“KYLE, JUST SIT STILL!” Emily shouted upward. “Help is on the way!”
“I AM STILL! I’M LITERALLY HANGING!” Kyle shrieked, spinning slowly like a sad disco ball.
Gabriel stood at the base of the ladder leading up to the catwalk, looking way too confident for someone about to make deeply questionable life choices.
“I got this,” he said, adjusting the straps on his bass-rig utility harness.
Cassie raised an eyebrow. “Do you even climb?”
“I have paws,” Gabriel replied, as if that were the same as OSHA certification.
Thane, still half-buried in power distro cables, slowly lifted his head.
“No,” he said flatly. “No. You’re not going up there.”
But Gabriel was already halfway up the ladder, calling back over his shoulder, “Don’t worry, my wolf! I’ve got balance for days!”
He made it halfway across the suspended catwalk before realizing something important:
It was very, very high.
“OH NOPE,” he said loudly. “OH NO. I DON’T LIKE THIS.”
Kyle, still dangling a few feet ahead, turned slightly and waved. “Hey, welcome to my nightmare! You stuck too?”
Gabriel had frozen—claws clenched around the railing, tail puffed, ears back. “WHY IS THIS MOVING? WHY IS THE CATWALK MOVING.”
“It’s… it’s supposed to do that,” Kyle offered. “I think.”
From below, the entire crew had stopped what they were doing. Maya facepalmed. Mark didn’t even look up. Jonah was openly placing bets with a local crew guy.
Cassie cupped her hands and shouted, “Thane, your boy is stuck on the ceiling!”
Thane let out the slowest exhale known to werewolf-kind, stood up, dusted his paws off on his jeans, and muttered, “If he cries, I’m logging this as emotional labor.”
He grabbed a proper harness, clipped it like he’d been doing this for years—because he had — and ascended the ladder with grim, quiet efficiency.
From above came:
Gabriel: “Thane I’m fine I’m totally fine THIS IS NOT FINE —”
Kyle: “Oh hey! Now you’re stuck too! We can start a club!”
Two minutes later, the crew below watched in awe as Thane calmly navigated the catwalk, hooked his arm through Gabriel’s harness, gripped Kyle’s rig with the other, and dragged both of them back like luggage.
Gabriel muttered the whole way down. “Not my finest moment. Still brave though. Definitely brave.”
“You’re not allowed near ladders anymore,” Thane grunted.
“Counterpoint: maybe just slightly taller stages next time—”
“Banned.”
Once on the ground, Thane unclipped them both with a single practiced motion, then glared at Kyle.
“You. Down. No climbing. No donuts. You’re on case stacking until further notice.”
Kyle saluted. “Yessir. Respect the wolf.”
As Gabriel slumped into a chair and tried to look cool while still shaking slightly, Mark walked by and said flatly:
“Wow. Really nailed that rescue attempt.”
Gabriel flashed him a weak thumbs-up. “I rescued his morale. That counts.”