This is my favorite chapter in a while! I love the downtime, and Pyrra really stole this chapter for me...That mama cat thing with the little kids was so adorable! And somewhere in the back of my mind I picture the horrible things Pyrra would have done to those SAME kids had she still been with the Society.

Though, now I'm wondering if Pyrra is beginning to instrinsically learn what "right" and "wrong" is. If Sanders commanded her to kill the kids and Samantha, would she do it without question?

Great chapter, this is a favorite of mine for sure! These kinds of chapters really add depth and color to the universe you created while also putting powerful characters into "normal" everyday situations which is something I'm a huge fan of.

I liked the chapter, it was a nice change of pace to get some character development without people dying left and right. Basically I'm happy for the bit of calm we got although knowing you, it could be gone in an instant!

Anyway, I also noticed that Samantha and Pyrra are becoming good friends. I think its really funny how Pyrra seems to understand what everyone's talking about and even throws in her 2 cents (with meows of course), into the conversations.

Good stuff!

@ Kazuma: morality may be not be black-and-white. But, neither is it a uniform gray. It's more like multiple shades of gray...with some shades undeniably darker than others. And, with all due respect to what the Phoenixes go through on a daily basis in their world? They're still just perpetuating a vicious circle of horrid cruelty! And, if they're not careful, they'll become the monsters of Nietzschean philosophy (i.e., worse than the ones they fight).

@Zanderas

I know the kind of world they live in but I don’t have to like their methods. The chapter made me uncomfortable reading it. You get all the praise for that. I’m not complaining or anything lol  

To think I said there wasn’t enough grey in early Act 1. 

Those poor Snakes! It would appear that Darius doesn't subscribe to the theory that "the enemy of my enemy is my friend."

Ah Jacob you still can’t see beyond your own issues. He better wake up before he ends up being a detriment to the whole squad.

As for Aviel, I hoped she was playing some sort of long con but the more I thought about it the more I realized she’s pretty much been a society zealot from day one and seemed to agree with the society’s more unethical practices just to fight the resistance. This is really a natural progression of her character. 

Great chapter!  Nice way to slip Aviel back in.  In the interest of wanting to see more giantess interaction maybe someday down the line, the Resistance can get its hands on a shrink ray.  Assuming (hopefully) it only works on women, it'd be nice to see characters like Samantha giant sized.  Maybe a tactic (eventually), infiltrate a Society facility shrunk, grow, do lots of damage and shrink for the escape.  Wishful thinking I suppose, but I think a variation of that could be possible in the distance future.  Rating of 10!

@Carycomic: I like your use of the word 'pyrrhic'.

Whoa! Pyrrhic victories are such a downer.

Author's Response:

Oh hoho I get it.

Cool chapter but man nobody is safe now in this story it seems…

Jacob last chapter and Sanders this chapter. While Jacob can be sort of sympathized with, Sanders doesn’t get that luxury because what he did was incredibly stupid. I almost face palmed in real life. Did he really think they were not going to twist the truth about what happened? He can’t afford to be this naïve. He got Lindsey, one of the more interesting resistance members, killed for no good reason. Even if her death served to motivate Sanders it shouldn’t have happened in the first place and that is what makes it tragic. The resistance is going to blame him for her death and thus make it harder for them to trust him. Lindsey was really the only one on his side.