Multiple Settings Mass Clans: Beyond

[Filament]

Streak is frozen at the top of the stairs. Logically he knows that something terrible has happened but he doesn't have the emotional will to force himself down the stairs. He didn't know what a bomb was, but he smelled smoke and blood, things he's smelled before. His ears are ringing and his head feels fuzzy. He's suffocating, there's no air up here, just choking dark smoke and at last he is forced to move.
On unsteady paws he makes his way blindly down towards the stairs or at least where he knew them to be. He can't see very well and he ends up tumbling down what remains of the lower section of the stairs, his fall braced by something soft and wet. He lays, face first in whatever it is for a moment before standing to his paws, sucking in a deep breath of fresher air.
A voice makes itself known, pleading at first before turning into a whimper.
"Rum? The kit would ask, his body shaking although he doesn't show any other outward signs of fear.
As the blood clears from his eyes he spots her and makes his way over the corpses towards the she-cat.
"What happened to her? Is she bleeding?"
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Ford would ordinarily refuse but given the state of exhaustion he's in, he doesn't argue. Slipping shakily out of the harness and almost falling as he does so. He catches himself in an awkward crouch and stands back to his full height. He doesn't know how much longer he can walk. "I don't want to burden you more, but I fear these legs aren't going much further." The tom apologizes weakly as he slinks into the wagon, slipping on the bloody popcorn and falling into a spot beside his charges. Now that he knows they're safe, at least what constitutes safe in a place like this, unconsciousness comes easily.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Luther barely has time to hit the floor but he has time to get as flat as he can and covers his neck the best he can. He's sent careening across the room, smashing through the patio door and landing beside the pool. A few of his claws remain embedded in the floor in the living room.
"Fuck." the tom utters out, standing shakily on bleeding paws. There's broken glass in his thick ashen fur and his head feels like its in a tumble dryer but he seems more or less okay.
He draws his side arm from his chest holster and moves on three legs back towards the inside of the house, revealing that he can in fact shoot with his paws.
The voice of someone meets his ears but they're still ringing too badly for him to register who it was.
The investigator had never been blown up before but he knew his head wasn't supposed to feel so heavy. Blood ran down his nose to his mouth and he spit as he entered the room.
"Anyone!? Oh shit." The tom's call started out loud but shrank as he took in the room around him. There was blood and viscera everywhere.
"Hey robot, if you're functional I need a paw here!" The tom would call out to PIM, as he spotted three figures, two of them seemingly conscious enough to move on their own.
"Is that the acrobat?" While he was talking he kept his pistol trained at the front door, revealing it to be a now dusty but Pearl gripped revolver of some sort.

 

[Moonsound]

“Streak!” Rum exclaimed, pulling him into a hug and squeezing him tightly.

“I don’t—no. No she’s not bleeding. But she’s not moving.” Rum stuttered out as she let go of the tom-kit. She patted all across Speed’s body to double check. Her paws never touched anything wet or slippery.

“Luth–yeah, that’s Speed. She’s not responding.” Rum answered pitifully.

As the three of them were huddled around Speed, the sound of heavy booted footfalls could be heard through the front door. Along with the distinct sound of guns being racked. Seconds later the first two laser trails of gun sights shined into the room through the smoke. The soldiers made their intents pretty clear when the first they did as they entered was to shoot the three bodies near the door in the head immediately and begin systematically executing the bodies as they went.

Nastiel came to at the sound of gunshots. He was lying against a wall, having been blown the opposite direction as Luther. It seemed the only reason he was alive was his vest.

Vasteye was also stirring awake, hidden behind the kitchen bar counter.

No response came from PIM.

“Breaking new— there appears to have— an explosi— in a towe—just miles from here. It’s unclear—on—you can—Lussmill investigating…” The reporter on the tv could be heard, crackling and heavily muffled by the damage to the speakers.

_______


Trin put himself into the harness as best as he could and dug a paw into the ground for traction. With a strong push he had the wagon moving again and set about following the road.

“They’re out.” Keesipip reported from the back.

“Like asleep?” Trin asked, stretching his neck to look back behind the wagon.

“Yep.” Keesipip chirped with a nod.

“They could definitely use it. Speaking of using, Nyx can you use this revolver? I’m a little tied up at the moment.” Trin said, gesturing with his ears to the gun tucked in his side where his sword used to be.

 

[Filament]

As soon as the sound of weapons racking hit his ears, Luther was moving. With his free paw he shoved the kits behind him and let off three shots at the figures as they made their way into the room. One bullet caught an executioner who evidently wasn't expecting anyone to be moving after that bomb. "Move damn it." The tom would curse, shoving the kits backwards with his hindquarters and gripping Speed's scruff in his teeth. He held her below his chest to make her harder to hit and walked them backwards until they hit an upturned table at which point he angled himself to get them behind the object. He knew it wasn't bulletproof but at least the shooters couldn't see them.
Setting the she-cat down, he laid her as flat as he could and indicated for the kits to do the same while he fired off another two shots blindly around the table. His heart was thundering in his ears but he didn't have long to focus on that as a hail of bullets followed shortly.

"Nastiel, how many?" The tom snarled, not knowing where the tom was. "PIM! If you can hear me I need your eyes back here!" The tom called again.
He held the gun shakily, releasing the cylinder and using a speedloader.
"Any of you kids see a rifle that I can reach? This antique pea-shitter isn't gonna hold them off long." The tom would query, voice holding steady but eyes revealing that he was in fact very afraid.
He had a secondary pistol but it was of much smaller caliber and certainly not capable of penetrating armor.
"Shit." He hissed, peeking the corner a bit and firing a shot at one of the soldier's thighs.

 

[Firestorm of TempestPack]

The world comes back to Lethe slowly. First the acrid stench of smoke then the taste of blood on his tongue. The next thing that registers in his brain is pain. The disoriented tom feels around and gets his paws underneath his body. When did he lay down? Lethe pushes himself to his paws but with how his weak legs tremble, he isn't sure how long he can stand. Something hot and wet trails down his face and he can't tell if it's blood or tears. "Hello? Guys?" The male calls. His heart drops to his stomach when he can barely make out his own voice over the prolonged ringing in his ears.

After a few seconds which seemingly stretch on for ages, his vision finally clears. Lethe scrubs his burning eyes and his paw comes away wet with, yes tears, but also blood and what looks like soot. He quickly processes the scene. Half the living room is gone, there are dozens of corpses ranging from merely mutilated to absolutely pulverized. His eyes catch a group of blurry figures across the room. He stumbles over but stops when he recognizes False Lamb's body on the floor. "No." Pressing a paw to the sheline's chest, he waits. "Pod." Lethe slurs to himself when he feels that she's still breathing. "Office."



"I miss my home. I miss feeling safe and actually being safe. I miss knowing the land and how to deal with the danger. None of this-" Thistle admits, gesticulating vaguely to the world around them because words cannot describe the hell they've found themselves in vis-à-vis Undertaker and his schemes.

"Earth had many apocalypse-level events across the planet, each continent was a new catastrophe." Thistle goes on to explain, "We called them "the Zones". The Zone I'm from is called The Crater, there's also the Plaguelands, the Ashlands, the Frozen Wastes... Out of all the places I've been on Earth, my favorite places are Ashul, Atlantis and the Guardian Palace."


"Got it." Nyx grabs the gun from Trin.

 

[Moonsound]

One of the troopers dropped like a sack of potatoes after ejecting a small cloud of pink mist. They were immediately stepped over and a barrage of bullets were pointed towards Luther and the others. A garbled, static filled mess of gibberish came from the helmeted figures, hiding what they were actually saying to each other.

“Five!” Nastiel shouted, the single syllable starving him of air. As soon as he spoke one the goons turned and fired at him. Only for a black portal to open in front of the tom, catching the barrage before it made contact. In the same moment a second portal opened beneath the shooter at an angle, causing their own bullets to riddle them across the head and chest. As soon as they fell down, they were stepped over and the group of four soldiers continued their advance into the apartment. Two of them were still taking pot shots at where they last saw Luther in the smoke.

—

“I can’t see any guns!” Rum yowled, patting around on the ground in the dark as far as she could reach without exposing herself from behind the table. For a split second she saw a glint of metal and stretched out for it, flinching when a billet ricocheted near her paws. With a panicked gasp she caught the metal with the tips of her claws and pulled it in.

“I got a–“ Rum hurriedly dusted the soot off the object, “- sword! Trin’s sword.” Rum said, looking at Streak with the facial expression equivalent of a shrug.

“You can use that right?!” Rum’s anxious question was pointed towards Luther.

—

When Lethe started moving, one of the demons noticed and began firing at him. Just like with Nastiel, a portal opened just in the nick of time to spare him a collection of brand new holes. Unfortunately this time there was no secondary portal to send the bullets back. Whether out of frustration, anger, or some hitherto unknown tactic the demon trying to shoot Lethe did not let up. After the barrage of shots, they readjusted their aim around the portal and fired again, forcing whoever was opening them to open yet another, and then another, and then another to keep the tom safe. That left one shooter unoccupied while two held fire on Luther and one held fire on Lethe. All four of them were shoulder to shoulder and flank to flank in a tight semi-circle formation. Slowly and steadily inching further into the apartment.

The neon orange and purple silhouette had moved from its initial spot in the corner by the door and was inching along behind the four soldiers in their blind spot. Every single muzzle flare reflected off their high-vis striped suit, giving Lethe and Luther a clear view of where they were while the demons were too busy to look behind them. In the rapid flashes of light you could see that the silhouette had their head stretched to see around the soldiers to get a clear view of Lethe.

—

“Lussmill!” Vasteye yowled as loud as he could. Just like before the sound caught the fourth and final shooter’s attention immediately and rounds began tearing through the kitchen.

“Luss—moving—oh my go—….watch out!” The tv audio crackled, just barely audible in between the gunshots. The panicked voice of the reporter was followed by a loud sound that echoed not from the tv, but from the blown out windows. A thunderous bang sounded from the direction of the symphony. A strident crash split the air for miles around! The sound akin to two cargo freighters slamming into one another at full speed.

__________________


Aceline was abruptly awoken from her snoozing by a world shaking metal crash. As if a city sized gong had been struck and then instantly held still.

She looked up through the plastic dome they were in to see Lussmill, the giantess, had been struck by the demon mech. Across the muzzle, in a sucker punch that left her shaking her head. The movement was slow in appearance yet fluid. Yellow lights switched on all along her armor and an huge foglight on her helmet broke through the darkness. And after just two shakes of her head Lussmill swatted the mech back in a similar fashion viciously. Making the sky shake with another loud bang as armor hit metal. And with that the fight was on. The swat made the mech stumble back a couple massive steps into the bay, sending waves rushing towards the waterfront as it did. On the last stumbled step the mech regained its balance, braced itself, and charged Lussmill. Huge footfalls shook the ground as the mech appeared to run in slow motion before slamming into the colossal feline. Metal ground against metal and groaned as Lussmill held her footing but was pushed through the water and onto the Symphony grounds.

If you thought the miniature quakes that came with the giant’s steps were bad before, now that she was on land it felt like you could lose your footing if you weren’t careful. And many of the animals Aceline could see through the dome evidently weren’t. That or the sight of the giant being pushed up to just a hundred yards from them freaked them out enough to lose their paws. Either way, panic overtook the quarantine zone instantly.

“FLAME we gotta go!” Aceline yelled, falling off the bed as two more massive steps were taken by Lussmill. The orange tabby looked up from her spot on her back to see the mech grappling with the she-colossus. As the two vied for an advantage the fight was pushed closer and closer to Aceline and Flame. All the way until Lussmill took a nasty head-butt and had to take a step back directly onto the plastic bubble they were in. Aceline’s breath hitched, and heart skipped a beat, as a massive paw came down towards them. Only to stop just as soon as it touch the top of the bubble, leaving Lussmill balancing on three legs. Before she could readjust her footing where no one would be hurt, the mech threw a haymaker. The punch connected on the side of her helmet and sent her careening to the ground onto her side. The world slowed down for a pawful of seconds before the she-colossus fell into the ground. Aceline watched as her belly passed over them before making contact with the top of their plastic dome. The dome burst easily under her weight and the bottom of the giantess’ belly landed just feet away. Sparing Aceline and Flame, but crushing dozens if not hundreds of others. The ground under Aceline rattled like the very planet itself was going to give out. But she hardly registered the pain of the ground jostling her organs like a piñata, for she was too focused on staring at the place where there was once animals. And now there was just a wall of metal.

“Oh sweet stars.” Aceline breathed out in sheer horror.

_______________________________


Trin dipped his head to Nyx in gratitude. Glad to have someone who could make use of the weapon in a hurry.

—

“Ah, zoones. Plural.” Lexi meowed. Testing the word out on her tongue now that she had the proper syntax.

“And you miss your homeworld you say? Far be it from me to tell you how to think but…do you actually miss it all. Or do you just miss the way you felt back then and your homeworld just happens to be where you felt like that?” Lexi challenged nonchalantly, giving Thistle a quick flick of her brow before looking forward down the road again.

 

[Filament]

"Low, shit I said stay low!" Luther snapped as he watched the adolescent reach for something he couldn't make out. he kept his head low as bullets ripped apart the table above them. When she came back she had a sword. "I don't know, not unless they get closer than we want them." The tom mews, reloading again and firing off blindly around cover.
"You're doing great, get your paws on her chest and start pumping. Almost like you're digging but I want you to aim for the center of her chest and keep pushing down and pulling up. Can you do that for me?" The tom would mew, turning his gaze from the edge of the table and looking over at Speed.
"I'd bet the shock from the explosion messed with her heart, if you do that it'll fi- shit, fix it."
He ducked as another wave of bullets smacked into the table, the top of which now held together by a corner.
"Nastiel, keep low." The tom called, waiting for a break in the assault before peaking cover and firing again at a different soldier, he kept his aim at the guy's throat and chest, his best shot to hit something. God he hoped he hit something, he didn't have many bullets left.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Flame startled into consciousness, his face previously resting in his bowl of cream corn. "What? What's go-" His breath hitched in his throat as he watched the Colussi go down, blinking fatigue from his eyes.
"She needs help!" The tom sputtered, managing to stand on shaking paws. They were in no state to move but it was clear they had little choice. "The other way, there's gotta be more than one way out of this place."
He hoped that was true, if there wasn't they weren't gonna get out of here unless Lussmill was able to stand.
He turned on his paws and began to amble in the opposite direction of Lussmill.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Filament has a look of surprise on his face. That was a really good question to ask.
He gave his attention fully to Thistle as he waited for a response.

 

[Firestorm of TempestPack]

Lethe bites down on one of False Lamb's legs and begins dragging her to where he thinks the office door is. He thanks his lucky stars for those portals but he doesn't have time to dwell on just how they're there. He catches a flicker of color against the flashing of gunfire but he forces himself to move and not stare.



"Ever since we left Earth we've been bombed, somehow survived a ship crash and Turish's Pit, been to prison, escaped said prison. There's the collapsing building we had to jump from, remember? Oh and just the other night I had to cross dress to help seduce a demon general and then listen while Trin cuffed him to the bed and drowned him with boiling water sent directly into his lungs via portals. And that's just what I can list off the top of my head." Thistle's words speed up as he goes from one traumatic event to the next. He takes in an entire lungful of air and sighs.

"Of course I miss that feeling. I'm sure everyone here misses their normal lives before Undertaker came in and ruined everything. But I do miss my home. I had friends on Earth. Memories..." His gaze becomes distant and his voice takes on a light, wistful tone, "Playing in dust devils and collecting desert roses. Seeing the sky for the first time after so long kept in the dark. Truly tasting freedom. The glow of the valley as the sun sets. Culling the roving gangs of bandits and stealing from the greedy. And Atlantis... the lost city was just amazing. I hadn't spent nearly enough time there to absorb all the history and culture and now it's gone again." There's a pause before he adds: "Plus, the only other place a pair of orphaned wanderers would ever call home was there."

 

[Moonsound]

“It must have been a nice place then. A shame Undertaker took it from you.” Lexi meowed genuinely. She stretched to the tip of her paws to peer inside the wagon. After a couple of seconds she felt confident in assuming the two natives were dead asleep.

“Trin can open portals that small?-“ Lexi looked to Thistle before doing a reverse double take over to where would be if the wagon wasn’t in the way, “-Trin you can open precise portals?” Lexi asked, stretching her head around the wagon.

“Yes.” Was the simple response from the alabaster tom-cat.

“Time portals, precision portals, has he done anything else?” Lexi asked, running her gaze across the group.

“He pulled the false sisters to us one time.” Keesipip promptly reported.

“What do you mean pulled to you exactly?” Lexi asked, narrowing her eyes.

“He opened a portal and the two of them fell out. And they weren’t in the same universe as us.” Keesipip said, looking up to the side in thought.

“He‘s that good at seeking? And he hasn’t taught you guys to open portals? Speaking of that, you guys ready to practice right now? Thistle step over there and start focusing on your breathing.” Lexi meowed, pointing a little bit off the trail.

__

Aceline braced up against Flame’s side to keep the both of them steady on their paws and they went.

“H-how do we help her?” Aceline asked through her panicked panting.

Lussmill wasn’t out for the count and began lifting herself back up. Horror showed in her eyes as she saw the ground where she was once laying. She blocked a weak jab from the giant mech.

__

One of the demons firing at Luther was hit and dropped to the ground with no one to replace them. With one less shooter, the other one started advancing on the table
must faster in order to take Luther out.

—

False Lamb jerked awake as if she’d be stabbed, sucking in a lungful of air through gritted teeth.

“Could you drag me anymore painfully!?” False Lamb snapped at Lethe angrily.

 

[Filament]

Pestilence comes to his senses, his ears are ringing and he can't hear anything. He's covered in viscera that isn't his own and all he sees is darkness. The smell of wet particle board assaults his nostrils and his eyes adjust to what limited light comes into the space from behind him. His body has been forced halfway through a cupboard. Specifically, the cupboard under the sink.
He lets out a groan and struggles to pull himself out, hindlegs scrabbling against the tile. As he falls out a searing pain strikes him in his haunches and he falls to the side in pain, letting out a loud wail of pain. Blood begins to run onto the tile around him but he's moving. Moving as fast as he can, he struggles to get into some or any form of cover.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
"You got this Lussmill!" the tom would call out, casting an uncertain glance at his companion. He was so tired and he didn't know the way out from where they were. "I don't know, I don't know how to get out of here either." The tom admits, his head moving slowly to scan the area.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Luther couldn't hear very well, but he could feel the heavy boot-steps against the floor. Moving quickly, he'd angle his gun at chest level from behind the table and fire off two shots, angling the weapon ever so slightly with each shot.

 

[Firestorm of TempestPack]

Lethe lets go of Lamb's legs and shouts "Good, you're awake!" when she moves, his voice overlapping hers. He takes the precious few seconds to reorient himself before dragging Lamb again. His rear bumps against the door and he pushes it open. The pod, thankfully, seems to be okay. With a great deal of struggling, the tom hefts the mobster up into the machine. Lethe hits the activation button and stumbles back out of the office and behind the closest piece of cover he can find. Squinting, he tries to spot any still-living injured or weapons he can grab through the smoke and muzzle flares.


Unable to contain his excitement, Thistle does a little 'happy wiggle' when Lexi asks about practicing and pads off the trail. He exhales long and slow then focuses on keeping his breathing calm and even.

Thrush slows her gait until she falls into her brother's previous spot. She watches him carefully and listens to Lexi's oncoming lesson.

 

[Moonsound]

“Good.” Lexi said, watching Thistle closely for about a minute.

“Now remember, no crazy or dramatic moves. It all comes down to what’s in your head. That sensation you feel when you pass through a portal is what you’re trying to recreate. The sensation of your mind being repositioned in spacetime. Take that sensation and focus on a spot in front of you. Closing your eyes usually helps.” Lexi instructed, padding along.

____________


One of Lussmill’s eyes immediately looked at Flame and Aceline when the tom cheered for her. In one fell swoop she spun and kicked the demon mech and crouched down to look directly at the two of them. The mech went careening back into the bay, giving Lussmill some valuable time.

Aceline’s breath hitched when the giantess looked directly at them. After only a couple of seconds she reached towards them with a paw and picked them up.

“Oh my stars, oh my stars, ohmystars!” Aceline absolutely freaked out. Lussmill simply standing up whooshed the two of them to nearly the height of the Symphony in just a couple of seconds. The orange sheline glanced at the visor of the giantess to see an arch calculation appear on it.

“She’s gonna throw us!?” Aceline shrieked. And sure enough, Lussmill reared up, took a second to gauge the trajectory, and then threw them. Sending the two of them soaring on a high arched path directly towards the pool at Milky’s apartment. Aceline cling to Flame like her life depended on it.

“She killllled us!” Aceline screamed.

_____

False Lamb hissed in pain as Lethe put her into the pod. Muttering curses along the way.

Outside of the office, the demon that was shooting at Lethe took a shot at him again when he came out. A huge splash in the pool distracted him and as he turned to check it out, the neon orange and purple silhouette grabbed them by the neck. The two of them began a violent struggle on the ground with the demon in a chokehold.

____

Vasteye looked Pestilence up and down incredulously.

“You’re bleeding.” He stated.

_____


The demon approaching Luther collapsed into a heap right at the base of the table he and the kits were behind. The gunfire ceased, leaving the sound of grunting and struggling from the last demon.

“Help!” The orange suited animal yelled in a familiar voice.

 

[Firestorm of TempestPack]

Thistle closes his eyes and tries to remember all he felt when going through the last portal. The sensation of air trying to be forced from his lungs even as he holds his breath. The fluttering, weightless feeling in his gut as gravity shifts while his body passes through the vortex. Like with his lessons with Thrush, he takes that feeling and squishes it down, imagining that he places it on the ground in front of his paws like it's a physical object.

Thrush watches her brother with bated breath, waiting for something, anything to happen. You can do it. She cheers silently.


The rush of adrenaline in Lethe's system blocks the pain of being shot. Looking down, there is a freshly bleeding hole in his shoulder. When he looks back up, the demon that was trying to kill him has been wrestled to the floor, gun abandoned. Lethe scrambles to grab the weapon, hoists it up and aims so he doesn't hit this faceless ally. He feels the gun jolt in his hold as he squeezes the trigger but there is no gunshot to be heard. The tom immediately drops the gun when the demon falls still, plopping on his rear and bringing his paws to his head. He babbles to himself, covering and uncovering his ears. "Damn it all..."

 

[Moonsound]

The orange suited animal cautiously loosened their legs’ grip on the demon. Once sufficiently convinced the attacker was dead, or at least close to dying, they pushed them off. They patted themselves down a couple time before climbing to their paw and turning on a pair of lights built into the sides of their helmet. Two strong white beams shined through the smoke, illuminated everything in their path.

“Are you hurt?” The female asked, bounding over to Lethe and looking him up an down.

_____________



“Thaaat’s it.” Lexi whispered. She quickly stepped closer to Thistle when she felt his portal would be on the ground. Her new position would allow her to stop him from falling through.

“Now open it. Anywhere. Anywhere you want.” Lexi egged on, looking at the ground in front of the tom.

 

[Filament]

He felt pretty triumphant as the giantess stood to her paws, knocking the hell out of the mech beforehand. "Amazing!" He called out and just like that they were being lifted high into the air. He gazed down at the destruction beneath them, eyes clouded with horror and before he could say anything they were flying. "Holy shit!" The tom yowled, holding onto her just as tight as they flew through the air.
"Keep your eyes closed!" The tom yowls over the wind.
As they hit the water the wind is knocked out of him and he splutters, struggling to determine which way is up. He locks his teeth into Aceline's scruff and moves them towards the light, breaking the surface, choking and gasping.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Pestilence registers Vasteye's words and he looks down at the small pool forming beneath him. "It's fine, I'm fine." The tom growls in pain, gritting his teeth.
Blood streams down his side from a bottle sized avulsion near his left hind leg. "Really fucking hurts though." He grunts out, struggling to stand on three legs.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Though his ears are still ringing, Luther can tell that the gunfire has stopped and he holsters his weapon, turning around quickly and looking over Speed. Quickly he puts his forepaws together and starts doing compressions, his heart pounding.
"C'mon Speed, think about your kids." The tom would encourage, keeping his pace regular.
"Guys, Speed's got no heartbeat!" The tom calls loudly, not panicking but full of adrenaline.
"Someone get over here and start breathing for her."
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Filament watches Thistle curiously, his gaze studious. He'd never opened a portal before but it seemed like a useful thing to be able to do.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Holly also watches Thistle, her expression unreadable. She'd done it once but after seeing what Flame had used it for, she was concerned what some in the group might do with the ability.

 

[Moonsound]

Aceline gasped the second Flame pulled her to the surface. Her paws flailing and eyes desperately blinking the water from her eyes. Panic completely overtook her, making her rip her scruff away from Flame. It took a few terrifying seconds for one of her flailing limbs to grab on to the side of the pool. She dug her claws into the wooden deck with a death grip and panted heavily as pulled herself to the water’s edge.

“Flame are you okay?” Aceline croaked out, still panting. She looked around to see where they landed while she gathered her breath and wits. The deck looked familiar but the smoked out building it was connected to was too obscured to tell. The massive Jumbotron depicting Milky was a huge giveaway however, telling Aceline they’d been thrown back to the celebrity’s apartment.

—

“Oh I believe you, I can literally feel it.” Vasteye said to Pest. He was left agape as Pest stood up. With a grunt the silver tabby struggled to his feet on shaky legs so that he could brace Pest.

“Let’s get that leg bandaged up.” The tom said, unaware of the bleeding gash on his belly that was now visible.

_____

Rum was frozen staring at the dead demon until Luther’s yowl. The young sheline jumped before shaking her head and nodding.

“R-right.” She mewled anxiously. Swallowing her nerves as best she could Rum leaned down and started to give Speed rescue breaths.


“Her suit has life support! Find her helmet!” The orange suited animal yelled from her spot seated in front of Lethe. The voice was clearly that of Malevo. You couldn’t even hear any distortion from her helmet, it sounded as though she didn’t have even a thin napkin in front of her mouth. The lifeliner was purposely pointed the lights on her helmet into Lethe’s face. Not to annoy him but so she could see if he was responsive and how his eyes would dilate, if at all.

______

Nastiel used the wall he was leaned against to stand up. First on two legs before lowering down to all four. With exasperation the tom pulled a tan on his vest and the mangled thing fell from his body.

“Ah shit.” The tom muttered, looking down at a body near his paw. He waved away the smoke around him as best he could so he could get a good look. The body was stained with soot and char but it was clearly supposed to be white. An ear was missing and there were two dime sized holes in the back of their head and neck respectively. Nastiel leaned down to inspect it closer. On the shoulders there were the distinctive marks of a load bearing vest. None of the other Trinity’s had been wearing one, especially not for long enough to leave an indent. The body could only belong to one animal.

“Triss…At least you went quick.” Nastiel whispered, standing back up. The navy tom began to limp over to Lethe and Malevo. It would be much easier to identify everyone as more smoke cleared out.

_____


Lulalissa laid against one of the floor to ceiling window panes. All the glass had been sparingly blow outward onto the deck. Quietly without ceremony, her sides lifted and fell. In the dark obscured by smoke she certainly looked dead with blood trickling out of her mouth, nose, and ears in thin red streams.

 

[Firestorm of TempestPack]

Lethe looks over when he spots the beams cutting through the smoke, squinting when the light hits his face. He warily watches the brightly-clothed figure approach but their posture doesn't change to anything resembling aggression. "What?" He asks upon realizing he's being spoken to by this female. "I can't.... I can't hear." Lethe admits mournfully. He waves away the light and gestures to the rest of the room. "Help them! Help them! I'm fine!"


"Anywhere... Anywhere..." Thistle mutters to himself as he thinks. After reminiscing about his birthplace with Lexi, it's at the forefront of his mind. He finds himself coming to an abrupt halt and his eyes snap open. Lexi has a leg thrown out in front of Thistle to prevent him from stumbling into the blue portal that has opened. He doesn't speak either for fear that any little thing will disrupt the portal and make it disappear or because he is merely too stunned to speak.

Beaming, Thrush comes up and gives her brother a hug. "Thiistlee~ You did it!" She squeezes him tight.

 

[Filament]

"Yeah, I'm okay!" The ginger tom would confirm, coughing as he dragged himself up from the side of the pool. There was a bloody trail of broken glass that lead from the landing all the way to the patio door and the smell of blood. It reeked. The irony tang stung his senses and he sneezed, sulfur, smoke, burn carpet. Even from out here, soaking wet, he could smell the aftermath of a firefight.
"We need to make sure they're okay in there." The tom would mew, this wasn't the group's first gunfight but they were still reeling from the symphony. Aslan only knew what kind of state they were in.

"Come on." He'd cough, shaking out his fur and beckoning her forward, up the patio and to the remains of the door. Glass shards littered the path, windows were blown out and inside he could see the dark form of a tom looming over another.

This doesn't look good. It's a silly thought, one that seems to express the obvious but it's the first thing that comes to mind as he crosses the threshold and catches sight of his kit, kneeling beside a familiar gray furred she-cat.
There's blood staining her pelt but he can tell from here that it's from that detective cat. His bloody paws move up and down on her ribs, not giving up.

Her suit has life support, find it. He knows what her helmet looks like and so he moves quickly, searching amongst the viscera and carnage for any sign of the protective gear while Luther continues administering compressions to her.
After what feels like an eternity, he finds it, laying beside the door, and rushes over, scooting past Luther to place it on her head delicately.

"Will she be okay?"

Pest moved to shrug the tom off, but stops as he feels fresh blood pooling at his paws. "You're bleeding too." The tom would mew, suddenly feeling very dizzy. This whole situation was so beyond his control. He lets out a small cry as pain twinges in his leg and hip again and he falters into Vasteye, unable to continue to stand.

"Lula, where is she? Can you see her?" The tom would growl, grinding his teeth against the pain. Underneath the steady bloodflow from his haunch, glints of deep red catch air as muscle is exposed to the oxygen for the first time.
It's painfully obvious that the tom is hiding how much pain he's in. The wound isn't serious enough to warrant complete replacement, as had been the case with Hal; not for the moment at least.

"Lula!" He calls, his voice hoarse and alien to him.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Luther watches as Flame and Aceline enter, not having time to question how they'd gotten here. Before he can say anything, the tom is rushing off and he cranes his neck to give her air. If someone else could have, they would be doing it. The gray tom spares her a couple breaths and continues pumping her chest, not willing to quit of her.

"Goddamn it, get back here." He swears, stopping his compressions for another moment and locking lips again to try and get her blood the oxygen it needs to keep her alive.

He pulls back and keeps pumping. "Fucking hell, hurry up." The tom would yowl, breathing out a sigh of relief as the orange tom gently slides a helmet onto her.

Leaning back, he'd press his paws together in front of himself, beginning to pray quietly for the she-cat who lay before him.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Streak is frozen, standing beside Lula, unable to will himself to do anything to help his mother who lay dying on the floor.
"Mom?" The words finally leave him, his grayish eyes, looking at her face, willing her to come back to them. Deep down, he knows that she doesn't want him, he knows it because of Vasteye but he needs her. There's not anyone else who would want to take care of him, right?

The tom begins to cry quietly as he watches Luther begin talking to himself with his forepaws pressed together, unsure of what he's doing.

"What's he doing?"

 

[Moonsound]

“Okay.” Was all Malevo said before turning and bounding toward Luther and the kits.

___

“I don’t know.” Rum said to Streak, looking between Luther and Speed with worried eyes.

___

A moment after Flame slid Speed’s helmet on, her suit locked it into place with a click. Nothing happened for the first ten seconds. Then a neon green readout appeared on the visor. It read:

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation action detected; action was administered successfully. Beginning defibrillation, stand clear.

Speed’s body jerked violently before laying still. A second later Malevo came to a stop next to Luther, leaning down to read the information now streaming across the race helmet visor.

“She’s stabilizing. Good job detective, you saved her. Don’t remove that helmet it’s breathing for her.” Malevo said in quick fashion.

“4 to me-“ The lifeliner spoke to no one in particular, cutting herself off in a practiced manner. Right as she stopped speaking four portals opened up around Luther and the kits. Four more animals in orange and purple striped jumpsuits walked through in a rush and looked to Malevo.

“Small yield, large force detonation. Epicenter is there,-“ the fox girl pointed to where the doe had been, “-sweep and stack unstable patients, make a living portal to the GRV Mercy.” As soon as she finished the four animals nodded and spread out.

___

“I can’t see her but I know she’s not dead.” Vasteye said to Pest, limping with him out of the kitchen area.

______________________________________________

Lexi looked down at the blue portal, inspecting it.

“Well done.” The huntress said, crouching down to look at the portal.

“Interesting color as well. Same as Holly’s. Very stable. Let’s see what’s on the other side.” Lexi meowed.

“Be careful.” Trin warned from the front of the wagon.

“Yeah yeah.” The sabertooth muttered indifferently. Without another moment’s hesitation, Lexi stuck the top half of her body through the portal, keeping her rear legs on the rim. Her eyes opened on the other to see what she could see.

_______________________________________________

Elsewhere…

Triss opened her eyes to nothing. A breath hitched in her throat and the sheline shot to her paws. All around her was nothing. Endless black. But it wasn’t dark. She could see her own paws just fine. She just couldn’t see anything else. No depth to perceive and no sense of space to pick up on.

“What the…” Triss whispered, looking around. No matter where she looked there was still nothing to be seen. After confirming to herself there was absolutely nothing around her she took a cautious step forward. The moment her paw landed back where she expected the “floor” to be, a mental shock ran through her body. Her senses overloaded. For a flash of time her eyes stopped working and her skin ceased all sensation. For a brief yet existentially dreadful moment Triss was trapped in her mind, unable to connect to the outside. When her senses returned to her she lifted her paw to her face to see blood leaking out of her paw. There was no evidence of a cut or mark that the blood could be coming from, it just seemed to be leaking through her skin.

“Ah!” Triss yowled at her paw incredulously. It felt like her entire paw was loose. Like every atom in her paw was no longer as close as they should be. As more blood leaked out the red bubbles started to float away from her.

“Sorry I’m late.” A male voice sounded behind Triss. To which she immediately whipped around to face. Behind her was a brown tom-cat with large feathered wings tucked away on his sides.

“Who are you!?” Triss hissed, clutching her bleeding paw to her chest.

“That would be a difficult explanation Trinity.” The winged tom said calmly.

“Where am I then? And why can’t I open a portal?” Triss asked, looking the tom up and down.

“Because this place is dead. You are dead.” The tom said simply.

“That was real? I got killed by a bomb?” Triss asked somewhat slack-jawed.

“Unfortunately yes I’m afraid. I am truly sorry.” The said with a dip of his head. Triss stared at him silently for a long time, trying to find any hint of trickery or amusement on his face. There was none and the tom patiently watched her as she did so, blinking slowly ever so often.

“…….what are you? An angel?” Triss queried the tom.

“Yes. Though a demon may reply the same.” The tom responded in a stable cadence.

“Is this hell?” She asked with a cocked brow.

“No.”

“Heaven?”

“No.”

“Limbo?”

“No.”

“Where am I?” Triss asked.

“A bed. A cradle, crib. Sleeping? It would be hard to explain. You are in the dead realm for your universe, or at least what used to be.” The tom explained, flapping his wings once.

“What do you mean?” Triss asked, looking around.

“You are very old daughter of Eve. The rest of your species has long since gone. You are the last.” The tom meowed.

“So…am I supposed to just sit here? Alone? In the dark?” Triss asked, dramatically gesturing around her. Sending sprinkles of blood all over the place as she did so.

“No. You know as well as I do that time is relative. Just be patient.” The tom said, sitting down next to Triss.

_____________________________________________


The lifeliners systematically scoured the first floor of the apartment. Most of the time the body they inspected had no life signs at all. But after just a few minutes the four of them had lined up four animals of note. Saraphina, Callista, Crimson, and Milky.

“These ones are all in critical condition. They probably won’t make it. ” One lifeliner said to another as they went about attaching IVs to the four animals.

“The GRV Mercy said we’re good for a living portal in medical bay 19.”

“Roger bay 19…it’s open.” Malevo responded in sync with a large see-through portal appearing against the apartment wall. Specifically the wall the entrance door was on. Beyond the portal you could see a long white room with windows that looked out into space. There was also medical staff preparing hospital beds and a few nurses waiting for them right at the portal itself, but not stepping through. Their eyes followed any movement going on in the apartment so they could see through the portal, they just didn’t come through.

“Can we start moving them over to you guys?” Malevo asked, to which the nurses eagerly nodded their heads. Four rolled up bundles were tossed through the portal from the medical staff. Bundles that were then unfolded into canvas stretchers. Wasting no time, four lifeliners gently moved Saraphina and Milky onto a stretcher and carried them through the portal.

Malevo was carefully pulling Lulalissa over to where Speed was at. Which hopefully meant the Mia’Moray was not in a critical condition, but was stable like the acrobat was. As she was pulling she locked eyes with Vasteye and Pest.

“What happened here?” She asked everyone bluntly, waving the two toms over after she set Lula down beside Speed.

“Hey Keikiv watch him when you’re finished! He can’t hear!” Malevo shouted to one of her teammates, pointing to Lethe. She turned her attention back to Pest and Vasteye while she raised her paws to take off her helmet.

___

Aceline was preoccupied with searching the apartment for a certain someone that hadn’t been located yet.

 

[Firestorm of TempestPack]

Passing through the portal he summoned, Lexi finds herself at the edge of a steep cliff. The very edge. The cliff continues on either side of her, forming immensely high walls surrounding the valley below, which blazes orange in the light of the setting sun. From the description Thistle gave, this must be home. The Crater.

With her expertly-honed Huntress detective skills, Lexi can see signs all around that someone was in this exact spot sometime earlier. Remnants of a rockslide trickle down the steep incline, a grim warning that one misstep will send her to a grisly end. If Lexi were to peer over the precipice, she would see the dozens upon dozens of vertical scratches that mar the last couple feet of rock face and come up over the edge. The sand in this particular area is disturbed, tamped down. If she looks over her shoulder, she can see two distinct sets of tracks heading north.


Lethe reaches out and touches the Lifeliner that passes him, catching their attention. "One more cat in the office!" He points back to the battered door. "Healing pod! Use it on them!" The tom gestures to the row of motionless animals currently receiving critical care.

 

[Moonsound]

Lexi let out a long breath that threatened to turn into a low whistle if anymore air pressure was applied to her lips. Curiosity piqued, she let herself come all the way through the portal and stood upon the sand. Carefully she stretched to look over the edge of the cliff marveling at the color and illusion the son makes. It was almost like a lava flow was trailing through the valley below. And some animals clawed their way out the huntress thought to herself as she saw the claw marks. Which then made her notice the rocks falling away and in turn the tracks leading away.

“He did say that we can take as much time as we want. Or another version of him did.” Lexi mumbled to herself as she started after the tracks. The light sound of her paws on the ground making her wish she had her sneaking suit back.

“Oh yeah, Trin’s buying me a new suit for sure.” Lexi affirmed.

_____

Keesipip padded up from the rear to look at the portal as Lexi went all the way into it. Staring at it in awkward silence when the huntress did, in fact, not come back through right away.

“…should we…?” Keesipip said awkward, glancing up as Hunter came to a stop beside her.


________________________________________________


“Hmm?” One of the lifeliners followed Lethe’s paw and nodded, acknowledging the tom’s words.

“Chrys, help.” The lifeliner called over to another and the two entered the office. Half a minute later the two came back out carrying the pod.

“We’ll need someone to decide on who gets the pod.” One of the lifeliners said as they took the pod, and by extension False Lamb, through the portal.

 

[Firestorm of TempestPack]

Thrush peers down at the portal Lexi fell through. "Where did she go? What were you thinking of?"

"Home." The tom watches the portal swirl, almost hypnotized by it. Lexi can take care of herself, she'll be fine. Then again, there's always some sort of trouble lurking in the Crater. "I'm going after her. Hopefully we'll be back soon." With that, Thistle hops into the portal.


After some time following the tracks, Lexi comes upon their creators: two kittens. A couple of scrawny, ruddy-furred things more or less stumbling their way north. Their voices carry on the wind as they talk and laugh together. As Lexi approaches, the shifting of sand beneath her paws alerts the duo. The skinnier kit - nothing but skin and bones - whirls about to face their stalker, back arched and fur standing on end. They hiss a warning to the saber cat but otherwise don't speak. It's admirable - leaping to the defensive when the kit looks two seconds away from collapsing - but not very intimidating.

If it wasn't already blatantly obvious from just where she landed, these must be Thistle and Thrush. Albeit younger versions of them. Smaller, clearly malnourished and lacking their iconicly unnatural blue eyes.

 

[Filament]

Luther visibly sags with relief at the news that Speed is at least stable. "Thank you." The tom mews breathlessly, but it's not in reply to Malevo, but rather to his God. Whatever weird family dynamics were at play here, these children would not be motherless. With another shakey breath, the tom moves away from her, shaking broken glass from his pelt. His ears are ringing, heart is hammering and he feels hot. There's so much adrenaline pumping through him and he just wants to slow down for a moment.
Wordlessly, he takes one of his cigarettes out from his pack, crumpled as it is, and lights it, taking in a deep inhale. Muscles relax and for a moment he sits there, taking in the devastation around them. As selfish as it is, he hopes that Trin will approve him to stay with the group after he's back once he learns he saved Speed.

That of course hadn't been the reason he'd done it, but it would prove him to be useful at least.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Holly watches with interest as Thistle's portal comes into being, a darker blue than her own, but still blue all the same. "Good job." She praises, watching wistfully as he departs. She wants to go with them but she doesn't feel wanted and so she remains with the wagon. "Be safe!" She calls after him as he slips into the portal, before turning away and following alongside the wagon.


"What do you suppose happened to make this Earth like this? It's better than ours, I guess." She'd muse questioningly, looking down the road as they passed burnt out cars and abandoned wagons.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Flame follows after Aceline, still feeling weary but not willing to let her out of his sight after what they'd been through just now. "I don't think the violence will ever stop." He mews, keeping his voice low.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Pestilence lets out a ragged breath, and staggers to his paws. Now that the smoke is clear he is able to make out the form of Lulalissa and he limps over to her. He stumbles once but manages to reach her side.
"Lula? Are you okay?" The tom would plead, giving her a gentle nudge with his paw.

 

[Moonsound]

Lexi froze in place, her jaw lowered slightly in awe. The cogs in her mind started to tick faster and as they did her head reflected that my slowly cocking to the side. That was definitely Thistle and Thrush in front of her. Or at least their parents. Either way that meant Thistle could open time portals.

Without speaking a word Lexi turned around and started jogging back the way she came. Slowing to walk when she spotted the older version of Thistle she was familiar with.

“We have to go back. You didn’t open a portal to here, you opened one to the time when you were a kit.” The huntress said simply as she padded past him.

________________________

“My bet would be humans.” Hunter said to Holly with a shrug.

“Maybe we can ask someone. We’re almost to the town.” Trin chimed in as he maneuvered the wagon to avoid bumping the corpse of what was once a car.

________________________________________________


Rum hugged Streak tightly, watching Luther leave with appreciative eyes. A couple moments later Jassiveepee ran into them with a hug, squeezing her sister just as tightly.



Malevo padded over to a corner of the room and crouched down in front of Purple.

“You alright? Any pain?” She asked, to which the girl shook her head.

“Thanks.” Purple croaked out, only being able to muster a small smirk. Then her eyes returned to being glued to Crimson as the lifeliners carried her through the portal. The action wiping the smirk clean off her muzzle.

“Anytime butterbean.” Malevo said with a muted smile. At that the she-fox stood back up and walked over to Pest as the other lifeliners moved Milky, the last of the critical conditioned animals, through the portal. The lifeliners in question verbally expressing their shock upon realizing that the tom was indeed Milky Cucumber.

“She’s okay Pest. It seems the couch spared her the brunt of the explosion. She’s got some bruising under her fur and some hemorrhaging but it looks worse than it is. Her blood’s clotting very well. The doctors will check again to be sure. You two-“ Malevo pointed to Pest and Vasteye, “-however need to get checked. It’s good that you’re walking on your own, but you’re bleeding rivers.” Malevo said, bracing up against Vasteye.

“I’m fiiiiiiine.” Vasteye groaned out in pain as the fox ducked under one of his forelegs, forcing him to stretch the gash on his underside and lean on her.

“Come on Pest. She’ll be okay. They’ll bring her through in a bit. You however won’t be if you keep bleeding out.” Malevo said as she started walking with/carrying Vasteye over to the portal.

__________


Aceline pushed aside another body with a grunt and huff. Scanning it over quickly with her eyes before moving on.

“Huh!?—“ Aceline’s ear flicked in response to Flame’s voice, “–Oh…it’s not about, *grunt* the violence stopping. It’s about how many animals are willing to do something about it. Like Stalker and you guys did for me.” Aceline panted out her response without needing to think about it or break her focus. She’d already had plenty of time to question her own feelings on violence.

“We can’t, *grunt*, punish ourselves for what, *grunt*, fox-dung jerks do. We can’t feel bad because we can’t stop carrion-eaters. Hah. They’re the bad ones…why should we feel bad? I trust someone and they break my trust, that’s them being a jerk not me. I can’t stop trusting animals—then I’d be the jerk and they win. I don’t wanna live in fear of jerks anymore.” Aceline said, panting. She moved over to another, gathered her breath again and shoved a black version of Trin to the side. Underneath him was chocolate brown sheline laying face down atop a cream-tan she-cat. The later of which flinched when the body was removed.

“Stalker!” Aceline yowled, pushing Penny to the side hastily. She wasn’t familiar enough with the brown cat to be able to recognize her from behind. Stalker was covered in stark yellow blood as Aceline pulled her out of the pile of bodies. Once free Hunter’s sister gasped with life, the weight on her chest relieved. Aceline hugged her tightly while Stalker just sucked in as much air as she could while her mental faculties came back.

Penny on the other paw choked and softly gurgled from three shrapnel wounds in the left side of her upper torso, yellow blood coating her neck, chest, belly, and forepaws. Her eyes watching Aceline and Flame.

 

[Firestorm of TempestPack]

"What? I did?" Thistle straightens up to his tiptoes and cranes his neck, trying to see himself from where Lexi previously was. "Are you-are you sure? If they-we are leaving then Thrush should have that cut on her neck now, did you see that?" He turns around to face Lexi, "Time jumping is really hard to do, right? I'm brand new at this, it shouldn't be possible."


"Humans did this?" Nyx asks, disgusted.

 

[Moonsound]

“I didn’t get close enough to check.” Lexi answered. She stopped and turned half way back to Thistle, looking at him with a subtle but serious look in her eyes.

“Really hard is putting it lightly. More like practically theoretical. And on your first portal…I have zero experience with this. As much as I didn’t want to, we have to consult Trin.” Lexi said, turning back towards the portal. She took a few steps back towards the cliff before stopping.

“What did you mean by leaving? What is this pla—well, time to you?” Lexi asked, looking back over her shoulder.