The Exception, The Guardian, and The Monster

Plat 

As the morning light starts to shine, a dim presence lands outside the compound, a distance away as to avoid altering patrol.

At the head of it all, Esredes has recovered his hearing and taken care of his wounded foot. Behind him is a large group of nochmal- there must be at least thirty of them. While he had to assemble quickly, he is not taking chances on this mission.

We’re coming for you now, he thinks to himself as he stands tall in lead, observing the landscape. He had already briefed all of the group members on the mission- get in, kill anyone who attacks, but don’t kill the experiments. With that in mind, he turns his head back towards Cypress, who he made sure to keep near the front, as well as Ceila. He needed both of them for very specific purposes.

“This is where you’ll come in. Straight ahead is what appears to be a small house with a trapdoor inside leading to a basement. You’ll know because I sent a few trees down on it. I need you to use your shadow abilities to scout out both the perimeter and the interior to see what they have waiting for us and report back. Is that clear?” There’s nothing they can do against a shadow on the wall.

Astroray 

"Crystal, sir." Cypress gives a slow, shallow nod of understanding.

Astroray 

With the target identified, Cypress sinks into the earth and speeds away. They easily spot the downed trees atop the crumpled building and slip through the gaps and into the crack in the trap door.

Momo 

Inside the trap door is a large hall with two main rooms and a few smaller ones. Thiessen doesn't seem to be around, or, at least no one matching her description. He does here, however, a struggle happening in one of the main locked rooms.

Astroray 

Cypress slips down from the ceiling and to the wall near the door leading to the main room. Curious that there might be internal struggle, they slip under the door slightly to take a peek.

Momo 

He spots a small and thin knochen, now unconscious against the wall, and a larger uncanny woman, freeing herself from her bonds on a table. A large tail with feathers at the end carefully wags back and forth as she tries to make as little noise as possible. Large feathers are sprouting from her forearms, as if she's beginning to form wings. Her hair is mostly white at this point, but the ends seem to be a different color. Once she's freed herself, she stumbles off the operating table and heads towards the door.

Astroray 

They note the thin looking knochen and disregard them since they are knocked out. Looking at the uncanny woman, they see the distinct red leaving her hair and something about it gets their attention. They slip forward, careful not to draw attention, and scent the uncanny looking woman. Instantly they understand the situation. He's endangering our lives to save this woman, isn't he.....

Momo 

She says something to the unconscious knochen, but it's difficult to make her out. She opens the door to the room and exits, making sure to shut the door behind herself. Once she's no longer in the room, a loud and horrific cry is released, and they can hear her breaking through the trap door above them.

Astroray 

Cypress watches her leave and chooses to ignore her. For a moment, they consider the posibility of her attacking someone in the party. They hum and turn towards the unconscious knochen, materializing for a moment to inspect its condition.

At the moment, the frail knochen is unconscious and looks to be a bit underfeed. Aside from a few bumps and scrapes, they look relatively okay. Cypress makes a quick note of their location and exits to the hallway to inspect the rest of the compound.

Momo 

The rest has only small rooms, but there's still the other main room at the opposing end of the hallway. Inside is a sort of study area with plenty of papers and notes on subjects and test theories.

Astroray 

In the hall, they see the entrance to the main hall and carefully watch for traps, making note of suspicious looking tiles or holes. They slip under the door and take a peek around the study, looking for any signs of life.

Momo 

There are no signs of life inside. There's a definite indent in the chair by the desk, as well as a drawing done of Alise's anatomy with a few notes jotted to the side. A big glaring note is that of a more recent sheet of power. "Changes back??" That's all it says. It seems she didn't have enough time to elaborate on it.

Astroray 

Cypress slips out again, and looks around again, attaching themself to the wall. They decide to slip into one of the smaller rooms to inspect the contents. They suspect an uncanny abomination, but its better to be sure.

Momo 

The smaller rooms hold odd tools and jars full of different liquids. Strong smelling liquids.

Astroray 

They partially manifest, keeping their shape somewhat translucent, but solid enough to dip the tip of their claw into a bottle and taste the liquid to identify it.

Momo 

It's something strange with a foul bitter taste. Whatever concoction is inside of it, it certainly isn't natural.

Astroray 

They quickly spit the sample out and sneer at the room. There's so much they want to do with this room, break, smash, crush, but they store their frustration for later and slip back into the floor, a furious glint to their eyes.

Once out, they do another scan of the floors, but this time they take a peek up.

Momo 

Upstairs, Alise has stood in place, quietly pacing around the room and looking around. The room is full of small bags, unopened. It's probably a fair guess at whatever is in them isn't anything good.

Astroray 

They take a whiff of the bags, attempting to compare the contents to the contents of the small room they happened upon.

Momo 

The contents are pretty similar, however, something else has been mixed in with it. The bitter smell is replaces with something a tad more sweet. They can feel an odd tingly sensation through their nose, as if it's started to go numb.

Astroray 

They withdraw from the bag quickly, potentially making themself noticable, but at the moment, they didn't particularly care as they are mostly attempting to avoid whatever toxin is in the bag.

Momo 

Alise manages to catch him and glances over. Her fierce expression drops momentarily as her voice strains to speak. ".... h.. Ello...?"

Astroray 

They speak from the shadow, wanting to avoid direct confrontation. "You've changed your look since I last saw you."

Momo 

"...Ah... Is this... an improvement?" She replies. "Probably.. not."

Astroray 

"Nmmm." They hum and move a bit away from her.

Momo 

"Get... out of the building... tell the other to... keep their distance too." She replies, walking over to one of the bags.

Astroray 

"I'm afraid we won't be doing that."

Momo 

"She's not... in the building. Don't waste your... time."

Astroray 

"Do you know where she went? Your knight arranged quite the party."

Momo 

"She's hiding outside... and she's... not alone."

Astroray 

"Is that why you haven't left."

Momo 

"She thinks... I'm tied up. She gets... cocky. She'll expose herself... hnnn-!!" Her scales flare up a bit but she tries to subside them. "Leave the... building..."

Astroray 

"Someone will be back for you. I'm sure you already know about the bags." And with that, they slip out of the room and back out to the group in wait.

Momo 

Alise stares down at the bags and takes a deep breath. "I wonder if there'll... be a me to come back to..." She looks through one of the windows and waits for any movement.

Plat 

Waiting back with the group, Esredes is relieved to see Cypress approach. "How did it look inside?"

Astroray 

"Pretty empty, found a room of chemicals, her office, an unconscious knochen, and an uncanny woman. She informed me that there's a force waiting outside of the compound for us."

Plat 

An uncanny woman...? That hopefully wasn't her... She can't turn into an uncanny, not now... "I take it that woman was an experiment?"

Astroray 

"Yes, she is self aware for the moment. She claims to have been knocked out. The room she was in was full of noxious paralyzing chemicals packed into bags. I assume it has a method to spread."

Plat 

Ah yes, the gas. "Yes, I encountered it earlier. It causes paralysis. If it's utilized, the toxin and air knochen in the group will be in charge of taking care of it. The only way I've seen it spread is by dispersing out through some kind of box. But beyond that... So they're outside? Do you think you could search for them? They can't be too far from the building..."

Astroray 

"I can do this." And with that, Cypress slips back into the ground and speeds off towards the forest, spreading out thin.

Momo 

There's a lot of hidden people in the forest, more than one would think a woman could muster. Along with a handful of dangerous looking lucid uncanny, there are plentiful scared looking uncanny folk as well as fierce hunters and a few mages all hidden in the trees and bushes. It's not sunlight yet, so it's more difficult to spot these people in the dark. They can notice only one person starting to move. A woman with a large lab coat and golden hair pulled back in a ponytail. She makes her way towards the house with a gas mask on her face, looking up and waving towards Esredes' direction.

Astroray 

Cypress looks up in the direction she is waving to.

They realize that their location is compromised and rush back, maybe drawing attention to their shape.

Momo 

One of the uncanny spots it and lets out a loud owl call.
Thiessen grins. "Whelp, looks like it's about time. LIGHT EM UP!!!" She calls before pulling out a whistle and letting out  large tweets.
The group of knochen soon find a few small lights amongst the trees. The lights multiply and grow brighter as a series of fire balls and flaming arrows soar through the skies and hurl towards them.

Plat 

Esredes sees them coming and his eyes widen. "TO THE SKIES!" He calls out, taking off from the ground to try and avoid them.

Ceila acts quickly and conjures up a large blast of wind, sending it towards the arrows.

Momo 

Plenty of the arrows are blown off course, but it's difficult to avoid the fireballs. They crash into trees, obstructing their path and making take off from the ground a little more difficult for some of the knochen.

Plat 

From the sky, Esredes circles around, trying to figure out where the fire is coming from. He orders for any knochen with the water element to put that fire out. Ceila also sets off to the sky.

Momo 

Thiessen spots Esredes circling around and chuckles. "Hmmm... he brought more friends than expected. No matter." She blows two sharp and quick sounds from her whistles. A few uncanny with wings take off from the trees and begin to tail Esredes and Ceila.

Plat 

Both of them notice the uncanny around the same time. Esredes attempts to circle in a way to make it difficult to keep up with him, while Ceila waits for the right moment and flies right towards one, unleashing a whirlwind of fire towards them.

Astroray 

Cypress slips through the brush with a bit more caution and aims to get back to Thiessen. If they aren't able take her down the they'll certainly have fun tearing through what she has in store.

February , 

Momo 

Celia hits the two uncanny that were chasing her, both falling towards the ground in flames. It's a bit more difficult for Esredes to lose one of the few uncanny following him. The rest of them are not skilled flyers, so they fall behind, but one that seems moderately unferal stays in pursuit.

For Cypress, on their way back, they find that Thiessen is now guarded by a few uncanny herself where she wasn't before. One of them is urging her to move to safety, but she brushes him off, simply enjoying the fight.

Plat 

Esredes makes his own charge towards one of them, firing a disorient. Try staying in the sky with no sense of balance. Ceila circles near the others, and tries again for another fiery whirlwind.

Astroray 

Cypress leaps from their spot in the shadows and tackles the uncanny warning Thiessen, claws drawn, intent on mauling the poor bastard.

Momo 

The group of uncanny get taken out from the skies by both Esredes and Ceila. They were too untrained and unprepared when it came to pros in the sky.

Cypress manages to maul the uncanny, not to Thiessen's suprise. She grins brightly as she watches her experiment being attacked. "Oh, looks like someone came out to play." She takes a step back as she lets her other bodyguards face Cypress off.

Plat 

Is that all you've got for us? Pathetic uncanny? You're going to have to try a lot harder than that if you want to make it through this, Esredes thought. "Everyone, focus on the trees. They're all around us." He continues flying, targeting trees he thinks the uncanny are hiding in with geokinesis. Ceila is flying around sending gusts of wind at trees to try and unveil some.

Astroray 

They slash their claws at the uncanny's throat, aiming for a precision kill.

Momo 

As the people hiding in the trees slowly start to be revealed, Thiessen grins brightly. "Well well, it's time for the main event." She lets out four sharp tweets from her whistle, alerting hunters to pull out somewhat regular looking rifles and take aim. "You just need to hit them! Get one clean shot!"

Astroray 

Seeing the weapons aimed, Cypress slips back down into the shadows to avoid the bullets and speeds to the hunter's hiding spots, waiting for a good moment to strike.

Momo 

As Thiessen gets ready to blow her whistle once more, the small compound building's windows shatter as a small explosion breaks out. The flames only grow brighter as a few more thunderous explosions are set off inside. An odd gas that looks like it's spreading out simply helps spread the flames as it ignites on fire. Thiessen's bright grin drops as she looks at her experiments. "WHO SET THAT OFF?!?"
All of them seem just as dazed and confused; none of them had done anything yet.

Astroray 

Hmmm, good. She was useful.  Using the ensuing chaos as cover, Cypress leaps out of the shadow, aiming to tackle Thiessen, rather than the uncanny near her.

Plat 

As the gas is released and set on fire, it catches both Esredes and Ceila's attention. For a second, Esredes questions if Thiessen blew up her own lab, but then remembers there was an uncanny inside.  This may very well be not according to plan. But both of them stay focused on the hunters for now as they notice them too, continuing to uproot trees and set them on fire, altering the rest of the group to their presence.

Momo 

Cypress gets a clear shot to pounce Thiessen, taking advantage of her rare offguard state. However, she is livid at this point. Even with their weight on her, she sets off a small smoke bomb within her jacket, very similar to the stuff inside of the former compound.

Astroray 

They are absolutely caught off guard in their success and get a mouthful of the smoke. Cypress immediately recognizes the smoke, but is too late to avoid it. The sickly sweet smoke fills their lungs and thier spine goes loose. Their crushing grip on Thiessen is lost and replaced by their dead weight upon her.

Momo 

Thiessen shoves him off and glares at the uncanny around her. "DEAL WITH THIS! Don't just stand around!!"
The uncanny seem shaken by her tone and are quick to surround Cypress. As they start closing in, one gets interrupted by an uncanny that appears to be on fire. She is quick to take down the rest surrounding Cypress with no mercy, the fire slowly dissipating from her. They can quickly recognize that it's Alise.

Astroray 

Cypress is immobilized and unable to do much, but they give her a peaceful look of appreciation.

Momo 

She does her best to keep any of the uncanny away from them. A few get a good whack into her here and there, but every hit she receives, she deals one back with more force.
Thiessen watches in anger, wondering which one of her experiments would betray her, until she gets a longer look at her. "... no... NO!! What happened?! You- you weren't supposed to be a failure!!"
Alise turns towards Thiessen and lets out a feral cry. She seems tempted to run over to her, but she can't leave Cypress unprotected.

Astroray 

Their body heaves with each breath. Cypress struggles on the ground, anxious to leap back into the action. With each violent internal strugle they make, a finger twitches in response.

Momo 

Alise decided to stay with Cypress, whether it's a conscious decision or there are simply more targets to attack, the true reason is unknown. She starts getting used to using her newfound tail in flinging enemies away in the fight, or flinging them towards other people.

Astroray 

The haziness retreats from their hands and they attempt to dip their hand into the ground. It phases painfully, partially.

Momo 

Thiessen notices this though and is about to yell out another command. However, with her newfound skill, Alise has flung one of the experiments straight into Thiessen. She takes a quick glance at Cypress to see how they're doing.

Astroray 

The haze lifts from their limbs slowly and they lift their claw from the ground. Their body is near dead weight compared to their limbs, but they manage to stand on their own. With that they slip back into the ground, but at a much slower pace.

Momo 

Once they're safely slipped away, Alise runs off and starts taking down any uncanny, hunter, or mage she comes into contact with.
Thiessen shoves the uncanny experiment off of her and pulls out her whistle, letting out one sharp whistle that signifies the hunters to finally fire their weapons at any knochen, whether on the ground or in the skies.

Plat 

Along with the majority of the group, Esredes is focused on slaughtering all of them before the chaos clears. Hearing the shots ring out, he makes his way towards where they came from, at an angle to avoid their fire.

Momo 

The shots whiz past Esredes, but he can see a few bullets hit some of his comrades. None of the shots seem fatal or life threatening, however, their movements become a bit slower as they seem less focused and grow agitated.

Plat 

The bullets agitate him as well as he sees them get hit. He spots a group of them on the ground and flies towards it at an angle, centering his sights on the middle. The ground begins to shake with the force of an earthquake.

Astroray 

Cypress fully regains their speed and whizzes into the forest behind the furthest hunter and leaps from the shadows, claws shaded in black fire. When the claws stab into the hunter, their face pales and they collapse. Cypress hikes themself up into the tree and continues on.

Momo 

The group of hunters struggle to take aim after that with the earth shaking beneath their feet. A few mages two in and try to send out magical attacks, but Thiessen's forces are starting to get overwhelmed.
Unfortunately, her plan is starting to show through as one of the knochen hit with a bullet starts to mindlessly attack anything in its path. Experiments, hunters, trees, even it's own team. A few more knochen show signs of that as well as the start going off plan and simply attack without regard.

Plat 

As other knochen rain down upon the unbalanced hunters, Esredes notices a few going rogue. What is happening?! He orders for the others to get away from them, but takes advantage of the moment to swoop down and grab a hunter, flying up and dropping them to their death.

Momo 

Alise, during all of this, is trying to take down as many mages and hunters as she can, as the uncanny experiments are starting to seem more hesitant to fight. She notices the few hunters dropping to their deaths and glances up towards the sky.

Astroray 

Cypress continues to make short work of the next couple of hunters until they notice the knochen becoming feral. They let out a heavy puff and slip back into the shadows, now searching for Thiessen again.

Plat 

Esredes lands on top of another hunter and claws their face, sinking a claw into their throat. As he gets off, he quickly notices the fighting going on nearby, the uncanny woman in the midst of it all, with the... white scales... Oh no. “Alise?!” He speaks out the best he can in this form.

Momo 

Alise stops mid sprint at her name being said and looks over. She momentarily seems pretty lucid in this state. "... Es...rey..." Her guard is let down, and she quickly regrets it as she's tackled by another uncanny experiment. She lets out a feral cry as she tries to shake them off.

As Cypress looks for Thiessen, they notice a small group of experiments and two mages running off as a group to retreat. She could possibly be amongst them now that things have gone south.

Plat 

Esredes lunges for the uncanny, aiming to grab it, but falls short of reaching them. He settles for firing a disorient.

Astroray 

They notice Alise getting surrounded and the ground of retreating uncanny, debating their target. Cypress hesitates, but they whizz off towards the group of fleeing uncanny.

Momo 

Alise struggles to get the uncanny off with little success. However, once Esredes used his disorient beam, Alise immediately throws their opponent off and gives a whack with their tail for good measure. She looks in bad shape, taking out the uncanny form, but she still has enough energy to glance over at Esredes and speak. "Looking... cool..."

As Cypress approaches the uncanny, they can spot Thiessen with the group, being carried by one experiment that's a lot faster than the others.

Plat 

There’s a lot Esredes wants to say right now, but neither the circumstances nor his form will allow him to. “Thanks,” he settles on. He turns his attention towards the remaining targets.

Astroray 

They launch out of the shadow, aiming to flank the group of uncanny and break the line with a body slam.

Momo 

Alise turns her focus towards the fight again, letting out another cry before dashing off in search of more opponents. She stays within eyesight of Esredes this time, however, partially feeling safer around him and partially looking out for him.

Cypress' plan succeeds and they manage to flank the group. However, it seems like this might have been the plan. One of the uncanny they tackled falls to the ground and a large cloud of the toxic gas spreads over the whole group. It seems she would go to any length to ensure her escape, even if it meant leaving her experiments behind in the process.

Plat 

Esredes follows her. She may be an uncanny now, but at least she’s alive and not feral. In the present moment, that was enough. He was prepared to fight together with her.

Astroray 

Cypress spots the gas plume and braces for the effects, collapsing into the ground, their face planted in the mud.

Momo 

The fight finally starts to die down over time. It ends quicker as some of the experiments' change their loyalties and fight alongside the knochen. Some even help subdue their knochen brethren who are still roaming around and attacking blindly.
Alise seems to be calming down as well, now that there's nothing to fight. She starts to slow down before falling to her knees and holding her sides.

Plat 

Oh shit. Esredes goes ahead and transforms down to human form, rushing to her side. “Alise,” he says, “how badly are you hurt? What did she do to you?”

Momo 

She falls down onto her side, groaning and looking up at him. It takes a minute for her to respond. "I'm... glad to see you..." She chuckles weakly. "You should... find your friends."

Plat 

“Are you going to be okay.” It’s an assertive statement, but one of concern. “I can get someone to help you.”

Momo 

"Is there any... helping me?" She asks, glancing down at her arms. "... you'll look after Levi if I die... right?"

Plat 

Esredes is quiet a second before he responds. “...I can do the best I can. Thank you for all you’ve done for me and my faction... but I’m not letting you die if I don’t have to.”

Momo 

She smiles a bit. "... thank you." Her eyes start to water up. "Thank you for coming...." She tries to stop her tears but nothing she does can stop them. "I was scared..."

Plat 

“Hold your hands together,” Esredes responds. “I’m going to carry you to a healer.”

Momo 

She nods and complies, holding her hands together and taking a deep breath.

Plat 

Esredes puts a hand around her, preparing to shift back. However, he then wraps her in a hug, as a way of sealing his thanks in case this was it. After a moment, he shifts and takes her in one hand as gently as possible, taking to the skies.