Rick had barely slept that night, short bouts of rest that felt like he’d only blinked. By the time he realized the surrounding light was shifting, it was with the first rays of sunlight piercing down against the lip of the cave. What little sleep there had been, it’d been restless and cold. The storm still raged on, the water bringing a chill into the cave, the only solace the dry spot around the fire.

What little sense of drowsiness there was ended when Monica leapt to her feet and growled. Very suddenly alarm bells rung inside Rick’s head, everyone scrambled to move as the feline had practically shot out of the cave like a rocket without so much as a warning.

“Shit, it’s a Tigress, out of the way!”

Mr. Gabriel and Rick froze, looking at each other with wide eyes. The voice had come from outside, startled and followed by a roar from Monica. Rick barely had the time to pull on his pants, stumbling outside into the rain.

Thunder crackled overhead, the rumble running down the mountainside.

He couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

There were at least a dozen women there. Clothed women. But his mind caught up a moment later, noticing that they were no more human than Monica. They were monsters, some of them had wings, others had subtler tells such as claws, fur, scales. Each one of them wore a dark green uniform, a skirt, a vest, and a collar. Some only the skirt and collar.

More worryingly, Rick noticed a handful of them were armed with blades, staffs, and shields.

And Monica was fighting them.

Though… fighting would be the wrong term.

The feline was moving between the trees like a pinball. The group of women were rushing towards the trees, trying to adjust their relative positions to one another. The intent was clear, they were trying to obstruct her movements. The uniformed strangers moved in trios, as if attempting to anticipate where the feline might attack. “I can’t get a good bead on her!”

“Ma’am, the humans! Two males and a mouse!” The one to speak up was a woman that had wings rather than arms, a harpy. She was floating high overhead the forest, her focus having turned towards Rick and Mr. Gabriel.

One of the fighters that floated nearer to the groups in the ground snapped her attention towards them. Her white wings glowed softly, an angel that wore armor and wielded a sword and shield. “We’ve come to rescue you, quickly, you mu-”

“RICK!”

The shout came from the forest, and it was followed by Monica exploding through the formation, barreling through a woman wearing a robe and moving in a straight line towards the cave. As one, the rest of the women moved away from her path and let loose a veritable rainbow of luminous power. Some were red, others blue, a few yellow or purple.

And all Monica did was twist midair, using the woman she’d impacted against as a shield against half of the incoming attacks. The other half hit her back, Monica winced in agony, but did not slow down.

She was heading straight for Rick.

The angel lunged downwards, moving to intercept the incoming feline, raising her shield. “Evac the humans, now!”

“Yes, Ma’am!” The two harpies replied and changed course, diving towards Rick and Mr. Gabriel.

Monica slammed claws-first into the angel and her shield. Whatever the angel had been expecting to happen next, she had not anticipated Monica twisting herself into a ball and placing her feet against the shield. And then use the shield as a springboard. It was a split second, and the glare she’d shot at the angel shifted upwards. And towards one of the harpies.

The kick-back shoved the angel downwards, into the ground, and Monica flew upwards as if she’d been shot out of a canon. The roar the feline let loose shook the air, her claws open and thirsty for blood.

“Steva!”

The harpy had flinched from the roar, she did not react fast enough. Monica slammed against her. Both of them rose five more meters, and the harpy shrieked in pain. A spray of blood followed, raining down and mixing with the water from the storm. It took Rick a moment to realize the feline had ripped off one of the monster’s wings and was trying to finish the job but had to disengage the moment the harpy kept kicking at her with those razor sharp talons. With a kick, Monica threw the harpy away from herself as they both fell to the ground.

The harpy struck the ground like a rock. She did not move from where she’d impacted the mud. Unlike her, Monica had fallen like a coiled spring, claws sank into stone, the rock that had been her landing spot exploded as she narrowly avoided a second incoming volley of attacks.

“Humans!” The angel cried out, mid dripped from her uniform, wings spreading wide as she raised her shield. “Get somewhere safe, we can’t evacuate you while that feral’s loose! Call for backup!”

With the order given, the other harpy quickly flew off, vanishing within seconds.

The angel flew straight towards Monica, a shining white light covering her body as she raised her shield. The glow reflected and refracted against the falling rain, turning her into a prism that illuminated the world around her like a lightning bolt. The woman let out a fearsome battle cry, challenging her foe to battle.

And Monica promptly ignored her, diving back into the forest, only seeming to accelerate further now that she had the trees to assist her movements. Each leap left behind a blast of splintered bark in her wake, the woman remaining on the move as she was clearly intent on making herself as hard a target to hit as she could.

Before any of them could seek to hinder her movements, Monica altered her trajectory, making a beeline towards the ones that were attempting to shoot her down with their ranged attacks.

Monica narrowed the gap fast. “Defensive pos-”

The redhead that shouted the order didn’t get to finish it as she had to dive for cover. It took Rick a moment to spot why, the rain had obscured it, but when he saw a splash of water behind the red-head, he realized she had very narrowly avoided a rock that had been thrown her way. By the time the woman had recovered her balance, Monica was upon them.

With a flash of light, a sphere of flames shot out of the red-head’s hand. It hit Monica squarely in the chest.

But it failed to stop her. Rick winced as heat washed over him, but unable to look away as Monica’s claws sank into the redhead’s thigh. Bloody strips were carved out, leaving the woman to cry out and launch a second ball of fire. It missed, Monica rolled out of the way and into one of the fellow fighters that were attempting to get out of the way.

“She has San!”

Indeed she had. Monica had crouched low, grabbed the woman by the ankle and swung her around over her head and straight into a second one. Both improvised weapon and target cried out, tumbling and falling, neither quite able to get back up fast enough to avoid Monica falling onto them with her claws raised, intent on finishing the job.

The angel had caught up, raising her shield and ready to attack.

Monica’s ear twitched, her attack changed. Instead, she grasped at one of her victims and raised her as an improvised shield to meet the angel’s charge.

The stratagem worked, with a look of horror in her eyes, the angel was forced to cancel her attack in the last second, lest she hit her companion and crush her. A chance Monica did not let slip. Jumping at the angel, she swung her screaming victim downwards and hammered the angel down against the ground. The feline moved in to secure her kill, her claws barely stopped in time when the angel spun and put her shield in the way.

“I need to stop them,” Rick whispered, breaking from the spell of witnessing the unfolding events. This fight could not be allowed to go on.

They were going to die.

His eyes kept glued to the fierce battle that kept unfolding, Monica outmaneuvered them, using them against one another. She was ruthless, and would not let them organize; the instant they tried, she’d target the one leading the attempt. And each time she found her mark, she would aim for the kill, and miss by so very little.

The others were well coordinated, and knew how to cover for each other’s backs. But if someone slipped…

How could this come to a stop without either side getting killed? He’d lost three already, he couldn’t have more, not now, no! His feet began to move before he was able to fully process what to do, running towards the battlefield. A part of him cursed, this was stupid, so incredibly stupid.

Was there an alternative though?

The human was blocked almost immediately by one of the women that’d been closer. She had dark brown hair, a thick scaled tail, and a look that was too bewildered. “Sir, get out of here!”

“I need to stop her!”

“She’s a feral, you can’t!”

“Yes, I can!” He replied, looking over the woman’s shoulder towards the fight. “Monica!”

The feline was attacking the angel, trying to get through the shield and land a strike somewhere critical. The angel was being pushed back.

And the instant Rick had called her name, Monica spun around. Her eyes locked onto the woman was blocking Rick’s path. Her eyes narrowed into slits. “RICK!” The call was followed by the angel rocketing across the field and into a tree, kicked out of the way before she could take the chance to strike.

Several things happened at the same time.

Monica’s legs glowed with a dull gray light and the sound of a BANG as she was no longer there on the spot she’d been standing on. Her trajectory was a singular straight line, a blur of white that streaked through the downpour, too fast to be stopped. Rick sensed rather than see the anger; the feline had been practically frothing at the mouth with single-minded purpose to kill the one that stood in front of him.

The feeling was oppressive, he wasn’t even her target, and he felt as if he’d gotten the air knocked out of him. The woman that was currently between him and Monica had frozen stiff, eyes wide, face pale, slack jaw. She was trembling.

Rick barely had the time to shove the scaled woman out of the way before Monica’s trajectory brought her into a direct interception with him. His eyes met Monica’s as she suddenly realized the only thing in her way was Rick himself. The anger broke, confusion led to panic.

He was a stationary object, and she was the truck barreling down the highway.

Physics took the wheel.

The acceleration from the impact knocked the air out of Rick’s lungs, he heard more than felt his ribcage snap, ribs shattering. Monica tried her best to slow down, her arms wrapping around him, large meaty paws, holding his head and hips, twisting herself to put her body between him and what was about to happen.

The deceleration against the tree brought his consciousness to a halt, he didn’t get the time to feel pain.