Something Borrowed: Greed/Chapter 4

The holes in the concrete grew larger, along with the damage done, as if the creature was raging as it went, further and further lost on its path. The design is lucky it didn't take down the earth and structure above in the calamity. Avoiding broken glass, and chemicals provides a bit of a challenge but mostly time took care of active biological agents. The claw-carved tunnel leads to a wide area, with wearmarks on the ground, the main area were supply vehicles found their way in and out of the place. One can easily guess whatever made this mess, went away from the supply room, wherever that leads.

Having finished ferrying everyone up through the holes, with Sienna's help, Selene looks around and then turns to the others. "So. Follow the trail of the enormous beclawed thing that carved out those holes, yeah?"

Rihko takes only a moment to give the hallyway a cursory examination, then starts following the hallway away from the room. Her ears perk forward, her jaw clenches, and she growls under her breath. "Should have looked around more... saved ourselves the trip..." she mutters, before she sighs and her tails flick back and forth once. "Ah well, noted for next time. Yes. Follow the trail of the obviously dangerous beast, and see what we can see."

Cilan hops off of Sienna as shi reaches the top of the hole, Cilan just pats the gryphon's shoulder and adds, "Thanks, partner.." looking to Selene next Cilan just nods and adds, "Seems like.. here's hoping we've got enough firepower to put it down when we find it though. Id rather not lose anyone on my first attempt at leading.." a soft chuckle passes her lips before she heads onwards, pulling her twin handguns out of their holsters on her way.

Sienna's avian features don't betray her thoughts, as she mills about, looking at the destruction. She appears to not be looking in Balina's direction, avoiding her gaze after the previous arguements. She pauses at one point to search through one of the rooms that was destroyed.

The gryphon leaves empty handed, shaking her head as she does. She's remained quiet since the confrontation with Balina, and the accidental dropping of that vial.

Balina sniffs the air, shaking her head at Cilan's comments. "I don't know what to think at this point. Smell says it was just here, but I'd expect more... obvious signs." Watching Sienna, she shrugs and checks in on a different room, glancing in to see if there's anything catching her eye before actually committing to a search.

On the way through, Balina catches scent of something... out of place. Something that shouldn't be here. While most of the medical experimenting has been quite mundane in nature, the scent of something divine strikes her as out of place. Around one of the knocked out rooms, she finds vials on display marked, "Unknown". They smell of... something that isn't natural, thats for certain.

Selene looks into the room where Balina finds the vials, and says "Find anything cool, Bal?"

The three story, wide hallway is fairly nondescript, no doorways or exits. Despite the confusing layout, the tunnelway seems to be leading underneath the mountainous crag that landmarked the place.

Balina grabs the vials, removing her pack to carefully pad and place the vials away in some of her collection pockets. "I... don't know," she calls, looking around for any more goodies. "Ask me again when we're not tracking. More of that 'there is more going on here' stuff, at least."

Selene chuckles. "Yay nondescript out of the ordinary things! Back to hunting giant beasts!" she says, as she heads back out to follow Rihko and the others down the tunnel.

Cilan stops in her tracks as she overhears both Selene and Balina, "Huh? Found even more stuff to add to my pants legs?" she asks in a joking tone before continuing down the hallway, not even bothering to wait around for an answer.

Rihko blinks and looks back, tilting her head at Balina. However, as Cilan presses on, she quickly moves to retake her spot in front of the group. She sniffs at the air and glances around, eyeing the hallway and their destination further on. "This is a long tunnel... damn."

Sienna flinches visibly at Cilan's mention of her previous failure. She follows behind, although takes a quick look at what Balina has picked up. She moves up to Cilan and says, "Whatever it is, we need to make sure we destroy those hard drives. I will provide bait for it if needed." squeezing Cil on the shoulder.

Cilan blinks at Sienna and shakes her head, "No.. noone is becoming bait here.. trust me, Im not going to lose any of you to that creature, and I stand by that statement.." a moment of thought passes Cilan's features before she adds, "Only way I can think of is just keep to the shadows, watch for any sort of weakness, and stay out of reach.."

Balina finishes her investigation, then trots out and follows the group. Patting Selene on the shoulder once she catches up, she says, "Probably just found lunch. Grab first, ask questions later."

Selene giggles at Balina's comment. "I do not think it would be a tasty lunch." She speeds up a little, trotting forwards till she catches up with Rihko, taking point alongside the kitsune.

The walking takes some time, almost dizzying blank unmarked hallways, RSX really needs to see an interior decorator. Eventually they hit an unpowered vehicle elevator, and a stairway that hugs the wall, curling around itself as the tunnel heads up three or four stories into the mountain above them.

As she walks, Selene starts humming to herself. Anyone who overhears it might recognise "In the Hall of the Mountain King". She stops at the foot of the stairs, looking upwards. "Onwards and upwards, I think. I suppose our quarry climbed up the elevator shaft.

Cilan groans audiably and mutters, "I am seriously getting sick and tired of these hallways.." though she stops and blinks impressed as she notices the elivator and stairway, "Huh.. finally, something new.. so, hoof it down the stairs, or--.. heh, what Selene said.." she says with a grin before heading into the stairwell, kicking down the door to it if there is one blocking the way.

"I wouldn't be so sure. They smell... divine," Balina grins, reflexively licking her lips. Glancing at the elevator, then the stairs, she mutters, "Power must have been on while that creature was here. Looks like it didn't have any trouble taking the elevator," before heading on up the stairs.

Sienna leaps up and flies to a better vantage point, and pulls a flashlight out of her pocket, shining it upwards. The elevated platform ... is twisted about, part of it torn up, the platform must have been up when the creature came through and it took the most direct path out.

Rihko pauses a moment to look around, quickly scouting the bottom floor; then she hurries up the stairs after the others. "Spirits," she quietly mutters. "What the hell was this thing? A dinosaur? A new kind of behemoth?" She shivers a little. "Not sure if I could cause that kind of destruction..."

Selene grins. "I bet I could, if I wanted to. Hasn't really been neccessary yet!" she says, as she leads the way up the stairs into the unknown. "Anyone else feel like we're playing D'n'D or something? The small group of brave adventurers, exploring the cavernous lair of a giant beasty!"

From over Cilans shoulder she calls to Rihko, "For all we know they could've been creating their own ragnarok beast.. atleast with a dino, or that behemoth thing, it've been killed by the number of RSX soldiers they wouldve had here.." a soft chuckle separates her previous comment from, "Did anyone here roll a paladin?"

Balina has that manic, head-splitting grin on her face as she looks back down the flight to Selene. "Why do you think I've been in such great spirits the whole time? Was thinking more Raiders of the Lost Ark, but old ruins full of treasure are old ruins full of treasure, and I think I'm in the lead tonight."

Rihko pauses at that and tilts her head to the side, her tails twitching as she looks up the stairs at Cilan. Her ears flick back, and then forward, and she giggles quietly. The kitsune shakes her head, and then starts moving again. "I'm close enough, I think, Cilan. Hopefully." After a few more stairs, she snickers. "Maybe he was right. Maybe dieing and coming back did mess with their heads..."

Selene snickers and calls back to Rihko "Balina hasn't died yet, so that theory doesn't work!"

Sienna shakes her head, and follows the steps up, as they loop around whipping up , and then they emerge above the elevated platform, or what's left of the metal. There's more emergency lighting up here, however it's not more looking like a natural cave than a manufactured building.

Cilan chuckles at Rihko's comment, "Heh.. I wouldnt say that.. Im not messed in the head, atleast thats what the voices tell me anyways!" as she reaches the top of the stairs, and to the natural cave she muses, "Huh.. think we're almost out of here. Finally." before continuing down the hallway-turned cave.

The sunlight, and the whipping breeze can be heard, not far out of the caveway.

Selene takes a look at the change in scenery as she walks along. "Huh. I wonder, did RSX dig this, or just dig into it? Ohhh! Sunlight and air!"

Balina stops to confirm that they're still following the right trail, in case it went down instead. "Find a cave, set up shop, decide you need more space later. Seems simple enough."

Rihko stops to eye the platform, then hurries and catches up with Cilan, walking next to the Action Hero. She glances sideways at Cilan and her ears flick, then she shakes her head and just grins. "We'll see. No heroic sacrifices, though..." Her ears point forward and she sniffs at the air, pressing on down the cave.

Emerging ino the sunlight once again, they're at the very bottom of the big white limestone cliffs, about a quarter mile from the cratered area they entered. The place is eerily quiet, no bird songs. A lonely cloud overhead casting a shadow.

Selene pouts a little. "Well that wasn't very exciting at all! Where's the loot?" She looks up at the sky, preparing to take off and scout from the air to see if there's anythign else around.

Before Selene takes to the air, she notices something odd about the cloud, it's growing bigger. And not at all shaped like a cloud.

Rihko slips out of the cave and pauses in the clearing, head turning each way as she looks around. She crouches to look at the ground, and then looks up at Selene, then over at Sienna, before she scans the woods again.

Cilan grins as she looks over her shoulder to Selene, "Dont you remember, you kicked open a door to plenty of loot.. erm.. just most of it was in the shape of diabolical viruse--.."

Balina follows the trail out of the cave a few yards behind everyone else, her posture dropping down to all fours as she emerges into open air. "Information and what we could scavenge," she mutters, absentmindedly. "Told you I was ahead that trip. Why, want to go try again>"

Selene blinks. "Guys? Guys! Run. Cover. NOW!" she yells, as she sprints for the questionable cover of the trees.

Taking Selene's warning to heart Cilan does a quick 180, and sprints back into the cave she had just left.

Balina follows Cilan, already being closer to the cave, herself.

Rihko darts for the trees at Selene's warning, eyes moving up to scan the sky.

Sienna quakes in fear, taking longer than she should to follow for cover, heading toward the trees.

The large presence that is certainly not a cloud snaps it's wings out wide, covering the entire area in darkness, it's wing span blotting out the sky, and the creature lands on the ground. It's features instantly recognizable, the slitted yellow eyes bigger than a person searching the area as it sniffs in air to it's colossal lungs. It opens its maw full of sharp teeth, almost a threat, and then spins its neck looking for prey that was here but a moment ago.

Selene whispers into her comm "Looks like we found what killed everyone else, then... fuck he's a big one. Well, we've seen the dungeon... and now we've seen the dragon."

Inside the cave again, Cilan returns the handguns back to their holsters and quickly removes her rifle, and sets it up, peering through the scope while she waits in the darkened cavern, watching the giant beast for any weakness that might wound, or atleast hinder it.

Balina recognizes the smell, knowing before the beast landed that it's what she's been tracking since the group disembarked at the river. Without even realizing it, she's back in Fenrir shape, poised to leap. Her common sense holds her back, but she has trouble focusing on anything beyond the two of them, a low growl escaping.

Rihko quietly slips her knife from it's sheath, but really has no idea what it would do agaisnt such a foe; she sticks close to Selene, though, putting a paw on the wolf's shoulder as she watches the dragon.

The creature is covered from head to toe in crimson and golden scales, the only areas on it's body even remotely unarmored are it's eyes and gullet, and an enraged dragon taking a bullett to it's eye might not be a reasonable thing.

Sienna made it out of sight, away from everyone else. She's shaking and huddled, alone, terrified of the massive creature. The dragon looks in her direction and she stiffles a scream. It begins to move in her direction.

Selene curses as the dragon moves for Sienna. "Shit! Time to do something stupid." And with that, she runs out, leaping high into the air with the assistance of her wings, to land on the craetures back, near a wing. Into which she plunges her kris, slashing the delicate flight membrane.

Noticing her friend in danger Cilan looks through the scope, leading the beast, aiming for its un-protected gullet, and firing, discharging the spent round and firing again, targeting the same area before sneaking back into the shadows.

Balina was waiting for an excuse, even if doing so might accidentally help Sienna. Charging out, she circles in a wide arc, looking for an excuse or an opportunity to get at that tasty, tasty gullet meat.

Sienna flees, taking to the air, heading up towards the clifface. She's completely lost in panic. The dragon roars as gnats attack it, shaking it's body and tilting it's head around to look at the small creature on it's back. It gets a look on it's face that could melt metal, and it speaks, the voice deep and angry. "A tasty bird?" and then snaps at Apo. The bullets fired at it, if it even feels them it doesn't notice.

Selene grins at the dragon as she springs backwards, quipping "I tend to stick in the craw! Even death spat me out!" as she dodges the snapping teeth, a bolt of flame lashing out from her hand as she does, to strike the dragon full in the face.

With its head distracted (and quite out of reach), all of the creature's obvious weak points are quite out of reach of your average Balinawolf. Uncharacteristically, Balina runs back toward arboreal cover, seeking Rihko and, hopefully, some idea how to do this.

Cilan dashes out of the cavern and towards the trees, back into the foliage, and away from the other's she brings the scope back to her eye and fires the last three rounds into its throat before sneaking to another tree where she discharges the emptied mag and pops in a new one.

The creature grins, and flicksit's tail up at Apo, smashing into her back, while she's concentrating on her magic. The fire hits it in the face, and it sneezes, a puff of smoke coming from deep within. It watches Apo fly through the air, caught off-balance, and reaches out with it's front claws, wrapping it's toes around her, grasping. It then takes to the air, heading away from the group with Apo it its clutches.

"What are you DOING, SELENE?!" Rihko calls out, her voice rising towards the end. "Come on, lose it in the forest!" She starts to fall back, then stops as it grabs Selene. "Shit. Cilan, tell me you have a way to find her!"

Selene cries out as the tail hits her, cartwheeling through the air until she comes to a sudden stop in the dragon's claws. She shakes her head, groggy from the blow, before her sense return to her. "Oh, son of a... " she mutters, before her entire body is engulfed in searing flame, white hot in its intensity. "Let...me...GO!"

"Nimbus's already on him!" Cilan shouts as she shifts to a rarely used form, while its still hardly the size of the dragon they're fighting hopefully the size and new wings'll help in the fight.

Now at least 11 feet tall, Cilan spreads her now draconic wings outwards and upwards towards the dragon, using her spirit hawk to track wherever the dragon had fled to.

The thing feels something warm in its claws glowing white hot. It grins, a snearing large grin as it turns its claw over. "The bird talks does it?" it rumbles, already in the sky with Apo. "And a child of fire at that. You will make an excellent prize for my collection." it sneers.

On her way to the dragon Cilan removes two grenades from her belt, one incendiary while the other white phosphorus, though she does not prime either yet, "Let /her/ GO, YOU ASSHOLE!" she shouts at the top of her lungs towards the red dragon as she trails behind it.

"I'm a wolf, you stupid bastard!" Selene yells. "And if you think I'll sit around in some collection, you've got another thing coming." the flames subside and she struggles in its grasp, arms pinned to her sides, preventing her from using spear, kris or crossbow, for all the good they'd do.

Rihko sighs. A heavy, disappointed sigh. Still, she isn't about to abandon her friends to their apparently desired demise. She steadies and calms herself a moment, shifting to her own winged form before taking off after Cilan. "You're going to get her killed, Cilan. Just follow the fucker! Don't do anything else stupid."

Balina decides to at least do what she knows, in the face of giant monst-- okay, she knows giant monsters, but isn't well-suited to give chase. Watching Cilan and Selene, she trots out into the clearing, looking for any signs of recent or semi-recent movement of supplies, or any obvious cues on where that fool thing would be heading.

It speaks, "Oh sitting is hardly what you'll be doing, fire-child." it grins, heading through the air upon its huge wings. Heading southward away. It turns in the air in a wide arc, and then dives down toward a large lake, pulling Selene tight against it, as it slams into the water, sliding into it like a snake. The water displaced is massive, pushing to the trees surrounding on the far edges.

Selene is about to reply, when the words are torn from her by the sudden plunge into the lake, she struggles more in the vice-like grip of those claws, uninterested in seeing just what she -will- be doing if it gets its way.

Rihko follows to the edge of the lake, landing on a tree and watching for a moment, eyes scanning the water.

As soon as she's overtop the lake that the dragon had dove into, Cilan's wings wrap around her and she spirals into the water, still following the giant beast, or atleast trying to do so.

The dragon disappears under the water, it's massive shadow going with it. Cilan treads trying to follow in it's wake, the flow of the water pushing her back. She has to resurface to catch her breath and returns to following it.

As she resurfaces Cilan reaches into her pack and pulls a rebreather, popping it in her mouth next she dives back into the lake and continues her chase.

Balina finds, to only her mild surprise, no obvious sign of anything. Cursing about lost time, she begins bounding off in the general direction she saw the dragon fly off, hoping to at least make up for a little lost time.

Rihko remains perched in her tree, talons digging into the trunk as she watches Cilan. After a moment the kitsune-turned-dragon focuses and murmurs a prayer, invoking a blessing of her own and calling to her water-kami companion. The small kirin-beast shimmers into existance, and after a brief consultation it dives down into the water as well, searching for a cave and keeping an eye on Cilan while Rihko waits.

Cilan eventually finds the pocket underneath the water the dragon used, and emerges in a limestone cave, cavernous and large. She can see the creature's tail far ahead, as there's some sort of light source in the cave.

With nothing else to do, Cilan just continues swimming after the beast, trying to keep up with the beast, thinking up a plan the entire while to hopefully save Selene, afterall, she's probably gonna rage if the dragon fries her fiancee, and the mother of her children.

Rihko observes Sienna flying past, and the gryphon dives into the water after Cilan. She looks far more determined and less terrified than when she was last seen.

Rihko watches from her perch in the trees, then sighs. She pulls up her com, and radios Balina. "At the lake, Balina. It dived in, and Cilan chased after it. Then Sienna went in, too. It's been a while, so I'm assuming it has an underwater cave it's using. I want to go in after them, but I'd rather not try giving that thing the Single Ninja Rule advantage on top of everything else it has going for it."

Balina is unable to handle her radio, but she has presence of mind enough to make sure it's always somewhere near her head when she's all wolfy. She changes direction, trusting that her own internal sense of navigation and her nose are enough to divine the lake's location.

The dragon gently curls it's tail around to pull Selene closer. It has a grin on it's face and it rumbles. "We'll find something that will make you a true child of fire. Most of your kind prefers being food to embracing beauty." It's claws pull out with extreme delicateness something. "Yes, this is it." it says, holding up a small kit.

Selene yelps as the dragon's tail curls around her, and headtilts at its words. :Just what do you plan to do? What is that?"

Cilan hardly notices the Leviathan swimming close by, rather she continues swimming until finally emerging from the cave, where she squats low and keeps to the shadows, her trained eyes watching the dragon, but more importantly keeping an eye on the kit it had pulled.

The creature questions Selene, "What do you think of me, oh child of fire? Do you not thing I am the most wonderful thing you have ever laid eyes on? I am power incarnate, and I have all the treasures of the world within my great claws." it seems to be looking for conversation. Like it hasn't used words in a long while.

Rihko sticks her com in her satchel, empties her pockets of anything that might be damaged by the water, then carefully hangs her bag up in the tree. She waits for Balina to arrive, and for her spirit companion to return, then waves at the wolf. "Yea. Cave down there. Are you ready to go after them?"

Selene pauses, considering her words carefully. "The most wonderful thing? No. I reserve that for my wife, and my beautiful children. But you do indeed exude raw power. Most impressive. Why do you call me child of fire?"

Balina skids to a stop, panting lightly. "I've been ready since we spotted the thing. I just hope someone has a plan once we get there, that's all," she says. Even with, apparently, a guide, she does need to get all the way through. Exerting her adept powers for the first time tonight, she makes a minor shift, and nods to Rihko. "Here's hoping the nanites don't care about that freshwater/saltwater thing."

The dragon chuckles at the response, it's loud and heavy, "You are confumed by flame, and anger and it is beautiful. You burn like fire, and deserve more than your pitiful body allows. I will fix that, you will be born of flame into something great like me, and together we will rule the skies. That, is why I call you child of fire, and you shall be proud of your brood, little one." Its maw opens in a wide grin. If it notices Cilan, it doesn't let on.

Rihko sighs, and nods. "I guess... see if it has the servers. Trash them. Run like hell, and hope if gives Apo a chance to slip away..." She shrugs, then dives into the water, using her wings and tail to help push her through the water towards the cave.

Behind Cil, Sienna emerges, sputtering with the water. She moves close, and is about to ask what's happening when she notices the presence of the dragon.

"You... you mean to make me... like you?" Selene says hesitantly. "I presume that's not an offer I can survive declining, is it?"

Cilan waves Sienna over to her and whispers, "Hey partner.. got any plans to get my wife out of harms reach? Ones that dont involve either of us becoming bait?"

Balina follows behind Rihko, trusting Rihko just slightly more than her own nose. This isn't a trick she's tried previously, after all.

The big dragon says, "Why would you ever decline such an offer?" using it's tail to pull her closer.

Sienna shakes her head, and then leans in and whispers something to Cilan while while clasping a shoulder. "Because I like what I am now." Selene says, keeping her voice level as she's pulled closer to the enormous creature.

Cilan jumps away from Sienna and blinks incredulously at the gryphon, a hand gripping the shoulder she had clasped, "Wh-what.. did you inject into me?" she whispers, her voice in sheer disbelief.

Sienna points at the creature and says, "Now save your wife, like the brave hero you've always been." and she pulls herself up and out of the water. As she does, Cilan shows the first symptoms of change.

Rihko pulls herself out of water in the cave, quietly slipping up onto the limestone and taking a moment to appraise the situation. Her wings tuck in tight against her back, and her tail flicks.

Cilan watches as her arms shift to something inhumanly powerful, looking to Sienna she just offers a solemn, but firm nod before turning her attention to the beast, and her wife infront of her, where she then goes charging out of her hiding spot and towards the beast, continuing the mutations along the way.

The creature's nostrils flare. It looks puzzles and cranes it's neck away from its current focus.

Balina bursts out of the water not far behind Rihko, shaking her head and sputtering as Fenrir reasserts itself. Nearly as soon as that finishes, however, she sees a fleeing Cilan, accompanied by what are probably not Cilan's arms. She darts off to follow without a second thought.

Rihko reaches out a clawed hand to grab at Balina's tail, quietly hissing, her eyes scanning the cave and looking for the dragon's treasure hoard. "What are you doing to -do-, Balina, get eaten?"

Cilan's charge is halted as her feet change, falling forward she begins to bulk up.

"Cilan's apparently got something up her-- does she even have sleeves any more?" is hastily thrown behind the departing Balinawolf.

Selene twists to look at what has distracted the dragon, and blinks. "Cil? How? Why?" She looks back at the dragon. "Well now she's pissed off."

As Cilan falls she quickly corrects herself and slams her fist into the floor underneath, cracking the surface before returning to her feet and resuming her charge towards the dragon, her form gradually increasing as she releases a pissed off 'GRROOAAAR!' to her foe.

The dragon moves swiftly to wrap itself around its hoard guarding it and bears its teeth.

Selene yelps as she's wrenched about by the sudden movement of the dragon, still held in its tail.

As Cilan finally reaches the dragon, she lashes out with the razor sharp claws, slashing at the dragon's face, another deafening 'GRROAARR!' soon making way for a sudden blast of flame shooting out of her throat.

Rihko calls her wisps of flame to her again, circling around the edge of the cave and flanking the dragons, alert and ready for her break. She's tense, on edge, and very much unhappy with what is going down.

Balina skids to a halt again. Fighting fire with fire is fine, but icewolves can sit this out. She pads over to an out-of-the-way location to either hide or wait for a proper opening, depending on how charitable the reader is feeling.

Balina moves herself to a better vantage point, which happens to be closer to the exit.

The big dragon strikes at the upstart before it. It hisses, loud, and thrashes about, using it's tail to throw Apo into the hummer. It moves to protect its hoard. "Mine!" it hisses as it bites and slashes back at Cilan.

Cilan takes the slash without even trying to dodge, though it seems like she doesnt even notice, either because the scales had stopped it or her rage deadens any pain, "GIVE HER BACK!" Cilan roars as the searing gout of flame ends and she goes into a full flurry of razor sharp slashes at the beast that would DARE steal her mate from her.

Selene yelps as she's tossed into the hummer, tumbling in and thumping against the opposite door, hitting her head hard. She lies dazed for a few moments, before shifting into an upright seated position, cradling her head. "Owwww.... fuck, that hurt...."

Rihko starts moving faster, hoping Cilan can keep the dragon occupied long enough for her to get her part done. She continues to circle the pair, then motions, directing her wisps forward and into the nest of electronics, where they gleefully add to the pyrotechnics of the dragon-battle, immolating things around them and detonating inside the hard drives.

Rihko notices as she's trying to melt things Sienna slipping off with something in her arms, heading back for the entrance.

Balina winces as electronics are destroyed without even knowing if they're the information the party was after, and begins working, carefully, towards the hoard.

Rihko freezes as she sees the agent making off with something, and growls deep in her throat. She tenses, then sprints across the cave with surprising speed, aiming a shoulder tackle right at the fleeing gryphon.

Balina breaks into a run - she doesn't really understand subtle, anyway - coming at Sienna at a more direct angle. Her jaws are open, and her eyes are glinting with either murderous or joyful intent. One will find out in a moment.

Cilan's attacks push the creature back, the fury of the new beast in front of it overwhelming. It tries going for her neck, but it's scales are stronger. It thrashes and squirms. In the heat of the moment, strangely, the scent of the female dragon in front of it, causes it to go into it's own lust filled frenzy. It begins to push back, and tries to lift itself on top of Cilan, to claim her.

Sienna is trying to sneak off, and does an excellent dodge roll, but Balina's bulk clips her, knocking her off balance, and then rihko tackles her to the ground.

Rihko pins Sienna to the ground and snarls, giving the gryphon a nice face full of sharp, angry shadow dragon. She flexes her claws and, with her body language, makes it imminently clear that one wrong -twitch- from the traitor will lead to inevitable bloody pain, and imminent doom, and then holds Sienna with one clawed hand while she claims whatever it was the gryphon was trying to smuggle out.

As the dragon tries to lift itself ontop of her, Cilan does one thing better. Using her innate strength, with a combination of both rage and adrenaline she uses the dragons awkward stance to do a quick hip toss, throwing the dragon to the ground where she soon darts her opened mouth towards the creatures throat, trying to finish the horny dragon.

Balina circles around after her clumsy attempt at interception, standing over the prone dragon/gryphon pair and nosing Sienna roughly. "That's at least two strikes, I think. You seemed awfully sure where that whatever was."

Cilan's bite manages to finally catch between the dragon's scutes, her long teeth sinking into the creature's throat and crushing it's windpipe, the armored plating providing little against the monstrous teeth. She continues to hold onto it, consumed in bloody rage as she takes it's life, the hot blood of the dragon pooling on the ground below.

Sienna squawks as she's squished, and threatened, clinging to the electronics in her arms like a safety net. She grimaces as Cilan brings down the great beast, it's body splaying out into the room, and blood spraying at the three. She hopes for a moment of distraction.

As the dragons life fades she releases her bite and another deafening, but victorious roar sounds across the cavern. "Selene!" she calls out looking for her mate.

Selene slowly climbs out of the hummer, still rubbing her head. "Errrrgh. ueit voice, please, love. My head is -killing- me here."

Sienna uses the distraction to slip a blade out, and into her captor's stomach. She pulls, and pulls into it sticks into Rihko's rib.

Balina had her attention on Sienna, but failed to anticipate the gryphon sinking so low as to resort to stabbings. Let alone doing something so inhumanly dumb as attacking *Rihko* in front of her. Protective instincts flying into a full rage, Fenric jaws are rapidly introduced to Sienna's throat. Unfortunately, the rest of her head was in the way, but like many problems Balina faces, this rectifies itself remarkably quickly.

Cilan lowers her head to look at the tiny lunerin infront of her a giant claw later reaching out to grab her and pull her close. While her grip is tight, it is not enough to actually cause pain or discomfort, as she is lifted infront of her draconic muzzle Cilan says, "My love.. are you alright?" her voice while still booming does seem like she's atleast trying to lower it to a good volume.

Rihko snarls at the sudden pain and reacts instinctively, her claws clenching on Sienna's shoulder and her jaws flashing down, her teeth snapping for the gryphon's neck. Balina beats her to the punch, though, and she holds back to avoid biting her friend. Her body trembles with her own barely suppressed anger, and she clenches and unclenches her claws, shredding the corpse's shoulder as she slowly and carefully tests her wound before removing the dagger, if medically feasable.

Selene smiles weakly at Cil. "I've been worse. How are you?"

Balina spends a few moments in complete distraction, worrying about the head until it's finally in a state to allow her to swallow. As she comes down, she looks to Rihko, finally remembering the reason for the execution. "Will you be okay?" she asks, entirely too calm for the situation.

Cilan bumps her muzzle against Selene lightly, affectionately before adding, "I'll live.." with that she then looks to the racket at the entrance of the cave and blinks at her headless partner, her mouth opening as though she were to say something though nothing comes out.

Selene wriggles in Cil's grasp. "Could you put me down, love? I've spent entirely too much time being held by giant dragons today."

Rihko's bleeding rather profusely, and removing the dagger only makes it worse.

As per Selene's request Cilan sets her mate aside and thuds over to Sienna, the clawed hand that had originally held Selene now reaches out to pick her lifeless body up an hold it close, a soft mournful groan escapes her throat as the last tie to her previous life has been permanently cut.

Selene trots over to the injured Rihko, and grins as a blue glow emanates from her hand. "Want some help with that, science fox?"

Balina watches Selene take care of the immediate concerns, panic fading almost before it can surface. The other 90% of Sienna being the primary order of business, she attempts to nose Sienna's arms away, to get a better look at what was more important than not being eaten.

Rihko winces and growls as the dagger stuck in her rib comes out, carefully rolling off of Sienna's lifeless husk as Cilan rushes over to coddle it and keeping a hand over her stomach to keep anything vital from falling out. Her nostrils flare and she gives Cilan a very angry glare, then nods her head at Selene. "Yea, if you could," she says. "Otherwise I'd stitch it up, cauterize it, and make one of you carry me back to the bus." She looks at Balina. "I've done worse to myself, but no, I think I'll bleed out pretty quickly unless you kept any of my goop. And it still works out here. Or someone can magic it."

The sad thing is, clutched in her arms were two data disks, specific ones, their label still on them, as well as a small box of vials."

Sienna's life devolved into stupidity, that she wouldn't trust even her oldest friend who gave everything for her, to save the poor bird.

Selene grins, and presses her hand lightly against Rihko's injury. The blue glow intensifies, and Rihko can feel the area growing hotter. When Selene takes her hand away, all that remains of the injury is the blood in the fur. "There you go! Good as new!"

Balina begins the process of reverting to back to something that has a hand. After doing so, she digs around and pulls out the goop from what feels like a week ago, passing it to Rihko almost absent-mindedly before taking a better look at the ill-gotten ill-gotten booty. "Can we not nuke these until we actually know what's on them?"

"What do the labels say?" Selene asks.

Cilan doesnt even notice Rihko's angry glare cast at her, rather she continues holding the body close, "Why did you not trust me, Sienna?" she finally asks the body, "You could've lived.. you.. you couldve gone back to the life you were supposed to lead.. I would've protected you.."

Rihko sighs. A heavy, exasperated sigh. She picks herself up and growls, then gives her body a shake and her wings snap. Then she goes over to Sienna's smuggled loot and begins inspecting it.

Balina gives Cilan a single, impassive look, spares a glance towards her handiwork, then shakes her head. "Shi obviously thought there was something important in here. That reminds; why exactly did you turn into a giant dragon, again?"

Selene nods towards the vials. "I'm guessing she stuck her with one of those. The dragon was gonna do the same thing to me."

Cilan avariciously roars, "She said it was the only way to save Selene.. she was right.. she saved us all."

Balina hungrily says, "Time doesn't work that way. She had the vial *before* she snuck into the horde."

Cilan avariciously roars, "Thats why she fled.. back to the lab so she could grab the vials, and the disks.. in the end, after so many years of fear.. she became the hero.." apparently the giant dragon lost in her own world of mourning, oblivious to the fact that she stabbed Rihko only moments ago, ".. I will take her back.. back to her home, bury her with her family.. its the least she deserves."

Rihko finishes her brief examination, and stuffs the disks and the vials into various pockets of her jacket. Then she thinks a moment, and waves Balina over. "Can I borrow your bag?"

Selene looks at Cilan. "Love, I know she was your friend, but... those discs... those vials... they came from the hoard. She took them while you fought the other dragon. Whatever she injected you with came from before. Something else she was hiding from us."

Balina bristles. Not an answer at all, and certainly not a sign that this will help. "Do what you have to," she manages, picking words very, very carefully. Stepping over to Rihko she unslings her bag and offers it to Rihko. "I don't think I can store the whole hoard, so go easy on it. Sorting the treasure always takes forever."[[Category:[REDACTED] Events]]