Board Thread:The Company/@comment-24930445-20140615054833/@comment-24930445-20140629050717

Vee had worked his magic. It had taken some time, but the mass that was Kat’s hair was currently rebraided to look far less substantial. The eyepatch was another story, however. After several discussions, it was decided that she would be a prisoner who had suffered a head wound.

Another scarf was scrounged up and Xyastia wound it expertly around Kat’s head, covering her patch. Ben shook his head, not completely convinced by the transformation, but had nothing better to suggest except to stay between him and Mack when the time came.

Within moments, the door slid open and Axin stepped in calling Kat’s name. She shrugged off the hands trying to keep her in place and stood to pick her way over people to him. Axin frowned, seeing the bandage. “What the hell happened to you?”

She rolled her eye and shook her head. “Its about time, you bastard. Where th’ hell hae ye been?! I’ve been trying to get someone to get ye for hours now!”

“I’ve been busy. We need to get out of here. Get your daughter and lets go. I can take you as far as the shuttle bay, you’re on your own after that.” Instincts still on overdrive, he glanced back into the hallway.

Kat turned to her crew and smiled. “Looks like we’re going home. Come on. Quickly. Follow him.”

“Wait. Wait. WAIT. Katrylle. I said get your daughter, not the entire population of this room. There’s no way in hell I’m going to let you take all these people out. They wouldn’t fit in a shuttle anyway!” He barred the doorway with his body even as people had begun to move forward.

Kat raised a hand over her shoulder and the room settled down. “Yer friggin serious, aren’t ye? Ye know there is no way I’m leavin’ my people here, Axin. Tis either all o’ us or ye and I are gonna go at it an’ ye know I dinnae hae ta touch ye ta kill ye.” Her look was dark. He had seen that look in Jos’ eye many a time and it never boded well for the person or persons it had been directed at. Unfortunately, Axin had never been one to back down from it either. He was probably the only one who had survived, until now.

His growl was soft. “Take your best shot, Katrylle.”

She moved fast, but he didn’t expect the direction she would take. Ducking, she rolled past him and out into the hall. He spun and crouched, prepared for her attack, then stopped suddenly in confusion. Instead of facing the woman his instincts had warned him of, he found her grappling someone else.

The man was taller than Kat, though it didn’t seem to stop her. She was currently on his back, legs wrapped around his waist, an arm pressed tightly around his throat to choke the air from him. The crossbow the man had been carrying spun wildly across the floor away from the action.

Axin was shoved aside as a man he didn’t recognize rushed past to punch Kat’s opponent in the gut, knocking what little air he might have had completely out of his lungs. Kat oofed as her back was slammed against the wall, but she never let go, cursing in a few different languages, some of which hadn’t been heard in a few centuries.

Between the two of them, the apparent attacker finally crumpled to the floor unconscious, Kat riding him down until her feet touched the floor before stepping off sideways with grace. She smiled up at Mack and nodded while an annoyed Axin knelt down to examine the assassin. “Thank ye.”

“Tá tú an-fáilte roimh (You’re very welcome)” slipped from his lips as he bowed slightly, a twinkle in his eye.

Her own face registered shock at his speech and she tilted her head slightly. “You speak Gaelic.”

Mack nodded, smiling. “As do you.”

She frowned suspiciously. “How did y’ know that?”

Mack laughed. “Tá tú fuilteacha fucker ceart (You bloody right fucker) was very easy to pick out in your verbal tirade.

Kat joined his laughter and shook her head until she remembered the conflict she had been about to begin before the man had stepped up behind Axin with the crossbow leveled at his head. Nodding once to Mack in gratitude, she stepped past him to stand toe to toe with Axin.

“You owe me, Axin. Two by my count. I’ve saved yer bloody life twice now. Y’ get my people off this ship then ye and I hae to sit down with…. her… and we need to figure out how to fix this fucking mess she’s put us in.”

He didn’t step back so much as lean back. “What mess?”

She leaned into his space once again. “Get them out, Axin and we’ll talk, otherwise yer in this on yer own.”

Without waiting for his answer, she turned and faced the people still inside the room. “Lets go. Stay together and keep the young, wounded and old in the middle of the group. Fighters on the outside.” She stepped aside, glaring at Axin who suddenly felt it was very important that he find out her information. Snarling at her, he shook his head then moved down the hallway to the lifts.

Kat had just picked up the fallen weapon and a quiver of bolts when she felt a hand on her arm. She showed Mack the crossbow. "Guess they found a way 'round th' blaster suppression. Sorta low tech solution." She took a moment to crank the string back and load a fresh bolt.

“I’m staying with you. You’ll need someone to watch your back.”

She shook her head. “I’d rather y'stay wi' th' kids. Ye promised t' protect them, do so.”

Mack frowned. “I will have fulfilled my promise to them once they reach the shuttle. After that I am my own man and go where I will. If you are indeed in the same place, then I will watch your back.”

She couldn’t fight the logic in that statement, so she merely sighed and shook her head.

Ben shook his head at the pair of them as he stepped out of the cell. “You’re both talking nonsense because there’s no way any of us are staying here longer than it takes to get on that shuttle.”

She turned and smiled at her brother. “Ben. I have to get the device back and return it to its pedestal. Its the only way to stop the Wineni.”

Axin came back from the lifts and growled at them. “If we’re going then we go now. Stop your bickering and get these people moving.”

She hated to admit it, it turned her stomach, actually, but he was right. Without another word, she began ushering people out of the room, nodding to Vee and Mack to help Ben down the hallway as she kept watch for any further possible attacks.

The next one came as the last of her people stepped out of the room. Two of them, a man and a woman stepped around the corner, their crossbows leveling down the hallway at her crew. “DOWN!” was all she said as she fired off her own bolt at the couple. She was out of practice and her shot went between them. At least it drew their attention away from her friends.

“Right. Ok.” Time slowed as she considered her options; duck into the room and have them fire at her friends, stand her ground and get shot or rush them and get shot. She really wasn’t liking any of them at that point.

Screaming from down the hall drew her attention away from the couple for a brief instant only to discover a new and quite unusual threat barreling down the hallway towards her. She shook her head for a moment, to try and clear her vision.

“Well, fuck m’ life.” Running at her full speed was the biggest red tiger she had ever seen in her life. Its fur looked soft, its stripes a darker shade of burgundy. Clear blue eyes searched for its prey and the monstrous teeth glittered in the light as he roared, nearly deafening her.

She slammed her back against the wall the moment she realized it had locked on its target; the two people about to skewer her with crossbow bolts.

Still pressed against the wall, she watched impassively as the tiger shredded its victims spraying blood and gore over everything. She took a brief moment to look down the hallway to find most everyone had pushed to the elevator. Only Ben, Vee, Tarin, Aerli and Xyastia had remained behind, all watching with, what she assumed, was the same look of shock she had on her face.

Then, silence. Licking her lips, she slowly turned her head back to the carnage. Sitting not three feet from her was the tiger, its massive head tilted to one side as if in question. It might have been cute to some degree if it hadn’t been for the blood matting its facial fur. Standing, it took a step to her then laid its massive body on the floor, its chin resting on her running shoe. For some odd reason, the first thing that popped into her head as she looked down was “false advertising”.

The great beast chuffed, then began a sound that could only be related to a purr. Kat glanced at the others wide eyed then shrugged, not quite sure what to do at this point. After a moment the tiger stood back up and bumped her with his head, urging her down the hall.

Raising her hands as if to show she meant no harm (despite the empty crossbow in one), she began to move down the hallway towards her friends. With a “what the hell” look, she whispered to Ben “Umm.. where’d we pick up the new friend?”

Vee laughed nervously, watching the tiger with awe. “Its Mack.”

Kat stopped dead, spinning to face the cat only to be knocked on her ass when it didn’t realize she had stopped. She sat, the beast towering over her and she scowled. The cat chuffed once again, then gave her a great, yet gentle lick up the side of her face, its rough tongue scouring her skin. Without thinking, she swatted it hard in the nose and it sneezed, causing the others behind her to laugh.

“I wouldnae let ya lick me as a man, what makes ya think ye can lick me as a cat?” Mack sat back on his haunches and tilted his head, his massive tongue lolling from his mouth as if he were laughing at her. Suddenly, he stood and moved back down the way they had just traveled before turning around and giving himself a great shake. Everyone watched in silence as cat transformed into man once again.

None of them had ever seen a were-cat before, but Kat had heard stories. “Hey, aren’t y’suppose ta be naked er sumthin?” The question slipped from her lips before she thought to stop it and Mack laughed.

“Magic, fia-chat. (cat).” was all he said as he stepped back to her, offering his hand to help her stand. Just then, the lift opened and Axin poked his head through the doors. “Will you come ON!”