X: Run Away

"General," Stoker greeted playfully as he swept into the curtained off cubicle, Windsong balanced easily on one hip.

"Stoker." The slight curve of Carbine's lips could hardly be called even the shadow of a smile but Stoker gave her some credit for trying. "How long have I been out for?"

"Couple days. Don't start with me," he added hastily, seeing her arched eyebrow. He loosened his grip on Windsong, letting her slide down onto the foot of the bed. She fixed Carbine with her bizarre eyes, not saying a word. Carbine blinked, blinked again and stared back, her mouth dropping open slightly.

"Shapeshifter," the leader of the Freedom Fighters said shortly by way of explanation, as if they dealt with shapeshifters on a regular basis.

"...he had those eyes..." Carbine managed.

"Who?"

Carbine and Windsong continued staring at each other. Carbine blinked and forcefully tore her eyes away from the child, focusing instead on Stoker. "There was a man. I don't know how he got into my room. He had honey coloured fur and blonde hair, and the most brilliant blue eyes. Like hers." She nodded towards Windsong.

"Slider," the child whispered, curling up into a ball and shuddering at the mention of the name. Stoker automatically stepped over to the bed and put a protective arm around her. Windsong snuggled against him, still trembling.

"You never seen him before?" inquired Stoker.

Carbine racked her hazy memory before decisively replying. "Not before then. Never."

"So some random guy busts in an' tries ta waste ya. Who've you been pissin' off General?" Stoker smirked.

Carbine shrugged. "Jus' followin' orders. Unless they're startin' to knock people off for not followin' 'em to the letter these days." The delivery was almost funny, and it did make Stoker crack a smile, even if it was just a relieved one. Carbine looked back at Windsong, and this time it was a long, searching look. "What are they?"

"Shapeshifters. Like I said," Stoker answered. He looked at Windsong. "I did ask but they don't seem to have a name for themselves." He reached down and picked up the child, resting her on his hip. "Wha's wrong with you ay?" he asked, looking at her.

Windsong said nothing, clinging tightly to Stoker, her trembling increasing.

Carbine yelped suddenly, her hand flying to the furless bruise-like thing on her neck.

Stoker dropped Windsong on the bed, turning and reaching for his blaster at the same time as the curtain swished aside.

-= o =-

"Where the fuck are we?" Rimfire wondered, his voice hushed as it came out in ragged gasps. He relaxed his hand briefly before regaining a better grip on Quartz's utility belt, pulling the older mouse's arm more across his shoulders at the same time, supporting more of his weight.

"Should we be trustin' this alien chick?" Benihana inquired, checking around the corner and then motioning for them to follow.

"She seems to be on our side," Quartz managed, stifling a groan.

"Why coz she hasn't killed us yet? You saw what she did to that thing. And what the fuck is she?" Benihana paused. "Ahh fuck." She paused, staring in annoyance at the blank, moss-covered grey wall in front of them.

Rimfire glanced up at the dead end, exhaled softly in lieu of a sigh and pivoted himself carefully around Quartz, and stopped dead when he registered the muzzle of a gun in his face.

"Shit," said Benihana.

Rimfire looked up past the gun at its wielder. The dark face and scary-toothed from of a Stalker looked back. Another one came up behind him, also wielding a gun.

"Little mice running around in a maze," the first one smiled. The two of them yelped suddenly and collapsed to the ground, clutching their arms, revealing the cat thing behind them. One twitched. The cat thing looked disdainfully down at them, her tail lashing, before looking up at the trio.

"Trrrrrruuuuuu," she purred, then turned tail, dropping as she did and loped on all fours down the corridor. She paused and looked expectantly back over one muscular shoulder. The mice glanced at each other. Somewhere in the near distance they could hear the pattering of many fat Plutarkian feet accompanied by shouts, the voices too indistinct to make out the words. They were probably talking in their random blubbery babble anyway.

"Trrrprrrt," the cat thing hissed urgently. The mice hurried after her.

Of course it was the path that they probably should have taken instead of the one that they had eventually chosen, when they got back to the familiar looking T-junction. The cat thing glanced down the corridor that eventually led back to the prison complex, pausing at the other corner. All her sapphire eyes did was glitter in the half-light, but the three mice got a distinct impression of them narrowing. She motioned with her tail for them to continue on down the corridor.

Quartz groaned and tried not to lean so hard on Rimfire as the younger mouse again shifted him further onto his shoulders. "Best leave me behind kid," he said gruffly.

"That didn't work the last time sir," Rimfire responded without making eye contact, concentrating on the end of the corridor that he couldn't see as he willed his deadened limbs to carry them onward.

Benihana, following them down the corridor, paused and glanced back. The cat thing was crouched flat on her belly at the corner, her too-long tail flicking expectantly. The voices were coming closer. Reflexively, Benihana pressed her back against the wall, setting her jaw and feeling for a firearm that was no longer there. Cursing softly, she tried to press further into the wall. Squinting in the semi-darkness, she saw the muscles in the cat's rump twitch.

Unsurprisingly enough considering their weight, they thundered like a herd of elephants around the corner. The cat sprang. Her lithe body dissipated into little more than a blue-purple blur accentuated by silver flashes. The sickly green Plutarkian grunts, backlit yellow by the light from the prison cells, their mouths agape in horror, didn't even have time to draw breath for a scream much less get off a shot.

Benihana only realised her jaw was dangling when she closed her mouth.

It took slightly more time for the blood to start flowing. It very quickly stained the blue warden outfits a dark brown.

Benihana's eyes snapped back to the cat thing when she flicked her tail. Her gargantuan butterfly-wing-shaped ears tilted forwards, then backwards, then reverted to what seemed to be their original position. She turned, her tail streaming out smoothly behind her, and padded towards Benihana. When she drew level, the cat thing peered up at her. A deep, comforting rumbling suddenly emitted from somewhere in her body, and she softly bunted the Martian's hand with her nose, then pushed her lightly in the hip with her head.

Trying to shake the dazed feeling from her head, Benihana wordlessly trotted down the corridor, rapidly gaining ground on Rimfire and Quartz, the cat thing loping easily beside her.