Gourd Lake:

The young punk thought what Denys said was probably the best idea. Henry and the armoured soldier would have most likely gone at it until one died. Hell, who knew if Denys could take him? Whatever the case was they had to do something. "I guess that is all we can do. I find it strange we have not seen a single person walking a dog, enjoying a picnic, fishing or finding someone in that shack other there." she said pointing towards it. The pointing was just to add something, Denys knew the shack since they were in there before the fight broke out. As she pointed something came into view but she could not say what it was. Her pointing was now aimed at the Big Sister who seemed to be firing fireballs at the shack. Candy Cane soon stopped pointing as she saw yet another being able to cast magic of some kind.

"Damn it, what is it with these people all be superhuman or being able to do magic as if it is normal. What the hell is that thing anyway?" she said to herself primarily to herself but was also directed at Denys in some way. As she tried to figure out what the hell was going on and she had forgotten the armoured man was in the shack. Though even if she did not forget about him the soldier seemed to take fire as if it was nothing more than an annoyance at best. The redhead gripped her guitar as she felt somewhat tense over what she was seeing. 'Please don't be more than one of you strange metal beings? Please don't let them come over here and start something?' she thought to herself.

"What should we do Denys and do you have nay ideas of what that thing is?" she asked him. The punk was sure he would have no clue about the being but she had to at least ask just in case he did know for some reason. She did not want to do anything reckless or she would be fried like a piece of beef on a barbecue. She had no powers or special abilities which started to make her somewhat self-conscious about herself.

As Denys and the punk spoke, the two noticed someone. 5 someones, to be exact. Oddly dressed, the lot of them. They wore hypodermic needles and canisters upon their skintight suits. It was hard to hear them, due to the distortion from their helmets. But Denys could hear that they were young women, like the girl by his side. He strained his ears to listen in, catching a few words. Adam, Rapture, Splicer, but most importantly, Spear Pillar. That could be his link to the Holy Pillar, and his ticket to the past, or future if he had traveled backwards.

The Kaiser began walking towards the suited women, one of them leaped, high into the air, before casting a few fire spells upon the shack that the Marine had been inhabiting. Denys quickly blocked a flying chunk of building with his claymore, before shouting "Everyone! To my side!" in a commanding tone. This thing, whatever it was, could cast magic very quickly. If they wanted a chance at succeeding, they would need to work together.

As the girl next to him asked him what to do, The Kaiser's leading skills took control. "Can you lift that building? The knight would be a great boon. For now, Henry and I will hold this one off." He said, before calling to the mage. "Henry! The fire caster!" Denys didn't get a chance to rest after he had fought the knight, and neither had Henry, so they were both presumably lower on Magic than usual. Denys would wait before casting another spell, since he could only cast about 6 more before running out of juice. For now, Denys simply charged at the thing, sword still drawn, ready to dodge. He needed to bait out an attack, see what this thing was capable of.

---

Red watched in horror as the previously normal guard began to do strange things, before his appearance began to morph. Parts of him fell away, barely constrained in the first place it seemed, to reveal a shambling corpse. His voice cracked just like his skin, and the lines between living and dead began to melt into each other. As the man repeated endlessly, and shambled towards Red, she took a small step back in fear, before steeling herself. It was her job to release this man from the Process's grasp.

Red firmly planted her feet into the ground, Crashing the thing, hopefully knocking it down. After that she would attempt to execute it with a Breach, whether it was still standing or not.

Images and sounds flashed over Terra's vision. Kefka laughing, the Empiror observing her progress, Biggs and Wedge marching on Narshe with her by their side. "That Slave Crown on her head robs her of all conscious thought. She'll follow orders. Fifty Magitek Elites lined up before her. "Show us your power..." She'd raised her hand and a wave of fire consumed all of them as they screamed. Her flames left nothing of their bodies behind.

A shot rang out like mighty crash as the dirty at her feet flew into the air. Terra in her rational mind knew it was the same type of sound Scout's gun had made but that part of her was far away. The idea that Biggs and Wedge were alive, that the Empire could reach her even here made the Esper girl see red and when the shot went off she lost control of the fire in her hands. She'd had a Firaga spell prepared and as it burst from her the flames expanded. It exploded at Hildibrand's feet with a sound louder than that of Gaige's weapon. It coated the ground for two meters in front and two the left and right of Terra completely engulfing Hildibrand. The horses were afeared of the flames. They rose up on two legs with a great cry before backing away as fast as possible.

Terra looking at what she had caused was frozen for a brief moment before she began to run. This was as bad as when she'd worked for the Empire but at least then she'd had the consolation that it wasn't her fault. That she'd been controlled. What she did here was entirely her own, her own actions, her own choices, her own loss of control.

She teleported from view appearing at the entrance to the Ranch. Without time to think she ran as fast as she could towards the castle gates in the distance hoping beyond hope that they would be open.

As Terra left the area the link between her and her fire was severed as the flames dissipated all but completely leaving Hildibrand standing there looking slightly singed but no less the worse for wear. He turned to look at Gaige and Scout, a slightly confused expression. "Quite an unusual girl, skilled but in great distress. We shall pursue her yes? It is the duty of every gentleman to give aid to a woman in need. For that is the Manderville way!"
@Scarifar@Happy Go Lucky@ProPro

Poised like a gargoyle over the Renaissance era streets of Venice Mirela Djuric peered down at the milling throng of humanity. She wasn’t Mirela, obviously, she was just using the character’s skin in multiplayer and she was just playing an immersive video game but that didn’t matter. This recreation of Venice was astounding. She loved the simulation. She could hear the mongers on the wharf unloading their hauls of fish, and a pair of older women darning nets. She could smell it too, the sweet stench of rot.
It was quite distracting.

Especially, since she was supposed to be looking for infiltrators. The game was simple. There were two territories, each belonging to a team. Her team wanted the opposing team’s artifact nestled deep in enemy territory. The problem was, if you were in enemy territory you couldn’t harm them but they could harm you.

Right now she was in her own territory, scanning the crowds, looking for the opposing team’s infiltrators. She was close to her own artifact which dulled her ability to sense if an intruder was near but this was where she preferred to be, using her eyes to find opponents. Just then she caught sight of one. It was easy. This close to the goal, anticipation pressed heavily, most started cutting corners. This one was walking against the flow of pedestrians, cresting through the milling crowds like a shark through water. He should have gone with the flow, allowed the rest of the crowd to lead him about in a wide circle and come at the goal again. Now she had him.
She leaped down, grasping a cable from which someone’s laundry hung and dropped carefully onto the metal support from which hung a sign limned with a draft horse sitting upon a stool and drinking a pint of ale. She then stepped off onto a pile of crates and made to follow her prey. She was fast approaching when he turned and looked over his shoulder to see Mirela moving against the crowd as surely as he was.
Mirela cursed as the man began to run, shoving through the crowd and away from her. She followed, bare feet slapping the cobblestone. She was the faster in her own territory but he reached the building first and stepped up to a rope and tackle pulley system. He slashed the rope, releasing the counterweight and went flying upwards, ascending to the roof in mere moments.

Scrabbling up the side of a building Mirela pursued her opponent, chasing him across a cable stretching from roof to roof across the street. The chase went on at length, up buildings, down buildings, across cables between buildings and across buoys floating in channels of Venice. Once even they jumped from gondola to gondola. She almost lost him then. Still, the distance between her and her prey diminished by the stride. Ahead she should see him dive off the edge of a roof, arms extended as if in flight and disappear. She reached the same ledge and dove off, emulating her opponent and landed in a cartful of hay.

Leaping out she peered about. She was in a square. It was too large for him to have raced across it so her prey was hiding, hiding in plain sight. Walking about, her skirts swishing about her legs, she scoured the populace with her eyes, looking for anything out of the ordinary. Finally, she stopped before a man seated upon a bench and flanked by two others. His face was obscured, a hood covering his visage. He stared down at her bare feet, up her blue skirts and finally looked her in the eye.

“You got me,” he acquiesced, spreading his hands out to his side, “Except we just crossed back into my side of the fence.”
Mirela gasped, realization dawning upon her as the Vizier lunged, plunging his dagger up under her breast and into her heart with his right hand while embracing her with his left. She danced on the tips of her toes, suspended upon the knife tip and tried to cry out only to have her final breaths covered by her killer’s mouth and lips. She died then, going limp in his arms and laid her head against his chest.
Carefully, the Vizier turned about, holding up Mirela’s dead body against himself, her toes slipping across the cobblestone. Then he gently set her down in the seat he had just vacated and placed her hands in her lap.

“Excuse me,” he said to the man on the bench beside Mirela, “Could you watch out for my friend here. She’s just ‘dead’ tired.”



Mirela opened her eyes...

Scout chuckled nervously for a second before saying, "Well, uh... the horses here don't, uh, work like they do where I come from, that's-" It was then that Scout realized how tense the situation was getting when Terra had fire in her hand and was shouting something at Hildibrand. Scout was barely able to say, "Uhhh-" before a shot was fired off. The next thing he knew, there were flames erupting again, and the horses were whinnying, Scout being thrown off onto the ground by one of them. Fortunately for him, Scout avoided getting stepped on as the horses moved back. "Ugh," Scout groaned after quickly crawling away and getting back onto his feet. By then, Terra was already running off.

"Ok, what the freaking hell happened?" Scout asked after the flames dissipated and the tension was lessened. Hildibrand made the suggestion to go after Terra, which Scout was hesitant to agree to. On any other day, he wouldn't mind running after a hot chick, but this was a hot chick that could shoot fire out of her goddamn hands. Not the craziest thing he ever faced, but still, she was hot, and that was something that Scout didn't want to ruin. On the other hand, it wasn't like he had anything else to do. Scout's mind was made up then. With a shrug, Scout replied, "Sure. Not every day run after a hot girl. Unless you're me, and in my case, girls actually run after me, cuz that's what happens when you're awesome."

---

After Spy had walked a short distance and turned off his Invis-Watch, the sounds of battle soon died down until there was nothing but ambient noise left in the air. Spy thought it was interesting enough to be worth noting, but thought nothing more of it and resuming walking. He also thought it worth noting when he noticed the disturbance in the lake from out the corner of his eye. Spy turned to look, and wondered what could be causing the water to act like so. That question was quickly answered when the group of bipedal creatures emerged from the water.

Alarmed, Spy quickly back away from the lake, his eyes darting around for a hiding spot. Spotting a tree, Spy immediately rushed over and went behind it to better conceal himself. Peering from behind the tree, Spy wondered what on earth they were and what they were doing. As they seemingly teleported over to the shore from their platform in the lake, Spy ducked back behind the tree, but slowly peeked back out to confirm that they had not yet seen him. Spy could not discern what exactly they were talking about at the distance they were at, but Spy could confirm that they definitely sounded like late adolescent girls. Spy activated his Invis-Watch once more, turning himself invisible, and began to sneak his way over to the girls, at which point one of them began to attack.

"My. God," Spy muttered to himself in horrified amazement as he stared at the one that had exploded the shack, then resumed his attention to the other four. Spy decided to remain hiding for now, and wait for an opportunity to present himself before he would act. The others at the shack were beginning to fight back, so there was no need to worry about them yet. Right now, he would focus on his job.

When the voice of a leader reached him, Henry reluctantly abandoned his plan of watching the action unfold and got to his feet before ambling over to join Denys. Though he felt healthy enough at the moment thanks to the healing magic cast by the Kaiser earlier, he produced his Nosferatu tome anyway. Contrary to what one might think, this dark mage held no compunctions about following orders he felt were fair. Anyone could guess that Denys meant to take these freaky newcomers on, and that sat just fine with Henry. Observing from a distance suited someone wishing to learn alright, but now he could take them apart chunk by chunk and see what made them tick. Gleefulness practically radiated from him, perhaps helping to counteract any panic that might have set in to the hearts of the others due to the Big Sister's display of power. "Got you covered!" he assured them.

Without further ado combat began. Denys took the initiative, showing off an admirable Speed, as he rushed to engage the creature whose sorcery had turned the shack to splinters. Henry wasted no time doubling up in a Partner Attack. From this strategic position, a follow-up to an ally's attack could be made from safety, and with numerous other small benefits enjoyed as well. Magic coursed through his being, channeled through the open tome in his newly reformed hand. "Me, me, me!" That malignant purple energy called Nosferatu shone down on the Big Sister like a spotlight immediately after Denys made his attack.

Gaige was never exactly the most socially perceptive individual. Usually she found herself too caught up in her own mind, which wandered a lot, to notice a lot of people's social cues. So the fact that Terra appeared to be shell shocked and swimming the proverbial canoe over the waterfall in her own head and Gaige noticed meant that this was bad bad bad. Then the green-haired magic girl freaked out, nearly going all Carrie on them by slinging fire around. Gaige's horse reared back and the small teenager found herself tumbling to the ground, accidentally dropping her pistol which instantly stored itself away.

"Ooph!" The mechromancer stood up to see Terra charging away, still freaked. All Gaige could muster was a befuddled, "...Ok?"

Hildebrand suggested they all go after her, which Gaige had some reservations about but ultimately knew she would agree. Scout's words only reinforced the course of action she knew she'd have no choice but to go with. She climbed back up on her horse after taking a moment to calm it down, then said, "You know Scout, you're going to have to prove this awesomeness you keep talking about. Let's see if you can keep up with THE GOD OF DAMAGE!"

With that Gaige spurred her horse on fast as she could make it go, getting herself an early lead on her two remaining companions. It'd probably be best for her to be in the lead anyway, since she already tagged Terra as a party member and thus could track the woman's position on her ECHO map.

@Scarifar@Prince of Seraphs

Gourd Lake:

The redhead listened to Denys before responding. "Maybe, I mean I could give it a try. Though it is burning pretty quickly that there might not be a building to save," she said. The punk soon looked at the building the Big Sister was destroying. Candy Cane watched as Denys went off charging at the unknown enemy. Henry was soon off aiding Denys in some form of tag team fashion. The young superstar frowned a little before making her way towards the burning building, she made sure to keep a good distance from the metal being. 'Things seem to be getting weirder aren't they?' she thought to herself. The young punk stopped every so often to see what was going on with the metal being hoping it was the only one close by. Eventually, she was near the burning building but out of the reach of the metal being.

The punk watched the burning shack for a moment wondering how she would even stop the fire which was destroying the shack at an alarming rate. How was the armoured man surviving in that shack? The punk soon began to look for a bucket to try and control the fire in some fashion. The problem was anything wooden next to the shack would be on fire as well. The plumes of smoke filling the air. "Crap, I can't stop this building from burning down," she said to herself. 'Wait, what am I even doing. I am no hero, just a wrestler from Canada who enter some stupid tournament,' she thought to herself. The punk could see some figures in the distance, she could make them out a little. They seemed similar to the metal monster that set the shack on fire.

She could make out four more of the creatures that Denys and Henry were fighting. 'Crap, I can't do anything. I am just too human to do anything. Am I that powerless?' she thought to herself. A frown was on her face at this time.

"That was an unnecessary risk, Guardian. What if the others hadn't been able to finish him in time?" James sighed, turning to look at his floating companion known as Ghost. They had just finished killing Malok to complete the Blighted Chalice mission that Varicks and were preparing to head back to their jump ship in orbit. Ghost's latest complaint was that James had hit Malok with Shadowshot and emptied his sniper rifle clip into the Pride of Oryx, leaving him just low enough for their Titan to drop a Havoc Fists on him and finish the job.

"Relax, Ghost. It's not like I didn't know where the Titan was. And even if I hadn't, I still had Shade Step to get me out of the way." Ghost, in his usual admitle of defeat, gave a mechanical sigh and disappeared again, leaving James to secure any additional ammo drops before they headed to Orbit. "You know, with Malok gone, we might finally be able to spend more time working on our snap aiming in some Rumble matches."

Ghost chuckled and began to reply when the HUD for James goes crazy. "Something's happening, but I can't tell you what. Trying to get us back in orbit but it's not working!" As Ghost spoke, the world went dark for Guardian and Ghost alike, the last thing either of them remembers seeing is the Shrine going crazy.

---

When the Guardian finally came to, it was with a loud groan and his hand to his head as he sat up. "Ah, finally! When we blacked out, I came back around first, but I've been unable to contact Eris or the Vanguard. I've also been unable to get us back to our ship." James, in response, was on his feet in a hear beat, the Ace of Spades in his hands and up, searching for Hive to come surging at him.

"You know, this is awfully green with plant life to be the moon. Are we back on Earth somehow, somewhere other than Russia?" If Ghost could have shrugged, he would have. All his scans were confusing to say the least and so he didn't feel a need to share them with the Guardian until he had sorted them out.

"I don't know yet, but I'm working on that. Wait a minute, I'm picking something up...to your left!" Spinning and leaping backwards at the same time, the Skeleton's hand swipes empty hair just before being blown apart by a well placed shot from the Hand Cannon. At the same time, James took note of a person, seemingly human, running across the fields some ways away and holstered his Hand Cannon to draw the Patience and Time from his back.

Climbing a nearby tree in an effort to avoid more skeletons, which he was sure was some new Hive creature, he scoped up on her. "Well, she's got green hair and seems to be fairly distraught." Looking behind her, he spots another girl, this one riding a...well, it was some kind of animal for sure, apparently in pursuit. "And someone's giving chase to her. What should we do?"

"Which ever thing isn't likely to get us shot at or ripped to shreds?" A chuckle came from the Guardian as he lined up a shot that would graze the mounted girl's front, not actually hitting her but making her come up short if he was fortunate.

"Just have the Sparrow ready." Ghost started to protest, but didn't get a chance to as the sniper rifle went off, the round passing through the air inches from the animal mounted woman's face. Rolling, James expertly landed on his feet as he switched back to the Ace of Spades, but frowned at the lack of a Sparrow. "Uh, where's the Laurelbearer?"

Ghost gave a sigh before speaking, his little icon appearing in the top right of the Guardian's HUD. "I tried to tell you I couldn't before you fired, but you didn't wait. We have no contact with the Vanguard or our Jump Ship. It would also seem my Resurrection Matrix has been disabled somehow, so dying would be a REALLY bad thing to have happen. I hope for our sake that the person you just shot at isn't great at tracking shots."

With another chuckle, James took off towards where he'd seen the animal riding girl at a sprint, making sure to avoid any other skeletons so he wouldn't have to give his approach away.

More than their natural abilities these five Big Sister's had access to all the plasmids of Rapture, lending them far more power than any one being should ever have possessed.

The moment the Kaiser and Henry made to strike at Five where she stood the Big Sister vanished in a puff of purple smoke reappearing next to Becky Welsh as she attempted to put out the flaming remains of the Caretaker's shack. "I wonder, the creature said to her in a voice that could almost be called polite curiosity "Why do you not fight with your allies? Do you not consider them important? Do there lives mean little? Or perhaps you are cowardly?" Despite the obvious offense in Five's words her tone did not suggest that she meant to make Candy Cane feel pathetic or weak but simply wished to know the answer to her question.

Meanwhile the four other Big Sisters who where content to sit and watch began to discuss the situation. "Most interesting, the cloaked one seems to wield a power not unlike Adam, it is in his blood, his being. What do you think Alpha?" The First asked addressing the second one who had spoken.

"It is conceivable that in this world an equivalence to the genetic technologies of Rapture developed as a chance mutation. An interesting occurrence but clearly not an equal rival our abilities."

"An interesting assessment." said the first as though this was a classroom debate. "Gamma," she said to Four. "Why would Alpha assume the surface dwellers powers are less than our own?"

"It is not a question of less or more power but of energy, fuel. Gamma responded. "The surface dweller lacks Eve as a power source which means his abilities rely entirely on the energy his body can divert to his mutation. This signifies a key weakness in his abilities. If he uses them in an extreme manner it will take more power than he is capable of sustaining and his body will shut down. We do not share the same limitation."

"Very good," said the First as though praising a prized student. "Theta," she said to Three What have you seen?"

Unknown to any but the five the Big Sister known as Subject Theta had been using a plasmid called Scout. It allowed her to make an invisible mirage of herself that while not possessing of a physical form could relay data back to Theta's body. Since Five had begun her attack Theta had been observing the area in this form, in particular a man that had begun hiding when the fighting broke out and now stood invisible not far away.

When The First spoke Theta came back to herself "There's a man watching us." she said as though this was very rude thing to do. "He turned invisible behind that tree."

Without a second's hesitation One reached out her hand and activated a plasmid called Winter Blast. A wall of ice covered in deadly spikes formed rapidly over the tree extending beyond it to where the Spy was hiding. If he was still in that position the spikes would stop just short of his body. It was not an attack but a warning.
@Lugubrious@Royzooka@Kafka Komedy@Scarifar


When the Transistor's Crash technique blasted pure force at the creature the guard had become a strange thing happened to him. The bits of him that appeared as a badly burned corpse flashed red for a moment and from deep within the creature something like a ghastly groan escaped its throat. The creature leaned forward as though it had been struck and needed a moment to recover but when it did so only the dead parts of it moved. For a few seconds the corpse came completely disconnected from the man leaving strange blurred edges were they'd parted. This was especially strange on the body as small chucks of flesh from his torso became momentarily suspended in midair. It however recovered in seconds and all of the disconnected floating bits of corpse rejoined the man who's face suggested that nothing was wrong. It started to walk towards Red, her shot only having bought her a few moments of time. "Welcome to Hyrule Castle." it said eerily as it approached, intending if even a part of the Redead came in contact with Red to latch onto her back and start draining her strength from her body.
@Kafka Komedy@Lugubrious


As Terra ran she could hear the sound of the beasts Gaige had procured gaining on her. Her mind just a little bit more settled now Terra reached into her bag and pulled out an old stone pin that fit in the palm of her hand. They were a fairly common magical item in her land known as The Running Shoes. They increased the speeds at which she could move which was very useful for avoiding pursuers but Terra had never personally liked them because unless she were concentrating very very precisely she had a tendency to smash into things when she tried to stop.

Not worrying about that now Terra pinned the relic to her dressed and her speed dramatically increased. Not perhaps enough to outrun these 'horses' but enough that she might delay being caught long enough to reach the Castle she could see in the distance. The Castle loomed closer just as Terra heard a shot echo out over the land. It seemed that although Gaige had only known Hildibrand a few hours her code of honor demanded that his death be avenged.

Terra pushed herself so hard her legs were burning and her lungs screamed for relief but despite that Terra dared not take to the air in her esper form. Those weapons Gaige and Scout carried were not dissimilar from those mounted on the arms of magitek armour. Becoming air born would simply make her a very easy target. She was moving so fast that even as the skeletons clawed there way up from the ground she was already around them and out of reach.

As she ran the sound of a rooster crowing seemed to fill the air and almost magically the sun peaked over the horizon. The skeletons that Terra had ceased giving any thought to vanished back into the ground till the next night fall.

As Terra approached Hyrule Castle the drawbridge lowered and Terra pulled the Running Shoes pin off her dress coming to a halt halfway through the gate. Without pausing to look for her pursuers Terra darted inside the Castle Town.

Walking through the main street Terra couldn't shake the impression that something was very wrong with this place. Nothing looked out of the ordinary too much but little details just seemed off. Like a scorched brick placed among a thousand freshly cleaned ones. Or a window shutter that had been snapped off on a house that looked almost new.

Then the final proof that this town was all wrong came to her. Up ahead Terra spotted a girl that seemed to be engaged in combat with form of zombie creature. Knowing that the undead detested fire Terra summoned a Fira spell and lobbed it at the zombie. Far from defeating it however the thing caught fire but seemed to take no heed of it as it continued to walk towards the woman.
@Scarifar@Zarkun@ProPro@Kafka Komedy

Where the foul rays of Nosferatu seared the earth, they left it defiled. The grasses blanketing that soil, and the many insects nestled within that miniature forest, all withered and died instantly. Not even their husks remained behind; beneath the malevolent arclight that called forth images of horrific moonlight in the pitch-black hours of a haunted night, they disintegrated into dust. Nothing would grow in this spot for years, if not forever. The charred circle on the ground existed as a testament to this tiny annihilation, snuffing out life in the blink of an eye. For his part, Henry regretted that the life of Five hadn't been extinguished the same way.

Her act of what seemed to be teleportation bid the dark mage pause. Only Witches could warp like that. “A witch isn't good for business,” he admitted without breaking his eager grin. He knew precious little of these ultra-rare sorceresses, but their ability with magic outclassed even the dark mage's, and every witch could warp around the battlefield in the blink of an eye. Fighting one, so Henry heard, was like taking on a phantom. The witch was everywhere and nowhere at once, reinforcing allies, escaping even the cleverest traps, and obliterating any enemy that dared to stop for half a moment to catch his breath. And if the others shared this power, he and Denys were up against five.

A quick look around confirmed that his enemy had moved to the girl called Candy Cane, and while she didn't seem intent on attacking her at the moment, that could change at any second. Was this witch's choice of location, so close and exposed, an attempt to mock Henry? He gave a short chuckle. Why bother? He could take a joke—and he could deliver them. Whether or not this thing felt like teaching, class was in session, and Henry wanted to learn about her powers as he destroyed her. But why settle for just one?

The Nosferatu tome levitated out of his palm and floated into his robe, brushing against the Arcfire tome on the way. Very neatly the new book landed in the dark mage's hand, and before it had fallen fully open the pages inside were glowing and whipping frenetically. As his magic surged within him, he felt a sudden power far greater than before. For a moment, he felt that his veins were charged with energy, his fatigue fell away, his mind was honed razor-sharp, and that his heart was lighter than a feather. It beat quickly, brimming with excitement, and the fireball that sprang to life in his cupped hand both shone like the sun and swirled like a storm. ”Ahahahaha...! Special delivery!” With that, his golden magic circles chimed in the air around him, and the critical fireball leaped forward. It screamed through the air toward the group of four Big Sisters, its condensed power seemingly kept from exploding only by the promise of detonating, noisily and messily, in their midst.



To his chagrin, Birdie could not find any sort of establishment at which he could stuff his face, neither inn nor pub. After a few minutes of walking around in a vain search, he elected to slip off into a sidestreet and find a place to sit and rest. He did not imagine that no sooner had he closed his eyes than the cheery and most unwelcome light of morning rouse him from his near-slumber, accompanied by the crow of some cock to boot. ”W..! Wot!? Day already? Jus' as I was 'bouta get some kip, of course!” Heaving himself to his feet, he leaned out of the alley and looked both ways down the street. Nothing stood out to him. In the light of day, the place somehow seemed to be in a better shape than it had been in the night. ”Spooky...loik a proper ghost town.” If nothing lived in this place, that could mean only one thing: no breakfast. Birdie groaned, and the sound of soulfelt sorrow echoed down the desolate street.

Denys gave Candy a knowing nod before he charged head first at the creature in metal in front of him. Sword held high, and his magical ally's reassurance at his back, he ran towards the womanly thing, poised to strike, but as soon as he did, the woman left nothing but a cloud of smoke in her wake, and Henry's spell too was wasted, not scarring the earth instead of their attacker.

Turning around to hear a familiar voice, said woman was talking to Miss Cane, an oddly sincere tone for the insults she was flinging. It didn't matter if she could not help, it did not mean she did not care, and Denys would be sure to remind her of that whenever they got the free time. But that didn't matter for now, strange things were happening. The woman seemed not to attack Miss Cane, and one of them launched an ice spell at seemingly nothing. It was very obvious they were hostile, but it seemed they were confused in some way too. Priority one was his allies, but if possible, and it may not be, he'd spare them. But for now, his friend was in danger. Again, Denys charged at the most violent metal creature, sword out.

---

Red stopped for a split second, confused at the seemingly bizarre nature of the mummy's existence. It seemed to be in two places at once, when it was alive, and when it had passed. Was the Process trying to replicate humans? A horrifying thought, but Red would have to get back to it later, as the monster barely reeled at her attack, and it was approaching again, getting to close for any abilities. She slashed at it again, it still barely moving, and when she raised the blade for a downward chop, a woman appeared, dress almost reasonably, though still quite gaudy. Said woman seemed to do something, launch fire from her hand? Red could have sworn she was imagining that but it happened, the thing's head lopped off. But then, it still moved, and Red didn't have enough time to swing down. It's hand grazed her wrist.

Before she knew it, the thing was on her back, attempting to restrain her with it's bony hands. Red accidentally dropped the Transistor, and began feeling more and more tired as she struggled. Blu called out to her, but she couldn't reach him, her hands being restrained as well. As Red struggled to make her way closer to the Transistor, she briefly thought about the woman who had thrown the molotov of some kind, but quickly dismissed her as probably only having one and again, tried to make her way over to the blade.

@ProPro@Prince of Seraphs

Scout's initial response to Gaige was to raise his eyebrows in wide-eyed surprise, but that was soon replaced with a cocky grin. "Oh, I'll show you, alright!" Scout yelled at Gaige as he ran over to the nearest horse and climbed on. Unfortunately for Scout, he still couldn't get the horse to obey him, and Gaige quickly left him in her dust. He spent a few seconds trying to push the horse's back, yelling at it all the while, in a frustratingly futile attempt to get it to go forward. An idea then occurred to him. Scout slapped the horse's rump, and it seemed to do the trick. The horse began to run, and Scout flailed a bit to get a secure grip on the horse before he fell off. Fortunately, he was able to grab the horse's mane with one hand, and he pulled himself into position while keeping his other hand on his hat to keep it from getting blown away. "Wooo hoo hoo hooo!" Scout excitedly yelled as he felt the speed of the horse and the wind on his face.

---

Spy quickly darted away in surprise as an spiky ice wall formed in front of him. Conveniently, the charge on Spy's Invis-Watch ran out, forcing Spy to reveal himself as well. "Merde," Spy said to himself as he realized that he had already been discovered. There was no point hiding now, and fighting them head on would be a suicidal move. Spy knew then that he had a few courses of action left: he could either run away, or go talk to them directly. It was possible that Spy could flee and the beings would not pursue him, but considering their abilities, Spy doubted they would need to. However, from what Spy could tell right now, the spiked wall was not intended to kill him; the spikes didn't extend close enough to even wound him. If they had already been aware of his presence and location, then the act was either a scare tactic or a warning, possibly even both.

Normally, Spy would have ran by now. Coupled with the use of his Dead Ringer, he would be out in seconds, away from the escalating fight of magic and mayhem. This situation, though, was a special case. It was precisely the fact that this was a fight of magic and mayhem that this couldn't be simply ignored. At the very least, if things turned dicey, Spy could rely on his Dead Ringer to get him out of a pinch. Taking out the pocket watch from a fold in his suit and flipping the cover open, Spy proceeded to walk over to the Big Sisters, keeping his cool as he maintained his calm demeanor. If things worked out and Spy managed to approach them, Spy would proceed to carefully say, "You are not humans, are you? Who are you?" If he was attacked and his Dead Ringer was triggered, however, Spy would proceed to make like a tree and run for his life.

Aki Tamashiro otherwise known as Alpha 1 in Fenrir far east branch stirred awake she remembered she was chasing a hannibal type aragami that was in the city of mercy. It also ran from her never stopping to fight which was odd by itself. Cornering it she was about to devour it and call it a day when a flash of light appeared stunning her due to the intensity it gave. Taking a look of her of her given area she could tell she was in a hollowed out log of some type leading towards a forest. Though on the opposite was a large open field with that said Aki took to the field heading out her god arc gripped tightly in her hands she headed out.

It was than as if by some law of nature aragami appeared small skeleton like creatures lacking the large black flesh of most others. Still they fell like the rest each skeleton type aragami was quick to fall to the blade of her god arc. Though as she dashed forward through the field a large walled settlement of sorts was quick to come into view due to the speeds she was travelling. Though she quickly had to side step away from a large flying plant like aragami the skeletons was weaker than both Zygotes and Ogretails. This flying one however seemed to be as annoying as Zygotes due to its ability of flight.

With a pull and a twist of the handle she quickly switched to the gun mode of her god arc. Loading her fire type ammo she released a stream of flames at the plant aragami. Seeing as it feel engulfed in flames she switched back to blade form of her god arc and charged once more it didn't take long to reach the out walls of the settlement. Though she noticed one thing wrong it was way to small to be a settlement and had no iron doors or gates to keep out aragami. Seemingly abandoned she looked around and spotted what she figured was probably the actual settlement considering its massive size and stone walls. Stone was not something often used but perhaps it was just a out layer of sorts with that said she started to go towards that area. Keeping her eyes out for any more attacks she left her enhanced speed easily allowing her to travel the great distance with near ease.

Though in the middle of what quickly became routine of striking down yet another skeleton aragami she saw two people in the distance on what seemed to be horses but didn't they go extinct upon the advent of the aragami. "Ah hello there" Aki said waving the travellers over a male with a base baseball cap and a young teen. "Please its not safe out with these aragami please follow me as a God Eater ill do my best to protect you." She stated as she tried to explain either way they were civilians and it was her job to protect them.

@Scarifar@ProPro

Gourd Lake:

The young punk soon turned her head as something appeared near her. The sudden appearance was enough to throw anyone off even more so someone who could do nothing like that. Though what threw her off, even more, was when the metal being asked her a question. The young wrestler saying the question back to herself. "Why do you not fight with your allies? Do you not consider them important? Do their lives mean little? Or perhaps you are cowardly?" she said softly and her lips moved with each word said. The question was very thought provoking and the young punk was a hot head with an attitude problem. Yet, she managed to keep herself composed as she was in a strange land where no one really knew the real her.

Her arms dangled next to her as the questions replayed in her head over and over as if it was haunting her in some way. "No... I mean..." her words trailed off. She paused as her eyes looked heavy as she looked at the burning shack. She could not save it making her feel even worse about herself. "I, I am not like them. I, I am very human. I can't do all that magic stuff. I don't have super strength, stamina, speed or anything like that. I am just a wrestler from Canada. All I am is a girl with a guitar. What good would that do in a fight? If you stab me I will bleed to death, I can't do what they are doing. So maybe I am useless." Candycane paused for a moment as she looked at one of the Big Sisters.

"I am not a coward, I just know that I can't do much in terms to help them other then try to save the person in this building if he has not escaped already. Though I don't know them very well and what I saw earlier was disturbing, to say the least, I do value their lives. It's strange that I would say that. I would never say it to them, though. How does one fight something with magic or unnatural abilities? HOW?" she said as if she was suddenly depressed facing the reality she was in. Her mind playing over all the things she could do to the metal being. None of it ending well for her. None of her wrestling moves would do anything even with her tactics of dirty tricks. "Do you think I am pathetic since I don't match up to them?" she asked the Big Sister.

The redhead punk acted as if the Big Sister was not an enemy which was strange for her and most likely for the Big Sister as well. The glow of the burning shack could be seen against her body, various shadow-like shapes taking different forms as the fire kept burning the place down.

@Prince of Seraphs

@Suku@Scarifar@Zarkun

Gaige rode quickly on her horse of choice, leaning forward to reduce wind resistance. She was no expert on riding horses, but she had survived being thrown around Hyperion vehicles, so holding onto the beast was no great feat. The green haired girl was surprisingly quick on her feet, especially after she realized that Gaige was chasing her down. The woman somehow increased her running speed to something far greater than any human being should have been capable of. Had Gaige been in any less determined of a mood, she'd have been interested by this new development. As it was, she just wanted to catch to in order to ask why she had freaked out and run away.

Scout was a good deal behind Gaige, having not been able to get his horse moving until she had a significant lead on him. That, paired with Gaige's current tunnel vision, meant that the teenage badass completely missed the calling of Aki Tamashiro. What she didn't miss, couldn't miss, in fact, was a bullet flying right by her face just as the sun came up. The horse stopped charging forward and reared back, throwing Gaige clean off of its back. "Oomph!" she grunted, not out of pain from the impact (her shield took care of that) but out of the sudden loss of breath. Rolling with it, Gaige found herself back on her feet in only a second or two and fortunately for her, she could track a bullet's path. Living on Pandora and getting shot at by bandits ever five minutes certainly honed your survival skills.

Gaige's eyes narrowed, spotting a figure in the field moving toward her. He looked like, well, a bandit. Specifically a nomad bandit, only leaner. Not a chunky fatass. His equipment looked to be infinitely more well maintained though, and he had a floating red robot with him. Gaige's eyes lit up instantly at the sight of the robot, joy apparent on her face even from that distance, but she forced herself to shove the joy aside in favor of anger. This guy wasn't showing up as a hostile on her ECHO, but he shot at her. A warning shot sure, but he shot at her all the same. No self respecting vault hunter was going to take that lying down, especially not the mechromancer! Gaige began charging right at the man, eyes narrowed and a grin of sadistic joy on her face. Just to show that she wasn't someone to be fucked with she digistructed her TORGUE shotgun on hand, then fired it between herself and her would-be assailant.

BOOM!

The pellets expelled from the barrel of the shotgun, collided with the ground between them and WHAMO! Instead fireworks show! Every pellet exploded violently, kicking up grass, dirt, and debris. Gaige took the opportunity to jump through the dust cloud for dramatic effect (hell yeah!) and landed on both feet, shotgun pointed directly at the man. "You wanna try that again?! HUH?! YOU LIKE SHOOTING AT GIRLS THAT ARE JUST TRYING TO STOP PEOPLE FROM FREAKING OUT?! DON'T UNDERESTIMATE THE GOD OF DAMAGE!"

"Guardian!" James grunted, already rolling to the left as she brought her shotgun to bear against him. Enough training matches in the Crucible had taught him that allowing anyone with a shotgun to get in a certain range would spell the end of the fight for him.

"I'm not blind, Ghost." The rounds hit the ground and...exploded? While it was odd, James had no time to consider the cause as the shotgun's owner came tumbling through the kicked up dust and the smoke and landed with her shotgun aiming where the Guardian had come to a stop as he brought up the Ace of Spades.

"You wanna try that again?! HUH?! YOU LIKE SHOOTING AT GIRLS THAT ARE JUST TRYING TO STOP PEOPLE FROM FREAKING OUT?! DON'T UNDERESTIMATE THE GOD OF DAMAGE!" She would then find the barrel of his hand cannon level with her face and it could be presumed that his look was very unimpressed beneath his helmet.

"Nice name. But I can think of a dozen reasons your running down a young woman on a...Ghost, what is that thing?" His little crimson buddy floated around and scanned the still panicking animal and issued a surprised exclamation.

"Guardian, it's a horse! A genuine horse! This is remarkable, the Warlocks all thought the majority of native wildlife on Earth were wiped out during the Collapse! Oh, Ikora will want to see this!" While Ghost continued to get scans and likely file them away in his databanks, James continued on.

"Right, were was I? Oh right." His hammer clicked back. "I can think of a dozen reasons your running down another young woman on a horse would look bad, God of Damage. And as a Guardian, letting that happen just isn't something I can do." He glanced up and noted that a young girl with a rather large and unusual sword was approaching as was another person on a horse, this one looking more like one of the average citizens from around the Last City, albeit more...vintage. However, he remembered that this 'God of Damage' had been chasing the girl to try and calm her and he placed the hammer forward and spun the Ace of Spades before holstering it at his hip.

"I apologize for taking a warning shot since it seems to have disrupted your attempt to calm her. But next time, remember how things look to those who don't know. Now then, are we on Earth by chance? Maybe somewhere the Hive or the Fallen haven't turned into a part of their personal playgrounds if you have horses?" Ghost had since floated away from the horse back to James' side and phased back into where ever it was he stayed while James went about his daily business.

"You wanna try that again?! HUH?! YOU LIKE SHOOTING AT GIRLS THAT ARE JUST TRYING TO STOP PEOPLE FROM FREAKING OUT?! DON'T UNDERESTIMATE THE GOD OF DAMAGE!"

Hearing that yell after they rode past her caused Aki to sprint towards the commotion. Though upon arriving hearing that last question put some questions into her head on earth? What did he mean by that Habitable space travel was cancelled to focus on the aragami threat wasn't it? Though perhaps it could have been like the Aegis project the supposed aragami proof city that Fenrir was trying to figure out. "My name is Aki Tamashiro given the designation Alpha 1. I am a Medic Sergeant of the Fenrir Far East Branch I ask that you place the weapon down Madam." She called out her voice steady as tried to defuse the situation. Though like the one with the flying ball she was kind of curious on how a horse was still alive they were wiped extinct by the aragami after all. "Hive? Fallen? Never heard of those terms when referring to the aragami before." She muttered aloud those was terms she never heard before but who knew if those in other branches used different terminology.

As Scout rode, he and Paige came across some commotion as someone had apparently attacked them, which Paige retaliated against in turn. Scout's horse whinnied and reared back as well, causing Scout to fall off onto his back, grunting as he hit the ground roughly. The impact hurt quite a bit, but it was something he could brush off after a minute. "Ugh. That didn't hurt," Scout said to no one as he got back up onto his feet. Once he got his bearings back, however, he could see that more strange individuals had joined them, many of which also had some cool weaponry. Most of them began talking about hives or origami or whatever. Scout didn't really understand any of it. What he did understand, though, was that they still had a mission to do, and that was to get to Terra. What he also understood was that Aki was also a hot chick, and that meant his skill at charming girls was needed.

Going over to her, Scout began his usual bragging. "Hey there. Aki, was it? I'm the Scout, fastest and greatest person around. You ain't neva gonna see a more badass fella than me."

Gaige glared at the Guardian as he presumed to give her a stern talking to. Who the hell did he think she was, some... Kid?! This got under Gaige's skin so badly that she didn't even notice Scout had caught up, and still she ignored the newcomer. Instead she kept her shotgun trained on the Guardian. That was, until she noticed the little robot flying near.

"OhmygodohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygodOHMYGOD!" Like a switch the teenager's attitude completely flipped. Her shotgun vanished in a blue stream of ones and zeros, stored in her storage deck once again. The space in her hands had instead been replaced by a hammer and wrench, which she brandished at the little flying construct. She went spouting off in a high pitched voice, speaking so quickly that only the most well trained of listeners could actually make out what she was saying. "OhmygodIloverobotstheyareSOCOOLyouknowwhatImeanofcourseyoudobecauseyouhaveoneandit'sadesignI'veneverseenbeforeohmanyou'vegottobefromanotherparallelrealitytoowiththiscoolbadassgearandthissupersweetrobotIjustwanttodiveintoyourdiagnosticsandcheckyourschematicssobadwhat'syournamelittlerobo-buddy?"