Path of the Hunters [PART 4] (NSFW)

"Don't waste your breath. I got nothin' else to say on it."

*

"Well, yeah! We promised to stick by each other, no matter what. You'd be there to make sure I didn't slip up."

Sunny smirked. "Boring."

*

He smile was shy. "Yeah."

"Quit whinin'. I'm footin' the bill for our celebration vacation."

*

"And I'd be there to make sure you had a little fun. That sound fair?"

"Sweet."

Aurélie laughed, snuggling close.

*

"Yeah."

Nova sighed, relaxing. "I'm just gonna be glad when this is all over."

*

She sighed, smiling. "It would be so much fun... Say, Trip, did you get the feeling Crescent was hiding something?"

"Same," Sunny agreed, scowling.

*

"What do you mean?" He'd been around when she'd been teased about pregnancy, so hadn't noticed anything amiss.

He nodded, then his phone rang: Briggs. "...Gotcha." He hung up, turned to Cross. "That was Briggs. He said he's about eight blocks down the street from the building; in an old trolley diner on Sync Street."

Cross nodded. "That's close enough. We'll deploy the underground unit there, and the rest of us will move in from the sky."

*

"Well, the way she was trying to hide her ginger ale. I don't think she would've done that, if she was just normally sick... Could she be pregnant?"

Aurélie nodded. "Bonne. The sooner we get there, the better."

*

Trip nodded. "They were talking about that earlier. How come you know about pregnant?"

"Which should be in the next ten or so minutes..." Stated Katherine, using the speakers in Damien's helmet. Damien himself, however, seemed to be asleep.

When he started to twitch, is when Katherine's voice took a worried edge to it, "Oh hell, not again..."

Cross raised an eyebrow. "What? What is it?"

*

Yue blushed deeply. "Well... a couple of my explorations have given me some... knowledge, so to speak."

She sighed, "Memories. Just keep a distance from him, last person to shake him awake ended up with three broken ribs and a dislocated shoulder." She silent for a moment, then cursed, "It's that one again."

Sunny leaned back, lifting a brow. "A nightmare. Big shock."

*

Trip averted his gaze, frowning. He'd learned about pregnancy in other ways... His tails wrapped around himself. "Um... Okay..."

Sol frowned. "I've been there before."

Nova frowned as well, getting to his feet, bringing his wife with him. "I got a bad feelin' about this..."

*

Yue frowned. "Oh, um, sorry. Didn't mean to bring up bad memories..."

"It'd be better if it was. At least nightmares aren't real." She sighed, evidently worried for him, "Wait, Nova, could you help with this? I think you are strong enough, or at least tough enough, to handle Damien. Just...just try not to hurt him or damage the suit. One's rather irreplacable, the other is a bitch to repair."

"Just what is about to 'appen?"

*

He shrugged. "It's okay... I asked you." He tickled Aurora, the baby squealing and gurgling.

"Oh, he's going to snap Damien out of this memory, hopefully he has a quick enough reaction time to insure that he doesn't get his ass handed to him from Damien's standard reaction to being woken from one of these memories."

Nova scoffed. "Like I can't handle myself." He stepped forward. "I'm game."

*

"But still..." Tears began to well in her eyes. "Oh... I wish I never heard that story..."

"Bonne chance."

Sunny grinned widely. "This should be cool."

*

"What story?" he said quietly.

"Hop to it, the longer you stand there, the worse it'll be for him..." Her voice softened, "I hate this...so much."

He moved toward the human, eyes narrowing. "So, what's the plan? Do I just shake him awake, or what?"

*

She shook her head. "No, I... It's too painful..."

"Or punch him," Sunny added.

Aurélie's attention was on Katherine, however. For a computer, she seemed very attached...

*

"You can tell me," he whispered.

"Just shake him, he's a light enough sleeper for that."

"Fine. As long as this guy's not as strong as a Scud..." He reached out to him, gave him a quick shake, body steeling for the reaction.

*

"Let her be, Trip," Elesis cut in. "At least until the babies are asleep. This is something they don't need to hear."

And a reaction it was, snapping out of the dream in an instant and a blur of motion had him grabbing Nova's arm and yanking it down with enough force to tear it off of a normal person and slamming his fist into the back his head.

Aurélie watched, eyes narrowing.

*

Shyly, Trip scooted closer and nuzzled the girl softly. "Okay..."