Chapter 23
The Catalyst pt1
(Titania Outer Aerospace)
0845pm GST)
The massive ship had been floating in orbit for little more than a week and it was already the most spoken about thing in the entire accord, where it came from and who made it were only a few of the smaller questions about it's appearance. A large military force now surrounded the ship with a full three hundred sixty degree blockade. After careful study of the craft, an entry point that had been declared some strange sort of outside flight deck where a large bay door stood marked with some sort of alien writing which most were fairly unfamiliar with. The purpose of the three man team of scientists there at the moment, the exploration of the outside of the craft only and the possibility of finding a way inside. Thick but form fitting space suits allowed for the safe exploration of the environment, the suits obviously made interaction with the ship a bit more difficult as wearing them removed the sense of touch from the equation; however, tiny sensors in the fingertips of the gloves gave them a clear readout in the visor of the suit of certain statistics. Mineral read out, composition, structure, basic information which would be analyzed later on. Walking about for a bit, the only female of the three, as clearly noticeable by the presence of a risen chest in her suit, knelt down placing a hand on the surface of the bay...
"Any of you guys getting anything on the Geigers?" She asked looking about.
Two negative responses, "Just background radiation from the ships around us. That seem a little strange to you Yass?"
"No shit," The female replied standing and looking to the large doors, "left hyperspace and sitting in a perfect orbit, but, no signs of radiation at all. Almost like this ship isn't even here."
The third individual standing near the large door turned to face the others, "Okay, so mind explaining that to someone that doesn't have a degree in nuclear physics?"
The female, Yass looked to her coworker, "Rick you wanna cover this?"
"Sure," Rick replied, "in the world of energy transference, which is what happens when we take one form of energy and convert it into a different form of energy. There is a form of readable backlash given off; it's how we track ships. But this thing..." He said looking to the large doors, "...nothing, not even the resonance from the engines which should still be there even if it's just mild background radiation."
Yass went along scanning again, "Borillium, Titanium, Azmium, few unfamiliar metals and elements too," She said picking a loose piece of metal from a small but obvious impact zone of some kind, "wonder where it's from. You're an Engineer right?"
The third still standing by the door nodded, "Yeah, names Fin, they sent me down here to get a lay of this place and see what I can find out from the surface alone. All I can find so far is enough to back up your theory about the radiation; I don't think this thing, whatever it is, runs on standard fuel sources. You two being scientists and all, surely you've both noticed this thing has no clear signs of any means of propulsion. So I guess you could say the main reason I'm here is..." He held out his arms, "...how'd this fuck'n thing even get here?"
"Good question," Yass replied, "I mean we could talk about alternative forms of forward momentum but, most of those are only theoretical. Spacial Distortion Drives; a sort of ideal that involves collapsing large portions of space-time in front of and behind a body causing it to move through space seamlessly; but that would make no sense considering it's travel through hyperspace. I don't think we'll know unless we somehow find a way inside."
The engineer looked back to the door, "Then again there's this," He remarked pointing out a massive set of writen characters several feet ling across the doorway, "bright red letters written in six foot tall figures across the face of the door. Doesn't that seem kinda..." He paused looking back to the others, "...I don't know...foreboding?"
A sudden reaction on her equipment however, caused Yass to notice several reading across her visor, "That's weird...are either of you suddenly getting any bio-readings from this thing?"
"I'm picking up fifteen..." Rick called back.
The engineer looked between them while tapping his helmet, "Seventy four and rising over here..." He replied looking back to the large door, "...is this right or are we getting some sort of interference?" He paused, "hey Danson. Do me a favor and run a systems check on my gear, and while you're at it hit this rig with another Bio-scan."
The voice of his team mate back on one of the many ships in orbit rung back to him, "Scan's underway. Everything looks clear on your suit though; systems are functional, life support is within 0.4 percent deficiency, those numbers are normal enough. Scan isn't showing anything other than the three of you down there either. Something up with you Trevor? Look while you're down there Cap says he want's a full read and scan of the front length of the ship, feel like taking a walk?"
Trevor sighed, a long walk was something he wasn't prepared for really, "Nah it's fine, little walk will do me some good even out here," He sighed shaking his head as he walked toward the edge of the strange deck, "something about this place is really giving me the creeps," He looked back to the others for a moment, "you two keep an ear out, you know just in case."
Yass chuckled, "Yeah, just make sure you keep your tether handy," She pointed out, "those magnetic boats aren't gonna save you if something goes wrong."
The act of a space walk worked up over the years eventually culminating to the most recent method; semi-magnetic soles built into the boots of the walker's suit which are activated via a special switch in his boots. The use of the magnetic soles took a number of training tutorials to get used to, but, regardless of one's tenure using them carrying a magnetic tether cable with you on the walk was considered paramount. The scientists' concern caused Trevor to smile to himself but, little did they know a common joke about his friends circles, was that the young mechanic could easily dance across the underside of a dangling shipping crate. Despite the fact that he'd always found a strange beauty with space, something about the dull silence of it all was more than eerie, it was the absence of sound that made everything so foreign in space, he'd always preferred it on the ground or at the very least in a ship...artificial ground was better than no ground at all. Every few yards across the massive ship's outside hull led to another scan that came back the same as any scan before it, the only thing that seem to set him on edge was this constant feeling that caused him to repeatedly look over his shoulder., suddenly however, something else struck him. It was a dreary silence that even extended into the helmet of his suit. It bothered him less at first but the longer he continued to focus on it the less sense it made not to hear at the very least a random checkup, after so long he finally tapped the side of his helmet...
"Ummm..." He paused, "guys?" A blank response caused him another pause, "Engineering welcome team to Base, checking in. Base you read? Is there anyone on this line?"
His headset flickered with static for only a moment, "...how dare you talk like this is my fault!" A strangely familiar female voice shouted through his headset, "I could live with this if it was anyone else but why her!?"
The sudden cut off of the voice caused his mind to race with a thousand questions; it was a familiar string of words he'd heard only once before the sound causing him to wince at the thought., "That can't be right...Evalyne...?" He shook his head tapping the side of his helmet.
A few steps across the hull of the ship and the young engineer began to look about as if his surroundings were something completely new while back aboard the flight deck where they'd been holding their investigation, Yet, the conversation Trevor seemed to be having with himself was fully audible. He ranted on and on about someone named Evalyne, yet no matter how many times they called back to him their calls fell on deaf ears, even as they finally began to watch the engineer's body snap to attention at the end of a lead rope. It finally came down the the stand she had hoped would not have to be made...
"HQ," Yass called, "I know you can hear me even if you don't respond. Something is seriously wrong down here, I am requesting immediate evac. I repeat, Doctor Yassmine Teere requesting immediate emergen..." Three loud, hollow, thuds echoed from the massive door causing her to look in it's direction, her nearby companion of course not recognizing any sort of sound, "that...can't...be possible. Dead space, there's no air for sound to carry and I'm in a completely sealed off pressurized suit yet, it's like the sound is right in front of me."
The sudden swell of laughter that rose up over her intercom was not that of a sound mind, however it did draw her attention to her other fellow scientist. Trevor stood with his face mask in his hands his shoulders rising and falling with his laughter, "You..." He chuckled, "...you hear them too don't you Yass?" He managed to say between bouts of laughter, "I can hear all of them; it's like everyone I ever knew is in my head, i've been hearing it for over an hour now and I finally found out how to make it all stop..."
Yass did her best to reach out to him, however, running with magnetic soles being nearly impossible and she was simply forced to watch his body float away next to his helmet a bizarre smile on his face as ice slowly began to form on his fur. Once again the sound thundered behind her. Her heart raced in such a way she thought it would never stop, everything around her seemed to lead all of her attention to the door. The more she looked on the more she felt it bear down on her until it loomed over her like a great skyscraper towering higher than she could see, causing her to shrink into a mass, hugging her knees and praying for it to all go away until finally...
(Sauria)
(Moon Mountain Pass)
1106AM GST
It had been a bit more than twenty days since the Colletta had been forced to birth in Thorntail Hollow; Skye felt as though by this point she'd seen every inch of the areas that she'd heard of mentioned by the McClouds. So far Moon Mountain had turned out to be her favorite; it was an oddly alien landscape, almost like walking on the surface of a meteor or some kind, vents pumped iridescent steam into the air as pressure and heat cooked off the strange crystals that grew on the planet. She'd been though so much in so little time, she wasn't sure just how to cope with it all; several times after their argument she'd attempted to contact Marcus, but, what she did get was static if he bothered to answer her calls at all. What had begun as well with a slight distance between herself and Dax had, over time, grown until recently she'd seen scant little of him...in fact as she thought back over it she'd not seen him recently in several days. He'd become so distant since he'd met with Marcus it was clearly something that the two had discussed that had upset him, She watched from her seat on a small boulder as a pair of Sharpclaw soldiers worked along with a few smaller Lightfoot, the sight calling to her mind a number of stories about how the McClouds met one another. It was odd how they seemed to work together now not even bothering that an outsider of any kind was nearby. All the time alone with only her thoughts often brought the young canine to think, perhaps more than she otherwise would have liked. All these thoughts and incidents about captains and ships, it all made her think about things that maybe a normal girl her age would have; she'd been told so many times of all the different things that she could have done for a living; a model, dancer, it was laughable but she was once told she could be a singer, there was a huge number of things that she was assured she could do but, being a captain was never one of them. She'd considered the modeling thing, even the dancing scene hadn't seemed all that bad, Snow seemed to make a bit of spare money shaking her ass about on a stage for a bunch of horny, slobbering idiots; but, one moron would get handsey with her and that whole scene would get blown out of the water and quick. It used to bother her so much, the ideal of guys objectifying her like Robert Caruso, who'd actually suffered his first broken hand grabbing her by the chest during her first day at the academy. To the very day the thought of the panther made her blood boil.
"Can't even keep a solid thought," She huffed to herself, "back and forth back and forth. Like a fucking merry-go-round. What's wrong with me?" She asked brushing her hair away from her right eye.
"Yer 'ead's in the wrong place Cap," The somewhat gruff voice of an Argon called out from a ridge just overhead, "though ya'd notice a lil' sooner, always did before. Sad thing isn't it? When all questions lead to more questions? Guess it's easier back on Argo; personally speak'n. Back 'ome Pops always used ta get 'is mind all jumbled. Fer 'im best cure was always a good fight; friendly scrap'll bring it out of ya..."
Skye looked toward the perched Argon for a moment, "Alright Mick does that mean something in specific? Or is this a report?"
"Think the problem is ..." Mick paused, "...yer ask'n the wrong questions. Maybe it ain't so much what's wrong with you, as it might be what's wrong with everything else. Report side is pretty easy enough; people start'n ta talk 'round yer camp. Someth'n bout 'ow we're just stand'n around and whatnot. Most the folk are talk'n 'bout how we're on the run, don't like it too much. Smells like anger and unrest …... smells sorta like a mutiny wait'n ta happen."
Skye exhaled heavily, "You really think this could all go that far?"
"Seen bigger started o'er less..." Mick replied tossing down to the young captain a small metal flask, "...wanna warn ya; I've managed ta find most of the one's start'n this uprise'n but, don't make no sense ta be honest. Came out of nowhere, small group too, smells like someone might'a put 'em up to it. I think yer mole is maybe get'n to the point finally."
With another sight Skye took a heavy swig from the metal flask, the stuff inside tasted sweet but burned like nothing she'd ever experienced causing her to cough as she capped the flask and threw it back to the precocious Croc, "What the fuck is that?"
"Ah, this?" Mick asked taking a drink himself, "jess a lil' mild home brew. Family recipe; father's fathers father before him, that kinda shit. Pops told me before passing it to me that it was each generation's job ta add a lil' someth'n to it," He chuckled, "dis brew been around fer...well, a while."
Skye slumped back onto her large stone seat, "You were there that night," She sighed looking to her feet, "was I too hard on him?"
"Ya regret what was said?" Mick asked causing her to nod in reply, "people say things when they get heated. Ya been through a lot in very little time, even fer well adjusted folk, tends ta fuck with ya."
Wiping her eyes Skye huffed angrily at herself, "I never wanted anything like that to happen, I don't even know how it happened between me and Dax it just...happened," She chuckled a bit, "not to say it wasn't fun or anything, I mean I do care about Dax but, I just think this all went so fast that it just sort of crashed into itself."
Mick chuckled a bit as he helped himself to a bit of the flask, "Y'know," He sighed, "was s'posed ta only be do'n this fer uncle Fox, but, see'n how's I found out where me ol' man is...think I'll stick around a tick," He chuckled again tossing the flask back to Skye whom took another drink with a bit less hesitation this time, "top o' that. Ya tend to grow on a bloke Sheila."
"Hey, Mick," Skye cleared her throat, "you ever had to deal with any of this crap?"
The Croc laughed a bit, "Well, when I left the Academy ta go back to Argo. Pretty li'l thing met me at the docks. We had a laugh, couple drinks," he paused with a spry chuckle, "lil' fun..."
"You still talk to her?" Skye interrupted.
Mick laughed out loud, almost loosing his balance, "Ya off yer nut? Woke up the next morn'n an' she was gone, so was ma ship, money, supplies, whole nine," He chuckled tapping his forehead, "still 'ave a hard time get'n her outta me head."
Skye shook her head, "Wow this love business is serious stuff."
"Well, ah wouldn't call it love..." Mick replied, "...still someth'n bout that sheila jess stuck with me. On a lighter note," He chuckled jumping down from his perch with a small package in hand, "got someth'n 'eree fer the cap'n. Lil' someth'n ah picked up while ah was out."
The small bundle, once unrolled, consisted of a pair of black metal lugs with a handle roughly two thirds of the way up their metal lengths; tonfa were rare enough, though she'd seen and used a pair before something was definitely off about these ones. They were slightly wider than would be normally used, and there was a wide opening at the shorter end usually meant for thrusting punches and strikes. It quickly became clear to her what exactly they were, and it was an interesting concept. Small triggers existed along the handles of the weapons clearly meaning that this was both a striking weapon, and to some capacity, a small gauge shotgun. Inspecting the weapon made it clear that avoiding the triggers was easy enough, after all during some of the motions required to properly use such a weapon, an add-on of such magnitude would clearly be a detriment to the person using them just as much as their opponent...
"Is this a not so subtle way of telling me to call out the ones challenging my authority?"
Mick laughed, "No such subtlety at all..." He replied, "...yer ship ain't it? Ah say it's time ya showed 'em all who's in charge 'eh?"
"No, Mick I get the point..." Skye replied, "...why don't you explain these to me on the way back."
Skye had been examining the area for a while and recently came aware of several missing individuals; Tilly and Lemont were understandable enough, after all the two had been somewhat inseparable since their incident on Titania. Inary and Art had ventured off into the wilds of Sauria in the constant search of scientific research of this or that. What bothered her most was that at random intervals, Dax would vanish for what seemed like hours at a time, with no broader definition of where or why. Whatever the case the dominoes were falling and she was clearly the one who'd have to pick them all up again. She wasn't the least bit surprised to see the camp in a particular uproar when she returned, how many hours she'd been gone she wasn't certain but, it was more than enough time for this little coup to get into gear; there was a plethora of different insults and curses filling the air and from what she was able to see of the Hollow, nearly every Thorntail had long taken their leave of the immediate area. Wading through the crowed brought her no short side of glares and one person even had the audacity to pelt her with a stone a move that had an angry Crocodile standing on the man's back within a moment of it happening. It was only a matter of moments before finally reaching the center of the gathering, where there stood six individuals that seemed to be the center of everyone's attention; she knew one of them from the Colletta's bridge, and another from the maintenance crew but, the other four were new faces to her. Without warning one of the six charged her with a large knife in hand, his reversed grip alone was enough to tell her that the raccoon had some sort of experience when it came to fighting, unfortunately for him this was something she'd studied for a long time with Fox McCloud himself. By spinning her body to one side rather quickly she managed to catch her assailant by the wrist, stripping him of the weapon before driving it up and through the bottom of his jaw causing the point of the blade to exit through is right eye, the crowd instantly grew silent to the point a pin falling could have been heard were it not for the sickening sound of the raccoon falling lifelessly to the ground. The five remaining culprits all seemed to back off spare for one rather large brown bear whom immediately caught her attention...
"I'm guessing since you're the only one of the five with any balls," Skye chuckled, "you're the figurehead here."
The voice almost seemed to come from the bear however, something familiar about the tone stuck out, "Not quite."
As the bear stepped aside the sight of a familiar black panther caused her to chuckle a bit, "Robert Caruso; funny I didn't expect to find you anywhere BUT under another man's ass. I thought I smelled chapstick and anal lube."
Robert shook his head, "No better lack of tact on your end I see but, soon that won't matter. Once the military became aware of this party's little affiliation as mercenaries all I had to do was wait for that old bastard McCloud to kick and now...well this whole little group can be put to the block where it belongs. Of course I've agreed to vouch for the ones that go along with the story I've laid out but that's neither here nor there. I mean even if you did manage to get away right now," He chuckled, "and mind you that's a pretty hefty IF. You'd be wanted dead or alive by every bounty hunter from here to the other side of the Krazoa System. Of course I've been promised my reward as well, and I fully intend to take that with me when I leave. I thought that chick was crazy but, she sure held up her end of this nicely."
Skye sighed as she slid one of her new toys free of the rig holding them to her thighs, "You know, I did always admire the fact that no matter how many times I had to beat your ass, hospitalize you, and humiliate you...just like a cockroach you keep coming and coming and coming. That persistence would almost be charming if you weren't a worthless sack of crap with a tiny dick and no balls to go with it," She chuckled at the now maddening glare on his face, "I mean let's face facts; most of the ladies in this crowd have a bigger dick than you. So instead of drawing this out any further, why don't you just go ahead and get off your ass so we can end this the same way we always do, with you crying home to daddy."
Caruso, uncharacteristically chuckled as he stood up cranking his neck from one side to the other, "Actually, I've been a little anxious to see you again. See there's been a bit of a revolution happening right under the government's nose and they're too fucking stupid to even realize it," He smiled, "I won't spoil anything for you but, I'm sure you've noticed an upsurge in people like Marcus and his Mother showing up around the galaxy."
Skye was aware of such information, it had become evident to Slippy's research ever since the Black Star project that things were taking a strange turn in the galaxy; the professor even referred to it as a natural stage in evolution. After all she knew of Krystal, Marcus, Sierra, and Sierra's father; there were even reports of someone from Katina that could generate electricity from his body, she'd even heard tell of a person from Zoness who could walk through solid objects. Of course people covered this in their own ways, some claiming that it was just wives tales, while others believed it was all due to some sort of secret experimentation with genetics that the governments were simply hiding from civilians in order to create more apt soldiers. Looking at the panther across from her, she didn't really notice anything exceptionally different, though his build was something much more impressive than it used to be it certainly wasn't a sign that he had any kind of ability or anything, rather more like he finally managed to stick to a work out.
Not bothered to hesitate any longer than she had to, Skye kicked up a trail of grass from her take off, certain that her new toys weren't needed, her motion was less a dash and more a horizontal jump, made possible by digging her toes deep into the soil and propelling herself like a bullet. It was an awkward technique that Falco Lombardi taught her while they were sparring one day, the avian had taken special interest that only seemed to carry on to Fox McClopud later in her Academy training. It was a one shot technique and was only really good for closing a distance instantaneously, however, the hard sinew she'd expected her fist to make contact with simply was not there and instead her fist produced nothing more than a whiff through the air. The counter-maneuver that came afterwards was a trick that she'd come up with on her own; swinging her body into a slight spin, the young canine drove her toes into the soil again, kicking off this time away from the target as his fist dug wrist deep into the ground; she'd seen more impressive punches of course but...not from Caruso. Something was different here but it certainly wasn't power, in fact his punch was likely slower than she recalled but, it carried a much greater force than she was used to seeing from him. After careful consideration however, something leaped out to her, as in a flash of inspiration before she kicked up a small stone before kicking it in his direction with more speed than he could react to instantly powdering against his chest. His body was a result of training, but, whatever strange ability he was referring to had made his body incredibly dense possibly even comparable to folded steel. She'd broken a great many things with her bare fists but, steel was certainly not one of them however, there was no real sense in throwing in the towel over something as simple as a guess. Bursting back in on him however, this time he didn't seem to bother moving almost as if he was testing this thing himself, even if his body was dense something had to still remain soft. Coming in on his right Skye slid around his back nearly on her side before sweeping up to his left side, the point of her boot catching a firm spot just under his left arm before recoiling in pain at the feeling of her kick swinging back into her own foot sending her spiraling toward the ground and back up onto her feet; she'd misjudged it...his body wasn't dense, well any more than he was naturally, which was still fairly dense all things given his body was flat out rejecting physical damage that was why the stone powdered, because it was met with a fully equal and opposite power, the same with his punch, whatever force might have acted upon his fist was simply shot back into the top soil. Without hesitation the panther followed her in suit with a well aimed strike aimed for her chest which she barely managed to deflect causing the strike to dig into her right shoulder; the punch felt like it carried his normal level of impact however, a second force suddenly tore into her shoulder causing her to reel back just managing to roll her body off center enough to dull the blow as the force sent her spiraling across the grassy hollow, the pain was unreal, the first punch was nothing special, but, it felt like the force of the resistance of her own body had multiplied against his fist, then sent the wave back into her shoulder with amplified force nearly crushing the bones inside. Gloating as she could only expect from him, Caruso sauntered over to where she lay cradling her partially destroyed shoulder where he leaned over her body drawing in only so many inches from where she lay...
"Does it hurt?" He asked with a snicker only to very quickly look down the barrel of some sort of makeshift gun.
"I don't know..." Skye chuckled as the weapon cocked, "...i haven't fired them yet."
The ensuing blast of hot metal and fire caused the black feline to reel back only a bit shielding his eyes as he cried out before stepping forward and driving a foot into Skye's side. Once again she felt not one impact but, two nearly simultaneous shots the second of which brought the taste of blood to her mouth, this spun the young canine on her side several feet before she rolled onto her hands and knees. Once more Caruso made his way to her side where Skye continued to spit up small pits of blood, he looked down at her only to watch as she spun nearly in place parallel with the ground before swinging her forearm, not reinforced by the body of her tonfa, into the split of his legs, this time the impact that came back was more intense but, it only seemed to effect the weapon in her hand, it hurt but it had no lasting effect other than a few bruises. The clear answer to a fight with him now was some sort of medium between the two of them. As he slowly doubled over from the shot to his groin, Skye rushed back in, however, in a strange mixture of timing and strength she found her strike caught mid swing before a low swinging fist drove even more blood from her mouth as she felt her gut being rocked by another devastating punch before Caruso wrapped his fingers around her neck lifting her off the ground...
Huffing with a mix of anger and exhaustion, Caruso hoisted her off her feet, "You know, you've always tried to be so much more of a man than everyone else..." He reached out with his free hand grasping her collar before tearing a streak of cloth away from the front of her shirt causing her chest to bound into the open air, "...but no matter how often you try to hide it these are right here to remind you and everyone else just what kind of a bitch you really are."
Without warning another explosion rocked Caruso's vision turning his world into a blast of searing pain and white light as the second, unaccounted for tonfa went off inches from his face from beneath. Reeling back he rubbed his forearm against his eyes in a vain attempt to alleviate the burning sensation in his vision, only to have it finally clear up and give him view of the bare chested Skye across the way standing in clear defiance. As she looked around the crowd around them...
She sighed as she patted the side of her right breast, "I've come to appreciate these a bit more than I used to..." She huffed angrily, "...sure they're heavy, they even hurt my back once in a while, but..." She swung about with her arms held out, "...do any of you guys have a problem with them?"
A huge wave of cheering rolled over the crowd including several male voices commenting out loud about how this was a good look on her, yet as this went on Caruso finally stepped forward, "You stupid mother fuckers just don't get it do you?!" He shouted, "I'm no government lackey or a member of the military, remember once I was kicked out of the Academy that'll never happen. See I'm just a simple bounty hunter, and I guess word got out either about you or your friends here cuz, I ran into a rather fetching price tag for the sum of six million Liat for one living O'Donnell bitch, and well..." He chuckled, "...couldn't pass that up. I sort of expected a fight but, this was the first time being out and about with this new strength so I thought I'd give it a test run before working on it any further. However, my friend Kaz here is the real brawn behind my brain..." He chuckled patting the large brown bear's arm, "...Kaz I think we've passed enough time here. If you would make sure not to hurt 'em too much."
The bear who'd seemed fairly unimpressed with everything slowly rose to his full height which towered over Caruso, and raised his arms before slowly bringing them back down. The motion caused everyone to immediately stagger before falling to their hands and knees as an immense pressure forced them into submission. Caruso took this moment to scoff, "You all see my imposing friend here has this nasty ability to manipulate Gravitational Fields, he's been a bit glued to my side ever since I pulled his meaty backside out of a fire a few months back...so..." He said binding Skye's arms and legs before hoisting her over his shoulder, "...you're all free to do what you want, but, I think we'll be taking this one with us. After all a boy's gotta eat right?"
The large bear followed suit as Caruso started along the way, "The effects only last a few short minutes. If you struggle there is no real telling the extent of the damage, simply lay still and you will all remain fine. I would rather this did not hurt any of you. I will do my best to see she is not injured either..." He said turning and slowly walking behind Caruso, "...I do so detest violence...it is so radically inappropriate when so very much could simply be solved with words..."
The weight of the moment was nearly as bad as the weight that bore down on the crowd; of all of them one in particular still managed to stand even if he found it impossible to walk. Mick simply stood by a slight grin tugging at the corner of his mouth as he looked to the three bodies walking out of sight; only visible for a moment and only to the one looking for it, was the small shimmer of a shiny surface reflecting the light of day. The captain was nothing if not crafty, he could see the shine from the tracker in the dark, no matter where they went.
AN: Once again sorry for the spontaneous updates but, with this Covid thing and work stuff has only gotten weirder. I'm still working however on all my writing it's just taking a back seat and riding on my spare time, which, sad to say, isn't at much as I'd like. Either way, I'll do my best to make future updates a little more frequent. Like always your input is appreciated at any point. Hope you're all doing well...
The footsteps in the darkness ~ SkullFox
