Chapter Text
Sam POV:
It was a cold morning, winter was some of the colder months and my winter fur was starting to grow thicker and fluffier as usual with the passing weeks, which made hair styling a nightmare. so I asked kit for help with fur shedding, and she agreed, now we sat in the living room's couch as she softly brushed behind my ears, quite relaxing.
"better?" kit inquired holding a fur cleaning brush to my head then giving me a small pat
"wayy better" i said with a small chuff, thing she caught on immediately
"what was that?" she teasingly asked making me blush and look away, then something caught my attention at the corner of my vision "the CLADE crest!" blurting out that phrase made the peace in the room break and kit look confused
"that was not a clade crest-" kit declared cheeky watching me through half lidded eyes i turned her head softly to see it grabbing her by the chin "look!" realizing what i had done and blushing now even more i let go of her
"O-oh...director scratch has a new case for us!" Having said that she quickly pressed the clade crest and slid into scratch's office through the tunnel that appeared in our living room's bookshelf, letting out a sight i followed behind her.
Kit POV:
I landed into the softness of scratch's office chair with Sam arriving not long after me, to see the director reading some really old files by the looks of the paper, now noticing my and Sam's presence she shifted her attention to us
"sorry agents, its just today's case is kind of heavy, recently, there was a wildfire in a subtropical forest" scratch said pressing the button to open her projector screen to show an transcript of a distress call.
"this is a mission involving one of clade's ex directors" the projector then showed the clade portrait of a tigress "ex-director Coral Stripes sent a distress signal and it's your job is to find her and bring her back to safety" scratch said worried not letting me nor Sam ask questions then pausing and adding "good luck agents" with that she quickly pressed the button on her desk with the direct passageway to R.O.N
The takeoff, and the ride to the subtropical forest was soothing, though it didn't soothe the questions on my head, why was this mission debrief so short? Why did scratch look so sad? Then something pulled me out of my thoughts it was Sam clearing his throat
"Aren't you excited?, we are probably about to meet a renowned clade veteran!" Sam said trying to cheer me up as the sky brushed past Ron's windshield "kinda? dunno I have a certain feeling about this mission"
I wanted to explain but I really couldn't it was that, a gut feeling, inexplicable and abstract.
"You shouldn't worry that much, kit, this mission should be easy just a rescue mission"
Sighting I looked down at my paws which were set on Ron's panel controls, feeling slightly comforted by his words
"I hope so"
Sam POV
We arrived smoothly in a burnt looking clearing spot in the sub-tropical forest, looking around the level of devastation after the wildfire was noticeable
"Woah" the concern was perceivable in the way her voice broke, i know the ashes beneath our feet made her gut fill with worry "we aren't far from the place where the distress call originated"
trying to calm her nerves I showed her the map with the waypoint to the signal "alright then, let's get moving" she took off running towards the signal "hey wait for me!" Running as fast as i could I followed behind her, every step felt heavier and the air smelt odd the closer we got to the place, yet arriving to find a charred ashy shell of what a home should be.
"Holy Moles"
Kit said with an shocked tone, meanwhile I sniffed around the air smelling of a sharp pungent chemical
"The air smells odd" I exclaimed as kit also sniffed around and stepped into the already destroyed building while searching something, until she stopped dead in her tracks and shouted genuinely horrified
"SAM!-" reacting quickly to her distress I ran towards where she was just to stop in dead silence when I saw what laid in the burnt floor..."It's a...a corpse..." her eyes were wide and chest almost heaving as she looked at the burnt skin
"It's coral-..." I pointed at the striped tail and patches of fur with a soft and equally horrified tone
Without feeling emotionally able to say another word i ran outside unable to stomach the view, kit stayed back inside the burnt home
my legs took me far from the ashes of the afflicted zone onto a place with patches of green and a few trees that kept the green on their leaves i only stopped to stare at the horizon, not out of its beauty, but out of breath, for a brief moment time seemed to slow down as I stood there paralyzed trying to process the last few minutes
Yet before pondering too deep about what scratch's reaction would be I heard a screeching noise that snapped me right out of those thoughts
a high pitched wail, for a moment my mind raced to the case of the crying monkey, could it be a similar predator?, out of mere curiosity and my detective intuition guiding me I decided to move towards the sound, and as i ran between burnt logs and green half burnt trees the sound began to get closer and closer, until i found the source, a half circle metal structure where the sound was coming from.
"Hello?"
knocking on the entrance to said structure only to get a wail as an awnser, gathering my courage I settled my hand on the knob and turned it all the way until the door cracked open, inside the place was similar to a shed, full of tools and stored items, yet it was moist inside likely thanks to the water buckets evaporating in the floor, then his gaze darted downwards into a lousy box from which was connected to an oxygen tank...
I approached the wooden box, then slowly took the the lid off, the sound bounced of the walls stronger the culprit? a BABY?!
Taking the delicate and really small tiger cub into my arms hesitantly I tried to soothe it in the only way I knew
"Shhh c'mon"
Seemingly bouncing them didn't help,was it hungry? Was it sad? Even better question, was it alright?!
"Hey little buddy..."
Trying to calm it trying I leaned on the wall and slowly slid to the ground while I tried my best attempting a comforting tone although it came out as nervous, I reached out my index finger to check if the criying little creature was real, it seemed so illogical, why leave a cub here?, spiraling I zoned out, although the clouding thoughts were cut short yet again, feeling a slight tug on his finger.
the little tiger was biting on my finger, I let out a small genuine giggle at their silliness and very delicately I scooped them into my arms in a more correct position to carry a baby
"So you are hungry after all..."
then realizing I left a certain kit fox behind and internally panicking, i settled on calling her with my i-spy glove.
"Kit?"
Calling out to the device before kit appeared on the holographic screen
"SAM!"
she awnsered the call sounding really worried, I looked past her and noticed
"Is that director scratch?!"
I asked looking past her...then kit moved the camera to face away
"Yes and that's not important right now-"
Interrupting her mid sentence I spoke
"I beg to differ" I narrowed my eyes in a questioning manner
"Hey I make the questions here! Where the h-"
Kit didn't get far on her questioning until getting interrupted once again, this time by a crying cub
"no-not again...shhh..."
Trying my best to calm them down again I tried to shake them ever so carefully like people do in movies to babies, although that was futile.
"IS THAT A BABY?!!"
kit reminded me of her digital presence in the loudest most shocked way possible.
"Not helping! But yes it's...a baby, and a clue..."
I could hear her gasp in the other side of the screen then her expression changed to worry
"Okay...just...get back here, scratch needs us both here" she said gloomy, I knew it was the nature of the scene, with clear new orders now though I got up from the floor and made my way to the door as I still tried to ease the cub.