Chapter 165: Following the Freedom Trail to War.
"This feels so weird, I don't think I've been on the ground this long in my entire life," Ava grumbled as she bobbed along next to her fellow Avians.
Sasha glanced at her and couldn't help but grin at the owl woman as like all of the Valkyries they seemed to walk with a bit of a bobbing gait that kinda made him think of pigeons all the time.
Though to be fair when he was watching Celine walk it wasn't her feathery head bobbing along he was watching when there were far more entertaining parts of her to focus on.
However, he did notice that Ivan seemed to fall into the same trap as he also seemed to be blissfully unaware of Ava's bobbing gait.
"Welcome to world of ground pounders fly girl," Ivan said and Ava glanced at him.
"Hey at least you lot have those bloody power armour suits to do the work for you, the rest of us have to use our actual legs, I mean think about how poor Ebony must be feeling, she has nearly as many legs as all of us combined," Ava moaned.
"Actually I'm fine, I'm used to walking long distances, though not usually above ground. Pretty sure this is the longest I've spent on the surface for a very long time," the large Archnkai girl said glancing around at the large open space around the team.
"You live underground big girl? No offence but that must be a bit of a tight squeeze," Broadsider said as he walked along next to the massive Archnkai.
"Apart from our jumpy cousins, most Archnakai tend to feel more at home underground, it's where we were born and we're more suited to it than we are life above ground, take these hairs of mine for example, they aren't just to give me that glossy freshly washed look, each one of them is as sensitive as your eardrums mammals," Ebony said.
"Damn must be hell when you fire that damn thing off because I would love to see you figure out how to soundproof that shit," Broadsider said glancing over her massive fluffy body.
"Maybe she could wear latex suit," Ivan said and Sasha could hear the smile in his voice before Natalia clonked him over the back of his armoured head.
"Get brain out of gutter for one second," she said and Ivan just laughed.
"Why break habit of lifetime, you would be worried if I did," he said and she stopped for a moment as if seriously considering that.
"Ahh not worry about that we make her power armour suit soon and then she will have all soundproofing she needs, she is Cossack now and she needs power armour suit," Sasha said.
"So you are saying you guys are gonna turn her into a walking tank?" Broadsider said raising an eyebrow.
"Yes and she will be living Cossack tank, Raiders will leave entire regions at mere thought that she may be coming their way," Ivan said proudly.
"So wait you keep saying jumpy cousins, how many species of you guys are there?" Racer asked curiously.
"Oh quite a few, there are quite a few tarantula genera like myself both fesorial and arboreal. I mean sure most of us can climb but boy those guys are incredible, though not a patch on our jumpy little cousins, jumping Archnakai can leap incredible distances, they are much more at home on the surface world than we are," Ebony said.
"Yes jumping Archnakai boy we meet called Malakai is much smaller than Ebony but has lot of power packed into small legs, heard he hung underneath Vertibird and combat dropped into hot Radier site to help out Minutemen, seems bravery and crazy runs in equal measures among Archnakai. Apparently is awesome tailor too," Sasha said with a chuckle as they walked.
"You'd be surprised how many Archnakai become tailors, it's like our natural calling or something, but then I'm not surprised given that we can produce our own silk I mean these things aren't just for show you know," Ebony said jerking her thumb over her shoulder to indicate her long twitching spinnerets that were sticking proudly out of her big fluffy rear end.
"I did wonder why you seemed to have giant fingers sticking out of your bum," Broadsider said.
"What he's saying is you just took away his reason to stare at your ass by explaining it," Racer said making Broadsider freeze up and Ebony turn to look at him with a raised eyebrow.
"Ahh welcome to non-human bum appreciation club, I may have to start getting cards printed," Sasha said making Broadsider's mouth hang open as his fellow Railroad heavies snigger.
Celine playfully punched Sasha's armoured shoulder making his armour ring slight.
"Oh don't tease the poor boy, you might put him off taking first steps down the path that you yourself took," she said and Sasha lifted the face plate of his armour for a moment to grin at her.
"If he finds big spider girl's bum as ravishing as I find yours then path could be full of Ghouls and landmines and he'd still find way down it," he said making Celine's feathers ruffle in momentary embarrassment before a smile crossed her hooked beak.
"You are lucky that I cannot fly human boy or I might very well carry you off somewhere high where I can keep you to myself for a bit," she said with a deep rumbling purr in her deep voice.
"I doubt even with wings as big as yours you could carry one of those suits," Racer said with a grin.
"Who said anything about taking the suit? If there's one thing we Valkyries know it's how to peel humans out of those things," Celine said playfully and Racer roared with laughter.
"Oh I like her she's got fire in her belly, you sure your ancestors were not Latino?" Racer said.
"Don't think belly is where her fire is and if gets worse we may have to send her to medic to get some cream to put on it," Ivan said before Natalia clopped him across the head again making him look at her in confusion.
"Pretty sure the boss has all the cream she needs," Natalia said as if that should have been obvious.
"Damn straight he does," Celine said proudly looking at Sasha with a very distinct predatory look in her large eyes that made him both suddenly glad and irritated by his armour in equal measures.
He also wondered if this was a look that a mouse of old saw in its final moments when confronted with one of her ancestors.
"Wow I've never met a group like this one before, you guys speak about interspecies love like it's the most natural thing in the world," Broadsider said in a surprisingly quiet voice.
"That's because if meeting Free peoples has taught us anything it is that that's exactly what it is," Sasha said and Broadsider looked at him in surprise with a look in his eyes that asked him to continue.
"When we finish hunting rat bastard assassin and they lay dead in ditch you should spend some time with them and you will see what I say is true, they teach us that non-humans are people just like us, no different, same wants, same thoughts, same needs so other than looks how different exactly?" Sasha said.
"Well I mean err well umm," Broadsider began as he tried to figure out an answer to that but before he could Sasha carried on.
"Without coming over as racist think about it in terms of your people, once upon a time white men think black people were not as human as they were, used it as justification to make slaves of them as did others to many other peoples throughout history, is no different here. Sure non-humans look different but in my opinion that is better, human girl would not look fabulous with feathers sticking out of her bum as Celine does now would she?" Sasha said earning him a playful growl from his feathered lover.
"Maybe not but I know some human women would be fun to try and shove feathers up bum," Ivan said earning him yet another slap from Natalia.
"I never said was you!" he complained rubbing the back of his armoured head which was going to get a permanent handprint on the back of it at this rate.
"Maybe not but you think it and I swear you come near my bum with feathers I will do more than slap you," Natalia said making Ebony howl with laughter.
"And this is why I'm beginning to love being a Cossack, you guys simply do not hold back, you say what you think and you feel without a filter or regrets, it's refreshing," she said.
"Be Cossack long enough and you too will learn that life too short and too painful to give a fuck what others think big fluffy girl, say what you think and feel and own it proudly," Ivan said.
This time Natalia didn't slap him but instead nodded in a rare moment of agreement.
"He may be an idiot most of time, but on this one thing Ivan is right," she said.
"Boss you hear this? I believe end times are finally upon us, be on lookout for four evil motherfuckers riding shit-looking horses," Ivan said and Sasha looked at him curiously.
"What are you going on about?" he asked.
"Is final piece of prophecy I tell you, Great War was not true end of world, coming of four horsemen of apocalypse is, though granted is not much left to fuck up but still, is said that when Natalia agrees with me on something final part of prophecy is complete and four horsemen of apocalypse come to end world!" Ivan said putting on a theatrical voice before this time finally managing to dodge the incoming slap that Natalia aimed at his head.
All of them burst out laughing and shaking their heads as they walked along.
"Think four horsemen are bit late to party, is not much left of world to destroy unless they get off on destroying rubble in which case is plenty to go around and they will be quite busy for time being me thinks," Sasha said gesturing around him to the wasteland.
"Honestly I find myself shocked every day that not only did people manage to survive the Great War but that so many different new peoples rose from it, take my kind for an example, we came from the kindness of one man who rather than leave his collection of innocent pet spiders to perish gave his life so that they might have a chance to live in the new world that rose from the ashes of the nuclear fire. And from those ashes and his noble sacrifice rose the Archnakai people a perfect blend of our ancestral arachnids and the human DNA that he gifted them as his final noble act. Which is why we refer to him as the Grandfather of all Archnakai," Ebony said proudly.
"Wow, so your entire species was born from one human man giving his life to try and save some innocent animals from certain destruction?" Broadsider asked curiously and Ebony nodded her head.
"He could have left those spiders to die and saved himself, plus honestly no one really would have blamed him for a single second if he had. But he simply could not bring himself to do it, he had raised all of those innocent spiders from little baby slings to what they were on that fateful day. In his diaries we saw the love and pride he had each time he watched one of his spiders moult and become a bigger more beautiful version of themselves, so he opted to release them from their cages and to stay with them at the end and while we know that those spiders wouldn't have had the capacity to understand the power of his sacrifice for them, the generations that came afterwards that were infused with the human DNA that thanks to the radiation bonded with theirs and created the Archnakai would fully understand what he did for them," she said.
"Sounds like an incredible man," Celine said with very obvious reverence in her voice.
"He was, he was a flawed man just like any other of course but when it came down to it his love was stronger than those flaws and he made the choice to try and protect something innocent even at the cost of his own life, so in the end that choice made him who he truly was meant to be and it's why all Archnakai everywhere give thanks to him. Because without him we would not exist," Ebony said.
"There was no such creator or saviour for my people," Celine said and they all glanced at both her and her Avian comrades.
"Oh? How did Valkyries come to be?" Sasha asked with an obvious interest in learning the origins of the race that his beloved one hailed from.
"Well, we are not truly sure about the earliest of days as there are no written or recorded histories for us to fall back on. But we believe many of our ancestors were just simple birds either grouped together in a gigantic aviary like one of your Vault-Tec vaults or possibly a large underground cave network where it was safe from the vast majority of the radiation, but not all," Celine said.
"Why not all?" Ivan asked curiously.
"Well we don't know for sure but we believe that the radiation may have gotten into the food that those birds were eating, like insects or grains, or even mushrooms we can't be sure but either way, it began to speed up our evolution and suddenly we grew bigger, faster, stronger and we learned to walk on two legs but many of us retained the ability to fly, that's when a great many of us began to develop a universal language that crossed the various species and soon we were able to not only communicate verbally but also a written language was born," Ava continued where Celine had left off causing the big Condor to nod in agreement.
"Exactly and this is where our first history was recorded and this is why we say we do not know if we were born of an aviary or simply a cave because in these writings some speak only of the caves that sheltered our people while others speak of the great underground cage that sheltered us like a steel ark beneath the earth," Celine said.
"Sounds like Vault Tec's handiwork to me boss, they are sort of people to build big underground bunkers and fill with things, but did not expect them to give a shit about animals, let alone birds," Ivan said and Sasha nodded his agreement.
"Indeed, they would certainly have had funds and ability though I wonder if they had will to do it, saving things without reason is not like them, all Vaults we have found so far have had nasty secrets hidden within walls like they were not simply happy that they helped people to survive horrors of surface world, they had to brings horrors down into place that was meant to be safe too," Sasha said and now both Celine and Ava looked at him curiously, as did Ebony.
"What do you mean boss?" Ebony asked beating both of the Valkyries to the punch.
"He means that every Vault we find and has been recorded by Brotherhood was not benign as should have been. They carry out vile experiments on those poor people they had trapped in those walls, psychological, chemical, biological. You name it they did it in name of science to see what would happen to the residents or rather to captive audience who could not escape. Of some that I have both seen with own eyes and have read about in Brotherhood archives I believe staying on surface when bombs fell would have been kinda, at least death was quick," Ivan said.
"That's fucking horrible, those poor people, how could they do that to their own kind?" Ebony said with a look of pure disgust and confusion written on her pretty face as she twitched her pedipalps in obvious anger.
"Because not all humans are like your Grandfather of Spiders, some are selfish bastards who only care about money or themselves. They care not for suffering of fellow man or woman, only about what they can get, they did not believe that destruction would be as bad as it was so they did not know that war would nearly wipe out everything and everyone, but is no excuse for what they did." Ivan spat angrily and Sasha nodded.
"There are some that believe that was Vault-Tec who started Great War in first place, some Scribes in Brotherhood have found evidence that they manipulate events with help of other big CEOs of big companies at time to try and drive up revenue while destroying competition in order to emerge to new world that they would control," Sasha said.
"Looks like that plan failed at least," Racer said and Sasha nodded.
"True but not all of assholes stayed buried as they deserved, look at Enclave, they were prewar organisation too, now they try to change world not back into what once was but what they want to be, global dictatorship with them at top of shit pile," he said.
"True, very true but now they have powerful enemies who stand together against them and show them that they will not win, that this time we will make world way it should be not way they want it to be. Like Brotherhood, like Minutemen, like Railroad and like us Cossacks but to name few and more join all the time!" Ivan said with true passion in his voice.
"Seems you've seriously drunk the Free Peoples Koolaid there Russian tin man, Do you truly believe in what they are doing?" Racer asked and Ivan nodded.
"I have seen with own eyes that they is good people and that is enough for Ivan, they prove worth and that they stand by friends till end, in this world that is most anyone can ask for. So in my book makes them worth following," he said with very obvious sincerity in his voice.
"He's not wrong Racer, I mean look at the help they've given us over the last few weeks, most people wouldn't lift a finger to help Synths but the Free Peoples not only stuck their neck out but actively got involved in our fight, they tipped us off and saved the whole lot of us from getting wiped out and now we got that sweet ass base back in the Vault and not only that but we got their people actively helping us out on runs," Broadsider said.
"He's right Racer, they really didn't have to do any of that, they simply could have left us swinging in the wind if they'd wanted to. But they didn't, they stood shoulder to shoulder with us and helped us fight because they believe in the same things we do, they believe that Synths are part of the non-human community and are as much people as we are," Postman said and Broadsider nodded pointing at his colleague.
"Exactly and that's what I'm saying here and I'm pretty sure it's what our Cossack friend Ivan is saying too. They stood for us in our time of need so it's only right that we stand for them in theirs. They are not just fighting for Synths but all sentient non-humans to have a seat at the table in helping to build this new world they got envisioned and if I'm honest I'm down with it, Hell they can't exactly do fucking worse than the lot that came before us now can they?" he said.
"That's true and my kind are living examples of what the power of the spirit of good humans can do, one good man created my whole race. His noble sacrifice to save what most would have seen as just some stupid spiders created the whole Archnakai people, so we are the living proof that one simple act of kindness can ripple through time and have lasting effects," Ebony said.
Racer sighed and nodded.
"Yeah true I suppose, I mean fuck look at our lot right here right now, we got humans, avians, synths and a fucking Archnakai all working together to track down an assassin who is targeting the Minutemen, just a couple of months ago we in the Railroad probably would have been cheering the fucker on rather than hunting them," she said.
"Then this is proof that Free Peoples have done good job, they have brought people together who were not only enemies but helped them to see that as friends they are much stronger and better, now we fight for our enemies because they are now our friends," Ivan said.
"Exactly only weeks ago my people and the Brotherhood were killing each other with no end in sight, it had all the markings of a conflict that could have spiralled until one of us met our complete extinction. But then the Free Peoples not only stepped in and stopped it but they got us to see how much stronger that we could be together and I will freely admit I wasn't just dubious and doubtful I was downright opposed to it. But now look how wrong I was, the Cossacks have shown me in no uncertain terms that not all humans are the same, that not only can some be trusted but also loved," Celine said looking at Sasha with a look of pure love.
"Exactly! And now Cossacks get some new friends and badass feathery snipers but also boss man gets to look at feathery ass every day, is win-win," Ivan said lurching backwards just in time to avoid the slap from Natalia but he didn't dodge the one from Celine.
"There's a lot more to our love than just him staring at my ass thank you very much!" Celine said and Natalia shook her head sensing what was coming next.
"Is true, he looks at your breast sometimes too," Ivan said before roaring with laughter and then running around the group with Celine chasing him like something out of a cartoon sketch.
In amongst all of this, Ebony noticed Ava glance back over her shoulder at her own tail feathers before sighing heavily.
"You know Ivan maybe if you'd open your eyes a bit and not fog them up with Vodka you'd realise that there are other avians who might like to have their tail feathers admired too you know?" she said and Ivan stopped running and looked at her curiously allowing Celine to twat him across the head.
"What do you mean big spooder girl?" he asked.
"First off I'm a Tarantula thank you very much and secondly that would be telling but let's just say maybe there are other avian girls around here that would like it very much if a human guy were to tell them how nice their tail end looked or to admire their tail feathers some time," Ebony said while Ava's eyes had turned into a pair of massive black moons as she cottoned on to exactly what the big Archnakai girl was doing.
"I not understand Ava is only other Avian girl around..." Ivan began and then stopped halfway into the sentence only to stop and turn very slowly towards the owl girl as she turned towards him.
"Bingo numb nuts, Grandfather of all Archnakai and I thought our boys were fucking blin. Though to be fair at least our boys have the excuse of the old worry of being eaten for staring at a girl's spinnerets for too long, not sure what a human guy in a two-ton armoured suit is worried about," Ebony said gesturing to they very stunned Ivan.
"Wait...You like Ivan Ava?" Natalia exclaimed looking between the pair with a look of genuine shock on her face that while hidden by her helmet was obvious in her voice.
"Well, I err umm yeah I kinda do," Ava said looking embarrassed as hell for being called out on it.
"Wow well I did not see that one coming," Natalia said obviously at a bit of a loss for words.
"Like Sasha himself said, love is blind and for all our faults and differences there is still someone one out there for everyone and in this world you never quite know where they are going to come from or what face they are going to wear," Ebony said proudly.
"Indeed, if we were not on trail of rat bastard assassin I would say this is cause for celebration. Finally, we find woman who is crazy enough to try and fix Ivan, this could be landmark occasion in making," Sasha said as he glanced between Ivan and Ava who while they had gravitated closer together still hadn't said a word to one another.
"And this is why I'm beginning to really like being with this crazy group because not only have they given me the chance to fight back against all those people who have bullied me and oppressed me for simply existing but they have given me the chance to stand tall and say I am proud to be who I am and I am proud to be an Archnakai. No longer will I hide in the shadows and cower in fear, now I will stand tall and someday soon people will point at me and others like me and say hey that's an Archnakai, they helped change the world!" Ebony said passionately.
"You know that's kinda why I joined the Railroad," Broadsider said and Ebony glanced at him curiously.
"Oh?" she asked curiously and the large black man hoisted his triple-barreled navel cannon up on its rig and nodded.
"Yeah, a bit of a long story but the long and short of it was I was a fucking coward in my youth. Pretty much scared of my fucking shadow and then I met this guy in Diamond City, a synth called Nick Valentine. But he's not like the Synths we know now, the ones that look and sound exactly like humans. Oh no, this guy looked like a Synth, all lights, plastic and fucking clockwork. He's pretty much what people would imagine if I said imagine what a Synth would look like but he's smart not like the normal Gen ones and twos we see running around the place. He's some kinda prototype for the new modern Synths. But I digress so anyway one day I'm getting turned over by these fucking thugs in one of the alleyways in the back of Dimond city out of sight of the security and suddenly out of no-where I see this pair of glowing fucking eyes in the shadows and then just like that all of the fuckers mugging me are on the deck sparked the fuck out. Then look up and this synthetic man is simply standing there looking at me before he offers me a hand up and he says 'Kid ya never gonna be anyone or anything if ya don't draw a line in the sand that ya refuse to let anyone cross, ya gotta learn that these people if ya can call them that will keep on pushing until ya push back and ya gotta push back fucking hard. Hard enough that win or lose these fuckers will know you ain't worth messing with because the pain that comes with it don't fade for a good long time So I did, I learned fast and hard, I bulked up and trained hard and the first time I put some thieving fuck on the ground and finally I was the one looking down at someone but I never forgot that kind Synthetic guy who helped me when he didn't have to. So I decided to pay it forwards, I sought out the Railroad and well now here I am," Broadsider said.
"Funny, in a way that kinda rings true with my story, I spent my whole life running and hiding, staying out of sight because every time I tried to either make friends or trust humans it always came back to bite me in the spinnerets. But then I met these guys, they took me in and showed me that I didn't have to be afraid anymore, that not only could I be strong but that I could help people doing it, that I could be a symbol for both the cossacks and the Archnakai and now here I am," Ebony said proudly as she hoisted her own massive cannon in the form of the Tub Thumper and patted the side of the magazine drum.
"And nothing gets Broadsider's heart pumping harder than a strong black woman with a big gun," Racer said with a sly grin at her comrade.
"Well I think the black part is more the furr than what's underneath it given my genus is the Brazillian Black but I'll take it," Ebony said with a fang-filled grin while winking four of her eyes at Broadsider and making the normally stoic black man flush a deeper shade.
"Well look at this, it seems Free people's way of doing things is most definitely catching me thinks, not only do we find avian girl crazy enough to look at Ivan without aid of scope but now we find someone who might be brave enough to take on Cossacks biggest member. Is going to be interesting story to tell when we finally kill rat bastard assassin how we went out alone and came back with three couples," Sasha said with a grin.
"hey don't count your chickens yet boss man, I think Broadsider here is still not quite where he needs to be to dance the ten-legged tango with a glorious specimen of female spiderdom such as myself just yet, but maybe soon," Ebony said playfully winking at the obviously flustered black man while making a point of waving her large spinnerets at him as she walked ahead of him.
"She has really come out of shell since she became Cossack, was only few days ago was hiding behind her legs for fear of us, now she is ready to take on world. As like old saying goes, give man a fish and he eats for a day, teach him to fish and he eats for lifetime. Only this time is give big Archnakai girl dead Raiders and she is safe for day, give big Archnakai girl big ass gun and lots of armour and not even God can help Raiders stupid enough to get in her way," Sasha said with a laugh.
"Is good for her and for us, no more hiding in tunnels in fear, now is Raiders and rat bastard assassins who are in fear as well as Super Mutants who cannot fly," Natalia said with a laugh.
When Racer looked at Ebony in confusion she simply gave her a fang-filled grin which was kinda the Archnakai version of her best shit-eating grin.
"I may have kinda thrown some Super Mutants out of a very high window in one of the skyscrapers but hey I would have left them be if they hadn't decided that I was going to be on the menu," she said.
"And now they is pavement pizza so looks like they on menu of rats instead," Natalia said with a laugh.
"Remind me not to piss you off in high places," Broadsider said with a laugh.
"I thought Tarantulas tend to stay on the ground so what were you doing up on a skyscraper?" Racer asked.
"Common misconception and while yes fossorial species like myself do tend to prefer keeping our eight feet on the street that doesn't mean we cannot climb like our arboreal cousins, we're just not as adept at it as they are but that does not mean we can't. I can walk straight up a wall the same as any of my arboreal cousins, they'll just look better doing it and be more foot-sure when they do and don't even get me started on our jumpy cousins when it comes to that kind of thing. Springy little fuckers are never happier than when they are bouncing from place to place up high," Ebony said with a chuckle at her Archnakai jokes.
"Oh don't put yourself down girl, I'm sure that big booty of yours looked mighty fine scaling the heights of downtown Boston," Broadsider blurted out before going at least several shades darker as he realized what he'd just said.
"Ho ho, it seems our resident artillery specialist finally fired a shot across my bow eh? Well I'll make sure to wiggle my spinnerets for you the next time I'm hauling my fluffy ass up the side of a building and you can tell me if it meets your obviously high standards," Ebony said shaking said large fluffy booty from side to side and twitching her spinnerets as she did.
"I think this Seven character is going to be proud of work Cossacks are doing on Free People's behalf out here, we are spreading message of interspecies love and fellowship while saving world at same time," Sasha said with a laugh as Celine sidled up beside him nudging him to look at Ava and Ivan who were still staring at one another as if they had managed to hypnotise one another and now they were stuck in a loop.
"You get owl girl I get idiot human," Sasha said and Celine nodded with a grin forming on her beak.
The mention of the words 'Idiot' and 'Human' seemed to snap Ivan out of his trance and he turned just in time to see Sasha appear next to him.
"Wait, what?" he just had the chance to blurt out before Sasha hit the emergency release catch on Ivan's helmet located just behind one of the valves by his left ear.
This allowed him to remove Ivan's full helmet with one swift and smooth motion.
"What are you doing boss!?" Ivan exclaimed but rather than answer him Sasha simply grabbed the hoist hooks on the rear of his shoulders and used them to turn him which thanks to Ivan being confused as well as a little stunned he allowed to happen without resistance.
At the same time, Celine had snuck up behind Ava who was also just snapping out of her own stupor and had just enough time to turn her head a hundred and eighty degrees to look at the big condor behind her before she was hoisted up and pushed forwards.
"Hey, what the hell!?" Ava exclaimed before colliding with something hard and her head snapped back round the other way to find that she had been deposited in Ivans's arms.
"Now will you two hurry up and have beak to mouth kiss so we can keep moving without worrying about you two being so lost in each other's eyes that you miss who army of rat bastard assassins and super mutants attacking us on all sides," Sasha said with a grin.
"Don't make me order you to kiss the human Ava," Celine said with a chuckle and a clack of her beak.
Ava looked up at Ivan with a look in her eyes that said "Please let me trust you."
"If we do this and you light your farts around me I'm going to kick you in the nuts and you'll find out just how hard owls can kick as well as how much talons hurt," Ava said.
"Cross heart and hope to die, I will save it to only annoy Natalia from now on," he said making her bark out a laugh as they heard a feminine growl of frustration from behind them and with that Ivan bit the bullet and leaned in to press his lips her small but rather sharp beak.
"Thank gods, thought I would have to bang heads together for minute there, right that's one down now Broadsider come here," Sasha said turning to the now rather startled-looking black man.
"Oh hell no, you ain't pulling that shit on me!" he yelled and took off running ahead of the group.
"Poor lad thinks he can outrun Cossack in power armour or better, Cossack with eight legs," Sasha said grinning up at Ebony.
"If this goes sideways I am so blaming you boss and I am so going to web you to the side of a building with that Condor girl of yours and fucking leaving you there," she said and with that, she shot off in hot pursuit of the fleeing man.
"As long as you web face to feathery booty will die a happy man," Sasha said quietly as he watched her scuttling after Broadsider.