Her body collapsed only seconds later.

"Holy. Cripes."

The tension in her muscles came back with a vengeance, alright. Blowback or not. Lying flat on the ground, she barely managed to speak to her weapon again.

"G-GT?" she asked. "Status report?"

"Reserves holding steady at 50%," the staff said. "Although, your muscles have become atrophied. I suggest rest, Ms. Sasha."

She groaned in response.

Though she didn't feel like her arms would fall off or she had internal bleeding, that didn't make the process of powering up with signals any less dangerous. Especially not trying to pull off something like she'd just done. Her body felt limp and fragile, the panther dragging herself to a nearby wall to lean against.

"Cripes," she said. "Really overdid it this time, didn't I?"

The staff was silent in response, though she could feel it resonating in her hands. At the very least, she took pride in seeing the unconscious Alexander nearby. With any luck he'd be out cold long enough for her to recover physically. Something that would probably take longer than usual since she hadn't packed snacks or medicines. Wonder if Gabriella's doing okay?

Almost as soon as she thought that, she heard someone screaming at her.

"Sasha!"

She smiled, recognizing the voice of the human girl. Guess that settles that. She looked up as Gabriella ran up to her.

"Oh, spirits! Are you okay?"

She dropped to her knees, eyes full of concern. For someone who'd just been left with a horde of graduates, she looked relatively intact. Only a few scrapes and bruises here and there. Some cuts in her blouse. Sasha breathed a sigh of relief.

"Sorry," she said. "Guess this isn't a great look, huh?"

Gabriella slung an arm over her neck, letting Sasha use her as a balance. Though she was a bit smaller, it did help a bit.

"I was worried this might happen," the human said. "Did you..."

"Kick graduate tail? Yes. Yes, I did."

Gabriella snickered. "At least you're still in high spirits."

Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

Sasha smiled, letting her friend lead on ahead. With her exhaustion, she couldn't fight back anyhow.

For better or worse, the rest of the prison was much less fortified.

The siren continued to flash overhead, but there was no army of soldiers or drones coming to intercept them. In fact, as the two explored the prison, they found their fair share of unconscious guards. All of which had singed body parts, many lying on their faces. Sasha gave them a sniff as they passed, smelling blaster residue on each of them.

"Huh. AIC attacking AIC. Must really be the end times."

Gabriella lingered on the bodies a moment, but she didn't say a word, the two continuing on ahead.

Despite the constant sirens, the prison was otherwise quiet. Eerily so, in fact. Sasha didn't realize why until they'd stumbled upon their first cell, the insides smelling of activity even as she saw clear as day there was no one inside. Not even a curious insect.

"Mr. Xan!" she called. "Mr. Erin? Are you in here?"

She continued to call for them as they found more empty cells. Some of which had sparking control panels. But just as many smelled fresh with life. Like their occupants had been inside only hours before. She reached a hand out to a nearby wall, hoping it would provide her some kind of vision to make sense of everything. But nothing happened.

"Maybe we could try sensing them?" Gabriella suggested. "Can you feel Xan, Sasha?"

She shook her head. Though she could still feel both Cici and Iris fighting worlds away, every trace of her liaisons felt stale. Like they'd been captured and then dropped off the radar completely. Even assuming the worst had occurred, she would have still been able to sense out their final resting places. So why couldn't she feel them now?

And...Why did it feel like there were more signals gathered ahead of them? Like some big amalgam resonating just around the corner. Her whiskers twitched the closer they got to it, an uneasy feeling rising in her stomach.

"Sasha."

"Yeah, I feel it too."

They both stopped, at an intersection in the hall, the clump of signals emanating up ahead.

"Keep going," Sasha said. "Something tells me we're being hailed. Am I right, GT?"

The staff was silent in response, though she could feel it resonating along with the signals ahead.

Gabriella didn't seem eager to proceed, but she did anyhow, continuing to help Sasha move forward. Despite how many times she'd hurt the girl or just been a general tail brain, it was hard to deny how much she appreciated the human at that moment. In fact, she even leaned over to nuzzle her head, something she'd only ever really done with Cici and Iris. Gabriella turned a little red, but she didn't seem to mind.

After a while, they finally found their target, both stopping in their tracks.

In the midst of the now eerily silent prison, a collection of signals had gathered in front of them, the air itself distorting at its epicenter. Gabriella narrowed at it while Sasha felt the uneasiness grow. It felt almost felt like a legionnaire's portal. But the distortion was white rather than purple. And she didn't sense any hostility coming from it.

"Elisia."

"Hmm?"

Sasha stared straight into it, the feeling it gave off all too similar to the one she felt resonating from her staff. She swallowed.

"Still sticking with me?" she asked.

Gabriella swallowed as well, securing Sasha's arm around her neck.

Without another word, the two walked forward, passing right through the strange distortion.