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Iris only got as far as the landing at the bottom of the steps with one hand on the railing and one foot on the first step before she turned to watch the action. Breathing from both the little scrap of a fight she had been in.

In that time the first of the squirrels were able to scamper out and stare down from the fake tree branches. Their tails lashing back and forth as they began to chitter aggressively. Well, as aggressively as a Scurry of small woodland creatures who weighed in at just over a pound could.

As the boy was getting up from the floor and the larger one was trying to deal with not falling down due to the pain of his battered man parts, they had just enough time to begin to look up before the first three furry projectiles came flying down.

Two of them landed on the now knifeless boy. His serving knife had gone flying away in his fall. His body being half bent, half laid out on the ground gave rodents enough horizontal surface for them both to pounce.

The still standing larger boy only got the one on his upper back, but it soon began to claw its way up to the back of his head. The two on the smaller boy just dug right into the thin shirt he was wearing with their sharp little claws.

Their teeth were being used more to give them a grip on the boy by biting down on the quickly shredding remains of his shirt than to bite into his back.

Neither boy seemed happy about the little claws digging into their flesh and they showed that with their shrill screams.

Iris laughed gleefully. "That will teach you to break into someone's house."

The larger boy began to spin in circles as he tried to get the beast off his head, while the younger one curled up into a ball while screaming. Meanwhile, the other four squirrels raced down the fake tree trunks and began to scamper across the floor. All closing in on the boy lying there all curled up and making no attempt to save himself.

The larger boy finally got a grip on the one on the back of his head and threw it to the ground. Stunning it long enough for him to stomp on it, check his work, and then stomp on it again. This time pressing his full weight upon it and grinding it into the ground with his foot.

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In the time it took him, the smaller boy had become buried in a squirrel pile. Kicking and screaming at the bites and nibbles.

Iris raised her hands to either side of her mouth and yelled. "Try one of those clubs Ernesto. Knock them off your sweetheart before they hit an artery."

Oh good. She’s making this a teaching moment.

Ernesto gave her a glare but still ran over to grab a spiked club and dashed over to begin swinging it wildly at the furry mob on his little friend who was now trying to claw his way free of his attackers.

At least the big boy didn't run off and abandon his friend. As a reward, I dismissed the first two squirrels that he managed to hit with his club on impact. It wasn’t fair for the two of them to fight three people's worth of monsters alone after Iris ran out on them.

But only the first two. I don’t think he even noticed that the first two had vanished as they got knocked off by his club as soon as they went flying. While the next two were only knocked across the room, only partially wounded and stunned for a moment.

Clearing off four of them did give Ernesto the chance to help his friend to his feet and let the two of them begin to stagger off towards the stairs. Three furry menaces chasing along after them, trying to claw their way up their legs.

Iris was already up the stairs with Buttercup leaping out of her way as the smaller boy started to get lifted to his feet. And she was standing in the middle of her basement facing them down with her cat crouched down next to her. Ready to pounce by the time the two of them were up the stairs, having left all five of their surviving opponents at the entrance of the room behind. Chitterlings and dashing their tales back and forth in victory as they rose to their hind feet and struck their paw against each other's.

That seemed a bit strange for squirrels. It must be a quirk of the Earth versions.

As the two boys stopped and realized they weren't being chased and began to turn their rage filled eyes towards Iris. She in turn lifted her hand from the folds of her house dress and aimed a small metal contraption at the two of them.

Oh, I know what that is. It’s a gun. I didn’t know she had one of those. They seem like a fun weapon. It’s a shame I don’t have hands anymore to try one out.

“This is a .38 caliber six-shooter boys. Down here in the basement, no one will hear the shots and from everything I've read about dungeons. It will gladly take care of your remains once I kick your limp bodies down the stairs."

I would.

The little one seemed to go even paler than what could be blamed on recent blood loss. While the big boy stopped breathing for a moment and swallowed. "So you going to shoot us, or do you want something from us? I won't beg."

Iris grinned. “I want an apology. From both of you. Then I want you to keep your mouths shut and don’t come on my property ever again.”

They both began nodding eagerly.

She wiggled the gun toward the steps going up. "Get moving, and go out the side door on the steps. I don't want you getting blood on my new carpeting."

The old woman stood there until she heard the side door close then seemed to sag as she let out a breath. Staggering over to the formally tattered couch mostly covered in brand-new cardboard boxes, she eased herself down into a seat and laid her head back with a sigh.

“Why didn’t you kill them Tark? I thought that was how you got stronger?”