A/N: Thanks for the reviews and favorites and follows. Nice to know some of you are keeping with me even now. I'm posting this from my phone so I'll have to go back and fix any glaring formatting errors. Without further ado, chapter three.

Natsuki released her breath. It could have been hours since the doors had opened with a sickening squeal, but she was sure it was only a few moments. Her breath was haggard in anticipation of the bitter and brittle winter air, but the slam of snow never reached her.

Tentatively, she opened her eyes and lowered her arms, squinting against the setting sun. The air was mild. (By no means particularly warm, but could be considered springtime, all things considered.) Suddenly her furs felt warm. With a deft hand, she removed the outermost layers of her clothing. Peeling the skins off of her sweaty skin, she swore she could hear the cold release of a canned iced coffee.

The cavern had let out to a small overhang that looked over a bay and the ruins of a forgotten city. While not nearly as decrepit as the other metropolitan areas Natsuki had seen, she would bet the lack of looters was mostly thanks to isolation. As far as anyone knew, the mountains of Fuuka had a winter weather anomaly stretching across its sprawling range. The clear skies here only betrayed a hint of any storm on the horizon. The bay was shimmering and despite apparent battle scars, the land was thriving in greenery. Trees and vines flowered even in the early January sun, as if the earth's rotation had nothing to do with its blossom.

Natsuki donned her spring leathers and aviator jacket; still offering her skintight mobility, they had an extra layer of soft insulation that broke wind and recycled her body heat. Unsure of what to do nexàt, Natsuki hid her sled within the nearby brush, keeping only her guns, a skinning knife, a small hatchet, and a satchel containing a bit of kindling, her flint and steel, a water bottle, and a sack of jerky that Midori had given her, a souvenir of her expedition in the southwest islands. Within the satchel was also a bag of small electronic drones that created a three-dimensional map when enough are in position to do an area sweep.

Determined to get a start on the next day, Natsuki had a swig of her water bottle and set off along the foothill.

"Stay where you are, Nat-chan," the voice in her ear startled her and she nearly fell down the slope. "We need to get an analysis on that mapping you sent in. A few of us are dropping in for a mobile lab and reconnaissance. Hope you don't mind the company, I can tell you like to keep up the 'lone wolf' image."

Natsuki let out a genuine laugh as a wave of relief washed over her. "As much as I do appreciate your concern over my reputation, I feel like I could do for some real human interaction."

As soon as the words left her mouth, she knew she had made a mistake.

"Oh, does Nat-chan want some real loving after her long and arduous journey? I know how it is on the road, all of the sexual tens-"

"Sh-shut up! You know that's not what I meant!"

"Your words say 'no' but we both know what the real answer is," Midori purred, her cattish smile audible even now.

"I'm going to pretend this conversation never happened and find you a clearing to land in. Wait for the distress signal before you launch."

"Sure thing, Nat-chan. Stay sharp."

Midori's last words raised a feeling of unease within Natsuki's core that spread throughout her like she'd had a few shots too many. Trying to ignore her unsettled stomach and shake off invisible eyes that watched her, she began to backtrack towards the small prairie she'd passed earlier.

As she jogged along the forest ground, she realised she'd never asked Midori how they planned to get to her location. Perhaps they'd commissioned a plane for airdrop? The storm would upset most electrical engines and cause untold turbulence. Garderobe was clever, though. The engineers and scientists knew what they were doing and no doubt it would work… eventually. Natsuki just hoped it wasn't going to be a catastrophic attempt.

Once she was on the outskirts of the field, Natsuki took out the small homing beacon and turned its switch to activate the beacon and blue flashing light. Taking a small running start, she pulled her arm back and lobbed the box towards the center of the clearing and hunkered down to wait.

The sun had almost set by the time she saw it: an arc of light to the south, stretching over the clouds. Seamless, it rose to a crescendo, soaring across the sky before it seemed to stop, resting amongst the stars.

Natsuki took a moment to enjoy the spectacle before her synapses began to go into overdrive. The light hadn't stilled at all. In fact, it seemed to grow larger by the moment. She sucked in a quick breath. It was coming towards her. Holy shit. She was about to get blown apart by some cruel act of the universe. A last joke. Her legs rooted her to the spot despite the dread pooling in her stomach.

It seemed to be an eternity before the light reached her. She realised after a moment of bewilderment that there was a parachute attached to a large metal capsule, which promptly began to hiss, steam, and release-revealing four women and an obscenely large vehicle strapped down, the former seemingly dazed and some a bit nauseous.

Natsuki stepped forward from the treeline with a smirk, "I have to admit, that was one of the more impressive entrances I've seen. I just don't know how you guys managed to hitch a ride on a rocket."

Mai, who had already gotten herself unstrapped and unhooked from the safety cage, stood with a smile and ran to greet her friend with a hug. "Natsuki-chan! I've missed you!"

"Those leathers look good on you, Kuga-san," Chie added with a wiggle of her eyebrows.

It was Youko who acknowledged Natsuki's question, "We've been working on repurposing decommissioned nuclear missiles for a while, but right now I would have been fine with taking our chances on breeding mammoths instead."

"It was fast, right?" Midori piped in after struggling longer than the others with her buckles and bands. Finally getting a look at Natsuki, she let out a low whistle and growled. "You are looking sexy. Rough rider Kuga-san, warrior of the land, lone wolf. Rawr."

"So, um, what is that thing supposed to be?" Natsuki asked quickly to hide her blush, gesturing to the beast of a vehicle. "It looks big enough to swallow a house."

"Ah…," Midori scratched her cheek. "That's luggage. And our lab. Figured we'd be staying for a bit, yeah?"

As always, Natsuki felt like Midori knew more than she was letting on. Eyeing her with suspicion, the raven-haired woman nodded after a moment of consideration, tossing a look towards the rock face of the mountain. "That's where the cave is. The forest gets pretty dense though, so we might want to head out on foot."

"When we get there we can set up camp and I'll start on dinner," Mai offered and several stomachs began to growl in unison.

Daydreams of supper were interrupted at a deafening roar. Midori popped her head out of the window and quirked an eyebrow. "Are you guys coming or what? We made this thing to be unstoppable, a few trees should be no problem."

A/N: I wrote most of this on my friend's couch at 4am Saturday morning. I feel like I'm rambling through most of this story, so thanks for bearing with my madness. I'm pulling most of this knowledge out of my ass, so everything technical should be taken with a grain of salt and please forgive me for continuity errors. I'm going to go through these first few and revise them in the coming weeks just to tweak them. I'm sort of writing this as I go because plans intimidate me.

Drop a line and let me know what you think.

Tacos