Raid day begins. Suri still has a lot to do and surely that won't cause problems. Suri comes face to face with her demons.

The morning after the pseudo Lupanar was hectic to say the least.

One, Pazuzu had been right, Suri woke up sore as her entire body thrummed with the ghost pains of the dozens of cuts across her body. Of course none of the cuts were visible at all because of her healing factor. In fact, by the time she'd made it to the showers at one thirty in the morning to wash off all of the blood, sweat, and grime, they'd been nothing more than small tracks of raised skin. All that remained now was the pain from getting a beating that she had returned back ten fold.

The saving grace had been waking up to the wonderful sight of Izuku's form snuggled against her. They'd slept through the first alarm that was set for their morning workout, naturally, and when her eyes had finally fluttered open she was looking directly at his bare chest. Between seeing his toned body, breathing in his scent, and feeling him pressed against her front, Suri couldn't help but happily shiver from the butterflies in her stomach. The shivering had also brought the delightful realization that it was Mina who she felt snuggled to her back and had her arm wrapped around the beast girl. A soft yawn from Tooru on the other side of Mina signified that Suri and the pinkette had apparently taken the middle of the sleeping cuddle pile, which was absolutely perfect.

Once they had been dressed and headed towards school was when the shit hit the fan.

The moment Suri had directed everyone to be seated when Aizawa walked through the door was the moment the day changed. Behind Aizawa had been Natsukage who quickly pulled Suri out into the hall and told her the news; that she needed to be ready because they were going to get a call at any time. And when that call came they had to be ready to suit up and get their asses to the agency because they'd be moving out on a lead involving the trafficking ring Alpha squad had been chasing down and Gemini.

The raid would be tonight.

Good.

But there was one tiny problem with the raid being tonight.

Tonight was the full moon.

Whoever thought the idea of going after shapeshifters on the full moon was an absolute grade A idiot. And Suri wanted nothing more to smack that idiot right upside the head. Granted they'd have Suri and Kodiak going in on the raid on the full moon so her and the werebear would be twice as powerful as normal. Natsukage had mentioned that, during a full moon, vampires and dhampirs did get a little bit of a boost to their powers as well. That also meant that if the undead and half undead got a boost then maybe hellspawns like Hellfire would have a power boost as well. They'd only be able to hope for that since it wasn't something that was confirmed.

Then there was the other problem.

If Suri wanted the stone perch to be consecrated and turn the forest clearing behind the 1-A dorms into her Place of Power, she had to do the land rites ritual during a full moon. It had to be done tonight if she didn't want to wait another month. If she was facing Gemini on a full fucking moon tonight, could she really afford not having the power base? The answer was no. That answer meant that she was running around like a chicken with its head cut off between class periods and during lunch. It also meant a few frantic phone calls to America and giving her dad a condensed version of everything that was going on and what had happened last night.

Needless to say, Alpha was both a proud and a nervous dad.

During lunch, Suri quickly tracked down her new coven of witches, all but kidnapped them, and dragged them up to the roof patio above the cafeteria. There they had a conference call with her dad's coven head, Coleen. Suri had had a thought and she needed to know if it was possible from a witch who'd been around since before her dad came into power and potentially teach the younger coven if it was. It had taken a couple frantic tries but finally the old witch finally answered her phone with a soft, cheery voice that was well worn from nearly a century of life.

"I'm so sorry to bug you like this, Coleen," Suri quickly apologized after the old woman answered. "But, dad said you'd be able to possibly answer some questions and help me out. I've got my coven with me here and we're ready to do the ritual for land rites tonight but I was informed of something that has to happen tonight as well."

"Sweetheart, you sound like you're in a rush," she chuckled and sighed. "Rituals cannot be rushed, you know this, child, but I have the feeling it's important that you have to be in two places at once. Am I correct?"

"Yeah," Suri chuckled nervously. "I know it's stupid but… I have a bad feeling about tonight if I don't have the extra power boost having consecrated land will provide."

"Child, what could be so important to have it? You know it's dangerous to rush into more power than you and your beast can handle," Coleen chided sweetly.

Suri looked at her phone and gulped hard before looking at the four witches who were watching the conversation with interest. She took a deep breath and kept her eyes locked on the Takemura twins, Hanashita, and Mutekabe.

"My hero agency is going on a raid tonight and I need the extra power because… it involves Gemini," Suri admitted cautiously. The reaction was a long silence on the other end of the phone and the young coven in front of her going pale in color. Mutekabe especially looked absolutely terrified from just the mention of the werehyena but it was clear the other three witches knew who she was. "And I'm almost certain she'll have a few shifters with her."

"Child," Coleen said quietly. "What matter of death wish do you heroes have? Your father would be livid if he knew."

"He does. I told him and that's why he had me call you," Suri answered and listened to the old woman begin cursing the former Ulfric in all manners of swear words.

Suri was sure she even heard cursing in gaelic when the old woman slipped into her native Scottish accent. After a long moment she took a deep breath and then they heard her begin to walk around before hearing the sound of old parchment rustling and the turning of pages in a book. It was clear Coleen was going through almost a dozen different books or honest to gods scrolls of parchment.

"I'm guessing you're going to structure your clan around you, yes? Like Orihime has her pard?"

"Correct," Suri answered.

"So you're not going to have a designated Ulfric," the old woman sighed heavily. "That would be much easier."

"I mean… I have someone in mind," the beast girl admitted and couldn't help but blush and look away shyly. "But he's human so I don't think he's a viable candidate."

"Gracious child," the old woman laughed. "You're gone for less than a year and you've already found someone?"

"T-Three actually," Suri corrected sheepishly.

"You are your father's daughter," Coleen giggled softly. She sighed then and there was more paper rustling heard. "Okay, so tell me about the structure of your clan."

Suri quietly cursed under her breath and let out a sigh as she leaned forward and rested her forehead on the back of her hands. She knew Atiena had been right last night. She'd gone into the meeting last night with no one truly in her pack per say and she left with just as many.

"I umm," Suri began quietly. "As far as non-humans go I… fuck, I do have to wait don't I?"

"I'm sorry, child," Coleen sighed. "It's possible to have a proxy but they need to be within your clan structure and blood oathed to you. Is your coven oathed to you yet?"

Suri swore again and sunk harder into her own hands as the stress about everything began to build and pile up second by second. She really was rushing into everything blind and wasn't thinking about all of the steps that she should have been taking. It didn't help that, as much as she loved Izuku, Tooru, and Mina, with them being human it was probably handicapping her potential power. Did she want to blame them? No. She couldn't. Could she blame herself? No, not really. She fell in love with them so who was she to fault what her heart wanted?

"Ma'am, if I may," Hanashita spoke up, surprising everyone. "Can you tell me the details of the proxy spell? If possible, I may be able to create a spell that would allow us to bypass some of the clan structuring needed on a temporary basis."

Suri got lost in all of the conversation that came next. It was just white noise as she stared wide-eyed at Hanashita and the small coven in front of her and couldn't help but begin to tear up. She felt the hot streaks make their way down her cheeks as Ryuko, Saito, and Taiga joined in as well and began figuring out what they needed to do if Hanashita's plan worked. It was a wonder to watch the four witches convene and talk shop with the old witch like she was their grandma and they wanted some old soul advice.

But that wasn't what broke Suri.

No, it was when the touch of lycanthropic power pulled her attention behind her. She turned to find Pazuzu standing there who was carrying a second lunch, most likely for Ryuko, and looking down at her with a confused glance. The tray was confirmed to actually be for Suri who he sat it in front of so she at least had something to eat. The tray that she thought was his ended up being sat in front of Ryuko but had enough food for all four girls. She broke because he sat down next to Suri and shook his head with a gentle smirk before interrupting the phone call.

"Yo, sorry to butt in but I'd be more than happy to give a blood oath to Suri here," Pazuzu said nonchalantly with a coy grin and a shrug. "I mean, if she's in the market for a hot motherfucker of a werewolf."

"Dude," Suri choked up as she stared at the werewolf, tears beginning to pour down her cheeks. "You barely even know me! Why would you go out on a limb for me like that?"

"Eh," he shrugged and stole food from Ryuko's bowl to snack on. "Cause you're not an uptight bitch for one. A little cocky but fuck, I ain't the most humble dude out there either. Like I said last night, you wanna lead, you gotta show me somethin. You showed a lotta fuckin heart. I dig that."

"He's right, dude," Saito answered with a shrug of her own. "Why do you think we agreed to be your coven? Like, you dunno us at all either, but you still put your faith in us."

"You went out of your way to find us as soon as you could," Ryuko added as she slapped Pazuzu's hand away from her food. "We're strangers, and it might be a little selfish of a reason, sure, but you didn't have to tell us why you're in such a rush. And yet you did."

"Knowing the challenge you're up against, I can see why you're rushing into things so blindly," Mutekabe commented. "I do not envy your situation. But I too offer my blood if you need it."

"In that case," Coleen said in a considering tone. "You need to blood oath the shifters who will do so and your coven to you. I just pray to the gods they won't be too upset by doing these things under the conditions you'll be in."

"My primary goddess is Angrboda," Suri chuckled nervously.

All five witches paused at that and the four she could physically see signed a star on their chests before letting out nervous laughs. It was Coleen who voiced what they were thinking.

"Well, hopefully you're in good favor with her and pray she doesn't decide to throw a trial of iron at you any time soon."

Yeah.

Pray the Hag of the Iron Wood, who rewards her servants by trials of iron will, doesn't decide that she needs more brownie points. Gods knew she praised the giantess more than enough late at night during certain… activities. Suri was surely in good favor of her, right?

Apparently Suri was not in good enough favor with her gods.

In lieu of the rushed timeline, her, the coven, and the shifters had to skip the next period after lunch to run out to the clearing. It made sense to have to blood oath to Suri at the stone throne but it would have been a lot easier to just do it on campus or at the dorms. The oathing process was simple enough and fast enough but it was incredibly draining. Then again, opening a vein for nine people to drink your blood was… well… draining.

Each time someone recited the lines and then placed their mouth to Suri's wrist where she'd cut open to drink her, Suri felt energy seep away. It seeped away but once they swallowed, she was hit with a boost of energy, if only for a moment. Then she had to fill a small container that Taiga had with blood, enough that it could be delivered to and poured at six points in the clearing for the ritual to happen.

She felt like she was somewhere between being tired and being too tired to sleep. Coffee would surely help with that one. Hopefully.

Was oathing nine people and doing a land rites ritual all in one go smart? No, probably not.

She was sipping the coffee she'd made at the dorms and slipping into the last class of the day when she got the call from Ketsuiki. She had had time to get to class and tell her mates of what had happened before her phone started buzzing like crazy. She gave a nod to Mr. Aizawa as he was entering the room before quickly laying a kiss on Tooru, Mina, and Izuku before she took off running. She ran to the locker room and changed into her hero costume in record time and met Rook out front, already dressed down in his costume as well.

He scolded her for two things; one, not being ready sooner, and two, for bleeding herself on the day of an important mission. The second was a fair point to be made but Suri brushed him off and insisted it had the right call.

The right call, right up until shit hit the fan.

She'd regained her energy enough sitting through the mission briefing and after putting some protein bars, a couple cups of yogurt, rice balls, and gatorade into her stomach. It had helped the healing so by the time the mission started there had been no trace of where she'd used the knife on her wrist at all. Kodiak and Hellfire quietly scolded her for her actions as well but still allowed her on the mission when she insisted she wouldn't be a burden. Insisted, or rather was stubborn enough that she put herself into the transport vehicles and plopped down beside the werebear and refused to exit the vehicle.

And truthfully everything had gone according to plan.

It had been easy enough after the briefing. The transports were to take them to a large warehouse along the waterfront of Suruga Bay. The fact that it was a shady building down at the docks screamed cliche villain hideout, but that was where things started going wrong. Once they arrived at the waterfront they realized some of the scouting information had been wrong and it wasn't just one warehouse. No, the hideout was the entire south end of the docks which included a dozen building structures and a massive yard that was filled with shipping containers. Upon looking at it, Suri had remarked that it reminded her of a giant corn maze, like ones she'd gone to with her family. As soon as she remarked that, a cold chill ran down her spine and she couldn't fight the sudden dread that filled her.

Between everyone in the three transports were four teams of three - Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Omega - and then Zeta Squad with Suri and Rook. Five teams to cover an entire complex that was the size of two city blocks. Was that enough personnel to cover all of that? Suri didn't think it was and even though Kodiak waved her off she could see that flash of doubt in his eyes.

Something was massively wrong but by the time they started questioning the intel, it was already too late.

Suri sensed a flash of lycanthropic energy and in the next moment, the transport was airborne. Hellfire was quick enough to put up a shield of his hell magic, but it was only enough to limit the effects of the crash around Alpha and Zeta Squads. It didn't stop the five of them from getting thrown around like a bunch of toys inside the shuttle bus' steel shell. In the chaos, Suri watched through the green fiery glow of Hellfire's barrier as the side of the bus was ripped away. Above them was a large black and grey furred werewolf in beastman form, snarling at them as he tossed away the side of the bus like it was nothing. There was another flood of beastly energy as Kodiak lunged forward, the bear man taking the wolf to the ground and beginning to pummel him into the ground.

"Rook, Wild Eyes," called out Yumei in their earpieces, in a rushed but steady tone. If she was nervous about being on comms for their first big mission, she did her best not to show it. "Proceed with infiltration. You're near point D but you need to move fast, you have six assailants on their way to your position."

"Copy that, Vipress. We're moving."

Suri felt a hand grab her arm and pull her to her feet and stumbled the first few steps until she corrected herself and ran behind Rook. As they dipped into the shadows outside of the lights from the surrounding industrial area, Suri growled and she and Atiena brought their power to the surface. By the time they reached the fence surrounding one of the warehouses she was already in beastwoman form and she and Rook leapt high, clearing the fence and sinking claws and blades into the brick siding. They scaled the side up to the roof where they ran across the metal roofing to an access point that they could enter into the building.

"We've made it to the roof access," Suri quickly stated, calming herself enough to get back into the game. She watched Rook's lead as he slowly opened the hatch and quietly peered inside to the roof maintenance room. "What's the situation with the other teams?"

"Not good, I'm afraid," Yumei breathed out, most likely watching the other team managers around her. "We've lost comms completely with Beta, and the police support that was supposed to be meeting you was railroaded. Like, literally."

There was a pause in her voice and the two of them could hear commotion going on in the background. They heard her relay her team's location to everyone else followed by another flurry of voices before Yumei cursed into the earpieces.

"Fuck. The support wall is getting attacked as well," she said with frustration. "Alpha Squad is being held in place outside of the compound, Beta is M-I-A. Gamma made it to point F but they're facing heavy assailants and Omega is trying to find out what happened to Beta Squad."

"So we're the only ones inside?" Rook questioned carefully.

"Correct," Yumei answered back.

"Fuck," Suri cursed under her breath and looked back to where they'd come from.

She could hear sounds of a massive fight and the feeling of lycanthropic power was everywhere. It made her angry. Angry because not only was their intel wrong, the entire mission was turning into a trap that even compromised their backup. The support wall was where Grandma Kuroyashi, Rukia, Vaz, Rosenglas the high elf, Lady Oda, and their guard details were stationed to pick off any stragglers or villains that tried to make a run for it during the raid. The dread in Suri's gut was only getting bigger now.

Beside her, Rook quietly scanned the rest of the complex, eyeing each building carefully before looking back to the maintenance room that was clear for them to enter and then to Suri. He watched her and saw the worry in her eyes. He knew he had to fix the situation somehow and then thought of the mission and what they still needed to achieve if any of it.

"Vipress, permission to continue with infiltration and necessary extraction," Rook said evenly, drawing Suri's full attention.

There was a pause and then they heard Yumei frantically asking DreamWeaver her advice and sought permission for Rook. There was another lull in voices before hearing another commotion and then the snake girl uncovering her microphone again.

"Permission granted. But," Yumei quickly added with emphasis, "Alpha Squad said do not engage if you come across Gemini. If you make contact, you are to escape. Understood?"

"Understood," both Suri and Rook answered in unison.

Rook led the way from there and Suri followed as they entered the maintenance room and then to a door that opened up to a catwalk across the rafters of the warehouse. They could hear voices down below but all in all, the warehouse looked empty. Traversing across the catwalk brought them to the front of the warehouse where four villains stood ready and waiting as they peeked out the front door. The four were waiting to ambush heroes and instead got ambushed themselves with Rook and Suri leaping down on top of the group. Rook and Suri both were able to knock out one villain each as they jumped on them and rode them to the ground and slammed them into the floor. The force knocked the two villains out instantly and then the two young heroes went after the other two in the group who were quickly dispatched with nothing more than a couple clean, hard uppercuts to their jaws.

Suri quickly searched the empty warehouse and came up with a roll of duct tape that was promptly used to tie up the four villains. With them restrained, a piece slapped over their mouths so they couldn't call for help, and unconscious, Suri followed Rook to the next building. They repeated this process several times going from warehouse to warehouse, all of which were suspiciously empty other than a couple lackeys. Each hired gun was a low level villain that probably hadn't done more than petty theft and were easy to detain. By the time they'd cleared through four warehouses using the same tactic, Rook stopped the two of them and sought to regroup up on one of the roofs out of view of potentially anyone watching them.

"Something's not right," Rook said with cautious unease. "The opponents we're coming across are barely worth our time. Every building has been practically empty. This place is all but abandoned but… Vipress, put us on a private channel if you will."

"Oh! Right," Yumei said and then they heard a few clicks before she came back onto the earpieces. "Okay, you're good to go."

"We've cleared several buildings now and each one has been the same," Rook pondered out loud. "There's nothing here that warrants anything remotely illegal. The briefing seemed to be missing something before we left and ever since we arrived it seems all of our information and previous reconnaissance has been false. No one should have known how many transports were coming, the police detail with us, and surely not the choke point to the north. Has there been anything out of the ordinary on your end, Vipress? One word answers should suffice to keep your cover."

Yumei seemed to think about that question for a long moment before responding simply no.

"Who did the initial recon mission a few days ago?"

"Beta Squad," Yumei answered and then quickly spoke more. It was as if to keep things sounding normal on her end. "Is still missing. We lost contact with them near point C and Omega was coming from point E to rendezvous with them. They should have made it through their infiltration points by now."

"It's way too convenient that we're the only ones inside," Suri said coldly and started scanning the complex below them harder.

"I agree," Rook nodded and looked around the complex with Suri. Both of them became fixed on the container yard and they narrowed their eyes at the peculiar section of the complex. It was an obvious trap but at the same time, if they were to save anyone like they'd hoped to at the beginning of this mission, they'd be there. "Let's proceed. Vipress, switch back to our old station so we'll be off radio silence. We're going to head for the yard next."

"Copy that, Rook," Yumei answered back and then her voice was followed by a couple clicks which meant they were back to normal on the comms end.

"I don't like this, Rook," Suri said as she followed her team leader across the roof towards the container yard. She had another pit of dread in her stomach bubble up, especially now that they were above the shipment container yard and looking down into it. "Fuck, it really does look like a corn maze from up here."

The yard by itself was about the size of a city block with rows and columns made of steel shipping containers stacked two high in most places, three high in others. What made it an obvious trap was the fact that there were several shipment containers on the third row up positioned in such a way that they created tunnels and bridges. It was a labyrinth of steel with an entrance but no apparent exit. And yes, they were going to do the stupid thing and venture into it.

Venturing into the maze was easy enough because it was quiet and no pops in lycanthropic, vampire, or any magical power at all. It was dead silent as Rook and Suri quietly made their way through the twists and turns, memorizing each turn needed to make it back to the way they came. It wasn't like they truly needed to go through the maze but if their hunches were correct then the children who were most likely at the end of this trap would have to. The problem with this trap wasn't the potential of Gemini herself, because she would always be a threat no matter what; it was the children themselves.

"Fuck, I really hope I can manage this," Suri groaned nervously as she and Rook neared the end of the maze where they could begin to hear children talking in low voices and whispers.

"There's no backing out now," Rook said evenly, peering around the next corner and clearing the way. "We'll deal with Gemini."

"I know that but that's not what I'm worried about," Suri corrected. "There's a bunch of fae kids and we know that they're basically the cheese and we're the mice in this thing. I'm more worried about the kids."

"That's natural to worry about the young ones though."

"Right, but, it's more than that. Like… Vipress, what's our mission time?"

"Oh! It's currently quarter to midnight, Wild Eyes," Yumei answered helpfully.

"And it's the full moon. Like I'm already getting antsy from all of the lunar magic literally everywhere and I've been changing every full moon since I was about six. She's been taking young shapeshifters as trophies to be sold out like this. If you don't have elders or parents with you on your first year or two of shifting you could go feral."

Rook paused as Suri explained her concerns and he turned back to her with fearful eyes. The realization hit Yumei at the exact same time because she then got a dual response physically in front of her and in her ear.

"Oh shit…"

"My thoughts exactly," Suri chuckled but not out of humor. "If anything goes wrong, we're all fucked ten ways to Sunday."

Rook nodded at Suri's euphemism and then quickly led her around another corridor which turned into a wider opening. The opening reminded Suri of the clearing behind the 1-A dormitory building and a shiver of nervousness shot down her spine because it seemed like the perfect spot for a fight. A fight she wasn't looking forward to or wanting. Then she spotted the shipping container on the far end of the space where the noises and voices were originating from. Realizing what it was, Rook turned and stood guard, watching the clearing in the shipping container maze and watching the tops of the stacked containers for movement. While Rook checked the perimeter and held guard, Suri rushed forward towards the large metal container and stopped at its door. She quickly inspected it for traps or anything that might go wrong then pulled the large steel pin latch which unlocked the door with a loud hollow sounding clang that filled the container with its reverberations. Suri quietly opened the door a little ways to peer inside and was taken aback by the sight because it was like finding Kusano all over again but just multiplied by the dozen.

Inside were nearly two dozen children, all of them were haggard, dirty, and covered in blood and filth and staring up at Suri like she was both salvation and the Grim Reaper here to claim them. It took a few moments of just looking at the pitiful sight before she shook the cobwebs out of her head, took a deep breath, and tried to give the kids the best smile she could give them. She couldn't let them know she was not only scared but heartbroken and disgusted by what she was seeing inside that container. So even though she was seconds away from throwing up from the stench and the sight, she put on her hero face for them.

"My name is Wild Eyes, I'm a pro hero," Suri introduced herself warmly. "This is my friend, Rook. We're gonna get you kids out of here, okay? Is anyone hurt or can't walk?"

The kids quietly looked at each other and then back to Suri before pointing to the kids at the back of the container. Of the twenty or more kids stuffed inside the steel box, there were five or six at the back, all clutching their stomachs or heads and shivering violently. Her brow furrowed at them and then thought about what could be causing them so much pain, wondered what it might be until she felt the whips of lycanthropic energy coming from them.

They were living timebombs about to go off at any second.

"Okay," Suri breathed deep and looked at the other kids. "Who here is the oldest?"

A boy near the front of the group, who she just now realized was shielding some of the other kids from Suri nervously raised his hand. Upon closer inspection she found that he and two others, another boy and a girl, were towards the front and helping to block some of Suri's sight. These three were the oldest and de facto leaders these kids had rallied around. It made her smile at the three of them who couldn't have been older than ten years old, and hold her hand out to them.

"Guess you three are the big brothers and big sister for everyone here, huh?" Suri said with a smile, which earned sheepish ones from the three. "Okay, I need you three to help guide everyone out. Let's get you guys grouped up by my friend. The young ones in the back are shapeshifters right?"

That made the kids' eyes go wide and they looked scared, like they'd told a secret that wasn't supposed to be shared. They were scared and terrified and the three oldest looked like they just sent their friends to their deaths. Upon seeing this, Suri smiled and shook her head, gently waving her hands to make them know they weren't in trouble. She then took off her half mask and showed the kids her face, showing them her in her beastwoman form.

"It's okay, I'm one too."

"S-So you're with her then," one of the boys asked cautiously. "W-With the laughing lady."

"N-No! S-She's not a werehyena," the girl said in a scolding tone. "Get it right, Hideki."

Suri liked this girl.

"No, I'm not with her," Suri smirked and shook her head. "I don't like her at all because she's a very bad lady and it's my job to stop people like her. Heroes don't let things like this happen. And you're right, Gemini is a werehyena but I'm not. I'm a leopard and wolf mix."

Suri smiled at her declaration and the fact that she was a hybrid seemed to intrigue the kids, especially the shifters. The kids she needed to worry about the most.

"Okay, let's get moving. The sooner we leave, the safer we'll be, okay?" Suri directed and watched as the three oldest children nodded and then began leading the other children, fourteen by Suri's count, out of the container. She then looked into the back of the container and stepped inside, moving quickly towards the six children. "All right, little ones, I'm not a true elder but I'm gonna try and help, okay? I need to know if any of you have gone beast before."

The shapeshifter children looked at each other and then to Suri a few times before one by one they all shook their heads. That was both good and bad. Good because it meant none of them were too powerful for their age, bad because now Suri had to make sure none of them changed.

"Okay," Suri breathed. "Let's keep it that way, yeah? We want your first change to be with your parents and your own clan, right?"

The kids nodded sheepishly.

"Good, now my beast and I are gonna try something okay? I've only watched it before so I don't know if it will work, I just need to know if you kids trust me to do this," Suri continued, carefully watching the reactions of the kids in front of her. She was getting more nervous because for some of them, the shaking was getting worse. "Okay, put one hand out."

The kids cautiously looked at each other and then back to Suri. Some of them looked like they knew what was happening and were the first to nod and do as Suri instructed and outstretched their hands. Suri thought hard about what she remembered the elders in the wolf pack and leopard pard did for the small children, how she might seep the energy from them. It was called taking the beast for a reason, because the idea was to literally absorb the children's beast so they remained human for the full moon. Atiena and Suri breathed in together and then focused on the energy flowing around the six children, testing and feeling their potential while also scenting what flavor of wereanimal they were. In front of her were the three missing wereleopards from Grandma's pard, a werewolf, a weretiger, and finally a hybrid like herself. That fact made her smile and giggle softly and gave her a hint of more confidence as she took their hand one by one. One by one she clasped her bigger hand of theirs and Atiena fed on their energy, absorbing the small spikes of power into her and feeling her own need to be released out to hunt grow stronger.

It was a double edged sword but Atiena was at least mature enough and her bond with Suri strong enough that she didn't force the issue. In fact, she knew there was a chance she might not get out at all tonight which was fine with her given the circumstances.

Seeing that the young shifters were no longer in pain and shaking anymore with no hint of their small beasts itching to get out made Suri satisfied. Satisfied that she took a deep breath and then helped the kids stand up and walk out of the container to meet up with the other kids and Rook. Upon seeing them leave the steel box, Rook nodded and readied the larger group of children to follow him. It was looking like they were going to get out without any issues and then a thought crossed Suri's mind that made the pit of her stomach begin to sink.

It had all been way too easy.

"Vipress, we've collected the precious cargo," Suri spoke quietly into the comms. "Permission to proceed to the extraction point with them."

Silence.

"Vipress, this is Rook, please respond. Do we have the go ahead?"

Still nothing.

There were another few seconds of silence and when Rook was about to call out to the snake girl again. Then came the click of static and the sounds of chaos erupted into Rook and Suri's ears. It was deafening and both of them cringed and gritted their teeth hard from the sudden assault on their heads.

"Zeta Squad, extraction point is a no go," Yumei said frantically. "Dreamweaver says to find an escape route or find a place to hold out until the situation calms down. Do not come back to home base."

"Yumei, what's going on?" Suri breathed, not caring that she broke protocol.

"The agency has been breached," she responded and both Suri and Rook's blood ran cold. "DreamWeaver has a web barrier between us and the group attacking the station. Miss DreamWeaver and Lotigre are holding them off as much as they can."

"What about the other teams?" Rook questioned patiently.

"We lost contact with everyone and started getting attacked about five minutes ago," the snake girl answered, which made Suri's eyes go wide and Rook gave her a scared look. "You're the first team to relay anything back to us. Everyone's gone missing except for you two."

Rook nodded with that response and spoke softly to the children around them, in a matter of seconds, he, Suri, and the twenty three stolen children were on the move. On the move until they came around the first corner and Rook came to a skidding stop in the gravel which made the kids and Suri barrel into his back. Before Suri could question what was wrong she looked forward and instantly wanted to throw up because she hadn't been prepared for what was laid out in front of them.

"Vipress," Rook spoke low into the comms. "Let the other managers know that we've found teams Beta and Gamma."

What Suri and Rook had found was a series of six heads laid neatly across the next corridor to create a small barrier for them to cross. It was more than the fact it was the decapitated heads of their comrades and co-workers on the ground in front of them, it was how neatly and perfectly in line they were. That was already making them want to throw up, and Suri was starting to lose that battle as bile started to creep up her throat. Creep up and then shoot back down again as the sickening heat of lycanthropic energy appeared behind her and the sheer terror in twenty three small faces looked back at her. She was shivering from the bitter cold of her senses going numb from sickness and fear as the children and Rook slowly began to back away from her and then she felt the weight of someone wrap themselves around her. If it had been one of her lovers or her friends she would have been happy, would have felt warm, now she just felt sick and hollow as that sickening giggle trickled into her ear and she felt the hyena woman lovingly hug her from behind.

"Did you miss them? Hehehe! I knew you'd miss them so I brought them to you once I was done with them. Isn't that so nice of me? Heh hehe hehehe."

That was when Atiena wrapped her arms tight around Suri inside their mind and took control, forcing herself to the surface to make a move. Once she was in control, she dropped to one knee and took Gemini with her, vaulting the hyena woman over her shoulder and throwing her across the corridor and straight into a metal shipping container which buckled from the impact and brought the second container positioned on top of it down on her.

"Rook, take the kids and run," Atiena screamed and readied herself for the fight.

He was about to pull rank and yell at her when the container on top of Gemini was sent airborne back towards the group. It was cut into a dozen pieces before it was able to reach the group and scattered around them from ropes of shiming crimson coming from Rook's hands. Once his blood had returned to his body, he reformed the blood coming from the small openings in his wrists into a pair of dual blades. He too readied for a fight until it was made harshly clear that he and the children were nothing but background props for the hyena woman's mission. She rushed past him, past the kids and straight into his teammate who was now wrestling with the villain on the ground and fighting for control.

"Go!" Atiena screamed, the sound of her voice becoming a fierce, feral roar as she glared upwards at Gemini with hate in her eyes and began fighting back.

Having to choose between a group of frightened children and your friend was a hard choice, but an obvious one as Rook yelled back to her that he'd get help and led the kids out of the maze as fast as he could. It was the right choice of course but it didn't make him feel any better and didn't settle the overwhelming need to puke from the fear and anxiety of the situation. Atiena felt the same way as she watched her friend and the kids run around the corner and disappear into the night. Knowing they'd be safe as long as she gave them the time to get away, Atiena laid into Gemini and clawed at her furiously.

The two women rolled around on the ground, lunging and clawing at each other violently as the gravel and rocks bit into their backs. With a sickening laugh, Gemini lunged downward with her jaw as she attempted to viciously bite at Atiena's neck who managed to duck out of the way in time. The beast woman wrapped her arms around the hyena woman tightly, putting her into a headlock and squeezing as hard as she could to try and force her into unconsciousness. It was short lived however as Gemini powered her way through and stood upwards, dragging Atiena onto her feet with her and then picked the younger woman up and threw her across the container yard. Atiena came crashing down into one of the steel containers and it crumpled around her as she came to a violent stop.

"Hehehe! It's so good to see you again, Suri!" Gemini cackled happily. "You have no idea how much it means to me that you got my call after all. Heh hehe heh!"

"You're sick, Gemini," Atiena spat back as she pulled herself to her feet. "I knew you were a monster but trafficking kids? What the fuck is wrong with you?"

"Ummm," Gemini playfully made a gesture that made it seem like she was thinking hard about an answer. "Hehehe, a lot of things! Duh!"

Atiena ground her teeth and pulled up her fists as she began stalking towards the villainess cautiously. She watched her movements carefully as they began rounding each other and waiting for whoever was going to strike first. Gemini though, had the sense to make Atiena come to her, despite her better judgment.

"By the way," Gemini grinned with dark, mischievous intent. "How's my little Bakugou?"

Atiena snarled and lunged at Gemini who disappeared in a flash of speed, leaving Atiena to stumble and skid in the gravel. What came next was a blinding and numbing series of blows as Gemini grabbed Atiena by the hair and ran her into another wall of steel shipping containers, slamming her head first again and again into the unforgiving surface. Atiena managed to swipe and claw at Gemini's arms, tearing them open and drawing blood but the hyena woman never relented. The sharp spikes of pain from being slammed into the steel walls never subsided until Gemini threw Atiena onto the ground on her back and she watched through hazy, clouded vision as Gemini came to stand above her with a happy, sadistic smile. That smile faded into a look of plain boredom before she walked away.

"Lame! I thought you'd be more fun to play with this time," Gemini said with disappointment in her voice. Then came the loud creaking sound of metal as she picked up an entire shipping container with her bare hands and dragged it like it was an oversized baseball bat. Because at that moment, that's what it was being turned into. "Give my regards to your ancestors."

Atiena watched Gemini raise the container over her head then. The amusement was back in that split second knowing what she was about to do to the younger wereanimal lying on the ground. Everything around her seemed to slow down, seconds becoming minutes as Atiena and Suri's shared life flashed before their eyes. All of their memories of family, previous Lupanars, and their lives in Salt Lake City and Japan, played out as the steel container got closer and closer. Their shared thoughts swirled with all of the happy memories of Izuku, Tooru, Mina, Yumei, and their friends in 1-A. Atiena couldn't help but feel like this was the end, this was where their life came to a close at the hands of the sadistic werehyena.

Then came another thought; that she was forgetting something.

Forgetting something that was extremely important.

And then everything went white.