We purchased the necessary supplies with the surprisingly scant remnants of our money and took off later that day. Not a word to Marty, of course, we didn't want him to find us quite that easily. With his powers he could probably detect the change in my mindset quite easily.

And I do say we for a reason. My thought at the time were just under the surface of the odd connection that we had established. We being Catastrophe and I. Certain things just seemed to be universal through the link, which was basically a bridge between our minds. And souls for that matter.

Like a literal bridge of thoughts, things that we both shared in ideas seemed to click, to synergize with the other person.

Our mutual dislike for the bond was a constantly reinforced thing.

Our desire to not be threatened, to feel somewhat safe was another.

My desire for her was barely shared, and her desire for attention and someone strong.

Actual, that latter I sort of shared, but not in the sexual way that she wanted it.

Trust me, having your mind invaded by a being that is the opposite gender of you that you also kinda sorta have an irrational crush driven by a god spider dick person is not fun at all.

"You were being serious about the fucking spider." She rolled her eyes, though she needn't have. We both could feel her annoyance at the presence of the infernal arachnid.

I wished that I wasn't as strong as she was with my mind not scattered. But no. We were about the same strength, both of us vying over control of the other's mind and soul and body while all the while not actually trying to take over the other's mind.

I won't bore you with details, but going to the bathroom was awkward as hell.

We both stepped on the ship at around the same time, which was pretty hard to do, considering I had to climb the ladder up while Catastrophe flew steady circles around me to keep me in focus.

Every flap of her wings made my heart long for a pair of my own, a pair of extra appendages to count on to break my fall...

As we climbed on board, I had the sneaking suspicion that I had forgotten something important.

-----

He landed on the beach and waited, looking over the still wreckage around him. He smoothly flipped a skull in the air with his right wing and kept himself slightly amused by bouncing it back and forth between his wings. It soothed him more than anything else, almost taking his mind off of what a spectacular failure the island of Rej had been.

Before it's destruction it had only been working at 47% efficiency, which really was a shame considering the ley line that crossed over it. He closed his eyes and took in the gently smell of all of it.

Rej was a very nice source of misery to draw on in those troubling times when a changeling was on board. A bit of bottled misery here really spiced things up for the troublesome little bugs. Or just putting a little in the food kept the peons in line with his plans.

Stepping on the down trodden always put a spring in his step and he easily side stepped the warning shot, letting tiny bits of shrapnel bounce off of his body. He turned to look at the slave ship and practically started laughing.

"A perfect way to start an empire." He mused, taking off in a blur and landing on the deck. In another blur of motion he was at the controls of the ship, his talons smoothly ripping through the neck of the dog at the wheel spraying his blood out in a shower. In another move he slammed his talons through the dog's chest and out the other side, destroying his heart and ending his suffering. "Such a shame I can't eat all of you."

He moved on to the next dog who hadn't seen his companion died. His head snapped to the side audibly as the griffon killed him. "Anyone willing to fight?"

It had just occurred to the rest of the ship that they were under attack and as the griffon smirked they slowly streamed out, armed with a myriad of weapons, all of them crudely made for that matter, to try and kill him.

He chuckled and tore a spear from one of the dogs, piercing through his chest and throwing the corpse into the crowd of dogs. "I own you."

As arrow twanged and hit his wing, bouncing off of it and burying into the floor of the ship deck. The griffon turned his gaze to the offending dog and without remorse threw him off the ship.

The crack silenced quite a bit of the hostile activity. He hissed, and then closed his eyes.

Instantly, the dogs sought to overcome him, seeing his hesitation.

The griffon struck once, lightly tapping a dog on the shoulder. The dog fell over lifelessly, his heart soon stopping.

"My name is Terror, and the next dog to try and kill me gets to suffer a fate worse than death." The griffon said in a quiet voice before his now captive audience. Captive only in their unwillingness to try and fight him, cowed by the griffon's seeming invincibility.

He lightly tapped another dog on the shoulder and killed the dog in the same way. "Now, how many slaves did you bring with you?" He surveyed the crowd of dogs and waited.

"Come now, I won't punish you for volunteering information."

A particularly grizzled dog stepped up. "As captain I will inform you that we are carrying approximately 50 on board." He nodded, though his legs slightly quivered.

The griffon punched through the dog's face. "Perfect. They will fall in line." He shook his talons clean, drying them off in the dog's fur. "Now, who knows how to pilot this ship?"

Nobody moved. "Come now, I only killed him because he was the captain. As the hostile party I was obligated to do so."

Still nothing moved. Terror rolled his eyes and plucked a dog into the air and threw him overboard. "How about now?"

A single dog raised his paw into the air. "I can pilot the ship, sir."

In a smooth blur every other dog was throw off or in some way mutilated. The griffon, massive and towering over the last dog, the one who had just confirmed he knew how to fly the ship. "Now this is how this is going to work." The blood coated griffon spoke slowly, licking his beak clear of blood.

"You are going to land this ship, empty out the slaves and then go straight back to your boss." He laughed darkly.

The dog bowed his head submissively. "What will I tell him?" He spoke without a hint of resistance, or even hope.

"Tell him to keep sending slaves. Good slaves, ones that aren't quite broken." He flew around the ship, looking it over.

"Tell him that Rej belongs to Terror, and Terror alone. IF they have any qualms about it..." He landed back on the craft kicking the body of the captain off the blood stained ship. "Tell them that they can try to deal with me themselves."

The dog could only nod.

"And set a bounty on a zebra by the name of Ivan. He is traveling with my sister, a dog, and another zebra. Take him alive, it shouldn't be hard. Take all of them alive." Terror towered over the dog. "Got all that memorized, puppy?"

The dog shook his head faster than seemed possible. "Yes sir."

"Now go land the ship."

The island of Rej was once again in the talons of a capable griffon.

The reign of Terror had begun.