"Clent Station..." Dreamer scratched at the days-old stubble of his beard.  "I'm... not sure where that is," he admitted.  "The other side of the flatlands?  We'll have enough fuel to get there, and then some... as long as the rebels haven't blocked the roads.  But they might have already captured that place... and the wastes aren't an area we want to end up being stranded, particularly at night."  He stopped, his gaze going distant for a few seconds.  The wastes... there -was- a place out there that was safe and unknown to everyone but himself... if he could even remember enough to find it.  However... it was also full of his former allies... men and women that would execute any furry on sight were they to awaken...<br/><br/>He chose not to mention the bunker he'd come from.  It could serve as a last-resort shelter, and there was equipment there that would be very useful in a warzone... but he certainly couldn't risk Shark's humans getting hold of the place, or of the weaponry.  Hell, it would be a very BAD thing for the local furs if any more of Dreamer's unit were to be reawakened...<br/><br/>"I'll drive, if you don't mind, Kitten," he said, his brisk tone possibly telling the others that he'd thought of a destination but didn't think it was a viable one.  "I'm more used to it... and the little one likes you more, anyway."  He smirked lopsidedly.  "You'll have to tell me where to go, Maeve."<br/><br/>He stepped around the car toward the driver's side door.  He stopped, swallowing suddenly as his mind registered the dead sheep-dog parking attendant still tied to the hood.  He'd completely forgotten about that when he'd carried Maeve away from her home and to the station wagon...<br/><br/>For a moment, a sick laugh almost made its way out of him.  He slapped his hand to his mouth, trying to wipe away the insane smile on his face as he realized that probably no parking attendant in the world had ever gone to such lengths to protect one of the cars under his watch.<br/><br/>"Ah... uhm," he managed once he'd managed to bring his expression back to relative neutrality, "We'll follow the dirt roads until we can head east into the wastes... maybe we can... get this guy off the hood now."  He swallowed the last of the disturbing urge to laugh.  "Assuming Clent Station's that way, Maeve?"<br/><br/>---- ---- ---- ----<br/><br/>Vultana jumped as a streak of dark fur shot across her vision in the sightscope.  She tried to follow it, and soon saw the bloody smear on the wall several floors up from the ground, near a small, nondescript window.  Inside her beak, her almost human inner lips curved into a wicked smile.  "Nice," she murmured.<br/><br/>She brought her golden eye back to the scope and looked around the distant scene.  The Bear-taur stood in front of the Palace of the Wolf, defiant, somehow beautiful in her bloodied rage.  She'd already done more damage to Alhanda's troops than any human platoon could have, and yet she was still standing... phenomenal.  True, Vultana thought with a smile, she'd had a little help from a distant friend, but still...<br/><br/>The guards were hiding, terrified of the warrior in their midst and the sniper picking them off from an unknown distance.  They'd figured out where to hide to stay out of Vultana's sight, and no more guards had emerged since she'd gunned down several newcomers to the scene, so she had few prospective targets.  Maybe a tail here or there... an ear... possibly the tip of a foot.  They would all just cause painful wounds, not fatal ones.  While Vultana still had a lot of ammunition left, it wasn't limitless... she had to make each shot count.<br/><br/>Surveying the scene from on top of her Mistress' hotel, Vultana noted that the smoke coming from the roof had cleared.  She suddenly realized that snipers could easily take position there now, and that they could do more than fire at the beartaur... they could possibly locate Vultana herself and, if their weapons were powerful enough, they could shoot her...<br/><br/>She surveyed the scene, trying to see if anyone was there.  Now that the haze of smoke had cleared, she could see the ruined carcass of a helicopter still smouldering there.  Wolves and other palace guards, holding fire hoses and wearing fireproof suits, were still hosing down the wreckage of what had probably been an expensive aircraft.<br/><br/>For the moment, there were no armed guards there, and Vultana hesitated about shooting the oblivious firefighters... but she finally spotted one Wolf that looked down at the carnage in the square below him.  He was talking excitedly into a transmitter wired to his body armor.  As she saw him, his eyes widened, and he started looking around as though to find an unseen assailant.  He'd apparently just gotten word that there was a sniper on the lookout.<br/><br/>--Damn,-- she thought, and pulled the trigger.  The wolf jerked, his face reduced to a crater, and he toppled forward over the wall with a gaping hole in the back of his skull.  --They'll all know I'm here soon... they'll send troops to find me.--  She shook out her wings.  --I can fly to safety, maybe, but if they catch me here... I'm just a meal to them!--<br/><br/>But a thought struck her.  How could the Palace Guard send troops after her... if they couldn't send out messages?<br/><br/>She levelled her scope on the antenna visible nearby on the roof of the Palace of the Wolf, and she started shooting, aiming for wires, hinges, anything she could see that looked vulnerable.  For all she knew she was shooting out Lady Alhanda's satellite reception only... but if she was lucky, she'd cripple House Shenzai's communications entirely...!<br/><br/>((P.S:  I've posted Vultana's Backstory in my Art Gallery, under my Stories.  This one's properly vorish.  Enjoy!))