Chapter 126: Burnt Out.
Seven stood before the troops assembled before him and he walked up and down the lines inspecting them carefully like a General getting ready to lead his forces into battle, only this General fought from the front line, not an armchair far away.
The Gatorclaws stood proudly all supporting their new armour and weapons which were all carefully designed to enhance their already formidable natural fighting abilities and had been carefully designed and built around such things.
The biggest among them were equipped to work as a bulwark carrying with them massive tower-style shields designed to soak up any incoming fire and had been made from a mixture of metal and kevlar padding that produced a sheild thick enough to stop even a bullet from an antimaterial rifle.
Next up was their body armour which made them look like armoured Dragons in a way as it had been designed to make them look somewhat like medieval knights of old, but once you got past the aesthetics of the suits you realised they had been very carefully constructed to have a variety of properties which would make them very well suited to modern weapons.
For instance, the chest plating had been rounded and angled to help it deflect away smaller calibre bullets while being thick enough to rob anything higher of the vast majority of its energy, but it was what lay atop and underneath that plating that he was especially proud of.
Atop the plating, a coating of carbon had been applied to disperse the heat of plasma shot while under the metal plating was a mixture of both ceramic and kevlar that was far lighter than its metal equivalent but just as effective if not more so at catching bullets that managed to breach the outer plating.
The weapons they were carrying were a mixture of modern and old school.
Some were carrying things like heavy miniguns that had been salvaged from one of Seven's many trips to the scrap yard where he had located some old scrapped vertibirds and had relieved them of the weaponry that had been left on them for some reason.
The weapons had been checked and with a bit of repair world had been restored to working order.
Though they only had two of these so the remainder was pretty much relying on medieval equivalents, such as large swords, hammers and axes.
Large custom-made bows were also apparently a favourite among the Gatorclaws which thanks to their immense strength had to be made from large leaf spring suspension systems originally used to prop up a van's weight but now served as the limbs for massive recurve style bows that fired arrows the size of fucking javelins.
Halberds and war spears were also in high demand by the shield bearers who had become known as the phalanx, with a great many of them cutting special notches into their shields or mounting rests on the sides so they could easily control both their shield and weapon at the same time.
Most of the smaller Gatorclaws had opted to use swords and hand axes for close-up combat and had fitted their tails with large spiky mace heads that made it look like they'd bolted a Morningstar to the tip of their tails.
These were the berserkers and it was their job to break through the ranks of the enemy and to sow absolute chaos amongst them by attacking them from within and when you witnessed first-hand what they could do with one of their specially designed claymore-style swords which to one of them was as light and easy to wield as a rapier was a to human it wasn't hard to see why.
Seven had personally witnessed one of them cut through an entire tree trunk with a single cut before another one split the remaining stump in two by bringing her axe down on the top of it.
After witnessing such a thing one didn't have a hard time imagining the sheer fear that such a sight would have on an opposing force who witnessed it, only it wouldn't be trees they'd be doing such damage to it would be human beings.
Then there were Vizzy and Varrel who would be serving as their scouts and fast air support, it would be their job to circle the battlefield high above and to call out targets to their comrades below while harassing the enemy with accurate fire from up high or dive bombing them to unleash their fury up close and personal with their armoured stingers which would definitely make them get their fucking heads down.
Seven and his group would be serving as the command core, with each of them controlling certain groups so that they could achieve multiple objectives at once or to run pincer movements and flanking attacks on the fly.
Visa and Vess's armour had been upgraded now using the designs that they'd come up with for the Gatorclaws and modifying them to make use of Malakai's incredibly strong silk armour which they'd integrated into it.
The result was both of them looked like a pair of armoured Dragons with black-coated steel covering their sensitive bits while leaving their joints free to keep their movement and speed maxed out.
The pair also now had a set of gauntlets that reinforced their claws on both their hands and feet with steel to make it even more terrifying than it ever was before.
They too had implements of death now strapped to their tails with Visa opting for a pair of axe blades while Vess had opted for what appeared to be a trident with sharpened sides.
Shauna had opted for a lighter set to keep her mobile while all the humans of the group were now encased in heavily modified power armour which had been outfitted with things like deflection plating or spaced armour that would protect them from anything like explosive-tipped or armour-piercing rounds.
It had taken them a long time but the group had finally managed to assemble into something that looked like an army equipped to march right through the gates of hell to kick the Devil in the balls, or if you were the one facing them down you might be forgiven for believing that this army had just marched right out of hell itself.
Now all they had to do was find their targets and they could plan this attack out though thanks to Vizzy and Varrel's efforts this didn't take them long.
Vizzy landed next to Seven as he was inspecting the Gatorclaws and he turned to look at the young female Cazador hybrid, he also instantly noticed the smile plastered on her face despite the helmet she was wearing.
"I'm guessing by that face you have good news for me?" he said and she nodded her head enthusiastically making her antennae bob and swish in time with her head.
"They finally figured out that me and Varrel have done a runner and are searching the area near where we led their colleagues into the Yao guai nest, by the looks of it Torch has already done away with the bears but he's got the others spread out looking for tracks," she said.
Seven nodded his head and then noticed that her brother wasn't with her.
"Varrel keeping an eye on them?" he asked and she nodded again.
"Yeah he wanted to make sure we didn't lose them in case they moved further afield and don't worry he's keeping himself above where they can either reach him or even really see him," she said.
"Alright then time to go and have a little word with these fuckers," he said before then turning back to his battalion of Gatorclaws.
"Alright guys you are dismissed we have some work to do but don't worry I'm sure we'll be back soon, we have a raider stronghold to break up remember?" he said and there were various grunts and tail slaps on the concrete in answer to this.
Visa had by now noticed Vizzy's return and she made her way over with Vess to join the pair.
"I assume you have good news?" Vess asked and Vixxy nodded.
"They found them, Varrel is keeping an eye on the group, so go get the others I do believe it's time we go and have a little word don't you?" Seven said addressing the pair.
"You do take me to the nicest places my love," Visa said with a swish of her tail as she turned and went to round up the others including Thundertail who had expressed a distinct wish to get in on this vengence run.
Only a few minutes later the entire group were armoured up and assembled ready for the off.
"Alright for all of those who haven't flown Seven Airways before please keep all limbs and tails inside the ride at all times and if you are named Visa try to ignore the curious hands under your tail," he said with a grin before snapping on his helmet to the sounds of a few chuckles and one jealous huff from a certain Gatorclaw girl.
Seven focused his mind and encased the entire team in a bubble while also gripping each of them with his invisible hands, this was the heaviest load he'd ever attempted to carry in one go and he knew it was going to tax him and pain him but the way he saw it it was necessary as it was both practices for strengthening his ability but also pushing it onwards towards new heights, in this case quite literally.
"Holy shit this fucking awesome!!" Timothy yelled as Seven swooped and dove while following Vizzy as she led them back towards to her brother.
"How do you put up with this!!? This feels so wrong!!" Vess yelled to Visa as she clung to Chris for support all while having a look of panic plastered across her face.
Visa gave her aunt a fang-filled grin over her shoulder.
"It's easy auntie, I trust my male with my life so this comes naturally to me because I know he'd never let me fall," she said.
"Claws were never meant to fly!!" Vess wailed as Seven banked hard into a steep turn to follow Vizzy who was following the scent trail back to her brother.
"Tell that to your son!!" Visa whooped as Seven pulled off a high-speed turn before pulling up into a rapid climb that would put them into the clouds and obscure them from the ground when he saw Vizzy pulling up.
That's when they saw Varrel using a cloud bank to remain hidden from the ground as he circled an area far below them.
He waved as they all flew up and pointed downwards.
"They are down there, I think Torch has called for reinforcements from one of their local settlements as there are more of them than there were before," Varrel said.
"How many more?" Seven asked as they floated next to him.
"I rough counted twenty of them, all heavily armed and with what look to be tracking dogs," Varrel said.
"Perfect, that should also leave them short-handed in the settlement then as well, if we can backtrace their route once we put these fuckers down then we'll be able to add to our numbers," Seven said before he looked down at his group.
"Everyone ready?" he asked.
"Fucking yes let's just get back on the ground please!!" Vess wailed and Seven couldn't help but chuckle at the sight of the normally in control and confident Alpha Matriarch claw so far out of her depth.
"Alright hold on to your tails, high-speed drop off here we come!!" Seven yelled and with that he simply let them drop before pulling them out of the dive all while Vess did an incredibly good impression of a dive bomber siren.
As it happened the sound of a screaming Claw dropping from a great height had pretty much the same effect as the screaming sirens they used to fit to dive bombers on the Raiders, it caused pure confusion and panic which made them run in circles as they tried to find cover.
While they were doing this Seven pulled into a high-speed banking turn and he began releasing people while using his abilities to help them shed both velocity and to stay upright as they hit the ground.
This extra effort really pushed his abilities to the absolute limits and he could feel the strain acting on his brain as it currently felt like an overstretched elastic band inside of his skull.
As each of his people hit the ground they immediately began their running charge towards the nearest Raiders to them and as it turned out the sight of air-dropped humans in power armour and assorted armoured Claws had exactly the same effect as a Claw-based air raid siren, pure panic.
It seemed that Vess had some frustrations and fears she needed to work out because no sooner had she hit the ground than she turned and let out a full-on bellowing roar at the Raiders before charging at the nearest ones to her at full pace.
The group she was headed for despretly tried to remember which end of their weapon was the dangerous one as they fumbled and scrambled to engage the rapidly incoming threat but not a single one of them fired a single shot before Vess reached them.
Vess barreled into the hapless figures like an atomic-powered armoured wrecking ball sending bodies and severed limbs flying in every direction and she wasn't the only one.
Both Visa and Thundertail had also wasted zero time getting absolutely stuck into the fight either.
Thundertail put her new Morningstar tail modification to incredible use by using it to hit one Raider so hard that not only did they fold up like a shit deck chair but flew a hundred feet backwards into a group of their companions, knocking them all flat in the process.
The humans of the group while a little more cautious in their approach were no less as aggressive in their attacks either.
As he circled Seven saw both Chris and Timothy moving and firing on a large group of Raiders who had decided using a rocky trench outside of the cave was a great cover, or at least they did until Shauna tossed a grenade in there with them.
Those that scrambled free were mown down by both humans and one super mutant in a hail of bullets, those that chose to stay put were incinerated in a cloud of superheated plasma fire which burst out of the trench in a small green mushroom cloud.
Vizzy and varrel were also getting stuck in as well, Seven saw Varrel shoot down out of the clouds to snag a fleeing Raider before stabbing him with his stinger and shooting back up with a screaming man in tow, only to let him fall from the great height he reached.
Meanwhile, Vizzy was like a possessed wasp that got itself stuck inside an upturned jar.
She was weaving and diving all while shooting and stringing anything she caught out in the open, she was moving so fast she was a near-impossible target to hit to anyone who actually saw her before she jammed her reinforced stinger right through their eye socket.
That's when Sven saw him, the man of the hour, Torch.
It appeared the veteran Raider had been nearby checking out some ruins and had come running when he heard all the hollering, upon seeing his team being systematically turned inside out by Seven's people he had turned his attention to the object of his rage, Vizzy.
As Seven watched in horror, he saw Torch lift the weapon for which he was so well known and level it into Vizzy's path, he was going to burn her alive!!
Seven knew that if he didn't act the unaware Cazador girl would fly headlong into a stream of liquid napalm which if it didn't cook her in her armour would at the very least burn her wings clean off and leave her defenceless not to mention seriously injured.
He simply didn't think, he just acted.
Turning on the spot Seven summoned every single drop of his energy and propelled himself directly at Vizzy at such a speed that he broke the sound barrier even over the small distance.
Just as the stream of liquid gold and red flames began to spew from the nozzle of the flame thrower Seven slammed into Vizzy grabbing the startled Cazador girl and spinning her out of the flame's path while using his own armour to shield her from it.
He felt the wash of the heat as it washed over his armour and the alarms were going off before Seven even slammed into the ground on his back, sliding to a stop quite a distance away thanks to the speed he'd been going, he was just glad he'd used his abilities to act like a catchers mitt on Vizzy so she wouldn't be hurt by the high-speed impact.
"Vizzy!!" Varrel yelled and he dove out of the sky to their side as Seven released the startled and confused Cazador girl from his grip and sat up.
"Seven!!" Visa yelled in alarm but rather than rush to his side Visa knew better.
Instead, she let loose a bellowing roar of purest rage towards Torch before charging right at him at full speed.
"You dare to fire that thing at MY MALE!!!!?" she bellowed as she leapt into the air as Torch began to turn towards her.
It was obvious that he intended to spray the charging Alpha Claw with flames but he had not anticipated her leaping over him and landing behind him.
As he began to turn Visa spun faster than anyone would have believed someone of her size would have been capable of, her movements were precise as they were calculated, first she extended one of her massive legs in a vicious kick which not only kicked the flamer from the man's hands but sliced it into three pieces thanks to her metal reinforced claws.
Even as the flamer was exploding into a small fireball as its fuel tank ruptured Visa was lunging with her claws outstretched like she meant to shove the man but this was a very precisely calculated move, she knew Seven didn't want him dead, so instead she skewered him through both shoulders and hoisted him off his feet.
Torch screamed in agony as he dangled from Visa's claws as she hoisted him upwards.
"I should kill you without mercy for the things you have done human, but luckily or maybe unluckily depending on how you look at it we require you alive for the moment," she snarled in a low voice that caused the man's eyes to open as wide as dinner plates at the presence of a talking Claw.
"Nice catch my love," Seven said stroling up after using a copious amount of sand to extinguish the flames that had coated the outside of his power armour though the outside now kinda looked a little like a burnt tin.
Varrel meanwhile was still hugging his sister tightly and was blatantly overjoyed that she had survived the ordeal.
"Thank you Seven! Thank you so much for saving my sister, I will never forget your kindness!!" he wailed as he hugged her tightly.
Seven simply turned and gave him a thumbs up.
"Ahh don't mention it Varrel, It's what we do for one another, that's what this group is all about, looking out for one another," he said before turning back to the still struggling Raider who was glaring at him now.
He stretched out a hand and Torch levitated off Visa's claws allowing her to flick clean the blood that had been running down them.
"So you're the one stealing the Boss's slaves?" Torch snarled through gritted teeth.
"Not stealing no, freeing, there's a big difference there," Seven said taking off his helmet to reveal his face.
Torch hocked up and went to spit in his face but Seven clamped an invisible hand over his mouth which nearly made the man blow out his own eardrums from the unexpected pressure in his head.
"Not your wisest move that was it?" Seven said cocking his head at him curiously.
"Who the fuck are you? What the fuck are you?" Torch snarled.
"Oh dear where are my manners? My name is Seven and that hunk of prime female Claw who strung you up like a very ugly pinata is my beloved Visa and we are from the Free People of the Wastes, I do believe you've met our newest members Vizzy and Varrel there," Seven said.
"Knew I shoulda torched the fucking bugs when I had the chance when I burned the fucking rest of them," Torch snarled.
"Those were our brothers and sisters you sack of shit!! Our fucking family, you murdered our fucking family!!" Vizzy bellowed in pure rage as she sprung to her feet and buzzed her wings in pure rage.
"Can't murder bugs, you simply fucking squash 'em," Torch shot back and Vizzy went to launch herself at the man but Varrel held her back causing her to look at him in confusion.
"He's trying to bate you into killing him because he knows what's coming next, we're better than him Viz," Varrel said.
Vizzy buzzed her wings in anger and frustration while shooting a glare at Torch.
"Yeah you're right Varrel, we are, know this human, when your time comes and trust me it will very soon, this time it will be me looking down at you while you plead for mercy and just like you showed my family, you find none," she snarled and with that, she stomped off with her brother in tow.
"Well, my love what now?" Visa asked.
"First I'll take this sack of shit back to base and get him locked up while you lot clean up here, then comes the interesting part, we're gonna have a little chat with our new friend here," he said and with that, he clamped Torch's eyes shut and took off with him into the air.
To make it impossible for him to backtrace their directions Seven took him through a series of loops, turns and dives which would throw his sense of balance for a loop, all while spinning him around to boot, it would have been the most uncomfortable flight anyone in history had ever endured.
When he landed he bundled Torch through the doorway of the prison they had erected with the intent of holding any captives they took during their campaign to free Nukaworld from the clutches of the tyranny that held it.
Once he was secured and Seven was sure that he wasn't going to bleed to death from the wounds he'd endured he took off again to retrieve the team.
On the flight onwards Vizzy drew level with him, "Hey Seven I just wanted to say thank you for what you did for me back there, no-one other than Varrel has ever put me before themselves before and it means a lot to me," she said before turning to Visa.
"You have a really good one there Visa, take care of him, always," she said and Visa gave her a grin.
"Oh don't you worry I intend to once we get home and I get him out of that accursed tin can of his," she replied making Vizzy snort a laugh.
"You know it actually makes me glad that there are people like you guys out there, it really gives me hope," Vizzy said.
"Us too believe it or not, the more the we meet the stronger we grow," Seven said as he followed Varrel who was doing his whole flying tracker routine as they tried to locate the nearby settlement that Torch had pulled his reinforcements from.
Fortunately for them, there were plenty of tracks as one or two of the Raiders had fled the field when the team had hit them and in their panic, they had run right for the first place they could think of, which in turn led Varrel the flying Cazador bloodhound right to them.
"That looks like our place," Seven called about a second before the bullet bounced off the shield that surrounded them.
"Get the feeling they may be expecting us," Visa said pointing at the snipers and sharpshooters lining the outer wall of the walled-in town.
"One day we'll get to the point where people will be glad to see us when we go places but I guess that's not today," Chris who was acting as his rather nervy Claw girl's comforter again said.
"Oh well since they know we're here how about a Claw bombing run to cheer you up, I'm sure that'll get the party started down there," Seven said and with that he accelerated to supersonic speeds as he came out of a turn before slowing to a near crawl as the boom of the sound barrier breach peeled over the town causing its inhabitants to duck and clamp their hands over their ears.
Like a carpet bomber flying over a war Zone Seven began letting his charges go and using his powers to catch them a second before they hit the ground allowing them to hit it running.
No sooner had they hit the ground than the team had spread out and were already causing absolute carnage within those tall walls.
There was no real plan in place here as this had simply been a target of opportunity, so the only thing they were operating was getting in to cause as much damage to personnel and infrastructure as possible before legging it with any slaves they could pull out in tow.
These Raiders were very well dug in however and they put up a much greater fight than their brethren that they'd caught out in the open.
As a few well-aimed shots rang off the outer hull of his armour Seven became very glad that he had absolutely insisted on going to the absolute possible zenith to make sure every one of his team was as protected as possible because he could see the same thing happening to them on the ground as well.
"Vizzy! Varrel! Help me with those fucking snipers and sharpshooters!!" Seven yelled to the two Cazadors.
"On it boss!!" they both yelled and split up to come at the walls from two different angles while Seven went right down the middle.
Rather than bothering to shoot and try to guide his bullets into their targets Seven simply used his powers like a flying bulldozer, smashing through the walls like a giant bullet while using invisible tentacles to launch shooters from the very posts he'd just demolished.
That's when his suit's warning system began to emit a high-pitched beeping and upon a glance at his HUD, he saw why, he was being pinged by a homing missile system.
As Seven's eyes quickly scanned the ground before him he spotted the launcher about a second too late as a plume of smoke and flame announced a launch.
The missile streaked towards him as he rapidly dodged to the side letting it shoot past him like a matador dodging a bull at full charge, but the alarm did not cease which indicated it was turning to come back which upon turning in the air he quickly spotted was the truth.
This time rather than dodge Seven focused on the missile itself and reached out with his army of invisible hands turning them into a large invisible net which he used to snag the missile itself out of the air.
Turning in the air again he looked for the launcher only to see the man rapidly trying to reload his launcher.
With a considerable effort to overcome the rocket-powered motor of the homing missile Seven forced the large tube to turn and point back at its owner before with far more force than the liquid fuel burning inside the engine could produce he threw it back at its owner.
The missile tumbled through the air as it fought to self-correct to continue the pursuit of its locked target but it was unable to correct its course in time, instead, it slammed into the crate that the man was desperately trying to pull another inactive missile from to load into his launcher.
Both the man and the crate turned instantly to vapour as the missile slammed into the crate of rocket-powered high explosives and detonated, setting off a chain reaction that in turn detonated all the other munitions stored inside it.
This had the added benefit of blowing a huge hole in the perimeter wall and collapsing the ramparts running along them, effectively cutting off some of the defenders from any ammo dumps they had set up along it.
Below him, Seven could hear the screams of the Raiders who were rapidly being overwhelmed by his team as they fought from street to street and house to house, with the Claws acting as berserkers and charging into buildings in order to force the defenders to flee into the open where they were easy fodder for either the humans in power armour or Vizzy and Varrel dive-bombing them from above.
With the defence now becoming erratic and uncoordinated Seven quickly settled into a support role by floating high above the town and using his abilities to effectively shield his friends from incoming fire by erecting moving barricades that he signalled to them by using things like dust to show them of it's presence.
using these invisible bullet screens the team radily advanced clearing and sweeping the town until the only building left to be occupied was the commander's house which had become their last stand and was hevily defended by the town commander and her heavily armed bodyguards.
As two streams of tracer rounds stitched up the street and struck the invisible barricade that Seven was holding up to defend his team who were in cover behind a series of large concrete blocks that were in the process of being moved to the outer walls to reinforce its defences before having been abandoned in the road during the surprise attack.
"Looks like we got em pinned in there my love but I doubt they are going to give up without one hell of a fight," Visa said as Seven floated down to her position before a bullet bounced off one of the blocks and sailed into the air with an almost elastic sounding high pitched twang.
"I got this," Seven said feeling enraged by the fact that they were so blatantly trying to target his woman with the shots he kept deflecting.
"What are you going to..." Vizzy began as Seven floated upwards but she never got a chance to finish the question because Seven accelerated to supersonic speed in the short distance of the street and slammed straight through the upper wall of the house.
"You get used to him doing stuff like that the longer you hang around with us," Timothy said giving the young Cazador girl a knowing grin.
Before the dust of his impact had even begun to settle Seven was already moving though now he wasn't floating, he was on his feet and running.
The force of his impact on the outer wall had sent a jet of shrapnel and debris inwards into the room that the defenders had been occupying as well as a huge concussive shockwave which had proceeded to knock every single one of them flat like a set of bowling pins.
As the first defender began to raise his head to see what in the name of hell had just hit them his face collided with Seven's armour-plated foot coming the other way at high velocity making a surprisingly satisfying dong noise as his skull bounced off the armour.
"What is the name of fuck are you supposed to be!?" a young woman yelled coughing as she tried to pull herself up over an upturned desk she'd been hiding behind.
Seven instantly recognised her as the base commander as he'd seen her running for cover as the assault had started.
Casual as he could Seven simply strode over to her and reaching down he decided to help her up from behind her cover by grabbing a handful of her spiked purple hair and using it to hoist her upwards causing her to yell out in pain.
"Me? Oh I'm just the cleaner, me and my cleaning crew outside are here to take out the trash from Nuka World, guess we hit pay dirt today," he said calmly.
"The Boss is gonna have your fucking head you fucking..." she began but Seven didn't bother to let her finish, instead he simply flung her out of the hole he'd made in the wall head first, where the screamed her words morphed into were abruptly cut off as said head made contact with the pavement three stories down.
"Damn I really made a mess in here, guess I'd better roll my sleeves up, a hell of a lot of trash in here," he said before raising his hands and rapidly one by one all of the bodyguards that were still alive were all sent screaming head first through the same hole as their boss.
"Wow he seriously doesn't fuck about does he?" Varrel said as he watched bodies come flying out of the hole that Seven had made in the upper floor only to slam one after the other head-first into the pavement below them.
"When it comes to Raiders my beloved male has zero patience or mercy, he has seen first-hand the horrors they are happy to unleash on the innocent and he is more than happy to unleash far worse upon them in kind," Visa said strolling up to a groaning man who was apparently somehow still alive after his face plant into the concrete and silencing him with a brutal kick to the face.
"You know I really think we joined the right team her brother, it's good to see someone finally standing up for the innocent people of this place and it feels even better to be part of it, to be the ones dishing out justice and freedom in equal measure along with plates of food," Vizzy said as Seven reappeared out of the hole he'd made and floated down to them dusting his hands off as he did.
"Well looks like this place is clean let's get these people out of here and get home, I got a monster of a headache coming on and I'm gonna need some serious TLC when we get back," Seven said shooting Visa a knowing look which she returned with a fang filled grin.
"I believe I have you covered in that area my male, a good fight always gets an honourable Claw's blood pumping in all the right ways," she said which caused Thundertail to simply grumble to herself and that's when they heard a soft muffled cry and they all turned to look.
the voice seemed to be coming from one of the collapsed guard towers and as they all approached they heard the voice again calling out.
"Help! Please help I can't get out!!" it yelled.
"Is someone stuck under a fallen tower!!" Thundertail yelled in alarm before charging over to the debris and hositing huge pieces clear.
The whole team joined in and between them, they managed to clear most of it away before Thundertail suddenly cried out and plunged her arms into the pile before pulling out what appeared to be a young man and holding him aloft.
"Is Raider?" she asked looking the man up and down curiously.
Seven took one look at his garb and the collar around his neck and shook his head before pointing to it.
"Nope, he's a slave look," he said.
"Vile kill collars! Cowards kill with push of vile button, never look person in eye before taking life!" Thundertail snarled loudly slamming her tail on the floor.
"P-P-Please don't hurt me! I-I-I was made to ferry the ammo when the tower collapsed on me, the concrete base blocks saved me!" the man yelled in alarm as he caught his first look at Thundertail through all the dust that caked his face.
"No worry pretty young human, Thundertail will not hurt you, Thundertail will take care of you, is our fault you got hurt so is only right we's fix and Thundertail will make right!" Thundertail said as Seven stepped up and removed the collar from the nervous young man.
As he pulled the collar off the man looked at him in amazement, "You freeing me?" he exclaimed and Seven nodded.
"Yup that's why we're here," he said causing the man to begin to weep tears of pure joy and to cause Thundertail to go into over-protection mode as she cradled him against her armoured body.
"There there pretty human, is no need to cry, will be alright, Thundertail will protect now," she said trying to sound soothing.
Seven and Visa shared a knowing glance.
"Alright people let's get the others and then get out of here, I'm itching to have a little chat with our friend back home," he said and with that, the others scattered and began to work, Seven got the feeling that it was going to be an interesting conversation indeed.