Short-term change! Show the little one what we do with stubborn beings who don't give an answer! "


“All right!” He grabbed one of the little bird creatures, threw it into the air, perforated it with several beams of energy. A thud as the lifeless body hit the earth. A desperate peep from the prisoner.


"Well what is it? Shall we repeat that with you?"


Desperate shaking of the head.


"Or ..." Maiju made it exciting, enjoying the expression of fear on the prisoner's face, "will you show us where more of you live?"

"No never!" it beeped shrilly "You just want to kill her!"


"That's right! And if you don't play along, we'll kill you too and take someone else. We have plenty of choice!"


"I would rather die than become a traitor!" came the surprisingly courageous answer.


Maiju grimaced "Well, that's your bad luck! Don't think I'll kill you so quickly! You'd lose all the fun!" With a quick movement, she grabbed her victim by the neck, holding it outstretched Arm in front of itself that it gagged and gasped. "Fir, please be so kind and wake up someone else so we can make him the same offer!"


"Yes, yes! Now it's my turn to negotiate!"


“If you want!” Maiju continued to hold the defenseless bird creature by the neck, which wriggled and tried in vain to loosen its grip with weak fingers. She noticed how well she suddenly got along with Fir.Maybe he wasn't so bad after all.


She heard him speak softly to another victim, his tone sounding insistent and convincing. However, this one seemed to be just as stubborn as the previous one, because Fir's reference to the perforated corpse brought nothing. Then he forced her to watch his colleague slowly suffocate in Maiju's grip. At the same time it began to scream and thrash, which of course did not help it. And when Maiju, who no longer felt the other's pulse, easily crushed his neck and pounded it into a corner, it started to cry.


Fir gave him a slap in the face: "Stop crying, or the same thing will happen to you! So, how did you decide? Will you help us, or would you rather go on it?"


Sobbing it replied: "I ... help you!"


"Well, why not right away? Maiju, you go upstairs. I'll be right after you."


Maiju, who knew what he was up to, nodded and pushed the bird in the direction of the exit. "You go ahead.And don't try to make yourself thin, otherwise you will already know what is in store for you! "


One after the other, they crawled back upstairs.


Before stepping out of the corridor, the little one looked around very carefully, listened and sniffed. Maiju picked it up and pushed himself out of the hole, "What are you so afraid of? I didn't measure a fighting strength higher than nine, and that was one of you. The critters here all have a fighting strength of less than three."


It was clear to see that the native only understood the train station. "You're not from here, are you?" he peeped "Otherwise you would know that there are terribly dangerous beings here!"


Maiju laughed mockingly "Yes, of course, since my command landed here!"


"No, no, I didn't mean that! There are very dangerous animals here, they are quick as lightning and can kill hundreds of us in minutes! That's why we live underground, because they can't dig that deep!"

"Aha! Now some things are becoming clear to me! But listen, Pipsi," she brought her face very close to that of her prisoner and bared her teeth, "the only dangerous creatures you have to worry about at the moment are Fir and me! If one of these incredibly dangerous creatures shows up, it won't be dangerous for much longer! "" Pipsi "ducked his head and nodded, intimidated.


Maiju straightened up again and strolled over to the hole, not taking her eyes off Pipsi "tell me, where is he?" she muttered, "Is he doing a training session right now, or what?"


In response, she received a scratch in the tunnel, and a little later Fir forced her way out through the entrance.


"I was just wondering where you're staying for so long!" Maiju received him.


"I called Captain Turnus and told him what we found out."


"What did he say?"


"He was very pleased. Apparently he has not yet discovered anything himself."Then he turned to Pipsi:" And now you are leading us to the next settlement, will you? Otherwise there will be Zores! "


He would not have needed this request; Fir's appearance had put him on alert and he was on the go before he even spoke to him. Now he led the two unerringly through the thick undergrowth. Maiju noticed how cautiously the native moved: every three steps he paused, peered around and made sure that there was no danger.


The greatest danger he has to fear at the moment is right behind him! she thought with a smile.


She and the bird moved silently, with him it was due to habit, with Maiju it was the cat's paws, which did not make a noise on any surface. Fir, however, who was walking behind Maiju, trampled through the undergrowth, got caught in the tangle of plants, fell down, swore heartily and made noise for all three of them, making Pipsi even more nervous than it already was.

Until Maiju told him to pull himself together and lift his legs, it was unnecessary for him to stomp around here like the greatest trampoline. "With the noise you're making, you'd think you're at least as big as Dodoria!"


Then he managed to walk quietly, albeit offended.


The entrance to the next settlement was camouflaged so well that Maiju would have simply walked past it without her involuntary guide.


As she crawled in, she found that the tunnel, which also spiraled downwards, was a lot wider than the previous one. Two lanes. So this settlement had to be bigger than the last.


With Pipsi in the middle, Maiju and Fir crawled down the tunnel, which ended as usual in a cave. What Maiju could see of the cave indicated that it was very large. She thought for a moment.


Then she grabbed Pipsi and rudely pushed him out.Watch how he stumbled into the glow of the fire that provided light and warmth inside, how the other bird creatures jumped up in fright, how a circle formed around their captive in a matter of seconds.


"What are you trying to achieve with that?" Fir whispered.


"Shh! Quiet!" Maiju turned to him "He should play the decoy for us!"


"Ah!"


"Get ready. At my signal, we'll walk out there and say hello to the little ones!"


"Checked!"


She turned her attention back to the assembled crowd in the hall. Heard your brief guide stammering confused warnings: "Get to safety .... there are two ... in the tunnel ...... they caught me .... you are in danger! Skin off, get away Save yourselves ... they will kill you ... save your life! "


The girl could see that most of the natives were looking to obey the warning. Cowardly people!


"Fir?"

"Yes?"


"Now!"


They drove at full speed between the horrified locals, mixing them up in a fraction of a second.


The screams of horror, the faces of their victims disfigured with fear and pain, the smell of blood, all that turned Maiju on and made her mad. Instead of firing randomly at the little creatures like Fir, she knocked them down, slashed them with her claws, rammed her fangs into their necks.


As quickly as the carnage began, it was over.


Completely motionless apart from her whipping tail, Maiju stood between the scattered bodies. Her eyes sparkled.


She wiped the blood from her mouth with her hand on those she had killed with a bite in the throat. She made no difference where she stepped as she walked over to her team mate. He stood tense, one hand still held out and panting from the effort of shooting down so much energy.When Maiju reached him, he straightened up


and took a deep breath. "Guess that's it. Next cave depopulated!"


"Let's play it safe and blow the whole thing up. Surely not all of these, there might still be some in the corridors!" Maiju pointed to the holes that were evenly distributed over the whole wall of the cave.


"OK.!"


At the same time they began to fire, chasing streams of energy like lava through the emergency exits and sinuses. The earth shook, caused the tunnels to collapse, the ceiling of the cave cracked. The thick layer of earth broke down like an avalanche, buried Maiju under itself, swallowed Fir.


Silence.


Which was suddenly broken by a deafening bang, followed immediately by a second. The team had escaped from the earth in an explosive manner. They hovered over the hole that had once been home to so many locals.


"Captain Turnus said we should level the settlements to the ground!" noted Fir.

"Then we just obey his orders!"


A rain of energy balls fell on the hole below them and the surrounding area within firing range. Where the bullets struck, they left smoking craters. Soon Maiju and Fir couldn't see where they were going because of the smoke and dust, but they didn't let that put them off. Only when they ran out of breath did they stop.


The cloud of smoke took some time to clear, after which it could be seen that all the land within a quarter of a kilometer had turned into a single desert of rubble, the highest point of which was a good ten meters below the average level of the ground.


Maiju nodded satisfied. If anything survived their direct attack earlier, it was definitely dead now.


They landed next to the rim of the crater.


"Oh, damn it, now it's coming to me!" Fir shouted suddenly, slapping his forehead with the palm of his hand.

"What do you think?" asked Maiju.


"We killed our guide down there with us! Now we're standing there pretty stupid!