A quiet clatter was audible from a single lane, barely used road on the outskirts of Vegas. Solus and Cionus quickly and quietly slipped out from a sewer ladder, and quickly replaced the lid.

"My hair! Oh my god, my clothes!" Cionus was spinning around, sending muck everywhere. The grime from the sewer was something that Cionus was not happy with.

"The first thing I am getting when this is all done is a nice hot bath. Even then, I still doubt the smell will come out!"

Solus acted as if he didn't hear her. "See? It was a good idea to memorize the sewer system of Vegas before we started out on our mission. Good forethought on my part, right?"

Cionus gave him a look of disdain. "Maybe this time, but I still don't see us memorizing the airplane traffic over Vegas being helpful. Anyways, we need to get to the target."

Cionus looked up toward the sky, to see the glowing orb, with a childish figure standing right next to it.

Solus face-palmed in despair. "Only two possible explanations remain. Either that is an Asylum that has beaten us, unlikely considering that the game is still active, or-"

"Lets see how strong you Asylums really are!

Solus and Cionus received the message loud and clear.

"...or it's one of the Gemellie. Either way, we have no chance." Solus finished his sentence.

Solus kneeled for a moment, closing his eyes. He recalled his training with the veteran A.M.R.O who took him in after his incident.

"Solus. 90% of battles can be won using the information you already know. You can combine many mathematical concepts to the battle in order to get both the information you need to proceed and use the information you've learned efficiently and accordingly.

Statistics; you can predict accuracy of your alchemy, the approximate damage that would occur, and overall, percentage of winning. Especially with your alchemy, you can evenly attack from all sides of an alchemist, and analyze the damage to find both weak points, and how much damage you need to inflict. Being wasteful will get you killed.

Geometry and calculus; You can determine the distance from yourself to any target using both of these in conjunction. Determining this helps you conserve energy in attacks, and using your weapons to their best potential. Your needles are absolutely useless if you don't know how far to throw.

Finally, timing. This is one of the most crucial parts of battle, hunting down an alchemist, and just alchemy in general. Prepare everything in advance. Know how long it takes to do everything, in case you have to do it in the future. Find the variables beforehand, and determine all the information necessary. This will save your ass in the long run. However, even the best tacticians cannot predict battle. You can learn everything about your own alchemy, but you can never be prepared for your enemy's. Even in battle, you need to keep track of the timing it takes for them to attack. This is where you'll find their weaknesses. Use your timing cautiously and attack them when they are at their weakest. Like when they are listening to my monologue!" The stoic old man used his magnetic pull to launch a metal bar to his hands, only to spin around and hit Solus by surprise.

Computers had always been Solus' strong area in the new technologies. He imagined the information as a computer screen

[Targets: 2]
[Target information:
Orb: Ultimate goal of game. Touching it spells victory
The Prodigy: Defending Orb. Attacking Players aiming for Orb]
[Approximate Distance:
Orb: 356.3 feet
The Prodigy: 355.6 feet]
[Approximate damage of soundwaves if all hit accurately:
Little to none.]
[Will soundwaves accurately reach The Prodigy and all hit? If yes, then use alchemy. If no, then use alchemy to decrease distance from self and retry program. Return.
No. 7/26 shots will miss if launched from current location.
Decreasing distance]

Solus launched himself from his kneeling position, and spun his body. Platforms created in a matter of milliseconds formed under his feet, and he launched himself from his hands, pulling into what looked similar to a gymnastic's backflip. A volley of sound thrusted from behind Solus, launching him toward his target.

[Distance from target: 200 feet]
...
[Distance from target: 100 feet]
...
[Distance from target: 50 feet
Activating attack sequence]

Suddenly, Solus stopped mid-air, and started creating movement with his hand and lips, combining Motem and Vocem.

"Ferrium Spatias. Sound slicers."

A level 3 alchemy, it uses the ambient sound of the wind surrounding the target, and the sound waves approach the target at a high speed, having the sharpness of a dagger and able to pierce skin up to two inches deep. It is not designed to damage the target much, but if all attacks land can be quite painful, and stun the target long enough for more powerful attacks to land. 26 attacks are made from points surrounding the target, attacking from each third-dimensional cardinal and secondary direction (ie. attacking from front, back, above and below. Diagonals are included in areas of attack).

After launching his alchemy, he throws himself backwards, falling to about 20 feet under The Prodigy, and 70 feet away from her. He looks closely to see the effect on her.

Camron took a huge bite out of his cheese burger while Seira sipped her coke quietly. The female Asylum continued staring at the silvery orb above them. They were parked along a barely used road in the outskirts of Vegas. The wallet they stole earlier was stuffed in the paper bag under the empty wrappers and crumpled napkins. The contents were nestled in his pocket. He was a hundred forty three dollars and thirty seven cents richer because of their audacity earlier.

The blonde teen wondered if the man driver they abandoned at the gas station managed to free himself. He doubted the poor fellow was free just yet. Seira had sealed up the keyhole using alchemy. The only way to get out was to break down the door, so by the time he reports his stolen vehicle, they will probably be long gone. If things go according to plan. He tapped his fingers nervously. They have been here for an hour and a half and none of the other teams have arrived. Weird. Was the race over yet?

A loud clatter interrupted his thoughts. Both Asylums in the car stared as Toxic Serenity climbed out from the manhole in front of them. Seira smirked when Cionus complained rather loudly about her clothes and wanting a hot bath. Camron rolled his eyes slightly. Women are so petty.

"Let’s see how strong you Asylums really are!"

“Perfect time for a little pay back, eh?”

The door slammed before Camron could protest. He heard Mercuri clicked noisily against the metal frame as Seira climbed up the roof. There was a pause. Then his partner landed on the bonnet. She got into a crouch as soon as her feet touched the road in front of the car. Two silver streaks whizzed towards Solus. He gaped as his half eaten burger slipped from his grasp and landed on the car floor. She has got to be kidding! Has she forgotten his partner is close by? He fumbled with the car door, but it won’t budge. He swore. Seira had locked him in! Desperately he banged against the window.

"How is it up there ol' chum?" Fletcher asked glibly. He was clearly enjoying this.

"Just fine Fletch. Try and keep the channel clear, ok?" Most Alchemist's communicated by the merging of their consciousnesses. This posed a serious problem, however, given the atypical nature of Fletcher's mind. The Raven Aegis had long since abandoned attempted to communicate this way and had tamper-free ear pieces that they communicated across long distances with.

"Sure, sure, whatever. Remember, you're just here to back me up. I doubt I'll need it but if things get out of hand you can light'm up. They'll never see it coming," Isaiah was on a hilltop about 200 yards away with Isabella. The area underneath the floating orb was well within his sights.

"Unless they hear about it from you, now keep it quiet Fletcher!"

"Yes, Mom,"

Fletcher gently strolled toward the little Chrono and the orb she was guarding. Her challenge rang out. A man with a mask was propelled into the air by what appeared to be a sonic boom. Simultaneously, the bitch who had been protecting the fresh meat earlier launched her attack against the masked man.

"Isaiah...how badly do you actually want to win?" Fletcher heard a loud sigh on the other end of the line,

"Well, I don't really care if we win. We just had better not lose. I'm not in the mood to be humiliated today,"

"Perfect,"

Fletcher slowly crept in a circle behind the car that the bitch was standing on top of. He could see her whelp sitting helplessly inside. A furrowed brow and look of determination had replaced his mischievous smile. He pulled from his pack a mine that Isaiah had given him. This one was loaded not with Anti-Alchemical Gas but good old-fashioned plastic explosive. Making the necessary adjustments, he armed the mine and affixed it to the underside of the car. It was a shaped charge so the blast would merely flip the car end-over-end, not cause the entire thing to explode.

Fletcher thought for a minute about how much fun a giant fireball would have been instead but quickly dismissed it. No point in crying over missed opportunities. Live in the present. That's his fourth foster had always said.

As he slithered away from the car, Fletcher took a wide circle back to his original location. Right as the masked man's attack was about to land, Fletcher entered the fray calmly, hands by his side. In one hand he held the detonator. Right as the little Chrono reacted to the masked man's attack, he clicked the small red button, his hands shaking a little with excitement.

Alistair grabbed his companion’s arm, digging his heels deep into the ground and holding his stance. Vail tried to keep pushing forward, tugging on her friend’s arm with all the force she could muster but Alistair refused to move. Rooted down the man protested, doing just about all he could to stop her from doing anything rash. Their eyes met as Vail turned to complain, her face filled with fury, her eyes ablaze, and her mind clouded with thoughts of revenge. He understood it completely, just as confused and irritated with the turn of events as Vail was, but now was not the time to fight especially with another alchemist.

“What’re you doing?” she asked, pulling at her partner’s arm again.

“Stopping you from doing something irrational, as per usual,” he replied.

“But they-”

“I don’t care what they did,” replied Alistair. “But I care why they did it.”

Vail struggled to see much of a difference. Kiara and Maeve had damn near attacked them, entrapping the Broken Pendulum with vines of raw shadow and then fleeing the scene. Vail had torn herself out rather quickly, snapping the strands with her bare, alchemy infused hands, but she had had to help Alistair claw his own way out. For one reason or another they had tried to trap them there, whether to make them easier targets or to slow them down Vail was not sure. Only Maeve had left though, with Kiara perfectly happy to sit and watch them struggle on their way out.

When they confronted her she had been incredibly vague, only saying that Maeve wanted a head start on something. It was all Alistair had been able to get out of her before Vail had stormed out of the building, cracking her knuckles and donning her iconic battle gauntlets, Eddie and Henry. As much as Alistair would have liked to inquire further, stopping his companion from destroying half the block was probably more important. Alistair stroked his chin thoughtfully, releasing his grip from Vail as she calmed down. If Maeve had wanted a head start then that would mean that she was trying to reach something that the Broken Pendulum would also be interested. But what?

“What’s wrong?” Alistair would ask his companion, breaking from his own trail of thought. Vail stared blankly off into the distance and failed to answer his question. He asked again but, other than the slightest twitch of her nose, she did nothing, focused entirely on a single spot in the sky. Then her eyes darted from one side of the skyline to the other.

“Capere Averm,” she uttered.

Alistair saw it too, a large glowing orb that shot overhead like a rocket or a shooting star, flying at a hundred miles an hour and off towards the edge of Las Vegas. They were both surprised they had not noticed the presence of the beacon sooner, the soft scent of alchemy lingering across the entire city and the gentle glow of energy kissing their flesh. For a moment Alistair had been worried that the Bean Sidhes were going to be their antagonists for the evening but, in truth, it seemed as if their motives were entirely harmless. Capere Averm was a charming little game that the Broken Pendulum had played dozens of times before and they respected a little healthy competition. The goal was to make your way towards a large glowing orb that one player would toss and the first to make it there would be the winner.

The pair glanced at each other, grins across their faces. They grabbed each other by the hand, running down the streets together like a pair of mad-men, giggling as they did so. They were a little mad of course, something they had long known, but they took almost any chance they had to prove it. They skipped, hopped, and jumped in the direction of the glowing orb, eager to find out where it had landed. On more than one occasion in her typically brutish manner did Vail knock over a harmless passer-by, Alistair struggling to apologise as he was forced to keep up with his companion. Regardless the pair galloped onwards, spurred forwards by a bizarre mix of curiosity, confusion and their own lust for adventure.

Unsurprisingly the route that Vail chose to get there was littered with obstacles as if only to make the trip more fun, turning down a thin and winding alleyway that forced them to move single-file. Vail moved like a machine though, letting go of Alistair’s hand to effortlessly scale a chain fence that blocked their path in what looked like a single bound, barrelling out of the other side of the alley as if she were on fire. She tackled a man to the ground to do so, softening her landing and bolting off into the distance again. He cursed and she laughed, leaving Alistair to his own devices. Alistair clambered over the fence with far less grace to help the pedestrian back onto his feet and catch up with his friend.

Alistair apologised again.

Vail continued running, ignoring the fact her companion had vanished from sight completely. She broke out into another street as quickly as she did this one. Sliding over a car bonnet that drove in her way and running for a few minutes she felt like the fastest girl in the world. Her speed was spectacular as it always had been, enhanced by her alchemical skills that allowed her to exceed normal human limits and barely break a sweat. She felt as if she could run forever and it would have taken a miracle to get her to stop.

It was the sight of Alistair in front of her that finally did it though. Vail almost tackled him by mistake, bringing herself to a slow halt before him. She gave him a quick glance up and down, a little confused. Alistair had been far behind her a moment ago. How had he caught up so quickly, Vail wondered?

“I thought I’d lost you,” said Alistair, an eyebrow raised.

“I thought I’d lost you.” Vail replied, a little disappointment in her voice. It was clearly a tease, a grin still sprawled out across her face.

“Once again your haste has been your downfall, darling.”

“This isn’t going to be another one of your speeches is it?”

“Not unless you want it to be.”

“Shouldn’t we keep moving?” asked Vail, ignoring his last comment. Her eyes were fixated on the skies, looking to see if she could spot the beacon. It was out of sight.

“Of course,” Allistair replied.

“Then why aren’t we both chasing after that beacon?”

“You’re chasing it wrong.”

“How can I be chasing it wrong?” Vail’s expression was quizzical. This was how they had always chased after the beacon in Capere Averm.

“You’re running after it.”

“And what other option is there?”

Alistair smiled his usual smile, an expression Vail had learned to both love and hate. He stepped to the side, motioning towards the car behind him. The door to the back seats was open and a man with a fluffy white beard sat in the front of the car watching the two of them as they bickered. He looked equally confused but Vail and Alistair were far from the strangest couple he had seen on his nights out. “Cab?” suggested Alistair, climbing into the back of the vehicle.

xXx

Spurred on by the very generous tips from Alistair and the series of increasingly gruesome threats by Vail the cab driver made record time towards the directions that the Broken Pendulum had given him, incredibly vague instructions that boiled down to “go somewhere in that direction”. They swiftly made their way out of the busier parts of Las Vegas and closer and closer to the outskirts, Alistair wrestling Vail off of the steering wheel at least once along the course of their trip. The car stopped abruptly along a road about one hundred feet away the glistening sphere following Vail’s orders, allowing the Broken Pendulum to spill out of the vehicle and onto the dusty ground.

Just as she left the cab, Vail kicked the side of the car with enough force to dent it. “Go on! Scram!” she yelled and with a yelp from the driver the car spun its wheels and scurried off into the distance. Allistair groaned, asking Vail to calm down for once. She barely listened.

The two, now alone, looked up at the light for a moment, inspecting it, but soon realised that it served no purpose more complex than itself. It was the same beacon by the look of it, beckoning all alchemists in the city towards it. It was simple alchemy but, as both member of the Broken Pendulum could agree on, always an intriguing one. It was also bound to attract other alchemists to it, including the Bean Sidhes. Alistair spotted a figure standing beneath the light, a young girl by the look of it, although the cascading light of the beacon made it difficult to tell more about her from this distance. Alistair waved although he saw no response.

On the other hand, Vail tightly fastened her gauntlets for a second time, flexing her hands to ensure that Henry and Eddie were in working order. When she confirmed they were she rested one hand on her hip and the other was bent and at shoulder height, her fist clenched. Alistair tipped his hat down and pressed his umbrella into the ground, the tip between his feet and both hands resting on the shaft’s handle. With the beacon overhead it cast them in an almost angelic light. Vail thought that it made them both look mighty dramatic and, appreciating the thespian display, both alchemists smiled at their poses.

“What now, Ali?”

“We play with our new friend.”

“Friends,” added Vail.

The air was filled with the sounds of wailing, a sharp sound that stung the ears of the Broken Pendulum alchemists. They glanced up to the skies, seeing a figure screaming past, high up in the skies. [I]Some alchemists have no sense of subtlety[I], Alistair thought, secretly enjoying the show. The alchemist stopped about fifty feet away from the girl beneath the beacon, his body flickering with alchemical energy as he fired something towards the girl.

“Friends it seems, dear Va-”

Alistair stopped speaking when he realised that Vail was no longer beside him. The raven haired woman had left his side, running as far as she could towards the beacon and the girl. Her feet bounded against the floor, her body bouncing with every step as if the gravity of her movements had been weakened. Each step took her ten feet forwards, moving at an incredible rate towards the girl beneath the beacon. Alistair couldn’t help but feel like Vail was going to get herself killed.

In response, Alistair flicked his wrist, his fingers moving quickly and with great precision against the side of his leg. Energy sparked between his fingertips, trickling down the side of his body and accumulating along the base of his shoes. He too moved, travelling quickly towards Vail and eventually catching up with her. His feet never touched the ground, instead his shoes seemed to glide across the ground as if skating across it.

“This is probably a bad idea,” Alistair called out to Vail. He half expected to have his jaw broken the moment he tried to speak to the girl under the beacon.

“I know! Isn’t it great!”

Maeve

What does one do when faced with roughly four Alchemists heading towards one of the Demon Twins at high speeds and attacking, with a large group of other Alchemists, in the center of a desert, all trying to win a game where the only rule is that you don't kill anyone? Drop directly into the middle of it of course. Maeve slapped a wing to the sigil on her chest, and then folded her wings and fell at a dive towards the group. She could have conceivably stopped and grabbed the beacon in the process, but where would the fun have been in that? So, if any of the Asylum's had bothered to look up and away from the very dangerous and certainly lethal Reri in front of them, they would have seen a Peregrine Falcon dive bombing towards the Demon Twin, shifting into a tattooed Celtic woman(with all of her usual clothes on) who seemed to be grinning madly. Or, just plain grinning if all things are truly considered. The reason Maeve was late to the fun was that she may have been concentrating on the Beacon, and missed the building that her wing crashed into. Of course, with a broken wing, the world's fastest bird couldn't fly, and fell in a downward spiral of shrieks that sounded suspiciously like curses. When Maeve had finally landed(Hard) on the ground, she had to switch back to her human form to fix her broken arm. Apparently, Vocem didn't recognize bird calls as a word. When the entire procedure was finished, she had lost valuable time.

Maeve didn't like being late to the fun.

15 or so feet above the ground, Maeve said 'Stop!', holding her hands out. A powerful gust of wind slowed her descent immensely, scattering sand and other loose items on the ground around Reri. Landing with a small thump behind the Twin, she glanced around at all the Alchemists coming towards her and Reri. She tsked, muttering something indiscernible. Her choker necklace gem started glowing a soft green. Then, with her Bean Sidhe Collar activated, she screamed in the direction of Reri in front of her and the Broken Pendulum coming at them.

COLLAB POST PART 1: Xodus, Ryver, Saint, Grif, Rtron and Syb.

---

A grateful smile spread across the Chrono's face as she joyously clapped her hands together, the Asylums had heeded her call much sooner than anticipated. "Oh goodie, here they come, here they come!" Rena chirped enthusiastically, repeating the words as she sensed the Alchemic pressure around her vicinity thicken, the hounds of A.M.R.O had drawn near.

The princess keenly gazed into the distance, her mismatched eyes finally spotting two vague silhouettes approaching her. Toxic Serenity appeared to be the lucky team to reach her first. The Chrono's enthusiasm nearly doubled when she noticed Solus taking on a battle stance, her innocent blood lust yearned to be quenched.

After a small pause comprising of tactful calculations, Solus charged towards the child who remained firmly rooted, awaiting his attack with bated breath. With childish curiosity she tilted her head as she observed Solus closing the distance between them and finally activating his attack in a flurry of hand and lip movements.

"Ferrium Spatias. Sound slicers."
At that instant a multitude of sound waves dashed towards her, covering every point of impact hence making blocking futile and the speed of the attack making any attempts at dodging equally vain. Perhaps if it were any other Alchemist the brilliance of this attack may have earned victory, however despite all calculative risks it was a Chrono that he faced.

The attack that spurred forth gave the prodigy mere seconds, enough time for a single footstep and yet this movement was all that was needed for the child to activate her Alchemy.

"It has started," Angel mused, despite being several miles away he could sense his partner's frightening Alchemic pressure.

The gravitational field around the Chrono weakened causing the density of air around her to drop drastically and by altering the medium in which sound travelled she succeeded in disrupting the attack's accuracy. This single hiccup resulted in Solus's data collapsing on itself, his sound slicers clashed into one another while others missed -VI- entirely, striking the sand, only succeeding in causing a massive gust of dust, distorting all vision. Amidst the confusion the sand beneath Solus's feet appeared to sink at a rapid rate, forcefully pulling the Asylum inside.

"Got to try harder!" The little child jeered, her voice echoing mockingly, making it hard to pinpoint her location within the dust. As if to answer her, a sudden explosion suddenly caused a near by car to flip, the shockwaves from the blast clearling the dust revealing the Chrono standing in the exact same place, but it also seemed to reveal another interesting fact. One of the Banshees had sneaked behind her and the Broken Pendelum were mere feet from making contact.

"You forgot to say peek a boo you know?" The Chrono teased innocently just as Maeve got ready to scream, an omen of misfortune and yet it is demons that loom it's threads. Refusing to give the banshee the opening she required -VI- instantly teleported behind her, timing it such that Maeve would be in mid-attack hence vulnerable. However rather than capitalize and counter attack the Chrono appeared to do something quite different yet similar. The gravity around them one again began to warp, however instead of the density decreasing it suddenly increased causing Maeve's sound based attack to not only increase in speed but also in intensity due to the same principal, only reversed. Now these charged sonic waves dashed towards the Broken Pendulum who had dared to seek confrontation.

Unfortunately for them, only Vail was quick enough to notice the incoming wave of force. She put her weight onto one leg and then she kicked out, propelled by the force of her alchemically enhanced muscles. Her body was thrown to the side just out of the range of the blast, her balance only kept through the use of even more alchemy. Vail's mind screamed to Alistair, telling him to dodge the incoming strike by any means necessary, but with the alchemy allowing him to glide so swiftly over the ground it was hard for him to change course quickly.

The sonic impact wracked his entire body, limbs quivering in pain for just a moment before his body gave in and the full force struck him. Without anything to grip on to Alistair was carried backwards by the wave, his body tossed around in the air like a rag doll. Disoriented and out of control, Alistair could do little but wait until his body came crashing back into the ground. Even his alchemy wouldn't do much to prevent his fall when he wasn't sure what he was trying to avoid, instead opting to minimize the impact by casting a minor shield around his body and hoping for the best.

Alistair soon felt a great metal gauntlet wrap tightly around his wrist, his body dragged off in a completely new direction. Most would be terrified by the development but Alistair was comforted. "You're not getting away that easily," teased a voice, lips close to Alistair's ear.

"I'm flattered my safety concerns you a little more than causing Maeve injury, my dear Vail," Alistair replied, beaming from ear to ear.

Both alchemists, flying two dozen feet high through the air, had already begun to prepare their landing. Alistair's hands began to dance, fingertips of one hand pressing against the fingertips of another in a series of organized patterns, while Vail's arms began to pump, looking as if she were miming a form of martial arts. Energy sizzled around them as the wind began to pick up, manifesting on the ground and propelling upwards, wrapping them in it. Alistair lifted up his umbrella, opening it and letting the material catch the updraft. Dust kicked up as their fall was slowed significantly, both alchemists touching the ground in a tiny cloud of dirt and sand.

But their actions did not stop there was the Broken pendulum turned on their heels, facing the now occupied Chrono. "Let's try this again," said Vail, her body moving to force more alchemical energy through her body. Alistair nodded, tracing a symbol across the floor with the tip of his now-closed umbrella.
"Took the words straight from my mouth," he said.

"Bye bye!" The chrono cheered, waving before driving that palm into Maeve's back, utilizing a skilled Alchemic technique popularized by her partner, causing the banshee to disintegrate on the spot. This technique was called the 'force push' and its functions less gruesome than what one might think. It functioned as forcing the opponent to teleport to a location of the attacker's choosing and in the case of Maeve, she will find herself disoriented and cramped next to Camron in the car that had just been tilted.

"The last team we fought had better team work, that could be a hint," The Chrono winked while twirling about.

The counterattack sent Nami and Nagi flying off in opposite directions. Seira quickly summoned them back to her and changed them into tiny rings which she slipped on. The girl ran back to the car. The door was jammed. Swearing softly the Asylum clenched her fists tightly. She swung her right arm back and then punched the car door. The momentum was just enough to allow her to channel her powers. The metal peeled away along the axis. Seira leaned forward to free Camron when she noticed Maeve. She broke eye contact and heaved the unconscious boy out of the car. His vitals were strong. The aspiring doctor frowned. No one could escaped that blast unscathed but she will figure it out later. There were more pressing matters. She glanced at the other occupant in the car briefly as she got up.
"The game has dragged on long enough. I will attend you after I win the game."
XCI analyzed the scene unfurling before her. The Chrono was now her primary target. The person responsible for the blast shall be dealt with later. She flung out her hand. The rings detached themselves and flew out of sight growing rapidly till they reached their original size. Now the fun begins. Seira teleported behind Rena. She swiftly drop to the ground and swiped at the younger one's legs.

"Hi hi!" The little chrono tweeted while skipping over the Asylum's kick, effortlessly dodging it, her royal posterior landing on top of Seira's stomach. "You are kinda fat you know?"
"Darling you aren't that much lighter yourself," the older female retorted. "You are quite the creampuff, you know."

Seira let Rena settle down comfortably before she gave a sharp twist. She kicked her legs forward in an arch. The aim wasn't really to hit the Chrono rather it was to try and get up again. The Asylum planted her feet on the ground and pulled herself up. Halfway through she thrust her hands forward and vaulted. She performed a second and even more powerful kick.

Seira had sprung herself to her feet, the force enough to push the Chrono on to her own. Before Rena could express her disappointment the crafty Asylum quickly capitalized, the sole of her shoe lunging towards the Prodigy. A pity she had little to know idea that Rena was a motem specialist and her legs were perhaps her most dangerous assets.

"Yay I am a cream puff!" The Chrono chirped, twisting her upper torso in order to deliveri a playful side kick, clashing against her opponent's boot, matching her exact force hence nulling the attack altogether. Her battle prowess a testament to the title of prodigy that she held.

The Asylum novice threw her legs back and righted herself once more. "Don't we all love creampuffs?"
Seira performed a side way split and reached forward till she was flat on the ground. Her hands reaching all the way in front of her. Palms firmly on the ground. They were shoulder length apart. The remains of her skirt flared out like a tutu. The patient Hybrid continued lying there in that position till she a soft clicking sound coming from the soles of her shoes indicating that the chakrams had attached themselves to Mercuri. Their outer edges sank towards the middle till two perfectly curved blades were formed. Rapidly the acrobatic Asian executed a head stand and struck at the Chrono. The two crescent like blades caught the girl's neck in a vice like grip. Seira smirked. She showed no signs of wavering despite the awkwardness of her current position.

"Insect..." The child whispered, her tone cold, her face expressionless and her eyes without a soul. The doll of A.M.R.O had awoken, Rin no longer slumbered. This was no longer a friendly game, death's noose had already coiled around Seira.

"Let.....me show......you.....despair," with these words the alchemic pressure around them grew more dense and far more menacing. Her twin tails(pony tails) slithered about. Her hair slowly coiling around the blades that gripped her neck, shattering them.

"A worm's place..... is beneath.. my boot" as soon as the chrono completed this sentence, the gravity around her foe grew far more dense, forcing the Asylum on her knees. The gravitonic pressure crushing her into the sand.

Pieces of metal flew all around. The force of the attack caused Seira to fall onto her back. The young woman gasped as the air was forced out of her lungs. She fought hard to stay in control. The excessive adrenaline wasn't helping at all. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed the tiny pieces of metal scattered about them. Despair? The girl has got to be kidding. There was no way she was going to simply cower just because she had been bested.

"W-vo-oppungo!"

Seira choked. She prayed that the sudden change in command worked or she was really screwed. Her lungs were screaming for oxygen after that exertion. She threw her head back as her back arched. Her vision was growing blurry. Her head fell back onto the ground. She never saw the silvery objects pelting the newly awaken Rin.

Blue eyes shot opened. Camron blinked. He sat up quickly. His breathing remained erratic and his heartbeat was elevated. Hands clutched the top of the head where an immense pressure was building. Tears filled his eyes as the pain increased. The discomfort was very similar to the onset of a migraine. The sensation spread to the other parts of his body and his muscles tensed up. Pressure began building up from within the pit of his stomach. The poor boy felt like he was about to burst from the inside out. His back seized up as he felt something rushing up his throat. He yelled in pain. The absurd amount of energy released produced a shock wave that shot off in a 360 radius around him. The blast caused the hearing aids to shatter. Blood trickled from his ears. Dizziness washed over him and he tasted bile rising from the back of his throat. Shortly after that Camron vomited spectacularly.

Solus stood on the road once more, gasping for breath. Escaping the quicksand pulling him down had taken a lot of his physical strength, but it gave him time to think. Having seen all the action occur, he knew that beating the Chrono was going to be nigh impossible, much less landing a blow. Unless they all teamed together, it was doubtful they could do much. Solus knew there was no chance that they'd work together so easily. Prideful people Solus thought to himself. He forced himself to think, use his foreknowledge to his
advantage.

He had a plan.

"Cionus. Launch yourself to around where the Broken Pendelum is.They'll be one of the few people able to stop this plan." Solus telepathically sent to Cionus. He had to get them out of the way. They could only cause trouble.

Cionus launched herself by using the sheer force of her voice to throw herself. Unfortunately, it makes for a rough landing. Thanks to her accuracy, she was headed right for Vail. And rammed right into her. She immediately threw herself back up, took a couple steps back, and screamed, instantly solidifying her voice into hundreds of violet shards of crystal aiming straight for Vail and Alistar.

The Broken Pendulum's plan to strike the Chrono would have to wait, forced to change when another group of alchemists tore across the landscape towards them with deadly intent. Alistair saw the Toxic Serenity's change of course from a mile away and, quickly editing the runic symbols that he had sketched onto the dusty floor only a moment earlier, changed from an offensive stance to a defensive one. Vail bore the brunt of the Cionus' blow as she struck into her, raising her fists to block as a boxer might and pushing her away to create some distance.

Then Cionus screamed, producing dozens of crystals in the air that were fired towards Vail. The first few struck the brawler, all but one deflected by her alchemical gauntlets. A single crystal shot low, digging into her leg and drawing blood. Vail held her ground but couldn't hold back the whelp of pain that escaped her lips. Before any others could break skin, Alistair's alchemical symbol flared into life, the sand beneath Vail's feat raising out of the ground and turning molten white. The sand cooled as quickly as it formed, protecting Vail with a thick wall of glass. It absorbed the force of Cionus' crystals, each one burying into the shield harmlessly.
The wall eventually shattered when Vail pulled back her arm, burying her fist into the wall. It disintegrated, firing mirror shards and Cionus' crystals back at her. Grinning as she stepped forwards over broken glass, Vail cracked her knuckles.

"Want to try that again?" she said, grinning. "I'd hate to ruin that pretty face of yours."

----------Mean while in Kiara's head---------

Kiara would have responded to Angel, but his own response left her disorientated and unable to do much more than struggle to not fall over in the club. That would have been bad. Very bad. Though, upon reflection, the fact that the club was melting around her into a featureless white void seemed worse than simply falling over. She only raised an eyebrow as he came closer, glancing around at the finished Gothic library. "Kind of cheesy, I must say, but hey. Whatever floats your boat." It being her own mind, she created a black couch and sat down. She picked up the pure white book with 'Kiara's Demons' written in what looked like a flowing script of blood.

"White. I hate white." She muttered, before setting the book on fire. No affect. It even seemed to sparkle whiter, as if mocking her. "Figures." She said, tossing the perfectly unharmed book over her shoulder. She knew her demons very well. Angel didn't need to know them, however. She looked up at Angel, studying him for a moment. "You think I don't know that? You think that those of us who haven't gone completely insane don't know that? Then you are a fool. Worse. You've been beaten down by this world and your beasts. You have given up, surrendered. You're no better than those you hunt." She was silent for a moment, and then she quote softly, "Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into the Abyss, so to does the Abyss gaze into you. You stared to long into the Abyss that is our world, Angel. And you blinked. There's a reason I keep my beasts chained, my demons slumbering. I've seen what happens to those I care about when I don't."

She rolled her eyes. "Please. That's what the game is made for yes, but you've added a 'lovely' little twist, haven't you? Seeing as I'm unable to do much than talk with you, why don't you tell me what that is?" There was a heavy dose of sarcasm on the word, 'lovely'.

"A monster?" Angel crowed as a gentle smile spread across his face along with an expression of sarcastic innocence. "You are wrong darling, you see I am the monster...monsters are afraid off." Despite the gentle facade the horrid nature of XIII's aura pulsed with frightening ferocity. The Gemelli were quite renowned for being unbiased in the trail of blood they left behind, ally or not and they were also despised for their arrogance, Angel being a living testament to that. This entire time the Lost Number hadn't bothered to glance in the direction of the banshee, clearly adjusting his spectacles seemed to be of more importance.
"Also you are right...I have stared into the Abyss but," that instance was perhaps the first in which Angel finally met the gaze of the naive Asylum. "The Abyss wasn't this world.....and when I did stare into it, it wasn't I who blinked."

Completely ignoring the banshee's question, the Crimson Asylum comfortably appeared to rest his arms behind his neck, his demeanor quite laxed almost as if patiently awaiting the moment of interest to draw near.
"There is nothing you can do now little banshee, the die has been cast."

-------Xx-------xX------

Cionus jumped out of the way of the shrapnel, and snorted in annoyance. Their teamwork would make fighting them successfully hard. Cionus shrugged. Defeating them wasn't important. As long as they were distracted, Cionus didn't care. Instead, she fired short, quick, and rather weak blasts at the two, jumping to and fro. Although nowhere near strong enough to do serious damage, it'd be more than enough to keep their attention, for the time being.

The alchemist moved faster than either of the Broken Pendulum had expected. While Alistair proved agile enough to duck and weave around the oncoming energy blasts, Vail was not quite so eager to abandon her stance. Bolts of energy wove around them, some making impact and others careening off to the side, either deftly dodged or simply aimed poorly. Alistair felt the sleeves of his suit singed as he danced out of the way but was otherwise unharmed. Vail, stubborn as she always had been, refused to move from her position. She was swift and sturdy enough to block them with her gauntlets, her arms positioned in an orthodox boxing stance. Her gauntlets took several direct impacts but they were strong enough to resist the pummeling.

Once Cionus had ended his assault, Vail took a more relaxed stance as if to tease him. She glanced over her shoulder and looked to Alistair. “I’ve done all the work so far,” she chimed, a wide smile across her face. “Are you just going to hang around or are you actually going to help?”

As if he considered it an acceptable response, three silver knives fell from Alistair’s sleeve, sliding down his wrist and resting gently in his hands. He gripped them tightly by the bladed ends, then raised his arm and pulled it back, the knives now at eye level. He chuckled, twisted his feet and pulled his arm back further.

“Excuse me, darling,” he said, winking to Vail.

She fell to the floor. A trio of knives flew overhead, cutting a little too close for comfort. Alistair swung his other arm around, producing a second triplet of blades which followed the first. The projectiles shot through the air at an incredible speed, aimed precisely to skewer Cionus’ limbs, a (hopefully) non-lethal method of disabling him.

As if that were not enough, Vail sprang into action only moments later, clawing along the floor with her gauntlets like some kind of animal. She forced her legs outwards in a kick, propelling herself through the air in a bestial pounce with her hands outstretched, eager to coil tightly around Cionus’ neck.

Isaiah watched the various fights unfold with calm eyes. Fletcher would goof around and take the entire event with entirely too little seriousness. It was just the way these things happened. Even the car exploding had been no surprise, though in the flash he had lost track of his partner through Isabella's scope. Given that no killing was allowed in this game, Isaiah had loaded his rifle with rubber slugs. There were trace amounts of iron in them to allow them to be fired magnetically but they were most certainly not lethal. Time would tell whether or not he needed to use them.

Fletcher looked on at the ensuing chaos with glee. He had caused quite the mess. What's more, the explosion had probably caused Isaiah to lose sight of him. That meant no safety net. How exciting. He felt a slight shiver ripple from his chest to his groin at the thought of it. This would be fun.

He could see the little girl deftly handling everything the Asylums were throwing at her. How terribly boring. Fletcher didn't care much for defeating her, honestly. But even at this distance, her sing-songy voice was making his skin crawl. He had to shut her up.

Taking off at a run, he quickly motioned with his right hand. A small magnetic field formed around the little Chrono's heart. A few flicks of his wrist and three spines, black as night and razor sharp, were slicing through the air, magnetically drawn by Fletcher's alchemy. He had gotten too close to the melee, however, and didn't see a stray shard of metal that had been launched by Seira's alchemy.

Isaiah had found his partner again. Even in the confusion, it had only taken him a few moments but that was all Fletcher needed to get himself into trouble. A sliver of metal was flying towards the back of his skull. The brain stem would be severed, autonomic functions would cease and Fletcher would die shortly after. A relatively painless death, all things considered, but not one Isaiah was content to let happen.

He squeezed the trigger gently and heard the familiar hum of the magnets doing their thing. The rubber slug left the barrel at one mile per hour under the speed of sound. Isaiah had calibrated it exactly that way. He often found that subsonic munitions served him best. The slug slowed slightly in flight but still his Fletcher halfway up his rib-cage on the right side with incredible force.

Fletcher was thrown to the ground in a heap and the shard of metal passed harmlessly overhead.

"Isaiah what the FUCK?"

"You're lucky I remembered my non-lethals today," Isaiah allowed himself a rare chuckle.

"Still....you fight?" The Chrono muttered, the disdain in her stoic tone revealing the futility of their endeavours. The strands of her hair instantly gripping the multitude of silver that came hurling her way, utilizing these she easily deflected the shards shot by yet another Asylum. Luckily before the Princess could deliver a resounding kick to the cranium of the kneeling Asylum her foe was stolen.

Maeve had remained disorientated far longer than she liked. Perhaps it was because her head had been smacked against the car when she was teleported into it. Or perhaps it was just a negative reaction to being disintegrated. Regardless, she managed to mutter the trigger word to turn off her collar. In a very dazed manner. For several minutes after that, the Celtic Asylum slowly regained awareness of what exactly what was going on around her. There was chaos, certainly. But she wasn’t sure if there had been death yet. When she was sure she could get out of the car without throwing up or falling over or any other form of nastiness happening to her, she slowly crawled out and onto her feet.

Only to immediately be thrown straight into the car again by a shockwave. “Son of a bitch!” Maeve cursed as her back slammed painfully into the metal. She immediately rocketed to her feet, glaring about for the one who had done that. She found a kid vomiting all over the place, while AMRO’s princess continued to beat the crap out of anyone who tried to take her on. She gave on glance at the poor vomiting man, then towards the one who was unconscious beneath Reri’s foot. Maeve sighed. “I should just leave you to die for your insolent little remark.” She grumbled, before saying something in Welsh. She sank beneath the sand, and was gone.

Beneath and to the side of Seira’s head, two arms appeared, wrapping themselves around her neck and stomach. Maeve’s lips appeared long enough for her to say, “Down.” And then they were gone. Seira was drawn into the sand with Maeve and away from the psychotic asylum while she was distracted. The two of them appeared next to Alistair, Maeve waving a cheerful greeting at him. “Hi! I was distracted at the time, so I never caught your name, but you seem the least likely to horribly kill or damage the girl. I would have dumped her near Kiara, but she’s not here. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to see what the partner of the girl Vail’s fighting is going to do. Can’t leave anyone out of the fun, can we?” She winked at him, before saying something in Welsh again. Her skin shimmered an emerald green, and disappeared. Perhaps a showy form of teleportation, but she enjoyed it.

Alistair stood with a quizzical look across his own face as Maeve appeared beside him. He was glad Vail hadn't noticed, knowing it would fuel her already searing rage. He knelt down beside the girl that Maeve had dropped off for him to protect, looking her over. "Are you okay?" he asked.

The alchemist in the pink suit blinked, and began to call out "Wait!". He stopped himself when the young alchemist vanished, hanging his head and dragging himself back up onto his feet.

He looked to his companion, Vail, who had just missed her lunge at Cionus and tumbled to the floor in a heap.

"Try not to make too much of a mess," Alistair suggested, calling out to her.

Off in the distance, Maeve reappeared in a similar flurry of emerald light.

“Well, hello there! I’m Maeve, and seeing as you’re alone, I’ve decided to keep you company! Let’s have some fun, shall we?” Maeve said from behind Solus, throwing a punch at the Asylum. A punch that happened to be electrically charged.

Solus gritted his teeth, thrown forward a few feet, tumbling head over heels. "I really, really, need to get a better suit."

He stood up, cracking his neck. At this point he could care less about the Chrono. I- I can't even begin to describe what a terrible decision she has made.

"You have no idea how much I want you to die." Solus was exaggerating, but he felt like there was no other way to get his point across. Oh, except for this.

Solus slowly walked back toward the girl who decided to spend some time with him. An easy 10 feet away, he walked a few steps before sound-bursting himself next to the girl. At the same time, he hammered her ears with a pulsating reverb, strong enough to make most ears bleed - literally. In his attempt to incapicate her, he pulls out his needles that made his team well-known.

"You want to keep me company? Take your time." Solus snickered as he gleefully watched his needles approach the fair skin in front of him. It's almost beautiful. Solus remarked to himself.

Maeve gave Solus a wicked smile. This was fun! She was thinking she would have to play a game of hound and fox with this Asylum, but apparently he was willing to give her a fight. Good. She didn't want a fight like with the Prodigy, one party creaming the other party with both arms and legs tied behind their back. "You know, usually a guy offers me a drink, and then I decide whether or not to accept his offer and the casual sex that will probably happen soon after it. Depending on my answer, the 'really want you to die' bit arrives either right after or a couple of days after." She gave a theatrical sigh. "Most men are so clingy. It's why I prefer women."

As he walked towards her Maeve only grinned wider, muttering her activation word. Her gem suddenly sparked a bright green, about as bright as your average flashlight. As Solus hammered her ears, she covered her mouth with her hand. Couldn't have laughter escaping and stunning him before she was good and ready could she? However, her laughter disappeared when she saw needles approaching. Leaping backwards, she let out a level two scream.

Regardless if it worked or not, she muttered her activation word again and the jewel returned to normal. "You like to play with needles? I have a pair..." There was the ripping sounds of flesh and cloth and two, Baraka esque, bone blades were sticking out of her forearms. Fresh blood was clearly on them. "I'll take the first move this time, sweety." She winked, before launching herself foward, slashing at Solus' chest.

Seira lay there with her eyes closed. Mentally she was evaluating the damage she had sustained from her fight with the Chrono. The worse would be a broken rib, but she can't confirm the diagnosis. The young lady cracked open her eyes and groaned. She was still pretty much out of it. The first course of action would be to lay low till she can assess the damage further. An injured medic was as good as a dead one. Much less to Camron if he was still alive. The female Asylum sat up while clutching to her tender side. Deducing that everyone was otherwise preoccupied Seira staggered to her feet and retreated swiftly. Her mind fixed on returning to where the car had overturned earlier. It was quite the feat given the amount of pain she was experiencing.

"C-Camron!"

The medical student was out of breath by the time she kneeled down beside her now incapacitated partner. Tried as she might she couldn't get any response out of younger Asylum. His eyes were staring vacantly. He didn't even realize she was there. Great! Refusing to simply give up Seira began examining the boy. The results puzzled her. Besides bleeding (possibly from the ruptured timpanic membrane on either side) there was no other visible sources of injury. Brain damage? That would be tricky to diagnose given their current predicament.

"Enough," The Chrono finally began once she had effortlessly evaded the incoming attacks. Her tone cold and unforgiving, her eyes like mechanichal gears gazing from one Asylum to the other,

"My words are steal
and my resolve is iron,
thousands have come at me
bearing their fangs.
and yet they forget
I breathe death and despair"

As soon as these words were chanted the very air around them thickened, the dirt and sand asended to form massive pillars, one for each Asylum pair. The dramatic increase in alchemic pressure within the vicinity alone made it almost impossible to cast Alchemy. There was an influx of energy causing it to be unstable hence un-manipulatible.

"Insects....that tread on the path of demons.....might just be treaded upon...by demons," With these cryptic words the Chrono disappeared, her silhoutte dispersing as if sand itself, leaving behind the pillars she had erected. Each Pillar standing around fifty feet tall aand around 25 feet wide.

The curiosity of its purpose and function was soon enough answered as cracks began to outline these pillars, pieces crumbled of them much like an egg hatching and what came from within were massive Golems each targeting one Asylum team, all controlled by the prodigy's Alcehmy.

This was the final interuption of the Gemellie, hence the final test for the Chrono had left. In order to reach the prize, the Asylum must first lay waste to the titans that stand in their way.

Seira stared as the surface of the pillars cracked and the Golems emerged. Her mind froze for brief second. She had been too intent on checking on Camron to have paid any attention to what was happening. The Chrono is not cutting them any slack. Any moment now both of them will be crushed. She bit her lower lip. Her eyes flicked to the remains of the car. Metal will only crumble and potentially do more harm than good. She hated the idea of retreating again but there was no better plan. Teleporting is their only hope. She placed her hand on Camron's upper arm and concentrated. When she opened her eyes again they were still in the same spot. What happened?

"Damn..."

That megalomaniac! What a cheap trick! How are they going to... She took a deep breath. Raging wasn't going to help. Not right now. All the colossus had to do was take three more steps and they will be goners. Nope that was not the way she intended to go. Seira dragged herself up.

There was no time for doubt. She will have to act now! It's a good thing she is had other skills to count on besides Alchemy. She chuckled. She never believed in luck but today was different. They need to finish the game before someone actually dies. That was most likely to be Camron. The kid has completely lost it.

The young woman breathed deeply and clutched her tender side. She crouched her knees slightly and when the Golem was but two steps away she ran straight towards it. Mercuri was so much lighter now since most of the metal was gone. She smirked. If she succeeds Camron lives awhile longer. If she fails she will be dead.

Trusting the rest will not be easy. She hardly knew them. Not to mention one of them was a psychopath in the making. She continued barrelling forward. Will the others seize the opportunity to secure the objective? One of them must. Maybe it will be that man who spoke to them earlier. What was his name again? Somehow or other the one word that came to mind was sun. Seira pushed the thought aside. She took a deep breath once more. Her heart was pumping so hard that she could barely hear herself think.

Solus snickered at her attempt to damage him with her voice.

"Are you a fool? My partner uses her voice as a main weapon. You don't think I am not used to attacks like your own?" Solus gave her a coy smile, as if he was watching a hamster run around in a wheel. Before the scream could even leave her soft lips, Solus put a finger to her lips, and the soundwaves split from his finger in a V formation, as they diverted around Solus, and refracted everywhere behind Solus. Simply getting within 20 feet of them was dangerous, with the sound bouncing around them. However, the blades that soon emerged from her arms took Solus by surprise. I thought this chick's deal was sound, not knives... Nevertheless, he needed to react, and quickly. This girl had full intent to rip him apart. Normally, Solus would back up and reassess the situation, but he quickly came to the realization that would give her the offensive, something she's very, very adept at being. Instead, he pulled his own blade out, and parried the blades. Before Maeve had any time to react, he shot electric voltage straight toward her. Not enough to cause permanent damage, but more than enough to render her unconsious.

Solus jumped back, losing focus on whether his shot hit or missed. The Chrono had gotten his attention once more. Seeing the golems emerge, he sighed once more.

"The day just gets longer and longer..."

Maeve grinned as he blocked blades, enjoying herself immensley, even if the fight hadn't been going on for that long. That smile immediately disappeared when she saw electricty going towards her. "Down!" She shouted, the sand immediately opening beneath her feet and causing her to sink down to the waste. The voltage soared over her head, much to Maeve's relief. "You're a chatty fighter, I see." She commented, the sand spitting her back out. A multitude of grains clung to her bone blades, sticking to the blood on them.

Before she could attack again, or go on talking, she felt several large vibrations. "What the hell?" Looking around, she felt her jaw drop slightly. "That little bitch..." At least one of the massive Golems was heading their way. More specifically, her way. Slowly, a bloodthirsty grin crossed Maeve's face. To Solus, she said, "You're fun. A good fight. That, however, is much, much more fun." Her bone blades vibrated quickly and violently, shaking sand from them, and then reentered her arms. Immediately the flesh in began to heal itself where the blades have protruded.

Maeve ran towards the Golem that was approaching her, cracking her knuckles. Soon, she was within touching distance of it's massive leg. Of course, the construct lifted the leg in question to smash her. Upon it doing this, Maeve sprinted over to the other leg, and placed a hand upon it. "Explode" She said. The earth around her hand obeyed, exploding to inwards and taking a large chunk out of the Golem's leg. There was a minor earthquake beneath Maeve's feet as the other leg finally came down. A quick glance up told Maeve the Golem was reaching for her. She cursed, and then hardened her bones in her hands and feet.

Then she started attacking the leg in front of her as fast as she could, her motem Alchemy tearing huge chunks out of the construct's leg. The hand snatched her just as she gave a final kick. Her knuckles and fists were torn and bloody, and the flesh of her feet ached, even if they were protected by her boots. The Golem began to lift her, tightening it's grip all the while. Maeve drew in a breath to free herself(a feat that was growing harder and harder as her bones creaked and her lungs were compressed), and suddenly there was a loud crack. For a moment, the Golem held stable, then it began to fall, only one leg still intact.

It kept squeezing as it fell.

"Explode." Maeve croaked out, feeling some of her ribs snap. The fingers and hand around her readily complied, the shrapnel cutting her clothes and skin as she fell onto the Golem's chest, and immediately being driven down again by it's own impact on the ground. She cursed again, picking herself up, and fixing her bones with a series of painful snaps.

The Golem was down, but not finished. It's other hand was reaching towards her. "Oh, I'm sorry. You're still kicking?" Maeve said sweetly, running forward to it's neck and head. The hand followed, slowly. She reached it's head and jumped up, increasing the density of her bones as she did so, making her heavier as she fell. Cracks appeared around where she landed, and the Golem shook. She jumped up again, and the cracks grew larger. She jumped again, and they extended around it's entire head. She jumped a final time, and it's entire head disentegrated. Leaping down, she looked rather pleased with herself. "Hah!"

That's when she noticed that both it's legs were still intact. "I could have sworn-" The sound of rock grating against rock drew her attention from that mystery. The golem was rebuilding it's skull. And moving again. "That's...that's just great." The Golem slowly picked itself up, and Maeve just grinned. This was much more fun than fighting that other Asylum. "See? What did I tell you? This thing is better than fighting you!" She called over to Solus as the golem took a massive, ponderous step towards her.

"Baby, I was just getting started" Solus winked, then focused on his Golem. It also lumbered toward him, but oddly, Solus couldn't hear a single footstep from him. Solus shook his head, ignoring it. He ran to the Golem, leaping up to the Golem's head, and planted his hand right on top of the Golem's temple. Solus forced soundwaves into the head, pulsating with the intent to disintegrate. Solus smirked for a moment, certain of his victory. But then Solus stopped.

The soundwaves weren't moving through him.

Solus stood on top of the Golem's head for a moment. This simply wasn't possible. Sound could move through nearly all substances.

Except for one.

"May god help me. It's Iridium."

Solus kneeled, bracing himself for certain death. Iridium was the densest material on Earth, and considering that the soundwaves 'disappeared' instead of simply reflecting, he knew what to expect. It was clear the Golem had absorbed it. Solus had the sinking feeling that amplifying it wouldn't be hard for the Golem.

Solus was literally shot from the Golem. The sheer force of the soundwaves returning was so powerful it literally threw him into the sky. Seconds after being shot, a loud pop was heard. The sound barrier was literally broken. Solus flew farther and farther, losing his mental sharpness. he knew within seconds he'd be unconsious, and that he needed to do something. Fast. Suddenly, Solus had an idea.

Solus caught himself, and signed as fast as he could. Immediately, he began slowing down. Solus was harnessing the sonic boom, and using the sound energy to power his following attacks. Normally, Solus would simply focus the sonic boom, and literally vaporize anything he wished by focusing it and hitting a single point. However, the Golem would simply reuse it, so Solus knew not to do that. Instead, Solus used the energy to throw himself back.

Straight at the Golem.

He flung back even faster than he was flung initially, and he readied his katana again. When he created a sonic boom once more, he quickly used the energy as well, literally flying faster than what is considered normally possible. He pointed his katana straight ahead, and dived right into the Golem.

"You had no chance."

The blade literally tore through the Golem like butter. The sheer force of the blade exploded it into thousands of pieces. Solus crashed right into the ground, but he used as much Alchemy as he could to soften the blow. The ground beneath him exploded as a crater formed beneath him. However, Solus wasn't fooled by the Golem's seemingly defeated nature. Having seen Maeve's Golem reform, he used the power of his landing's explosion, and he spoke once more.

"Apocalypsis. Et Vade."

With a strong cast, the tectonic plates beneath the earth rumbled, and a small tremor occured. However, the sound was more than enough for Solus to hitch upon.

"Dividite."

The ground where the shards of the Golem remained had suddenly split apart, and a crevice that seemed to go down forever ripped itself into the ground. The vibrations of the mini-earthquake that Solus caused was more than enough to split the faults in the earth. The shards of the Golem fell into the crevice, as Solus pushed them lightly using sound, and they fell into the abyss below, Finally, Solus closed the crevice, and sat down, exhaused.

He breathed a sigh of relief. He hadn't expected the battle to be so quick. He leaned his head back on the ground. Out of nowhere, he heard a rumble.

Right underneath Solus, the Golem threw itself from the ground, tearing a hole right underneath Solus. Meanwhile, Solus was flung away, ramming the ground at high speeds, rolling and tumbling right toward Cionus. Cionus caught him, and they both looked back at the Golem. The Golem looked different this time, however. It was molten, the Iridium melted. Solus, falling into unconsiousness, looked back at the Golem.

"Shit."

Cionus smiled, and leaned down toward Solus, lying her hand softly on his shoulder.

"I'll take it from here, my love."

If only the battle were so simple. A second, slightly smaller golem appeared, stumbling out from behind the first. Its torso, head, and legs were made from stone but its arms were nought but sand, clawing at large fist-like boulders. It dragged them across the ground and left a long trail where it displaced sand behind it. With a single eye it gazed at Cionus and Solus almost hungrily and began its slow but aggressive stumble towards the two Asylums. It raised its arms with lethal intent and let out a groan as the stone plates that made up its face scraped against each other.

The golem tried to bring its fists down on Solus, taking advantage of the girl’s prone state. A single chain made of glistening silver flew out from behind the construct, weaving around its hands with the precision of sewing needle . The golem felt resistance and pulled harder. The chain held firm.

Alistair tilted his body to the side just enough for him to be seen by Cionus and Solus. The long chains that wrapped around the golem’s hands trailed back to him, seemingly coming out from his sleeves. He held them tightly, keeping the golem firmly in place. This contraption had created a rift between the Broken Pendulum and Cionus, giving him time to vanish. It had chased after Vail soon after with Alistair running in tow.

“I think we’ve got this one dealt with,” Alistair said, a goofy smile across his face. “If you could keep that one over there occupied that would be lovely.”

The golem turned, although not on its feet. Its head spun, as did its torso, and its jointed legs twisted and contorted so that it faced Alistair. They stared at each other for a moment and Alistair raised an eyebrow, intrigued by the capabilities of this golem. The golem clearly took it as a challenge and its legs began to pump, carrying it towards Alistair. It moved its arms, wrapping the chains firmly around its boulder-like hands and tugged, pulling Alistair towards him. The man in the pink suit held his ground, digging his heels into the ground, but every moment he was dragged a little closer to the golem.

‘Hon, could you deal with this for me?’ Alistair asked, the telepathic message seeking out his partner.

A loud yell from just behind the sandy golem was all the response Alistair needed. The sound was loud and difficult to make out, but was clearly a long stream of curses and insults hurled at the golem. There was a burst of energy behind the construct, a tiny shockwave that propelled a figure into the air, their features cast into a feminine silhouette as they hovered above the party.

There was a joyful cheer as the figure changed position and raised both of their oversized hands above their head in clenched fists. They began their descent back down to the ground and, with the slightest movement of their fingers and wrists, their hands were imbued with alchemical energy.

"Yeeeeeehaw!" called the voice as she kicked out her legs.

The movement created another alchemical pulse that caused her fall to pick up speed rapidly. It was barely a second before her fists collided with the golem’s skull. Vail had expected a sickening crack, followed by the golem shattering into a billion pieces before her very eyes, and while it was not quite what she had expected her impact was still profound. Her gauntlets struck the head of the golem, great cracks forming along its torso.

She pressed her feet against the golem’s back, pushing with her arms and legs to propel her off of the golem. Her body spun in a feat of acrobatics, a back-flip that landed her gracefully back on the ground.

One of the other Golems lunged for Seira a second time. She bit her lips and slid pass seconds before the hand smashed the ground. Second time lucky! She wondered in if there will even be a third time. She lay quite still in order to catch her breath. Her eyes widened in awe as she took in the shimmering gem and glowing eyes that shone through the clouds of dust rising around them. It was odd how she never noticed that earlier.

The magnificent light from gem embedded in the rock plated chest eclipsed even the glow emanating from the eyes. Images of the brazen bull flashed across her mind. Slowly the Asylum scrambled to her feet. Running was her first priority. Her mind will have to sort things out later. Nothing she saw was even registering in her mind at that moment as she continued dodging the lumbering giant. Not Maeve’s battle nor even Solus' but the image of the Golem rebuilding itself after Maeve destroyed its leg and head was seared into her mind. The sound set her teeth on edge. Still it never occurred to her that being so close to the other two teams was a grave mistake. She was about to learn the hard way that safety in numbers was an adage that never held true for Asylums on the battle field.

"Apocalypsis. Et Vade… Dividite."

Seira felt her steps grow uneven as she literally felt herself sway from side to side. She closed her eyes and shook her head violently. She had to keep focused. When her eyes opened a dark shadow was growing underneath her feet. What was that? She whipped round for a brief second. She quickly looked ahead again and concentrated on speeding up. The Golem was falling! She ran for a few more steps before nearly pulling to a stop. Another Golem was blocking her escape. She overrode her natural instincts and pressed on.

“Fuck you, I hope that Golem kicks your ass,” she added silently to the person responsible for her current predicament.

The adrenaline was flowing rapidly through her veins. Her muscles were sore and fatiguing due to the lactic acid build up. Each ragged breath hurts even more than the last. Tiny beads of sweat formed on her brow. Yet she remained calm. There was enough energy stored within her body for one all-or-nothing attempt to survive. The girl crouched down as she swung her arms back and forth. With a loud scream she launched herself into the air. Soon she was on the same level as the other Golem’s right shoulder. She twisted in mid-air to make full use of the momentum generated. Her boots struck the hard surface of the shoulder blade and huge cracks radiated outwards. Within seconds the arm plummeted to the ground. The Golem attacking the Raven Aegis paused. Before it could do anything it toppled helplessly like a block of domino onto the desert floor. The Golem that targeted Siera lay at the top of the heap. The sheer impact caused the head of the top most Golem to break off. The dismembered part landed with its crown firmly wedged in the sand.

Seira curled up with her forehead tucked against her knee as she spun at a dizzying rate. Her body flipping 180 degrees along the y-axis. She swallowed hard before unfurling herself and landing on her feet. Her knees buckled. She threw her hand forward to steady herself. Her breaths were short and painful. The burning in her lungs brought the images of the bronze bull back to the forefront of her conscious mind. Her eyes fell on the head. She stared at the two gaping black pits that were once glowing eyes. The Spanish bull had eyes that glowed because of the fire burning deep within it. An internal flame that made the eyes glow. She gasped. The jewel must be the key to destroying the Golems. As the euphoria subsided she sensed the presence of someone close by. Probably the Asylum fighting the Golem before she barged in.

“I need your help! Can…”

Her words faltered as she glanced at the person. She grimaced slightly. Why does it have to be that psychotic Asylum? She will have to play along for now. There were always other opportunities to kill the creep should he turn on her later. The disheveled prom queen got up. She was secretly glad that the man never bothered offering to help her to her feet. She had to remember to keep her disdain to the bare minimum.

“I believe those glowing gems have to be destroyed to stop those titans from regenerating,” she added calmly as she watched the two Golems that were starting to reform. “Then we can deliver a fatal blow.”

She swallowed a little to prevent her voice from growing hoarse. There was barely enough saliva washing down her parched throat. “A plan will be good. Hey! Are you even listening to me?”

"Ugh,"

Fletcher's head was throbbing. Blacking out was never fun whether it was caused by alcohol or a rubber slug moving at 2700 feet per second. He grunted a second time. Or tried to, his lungs were screaming from a lack of air. As his breathing slowly normalized and the wheezing faded, he looked around at the veritable shitstorm swirling around him.

Golems.

Huge. Fucking. Rock men.

Fletcher couldn't believe what he was seeing and how ridiculously cool it was. Well it was cool until a giant stony fist came rushing through the air and almost crushed him flat. Screw oxygen, adrenaline would do the job just fine.

He leap to his feet and clumsily managed to dodge another mighty swing from the golem. As Fletcher recovered, he looked over his shoulder and saw the prom queen from earlier deliver a deft kick that crumbled one of the rock men to pieces.

Sweet

The victory was short-lived, however, as the golem slowly began reassembling itself.

The prom queen's voice rang out - a cry for help

She kept rambling about something but Fletcher had stopped listening after "help." A chance for Fletcher to save the day? Hell yes

"Fletch," it was Isaiah over the comm. The impact had caused some damage to the hardware but the voice came through, "The golems have a core to them that provides their regenerative ability,"

"Let me stop you right there Mac. I think I can handle this,"

Isaiah let out a sigh, "I know Fletch, I just think it'd be sweet to use your magnetic alchemy here. That's always been your strong suit,"

"Hey now, what a great idea! Glad I thought of it," Fletcher smirked

His fingers began moving rapidly and low, earthy syllables began flowing from his mouth. The alchemy rushing though his system always gave him a rush. His right eye fluttered and the goose flesh rippled on his forearms. The chanting grew louder and louder until he was practically yelling. As the last word left his lips, the air seemed to shutter and his alchemy weaved its way into the world.

The golems had just put themselves back together when they suddenly flew through the air. Their collision boomed out causing Fletcher's ears to ring. They struggled but the magnetic pull between the two of them was stronger. Fletcher was all grins.

"Your move prom queen."

"Prom queen?"

Seira rolled her eyes. Why must he remind her that she was wearing this tattered fairy rags? It was so embarrassing that her skirt barely covered anything above her thigh. Still he did help her restraint those pesky Golems. She cracked her knuckles. Now is her turn to show him what she is really made of.

She smiled cynically as she gave Fletcher a mock curtsy. "Why not? I would love to have this dance. It is my favorite song."

She flicked her hair back as she turned away. “A single bullet will be enough to shatter those two when I am done.”

The female Asylum threw her hands forward and cartwheeled. After three successive flips she reached the foot of the one of the Golems. She ducked as it tried to kick her. Grabbing onto the leg she vaulted up. Seira ran up the steep and shaky incline before leaping up. She landed gracefully on top of the shoulder of the Golem. With two more bounds she mounted its head and perched there. She took a deep breath and began channeling all the stored motem energy into one powerful incantation. She needed to freeze them to a point where both the Golems and their core can be shattered by a single, powerful blow.

“Mighty rock, solid sentinel
Can no one soften your hardened heart?
An icy heart when there is no snow
Harder and harder you become
Till but a prick shall make you break.”

White mist rose from her mouth as she panted. The Golems grew more and more sluggish as the chill raced downwards. Loud snapping and cracking came from joints as the Golems tried resisting the paralyzing effect of the cast. Chunks of freezing cold rock showered the ground below. The core was flickering through the thick layer of ice crystals growing round it. Like a candle flame left out on a cold winter’s day its glow was no longer as bright nor vibrant as before. She slumped down completely spent. Any moment now would be good. There was no response from her supposed partner in crime. Her temper flared. Come on, where was that finishing blow?

“Hurry up! I can’t keep them like this forever.”

It was a solid thing, the slug. Almost 1.5 ounces of lead shaped by lasers in some factory in the middle of nowhere. Isaiah favored them for their above average weight and knockdown power. His favorite part, however, was the casing. He had designed it himself and always thought of it as one of his more clever ideas. The slug would be housed in a syringe-of-sorts. The needle at the tip would allow a reservoir of of Anti-alchemical substance to gush into the target's bloodstream. Then the small shaped charge behind the slug would propel it into the flesh. Gore would abound and Fletcher would giggle like a school girl.

Golems were a bit different. They had no flesh. Fletcher had relayed the plan to him and Isaiah now prepared to take his shot. The golems were made of stone - no needle would prove effective here. So he had just snapped it off. With luck, the shaped charge would still detonate and the golems would be dust. Or the girl and his partner would die. Isaiah was almost positive that wouldn't happen, though.

He gave Isabella a loving pat on the stock and fired up the magnetic-propulsion array that wound its way down the barrel. It hummed to life as he squinted with one eye and peered down the sights. Fortunately golems were big targets. He squeezed the trigger and let his rifle do its job.

There was no sound as the slug left the barrel, the noise would come later. He saw a few shards of ice plink into the air as the slug made contact with the frozen golems but it wasn't until the roar of the detonation rippled in his direction that a smile crossed his face. The results were glorious. The golems shattered into thousands of stony ice-shards.

"That work for ya, prom queen?" Fletcher leered at her with a look of satisfaction.

He wants to be praised? Seira’s mind did a slight double take. Still the Hybrid took it in her stride. Flattery wasn’t new to her. It would be good to befriend them for now. After all her partner was next to useless most of the time. She beamed and clasped her hands together enthusiastically.

“That … was AMAZING. How did you do it?”

She continued gushing till she was sure that he wasn’t listening anymore. It wasn’t too hard really. That single shot – the killing blow - was very impressive indeed. It had to be the cleanest shot she had ever seen. No sound till afterwards. A shot worthy of a Silencer. Assuming that it was this Asylum’s partner of course. She was determined to never be impressed by a lunatic like the man she was pretending to praise.

“Well Mister, can you show me your skill again?” She asked coyly. “There are still 3 Golems yet to be down. You ARE the strongest Asylum that I know.”

Her coal black eyes were fixed on Maeve’s Golem. Interesting. That female Asylum was the person she promised to help after she won the game. Seira admitted that the lady had guts to try and take on the Golem by herself. The newbie couldn’t help but wonder if the other teams have found out the Golems’ weakness yet.

Maeve

Thud

Maeve went skipping across the desert, having just recieved a backhand from her Golem that left her bruised and bloodied. Sitting up, she smiled, spitting out a stream of blood. Her nose was broken and bloody, her face a mess of bruises already darkening, there was a bone sticking out of her leg, and at least one rib was broken. The broken bones she fixed immediately, but not painlessly, causing her to let out an involuntary scream. It hurt on several levels she hadn't known previously existed. She got to her feet as the Golem slowly made it's way towards her, intent upon finishing the job it had started. "Oh, I'm going to enjoy killing you." She declared, eyes bright with excitement. There was a loud boom, and she looked over to see one of the last golems exploding in icy shards. It gave her an idea. She grinned, revealing a freshly empty tooth place in her gumline, and freshly bloodstained teeth. Walking slowly (more because she hurt to much to run unless necessary than for effect) towards her opponent, she asked it, "If Ice works against your kind, why not fire?" Naturally, it didn't respond, but she didn't need it to. It took one more thunderous step, and she was gone, teleported onto it's shoulder. "Break." She stomped her foot, and it's left arm fell off. A quick teleport later, and she repeated the process.

Experience had told her that she didn't have much time before the arms were back in useful action, so she moved as fast as her battered body would allow her. Another teleport, and she was floating above it's head. Her eyes practically glowed with anticipation. She muttered a phrase in Welsh, and the jewel on her neck shone so bright it was blinding. Then she screamed. Rather than her normal level three scream, however, this one was a bit more...heated. Maeve ignited the soundwaves to a level hot enough to melt the stone construct. The desert was illuminated for miles as waves of fire rolled over the golem and kept going. There were loud pops, as some parts of the stone the golem was made out of exploded rather than melted. Seveal moments passed before Maeve stopped, sucking in a great breath. The Golem was only half melted, falling apart even as it tried to pick itself up, huge bits of magma falling off of it. Then, all sight was blocked as Maeve screamed again.

It took two more breaths before the golem was dead, nothing more then a large pile of glowing hot magma. Maeve stood a good distance away from it, panting. She was exhausted, battered, and probably only three minutes from collapsing. "By the Celtic Gods that was fun!" She crowed, her voice still amplified to a dangerous level by her Collar, grinning. Then, she looked up. The Beacon. She had forgotten that, in all the excitement. Before anyone else could react, a pillar of stone carried her to it. Quickly, she grabbed it, and was immediately paralyzed.

Then all hell broke loose.

Seira gave up. Apparently the other Asylum was up to something or other and he zoned her out again. She sighed. Her eyes scanned the battlefield once again. Three Golems down. Two to go. The lady in the car didn’t need any help apparently. Then there was that weird masked ninja from earlier. He was out of it and his partner, well, it certainly looks like that mad woman from earlier could use some help. Being a supporting team is not easy especially you want to get back at someone. She did owe the knocked out Asylum a favor. Too bad he won’t be awake to see it.

“I could use a hot chocolate sundae right now. A side of fries will be nice,” Seira muttered grumpily as her stomach growled a little.

XCI cracked her knuckles. Time to get going again. That Golem is almost down. In fact it was melting which means the gem was vulnerable. She flexed her fingers a little and she felt the metal on Nami and Nagi respond. Looks like things are slowly returning back to normal. Alchemy would still be hard to use but it wasn’t too bad now that those three behemoths are down for good. The metal manipulator lowered herself. Hands in front and one leg stretched out behind. Then she took off sprinting towards the melting giant.

Her mind began clouding over as the adrenaline levels in her body spiked again. Yeah no more distractions! Her fatigue and hunger were slowly receding from her consciousness. Leaping up the dangerously hot rocks she propelled herself upwards. Soon she was hovering overhead. She somersaulted backwards and began free falling. Nami and Nagi merged to form one huge chakram. Once she reached a suitable height she righted herself then she swung her arms back and tossed the metallic ring. Now to give things a little boost.

“Spinning, spinning, spinning
Dizzying wheel
Spinning, spinning, spinning
So fast you shatter rock with steel.”

The disc whirled faster and faster. The light from the orb danced so erratically on moving surface that it was barely visible to the eye. There was not a single sound as the edge passed sank into the Golem’s head. Not that it mattered because the sound of a nearby explosion rendered Seira momentarily deaf. She turned to look at what caused it and completely ignoring what was happening before her. Sparks flew as the spinning chakram passed through the entire body like a hot knife cutting through butter. Soon it sliced the gem in half before stopping slightly below the torso.

Turning back the Asylum smirked as the glowing gem sputtered momentarily before dying out. Pieces of dull fragments fell to the ground. The Golem crumbled. Exhausted the girl flopped herself on the ground her legs sprawled forward. Her micro-mini skirt flared out over her upper thighs. Just enough to appear modest to anyone looking her way. She held up her hand and the chakram returned to her. She wiggled her fingers as she admired the two rings. There was no way she can retrieve the bits of metal lost from Mercuri. She was too tired. She was very happy though. All Golems were down!

Out of the corner of her eyes she saw Maeve. A stone pillar was boosting the Gothic woman up towards the orb. She watched with bated breath as the bone mistress’ hands touched the orb. Finally the game is over! She tried to throw herself backwards onto the sand. A strange sound made her sit up again. Wh-what was that...?

Collab Post: Rtron Xodus
----Xx----xX-----
Kiara would have responded to Angel, but his own response left her disorientated and unable to do much more than struggle to not fall over in the club. That would have been bad. Very bad. Though, upon reflection, the fact that the club was melting around her into a featureless white void seemed worse than simply falling over. She only raised an eyebrow as he came closer, glancing around at the finished Gothic library. "Kind of cheesy, I must say, but hey. Whatever floats your boat. It being her own mind, she created a black couch and sat down. She picked up the pure white book with 'Kiara's Demons' written in what looked like a flowing script of blood.

"White. I hate white." She muttered, before setting the book on fire. No affect. It even seemed to sparkle whiter, as if mocking her. "Figures." She said, tossing the perfectly unharmed book over her shoulder. She knew her demons very well. Angel didn't need to know them, however. She looked up at Angel, studying him for a moment. "You think I don't know that? You think that those of us who haven't gone completely insane don't know that? Then you are a fool. Worse. You've been beaten down by this world and your beasts. You have given up, surrendered. You're no better than those you hunt." She was silent for a moment, and then she quote softly, "Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into the Abyss, so to does the Abyss gaze into you. You stared to long into the Abyss that is our world, Angel. And you blinked. There's a reason I keep my beasts chained, my demons slumbering. I've seen what happens to those I care about when I don't."

She rolled her eyes. "Please. That's what the game is made for yes, but you've added a 'lovely' little twist, haven't you? Seeing as I'm unable to do much than talk with you, why don't you tell me what that is?" There was a heavy dose of sarcasm on the word, 'lovely'.

"A monster?" Angel crowed as a gentle smile spread across his face along with an expression of sarcastic innocence. "You are wrong darling, you see I am the monster...monsters are afraid of." Despite the gentle facade the horrid nature of XIII's aura pulsed with frightening ferocity. The Gemelli were quite renowned for being unbiased in the trail of blood they left, ally or not and they were also despised for their arrogance, Angel being a living testament to that. This entire time the Lost Number hadn't bothered to glance in the direction of the banshee, clearly adjusting his spectacles seemed to be of more importance.

"Also you are right...I have stared into the Abyss but," that instance was perhaps the first in which Angel finally met the gaze of the naive Asylum. "The Abyss wasn't this world.....and when I did stare into it, it wasn't I who blinked."

Completely ignoring the banshee's question, the Crimson Asylum comfortably appeared to rest his arms behind his neck, his demeanor quite laxed almost as if patiently awaiting the moment of interest to draw near.

"There is nothing you can do now little banshee, the die has been cast."

Kiara stared at him for a moment, nothing but pity showing in her eyes when he finally deigned to look at her. "Tell me Angel. When did you become okay with being almost exactly like those you hunted? A year after your first mission? Less? More? You weren't always like this. I refuse to believe that anyone was always like this. Something caused you to change, to break. You may pretend you were always this way. But you weren't." She reclined on her couch. As interesting as this philosophical debate(at least, she thought it was a debate) was, it also got nothing acomplished. She had done this act to find out what Angel was planning and she was going to find it out. One way or another.

At Angel's final comment, she spoke with acidic sarcasm dripping from every word. "Really? I didn't know that Angel. Let me just scrap my special plans to break free of this mental prison you've stuck me in. They were such good plans too! I bet they could have broken out of any mental prison, even ones made by you!" She snorted. "You don't need to tell me what I already know. I didn't have the ability to do anything the moment you responded to me. Still, seeing as I can't do anything to help anyone, why don't you fill me in on what you've done that would make me want to stop the game. It can't hurt, can it? After all, I am trapped inside my own head with you."

While she seemed calm outwardly, inwardly she prayed Maeve wasn't doing anything stupid.

"You are quite a cheeky girl....aren't you?" Angel replied with an amused tone. "To be aware of my infamous nature and yet you sit there, the facade of tranquility on your face and sarcasm on your tongue." By the end of this sentence a devilish smirk lay spread across XIII's face.

"What an amusing little rabbit you are, alright I suppose I can indulge your curiosity," he spoke while nodding as if finally acknowledging the Asylum in front of him.

"Tell me something little banshee, what is the purpose of this game?"

However just as the girl was about to reply, Angel deliberately interuppted her, answering his own questions while his eyes teasingly mocked the banshee.

"The intended purpose is to select a bait. We all know the pride of Asylums, none of them will willingly choose to be bait, hence the need of this game to select one. I am merely tantalizing the deal we are offering. Why take one bait when you have oh so many?"

Kiara shrugged her shoulders. "What else can I do? Either you're going to kill me or you're not. Acting like the intimidated little mouse around you won't get me anywhere, or get me to learn what I want to learn. Sarcasm, at least, gives me something to do." She only raised an eyebrow as he called her a little rabbit, and gestured for him to continue. When instead he asked a fairly simple and obvious question she stared at him a moment, and opened her mouth to reply. That's when he cut her off. Her eyes narrowed as he explained, but she held her tongue. Her eyes lost focus on him after he was finished, and she began to think aloud.

"So, rather than one bait, you're making all of those who went for the orb bait. For who? The Circus? They aren't that aggriesive. So, obviously, it's someone else. Who would be stupid enough, or powerful enough, to attack a group of Asylums? Asylums with the infamous Princess of AMRO no less. And what would entice them to attack? All of the Asylums would be fully mobile and able to react to any attempts on their lives. Unless...."

Her gaze concentrated on him. "What have you done to the Orb?"

"That is the surprise now isn't it?" Angel replied, his eyebrows raising as if to hint a much sinister plot that had been in the making since the very start.

"You don't understand what is going on do you little rabbit?" He crowed callously while gesturing above them, where on the ceiling a video suddenly began to replay, the video of the rogue alchemist that dared attack the Gemellie.

"That was no rogue alchemist my dear, on his wrist was the mark of the Forsaken Kings. A band of rag tag alchemists that harbour a strong grudge against the Circus. Now why and how would they know that the circus is expected to arrive in Vegas....this information was classified to A.M.R.O." The last bit Angel appeared to whisper, stressing on the fragility of the situation they had found themselves in.

"This is no game my dear, we have found our selves in a war zone and something much greater is a foot. These Forsaken Kings would never give up an open opportunity to take out a few Asylums....or better yet gain som leverage," with the completition of that sentence a benign smile spread across XIII's face. "So I gave them what they want, the Chrono by now has left the fray and the Asylums will have worn themselves out and to make it even more tantalyzing, the first Asylum to reach the orb.......well lets just say he.....or she... will find themselves in a bind, my money if that the Forsaken Kings will kidnap that paralyzed Asylum take him.....or her.... to their base camp which will lead us right to them so I can massacre the whole lot of them."

"Satisifed.......little rabbit?"

Kiara kept her silence until Angel was done, ignoring the video played above. The man did enjoy talking and seemed to have a talent for it. An annoying talent, as he used it to primarily withhold information that she needed to know, but a talent known the less. "So, you're implying that we have a mole in AMRO. What makes you so sure they haven't their own sources for the Circus' whereabouts? After all, rag tag they may be, they're still Alchemists." She raised an eyebrow at him.

"Also, your marvelous plan is to have one of your own kidnapped, so you can follow them to the Forsaken Kings to kill them all. Now, what exactly makes you think you can follow the Asylum to be sacrificed, without the Kings getting wind of it, and what makes you think that they won't just torture and kill the Asylum in question. Likely worse if the mood strikes them. Because I'm thinking that if it gets out that you willingly sacrificed one of our own to get a group of Alchemists that weren't even a threat to the original mission, it's not just going to be every Asylum on this mission, aside from your partner, who you piss off." Another thought occured to her.

"When someone gets kidnapped, I'm going to go to you to lead us to her. If you say you can't, first I'll die of shock. Because after all, the Marvelous and unstoppable and unbelivably arrogant Angel" Sarcasm was applied in heavy layers to that bit," should be able to track his own bait that he set, even if a few 'rag tag' Alchemists do something along the lines of hide your bait from you. Then, I'll slap you, because it was your stupid plan that got us into that situation. So, explain to me how you're going to avoid getting slapped without incapacitating me in some way."

"I have known the Forsaken Kings.....far.....far longer than anyone." Angel replied cryptically as he stared into Kiara's eyes, giving her a good look at her own face which reflected off his crimson spectacles.

"They are a group of rag tag misfits, yet what maintains them is the council of four. Alchemists of... near incredible capabilities. Those four are the only reason A.M.R.O deems the Forsaken Kings a threat. While those four can maintain order via religious brain washing, their information gathering capabilities is next to null. The Circus is the only one that A.M.R.O has not been able to track and as such it can only be A.M.R.O's reasources that can track the untrackable. I have no doubt that we have a mole amidst us and for now that mole will be near impossible to catch. He is playing a game and I will let that mole win......for you see.....something very amusing is a foot." The callous natu

Oh and as for me baiting one of our own, the Kings are cowards, they would most likely use the bait as leverage, and the paralyzing orb also contains a tracer which only I can sense, hence ill be able to locate the body, dead or alive. So to me it really makes no difference as long as the Asylum has fullfilled their purpose. 'Where ever an Asylum treds, madness is sure to follow', I believe that was in you job discription darling." Angel replied to her with his usual callous and sarcastic tone.

Kiara gritted her teeth. A mole in AMRO, and they had to put their trust in this man and his partner. Lovely. Still, she had to work with what she had, and this seemed to be all that she had. "Yes, but I don't believe the job description says 'your allies will be using you as bait, and won't give a damn if you live or die as this bait.' You could have asked. I would have said yes, and saved us all this entire mess." There was a low venom in her tone, and if it was possible, her eyes would have been smouldering. As it was, she simply glared. " So, why don't you let yourself, or your partner take this risk, hmm? You said you've know them far longer than anyone. That means they know you to. And, since you posses a sparkling personality, they remember you quite well. Wouldn't it make them more likely to take the bait if you pretended to be paralyzed? And then, when they take you to their base, you could just slaughter them all there." She held up a hand to forestall any answer he might give.

"Since I know you're going to give me an answer that positively reeks of BS, I'll just move on. I want to be able to sense your magic tracer as well." Kiara was well aware that she was in no position to be making any demands, given that she was held a prisoner in her own mind. But what did it matter? Angel was...unpredictable, to say the least.

"Well you see the problem with baiting myself is.......hmm......let us put it this way. There is a reason a bait is a worm and not a shark little rabbit. And I had an abundance of worms.....it would have been a waste not to utilize this opportunity." Angel hissed back, a sinister look upon his face.

"And why are you worrying about the tracer just yet, the point of the tracer is to be put to use if the Asylums survive. The Forsaken Kings have already prepared the ambush and the one leading them is one of the coucil members. Knowing the proud and uncooperative nature of Asylums.....they won't really stand a chance.....but then again that was my entire aim. We needed to create a scenario that was completly in the favour of the Kings and I gave it to them on a silver platter. Not only will they be out numbered but they will also be exhausted from the race. The Kings will have no choice but to grasp at this opportunity." Angel's finger slowly pointed towards the banshee that sat in front of him.

"You made a grave error in indulging your curiosity. You see Asylum work in pairs, however your other half is out there alone. The probability of her demise has just sky rocketed. I could always let you go but then again we are having such good fun getting to know each other," as he spoke the last few words, a gentle and kind smile spread across his face, sarcastically mocking the banshee.

"Bigger bait attracts bigger game." Kiara retorted. "They likely would have leaped at the chance to take you, and wouldn't have hesitated at all. You wouldn't have had to go through the complicated matter of creating this game. You would have had all the fun you needed, convincing the poor fools that you, the mighty Angel, was weak and at their disposal. But I suppose that was too complicated for you. Pity."

Her teeth gritted when he mentioned how doomed the Asylums were. It was very clear how little he cared and how close she was to losing what little control she had left.

As Angel made mention of how Maeve was alone, Kiara froze. Her eyes blank before they were hidden under a curtain of hair as she glanced down. She seemed to shiver, and a long moment of silence stretched out. Suddenly, she started chuckling. It slowly grew into full blown laughter, a mocking cackle. It was higher pitched than normal, and seemed to be...different from Kiara's normal tone. Crueler. The shadows writhed all around them, darkening. Hundreds, thousands of whispers could be heard, just on the edge of hearing. The book labeled, Kiara's Demons shifted and rippled, darkening behind the couch and out of sight. Kiara's clothes began to turn white. In the real world, Kiara's shadow, Eric, began to dart around in helpless panic and fury.

"That's funny." There seemed to be a higher pitched echo following her words. "You actually think she's with me because we balance each other out and increase our chances of survival." She chuckled. "The Celtic bitch can more than handle her own affairs. Kings cannot to kill her." She glanced up, her hair parting to show one eye. It was completely white, and seemed to glow with an inner light.

"But, if they get lucky and they do kill her, I would suggest you keep your little partner close. Angels tend to die when they meet the Devil."

Almost immediately after she stopped speaking, everything went back to normal. The shadows, the book went back to white, Kiara's clothes to their normal black, her voice stopped having an echo, her eye stopped glowing. Eric calmed down. The only thing that seemed to be different from before Angel said Maeve was likely to die was that Kiara was pale, and visibly shaken. "I...apologize for anything I might have said. Just let me go and try to save my partner..."

Through out the Banshees out burst and her ominous echoes of forewarning Angel remained calmly seated, the same kind and gentle expression stoicly shaping his face, slowly growing sullen.

"I am disappointed in you.....little rabbit. I have seen human's with a heart of a monster but never a monster with a heart of a human. This is exactly why this world needs a monster that even monster's fear. Everyone has their roles to play," Angel's voice echoing a strange kind of despondency.

"Your partner has already selected her role and I have grown weary of our conversations." No longer amused the Crimson Asylum slowly rose from his throne, the world around him falling to pieces, disintegrating.

"Now banshee for you to leave this dying world you must answer one simple question," Angel spoke callously as the illusionary world continued to break and shatter.

"What is the purpose of an Alchemits existence? Answer correctly and you will leave, if time runs out.......then you will be trapped in your own subconscious......for ever." With that said Angel's hand slowly reached forward, pretending to open a door and responding to that gesture a portal instantly opened up leading back to the real world, in an instance XIII was gone.

---------------------Xx------------------xX----------------------

AND THEN HELL BROKE LOOSE

“We have waited long enough my brothers! Don’t give these oppressors the chance to regroup hit them now with all you got, kill those mother fuckers!” A resounding battle cry echoed throughout the sandy outskirts, the command ushering the inevitable ambush which Angel had foreseen. No longer needing their clever camouflage around 20 strangers all cloaked and brandishing large claymores slowly began to appear, surrounding the Asylums suffering from fatigue.

“A.M.R.O’s hounds do not belong in the presence of kings. You organization……all it has done is deprive us of our freedom and now we will show what it feel to live a life unloving!” The leader of this rag tag group spoke up and by his vile tone it was clear the man detested A.M.R.O. Power has a way of attracting the unwanted, like fire pulling in months to dance around it till their wings blister and burn. Such has been A.M.R.O rule, a flame burning so bright it would scorch an Angel to the ground should he chose to oppose the unopposed. But times have changed for if a flame chooses to burn bright it also tends to be extinguished faster.

“Burn them all!” The final command had been sung, a symphony was at hand one cleverly orchestrated by the devil himself and the lead of this orchestral sensation, none other than one of the council of four, Gadrael.

Roars echoed throughout the vicinity as the Kings charged towards their prey. Their blades of silver suddenly glowing with an ungodly crimson aura, radiating heat so intense the air around them began to warp due to molecular instability.

“Die!” In unison the soldiers screamed as the crimson aura from their swords suddenly erupted, turning into a tide of flames drenching the Asylums in a sea of fire.

And if the Asylum were to survive the initial attack, they would soon realize the unique Alchemy of the Forsaken Kings. Their weapons are not alchemical; instead they channel alchemic energy into their weapons and release a concentrated bolt of their choosing. A such soon enough the Kings once again brandished their blades, however this time each blade resonated with a different colored aura. One radiated in a brilliant icy blue, freezing the ground around it. Another blade appeared to possess a yellow aura with a strange electrical surge rotating around it.

“And here I thought today will be just another boring day,” A wicked smile slowly spread across a face that appeared to be spectating this battle from afar, his spectacles reflecting a crescent moon above.

“Lets paint it all crimson!”

Everything went murky after the golems exploded. A function of the recent head trauma, he figured. Had there been an onlooker more concerned with him than the dying stone constructs or the oncoming tide of yelling warriors, they probably would have been concerned by the way he swayed uneasily on his feet. His stupor didn't last long, however. One over zealous sway and the ground was suddenly rising up to meet him. As Fletcher crumpled to the ground, Isaiah's voice flooded with an abnormal amount of emotion over the mic.

"Fletch? Dammit answer me. If you're playing some kind of joke, this isn't funny. You need to get up, the kings are closing the distance rather quickly and I can't take out all of them!"

At first there was no response. Three seconds passed and then five. It wasn't until the twelfth second after Isaiah's outburst that Fletcher slowly regained consciousness fully. At that point, one of the king front runners was already within striking distance of Fletcher's disheveled body. Fortunately, a slug was already in the air.

The sturdy syringe tip pierced the king's flesh nicely. It was a good shot and the needle was lodged between two ribs. The king stumbled to the side as the impact jarred him. He heard no gunshot. If he'd been hit with a bullet he'd most likely be on the ground. No gun shot rounds that slowly. Yet, there it was sticking out of his chest, a strange looking cylinder. By the time he had figured out what had happened to him, the Anti-Alchemical payload had already been delivered and the poison was coursing through the king's bloodstream. He began to feel a bit woozy. In the time for his brain to process all that had happened, three-quarters of a second had already gone by.

That's when he heard the gunshot.

The shaped charge detonated and propelled the lead slug into his chest cavity. There was inside of the casing was not rifled so at first impact with flesh the slug's trajectory went haywire. It flipped and spun, cracking the backside of three ribs and shredding a large portion of his left lung. The internal injuries wouldn't matter much, however, because the exit wound spelled death to even the most amateur coroner. The entry wound may have been relatively small but everything to the left of his spine was gone. The heavier chunks flopped to the ground nearby but the majority of the spray delicately showered the king's former allies.

Well that's one down

The sound of the secondary explosion brought Fletcher fully back into the land of the living. Just in time to block an oncoming blow directed at his shoulder. He brought his left hand, curled into a first, up and punched the inner forearm behind the oncoming swing. The king's arm fluttered as the jab applied counter-force. Fletcher was on his feet now. As his foe reeled, he planted a kick into the man's sternum, depositing him in the dirt. Unfolding a blade with his right hand, he drove it through the man's wrist and buried it in the ground.

The king let out a grunt of pain that brought a smile to Fletcher's eyes.

"Don't worry sweetie, mommy's here," the king's eyes looked around wildly for help but his allies were all engaged in fights of their own.

"I know it's scary, just close your eyes."

"Hey, fuck you!" A flash of anger crossed his face as the man's eyes remained open. As quickly as it had come, the look subsided.

"What am I thinking, here let mommy help you," Fletcher's voice lowered in volume substantially as he chanted. When he was done there was a flash of light in front of the king's eyes, burning his retinas and rendering him blind.

"Wha? What's happening?!" the king's panic was like music to Fletcher's ears. No matter what he may be saying or doing, his eyes always betrayed his inner thoughts. And his eyes looked hungry for blood.

"That's much better. With your eyes closed, it's like nothing scary is happening at all,"

"That's fucking creepy man, if you're gonna kill me just do it. Cut the psycho shit,"

"Where on earth did you learn such foul language? We've talking about this sweetie. You know the punishment for having a dirty mouth,"

Fletcher pulled the knife out of the man's wrist and lopped off both of his hands and feet with the blade. A brief surge of alchemy coursed from his fingertips as he finished signed with his fingers and left the new wounds cauterized. He flipped the weakened king onto his stomach and drove two of his throwing spines through the man's shoulders and into the dirt, pinning him. With his left hand Fletcher grabbed a tuft of the man's hair. The man mouth opened involuntarily as his hair was pulled. Fletcher's right hand quickly darted in and grabbed hold of the man's tongue.

"The punishment should fit the crime, I always say! If you've got a dirty tongue, it only makes sense that we scrub it out with soap." Fletcher drove his blade through the man's tongue and into the dirt. A muddled shriek escaped from the man's lips before he bit down in pain, severing his tongue completely. The fake kindness on Fletcher's face dissipated instantly.

"Fuck it all! You ruined everything asshat," He snatched up his blade from the dirt and cleanly severed the king's brain stem. The cries subsided immediately. "I guess he never played house as a kid,"

Kiara

She stared at where Angel had been for a few moments, gathering her thoughts. When she finally spoke, it was quietly. "I don't know why Alchemists exist. I don't know why humanity has been cursed with this plague. I don't know why whatever greater powers there are thought that we should be granted powers we are obviously not ready to wield. But I do know why the Asylums exist. We are the treatment to the plague that is Alchemical powers. We may never find a cure, but we can control the disease. We fight pure madness with madness barely tempered by sanity. Fire with fire. Monsters against monsters. We sacrifice ourselves so that we can protect the world at large. Most of us are varying degress of insane. My partner, for example, is insane in the way that she sacrfices her well being, not to mention anything she's willing to sell, for that next rush. That next boost of adrenaline. Combat seems to be her best trigger, and pain seems to become intoxicating at some point. I'm insane in my constant belief in the light of humanity when I fight both as and against the dark. You're insane because you've become one of those you hunt, different only because of banner you claim to fight under."

She began to fade away, being freed from her own mind. "We're all monsters. But some of us fight the inevitable, and cling to our humanity."

She awoke in the real world once more, the party still going on around. If Eric could have hugged her, he would have, as it is, he stuck close to her and didn't cease talking. "Yes..I know...No...No! What in the name of all that is holy would make you think that? You know what? No. I don't want to know. Be quiet. I said, quiet. The act of being silent and not talking. You should develop your skill in it!" Evidently, Eric complied and shut up, allowing Kiara to ascertain what she thought she had felt, beneath his babbling. She couldn't feel Maeve. There was a barrier blocking their minds from linking. It wasn't like the normal barrier Maeve put up, so Kiara wouldn't be able to feel what she was feeling when she was...intimate. That was wild, unruly, and purely Maeve. This barrier was cold, clean, and impenetrable. Something was wrong. Very, very wrong. Kiara was out the door and running full pelt towards the beacon, stopping only to dart in an alleyway and turn into a flying bird. She saw the explosions and signs of combat from a mile away, and began flapping her wings harder. Maeve..if you die, I'll resurect you just to kill you. It was going to be bad. She knew that from what she could see and what Angel had told her.

It was far worse than she expected.

Kings, Kings were everywhere. Fire was exploding, lighting crashing, and earth being thrown. Chaos couldn't even begin to describe it, and Kiara stopped a hundred or so yards from it, dropping to her knees on the ground, removing her cloak, and building E.L.G. The first King was raising his sword to launch an attack at someone, when the left side of his head exploded outwards in a gorey arc. Anyone who had been able to watch closely would have noticed the bullet's shadow darting up and correcting it's course when necessary, guaranteeing a kill shot. The second King just slumped over when a bullet when through his chest and heart, his sword landing point down in the sand and staying there. The third, the third was wiser.

He noticed Kiara as she took aim, and sent a fireball heading her way. In her haste to get out of the way of certain death, she forgot to grab her cloak. It was incinerated. "You son of a-!" Kiara began indignantly, only to yelp and draw a quick sigil in the earth, making a stone barrier in front of her. She felt the heat a little too well through it and around her. Still, she let out a small sigh of relief that she hadn't been barbequed. Then she was launched backwards as a lightning bolt destroyed her barrier. The King was within 30 feet and closing rapidly, with Alchemical speed. Of course, Kiara didn't notice this, as she was still stunned from the blast. When she did regain her senses, the King was right above her, screaming a war cry and lifting the sword high to drive it through her chest.

Kiara rolled out fo the way, making a panicky grab for her pistol in the process. The sword caught her side, nicking her, and was yanked out immediately. By the time she had drawn her pistol, the King was preparing to make another downward stab. She fired four shots, wildly. Two of them caught him in the chest. The third missed, and the fourth clipped hte side of his eyeball. It was enough to kill him. The King fell backwards, blood pouring from several wounds, and Kiara laid there, gasping for breath and trying to control her beating heart.

“Die!”

A soft blue glow made Seira look up. At the very last minute she kicked upwards and parried the oncoming blow. Icy splinters flew everywhere. The King staggered backwards and she rolled over to the side. She didn’t give her opponent the chance to react. She side stepped him and ran to her partner.

She arrived in the nick of time. Another King was about to decapitate her partner! Seira delivered a swift kick to the back of man’s head. The would-be killer fell to the ground with a muffled thud, but it wasn’t long before he was trying to get back up. The medical student removed her rings and tossed them into the air. She clenched her fists, and the chakrams form spokes that met at the center. Two rather imperfect shields. She waved her hands frantically in front of her. Nami and Nagi orbited rapidly round Seira and Camron forming a temporary dome-like barrier to protect the partners from any potential attacks. There was an odd buzzing coming from the spinning rings and occasional clinking when they collided.

She fell to her knees besides the teen lying on the ground. Surely he realized they were in danger. She turned him over so that he lay on his back. His vacant eyes staring up at the night sky above. She began shaking him. Her anxiety was mounting. She heard metal striking against metal. She lay against Camron as sparks flew around them. The king was trying to break through her barrier.

“Camron! You got to get up.”

More sparks showered all over them. She didn’t even wince when the hot sparks touched her exposed skin. Tiredness had numbed the pain. Sparks! She should try resuscitating him. Seira felt her palms grow warmer as she rubbed them rapidly. She was secretly amazed that she even had any energy left after the last fight.

“Clear!”

Electricity burst from her palms pressing against his chest. Camron jerked. Still he wasn’t responding. Seira bit her lip and channeled even more energy into her palms. His entire body arched. She wrinkled her nose as she smelled the burning fabric around her partner’s chest. Her fingers travelled to his neck. He was still alive.

“What the…”

The king gaped as a huge electric surge burst from within the dome. The poor man was blinded. The charged chakrams moved even faster than ever. A huge collision sent both of them flying in opposite directions. Nagi sliced through his throat wide open. He gurgled as blood spurted out of the wound. Small rivulets tricked down the sides of his mouth as he collapsed onto the ground. The yellow aura faded from the broadsword on the ground beside its now deceased master.

The blond Asylum blinked as he sat crossed legged on the ground. The scenes unfolding before his eyes were like a silent movie. He was torn between amusement and horror. What was he supposed to do? He moved to the side only to bump into something. His hand reached down. His fingers brushed against cool damp skin and he pulled them back. He turned and stared. Seira was lying unconscious right beside him. What the hell just happened?!? Was she caught in that blast too? Frantically he tried to see if she was dead. Yet he couldn’t tell. There was no pulse. Nothing! The panicking teen didn’t even notice that his black haired partner was still breathing.

The Laments of a King

The air reeked of death and destruction, blood painted the sand and screams echoed in a symphony of terror. Kings were falling. The sounds of their blades growing duller, the radiance of their alchemy growing dimmer and yet it is darkness that gives way to light. Unfortunately in this case it was the light of a fallen soul, his name a kin to the Angel who lost his grace and led humanity a stray, Gadrael.

"Let all who come in my way be blown asunder. All you fucks who bow to the tyranny of a false messiah....let me enlighten you towards the path of hell!" The King spoke up, his words shaking the very ground beneath him. This man, unlike his comrades, bore the crest of Excalibur. Only four possessed the right to be branded with this insignia, a right reserved for the 'Counsel of Kings'.

"Lapdogs of A.M.R.O, do you know who you follow....do you know WHAT you follow!" His screams once again echoed, a strange pain hidden within these words, a sorrow best described as a kind of lamentation.

"You who hunt demons are led by the worst of that which you hunt, there is no justice only subjugation," the man bellowed once more while ferociously tearing of his hood revealing a face marred with burns and an empty eye socket.

The remaining forces slowly began to retreat and rally behind their leader whose words like daggers pierced the Asylums and their wretched purpose in a world that loathes them. They were a bane to this world, hated by Alchemists, shunned by the government and nonexistent to the humans. Ghosts. Despised. Unwanted.

"This face.." Gadrael screamed, his words disarming the Asylums of their weapons. "This is the face of a man who dared to question A.M.R.O. These scars.....they weren't my punishment.....these burns they are just a reminder of that punishment." Tears rolled down his eyes as the Forsaken King clenched his fist till a stream of blood trickled down.

"My punishment was watching my wife torn limb by limb in front of me by one of you!" His finger pointed towards the direction of the Asylums, his eyes bloodshot with rage. "My punishment was watching my newborn child thrown to the hounds, watching them feed." The sheer power of these words imbued with his Alchemic energy wreaked havoc upon the Asylums. Massive shock waves sliced through the air in all directions.

“What is your punishment Asylums?” The King spoke, his maddening tone coated in malice and a thirst for vengeance against all who wronged him. His bloodshot gaze scrutinizing the transgressors in front of him, his claymore brandished to reap the judgment that awaited them. His finger trembled with rage as he slowly pointed towards the Asylum known as, Fletcher. The bloodlust with which the Asylum fought reminded the king of the monsters that tore his family apart and as such the first victim had been selected.

“Let me ask you, which aspect molds a man to be the worst kind of men?” The king scoffed, a fiendish smirk resting across his face, an expression of spite. “Is it hatred?” As he spoke he slowly stepped towards the direction of Fletcher. “Is it fear?” His steps continued to close the distance with the Asylum.
“The answer is……..

------Xx-----Xx-----

“Despair” Angel whispered softly as he observed the carnage from a safe distance while perched atop the Caesar Palace.

“Why is that brother?” The little chrono questioned, her curious head slowly intruding in the middle so all her partner could see were her large mismatched eyes.

“A man who has nothing to lose is a man who isn’t afraid to take. That my dear is a very dangerous man,” her partner replied while playfully pressing his forehead against Rena’s. “To be consumed by despair. That is the underlying characteristic that is needed for one to be a part of the Council of Kings and that is exactly why they are such a threat.”

“Aren’t we also consumed by despair…brother?”

These innocent words carried the weight of a world, a world that Angel wouldn’t allow to topple over his partner even if his fate be the same of Atlas, a giant cursed to lift the skies as repentance for his sins.

“You need not worry little princess, the burdens of despair are not yours to bear and they never will,” XIII spoke in a strange melancholic tone, a kind of sadness that reflected of his partner’s eyes, the kind which possessed a strange warmth to it.

-------Xx-------xX-----

Before the Asylum had the chance to blink, Gadrael had already come within striking distance of Fletcher. His claymore burnt a blaze in a shade of celeste, this heavenly blue glow causing the very air around the king to bend to his will, thickening and sharpening. Soon enough the air around him had been condensed to form sharp invisible razor blades madly slicing at Fletcher and any and all around him.

“I will tear you to pieces and scorch your bones!” Gadrael screamed as the aura around his blade suddenly turned crimson and as soon as the giant claymore was pressed into the ground, a large circle spread across the ground on which Fletcher stood combating the thousand slices he was made to endure. As soon as this circle completed itself, in a matter of seconds it lit a blaze and an enormous flames surfaced, a cylinder of fire burning everything within it.

The attacks came quickly and left Fletcher with little time to react. The fact that he couldn't even see the blades of air certainly didn't help. Sensing an impending second attack he dropped low, curling into a ball, and launched himself backwards. He arched his back and completed the backflip, landing outside of the circle of flame just as it erupted from the ground.

"Oh Isaaaiaah," Fletcher's sing-song voice rang out, "I may need some help here. He's being such a kill-joy,"

"I've got you covered from here Fletch. You know I don't do the hand-to-hand stuff,"

"Ugh you puss. Ok well you better not miss, damn it,"

"Hey! The rest of you bozos wanna help out over here? I got a gimpy king with a huge stick up his ass over here. Anybody wanna contribute?"

Fletcher took a few steps back and for the first time in a long well felt an inkling of uneasiness. This was going to be a tough fight.

[Camron’s POV]

Camron felt a hot blast engulf him. He crouched protectively over the young woman in front of him expecting to be burned to ashes at any moment. Tentatively he opened one eye. How was he still alive? The teen turned round and stared at the equally puzzled man wielding a large claymore. Sweat trickled down his right temple. Nervously the teen reached into his pocket for the gun. Please run off!

With trembling fingers CX unlocked the catch. His mouth opened and closed, but the only sound he could pick out was a very resonant ‘a’. The King threw his head up and bellowed soundlessly before charging straight at the young Asylum. The boy felt his finger wrap round the trigger only to have it yanked from his hand forcefully. The gun smashed on the ground and clattered. Camron gasped as a sharp pain shot through his entire arm. He crouched down not a moment too soon. His hair ruffled slightly as the air vibrated when the blade swooped overhead. Icy panic flooded his entire system.

How…

… What…

…. He needed to get that guy away. Push him away!

Focusing on the last thought the bewildered rookie concentrated all his energy and tackled his opponent. He continued yelling incoherently. The boy gaped as he watched the goliath fly away as he tackled the grown man. Like magic. Was that the power of this Alch-a-whatis thingamajig that they have been talking about? The thing that helps them do neat stuff that was way cooler than the special effects used in Harry Potter.

The moment was short-lived. The King was charging back towards him at an astonishing speed. Run… run! Perhaps luck was on their side. Rather than finishing off Seira the King continued chasing Camron. Hundreds of blades flew in their direction. The boy nimbly dodged each one in succession. He panted heavily. His blue eyes fell on the claymore lying on the ground next to him. They followed the length of the blade. Bile ran up his throat and Camron vomited for the second time that night. He continued dry heaving after the initial wave of nausea passed. The yellowish-green mess mixed with the ever growing red puddle.

“Camron, look out!”

The voice sounded like it was coming deep inside his head. His conscience sounded oddly like Seira. It was then the boy felt the air around him heating up rapidly. The whole area was brighter than the Vegas strip. Moments later he was covered by searing hot flames. CX closed his eyes. He was resigned to his fate. The heat was unbearable like he was burning up from the inside. Wasn’t fire supposed to burn you from the outside? Sweat was soaking through his shirt as his face became flushed.

“Camron don’t die on me.”

That bossy voice was echoing painfully within his head once more. He snapped back into a hazy reality. The inferno was gone without a trace. Camron staggered to his feet. Splotches of blood fell to the floor from his still bleeding wound. This fever wasn’t helping. It must have been the Vegas heat. The boy crouched down and he drew something on the ground. The only thing in his mind was an insatiable desire to expel the excess heat from his body.

----------------XCI------------------

[Seira’s POV]

“What is your punishment Asylums?”

Seira lay still. Her eyes remained closed as her breathing returned to normal. The buzzing in her ears stopped and sound was filtering back again. She could hear fighting and yelling from all around her. Those anguished words fail to strike a chord. The overpowering emotions behind those hate filled words puzzled her. Anger, despair and hatred were the three that she sensed. She must have missed something. Being part of A.M.R.O. wasn’t that bad. It gave her the opportunity to do things she never dreamed possible. Still she regretted putting her actual dreams on hold. Not that she had much to complain about until Camron became her partner. Why can’t she have someone even more remotely useful?

XCI sat up. She noted where everyone was on the battlefield, friend and foe. Her young partner skillfully dodged the blades hurled in his direction. Her lips twitched a little as she saw him double over to vomit upon seeing the dead King. Poor, sensitive Camron. How will this kid survive? Her eyes widened. Flames were racing rapidly towards the oblivious teen.

“Camron, look out!”

Her warning came too late. The boy was engulfed in flames. Seira continued staring at the spot where her partner was moments ago. She knitted her brows ever so slightly when the flames disappeared. No way! No freaking way. He couldn’t have. Did he? Did he absorb the flames?

The disheveled prom queen never reached her king. She was barely five feet away when a huge claymore smashed down in front of her. The Asylum jumped back to avoid the blade as it swung forward. She grumbled mentally. Why did she have to get the attention of every single idiot targeting that psychopath?

“Out of my way punk,” she spat vehemently.

“Isn’t someone the sweet little lady?” the King taunted as he picked up his blade once more.

The Japanese Asylum locked her eyes on the blade and focused. She channeled all her ire and pent up frustration. The edges of the blade began to run. The liquid metal dripped onto the ground as the man swung his weapon at her. When he brought the hilt forward half of the blade flew off.

“You bitch!”

She never moved even when he charged towards her. Her fingers were clasped in front of her as though she was saying a silent prayer. Muscular arms reached out to grab her throat. That was when she lashed out with her newly formed metallic claws. She slashed across his face and the monarch howled in pain. Seira reached back. Swiftly she slashed his throat, impaled his stomach and stepped away. Not a fleck of blood stained her tattered dress. She exhaled slowly. Anger and tension started to dissipate.

There was an ear splitting cry followed by a huge burst of light. The hybrid quickly drew her hands up to shield her eyes as the entire night sky lit up once more. A magnificent flaming phoenix rose into the sky. It flew upwards and unfurled its wings. The beast then folded them and hurled itself straight at Fletcher’s opponent. She watched in amazement. Maybe she shouldn’t have underestimated the other Asylums after all. One of them was powerful enough to create such an attack.

“Have you got a plan?”

“Do I not always have a plan?”

“You never have a plan!”

“An ingenious tactic on my part. I have never had a plan fail before.”

“That is, beyond doubt, the worst excuse I have ever heard.”

“Malta, 2006.”

“Hey, they let me go, didn’t they?”

“That doesn’t mean it was-“

Alistair would have continued if it had not been for the great streak of fire and ash which cascaded across the sky and instantly caught his attention. It lit the desert up as bright as the midday sun and bathed the two Asylums in a warm orange glow, hot enough to feel the glare even from this distance. The two members of the Broken Pendulum stood there, awestruck by the recent spectacle, and wondered what exactly had caused such an amazing display. The blaze tore its way up into the night sky and then back down again, its source clearly within the larger congregation of Asylums and the much feared kings which battled with them. Vail shielded her eyes with one of her gauntlets, her eyes not used to such a sudden bright light, only to be handed a pair of sunglasses from the suited man beside her. Alistair smiled, another pair of sunglasses falling out from his sleeve which he swiftly put on.

“Why aren’t we over there fighting yet?” Vail asked, now wearing her own pair of sunglasses. The pillar of fire had ceased now but cinders still filled the air and illuminated the scene before them. It looked like very potent alchemy and both Asylums silently agreed to approach the situation cautiously. Vail still cracked her knuckles, eager to get into the fight.

“Something of an amusing story, actually. You thought it’d be a good idea to try and break the golem we were fighting in two with a single punch. You succeeded, as you so often do, but a fragment broke off from its skull and struck you on the head with a little more force than would have been healthy. You’ve been unconscious for the past four and a half minutes. I had to both dig you out from the rubble and stop the bleeding.”

“…you are welcome,” he added.

Vail’s hand instinctively went to the side of her head. She had not noticed until now but the right side did ache, presumably where she had been hit. She felt no blood but quickly realised she was still wearing her mechanical gauntlets. Vail brought the hand in front of her face, peering over the top of her sunglasses. The metal fingertips were stained a little red, rubbed off from the dried blood which matted her hair. There was no open wound though, thankfully. Alistair always had been good at patching her up when she needed it and Vail was surprised he had not changed his official alchemy specialisation to medical support. “Really? Well, it’s dead now, right?”

Alistair nodded in response. “I think we should go and help the others. They might need us.”

“Damn right we should help,” said Vail, grabbing Alistair by the arm and tugging him along with her.

The suited Asylum complied, keeping up with his companion’s footsteps as best as he could. When the situation seemed to turn dire and one of the other Asylums tried to tear the leader of the Kings down with melee weaponry, their cautious walk turned into a alchemically powered sprint. Alistair and Vail both powered across the desert floor, kicking up dust behind them. Their arms were still locked together and their sights were set firmly on the kings in front of them as they closed the gap almost instantly.

“Oh,” Alistair gasped. “I have a plan.”

xXx

With the torrent of cinders and smoke passed, Alistair stepped forward towards Gadrael. The Broken Pendulum arrived as quickly as their alchemy would carry them, now arriving only seconds since the incendiary attack had taken place. They met surprisingly little resistance, the kings that remained being dealt with by the other alchemists, and those that did try to stop them were swiftly met with the sharp taste of an iron gauntlet forced down their throat. Vail currently had a metal hand clasped around a king’s neck and the other fist pummelling into his stomach.

Alistair stood before Gadrael. He looked confident but Alistair could not say he felt that way. Gadrael was not like the other kings that battled with the group and Alistair was rather sure that was not a good thing. Gadrael’s skill with alchemy had already been proven with the great torrent of fire that he had created and alchemical energy literally oozed off of him. Alistair was not entirely confident that he could avoid an attack if the king tried it a second time. With the tip of his umbrella dug into the sand and his hands resting on the handle, the pink-suited Asylum nodded politely to Gadrael. He held a hand out to shake but doubted the king would accept the gesture. After all, Seira had impaled the man with her claws only seconds prior.

Still, Alistair smiled and cleared his throat, trying to look as presentable as he possibly could. “I think we could do without scorched bones and torn flesh, could we not? We are sensible people after all,” he said.

As Alistair spoke, Vail was busy assisting the other Asylums. She grabbed, punched and threw any king that she could get her hands on. Wielding Alistair's chain she fought tooth and nail through the kings. She took a beating but with the help of the other Asylums Vail managed to stave off any crippling injuries. Her goals were not entirely violent though, because she spoke to every Asylum that she passed to deliver them a message.

“Ready your heavy hitting alchemy, kids. We’re going nuclear on the big one!”

“…and I am sure that we can come to some to some resolution that does not involve quite so much bloodshed. First though, let me introduce myself. I am Alistair Julius Delacour, A.M.R.O. Asylum, and it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance. You seem to be the leader figure of this motley crew of kings and so I hope that we might discuss our options before this goes any further. Might I know your name?”

"Doesn't involve bloodshed?" The King scoffed, an expression of disgust on his face. "Your kind......you dare say this to me, when it is your kind that took everything from me?" Gadrael's voice had taken a more sinister tone, as if it were a dialogue with a demon.

Alistair hid a smile. Why do the villains never answer your questions the first time? "I know a little of your organisation," he said. "You are part of the Forsaken Kings, yes? Some of the reports I've read are truly heartbreaking, both in the monstrosities you've caused and the monstrosities that drove you to them. For that I will formally apologise but your loses do not give you the right to take from others, especially when your anger is with the organisation and not the individual. We as individuals, with a few small exceptions, have done nothing to you or your fellow alchemists, and in turn you have done nothing to us. Many of us are still alive and can recover with proper medical treatment. We could easily go our separate ways right now, unharmed."

"We do not need to fight. I’m sure that we can come to some kind of compromise," he suggested, looking up at Gadrael.

"Where was this sense of compromise when my wife was hacked into pieces? You bastards are what threw my child to the hounds." As he spoke his clench loosened around the blade, the steel claymore eventually dropping to the floor, licking the ground as the King stood unarmed.

"My name is Gadrael, I am one of the four of the Council of Kings. I am the manifestation of a rogue's despair. Can you hear it? Hear our frustration... feel our anguish!" His palm now stretched open, revealing a small alchemic sigil painted on it. The seal radiated energy, glowing in an eerie azure.

"Fuck you and fuck your masters!" the King screamed, capitalizing on the fact that Alistair's proximity annulled any chances of evasion. Gadrael’s fist planted itself onto the Asylum's chest, the sigil instantly imprinting itself on Alistair and encasing his body in a giant pillar of ice. Alistair never even attempted to flee, holding his stance firmly as ice covered him, chilling him to the bone and rooting him in place.

‘Now!’ Alistair called out, a telepathic message to the other Asylums.

He wished he could help in some capacity, firing all he had at Gadrael with all of the other Asylums, but he had completed his primary goal; buy time. He had half-expected Gadrael to do something far worse than trap him, especially when he heard him announce himself as one of the Council of Kings, some of the strongest rogue alchemists alive. Instead, Alistair did the only thing he could do. He tried to survive. With alchemy he warmed his blood, raised his heart-rate, and tried to keep his body temperature stable. He would wait here, conserving energy and keeping his core temperature high, and hope that the other Asylums could break him out before he tired.

Through the cocoon of ice, however distorted it was, he could see the events unfold. It helped keep his mind off of the ice which bit at his skin and tore away his constitution, giving him the drive to focus on resisting Gadrael's alchemy for a little bit longer.

The moment Alistair had called out his telepathic message, Vail made her move. Gripping one end of the metal chain Alistair had given her moments earlier she hurled the rest over Gadrael's shoulder. Dragging her foot in a circular motion and then backwards the thrown end of the chain moved with it, silver wrapping itself around Gadrael and binding his arms to his torso, only for the end to fly back and land at Vail's foot. She picked it up, pulling both ends and tightening the bind.

Gadrael resisted, tugging and pulling at the chains that bound him, but Vail had expected it. She pulled firmly, her muscles forced to work ten times harder than they should be able to because of her alchemy, and dragged Gadrael closer to her. Wrapping the chains around her gauntlets, Vail's grip was strengthened still. When she pulled Gadrael within arm’s reach, Vail threw a punch at the bound Gadrael, striking him in the side of the head as hard as she could. She kicked, striking the back of his leg at his popliteal, and then brought a single punch down on the back of his shin. There was a sickening crack, enough to make even Vail cringe.

Vail was about to hurl an insult at him, something about get revenge for what he had done to Alistair, but the words caught in her throat when she saw a great flaming bird emerge from one of the Asylums, rising into the sky and sweeping down to strike Gadrael. Whatever pyrotechnics the king had produced earlier, this dwarfed it by comparison. ",,,oh boy."

She dropped the chains and ran.

Fletcher watched from a distance as the man in the strange clothes, Alistair, his name was, attempted to talk down the mad king. Fletcher contorted his face into his best impression of admiration at a brave but altogether foolhardy endeavor. He stood there calmly as the battle raged around him. Two different kings attempted to charge him but Isaiah splattered their brains on the ground. In his backpack there were a number of choice goods that he had brought along, or stolen from Isaiah. Fletcher was fairly certain he would need all of them in this upcoming battle - it was gonna be a big one.

The first thing he pulled out of his pack was a small ziplock baggy. In it was a small amount of white powder. Drawing a knife, he doled a small amount onto the blade and snorted it. His right eye twitched once, twice, three times. He swallowed the sneezed violently. Shaking out his limbs he began to limber up.

"Isaiah, remember that thing?"

"Fletch I don't believe you could be more vague if you tried,"

"Work with me, man, I'm really high right now. You know, that one move we'd been theorizing about,"

"Hugo?"

"Whatever man. I think naming it is fucking weird but sure,"

"Yes I'm familiar with Hugo. Why are you bringing it up? It's never been done, we would need to test it in a controlled environment. Performing it in the field could be catastrophic,"

"So..you're a pussy?"

"Fletch..."

"Look Mac, I think we might be in serious trouble here. Catastrophic might be what we need,"

Isaiah sighed. Fletcher was at his most rational when he was strung out on cocaine. The irony would have normally made him chuckle but his partner was making a good point.

"Ok, let's do it Fletch. I'll make the necessary preparations. Let me know when you're ready,"

Fletcher nodded to nobody in particular. He often wondered what fear felt like. From what he had gathered, it was situations like these that would bring about fear in normal folks. He took a deep breath, put on his best frightened face, and went to work.

It started with mutters. Right before the muttering intensified to chanting, he began to work his fingers in complex patterns. As his vocem increased in volume, he began to move his arms in sweeping arches, utilizing a different motem pattern with his fingers and his arms. This would either work gloriously or a lot of people would die. Both interesting outcomes as far as he was concerned. Fletcher's clothes began to ruffle as the waves of alchemical power washed away from his body, soaking into the soil beneath his feet. He was practically yelling now.

Isaiah had been busy preparing his contribution to Hugo. With an extremely hard bit he had been carving a powerful and intricate sigilum onto a bullet. It was slow going at first but the power of the alchemy at work induced an almost trance-like focus that enabled him to work more rapidly. As he finished and loaded the round into his beloved rifle, the runes that slithered down the heavy barrel began to glow in the presence of alchemy. This had better work

Fletcher was risking going hoarse by shouting so loud, yet he was barely audible over the din of the battle. All of the fighting seemed to have moved away from him, the power of his alchemy pleading avoidance into the subconscious of the nearby kings. As the chanting reached its climax, a huge phoenix burst into the sky. Fletcher's attention, fortified by the cocaine in his system, would not waver, however. As Vail shouted her command to let loose their alchemy, Fletcher's motem and vocem stopped, leaving a void in the soundscape of the battle. He plunged both of his knives into the earth. A few hundred yards away, Isaiah gently squeezed the trigger.

All three forms of alchemy struck the ground beneath Fletcher's feet simultaneously. The resulting wave of power amplified Fletcher's alchemical specialization to a point he had never experienced before. A magnetic field, small in size but unbelievably powerful in magnitude, began to draw the iron from the soil to itself.The second part of the alchemy kicked in and the cloud of solid iron began to whip and whirl violently. A metal tornado, roughly twelve feet tall and five feet in diameter, began its course towards Gadrael. Fletcher collapsed to the ground from exhaustion. His last thoughts were of something almost alien given how uncommon it was. Hope. Fletcher hoped powerfully that their alchemy would be enough to stop the mad king. With that, he eased into unconsciousness.

Kiara

Kiara spent an annoyingly long amount of time searching for her sniper rifle so she could actually get involved in the fight again. She prefered to keep her opponents far, far out of sword range. Not to mention, her skills in a fight like that were slim at best, and she would only be a hinderance to her fellow Asylums at the worst, or would be killed immediately at the best. Thus, she missed the series of attacks that went on. When she finally found her sniper rifle(far closer to the battle than she would have liked), the giant flaming bird of doom was heading towards the loud, vulgar King. One of the Council Members, she assumed. And, incidentally, it was big enough to hit her in the process. Kiara gave a low, impressed, whistle. "Damn." Then she drew a sigil in the ground. As the earth rose to drag her down far enough away from the blast that she wouldn't be killed by the flames or roasted by the heat, or both, she looked over at Galadrael and muttered under her breath. As the female Asylum disappeared under the earth(and hopefully, far, far away from everything that was trying to kill the Council member), Galadrael's shadow rippled and encircled him. Around the same time everything hit the poor man, his shadow shot spikes solid enough to draw blood and pierce flesh at him from every direction except up and down.

Kiara, for her part, felt the earth shaking above her and curled into a defensive ball, praying she hadn't just prepared her own grave.

Team Dos Pistolas
Las Vegas Airport, one hour and eight minutes ago.

“You gotta be kitten me.”

The tall, burly half-Hawaiian was looking incredulously down at a powder-blue Volkswagen Beetle.

“Lina, there’s no way I’m going to fit into that thing. I don’t even want to try.”

“Quit being such a baby. We’re already two hours behind, we just have to take it and go,” the female Asylum snapped. She hated to be late to her first appointment with a new group, hated to miss the action which was sure to be starting in the next few minutes. Lina was not about to be delayed further because her giant beast of a partner felt a tad uncomfortable in their rental car.

“No. My ass is already sore from sitting on a damn plane all day, and I’m not folding myself into a stupid Volkswagen just because you’re in a hurry. They told you it was a Passat, not this.”

As he was speaking, the male member of Dos Pistolas was edging around the front of the car, his right hand beginning to reach for the keys.

Marcelina just stared at him, her jaw clenched. “Kai, I swear to God, if I have to put you in a little box and throw you into the backseat, you are getting in this Beetle.”

Kai stared back, honestly a little surprised and offended by Lina’s sudden mean streak. In years past, she would have said that with a smile… but there was no levity now. When he replied after a tense moment, his voice was as hard and mirthless as hers.

“Have it your way, then.” Kai said, turning to walk back to his side of the car. He threw his suitcase into the pitiful excuse of a backseat and then turned to give her a meaningful look over the top of the vehicle. “You always do.”

He sat down heavily in the passenger seat, jerked his legs inside, and slammed the car door with enough force to make the Beetle rock. Lina was left standing outside the car, stunned. She wasn’t sure whether to be angry that he’d snapped at her or sorry she’d provoked him. What Lina didn’t realize was that the moment Kai had shut the door he’d laid his arm on the armrest, deliberately touching his fingertip to the switch for the power window, and said softly but with great vehemence…

“Accursed little blue Volkswagen, now you belong to me.”¹

Lina took her time putting her suitcase into the car’s miniscule trunk, and half-expected to find her door locked when she tried to get inside the vehicle. Kai looked pointedly out his window as she sat down. His knees weren’t quite hitting the dashboard… but it also didn’t look as though he’d moved his seat back. She put the key in the ignition and twisted it, which made the radio come on and the engine start to turn over. Kai muttered one small word, under his breath, his face still pointed away from his partner.

“Break.”²

A muffled thud issued from the engine compartment. Black smoke began to roil out from underneath the hood and the smell of burnt metal filled the interior.

Lina whipped sideways in her seat and glared at her partner.

“Kai. Are you serious right now?!”

The big man struggled to keep a straight face as he turned to his partner. “Of course I’m serious. Our rental car just blew up, we should seriously get out of it.”

“Did you really… Kai… did you really just kill a perfectly good Bug just because you didn’t want to ride in it?”

“What if I did?” Kai asked, “What would you do? Spank me?”

He wiggled his eyebrows at her suggestively, grinning.

“You’d like that too much,” Lina tried to be -or at least sound- angry and frustrated, but she couldn’t help the small smile slowly spreading across her face. “I didn’t realize you hated the Beetle so much you’d fry it. I’m sorry I made you get in.”

Her partner’s grin faded a little, the look in his eyes growing somehow both more stern and more gentle.

“Were you sorry before I made it explode, Lina?”

She had to look away, down at the gearshift, but she nodded.

“Good. I’m not sorry.”

Her head snapped up, mouth already opening with a sharp reply, but Kai was still speaking.

“Because now I get to drive one of those,” he said, pointing out Lina’s window at the sleek, black, Dodge Challenger SRT8 at the very end of the row.



---xX--Xx---

Still not sorry, Kai blistered down the I15 at 110 miles an hour in Dos Pistoles’ rented sportscar. Firmly buckled into the passenger seat, Marcelina had already forgiven him and was thoroughly enjoying the ride. And then, suddenly:

“Let’s see how strong you Asylums really are!”

“Shit!” Kai exclaimed, “That’s the beginning of the game! I thought we might actually make it!”

Lina smiled a wicked little grin and looked at her partner from beneath her long, dark lashes.

“Kai… drive faster.”

She both hated and loved the way his equally wicked grin made her heart stutter a little in her chest.

---xX--Xx---

So what you know about sacrifice when the lights go out?
The price to pay when you're digging down?
The skin of your teeth and the blade in your back:
What you know about hope? What you know about that?

---xX--Xx---

The prescribed grounds for the training exercise were on the outskirts of Vegas. Although it was less than fifteen miles from the Airport and the Strip, this was a verge where the verdant green of man-made irrigation stopped and the burning desert reasserted itself. It was dark, and Lina was feeling pretty hopeless about finding some sphere lost in the no-man’s-land beyond the parking lot of the M Hotel.

Their Challenger was parked pointing south, and though there were a few roads between the hotel and the open sierra they led to nothing but a few small buildings and a little barbed wire fence. She stood for a few long moments, the hot dry breeze tugging at a few chocolatey strands that had come loose from her braid. Lina put her hands on her hips, closed her eyes, and breathed in deeply. After the recycled oxygen of the plane, it felt good to enjoy some thin, clear air.

A dull thud interrupted the female Asylum’s reverie. Kai had popped the trunk and begun unpacking their battle gear.

Kai, of course, could easily hide all their weaponry from the airport scanners with a soft word. Lina’s carry-on contained her Dos Pistolas, ten boxes of ammo (most of it Anti-Alchemic and pre-loaded into extended magazines), and her blowgun. The switchblade had not left her right calf since she’d put it on that morning. Lina hiked up the bottom hem of her black tee shirt and slid the gunbelt around her waist. Out of the corner of her eye she caught Kai admiring her exposed flesh… and the way he was holding his shirt up with his teeth made Lina turn away.

She was careful not to do it quickly, so that she wasn’t obviously avoiding looking at Kai, but she really was an idiot to think he didn’t notice a faint blush creeping up the back of her neck. Kai suspected that Lina didn’t even know she blushed there.

The moment could have become tense if not for a sudden sound; softened by a little bit of distance, but still clear. A battle cry.

And then fire flashed in the desert. Hurriedly the pair finished jamming their extra ammo into every imaginable cargo pocket possible. Lina set the remainder with her backpack (aqua blue and purple tie-dye to Kai’s black) in the Challenger’s trunk.

“Time to go,” Kai said, tossing the keys in alongside Lina’s backpack and slamming the lid shut. “Lock.”¹

The car honked once, accompanied by the distinctive click of both doors locking.

Then Dos Pistolas was jogging out into the desert, slowing only to navigate the one barbed wire barrier in their way. Lina was actually stretching a little as they got closer to the mock battlefield. She wasn’t the first Motem user to pull a muscle while casting, and she wouldn’t be the last.

Kai and Lina started to slow down as they neared the fight. Her Hunter’s instinct was kicking in, and she was counting the number of people up ahead. How many teams had they been meeting up with?

“Kai…”

“I know,” he said in a quiet, tense tone. “Something’s not right here.”

Their forward motion stopped.

“There’s too many people, and only one of them is supposed to have a sword, if I recall correctly.”

Kai nodded. Then; “It could just be part of the exercise, a mock-attack.”

Lina contemplated for a minute, watching. She heard someone shout something about kings being made to rule, and it took several long seconds for the light to come on.

“No, I don’t think so. Didn’t you hear that? The Kings are-”

But that was as far as Lina got before a blinding light leapt from the center of the combat zone. For a second Kai thought someone had turned on a spotlight, and he was already speaking the first words of a cast to turn it off when the light changed over…

…into a giant column of fire.

As the flames rose, the pair sank. Down onto their haunches, crouched desperately behind the stunted sagebrush and dry grass which was the desert’s meager idea of cover.

“I think shit just hit the fan,” Lina remarked quietly, eyes a little wide.

“Agreed. Game plan?” Kai asked.

“Guns first. We’re already coming in from the left flank, and I only see three guys with swords between us and the man in white… who I’m assuming just cast that gnarly-ass fire tornado.”

Kai nodded. “Take out those three on our way to the big bad, what’s the plan on him?”

Lina smirked. “Remember the disc blades from Amsterdam?”

The male Asylum grinned at his partner. “Yeah, those are good. I’ll keep shooting, maybe cast a Power Drain... or maybe we’ll see how much dude likes fire on his robes.”

She glanced at him sideways. “The roof, the roof…”

A little chuckle, softly, was all Kai allowed himself. “Ready?”

“Set,” Lina said with a nod.

“Go!” Without a countdown, Dos Pistolas both spoke and moved forward in unison.



---xX--Xx---

What you know about standing up when the odds get stacked?
Time stands still, ain't no turnin' back!
When everything you're worth is under attack,
What you know about heart? What you know about that?

---xX--Xx---

Three small muzzle flashes against the night was hardly a way to enter such an extravagant and blazing Alchemic battle, but flashy had never been Dos Pistolas’ style. It was only a trio of tiny, Anti-Alchemic bullets launched into the cooling night air, propelled by nothing more than a few grains of gunpowder and a tiny little pin. But because they were so small and comparatively quiet, they were unexpected, and therein lie their true power.

The first, having been fired from Kai’s black gun, connected with the right temple of the swordbearing King closest to them. It caved in the right side of his face, and blew out his left. Shards of bone and blood and brain splattered all over the King beside him. As the second man realized something had happened to the first, the bullet fired from Lina’s black Glock connected with his skull just above his right ear.

Kai’s second bullet, an Anti-Alchemic from his chrome, struck the third King on the right side of his ribcage, knocking him off balance. Kai saw no blood and realized that the man was probably wearing body armor. He adjusted his aim and fired again as the King turned towards Dos Pistolas and raised his yellow sword, which began to glow. Lina pulled her trigger at the same time Kai did, firing at the same target.

Both bullets drew blood, one in the point of each shoulder. The King’s sword began to drop as the muscles and tendons which attached his arms to his body were blown apart. Kai recognized the enemy’s weapon for what it was: a man made device reliant on electricity to operate.

“Bright blade, claim your freedom and cut the hand that wields you!”¹

Electricity exploded off the King’s sword as its pointed tip touched the Nevada dust. The man collapsed into a violent seizure, the energy once stored in the blade now coursing instead through his own body. It was several moments before Kai and the rebel sword were ready to let the King lay still, the male Asylum’s cast released.

As Kai and Marceline were blowing holes in the remaining Kings, they saw a man in a pink suit attempt to ration with the man in white. They stopped shooting in time to hear:

"My name is Gadrael, I am one of the four of the Council of Kings. I am the manifestation of a rogue's despair. Can you hear it? Hear our frustration... feel our anguish!"

And then, almost simultaneously, was the shout of “Fuck you and your masters!” outside their heads, from Gadrael, and the internal telepathic shout of “Now!” from Alistair.

Without a word to one another, Dos Pistolas shifted gears. Kai dropped to one knee, putting his pistols back in their holsters. Since his markers wouldn’t work on dirt, he swept a space smooth with the flat of his hand. Then he began drawing his sigil in the dust with the tips of his fingers. As Kai neared the completion of the sigil, he spoke.

“Power Drain. Source: Gadrael. Target: disperse into the earth.” ²

As he said the word ‘earth’, Kai completed the last line of the sigil. The lines in the dirt flashed white and then vanished before beginning to glow faintly again. The spell would continuously draw power from the enemy, hopefully weakening both his attacks and defenses.

While Kai worked his cast, Lina mimicked his motion of holstering a gun… though she only did it with one hand. When entering battle, the female used only one of her pair so she could leave her other hand free to cast a shield if need be. With both hands free, she began her own Motem spell.

Elbows slightly bent, Marcelina held both hands out in front of her at waist level, fingers spread and palms facing in toward each other. She began to move them in small concentric circles as if spinning something vertically between them. As Lina did this, she spoke.

“Blade like the sun, bright and round and burning, with rays that bite and blur.” ¹

Then she flung her arms outward, as if shoving the invisible thing she’d been spinning away from her body... throwing it so hard her whole frame tottered forward with the effort. About a foot from where the female Alchemist stood, a four-foot-tall disk of bluish-purple energy materialized out of thin air, already whirling so fast the individual curved blades around its edge seemed to melt into this whole. This gigantic rotary blade of energy whirled straight at Gadrael, aimed to cut him in half vertically if he didn’t move or break it with a shield of his own.

Much as Lina wanted to dash in and pull the wounded Asylums out of harm’s way, Kai was already tugging her sleeve.

“We’d better back up if we don’t want to get caught in the clusterfuck that’s about to hit.”

Lina nodded, and while the pair still faced the battle, they were taking big steps backwards. The fiery phoenix was taking shape above, a metal tornado had risen from the shaking earth, and Lina’s own blue blade was spinning inbound. Belatedly the woman wondered if this Gadrael person could teleport unaided… because she suspected that was what it would take for him to escape with his life.



---xX--Xx---

We are the ones who were born to rise,
We are the ones with the fire inside!
I go to war with the brothers I trust,
And there ain't no stopping us,
No stopping us!