Chapter 21: Presumed Dead

December 2, 2023 10:55 AM

Sanders froze as he saw the brown hair and the Sword patch. Had he wound up right back with Lutice despite everything that happened? Would she still be this new, psychotic monster she had become, or would the old her be there, smiling down in worry. Sanders gulped as he moved his eyes to look at the giant face of the girl staring at him. 

He didn't get the chance to look, though as the world suddenly tipped and he found himself sliding into a larger palm, his unhurt arm leading the way thankfully. He cried out in panic before landing onto the hand and groaning as his stomach began to churn even more. He flopped onto his stomach before rolling over and groaning to himself. He opened his eyes and took in a sharp intake of breath as twin, giant green eyes stared down at him.

The girl's brown hair hung down past her face and her gigantic green eyes stared down at him. She had raised her hand within a few inches of her face, making it so Sanders entire view was dominated by her face, and only her face. She was staring at him with a mixture of wonder and shock as she looked him up and down. But, most importantly, she was not Lutice. In fact, she didn't look like any of the Swords that had attacked them. Sanders thanked whoever for that small mercy.

"Uh...hi?" he said giving a half-hearted wave to her. She snapped out of whatever she was doing as she moved back a bit.

"Oh...uh...hi," she said as she keep staring. Sanders felt a bit uncomfortable with how she was staring at him. Normally he wouldn't mind a girl starring in wonder at him, but when her face was bigger than a house...

"Wow...you're so....small. I mean, I knew getting back to normal would make people smaller, but... wow...and seeing it up close..." she said in utter amazement. Sanders couldn't help but a feel a bit angry at being studied so this girl could get her fist "holy shit I'm huge" shock over with. At least now he knew she wasn't with Lutice back when she attacked them. None of them seemed fascinated with their size difference. The girl studied for a few more seconds before blinking and seeming to remember something. She got a sort of angry face on, though it seemed more pouty than mad, and "glared" down at him. If she was trying to scare him it was not working, in fact it was just making her look cuter.

"I mean, who are you? Are you a Resistance member?" she demanded as her voice blasted him. Sanders winced at the noise, but the hot breath actually felt good compared to the cold.

"What?! NO! I am a Shield member, se-" he stopped as a realized she wasn't wearing a visor or a patch. Which meant no she COULDN'T see the tiny patch on his jacket.
"Why don't you have a HUD on?!" he yelled in confusion, suddenly realizing she was probably having a tough time hearing him without a radio. Her glare vanished to be replaced with an embarrassed look as her face turned a bit red.

"Oh..right...," she said before reaching down with her other hand to grab something on her belt. Her hand came back with a HUD patch like Isabella's and she hooked it to her ear. It lit up as she looked him over again.

"Oh you do have a Shield patch and Shield gear too...and no pants," she said as her eyes went wide and her face turned red. Shit, Sanders had completely forgotten that Pyrra had ripped them off him during their...encounter. No wonder it had been so chilly. Worse, she had tossed them to the ground in a random cave he was likely to never find again. Dammit, those pants had been given to him by Isabella and part of his flak suit...

Admitting he had been getting head from a catgirl was rather embarrassing and he had enough of that just by being in his boxers. He needed to come up with a believable excuse for why he would be running around pants-less in the snow. Pity the wolves hadn't-...

"Some wolves I fought tore them off me! Counted myself lucky to have keep my calves and let them have my pants!" Sanders lied, hoping the Sword girl would believe that.

"Oh...wait wolves?!" she yelled in surprise, causing Sanders to cover his ears in pain. The girl winced as she whispered out, "Sorry...still not used to this."

"Its alright," Sanders said.

"What?" the girl asked.

"I...I SAID IT WAS ALRIGHT!" Sanders yelled so that she could hear him. She looked a bit embarrassed at having to be yelled at, but her eyes lit up with an idea.

"Oh yeah!" she said as she reached down again. She fished through her pockets till she got what she was looking for and brought it to her hand. A large, to Sanders, box was between her fingers and she set it down onto her palm.

"I forgot, they...they gave me spare radios and other stuff in case we, uhh, ran into normal members we needed to talk to. There should be a radio in there... maybe some spare pants too," she said with a nervous smile. Sanders nodded and moved to the box. He opened it up and rummaged through it with his good arm. Most of it was just normal gear and stuff he already had/didn't need. After a few seconds rummaging, though, he found a working radio to replace his busted one. Sadly a change of clothes was apparently not important enough to warrant room in the box...

Sanders put on the radio and it automatically set to the Sword's frequency. He closed to box as he got the headset into position.

"Can you hear me?" he asked into the radio. The Sword nodded before picking up the box and putting it back.

"No pants?" she asked.

"No," Sanders said shivering a bit in the cold. The Sword girl gave him a worried look before grabbing a piece of her jacket. She tugged on it a few times before, finally, getting a piece of it to rip off. She moved the couch sized piece of cloth over to Sanders and laid it on her hand.

"Will... will that help?" she asked as Sanders nearly dived into the welcome warmth of the cloth. He bundled himself into it like a baby in its blanket and, actually, felt slightly warm. Even better, the girl's smell was still lingering on it, giving it a sweet, perfume smell.

"Oh that helps a lot. Actually feel warm now, thanks," Sanders said with a warm smile he actually felt. The girl smiled back down at him.

"Good, I...I didn't want you to get cold or..." she paused as she blushed before moving along, "Oh.. I guess I should tell you who I am heh...he... Uhh.. My name is Morgan, I'm a newly promoted member of the Swords, C-Rank and a... a catgirl handler. Umm... w-who are you and, uhh, why were you with Pyrra?" Sanders was a bit worried this might come up. This Sword  girl seemed to be actually helpful and nice rather than crazy, but he wasn't so sure telling her that he was out here after being attacked BY Swords was the best idea. Best to leave that part out. And the part of him getting licked by Pyrra, of course.

"Well, I'm Sanders, part of the Shield Rangers, D-Rank," Sanders started before getting to the story. He told her the sorta true story of how he wound up like this. Though rather them being attacked by Lutice and her crazed Swords, they were attacked by Resistance and separated that way. He told her the whole truth of his first encounter with Pyrra, finding her badly hurt and "feeding" her. He added the part of one of the wolves getting a grip on his pants and ripping them off, but other than that, changed nothing. Same for when he awoke in the cave.

He was telling her how he had remained in the cave while Pyrra had gone off again when the Sword girl decided she had enough standing and sat down. Sanders gripped her finger tightly as she shifted, but she didn't notice his fear till after she sat.

"Oh... I'm sorry. My legs were just getting ti-" Morgan didn't get to finish as suddenly something huge, to Sanders, leap up onto her crossed legs and lunged for her hand. Sanders turned just in time to see another huge hand, though smaller than Morgan's, make a grab for him. Sanders ducked down as it barely missed him and watched as the figure was thrown back by Morgan.

"PYRRA NO! BAD CAT!" Morgan yelled, causing pain to stab into Sanders ears. He looked up and saw Pyrra moving back toward Morgan's hand, her eyes fixed on him. She made to go for Sanders again, but Morgan keep her back with her free hand.

"Pyrra! Stop! You better not claw me or I swear, no!" Morgan said as she keep pushing Pyrra away from her hand. Finally, Morgan had had enough and got back to her feet. Sanders risked a look down to see Pyrra getting a sad look on her face before sitting down like a rejected child.

"What has gotten into her? She has never tried to grab anything out of my hand before..." Morgan said with a frustrated look at Pyrra. She turned back to Sanders and shook her head. "I'm so sorry about that, your...your OK right?"

"Yeah. So what are you two doing out here?" Sanders asked. He hoped she was just out on patrol or something and was about to head back to Atlanta. If so, he could get a ride back with her. He wanted to go looking for Flonne and Aviel, of course, but he couldn't ask Morgan to help him with that. Not to mention, Sanders knew he was in no shape for such a search. And there was the risk of them meeting Lutice...

"Huh? Oh, we..." she trailed off as if in thought, "we... were sent out to attack a Resistance base along with four other Swords. I fought Resistance before, sort of...I was never a Ranger, but I fought them...but it was never so...horrid..." she stopped as she looked away. Sanders could tell the memory was painful for her, but he wanted to know what had happened. After all, those four other Swords had to be Lutice and the other three that had attacked them.

"What was horrid? What happened?" he asked her. Morgan closed her eyes and Sanders thought he saw a tear roll down her eye.

"It was a... slaughter...they didn't...most of them didn't even try to fight back, just ran away from us. But the others they...they just laughed like it was some kind of game. Even keep count how many they each had crushed. I...I didn't want to do it...I didn't want to join in, but they...they...."  Morgan trailed off again as this time she really did begin to cry. Sanders suddenly regretted pushing her to go back to the memory.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-" he started but was stopped as Morgan shook her head.

"No, no...Its fine. It was...it was just hard, knowing that those little dots were people. That they couldn't fight back at all and just..." she paused as she rubbed her eyes with her other hand, "Lutice....Lutice said I shouldn't feel bad for them. That...that they were just the enemy and would have killed me... but I don't see how. Those people in that base were no threat and even...even the group that attacked us halfway through the attack couldn't get through our shields. All it took was Pyrra attacking to drive them off... so then...why... Why do we have to be so brutal? Why couldn't we just make them surrender? Why...Why did we have to crush all of them?!" she asked her eyes watering again. Sanders wished he had an answer to that, but he really didn't. In fact, it was a question he had found himself asking more and more.

There was a moment of silence between the two of them as they lost themselves in their own thoughts and doubts. It broke just as quickly as it came, though, as Morgan cried out in surprise. Sanders looked up as Pyrra began to clamber up Morgan's side, her claws digging into her heavy clothing. Sanders tried to keep his feet as Morgan began to stumble from the sudden extra weight, her hand no longer stable. He yelled out in panic as he began to slide down her palm and toward the yawning expanse of air. Morgan didn't seem to hear, though, as she was busy trying to get Pyrra off her.

Sanders was about to fly off when Morgan moved her hand the other way. Sanders sighed in relieve and then cursed as he began to slide the other direction and toward her thumb, head first no less. Sanders' fingers in his working hand dug into Morgan's hand, trying to get a grip to stop, but he couldn't get a grip through his gloves.

"FUCK!" he yelled as he was about to hit her thumb when a massive shape appeared above him. Sanders looked up to see a mouth moving toward him, its fang-like teeth out and ready to bite. Sanders screamed in complete terror and shut his eyes before something grabbed the front of his jacket. Sanders felt himself pulled into the air before bumping into something soft and moist. Something familiar...

Sanders opened his eyes to see a mass of pink flesh in front of him, his jacket disappearing into a space between it and another mass of pink. He tired to look around, but there was nothing to see but fleshy walls. He felt himself suddenly falling and grabbed hold of the soft flesh in panic before a loud boom signaled they had hit the ground. Sanders bounced a bit, bu the fleshy walls were practically airbags to him and their yielding softness keep him from being hurt. He gripped the flesh for a second before the walls parted and he found himself falling again. The fall was, thankfully, short and Sanders grunted as he landed on another palm, this one much smaller. He looked up and found himself being stared down on by Pyrra. The catgirl smiled down at him as Morgan loomed over her. As big as Pyrra was to Sanders, Morgan was far bigger, towering over them both and looking none too happy.

"You bad catgirl! You cut into my coat an- OH GOD SANDERS!! SANDERS!!" Morgan yelled as she noticed her empty palm and began to look around the ground in terror.

"Morgan, I'm down here, in Pyrra's han-ohhhhh shit," Sanders started to say before Pyrra picked up where they had been interrupted. The catgirl rough tongue was going over his body again and causing Sanders dick to respond in kind. The "blanket" Morgan had given him wasn't helping reduce the incredible feeling either, in fact the warmth it gave only made it better.

"Pyrra! Why ar-....woah..." Morgan said as she bent down over Pyrra and noticed what she was doing.
"I've...never heard of catgirls doing that...she really REALLY likes you...amazing."

"Really I haaAAAHHH dn't notice- AHHH" Sanders said as he tried to push Pyrra away with no success. He might as well have been trying to push a wall away. The catgirl even began to lick his broken arm, but with such gentleness it didn't hurt at all, in fact it felt kinda good. The catgirl continued her slow licking only stopping to look at him with lust-filled eyes.

"Uhh, little help?" Sanders asked between licks. Morgan, giggled and shook her head, though.

"Are you sure you need it? You kinda look like your enjoying it," she said with another giggle. Sanders was going to disagree, but Pyrra picked that exact moment to begin licking again. Instead, all Sanders got out was suppressed moan. Another round of giggling followed along with some of the best head Sanders had gotten in his life. Sanders was having to fight not to blow his load, an embarrassing sight he didn't care for Morgan to see. But Pyrra's tongue was relentless and so damn goooood. Fuck he wasn't going to be able to hold out much longer...

"Alright, that's enough Pyrra. Give him back," Morgan said reaching out for Sanders. Pyrra's look changed almost immediately as she jerked her hand, and Sanders, away from Morgan's hand. Sanders cried out in panic as he was nearly tossed off her hand by the momentum, though his sexual needs WERE tossed off. He managed to stop thanks to his legs and keep from bumping his broken arm. Pyrra let out a loud hiss of anger as she swatted at Morgan's hand with her free hand.

"OWW!" Morgan yelled as Pyrra's nails cut into her hand. "That is it!" Morgan said as she grabbed the whistle hanging from her neck. She sucked in a lung full of air and blew into it. Nothing came out, that Sanders could hear, but Pyrra reacted almost instantly. Her face scrunched up into a look of pain as her free hand tried to block out the noise. She began to meow in pain as Morgan reached down and put her hand next to Pyrra's. Pyrra seemed to understand and tipped her hand to slide Sanders into Morgan's hand. Sanders stumbled to his knees as he hit Morgan's palm, but let out a of breath of relief being back in a human's hand. Morgan stopped blowing as she stood up, keeping an eye on Pyrra.

"Sorry about that. I-" Morgan was interrupted as Pyrra began to meow. Morgan looked down and Sanders moved, well crawled, over to the edge of her palm to look as well. Pyrra was looking up at the palm Morgan held him in and was pacing back and forth. She meowed again, sounding sad and dejected as she looked about to jump up onto Morgan again.

"Oh no you don't," Morgan said before putting her free hand between her and the catgirl. Pyrra meowed again as she tried to get around, but Morgan keep her at bay. Sanders sighed to himself as he felt that damn pang of guilt and compassion in his chest. He was going to hate himself for this, but...

"Just give me back to her... She is just going to keep jumping onto you to get me back otherwise," Sanders said getting a raised eyebrow from Morgan.

"Are...are you sure? I mean...I doubt she would hurt you knowingly considering, but still..." Morgan asked looking a bit uncertain.

"Yeah...I am sure. Best thing for both of us," Sanders said, resigned himself to his fate...or embracing it, he wasn't sure which yet.

"Well...OK, but lets put you somewhere safer than her hand. Somewhere she won't drop you...ummm...maybe her head?" Morgan said as she knelt back down to Pyrra. Pyrra's tails and ear both went up in excitement as Sanders came back into view and she was about to grab him when Morgan stopped her. She raised Sanders up to Pyrra's forehead and let Sanders scramble off and onto her head.

"Alright, I'm on," Sanders said as Morgan moved her hand away. As she did, Pyrra cocked her head in confusion before starting to look up.

"Stop that, Pyrra! Stop moving! OH SHIT!" Sanders yelled before sliding down her head. He managed to grab one of her ears as Morgan stopped Pyrra from moving her head with her hand and lowered it back down. Sanders got back onto his feet as he keep a tight grip on her ear, his stomach already churning a bit.

"Hold still, Pyrra. St-...maybe I am going to have to hold you...," Morgan said as Sanders could feel Pyrra trying to worm out of Morgan's grip. Sanders sighed to himself before remembering how he used to calm down his sisters' old cat. He bent down and began to rub his hand right behind Pyrra's ear. The catgirl didn't seem to notice, though so Sanders, quickly, took off his boots and used his socks to rub into her.

That seemed to do the trick as he felt Pyrra beginning to stop trying to pull against Morgan. Soon, she stopped altogether before beginning to purr, her ears dipping down as she relaxed. Morgan let go of her head and Pyrra made no moves to look up, instead simply purring and slowly moving her head back and forth.

"That's a good girl. Don't look around too much or you are going to make me sick and that will be no fun for either of us. Just be nice and calm," Sanders said as he began to slowly stop rubbing Pyrra. The catgirl's purring began to lessen, but Pyrra didn't make any more attempts to look up at him. Instead, she just knelt down and gave a happy meow, purring again when Sanders gave her ear a soft rub.

"Wow...maybe you should be a catgirl handler," Morgan said as she rubbed Pyrra under the chin. Pyrra purred a bit at the rubbing, but didn't seem to enjoy it half as much as Sanders' rub behind her ears.

"I...really don't think that would work out well," Sanders said. The idea of him having to deal with catgirls everyday left him with a cold feeling in his chest. Just because he was OK around Pyrra didn't mean he was fine with all catgirls... far from it...

"Yeah.. I guess most would try to eat you...umm I mean...oh...," Morgan said with a blush, not making Sanders feel ANY better. She plowed forward though,
"B-B-But at least Pyrra seems happy enough. Hehe, so... lets get back to my jeep and then to Atlanta. Hopefully your squad made it back...unless...unless you want to look for them," Morgan suggested. Sanders would have liked nothing better, but had already decided doing such would be a bad idea. Too many ways that could go wrong.

"No, I'm," Sanders paused to think of an excuse, "already in a bad way from all this. I'd probably just slow you down and if I got lost again...well. Better if I get back so my squad leader KNOWS I am safe then wondering out here and making her worry. Besides, she might have found the others already." Sanders dearly hoped that was true. That Isabella, Aviel, and Flonne would be waiting for him back at the base. But he also hated that image too. Of them sitting their wondering if he was alive or dead. He needed to hurry back.

"Yeah... that's true. Alright, we'll head for my jeep. Pyrra, come!" Morgan said as she began to walk off. Pyrra got back to her feet and began to walk after her, the trees barely coming up the catgirl's knees. Morgan's heavy footsteps mixed with Pyrra's walking to make one hell of an unfun ride for Sanders. More than once, he was sure he was going to lose it as he held onto Pyrra's blonde hair. But he managed to hold it in, despite his churning stomach. Dammit, of all the things to be, motion sick was the worst with this damn shrinking...At least he had remembered to put his boots back on...

After what seemed like a hour of walking and bumping and rocking and - URP, Morgan stopped as they crested a hill to look down on the interstate highway. I-75 was in usable condition, though only just barely. A number of old wrecks and rusted vehicles lined the outside of the highway and the road itself had a number of cracks and potholes scattered about it. Considering its condition, Sanders could tell they were still a long way from Atlanta. The highway was in better condition and the wrecks gone for either salvage or refitting the closer you got. Here, though, it didn't look like the highway had been touched since the shrink disaster, save for the occasional passing car.

"How far is your jeep?" Sanders asked as he tried to wrap his "blanket" tighter around himself. Pyrra's hair was cutting off some of the wind, but it was still really cold, though Pyrra didn't seem to mind it at all. He nuzzled up closer to her furry ear and got a soft purr from her along with some more warmth. Morgan looked around with her HUD patch as she rubbed her arms together for warmth. She stopped as she looked down the left part of the highway before turning back to him.

"Oh..uhh, not far. Maybe half a mile? I..I can run if you want us to hurry," Morgan asked, looking a bit inclined toward the idea.

"NO! No, no, that's...that's fine. Walking is fine," Sanders answered back, his stomach already feeling queasy just thinking about how bad running would be. Morgan looked a bit confused by Sanders reaction, but didn't press him. She headed down to the highway with Pyrra following behind, walking thankfully.

As they walked, Pyrra's ears began to twitch and shift. She gave a soft meow, as if confused, as she began to move her head side to side. Sanders felt his stomach only getting worse and had to kneel down, but as he did he began to hear something. It was hard to hear at first but slowly it became more clear. An engine, a car engine.

Morgan noticed it too and turned to look behind them. Pyrra turned and Sanders could see another Society Jeep heading towards them, a very welcome shield logo on it. Morgan waved toward them and switched her radio to the general frequency.

"Umm..ex-excuse me! Can...Can you give us a ride back to my jeep? Its really cold out here and we could really use a heater, please?" she asked as the jeep began to approach. However, the jeep showed no signs of slowing and, if anything, began to speed up.

"No," a voice that sounded kinda familiar said as the jeep sped past them, too quick for Sanders to see anyone inside. Morgan slowly lowered her hand as it raced off and slumped with a sigh.

"Oh...OK..." she said sounding rather depressed as she began to walk again. Sanders couldn't help but feel sorry for her. Seemed even giantesses could be ignored and walked all over... He might have tried to say something comforting if he wasn't afraid of opening his mouth and things other that words coming out.

Thankfully, it was only another short bend before Morgan's jeep came into sight. Morgan gave a sigh of relieve before running toward it. Pyrra, unfortunately, took too running as well and Sanders doubled over as his sickness began to turn him green. He managed to hold onto her hair and not go flying off, but he was sure he was about to lose what little of his lunch was left. Thankfully, Pyrra stopped before that happened and he managed to pull himself back up with his unbroken arm. He looked up to see Morgan opening the jeep and felt Pyrra beginning to crouch down as if to- oh fuck.

Sanders wrapped his arm around her hair as tight as he could as Pyrra got ready to launch herself up onto the seat. Thankfully, Morgan's hand came up to block her before she did.

"No, Pyrra. Let me get Sanders first," Morgan said before reaching down with her hand to let Sanders get on. Sanders wasted no time in climbing off Pyrra's hand and onto Morgan's hand, though the absence of wind-breaking hair was missed. Sanders shivered a bit as Morgan let Pyrra climb in. No sooner had she gotten in, though, did Pyrra began to meow and shuffle around as she noticed Sanders was with Morgan.

"Ummm...Sanders?" Morgan asked looked down at him. Sanders sighed as he just nodded and tried to look on the positive side. At least Pyrra was warm...
"Sorry..." Morgan said before moving her hand back to Pyrra. Pyrra accepted Sanders gladly and gave a happy meow at him. Sanders was a bit worried/excited about the prospect of her going back to the licking, but Pyrra had other plans. She laid down in the seat and wrapped herself into a tight bundle. She keep her hand with Sanders in it, out of the bundle and sat the hand beside her face. She purred a bit before giving him one last lick, on the whole body this time, and then closed her eyes. By the time Morgan got in on her side, Pyrra seemed to be fast asleep.

"She sure can fall asleep fast," Sanders said as he moved a bit closer to Pyrra's cheek. The inside of the jeep was just as cold as the outside and Pyrra's body heat was very much welcome.

"Yeah...they all can. They...they are a lot like normal cats...in activity and sleeping...not in...well..." Morgan drifted off before just turning back to the wheel and starting the jeep. Pyrra's eyes opened a crack as the jeep started up, but closed again as she nuzzled up to Sanders' back. Sanders didn't mind, though, enjoying her warm, soft cheek as a nice back rest.

Morgan got the jeep into gear and began to drive back to the base. For a few minutes, they sat in silence. Sanders let his stomach slowly deknot and found Morgan's slow and careful driving very much to his liking. However, Pyrra' soft breathing wasn't really filling in the rather obvious silence in the jeep. Sanders figured he might as well try to fill that it himself.

"So, Morgan, what did you do before becoming...big,"Sanders said regretting putting it like that right after he said it. If Morgan was offended by it, though, she showed no sign of it.

"Hmm? Oh..I was a researcher...kinda, well...yeah researcher," Morgan answered keeping her eyes on the road. She seemed kinda nervous about answering that, though Sanders wasn't really sure why. He was starting to get the feeling she just sounded nervous all the time.

"Sounds pretty cool. What did you research?" he asking trying to keep the conversation going. Morgan blushed a bit at the question and looked like she was debating how to answer.

"Well...its kinda...I'm...I'm not sure I should tell you. They... they always made it sound like it should be a secret..."she paused as she thought a moment, "I...I studied catgirls, I think saying that is fine..."

"Ahh, guessing you can't tell me what or why or any of that," Sanders said. Morgan blushed a bit more and nodded. Welp, that was a dead-end, but he still had a few topics to go for.

"Well, could you tell me about when you fought Resistance people? You said you had fought them before," Sanders said, hoping maybe they could trade stories about that.

"Fighting...fighting might be a strong word. I was mostly just hiding and letting...letting the Rangers and giantesses do the fighting...But...well...yeah I...I guess that would be OK. They...they let me go along with a catgirl training trip to, uhh, to see the catgirls be trained in person. It was good for my...my research. They sent along a Ranger group just to be safe and we...uhh...we were about halfway through the training when a group of Resistance showed up. It...it kinda gets all jumbled up after that. Yells, screams, gunfire, hisses, and the rumbling..." she stopped as she seemed to gulp down a lump in her throat.
"When...when it was over the Resistance were all...all dead along with two of the ...Rangers and one of the catgirls. I...I didn't see any of the fighting, though, I...I was too busy hiding and...well just hiding," she admitted looked a bit ashamed of herself. Sanders got a little annoyed at that.

"Why do you look upset at that? You were a researcher, not a soldier! No one expected you to fight, heck, you did what you should have done and stayed out of the way. I would say you did a better job than most people thrust into those situation by hiding and NOT trying to be a hero or just running around like an idiot," Sanders said, trying to cheer Morgan up. It looked to work as she smiled.

"R-Really? I..I did what I should have?" she asked risking a glance over to him. Sanders felt a bit of stirring in his "blanket" at seeing her face lit up with that hopeful smile. Sadly, he could only guess at her body thanks to her heavy winter gear covering it all up in thick layers, but that smile... He probably hadn't noticed it yet due to his stomach, the cold, Pyrra, and...fuck just everything.

"That you did. Hiding was the best thing you could have done in that situation. Getting killed would have just meant your research might have died with you. I'm sure your research was important enough to warrant protecting, too," Sanders said hoping to get Morgan's face to brighten even more. He got his wish as she blushed and smiled at the same time. The look almost made him feel warm by itself.

"I..I don't know if its that...well...maybe...maybe I could tell you and... You are part of the Society...I'm sure its fine. Just...just don't tell anyone else, OK?" Morgan said and Sanders found himself nodding without really thinking.

"I'm...I'm researching ways to make catgirls smart again. And...and Pyrra is my first prototype."

    Article of Society Research

Like its namesake, the Advanced Science Society has always been trying to advance science and knowledge to better our lives and safety. Such advancements, of course, require tireless research and experimentation. However, the Society has so many things TO research that they have found it more productive to split their research into two major divisions. Civilian and Military.

Civilian research deals with any issues that involve public health, safety, transportation, infrastructure, works, etc... Any issue that has it roots in making the public safer, more productive, or just better are placed under the Civilian division. Because their research is, usually, benign in nature, most projects being studied are well documented and widely available for study or assistance. Non-Society citizens are welcomed to aid such endeavors and many normal-sized people assist with these experiments, an idea pioneered by the late Gregor Manchent and proven highly effective. It should be noted, however, that the assumption that only the Shields run such projects is flatly false. Swords have, and still do, run Civilian research projects and assist in them at times.

Military research deals with issues involving Resistance weapons and tactics along with better weapons to fight Resistance, bred better monstergirls, etc... Any issue with combat against the Resistance at its core is a Military division issue. Unlike the Civilian division, the Military division is very heavily classified and ALL its projects under strict information lockdown. While some normal-sized people do assist such experiments, nearly all are keep on base and those few who are not are often guarded around the clock. This is partially to prevent information leaks, but also to keep these people save. The Resistance would like nothing more than to learn what sorts of new weapons and tactics the Society is developing. It should be noted, again, that both Swords and Shields run Military Division research teams.