Radiance

Chapter 79: See Ya Later Gator.

Seven stretched himself out and was immediately gripped tightly around his chest and stomach.

He smiled softly as he felt Visa's claws gently raking over his bare skin leaving little trails in their wake and he felt a light shiver as he thought about just how easily these claws of hers could slice through his flesh like butter but under her guidance and loving touch were no more dangerous than butter knives.

He felt her hot breath on the back of his head ruffling his hair and by the heavy but soft pressure on both his shoulders and against both of his cheeks he realised his head was sandwiched in between her breasts again as he lay atop her.

"Mmmm morning sexy tail, sleep well?' he asked knowing full well that she was awake and watching him as he could feel both the heavy thud of her heartbeat and the itch on the top of his head where her eyes were focused.

"I always sleep well when you rock me to sleep my male," she said playfully referring to their nighttime activities and making him chuckle.

"You aren't the only one, you sure know how to wear a guy out, loving you is a great fitness regime, no chance of growing fat and slow with the love of a good Claw girl to burn away the calories," he said making her laugh.

"I'm surprised you have any calories left for your body to burn after the effort you two put in last night," a familiar voice said from a little ways off and the pair leaned forwards to see Timothy leaning on the pump grinning at them.

"I'd say sorry we were a little loud but from what I heard a certain big green lady managed to do a pretty good job of drawing us out for you," Seven shot back with a grin as he sat up slowly suddenly glad that he had remembered to really most of his clothing after their late night romp.

"I do believe she was trying to compete with my aunt," Visa said making Seven chuckle again.

"Hey no one beats a mature, healthy alpha matriarch claw I'll have you know," another voice said from their other side and all of them turned to see Chris leaning on the other side of the old pump.

"Well said my love, you see young ones, this human knows the truth when he sees it," Vess said appearing behind him and scooping him back against her with a single large hand.

"I'd say he did a lot more than 'see' it if you ask me," Seven said with a grin and Vess growled and then her face cracked into a large fang-filled smile.

"Indeed you are correct and I'd say the same could be said of you young Seven," she said and he grinned right back.

"Never denied it, there's just something that feels so naughty but so right about trying to steal a peep under a sexy claw girl's tail your know?" he said playfully making Visa grow and then squeeze him tightly.

'If what you do with her counts as a peep I'd hate to see a deep in depth field study," Shauna said appearing behind Tim and trying in vain to smooth out her messed up bed and passion hair that kinda makes her look like she'd slept on a bomb that had gone off on one side of her head.

"I'll have you know that my beloved one takes his field research very serious along with his cave research, his bath research, his bed research......" Visa said making them all chuckle and Shauna wave a hand at her.

"Alright alright I get it we have a lot of catching up to do geez," she said making Timothy swallow somewhat nervously.

"So what's the plan for today, how are we going to observe the Gatorclaws without being either noticed or disruptive to them?" Timothy asked moving forwards so that he could sit down before being joined by the others.

"Well, the first thing we need to establish is if there are any sentients among their number not that it's going to affect us helping them but it will definitely be a lot easier on us to be able to facilitate communication with them if there are," Seven said and he felt Visa nodding her large head above him by the way her scaly chin lightly brushed his head repeatedly.

"Question there is how? It's not like we can simply just walk up to one and go hello do any of you speak English?" Timothy said and Seven nodded.

"Yeah feral Claws aren't exactly friendly to strangers in their territory let alone their nests," he said.

"We need gifts, if their pack structure and etiquette works similar to that of my kind offering of food to show peaceful intent will go a long way to quell tempers," Vess said knowingly.

"Yeah agreed hard to b angry with someone who just brought you dinner," Seven said.

"In my opinion, we should divide our efforts, if Visa and Vess go out hunting as they know what would appeal to hungry Claws the most while the rest of us see if we can find a place to study the Gatorclaws from a distance so we can observe their habits and see if we can identify any potential sentients as well as hierarchy," Timothy said while Shauna nodded her agreement with her man.

"I agree, we need to make observations and analyses before we jump head first into this, we are very much in hostile territory as well as completely clueless about these magnificent creatures, we need more data," she said.

"I think I should also take a look around and see if I can help the innocent people the raiders got enslaved here, we cannot simply just walk on by and leave these poor people to their fate at the hands of these bastards they are a threat to innocent people and claws alike, I mean think about it, Raiders are not exactly the most stable of people and given that they already lost people here it's only going to be a matter of time before they come down here armed to the teeth then a lot of good innocent Claws could die and worse they could send slaves in here to fight and then innocents on both sides die, so we need to intervene before it gets to that," Seven said and all of his group nodded in agreement with that assessment.

"Yeah, agreed this place is locked down tight and we need to see what we can do about that and to be fair the Gatorclaws could be a massive help if like the Claws of my home they could be convinced to weigh in on the fight," Chris said earning him a hug from Vess.

"Agreed the innocent claws of this place should be given a chance to not only fight for their home but also possibly earn the respect of their human neighbours, we have a real chance here to bridge a rather large gap and make a very powerful alliance, as well as a potentially unified pack," she said.

"But won't you kinda stand out in that armour?" Shauna asked glancing at the silent power armour set that stood like a silent observer near the door.

"Got some tricks for that don't worry about me I'll be fine," Seven said.

"I'd worry more about the raiders he stumbles across, remember the two guarding the station back when we got here?' Timothy said with a shiver and Seven pointed and nodded.

"See? Your man knows the score, but in all honesty, I'll be keeping a low profile so don't worry," Seven said reassuringly.

Vess stood up and walked over to the window to look up at the sky, "It is well after dawn so the hunting parties will be out and well underway, so that means there should be fewer Claws about but do not be complacent, there is no greater threat in Claw society than a matriarch who feels her nest or her hatchlings are under threat if you do stumble across a mother with hatchlings and she sees you make sure you back off slowly and ensure your hands are out away from you body where they can be seen, make no move towards the young ones even if they come to you, hatchlings can be incredibly curious of new things and may very well approach you, resist the urge to interact unless it is obvious that you have their matriarch's permission and blessing to do so," she said.

"Don't worry I'm pretty sure momma bear syndrome is universal among pretty much every species," Shauna said and Vess nodded approvingly.

"This is good to hear as it shows that you have proper respect for the protective nature of a mother," she said.

"Don't worry Vess the last thing we are going to do is invade the nest of a Claw, we are going to try and set up as out of sight as possible, probably somewhere high up if we can so we can observe without either being noticed or interfering," Timothy said.

"Be careful of your scent, most Claws have a powerful sense of smell, I can smell my male from nearly a mile away and we do not know yet how strong this sense is with this breed of claw," Visa said.

"You can probably smell him a mile away because he both smells of you and claw sex," Timothy said playfully making Visa growl but then grin.

"It is a good way to keep tabs on him what can I say?" she said.

"That's one of the things we will be investigating and studying if we can," Shauna said.

"Well then looks like we have a plan so let's get up and get to it people, time's wasting," Seven said and with that, the group got up and got themselves ready to head out.

About ten minutes and many comforting Claw kisses later the team split up and headed out, they'd decided to keep the pump house as their base of operations for the time being as it was centrally located and pretty heavy duty so they resecured it when they left.

Seven noted Shauna and Tim headed to what looked to be a large laboratory that was visible now in the centre of the area while Vess and Visa headed north towards the plains.

He on the other hand checked the map he had and headed out towards what he reckoned would be one of the settlements that had been taken over by first settlers and then annexed by the raider clans that were operating here.

It took a bit of effort to slip out of the Gatorclaw territory unnoticed as there were still quite a few of them lingering around but thanks to the power armour he was actually able to pass pretty much unnoticed as whenever they drew close he simply powered it down and stood stock still amongst the vegetation essentially turning the hulking metal behemoth into a statue which while some of them glanced at curiously they mostly ignored as nothing more than a curio.

But once out of range he began to put the armour's power assist to good use and made good time though as he moved he swore down that he kept getting the odd feeling of being watched but every time he turned around or looked about himself there was not anything or anyone around so he put it down to the simple paranoia of being out here alone after travelling with others for so long.

The place he was heading for according to the map was a place called Dry Rock Gultch, to Seven's mind it conjured up all sorts of images of cowboy-themed things though how did he know that given that he'd never seen a cowboy let alone interacted with one was beyond him.

As he drew close Seven began to realise that it was oddly quiet for a settlement, he couldn't hear the telltale voices of conversations drifting on the wind and there was an odd note of death hanging in the air.

A fact that got further backed up as when he got close to the main gates of the enclosed area he began to find bodies of what looked to be raiders strewn about and from what he could see of the desecrated corpses they appeared to have been shot full of holes from a laser weapon while more than a few appeared to have been mauled by something.

Seven checked his weapon and took a deep breath before entering the place reading himself for what he was beginning to think was an inevitable fight, he just hoped that it was settlers that came out to greet him rather than raiders but oddly it was neither.

As he walked into the middle of what looked like an odd wild west style town a protectron came out from between some of the buildings and started making its way towards him.

As it drew closer Seven noticed that it was dressed in some very odd clothing like a waistcoat, chaps and even a large hat with a star on it.

"Howdy partner welcome to Dry Rock Gultch the most rootin tootin place on earth," the protectron said making Seven raise an eyebrow inside his helmet.

"Err hi," he said lowering his weapon but keeping his guard up.

"Say you look like a capable cowboy, how do you fancy becoming a deputy?" the protectron asked.

"Err a question first, where are all the people?" Seven asked.

"Well that's just the thing partner, they went into the mines and we ain't seen em since, it's the darnedest thing, I think it might be something to do with the Bloodworms but I'm in need of a daring deputy to find out, you up to the challenge?' the protectron asked.

"What are Bloodworms?" Seven asked glancing around himself.

"Nasty little critters, they'd chow down on your insides right proper if you let em, been seeing em all over the place for quite some time now, we keep clearing em out but they keep right on coming back," the potectron said in its drawl like voice.

"Who is we exactly?" Seven asked.

"Why me and the other sheriffs of course," the sheriff protectron said.

Seven was beginning to get the feeling that this place was competly deserted and most likely these Bloodworms were to blame, but that's when an idea hit him if this place was indeed deserted then not only could they use this as a proper staging area but also as a safe haven for any slaves they freed, this place was incredibly defensible what with its high rocky walls surrounding it, there was only one way in or out that he could see and with armed robots wandering around he could probably task them with security.

"Sure I'll help you with your work problem err pardner," he said.

"Well hot damn that's good news, what's your name son?" the protectron asked.

"Seven," he replied.

"Good to meet cha deputy Seven, I'm sheriff Hawk and that fine fella over there is sheriff Eagle, you might find a few of our other fellows wandering about but this nifty badge will let them know you are with us," the potectron said clomping right up to Seven and sticking a star-shaped sticker to the chest of his armour.

"Err thanks," Seven said looking down at the seriously out-of-place little yellow five-point star.

Suddenly out of the blue there was an ear-splitting screech followed by a yell that morphed into a roar, Seven and the sheriff spun around just in time to see a truly massive shape burst out of a bush at top speed.

Seven very nearly shot it until he realised what he was looking at, it was a Gatorclaw.

Somehow one of the Gatorclaws from the Safari zone had managed to not only follow him but had stayed in his blind spot the entire way here, though how in the name of hell he'd managed to miss it was rather beyond him as it wasn't exactly small, in his estimation if it laid down it would be about fifteen feet long from snout tip to tail tip though it stood at nine foot tall as well so not exactly small by any measure of the imagination.

It also rapidly became apparent that it was a she by both the shape and the rather obvious assets that she shared with both Visa and Vess, plus she wasn't exactly small in that department either as was evident by the way she very nearly kept hitting herself in the face as she lept about trying to dislodge the worm clamped tightly onto her tail.

The potectron raised its weapon, "Damn varmint gators, don't you worry deputy I'll protect you," it said but Seven managed just in time to force its hands down with a hit of Telekinesis making both its shots go into the floor at its feet.

"Don't! She's with me!" he yelled.

This seems to confuse the protectron, "Error does not compute," it said in a very much non-westernized voice.

"It's a costume, there's a person in there," Seven said quickly and by the rapid blinking light inside the dome-shaped head the Protectron was trying to process this but it seemed to accept it.

"Well shucks this is embarrassing, sorry there little lady I very nearly shot you full of holes, good work there deputy but we'd better make sure that worm doesn't harass the good lady anymore," sheriff Hawk said before with incredible accuracy it shot the large red coloured worm creature off the Gatorclaw's tail despite the fact that she was currently smashing it into the ground in order to try and remove it making a resonating boom every time she hit.

The worm screeched and let go before being thrown clear and both the sheriff and Seven proceeded to blast the crap out of the vile-looking creature causing both a mixture of blood and vile yellow ichor to spray in all directions as it writhed around in its death throes.

"Err sheriff if you would be so kind I need to have a quick word with my friend here we'll join you in a moment if that is ok?" Seven said glancing from the Gatorclaw who was cradling her tail and inspecting the damage to the protectron and back.

"Well of course pardner, I'll mozy on over to the mine and I'll meet you there," sheriff Hawk said and with that he began to clomp away leaving Seven with the rather large Gatorclaw who was still trying to soothe her wounded tail.

"Well, I must say I'm impressed that you managed to follow me all the way from the Safari zone without me seeing you though I must admit to being a bit annoyed with myself that I somehow managed to miss you, you're not exactly a small girl are you?" Seven said.

The Gatorclaw released her massive tail and turned to look at Seven, she had a kinda guilty look in her deep amber-coloured eyes as she looked at him, "Me's wanted to see you's, you's is different to other humans, not like them at all, you's is like miss Eve and miss Eve is kind and nice but its more than that you's is special and Thundertail wants to know why," she said in an incredibly deep and rumbly but oddly still feminine voice.

Both of Seven's eyebrows shot up inside his helmet, "Well I guess that settles the argument on whether there are sentient Gatorclaws but I wasn't expecting to be able to find you so quick but then I suppose I didn't find you now did I?" he said and the big Gatorclaw shook her large head before drawing herself up to stand proudly puffing out her incredibly ample chest as she did.

"Nope, Thundertail finds you first!" she said proudly.

"Thundertail? Who's that?" Seven asked and the massive female Gatorclaw slammed a fist the size of a Mini nuke into her chest which to his surprise barely made her scales move despite hitting herself with enough force to make a sharp slap noise issue.

"Me's is Thundertail! Miss Eve names me so because she said me's tail is so strong it makes air ring like thunder when me's hits ground with it!" she said proudly before deciding to prove her point by strike in the ground and to Seven's shock, there was a boom exactly like a mini thunder strike as she did.

Seven couldn't help but run his eyes over the massive female Gatorclaw now and he had to admit she was quite a specimen, her legs were short and somewhat stubby but were incredibly muscular, and her thighs were twice as wide as his torso and this led into a massive part of flared hips before reaching her huge torso which other than her massive tail made up most of her length.

To his surprise, she had twin rows of abs in two neat rows of two running up her front so there were four of them in a line running in columns up her massive torso to her breasts which were both nearly as big as Seven's torso each.

Atop of these were her massive shoulders which looked to have muscles layered atop muscles to the point where she looked like she could punch clean through a concrete wall with very little effort, then finally was her head.

Now she had an unusually shaped neck which considering she was obviously mutated from an alligator was no big surprise, her head was pretty much affixed right to her shoulders with no visible neck but she seemed to have some kind of multijointed spine that allowed her to lower her head horizontal or lift it to look vertical into the sky which would be useful if she was laid down or in the water.