Chapter 106: Hunting Season.
Wisp and Passa soared through the air in pursuit of the rapidly vanishing shape of Number 9 as she vanished over the horizon carrying Fuller in her grasp, both were determined not to lose in.
Anger drove both of them onwards, this was personal, not only had she broken into their camp in the dead of night but she had snatched one of their people right from under their noses but they were not going to let her get away with it, they were going to keep chasing her no matter how long it took to catch up to her, this wasn't just a matter of pride it was a matter of principle to both of them, no-one harmed their people and got away with it.
It was a rule that both she and Seven had sworn to live by when they'd kind of officially ratified this group as a new and emerging power in the wastelands, Wisp still remembered the conversation like it was just yesterday, she'd been sat with Seven at a campfire and she'd brought up the topic she knew he hated to face but was becoming more of a reality with every passing day, the topic of them not being able to simply fade int othe background and hide somewhere far away but having to not only face the Enclave head on but to accept the responsibility of the movement that seemed to be springing up around them.
Seven had simply sighed heavily and leaned back against the log he was sitting against, then he'd nodded his head, "Yeah it seems like its inevitable at this point doesn't it? So many people are starting to look to us for answers to their questions and to help them that obscurity seems like a pipe dream," he'd said.
"Yeah it seems everywhere we go more and more humans and non-humans alike rally to our cause and fall in step with us, can we really just take them to a place far away from everything and everyone and try and settle down after this?' she'd asked and Seven had sighed again and shook his head.
"No not really, we owe it to them I suppose, they've put their trust and dreams right in our hands as the price for their loyalty and strength so we owe it to them to make somthing of them one and all, but you know I'm honestly ok with that now, I've been kinda thinking about it and the more faces I see and the more of an impact our actions have the more Ibelive that we can aim for somthing bigger than ourselves, somthing that could change everything for everyone, a new way of life, not one forced upon people but one that they have to choose for themselves, but if they do choose it then they have to be not only fully sure it's what they want but prepared to stand for everyone else whose a part of it as well, everyone has to know that no matter what we leave no-one behind and we will stand for everyone, from the strongest to the weakest we will stand for them come what ever may, we abandon no-one ever," Seven said with such passion and fire in his voice that his telekinisis bled a little through his exterior and made the flames of the fire burn extra bright like he'd just fed it with pure oxygen.
Those words and that passion had really hit home with Wisp because she'd seen for herself exactly how much Seven had embodied them over the coming weeks, every time he'd stood in the face of danger and opposition he'd stood tall and proud, he stood for all of them protected them and now it was her turn to step up and she was not going to let Fuller down.
It seemed that Passa was of the same frame of mind and while the large flying Claw boy might be slower than her in her cloud form he was putting in a gargantuan effort, Wisp could hear the beating of his mighty wings as he propelled himself through the sky behind her as they gave chase, even after they lost sight of Nine and Fuller they still never gave up.
Though eventually, the pair had to split up and go looking for any sign of the pair's trail, up until that point they'd been using both sight and the heat trail left in Nine's wake to track them but the further she drew ahead the harder it became but that's when Passa seemed to pull another little Claw trick out of his scaled arse.
After flying in circles for what felt like hours Passa suddenly seemed to latch onto something and Wisp could see him tightening his circles until he seemed to have something, "This way!!" he exclaimed in a panting voice and pointing, Wisp circled and got on his scaled arse not knowing what was happening at first until she saw him taking massive lungfuls of air in through his nose and she realised he was actually tracking a scent, how the hell a scent trail existed all the way up here with nothing to attach to stumped her for a bit until it clicked, it was the water molecules of the clouds!
Somehow the denser air around the clouds had managed to allow Passa's super sensitive nose to pick up a faint scent trail where Nine flying through the cloud layer had left patches of scent that washed off them both as they passed through the cloud layers, Passa was now following those patches like a trail of bread crumbs, it took them well over a day but eventually, the pair tracked it all the way to an abandoned military base.
When they landed Passa was noticeably exhausted but he was also very much unwilling to stop, he folded his wings in and panted for a few moments to catch his breath, Wisp quickly flew into his head so she could communicate with him the same way as she had done with Seven and to a degree Visa, though it was noticeably harder with Claws she had been practising over the last few weeks in order to make some form of communication possible should she wind up stuck outside of her body again, like now for instance.
It was a little jarring for Passa at first until he realised what was happening and relaxed enough for her voice to come through in his mind, though she also felt his exhaustion, poor boy had been pushing himself well beyond his limits but this made Wisp's heart swell with pride, this determination and fire was everything that Seven had preached when he'd made his promises to the group and it was damn good to see someone else carrying those ideals in their heart as well.
"Easy big guy we need you fighting fit if we're going to do this right, so wind down a little and let's think," Wisp said softly into his mind.
"I smell them Wisp, they are close," he replied silently in his mind.
"Smell anything telling like fear or blood?' she asked and he shook his head before answering through his mind.
"No just their scents, I smell stress pheromones that tell me it got intense here but that seems to be fading, if anything now the scents I detect are, calmer," Passa said obviously trying to make sense of what he was picking up, it was obvious to Wisp now that the device that had worked over his DNA and had given him the wings, as well as the feathers had instilled a few other little tricks into this Claw boy.
"Well that's a good sign isn't it, what else can you smell?" she asked and Passa took a deep breath then she actually felt his brow furrow.
"Animal blood, radstag I think and fire," he said.
"Sounds to me like Nine went hunting for food, she must have left all her gear behind when she fled with Fuller, probably went hunting for something to eat, looks like we might have caught her at dinner, be good to repay the favour of catching her with her pants down don't you think?" Wisp said.
Passa issued a soft growl, "If she has harmed Fuller I will not be kind, he may be new and a defector but he has shown his dedication to our cause in the aid he has rendered and to me he has shown his true heart in the way he fought to save those innocent humans from those crazed ones, he stood for them now we stand for him, he is of our pack now," Passa said defiantly.
"Couldn't have said it better myself, alright let's move up and take things slow and quiet, don't want to tip her off before we're ready to strike, we gotta remember, she's one of my kind and that makes her dangerous," Wisp said and Passa nodded.
"Agreed I will defer to your judgement Wisp, you are the Alpha here," he said and Wisp actually found herself both taken aback and flattered by that assessment of her, she'd heard Seven being referred to as Alpha by the Claws before but never herself, it actually felt kinda good to know that they thought of her in such a way.
Exiting Passa's head Wisp flew into the base cautiously, doing a circuit of the perimeter first to check for traps and threats but when she found none she moved in a little deeper, following the sounds of what sounded like a fire crackling coming from one of the buildings, she also noticed that there seemed to be smoke coming from a chimney stack attached to a building central to the base.
She morphed her body for Passa to follow her and the big Claw moved silently up also seeming to notice the smoke rising from the chimney now into the rapidly darkening sky, Wisp flew back into his head again.
"I'm going to find a vent and scout the building out, you stay out of sight until I report back," she said and he nodded his large head.
"Understood Alpha," he replied silently and she flew out of his ear and into a small vent that brought her out to the back of a large room that reminded her of one of the smoking lounges that they'd seen when passing through some of the cities, that's when she saw them.
Nine and Fuller were sat in a pair of leather armchairs next to the fire and Wisp could see that there was a pot filled with water resting on what appeared to be a makeshift metal frame that was set over the flames.
To her genuine surprise, Fuller didn't seem to be restrained in any way, he was simply sitting there tending to the fire and the pot while Nine watched him closely, she figured that her power must be enough of a threat to keep him in line so that he did what she wanted without complaint, she quickly spotted and entrance that Passa could use off to their right side and she quickly planned it in her head before rushing back outside to inform the big Claw of her plans.
"This is going to have to be quick are you ready for this?" Wisp asked and Passa nodded.
"Just say the word Alpha and it will be so," he replied making her actually feel the growl of his silent voice as he aligned himself with the door.
"Just remember your job is Fuller, leave Nine to me," she said and once again Passa nodded bunching up his large steel-like muscles in preparation.
"Alright go!!!" Wisp yelled and Passa hit the door with a mighty kick that tore it from its hinges before following it into another room and unleashing a horrific bellowing roar that made both Nine and Fuller drop to the floor holding their ears in shock.
Wisp poured out of Passa's nose the moment he entered the room and as he rushed forwards to grab Fuller she darted forwards and went straight up Nine's nose before she had the chance to even process what was happening to her.
"Welcome to the house of fun kid, you want to kidnap our people and hold them hostage let's play shall we?" Wisp boomed inside Nine's head making sure to amplify and echo her voice so it would sound like it was echoing around inside her skull enough to disorientate her.
It worked like a charm and Nine dropped to the floor yelling in pain as Wisp began to invade her mind, meanwhile, Passa grabbed Fuller and threw him over his shoulder with the intent to run out of another door.
That was until he heard him yelling, "Passa!! Passa put me down it's not what you think!! It's over she's not our enemy!!" Fuller yelled so loudly that even Wisp heard him over the klaxon and screaming sounds she was making inside Nine's mind to disorientate her.
"Wait, what? You are not a hostage?" Passa asked taking Fuller from his shoulder and looking at him curiously.
"I was but not any more, we reached an understanding," Fuller said quickly and Passa looked at him more curiously before leaning in and sniffing him.
"I smell no stress hormones other than the ones we generated kicking in the door, you are telling the truth," he said.
"Well of course I am, I doubt I'd be sitting here armed if I was a hostage now, would I? Now will you please put me down, I'm getting real sick of being carried about like a kid," Fuller said sounding relieved and Passa did so curiously as he noticed that Fuller's rifle was indeed sitting next to the chair he'd been sitting in.
Wisp stopped making loud noises inside Nine's head and her mind fell silent except for the pained moans of the young woman, "I'm going to remain in here for a little bit, no offence but while you might be able to lie or trick my friend there you can do no such thing to me, if you don't mind I'm going to have a look-see for myself," Wisp said clearly making sure that Nine understood what she was about to do.
"Do what you must I have suffered much already what is more pain?" Nine snarled through gritted teeth.
"If you do not resist there will be no pain, it is not my intention to harm you, if Fuller speaks the truth but I must be sure, I cannot take chances with the lives of those I care about, I'd say I'm sure you understand but given who sent you here and what you were sent to do I'm not so sure you do," Wisp said.
"Very well I will not fight you, see the truth if you must but I warn you it may be more than you can bare," Nine said.
"I doubt it, you forget I was in that place with you too and add on top of that I have seen the depths of Seven's mind as well so there is nothing there that can shock me," she said softly before beginning her probing of Nine's mind and to be fair to her she didn't resist just like she said she wouldn't.
After about half an hour Wisp had finished her fact-finding mission and released Nine's mind from her grip, she flew out of her mind across the room and after a swift loop around his head she flew into Fuller's.
"Sorry about the involuntary hitchhiking but speaking through you is easier than trying to work through the treacle of translating everything in Passa's head from Claw into English and then back again when I wish to speak to him," she said into his mind.
"Yeah, fair enough so what's the word oh glittery one?" Fuller asked silently though Wisp could feel that having her inside his mind jarred him considerably though she'd already been in here once when they were trying to ascertain whether he was on the level or an infiltrator so he knew the drill.
"She's clean and she wasn't kidding when she said that what I saw would shock me, both her and Seven both been through some serious shit at the hands of those fucking lunatics, though her's was pretty diverse, they worked out she's an elementalist which means she can control ceertian elements at their base level like fire, water, electricity, air and even solid matter though to a far more limited degree, thats more where she can make the other elements interact with it rather than controling the sub atomic bonds of matter itself but that doesn't make her any less dangerous, just because she can't control the very attoms of your body doesn't mean she can't just over exite the electrical charge of your nervous system and just short it out, or over load it and blow your heart to smithereens, or even just ramp up the heat in your body and litterally boil your blood, I can see why they sent her of all the numbers after us, she's probably one of the only ones with enough raw horse power under her hood to be able to contain Seven if she went toe to toe with him, though given the raw power Seven is capable of generating these days thats still a debatable outcome," Wisp said and she felt the jolt of fear and appriciation run through Fuller.
"Alright so I get the dangerous part, to be fair I kinda assumed that of all of your kind if I'm honest, what's the word on whether she's off the reserve and following her own path now, she telling the truth or was it a ruse to get close to you two?" Fuller asked.
"Oh she's fully mind broken, what you forced her to see with your facts and logic snapped her control clean in two, she still doesn't like the fact that she can't refute it but she sees what you were saying to her as truth and just to shore things up a little I gave her a look at mine and Seven's memories as well just to cement the fact, so yeah she's as rogue as you are soldier boy," Wisp said and she felt Fuller blow out a sigh of relief both inside out of his head.
"Good to hear, well at least I know I can be persuasive when I need to be," he said and Wisp chuckled a little bitterly inside his skull.
"Yeah you got that right Fuller, you really did a number on her, the grief she got bottled up in there is pretty bad we're going to need to find her a way to vent it because we do not want that shit coming out at the wrong moment with the power she got on tap, imagine Seven losing his shit on a city and unleashing on it fully and you are somewhere close to what she could do," Wisp said and again she felt a powerful fear spike run through Fuller.
"So we got two walking bombs in our ranks now, good to know," he said.
"Just people like you Fuller, different yes but people all the same, same wants, needs, loves and flaws, but where both Seven and myself have had the experience of learning by our mistakes and growing with them she's a blank slate in that respect, trained to kill without question and to fight for a cause that she now knows to be false she's got nothing and no-one now, she's like a child who has just learned that the world is a fucking scary place being turfed out into it all alone to fend for herself but given one piece of information to carry with her, everyone will hate and fear her because of what she is and what she can do, try that one on for size," Wisp said.
"Well you were wrong about one thing," Fuller said.
"Oh? And what's that then?" Wisp replied curiously.
"She's got us now," he said and Wisp felt a tickle of joy spike through her.
"You got that right Fuller, you got that right," she said happily.
"Alright Yumi it looks like our fluffy mind-bending little friend says you check out, so we're all good, you can come with us if that's what you want to do of course," Fuller said stepping over and helping Nine to her feet and holding her steady as her rubbery legs threatened to give out on her.
She looked up at him in surprise, "You mean it? You'll take me with you? Just like that?" she asked.
"Trust me I know exactly what one of Wisp's little mind wanders feels like and it'll make you feel like your head is full of sludge for an hour or two afterwards but if there is one thing that girl is it's maticulous, she'll have been through every little memory you have no matter how well you thought it was hidden so if she says you're good then you're good it's as simple as that, I know she showed you a little of what she and Seven went through to boot so I know that you know what she's seen and how our people are while also knowing why they are the way they are, so in keeping with that Yumi we offer you the choice, join us or go your own way but know this if you do choose to walk with us you'll have to abide by our rules, no vendettas or going rogue, I've seen what these people are and what they stand for first hand and I'm proud to be among them now, they will do everything they can to aid you in whatever way you need but you have to be fully on board with wha tthey stand for, if you can do that then it's all good but the choice is still yours to make," he said.
Nine who called herself Yumi glanced from Fuller to Passa and back before nodding her head, "I don't want to be alone anymore, I'm sick of it, I'm sick of just being a thing, a tool, only good to get jobs that other people want done or scaring them into compliance, I don't want to be that person, I want to be...hell, I don't even know what I want to be, I've never even really had the chance or opportunity to think about it before but what I do know is that with you people at least I'll get that chance, so if you'll have me, I'm in," she said smiling up at Fuller.
"Well then welcome to the Free People's of the Wastes Yumi, from what Gregory tells me it's bring your own Claw night every Tuesday and Thursday but they had to expand it to bring your own non-human due to the lack of Claws to go around," Fuller said making Yumi burst out a surprised laugh that turned very rapidly into a full-on belly laugh as the apprehension and fear melted visibly away from her slender young shoulders.
After a few minutes of laughter she dried her eyes and smiled at Fuller and Passa, "Thank you, Fuller you have no idea how much I needed that, or how much I needed to hear that, you really are good people and now I know what good people really look like I also know what bad people look like too," she said.
Fuller patter her on the shoulder and then steered her back towards the chair she'd been occupying before Passa and Wisp had burst in and wrecked up the place, "Alright let's get you fed up and back on your feet properly we got a bit of a flight back to the others, though it might be a good idea to see if we can fire up one of the old radios here and see if we can raise the others, bet Malakai and Shepherd are going mental with worry bout now if Malakai hasn't paced a trench deep enough to be considered a moat around the camp or panic knitted enough socks to keep an army warm I'll be bloody shocked, while Shepherd has probably nerve stripped and cleaned every gun in the camp at least six times by now," Fuller said and Wisp couldn't help but feel guilty but also laugh at the thought of her beautiful spider boy worry knitting.
"Sounds like a job for cloud girl, I'm on it," Wisp said before pouring out of his head and shooting off out into the camp.
"Where's she going?" Yumi asked as Wisp streaked out of the room leaving a little glittering trail in her wake.
"To find a radio, that girl can jack into just about any piece of tech she finds and radios is something of a speciality of hers," Fuller said.
"I will assist Alpha Wisp," Passa said moving to follow her but Fuller got there first and steered the confused-looking Claw boy towards another of the armchairs.
"Oh no you don't you look like you've been ready to drop since things calmed down in here, plant that scaly arse of yours in that chair and get yourself some food there's plenty to go around even for you big boy, Shepherd will bloody kill me if her man comes back looking like I dragged your scaly arse backwards through a hedge, I'll help Wisp with the rad you get some rest," he said and with that, he left Yumi and Passa both sat in their chairs and followed after the wayward cloud girl.
It didn't take Wisp long to locate the base's radio and with a little help from Fuller who managed to jury rig a power supply for it from an old FC he found in one of the buildings they got it powered up.
Wisp poured herself into the radio and began adjusting the frequencies to the ones that her team used, she just hoped that they were still in range of the relay towers for the portable hand units they used to be able to pick up the signal.
"This is gold two is anyone receiving this over?" she asked into the airwaves but only static responded to her so she tried a few more times waiting a minute or two between each call until finally a very familiar voice came back through the radio.
"Gold two is that you? Are you ok?" a very relieved-sounding Malakai asked.
"Good to hear your voice and yeah we're ok you can stop panic knitting now and tell the certain other member of our team to stop cleaning the guns she's gonna wear out the mechanisms," she said.
"Wait, how did you know I was...never mind we're you successful, did you find them?" Malakai asked.
"Yeah all good package returned and we have a plus one, Gold one is gonna love this, we're quite a long way out so we'll be heading back as soon as we've had the chance to get our strength back, so hold fast where you are and we'll be back as soon as we can, gold two over and out," she said.
"Roger that, be safe my love, over and out," Malakai said sounding very relieved indeed which made Wisp feel both guilty for worrying him and happy that her safety meant so much to him in equal measure.
Once she flew out of the Radio she filtered her way back into Fuller's head, "So how many socks are we all going to have?' Fuller asked making Wisp snort a laugh.
"Probably quite a few but that's ok I'm probably gonna have some new sets of silk underwear to go with them, but yeah we're all good they know what's going on so crisis averted, now if you don't mind I'll just hitch a ride with you as I can't be arsed to keep popping in and out every time I want to speak," she said.
"Yeah that's fine just do me a favour and don't go walking through my mind and especially not the file-marked fantasies," Fuller said making Wisp snort a laugh again.
"Why? You worried I'll find that you were secretly looking at super mutant girl's arses?" she asked teasingly and now Fuller snorted a laugh.
"Ain't even ever seen a female one or one that even remotely looks so to be fair, though given what you've told me of this Shauna character I'll actually be interested to meet one," he said.
"You'll get that chance and so many more trust me, stick with us and you'll see all sorts of people you never even imagined before, it's what we do," Wisp replied.
"Yeah I'm really starting to see that, now come on I'm fucking starving," he said turning and heading back into the officer's mess where they found both Passa and Yumi actually having a conversation.
"...so the power you possess is capable of altering the elements around you?" Passa asked as he ladled a large serving into a bowl that he handed to Yumi which she took gratefully before returning to her chair.
"Yes in a sense, it allows me to alter the states of various elements, for example, if I wished to make this stew hotter or colder then I can do so by simply speeding up or slowing down the molecules by either transferring my energy to them or robbing them of it, it the same with electrical charges I can alter the polarity as well as the charge which allows me to control both electrical and magnetic fields," Yumi explained.
"Which is why I guess they attached you to us so that you could deal with Seven or Wisp," Fuller said claiming a bowl of stew from Passa as well before taking a seat before the big Claw filled up his own much larger bowl and began to tuck in ravenously.
"Pretty much yes, the plan that was explained to me was simple, Eight would use his abilities to mimic one of your group at the right time and infiltrate it, he would then relay information on your people to me or the ESF and when he had managed to lure you into a place I would step in and disable the both of you by rendering Seven unconscious and then finding a way to either contain or if that was not possible kill Wisp by either overloading or dispersing the magnetic fields that holds her energy together, though having experienced her abilities first hand now I'm not even sure that would have been possible," Yumi said frankly and honestly.
"I'm sure Wisp is glad to know that part," Fuller said as he took a spoonful of the stew.
"You got that right but I'm damn glad she's on our side now our muscle just royally jumped up, with her and Seven on our team the Enclave is going to be shitting bricks because they will know that if they decide to come after them with all of us behind them they are going to be nigh on unstoppable especially if we keep gaining power the way we are," Wisp said.
"You got that right, about now the head shed is going to be shitting bricks, they've lost an entire ESF team and one of their numbers which leaves them with only one person working for them still in the area, well unless that distress call got out in which case we're going to have a much bigger problem very soon and honestly my money is on that being the case," Fuller said after relaying what Wisp had said to the others.
"What do you think their response will be? Do think they'll send another ESF team after us or more of my kind?" Yumi asked and Fuller scratched his chin as he thought for a few moments.
"Most likely all of the above along with the forming of a FOB here, they will want a foothold here and will most likely use the destruction of their team by the Brotherhood to justify it, so they'll probably send in a few ESF teams to scout out and secure a place for a stronghold, once that is secured they'll bring in the troops and some heavy artillery to hold it against Brotherhood attacks while they start staging out of it, as for the numbers I'm no expert on your operating procedures or what's required for your deployment but given they sent two of you to take on Seven and Wisp and now there's three of you they'll probably send in a whole squad," he said.
"They will probably start tapping into the other cells, the one we came from was only one cell of it but from the intel, I was able to get access to before we ran there are multiple spread out across the country though I don't have their exact locations or any kind of personnel lists but e have to assume they are just as dangerous as us, or they would have been shut down," Wisp said and Fuller relayed that to the others.
"So things are gonna get cranked all the way up because of this huh? That's gonna mean a lot more lives are in danger because of me?" Yumi said and Wisp instantly sensed where she was going with that statement as the guilt was written all over her face but before she could speak up Fuller got there first.
"Don't even feel guilty for this even for a second Yumi this is not your fault, we are going to stand against these people regardless and it would have been just a matter of time before they rolled out this kind of response, these kinds of people do not stop unless someone makes them stop, that is what we are here to do and we can do that a lot better and a lot more effectively with you standing shoulder to shoulder with us, together we can show them we are not going to idly stand by and let them steamroll over good innocent people regardless of their species," he said with such passion and fire in his voice that Wisp felt her sparkly heart swelling, he'd only been among their number a short time but he already got it and was all in.
A relived and warm smile broke out on Yumi's face and she nodded, "Thank you, Fuller I needed to hear that and I appreciate it I also noticed that you didn't even hesitate before you said it, that tells me you truly believe what you say and that means a lot to me," she said and Fuller simply gestured to her with his spoon and nodded.
It took them a couple of hours and a good couple of bowls of the fantastic stew that Fuller had made but all of them were back to full strength, or at least somewhere close and they began their flight back with Yumi once again carrying Fuller, Passa was going to do it but she kind of insisted as she was the one that snatched him so she felt responsible for returning him properly.
Thanks to the fact that they were flying in a straight line rather than trying to locate a trail to follow it took a lot less time to get back than it did to get here in the first place, though upon their landing the response was immediate from their group.
Shepherd literally flung herself at Passa and very nearly knocked him off his massive feet, Wisp who had been riding shotgun with Fuller flew out of his head and towards her body and right next to it Malakai looked like he was tap dancing as he was waiting for her to re-engage her body and no sooner than she was inside it he snatched her off the ground and clung to her.
I'm so glad you are back and you are safe, I was so worried about you," he said with genuine and powerful relief in his voice.
"It's ok cuddle spider I'm all good and I'm back," she said softly as she held onto him tightly.
That's when they all seemed to notice their newcomer standing nervously and tiredly in their midst and all eyes locked on her, "Guys let me introduce you to Yumi formally called Nine," Fuller said placing a supportive hand on her slender shoulder and Wisp could already see him bracing for the barrage of coming questions.