Little Cato focused his eyes very hard and intently as he looked through his binoculars at the cave opening below. Crouched over the ledge of a cliff, the Ventrexian had his body pressed down to the ground as tightly as he could in an effort to stay hidden, even though the sun had effectively gone down at that point. He switched the settings of his binoculars to scan for Tenebrus signals, and he did manage to detect a whole group of them situated deeper in the cave he was focused on. Little Cato had no idea there were so many Tenebri in one place. He wondered if this was another population he wasn't aware of. He even questioned if the comet-like streak of energy he saw flying in the sky belonged to a single Tenebrus to begin with.

Spotting a couple of them moving outside the mouth of the cave, Little Cato put down his binoculars and held out his pistol at the ready. He waited as he aimed, waiting for the proper moment to neutralize the targets. He watched his targets…but then pulled back his gun when he realized what sort of people he was about to try and shoot.

The two were both children, very young, and seemingly no older than 10. They were also apparently wearing knee-length cloaks draped around their shoulders, likely as protection from the elements, considering they were in the mountain areas of Yarno. One child whose head was extremely bandaged looked curious enough to want to look further out while the other held them by the shoulder, seemingly warning their companion not to do that but rather go back inside the cave. The former complied and they both went back in.

Little Cato made his way to the bottom of the cliff that overlooked the cave, having made it to said cave in person. Keeping his gun held up and pointed again, he stepped inside carefully after looking inside, making sure he didn't make too much noise with every step he took. He followed the cave's main passageway, which seemed to look more like a singular tunnel, until he spotted an encompassing light up ahead. He inched closer and closer to the light until he saw the source in its entirety:

In an open chamberlike part of the cavern, there was a large campfire alit with a purplish flame, surrounded by a various number of people, varying significantly in terms of differing alien species. Like the two children Little Cato saw earlier, they were draped in cloaks and many were even visibly bandaged all over their bodies. Most simply sat around the fire, while others were on their knees and some were lying down on their sides on the cave floor. The sight of these people in such a state was almost…pitiful.

Little Cato was silently both shocked and confused on the inside. "Are these people Tenebri?" was the loudest thought echoing in his mind at the moment. He had come to the cave based on signs that some of the feared Tenebri were there, and as someone in Crimson Light and by extension the Infinity Guard assigned with dealing with them, he had to come seeking them out. He had expected something more fierce, threatening, vibrant…but he had never expected to see them so withered, exhausted, helpless…

Little Cato couldn't understand how he could even think of attacking these people. He found himself slowly lowering his gun, unable to take his eyes off this display of lost personhood before him. One child, the one with the bandaged head from earlier outside the cave, turned around to see Little Cato, somehow detecting his presence. The two looked each other in the eyes, with Little Cato looking confused and the child looking slightly fearful of him.

Little Cato was too deep in his conflicting revelation to notice a hand raised behind him, positioned with straightened fingers, which then struck him on the back of his head in a chopping motion that made him react with a yelp, instantly causing his hearing to go silent and his vision to go black.

On a road leading out of Tera Con Alpha, a human man in a brown jacket, blue jeans, and a red helmet on his head was putting the pedal to the metal on his motorbike, his eyes wrestling between focusing either on the road or the screen showing a blinking blip on a topographical projection. Gary Goodspeed had difficulties with reconciling the fact that it took him a little too long to try and find everyone so he could gather them all together for a search out in the mountains. He was somewhat glad that HUE and AVA were willing to lend him their assistance over comms, but even more glad that Quinn and Mooncake joined him immediately, both of them sitting behind him on his bike. (there was also KVN, but Gary neither asked nor wanted his assistance)

Quinn had to remind Gary to focus on his driving. "Gary, the road."

Gary snapped his gaze back to his immediate surroundings, accidentally making the bike sway a little bit. Mooncake had to grab on to Quinn's shoulder to avoid getting thrown off. "Sorry – sorry about that," Gary said through his helmet, "It's just Little Cato…just him being out there on his own, without us or any super gear while facing maybe a dangerous Tenebrus…"

"Gary, we'll find him," Quinn reassured him. "I get you're worried. I'm worried too, but Little Cato's smart. If anyone can find their way out of a pickle, he can…" She rested her chin on Gary's shoulder before adding, "…thanks to you."

Gary smiled, though no one could see it since he was wearing a helmet. It didn't really ease his tension though. He had a gut feeling that Quinn wanted to say to him that she told him so, that the inherent danger of the job would one day cause something to happen to Little Cato, putting something between the two…possibly permanently. Of course, Quinn didn't say any of the sort, simply reassuring him out of consideration for his current feelings.

Gary wanted to look back at the tracker on his bike, but opted to ask Quinn instead. "Can you still see Little Cato?"

"Yeah, he hasn't moved," Quinn answered back, apparently using one hand to look at a miniature tracking device she had on her person. "Hopefully, his tracker stays on once we get there…I don't know how AVA and HUE could help if it didn't."

"Chookity," Mooncake remarked nervously as he held on to Quinn, the three continuing to speed away towards the mountains with only one person on their minds at the moment.

"Boss, we're… – who's – is that…? What's – doing here?"

"I've dealt...can't hurt us."

"…got the goods…enough – everyone…"

"–…transport…–?"

"…would do."

"What about –"

The world slowly came back to Little Cato, feeling his consciousness, vision, and hearing becoming more apparent to him again as he slowly opened his eyes to the sight of a slightly illuminated cave floor. He took a second to realize he was still in the cave, remembering having entered it earlier looking for Tenebri, finding them in ways he wasn't expecting, and then…

Little Cato's eyes widened at the realization of what came next. He moved to get up but was stopped by the feeling of rope tied around his wrists. He looked back to see that his hands were tied behind a rocky column. He then turned back to face the front and saw the same group of people from before still sitting around the lit fire, but it was the sight of the person sitting away from the group and right in front of him that really got his attention: the pale blue-skinned woman with the pink eye and magenta hair wearing dark clothing – a Serepentian – sat positioned facing the group while watching Little Cato from a side glance.

"You!" Little Cato exclaimed. "You're the Mad Tenebri's leader!"

"Ash Graven," the Serepentian replied matter-of-factly, "Try to memorize it when taking names, Little Cato."

"But why are – how did you –" Little Cato was silenced when he saw Ash generate an aura of nebulous void from her fingertips.

"Keep it down. We're having a meal," she quietly reprimanded the Ventrexian. Little Cato looked over to the group sitting around the fire, seeing each of them apparently eating something; some were chewing on food from bowls which they scooped with spoons, others were either sipping from bowls or cups which could have been soup or a regular drink. Somehow watching these cloaked bandaged people do that looked even more pitifully strange to Little Cato. He took another momentary glance to the bags of cans, wrapped goods, boxed goods, and other assorted groceries sitting in another corner of the cavern.

Little Cato had a hard time understanding what he was seeing. Somehow, what these people were doing made sense, but yet it didn't feel quite right to him either. "What –?" he whispered.

"What's that?" Ash's voice made him turn his head to her. She further clarified directly to his face, "What do you mean by 'what'?"

"Well, I mean," Little Cato tripped over his words, "it's just…you guys – Tenebri – you actually eat, like, real food?"

That made Ash's gaze towards him sharpen greatly. Taking the wisp of void still flaring on her fingertip, Ash wordlessly shot it directly at Little Cato's face.

In a split-second upon seeing the little flare com for him, Little Cato gasped fearfully, knowing this was going to hurt a lot. He shut his eyes tight, tensing up in anticipation for the shot to hit him directly in the face. He held his position waiting, and waiting, and waiting…He cracked an eye open to see the void-like wisp floating directly in front of his face, unmoving. He examined the thing in confusion, but also with slight curiosity as he saw every little detail, every bit of wavy and bubbling textures that described the energy swirling in that little space…then it popped, loudly. "Ow!" he cried out from feeling the little explosion hit him directly in the face. He was unharmed, but it still stung a bit.

Little Cato looked up to see Ash walk right over to him and kneel down on one knee, staring him directly in his eyes with her own, the sharp gaze not once leaving her face. "What do you think we are?" she asked him in a low and quiet but mildly threatening tone. Little Cato remained silent as Ash continued, "We Tenebri are living people. Like anything that's alive, we have to eat. It we don't, we'll die."

Little Cato looked briefly at the group as Ash spoke, catching a glimpse of a black-haired and pale-skinned human woman with a couple bandages on her face, crouched next to a brown-furred and heavily bandaged Ventrexian lying on his back on the cave floor. She was supporting his head in one of her arms while holding up a bowl of soup to his lips, carefully pouring it into his mouth little-by-little.

Little Cato looked down at the cave floor, unable to look at the group nor Ash. "Sorry about that," he softly apologized, making Ash look surprised. "I just…never knew."

Ash, on the other hand, ended up looking even more solemn, switching from resting on one knee to sitting on the cave floor. She continued facing the Ventrexian but turned her head away slightly to keep watching over the group sitting by the fire. She eventually was approached by one of the other Tenebri, the old alien Clarence.

"Ash," Clarence whispered to her, "It's Shannon. It's about Meowlapeño."

Ash got up and made her way over to the fire, where Shannon, the pale-skinned and black-haired human woman, still sat by Meowlapeño's side, already having placed his head down on a folded up vermilion jacket that acted as a pillow. Meowlapeño, the brown-furred Ventrexian, still laid on his back, unable to move. Ash got directly on her knees and leaned over Meowlapeño, trying to look him directly in the eye. "Hang in there, Meowlapeño," she tried to assure him, "a truck will be here soon."

"A truck?" Clarence questioned uncertainly. "Can't we just keep using the flying transport? It's much faster that way."

"The flying transport might draw too much attention," was Ash's answer. "A truck's less suspicious. Devlin and Melvin went out to get one."

"But…" the woman named Shannon cut in, "at this rate, Meowlapeño might not…"

'Might not?' Little Cato heard what Shannon said. From what that implied, he had a bad feeling about the fellow Ventrexian's current state. "Hey, let me help," he called out without hesitation.

Everyone in the whole group turned their heads to look at Little Cato, Ash included. "You?" she responded to him with a tone of disbelief, even sounding slightly offended. She looked across at Little Cato with a stern look in her eye. "It's because of you that he's like this."

Little Cato held his ground. "I'm a rescuer. I did emergency med care as part of my training. I got first aid equipment back on my bike I can use."

Ash looked him over for a few seconds before making her decision, "No need."

With that, she turned back to Meowlapeño while Shannon stood back. Holding the hurt cat's face in both hands, Ash carefully leaned down and gently placed her mouth over his own. She closed her eyes to focus, the connection between her and the Ventrexian emitting a soft glow. A purplish light pulsed from the two as Ash blew into him, trying to breathe life back into his currently frail body. Unknown to Little Cato watching them, Ash could feel the light inside Meowlapeño's body flickering and dimming. With every bit of energy she continuously blew into him, that light brightened just a little bit more. She kept going, refusing to stop for a break, even when she started to sweat.

"Hold on, Meowlapeño," Shannon quietly said to the hurt Ventrexian, not once taking her eyes off him. "You're almost there. You can do it."

'Come on, come on,' Ash kept whispering and gasping in her mind over and over as she fought the strain and fatigue she felt creeping in. She kept right on going, breathing into Meowlapeño without stopping until she felt his light suddenly surge, prompting her to remove herself from him to see if what she did had worked. Everyone else surrounding them both all watched in anticipation, hoping that Ash succeeded in restoring Meowlapeño.

But they were betrayed by Ash's anguished expression as she looked down upon him.

Meowlapeño's eyes fluttered open for a prolonged moment despite being half-shut. He weakly kept his gaze on Ash as she still looked at him from above. Even when he noticed the saddened look on Ash's face, his eyes did not stray from hers. Slowly, his eyes gradually closed until they were shut away from the world completely, a single and final wisp of warm air leaving his lips that were faintly curled up into a little smile. His chest fell and did not rise again, and the light inside him that Ash once tried to revive shrunk and faded away completely, never to be felt again.

Shannon shut her eyes tightly and looked away, unable to focus on anything other than the anguished feeling rising from her that she began fighting to suppress.

Ash's gaze did not leave Meowlapeño as he laid still, continuing to look as though he were asleep even though everyone knew perfectly well that he was not. Ash carefully grabbed both his hands and placed them onto his chest, positioning them in a way that a human might perceive as prayer. Shortly after that, Meowlapeño began to darken, the color in his fur fading as the rest of his body slowly started crumbling into a cloud of nebulous particles that rose into the air, evaporating away until nothing remained, erasing all signs that the Ventrexian Meowlapeño once existed.

Ash stood in silence, prompting Shannon and the other Tenebri to do the same as they all looked down at the spot where Meowlapeño once laid. "From the darkness came the light – to the darkness, the light returns," Ash quietly gave an elegy, "rest in peace."

Little Cato was silent the entire time, unsure of what to make of the scene he watched unfold before him. He eventually found the will to speak again. "Did he…turn into dust?"

"He went back to the void," Ash answered morosely without turning around to face him, "the final fate for a Tenebrus."

"What do you mean?"

"The shadows inside us consume our bodies, eat away at them," Ash explained while feeling said shadows within herself, "but at the same time, they allow us to regenerate." She procured another shadowy wisp in her hand, which she held up to look at more closely, "As long as we're alive, our bodies are forever. We can stay the way we are no matter how much the shadows take us over…But once our time is up, we fade away, back to the same blackness we first left since birth."

Again, Little Cato was at a loss. "Are you serious? That can't be it."

"It's not that shocking, really," Ash finally turned in Little Cato's direction. "All living things eventually die, after all. All we can do is keep feeding the flames until we burn out. Knowing that much, we can be at peace with ourselves."

"So the darkness, the shadows, they're your only reasons for living?"

"We can't help it. We can hear their voices, hear them crying out, cries like 'Take it home!' and 'Change it back! More of it, all of it!' The drive is loud, strong, and it grows!"

The little wisp in Ash's hand blinked out of existence before it was replaced by a much larger flare of cosmic shadow erupting from the campfire that everyone stood in front of, sounding almost like a rumbling roar while enveloping all of the cave walls in a violet hue along with the Tenebri who stood before Little Cato. By that time, Ash looked more emboldened, more passionate, almost like she was making a plea.

"We don't understand them any more than you, but I know for a fact that they are alive! Listening to their calls, granting them their wishes – that's what it means to be a Tenebrus!"

Little Cato carefully took in everything Ash had said to him. He could feel the emotions, the sincerity, the spirit in Ash's words. But he still thought: if the Tenebri are driven to return everything to the void, everything that exists… "Then, what about other living things, ones that aren't you?"

"No," was Ash's reply, sounding somewhat calmer this time. "We feel the need when it comes to the physical world, but for people and animals, we know they're different. We make sure to never rob them of choice, just as our nature's not our choice either." She then took a step closer to Little Cato, looking more at ease which prompted him to have that same feeling too. "When we Mad Tenebri attack a town, we always leave a way out for anyone inside. That, we proudly choose to live by."

Little Cato looked away from Ash, sitting in silence as he felt himself feeling even more confused. On the other hand, Ash was shortly approached by Devlin and Melvin who had just arrived back.

"Boss," Devlin reported, "the trucks are ready."

"Trucks?" Ash inquired.

"Yeah," Melvin answered for Devlin, "we managed to get two more along the way. We've got more than enough room for everyone."

"Okay, sounds really good. Thanks a lot."

Devlin looked over to the campfire. "Meowlapeño…is he…?" Ash shook her head, handing Devlin back her vermillion jacket that had once been used to rest Meowlapeño's head.

"Let's go. It's dangerous to stay here too long." Ash said plainly. Devlin, Melvin, and everyone else heeded her words and packed up whatever they had before walking away towards the cave entrance. Ash watched them, waiting until they were all outside the cave before she started going the same way as well.

Little Cato noticed her steps and saw her walking away from him. "You're running away again?" he called to the Serepentian.

Ash stopped, turning slightly to face Little Cato again. "Yeah. We'll keep going as long as the foundation's still after us."

"Can't you just stop destroying things?" Little Cato tried to reason with her, already feeling bad for their situation after having just seen it. "You all could live like normal people if you did, or at least tried. Then you wouldn't have to run."

Ash looked at him. "You really think that would happen?"

Little Cato felt somewhat uncomfortable with the way Ash asked him that. "Yeah, I do."

Ash huffed in disappointment, "Then you don't know what you're talking about."

Little Cato was taken aback. "Huh?"

Ash gestured with her head to Little Cato, directing him to the empty spot next to the now lightless campfire. "Why do you think he died?" she asked, referring to Meowlapeño. "He ended up that way thanks to the experiments done by Governor Jack's foundation."

'Foundation? Governor Jack's foundation? The research foundation he's the head of?' That claim hit Little Cato like a wall of bricks, his eyes widening and his face snapping back to face Ash.

Ash took notice of his reaction. "You're telling me you don't know?" She cocked her head on one raised shoulder, giving a bitter smile. "Guess the Infinity Guard's been training puppets." She faced Little Cato directly, "It wasn't just Meowlapeño. Almost every Tenebrus in the galaxy is dead thanks to Governor Jack." As she continued, she could feel her anger rising. "His foundation cuts us up and puts things into us, all for their research! He doesn't even care that we're still people too…" Her face fell at that last statement, her voice tapering off with a faint tone and a slight tremble.

"You're lying!" Little Cato exclaimed indignantly. "I know Gov. Jack! He would never do that, allow anything like that to happen!"

Ash returned Little Cato's angry claim with an icy glare of her own. "Deny it all you want." She turned back to the cave entrance and walked away.

But Little Cato wasn't finished with her yet. "Hey! Wait!" he called, trying to get her attention, but Ash still walked on, moving further and further away. He kept right on calling. "Wait! Come back! I said wait! Hey! Hey! Wait!" But his calls fell on deaf ears as Ash eventually left the cave and the surrounding area entirely.

He heard the supply trucks' engines starting up and their front headlights turn on, watching as the two vehicles containing the Tenebri departed, leaving the front of the cave and his view of them entirely, with Little Cato only able to listen to their sounds as they faded more and more into silence until he could no longer hear them at all. It was certain that the trucks holding the Tenebri were driving away into the distance, going somewhere Little Cato had no means of discerning, at least at the moment.

'Governor Jack? Experimenting on living people? It couldn't be true. He's not that kind of person…'

It was late at night by the time Gary, Quinn, and Mooncake got to the cave where Little Cato was. Gary and Quinn ran to both sides of the cave entrance, holding their anti-matter pistols at the ready. Mooncake floated by Gary, readying himself the same way the other two were. Gary looked to Quinn, who nodded. Gary then gave a signal to go inside, proceeding with caution. Quinn followed behind him closely while Mooncake floated on a little bit ahead of both of them. Not detecting the presence of any Tenebri, Gary and Quinn turned on their flashlights. It so happened that while they looked with their flashlights, Gary's happened to fall upon Little Cato who was still sitting on the cave floor tied to a column.

"Little Cato!" Gary exclaimed, immediately racing towards his Spider Cat. He wasted no time kneeling down and getting right to untying Little Cato's hands. Quinn also rushed in to help. "Are you okay?" Gary asked Little Cato.

But Little Cato didn't answer. He continued to stare at the ground silently and listlessly, too lost in his thoughts over what he had just witnessed a while ago.