The Bat Beast was clicking its jaws, screeching at the top if its lungs. It was a terrible sound that sent shivers down their spines. The whistle from Owl had been blown a few seconds ago and they stood patiently awaiting their mounts. Just as the Beast rose its wings to topple them over, the screech of 25's majestic bald eagle came into the area. The Beast stared upwards and soon sparks flew from a hole in its head. The eagle landed, lowering its head to 25 who pet it gently, "Good birdie Roy." She clambered onto his neck as the others began to fly in. Walker helped his wife get onto their personal snowy owl, holding the adopted 32 in his arms. "Where's momma going?"
"She has to help. Daddy stays here. Daddy's leg is…broken." He gently explained as she gripped the rabbit. Owl smiled down to her, "Now don't worry baby, I'll be just fine." Walker and her shared a kiss, "Good luck my love." He whispered. She nodded and spurred the giant bird into the skies, starting to take aim towards the Bat Beast.
It screeched but the snowy owl unfurled its wings, the patterns shown and distracting its one eye. 25 finally managed to get atop her mount and led him straight into the skies. 24 followed with he and Miu placed on a large raven that cawed, awaiting orders. 37 hummed as he arrived, mounted on the back of a robin. He adjusted his vision just as the Bat was coming near him. There was a yell but the black bird of 115 slammed into the machine, causing it to drop a few feet towards the ground. Pi stood still on the ground with 15, the two observing closely. They had not chosen a bird but it was in good reasoning. If the leader should fall, the two would take over. 37 began to chase it down on his small but very quick bird. Soon the giant machine was creaking with tired exhaust, smoke beginning to bellow from its mouth.

57 watched this from the shadows, his eyes glinting in anger at this. He knew his special machine would go down, but there was another side to this. The stitchpunks were so distracted by that bat that he had the chance to make a clean getaway and rethink his plan. Theta bit his fingertips in worry, collected next to his friend Walker. 32 shifted about in her adopted father's arms, staring up as the snowy owl and the bat began to fight. 25 swooped in atop Roy, scratching at the thin fabric of its wings with his giant talons. The bat began to flutter in anger but also in weakness. Slowly it was beginning to fall apart. The twins spotted it and crowded next to Roy and 25. The leader flashed its eyes at the growing weakness of its being, "Hey. We need to take both wings out and then let Owl fly it far away from here."

"Got it." They responded, nodding and spurring the raven into action. 25 and Roy got on the opposite side of the bat. They both yelled and slammed straight into it, claws extended. There was a eerie sound of ripping and metal breaking. Black blood from its inner systems began to leak onto the dead earth below. Its last flicker stopped and the eye stopped glowing its deadly red. Owl came over and used her bird to pick the scraggly remains of it up. "We will be back later. We need to throw this somewhere where it won't get repaired."

The others landed and watched in silence as Owl began to leave their eyesight. Walker looked a bit lonely but he shook his head. "We have to keep going. The North isn't too far away?"
"Not really." 25 told, scratching her hair gently as 24 stood close by. "15, can you check those maps for us?"
Kayia politely stepped up as 15 rummeged through the bag her father gave her, "Excuse me…25. My brother and I were wondering…why exactly are you making all of us go through all this trouble?" Tobias stared over in a very ungrateful manner. 25 stood full and the whole area became silent, "I thought I explained all of this to you earlier troops. We've explored all sections of our given land. The only one left is the North. And the only reason we are seeing so many Beasts now is because of the simple fact that their leader is here. I think there are still humans here!"

"I think she's gone insane." Tobias told, crossing his arms and cocking an eyebrow. 26 bit her lip gently and stared to 25. If her anger could show, there would be a shade of blood red covering her face. She gripped him by his chest and shook him slightly, "Now listen here you! I know they're here! There's no way in hell that ALL life besides us was destroyed in that damn war." His optics were wide in fear. 25 saw her rage in the reflection and set him down, "I'm sorry…"
He gave a tiny nod, his fingers still shaking a bit. 24 looked to his fiancé, a bit concerned. She held his hand, giving a confidant sqeeze. 15 smiled happily as she retrieved the maps. But when the opened it there was ink scribbled all over it. The words, "Go back now." Were sprawled all over the drawing. She gasped and touched it. "It's fresh…"
All eyes fell on 6's twins. They shrugged, obviously not knowing what this might be from. 25 picked it up and observed it for a few moments, "The writing wasn't made by any ink pen but something very sharp…there's little tears in the map's fabric." She pointed out miniscule scars. "So it must've been someone with a blade…" 15 told back. Jack used his microscopic eye. "Well I have seen this handwriting before. When we were traveling in the south, there was this girl named 19."

999 nearly chocked from her listening range at this. She shook 1000 awake and pointed towards the team, "1000 did you hear that?"
"I was asleep." He told, reaching into his hollowed chest to find a cigarette. She smacked him a bit and then glared towards the group, "They said something about 19."
"You're kidding me right?" Not known to many, the rejected stitchpunks all had once been apart of the society but were slowly kicked out because of their ways. 1000 placed his fingers under his jaw, "I thought we slashed her to pieces when she was plotting to hurt them last mission?"
"Well she survived apparently." She sighed and held her hand. And then she did the unspeakable. She lifted herself up and told, "We need to join them."
"WHAT?" 1000 yelled, holding her back by the hand, "999 babe, we can't do that. What would they do?"
"They'd accept us as we are. It's time to come out of hiding. We are no different than them." She puffed her chest out and stared back at him. "And if you really with me all the way like you said you were, you would want this too." She started to go forward. Quickly 1000 placed a cigarette into his mouth and shouted, "Hey wait up."
"NO!" she screamed back but saw him standing right there, his eyes looking down to her, "Hey I want to come to."
"Good." She remarked and slowly began to approach. Which may have not been the smartest idea because the kids were filled with slow tension. But they drew nearer. Theta heard them first and took out his staff, his eyebrows crossing with readiness. When he caught sight of 1000, the urge to run was strong in his legs. 25 cocked her head and held up her palm to him, making him relax a bit. "You are…a stitchpunk."
"Yeah chicky." He told through the smoke that bellowed out his mouth. When 999 stepped out, she appeared to be less of a threat. 25 stepped up to her and catalogued her briefly. The more mechanic stitchpunk woman at first flinched but giggled. "Well aren't you the curious one?"
"Who are you?" Walker asked in defense, wanting to protect his niece. 32 clung onto her father's safety pin and gave a tiny whimper at 1000's appearance. "We're friends." She told in response, smiling as gently as she could towards them, "This is 1000 and my name is 999. We've actually been observing and helping you from afar."

"So wait…you guys are like guardians?" 15 asked with a giggle "Exactly." "They look kind of odd to me." 26 told gently but 115 shook his head as H1N1 scratched behind an ear. "They don't smell like my twin did." She said to add to the argument at hand.
25 shushed them all just before 24 opened his mouth to speak. "Quiet." Theta hummed and rose a hand. She addressed him and he asked, "Well, why can't they just come along?"
"Okay fine. But who sent you?" Tobias interrogated crossly. 1000 menacingly stared back and grumbled, "That ol 0 grandma. She asked us if we could keep an eye on you."
"And we can't let an order down." 999 explained. The others huddled up, whispering a few things before they broke apart again. "Well we've decided to have you along." 25 told, taking out a hand to shake theirs. Each of the mechanic stitchpunks had a hand that wrapped nearly twice around the leader's.
The group heard wings flapping and Walker smiled, seeing his fiancé flying towards them. But the bird had two objects in each claw, looking to be like bodies.

37 rolled his eyes, "Oh yippie. New arrivals again…how big is this group going to get?"
Pi smacked him against the side, "You hush! The larger, the more formidable we may seem." 25 smirked at her answer and nodded in agreement. Owl let her bird fly freely into the skies after releasing the two stitchpunks from her grip. Both were very small and similarly colored a strange shade of gray and white. They were foreign and coated in a thin layer of drying oil. Owl addressed that factor immediately, "From the Beast. These were inside its stomach."
From external looks only, the taller of the two was actually the male from the features his body showed. The female was beginning to show signs of life, sputtering and coughing.

"Another capture…" 15 told breathless. 25 bit her lip, "Damn those Beasts. Trying to harvest energy from fellow stitchpunks. Look at the female, she is a child!" The others stared to the Emptiness, a new building rage set within them.
The female opened her eyes and blinked at the group around her, "I knew it. I'm dead. We left mom for two seconds and we're dead now." H1N1 came closer to her, rubbing her back as she sat up slowly.
The male mumbled in response, "You idiot sis. We're still alive." He began to rise, 15 helping him. The two caught each other's eyes slightly. He gave a wide smile, "Okay maybe we are…"
"why do you say that?" 15 asked gently, her eyes shifting a bit in curiosity. He grinned wider, "Because. I see an angel before me."

While the others found their gazes softening at this, something about that statement struck Jack's nerve. He'd been flirting with 15, 26 and 70 for so long that he was almost territorial of them. 70 watched the way his fist clasped and calmed him down by rubbing his shoulder and adjusting his magnifying glass eye. 15 helped the male up and the two continued to stare. "May I ask your name fair lady?"
"Well, I'm 15. This is my leader, 25. And…well you'll have to get to know the others."
"It's an honor." He bowed and kissed her fingers. Jack tried not to leap into this. The male flung out his arms and said, "Fellow stitchpunks. I am Alan. You may call me Al for short." He reached down and plucked the female from the ground, "And this is my little sister Lilian. But call her Lili. We only use her full name if there's danger or if she's the one causing problems."

Lily crossed her arms, "I could've said that." She sulked for a few minutes before going over to see Walker and his daughter. 25 smiled, "Well then, I see there's no foul feeling from my group. You may come with us if you wish."
"where are you all going?"
"The north." 15 answered, trying to impress him now that there was a slight bit of attraction flowing through them.
"Perfect!" He told, "That's where we last saw our mother."
Though 15 was interested to hear more, the air about the group was growing heavy with eagerness to move forward. "we have to get going now. You…can talk to me while we walk. We'll be making camp in a few hours."
"Sounds lovely."
The group then began to march, four new additions following in synch to the sound of their feet pattering against the deathly earth.

But the evil 57 had gathered his strength in the darkness. He spotted H1N2 and twisted her around. "So what are your plans?"
She smirked, "Did you send 19 towards their direction?"
"Yes."
H1N2 gave a giant snicker, "Well if you really need to know. There's this stitchpunk I've been itching to kill. She annoys the crap outta me. She's weak and frail, and the others will never see it coming."
"But what if they do? This is bound to fail."
"We will come up with a distraction to make them stop their instigating. Otherwise our troops will murder them all. There's no way in hell they can all make it alive to see the Master."