Welcome to Inkbunny...
Allowed ratings
To view member-only content, create an account. ( Hide )
Vanity Thy Name is Milkie by Norithics
« older newer »
Milkie
Milkie's Gallery (753)

Issue 16: Confession

Issue 17: Confrontation
partners_harbington_heroes_-_volume_16.doc
Keywords cat 198407, wolf 181306, canine 173187, dog 156294, feline 138493, human 99897, bear 44806, bat 34517, rodent 31646, deer 27251, reptile 26040, hyena 17287, ferret 9610, pig 8132, adventure 5375, corgi 4306, action 4136, scifi 3755, giraffe 2832, buck 2811, butterfly 2319, gecko 2043, science fiction 1759, inkling 1379, partners 2541 648, lemming 438, carrie oakenfield 228, haze 162, erwin goldstein 130, jacent danger 127, polaris 127, angler fish 120, samantha masterson 110, max tangent 107, shelly iverson 72, quincey abram 70, harbington heroes 66, kenny baxter 63, daxton kemberge 58, laila lavinia 53, echelon 42, edward "eddie" kemberge 21, paris marcello 20, garrison clarke 9
“Mr. Mason, you sold a lot of old hospital equipment a few months ago, didn’t you?”

Marcello put her boots up on Mason’s desk, who didn’t look too impressed with the act. It was hard not to, however – Marcello had it. One look into shipping manifests showed her everything she needed to know, and all she had to learn was how Eos was getting around. That one little thing opened everything up for her, and finally things were starting to fall into place. Harbington General Hospital had replaced all of its standard equipment some time ago, every single piece. That didn’t just happen, not as quickly as it did. They had big help, and Marcello had a hunch who that was.

How was she so certain? The same amount of Curon that was shipped out of Harbington was eventually shipped back into it. One was going out from Harbington General, and then it all came funneling back in and spread around. One of the biggest chunks? Landed right in the pocket of Marcus Florence, and Marcello had a pretty good idea why that was. She’d be paying that weasel a visit later. In the meantime, she wanted to hear it from Mason, who seemed like such an obvious proponent of this whole thing.

Mason’s office was nice and clean and Marcello couldn’t wait to dirty it with his secrets. He had such a big desk, with a big, fat nameplate on it. It was gold plated and had his name in big letters, as much of a compensation as it was impressive. He had certificates plastered all over the room for exceptional studies and performance records, a general PhD too. He didn’t have any pictures of family or of anything other than the hospital building – not even the doctors or his fellow members of the board, just the building. This man was self-centered as all hell, and had his Amendment Party mug on clear display. Honestly, people like him shouldn’t even have existed anymore, but… one always slips through the cracks.

“Yes, I did, to another hospital,” Mason calmly responded, hands folded on his desk, “What, prey-tell, does that have to do with your investigation, detective?”

Marcello held up a personal PDA. “It made the rounds, as it turns out,” She explained, “Do you know how much actually made it to Snowden? Barely any.”

Mason scrunched his brow and held out his hand quickly, “What do you mean? Let me see that.”

“Tut-tut!” Marcello pulled the thing away, even if she still had at least three feet of clearance.  She shook her head, bobbing her esca all around. “It went from Snowden General to the rangers, from the rangers to Locksmouth, from Locksmouth alllll the way to Rainfort, and hit several other places on the way. Then it came right back here, just a little while before the invasion, supposedly from the very same construction company that housed Locksmouth’s weapons used during the invasion.”

Mason looked surprised to be hearing all this information, and continued to be insistent on seeing just where his investment had gone. “That’s got nothing to do with me, but what do you mean Snowden only got a little? I received a lot of funding from that sale and a lot of new equipment,” He explained, “How can all that account for just a little of the old equipment? It hardly makes sense.”

“Because someone with a lot of money made it happen,” Marcello concluded, putting her feet down and scooting her chair noisily across the linoleum flooring to get closer to the desk. “So let me ask you something, Mr. Mason… did you know that Eos was getting your Curon to make weapons?”

Mason’s eyes widened. “That’s ridiculous!” He claimed.

“Ah, is it?” Marcello asked, “You’ve been the biggest pusher for weapons in Harbington. Voila, weapons in Harbington. It’s not exactly a difficult conclusion to draw, you know. Still, I am willing to give you the benefit of the doubt if you’ll allow me to take a look at the bill of sale and do some fessing up.”

Mason had his PET out of his jacket in a flash and was bringing up the old files. “That’s plenty fine with me, detective, I think you’ll be disappointed that I have nothing to do with this,” He said, tapping at his screen, “As for who purchased the equipment exactly? The name signed was a Mr. Wilde. Jersey Wilde, if I recall correctly.”

Jersey Wilde? J.W. The gears in Marcello’s head were turning a mile a minute. She resisted the urge to whip ARID out and do some digging right then and there with every fiber of her being. Mason continued to dig through old files, his fingers working quickly. When he came upon one select file, he looked up. “Where do I send it?” He asked.

Marcello held up her PET and initiated a direct transfer. In the blink of an eye she was looking at the bill of sale detailing the gratuitous number of items sold by the hospital to, supposedly, another hospital. It looked official – every dome had codes, and every hospital had its own insignia that was difficult to replicate, even digitally. Everything had a stamp on it, something that set it apart from the rest. Without ripping the code apart, Marcello wouldn’t know for sure if what she was looking at was a fraud – and most people didn’t have that kind of time. But it had exactly what she wanted on it: a name to match those initials and index codes buried in the message that would no doubt show just where the money came from.

“I hope that satisfies you,” Mason folded his hands together again on his desk.

“Very much,” Marcello laughed, throwing her PET in the air and catching it a few times, “Why Mr. Mason you’ve made me the happiest girl in Harbington.”

“Ugh,” The hyena rolled his eyes.

Marcello caught her PET one time and then gave Mason a stern look. “If I find you knowingly had any hand in handing over my home town to these guys? I’m going to make you pay for it,” She said.

Mason stared at her, a bit put off. “I assure you, there won’t be any need for that,” He said.

Marcello stood up and leaned over Mason’s desk, nearly tapping him on the nose with her PET. “There better not be,” She said, then she rose, gave him a cheery smile, and turned to leave his office.

Mason hunched forward and ran his fingers over his head, letting out a heavy breath.

Marcello left his office with a full stride, making a beeline for the entrance of the Hospital. Eddie had to push off the chair he sat on in the hallway and hurry to catch up with her. Marcello had already put the ARID glasses on and was just squeezing her already-gloved hand into the interface glove. “I take it you got something you wanted,” Eddie said.

“Oh I got everything I wanted,” Marcello said, “It’s time to look into this Jer…”

She paused.

“No,” She exasperated, “No!”

Eddie stopped and looked at her. “What?” He asked, “What is it?”

Marcello’s lips moved but the words wouldn’t come out right away. She struggled with it for a little while before it all just came tumbling out in one exclamation.

He’s dead?!?!

“Dead?” Eddie blinked.

Marcello flung her hand in the air, as if throwing papers all over the place. Of course, she was scattering files on her ARID HUD, but nobody could see that. She just looked like a crazy person in the middle of the hall at a hospital.

“He died of… of… being old three years ago!” Marcello said, “Impossible! Just… impossible! His name’s slapped right on the bill!”

Eddie squinted as his mind tried to fathom just what was happening. He was confused, so he just came out with it. “So… what are we supposed to do?” He asked.

Marcello turned to Eddie sharply. “I’ll tell you what I’m gonna do,” She said, “I’m gonna dig him up and force-feed him a nice big bunch of justice! Either this guy’s not dead or someone’s using his name, and whatever the case I’m gonna find out where they are and arrest them so fast their eyes will spin, just you wait!”

-

--

-

“Are you kidding me?”

Carrie stood over Quincey as the pig struggled to lift her up. It was quite the sight, two girls in sports bras and spandex shorts wrestling with each other, very out of place in Carrie’s lavish home. They stood in the grand foyer, sunbeams shining down through the high windows and onto the smooth linoleum flooring and exquisite rug. A little dust showed up on the wooden banisters in the light, and various pieces of quality art became all the more vibrant in the brilliant sunlight. It was certainly no place for a workout, but it was big enough for one.

Carrie put her hands on her hips while Quincey planted her feet with her arms thrown around Carrie’s middle. The piggy girl grunted and strained trying to hoist the feline up, but she found herself unable to make Carrie budge. Barely, just barely did the cat lift onto her toes, but beyond that it seemed that Quincey couldn’t force her further. The feline blew a frustrated breath past her lips as Quincey took it from a few different angles, and reaffirmed her grip more than once in her effort. The Harbington girl was sweating, and it glistened in the light, but Carrie looked undisturbed in any fashion.

“Quincey, come on! You demolished Cedric,” Carrie sighed, “You should be able to demolish me too!”

Quincey released Carrie and placed her hands on her knees, hunched over and panting for breath. “I… I’m sorry,” She breathed.

“Yeah I bet you’re sorry,” Carrie rolled her eyes, “Well I don’t get it! What’s the big difference now?”

Jacent sat on the stairs, feeling a little strange. Carrie was obviously rich, the stairs in the foyer were the cliché sort of stairs that split off at either side to lead to a large second story, the kind you’d see in a mansion. Jacent was rarely, if ever anywhere near that sort of regality in his previous life or his present, and honestly if a rich person found him on their property they were likely to have a servant chase him away with a rake. He was there to observe, and he did, but he never could contain his awe at Carrie’s living conditions. A girl like her just didn’t feel like she came from a life like that.

“For one, she’s lifting with her back and not with her legs,” Jacent commented, “Secondly, you’re not saying all manner of disgusting things to her. She was angry when she beat Cedric, and I doubt she’s that angry now.”

Carrie turned her head to Jacent. “Angry?” She asked, then bent her head down to look at Quincey, “Would that help? Should I say your nose looks funny or something?”

Quincey looked up at Carrie and covered her nose. “M-My nose?” She whimpered.

“Aw man I’m just gonna make her cry!” Carrie lamented, “That’s not gonna work! Come on, Quincey. You’re like two hundred pounds or something, can’t you throw that around? What’s gonna happen if Eos comes looking for you, huh?”

“I’m sorry!” Quincey stood up, “I just… I’m not used to this sort of thing. D-Daxton and Kenny were always the ones to, um, do… rough stuff. I’m afraid of getting hurt.”

Jacent rose from his seat and approached the girls. “Anger is a force to be channeled,” He explained, “When left untamed, it’s wild, like a tiger. Devastating, but unpredictable. If you channel that anger, it can be used to your benefit as a mighty weapon.”

“But I’m not angry!” Quincey whined, “Carrie’s nice!”

“Whoa, let’s not say anything we can’t take back now,” Carrie chuckled, “But seriously though, you can’t just be mad? I’m like ten percent mad all the time. Just think about stuff that makes you angry! Like, I’m angry that my Daddy ate the last piece of my cake the other day. That makes me punch extra hard!” The cat made her chest jiggle by thrusting her fist into her hand.

Quincey shrugged her shoulders. “But I’m not mad at anything,” She insisted, “Not right now.”

“That’s bull!” Carrie argued, “You were screaming at everybody yesterday, I know you’ve got some pent-up piggy in there just waiting to explode all over everybody.”

Jacent raised a hand to settle Carrie down. “Perhaps exploding isn’t the best option here,” Jacent reasoned, “But Carrie does have a point. If the emotion isn’t there, you can summon it. This would come from memories, things that make you feel a certain way. But then you also have to focus, or you’ll lose sight of what is happening in a fight.”

Quincey frowned. Jacent nodded at her somber expression. “Battle is a difficult teacher,” He said, “And it requires your mind to be as dangerous as your might.”

“That sounds too mumbo jumbo, like Max’s old movies,” Carrie waved off Jacent’s words, “It’s not rocket science, just hit them harder than they can hit you! And I know you can hit hard – if you came barreling at me full-speed, you could probably take me out easy!”

“M-Maybe this was a bad idea…” Quincey turned away.

Carrie moved quickly to get in behind the girl and hook her arms into a full-nelson hold. Quincey squealed in alarm and started to flail, kicking her feet and struggling against Carrie’s hold. “This wasn’t a bad idea! You need to know how to defend yourself in case your boyfriend isn’t there to do it for you!” The cat grinned, “Come on, you’re a strong, independent girl who doesn’t need no man!”

“Augh, I am none of those thinnnngs!” Quincey protested, trying to throw herself around in Carrie’s arms.

Carrie laughed at Quincey’s effort, and after a while she just let her go. The pig crumpled to the floor and Carrie could only rub her head in confusion. “Jeez, you’re hopeless, aren’t you?” She asked.

“Sorry…” Came Quincey’s voice from the floor.

“If apologies could kill,” Jacent shrugged.

“Come on,” Carrie nudged the soft pig with her bare foot, rolling her plump body a little on the floor.

“Nuh,” Quincey grunted as she was shoved, then shoved again by Carrie’s persistent foot. She was shoved until she had been rolled onto her stomach even, where she sprawled out pathetically. Carrie wiggled her toes up toward Quincey’s face and bothered her there until the girl finally grabbed her foot and shoved her away. Carrie stumbled a little, taking just a step back.

“See? Like that!” Carrie insisted. She noticed, however, that the girl was still panting for breath. “Oh well there’s part of your problem,” Carrie said, “You get tired too easy. You’re not gonna do anything if you don’t have any stamina.”

“Sorry,” Quincey pushed up off the floor and slowly got to her feet.

“Quincey, what sort of exercising do you do?” Jacent asked, though he honestly doubt that Quincey did any.

Quincey tugged on her top trying to cover her belly with it uselessly. “I-I sometimes do a bit… a little,” She said, “A little, um, aerobics.”

Carrie and Jacent both seemed surprised at this, considering Quincey didn’t appear to be in the best shape of her life. Granted, as plump as she was, she still could hike all the way to Locksmouth if the situation could call for it. But even for someone who “sometimes” practiced aerobics, she seemed pretty unrefined. Quincey had just then seemed like she was getting her breath back, but her freckled face was still pretty reddened.

“Sometimes? Hm…” Jacent rubbed his chin, “If you did it more often, I’m sure that things would change. You’d get healthier.”

“He means you’d lose weight,” Carrie bluntly pointed out, “Pretty easy, too. Honestly I’m surprised you’re as big as you are.”

Now Jacent was confused. “Why?” He asked.

Carrie looked at Jacent, having nearly forgotten he was a caveman in her time. “Oh, buddy, surely you’ve realized that all our food is pretty light in the fats and trans fats and all that crap,” She explained, “All our stuff is way healthier than the stuff you guys used to eat. Even the stuff at the Burger Dictator is pretty good for you, if you portion right. Do you have any idea how much eating it takes just to get a body like this?”

Carrie flexed her arm, her bicep bulging impressively. “A whole heck of a lot!” She said, “It’s a good thing I love cake!”

“Really?” Jacent asked, kneading his own stomach a bit, “Perhaps I should pay more attention to what I eat…”

Carrie reached forward and pulled Quincey’s hips so the girl was standing closer to her. Quincey squeaked in surprise, but curiously watched as Carrie squat down, wrapped her arms around her, and then lifted her up off the ground. She’d succeeded where Quincey had failed, and in doing so she grunted. Quincey was not light by any means, and even though Carrie was probably the strongest person she knew, a girl Quincey’s size was a struggle. With Arus’ help she could have thrown Quincey across the room though.

Carrie set her back down and chuckled. “Yeah,” She breathed, “I’d say she’s gotta eat as much as I do to be that big. She just doesn’t work out.”

“And that doesn’t happen by accident,” Carrie swallowed, taking a couple more breaths and composing herself again.

Quincey blushed scarlet and fidgeted in place when Jacent looked at her curiously. Carrie watched him for a moment and realized he would be too polite to say it, so she said it for him, “Quincey, you’re like that on purpose, aren’tchya?”

Quincey stuttered and seemed to want to look anywhere but Carrie’s face. “I-I, um, w-well, I… I’m sorry…” She managed, and Carrie groaned.

“Stop saying you’re sorry, I don’t even care!” The cat bemoaned the girl’s tendencies, “Seriously, are you a gainer or what? This is a serious question, and I’m not gonna judge you for it if you say yes.”

“N-No,” Quincey quickly said, making Carrie groan again. Hurriedly she added, “I-I mean I don’t gain weight, um… past… a certain point.”

“And you don’t drop…?” Carrie started.

“P… Past a certain point,” Quincey mumbled.

“I knew it!” Carrie pointed at her, “You’re fat on purpose! I knew that had to be it!”

Quincey went red in the face and shoulders and tried to hide her face as best she could, Noticing this, Jacent lowered Carrie’s arm and said, “Carrie, you’re embarrassing her.”

“Sorry,” Carrie apologized this time, “And don’t you dare say you’re sorry about that!”

Quincey rubbed her arm a little. “But it’s weird…” She said.

“So what?” Carrie laughed, “Being a brick house is weird too, but that doesn’t stop me! I like it! So if you like it, who gives a crap what other people think? I dunno how many times I’m gonna have to say this in my life, but if that’s what you want, do it! But if you’re gonna do it, own it!”

“Own it…?” Quincey looked up at Carrie.

“Yeah!” She said, “You’re big! Say it!”

“Say it?” Quincey blinked.

“Say you’re big!” Carrie insisted.

Quincey sucked in her lips nervously and let them pop back out. Jacent stared at the two of them strangely, unsure of how to react or what to say. Quincey hesitated for a while, but then she mumbled, “I’m big.”

“Say you’re big, and that you’re gonna crush me!” Carrie grabbed Quincey’s shoulders. The other girl squeaked and covered her face with her hands, unable to look at Carrie.

“Noooo! That’s so weird!” Quincey whined.

“Say it!” Carrie shook her a little to encourage her.

Quincey couldn’t have been more embarrassed, but she lowered her hands into little fists and yelled, “I’m big and I’m gonna crush you!”

Then she dove forward, smashing her face into Carrie’s chest and barreling her entire weight into the girl’s body. Carrie could have taken that in her sleep, if she was ready for it, but Quincey managed to catch her by surprise. Carrie was looking at the ceiling in moments as he body slapped the hard floor. She landed on her back and grunted loud when Quincey’s heavy body flattened her. The little red-head squeezed Carrie as hard as she could and rubbed her face all over the cat’s breasts, and Carrie just laughed. It was a little breathless, hard chuckle.

“Yes!” Carrie thrust a fist up in triumph, “Yeeeees!”

Jacent acted too nonchalant, trying to look anywhere but down at the girls as he blushed himself. Quincey snorted and peered down at Carrie with her cheeks all smooshed up by Carrie’s boobs. Her squiggly little pig tail twitched in excitement and pride as she sat up astraddle the less-than-eloquent cat. “There!” She exhaustedly said, “Are you happy?”

Carrie lifted her head and stared at Quincey, a big grin on her face. “Ooohoho, yeah I’m happy!” She said, her toned tummy rising and falling under Quincey’s big fat thighs. It was deliciously hard to breathe under such a pin, but Carrie had a hard time feeling uncomfortable there. Unabashed, she reached out and groped a big handful of Quincey’s rounded gut, squeezing the smooth, soft fat between her fingers. This made Quincey squeak in surprise and she got all blushy again, trying to sit back but not completely pulling away. Carrie took careful stock of the other girl’s proportions. She was thick absolutely everywhere it mattered and more.

She wasn’t pear-shaped, but rather broad all over. “Anyone ever tell you that you’ve got some broad shoulders?” Carrie asked.

“What?” Quincey blinked, “N… No…” She crossed her arms over one another and covered her shoulders, rubbing them a little bit.

This drew Jacent’s eye, studying Quincey a little more closely in spite of the inherent intimacy between the two girls. He crossed his arms and took in Quincey’s frame too, trying to ignore the embarrassing way her thick rear wedged her shorts between her fat cheeks that tried to bubble out over top of them. She had something like rolls, but not quite, and her body was smooth as could be. She didn’t have the unsightly dimples a girl her size should have had. Yes, her flesh did fold on itself in places, mostly around her center and her lower back where she would bend and move… But that aside, she really was unlike any of the overweight people in his time that he’d gotten used to seeing.

It was easy for Jacent to imagine her as a square shape in a way, curves and bumps of a feminine figure aside. And all of that on some freckle-speckled body and an unassuming face. Jacent was a little embarrassed at his own thoughts, but Quincey was quite beautiful in her own way. More than that however, he had an idea.

“I think we can work with this,” Jacent said, “Though it would take some time. Quincey doesn’t have much along the lines of a base.”

“You kidding? Have you seen that butt?” Carrie teased.

Quincey looked back over her shoulder and quickly pushed her hands against her rear to try and hide it. It was useless, the fat thing was like a smaller Natalie butt.

Jacent cleared his throat and closed his eyes. “Sumo,” He said simply, “Get low, charge, and strike. Use the weight to its fullest advantage, become a truly heavy-handed force. Even a girl like you, should you move just the right way, could take down a man many times your size. You simply need to know where to put every pound you have.”

“S-Sumo?” Quincey wrapped her arms around her body in embarrassment, “T-The ancient Japanese wrestling style? No! They have all kinds of problems! They get arthritis and diabetes and liver problems!”

“Whoa, whoa, hold on, you’re not going to get that stuff,” Carrie stopped her, “That’s easily manageable, where’d you even get that?”

“I believe that our Quincey is something of an aficionado when it comes to ancient history,” Jacent recalled, “She must have read that somewhere.”

“I did a project on Ancient Japan of the pre-splice era once,” Quincey said, “Sumo sounded, um…”

Jacent stepped over, his shoes tapping on the floor and echoing in the large chamber. “Mock not the sumo for their size, for their sport is heavily regimented,” He insisted, “It takes great discipline to fight as they do, and tremendous skill.”

“Today it would take someone very unique and very special to practice the art,” Jacent squat down and rested his hand on Quincey’s shoulder, “Someone who, perhaps, values her size?”

The way Quincey acted in embarrassment was telling, as she rubbed her hands along her body and bit on her lip with uncertainty.

“Aw man, come on!” Carrie urged her, “I wanna see what sumo is all about! We all know that you’re a whole lot of girl, so why not?”

“Um…” Quincey looked around the foyer before coming to a conclusion, “H-Hey, isn’t it time to go look for Kenny now?” She changed the subject, and by the looks on Jacent and Carrie’s faces, it wasn’t in any subtle manner. But it was a question they couldn’t simply ignore, so they had to shift focus.

“Yes,” Jacent said, “Let’s do that while you consider.”

Quincey got up off Carrie, which felt interesting in its own way. Natalie was one thing to sit on her, she was a little heavy with her big butt. Quincey was a lot heavy however, with her big everything, and feeling all that weight compress her and then release was a feeling she couldn’t get from most other people. She stretched, like a cat might, and happily let the warmth of the sunbeams shining into the room caress her fur before she also rose. She threw an arm around Quincey and started guiding her toward one of the many bathrooms in her home. She wasn’t feeling too done-in, but Quincey was sweaty as all get-out.

“Time to hit the showers then?” Jacent called after them.

“Yeah, you coming?” Carrie looked back at him.

Jacent shook his head slowly, “I think I’ll pass on this one. Should I… get comfortable?”

“Yeah make yourself a sandwich or something!” Carries voice echoed as the two girls disappeared into the large sitting room off the foyer and took a hard turn.

“It’s only a shower, it shouldn’t take… eek!” Quincey’s high-pitched little squeak echoed throughout the house.

-

--

-

Leaves fell around Shelly as Max tipped down from a branch above, his tail snapping straight as he hung upside down, dangling like a wind chime. He crossed his arms and legs like a kung-fu master in meditation, with his little goopy one-eyed alien pal Gropey dangling from the top of his head. Shelly fussed, spitting and brushing leaves out of her hair and off her wings, as well as off of the tremendous shelf of her bosom. When it came to builds, the gray butterfly with the rubbery complexion may as well have been a stick person with the one giant exception of her chest. She had the biggest breasts in the entire dome, the things dwarfing her own head for size. When she’d called Natalie the day before, that not-so-little bit of her wasn’t all that noticeable… but it was how she was found out by Cedric, not that she’d know it.

The two of them stared at the bustling crowd of an after-school rush in the mall. There were so many places to look for a lost kid, but Max figured that they’d want to find somewhere comfortable, like with a bench to sleep on or public bathrooms to use.

“Y’know, I’m starting to think that, like, this guy? Totally doesn’t want to be found,” Shelly said, picking a leaf out of the cleavage made from her angular tube top.

Even Max had to open one eye to give Shelly a look, like what she’d said was obvious. “Yes, quite,” He rubbed his chin in an exaggerated manner, “That would indeed be the secret to a good game of hide-and-seek – a secret of the masters.”

“There’re masters of hide-and-seek?” Shelly asked.

“Any skill can be mastered, grasshopper,” Max started.

“Uh, butterfly?” Shelly cut in.

Max ignored her and went on, “This small one would be very good at hiding. He is lower to the ground, where our eyes do not go.”

Shelly pushed her hands behind her, perhaps unintentionally thrusting her chest forward as she stretched out her shoulders. They were starting to ache after flying around ever since school ended for the day. She swayed her body back and forth, distracting Max perhaps more with the multi-coloured bangles that hung off her dark pants and jingled around than the blatant, swinging display of butterfly boob. “Okay, but, I mean, I’ve got homework to do? Can’t we, like, call ollie-ollie-oxen-free or something? This is getting super annoying,” Shelly complained.

Gropey stared its unblinking ocular at Shelly, and with a little wiggle it unlatched itself from Max’s head and flipped to land with a splat on one of Shelly’s breasts. The butterfly squealed and shook her hands frantically, bouncing on her toes. “Ew!” She screamed, “Ew! Ew! Gettitoff!”

Max casually reached down and plucked Gropey off of Shelly’s globular tit, putting it back on his head. He released from the tree and flipped to land low on the ground on his hands and feet, where he crawled around like a gecko. He pushed his rear up as he prowled around, and Gropey couldn’t resist the little booty-shorts and how they emphasized the roundness of his rear. The little alien hopped, wiggled, and squirmed until it moved from his head, down his back, to perch on his butt. This sat him higher than Max’s head, and the strange alien seemed almost proud, riding atop like a king.

“In order to find the lemming we must become the lemming,” Max stated, “Small, angry, bubble-butted.”

“Uh?” Shelly twisted around in an attempt to look at her own rear, which she managed successfully by way of her Inkling, Lastik’s, special ability, “Okay are you goofin’ right now or what? You are, aren’t you? I mean, I guess I could but I dunno how that’s gonna…”

Max had already left, his tail disappearing behind a crowd of teenagers talking in a semi-circle. Shelly gasped, “Hey! Where are you going?!”

Max crawled through the crowd. He was far from unnoticed, in fact many people stared at him as he strangely stalked around so close to the ground. His eyes looked every which way, trying to spot anything even vaguely resembling Kenny. There was a rhino guy in the food court, and he was the right colour, but he was way too big to be Kenny. Max continued along, with Gropey bouncing on his back-end keeping its peeper peeled as well, albeit with less focus than Max. There was a feline wearing a red t-shirt, and she was close to Kenny’s size, but she wasn’t Kenny. Max had to keep looking.

There was a gray butterfly on the floor behind him, with her wings all folded up and she was trying to drag herself around like he was, but that was just Shelly and honestly he had no idea why she was even doing that. Her chest kept her pretty vaulted off the floor.

Max scampered up to a store window and peered inside, his cheek wedged up against the glass. Inside was a selection of skiff boards and skating apparel, and behind the counter was a familiar turtle. She looked up and gave a lazy wave. “What up Tangent,” She said through the glass, and Max could barely hear her.

“Hmmm, he is in none of my favourite stores…” Max’s one eye shifted left and right to look all around the inside of the skate shop. He then slowly slid down the glass, producing a squeaking sound until he hit ground. Or, at least, he would have hit ground if he didn’t sit on Shelly’s head first.

Shelly’s honey-yellow compound eyes were all focused entirely on Gropey who then loomed just above her shoulder and was once more eying up her chest. She tried to protect herself from the goo-ball’s attraction to round things as she lay on her front on the floor. She was squished under Max’s butt, but didn’t do much to move him other than make sure he didn’t squish her antennae. “I don’t think this is, like, working. Like, at all,” She muffled, her cheek mushed up against the mall floor.

Max nearly turned his head upside down just to look behind him and scan the crowds again. A whole bunch of legs were going all over the place as teenaged lay-abouts went to all the stores but barely any of them actually bought anything. People had their fancy drinks and neat snacks, but nobody seemed to have a sword or an exceptionally grumpy disposition. Max was sure that someone like that would stand out, but…

“Oh?” Max twisted around and stood up off of Shelly, who quickly got up and brushed herself off as well. Max saw him! Kenny was making himself real small somewhere off to the side, against a wall where there were no stores, next to what looked like some custodian’s closet. It was hard to tell at first, because Kenny was wearing a hood on his jacket that covered most of his face and he wouldn’t look up long enough to even see the shine of his eyes, but what Max could see was that he was small, wore red and black, and had gray fur. He also had a conspicuously shaped… thing, all wrapped up in a towel so nobody could see what it was.

“There he is!” Max shouted, pointing right at Kenny.

Shelly shaded her eyes from the light by placing her hand over them, peering. “Oh! Oh yeah! That’s him!” She said, “Aww, he’s so little and mopey and stuff.”

“Hey dude!” Max picked up in a run, rushing toward Kenny, sending Gropey flailing and bobbing around. Kenny’s ear twitched under his hood and he looked up in a flash to see Max running toward him. It didn’t take long for Kenny to pick himself up and dart away, running into the crowds. Max practically skid to a stop and turned clumsily to follow him, his bare feet slapping on the mall’s tile flooring. “Hey dude wait!” He called out.

Kenny did not wait. He darted between people in the crowd the way only someone small and agile could. He bent and twisted around people with a superior flexibility. Max was quick too, however, and right on Kenny’s tail – except Kenny didn’t have much of a tail, since he was a lemming. It was more like this little wiggly bump on top of his butt…

But that wasn’t what Max was supposed to be focused on! He instead kept following Kenny, calling out to him. “Kenny guy friend dude person, hold up!” He yelled. People stopped to look and see what was going on, but no one was really quick enough to get out of the way of either of them. Max was forced to jump and tumble through people like an acrobat, even going between one guy’s legs like a slippery little eel.

Shelly tried to follow him, running her little heart out. Every heavy footfall she made sent her breasts bounding in an insane arc that nearly had her smacking herself in the face. She didn’t make it very far before she felt tired and had to stop. She leaned against a bench, her chest hanging heavy as she hunched and panted, but suddenly her expression changed as she hit an epiphany. “Oh, duh!” She said, her wings unfurling with a “fwoomph!” She waved her wings and picked her body up in flight, taking to the high road level with the mall’s second story. She fluttered off after Kenny, able to see him much easier from above.

Kenny looked back to see Max in hot pursuit. Even if it wasn’t an angry sort of chase, even if it really looked like Max just wanted him to stop and talk, Kenny wasn’t going to have anything of it. His eyes looked wild and afraid, but then Max wouldn’t have understood that. In his panic, Kenny was surprisingly fairly good at evasion, barely able to react in time to avoid running into parents and kids and people he passed by. Half-way through the mall he checked on max again, and he was still there. Couldn’t this kid take a hint?

Kenny stopped and stepped up onto a bench, balancing on the back and startling the people sitting on it. He stepped swiftly over and higher up onto the structure of a potted plant, and then jumped off of it to grab hold of the ivy vines wrapped around a pillar. Max stopped and watched as Kenny climbed, leaping from one to the next and heading upward toward the second floor, where he jumped off and grabbed hold of the guard railing that kept people from falling over. He leapt up and over, then took off along the second floor.

Max was surprised, but he followed Kenny at a quicker pace, able to scamper up that pillar seconds faster than Kenny could, and hop off on the second floor to gain on the boy.

“Rgh!” Kenny kept running, and wasn’t prepared for when Shelly touched down in front of him.

“Got’chya!” Shelly threw her arms open and Kenny came crashing into her front, where he smashed in, sunk his whole head between her breasts, and was elastically rebounded back onto the floor. He landed with a hard thud on his butt that actually hurt his tailbone, and he let out a little cry of pain as he hit. Shelly lowered her arms and reached out to help him up, giving him a smile. “Oops, sorry,” She said.

Kenny pushed up off the ground and glared daggers at Shelly. “Leave me alone!” He yelled, balling a fist and throwing a punch. Shelly squeaked and raised her hands quick to cover her face, and Kenny’s fist impacted her chest once more, sinking wrist-deep in butterfly bosom before being rebounded back. The force of the bounce threw his shoulder back and twisted him until he slipped and fell onto the floor again. He dropped his bundle and it unraveled, his sword clattering onto the floor. In a panic he threw himself onto his hands and knees to collect it.

Max caught up and slowed to a stop, watching Kenny. “Hey man, what’s wrong?” He asked, “Why’d you disappear into the night?”

“Just get lost,” Kenny practically growled, wrapping his sword up again, “I don’t want to talk to you.”

“Aw, don’t be like that!” Shelly smiled, “We’re really nice once you get to know us!”

“Well I’m not when you get to know me,” Kenny huffed, jumping to his feet, “You don’t want to be my friend, and I don’t want to be your friend. I hate you.”

Shelly recoiled, her antennae drooping with her frown. “You hate me? What did I do?” She asked.

Max was confused. He blinked innocently and tried to approach Kenny, but the older boy stomped away. “Hey, can’t we help you?” Max asked.

Kenny took off a few strides, but turned mid-run to address them both. “Look, I’m just… I’m just a major asshole okay? You’re better off without me!” He said, seemingly distressed. Before Max could question him any further he took off running once more and didn’t stop.

“Why does he hate me?” Shelly asked, “I was just trying to be nice! Did I say something wrong?”

She turned her attention to Max, who shook his head. “I don’t think so…” Max confessed, “That one has a lot of anger in him and he doesn’t seem to know where to throw it!”

“Well, was he, like, mad, or did I scare him or something? He’s kinda little so he might be easy to scare, I dunno,” Shelly scratched her head.

Max blinked a few times, “He did seem kinda scared! Maybe of our Inklings?”

Shelly just shrugged blankly, “Maybe? I dunno. I guess we should call that blind guy?”

“Quincey too,” Max nodded.

Shelly rubbed her neck. “Could I call Quincey? Blind guy, like, gives me the creeps,” She said, “He’s got Anopthalmia. That means he’s got, like, zero eyes. Can you imagine having no eyes? There’d be, like, big holes in my head. So weird.”

Max already had his PET out, and was searching through a list of contacts where Daxton was, thankfully, near the top. It rung, and the boy picked up. “Hey we saw your friend!” He announced. Max’s expression turned sheepish however when he added, “But, um, he wasn’t open for discussion.”

-

--

-

“Well that’s some good news at least, kind of, a little,” Daxton sighed. He looked up to where he specifically remembered the camp being, “Because we’re boned out here.”

The clearing in the forest was empty. There were telltale signs of a camp having once been there, there were plenty of matted down areas where crass had either been flattened or downright torn away. There were holes in the ground where tents had been staked. A few tiny, insignificant pieces of the power generator Jacent had destroyed remained buried among the leaves. Aside from that, there was nothing significant or incriminating left over. The tents were all packed up and gone, the vehicles weren’t parked there any longer, nor were there any aliens left. Whether the creatures had strayed or been recaptured was anyone’s guess.

“Well they definitely were here,” Phactys paced around the empty clearing in good order, observing every patch of dirt fairly closely. His ability didn’t lie in telling the past however, so he couldn’t manage a theory on where the Eos thugs had gone.

Natalie kicked some dirt. “I guess we should’ve expected them to pack up and leave after they were found out,” She said, “Staying would have been pretty stupid in hindsight.”

“Well I’ll tell ya what,” Laila rose from her studious squat and stepped toward Natalie, “This place was definitely used to corral those alien whatsits, no two ways about it. They had to have been usin’ ‘em for things like Harbington, so I can’t imagine what they’re gonna do with ‘em next.”

Daxton said his goodbyes to Max and turned his attention to the group. “Unload ‘em in Locksmouth maybe?” Daxton guessed, “I mean, I don’t think they’ve got their eyes set on anything else.”

“I kinda wish Kelvalde would send me something right about now, I wish he knew,” Natalie sighed.

Sam kicked her feet around, looking all snug wrapped up in her long, double-breasted coat. “Well, perhaps there are other camps similar to it?” She suggested.

“Mm,” Laila took out her PET and pulled up the same map program she used just exiting Harbington. She marked the area they were in and just studied the surrounding geography. She was far from an expert in that sort of thing, so she couldn’t draw any definite conclusions. “Maybe? Reckon if they’re huntin’, then they’d make a net.”

Natalie got in close to look at Laila’s screen, all warmed up by her classic skullqer hoodie. “A net?” She asked, “What do you mean?”

“Well it’s just when you’re doin’ some large-scale wranglin’, you try and box whatever you’re huntin’ in,” Laila said, “And if the aliens started out in Locksmouth, then I reckon they’d make a net around it, so that anythin’ that wandered out would get caught by someone.”

Erwin had un-inked and pressed in at Laila’s other side. “So you think they’d make a perimeter?” He asked.

“Like ranchin’ sheep in the old days,” Laila concluded.

“You sure know a lot about hunting,” Natalie pointed out.

Laila threw up her arms in a shrug. “My great-great-great great-great ancestors used to do it down south,” She claimed with no small bit of pride, “They got some stuff about it in their scrapbooks. Used to wrangle stray cows n’ such.”

A breeze picked up, kicking up Daxton’s long coat and whipping it all around his legs. He covered his face with his arm to block the gust for a moment and then looked over at Laila. “So maybe we should make our way around the dome a little before we head back,” He suggested, “Split up into pairs.”

“Okay the only downside to that is if you actually run into Eos,” Natalie pointed out, “You two aren’t inked and I’m the only member of Team Rough out here.”

“Well we can just go in one direction I guess,” Erwin said.

“You guess?” Sam said, “It’s not like we can split her into two, darling.”

Natalie’s ears perked up and she blinked a few times. “You know what? Maybe we can,” She smiled. She pulled a balled up black tank top from the front pocket of her hoodie and held it up, “Quincey was wearing this for, like, two days now.”

Sam swiveled up her ears and approached Natalie to caution her, “You can’t seriously be considering using Duplex’s powers. No offense to Duplex of course, but she’s hardly even an Inkling!”

“Well I kinda wanna try it,” She said.

Daxton came to join the group, and eventually they stood in a five-person circle where all eyes were on Natalie. “You can just use Duplex’s powers?” The corgi boy asked.

Natalie nodded, “Yup! Echelon’s power is using other people’s powers.”

“Except slightly less effectively,” Erwin added.

Laila cocked a brow at that. “So, what does that mean for you?” She asked.

“Let’s find out!” Natalie smiled, tossing the tank top over herself and tugging it down over her hoodie. It fit rather well, which was no surprise really if it was made to fit somewhat loosely around Quincey, who was bigger around than Natalie was in the torso area. She tugged the top until it was on comfortably, and then looked up and said, “Duplex!”

Natalie’s body seized up in a moment as a tingling sensation shot through her entire body. Then, it felt like she was just very slowly lifting her head out of a body of water. The others watched on as an inky blob the colours of Echelon’s black and pink separated from Natalie’s body. This wasn’t entirely dissimilar to when Echelon went Dry and was able to move independently of Natalie, though the exception came when the strange, featureless hunk of Echelon ink began to form into a copy of Natalie. For a second it looked just like Echelon, but as the seconds ticked by details began to etch themselves in like a stencil. Creases of clothing drew themselves in, then they split apart and the loose shirts became loose and the tight shorts drew tight around her body.

Then the colours started to fill in, like being scribbled in by a sketchy crayon until they became solids. Textures of Natalie’s fur and dreadlock hair came afterward, followed quickly by the tactile elements of her clothing. It took longer to form than Quincey did, but soon Natalie was standing next to a complete copy of herself! Both the wolves blinked their red eyes and looked at one another, stepping back in surprise at the same time as if they were a living pair of reflections.

“Whoa!” They both said at the same time, “Wow this feels so weird!”

“There’s two Natalie’s!” Sam cried, her hands on her cheeks, “I thought the world could only handle one!”

Erwin stepped back, eyeing the Natalie pair curiously, shuffling around behind Sam.

Daxton and Laila reacted rather calmly all things considered. It was an easy concept to understand – Echelon could use Duplex’s powers, and they’d already seen Quincey copy herself a few times before. In fact, if Kenny were there, he could say that he’d seen it more than anyone, having seen a grand total of three Duplexes in one place. Sam had technically seen four at once in Canvas, but seeing Natalie do it herself was somehow more shocking. It felt so foreign to see a second version of someone she’d known for so long.

The Natalies touched each other’s faces, and one tugged on the tank top the other one wore, feeling that the clothes did feel like the fabrics they were originally constructed from. “This is waaaay different from Dry mode,” The Natalie on the left said, “Wow.”

“Yeah, she can do that to regular objects too,” Daxton pointed out, making gestures with his hands like he was making one thing into two, “We’ve seen her do it with one of her shoes, and a keycard.”

“Now that could be useful,” The Natalie on the right grinned.

“Are you… I mean, can you...?” Sam tried to find the words to satisfy her curiosity, “Are they separate… things? Or do you share one mind? I don’t understand how this is supposed to work.”

“Wow, two of them!” Erwin marveled at the pair… or rather more specifically, he had shuffled unnoticed behind them and admired their massive bubble butts. Both Natalies wagged their little tails in utter delight of the development, which had the pair of jiggling cheeks going like some kind of Newton’s Cradle. The wolves looked back at him and knew immediately just what he was gawking at. They rolled their eyes, but weren’t terribly surprised.

“I wonder if I could do it again,” One of the Natalie’s said. She closed her eyes and concentrated, and the same sensation of splitting apart washed over her. It took considerably more effort than the last time, she noticed right away, and took even longer than the first to break off and form into a third Natalie wearing the exact same clothes as the first, right down to the skiff sneakers. Erwin’s eyes lit up – two impressive wolf butts became three. He fidgeted with his glasses a little, and that camera he had built into the lenses was definitely rolling.

“Okay that was hard,” One of the trio of wolves said.

“And I can tell this is taking some effort to keep up,” The one in the middle arched her back and stood on her toes, bouncing back onto the soles of her feet.

Laila nodded to the affirmative, looking at each wolf girl in turn. “Yup, after a while they kinda just break down and disappear,” She said, “Y’can’t keep ‘em around forever.”

Sam tapped her lip in thought. “If it’s use of an Inkling power, I suppose one could assume it’s linked to the use of prana,” She said, “Meaning, I think Natalie and Echelon should be able to remain that way for longer than Duplex, simply by way of its nature… But then, if Duplex is a fractured being…”

“Using her powers really feels weird,” One Natalie said, and the three of them rubbed their arms in different ways, “I don’t think I can really keep at it any longer than she might.”

“Ohhh man…” Erwin giddily stepped around the Natalies, his eyes glued to them in wonder, “Oh wow, no, Natalie, you have to do something for me.”

All three Natalie’s crossed their arms and gave Erwin a look. The bulge running down his left pant leg to his knee was telling of his intent. “Oh really?” One asked, “And what’s that?”

“Kiss,” Erwin blushed, but seemed thrilled at the idea.

“Dream on!” All three Natalies shut him down.

One stepped forward and turned Erwin to face away from them, patting him on the back. “Come on,” She said, “I’ll take, or… send, or, whatever… one of me with each group. But be quick, I don’t know how long this’ll last.”

One of the Natalies turned back into Echelon Ink and melted away, dissolving into nothing. This left two. One was with Sam and Erwin already, and the other approached Daxton and Laila with a big, wide smile of excitement over what she was able to accomplish. “So, one of me for you, and one of me for them!” She said, “Finally, there’s enough of me to go around. For a little while anyway. Man, if I could do this all the time, do you have any idea how many problems I could solve?”

They groups started to go in separate directions, and Sam delved into thought. “My goodness, I could get my nails done and be in class at the same time,” She figured, “Get my hair coiffed and pick up all my necessities without having to spend time going between the two!”

“I could be my own assistant!” Erwin dreamed, “Finally, someone with the brains to keep up! Er, no offense Phactys.”

Hearing this as they left, Laila stepped between Daxton and Natalie, or that Natalie clone, she really wasn’t sure which one they got. She wrapped her arms around them both and held them close as they marched. “Awright, I know ya’ll’re gonna think less of me, but if I could do that? I could literally tend to myself,” She said, sighing, “A dream realized!”

“Wow,” Natalie blanked, “I never really consider that sometimes I’m glad not everyone has these powers.”

Daxton could only laugh.

-

--

-

Unfortunately the search revealed nothing. Striding around Locksmouth’s dome was a fruitless labor, as there were no camps remaining around the dome as Laila theorized. The group had to go home empty-handed, returning as the sun went down to Kelvalde’s apartment. Laila, Daxton, and Quincey were to remain there wondering what was going through their missing pack member’s mind, as well as wary of Eos attack. No doubt by then if the zealous group was able to track down Cedric once, they must have surely been able to find Natalie and by extension the kids from Harbington.

It was no longer a matter of whether or not they’d be hunted, but a matter of when. A decision was made to form groups, where someone from Team Rough, which consisted of Natalie, Carrie, Jacent, and Max, would remain with someone from Team Reference, which was made up of Erwin, Samantha, and Shelly. One Team Rough member was left over to care for the youngest pack members, Grendolyn and Aren, but only as a contingency. Quincey, being the only other possible target for Eos, was also in need of protection, spreading Natalie’s more physically capable pack members a little thin. The way around that was simple: people had to bunk up.

Samantha and Erwin were easy enough to look after as a pair, and Shelly could stay with Aren and Gren since fewer people were aware she even had an Inkling. One person each would be enough for those two groups. That left Quincey with her pick of the litter, with her being the priority. When everyone returned that night, Natalie agreed to take first watch with Carrie by her side – a move that surprised no one in the end, but was none the less viable for it. Quincey couldn’t have asked for better with Arus and Echelon on her team. If Eos came their way? They’d be in for one big surprise no doubt.

The evening seemed to be passing by without incident. Daxton, Laila and Quincey sat down to finish as much of their school work as they felt able. They were getting through it rather quickly, able to sit down like a little study group together every day. They were on the fast track to making up the weeks they were absent, and it was a welcome distraction from recent events. The work was done soon into the night, leaving hours of recreational time to kill. That was where they hit some difficulty – they could play games on their PET or watch programs on the television, but eventually the idle activities caught up with them and they’d start to worry.

What time wasn’t spent ignoring the Inkling situation was instead spent cuddled up, with the pack trying to keep themselves calm and collected. With Kenny’s sudden absence it became that much harder. As if Eos and Epheral weren’t bad enough, now they had to wonder how Kenny was faring. They wanted to believe that things were going well – if he ever got into any real trouble, the odds were fairly high that a police officer would find him and bring him home. If anything, staying unsafe was probably the real challenge. But they did have to wonder if he was eating alright, and worry over his condition. He’d said that the group was better off without him… but why?

Natalie and Carrie had no shortage of time to ponder such things. They were no less worried about Eos, who they knew precious little about. Back during the invasion known then as the Locksmouth Incident, Osoth was a known entity. The struggle against the tyrant was a dance that had been performed before, and Echelon and Arus helped them with the steps. Eos was completely new, a human variable, unpredictable at best. Even Carrie couldn’t help but peer outside into the night now and then just to see if she could spot any of them sneaking around.

The fact that they were human granted the conflict a whole different scope. With Osoth, her army consisted mainly of mindless, droning Grays and foreign alien species that acted as their natures intended. They didn’t have the capacity for higher thought and simply followed whatever orders were given to them. Eos was a bunch of humans, all with the ability to think and feel and act for themselves. Somehow they’d united against the Inklings and were prepared to do so surprisingly fast. It hadn’t even been two months since the Inklings made themselves known, and yet somehow Eos hated them as if they’d been there all along.

It made for a glum evening. There were so many questions and very few answers. What was worse was that the lack of answers could prove dangerous in time.

The silence was broken around 9:00 when Natalie received a call. She practically snapped out of a trancelike state where she was cuddled up with Carrie in Kelvalde’s living room watching some cheesy zombie movie. Pulling her PET from her hoodie’s front pocket she answered it, not bothering to pause her film. The call was from Officer Murphy, so it was bound to be important.

Murphy appeared on the screen. She was in a squad car with sirens flashing. “Grayswift, we got a lead on your missing kid,” She said, “Someone from Good Vibrations called and reported that he’d been there most of the day. You know the place?”

Natalie didn’t even have to think overly long on it. “Yeah, that café, I know it. Is he still there?”

Murphy nodded quickly, her eyes not regarding her screen but instead on where her car was going. “They’re keeping it open for as long as he wants to stay, but they can’t keep him there forever,” She said, “I want you to swing by. I’d go in and grab him myself but you said he had a weapon on him. I don’t mean to just toss you in front of anything dangerous, it’s just that…”

“… We can handle it,” Natalie finished with a nod. She understood why someone would call on her to help with things got hairy. She certainly didn’t mind, because it made her feel like a hero, dealing with the problems that even the police couldn’t. “I’ll be right over.”

Natalie ended the call and Carrie sat up beside her. “Shouldn’t I go? I think I’d be better suited for this kind of thing,” She suggested.

The wolf gave it some thought, but shook her head. “Nah, I want you to stay here with Quincey and the others.”

 Quincey had only been in the other room with Daxton and Laila, but her name seemed to draw her out. She stepped out wearing a new top since Natalie had taken her tank top earlier that day – a black sleeveless number with white lining and an open window below the neck for her chest to breathe. Any peek at her healthy bosom was slightly obscured by a small blue necktie just like the ones she normally liked to wear. “I want to go too,” She said. Daxton and Laila followed her out, but didn’t seem to speak out against the idea.

Natalie was about to ask why when she recalled Quincey’s earlier reaction to Kenny’s disappearance. It was pretty clear that she wasn’t going to just give that up, so Natalie didn’t bother to fight her on it. “Alright,” She nodded, “It’ll be better if someone from his pack is there for him anyway.”

Quincey nodded and turned to say her goodbyes to Laila and Daxton. “I hope I can get him to come home,” She said.

Laila shrugged a shoulder. “We can’t help but listen to ya, honey-ham. I reckon ya’ll’d be the best for it.”

Quincey gave Daxton a kiss and turned to head out with Natalie. Kelvalde’s apartment was in a very centralized location – that’s partly why they used it as a collective safe house during Osoth’s invasion. If the girls hurried, they’d likely make it to Good Vibrations in fairly short order. Natalie could have made it there faster by herself – considerably so if she decided to use Actima’s powers of speed to her benefit. Even so, she wasn’t about to leave Quincey behind, so she just encouraged a hustle from the heftier girl.

They walked the most direct route Natalie knew of through the main traffic areas, keeping on the midway. Vehicles passed them by, zipping past as their grav skiffs left trails through the air. It was a still night, with no breeze or weather to muck it all up, though the clouds passed by high in the night sky to block out all but small peeks of the moon. The only light they got was from the various radial rings around the buildings, and the glowing lamps along the midway. Save for the sounds of traffic and the occasional distant voice or muffled happenings inside of a building, the outdoors were fairly silent. It was the perfect night for a walk, the temperature being just right.

It was a wonder that anything bad could happen on a night like that; but then kids running away never really depended on the weather.

Quincey huffed as she kept pace with Natalie, which was hard for her. Natalie was a fit girl; that much was clear just by looking at her. She was a fast walker when she wanted to, whereas Quincey fell a bit short in that regard. Carrie had shown her that she was strong, but as far as exertion went she preferred small bursts. Still, she kept pace regardless, just pushing herself to keep her loafers going at the same pace as Natalie’s sneakers.

“Am I going too fast for you?” Natalie looked back over her shoulder at Quincey, who looked a bit winded.

“N-No, I’m fine,” Quincey breathed.

“You sure?” Nat asked.

Quincey nodded. “Mhm!”

Natalie carried on then, trying to both hurry to meet Murphy who was no doubt already at the scene, but also not go so fast as to exhaust Quincey. “Hey, so… I have a question, and it’s going to seem a little stupid…” Natalie spoke as she walked. Quincey listened, but walking so quickly did take more of her focus than she cared to admit, so she just silently acknowledged the wolf.

“Are you your pack’s alpha?” Natalie looked to Quincey as the girl managed to meet her and walk next to her. She looked surprised at the question, especially by the way she stared at Natalie like she’d just asked what colour the sky was.

Quincey looked around, confused. “M-Me? I… Do you think I am?”

Natalie lifted her arms in a kind of shrug and dropped them to smack her thighs. “Well I mean, okay…” She started, “Just, the more I listen to your pack the more I think they do whatever you say. Especially your boyfriend, he practically refers to you as his moral compass. And Laila just said that you’d be the best to talk to Kenny.”

“I think everyone thinks Daxton’s the alpha,” Quincey admitted, “I mean, he’s always the one doing things…”

Natalie’s ear flicked. “Yeah but that doesn’t mean he’s the alpha,” She said. She took a moment to think about what she was asking, then she shook her head. “Sorry, never mind. It’s not really any of my business. I just thought it might have had something to do with you coming with me.”

Quincey lowered her eyes, breathing a little heavily from all the walking she was putting her poor, chubby legs through. “N-No it’s alright, I… um, well, I mean… I… did basically convince Daxton to let Kenny join our pack…” She said, “But even if I am the alpha, that has nothing to do with it. I… It’s my fault he’s even here, so I have to make sure he’s okay. That’s what he’d do.”

Natalie studied Quincey for a moment. She seemed so determined… it was touching, in a way. She turned her attention forward again as she continued leading Quincey through the streets. “Do you think that, uh… his mom has anything to do with it?” She asked, “Or, uh…”

“I… I don’t know,” Quincey sighed, “I didn’t even know that about him. He never told me.”

“Because I know that can really mess you up,” Natalie went on, “It’s kind of heavy. It could still bug him.”

Quincey shrugged. “Maybe. But I think it has more to do with everything that’s going on… when I get stressed I cry, but when Kenny gets stressed…”

Quincey trailed off. Natalie looked at her carefully. “He gets a little scary, huh?” She asked.

“He doesn’t know what to do,” The pig answered, “He gets… strange, sometimes. I never really knew why but now I guess there’s a reason for it.”

Natalie breathed a sigh through her nose. Kenny was starting to remind her more and more of Kei, the boy that was “declared dead” after the Inkling incident that animated the mall. He was strange too, and in many ways he acted similarly to Kenny where his reactions didn’t always make sense. She knew then why Kei was the way he was, and if Kenny were anything like that… Natalie wondered just how serious Kenny’s connection with his mother could have been. She could have been watching history repeat, or at least echoing in some small way.

“He just needs somebody to hold onto him,” Quincey said, “Even when he tries to push away.”

“Oh?” Natalie’s interest was piqued.

Quincey nodded. “Yes, well… it’s not too unusual for Kenny to just… not be around for a while. Sometimes he’ll go days without even speaking to us. Usually we’d let him be on his own for a while, but… he could be in trouble now because of me. S-So if I’m the pack alpha I’ve got to go and, um… get him back, right? That’s what they do, right?”

Natalie puckered her lips in thought. “Yeah,” She nodded, “Yeah, I think that’s about right. Well, don’t worry. We’ll make sure he’s okay.”

“Thank you,” Quincey blushed, “Um, well thank you for everything even. You’ve… really worked really hard to put up with us.”

Natalie grinned. “Just another day in Locksmouth!”

Quincey and Natalie laughed, albeit somewhat awkwardly. The silence that followed was almost discomforting, but it was thankfully short as the girls reached Good Vibrations.

-

--

-

Good Vibrations was a quaint little establishment tucked into the quieter parts of the commercial district. The café was built around its namesake as a place for people to go to be in a strictly positive environment. It was especially popular among young people who needed a little self-esteem boost or just needed to go somewhere to get away from whatever stresses they were encountering in their daily lives. That in combination with its proximity to the residential district meant that it saw a steady stream of people coming and going.

There were a couple of police cruisers parked a short ways up and down the street to either side of the building’s front entrance. Murphy must have seen the girls coming because she got out of her car to meet with Natalie. Quincey stumbled in behind Natalie panting for breath, hunching over and taking her time to get the wind back in her sails while Natalie got prompted on the situation.

“He’s still in there,” Murphy reported, “With the last employee to stick around past close.” She looked past Natalie as Quincey leaned up against the car, resting her arm on top of it and doing her best to look attentive. “He’s your pack member, right?” Murphy asked the girl, “Good, you can talk to him. Good thinking.”

Quincey smiled, but was too winded to really say much.

“So it’s easy,” Murphy said, “Just go in and convince him to come along. Don’t scare him too much – if he bolts we can keep track of him, but trying to strong-arm a situation like this won’t accomplish much. He’s already proven to be uncooperative, so the goal is to make him cooperate, alright?”

Natalie saluted the officer. “We’ll do our best.”

Murphy let out a breath as she turned to stare into the windows of the café. “It’s not like he’s committed a crime,” Murphy said, “This is the serve part of ‘protect and serve.’ The kid just needs help. Whatever he needs.”

Natalie turned to Quincey. “Ready?” She asked.

“Yeah,” Quincey nodded.

The girls stepped off, getting up on the sidewalk and approaching the café like it were any other day. The only difference was that the café was completely empty. Stools had been put up on the counter where customers would order food or drinks, the tables and booths had all been cleared up, the earphones provided four to a table for everyone to listen to their individual music tastes were wrapped up neatly, and the selection of loaner PETs had been locked up with their selection of temp programs for games and recreation. Most of the lights were even dimmed save for a few that overlooked one corner of the café where Kenny sat across from another young man.

Natalie had been to Good Vibrations a couple of times, but mostly by circumstance. She found that thwarting Cedric’s bullying was more than enough to keep her and Carrie in high spirits, but the rest of her pack didn’t have such an outlet. Every now and then she’d met her friends there when they needed to unwind, mostly once again because of Cedric, who would commonly target them just to get at Natalie. Sam had retreated there after a breakup or two in order to enjoy some gentle pampering and genuine compliment when she felt she needed them most. It was as much a nice place to hang out as it was a counsel for young and old alike.

Quincey had never been, but it definitely looked pleasant. There were a number of drink-making machines lining the bar for a barista to whip up tasty beverages. Most of them didn’t have caffeine for health’s sake, but others were dubiously sweet and strong. She would have liked to visit someday under different circumstances, but for right then it made sense that Kenny might go there. What was strange was that Kenny wasn’t the kind of boy who went out of his way to find help when he needed it – quite the contrary, he often wallowed in his problems and got over them the hard way. Good Vibrations’ warm atmosphere was a call for concern in that regard, and so Quincey hurried inside.

The door chime jingled when Natalie entered, calling the attention of Kenny and the boy across from him. That boy was Grigori Wallak, someone from Natalie’s school. He was a nice guy, making it no surprise that he’d take it upon himself to stay with Kenny after everyone else had gone home. The otter boy was a gentle giant, dwarfing Kenny with his height and broad, strong frame. If anyone were going to make anybody feel safe, it could have been Grigori, and he wasn’t even a super hero. He looked up with Kenny and slowly rose from the booth he sat in. “Natalie,” He spoke, “I didn’t expect to see you here.”

“We heard that someone was hanging around here all day,” Natalie turned her attention to Kenny and gave him a smile, “So we came to see how he was doing.”

Kenny uncomfortably lowered his head and crossed his arms. That was good; he wasn’t simply running away.

“Kenny?” Quincey stepped forward and approached the table. Kenny did his best not to look at her as she stood next to him, a look of worry on her face. “Are… are you alright?”

Grigori left the two of them and took to Natalie’s side instead. He stood tall over the wolf, but leaned down slightly to speak with her. “He was here since noon. We gave him food and drink, but the others were saying he kept asking them strange questions,” He said.

“Like what?” Natalie asked.

“He wanted to know if he was a good person,” Grigori explained.

Quincey got down on her knees next to Kenny and gently placed her hand on his shoulder. “Kenny, what’s the matter?” She asked, gentle as could be, “You can tell me.”

Kenny rested his chin on his arms on the table, sluggishly turning his head to look at Natalie. His blue eyes were a little glossy and his cheeks a little rosy, clearly trying to keep his emotions in check. “You’re really trusting them, huh?” Kenny ducked his head down as much as he could into his arms, speaking down over the edge of the table.

“Natalie’s a friend, Kenny,” Quincey explained, “And she’s keeping us safe.”

“I know,” Kenny said.

Kenny took a breath. “I can’t,” He sighed, “I don’t know why but I just can’t. My head’s all messed up. You guys trust them so much and I think that I should too. They bought us PETs and gave up a place to stay and helped you with Duplex, but…”

“… I keep thinking something really bad is going to happen and you…” Kenny shivered, “That you’re gonna die.”

Quincey was confused, but when Kenny went quiet she had to speak. She got her thoughts in order as quickly as she could. “Kenny, Duplex was lying when it said it could kill me,” She explained, “I’m not going to die.”

Kenny shook his head. “Doesn’t matter.”

“Huh?” Quincey tilted her head to try and look at Kenny’s face.

“Ever since we got in this fucking town,” Kenny cursed, balling his hands into fists. His fingers dragged over his wrapped up sword he kept on the table away from Quincey. “Ever since we got to this fucking dome, I… I can’t fucking sleep. I keep having those stupid dreams!”

The boy rubbed his eyes on his arm roughly. “Those stupid god damn dreams…”

“What dreams?” Quincey asked.

Kenny sniffed and shook his head, looking away from Quincey. The girl rubbed his shoulder and insisted, “Kenny, what dreams are you having?”

“I almost killed two people on the way here you know,” Kenny cut in rather suddenly, his breath shaky, “First that guy in the museum and then that guy in Clarkston. I could’ve cut the neck of that Eos guy in a split second and I thought about it, you know? Just to keep him away from you. And if Carrie didn’t stop me, I was going to murder that mayor guy.”

“Kenny, you were just…”

“I was gonna do it!” Kenny slammed a fast on the table, sitting up in a hurry. This startled Quincey, especially when he stared at her with this scared look in his eyes. It turned her stomach into knots. “And you know why, Quinn?”

“You were protecting me!” Quincey cut in, “It’s okay!”

“It’s not okay!” Kenny rose his voice, “I’m a murderer, Quinn!”

Quincey released Kenny’s shoulder. “Kenny, I don’t understand…” She said, “You didn’t…”

Kenny let out a frustrated yell, planting his elbows on the table and covering his face with his hands. He sniffed, nose running, and swallowed. He’d begun to cry, but he kept it hidden. Still, the sadness was wrought in his voice that squeaked sometimes when he spoke. “You know that my Mom died when I was little?” He asked.

Quincey hesitated, but nodded. “Yes, Daxton told me,” She said.

Fucker,” Kenny hissed. He sniffled again and took a few calming breaths. “Happened when I was ten. You know why?”

Quincey shook her head.

“She was out of her goddamn mind, Quinn,” Kenny rubbed his eyes with his palms, “She was literally out of her mind. Her short-term and long-term memory were shot. She couldn’t remember anything… anything! She couldn’t even remember me, Quinn. She didn’t know her own fucking son. She didn’t know my dad, she didn’t even know her fucking name! She’d wake up scared that she was in someone else’s house and she’d…”

Kenny lowered his head, holding his forehead with his palms and staring at the table. “Dad got her some brain implants. Basically turned her into a vegetable,” He said, “Isn’t that great? She went from freaking out and slapping the shit out of us because she thought we were strangers to basically not doing anything at all. That was my mom. And everybody knew it, too! Kids made fun of me at school and I couldn’t do anything because I had to take care of my fucking mom all the time.”

Quincey bit down on her lip, her nose scrunched up as tears dripped down her face. “Kenny…”

“Then one day my dad has to go to work, right? He leaves me with mom and says “watch your mother while I’m gone.” Psh, like I fucking cared…” Kenny went on, “So, something happens. I dunno what, but suddenly she starts losing her shit and freaking out and she just runs out of the apartment. I’m screaming at her, right? But she wouldn’t stop. She ran all the way up to the roof.”

Quincey shook her head. “Kenny, no…”

Kenny sat back in his seat and stared at the table, gripping the edge of it like he wanted to break chunks of it off. “I could’ve stopped her you know,” He said, “She stopped at the edge and she was just looking at me and I could’ve pulled her up. But I was so mad, Quinn, I was so mad at her. She hurt me. She was everything I hated.”

Kenny’s nostrils flared and he swallowed quietly. “So I pushed her instead,” he said, “I pushed her right off the side of the roof and she fell and she died.”

Quincey covered her mouth and sat back. Kenny looked at her not exactly in anger, but something else. He couldn’t have looked sadder or more frightened, which was so unlike him. Natalie and Grigori just stared, sometimes looking at each other but they had no words.

“Don’t look at me like I don’t fucking know,” Kenny hissed, “You ever have to teach a kid about death? Crash fucking course. I freaked out. She was dead, that was it. She was gone and I’d done it. I broke, Quinn. I broke. So dad puts me in therapy and I’m telling everyone that I did it, I killed her. But everyone kept saying it was an accident, and that I was just a kid but I fucking know I did it.”

I should be in jail!” Kenny shouted, banging his fists on the table, “These aren’t fucking dreams, they’re memories! But I deserve it, I deserve everything I get. What I don’t deserve is you, or PETs or a place to stay or anything.”

Quincey stood up from the floor, staring at Kenny. The boy cried, into his hands, hunched over at the table. “There’s two things I scared of,” He said, “That people I love are gonna die, and that they’re gonna figure out that I’m a monster. More of a monster than these fucking Inklings are. I shouldn’t ever have made friends with you, but there you go. Now you know and you can just… leave me alone. I just wanna lock myself away.”

Kenny shook as he sat back. “I’m a horrible person,” He said, “You’re… you’re a wonderful person. You’re super nice and you help everybody and you would never have done what I did, ever. She could have beat the fuck out of you for years and you wouldn’t have done what I did.”

Quincey grabbed Kenny by his shirt and yanked him out of his seat so hard his hood fell off his head. She pulled him into her body and wrapped him in a submission hold of a hug, squeezing him hard and burying her face against his shoulder. She cried more than he did, mostly because he was too shocked to shed any tears. “Wh…” He tried to question her actions, but she silenced him by kissing the side of his head.

“I’m so sorry…” She sniffled.

Kenny’s eyes bugged. “Why?!”

“I’m sorry you had to go through that and I couldn’t help you,” She said, frowning as she looked down at him, “You… y-you’ve been fighting for a long time but I never tried to help you. I always thought that leaving you alone was better. You always came back.”

“Quincey, you… let go of me!” Kenny fussed, “Don’t be an idiot!”

“No,” Quincey held Kenny’s head against her chest, “No more. We’re going to help you Kenny.”

“Stop it!” Kenny tried to shove away from her but he couldn’t. She just held on even tighter to him.

She shook her head. “Kenny I don’t care what you did,” She said, “I don’t care if you can’t trust. I know you have a hard time, but you’re in my pack. You’re part of my family.”

“You can’t,” Kenny stressed, “You can’t! You can’t just take it away!”

Quincey squeezed him protectively against her body, lifting him up off the floor. “No, I can’t…” She sighed, “But we can help you pick up the pieces Kenny. That’s what we’re here for. That’s why you have a pack. We can do it together, you don’t have to deal with it on your own.”

“I love you, Kenny.”

Kenny hold on to Quincey’s shoulders and lowered his head. “Fuck…” He sobbed.

“It’s okay,” Quincey stroked his head.

Kenny coughed as he stared down at their feet. Strange yellow smoke billowed across the floor in wispy shapes, puffin out around them. Confused, he pulled back from Quincey and looked all around at the floor. Taking a breath in clouded his longs and made him cough again, making his breaths short. “The fuck…?” He hacked, covering his mouth with his arm.

Quincey found it similarly difficult to breathe, and she stepped back away from Kenny to observe the smog around their feet. It was a very centralized cloud of the thick yellow stuff, hard to see through but not impossible. Grigori snapped to attention, looking immediately toward fire exit to the café and noticing that the smoke poured in from there. It fogged in through the creases like a machine at a concert, quickly clouding up the side of the room where Kenny and Quincey were. It seemed no one had noticed it while they were distracted with Kenny.

The front door’s chime jingled as the door was kicked in. Natalie whipped around in a hurry to see the large figure of a bear rush in, take quick aim with a rifle, and fire at her.

“Aru…!” Natalie tried to call on Arus’ powers to protect her from the high energy volley sent her way, but it connected with her shoulder and spun her around. Another fired blast struck her left shin and swept her leg out from under her that sent her to the floor. The man kept his weapon trained on her, stepping in as Kris Procsman and Yvette entered to his flanks. The back door creaked, groaning under a metallic strain before bursting loudly off its hinges and being thrown into the café, crashing into the bar and clattering heavily to the floor.

A massive cloud of yellow smoke plumed into the building, and two figures emerged from the mist. One was an Inkling whose yellow body billowed with the smoke. Even their mauve eyes and mouth looked cloudy and swirly in its form, like it was just a container for the icky mist. It had a feline host, with triangular ears and a long, swaying tail. Quincey and Kenny barely got to see it before the haze he produced obscured him again, and soon clouded their vision so much they couldn’t even see Natalie any longer.

The other Inkling, also of a feline host, stepped past the first and emerged from the smog to approach Natalie. The girl had just inked over, allowing Echelon to act as a protective coating, and she quickly got up off the floor to face her attacker. The man was a red Inkling with blue eyes that peered at her with a mischievous squint. Echelon narrowed her eyes back at him with a curious slant, wondering just what an Inkling was doing working with the soldiers who had just barreled into the building, somehow making it past the police.

Quincey squealed when hands grabbed her from in the smoke and pulled her against their body. She fought, jerking forward and lifting her unseen foe up off the floor. She balanced them on her back for a moment and then threw herself backwards into the table, slamming whomever it was as hard as she could against the wood. It didn’t seem to work, the impact doing nothing to dissuade her attacker. From Kenny’s perspective he could see Quincey struggling with the yellow Inkling, her back slam seeming to squeeze more of the foul smoke from the creature. Kenny blinked tears from his eyes and threw himself into the booth to grab his sword, pawing at the table. Just as he got a grip on the towel he’d wrapped it in, the sword slipped away. It shot from the bundle free of its sheath and zipped through the smoke.

The sword flew right into the red Inkling’s hand, and with a crafty spin he brandished it. “Echelon, leader of the rebels!” The sophisticated voice of the Inkling’s feline host taunted her, “First of all allow me to say congratulations for defeating Osoth! Second of all, allow me to suggest you not move.”

Grigori held his hands up, staring frightfully at the Inkling in front of him. If he just turned his head he’d see Garrison, Kris, and Yvette with weapons trained on Natalie’s back. He took a cautious step back, and the red Inkling quickly pointed the sharpened tip of the sword at him. “Tut tut, you hold still as well,” It said.

“Give it up, Inkling!” Garrison barked from behind Natalie, “Make one false move and we’ll peel you away!”

The hum of the weapons they held assured Echelon that they were serious. She held very still, not even bothering to raise her hands. Instead she looked ready to move at a moment’s notice, knees bent to sprint and fists clenched. Could she even have activated an Inkling’s power before she was struck by a shot? She wasn’t sure. Somewhere in the smoke she could hear Kenny and Quincey coughing, trying to get some air as they helplessly wrestled with the other Inkling.

“Who are you?!” Echelon demanded.

The red Inkling nodded his head politely. “Polaris, at your service,” He said, just as the cloud of yellow smoke started to overtake him. He threw out his other arm to wave the smoke away, trying to fan it in another direction, “For heaven’s sake, Haze, enough already!”

“Sorry!” The other Inkling giggled, the fog starting to clear in an instant. It slowly dissipated until it revealed the far side of the room once more. Haze, the yellow Inkling, kept Quincey captured in an arm lock. Both she and Kenny were gasping for breath.

Echelon scowled. “Why are you working with Eos?”

Polaris ignored her, releasing the sword he held. It would have dropped, but somehow it stayed suspended in the air, floating in place with the subtlest of movements. In an instant it flew as if thrown, and Grigori cried in alarm as it stopped just short of his neck, the tip scraping his fur. Grigori sucked in a breath and tensed up, his large frame shaking.

“We have someone who would very much like to meet you, Echelon,” Polaris said, “Won’t you come along?”

“Yeah we don’t want to have any accidents!” Haze tittered from behind Polaris, “And there will be accidents if you don’t come with us quietly.”

“Come now,” Yvette, the sleek Persian from the museum, said, “We don’t want to hurt anyone.”

“Why don’t I believe that?” Echelon muttered. She glanced toward Grigori being held at sword-point. He stared at the blade pointed at his neck, and every nervous swallow he made brushed his skin against the blade uncomfortably. Quincey struggled against Haze’s grip across the room, and Kenny looked ready to pounce until he saw what was happening with Grigori. He was forced into inaction too, panting for precious air and staring at the scene in disbelief.

“Un-Ink and cooperate, and we promise that no one needs to get hurt,” Polaris said, “You have my word, from one Inkling to another.”

Echelon hesitated if only for a moment, but soon her inky form receded back into Natalie’s body without the wolf moving a muscle. Polaris smiled. “Very good,” He said, “Garrison, if you would?”

Garrison stowed his weapon behind him and approached. “Don’t tell me what to do, freak,” He snarled. He gripped Natalie’s shoulder and had her turn around, meeting her with a heavy-handed fist to her gut. She turned right into it, having all the air driven forcefully from her lungs. Her legs slackened, but Garrison caught her before she could hit the floor.

“Natalie!” Quincey screamed, “Let her go!”

Natalie coughed when Garrison hoisted her over his shoulder to carry her. Polaris flicked his wrist and caught Kenny’s sword as it flew back into his hand. He turned on Quincey then and approached her slowly, holding the blade menacingly. “And you, whomever you are, are coming with us as well,” He said.

“Eat a dick!” Kenny shouted at him, but Polaris just pointed the blade his way.

The Inkling scrunched up his face. “How rude,” He said, “Settle down, boy.”

Quincey stared at the sword in Polaris’ hand and struggled against Haze’s grip. “Don’t touch him!” She yelled.

“I’ve no intention to,” Polaris said, turning his attention back to Quincey, “You’ll come along too, won’t you?”

“The boss wants to see you personally!” Haze smiled, “You should be happy!”

Quincey shook her head. “I’ll go, just leave him alone!”

Polaris smiled and reached down to pat Quincey on the cheek. He pinched and shook her face a little before letting her go. “Good girl,” He said, “Don’t worry, you’ll soon see this was the right choice. Come along, Haze, we don’t have much time.”

“Right!” Haze clenched his eyes shut and smoke shot out of him in a spray from every angle, clouding the immediate area again, Kenny got a mouthful and hacked on the strange, clay taste of the thick air, and Quincey coughed as well.

“I really wish you wouldn’t do that,” Polaris sighed.

Clopping boots marched as they soldiers left, hauling Quincey and Natalie away out the fire exit swiftly where they’d long since parked one of their vehicles. They piled in, throwing Natalie and Quincey into the bed of the truck. The Inklings climbed in with them, as well as Garrison and Yvette. Kris, the gecko, got into the front and started the engine. The truck lifted from the alley next to the building and into the sky. Natalie looked down to the street to see the police cars still outside, but there was no activity from them at all. From that distance she couldn’t make out if Murphy was still in her squad car or not.

As she stared, Yvette pushed the barrel of her weapon against Natalie’s cheek with one hand, getting the wolf’s attention. In her other hand dangled a pair of handcuffs.

The smoke in the café was clearing, and Kenny tumbled out of the booth onto the floor in a scramble to hurry out the fire exit. Grigori’s heavy footfalls followed behind him, and the boys rushed out into the alley to see the Eos vehicle rise high into the sky. A glint of light caught Kenny’s eye and he quickly shoved Grigori aside just before his sword could hit him. It dug into the metal building just above Kenny’s head.

“So long!” Polaris taunted just as the engine revved and the truck took off like a bolt.

“Fuck!” Kenny shouted, yanking his sword out of the wall and taking off out the alley to hurry down the street. He only got a short distance before realizing he couldn’t catch up, they were long gone in an instant. He threw his sword to the ground and it bounced and clattered as he screamed at the top of his lungs after them in anger.

Grigori hurried out to the police cars and peered into one of the windows. He opened the door and the unconscious form of Murphy fell from the passenger seat and onto the sidewalk. The boy knelt down and picked her up rather easily, and he was able to tell that she was still breathing. Kenny whipped by in a hurry, running back into the building just to come out with the gladius’ sheath. He housed the blade and took off in a run again.

“Wait!” Grigori called to him.

“Fuck that!” Kenny yelled back.

Grigori watched as Kenny took off down the street, left holding Murphy in his arms. The officer stirred, regaining consciousness and looking up at Grigori’s face.

“Are you alright?” The boy asked.

Murphy blinked her eyes. “There was this smoke,” She said, “What happened?”

“They came for her,” Grigori said gravely.

Murphy blinked and hopped out of Grigori’s arms, grabbing a radio from her belt. “All units, high alert, Eos was seen at Good Vibrations. I repeat, Eos is in the dome,” She stressed, “They’ve taken Echelon.”

She stuffed the radio back on her belt and she reached into the car to try and wake up the other officer who had been riding with her. With her free hand she took her PET out of the breast pocket of her uniform. “Dial brickhouse,” She commanded, and the device started a call with Carrie.

-

--

-

“WHAT?!” Carrie’s shout shook Kelvalde’s apartment.

“Something strange happened,” Murphy explained over the call, “A strange yellow fog rolled in and we couldn’t breathe. That was the last thing I remember before I woke up, and by then everyone was gone.”

Daxton crowded into the call with Carrie, but Carrie shoved him away so hard he tumbled over the arm of Kelvalde’s sofa. “What do you mean they were gone?!” Carrie yelled.

Murphy sighed. “That they were gone,” She reiterated, “Look, we need to find out as much as we can about these guys and we need it yesterday. Do you have anything?”

“What? No!” Carrie huffed. She hung up on Murphy and threw her PET across the room, which fortunately hit an arm chair and bounced, twirling in the air and bouncing again off the chair to hit the coffee table and then the floor. Somehow it didn’t break, because Carrie was fuming.

“I told her I should have gone!” She hissed.

Laila stepped up. “N-Now now hun, settle down,” She nervously tried to calm Carrie down. Carrie turned on her quickly.

“We gotta call…!” She pat the pocket of her jeans for her PET, which she then remembered she threw across the room. She let out a cry of frustration and stomped over to pick the thing up off the floor, starting to dial numbers like she was going to punch holes into the display with her thumbs. “We gotta call Cap! And… And everyone! Call everyone!”

Her PET dialed and peoples started picking up, getting conferenced into the call.

“Carrie? What’s going on?” Jacent asked.

“I’ll feed them their own spines!” Carrie raged.

Samantha blinked, her pupils getting really small as she leaned in next to Jacent. “Darling, whatever is the matter?” She asked.

EOS!” Carrie grit her teeth, “They grabbed Nat and Quincey when they were out trying to get that stupid brat!”

“What?!” Sam gasped, “No!”

“Nat’s gone?” Erwin’s face blipped into the call, “I guess we should have seen that coming…”

“Not helping!” Carrie glared at Erwin’s face, “Come now! I’m gonna smash everything soon if you guys don’t come right now!”

“¡Ay, caramba!” Max’s portrait pushed the others into smaller sections, and Shelly’s soon followed, and then Carrie’s father’s did as well. She did say “call everyone,” after all.

“What! I didn’t call you, Daddy!” Carrie fussed.

Hugh blinked his eyes. “Yes you did, pumpkin, I…”

“Not now Daddy!” Carrie booted him from the call, and anyone else who wasn’t supposed to be there.

Daxton and Laila just sat on the couch quietly, fearing that if they made a move Carrie’s ire would somehow be turned onto them. Everyone in the call with her vowed to arrive in short order, but as everyone was hanging up Max took pause. “Oh hey!” He said, “I got a message from…”

“From who?” Carrie asked.

“Uh…” Max fidgeted, fussing a little in hesitation. He really didn’t want to tell Carrie who the message was from. “Uh… Coul?”

“Coul?! I told you to block that creep!” Carrie scolded the boy.

“Sorry! I was waiting for the day he switched sides in an epic climactic moment!” Max explained, tapping on his screen. He got quiet when he looked at what the message was, and too so long that Carrie got impatient.

“Max!” She snapped him out of his trance.

“Look, chica!” Max sent her the message, and on her screen was a picture file. She brought it up on holo display so that the pictures were projected into the air. What she saw were tents, trees, and Eos soldiers. The pictures had no real focus, except for one thing in common between them all: there were shots of alien creatures in captivity. Shufflers, Crawlers, Grabbers, they were all there. A message attached to them simply read, “You idiots didn’t look in the right spot.”

Max cackled. “I told you!” He said, “I told you one day they couldn’t resist the baked cookie that is the Light Side!”

“Whatever!” Carrie huffed, “What good’s this now?!”

“Maybe we can use it to make those Eos guys tell us what they did with Natalie!” Max explained, “I’ll be over uno momento!”

The call ended and before Carrie could storm off Daxton stood and stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. “Hold on,” He said, “Send me those pictures.”

“What? Why?” She asked.

“I know someone who’d really want to see them.”
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
page
1
page
2
page
3
page
4
page
5
page
6
page
7
page
8
page
9
page
10
page
11
page
12
page
13
page
14
page
15
page
16
page
17
page
18
page
19
page
20
page
21
page
22
page
23
page
24
page
25
page
26
page
27
page
28
page
29
page
30
page
31
page
32
page
33
page
34
page
35
page
36
page
37
page
38
page
39
page
40
page
41
page
42
page
43
page
44
page
45
page
46
page
47
page
48
page
49
page
50
page
51
page
52
page
53
page
54
page
55
page
56
page
57
page
58
page
59
page
60
page
61
page
62
page
63
page
64
page
65
page
66
page
67
page
68
page
69
page
70
page
71
page
72
page
73
page
74
page
75
page
76
page
77
page
78
page
79
page
80
page
81
page
82
page
83
page
84
page
85
page
86
page
87
page
88
page
89
page
90
page
91
page
92
page
93
page
94
page
95
page
96
page
97
page
98
page
99
page
100
page
101
page
102
page
103
page
104
page
105
page
106
page
107
page
108
page
109
page
110
page
111
page
112
page
113
page
114
page
115
page
116
page
117
page
118
page
119
page
120
page
121
page
122
page
123
page
124
page
125
page
126
page
127
page
128
page
129
page
130
page
131
page
132
page
133
page
134
page
135
page
136
page
137
page
138
page
139
page
140
page
141
page
142
page
143
page
144
page
145
page
146
page
147
page
148
page
149
page
150
page
151
page
152
page
153
page
154
page
155
page
156
page
157
page
158
page
159
page
160
page
161
page
162
page
163
page
164
page
165
page
166
page
167
page
168
page
169
page
170
page
171
page
172
page
173
page
174
page
175
page
176
page
177
page
178
page
179
page
180
page
181
page
182
page
183
page
184
page
185
page
186
page
187
page
188
page
189
page
190
page
191
page
192
page
193
page
194
page
195
page
196
page
197
page
198
page
199
page
200
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
next
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
previous
page
 
 
page
1
page
2
page
3
page
4
page
5
page
6
page
7
page
8
page
9
page
10
page
11
page
12
page
13
page
14
page
15
page
16
page
17
page
18
page
19
page
20
page
21
page
22
page
23
page
24
page
25
page
26
page
27
page
28
page
29
page
30
page
31
page
32
page
33
page
34
page
35
page
36
page
37
page
38
page
39
page
40
page
41
page
42
page
43
page
44
page
45
page
46
page
47
page
48
page
49
page
50
page
51
page
52
page
53
page
54
page
55
page
56
page
57
page
58
page
59
page
60
page
61
page
62
page
63
page
64
page
65
page
66
page
67
page
68
page
69
page
70
page
71
page
72
page
73
page
74
page
75
page
76
page
77
page
78
page
79
page
80
page
81
page
82
page
83
page
84
page
85
page
86
page
87
page
88
page
89
page
90
page
91
page
92
page
93
page
94
page
95
page
96
page
97
page
98
page
99
page
100
page
101
page
102
page
103
page
104
page
105
page
106
page
107
page
108
page
109
page
110
page
111
page
112
page
113
page
114
page
115
page
116
page
117
page
118
page
119
page
120
page
121
page
122
page
123
page
124
page
125
page
126
page
127
page
128
page
129
page
130
page
131
page
132
page
133
page
134
page
135
page
136
page
137
page
138
page
139
page
140
page
141
page
142
page
143
page
144
page
145
page
146
page
147
page
148
page
149
page
150
page
151
page
152
page
153
page
154
page
155
page
156
page
157
page
158
page
159
page
160
page
161
page
162
page
163
page
164
page
165
page
166
page
167
page
168
page
169
page
170
page
171
page
172
page
173
page
174
page
175
page
176
page
177
page
178
page
179
page
180
page
181
page
182
page
183
page
184
page
185
page
186
page
187
page
188
page
189
page
190
page
191
page
192
page
193
page
194
page
195
page
196
page
197
page
198
page
199
page
200
by Milkie
Issue 14: Recovery
Issue 17: Confrontation
It seems that some problems are rooted much deeper than anyone could have thought.

Keywords
cat 198,407, wolf 181,306, canine 173,187, dog 156,294, feline 138,493, human 99,897, bear 44,806, bat 34,517, rodent 31,646, deer 27,251, reptile 26,040, hyena 17,287, ferret 9,610, pig 8,132, adventure 5,375, corgi 4,306, action 4,136, scifi 3,755, giraffe 2,832, buck 2,811, butterfly 2,319, gecko 2,043, science fiction 1,759, inkling 1,379, partners 2541 648, lemming 438, carrie oakenfield 228, haze 162, erwin goldstein 130, jacent danger 127, polaris 127, angler fish 120, samantha masterson 110, max tangent 107, shelly iverson 72, quincey abram 70, harbington heroes 66, kenny baxter 63, daxton kemberge 58, laila lavinia 53, echelon 42, edward "eddie" kemberge 21, paris marcello 20, garrison clarke 9
Details
Type: Writing - Document
Published: 7 years, 10 months ago
Rating: Mature

MD5 Hash for Page 1... Show Find Identical Posts [?]
Stats
108 views
7 favorites
3 comments

BBCode Tags Show [?]
 
Norithics
7 years, 10 months ago
Aw man that reveal! Aaaaaaa!
AlexanderHightail
4 years, 4 months ago
Action-packed. Impatient fox needs more story.
Milkie
4 years, 4 months ago
There's lots more!
New Comment:
Move reply box to top
Log in or create an account to comment.