Out of the Bag

Once the gears had stopped turning, the trio found themselves facing what they had hoped to be an empty hallway, only fate had yet to be kind to them just this once. Reta suffered bruises from their getaway and accumulated plenty of cuts from being caught within the crossfire of a previous scuffle. Her grunts and slightly unsteady breathing paired with her sweating forehead had become something of concern to Zimi, uncertain as to how tonight would end.

Leone kept a cool head, staring forward as they entered the hallway with several red knights turning their direction. Before he could make another step, a pair of swords crossed over to block him from moving with Zimi leading the way, her paws chained behind her. Reta slumped against the wall, having decided to stay within the wheel and away from view leaving the pair out in front. Unbeknownst to them, Leone and Zimi found themselves caught red handed and under questioning without delay.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Leone cleared his throat. "Found her escaping her holding area, thought I would earn a tip by recapturing her for your boss. Not familiar with the layout of this underground lair of yours though, mind pointing me where the other girls are being held?"

One of the red knights stepped forward. "I recognize this one, it's a persistent creature through and through. Don't believe Father Perdilius would have her kept with the others however."

"And why would that be?" As he asked, the same knight lifted Zimi's chin, turning her left and right while ignoring her surpressed angered glare.

"She's quite witty, but that's none of your concern. We'll take her back to him, she's our problem."

Leone pulled her away from his touch. "Your problem has given me a decent pay for having to clean up after your mess. If you were any good, I would never have been here to begin with."

A black gloved hand fell on his shoulder, belonging to a familiar red knight with a feminine voice. As she spoke, the sound of gears commenced in the background once more. "A lot of ego can make even the mightiest of kings fall. Leave the creature to us, follow us if you wish but the monster will be under our care. End of discussion."

"Clearly." The hunter grumbled, letting Zimi go as the other red knight reached for her chains and spun her around.

Zimi squealed as he pressed her wrists and twisted her arms to a painful extent. "Eep! Careful-"

She grunted as her head was pushed forward, directing back to where she came from. Leone stepped aside, watching as the female knight pulled at the chain signaling for the wheel to return to their level. Zimi cursed under her breath, being recaptured so soon was not in her plans, why was Leone not helping? Trusting him was a mistake, just as she thought before. He's just standing there, watching them push her onto the wheel before joining them as they began to descend once more. Grumbling and huffing as she sat through an awkward ride back down from the hole she had crawled out of several times over by now.

When they passed through another floor, they caught a glimpse through the open frame to find several guards on the floor with an exhausted Reta turning her head back. Both knights raised their heads as she flashed them a smile and a wink when Zimi found herself grinning hard, before receiving a knowing look from Leone.

Now's her chance.

"What-" The grip holding her paws had softened enough as Zimi shrunk down into her feline form and pounce forward, falling into the floor as the knights watched before slipping out of view, their momentum continuing to move further down. Now in high alert, they began pulling the chain to stop and move up, the female turning to face the Monster Hunter still in the area with them.

Leone lifted his hands and wiggled his fingers with a fake look of shock. "She was under your care, no?"

Back in their floor, Reta kicked one of the guards on the floor before falling down breathing heavily as Zimi tilted her head. Reta shrugged. "You'd be surprised how reluctant they are to hit a woman."

Zimi mewed, walking past her with the soft pitter-patter noise of her tiny paws moving onto the hard floor. Reta pushed herself on her feet, stumbling and dragging against the wall to rejoin the cat and see what kept her frozen up ahead. In fact, she began to transform back into her Nekomata form by the time Reta had arrived with her, turning to see what captured her open mouthed attention.

At the end of this hall were cell doors at both sides, similar to theirs. Most of them were empty, one room however had found itself up to a full capacity. Staring back at them were Syri, Dimyri, and Na'Vi in the far back.

"Aunt Z?" Syri leaned in, reaching out as far as she could from beyond the bars just as KuliKuli appeared from behind her siblings, pushing her way through. She held her breath as her eyes caught Reta's, looking back from opposite ends of the same cage.

"Wolfy?"

"Hey Kitten. Missed me?" She grinned, placing her hand between the bars, touching her friends paw.

KuliKuli smiled with a red hue on her face. "Sure did!"

"Nityri?" She looked back to see a familiar Nekomata next to her friend.

"Um... hi?" She sheepishly waved, somewhat excited to find another Nekomata yet a tad bit timid at how she was connected to her. Reta looked back as those loud gears started groaning again, alerting them of their incoming issue.

"Cats out of the bag, this reunion will have to wait." She hurried, searching some of the knocked out guards before holding the cell key in her hand. "Let's get you girls out of here."