Fueled by bestial fury, the tiger struck its prey again and again with its powerful forepaws, quickly ruining the armor surrounding Anom's torso. The smaller cats, meanwhile, lurked nearby and watched. When the armored hero moved to strike, one of them hissed in warning, and the tiger quickly swiped out with one paw, batting aside the sword-stroke with ease.

It'd be hard to ambush Big Martin or any of his cats. He could watch through their eyes, hear through their ears, and share information with each member of his furry army. Between them, they could see the battlefield from a huge variety of angles, and pick up details that any lone watcher might have missed.

One of these details just so happened to catch Big Martin's attention. By rights, the armored defender should have been focused on the beast right on top of him, but at the moment he seemed to be paying an odd amount of attention to the monstrosity some distance away. The latter seemed the more deadly of the two, to be sure, but something about the man's body language was wrong. Call it a hunch, perhaps. When fighting with and against individuals wielding unknown powers, every clue mattered.

He sent out a mental order to the tiger. [i]Off![/i]

The huge cat growled, somewhat annoyed, but complied, leaping off Anom and out of the way of his daggers. It crouched to one side, ready to leap back into action as soon as its master gave the word.

All of a sudden, Anom would be unimpeded once more- at least mostly. Some sticky web would still be gumming him up, and the armor on his chest would be all but ruined by now, but at least the cats seemed to have let him go for the moment.

As for Big Martin himself, a strange wind surrounded him once again. He was confident enough in their victory against this opponent by now, but this wouldn't be the only hero about, and he'd need more forces ready for when things inevitably escalated.