Path of the Hunters [PART 4] (NSFW)

Nova took the blow to the head full-on, though his head did not move an inch. His eye twitched in irritation, though. "Well, shit! That was anticlimactic!" He wrested his wrist from Damien's grip, moved away from the soldier, rotating his shoulder. "Had me thinkin' he was turn into a Sidewinder missile on me!"

*

The tears flowed from her eyes as she sniffled. "I... I'm sorry, Trip..."

Damien blinked under the helmet, then shook his head, a hand went to the faceplate. "Fuck...I hate that one..."

"Not exactly sunshine and rainbows for me, either, Damien..."

"I know...at least you don't have to relieve the damn thing when you fall asleep."

"I was hoping you stopped reliving it by now."

"Tch. That'll never happen. Not while you're-" He stopped, apparently now noticing everyone else there. "I'm not finishing that."

Sunny scowled. "Dude, for real? You can't leave us hangin' after that."

*

He frowned. "Don't cry," he murmured. His tails wrapped around her, holding her gently.

"No."

"Damien..."

"No."

"Don't you think it's a bit late now? Hell if you won't I wi-"

"Mute."

She went silent.

"No."

Nova smashed his knuckles together, glaring dangerously at the human. "Fuck, man! You owe me that much! Had me actually worried 'bout yo ass! Tell us now, or I'll rip that expensive armor off your hide!"

"You'll do no such thing." Cross had his gun pointed at Nova's head. "Now calm down."

His teeth gritted, but he turned away fiercely, walking off. "Fuck!"

*

She sniffled softly, nuzzling into his shoulder.

"Just 'oo is Katherine?" Aurélie said quietly.

*

Dart wriggled slightly, bothered by the girl's agitation.

"It is none of your business." His voice held a deathly calm. Whatever it was, he was determined to keep it a secret.

Which, due to Katherine's stubborn nature, would fail utterly as two words appeared on Cross's HUD. 'Katherine Jackson'.

Cross' eyes narrowed slightly at the sight, though he kept his silence... for now. "It's all right," Cross said nonchalantly, stowing his gun back away. "If it's not important to the mission, then it's not important to us. Besides, I'm sure he'll tell us when he's good and ready."

*

Yue turned back to Dart, wiping the tears from her eyes. "Don't worry," she cooed, smiling weakly. "I'm okay."

Damien could see the mirrored words on Cross's HUD before they vanished before anyone else could see them. He was thankful he hadn't said anything, but he knew that his secret was now on a time-release lock, and it would be revealed soon enough.

Text appeared on his HUD, he could feel her smugness. "I don't need to speak in order to pass on a message."

He leaned back against the seat. As usual, she surprised him with her outright stubborness and will to defy him.

Sunny sneered. "Shit. So we're about to land."

Aurélie took her seat, bringing Nova to the one beside her. She nuzzled him softly.

*

The pup gurgled as if he didn't believe her, but relaxed in her arms just the same.

Trip smiled slightly, nuzzling Yue.

Nova grumbled for a moment, but sighed. "What a nuisance. I swear, sometimes these humans blow shit all outta proportion. And with no compensation..."

"Oh, give it a rest," Cross said, walking over to them, placing a hand on Nova's shoulder. "If he doesn't want us to know something, then that's on him, okay." He gave him a small wink.

Nova raised an eyebrow for a split second, then relaxed, nuzzling Aurélie back. "Yeah, whatever. Just make sure you make it outta this, so I can kick your ass."

He chuckled. "You can try."

*

Yue smiled softly, nuzzling Trip back. "So warm..."

The ship banked and headed towards Briggs's location, stopping at a hover several dozen feet above the area. The ship scanning the area looking for a suitable location to pick him up at...

"Mm... You should know not to tempt 'im, Cross." Fondly, Aurélie licked the wolf's cheek.

"Yo, we should land here. We'll fill Briggs in when we see him," Sunny suggested.

*

He blushed. "Th-thanks."

The pelican shifted and headed towards a parking lot behind the diner and landed there, a slight bump was felt as the landing gear hit the ground, along with a cloud of miscellanious trash and dirt kicked up from the engines. The back hatch opened up, showing said diner in perfect view.

Sol was the first to step out, rifle at the ready. "...All clear."

"Okay," Cross said, addressing everyone. "We're going to deploy the underground team, now."

*

Her breathing eased. "I'm sorry. It was just so vivid to me, like I was there..."

Aurélie laid her lips on Nova's. "Bonne chance, mon coeur."

Sunny walked out, grinning. It was about damn time.

*

"It's okay..." He looked down when Aurora started to wriggle. She was asleep, he realized, but still moving. He smiled slightly. "She's dreaming..."

"You take care, all right?" Nova said, nuzzling her.

Mani walked out, bumping Sol with her hip. "See ya later, flyboy."

Sol grinned at her, saluted.

Kane stood, looked over at Crescent. "Remember: Control."

"I will," she responded. "Bonne chance." With that, the black wolf exited.

*

She smiled as well. "I hope it's a good one..."

"Oui." She smiled at him, then at Crescent before walking out. "A tout a l'heure."

*

"So do I."

Crescent nodded, waved.

Sol stepped back inside. "Guess that leaves the rest of us with the air strike, huh?"

Back around front, the familiar gray wolf stepped out of the diner, looked around... Looks like it was all quiet. But still, the sound he heard from around back bothered him. He decided to take a look...

*

She looked down, noticed that Dart was asleep in her arms as well. "...They don't need bad dreams. Not like what we get."

"Affirmitive." His voice held a unnerving calmness, possibly due to the incident earlier. The faceplate remained polarized.

Sunny saw him first and grinned. "Yo, Briggs, how's it hangin', mother fucker?"

*

"You get bad dreams, too?"

Briggs looked up, smirked. "Nothin' much. Just stickin' it to a bunch of psychos with knives. Bunch of long-range pussies, if ya ask me."

Mani smiled. "Well, it's good to see you're handling things well."

*

She nodded. "Ever since I heard the stories. Papa always said I had an active imagination, so when I heard them, I started seeing them..."

Damien looked out the rear of the pelican, "If you do remember, we do have a rescue mission to perform. The sooner it's done, the sooner your personal matters can be dealt with." He maintained his attitude.

"Yeah, well, we're about to go in and rescue Star."

*

Trip cuddled close, sighing.

"Sounds good. I'm with you guys."

"But Briggs," Mani said. "Wouldn't you rather-"

"We'll talk about is after we're done. Now let's move already!"

*

She shuddered. "It was horrible. Mean men all around. Mama and Papa were so young, they couldn't do anything... but let them..."