Kitty felt it as much as every other squad member did as they approached the site and Setzer turned off the engine, deciding that it was safer to walk. She had never been close enough to a damaged mist reactor so there was no telling, at least for her, if the pressure was normal or not. All she knew was based on what she felt – it was suffocating and irritating at the same time. She wanted to pull on the mist and flush it out somewhere else like a mist pump, if there existed such a thing, to alleviate the pressure. 

Standing on the truck bed behind the open window, she reached inside the cabin slowly to the two other squad members sitting inside. Her fingers forming claws, Kitty raked her nails at the back of her squad mate’s necks, flexing her fingers as she whispered in her creepy impression voice, “Lorrriiiii… Leeeeee…” Before giggling and leaping off the truck bed away from their reach. “That’s how it feels for me,” she called back to her squad mates. Then added, “Lee, stay close!”

Why did they even choose to stay the night at Sappl Springs? They should have just listened to Gideon and camped in the mountains to roast snakes and get bitten by mosquitos. Even with itchy bumps on their skin, at least they would have spent the night without a crash site to worry about.

Without drawing her weapon like both Setzer and Gideon, and with her thumb and pointing finger pinching her nose, she put her game face on. “They’re here to crash the party, obviously,” Kitty answered dryly. It was not a drill, she kept reminding herself. She took note of the situation as reported by her squad mates. A Vangar airship with the Captain of the Royal Guards as a passenger was gunned down on Rassvet territory. The news on the radio that Galahad was listening to. No, it was too farfetched. 

While the others investigated the site, she kept her attention on the surroundings, watching the sky and the outcropping rock and pillars of flames around them for any threat. Whatever punched those holes onto the side of the airship could come at any moment to do a thorough sweep and ensure that the mission was a success, assuming it was not an accident, or Rassvet military attacking a trespassing aircraft. A voice at the back of her head hoped it was neither an accident nor Rassvet, but the voice of reason said she was an idiot. “This is callsign ‘SSOZ’ saying nothing,” she commented absently as she squinted her eyes to the pod.


Note: SSOZ- Stop showing-off, Zimmy