Incline 41: Ivahstar

Pinching the screwdriver, I ease the bit out of my weapon's frame. I settle the pair down. The threaded metal keeps a magnetic connection to the tool's tip. My hand tightens on the grip and I use its rarely intended function. To pull the gun apart.

Metal clatters about on my lap, the leather of the car and the floor. A grumble goes through my teeth and I pick up what I've lost. Settling what I can on my lap, I glance up as tunnel and other cars go by. My eyes land back on Hrurim as he twists the wheel about, gently putting us into another lane.

He's doing what he can to keep our profile low. Taking what opportunities he can. I'm only working on my gun so intensely as a means to keep my mouth shut. We both know I'd be barking his ears red if I wasn't.

Heiya is on the move and we've no clue how far behind or ahead we are. It's all predictions and assumptions. But this is the wisest and safest course of action for us, regardless. Keeping within the speed limit will keep the highway patrol off of our backs. For the moment, anyhow. 

Hrurim's going to need me upfront soon, anyway. I'm best suited for finding our hidden slipway entrance, not him. It's funny, really. I'm already asking too much of him by having him drive a cramped vehicle. His human legs have no room at all to so much as wiggle the toes at the end of them.

"Mmm." I let out, putting my focus back on my gun. My eyes turn to the container and I play with the lock. Lifting it up and dropping it back down with a bang. The blood wasps inside smash against the metal, desperate to kill the offending noise. Unending in their aggression and want for peace.

I've yet to quite figure out what a queen does to the honey they make. Now's not the time to experiment, though. And that nameless kelbalid from the black market wasn't open with it, either... It's all working as it should, though. A disappointment that makes me feel childish. 

It doesn't matter.

Save Heiya, get her out of Gamtambo's paws and off of his roads. That is all that I need to concern myself with. I have the tools to handle the problem. I have the knowledge and skill.

A paw comes to my face and I rub it, ruffling my flat fur. I put the paw back down and flatten the mess I've made. Forcing it out of the physical plane and back into my mind where it belongs. She's so far away...

I snap the next part of my gun off, tossing it to the chair with a snarl. More and more parts come off, going about the back of the car. My arms come to a stop, fists curling tight. My daughter is in danger and I'm not there to protect her. I can't protect her when I'm not there or near.

"DAMMIT!" I roar, smashing my dominant arm against the door. It bangs like thunder, echoing throughout the tunnel and above the noise of the cars. Hrurim's head shifts. He glances my way. I meet his glance with wide, angry eyes and he looks down. His head bobbles, his teeth catching his bottom lip.

"Don't worry, Ivahstar. I'm going as quick as I can..." he reassures me with a meek, weak voice. I keep my emotions in check for the moment and think nothing of his words. He's trying to reassure me. That is all he is trying to do. There's no hate or malice, no treachery or delight. He's on my side, he's taking me to hers...!

"How close are we to the right side of the road?" I ask, grabbing my gun parts and shaking them clear of nothing. I start to throw it all back together, my decades of talent putting on a show for no one.

"Couple lanes left." my human friend answers and the sensation of motion cuts his tally down by one. For his sake, I hope he's being accurate with that 'couple' and that it's not him misspeaking. Will do both of our tempers good for me to not be shouting at him.

My weapon looks more like itself, and I spin the screwdriver back where it was. I knock the weapon, testing its integrity, and I test the loading mechanism. The front snaps forward, showing off the honeycomb of barrels. It clicks back into place, free of stray spikes and awaiting a fresh load.

I make my way to the front of the car, lowering the back of a chair and crawling over. I roll around, sitting up as my friend finds a huff coming to his lips. My eyes only see his reflection in the glass and I stare out at the road. The slipway tunnel will be on his side. Always the driver's side.

I turn to my friend, my mouth ready to ask him a question to pass the time-

The flash of sirens goes up behind us and I twist. He twists as well, both ways. His eyes go to the wing mirror. Our eyes both go to the speed dial, and a damning fact makes my quills quiver. We're in a safe limit.

"Stop and search?" Hrurim asks as a frown takes over my face. Information. Too much rushes through my thoughts.

"Has to be." I answer, resisting the temptation to lean out the window to get a better view. 

Seconds pass and a police car comes into view, blue lights still flashing. The vehicle lines up with ours and I lean away from the door. Hrurim's face is bright with more than just blue. And it's all spelt 'confusion' and 'bafflement.'

"Of all the cars on the damn planet...!?" he lets out, hissing and sneering. I look around the car, taking in all the details that might've given us away. There's no way Gamtambo or any of his gangsters know this our car. There's no one alive to report that it's this vehicle we're using. Did someone report us when we came out of that service tunnel or have we been trailed...?

Circumstance, sheer... Gods forsaken circumstance. There's no other explanation. No police car, highway patrol or not is going to just know these things.

"There must be something about the car that makes us stick out." I say, deciding the matter for both of our sakes.

"Must be the engine!" Hrurim snaps to the empty back of the car. He shifts the gears, picking up speed and revving the engine's fury for the world to hear. The sirens flash again, growing in intensity and settling the question once and for all. It's certainly us they're after.

"Lose them however you can. We can't risk reinforcements being called in." I tell Hrurim, crawling back into the back so I can get my gun. Contradicting myself might be a requirement if our options run thin. Bringing police with us into a smugglers' route will only escalate things... I need the situation to be under control. My control.

"It's standard protocol to always call it in!" Hrurim calls back to me as he suddenly veers left. I bounce around, my back smacking the door.

"Delude yourself with sweet dreams!" I snap at him as the police car picks up speed. The lanes are clearing up. The instinct of the normal citizen giving us both space for their own safety. But not Heiya's. 

Each car that slides away to the right side of the road is one more toss of space gone. A potential slipway entrance now out of reach. If this goes on for too long, we could miss the right slipways altogether! The car engines roar and rumble, shaking with pistoning fury. My throat does the same...

Grabbing my gun, Hrurim overtakes his discomfort to try and shake the police. His manoeuvres throw me about, smashing me at both ends of the car. I plant my feet down, stomping them into corners and into the bottom fabric. My fist tightens around the handlebar and I keep myself steady.

"How's it looking!?" I demand to know as the police car proves its engine power. The blaring mechanical monster is keeping up. It's going to overtake us. Catch up just enough to lock its horns into the back tyre of ours car.

"EUGH! GET LOST ALREADY YOU STUPID LAWMAN!" Hrurim shouts out the window, his foot no longer able to stomp the pedal any further forward. I move about, clamouring for the roof of the car and a passage. I pat around, unable to focus my eyesight with all these flashes of blue.

A growl rumbles in my throat and I fall onto my back, gun at the ready. I pull the trigger and get an empty click. Cold embarrassment rushes into my blood. My anger flash boils it away and I strike the container.

"MAKE ME HONEY!" I roar at the hive as I prepare my equipment. The front of my gun snaps open and I set it up for a dangerous attempt. We don't have the time for me to properly load the gun. I need to do it now and fast!

Lodging the crate open, I knock it over to the sound of buzzing and wet thuds. Honey pours from the container, distancing itself from the hive and its tending blood wasps. One catches on the honey, freeing itself with an aggressive flight. I slam the container shut and the blood wasp continues to fly around. A stinger of lethal poison and potency at the ready to murder the car.

The flashes of blue reveal the buzzing terror. It appears in one spot and then another, coming close but not landing. I growl and throw my gun back into order. A back window breaks, throwing glass across the highway and the seat. The blood wasp defies the wind current and hovers around.

"YOU BETTER HAVE NOT LET ONE GET LOOSE!" Hrurim screams like a girl, the one time in his life he's justified to actually do so.

"I'M HANDLING IT!" I shout back at him, catching a figure lean out of the police car. A familiar extension comes to the shadow. Flashing into existence the same way the blood wasp does. The officer is aiming for our tyres.

I flinch away from the blood wasp, swatting it away as hooked feet find my fur. I swat it again, smacking it down and putting it into a daze. My sore hand whips about, the hardness of its namesake chitin no soft subject. My nails pinch a wing and I snap open my gun, loading it anew.

Throwing myself onto the glass, I growl as it cuts deep. Warmth spreads down my front, coming out even more as the glass wiggles deep. The tunnel throws all the noise it can at me. The horns of hundreds of cars, the sirens of the police and the rumbling of who knows how many engines.

I blink, tossing aside all the distractions. I shoot the blood wasp through the police car's front window. It shatters completely, throwing shards about the car. It decelerates immediately, throwing the officer's shot off. A lone bang of orange strikes the dark. Missing us entirely.

I pick myself up, putting my weight on my heels, and I fall down. A groan escapes me and I bash the blood wasp hive one more time. Hooking my overalls, I pull them forward, batting some air down my front and getting rid of some of the glass. My fingers pick out what I can and I leave the rest to be trapped by coagulation.

"Gods... Keep the road clear." Hrurim huffs, not a smile anywhere to be seen as driving denies him the right to look for a smoke. I pull the map out of the glove box and double check it. The gods offer us a boon and a landmark quickly comes into view. My eyes sprint across the map, narrowing our location.

"UP THERE!" I point out, practically screaming with excitement, and Hrurim shifts gears. He slams his foot on the brakes, putting us into a controlled, terrible drift. I cling to the car, offering him some stability with my touch. The car's back end gets in order and we slip into where we need to go.

The car bashes and scrapes, losing parts and pain. We get back on the straightforward path and we settle down. Both of us sigh and I nod with some satisfaction. A groan pops right out of Hrurim...

"Bugger me..." he swears, clicking his fingers at me as who knows what remarks pass through his mind. I slip into his pockets, pulling out a stick and his lighter. I get him all sorted and intoxicated for the time being. Looking out at the road ahead, I blink with uncertainty.

This road is certainly living up to my preconceptions of it... Rough is certainly an appropriate word for a tunnel like this.