Chapter 105: Hunting Season.
Wisp and Passa soared through the air in pursuit of the rapidly vanishing shape of Number 9 as she vanished over the horizon carrying Fuller in her grasp, both were determined not to lose in.
Anger drove both of them onwards, this was personal, not only had she broken into their camp in the dead of night but she had snatched one of their people right from under their noses but they were not going to let her get away with it, they were going to keep chasing her no matter how long it took to catch up to her, this wasn't just a matter of pride it was a matter of principle to both of them, no-one harmed their people and got away with it.
It was a rule that both she and Seven had sworn to live by when they'd kind of officially ratified this group as a new and emerging power in the wastelands, Wisp still remembered the conversation like it was just yesterday, she'd been sat with Seven at a campfire and she'd brought up the topic she knew he hated to face but was becoming more of a reality with every passing day, the topic of them not being able to simply fade int othe background and hide somewhere far away but having to not only face the Enclave head on but to accept the responsibility of the movement that seemed to be springing up around them.
Seven had simply sighed heavily and leaned back against the log he was sitting against, then he'd nodded his head, "Yeah it seems like its inevitable at this point doesn't it? So many people are starting to look to us for answers to their questions and to help them that obscurity seems like a pipe dream," he'd said.
"Yeah it seems everywhere we go more and more humans and non-humans alike rally to our cause and fall in step with us, can we really just take them to a place far away from everything and everyone and try and settle down after this?' she'd asked and Seven had sighed again and shook his head.
"No not really, we owe it to them I suppose, they've put their trust and dreams right in our hands as the price for their loyalty and strength so we owe it to them to make somthing of them one and all, but you know I'm honestly ok with that now, I've been kinda thinking about it and the more faces I see and the more of an impact our actions have the more Ibelive that we can aim for somthing bigger than ourselves, somthing that could change everything for everyone, a new way of life, not one forced upon people but one that they have to choose for themselves, but if they do choose it then they have to be not only fully sure it's what they want but prepared to stand for everyone else whose a part of it as well, everyone has to know that no matter what we leave no-one behind and we will stand for everyone, from the strongest to the weakest we will stand for them come what ever may, we abandon no-one ever," Seven said with such passion and fire in his voice that his telekinisis bled a little through his exterior and made the flames of the fire burn extra bright like he'd just fed it with pure oxygen.
Those words and that passion had really hit home with Wisp because she'd seen for herself exactly how much Seven had embodied them over the coming weeks, every time he'd stood in the face of danger and opposition he'd stood tall and proud, he stood for all of them protected them and now it was her turn to step up and she was not going to let Fuller down.
It seemed that Passa was of the same frame of mind and while the large flying Claw boy might be slower than her in her cloud form he was putting in a gargantuan effort, Wisp could hear the beating of his mighty wings as he propelled himself through the sky behind her as they gave chase, even after they lost sight of Nine and Fuller they still never gave up.
Though eventually, the pair had to split up and go looking for any sign of the pair's trail, up until that point they'd been using both sight and the heat trail left in Nine's wake to track them but the further she drew ahead the harder it became but that's when Passa seemed to pull another little Claw trick out of his scaled arse.
After flying in circles for what felt like hours Passa suddenly seemed to latch onto something and Wisp could see him tightening his circles until he seemed to have something, "This way!!" he exclaimed in a panting voice and pointing, Wisp circled and got on his scaled arse not knowing what was happening at first until she saw him taking massive lungfuls of air in through his nose and she realised he was actually tracking a scent, how the hell a scent trail existed all the way up here with nothing to attach to stumped her for a bit until it clicked, it was the water molecules of the clouds!
Somehow the denser air around the clouds had managed to allow Passa's super sensitive nose to pick up a faint scent trail where Nine flying through the cloud layer had left patches of scent that washed off them both as they passed through the cloud layers, Passa was now following those patches like a trail of bread crumbs, it took them well over a day but eventually, the pair tracked it all the way to an abandoned military base.
When they landed Passa was noticeably exhausted but he was also very much unwilling to stop, he folded his wings in and panted for a few moments to catch his breath, Wisp quickly flew into his head so she could communicate with him the same way as she had done with Seven and to a degree Visa, though it was noticeably harder with Claws she had been practising over the last few weeks in order to make some form of communication possible should she wind up stuck outside of her body again, like now for instance.
It was a little jarring for Passa at first until he realised what was happening and relaxed enough for her voice to come through in his mind, though she also felt his exhaustion, poor boy had been pushing himself well beyond his limits but this made Wisp's heart swell with pride, this determination and fire was everything that Seven had preached when he'd made his promises to the group and it was damn good to see someone else carrying those ideals in their heart as well.
"Easy big guy we need you fighting fit if we're going to do this right, so wind down a little and let's think," Wisp said softly into his mind.
"I smell them Wisp, they are close," he replied silently in his mind.
"Smell anything telling like fear or blood?' she asked and he shook his head before answering through his mind.
"No just their scents, I smell stress pheromones that tell me it got intense here but that seems to be fading, if anything now the scents I detect are, calmer," Passa said obviously trying to make sense of what he was picking up, it was obvious to Wisp now that the device that had worked over his DNA and had given him the wings,, as well as the feathers had instilled a few other little tricks into this Claw boy.
"Well that's a good sign isn't it, what else can you smell?" she asked and Passa took a deep breath then she actually felt his brow furrow.
"Animal blood, radstag I think and fire," he said.
"Sounds to me like Nine went hunting for food, she must have left all her gear behind when she fled with Fuller, probably went hunting for something to eat, looks like we might have caught her at dinner, be good to repay the favour of catching her with her pants down don't you think?" Wisp said.
