightly, she set a cloth wrapped box and a canteen into his hands. He cast the same spell on her as her hands were close to him.
He took the gifts and bowed. "Thank you for your blessings and hospitality. May you only receive blessings in return." They would wonder at the neatly waiting empty obento and canteen in the morning, but such things were easier to wonder at and forget than a white-headed foxtail priestess and a black four-armed demon who had turned into a foxtail priest.
He watched them as they turned and walked back down the overgrown lane through the old falling torii gates. He put an illusion over the front of the shrine so that it would look like he and Purrcy had disappeared if they should turn around, then went to sit next to her.
-:-:-:-:-
"Purrcy, please wake up. I've got food and water here, and you very much need some." Michael set the obento down and uncapped the canteen. He opened the obento and sprinkled some of the water over the food, then said the blessing of purification on the food and water, with a bit of a sigh.
He lifted Purrcy by the shoulders to hold her propped up. Carefully he opened her lips with his finger, then put the lid of the canteen to her lips and poured a little water into her mouth. At first it dribbled back out, but on the third try she swallowed. Another careful swallow, then she was drinking more greedily. When the lid was empty, he refilled it and drank it down himself. He carefully recapped the canteen so the water didn't spill out.
Michael ran his hand over Purrcy's forehead and cheek. "Purrcy, can you finish waking up? I've got food as well, a little. We need to eat it and then see if you're well enough for us to travel." He sighed, "And, Inari, please, we can't travel in these clothes or forms."
Purrcy's eyes opened slowly. She stared at him, as if trying to understand what was different, or why perhaps. She reached up and ran her hand on his head. He tipped it enough she could run her hand over his ear. It felt very odd. He wasn't supposed to have appendages in that location. It was warm, though, and he was glad she was touching him at all.
At that realization, he was trembling and tears welled up in his eyes. He pulled her up so that he could hold her to his shoulder. Her hand ran around his head to hold him about the neck. "I'm sorry I worried you," she said. "I called and called and I got so worried you'd gone before me. I left the room then, unable to bear it any longer and could only try one more time, although I'd nearly lost hope."
"The electrical interference in the room acts as a shield. I couldn't get in to see you even on the U.S. base. If you hadn't left the room, I would never have been able to get to you. Only by following you back into it did I manage to break through to free you from it," he said around his tears of gratitude and fear.
"Ahh. I'm sorry to not have understood that. I was only ever conscious while in it." Purrcy's voice was so thin, her hold around Michael's neck so weak.
"How many times?" he asked, not really wanting to know, but needing to.
"That was the third time. I woke up early enough to beg to be allowed to rest and was ignored. I set bombs inside every computer system that knew how to do that. If an old woman known to be as powerful as I am is expendable, then we aren't the only ones being experimented on." Michael could tell she was angry, even if the anger was standing at a distance.
"I cheated the system and kept my true levels hidden again since they wouldn't relent until they'd pulled every drop of magic out of me. I have far more of that than HP in this old body," she added.
Purrcy pet Michael, allowing him to hold her as long as he needed to. Not like she had the strength for much else. "Where are we? All I knew was that I'd been taken to a ship at the docks and the man who was the technician the last time was Asian and wearing a uniform. He wouldn't talk to me."
"Up near Tokyo at the Japan military port. You were in their hospital there." Michael answered. "Right now we're in an old, barely used shrine of Inari not too far from there since you were nearly dead and I needed to find a place of healing for you. There is still an old priest and priestess for this shrine, and they brought the food and water.
"We'll leave again tonight during darkness. They weren't comfortable with what we are at all. They blessed you so I could get rid of the yokai that hitched a ride with you. I've made it so they forget that we were here."
Michael finally could let Purrcy go, thinking of the food she needed. He helped her to sit resting on him, but so he could see her face. He fed her a hand roll, then ate a rice ball. She needed the protein more than he did.
It made her blush, the first time she had to eat from his fingers and he rewarded her with a kiss when she was done eating it, feeding her a little of his HP as well. While she didn't reject it, she did ask as he pulled away, "Won't you be needing that for the flight?"
"I'll regain it. We still have a few hours to rest and we need you strong enough to live once we step foot outside of here." She didn't protest after that. When the food was gone, he set the obento to the side and poured up water for her again, then drank himself, carefully closing the canteen back up again after.
Michael wrapped his arms around Purrcy, the sleeves of his kimono wrapping around her as well, the red hiding the black. In the dark of night that was falling her white hair and ears glowed faintly. He brushed his hand down her head, then lightly grasped an ear. "Why won't they go away?" he asked quietly.
She didn't answer right away, so he held her instead and kissed her again. She refused the HP this time so he stopped giving it to her. He just wanted to kiss her anyway - and more, but this was apparently not going to be the time either.
It wasn't until the first set of foxes entered the shrine that Michael remembered the faint recollection of the foxes that had come to dance in the shrine the night before. His ears pricked at them as his eyes focused on them, his whole being going to one of ownership and protector of Purrcy. She followed his look and blinked to see the foxes.
"They came last night, too," he said quietly. "I passed out when the true kitsune arrived so I don't know what was done, but...," he put a hand on her head, "this morning when I woke, you had white hair. I do hope that wasn't also a possession or I'll be quite angry."
The next set of foxes slinking into the shrine stopped with front legs raised, tails out. Ears, noses, and tails all went down in submission. The first two shook their heads rapidly. Michael wasn't going to believe them just yet, but he did back down from dangerous back to possessive.
This time, the foxes and foxtails didn't dance from the beginning. They merely gathered around Michael and Purrcy, leaving the space between them and the seat of the shrine open.
There eventually were enough to be sitting or laying out on all the benches, under the benches, up on the railing of the outer edge of the shrine that was only covered above like a shelter house at a rest stop in the United States. A few with two and three tails climbed up the supporting posts to sit up on the cross beams above, their paws and tails hanging down, the tails fanning every now and again.
When there was the sense of everyone having gathered, a four-tail walked up to sit in front of Michael and Purrcy formally, all four tails fanned behind him. "What may we do for you?" Michael asked politely.
"We would ask for a repayment for calling down the kitsune to heal your wife last night," the four-tailed fox said.
"We'll hear it," Michael said, "but she is still weak and we must leave tonight."
The four-tail turned his nose back down the path and beyond. "There is a place near the great waters that sends trappers to this mountain. Many of our kind have been taken away living, but we know not what for. It surely cannot be for good. See if they still live and return them to us if they can be."
Michael's hand clenched on Purrcy's arm. "I just saved my wife from there last night. I can't take her back."
Purrcy said sadly, "It seemed to me they had to be doing more than wondering what I was." She rubbed a comforting hand on Michael's arm. "I've already done damage there before being rescued, but to rescue others, we'll need to plan and work together. It is possible, but we're both still weak enough we can't do it alone. Either Michael or I can make them forget."
"We can also," the fox said and Michael remembered from Elder Tales that the fox kind were said to have confusion spells and spells that made people get lost or be forgetful.
"Can you confuse?" he asked.
"Some of us," the four-tailed fox said.
"Those will be most helpful for us to get in and out. The guards are very sharp and well practiced. They'll have to be held in the confused state until we're all in and out of their watch zone, both going in and then again on the way out, without fail. I can get your kin out of the building somewhat easily, but who will carry them if they can't walk?"
"I could drive a truck," Purrcy offered.
Michael laughed at her. "Purrcy who has never driven on the left side of the road and hasn't driven at all in the last almost forty years? You'll drive?"
Purrcy frowned at him. "It's not that difficult to remember and if I focus, I'll remember which side to drive on. Besides we could trade out."
Michael was frowning already, though. "Could you sit in a truck and keep it hidden by illusion?"
"Of course," she answered.
"Then if we get a local truck, not a military one, you could sit on the road that isn't too far from the base. The road that leads to the base of this mountain is an easy drive from there, and we could use it to get where we need to go after that."
"The problem will be getting the truck," Purrcy said.
Michael looked up into the rafters a bit. "Let's leave that one up to the gods, shall we? God will provide if this is a right and proper thing to do."
"And I do always repay my debits," Purrcy added.
Michael looked at the head foxtail. "So..., we'll need as many of you as can carry your weakened brothers and sisters from the building out to the truck and the few to stand as sentinels to confuse the guards. I would prefer two to three. Four would make me relax better. Do you know which building it is?"
"We know the general location. If you can point it out, that would be best," the four-tail said.
Michael nodded. "Then, I'll fly Purrcy back that way and look for a truck along the way. Gather outside the fence near the ditch that passes by it on this side. We'll meet you there."
The four-tail turned to the rest of the foxes and gave out orders, although not so that Purrcy and Michael could understand them. The foxes rose to their feet and began filing out of the shrine.
Purrcy turned to the obento, took out the last rice grains, and left them in the place of offering along with a pouring out of water from the canteen. They drank what was left of the water in it, and left the obento, cloth, and canteen politely centered on the floor of the shrine in front of the main seat.
Purrcy held Michael's arm as they walked slowly for her sake to the entrance of the shrine. Michael unlatched the rope over the front of it and they stepped out. Turning, they bowed to the shrine, then they walked down the grassy way under the leaning torii gates until they reached the last one in that row.
They'd reverted to their human forms by then, so Michael transformed to demon and picked up Purrcy. He flew with her down the mountain to the last and first gate. He walked under it, turned and bowed, thanking Inari and God one more time for allowing his wife to live and asking that their actions that night be blessed as well for the sake of them all and for the sake of the foxes of the mountain.
Staying out of sight of the road there, Michael launched into the air going straight up, Purrcy hanging on to his neck tightly. As he reached the altitude he wanted, he turned her to face outward. He wrapped his upper arms under her arms.
"Hold on to my arms with your arms," he said. He wrapped his lower arms about her middle torso and upper legs. "Try to keep your legs as straight as you can. If you get tired, please warn me quickly."
"Okay," she answered trustingly.
Michael leveled off to fly more horizontally and shifted arms around a bit to better support Purrcy and balance himself. Then with great flaps of his wings, they were flying over the quiet fields and neighborhood of this shoulder of the mountain. Both of them scanned the ground for a truck that was moving or set out by the road, or even parked at a convenience store, but they only saw a few parked in driveways of darkened houses.
As they passed over the town outside the base, there were a few more trucks to be seen, but none of them looked promising for what they needed. They could see the bay and the base now.
Purrcy patted Michael's arm. "Can you fly over the base once? I know it's risky to take a military truck, but we might just have to."
"It's risky to fly over a military base," he said, but he was in agreement. They were running out of options. He glided in way over the usual height the guards were looking for and tried for bat-like behaviors, or perhaps nighthawk, with flapping for bat and long soars for bird.
"What's that building?" Purrcy pointed down to one in particular.
Michael frowned. "That's the hospital, where I pulled you from."
"See, there's a truck there. What are they putting on it?" she pointed to where she was looking.
Michael soared back for another pass, dipping just a little lower. "Something too small to be human," he said a little grimly.
"If I destroyed their equipment, would they take the foxes out?"
"They might."
"Where would they take them to?"
Michael frowned. "I don't know. The dump if they killed them all. The only other facility I know of that has equipment similar is the U.S. base."
"Will they have to pass by where you told the foxes to gather?"
Michael soared back up higher as he contemplated that. "Yes they would, but if they don't leave the base, someone would need to be inside to confuse the driver into going out the gate, and then the gate guard into believing we had the proper documents for leaving the base."
"Michael ...I'm worried that there's more in the building than just foxes. Would they take the people out, too, in this truck? Or should you go in and get them into it? We can't leave any magic users in there for them to start experimenting on as soon as the equipment is back up to working." Purrcy shivered a little and he kissed her head to comfort them both.
"All their records would have to be expurgated," he warned.
"We could burn the building down," she said, "starting with the records rooms. If all that remains are living military, they'd escape the fire and get it put out. ...And if they've already transported the humans to a ship, then that's a problem, too. It's too much for just you to do."
Michael shook his head and turned them over the port for a single pass over, careful to stay back from the ship's lookouts. It didn't look or sound like any of them were preparing for launch. He turned back towards the outer fence, crossed very high, then turned towards the mountain. There weren't any ships running on the water, either.
"If they went by ship, or are going, they're gone, or nowhere near ready yet. I can get inside to look around pretty easy, but you aren't. I'll leave you with the foxes. Watch for that truck to leave. Confuse, but try to not confuse me in case I'm on it. I may sit with them and hide the people if it looks like it's supposed to only carry foxes."
"...Okay," Purrcy reluctantly agreed.
As Michael spread his wings to slow their flight so they could land near where he'd said they'd meet the foxes, he could see the lights of a vehicle coming down the road towards them. He crouched down in the ditch, hiding Purrcy's white hair with his black wings, and settled her so she could rest sitting on the ground while he held her close to him.
The vehicle sounded like an old coughing truck that was going to fall apart soon. It slowed down as it approached their location. The engine sputtered, coughed, then died right across the road from them. It was pulled off as far as it could be as it coasted to the final halt, but Japan roads weren't known for shoulders.
A small thin man climbed out of the driver's seat, typical for Japanese, and walked around to the hood of the truck. The opposite door opened and another man stepped out, paused, then came around the truck to the back. His eyes scanned the road and to either side of it.
"Hahaue?" came floating across the air. Both Purrcy and Michael stiffened.
The soft swearing at the hood stopped and a head popped out. "What was that, Gareth?"
"I swear Hahaue's near here," Gareth said back softly.
The other man's eyes swept both sides of the road, then across to the base. "Well, the base is right there ...and we're at about the right spot for where I was in the vision." Stiletto was staring at that scene now.
"And just what were we doing in that scene?"
"Trying to fix a truck."
Purrcy spurted a little laugh. Michael clicked at her, irritated. "No, you said God would handle it. I think he just did," she scolded him back quietly. "That many coincidences aren't. That's a sign of God's hand in the work, ...and Stiletto's gift."
Michael looked up at movement to see Gareth running across the road towards them. He pulled back just ever so slightly and put a hand over Purrcy's mouth.
Gareth still couldn't see them, but he was looking. "Please, if you're here, let us help. When Stil went looking he finally saw a vision this time, and he recognized the base. We ended up getting a truck rather oddly, even though it doesn't run so good, so we've been coming as fast as we could."
Five foxes slinked up to Gareth and stood around him. When he could see them, he drew in a breath, blinking. Cautiously, he let out the breath, and with it his ears and tails. "I'm Hahaue's healer," he said. "If you know where she is, please take me to her so I can help her." They stared at him suspiciously.
"Please. If she dies, Michael will too, and we can't afford to lose them both. We don't know where he is either, but we hope not captured, too. And even worse, we hope not rampaging ...although the base looks like it's still in one piece."
"Can you be trusted?" Michael asked softly.
Gareth's head whipped around. "Yes, but you know words won't convince anyone. Are you okay?"
Stiletto appeared behind Gareth, up on the road, but he quickly slid down the slope. "We haven't got much time. Did you find them? I just saw the sign that started the action and I'd like to make sure we're in on it so we can find Hahaue. The friggin' truck still won't start, though. I'm about to blow it up."
"Don't," Purrcy whispered. "We need it and we need the two of you." More foxes appeared since another man had and Stiletto backed up a bit, swallowed, looked closer at Gareth, and let his own ears and tails out.
Purrcy took over, passing out orders. "Michael, go back in and do what we said. Get the military truck out here. Gareth, wave it down and ask if the driver will help you repair the truck you brought. While that's happening we'll transfer over the passengers.
"When we let the driver back on the road, we can leave him with just the knowledge he helped someone so his time lag can be explained, and we can leave the illusion of passengers on his truck ...or erase his memory and papers of what he was carrying.
"Stiletto, Michael needs a second. They're putting foxes on the truck but not people. I believe there are other people being experimented on. They need to be freed as well, and one of you needs to protect them on the truck while the other one sets fire to the records rooms to erase the knowledge that any of them were ever there.
"I've already destroyed the equipment. That's why they're moving them out tonight. The driver also needs to be beguiled into leaving the base if he's only been told to transfer them to a new building.
"If there is another building, he may need to be allowed to drive over there just long enough for you to pull out anyone that's already been transferred. And you are right, there's not much time. They've already been pulling them out for a while now."
"How are you going to get the truck to stop? Military don't stop to help others on the road. It's safety policy," Gareth asked.
"We have reinforcements for that. The same as if you have to make a break for it and run. Drive the truck over the field to this location and we'll get you out this way."
"Even with the gate guards?"
"Even with. Trust in God. He put you here when we needed you and with the piece of equipment we needed," Purrcy insisted.
Gareth and Stiletto took in deep breaths and nodded. "And I'll kill you with the whole of the base if you betray me," Michael said with deadly calm.
"That's a given," Stiletto said with a shiver. "Are you okay?"
"Not so much, but she's alive by the grace of God and Inari. I'll leave her to you, Gareth. See what more you can do to help her. And the rest of you, make sure he doesn't harm her instead," Michael said to the foxes.
"You don't trust them, Priest of Inari?" the four-tail asked, although where he was specifically Michael wasn't sure.
"They are my own men," he said, "and we are all owed by Inari, by Hahaue, and by the U.S. government. I trust two out of the three."
"So you also don't trust yourself," the four-tail was humored.
"Not most of the time," Michael agreed. "I'm rather crazy like that, which is why they want to know if I'm okay. One of the three decided to fight against the other two, so the crazy's a bit over the top at the moment."
"Can you trust yourself in there?" he was asked.
"Yes. That's not the U.S. government."
The fox laughed a soft barking laugh and the foxes backed off a bit to fade back into the grasses. Stiletto put away the fox ears and tail and Michael released the shield he'd had up. Stiletto and Gareth both looked at him, although he was only a darker shadow.
Slowly Michael opened his wings and revealed Purrcy. He watched them closely for signs of betrayal, but neither one moved, only stared at her white hair. After a bit, Gareth moved slowly closer and crouched in front of them. His hand reached out to touch Purrcy's hair softly. "What did that?"
"I don't know if it was the kitsune when it healed her, or if the three sessions of excessive electroshock therapy did, ...or the near death experience of the last one. I arrived as she was at the Thread of Life," Michael answered.
"No wonder you're over the top," Stiletto said with a breath. His eyes went back to the buildings in the distance. "We gotta go. Can you do it?"
Purrcy reached up and touched Michael on the cheek. "Stay alive for me, but help save the ones you can. We've got enough of us now to see it accomplished and it's a good work." She kissed him to reassure him.
Michael gave one last warning look to Gareth, then was running low to the ground towards the fence. He was followed by four foxes and Stiletto. When they reached the fence, without stopping Michael grabbed two foxes by the scruff of their necks. Stiletto grabbed the other two and they were on the other side of the fence, to the confusion of the foxes.
Michael didn't let them go until they had their feet under them again, then they just continued to run until they made it to the outer area of lights around the hospital. Stiletto knit a quick illusion and two uniformed Japanese privates stepped out with their guard dog on security rounds.
*Like all of the other shrines of Earth I mention in this story, this is a real shrine, pretty much existing as I describe it here. I love finding things that are real and fit so well into the story. The name of the shrine is Fushimi Hakuseki Inari Shrine. Two online articles with pictures were my source: (1) donnykimball dot com slash hidden-inari-79519fcdde13 and (2) soranews24 dot com slash 2016 slash 08 slash 26 slash japanese-artist-stumbles-upon-stunning-scenic-site-at-hidden-shrine-outside-of-tokyo slash. Please feel free to take the time to review the links to bring this act of the story to life for you! And thank you to those who posted them for my own reference and enjoyment.