All For Love, And All For One

“It's okay Dani...mother is here.”

She cackled. A maniacal laugh that only someone without a conscious or a heart could produce. She stared down at the blood on her claws with delight. Her tail flicked back and forth, tongue running over her teeth. Her skin still twitched and bit at her nerves. That just made her angrier. Her neck craned over the fluffy golden females. She hissed down at Lady. "I will take care of this, Shenzi," she purred, "Two against one. Shenzi. I want you to handle the kitten, PERSONALLY. The rest of you get up there and tear that stupid loud metal beast apart. I don't care what you have to do. I'd like to build a castle with the pieces."

She twisted her neck towards Danielle and Lady. She snickered loudly. "Do I start with the mother? Have her traitor daughter watch as I tear her mother's throat out? Or, should I sit there and eat the daughter alive? Making her mother watch as I savor the flavor of her flesh? Oh my gosh there are just so many decisions!" She laughed again, a dark cackle as she pushed towards the pair.

"How long should I make you wait before I make my decision. Okay, how about the count of three? One...Two..." Her paw raised slowly and dramatically as she spoke.

"I want you to handle the kitten, PERSONALLY.". An evil smile spread across Shenzi's maw, though the rod blocked most of it. "Yes, Zira.", the hyena began to growl. Finally a chance to fight. Shenzi was hungry, hungry for blood, gore, death and flesh. She then stalked up to the adolescent. Not much of a threat. Perfect, this will be fun. Then she padded up a bit closer to the dust coated kitten. And lifted one of her paws. And Shenzi struck him.


(Please tell me if I'm godmodding. If I am, I'll edit it.)

Unfortunately, Tramp was too preoccupied with the bear in the window to pursue Zira after she'd promised to slaughter Lady. Especially since if he left the safety of the cab, he'd be completely vulnerable to an attack from every possible angle. Still, he risked sticking his head out of the window after Zira disappeared, weighing his options. He grit his teeth as he withdrew once more into the cab.

If he entered the pit in pursuit of Zira, every Outlander still above ground would follow him down, or encircle the top, leaving him and Lady trapped with Dani. No, hard as it was, he'd have to sit tight, continue to provide a distraction, and trust Lady to keep herself alive, and whole. A sudden burst of foul language from the bear in the window brought his attention back as something gave the creature a boost.

But it still wasn't enough to get the large beast through the window, especially since it was actually narrower than the bear's massive frame. The grey mongrel simply grasped the coal scoop again, and padded towards the tender, keeping out of range of the grasping claws as he filled the scoop with a heaping helping of coal dust, and small chunks. He carefully balanced the whole mess, then hurled it all straight at the stuck bear's face.

Then he gazed out at the group of Outlanders gathered near the top of the pit just in time to hear Zira order everyone out, to tear Casey to bits, helpfully accomplishing what Tramp had been hoping to do from the beginning. He just hoped none of them managed to make it inside the cab with him. But he still had plenty of tricks left, even if they did.

I'm sorry, Pidge, you're on your own for now, he said silently, still tempted to try to charge to her rescue.

“Ugh!” The male bear let out a startled grunt as Curumo lifted him up towards the window the window. “Fuck!” he grunted. “Stop, stop, wait, I’m bloody stuck!” Magnus spat a few curses as he struggled to free himself, all the while swiping his front paws at Tramp. “Push harder, Curumo!” he grunted behind him to his friend. It did not help in the least when the shovel slams into his face with a dull thud blood drips from his nose and he grunts in pain. "Your a dead dog!" the bear rages attempting another swipe at Tramp.

So Waffle was just sorta hanging out on the ground the whole time. It's all good. Of course at one point he did get back to his feet - probably when Shenzi showed up. He wasn't laying don't on the job: nope nope. Waffle watched the goings on with big red eyes. Apparently he was being politely ignored. Fine by him. Gosh, Waffle didn't think this whole thing was so serious. Yeesh. All he could really do was watch with interest. Wow, this was like watching one of those soap opera thingies or whatever. Obviously, Waffle knew about the whole pit thing, but he just tended not to think about it. Anything that could put a damper on his fun - hunger, disease, rules, torture, ect - Waffle just tried to avoid thinking about. He never expected anyone to try to save any of these sorry animals.  Man, didn't things used to be simpler? Poor little doggy dog. Waffle sorta hope she made it out alright. Probably not, but still, Waffle could hope. He wasn't about to stop his two top ladies from doing what they do though. The male hyena's ears folded back as he took in his orders. He could feel the moisture dropping from above, cooling and setting on his fur coat. At the moment, Waffle really didn't have it in him to make a comment about not wanting a bath. Black paws backed him up a few steps so he was closer to the end of the metal car.

"You sure? That little one's like a ninja or something," Waffle murmured, although he was positive that Zira and Shenzi couldn't hear him in the spur of the moment.

Yeah, it was time to go. Waffle looked up and hopped up as high as he could so he was clinging to the floor of the car. His hind legs kicked for a bit before he pulled himself up. Now Waffle had to concentrate. The ground was really steep and there wasn't much traction. Regardless, Waffle began to briskly head back up the car and towards the surface where he would no doubt find several dozen pissed-off individuals he'd be expect to work with. Greeeat.

"The rest of you get up there and tear that stupid loud metal beast apart. I don't care what you have to do. I'd like to build a castle with the pieces."

"Yes, Zira," Vakasa grunted, bowing a moment before turning and charging towards the train leaping up onto the steps and towards the free window since the other was blocked by the now-stuck Magnus. The gorilla gives a roll of his eyes before reaching down to pick up a spanner that was on the ground, a smirk playing on his lips. "Stop freaking out, Magnus. I got this," he snorted.

So Zira had given ORDERS now to dismantle the train. So be it. That had been Scourge's plan all along anyway .. once he managed to catch his breath. The red monster had been left behind in the ensuing commotion, and had only stopped running once the train came to its neck-breaking hault, placing a hand on the railing running alongside the outside of the train as he panted and panted and tried to catch his breath, long purple tongue lolling out of his mouth and onto the ground not unlike a dog. At last, he mopped his warm wet forehead with one arm, snarling a mouthful of yellow teeth at the train. As if he were angry at Casey for not stopping when he wanted. Well he would rue the day he didn't. With a snarl, Scourge seized the closest piece of metal he could find and pulled hard, trying to take part of the train off.

Too fast; it was all happening too fast for Berlioz, in his present state, to follow. Parched beyond belief; tired, hungry, and very close to being delirious, the little feline could only watch as the spaniel not only failed to heed his warning at all - though to be fair, the charcoal feline was in no state to actually fend off anyone, much less a canine still almost twice his size - she had... grabbed a spear? And was denfending Dani too? Berlioz blinked stupidly, feeling confused and not at all sure that he had grasped what was going on. Dogs didn't use spears, they used teeth... was he just imagining most of this?

What he was absolutely certain he wasn't imagining, was Zira dropping into the pit, and he had absolutely no trouble with grasping her threat. The Queen of the Outlands looked even more like a sight pulled straight out of hell than usual; and dulled by dehydration, the small cat's reactions were just far too slow. Even before he could begin to move, Zira's claws were flying straight towards Dani, about to rend her flesh; and Berlioz knew in a moment of horrible clarity that he had no time to do anything. The best he could do was slump on top of Danielle in the hopes that maybe he could take Zira's blow instead.

The blow that never came. Rain dampened his fur - rain? Here? - and a few flecks of blood spattered in his direction as Dani's mother crashed back to the ground between them and Zira, a river of crimson running from one ear. Berlioz stared, once again feeling complete incomprehension as the canine struggled back to her feet. Didn't Dani's family hate her? Or she hated them? Or something? But the way the elder cocker had taken the blow for Danielle...

Mr O'Malley would have done the same for him, or Toulouse, or Marie; and that didn't align with what Berlioz thought he knew about Dani's family at all.

But there was no time; undeterred by Lady's intervention, Zira was making a move on Dani again. Dani, who Berlioz had just heard whimper his name. The charcoal adolescent ached to stick by the spaniel's side, to defend her until his last breath and promise her that everything was going to be alright, even though it evidently wasn't; to be close to her in what was probably going to be both of their last moments.

Apparently, however, he was going to be denied even that; a heavy paw, blunt-clawed but no less vicious for it, swatted at him, knocking the scrawny feline away from the two dogs. Berlioz sprawled in the dirt for a moment, his head spinning; but he didn't remain down for long. He may have been dazed, with only half a clue as to what was going on and unable to think completely straight due to dehydration, but Berlioz knew one thing; he couldn't die, not as long as Dani was alive and still needed him.

Perhaps stupidly, he ignored Shenzi completely. Fighting back against her strike would only leave Dani - and her mother, he supposed - open to Zira. While anything he could do would probably be negligible - Berlioz had come a long way from the sure of himself kitten who had joined Scar believing he could take on the world - he could at least divide the queen's attention, or something. Wavering slightly from side to side as he ran, Berlioz sprinted around the two Outlanders, dodging Shenzi to place himself behind Zira. His adult claws had finally grown in sometime back in Nottingham, and still had plenty of sharpness even after being down the pit for so long; unsheathing them, Berlioz sank them deeply as he could into the tendons at the back of Zira's hind leg, and tore.


(ooc: Fair reminder that Berlioz isn't a kitten anymore; he's verging on adulthood by this point. He's still fairly scrawny - think closer to Sgt. Tibs' build - but he oughtn't be described as a kitten unless intentionally demeaning him.)

Lady dropped down off her forelegs, plopping down on her stomach, forelegs splayed ahead of her and hind legs still kicked to one side. They where surrounded, with solders standing around the upended flatcar, baring any escape from the pit. Her eyes teared as the lioness delegated her impending fate, the canine slowly bowing her head. The pain was starting to ebb both from the knot on her forehead, and the bit of her ear that had taken the brunt of Zira's claw. There was a sticky sensation rolling down the side of her head, causing the fur of her ear to plaster against her neck. In reality she was very lucky, had the claw come just a fraction higher, it could have taken her ear off entirely.

However, she would not have the time to revel in that luck. Rolling over to shield her daughter, Lady presented her back to the Outland Queen, knowing no matter what, she would protect her child. She had made that promise that she would give her life for one of her pups, and she would hold true to it. The elder cocker placed her fore paws over her daughter's forlorn form, cradling her close. Ready to feel the blow as the queen tore into her flesh. She looked over Dani's shoulder blades to see the sooty feline having it out with one of the Hyenas.

“It's okay Dani. Mommy is here,” Her voice was a low whisper, to whatever end she would protect her youngest. She could feel the rain gathering on her pelt. Dripping down the bridge of her muzzle.

“M...mommy's here.”

The girl had grown so much since she last saw her. Oh how much the mother would give to go back in time, to show her daughter how much her love meant. How glad she was that Dani would hopefully not be cognizant for whatever came next.

Lady looked over her own shoulder, her back to Zira, whose claw was held over the graceful spaniel like an impending guillotine. She clamped her eyes shut, and waited for the moment she would be tossed over and her throat ripped out.

But it wasn't over yet. When the countdown ended, Lady did not feel the claw come down.

To her great surprise, the feline attacked the lioness. Lady took her chance. She knew she may only get the one. The cocker girl sprung to her feet, her body twisting lithely as she swung into motion. She knew she would have very little success hauling Dani out by the scruff of her neck. She struggled just to get Annie and Cole into a tub of water. So, Lady buried her muzzle in Dani's side, lifting the younger cocker's body as she did, pulling her body under hers, and rolling the younger spaniel until she was able to slide Danielle down her body. Her daughter draped across her backside. Legs hanging to each side.

She turned her head, and looked back at the feline. The scrawny feline who had stood over Dani and protected her when all had seemed lost. Who had, perhaps unknowingly saved her and her daughter's lives. For a brief millisecond, her soft eyes silently pleaded with him. Wordlessly asking him to come along.

Lady then took flight, bounding out of Zira's reach, lowering her head only to scoop up the discarded spanner in her maw. She was heading for the flatcar, her delicate paws scampering in the dirt. She skidded to a halt before the remaining Outlanders, her chocolaty brown eyes darting right and left, bouncing on her forelegs as she made the split second decision on how to get around these goons and up the flatcar deck.

It HURT.

That shocked her more than the actual pain of Berlioz' sneak attack. She let out a loud roar, raising up on her hind legs, jaws wrenching open as she howled up at the sky. It was as if someone had jabbed several sharp hypodermic needles in her back leg. Sharp, hot pain. She was so focused on killing the spaniel she didn't even pay any attention to the black cat. But when her paws slammed straight down into the muddy dirt, the female noted that the mother and her limp, dead daughter were gone. Fury replaced the pain she felt in her leg. The queen of the outlands howled.

Her whole world had snapped in two. Her outlands were broken into, intruded, disrespected. All because of a small pup she'd left to die. That was enough for her. "GET THAT DOG!" She ordered, "SHENZI! You fool! I told you to-" She roared loudly. She'd deal with Shenzi and Berlioz later. She'd be adding a few new scars to the female's hide.

She snarled, leaping next to Lady; unsure if the prickling pain in her leg was Berlioz still being attached or was just the lingering pain.

"Not so fast, you fluffy little housepet," Zira said, "I will feed you to my king!" Her claws carried her to the lowered flatcar. She landed with a thud, drool and blood dripping from her slender sharp muzzle. That was it. No more dialogue. She was ready to tear the spaniel apart now.

Berlioz was, indeed, still attatched; if only for want of anything better to do. It was satisfying, knowing he'd actually caused pain to the heartless lioness who had condemned Dani to death, but the little feline was well aware that they were nowhere near out of the fire yet. If he could continue to distract Zira while Danielle's mother carried her to safety - wherever safety was out here - then he would do all that he could; and besides which, Berlioz knew that he was going to become hyena chow the instant he let go. The only reason he'd survived long enough to attack Zira at all was because he'd got lucky and Shenzi had stupidly struck him with a paw instead of shattering his bones with her powerful jaws; he doubted she'd make the same mistake a second time.

So the only thing he could do, if he wanted to survive even a little bit longer, was to keep hanging on as Zira sprang after the two canines. Berlioz pressed his claws even deeper into the queen's flesh, desperately trying to hang on as she leapt up the crashed railcar and rounded on Lady again.

This wasn't good.

What else could he do, what else could he do? His dehydrated state was still taking its toll on Berlioz's thought process, he was struggling to think of anything... failing any other ideas, the charcoal animal simply clawed his way higher up Zira's leg, finding so-far undamaged skin to keep on sinking his claws into. He purposefully ripped at the flesh as he scrambled higher, tearing gashes in it and just trying to hurt Zira more - for as much good as it would do - and distract her from Dani and her mother. Even if it got him killed.

The lioness let out a snarls as she leaped out of the pit and lunged after Lady and her pup. "Claudius, help me!" she spat, her tail lashing behind her as he swiped at Lady, attempting to take her feet out from underneath her. "After em!" she hissed.

"SHENZI! You fool! I told you to-" 
She saw Berlioz scratching Zira to provide a distraction for the spaniel and the pup. Bad choice and a really really bad move.  Shenzi could feel the rain running over her body. It was providing some relief from the pain of those burns. Shenzi looked where Berlioz was on Zira. She had to be careful.  And sneaky.  Perfect. He's a goner. She stalked until she was less then a meter between herself, the cat, the Queen and the flat car. Shenzi silently padded even closer to the dust-coated adolescent. The time was near.  She could taste the blood and flesh of the cat in her throat.  Then she tried to clamp her jaws around his torso.


(ooc post: Please tell me if I'm godmoding. )

"GET THAT DOG!"

Those words only served to send Lady into a frenzy, her delicate paws carried her in a beeline for the life-giving ramp that was the flatcar deck, the spanner rattling in her maw as she galloped. She could feel Dani's body rising and falling on her back with each lunge the elder spaniel took. However, she whipped her head around to see the lion queen flashing through the air with an unbelievable roar, before landing alongside her and cutting off her escape.

Lady practically skidded to a stop as Zira rounded in front of her, saliva and blood dripping from her maw. The little cocker scampered to the side, her maw agape and soft brown eyes wide. She could feel her heart leaping into her throat, the adrenaline pumping through her veins, making the pain of the cut on her head invisible. Her head darted left and right as she looked for an alternative route.

However, she did not have a second to spare to Scar's queen, instead, seeing out of the corner of her eye the flash of golden fur that was digger taking a swipe at her still moving feet.

Lady was naturally an agile canine, her breed being known for sharp hunting and recovery, quick bursts of speed, and their ability to leap. However, until now, Lady had only put her god-given gifts to scaring away pidgins off the front lawn, or racing to fetch the newspaper in the air. But they came to light when she instinctively pounced into the air, her body staying stationary while her fore and hind legs rose and fell in succession as the claws passed under her.

She swung back around, now starting to run from between Digger and Zira, only to see the sooty black feline taking another set of chomps out of the lioness's form. The spaniel could not help but be subtly reminded of the Tramp, saving her from a gang of vicious street-dogs, likewise chomping up the gang leader's foreleg.

Lady bounded from between Digger and Zira, and scampered behind Shinzi as the later worked to take care of the feline. She aimed not for the flatcar deck, but rather for the side. For in those few milliseconds she had to search before Zira attempted to tare into her, Lady had seen a passage to freedom. As the flatcar tore it's heart out falling into the pit, the front wheel-set had dropped off, landing askew to the car body, but clamped firmly underneath. The half buried axle and truck assemble forming a step up to the steeply tilted car-deck.

Lady made her move, using the rush of adrenaline to life both herself and the added weight of her daughter, gracefully jumping into the air, before kicking off the axle with her hind legs. Landing, legs splayed, on the car deck right above Zira, with a high pitched “Yip” from behind the spanner! The force of the landing broke loose a floorboard, and Lady quickly side steeped the board as it came loose...while at the same time kicking it with her hind legs back at the Outlander Queen.

Vakasa glanced behind him as Digger barked out an order. The gorilla tossed the spanner from hand to hand, as if deciding if he should continue to try and get Tramp, or take a shot at Lady and her pup. "Griffin, help them while I try to get this train dismantled." Vakasa had made his choice, and he moved towards Casey and brought the spanner forward, attempting to loosen the piston rod. Of course, the gorilla had no clue what he was doing, but at least he was trying to unscrew something. "God dammit. I hope I'm doing something right," he mumbled under his breath as he worked the wrench.