Uwu’s hand grabbed my shoulder as I strode away from the vid-table, “What the hell was that? You trying to get us all killed?” His eyes were wide, his tone serious. He meant business. Now was not the time for me to joke about.

  He was right. It was a suicide mission, at the worst, at the best, we could end the war on our own terms, giving Meowlith Prime a fighting chance at independence. Freedom that we all wanted but rarely get.

  I stared right back him, bringing my serious game as well, “It doesn’t really matter anyway. If we can’t get Gabriel out of the prison, and free up some fighting forces, we’re just a bunch of sitting ducks…I mean, fish in a barrel. Whatever, no offence to Anthros with the animal references.” I shook his hand off and proceeded to head to Walter and Echo to get supplied for the next mission.

  Uwu’s hand rubbed his face, “Ugh. I can’t let you do this alone. If we go down, we go down together. Always.” He trotted to catch up to me. A smirk crept on my face as I got my way. He knew it was a good idea, something so crazy, no one would expect it.

  “Vixie!” A cheerful shout penetrated my ears, causing a headache to spread throughout my skull. I let out a low grunt as I turned to the perpetrator.

  “Ash!”

  The Anthro-Bunny girl came running from across the run, preparing to jump into my arms again. This time I was ready. There was no stopping it. I just had to accept my fate in this new retionship.

  She leapt into the air, grabbing around my neck. I swung to the side, spinning around with her in my arms, trying not to fall over. She smelled like wild flowers in the spring. It was a nice break from all the musky smells around the HQ.

  “Vixie, I was so worried about the power pnt. I was running supplies and getting people out of the city. I’m just happy you’re out alive.” She buried her head into my neck, on the verge of tears.

  Uwu crossed his arms, raising an eyebrow. I just shrugged at him.

  I set down the Anthro-Bunny, “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. What about your family? Did you ever find them?”

  Ash shook her head up and down furiously, “Mhmm, they moved to take refuge at the power pnt. My parents were there when the combat went down. Don’t worry though, they are safe. All forty-nine accounted for. My brother is with them now, holding down the fort, so to speak.” She smiled. “All thanks to you!”

  “Well, that’s good to hear. At least some good things are happening around here.” I pat her shoulder, turning to leave, hoping she would get the signal that I wanted to leave her be. “I’ve got to pn for the next mission. This is our biggest one yet. This will make or break us here. We’ve got to meet up with some scavengers to get into the Prison. We need every minute to pn this. So, we will catch up ter.”

  “Scavengers?” Ash grabbed my shoulder before I could leave. “I know them, some of them, we traded a bunch of stuff back and forth when I was getting supplies. They said they needed some things for the st of the Corpos on the pnet. I can get you close! Let me come too!” Her soft hands were digging into my clothes now. “Please? I need to help too.”

  My eyes drifted over to Uwu. His face was full of skepticism. I didn’t want the girl coming on another mission after we almost died on the st one, especially now that she had just found her massive family. I didn’t want to bring her along, but if she did have a connection with the scavengers dealing with the Corpos, it could be our ticket in without bloodshed.

  I let out a soft groan, “What do you think, Captain.” I could tell he already thought of the same thing I did. It was too good of an opportunity to pass up.

  “I don’t like it one bit.” Uwu scratched his chin while thinking, “You’re still too green to put out in the field, but we could use you to get us close to the scavengers.” He let out a sigh, “You are one of the crew, alright, you can come with us.”

  “Woohoo!” Ash jumped up and hugged me around the neck again.

  “But,” Uwu held up his finger, “You need to follow orders and stay behind us. If shit hits the fan, get down and get out. I don’t need any more deaths on my hands. Got it?” Uwu crossed his arms, his face full of commanding vigor.

  Ash dropped from my shoulders and straightened like a stiff board, saluting Uwu, “You got it, Sir!”

  Uwu scoffed, “Alright, come with us, we need to outfit. We’re taking everything we can carry. Spare nothing. We’re down to the wire here. We can’t lose this time or the world is lost.” Uwu’s voice trailed off into a somber tone.

  I rubbed his shoulder down, smiling at him. I didn’t quite know what to say. We could stand around talking all day, but in the end, we needed our actions to carry on our wills. We were all tired and drained, beaten and battered, but we had to keep pushing on. We were almost out of this hell hole. Once we nabbed Gabriel from the prison, and then get rid of the Gellys, we could finally get some peace we all deserved.

  “No more standing around, we need to get strapped to end some Corpo scum.” I pushed everyone along, grabbing Uwu’s hand. It was going to be a rough time ahead.