Like a shadow, Jupiter lingered in one of the vents in a far corner of the glittering roof. She had been dormant for some time while she focused energy on recovering, but even so her arm had not fully regenerated. The length was beyond the elbow bone with not a hand, but three grasping finger-like claws. It was something, at least. Enough to crudely wield her bow.
With her good arm, she hung from the vent with a firm grip, feet gripping at wide angles as she sprawled across the vent entrance like a spider. She was searching. And there, prowling the dark buildings across the way, was her target. Her short arm clutched the string that lay firm against her chest as her good arm guided her four legs across the quartz ceiling, scurrying like a nasty lizard over the shimmering star-like expanse. She had caught a glimpse of him during her retreat, but now she wanted to see him.
She dropped from the ceiling with a quiet grace a short distance from him in an attempt not to startle him, but his hearing was aggravatingly outstanding. The batlike wings on the creature expanded as if it would take off in flight and it let out a hiss. "Shh, sh," Jupiter sounded, reaching out with a hand upturned so her palm faced the fake stars, trying desperately to gather his attention onto her - her scent, her voice, her - before he could flee. "Come now," she whispered, knowing that if something had dropped out of the sky and she was blind, she probably wouldn't be happy either.
But she did this on purpose. She made him this way. If Jupiter were blind and something dropped out of the sky near her, her first reaction would be to fight. But his? His was flight. He was free from the chaos. When she made him, she left that part out as a rebellious act. So she knew that now, in this moment, she had to be cautious. She needed him, anyway.
"Shh," she hushed again, watching as his ears turned and his wings lowered a little. He began to chatter and inspect her with sound, sonar; she waited. After a moment she began to move forward slowly and the process of inspection continued until a familiarization came to. Both of them met in the middle, but Jupiter let Batcat make the first contact with her upturned palm. A small smirk flickered onto her face as she slid her fingers into the inky black fur of his chin. "Now we're going to find that thing you made," she said softly, turning toward the wall to ascend into the vents. "Will you lead the way? It wanders terribly."
With Jupiter scaling the wall and Batcat taking to the air, the two of them exited Orion together.
> Continued in The Ache of Death
