>> The Night Tyrant

## WARNING :: Storm Surge has reached level [Extreme]

## [High] likelihood of damage to neoSoviet property!

Oceans of water sheer off the sides of Zipper’s floating Carrier as the megalithic typhoon crashes off its sides. Blasting under its hull, to slam its weight into our ankles. Every drop impacting like a bead of glass. We hunker against the rear as wind and rain blast off the edges of our armour. Ripping at cloaks and tails like vicious hands. Tearing at the clingfilm coats on Badger and Tufty. Drumming our suits with impatient fingers, itching to work their way in.

Our new toy wails and rocks. Artificial weather testing its quantum grip on the landing pad. Knocking it into a near-skid or spin as as we chase it out past the curving glass of Arrivals. Past windows lit by eerie lights, and unholy flowers - twisted, and wrong. Lit by strange fronds. Shifting as we pass.

Covered in eyes. In teeth. In blood….

The building ends, and the brutal crosswind hits like ten tons of wrecking ball - slamming us all to the side. Hammering us down. Blasting us, bone-deep, with rain as it tries to shear us right off the megaTower itself. I fire my remaining grapple at the Carrier, and it unfurls into a sticky web - plastering the side. Demon hooking his rappel line to Badger and Tufty, as the roar deafens us all. The former spinning and getting tangled. The latter cat hunkering beside him. Shivering. Gripping the gritty landing-zone with shaking claws - and his lurid fringe too.

I throw a glance back up at the Pirate megaTower, rising endlessly above us. Vast as a finger of God, but rotten all the way to its core. Once beautiful. Once gleaming. A symbol of hope, fallen to the dark. Transformed into a monument to chaos, and colour.

To madness, and lawless insanity…..

"HEY C’MON, IDIOT!!" Kami yells back at me, as the Carrier jinks further away. Exposing me to the wild night. My line tugs, and I hurry back into its meagre shadow. Kami herself yelping as her cracked helmet starts to malfunction in the rain.

Sizzling, shuddering, and coming a little undone.

“Yaaah!! Is Kami okay!?” Badger yells up as her hands clamp to it. Armoured plates twitching, limply, as water fries the delicate internals. Wafting nasty smoke, as the whole helmet starts to unfold on her. Sliding off her head, and tangling in her hair. Reducing her to a huffing, growling, mess of stringy braids and limp plastic bits.

None of which is helped by me yelling “HAH! SERVES YA BLOODY RIGHT, TASER TITS!!!” as she peels the jerking, dying, mess off her head. Smugly safe and cosy beneath my own, perfectly sealed, helmet.

“Oh, I can fix that!” She screams, stabbing through settings on her HUD.

“What. Kami. What are ya-” I yelp as my own helmet deactivates, throwing off my hood and utterly soaking my hair. Splattering it to my face, and everything. “YOU ABSOLUTE-” I shriek as Demon’s hood flies open too, his own helmet crawling off his horns in folding layers.

“HA! NOW EVERYONE’S WET!” She cackles, gleefully.

“YOU-” I scream. Panting and fumbling the override - which I’m suddenly locked out of. “YOU ABSOLUTE-”

“Yah! It’s okay, Spook!! I’ll get soggy too!” Badger yells hurling his coat up into the wind, which whisks it into the night. The nutty lil dumbass whooping and streaming with water. Cackling wildly up at the storm as his puffball hair unravels down over his eeys and neck.

We all stare at him. Blinking.

“Well…..” I groan, grabbing my hood and holding it on tight. “At least somebody’s happy…..”

“Hey, Demon! How about a trade?” Kami smirks. Waggling metal hands. "My cloak, for your helmet."

Demon looks a little lost for a moment. “Zha?” His eyes flick to all of us. Almost startled. His jaw works for a second. Then he blinks. “Cloakz?” Golden claws twitching beneath his own, as it flies and flaps around him.

“Yes! My cloak! Remember!? From the battle?” Kami grits through the endless explosion of wind and rain slapping her hair about. She pushes herself closer to the truck, and shivers. “Come on! You didn’t lose it, did you!?”

“OOOO!! Yeah! He definitely did!!” Badger yells, super helpfully. Getting a bop on the top for his trouble.

“None o’ that.” I growl.

Demon’ pats his empty armour. “Ah. I am…. sorry. The battle? It….” His eyes drift away. Lost, somehow, in the gales of wind and madness. As if the thought itself were blown away.....

“Uh…. Mate? You okay?” Zip spins upside-down, peering at him from above.

“Tired.” Demon mutters to nobody - turning to press onward, into the dark. A twitch shooting up his arm, as he twists at his hood. “You…. should have zis.” He doesn't look back at her.

Kami hesitates, eyes wide and puzzled - but I shake my head rapidly. Zip making X signs in the air. She gives us the finger, but I mouth the words "Don't. Please." And she simply growls, quietly, shooting me an ‘explain later’ look as she folds all her arms.

“No. Thanks. I don’t- I don't need it.” She snipes an odd look at me, through the rain. “…..it’s got horn holes in weird places.”

But Demon doesn’t seem to hear. His eyes distant. Off in whatever world consumes him. Slowly, he turns to stare back the way we came, toward the distant fight. Tail twitching as he fights to keep that hood over his mask.

Clutching it protectively.

“Rrrgh….. It's wet! Come on!” I yell, fighting to keep my own hood - and failing hilariously. My cloak blasted up over my head, whipping around it, like a flag. Badger leaps on it, and holds tight. Utterly soaked to the skin, and loving every moment. Tufty, now, the only semi-dry person for half a mile. All sealed up snugly in his high-tek plastic poncho. Hugging his perfectly dry tail.

I forge onward, dragging my tiny dork brigade behind, as we press toward cover beneath the massive wrecks. Hoping to block out the hammer-blunt winds.

But the madness is only getting worse.

“SHIT!! We gotta get into wind-cover! Come on!” I scream as the typhoon takes us as a personal bloody challenge. Knocking me suddenly flat, and dragging Tufty half-off to meet ducking Poseidon! With Badger along for the ride!

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Demon slams down on the line, and I stomp it. Giving the cat a chance to claw his frantic way back to us. Every second gust lifting him off the damn floor, in spits and bobs. Dee grabs the kid, and I we absolutely leg it. Abandoning the carrier, and hitting all fours, for a wild face-scouring panic-run across the pad. Kami staggering along behind, screaming furious gibberish, as the storm surges again. Rain beating every bit of skin, and face. Thudding my ears like a canvas roof, as the howl of hurricane wind rips them and my tail this way and that. As if some monstrous thing above is reaching down to peel us all right off the freaking megaTower.

“We’re losing the Carrier!” Kami yells, as we find a loose wreck to stop at. “It’s getting bloody owned out here!”

“Zipper!” I yell. “Stuff keepin’ us together! Get it into the deeper ruins! Lots’a metal! Block it in!”

“Right, mate!”

“Badger!!” Tufty mews as the other kid goes tumbling end over ass. Forcing Kami to leap on the line, and haul him back. Demon drops Tufty - who scampers to me, hunkering and hugging my leg in terror. Clutching his fringe, tight flat, as Demon saves Badger. Dragging the kid back, to latch onto me too.

"I bangled my face up." He whispers. I can't tell if he's crying in the rain.

“Hey. Hey….” I stutter. But look away. “You’ll do, alright? You’ll….. You’ll do.”

“Okay Spook.” He sniffles again, reaching for a hug I can’t give.

“Hey..... C’mon! It ain't far now! We gotta…. We gotta go alright?” I choke. Wishing I had some way to comfort him. Just.... anything..... "You'll be okay....."

"Okay Spook....." He sniffs. And the others grab a kid each as we claw our way toward the largest wreck in sight. Dodging fists of wind and wet that slam our sides and faces.

We're almost there, when a massive surge slams me right into the tarmac. It flips me again. Again. And I panic-fire my one remaining grapple into the mad whirl of floor and dark and rain - hitting nothing at all. Demon grabs my ankle. Hauling me to Kami - who has gone full spider on the tarmac. Tufty is down again - tumbled at speed across the pad. Flailing. Breathless. His raincoat catching wind, like a damn kite. Curled around hands that hug that fringe, like keeping it flat is worth more than his life.....

“Grab the line! Both hands!” I scream at Tuft as the gale batters him again. “Both!”

“I-I-I- can’t-” He yelps as Demon rushes in to snatch our paper-thin cat with one arm - Badger still wrapped to the other. Golden hair snapping behind him, as we force ourselves into the shadows of the massive wrecks. Mighty cruisers torn open like pinatas. Great broken rusters, fighters, and cargo-haulers spilling their metal guts onto the pad. Plunging into the ruined hold of the rusting cargo-hauler. Blinding rain and rage and madness replaced by shadows that.... scuttle. And tiny lights still flickering, dimly, up in the dark above.

Leaving the rain to slash, viciously, at the door.

Like a maniac with a knife, that knows it can't get you. Until you come out.....

There we huddle, gasping and heaving, as the monster drums its sharpened raindrops on hull. A very damp Tufty clambering, sloppily, onto Demon’s back. Raincoat torn. Clothes soaked. Clutching the older boy's horns with wet fingers, and shivering. One hand still pressed, firmly, to that gleaming-wet fringe of dark green hair....

None of us mention it.

“Not such a non-soggy moggy now, are yah?” I chuckle in crazy, adrenaline-rocked, panic. Flicking drops off my ears and tail as the ruins drip and scurry around us.

He lets out a small, sad, mewl. Shivering gently.

“Hey. You ain't alone, kitt. Feels like I’m bloody drowning from the inside-out…..” I agree, very softly, as Kami squeezes out her braids.

And I know better than to argue over the helmets, with the storm-slammed wreck moaning above us.

Wailing. Screaming.

“Demon’s hurt.” Kami wheezes. Staring directly at me. “You carry the traitor, I'll carry Badger. We'll run for it.”

“What?” I jerk back. Shocked into a whole-body shiver. Schooling myself back into calm. "Stop callin' him a bloody traitor. Kami. We don't kn-"

"It's not far now. Mostly under cover." She promises, ignoring my lame retort. "But that cat will never make the open parts."

“Dee’s fine. He’ll be fine.” I state, with slippery eyes. “It ain’t far now.”

“He’s not fine.” Kami snaps. “And he’ll never say it. Don’t you understand? He’ll drop dead before-”

Guilt fills me. Words forcing their way up my mouth. “The kid weighs as much as a damn cheese-slice.”

“And the bloody storm knows it….. Spook.” Kami snaps. But Demon raises a hand. Tail twisting, numbly. Weakly.

“Yah! It’s okay! I’ll do it! I'll carry him!!” Badger flexes what could, very charitably, be called muscles. “I’m strong too!”

“Heh. Yeah, sure, ya dork.” I snort as he flails his way over to Tufty, and tries to scoop the cat onto his back. Not helped at all by Tufty not wanting to go.

But Kami pulls them apart. Shooting me a look. "It's up to you Spook. You're the leader."

And doesn't that just make it harder? "I..... Kami....."

“I can’t drag both.” She hisses. Paler that normal, in the dim light. Demon is even worse - borderline zombie. Eyes stuck on nothing, as cold shudders lash through him.

Classic [battleStim] blowback.

My fault.

“Okay..... I….” I grip my face. Sudden anger ripping through me. Aimed inward. Directly at myself. All my bloody resolve roaring back in a flood. “Alright..... Fine..... I’ll…. I’ll…. c-carry Tuft- Lets just..... let's..... bloody go. And…. ”

“Um…..” Tufty whispers, ducking back as we turn to stare.

“What?”

“Um..... I…. I’ll be okay.” He slips off Demon’s back, and shivers. Hugging the grapple locked to his thin chest. “It's.... it's only the wrecks now..... I’ll….. I’ll.....”

“No.... I will carry....” Demon forces out, at last, and the shame starts stabbing me in the guts.

"Um.... nooo.... It's okay... if me and Badger work-" Tufty stutters to him, in a low whisper.

But we're all on comms.

"No." Kami snaps. "You keep away from him.... you little psycho....."

Tufty's ears droop low, and he sniffs. Staring at his toes as the tears begin.

But Kami's eyes are hard. "No. Don't you dare. Don't you play that-"

"Kami-"

"Spook. Please..... It's his favourite trick.... Don't fall for it....." She whispers. Almost begs. "He's done it before. He did it right before he ki-"

"Kami. Shut it." I get up. Cracking out my back. "Everybody bloody quiet."

"What-"

"No arguing." I snap. "Kami. You deal with Badger. I'll carry Tuft."

“What.” Kami states. Not even a question.

I take a long breath. "Just..... climb on my back. Don't say nothin'. I ain't.... I'm.... just do it."

I turn around, and there's silence. Then, soft steps. A little snuffle. And something agile and quick leaps up on my back, clinging to my shoulder.

Every part of me, tenses. Locking tight.

But I pass my rappel line to Kami, and she ties... my passenger. on tight.

“Alright then." I grunt, eyeing the roaring wall of wet and slamming wind.

“Spook….” Tufty starts.

But I shake my head. “C’mon. Let's go. Ain't far now.....”

We stagger back down the titled deck, fighting our way back - out - into the roaring maelstrom. Distant lights flickering shadows between the vast, immovable, beasts of iron and rust.

And then we run for it.

Crossing the blazing wind-tunnels in a crazy diagonal hopscotch dance-fight vs the storm. Into the wrecks, and along tilted halls. Out again, just as quick. Ducking between massive bulkheads, and under fallen loaders. A cry of joy ringing up as our rain-battered faces spy our landing-zone - a massive clutter of dead ships marking the way in.

Pad Nineteen welcomes us in with big, grim, rusty arms. Its sign slamming endlessly against the fence. I barrel us through the opening, into the narrow hole in a wreck. Up through the shattered cockpit, we go. Grappling flight-chairs, and consoles, as we fight our way up the slick slope - pouring with water.

Out, onto the back of a cargo speeder - and down.

Into our secret, Pirate, cove......

We spill out into a quieter, calmer, night. The tyrannical maelstrom suddenly, sharply, neutered by mountain-high walls of metal. A ring of bloated wrecks that cup our little hidey-hole like massive hands around a flame. Themselves entrapped in a web of gigantic wind-shields. Bulkheads. And more.

Shielding it from the night.

The rain still falls, endless and insatiable. A torrential brick-shower of water, drumming my hair and taping my ears. But suddenly, I barely feel it.

Slowly we get up, and I lose Tufty without a word.

The small cat sliding down, quietly, to land with a pat I barely even hear.

Like it never happened at all. Right? Like it.....

My fists clutch, and I shiver.

“Ggrurrgh.” Kami spits. “I’ve been less soaked in the damn bath…..”

“Eh. That’s okay.” I grin, shakily. “I got a cure.”

I paw a chunky button on my armoured bracer, and something thuds the empty - windswept - nothingness of the barren landing zone. An echo of sound. A pulse felt only in the bones.

A scrap of darkness, shimmers.

A crack of dim neon light, cutting itself into empty air itself. Widening. Brightening.

The rainstorm shivers. Glitches.

And there it is - a door built of nothing but wind and pounding rain, sliding open. Revealing a hole in the empty air. A dark cavern of plastic, rubber, and fabric., suspended on nothing. Lights and controls waking up as I breathe a terrible sigh of relief.

## Night Tyrant :: [Online]

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