CW: Transphobia

 

Still as can be. Still. As. Can. Be. The armoured general’s voice doesn’t so much boom through the room as it echoes pitifully for attention. Thankfully, his words don’t seem to be directed at us, as his head is turned away, and he appears to be…on the phone? Zee sends Navi closer while we listen in on the God of War’s conversation…

“Ugh, what do you want, cur?” Frustration rumbles through his already gravelly voice, tapping his gauntlet clad fingers across the table as he leans back. “Yes, the intruders, Waywright told me already. You’re wasting your breath. Huh?” The god sits up straight, eyes glowing a bit more fiercely now. “Unarmed?! Why didn’t you say so earlier, you useless peon!” 

A deep chuckle billows through the room, the god throwing his head back and yucking it up. If there was any opportunity for an opening strike, this would be it!

“Give me a throw.”

“Wha--?!” Cat looks at me, baffled by what I’m asking of her.

“Trust me, I think I can make an impact. Take my tail and chuck me.” 

My partner seems a bit uncomfortable at first, but her paw soon finds its way close to the base of my tail. Her touch almost makes me yip as I turn around and crouch down. Awkward as the set up is, I’m sure it’ll leave an impression on the God of War. I feel both her paws grip around my tail and huff, preparing myself mentally and physically as Cat hurls me forward at full force. The power of her throw sends me spinning like a saw blade directly at Ares, though, spinning is far from the important part. I can only imagine his face seconds before impact as I curl up into a ball with my tail sticking out like the fuse of a bomb, lit by a windy, sizzling “flame”.

BOOM!!

I unfurl as a violent storm of wind mimics the blast of a bomb, shredding the guy’s desk to pieces and sending him flying FAR back into the distant wall with a loud CRASH!! Back on my feet, I look up, the pile of armour struggling back to their feet as they clamber out of the indent he made in the wall.

“What in my name was…” He manages to grumble out before adjusting his helmet and getting a good look at the two of us as we approach. “Ohh… The old man’s back at it again, huh?” We both slow for a moment, confused by what or who he’s even talking about. “Alright, boys, rude guys like you can’t even be bothered for a formal introduction, can ya?” 

I continue to approach despite my confusion and discomfort, but Cat seems to slow down even more. The God of War cracks his knuckles before extending his arm into the air, a golden, glowing partisan manifesting in his hand and more rising from the ground at his sides. Throwing his grip forward, he points his weapon towards us and those summoned by his side follow his aim. 

“Don’t you think your game of dress up would be more convincing if you showed some MANNERS--”

Ah. Before I can even fully process the garbage he’s spewing, a flash of yellow streaks pass me, a blindingly fast blur whose burning glow sticks slap the weapon right out of the deity’s gauntlet. Before I can blink her fist pins his face back into his original point of impact, the armoury by his sides fading away as she does.

“YOU’RE GONNA SHUT YOUR GODDAMN GODLY GARBAGE GAWKING MOUTH BEFORE I TEAR IT EVEN WIDER!!” 

Holy shit. Cat’s tail flicks back and forth, sparks flying from its tip as she pulls her hand back and Ares’ head with it, slamming it into the wall again. And again. The building quakes with each repeated impact until she’s fed up with the rapid assault, throwing the God of War behind her and towards me oh SHIT-- I react as fast as I can, whipping my tail in front of me with its tip aimed towards the projectile god, thrusting it forward once more as a windy drill brrs into the God of War’s back. I give him an extra push as he grunts painfully, shoving him away from myself and closer to the point directly in the middle of Cat and me. Finally given a moment to take in my surroundings, I look back to Cat, her face one of abject fury with what looks like embers flickering from her bristled fur. Ares struggles as he returns to his feet, looking between the both of us with a face equal parts cocky and frustrated.

“That damn serpent… ‘Unarmed’ my ass…” 

His hands reach for his hips, pulling each gauntlet forward and brandishing a pair of broad blades just as he did his spears. As he does so, a ring of similar swords is summoned around us all, spinning in time with his sword swings. 

“You stupid boys!!” he shouts, each arm directing the floating blades at us individually. Cat and I swing back with her burning batons and my windy blades, slicing and melting through each. “No matter what your old man does to you, whatever magics he uses to cheat you a path to an unearned victory, you are NOTHING before the true might of THE GOD OF WAR!!”

I swing one claw this way and the other that way, but the flurry of blades before me still manages to weave past my windy blades to jab and slice at me. While a clean strike or two against each is enough to fell them individually, more come to replace the others, leaving me in a constant duel to the death with an undying opponent. 

“Heh… Look at you… A pathetic excuse of a man.”

Oh, great, the talking soda can in a suit is gawking at me now. Try as I might, however, I simply can’t put on a good show, lacking the raw strength to take these weapons down fast enough.

“If you stopped fooling yourselves and put your big boy pants on, maybe you could actually stand up to a REAL MAN like me! Hah!”

“I’m not even a-- Erk!” Something insightful nearly slips from my muzzle as I combat both frustration and his attacks, but a flurry of the latter prove too much for me. In a single moment, a pair of blades slice at both of my legs. There’s only enough time to fend one back, allowing the other through and throwing me to my knees as a gash on my calf spills blood on the already poorly kept factory floor.

“FOX!!” 

I hear my partner cry out, though I’m given no time to look as golden, burning chains rise from the floor and constrict my wrists, pulling down and restraining me as the God of War himself saunters up to me with the gumption of a tycoon patrolling his sweatshop. I quickly find a blade at my throat as the sound of weapons clattering behind me intensifies, the general using the sword he wields in his own hand to lift my chin up with its tip.

“I’ve been waiting for your kind to show up again,” Ares grumbles through his helmet, his gravelly, hate-filled voice echoing through its shadowy confines. “That pathetic old man… Thinking he can cheat at this game. WE PLAY WITH WHAT WE’RE GIVEN!!”

The tip of his blade prods further against my throat, making me wince as I’m forced to watch the fiend’s glowing eyes inch ever closer to mine, the smell of his smokey, rancid breath strengthening in its putridity as well.

“We don’t get to choose who we are, boy.” I wince again, and I can tell under the darkness of his helmet that he’s grinning. “Don’t like that, do ya, boy? Man up!”

Slicing his sword to the side and forcing a gasp out of my throat as he leaves a light gash upon it, Ares slams the flat side of his sword against my cheek, throwing me onto my front. The rattling of his stomping boots echoes slowly around me before I feel his molten sole branding my back, my hoarse voice screaming out in pain.

“Do you know what it feels like to die, boy? To arrive at death’s door in an instant?”

“Get OFF OF HER YOU MONSTER!!”

“Oh, I’m gonna have fun bringing you there. Pray to your old man. I want him to hear the dying breath of the son he sent to his death, prancing around like a sissy--”

What can only be described as a nuclear explosion booms behind me, stealing the God of War’s attention for a moment as Cat gives me hope for another day. Ares clearly did not expect such strength as she turns from the dozens of blades fallen around her and marches towards the God of War with a fire in her eyes.

“STOP.”

With a swift rise and fall of her foot, she snaps the deity’s blades from his hands.

“MISGENDERING.”

Her palm meets his face once more, gripping tightly at his helm to the point the metal begins to crease around her fiery paws.

“MY PARTNER!!”

The blades still floating around me falter and clatter against the ground as my partner puts all her weight into pushing Ares’ face down, sweeping him off his feet as the back of his head comes crashing down into a newly formed crater in the ground. Rubble becomes dislodged from the rest of the floor and rises high into the air from the sheer force of Cat’s attack, the impact stunning Ares enough for the chains around my wrists to disappear finally.

“AND WHAT ARE YOU, HUH?!” Cat stands up tall, the god attempting to stand back up before her foot lands on the side of his head and shoves it right back down to the earth below. “GOD OF WAR, GOD OF MY ASS, GOD OF PISSING HIS PANTS? GOD OF SNIVELING CHILDREN WHO NEED A TIME OUT?!” A hiss makes it way past her scowl, her hands on her hips as she leans forward, putting even more of her weight and force into crushing Ares’ now caving helm. “YOU’RE PATHETIC. HOW SAD YOUR LIFE MUST BE. CAN’T FEEL A THING WITHOUT SHITTING ON THE HAPPINESS WE’VE FOUND.” 

I see the deity’s arms beginning to flail and move, attempting to summon weapons once more, only to be swiftly interrupted by a burning glowstick impaling themselves through the backs of each and pinning them to the ground, the once whimpering man now howling in pain. 

“...Look at yourself. You disgust me, you wretched god. Aha… You’re not even a god, you barely constitute a man. You’re below even worms. No, the dirt the worms eat and shit out is above you.” 

All I can do is stand there in awe of Cat’s vindictive vitriol, the girl punting Ares’ form so hard he rolls onto his back, though I’m quite certain Cat will give him no time to rest. The charred holes through his now freed gauntlets prove to be too much for him to retaliate, but, unfortunately, not enough to prevent him from speaking.

“Such anger and hatred… You truly are a son of-- HRK--!!” 

Unfortunate for him anyways. Cat brandishes her beam sabre once more with her foot pressing against the god’s chest. Ares struggles and writhes under her, fear finally taking hold of his whimpering as her blade of light is pointed downwards and she raises its handle high.

“Start praying to daddy dearest in Olympus, I want him to hear you SCREAM!!” 

With not a second between her words and her hands, her sabre pierces the deity’s chest plate, burning a hole straight through Ares’ chest, and presumably even the floor below with how deep she’s driven her weapon into him. The God of War does indeed scream, gasping for air, while the girl above is panting and huffing and…sobbing…? 

“Yombroila sends her regards…” 

I begin to make my way over to my partner and the god laying below her. He’s still breathing, but barely holding on if the raspy heaviness of his breath is any indication.

“Zeus ain’t even…my dad…” he manages to sputter out before coughing.

Bing.

All of us turn our heads to the source of the sudden sound: the elevator behind the manager’s desk. The light above it is now glowing green as the doors slide open to reveal…an ant. No, not a literal ant. One of us. An ant person, looking so tired and dressed so casually, I thought they were wearing pajamas at first, though with holes where their new pair of arms broke through. They throw glances from side to side, between all four of us (even Navi surprisingly enough), raising their mug and taking a sip before looking unamused at us all.

“Can you all please promise me this mess is going to be fixed,” they plead, to which I nod, Cat’s focus returning to the god struggling below her. “Good. Well. Not like it matters too much anyways. Won’t be here for much longer.” 

I blink at them. What’s going on?! Cat put the God of War in his place in a matter of minutes, and suddenly there’s another one of us inside Ares’ base? 

The ant surveys the mess once more before sighing. “Yeah, uhh, hey. I’m really goddamn tired right now, but hi. I’m Reed. Soon-to-be ex-co-owner of this manor. I was out at a friend’s to get away from my possibly soon-to-be ex-husband for a bit, and then this happened to my friend and I before I left. Somehow the ‘guards’ recognized me as living here, so I just walked in, went up to the kitchen, got a cup of coffee, and now I’m here, witnessing a Roman--”

“Greek,” Ares interrupts before all four of us shoot him death glares, Reed and I then returning to our conversation.

“...A Greek general being attacked by a lightsaber wielding catgirl while a sexy fox woman and her drone look on beyond the battered remains of my soon-to-be old home.” My tail straightens out as they get to me, my heart racing more when I hear what they call me. Help. “...Ah, do continue though. Don’t mind me. Just. About to lose my home and possessions. No biggie.” 

They lower themselves closer to the ground before taking a seat, leaning against the wall as I turn back to Cat and Ares.

 “Of course there’s more of you lot now…” The god of war grumbles out first and foremost, of course. “Fine… Fine, I concede… But know this…will be the last defeat I will know…at the hands of your kind…” 

And with that, a glowing red ring of energy begins drawing itself around him with glyphs and runes of sorts before the floor encased by the circle turns pitch black. The god begins to slowly sink into the darkness before nothing remains. Cat dispels her sabre and her arms fall to her sides and she to her knees. I finally get close enough to rest my hand on her back as the circle that sent Ares away begins to shrink. It reaches just Cat’s knees before swirling up and out, forming what looks like an amber medal of honour, though with more of a Grecian design. My partner doesn’t even bother to pick it up

 

“...I’m sorry…”

“Hmm?” I look from the treasure to my apologizing partner, the room around us beginning to reshape and repair itself to its previous state with its commander gone. “What’s wrong, Cat…?”

“I’m… I’m sorry you had to see that…” Her voice quivers as her sobbing becomes stronger, the girl bringing her paws up to her face and wiping away her tears. “I’m…such an angry, hateful person… I…”

“Miss Kitten.” I stop her there, and she looks up at me. This is already hard to listen to. “I heard the garbage that dunce was saying too, and even after that, you’re going to call yourself hateful?” My hand pats her back before moving over to her shoulder as I position myself in front of her, lowering myself to her eye level and smiling for her. “If someone hurt Zee, or hell, was even just saying things to disrespect them, and I got really mad over it, you wouldn’t call me an angry or hateful person, would you?”

“B-but…!” She sniffles and shakes her head. “I tried to kill him… I was so mad, I tried to kill him!”

“And were we not told to?” I run my hands down from her shoulders, along her arms and take her paws in my claws. “You’re not going to kill anybody who makes you upset, Cat. C’mon. Banner wouldn’t still be around if that were the case.” I finally get a weak chuckle out of her before pulling her up and into a hug. “I know me saying things isn’t going to solve whatever it is you’re dealing with, but if I can help…”

“And you’re helping…” She adds before I can say any more, wrapping her arms around me and returning the hug as we ignore the sniffling from Zee’s end. “...I am sorry though. I’ve always pushed this all deep down inside of me, so maybe it didn’t seem like it, but I am kind of an angry person.”

“An angry person I still love no matter what.” Cat seems to perk up as I say that, sighing and whimpering as she shakes her head. “We’ll work through this together, just like how you’ve been helping me. Being angry doesn’t make you any less of the great woman I know you are.” 

Her whimpering continues as she falls further into my embrace.

“That’s nice and all,” an uninterested voice sounds out to us from afar, “but you’re kind of making a scene in my house. Even if it probably won’t be mine soon.” 

We both look at Reed and blink, then turn to look at each other and chuckle somewhat nervously. Cat leans down and picks up the War Medal as I saunter over to the ant person and clear my throat.

“Good evening. I’m Fox, and this is my partner in crime, Cat, as well as Zee piloting the drone.”

“Krzt-- Yo!” A speaker from Navi blurts out in Zee’s voice. 

Reed nods tiredly and yawns as they stand up, holding out one of their lower arms rather limply as they sip from their mug again with another. I suppose getting used to having four arms would be pretty difficult so suddenly.

“Yeah, hey. I’m Reed. You know that already. Don’t bother explaining what’s going on. I just want a good place to smith some cool stuff. Here’s my card.” 

They open a drawer on the now reformed desk and pull out a card, then a pen from a holder atop the desk, quickly and messily scribbling over it before handing it to me. There’s a phone number on here, so hopefully Zee has us covered there. 

“Seeing as we’re…these now, I’d imagine we should probably stay in contact just in case. Honestly I’m not upset about leaving this place, I’d been meaning to anyways. This just gives me a push, I suppose. Now I’m giving you a push. So uhh. Yeah. Scram.”

I can’t help but snicker at their bluntness, turning around with a swish of my tail and waving to our new ant ally. Thankfully, the walk out isn’t as difficult as the break in, so the three of us zip on out and into an alley, wondering if that winged shadow in the sky--

 

“Sup, chumps.”

“GAH!!” I panic for a second before turning to see the voice addressing us so rudely is none other than Jay, hanging from the bars of an apartment staircase. “...Oh, good evening, Jay.”

“I’m up, that’s what,” he says, finishing his…joke? 

Was that supposed to be a joke? Whatever. He swings himself forward and releases himself from his perch, flapping his wings and landing before us, holding out his arm. 

“C’mon. I’m eager. Show me show me show me.”

“Not even so much as a ‘how are you doing?’ Thanks, Jay,” Cat jests as Navi flies around us.

“You just replaced me with a fake bird! We’re not friends any more. Nuh uh. No way.” He gestures towards the drone flying about us before Zee speaks up from its speaker.

“Krzt-- Nah, humans. No birds here but you, pal.”

“Oh, well that’s a relief. Okay! We’re friends again! Gimme your gold.” 

I can only groan as Cat hands Jay the medal, the bird beginning to inspect it like some kind of collector. 

“Oh yes… This’ll do nicely… Alright ladies and…”

“Krzt-- Gentlethem is fine!”

“...And gentlethem, you’ve got yourselves a deal.” Jay stuffs the medal under his cloak before slapping a wad of cash into Cat’s paw, throwing the back of their cloak behind them and swatting Cat in the face, who swats right back. “Pleasure doing business as always, you all--”

“Hey, wait just a sec, Jay!” Cat pipes up with a huff, making the bird freeze in place with a groan. “How’re you doing?”

He slowly turns around as if on a rotating display, looking up at Cat with a confused, if touched expression. “What?”

“Hoooow are you doing? Y’know, like, in general. Since ascending,” she elaborates, though she really doesn’t need to.

“...Aw, come on,” he starts with a forced whiny voice, “I know I said we’re friends, but don’t get chummy with me, I’m your underworld business partner, not--”

“She’s not going to stop until you humour her, Jay,” I warn him, the bird groaning even more.

“Then I’ll just leave then!”

“Then leave,” I tell him. 

But he stands there, groaning a third time, and louder than the last two.

“...I’m doing alright,” he says with a sigh. “Feeling great, actually. I’m in the shadows quite literally all the time, so no one questions what they don’t see. Navigating the underworld is a lot more exciting with wings and shadow powers, but it’s honestly even harder to let go of some of the cooler trinkets people find. I’m also getting the sneaking suspicion your goddess might want to talk to me if she’s interested in navigating the depths of Monorise too~” I stare at Jay for a moment before grinning. That’s the most I’d ever heard him talk in his life. It’s kind of refreshing. “Anyways, fuck you, I don’t care about you, you don’t care about me, PEACE.” 

And with that, they return to the darkness.

“He cares about us,” I say with a smirk.

“And we care about him too, right?” Cat adds, bumping her hip against me.

“Probably.”