Aurion made sure to take a very convoluted and roundabout path back to the shelter where the rest of pack was today. He had only been gone something like six hours or so, they should still be there. It hadn't really been decided if they would change spots soon or not. Not that it mattered, they could find each other easily enough.

As he made his way into the shelter he made sure not to bang Allison around or into anything. He wasn't so much worried about her collecting any more cuts or scrapes as he was trying to to wake her. Taking a moment for his eyes to adjust to the dim lighting, Aurion failed to see anyone else around just then. Shrugging he dropped the three rabbits and the dog-thing on the floor against a wall. Don't ask how he carried all of that in one hand, it's enough to say he has big hands.

Aurion took Allison into a room out of site of the entrance, where it was quite compared to the main room. He set her down in a corner facing the doorway and left the room. Reaching the sleeping area, he grabbed his pack and went through it, he had a length of rope he could cut being too inconvenienced and a few rags that he was fine parting with.

He went back to Allison and tied the strip of cloth around her head tightly, and made sure she wouldn't be able to see out of it. Well, she'd probably be able to see a little bit if she looked down. Next he tied her ankles, cut the rope and proceeded to tie her hands behind her back. With both her ankles and wrist restraints he left just enough slack so they wouldn't chafe, much, and her circulation wouldn't be impeded, much. Aurion still had the other strip of cloth that in hand, he had thought to gag her with it, but decided against it. He'd rather be able to hear when she woke up.

Moving outside to a clearing not to far away from the entrance, but still see the entrance and was sheltered from view otherwise. He began to field dress the animals, something he should have done as soon as he caught and kill them.

Waking up wasn’t a process of waking up so much as it was a process of discovering more and more pain until Allison woke up simply because she refused to focus only on the pain anymore. Her shoulders were at the wrong angle, her wrists and ankles were crushed together and had something cutting into them, she was covered with deep bruises everywhere and stinging cuts on her arms, face and neck, even her eyes ached and burned. And her head… wasn’t to be thought about. It was automatic to bite her lip and fight against the tears; it was also automatic to let through a high, quiet whine when that wasn’t enough.

That made her head hurt worse. The whine cut off quickly. Allison sighed and stayed still, breathing for a moment before trying to open her eyes.

…She couldn’t see, there was light but no vision, and she could feel her eyelashes pushing against something. What--

Oh. All… that. Allison had forgotten. She’d prefer to continue forgetting, really.

…Aurion was going to suffer. How didn’t really matter. It would happen.

For the moment though… well, Allison had no idea who was nearby, or where she was. Slight movement confirmed the now-expected rope on her wrists and ankles. The blindfold didn’t need to be confirmed again. And… well, she didn’t have any of her ink nearby, at least; it wasn’t worth risking that Aurion either had left ink near her, or had given her to someone and not told them to keep ink away from her.

…Allison hated being helpless. It happened often, and the more it happened, the more she hated it.

She learned to deal with it, though, and she’d dealt with situations before by knowing what was going on. So she’d stay where she was, and wait, and hopefully hear something soon. Very soon, ideally; it was difficult to resist the temptation to get rid of the blindfold immediately. Most could be scraped off against the ground or her shoulder easily enough; there wasn’t any reason to assume this one wouldn’t. That would be obvious, though; she could get it off, but not back on. So she waited.

The walk home had been a dreary one. Ultimately, Sledge had won the battle, and a sulky shapeshifter was sent home. Well, “home” wasn’t a fitting way to put it. Chase was sent back to camp—and he went there looking rather dejected, but not so preoccupied with his sulking that he wasn’t paying attention. He eventually made his way towards the base and, with an air of relief, saw that Aurion was sitting outside. Chase liked his makeshift family of wild mutants—let no one be mistaken about that—but Shane secretly gave the tween the creeps. Chase, however, loved Aurion. At present, said lizard was gutting some sort of mammalian creatures that he’d captured, and the little shifter waved as he drew closer, offering a faint smile.

“You got dinner?” the child inquired, his eyes glimmering—right now, Chase looked human—it was his own human face, no modifications whatsoever to his guise. He paused, as Aurion spoke, but once the Lizard Man had spoken (if he had), Chase meandered into the cave with the excuse of, “I need to put away my “out” piece." Chase retrieved the object that belonged to him, the piece that was situated in such a fashion that it represented the fact that he and Sledge had gone out, and dumped it into the bag. He paid no heed to the girl in the cave. Not until, that is, he turned to go back out.

The only girl in their group was Amber. That was not Amber, but some other girl. An outsider. A stranger.

“Aurion?” Chase inquired, confusion in his tone. He edged back towards the girl hesitantly, drawing a small hunting knife as he did so. She was all tied-up and a blindfold covered her eyes. That probably meant that she wasn’t there to join the family, or if she was, it wasn’t by choice, “What’s she doing here?”

Chase began to contort his form uneasily, making it taller and darkening his skin. He was in the habit of disguising himself around strangers. His hair curled tightly, deepening into a black, and his eyes became brown. His skin, too, took on a deep, milky brown color, until a stranger had taken Chase’s place. Aurion would be familiar with it—it was one of a good many forms Chase favored when he wasn’t comfortable.

Aurion saw Chase making his way towards camp, but didn't call out. He'd like to not say any names, just in case. In case of what? Aurion had no idea, but just in case. Maybe he was feeling a little paranoid, who knows. Not only that, he was a bit focused on what he was doing, not wanting to miss something and leave something in the animals that would make everyone sick. When the boy spoke up, Aurion smiled a tight smile. "Yeah, just something I picked up." He gave a slight back hand wave as Chase headed in.

Then Chase called to him, sounding a bit confused. "Crap." Aurion had forgotten about Allison, at least forgot to say anything to Chase before he went in about her. Turning his head toward the entrance, Aurion called out, "Ignore her for the moment." His tone and calm, almost dismissive towards the topic of Allison. At least that's how he hoped his voice sounded. "Before you come out, can you put my stone away please. I forgot about it. And bring the big pot and something to carry water. I'd appreciate it."

The tasks would hopefully distract Chase enough that he didn't try to do anything stupid or impulsive with, or to, Allison. He had skinned two rabbits already and had their innards resting on the ground away from the dead animals. When he heard the sounds of footsteps, he glanced sideways and saw Chase, wearing a different face and look, but still Chase all the same. With a quick glance at the doorway Aurion jerked his head in an, 'Over here' motion. "You know the Amazons? She's one of them." Looking up at the boy. "Was the blindfold still in place?" He waited for an answer before continuing, cutting off anything the boy might have started to started to say. "Do. Not. Take. It. Off. Got it?"

Aurion jammed the knife he was using into the dog-thing. "I don't know how dangerous she still is. She controls ink, and I don't know if she has any more with her, or in her or what, but she won't know where to direct it if she can't see." He slipped into a quieter tone, "I'm going to see what we can get from Roach when I take her to the Pit." In a very human gesture, Aurion sighed and rubbed his face. "If you have to interact with her, go as me, and keep your eyes covered," He made a show of covering his eyes with the second eyelids, "She can't get the ink into you if you do that."

In a much lighter tone, "Did you bring what I asked? I'm thinking a stew of some kind. Though it might end up being just meat and blood broth. I can't remember if we have any potatoes or anything like that." Aurion looked at Chase and smiled. He kind of hoped Chase would remember. Their food wasn't all that varied for the most part, but if it was possible they tried to add as much variation as possible, and root things like potatoes and carrots could really change things for the others. It did nothing for Aurion, not being able to taste much made everything bland.

Chase looked towards the reptilian man uneasily, a frown tugging at his lips, but his head nodding minutely. He went about putting Aurion’s stone away, and retrieved one of few cooking utensils that the pack possessed—a large cauldron often used to make stew. Chase sauntered out of the cave hesitantly, and Aurion called him over. The adolescent obeyed. Aurion informed him of the situation, and gave Chase curt instructions.

“Yes, it was,” the child confirmed. His voice was unchanged from his usual voice—for voices were harder to maintain than looks. Besides which, no one would identify Chase by his voice. He nodded his head in understanding as Aurion told him to leave the blindfold be, and to go with his face on if he had to deal with her. Chase nodded his head—eyelids… eyelids… the shapeshifter rifled through his brain for that genetic coding, and as he remembered them, the second eyelids blinked over human eyes. The child gave a cheeky grin.

The topic of conversation changed and Aurion’s tone climbed to a lighter, more conversational timbre.

“We might have some such things… maybe onions…” Chase confirmed. He went back towards the cave, his footsteps light. As he went back into the darkness, his eyes immediately went to the Amazon. She didn’t look like an Amazon. In the twelve-year-old’s mind, Amazons were malformed, half-human women—like, Hunchback of Notre Dame, except with horrifying powers. She looked normal. Pretty, even.

The child edged past the Amazon with careful steps, his eyes remaining on her for as long as possible. His back was to her, for all of a few seconds as he retrieved the two potatoes and the onion that the ferals had in their possession, as well as an old, wooden spoon. The Amazon wasn’t moving very much—in fact, the boy was pretty sure she was dead. Dead people moved as much as she did.

With the food cradled in his arm, Chase crept closer. His free hand curled around the spoon-part of the ladle, while he prodded at her with the handle. He poked her once, then a second time, before jumping back. Whether she answered or not was irrelevant. Chase turned the spoon around in his hand, and hit her with the flat side of the spoon. Much in the fashion that one would poke a presumably-dead creature with a stick, so Chase was doing with the spoon—he was just a foolish twelve-year-old boy, thus had to do it more thoroughly.

Quiet footsteps were… not a good sign, but not the worst either. At least, they were footsteps; there wasn’t anything that sounded like claws to Allison. She stayed still, pretending not to be aware of the quiet noise, and listening for any quiet noises that might actually be useful.

The first poke earned the automatic response of suddenly tense muscles and stillness, followed by disbelief. Because really, a poke? What was the purpose of a poke?

...Other than to be annoying. Adding annoyance when Allison was already angry was not a very good idea. At least, not for her. She squirmed at the second poke, letting her breath hiss out quietly enough that it would hopefully be unheard anyway. The squirming, though, edged the blindfold off an eye; slightly, not enough for her to see more than blurry light and her own cheek, but still.

And the hit? That just had to be deliberate provocation. Why not oblige?

Allison twisted, pushing herself up so she was kneeling, and used her shoulder to push the blindfold up enough for her to see. With one eye, anyway; fortunately, the right one. She glared, snarled at the figure she could see, and without thinking pulled ink toward him.

And ink actually appeared. From her left arm, it seemed, though the sleeping pins-and-needles sensation from the awkward positioning was confusing it a bit. Allison blinked, then threw the ink at the figure with more force than accuracy, and the intent to push it into his skin as soon as it connected. Aurion might be ink proof, but that didn’t mean his new friends were.

Preteens, particularly those of the male variety, were given to and entitled towards acts of blatant stupidity. Chase’s decision to blatantly disregard Aurion’s instructions were proof of this fact, and now his disobedience was going to bite him in the butt. The first prod elicited no reaction (at least, that Chase had observed), thus the dark-skinned variant of Chase persisted. The second poke was answered by a sound that could have been mistaken as a gust of wind, and a squirm that might have been the loll of an unconscious (or dead) woman. The hit got a reaction—

It was about that time that Chase realized that this might not have been the best idea.

“Whoa!” Chase shouted, his tenor voice shrill with alarm, “Aurion!”

Aurion, I kinda messed up—okay, I really messed up— was what Chase wanted to say, but his mouth couldn’t articulate the frenzied thoughts that darted through his brain. He recoiled as the girl spun and got to her knee, fixing him with a stare of animosity and fury. Eyelids, eyelids— Chase summoned forth the eyelids that belonged to the reptilian man, shielding his eyes, but the eyes weren’t the redhead’s intended target.

Black ink lunged towards Chase’s skin and instantly fought into his pores. Chase yelled, his voice making-known his sharp distaste. There was a panicked, incoherent shout as Chase fell into the wall, trying to brush the ink away. His form wavered, and began to revert, tendrils writhing in an attempt to purge themselves of the inky invaders, without avail.

“It was an accident!” the kid managed to protest, “I didn’t—I thought—I was just checking to see if you were dead!”

Panic colored his irises which, against the blackened sclera of his eyes, seemed luminous.

Aurion thought he should have heard something after Chase went inside. A clink of metal, a rustling of stuff, maybe some debris moved around...right? Naw, he was just being paranoid. Chase hadn't been gone that long, and he usually did what Aurion told him. If he were going to do something with Alli, he'd listen...right? He looked at the meat in front of him and after a few moments decided to tr--

His head snapped up and looked in Chase's direction. 'Dammit!' The knife stabbed into the meat as he jumped to his feet and quick-stepped into the building. Absently his mind registered that it was Chase's voice, not his own, that he heard call out to him.

It took his eyes only a heartbeat to adjust to the light and as he moved towards where he had deposited Allison, he saw Chase, in his own skin, mostly, swiping at himself. His skin seemed to be writhing and undulating. Aurion punched the wall as he passed into the room, putting a large hole in it, sending debris into the room at Allison and Chase. A crack spread up from the hole, going halfway up the wall.

In an angry growl he looked at the boy, "If she were dead I wouldn't have warned you to be careful!" His gaze was pure hate and malice when he looked at Alli. "If you hurt my boy I will make you wish you were dead. You will never have a peaceful moment again. Do you understand me Amazon." He spat the last word out like acid.

Muscles taught, tail flicking about agitatedly, lips twitching as they pulled back completely revealing all his teeth, his eyes bore down on Allison. "REMOVE THE INK, NOW!" His bellow was loud enough to be felt in the bones and shake dust and dirt from the walls and ceiling.

The boy yelling for Aurion was… annoying. Not unexpected at all, had Allison bothered to think of it, but annoying. And a bit pathetic, though she probably shouldn’t be too shocked at a kid acting like a kid. Lady Kaitlyn had given her higher expectations than she ought to have, it seemed.

Aurion’s arrival was intimidating, and Allison cringed, letting the blindfold slip back down over her eyes. The volume of his threats made her cringe again, but she still turned to face his direction. “You actually expect me to let him go? When you’ve already said you’re going to kill me, then said you weren’t, then tried to? Even if I could trust a word you ever said, I’m still trusting that you’re going to kill me. And… other things. Hurt me and I’ll kill your boy, Aurion.”

And wasn’t that a weird thought? Allison was fairly sure that Aurion had not had a kid three years ago. Oh well, mutations were weird; there was no reason the kid couldn’t just grow up fast. Which would explain his behavior. Allison… didn’t want to consider where the kid had come from. Aurion had a kid, no thinking about it beyond that. Actually, better yet, no thinking about it at all; it was not a particularly useful thing to focus on.

“And it won’t matter what you do after that because you’d just do it anyway if I let him go.” Haven’t you heard, Aurion, about the most dangerous man in the world being the one with nothing left to lose? The rule worked for women, too.

Chase heard Aurion charge back in, listened as he growled at Chase, chastising him for his foolishness. The child winced and said nothing, but Aurion’s attention had already redirected itself towards the woman. The tendrils continued wriggling in a way that implied that they were trying to force the ink out, but without avail. Aurion was furious, and Chase hoped that (for his sake and hers), that the redhead would listen.

The girl was resolute in her stance, and Chase exhaled faintly—she wasn’t going to let him go. Chase had turned himself into a bargaining chip. The tendrils paused, but then continued to attempt expelling the ink.

“If Aurion loses me, he’ll be really dangerous,” Chase suggested meekly. He didn’t know about this girl, but he knew about the reptilian mutant before him—they were close, they mattered to one another, “A-and it’s not just the two of us, there’s a whole pack of us. And I-I’m the smallest. L-l-lot’s of mutants just like Aurion are in our group—and they… they would all be mad if anything happened to me… who, um… who do you think they’d be mad at?”

Sure, at that very moment, Sledgehammer wasn't too fond of him, but that still left Amber and Shane, at least. They were pretty dangerous people. Chase rubbed at his face, and tried turn the tendrils once again.

Aurion spat. A big, fat glob of saliva, right into Allison's hair. Taking a very loud, deep breath, Aurion exhaled slowly. Turning his head to Chase. "I really thought you knew better than this. This is exactly why you need to listen and do what you're told. There is nothing any of us can do to undo what she's done, except remove your arm or kill her. Both of those options have the possibility of killing you in the process."

Looking towards Allison, he moved his fin, slipped it under the blindfold and lifted it up above her eyes. "Allison," Her name came out with a sigh. If he still had a human nose, he'd be rubbing the bridge of it right then. "If I were going to kill you, or do anything else to you, I had plenty of time to do them, while you were out cold. Since I haven't, I think it's obvious I'm not going to do either."

Grabbing Chase's arm lightly. "Don't bother." He said to the boy.

"He's right Allison. His and your lives are on the line right now. Are you really going to sacrifice the lives of the other Amazons, to kill him, and get back at me?" He chuckled. "Before you try to say we'll die trying. You have no idea who we are, or what we're capable of. You think Aura, Isabel, Syn, or any of them for that matter, can really stop what they can't see coming? Or resist what they can't touch? Or protect themselves while they sleep? In their dreams?" A malicious grin spread over his face. "We've not been found or caught yet. And we won't be."

His tail waved in front of Allison. "So you have two choices, remove the ink from him, and I'll give you dinner later, or kill him, and become dinner and condemn the Amazons to death." He turned and tried to pull Chase ahead of him. Speaking over his shoulder. "Remember, you don't know who we are, but I was Order, and so was Aura and the others, you think I don't know how to kill them?" He laughed.

Allison did not appreciate being spit on. Nor was she expecting it at all; she’d been expecting something more along the lines of being thrown into the wall so her neck snapped. Well, fine; she could manage. The blindfold being removed was nicer; it was infinitely easier to keep the ink in the kid’s skin when she could see exactly where he was. She still cringed away from the fin, let herself lean away and turn to snap in its direction with her teeth. Not actually on it; that would probably break her teeth or something, but at it.

She rolled her eyes at Aurion’s comments; the tone was… confusing. She wasn’t sure what he was trying to convince her of, or seem like; she didn’t particularly care either. “Telling me you lie will not make me trust you.”

The kid’s hesitation would have drawn pity from her, if Allison hadn’t been busy being angry instead of scared. Instead, she sneered at him. “Your father threatened to r--” that still wasn’t a word she could actually make herself say, “kill me. I don’t care who he’s mad at. I don’t care who you’re mad at, I don’t care who anyone’s mad at. Don’t touch me!” She could have continued, easily, if Aurion hadn’t interrupted; something she’d almost be grateful for, if he wasn’t the entire problem. Ranting, even defiant ranting, wasn’t a sign of calm, and she didn’t want them to know she was scared. Fear could be used. Any emotion could be used, but fear one one of the easiest, and one of the ones that almost anyone could use--she doubted Aurion or the kid knew or would bother to use anger, stubbornness, or hate.

She laughed back at Aurion, hysterical and derisive. “You could never kill the Amazons. You think they haven’t changed since the Order? You think they don’t know how to kill you? The Amazons don’t need to hide to stay safe, they can tell the world where they are and no one can do anything about it.” She spit back in his direction; probably missing, but she didn’t care. “You can’t kill them, and dying’s my best option. So kill me now, before I kill your kid!” Before the kid is out of range, before she loses the ink, before she has to decide to kill a kid or test if her own mutation can kill herself, if she has enough courage and enough fear to try.

Chase said nothing as Aurion reprimanded him, his gaze dropping to the floor. This was the second time that day that he’d royally messed up. The second time, and probably not the last. The child sighed. He couldn’t listen and was always messing up. As Aurion mentioned the possibility of removing the child’s arm, Chase touched his arm protectively. It had been his arm for twelve years, he didn’t want to lose it. The most obvious answer was for the mean lady to die, and it seemed most practical, except Chase didn’t know what repercussions that bore.

Aurion bantered with the woman for a spell, speaking of how unstoppable the Ferals were, how powerful they could be… how they’d been under-the-radar this entire time, and could never be found or caught… they were a danger to the Amazons, and if Chase died… it was implied that it would be very bad news for them.

The reptilian creature pulled Chase forward with his tail cupped behind the child’s back. Chase stepped forward hesitantly, still bashfully holding his arm. He kept as close to Aurion as he was able, and he looked at the Amazon with fear-blackened eyes. He didn’t trust them—while the Ferals were animalistic on a good day, Amazons were downright monsters. Horrible half-human creatures that could not be trusted.

Chase’s heart leapt up and skipped a few beats, his eyes widening at Allison, but his stomach then sunk when he realized that by “father”, the Amazon meant “Aurion”.

“My dad’s dead,” Chase retorted, his tone neither defensive nor sharp. He spoke as if he were giving the answer to a math problem, “I mean, Aurion’s the closest I’ve got to a dad right now, but he’s not my dad.”

The small talk was wiggling its way under Chase’s skin. Here he was, on the brink of potential death, and they were bantering. Not to be impatient or rude, but he kind-of had ink from the horrible Amazon sinking into his bloodstream. She just kept on ranting about how she just didn’t care about anything, and as Aurion went to touch her, she snapped. A momentary silence fell. The child was solemn and reserved. In regards to Aurion killing her—she was an Amazon. She probably deserved it. Chase kept that opinion to himself, though—he was trying to get the ink out of his pores, it was best not to piss her off beforehand.

Then there was more bantering—this time, the Amazon was defending her pack. A thrill went through Chase as the attention went back to him. His shoulders tightened.

“Killing me doesn’t prove anything,” the child muttered, “In the end, you’re just another bully. But it’s not like school. Instead of getting suspended, you die. You get what you give.”

The child lifted his head, tilting up his chin. What was there really left to live for? He had no family, the world was a warzone. It was no place for a twelve-year-old. And, though Chase didn’t want to die, he wasn’t happy with his life either. The only thing that kept him going was the blind hope that his situation would improve.

“All you grown-ups do is talk,” the child grunted, “We’re better than you, you’re worse than us, we can do this, you can do that. Why don’t you just kill me, so he can kill you, and we can be done with all this talking?”

Aurion looked at Allison. "Well, there ya go. The kid said it." He turned and faced her and spread his arms out to the sides. "Ball's in your court Allison. I told you I wasn't planning on killing you." Aurion couldn't say it then, and he wasn't sure if the time would be right to ever say it, but Chase surprised him, in a good way. He was proud of the kid, he had definitely come a long way. Aurion didn't have the kind of gusto Chase has when he was the boy's age, he couldn't have talked back to adults like that. He'd probably have pissed himself if he was in a similar situation.

"Well?" He spat. "Make up your mind Allison. Kill him and get it over with, or don't and get rid of the ink." Aurion shrugged.

That the kid wasn’t Aurions was… not at all what Allison expected. Enough so that her focus was knocked entirely aside for shock, and she stared at the boy for a moment before remembering that she was kind of about to be killed at best and maybe she should pay attention to that instead. Her expression shifted back into a glare, if not as secure one as it had been. “And in the end, I get what I want, kid. Why should I care if you think I’m a bully?”

And Aurion… wasn’t listening. Damn Aurion, then. Damn, damn, damn him. And damn the kid, too, for giving him the idea. Allison did not want to kill the kid, or herself. But apparently those were the only option.

She ought to kill the kid. Allison hadn’t ever been that convinced in the innocent sanctity of childrens’ lives, and even if she had, Lady Kaitlyn would have fixed that idea quickly. And she wasn’t certain that it was even possible for her to kill herself with her own mutation. Mutations tended to be pretty based around survival, after all.

…But it was still a kid. Who had only done exactly what she’d expect from a kid of his age from before the destruction days. One who hadn’t been turned into a miniature adult by trying to survive.

…Allison could always put the ink back in him if it didn’t work on her, right? He clearly hadn’t thought to move out of range yet. That would work.

After several seconds of half-furious, half-scared staring, Allison blinked, and the ink left Chase’s skin, flying toward her own brain.