>> [Blocked]

Thunder flickers, splashing the wrecked ships with gleaming reflections and jumping shadows. I drop to a crouch and, flicker-fast, that emerald eye vanishes into the jumping darkness. Trailing a tiny, light, little ding-ding-ding of sound into the broken ruins and savaged metal. The light dies, and I see a flicker of tail. The sharp breath catching in my throat. "Oh-"

Kami’s arms stay folded. “What? Don't-”

“No. I saw….” The eye shines again, beneath a different car. I flick a hand, and we slide into cover - our four-horned GMO [Berserker] skulking in behind. Lion-tail low, and undulating.

“Rrr…. Ziss place has a smell of rats….”

“GMO kind, or giant freaky mutant kind?” Kami asks. Faux-casually. Checking her many pistols and knives, by the sound of it.

Our boy sniffs the ground. “Both.”

“Rats with slitted green eyes, huh…. Or, eye….” My ears twitch as I check the angles. A breath of distant voices…. A shush…. A hand over a mouth….. I smirk. “No alleys to jump us. Lots’a doorways though.… Nothin’ to smell cept ‘rats’ on the air….”

“Zait is certain.” Demon agrees, also smirking.

I nod to him, with a low grin - fingers twisting through gestures. Demon’s square pupils follow them intently, then he nods. Bounding into a collapsed shop, and up through the hole in the ceiling. “So. Ways outta this street?” I add, louder.

“Cut through a building?” Kami inquires in her sweetest tone - meaning ‘lets blast our way through an actual supporting wall into probably some guy’s bathroom’. “It’s that or go forward. Or…. Back.”

I grimace.

“Oh come on, Spook. Just….. You ran along that edge road. You were fine.” But she shivers at the still-dark spot where Moon just stood. As if thinking.

I clench everything. “I had…. motivation.” And a pair of total assholes dragging me.

“Spook.” She says, earnestly. “You’re our pilot. You flew us here.”

“S’different.” I mutter, itching my neck. Feeling like a little kid caught in a lie. Lucky me, Demon pops back before she can literally strangle me. Waving and pointing from an upper window. I smirk, and nod. “Well. Better get movin’. Hey? Dispatch? You back yet? Zip?”

Nothing.

Kami shakes her head, eyes roving. “He’s only ever quiet when you don’t want him to be…..”

“Yeah….” I gesture to her, subtle and fast - and she nods. I drop to all fours, and hop over a fallen rock - like I’m sniffing about. But really I'm circling around - and fighting the urge to whistle innocently. Right in the corner of my eye, I catch Demon flow out an upstairs window. Disappearing behind a stack of old bins, in a leon-tailed flash…..

Directly behind em.

Kami saunters left, and I slip under the bulk of a huge busted construction drone. Ducking through a belly ripped open and pillaged of all usable parts. And.... there.... Another flick of bright green eye - quivering and blinking from behind a wreck. Jade claws gripping at the torn fuselage. It meets mine, widens, and whips outta sight. But I freakin’ blur. Diving round the drone - right as Demon blocks off his escape. My claws flash, and I grab a collar - lifting it with zero effort.

“Hi Tufty! What’re you doin’ outta ya box?”

“EEEEEK!!!!" The catboy squeals, a lot like a rat. "Ummm! AH! Meyowww~! Gosh! Spook! Oh heeeeey~!!!” He whimpers coiling up in on himself like he’s made of rubber bands - green tail whipping. Clawed hands and bare feet all clutched up together as a green fringe shifts down his tan face. Which he frantically plasters over the left side. “Um. Um, you- Um….” I drop the kid with a sigh, and he backs up. Fuzzy ears drooped. Eyes low and sad. Like a broken doll, with an extra floofy tail. “Um…. Yeah…. Um….”

Kami materialises, with an evil grin, behind him. Golden dots blurring circles around her stealth cores. “Found the rats, huh? Y’know, I warned you this little frea-”

“Think I’m missing one, actually.” I interupt - loudly - glaring at her with narrowed lids. I sniff around. Then I wheel back to Tufty, with a big scary smile. “Alright, kiddo. Now. I know you didn’t get free without help.… so where’s our little merchant of death, eh? Come on? Little bugger’s gotta be around here somewhere….”

“Um- Uh-” The cat’s one bright eye flits sideways, and I snort. Tossing him at Demon, who barely catches.

“Right. Well, if he ain’t here then….” I reach under my cloak and grab some random-ass thing. “….you’re clearly being followed! So I better chuck this ‘grenade’ behind that pile of bricks!”

“AH!! HEY!!! W-WAIT!!! AHHH!!” Some little dweeb yells - right on cue - and out pops the human half of ‘Team Sneaky’. Practically face-skidding down the pile, to land with a crash. And there he is. A goofy-ass black boy wearing…. oh boy, where do I even start? We’ve got stripy dress shirts - plural. One of which is, apparently, a cape. Boxers over trousers. A big floppy hat. Braces. Bowtie. And…. Well. It just gets worse from there, frankly. Then, there’s the energy. He bounds up, fixes his…. let’s call it a costume…. And then a big cheesy smile splits his big brown face. “HAHA! OH HI SPOOK!!! WE FOUND YOU!!” He yells. Waving hard - like he just saw me - as all those happy little echoes blast across The Pirate Tower. “WE-”

“Shush ya face, ya little idiot!” I yelp, clamping a big hand over his bigger gob - eyes wild in panic. “There’s all bloody sorts about! And we just met freakin’ Moon.” I motion to Demon, who hoists a wiggling cat. Dragging the pair of em a few blocks down the street - just in case. Finally - when I’m happy we’re hidden - I round on the shifty duo. “Seriously? Both of you?” I sigh. “Bloody Hell….”

Tufty’s pointy ears sag even lower, bladed fingers twiddling. He glances mutely at Dimwit Number Two - who beams up at me, brightly. Rubbing the big puff of messiness he calls hair. “UH, WELL- HAHA!” He catches my grim look - mid-shout - and tamps the noise. “AH! RIGHT!! SNEAKY VOICES!!!!” He chirps happily - flailing at large, and waggling about energetically. “So, uhhhhh….! Yeah! We got attacked by pirates!! And the chopper EXPLODED!!! So we had to run away!!! And-”

“Badger….” I sigh. “Tha real version, Badger.”

“But! But!!!” He makes huge sulky eyes at me.

“Badger!”

“My version’s better.” The kid huffs, kicking about with his brown toes. “But…. Well, uh - you all went POOF! Like, for real! And we, uh, we- Hahhaha!” He looks away, and I’m pretty sure that’s an embarrassed blush. I mean, not that you can tell under dark skin and thirty layers of muck. But, I mean, in theory it’s under there somewhere. “…..so we all super ran over to help…..”

“Uh-hu?” I lean down - claw-poking a Badger until the kid goes ‘yeep!’ “So. Comms got cut, n' then ya snuck out? Unarmed And came looking for us?” I poke him again. “And ya bloody well let Tufty out. Even though ya know he’s on probation? And maybe a spy? And is, quite possibly, going to turn us in?”

“YEP!” Badger beams at me, like he won a prize. “So, uh - you okay then? Right?”

“Yeah I bloody well am, you little twit! But I would’a been pretty bad if you’d gotten shredded in all that back there! It was bloody bad stuff, Badge! Guys with guns! Rocket launchers! A tank! A chopper! Squads of soldiers, and mutant sewer things on bikes!”

“Ooooh! So you did need help!!” He cheers.

I facepalm. “No! No, squirt! I needed you safe. You and cat-butt.” I point at the pair of ‘em, and they squirm. “I need-” I glance at the left arm he’s got stuffed behind his back…. and sigh. “Where'd your hand go?”

“Oh? Um….” The black kid looks suddenly glum, but he drags out the metal stump of a wrist. “I… um…. yeah…. left it behind! ‘Cause it’s heavy! Hahah! But I didn’t want you to see….. ‘cause I…. um…. um….”

“You didn’t lose it…. right?” I tilt my head, but he shakes his - a firm ‘no’. You can tell because he’s a blur. “Great. So…..” I stop, I frown - and then I lean closer. Way closer. Poking again. This time with the pads of my fingers - not a claw. It’s hard to tell under all the crazy layers, but…. yeah, that's a lump. “That ain’t armour under there. Is it?”

“Um!! Um!” The kid panics, trading looks with Tufty - who facepaws. Then he whips back to me, eyes huge. “Um!!!”

"I told ya. Armour out on the-" I rub my face. “Just…. Just fork it over. Now.” I sigh, and he nods glumly. Turning round to grab about inside his clothing - all while doing a little two-foot dance, like he needs the loo. Until he gets a firm hold on the contraband. Tufty's eye dips toward it, then widens with an ‘eep!’ as he starts edging for the huge pile of bricks.

Oh boy, I was so wrong about the unnarmed part….

“Badger…. Get it out. Slowly.” I say, leaning back and looking for cover. Kami is actually walking backwards. Demon is just gone. And I’m tempted to take a flying leap after.

“BUT!!!” The little kid kinda slumps. “You…. You never….”

“Badger….”

He gives up, and starts pulling all kinds of things out of the folds and pockets of that total mess he's 'wearing'. So much so it actually starts to deflate. I get handed a teddy with one leg and a robot eye - which lets out a little fart of flame. Then a couple of ‘suspicious packages’, a few grenades, a weird mutant ‘cluster smoke-bomb’, a bundle of detonators, packs of explosives, a pipe bomb, and a few other odds and ends. Suddenly, there’s a whole lot less Badger and a whole lot more ordinance.

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“Holy shiiiit.” I breathe. “Is this all of it?” He nods, shyly. “Really?” He hands me another grenade. “Really?” A few more detonators, and some wire. “Badger….”

Sulky, the kid passes me a blob of grey ‘playdough’ - trailing wires. Careful as Hell, I drop it with the rest - staring at the haul. Then I poke him again, and he huffs loudly. Removing the 'cape'. The 'hat'. The... I don't know what that is, frankly.

But I par the wacky doofus down to his shirt, then shove him at Demon for a pat-down. This results in five more squibs, several.... things made of tape and buttons.... and a monstrous bundle of wires I find distressingly bleepy.

I stare down at the haul, then back at a much thinner Badger. “Kami, could ya get ya ass over here and make this crap safe?”

“Oh Hell no!! I still remember last time!” She yelps, from behind a busted wall. “We lost the whole freakin’ building!”

My claws rub face as I sigh. Rounding on our tiny, yet adorable, terrorist. “Seriously? No gun, but all this? How’d ya even pack it in there….?” I glare at Tufty - now inching backward behind the wally.

Tufty and Badger [https://images2.imgbox.com/8c/e7/NyNKWOVg_o.png]

“Well….. Ahahah.” Badger laughs, nervously - but Kami bops the ‘do’ to shut him up.

“Y’know what, I don’t wanna know.” I squint at the pile until Tutorial Mode activates - and a happy cartoon bomb pops up in the corner of my vision. Bouncing about and smilling at me.

“Hi! I’m Boomy the helpful boom-boom!! Bombs are your friends!!! But let’s practice disarming, just in case!!! Do you want to activate Tutorial Four: ‘my bomb is ticking awful loud’?”

“Heck no!” I wince. “Activate the Bomb Helper Overlay. I’ll figure it out.”

“Sure thing, my boomy Boomer pal! A-HA-HA!!!”

“Also, mute and then delete yourself.” I grunt, flipping out a multi-tool. “With fire.”

“Oh no! My existence!” It wails in terror, but I flick it away. Gotta concentrate, here.

“YAH!! Wait! No! Um-” Badger starts as I tentatively tug out a blasting cap. “Noooooo!!!” He flops onto my back, and skids down - leaving, I assume, a double-streak of tears. But I keep on at it - methodically. Ignoring the dweeb. The pipe-bomb I just take the battery out of. Grenades I stick to my magnetic webbing. Eventually, there’s just this package bristling with wires. I stare at it. Suspiciously.

“Oh boy, we got ourselves a ‘Badger Special’…..”

“Shit!!” Kami yelps from behind a wall. “How bad?”

I frown. “A…. lot?” My hand drifts to the battery….

…..and Badger grabs it - wrapping small fingers and stump round my wrist. “NO! SPOOK! NO! It’s boobytrapped!!”

“….of course it is.” I groan. “Shit, well….. I dunno - but I sure as Hell ain’t letting you do it.”

“But-” Huge eyes glisten.

“No! You’re nine! And you’re already down a hand! I told ya! No bombs until you’re twelve, and you never list-”

“But I’m REAL good with bombs!!” He jumps on the spot. “I’m REAL good! Everyone says so, and-”

“-then you blow them up.”

Badger looks away, and mutters something - but I just shake my head. But it’s true…. he used to be good. He used to be top of the class. Absolute gold-star sudent of Demolitions....

Then….. Well. I an't sure, actually.

Then somehting.

“Damnnit…." I pace. "Can’t leave it. Can’t disarm it. Can’t-”

“It’s not even on.” Badger grumbles. “You gotta sorta pull that ring thing, then-”

I blow out a breath. “Fine. I’ll stick it somewhere, and hope it don’t go..... Special…. like the last one did….”

“Wha? I do! THAT WAS BRUTAL!!! Everything went BOOM!!! AND IT WAS MEGA - ULTRA - AWESOME!!!” He beams, waggling his whole body proudly. “AND-”

“Shhhhh! I said be quiet!!” I growl, and he covers his big mouth. “Well, crap. What now….” I turn to find Tufty batting - playfully - at Demon’s tail with his knuckles. Leaping about as he tries to fight it. Demon, of course, takes it like a champ. He takes everything like a champ. “Well. Alright then, you pack of twits…. Let's just..... Let's find Zip, then grab up dinner and g…. Hey, wait a sec!" I blink - and they both jump. "We're off network! We're bloody Signal Blocked! So how’d you pair o’ wallies find us with no tracker!?”

"YEEEP!" Tufty leaps right off his ‘toy’ - tail vanishing between a baggy trouser-leg as one visible eye whips about. “Uh, ummmm, uh….. Meeeywwww…..” He squirms, twisting his neon-zombie-unicorn-massacre t-shirt so hard he makes a total mess of the terrified cupcake civilians.

But Badger just laughs it off. “OH! YEAH! HAHA! YOU TOTALLY VANISHED!" He whoops, copping another bonk round his empty brain-box. "Uh, I mean?" He rube it, because it was Kami that time. "We sorta saw where you were before? Right? Coz of your tracky thing?” He points at the side of his head, then conjours a fuzzy virtual map - like a floating wrist-screen. Beaming proudly all the way. “Haha! YEAH! We kinda got super lost for a bit, though, when…..” Tufty shakes his head very rapidly. “But AH! I mean, we lost you! Yeah!! You just went POOF! But we SUPER knew where we were! And we weren’t lost!!! So we, uh, we just kinda followed the street! Yeah! And then we FOUND you! And here we are!!” He beams - but only for a second. “Uh. Huhuh. Spook! Your.... your eye’s twitching again!” I make a mad grab at the kid, and he yeeps - bolting behind Tufty. Who ain’t a whole lot bigger, despite the multi-year age-gap.

“If ya lost us when you were already out.” I purr. “Then you were already out when ya lost us! So ya fibbed. Didn’t ya?”

“Um. Uh? Noooooo? I was, just sorta um- HAHAHA!” Badger stutters in a panic, eyes darting. So I stare down our skinny emo kitty - who cracks, instantly.

“Ah!! We’re sorry! Meeeewww!”

“So when did you REALLY leave? Huh?” I snarl, and they eeeep like I’m attacking. “No, wait, I got me an educated guess. You weird lil’ buggers were in there with Zip when he called about pizza whatsits….. So I bet you hopped out that door the moment that big ‘Pirate party’ happened. That about the size of it?”

“Um….. Golly…. I mean….? Maybe?” Tufty babbles that slitted green eye flashing wide.

“Busted.” I smirk, folding my arms. “So. You left way earlier than ya said, and for dumber reasons. Way before we vanished, I bet.” I fold my arms, and smirk. “So….?”

“We, um…..” Tuft mumbles, staring at my knees as Badger nudges the kitty furiously. Like he was about to drop ‘em both the kack.

I get down between ‘em.

“You.” I point at Badger. “Are nine. And you....” I jab at the kitty - who cowers. “....are twelve. Thirteen. Ish. Maybe. Whatever. Ya both bloody old enough to know better, but dumb enough to do it anyway. And you, kitty-”

“Ummmm, but Spook-”

“-were on probation.” A vile look slaps across the feline’s face, and he stops squirming - turning away. A shadow of before. “So. Why’d you do it?”

Badger winces. “Ummmmm. ‘Cause you-”

“Oi! No! Don’t blame me! I wanna know why you didn’t do what you were bloody told! You didn’t even bring a gun! And in a bloody Pirate tower, too! Where they sell little kids for a few bloody vials! I mean, shit, we passed….” I breathe out, fighting it down. “So why?”

They droop even harder, and Tufty shrinks into a sad little crouch. “Um…. Meeeeow. ‘Cause we’re stupid? Meeeow.” He mumbles, shivering so hard all the chains on his trousers tinkle. And the bell on his collar, too.

“Damn right you were. And what did I say?”

“Be smart.” They mumble.

“Or?”

“….you’ll slap the stoopid outta us…..” He finishes - and I flick ‘em both round the ears. Which is way easier when one of em has such big tufty lugs.

“Well. If you ain’t filleted up for some Aristo restaurant first. Or worse - nabbed by the bloody Berks and bunged off to School.” They cringe - then cringe even harder. “So. You got me? No more of this?” I waggle my arms, generally.

“Kay Spook.” They mumble - and we all gloss right over the few, slight, ‘tactical omissions’ from my list of Horrors. Aka the nightmare things even Moon is scared of.....

Almost like we don’t want to talk about it….

“Alright….. Alright…. Now.... C’mon - let’s got find our bloody dinner.” I start walking again, then hesitate. “Hey. Wait another sec.” I round on ‘em again. “How the Hell’d you even get Tufty outta lockup??”

Badger squeaks. Tufty squeaks louder.

And I start channeling my ole dad. “RRRAAH!!!! I’m gonna bloody marmalise the pair of you!!”

“AHH! I dun’t wanna be a marmalade!!!” Tufty wails, bounding off on all fours as Kami starts laughing. I breathe out very hard through my nose, make a brief strangling motion - then spin on a heel, and storm off. Gah! We only brought Badger along to split up the other Terrible Two! And Tufty so Badger wouldn’t get bored and distract Zipper!

But…. Yeee….

Speaking of.

“Zip! Oi, Zip!!” I try, yet again - and this time I get a low crackle of a voice.

“Sp-KKRRRK-k!? Mat-sssssss! Y-u’re, like cutt-g o-t.”

“Yeah, I bloody know!! Moon pulled some kinda signal-blocking bullshit, but we’re okay. Barely even tried to murder us.”

“Huh-rrrr. Weeeiiiirrrrrdddd-ururrr-”

“Zip? Zip??” I shrug. “Guess he’s-”

A loud pop - then a “SKREEEE!” of blinding noise violates my poor, poor, augmented ears. I groan hard, ramming the volume down. But not much I can do with it routed right into my implant. I can’t pull that out like an earbud.

Lucky me, though, I didn’t have volume on max.

Unlike our poor cat.

Badger pats Tufty on the head until it clears. Then there’s a second of silence, and we hear back from Zip - who is now a broken robot, by the sounds of it. “HeY? Hey?? GuYs? CaN yoOOOoou hEAR mE nOOow??”

“Gotcha, Zip. What the Hell was that??”

“Uh, yEEEah…. mate, I don’t got a cluuuuuue. This is sOooome, like, real serious comms Disruptor shiiiiit. You’re slap in ~ppppffff~ dead-zone.”

“Really? I hadn’t noticed.”

“What I wanna know.” Kami growls, eyes streaking up the blasted street. “Is how Moon pulled that off. If it was holo drones or nanoTek, they’d be screwed too. Right?”

“Right, yeah - abOoout that.” Zip swallows, like he’s worried I’ll explode at him. “Yeah, I’m noOot, like, uh - seeeeeing any L.M.G. droOones? Like, nOooot at all? Well, liiiike, cept the stoOooolen ones?”

“Still think it’s our implants.” Kami adds in.

“C-can’t saaay, mate. All I know is, it’s - liiiike - solid Pirate drones on scoOope. They ain’t in the blocker zone, but yeah. I’ve had to shooooot down a bunch already. Pol might know, but- Wait! Shit! Shit! Shit!! Hold on….!” He goes dead for a second, and I glance back up the street. Badger and Tufty are chasing round Kami, who’s getting ready to slap em…. “Oops! Back! Sorry mate. Like, Pirates with net-drones on my ass. It’s like they live here or something.” He chuckles. “Must like my new jets.”

“Right. Right. You got a handle on this blocker then?”

“Kiiiinda, maaaate. Weird thing is, like….. I can’t find what’s doing it?”

“Something new?” I mutter.

“DunnOooo mate - but everything’s still, like, bloooOOocked and-”

“What? Still?” He’s right, I can’t get Kami or Demon on comms - and they’re right there. “Zip, how’re you gettin’ a signal in here…..?” Static hisses, and I sigh. “Welp. He’s gone again.”

Kami stomps over. “What the heck’s up with this blocker? Does Moon think….” She shares a look with Demon, then me. “….They know we’re here? Or is the lanky shit just trying to screw with us?”

Demon growls over a wall. “Possible to be both.”

“Thing is….. If he can find us…..” Kami hisses with low terror. “….They can….”

A shudder runs through the group, and Tufty's eye goes utterly mad and shakey. The kid shrinking into a little huddle over his tail and toes, shuddering and clawing at his hair. “No! No! I didn’t mean to be Bad, Mummy....!" He whispers. "I didn’t! Mummy and Daddy Love Us Lots And Lots.....! Mummy and-”

“STOP IT! They ain’t our parents, and-!” Kami snaps, and I field her quick as Demon drops to pet the shaky cat. Badger piling in, too, with all the delicacy of a pro-wrestler.

“It’s okay! You’re alright!” He announces, and I catch a small - faltering - smile from a very squashed Tufty. I share a look with Demon, and Kami. And we smile too.

But it’s a different look. Involantary. Harsh. Like two motherly fingers stuck themselves in the corners of our mouths, and pulled.….

Slowly, without thinking, Badger raises his only hand - sticking the thumb into his mouth…..

God. I wish I could hug em, but…..

….I can’t…..

So I get down low, and look Tufty right in the eye. “They ain’t our parents.” I emphasise. Hard. “Got it? They’re bloody pretenders.” I breathe out, rubbing my face. “We got a real mum and dad. We do. And They ain’t it! And we’re never going back to….” They all stare at the ground - smiling Big Happy Terrified Smiles. “Stop it! Stop! We’re safe now, and we’d bloody die before we go back! Y’hear me?” Some nod - and Badger throws himself at my chest. But I dodge back. Shivering in pain. Tufty stares down at his jade toes….

I wish I could just….

Just….

I stop. An eyebrow rising. “Hey. Any o’ ya hear…. music?” I blink, sharply. "Is that.... The bloody Zipper??"

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