Chapter 18: Old Friends, New Circumstances

January 26, 2024 9:35 AM

Samantha had to take a deep breath as she made the mistake of looking at the ground. This phobia of heights was making staying on Pyrrha's head a real test, but that was part of the reason she had volunteered. She needed to get over this fear and the only way to do it was to face it head on...or at least that was what she thought, but it didn't seem to be working too well. She shook her head to try and get herself back under control, but her anxiety refused to go away. She cursed to herself as she looked around for something to distract her. 

Samantha was on the back edge of Pyrrha's head, her hands wrapped in the long strands of her blonde hair. Pyrrha's long hair worked well as rope to keep herself from falling off, though it did make it a little hard to see some of the platform. Anything that wasn't directly below her was easy enough to see, but the command area was nearly impossible to see thanks to the mass of yellow hair that went past it. Though, to be fair, she really only needed to be able to hear Darius, not see him.

Looking over the platform, she could still see a few of the people looking pale and worried about this situation. She couldn't blame them for still being nervous. If she wasn't familiar with Pyrrha, and wasn't more freaked out by the ground far below, she would have been scared too. But she knew Pyrrha wouldn't let anything happen to them if she could help it and that...made her feel a lot better actually. It also helped that she just shut her eyes and tried to imagine herself somewhere else, like the ground.

A few hours passed without incident as they keep moving. Samantha managed to find a spot where she could see down onto the platform and not kill her arms. Down on the platform, most of the people looked to have settled in and calmed down. They were either sitting down, laying down if they managed it, or were just standing around looking bored. Between Pyrrha's loud footsteps, she could hear the dull drone of people talking like nothing was wrong at all. Seeing, and hearing, everyone staying calm helped her keep her phobia at bay. She took a relaxing breath as her anxiety gave way just as the sun began to crest the horizon.

Samantha sighed at the rising sun, wishing Jacob could be up here to see this too. Sadly, they were still far too close to Hope for him to come out, assuming he was in one of the boxes, anyway. She still couldn't believe his dad had done that to him. A mission as important as this and he kicks Jacob out... He got enough flak for his, well there was no sense sugar-coating it, stupidity with the colony mission and his refusal to see his own failure there. Now, his own Father had shown an obvious sign he had no faith in him, even if it was meant to keep him safe. Any hope for Jacob to live down the colony mission would have been crushed if he had stayed behind. Which was why he better have been in one of those crates, for his sake in more than one way.

Samantha was jarred out of her thoughts as she heard Darius yell up at her. Samantha shook her head before she leaned out to see him, keeping a grip on Pyrrha's hair. A bit of her anxiety came back, but she keep it away by focusing on listening.

"We need to get off the highway!" Darius yelled up at her before going back to the map he had set up in front of him. Samantha nodded and leaned back away from the edge.

"Sanders! Darius says we need to get off the highway!" she yelled forward to Sanders. Sanders yelled back an okay and Samantha felt Pyrrha shift a bit as she changed direction. As she did, Derek whistled to get everyone's attention over the booms of Pyrrha's footsteps.

"We are about to go off the highway! Things are going to get bumpier so stand up and make sure you are tied down!" Derek yelled out as people began, grumpily, and get up. The complaining soon turned to worried cries of alarm as Pyrrha began to slope upward, going up a hill. Thankfully, Samantha didn't see anyone go sliding down the platform or scream in pain, just surprise. The yells died down as Samantha strained to keep herself in Pyrrha's hair, wrapping one of her feet in the hair to help her tiring arms. Finally, Pyrrha's body evened out before sloping forward as they headed down the hill and into the wild. Samantha groaned as she shook her arms and enjoyed being able to just lay down. She hoped there were not anymore big hills after this...

The next few hours saw more hills and more suffering for Samantha. More than once she debated on asking for someone to take her place, but doing so would mean they would have to stop. Not only would that delay them, but would increase the chance of someone finding Jacob. With no other choice, Samantha gritted and bared it as the hours dragged on. It was nearing noon by the time Darius yelled up to her with the order to stop. Samantha nearly collapsed onto Pyrrha's head once she relaying the message to Sanders. Her arms were screaming in pain and only the cold air was keeping her from being drenched in sweat.

Sanders had Pyrrha move down into a large valley with a small stream running through it before he told her to stop. Pyrrha stretched a bit before she, slowly lowered herself onto her stomach. She gave a loud yawn before pulling her arms up to make a pillow. With Pyrrha now fully stopped, a few of the soldiers began to unhook themselves from the platform to stretch and move around.

"We are going to take a thirty minute break. You can disembark to stretch, get some water, or relieve yourselves. Do not go far and do not make any fires or anything that will draw attention to us. Oval group one is relieved and those in Oval group two will need to take their place and stay on board. Pyrrha will meow once when it is time to re-board That is all," Derek said, not having to yell now that Pyrrha's booming steps were not drowning him out.

The dull hum of general talking soon filled the air as everyone began to move about. People in the oval all stretched and set their weapons down before throwing down rope ladders, hooked to the side of the platform. With that done, most of them headed over to the barracks and found a place to flop down, but a few headed down the ladders to the ground. The rest of the soldiers were about evenly split on heading down or just trying to sleep where they had stood. Samantha picked the latter as she moved up Pyrrha head a bit to find some more even ground and snuggled into her hair. She might have fallen asleep if Darius hadn't started yelling for her.

Grumbling to herself she moved back to the edge.

"Yes, sir?" she said as she looked down toward her commander.

"Tell Sanders to come down. We need to discuss what route to take to Lindale," he said before heading toward the barracks along with Derek and Gerad. She still couldn't believe Darius had brought Gerad along. That man was dangerous to anyone around him, not just to the Society. Then again, considering they were going near Roman territory and into Marauder country, that might be exactly why he was here. Samantha moved back and turned to where Sanders was.

"Sanders, Darius wants you to come down to discuss the route we are using to get to Lindale," she said before getting ready to sit down. Before she could, Sanders responded.

"Alright, could you make sure Pyrrha doesn't move while I am gone?" he asked getting a sigh of annoyance from Samantha. Just never going to get a chance to sit today, was she?

"Yes, that's fine," she said keeping any hint of her irritation out of her voice. She moved to the front part of Pyrrha's head, wading through the brush-sized hair. She gave a nod to Sanders as they passed each other, which he returned, and finally came to the front of Pyrrha's head. She moved over to one of Pyrrha's slightly drooped ears and rubbed it a bit. Pyrrha gave a soft purr in response to the petting.

"Hey, Pyrrha. The boys had to go and make their plans so its just you and me. Guess we shouldn't complain too much cause it means we can get some sleep, right?" she said as Pyrrha just purred in response. Samantha yawned before laying down next to Pyrrha's ear. She enjoyed the soft fuzz that was on its back and was fast asleep in no time at all.

Samantha was jolted awake by a sudden shift from Pyrrha's ear. She wasn't sure how long she had been out, but it couldn't have been too long. The sky hadn't changed much from when she had fallen asleep and she didn't hear anyone yelling for them to get moving. She was about to go back to sleep when Pyrrha's ear shifted again, like it had before. She moved away from it and was about to find some place else to lie down when she noticed that both ears had flattened on Pyrrha's head. That...couldn't be good. As if to prove the point, Pyrrha gave a low growl as her head shifted a bit to the side.

"What is it, Pyrrha?" Samantha asked as she moved forward to look where Pyrrha was looking. Pyrrha responded with the same low growl leaving Samantha to draw her own conclusions. She looked out over the valley, but didn't see anything out of the ordinary. It couldn't be the Society, they would have gotten a report of them being in their territory before moving out. Was she just smelling a pack of wolves or had one of the people down on the ground done something to her? Neither of those seemed all that likely, even as she wished it was that simple. A pack of wolves would have to be very desperate to attack a group their size, doubly so with them having Pyrrha here, and she doubted anyone in their group was dumb enough to purposely piss off Pyrrha. So what was making her so antsy?

Samantha looked over the area again and, this time, caught a bit of movement with her eye. She turned to it and could see...something moving just beyond the crest of the nearby hill. It looked almost like a triangle blac- Samantha's blood ran cold as she glanced to Pyrrha's own ears. Oh God no...

"FERAL! FERAL CATMONSTER! EVERYONE GET BACK ON PYRRHA! FERAL!!!!" Samantha yelled at the top of her lungs. Suddenly, the air was filled with shouts of warning and alarm as her warning was picked up. She rushed to the side of Pyrrha's head hoping to see everyone had stayed close to the ladders. She got to the edge and looked down, her adrenaline keeping her acrophobia at bay for the moment, to see people scrambling back toward Pyrrha and climbing the ladders as fast as they could. But not nearly fast enough, there was way too many of them down there for them all to make it back up in time and a lot of them were scattered well away from Pyrrha. Samantha could have Pyrrha stand up now and try to fight off or lure the feral away, but if it slipped past them it would be a massacre down there. Not to mention those on the ladders would be thrown off to their death along with anyone not tied down. No, she couldn't let Pyrrha move till everyone was on-board and secured.

She rushed back to the front of Pyrrha's head just in time to see the feral catmonster crest the hill. Pyrrha gave a loud hiss at it as her ears lowered even further. Samantha hoped and prayed it would be enough to scare the feral away. Her hopes were dashed as the feral returned the hiss and began to slowly stalk down the hill toward them, its ears lowered and its claws digging into the earth. Its huge hands and feet smashed apart the trees that happened to be under it as it moved toward them. No no no, this was bad. If Pyrrha couldn't move, she couldn't fight effectively and if she couldn't fight the feral was going to carve a bloody path through them. They would, eventually, bring it down but the cost...

The feral stalked closer and closer as it and Pyrrha hissed and spit at each other. Pyrrha made to stand up more than once and each time Samantha had to tell her no. Samantha wasn't willing to doom those people still on the ground and on the ladders to death, not when there was still a chance to save them. She had to think of something, anything to slow the feral down. She looked around the ground, fighting her fear of heights off the entire time, but saw nothing but trees an- TREES!

"Pyrrha, throw the trees at it," Samantha said, fighting to not yell directly in Pyrrha's ear. Pyrrha stopped hissing for a second as she cocked her head a bit in confusion. Samantha cursed as she tried to think of someway to get Pyrrha to understand.

"The trees, Pyrrha, the things you keep stepping on and ripped up to make the houses, TREES! Throw them at the feral!" Samantha said, unable to keep her voice low as the feral closed with them. Pyrrha was silent for a second and Samantha debated on rushing down to get Sanders so he could try. Suddenly, Pyrrha's arm moved and her claw closed around a bare tree below them. She, effortlessly, ripped it out of the ground, sending large chunks of dirt flying and raised it above her head. With a grunt of effort she sent it flying right at the feral. The tree smacked into the feral's face, causing it to smash apart, and the feral yelped in pain from the impact

The feral stopped its advance as it backed up and hissed in rage. Pyrrha returned the hiss before grabbing another tree from in front of her. She sent it flying toward the feral just like before. However, the feral shifted to the side causing the tree to simply smash into the side of the hill behind her, carving a large crater into it. Samantha didn't care about the miss as relief hit her thanks to Pyrrha understanding.

"That's it! Keep it away from us, Pyrrha, till everyone is on! Wait till it tries to move to us and then hit it!" Samantha yelled as encouragement. Pyrrha plucked another tree up and held it up, but didn't throw it just as Samantha had suggested. The feral hissed at them for a second before trying to move closer. No sooner did it move did Pyrrha hurl the next tree at it. It barely managed to dodge the tree as it sailed past just to its left. The feral didn't waste the miss as it rushed forward. Fear gripped Samantha as it came rushing toward them, but Pyrrha snatched up another tree and chunked it toward the charging feral. It tried to avoid this tree as well, but couldn't turn quick enough while it was charging. The tree smacked into its face and sent it reeling back from the impact.

Pyrrha didn't give it time to recover as she throw another tree at the feral. The tree smashed into the feral's shoulder and it yelped in pain before retreating back to where it had been. It spun back to face them, however, and seemed angrier than ever. Samantha wasn't sure how long they could keep this up. Eventually, the feral might get angry enough to just charge through and attack, and if that happened... She needed to think of someway to bring this thing down for good.

Suddenly, Samantha barely heard what sounded like a gunshot. The feral jerked its arm up as if something had hit it and turned away from Pyrrha. It hissed down at something down on the ground and began to move off to their left. Samantha swore as she realized someone must be down there and trying to lure the feral away. What the hell was that idiot thinking?! That feral would crush them or gobble them up with ease and luring it away from Pyrrha's fron- wait...THE AIR CANNON OF COURSE! It couldn't hit the feral while it was in front of Pyrrha, but if they got it to move to the side, just enough to get Pyrrha's head out of the firing line... Samantha had to make sure whoever that brave soul down there was survived.

The feral stalked toward whoever was down there, hissing with rage. The trees and the sheer distance made it hard to see, but Samantha caught a glimpse of the person every so often. They were running as fast as they could to Pyrrha's side, but was being easily outpaced by the feral. It began to lower itself for a lunge and Samantha's heart leap into her throat.

"Pyrrha, throw!" she yelled as Pyrrha sent another tree at the feral. The feral looked up and lunged backwards to avoid the tree. It hissed at Pyrrha and looked to focus on her again, but not for long as it jerked its arm back again. The feral hissed at the figure before flinched away as another gunshot hit it square in the face. The feral didn't hiss, but roared in fury as it suddenly went charging straight after the figure far below. Samantha swore as she yelled at Pyrrha to throw again, her voice nearly drowned out by the feral smashing its way through the forest. Pyrrha grabbed another tree and pegged the feral again, but the monster ignored the pain and went straight for the figure. Samantha looked on in horror as the catmonster smashed through the trees straight toward the figure and tried to think of something to do. Pyrrha was pulling out another tree as fast as she could, but not fast enough, and Samantha had no weapons! No!

Suddenly, a massive whoomp sound erupted from behind Pyrrha. Samantha watched in stunned awe as a hole appeared in the feral's head and its entire skull erupted out the back. The very dead feral crumpled to the ground, sliding a few more scale feet before stopping. Samantha knew that sound, and the effects of it hitting, from anywhere. The feral had been lured far enough for the air-cannon to have a clear shot.

Samantha moved closer to the edge of Pyrrha's head and looked down to try and see the figure far below. She didn't see anything save the smashed apart trees and the very dead catmonster. Then, a bit of movement caught her eye and she saw the figure pick itself out of a pile of dead trees. It dusted itself off and gave a wave to Samatha. Samantha returned the wave as the air erupted in yells and shouts, all of which had been drowned out by Pyrrha and the catmonster a few seconds before.

"Good job, Pyrrha. If I had a treat that was your size, I would give you every one of them," Samantha said as she rubbed Pyrrha's ears. Pyrrha put down the tree she had pulled up and gave a happy meow. Her ears unflattened and went back to their normal  position as Samantha rubbed them.

"I'm going to go see if everyone is alright. Stay here till me or Sanders tell you otherwise, OK?" she said as she glanced back at the figure now moving toward Pyrrha's side. Pyrrha gave a meow-s...moew-s? Did she just make an S- noise? Naw she was hearing things. Pushing that oddness out of her head, she headed to the back of Pyrrha's head and slid down her hair to the platform below.

The platform was in a state of somewhat controlled chaos. People were moving everywhere and securing themselves down as Gerad bellowed at them to hurry up. Off in the back, near the cannon, she could see Henderson doing his victory dance while Taylor tried to look anywhere else. Samantha had to fight back a giggle at the ridiculous mix of Spanish dancing and...whatever that other part was. As fun as it would be to talk to them when they were high on a kill, she was more interested in seeing who that figure had been. Whoever it was deserved a hero's reward.

She had thought it might have been Sanders, but he was trying to get himself unsecured from a spot that someone had tied him to. Now she knew why he had not been in the room when they had given instructions on how the harnesses work. She walked over to him and started to help him get free.

"Thanks. The moment you yelled about the feral, fucking Derek dragged me here and tied me down. Told me to stay put and stay alive before he went sliding down one of the ladders. And Darius just ignored me and started trying to yell at you to get us moving. Glad you pretended not to hear him," Sanders said as Samantha worked on getting him free.

"I wasn't pretending, I couldn't hear anything with Pyrrha hissing away along with the other one. If I had though, I would have pretended not to. As soldiers, we are supposed to protect people and that includes our own. We don't leave people to die just to save our own skins, not if we don't have to anyway," Samantha said back. Sanders nodded in agreement before trying, and failing, to help get him out. Looking back on it, that might have been a time where they didn't have a choice. If that person hadn't shown up when they did... would...would she have gotten more killed because of her choice to stay? Maybe, but it hadn't so there was no use worrying about it.

Samantha got Sanders free and he gave her a short thanks before charging off to confront Darius. She sighed to herself and let the two boys yell out their differences. She had learned long ago that boys and their testosterone are best left to work out their own problems with each other. She turned back to the side of Pyrrha where the figure had been heading to and looked to see if she could see who it was.

Whoever it was had been rather tall and strong considered they had dug themselves out from under a number of trees. She wondered who that might be when she remembered what Sanders had said. Derek had gone down the ladders to the ground and he was the tallest and strongest person in the Phoenixes. She supposed she should have guessed it was him, who else would be that heroic/crazy. But...why was he using a gun and not his laser cannon? That would have worked far better and could have killed the catmonster without the aid of the aircannon, if he had got a clean enough shot. Something wasn't adding up.

Samantha glanced up as a few hushed words passed through the people by one of the ladders. Samantha moved closer and noticed Luke moving away from the ladder with his gun raised. A woman came up the ladder and cause Samantha's eyes to widen. The woman was nearly covered in skinned animal fur of various origins. A wolf pelt for a vest, a boars for her pants, squirral for boots, and various others that all looked to have been sewn together with clothing fibers. Only her arms and her knees were uncovered and had bits of dried blood on them, where the fur was, obviously, still leaking when she had put it on. Her hair was matted and greasy and was mostly brown, though the tips of it were dyed blue. A tattoo saying "badass" was printed across her cheek while a USMC tattoo was just below her left shoulder. She stood nearly 6'4, in scale anyway, and every man around seemed stunned by the tone of her body, Luke included. Her arms had some serious definition to them.

"You boys going to stand there gawking away at me or are you going to show me to this "Darius" guy that meat head below told me to talk to," the woman said as she got a cocky smirk on her face. There was a moment of silence from everyone as people wondered what to do with this... amazon who had climbed on board. Samantha knew she wasn't one of theirs which begged the question of who she worked for.

"Are you the idiot you tried to take on that catmonster alone?" Luke asked as he snapped out of his stupor. The woman glanced over at him and his leveled gun with an annoyed look.

"Yeah I am. And unless you want me to give a repeat performance with your face, you better put that gun down. Got enough threats from the big roid-abuser down there," she growled out at Luke. She must be talking about Derek as she didn't know many other people who someone her size would consider big, excluding Pyrrha who big was an understatement. Samantha hoped this woman was on their side cause she was awesome, threatening a guy who had a gun on her without so much as a worried look. Luke, however, didn't take the threat to well. He glared at the woman and his grip tightened on his gun. Things might have escalated from there if Susan hadn't come up the ladder.

"Stand down, Luke, Derek has given her the OK to talk to Darius. And you, Gabriella, will refrain from making any threats if you know what is good for you," Susan said as she slapped Luke's gun away from pointing at Gabriella. Luke looked pissed as hell while Gabriella just rolled her eyes. She looked about to say something when Sanders interrupted her.

"Ga-Gabriella?!" Sanders gasped out in astonishment from the command area. Gabriella and the crowd turned to Sanders as he began to walk toward her with a slack-jawed look. Gabriella looked over toward him with a confused look and didn't seem to recognize him at first. As he got closer, though, the light of recognition hit her face along with a huge smile.

"Sanders?! SANDERS!" she yelled as she rushed toward him before wrapping him in a back-breaking bear-hug, lifting him a few scale inches off the ground. Sanders looked to try to return the hug at first, but gave up as he focused on trying to breath.
"Holy shit, I didn't think I would ever see you again, pipsqueak. Though, I guess you are not a pipsqueak now," she said before giving a big happy laugh. Sanders gasped as Gabriella crushed him into herself.

"It...good to...see....air...need...air," Sanders got out between gasps for air. Gabriella, finally, released him and Sanders nearly collapsed onto the ground. He coughed a bit and leaned down on his knees as he tried to catch his breath.

"Sorry about that, just...damn its good to see a familiar face. Was starting to think I was never going to see anyone from the Shields again," Gabriella said as Darius walked over to listen in on the conversation, but made no move to join it. Susan looked about to move in to push them apart, but Darius waved her down. Everyone else got the same message and left Sanders and Gabriella to talk. Sanders took a deep breath to refill his lungs again before standing back up straight.

"Same here. But...why are you our size and out in the middle of nowhere? Weren't you supposed to be assigned to one of the outlying farms?" Sanders asked in confusion. Gabriella's smile faded a bit as her hands clenched together.

"Yeah I was. I helped Isabella sneak out of Atlanta when I left and let her keep my jeep. Good thing I did too, cause the farm turned out to be a trap. Four Sword fuckers were waiting there ready to jump me. They must have been expecting me to roll up on them in my jeep, cause they weren't being very quite. Heard them bitching while I was still a ways down the road about how they had better things to do. Managed to sneak up on them and overheard them talking about killing me. Figured they were trying to get revenge for Lutice, but then they started talking about Angela being the one to send them out here. I wanted some answers, so I jumped them to beat some out of them," Gabriella said with a slight smirk.

"I managed to beat down three of the four, but the fourth girl pulled out some gun-thing. I tried to dodge it, but was too slow. Next thing I know, I'm buried in my own clothes and the bitch's laughter is sounding a lot louder. I dug myself out of my clothes and...well," she motioned to herself to finish the thought.  She fought four people and beat three of them?! Holy crap, she was awesome! Samantha had to get her to teach her how to fight like that.

"Angela had, already. set a trap for you and had a shrink device there just in case... Dammit, did those two know about what Isabella was looking for before she even found it?" Sanders asked, more to himself, as Samantha found herself more and more lost. Shrink device? Was...was that a real thing that existed? If Gabriella was telling the truth then yes it was, but... but why did they use it on Gabriella? And why had they never heard or it or seen it used?

"Those two? You mean Lutice and Angela? Speaking of the Cap, where is she? She didn't...get shrunk too, did she?" Gabriella asked as she started to look around for someone. Samantha had no idea who Cap was, but whoever it was was not here. Which meant...oh no... Sanders closed his eyes and looked down at the ground. Gabriella stopped looking around as she stared at Sanders face. Slowly, her slight smile faded as her eyes widened.

"No....Sanders where...no please tel-..." she stopped as Sanders looked up to her and shook his head, a look of sorrow and lose on his face.

"I'm...I'm sorry, Gabriella. I...I should have...I wanted...She's dead...Isabella is dead," Sanders finally said as he rubbed his eyes to hide his tears. Gabriella shook her head as tears began to run down her own face. She covered her face for a second or two, her breaths coming in gasps before taking a deep breath and wiping the tears from her eyes. Her look of lose was replaced with one of determination.

"What happened, Sanders? Who killed her?" Gabriella demanded as her fists started to shake a bit in anger. Sanders looked back up at her and sighed to himself.

"Angela...Cathrine...and Aviel," he said his voice getting bitter at the last name. Gabriella looked like she had just been stuck at the last two names and stared at him in shock.

"Wh-...WHAT?!" she demanded as Sanders took a breath to steady himself.

"Isabella found something in Lindale. I don't know what, but whatever it was it was bad enough for her to betray the Society. She came back to try and get me and Aviel out and told Cathrine what she had found. But Cathrine...Cathrine is working WITH Angela and told her what was happening. Just before Isabella could get us to take us out of Atlanta, Angela showed up with a shrink gun like the one that was used on you. She shrank Isabella and...and then both her and Cathrine condemned her to death. Angela would have eaten her alive if I hadn't...shoot her before she was...swallowed," Sanders said fighting back tears as he recounted his story. Samantha and most of the other soldiers were dead silent as they heard, for the first time, what had gotten Sanders to jump sides. Jesus...to be forced to shoot a friend to stop them from being eaten alive... Gabriella's fists clenched even tighter as Sanders keep going.

"Angela then gave me and Aviel a choice. Stay quiet and serve them still, or die. I was going to fight her and do whatever I could, but Aviel...Aviel picked the other option. She beat me down all while spitting on Isabella's name. Didn't matter that Isabella was the closest thing to a mother that damn ungrateful bitch had, she just wanted the power. So she beat me, gave me to Angela and joined the Swords. Worse still, Angela gave her back her old size and she looks to be working with Lutice and her bunch now. That traitorous monster... even suggested I get dumped into a catgirl cage to have me killed knowing full well....knowing full..." Sanders said with sheer hate dripping from his voice. He stopped as he started to nearly shake with fury... or was it fear? Samantha was stunned by what had happened to Sanders. No wonder his voice was always filled with hate when he spoke of Aviel. A few holy shit and other such things passed between some of the gathered soldiers. But as angry as Sanders looked, it was nothing compared to the rage that was on Gabriella's face.

"Cathrine....betrayed Isabella? She...she helped Angela...KILL her? And Aviel JOINED THEM?! I...I...." she brought her hands up, clenched so tight that her nails were drawing blood. The look of fury on her face made Sanders look calm in comparison as her entire body seemed to be shaking with barely contained fury.

"I AM GOING TO BREAK EVERY BONE IN THEIR DAMN BODIES, SHRINK THEM DOWN TO THE SIZE OF ANTS AND THEN CHEW THEM UP LIKE GUM! I'LL MAKE THEM WISH THEY DIDN'T KNOW PAIN WAS EVEN A THING! I WILL MAKE THEM REGRET THEY EVER EXISTED! I'll KIL- NO, I WILL FUCKING OBLITERATE THEM AND MAKE THEM BEG FOR DEATH BY THE TIME I AM ONLY HALFWAY THROUGH WITH THEM! YOU HEAR ME YOU FUCKING MONSTERS! I'LL KILL YOU!! I DON'T CARE HOW BIG YOU ARE COMPARED TO ME, NOW! I'LL STILL FUCKING KILL YOU AND MAKE SURE YOU GO THROUGH HELL TO GET TO HELL!!!!!" Gabriella bellowed so loud that even Pyrrha turned toward them to try and see what was going on. Samantha was sure the people down below had heard her as she shook with fury and looked back to Sanders. Sanders' own look of anger had turned to surprise, along with most everyone else. Even Darius looked a bit taken aback.

"Sanders, I don't care what you are doing, where you are going, or who you are working with. As long as it means I get to fight and kill some Society monsters, I am going and I will do whatever it takes to see them ALL dead. Ever last fucking Sword is going to pay for what they did to Isabella. No one, and I mean NO ONE, kills my best friend and doesn't wind up wishing they were in hell before they are sent there!" Gabriella yelled with a look that sent both chills of terror and excitement down Samantha's spine. This woman...she was terrifying, but there was no doubt she was on their side. No one could fake that kind of hate and rage.

The soldiers in the area nudged each other and a few approving comments went between them. Samantha noticed Gerad had stopped yelling at people and was smiling at Gabriella in approval. Figures he would like a person with just as much, and maybe more, hate for the Society as him. Her rant had done more than just prove which side she was on, it had earned her some respect from the people here. Darius, finally, moved forward to stand by Sanders.

"Well said, Gabriella was it? However, it is not up to Sanders if you are allowed to come," Darius said with a neutral look as he crossed his arms.

"Who the fuck is this guy and why shouldn't I kick his ass for interrupting?" Gabriella asked Sanders with an angry look.

"Darius, leader of the Phoenixes, the group our mutual friend Sanders is working with. And the one who decides if you come," Darius said with a slight smirk.

"Oh...," Gabriella said as she got an "oh crap" look. A few of the people around, including Luke, laughed at that. Samantha, though, just felt embarrassed for Gabriella.

"If I need to vouch for her I-" Sanders started but Darius interrupted him.

"Who, exactly, is she, Sanders?" he said as the laughter died away to be replaced with tense silence. Samantha gulped in worry as she hoped this awesome new woman wasn't gotten rid of just as quickly as she arrived. Surely Darius didn't think she was a spy or something. After that rant of rage, how could he?

"Gabriella Pearson. She i- was a Shield Security Officer for the New Atlanta base. Also, she is, debatably, the best fighter in the New Atlanta branch," Sanders said in a military-like tone. Darius nodded, but showed no sign of whether he approved or disapproved of that.

"No debating about it, I AM the best and they are going to regret making an enemy of me," Gabriella said with a self-assured smirk, though she was still shaking a bit in fury.

"I see... Well, Gabriella, normally I would be loathe to welcome a random person into our ranks. However, after your foolishly brave diversion of the catmonster and your obvious hate towards the Society, I cannot see a reason to deny you. Welcome to the Phoenixes, Gabriella," Darius said as he offered his hand to Gabriella. Gabriella got a slight smile as she took it and vigorously shook it.

"Great, as long as you are working on trashing the Society or hurting the Swords, I'm ready and willing," Gabriella said with a vicious stare. Darius gave the barest hint of a smile in return.

"We will certainly being doing both of those, though I will warn you we make no distinction between your, swords and shields. Samantha, see to it that Gabriella gets some real clothing and weapons. She can take Jacob's position in Squad Three, for now, till we find a permanent place for her," Darius said before turning back to the command area.

"Sanders, come with me. I have a few things to talk to you about," Darius said as an after thought.

"I-...fine. When you are finished getting equipped, Gabriella, come to the top of Pyrrha's head and I'll fill you in," Sanders said. Gabriella nodded and Sanders headed off after Darius, most likely to answer questions about Gabriella. Samantha smiled at Gabriella and waved her over to make sure she knew who she was. The larger woman headed over to her and Samantha was a bit taken aback by how much taller Gabriella was than her, and the glare she was wearing.

"You're called Samantha? Let's hurry up and get this over with so I can get filled in on things. Nothing against you, just...yeah," Gabriella said as she glanced away with a slowly returning sad look. It looked as if her rage was slowly dying away to be replaced with sorrow and lose. Samantha nodded in understanding and put on her best sympathetic smile. She thought about trying to say something, but reconsidered as she looked at Gabriella's face. She didn't look like she was any mood to talk and just wanted to get this over with. So Samantha just lead her toward the storage building where, hopefully, they could find her some clothes and a weapon, Derek probably took the gun she had used on the ground.

As Gerad went back to getting everyone in their positions, the two of them headed for the rear of the platform. A few people gave Gabriella a confused or surprised stare, but no one tried to stop them when they saw Samantha was leading her. Samantha headed for the storage building on Pyrrha's left, wondering if she was going to have to ask Gabriella not to give away Jacob. She gulped down her worry and opened the door. Inside was a number of stacked up boxes and thimbles, all tied down completely so they would not move at all. Samantha looked around till she saw a box marked as clothing off in a corner. She moved over to it and untied the web keeping it close.

"These have all our spare furs and clothing. Tell me when you are done changing and I will close it back for you," Samantha said, sounding a bit more stiff than she wanted to. She couldn't help but be a bit nervous around Gabriella being so...well everything Samantha wanted to be. She was tall, strong, confident, and just so...awesome. She reminded her of Jessica in more ways than she could readily count.

"Alright, thanks," Gabriella said as started pulling clothing out. Samantha tried to think of something else to say, but came up empty. Instead, she simply turned to the door and headed out. Gabriella took less than a minute to come out of the storage building. She had thrown on a rather ragged shirt and some patch-work pants that had seen better days. It looked like she had just grabbed the first shirt and pants that fit and thrown them on. However, considering the way she was admiring her chosen jacket, she had taken time to pick it. It was massive bear-skin coat that wrapped around her whole body and nearly was too big even for her.

"Oh shit that is a lot better. Those haphazardly made clothes were just not cutting it when it came to keeping warm. This, though...yeah I am going to be sleeping good tonight," Gabriella said as she looked ready to just curl up in the warm fur and hibernate. Samantha went back into the building and began to tie up the box again.

"You...you made those clothes you were wearing?" Samantha managed to ask, trying not to sound too nervous. Gabriella glanced at her and looked as if she had forgotten she was even there.

"Yeah. Those Sword fuckers just left me there after they shrank me. Said they would rather let me slowly freeze and starve to death than make it quick. Dumbasses must have forgot I am ex-Marine. Ain't no way in hell I was going to die from cold and starvation in fucking Georgia, that's just embarrassing. So I hunted down some animals and used the fibers from my old clothing to make that stuff I was wearing. As I caught more, I added to it till I had that big mess. Wasn't comfortable and wasn't really all that warm, but it keep the cold off enough to keep away hypothermia," Gabriella said as if none of this was a big deal at all. She was out in the wilderness, alone and with nothing, not even clothes, and managed to survive. And, not only survive, but keep herself fighting fit too. Samantha could barely keep herself for stammered out a wow as she tried to keep her dignity. But...she was even more impressive than Jessica and Lindsey put together.

"I....I see. That's...rather impressive," was all Samantha really managed to stammer out. Gabriella gave her a curious look about her stammered words and Samantha had to fight not to blush in embarrassment. She, quickly, finished tying down the crate and rushed out of the building.

"We..we still need to get you a weapon. The weapons are in the other storage building," Samantha said as she tried to focus on doing her job rather than be star-struck with Gabriella. Samantha turned away from the larger woman and headed toward the second supply buildings. Gabriella paused for a second before following after her. She was making a great first impression...

Samantha headed into the storage building and pulled a gun off one of the racks. It was a larger rifle than most, but was still just a rifle. While she might think a launcher was more Gabriella's style, Jacob's position was a rifle-user's so Gabriella needed a rifle. She handed it to Gabriella along with some spare ammo that was laying around. Thankfully, she didn't need to open any of the boxes and risk it being the one Jacob was in. Gabriella looked over the rifle with disapproval.

"This the best you have? Jeez, this things a hunch of junk. Not as much as that gun I was using, but still," she said as she looked over the jury-rigged gun. Samantha knew she was right, but felt a bit of anger at the words anyway. She didn't say anything, though, as she was too nervous to call the larger woman out. She still gave her a bit of a glare. Gabriella must have noticed as she shrugged and sighed to herself.

"Guess I got no right to complain, though. Its free and its a gun. As long as it shoots, it works well enough I suppose," she said before slinging the gun over her shoulder and putting away the ammo. Samantha nodded in agreement and motioned for her to follow. They headed back to the front of Pyrrha and to the command area. With her new clothing on, and the jacket covering most of her up, no one really paid them any mind. As they approached the command area, they saw Darius and Sanders were still talking.

"-ust her, but I meant it when I said she was part of the Phoenixes," Darius was saying as they moved close enough to catch the last bit of the conversation. Sanders seemed more than a little annoyed by what they were talking about, but sighed and waved his hand in a dismissing way.

"I guess that's good enough. Still, I-" Sanders stopped when he noticed the two of them coming toward them, but started again soon after.
"I would prefer if you trusted me when I said someone was trustworthy," he finished, though Samantha had to wonder if that was what he was going to say before he noticed them both.

"I never said I trusted you, either, Sanders. Both you and Gabriella are ex-Society and that creates certain...worries. While both of you do have strong cases to support that you are against the Society, there is more to trust that simply being the enemy of my enemy," Darius said in response, his arms crossed. He turned away from Sanders and toward Samantha and Gabriella.

"Good work, Samantha. Now that you are properly outfitted, Gabriella, I am going to leave you to your squad leader. Susan, the woman who escorted you up the ladder, is usually the leader of Squad Three, but for this mission Derek is in charge. He is the, how did you put it, roid-abuser that you meet down below," Darius said with the the barest hint of a smile.

"Of course he is..." Gabriella said with a sigh, "If it would be alright, though, I would rather stay with Sanders for now so he can fill me in on what is going on. Not going to be much good if I have no idea what we are doing." Darius' slight smile faded away as he seemed to debate that. He glanced over to Samantha before he nodded.

"Fine. Until we stop again, you can stay with Sanders so he can bring you up to speed. After that, however, you are to stay with Squad Three, understood?" he said with a stare that demanded no other answer than yes.

"Yes, sir!" Gabriella said, seemingly going back to her old military roots for a second. Darius nodded in approval before turning back to Sanders.

"Good. Sanders, take Gabriella and get back on top of Pyrrha. Derek should have everyone back on-board in a few seconds and I want to be moving as soon as we are ready. The faster we leave this corpse behind, the better," Darius said before going back to studying a nearby map.

"Alright, come on Gabriella," Sanders said as he motioned for the large woman to follow him.

"Just call me Gabby, alright?" she said as they moved toward Pyrrha's hair to climb up to her head. Samantha was about to head off to try and check on Jacob when Darius suddenly spoke up.

"Samantha?" he said getting her to turn around.

"Yes, sir?" she said, realizing with a bit of worry that she was mostly alone with Darius now. Did...did he know about Jacob? No, how could he, but...

"Head back up with them and be ready to tell them to move out," he said without ever looking up at her. Samantha let out her held breath as she remembered that she still had a job to do.

"Y-yes, of course, sir," she said as she turned to head after Sanders and Gabriella.

"One more thing," he said getting her to stop. Her fear came back full force as she turned back to see him stared right at her.

"Make sure you listen to everything those two talk about. If anything...unusual comes up, tell me. And if anything treasonous is said, kill them both," he said with no hint of any emotion. He simply stared at her as if he had just told her what time it was and not to murder two people. Samantha stammered a bit over words, trying to find something to say or do to dissuade that order, but she couldn't seem to stop tripping over her own tongue. She had killed before, both shrunken people and giantesses, but those were all people she hadn't know. Killing people she knew and had talked to, even if only for a few minutes was...

"Get it done, Samantha. Jessica would not have questioned her orders, after all," he said before going back to studying the maps. Samantha felt like she had just been struck as he said that name. Jessica...she...wouldn't kill people for no....but it was only if it was treasonous talk. And if they did talk about stuff like that, they might kill everyone here. So...wouldn't it be saving people then? Yes...yes it would be and Jessica WOULD kill if it meant saving more people. Samantha took a deep breath to try to calm herself before she answered.

"Yes, sir," she said before turning away from her Commander and heading for Pyrrha's hair. Both Sanders and Gabriella were already about halfway up so Samantha climbed a bit faster than she would have liked. She reached the top shortly after Sanders and Gabriella did and made sure to slid further back that normal. It wasn't close enough for either of them to see her, but it should be close enough for her to eavesdrop on them and still hear Darius.

"-ha and me managed to bring her down. After that, it was easy enough to slip away from the base," Sanders was saying as Samantha started to listen in to their conversation.

"Spent about...a month, maybe less, just trying to get to where their base is, a place called Hope. Wouldn't have taken so long if we didn't have to be constantly going off the wrong way, double backing, and stuff like that to throw off pursuit. Nearly got found a few times, but we managed to stay hidden despite the close-calls," Sanders said, most likely talking about the time before he had joined them. Samantha's worry had gotten worse when he had mentioned Hope, but she relaxed when he didn't reveal where it was. Telling someone they had a base wasn't going to do much good if they had no idea where it was.

"You escaped Atlanta and managed to survive out in the wilds for a month all while having a catgirl with you? Haha, the world really does have a sense of humor. If anyone had told me, a few months back, that you would have a tamed catgirl as your best friend, I would have thrown them in the brig for being a nutjob. Got over your fear, then, huh?" Gabriella said with a laugh. Did Sanders have a problem with catmonsters? Considering how he acted with Pyrrha, you would never know it. Maybe it was only for ferals.

"Yeah... I would have thought they were nuts too. But, no, I am not over it. Hearing that feral coming for us was just...I might have been best that I was tied up and unable to do anything as who knows what I would have done. But...its different with Pyrrha. Maybe its because I know she isn't going to hurt me or anyone unless we do something to deserve it," Sanders said as Pyrrha stared to purr a little, probably from getting a rub behind her ears.

"Ahh. Yeah knowing something isn't going to hurt you does tend to make it less scary. An Abrams coming to the rescue is a god-send, one firing at you is fucking terrifying. Guess this could be like that. Or maybe you just have a crush on your cat-savior," Gabriella said in a taunting manner.

"Wh-What?! I-I don't have a crush on her! How would that even work?!" Sanders said getting a loud laugh from Gabriella. Samantha had to fight not to laugh out-loud herself as Sanders tried so hard to hide it. It didn't take a love genius to see the sparks between the two. But, Sanders did have a point on the last sentence. Any sort of relationship was going to be...problematic.

The laughing was interrupted as a rumble came from below and behind them. Samantha was worried about what it was coming from at first, but soon recognized it as a stomach rumble. Pyrrha's head shifted a bit as she gave a soft, longing meow.

"Sounds like someone is hungry," Gabriella said as Samantha glanced down to see how the platform was doing, having to fight not to freak out at the long drop. A few people were still climbing up the ladders, but most everyone was on now. Just going to be a little while longer for everyone to get tied down and secured again.

"Yeah, but we can't go get some food till we get the order from Darius. Just hang tight, Pyrrha an-" Sanders' words were drowned out as another rumble came from Pyrrha. She gave a more pressing meow as she started to shift a bit.

"Pyrrha, no! We can't move till Darius says we can! If we do we might hurt someone!" Sanders yelled as Pyrrha's shifting stopped. Her stomach, however, grumbled again and she gave another long, wanting meow.

"Dammit, Pyrrha, I know you are hungry, but we can't go hunting yet! Just be pat-"

"Huneory," a loud voice said. Samantha eyes went wide as she turned to the front of Pyrrha's head and looked on in astonishment. Had she...no, no she had to have mishea-

"Hungrow, hun-...hung...hungry," the loud voice said again, causing Samantha's jaw to fall to the floor.

"Hungry," Pyrrha whined again.