Oh. They won. That was surprisingly easy. Was easy the right word? It was fast either way. Grant looked around at the soldiers who came into the field, one group of which taking Siena from his arms, and he returned his hands into his pockets. Looking around now, it seems as if Grant was spared from the injuries that might have befallen him, but his teammates weren’t given the same treatment as him. Color him lucky. Or just smart. Soldier surrounded him, but they already seemed to know he posed no real threat to them. He just let himself be led to the outpost.

In the safety of the outpost, away from the eventual battle between teams 3 and 4, Grant watched as everyone was healed from their injuries, with the help of another Subnatural. The healer of the other team, to be exact. His eyes flickered toward the screens, showing key moments that had occurred within the battle. He moved to take a random seat at the desks as Fredric explained what they were to do. Grant let out a long yawn. Looks like he still had to stay awake to watch this match. Or not. Either way, he sat back in his seat and watched the screens with tired eyes, ready to shut at any moment.

Angélique watched as everyone mingled with each other, her question left unanswered as everyone seemed to be discussing with each other. From one corner, Christmas and Lilianna were being drama queens about who would bear the burden of healing.

Such stupidity. If they weren't so stubborn about making themselves feel good about bearing the scar of being important, they'd realize Kusari could just take that small cut and heal herself in a matter of seconds.

On the other side, basically right next to her, a group had formed around a bed-ridden Siena, obviously all worried about her state. Had she not been so moody and analyzing what was happening around her, Angel would've been by her friend's side, worried about her. Instead, she was all alone, as if no one was caring about how the raven-haired Aberration was feeling.

You are simply a temporary ally to those people, a mere tool to achieve victory. You have defeated half of the opponents by yourself, and yet no one pay attention to your welfare. You deserve better, and those people don't deserve you.

Angélique remained silent, her head lowered as she brought her knees to her chest. She wanted to deny everything that she had been thinking, but part of herself envied Siena for being surrounded by friends, while Angel was left by herself. She tried so hard to make her team win; giving a few orders to her teammates before managing to defeat on her own both Chris in his Dragon form and the immortal Kusari. To be left out like this as she had woken up, it dealt a strike to both her pride and her feeling of camaraderie towards her teammates and her would-be friends.

With a depressed and bitter look on her face, Angel's eyes wandered to the monitors, showing highlights of the skirmish between the two teams as they viciously fought each other for the promise of not attending school for a week and to prove who was superior.

Oh; this was going to be interesting. Marcus stood a fair distance away from the little group that was awkwardly formed. He had to turn around and literally cup his mouth to prevent a laugh from escaping as Siena hand fed the boy a potato chip. This was the most awkward thing he'd ever seen - and one of the most hilarious if the tears that were threatening to roll down his eyes were any indication. Maybe he'd tell his roommate about the hand-feeding connotations later; it'd be the nice thing to do, right? Right?

The stirring of his own teammate distracted him, and he turned to where Angel had previous been sprawled out. He would have laughed at her completely askew appearance, were it not for the fact that; A. He didn't want to get shouted to death, and B. She'd basically been stomped by a dragon and then Kusari. At least, that was what he assumed happened.

"We managed to pull through and win!" Marcus said in response to her question. "One whole week of not attending shitty fake-classes. What a prize!" he added, scooting his chair a little bit closer to allow for adequate conversation.

"Yay~..." Angel sarcastically answered with a clear lack of enthusiasm

Was that really a victory? Still staring at the screen, the young woman paid close attention to all the details about the mishaps that had happened during the battle. Seeing Marcus being dealt bone crushing blows and dumped on filth, Grant removing Sander's clothing, the latter then running around naked with Christmas on his shoulder, herself being pushed around by a Dragon, Angélique felt bitter.

Watching as she bled out profusely to the point of fainting in the middle of the game, there could be no words to describe how pitiful she looked. Had it been a real battle, she would've already bled out to death out there like a dog, yet another corpse to add to the list of those who had already died and disappeared at USARILN East.

Again, was it really a victory? Perhaps, but it sure felt hollow somehow to her.

Marcus sighed inwardly. He had an idea of what she was feeling right now. Being dumped at the sidelines and basically left for dead; it wasn't a great situation to be in - rationalizing it was even harder. Sure, there was the extra benefit of this being a controlled situation, but once again - hard to rationalize it. In a real battle, they'd probably all be dead. But in a real battle, they would have naturally been more cautious.

A slight chuckle to himself. Now he was the one overthinking things.

"Couldn't have done it without you. Hell, you took down a freakin' dragon all by yourself!" he said, trying to add a little bit of positivity to the silence that hung heavy in the air. He watched the screens himself for a moment, pondering the sullen scene. "You want anything? They've been kind enough to provide snacks while we recover!" he finally said, nodding his head in the direction of the food table.

Angel was somewhat taken aback by Marcus’ sudden encouraging words and offer. Maybe, just maybe, she was wrong in accepting the fact that she was left for granted. Well at least not everyone in this room. But the bitterness of this whole situation pushed back Marcus’ kindness away and made the black-haired X-mark more focused on the negative aspects given.

“I’ve been careless… If this had been against a real dragon, I would’ve been dead. There’s no point of stunning a monster if there’s no one else to take it down. I was lucky that this was just a game.”

She paused, pondering over what this supposed game was about. This was meant to be a training exercise, to somehow simulate a battle situation. Yet somehow, everyone, herself included, were goaded into using their powers against each other to come out on top. This wasn’t a game. It was a lie, a makeshift excuse to evaluate how every students would fare against each other using their abilities.

Angel shook her head in response to Marcus’ offer. “Kindness my ass...” She didn’t feel like eating anything, especially if it was offered by the dickheads who organized this game in the first place.

"That's a fair point you got there." Marcus said, chewing and swallowing another bite of cookie. "You would have certainly been dead if this had been against a real dragon. But I'd like to think that against a real dragon, we'd be better prepared, maybe have some actual weapons, not be restricted to non-lethal." he said, his words echoing the argument his brain had just made.

"There's absolutely no reason to compare this to actual combat. In real combat, we wouldn't be trying to snatch flags, or dividing ourselves without backup." he said, counting off his points on his finger. "You're beating yourself up comparing apples and oranges; I can tell you you're not going to become a very successful orchid manager like that." he said, grinning.

"And hey, I've sampled the snacks. I'm pretty sure they're not poisoned. Sixty-five percent sure, at least."

Angélique remained silent, slowly processing everything his teammate we telling her. Maybe he was right, and she was wrong. Maybe she was overthinking things. Maybe she was trying too much to prove her capabilities to everyone else, prove that she can lead a team, and prove that she had the strength to back up her allies if not take out her opponents by herself.

But still, wounds had been made, trust and friendship had been put to the test in this game. Had this game been beneficial at all to everyone? Something had changed inside Angélique back there. She could not tell what it was exactly, but it felt dark and spoiled. She was in no mind to laugh at Marcus attempts to crack a few jokes, wondering if the guy was too optimistic for his own good, or simply if she was the one with a stick shoved too deep up her ass.

"Maybe..." Angel was unsure what to answer. Marcus' words had begun to spread doubts into her own thoughts, slowly cracking that wall of negativity that was plaguing her. What was the point of keeping up that angsty face at the boy who obviously tried to cheer her up?

"You sure you don't want anything? This is the closest you're gonna get to room service!" Marcus said, pressing the attack. Angel seemed to have at least lightened up a little bit. Now was time to either bring in full around, or annoy the piss out of her. Either option fit well for him, really.

"I promise I'll only lightly chuck snacks at your head, and I promise I'm clean; despite what the monitors would have you believe." he added.

"No... I'm okay." Angel repeated, only that this time, a faint crack of a smile formed onto her lips. She stood silent for a moment, her gazing returning back to the monitors. "Thank you..." for cheering me up she trailed off, the remaining of her statement however remaining buried within her mind.

There we go. A faint smile across the face. That was the kind of thing he liked to see.

The world had ended, everything had gone to shit. Most of the people that they knew were probably dead. Less than a week ago, two of their peers had gotten slaughtered. Yet, they were able to sit here and at least smile. He of all people understood the value of that - if people sat around and moped, they'd dig so far into their own self pity that they'd never be able to come back. Morale mattered now, more than ever. If that was a job he had to take, then he was gonna do the best he could, dammit.

"Anytime. Fist-pump pals gotta stick together!" he said, grinning.

Fist-pump pals? What might he be referencing to? As Angel searched through her memories, she suddenly remembered about that night, a few days ago, when they were brought onto their first battlefield, on the very first day they had arrived at USARILN. She could remember now when everyone got out of the trucks and were divided into their own respective teams to take out separate groupings of monsters, Angel had raised her fist to the sky as she yelled to the other teams to come back alive. The only one who had acknowledged and returned that sign was in fact the scarred young man speaking with her right now.

Her faint smile slowly grew into a faint grin of her own at the sudden realization.

"Yeah... this whole class need to." Angélique added to Marcus' statement, her sense of unity slowly returning to her.

"They'll come around." Marcus said, starting to turn his chair back to the screens. "I'll let you rest; I imagine being The Fearsome Dragon-Slayer; Rescuer of Princesses and Random Articles of Clothing takes a bit out of you." he said, giving her one last smile and turning back to the show.

Angélique nodded before chuckling at the titles given to her by her teammate, until she heard the last one and raised an eyebrow at him.

"Wait... what do you mean Random Articles of Clothing? You've got something to say against my wardrobe?"

"What?" Marcus said, stopped in his tracks by Angel's final line of questioning. "Nono!" he said, shaking his head defensively. "T-the dragon-kid's clothes! Because he had to strip. And I assumed you grabbed them after you fought! I've got nothing against your wardrobe! I imagine it's quite stylish - especially when it's not full of holes and covered in blood!"

Marcus stammered his way through an apology, not quite sure if it counted as a save or not.

"Oh... I see. I'm sorry, I guess I have misunderstood you. No, in fact I just took off... well... ripped the flags off his clothes." Angel replied, giggling nervously. She must've looked like an idiot to him now. "Guess no matter how much time I have spent outside my community, I still have much to learn about English and your sayings." she tried to explain, hoping her ignorance would make her sound less stupid.

"Ehhhh, simple mistake! No worries!" Marcus said, letting out a small breath, and giving a dismissive hand wave. Little things like that happened all the time - no point in getting all worked up about it. Still, he mentally kicked himself - he was legitimately worried for a moment that Angel was about to blow up on him. All this talk about community and teamwork was going to get destroyed if he got all scared just because she had a different mark on her than he did. Teammates, friends, no matter the little tattoos they'd been given.

Seemed like Marcus took it well. Good. The screamer Mage didn't want to have any sort of misunderstanding or animosity with the only guy that had bothered to check up on her after this grueling game. Angel nodded and rested her back against the wall behind her, legs crossed and hands resting behind her head. It would seem like the next match was about to begin soon, and Angel's eyes turned towards the monitors, intending to analyze the two other teams as much as she could.

---

---

Rosa sent Jerry to collect the evaluation forms as she gestured for the rest of the guards to move the second set of "healers" to their locations, turning off the relevant screens with a few taps on the control panel.

In the break room, two guards entered with weapons ready, nudging Gregory and Sophia out the door and towards Ground Zero. The sky was darker now as evening slowly dimmed the sunlight and the last vestiges of twilight were slipping past the horizon. Within the ghost's projection, the unreal people had hidden away in buildings, or tucked themselves under overhangs, awaiting a new day that would never come.

The guards led the two healers through darkened streets and shattered buildings, walking past small groups of survivors huddled around makeshift fires for warmth. Any that drew near were turned away at the point of a rifle. An unruly teenager, burly and heavyset with a long jaw and thick eyebrows, ran out in front of the group. Before he could say anything, a burst of gunfire ripped through his torso.

Nearby, a woman with the same jaw and eyebrows screamed, but didn't approach, her sobs following the group and petering off into the distance as the soldiers continued towards the only miraculously intact building within the ghost's projection.

From the direction of their approach, a large circle with the words "SAFE POINT 3" printed inside in stenciled, yellow glow paint shone dimly in the darkness of the asphalt several meters in front of the main doors while the same faintly glowing paint marked out "SAFE POINT 4" to the side of the villa, positioned in front of the back doors.

Several of the long, vertical windows on the building's second and third floors were alight with flickering, failing lights, illuminating enough of the exterior to make out a white, three-story villa cut in a modern, asymmetrical style with jutting rectangles of floors and protruding blocks of rooms that still looked quite clean and well-kept despite the disaster zone surrounding it. Who had turned on the lights was a question for the ages, since no one was inside when the guards led Gregory and Sophia into the ground floor of the building. The soldiers took the two "healers" upwards, walking them past the living room where a wall-mounted TV played loud static and towards the stairs against the back wall. Like this, the two were taken to the third floor bedroom, Gregory shoved into the bathroom and left to stare at the toiletries with the simple order to "Stay hidden," and Sophia into the closet with the same command.

---

---

Fredric toyed with the blood-stained tissue in his pocket as he stared at the screens, watching the guards set the second round's "healers" in the correct building. He had long finished managing some small details on his phone and now held his clipboard in front of him from habit.

The students were still, understandably, extremely uncomfortable in their new environment. The bit of sport he and Rosa had cooked up for the group was meant for another purpose, but he had still hoped it would distract them from the depressing state of affairs that marked everything touched by Dreamcatcher's power. Ten years ago and he would have laughed at the idea that the world would end up like this when, for as long as history could remember, Dreamcatcher and its creations had never truly interfered with humanity. The being had seemed content enough to craft creatures on a whim, never remaining in place long and rarely coming into contact with people.

Before The Slumber, research into the creatures that could be contained and dissected had yielded nothing of note. Either they were typical flesh-and-blood or their makeup was so alien there was no identifying them with current methods. Even the decidedly more "regular" ones had failed to display any viability through genetic testing and experimentation, like their only purpose in existence was to be and nothing further.

Theories and data and chewing the fat, because it made no difference to Dreamcatcher. Not then. Not now.

And now was an uphill battle against the creatures that would be considered "generals" if Dreamcatcher's scatter of monstrosities counted as an army. Fredric paused that thought, scribbling it out in his mind and editing it to "lieutenants" instead in the military metaphor. The "generals" were a force very few of them could hope to defeat. A city and some hundred or so powerful subnaturals had been the price of victory the last time something of that sort reared its head.

He sighed and focused his thoughts back on the screens and the immediate future. There was no point dwelling on things they couldn't change. If anything, that reminder was all the more reason to focus on these students. If the only answer to the war was to kill every single monster Dreamcatcher had left behind, then they needed to be strong enough to fight until they saw the sunrise.

An old conversation with a younger Director and a younger him came to mind as Fredric checked a series of texts from Rosa, gleefully spamming him with emotes and tildes about the next round starting soon.

"You're nuts, lady. And that's saying a lot coming from me."

The Director had only stared into a distance he couldn't see, eyes tracking and roving over some mental image as she held his paperwork in her hands.

"Do you know Foresight's weakness, Mr. Francisco?"

That was weird. Didn't everyone?

"Yeah? She takes too long to read her cards."

The Director had shaken her head.

"The power to see a future on request, but for all she tries, she can never truly change it."

"I thought she influences the future all the time. She can tell others how to fix things, right?"

"And what has she really fixed?"

He couldn't really come up with an answer for that--not one that would satisfy him and certainly not one that would satisfy the Director. Instead he asked something else.

"Well, if even Foresight can't fix things, how is anyone else supposed to?"

"...That's a good question. One I intend to answer. In time. Should you choose to remain, Mr. Francisco, perhaps you might see it firsthand."

He eyed several of the screens replaying the first two teams' fights for a moment longer before switching them to current footage of Ground Zero. They were strong, that much was certain. But would it be enough? Or was this a venture doomed to failure from the start? There were quiet thoughts that had been lurking, little moments of worry as time had passed with no meaningful gains over the past ten years. Most people didn't dare voice it, their last hopes for a better future hinging on one desperate denial of an insidious whisper that had grown stronger over the years: the Precursors weren't strong enough.

And if even they weren't strong enough, what hope remained?

A rush of vibrations from his phone reminded him that the ever-optimistic Rosa was still waiting for a confirmation that he had the screens ready on his end. Her hope certainly remained, and some part of him was grateful she was around. He knew the Director felt the same way.

Fredric spun on his heels with his familiar grin, turning to face the group of teenagers.

"Eyes up, folks! We're about to begin."

---

---

---

Once the soldiers had positioned the healers and left the area, they confirmed with Rosa, who checked the message on her phone before spinning around to face the remaining students gleefully.

"Okay! You guys are up! Break a leg!" she laughed at her own joke with a few quick claps of her hand.

The soldiers inside the large observation room rounded the students for Teams 3 and 4 up again, marching them out of the room and down the clean, white hallway before emerging into the chilly evening air. One of them heaved out a quick breath before checking behind him, something like apprehension on his fresh features at the prospect of dealing with so many powerful subnaturals bundled into a group. A guard dying before the cuffs could stop anyone was not unheard of, and in the urban mess that was the city projection in Ground Zero, they could only hope their bodies were found before the reset. The new soldier's features settled back into neutrality as they marched, some vague break room story about his predecessor dying in Ground Zero tapping away at the back of his awareness. Some man named Henry, if he recalled the story correctly, with "caterpillar brows and a face like a horse" whose body they had never found.

But his fears were unfounded that day as the group arrived at the designated building for the next round of flag football. Here the guards split the teams up accordingly, positioning both at their respective safe points.

"Five minute prep! Don't move from your starting points! You're searching inside the house--keep demolition at a minimum!" one of the guards called out, checking with his phone to make sure all the marked students were correctly separated. When everything looked good, they backed away, moving far enough from the house to not be caught in any unfortunate crossfire, but close enough that they could respond at a moment's notice.

The same apprehensive guard from before caught a flicker of a girl on the periphery of his vision, looking like the Ground Zero ghost herself. But in the fraction of a millisecond he took to turn his head, the specter was gone. And maybe he was just antsy, or the lighting was playing tricks on his eyes (who could say anymore in a world gone mad?), but he thought everything looked a bit more dilapidated than the day before. Just a few more cracks here and there. Nothing worth reporting, and it was so miniscule he would have missed it entirely had he not been straining to catch sight of the girl again. Shaking the extra thoughts from his head, the soldier took up position and sounded off to the supervisors in the security outpost, his eyes on the villa in the distance.

After five minutes, the cuffs beeped in that toneless voice, "START."

---

Gregory Irving

---

---

A half-eaten sandwich stopped half-way to Gregory’s mouth as the door’s opened and a pair of guards beelined towards him. Grunting as one of them motioned for him to get up with the firearm, he rolled off the seat and swiped his phone from a nearby table. Even that little detour was enough for the guard to take aim and an exasperated sigh ripped free as he hurried out of the room in compliance, lest he got a crack to the skull.

The dilapidated city was a depressing sight as far as things went. Even without the guards to hurry them along, Gregory marched at a rather brisk pace. There didn’t seem to be anything, but unhappiness in these streets and he didn’t really want to linger about. Hesitating briefly when someone jumped in their path, he flinched as sharp crack of gunfire nearly deafened him.

Freezing as the red began to pool and the spark of life faded from the teenager’s eyes, he flinched as a wail of pain and grief assaulted his ears. This was what he was going to use this place for? With such thoughts chasing him, he didn’t need either of their escorts to prod him back into moving as he hurried to escape the scene.

It was a few minutes until their destination came into sight, and he tilted his head as he looked back at the guards. If they were bothered by the size of the next “game’s” map, then they didn’t give any sign as they motioned for him and Sophia to enter. As they were led through the house though, Gregory made sure to try and take in as many details as he could. If his hiding space was this limited, then he needed to make the best of things.

Grunting as he was pushed into the bathroom, he flipped the guard off with a scowl as the door was closed on him. “Seriously…” They were at the furthest point from where the teams would start, probably, so he could just camp it out in here. If things went well, they’d run into each other first, fight it out, and the healers wouldn’t even be touched.

The chances of that actually happening though? With a sigh, he shook his head and decided to try and make things a bit more difficult for the two teams. There wasn’t really anything he could do with how many windows the building sported, but he could block off the more obvious routes into the house. Maybe funnel the two teams together and hopefully they’d duke it out among themselves. Rolling his neck, he left the bathroom to get to work.

They were probably fetching the two teams now, so that meant he probably had 10 or so minutes to go about his business. Taking the stairs down a few at a time, he hit the ground floor in a crouch and glanced around quickly. “So many damn windows,” he muttered to himself as he hurried over towards the front door. Hefting the couch upwards so it leaned against the door took a few moments, as did moving the two seats to help support it. Given the pair of windows right next to the front door, he didn’t bother to spend more effort than that.

Blocking off the back door was a simple enough affair of dragging the dining room table and propping it in such a manner that it jammed against the walls, allowing the door to only swing open about halfway. The chairs managed to plug in the gap and block off the back door completely. He stared at the heavy fridge for a few moments before giving up on the idea. He could probably drag it into position, but the effort wasn’t worth it. Looking around the floor once again, he smirked as an idea came to mind. Moving quickly, he turned on every faucet and shower he could find before he clogged up the drains. Watching as the water began to pool and flood onto the floor, he nodded to himself and hoped there was enough time to get the floor wet.

There weren’t too many appliances he could find, but a few sharp tugs managed to break apart the cords. Peeling away the insulation from the breaks, he carefully spread apart the exposed wires before finding a relatively hidden port to plug them into. Only to blink a few times as nothing seemed to happen. Staring at the exposed wires, he frowned a bit, but didn’t dare check if they were actually live. Whatever, they might decide to work at some point, so he left them plugged in.

“Fuck,” he muttered moments later as he watched the sigil circle around the toilet. With a grunt, he dragged his hand across the floor from outside the bathroom, he finished the line with a flourish. Flinching as glass, ceramic and tiles shattered, he raised an arm to shield his eyes from the dust and water that rushed out of the trashed room. Sure enough though, the destroyed piping was spraying water and flooding the area at a far faster pace now.

Booking it back up to the second floor, he sighed and took a few moments to catch his breath. Looking around, the most obvious place to start was dragging the couch and seats to block off the door that led to the terrace outside. There wasn’t much else to do here, but electronics were plenty and there were two bathrooms to work with here. Two more trashed bathrooms, a few plugged in and damaged cores, and some toppled over dressers just to make searching them slightly more annoying, and Gregory hurried back up onto the third floor.

Huffing a bit, he felt surprisingly alright with the recent turns of events. Turns out trashing a place was surprisingly cathartic. The double doors that led to the open terrace was sort of annoying though. He didn’t want to try his luck at bringing the roof down at blocking it, and there wasn’t really anything else to work with. With a shake of his head, he ignored that as an unsolvable problem for the moment and busied himself with dealing with the stairs. Nuding the couch over towards the glass railings, he tipped it onto its end before letting his power run through it.

Pushing it over the edge, the couch continued to hover mid-air even as Gregory grimaced. Running a hand down along the wall next to him, he felt a few beads of sweat run down his face even as he managed to touch the floor. With a sharp gasp, he snapped his hand away and winced at the rush of air that hit him as the couch accelerated from 0 to 100. There was a heavy thud and crash as stairs simply gave way, splintering and shattering into pieces. Peering over the edge, it looked like the couch had managed to destroy both flights of stairs that led up from the ground to the first and the first to the second.

Well, he had three more chairs to use as ammo, so with a heavy sigh he got to work. The first one cracked through the stairs heading down onto the first floor before embedding itself into the drywall. The second, with the path cleared, managed to crack through the stairs beneath. And the third nailed what little remained of the flight of stairs up from the ground floor. Resisting the urge to fall backwards, Gregory instead grabbed one of the lamps and made his way back into the bedroom. There, he collapsed onto the bed with a heavy sigh even as he kicked off the lamp’s base, and bashed off the light fixture to leave him with a metal pole.

---

---

---

---

After returning to class, finishing the last crumb of food as she sat in her seat. She stared blankly at the form as it was handed to her, though her attention immediately shifted as Mr. Francisco started to explain "Flag and Seek".

Allison was stuck on a team with Lawrence, a girl named Hazel, and Zoe. Allison didn't know anything about Lawrence and Hazel, but considering what had happened with the spaghetti monsters, Allison doubted that Zoe held anything but contempt for her. It was fuzzy, but Allison did remember Zoe chewing everyone out while Allison was lying there, nearly unconscious. It would likely take a miracle to get Zoe to work with her. Luckily, Allison would have some time to talk to her, as their team wouldn't be playing in the first round, instead staying back and judging the actions of the other two teams.

The classes that followed passed by easily enough, leaving Allison to spend the half hour break fretting over the elective form. She wanted to put down the same elective as Angel for 1, but found it too awkward to go and ask her what she would put. Instead, Allison made the harrowing decision to try and figure out what she wanted to do.



Allison was alright with her choices. She didn't know how to cook, and wanted to learn. Barring that, Allison would be willing to settle for Creative Writing, as she had been doing creative writing for a while, though admittedly it wasn't exactly wholesome. She could feel the small black notebook burning a hole in her pocket. Her third pick was PE, as more exercise wasn't going to hurt. She had put music theory at 4, even though she hadn't played an instrument in over a year, and even then she only had minor lessons. The rest were much simpler decisions. She didn't have much of an artistic eye, she had no interest in woodworking, and she didn't know how to operate a computer.

Finishing the form only took Allison a few minutes, giving her enough time to rush back to her room with her pile of stuff, and mess with her new phone. Allison, admittedly, had never really used a cell phone before, and spent several minutes fumbling with the confusing device before deciding to leave it on the desk, and come back to it later.

---

Allison had been corralled with the rest of teams 3 and 4 into a security room of some sort. Here was where they would watch the battle between teams 1 and 2 unfold. Allison stood off to the side, refraining from interacting with anyone for the moment. She was hesitant to speak to her team, partially due to being unfamiliar with Hazel and Lawrence, but mostly because of Zoe.

Zoe had almost nothing on, which immediately drew Allison's attention. Zoe's state of undress likely had something to do with her power, but that didn't change the fact that the image was seared into Allison's mind. Even with her stigma dulled, Allison's mind still seemed to have its priorities.

Allison only turned away when she realized how much she was staring, just as Lawrence approached Zoe. She listened in as the two started talking.

"I admit, I would have preferred meeting again in the library. How've you been holding up?"

"Eh, at least I'm only half naked. Could be worse. Meeting in the library does sound a lot more relaxing than this, but just our luck, right? Don't get much of a break around here."

After his approach, Zoe replied to Lawrence with a forced chuckle. While she hadn't actually answered his question properly, the fact that she was sorely tempted to try and break someone's nose right now wasn't something she wanted to bring up. As it was, it was fairly obvious she was trying to dodge any kind of discussion, and a hint of something between hunger and fury would occasionally flicker across her expression.

At least he'd had the decency to make eye contact instead of looking anywhere else, which she was silently thankful for. Still, as much as she wouldn't mind an opportunity to get to know the guy, they were actually here for a reason. Plus, she needed a way to change the subject.

"Listen, I'd love to chat but wanna go get a hold of our teammates? You know, so we can figure out what we're doing instead of getting our asses kicked. I can fetch Allison, you bring Hazel over. I mean, if you know which one she is, 'cause I don't."

He simply shrugged in response, taking a quick glance to make sure there was coffee available before taking a sip from the thermos in his hand. It seemed the woman wanted to be all business, and considering how much more on edge she seemed than the other night: was probably dealing with stigma issues. He had more than enough experience to know that trying to force a casual conversation at this point was just asking to get punched. This was why he spent most of his sessions with people in the library reading: Aberrations were temperamental on the best days.

"If you want to take this seriously, sure. Was going to see if you all wanted to try hard or not during this thing. Hazel-"

He nodded towards the girl that was stripping a short distance away.

"Is the one trying to win a bare skin competition with you. I don't know if letting her continue is a good choice or bad one. She's... Well, the weirdest one of you guys I've met, and that's saying something."

Then he gave a nod towards Emma, a little further away.

"That's Emma, the only one on the other team I know. Turns out both are my roommates- go figure. So if you know the others we'll be up against that'd be helpful."

Lawrence didn't see much point in fetching Hazel, the girl would probably find her way to him and ask for orders if their last battle had been any indication- but if Zoe brought up breaking away then that meant it was probably what the woman wanted to do. So, with another shrug and a sip of a coffee he took a step towards his roommate.

"Guess I'll see you when you find this Allison then? I'll try to stop Hazel from getting completely nude."

Zoe nodded, a grateful smile appearing on her face as she realized Lawrence wasn't going to delve any deeper. Looking at Hazel, she raised an eyebrow. Considering the amount of time he'd been here, the fact that Lawrence found her weird probably wasn't a great sign. Still, it was probably good that he'd explained that because Zoe kind of felt like she was being mocked in the strangest way possible. She would probably have been offended if she wasn't so confused.

"So that's Hazel. Huh." She paused for a moment, slightly unsure how to react before grinning. She doubted the girl would have decided to start making fun of her out of nowhere, but her pride meant she couldn't keep from responding to Lawrence with a smirk. "For the record, I am totally winning that competition."

She thought for a second before speaking again. "As far as their team goes, I've met Brent and Savannah, that's it. And Allison..." She glanced around before spotting the girl, who seemed to be facing away a short distance from the two of them.

"Is over there. Just come over whenever you get Hazel to put her clothes back on. Or not, I guess. Up to her."

Meanwhile, Hazel had finished unbuttoning her blouse, and was fiddling with her skirt.

”Hazel! What are you doing?!”

"I'm taking off my clothes."

With no one actually stopping her, she stripped down to her underwears, both of simple black cotton. Hazel contemplated taking those off as well, but it didn't seem like stripping further would give her more of an advantage. Probably that was why that girl was in her underwears as well. Satisfied, she folded her clothes neatly and set it on the table, before noticing Lawrence approaching her. He was supposed to be teamed up with her, so perhaps he had come to tell her something?

Wondering what it was, she stood up straight and turned to him, waiting expectantly for Lawrence to speak.

I don't even care.

The swiftness with which he had become accustomed to his roommate's antics was surprising even to Lawrence, stoicism or no. Then again, by this point he had been at USARILN East for over a year, and the sheer bizarreness of his life up until this point had left him... lacking in the ability to be surprised by much anymore. Although he had somehow missed this new trend of women walking around half dressed without reservation. Too much time in the library? Who knew. He was just thankful she had stopped at her underwear.

"Hey Hazel, Zoe and I are just getting the team together to see what sort of plan we could come up with."

He looked to Emma then with a nod of 'Hello', having barely caught her admonishment of their roommate, before continuing:

"Do you know anything about the powers of the other team we're facing? I only really got to see Emma there in action."

"Apologies," she gave a slight bow, "But I am only familiar with Emma's ability."

So thats two of her teammates that she could identify. Who was the last one again? She had no idea, but that wouldn't stop her from performing at one hundred percent. The only problem was, she had no idea what any of them can do. Lawrence seemed to have the ability to influence people, but how it worked and the specifics of its workings was beyond her. Other than that, the rest was a complete blank. It was the same for the other team. She had no idea how the rest of the other team they were facing could do, with the exception of Emma. All she could do when the time comes would be utilizing her ability as best she could, and maybe follow with whatever plans they cook up.

With a sigh Lawrence ran a hand through his hair with a shrug of resignation. Things were looking pretty terrible as far as plan making possibilities went, but they still had two team members to grill for information. If it came to the worst- they at least could figure out each other's abilities and make a game plan based on that.

"Well, let's see what the other two know. Hopefully the other team is as blind as we are going into this."

Allison had watched Lawrence walk towards who she assumed to be Hazel. This Hazel was stripping as Lawrence approached, thankfully no further than her underwear. Were her teammates trying to kill her? If Allison was the type to have nosebleeds, she would have died of blood loss by then.

Allison didn't listen to what Lawrence and Hazel were saying, instead she moved over towards Zoe, before Zoe could have a chance to approach her. She felt a pang of guilt as she did. Everything that happened in that battle had been her fault, and she was the only one who had little memory of Zoe's anger. Allison expected Zoe to hate her guts, and Zoe had full right to.

"Hey Zoe." Allison said, her eyes resting on a point far past the girl.

With a terse nod, Zoe acknowledged Allison's greeting. Honestly, she'd been hoping for more time to sort out her thoughts, but the other two would be over soon. They needed to be able to work together if only so that no-one got themselves hurt, that was for sure, but Zoe wasn't about to say sorry. As far as she was concerned, she'd been right to say everything she did, but she figured the girl might want some sort of explanation.

Zoe was silent for a few seconds before sighing in irritation. "Is there anything you want to say to me?" She turned to face Allison, noting that the girl didn't even seem to be looking at her. It was kind of strange, but Zoe assumed her teammate was just pissed about everything from before. "We don't have much choice but to work together, so get it out of your system."

"Look, Zoe..." Allison took a deep breath, and looked straight at Zoe. "I'm sorry about... before.Everything was my fault. I nearly got myself killed, and I got Alexis killed. I fucked up, and we both know that. I hope we can still work together, and maybe, just maybe I can convince you to not hate me."

Zoe shook her head, looking at Allison with a slight laugh. "Hate's a pretty strong word. Not that I take back anything I've said - I think you're a liability that needs to toughen up, and I sure as hell resent being eaten alive 'cause people fucked up, but that's different."

Zoe shrugged, a resigned smile appearing on her face. "You guys thinking that was kind of the idea. As long as you're watching out for each other, what you think of me isn't my problem. Besides, my-" She stopped, mentally cursing. Even if she was trying to clear the air, her stigma wasn't something she wanted to talk about. Especially considering that while she didn't hate Allison, she certainly didn't like or trust her either. "It's easier."

"Alright then." Allison had expected the conversation to be a bit more dramatic, though she was relieved at how simple it ended up being. She looked off towards Lawrence and Hazel, who was still undressed, waiting for the odd pair to join Zoe and herself.

It didn't take long for Lawrence to head over to them- half naked Hazel in tow. With a sip of his coffee, he looked from Zoe to Allison, as if judging who he should speak to first, before simply addressing them both.

"So, what exactly do we know about this other team and what they can do? Emma there's a summoner, based on her emotions from what she told me on the way over to the first battle. Different emotion, different summon with different capabilities. I don't know the exact mechanics of it beyond that, but I remember her shouting orders to them. So, we can probably at least figure out what to expect from them by what we hear her telling them to do."

Shaking his head afterwards, he added:

"I'm not familiar with the others and neither is Hazel. So I was hoping you two might be able to give a bit more intel."

Zoe didn't have time to decide how she felt about the resolution before Lawrence approached. It had seemed easier than she'd expected, but the other girl had barely been conscious when Zoe had snapped at them. Hopefully this wouldn't end up with a repeat.

Seemed like Hazel wasn't putting her clothes back on after all. Zoe hadn't meant to be setting an example, but it was no skin off her back. Besides, questioning Hazel wasn't at the top of her priority list. As of right now, the girl seemed slightly creepy. Zoe glanced at Allison and then spoke. "I've seen Savannah and Brent's powers in action. Don't know the new guy."

She gestured towards Brent first. "Brent upgrades objects. Saw him change a set of weights into some electromagnetic thing. I think he needs to touch them, but judging by that getup he might be a pain in the ass."

"Savannah sets some kind of, uh, mark-thing that blows up on you like a firecracker if you use your powers. Needs to touch you first though and I don't think it works if you're not doing anything. She's half anyone's size so I'd say just punch her in the face."

She sighed. It was kind of irritating that the other team had some new kid appearing out of nowhere, but they just needed to deal with it. There was something else she needed to bring up, but she needed a moment to think it over. "Assuming no-one knows Ernest, what do you guys do powers-wise?"

Hazel blinked, before starting on describing her ability. "It has been called, Void Impact. Range, 15 meters. It has been classed as a variant of telepathy, using one's limbs to focus the ability. Effects, material displacement of anything within range, and powerful impact towards living beings. To visualize the effect and how it works, it would be akin to a larger version of the affected limb being used to attack."

She gave a side glance towards Lawrence. "That is the extent of my ability."

While she could theoretically do more, that was the basic of her ability, and the most prominent part of it.

Lawrence nodded in response to Hazel's explanation, almost identical to how she relayed her ability to him on the bus. It was confirmed then that she was a weirdo with everyone, and not just him.

"As for me- I wouldn't get your hopes up ability wise. It's a bit hard to explain, but I alter someone's mental state so that it's in line with my own- whether I'm happy sad, etc. Might have some marginal use against Emma, but would be more helpful in keeping you guys level."

With a shrug and a sip of his coffee, he added:

"Still working out this other thing, but apparently I can cause... Muscle spasms? Situationally useful for sure, but it's something. I wouldn't build an entire strategy around what I can do though. If we're focusing on winning with our powers- then I hope you two are packing something more in line with what Hazel can do."

"Afraid not..." Allison let off a sigh as she looked her new allies over. Hazel, who's lack of clothing was still bothering Allison, seemed strangely mechanical. Not in the sense of calculated movements, but more in the fact that her motions and words felt stiff and lifeless. Allison found the girl to be unsettling, though she seemed to be powerful, based on her ability.

Allison found that Lawrence seemed lifeless as well, as if he'd seen enough shit to the point where nothing phased him anymore. Lawrence's disposition made sense, he had an ability that was nearly useless in combat, and he had been at USARILN East longer than the rest of them. If it wasn't for the fact that she had to fight alongside him, Allison would have felt some amount of pity for him.

"I can summon a blade that can cut through anything, so long as it isn't alive. It just passes through living things. As long as the blade maintains contact with someone, it stops their powers from being used. The blade has a maximum length of about twenty feet. The catch: it only lasts for a minute, and takes three to recharge. I'll be able to use it two to three times at most." Allison hunched forward, and stared at the ground. She let her face fall into her hand. "Oh, and Hazel, can you please put your clothes back on?"

"No."

Hazel didn't bother to elaborate, nor did the thought to pass her mind. To her, it was an odd request; neither Zoe nor Lawrence had commented on her appearance, and Emma had only asked her what she was doing. After all, Zoe was wearing about the same as her, and no one batted an eye at her. Or was it less her outfit and more her? Perhaps Allison simply did not like her. Or feared her more without her movements restricted by her usual garments.

"Well... Okay then." Allison would just have to deal with it, then. Her team was a horrible mess.

Zoe, having firmly classed Hazel under 'kind of creepy', had decided not to question the girl any further. At least she sounded powerful compared to the rest of them, although Lawrence's ability was a bit of a bust in terms of this whole fight. As for her own... "It's complicated. I could probably be useful, but..."

She looked conflicted for a brief second before assuming a relaxed expression and smile as if it didn't bother her at all. "I rot things alive. Have to make skin contact, but if I do it can work fast enough to pretty much melt them - it's not as fast if I move away, but I can keep it working either targeted or full-body if I stay within about ten to fifteen metres of whoever I touched."

She shrugged, forcing herself to keep the same unbothered expression. "Thing is, it's too easy for me to be lethal. At best, I'd seriously hurt someone or go too far, traumatise them and get myself a shock. At worst, the shock doesn't knock me out fast enough and I kill someone." Zoe glanced away, remembering her attack on Aaron after Green Team's fight. "I've already come close. There's definitely a risk."

Lawrence nodded in response to that. So one team member that was too lethal to use, himself, and then two they could actually work with. Not exactly the best match up in the world, but one had to work with what they were given. He would have preferred having more information on the other team, but for now he would just have to expect the unexpected.

They all would.

"Well, you do have your powers suppressed right now. If you have enough control over it to turn it off immediately after you activate it, you might just be able to give them a strong burn. Hopefully. It's really a great ability for preventing them from stealing your flags if you can manage it."

Running a hand through his hair, he continued with a sigh:

"Well, I think we should focus on defense then, track down this Sophia and keep her guarded, move as a group if we have the space for it. At the very least not have anyone go lone wolf. These flags are supposed to represent our life, right? Staying alive should always be the priority over killing the other guy unless you're trying to be a martyr."

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Perhaps it would be better to blame his chills on the weather. Ernie could feel the slight breeze run down his exposed skin, bringing goosebumps to the surface. He vigorously rubbed his upper arms, the friction and constant motion calming him somewhat. His demeanor lacked the pep he had displayed earlier in the observation room. A blank, almost sombre expression rested in its stead.

"So what's our plan again? All in, no splitting up, yeah?" Ernie inquired, fiddling with the sheath of his tomahawk once his arms were sufficiently warmed.

This...was certainly something different. When their new battlefield was revealed, being a three story house, Brent couldn't help but smile. Of course his plans fell out the window. Of course they weren't going to fight on an open field like the other team. It made sense, after all. Team 1 and 2 had superhuman monsters who definitely couldn't follow the whole 'no demolition' rule if they actually got serious. On the other hand, Team 3 and 4 definitely didn't sound like a menagerie of wall-busting monsters, so they were placed in a situation that was so much more...different.

Heh.

This was like Rainbow Six Siege, except both of them were breaching, eh?

He turned to his own rollerblades, and sighed. What a cruel world, not being able to fully abuse his mobility advantage over Team Only-Hazel-is-a-Threat. But at the same time...good, it wasn't going to be a brawl after all. Brent nodded at Ernie, before taking out his phone. Was there reception here? Blessed be, there was. "We should start with exchanging phone numbers. Would be better to call or text each other instead of shout from across the room if there is a case where we get separated."

"That being said...we can all agree that Team 3 is going to search from ground floor and then up, right?"

Emma had been frowning the entire way to the battleground. She’d have no choice but to fight, but all the same…

She snapped herself out of it. She had to be cool, didn’t she? For Savannah and for her audience. Well, she didn’t care about most of the audience, but there were certain people… okay, a certain person that she wanted to impress.

She sighed to herself.

Her attention was brought back to the group at the mention of exchanging phone numbers. Fantastic, I have to give my number to Bert and Ernie. Her face didn’t betray her, her smile returning, ”Great idea, Brent!” She said, voice dripping with enthusiasm. She pulled out her phone, prepared to swap numbers around. ”I doubt they’re going to be rushing to split off and find the healers. They don’t really have anyone with Siena’s mobility, so that’s not really an option, unless their powers have changed since the battle.” She said, shrugging nonchalantly.

Taking out his own phone, Brent tapped it against Emma's, and a couple moments later, there was a distinct 'beep' as contact information was exchanged between them. "Yeah, Zoe and Lawrence seem to be free points, and their only real threat is Hazel," he nodded, before gesturing towards the building itself. "With a house like this, I think it'd be fair to say that there's only going to be one or two sets of stairs, and it certainly did seem like Zhang is encouraging combat in these training sessions..."

Brent scratched his chin, recalling where Christmas and Lily were hidden. Away from the main battlefield, off to the sides. Essentially, not at the starting point.

"They probably won't hide any of the healers on the first floor. Chances are they'll anticipate that this particular exercise will be centered around controlling the staircase area. A basement and the third floor sounds likely, but we'll have to engage them immediately if we tried to go for the basement. I say we get to the third floor first, and then search from top-down. That way, we don't have to directly compete with Team 3, and we have the high ground advantage."

He smiled at that.

"If we destroy the stairs on our way down, they won't have the greatest way of reaching the upper floors, right? And if we keep one person on the very top of the building, we have both someone who can tell us if Team 3 has grabbed a healer and are heading to their safe zone as well as someone who's essentially impossible for them to grab flags off of."

By someone, he meant Emma, of course...but that was enough talking from him.

Ernie had shaken his head when Brent took out his phone.

"Sorry, didn't bring it with me," he shrugged.

It was probably with the rest of his luggage, back in his room. He hadn't found a reason to take it out yet. He probably wasn't going to get any requests for his services at East, not with the DnT forums being down and erasing his advertising space. Ernie wasn't the type to text on a whim anyway. People came to him to hang out, not the other way around. So for now, his phone was just a chunk of plastic and metal to him.

He listened intently to Brent's gameplan. Controlling the top was a decent idea. Getting there would be the tough part. Ernie definitely preferred to avoid running straight into the brunt of the opposite team. He examined the hook of his tomahawk. If he tied his rope to it, would it work as a grappling hook? Naw, it would probably just slice through the balcony banister. He'd have to take the stairs like an average joe. Descending would be a whole different matter though.

"If worse comes to worst," he offered, "I can take a two storey jump with no trouble. If I get one or even both of the healers with me that could mean a quick delivery to our safe zone. But I can't think of a way to get up again if I need to deliver the second healer. The other team and the destroyed stairs will be..." he grimaced, "really, really annoying."

"Going two at a time is possible but we should probs leave that as a last resort. Don't wanna twist or break something because of a bad three-person landing."

"Yeah, I think I brought it." Savannah replied. She dug around in her pockets for a moment, and pulled the phone out. She copied Brent's earlier actions, tapping her phone against Emma's until she heard a distant beep. She then stuffed it back into her pocket, making sure that it was as deep as it could get so there would be no possibility of it falling out.

"Yeah, let's not destroy any staircases? They told us to keep demolition to a minimum, and I'm pretty sure that's not keeping it to a minimum." she said. That was all Savannah really had to offer as far as strategy talk went, as she wasn't the greatest with that kind of stuff.

Emma absentmindedly played with her hair, "That's more of a suggestion than an order, right?" She said, trailed by a slight giggle. "I don't really have anything to input though, I'll just follow your guys' orders, whatever we decided." Emma tapped her foot againt the ground impatiently. Was she nervous, or excited? Maybe some twisted mixture of the two? She couldn't tell. A voice in her head assured her that violence would sate her stigma- that was a good thing, wasn't it? Of course, part of her didn't want to be involved in the fight at all. Which voice was the rational once? Which one was her? She had no idea.

She remained silent.

"I'm fairly certain," Brent added in, "that they want us to keep demolition at a minimum because they don't want us to collapse the building on top of us. Can't exactly taser a building to stop it from crushing us, after all."

Having only three phones was a bit of a problem, and he wasn't a total fan of Emma going super passive groupie mode, but for now...whatever. Their intention was to win, and his intention was to minimize combat in situations as unfavourable as this. Brent swallowed down the bitterness spreading up his throat and turned towards Ernie.

"Are your shoes non-slip?"

The anxious foot tapping had momentarily stolen Ernie's attention. He stared, the unholy rhythm driving his already bummed mood further into the ground. Why couldn't this stupid girl keep her obnoxious goody two-shoe noises to herself? Geez.

"Huh? Oh yeah," the long-haired boy replied, glancing at his boots with a proud smile, "Non slip and steel toed!"

"I can spiderman these walls with them then," Brent said confidently, "And Emma can use her pull-dude to beam us up, while using the slow-dude to slow our descent if the only option is for us to jump off the building."

"Oh."

Ernie pouted, reluctance clear in his expression. He didn't think he'd have to give up his shoes for the exercise. He liked the protection they granted him, the slight bit of assurance for his safety. The thought of someone else's feet in his shoes, someone else's gross foot stink... Ernie struggled to contain a shudder.

"So I'm supposed to just give you my shoes?" he narrowed his eyes. "And what, I take your rollerskates?"

"Well," Brent replied, "That's what I was thinking. Pretty sure Emma could just shout or something and drop her pull-dude on the third floor before pulling us up, but, well, we'll be most vulnerable while taking an invisible elevator. Do you have a better way of climbing up, Ernie?"

Oh no, he really did want to trade shoes. Ernie looked at Brent's feet with dismay. When was the last time he rollerskated? The 'friendly" match with the roller derby club at West, if he remembered correctly. But that was months ago and he'd been banned from wheeled footwear ever since.

The cogs in Ernie's mind grinded at an excruciating pace. He'd never been a teamwork guy. Or the team strategy guy but honestly, those were the same thing. If this was a solo exercise, Ernie would have aced it. But now he was stuck with an anxious groupie, a child, and a guy who wanted to trade Ernie's favorite work boots for something he could barely move in. Ernie could feel Brent's coolness factor sinking by the second. Urgh, he hated this 'working together' crap sometimes. Most times, actually.

"No, I don't," Ernie sighed and crouched to untie his laces, "Guess I'll go barefoot for the start."

Hopefully there'd be some footwear lying around in the abandoned house. Or someone on the other team with a similar foot size to Ernie.

Emma rubbed the back of her head sheepishly, ”I should probably warn you guys, Devotion- er, the slow one, probably isn’t great at negating falls. Like I said, he creates a field of sludge- I doubt that would be great to fall on. Even if it does help the fall it’ll probably just slow us down. Although my pull does work at thirty meters, so there shouldn’t be any problem on that count.” Emma gave a slight shrug, ”Let’s just try to avoid breaking anything. That’d be a pretty big pain in the middle of a fight.”

"Yeah, sorry about that, man," Brent said, scratching the back of his head. He removed his own rollerblades, handing it over to the reluctant seaweed head. "Should only take a minute or so for me to run up to the top, and then you can have them back."

"Was thinking that you could set that field of sludge to be on a wall instead of on the ground," he continued, "But it sounds like that isn't possible?"

"Oh, I see." Emma rubbed her chin, contemplating. "I guess that would work? I hadn't thought about using it that way before." She gave a slight shrug, "Yeah, that sounds like a plan." She said, nodding.

"Yeah, I better," the seaweed head grumbled and passed his shoes over. Ernie tucked his feet loosely into the rollerskates before taking a few experimental steps with the wheels. Hm, not too shabby. Hopefully he wouldn't slip and crack his skull open.

The mention of sludgy walls triggered the memory of a certain soiled bathroom, back at the lounge in Reno. It made Ernie's stomach turn.

"I think I'll jump after all," he muttered.

"So, what should I do?" Savannah asked. Her teammates seemed to be strategizing, and she did want to know what she could do. Sitting around doing nothing wasn't exactly very fun. Or useful, for that matter. And she didn't want to be clueless either. She imagined her teammates wouldn't like her very much if she made a mess of things.

Brent cursed internally. Shit, what COULD Savannah do? She was a small child that had a power that was solely effective if others used their powers, and that required her to touch them to begin with. Meanwhile, Team 3 looked more or less like reasonable healthy teenagers that probably didn't even need their powers to beat up the thirteen year old girl. He had put off thinking about her role in the fight for now, but seeing how she was so eager...

...she probably wouldn't like being told to just hide somewhere and do nothing, huh?

He shot a pleading glance towards Ernie and Emma, hoping that they had a suggestion or two, before saying, noncommitally, "You can go look for Sophs and Greg with the rest of us. Four eyes are always better than three, after all!"

"We could use her as a surprise attack," Ernie mused, "Drop her from the balcony onto someone and firecracker their face. If that doesn't work, Sav, just grab a stick and start thwacking some kneecaps."

Better her in the line of fire than him.

Emma shot Ernie a look of disapproval. She squatted down to face Savannah at her level, "Brent's right. Just help us look- your abillity is close range, right? We don't want Hazel knocking you down as soon as you run up, yeah?" She gave the small
girl a wink, "Being a counter-mage is super cool, so I'm sure you'll get your shot to do something awesome, but this battle might not be it." Emma gave the girl a small pat on the shoulder before standing back up. She thought she was doing a good job with her, but she was never too great with kids.

"Yeah, give me a stick and I'll thwack their knees!" Savannah said in response to Ernie's musings. "I'm small, and they're all tall, so I'll be a surprise!" Savannah exclaimed excitedly. She was a bit... too excited about this whole thing. But that sounded pretty fun to the girl.

Ernie returned Emma's disapproval with a smug snicker. Dummy. If he'd learnt anything from his classmates at West, it was that kids loved hitting things with sticks. It was his win, this time.

"Sure thing, buddy. We'll find you a nice stick somewhere inside. If not, I'll just chop one out for you," he beamed, gesturing with his tomahawk.

"You're not THAT small," Brent replied, eyes now flickering between Emma and Ernie. It's been only a day with the new kid and already there's tension and frustration between the two? Hopefully it was less 'hate' and more 'mildly dislike', something that wouldn't actually get in the way of their winning. And then there was the image of Savannah swinging a stick at someone's leg and doing no damage at all, because she'd literally just be using a flimsy stick with those flimsy arm of hers.

Still, she was excited now, and Brent liked that energy, if nothing else.

"If you're gonna do knee-twacking, go for the back of the knee. Try to drop them low with one swing and followthrough with another to the back of the head. Considering the material, it's not going to KO them or anything like that, but you should be able to stun them. If this was serious shit, I'd recommend going for their neck instead, but..."

He began fitting his feet into Ernie's work shoes. Shit was small.

"...probably no need to get that mean."

Emma’s face was filled with dejection. Ignored by the kid, and now they’re going to get her into trouble. She sighed. She’d thought she’d done a good job too. Guess I should’ve known better. She glanced at Savannah again, ”Just be careful…” she added. She’d would have to keep an eye on her, she realized. Clearly Bert and Ernie couldn’t be counted on to keep the girl safe. ”Well, I guess we have our game plan then. Anything else?”

"Yup. What are we going to do if they get on the third floor as well?"

"Thwack 'em!" Savannah replied with glee.

Ernie's smile shrunk at Brent's casually violent advice. While he appreciated the dude's practicality, all at once Ernie was reminded of the stakes in this match, of what they could and would do to him if he wasn't on his toes. It was all fun and games whenever he said it but there was the definite chance that the other team would be thinking the same thing. After a brief moment, he spoke.

"We get mean, just like Brent said. We all saw what went down in the first fight. If we stand around with our heads up our asses..." he took a breath.

"We're gonna get seriously hurt. Take any opportunity you can get. When we're up there, don't even hesitate."

Emma frowned. She didn't like it but Ernie was right, "If we run into them up there we won't exactly have a chance to back down. We probably have the better 4v4 than them, so I guess we just take the chance to fight." Yet another sigh came from her. She didn't like this one bit.

Did they really have the better team fight if they were in closer quarters? The original plan had been to take advantage of Emma's near-infinite range to immediately ambush Hazel and play it by the ear from there, but now...it was relatively close quarters on what was essentially the rooftop. His hand grazed against the gun he had brought, and then to the machete that hung by his hip.

But...alright, there was something for Savannah to do then.

"Emma, remind me again. Can you summon your minions in locations that are out of your sight? As long as you're within earshot and all?"

Emma nodded, "Yep, anywhere I want. Why?"

"If there's a fight," he replied, "And it's on third floor, stay on ground level. You're the MVP, after all, and I'm pretty sure the other team knows it as well. Savannah, it'll be your job to update Emma on the situation through cellphone. Stay away from the battle unless there's a really obvious opening, such as Ernie immobilizing someone with his sigil thing."

"Priority will be on Hazel, because she's their method of getting upstairs without like...using the stairs and their method of collectively kicking our ass. Really, we just need to blitz...wait."

Brent stopped, mulling in his thoughts.

"Can't you just like, drop your tank-dude on Hazel immediately? Because you can drop them anywhere you want and all? Don't think they're THAT far away, so you can just like...shout at the beginning of the match, right? Or am I being too optimistic here?"

Emma gave a slight shrug, "It's a possibility. but I think it would require them to have pretty slow reaction time. I forgot to mention, one of the caveats of the big guy is that he responds a little slower to my commands than the others. They'll probably have time to react and I doubt Hazel will panic enough for that to work."

"Mmm, alright, got it." Brent nodded at that, before turning upwards to the top of the house once more. He had really meant for Emma to literally manifest the Big Guy over Hazel's head and for gravity to do the rest, but perhaps she was just too nice to go for something that might fuck up someone's spine.

"Got it!" Savannah said to Brent. So she was to stay out of the battle unless there was an opening, huh? No hitting people with sticks, then... She had to admit she was a bit disappointed. That might've been fun.

Ernie finally removed the sheath from his axe, seeing his muddled reflection in the mirror polished face. The sheath went into his pocket while the bare weapon went into his holster. No holds barred.

"Sounds like we're done with planning then?"

After all this discussion, it still didn't feel like they had a good enough strategy, but Brent nodded regardless. Time was running out, and if nothing else, they planned out their entrance and their exit, as well as how the start of this exercise was going to be like. Sav was feeling violent. Emma was looking hesitant. Ernie was drawing his weapon.

And himself?

He had brought a gun to this fight, against others who were unarmed outside of their powers.

He closed his eyes, let out a deep breath, and then opened them once more. A cheerful grin found itself on his face as he thrust his hand outwards.

"Alright, let's do this!"

The tension released from Ernie's shoulders as he saw Brent's grin. While the sport itself left much to be desired, Ernie could always appreciate the fun of hanging with others. The enthusiasm was contagious. With a slight chuckle, he put his hand in.

"We're gonna do great!"

Whether the reassurance was for himself or the team, he didn't really care.

Emma eyed the two for a moment before reluctantly offering her hand. "Let's just try to keep things from getting too rough." she hesitantly offered, smile slowly returning. She had her doubts about this, but she didn't really have a choice, did she?

Savannah put her hand into the circle without hesitation, her excitement clearly showing by the way she bounced on her feet. "Yeah! Let's kick some ass!" she said, grinning.

"Mighty Mushroom Bruisers........"

His hand pressed down and then raised up, clenching into a fist.

"GO!!!!!"

---

---

---

---

As their group arrived at the house, Zoe looked up at it with a serious expression. So, they were trying to force a close-range fight. Made sense considering the powers everyone was working with, although it meant it'd probably be a pain trying to avoid a confrontation. Still, if they didn't decide on some sort of strategy, they were screwed regardless. Taking a step back, she looked up at the building. Three floors, it looked like, with some sort of terrace right above them - that wasn't too much. Wasn't much at all, actually.

"Hazel, your ability's kind of like telekinesis or something, right? Are you able to, uh, lift people? Or things?" She looked at the girl questioningly. "Or is it just straight-up punching shit?" Honestly, Zoe hadn't really understood what half of the girl's explanation meant earlier, but no way would she admit that with the cameras on. She already felt enough like a dumbass without anyone else figuring it out.

"That is correct," Hazel replied. "However, I do not know if I can lift people or things. My ability had always been telekinetic impacts."

That was to say, she had never did anything of the sort before. Perhaps she could propel someone or something through the air if she hits them hard enough, but she had never did anything like lifting something before. The house the team had been brought to would be child's play for her to demolish, especially considering what her primary purpose was in that other facility, and how they trained her. All she needed to do was break the points bearing the building's weight, and it would crumble to the ground.

But that was beside the point. Focusing on her mental image, her arms disappeared completely, the air around them wrinkling visibly with a sort of a purplish hue.

Hazel blinked.

Huge purplish arms floated above her, a copy of the mental image she was focusing on. This was certainly something new to her. Moving one of the spectral hands lower, she climbed on it, and started jumping up and down on it.

"Yes. I can lift objects."

Lawrence nodded in response to Hazel, even if he wasn't the one she was speaking to. His eyes were upward, studying the same terrace that had caught Zoe's attention. If Hazel could get them up there from the beginning of the match...

"Well, we really have two options, don't we? I don't know if the people who set this up counted on one or both groups being able to just skip to the top of the building, but if they didn't... Well, the chances that our healer is on the bottom floor is pretty slim. So, I think we should definitely take this opportunity to go straight to the top. Main issue as I see it is whether we went to split up into two groups to help hunt for the healers, or stay together to watch each other's backs when a fight breaks out."

With a shrug he added:

"If we lose our healer and can't find theirs we're screwed. If they manage to catch us in two small groups and wipe both out separately- we're screwed. They said minimum demolition, so I don't think busting from one floor to the other to help each other is an option if we're separated. I vote we stick together and keep our ears open."

"I second that." Allison stared in awe at the girl floating on massive purplish projections of her arms. Hazel was clearly the most indispensable asset to the team, and it was obvious that their best bet would be to stay near her. If they all stayed together on the second floor, they would have a decent chance of survival, at least more than splitting up.

Zoe shrugged. "Fine with me. If one of them's seriously giving us trouble though, I can break off and take them out of the game." She smiled coldly. She'd likely lose her flags, but she could do a lot of damage if she got the other team by surprise. It sounded like a fun prospect. For now, though, her own team needed to figure out the rest of what they were doing.

She nodded to herself. "So, healers. If we find Gregory and he's easy enough to move, Hazel can lower him down the same way we get up. If he doesn't cooperate, I'll just push him off the terrace. 'Break a leg', right? I'm sure you guys can talk him round, though." A hint of disappointment crept into her tone at the prospect of missing out on leg-breaking but she didn't dwell on it for too long. "Any issues with that?"

Lawrence nodded in response to her, eyes still upward. Truthfully, he had no problem with breaking Gregory's legs if it came to that- incredibly painful and unpleasant, but not fatal and they had healers who could deal with him afterwards. Main issue was if they needed to rely on him later on the guy might hold a grudge...

"We'll call that a last resort, but no disagreement here. A broken leg or two won't kill him, but we can't say for sure that he wouldn't land on his neck either."

Allison paced around, staring at the ground, occasionally glancing up at the building.

"And what's the plan if the other team rushes up the stairs and we have to fight immediately? I mean, we're going to have to fight them eventually, but how do we deal with them? We know what everyone but Ernie does, right?"

At Allison's question, Zoe sighed. "Kills me to admit it, but with me and Lawrence on the team we'll probably get our asses kicked. Protecting Hazel is gonna have to be priority number one. If they take her out, that 'probably' turns into definitely."

"If we can get everyone into a room, one of Hazel's hands could be used to block the door, buy us some time. Savannah, Lawrence can just hit in the face with a clock or something - she's weak anyway but it stops her from being a pest. Allison, your blade-thing should be able to handle Brent if you can destroy his equipment. Ernest, we'll just have to make things up on the fly. The problem here is Emma. Her summons might fuck everyone over if we're all in the same place."

A dangerous look appeared in Zoe's eyes as she thought it through. "I'm not going to be much help playing defensively, but if she needs to talk to use her powers then I can cut her off. Only need a second if I can get my hands on her." Zoe looked at them. Ideally she'd take a back seat here, but with the way her Stigma was going she'd end up attacking someone regardless. Best to make it someone on the other team. "I know we said we'd stick together, but even if I get taken out, me for her sounds like a pretty good deal. That's all I've got."

"You should be able to melt her sommons as they come if you go full strength on them- I don't remember them being that resilient. I think we should save Allison's ability to disable Ernest, at least until we know what we're up against."

He took a step towards Hazel then, folding his hands behind his head in as relaxed a manner as he could. If his team was set on winning then he'd do what he could, but he wasn't too invested in the outcome of this game. The point was working together, not winning.

"I agree that Hazel takes second priority to the healers, but I wouldn't count out any of our powers, even mine. I can think of a few tricks to at least buy us some time."

With a shrug, he added:

"If worst comes to worst I think I can hold them off for a bit to buy you guys some time to regroup. Let's just hope we can get those healers before they can."

"Depends if the things count as organic or not." Zoe shrugged, considering Lawrence's words. "But if that's what you'd rather do, I'll follow your lead - planning isn't really my thing. Throwing out ideas here more than anything, but if you think it's best to stay defensive and hold them off then that's what we can do. It's just-" She cut herself off, pausing with a reluctant expression.

"Truth is, it's hard enough to keep things together right now, never mind once the fight's started. If we're all fighting in a group together, there's a chance I might, uh, change my mind. So to speak. Might be a good idea to keep an eye on me." Her pride hurt at the admission of weakness, but she didn't want to put anyone else at risk without them knowing. "If you guys can deal with that, then I guess we've got our plan."

"Alright then. I guess all that's left to do is wait." The group passed the remaining time in relative silence.

---

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"START."

The first transformation would be spikes. Teeth. Something to help these too-small shoes to bite into the plastered surface of this building. Brent let out a deep breath as he reached out for that silvery mass within him, silver circuits running down his muscle calves and lighting up the boots. A silent explosion exposed his bare feet for but an instant, before they reformed once more. Silver-and-black, the steel toes remained on this pair of boots, but now, it was a comfortable fit, sporting jet black spikes on the sole.

But not enough for him to really go spiderman up the wall.

The spikes scraped against the ground as he tested them, before taking out his phone. Giving Emma a sideways glance, he called her, before putting the phone in his pocket. He’ll try the pipe first. Brent walked up to it, smiled, and then placed his hands against the drain pipe. All his body strengthening had a purpose now, so really, he shouldn’t be dilly-dallying at all, right?

“Prepare for liftoff,” he grinned, before placing one hand over the other, digging his spikes into the plaster as he began to ascend. It wasn’t his dream of running up the wall like a ninja, but this more than sufficed.

Ernie choked slightly as he watched his beloved boots disappear for an instant, before transforming into something more streamlined and breathtaking than anything he'd ever worn on his own feet. His momentary horror was quickly forgotten. Fuck, that was badass. Why couldn't he have gotten the power that made things cool looking? Well, cool looking and practical, unlike the idiots at West.

His awe instantly turned to dismay when Brent began scaling the drain pipe.

Now that was just an accident waiting to happen. Ernie waddled forward on the rollerblades, glancing down at his tomahawk. It was a stupid idea. But it was less stupid than falling off a broken drain pipe and breaking your back. He summoned his rope, feeling the weight of a loose coil of golden fibers in his hand and energy flowing through his muscles. Practised hands looped a clove hitch around the handle of the tomahawk within seconds. Ernie didn't bother wasting time testing the knot. He knew he could trust the tightening qualities of his stalwart companion. It was the tomahawk that would be the problem.

With a few spins of the makeshift grappling hook, Ernie tossed it up and caught it on the wooden banister by the drain pipe with the hook of the axe. So far, so good. He gave it a firm tug, feeling the blade dig only slightly into the handrail. So far, so good? He prayed that it would hold.

"Brent, grab on and use this!" Ernie called, kicking off the rollerblades. As much as he disliked going shoeless, he needed the traction of his feet rather than the slidiness of the roller wheels to hold onto the rope.

Emma watched the spectacle quietly, answering her phone when prompted. She gave Savannah a glance from the side, "There's no way this is going to end well..." she said quietly to the small girl.

Oh shit. This probably wasn't going to go well, seeing how the other fight had went. Someone was most likely to get the snot knocked out of them. Savannah just hoped it wouldn't be her. Savannah pulled out her new phone, fumbling with the Contacts in an effort to get a texting conversation started. She was the scribe-type thing, after all.

"Yeah, seeing how the other teams fared, this isn't going to go well. One of us is going to get the snot knocked out of them. I just hope it isn't me, because I like my nose not being broken." Savannah responded to Emma.

"Got it, Ernie!" Brent called back, flashing the seaweed-head a thumbs up. He would have liked to know that Ernie could pull off this shit beforehand, but considering how the pipe was literally beginning to rattle underneath his weight, now was better than later. Reaching out with one hand, he grabbed the rope, grateful for something that probably won't give away as easily.

He let out another deep breath, and this time, the shoes didn't explode. They screeched, silver lines reappearing and this time glowing red. A hot wind buffeted his sweatpants as the spikes on his shoes changed erratically, turning into something more akin to jaws. Changing the orientation of his feet against the wall, Brent push in and smiled. Whatever mechanism within these new 'non-slip' boots were now forcing the spikes to literally bite into the wall, latching on, releasing only when he lessened the pressure he put on the wall.

It wasn't going to be enough for him to freely climb, but...as long as he had Ernie's rope, it was fine.

Using the rope to climb seemed to work fine. Ernie made a mental note to invest in some carabiners later, or whatever that rock climbing equipment was. Then again, it'd only ever come in handy if his rope ever grew beyond its barely usable length now. As Brent grabbed onto the rope, Ernie cringed as he felt the axe dig a little deeper into the railing. That was not going to end well.

"Uh, maybe you should hurry it up a little, buddy!" he eyed the grappling hook nervously, "I don't know how long this thing will hold."

Ohhhh no. This was not going to go well. "Well, they're certainly not the full shillings." Savannah said.

Gah, could Ernie stop talking now? Did he forget that the enemy team was probably just on the other side of the building, or even inside it? Brent really didn't want to get attacked while clinging onto the wall at this point...but on the other hand, if he made it to the top WHILE everyone was trying to knock him off, that'd be Mission Impossible levels of winning, huh...

One foot over the other. One hand over the other. As the tomahawk dug deeper and deeper into the railing, Brent kept his eyes as wide open as he could, locked onto the bladed weapon. He didn't want to blink and suddenly see the axe heading for his face. No, he'd want as much time as possible to r-

The rope became slack.

The tomahawk fell.

Oh shit.

One hand grabbed the drain pipe once more, another unpleasant rattling resounding as he leapt out of the way, barely evading the tumbling weapon. He allowed himself a single mental congratulations before a 'pop' resounded, that of rusty nails popping out at the weight of a human being. The dilapidated drain pipe wasn't going to last much longer now, and his feet, slipping due to no longer being completely flat on the wall of the house, cut into plaster, but couldn't find purchase.

So he reached out for the untested third, a third jolt of silver circuitry rushing into those boots.

It was like plunging his feet into an open-air hot springs for the first time, supremely unpleasant and almost painful. Brent grit his teeth, slammed both feet against the wall, and selected a singular function.

Gripping.

The boots let out a pained squeal, and suddenly, he found himself hanging upside down, feet still stuck firmly on the wall. It was no longer spikes this time, nor teeth. No, what was on his soles this time were dozens of small hooks, piercing into the wall and staying in place. Well then. He smiled at his team that were still upside down, before feeling for the drain pipe once more. Still hella sketchy, but backing down now? That'd just be a waste of time.

Using his arms to provide some extra momentum, Brent swung himself upright, grabbing that drain pipe once more. There was only a bit more distance left, and this time, he didn't have to rely on the pipe to hold his weight. It just had to ensure that his body didn't fall backwards once more. He pushed onwards, taking care to put as much weight as possible on his legs as he advanced.

Callan and Sander could have just jumped. Kusari could have tentacle-grabbed her way up. Siena could have teleported. Grant could have rode on a block of concrete. Hazel could move herself up with her mind. Emma could tractor beam herself up.

...he needed to get better at this, and he needed to be better prepared. Make his first two upgrades count. Not getting gloves was a mistake.

Finally reaching the top, Brent grasped the edge with his hands and peeked up. Didn't look like anyone else was standing there, but the loud crash that resounded from the opposite side of the roof made it all too clear that Hazel and Team 3 had gotten there ahead of them.

"Make it fast, Emma. Sounds like they're already up and searching," he said, carefully removing the phone from his pocket and placing it on the roof.

Emma sighed as she watched Brent barely avoid a fall. She had no idea what Savannah meant but it was clear that they certainly weren’t the full shillings. ”What’d I tell ya? Accident waiting to happen.” she said with a small wink to the girl.

Without any prompting Love materialized next to Brent. Emma brought her phone to her mouth, shouting into it, ”Gently use your ability to pull me, Ernie, and Savannah up to you!” she hoped that was command enough for the shadowy creature. It didn’t take long for it to follow the order with expedience, leaning over the edge of the roof and holding out its hands like a Jedi. The trio lifted off the ground, slowly being ushered up towards the top of the house.

Not knowing what to do, Savannah winked back at Emma. It seemed like the appropriate thing to do. As soon as Love lifted her into the air, her mouth formed into an O.

"Oh my god!" she squeaked. "I"M FLYING!" She screamed this time. It was truly a thrilling experience, to be lifted into the air like this. Her eyes sparkled, her awe showing.

Fuck, that almost ended badly. Ernie sidestepped the falling axe, cringing at the dull clanking sound it made as it hit the ground. At least Brent got up in one piece. He holstered the tomahawk once more. The rope would stay though. He disliked the vulnerability of having no enhanced durability. And from the sound of it, the other team had already completed their vertical route. Now that a top storey brawl was guaranteed, he needed the advantage.

Ernie was lifted off his feet. He grabbed the loose pair of rollerskates before he completely left the ground. They might come in handy later. As he ascended, he also loosely coiled his rope for easier carrying.

As the strange creature manifested before Brent, the amethyst-eyed youth waited a couple more moments, checking if it was going to get invisibly eviscerated by Darth Hazel. Nothing of that sort happened, however, and he pulled himself over the edge, rolling onto his back for a quick breather as the rest of the team took the easy, floaty way up. Perhaps the better method would be to simply throw the phone up there...wait. Hadn't that woman said that it was shock proof?

...Brent grimaced. It probably would have survived such a throw then, and they would have gotten there much faster as a result. More things he was lacking in. More things to remember for future missions. And a bluetooth too. He needed to get that.

Shaking his head, he took a glance around at the garden below. The white fence had collapsed, no doubt knocked down for Hazel to usher her crew in. Sounds of a struggle, followed by a muffled shout, were becoming more obvious now. So a healer definitely was on the third floor. Male by the sound of it, unless it was Lawrence?

He removed Ernie's shoes as he waited for the others to get up, the pair of work boots reverting to their original form with a soft flash.

"Sounds like they found a healer. Most likely going to toss that person into the safe zone with Hazel's telekinesis."

Emma frowned. Were they going to start fighting so soon? She reached for her phone again, ”Okay, let’s speed it up a bit! Not too fast, though!” There was a notable increase in the rate at which they were rising. Hopefully they’d get there in time, if the other team scored a healer so quickly it wouldn’t bode well for them, would it?

With the increase in the creature's pull speed, Ernie soon touched down. The sounds from indoors did nothing but heighten his nerves but there were other matters to take care of first. Seeing his boots by Brent's bare feet, Ernie raced towards them, tossing the rollerblades to his teammate in return.

"Oh, thank god," he breathed, lacing the work boots back on as quickly as he could.

However, the moment of respite passed too soon and his attention was forced back onto the commotion from inside.

"That doesn't sound good at all," he remarked anxiously. He could feel more clawing in his chest, and the urge to jump off and run back to the dorm began calling stronger than ever.

Emma pinpointed the sounds of battle. It would be one against four, wouldn’t it? That wasn’t exactly fair for the healer. She glanced at Brent and then glanced below. Determination appeared far above the roof, high in the air. He was right above where, by Emma’s best guess, the fighting should be. She didn’t even think about it, it just happened. ”Shoulder check the roof!” seemed like the most sensible thing to call out. That'd be good enough to make it through, right? Apparently it was, as he torpedoed through the roof and into the fight below.

Sophia Lemane

USARILN East, Ground Zero
September 7th, 2020 - 5:35 pm

Without anything to do in the room, anxiety was slowly and steadily mounting inside her, and Sophia's efforts to suppress that feeling weren't working very well. At last, the door opened as two guards walked in. Time to go. She let herself be escorted through the darkening streets with her gaze lowered, trying to tune out her surroundings and focusing on herself and dampening her feelings.

The firing of a gun followed by a scream made her jerk her head up, in time to see a teenager before them crumple to the ground. It was the prod from the guard that told her to keep moving, or else she might have stayed frozen to that spot for much longer.

Entering a three-story house a while later, this time her head was up and she was looking around as they made their way through the house and up to the top floor, where she was directed into the closet and told to stay hidden. Once the door of the closet closed, she was left in darkness.

The sound of her heart thumping in her ears made it hard to hear anything, but it didn't stop her thoughts from continuing to run free. Thinking about the place she had been hidden in, a closet didn't seem like a very good place. In here, she felt trapped. Plus, a closet was such an obvious place to hide. Anyone who had played hide and seek would know that. And when her hiding place was discovered, where would she be able to run? All they had to do was open the closet door, and she would be cornered.

She didn't like the sound of that, being cornered. There had to be a better place to hide somewhere. Right? Just because she had been told to stay hidden, that didn't mean she couldn't find a better hiding place, right? Hopefully there was still some time before the teams arrived. But then, what if she only had a few minutes? It could be that once she stepped out, the teams would arrive. However, thinking about it, she would probably get caught pretty easily anyway. She was pretty hopeless at this kind of stuff.

She hesitated for a while before making up her mind. Slowly pushing the door of the closet open, she stepped out and closed the door behind her, taking a look around the room again. The bedroom where she had been hidden was pretty bare, the only other possible hiding place other than the bathroom and closet was under the bed. That wasn't any better, so she turned her steps towards the doorway.

A distant crash froze her mid-step. What was going on downstairs? There were only two possibilities as to who had made that noise. First, the teams had arrived early and were already searching. Or... the boy had also abandoned his hiding spot and was doing some crazy stuff downstairs.

Tentative steps brought her slowly out of the room, flinching as another crash sounded and leaving the door just as it had been before she had exited. Then, more cautious steps towards the staircase. She peered downstairs, but the way the staircase spiraled down to the bottom floor made it hard to see anything except the stairs themselves. Another crash. Then as she strained to see downstairs, a soft sound reached her ears. Footsteps.

Now ready to bolt back to the closet if it turned out the person was coming to the top floor and not just the middle floor, she backed up a few steps but still kept an eye on the stairs. The figure came up until she could see his or her face. It was the other healer, and it didn't seem like he was running from anyone either. Some degree of relief washed over her, but she was still glad he had stopped on the middle floor. For some reason, she didn't feel like meeting him right now. Especially since he must have been the cause of those noises.

She would just have to be careful not to encounter him, for she really needed to find a better hiding place. Soon. Before it became too late. Unfortunately, that boy was still on the middle floor, so she would have to look around on the bottom floor first. She didn't like the idea of hiding on the bottom floor since the teams would probably enter there first, but it was worth a try.

Sophia began her descent, yet another crash convincing her that the boy was still occupied. Reaching the landing on the middle floor, she stared at the couches and chairs that were blocking the way out to the terrace. What...? Eyeing the doorway across from the staircase that lead down to the bottom floor warily, she waited for a sign that the boy was still occupied. As yet another sound of something breaking sounded from beyond the doorway, she rushed to and down the stairs that led to the bottom floor.

Reaching the bottom floor, she stood still as she took in her surroundings. Everything around her was not as it had been when she had first entered with the guards. Everything was... wrecked. She could hear water running, and water was pooling on the floor in puddles. Here and there across the floor lay wires. What had that boy been doing? He hadn't... lost control of his power and begun wrecking everything, had he?

Careful to avoid stepping on the wires, she peered into the nearest bathroom where she could see water was leaking from. It could no longer function as a bathroom, shards of glass and ceramic lying all across the ground. No hiding in there. Moving away from the stairs and into the kitchen, there she saw the taps running as well, and more water on the floor.

This was beginning to seem quite deliberate to her and less like what she had initially thought. Whose power would automatically clog drains and turn on taps? But why had that boy done it? It was so hard to move around-- that was it. He must have been trying to make it harder for the teams to get through and up the stairs. But now she was having difficulty making her way through, let alone find a hiding spot. His plan had so backfired on her.

Wanting to minimize the amount of water flowing onto the floor, she reached over and turned off the kitchen tap, just as there was a very, very, loud crash and thud accompanied by the sound of something splintering. Her heart seemed to jump in her chest as her breath quickened. She could have sworn she felt the ground shake under her feet. That boy had to be insane. What had he done now?

Making her way back to the kitchen doorway, she stopped as there was another loud thud accompanied by splintering. Followed by another of those noises, then another, and finally the appearance of a chair half embedded into the ground floor stairs. She stared. The stairs were entirely destroyed, and there was no way of getting back up. She clenched and unclenched her fists as nervousness, anxiety, and fear flooded through her once more, the emotions stronger than before. Now she had no choice but to stay on the ground floor. He was insane. Utterly and totally insane, coupled with a power capable of throwing around couches.

But she couldn't waste time. The teams would probably be arriving anytime soon, and she needed to be hidden. Stay hidden or risk solitary confinement, those had been the terms. As quickly as she could, she made her way through the rooms, searching for someplace that looked suitable. Unfortunately, nowhere looked suitable.

She couldn't hide in kitchen cabinets, the fridge, the oven, under any tables or couches, or in the bathrooms. Soon she entered the bedroom. There wasn't much in there except a bed, another flooding bathroom, and... that was pretty much it. Plus some pillows and a blanket. How could it be that there was no where else to hide? It really looked like she was going to end up hiding under the bed. Under the bed on the floor that was wet. She was going to have to get wet too.

Crouching down to peer under the bed, it looked like she would just fit under. Lowering herself down onto her stomach, she lifted the edge of the blanket and ducked her head under it before pulling herself in under the bed. Once under, she rotated herself so she lay under the diagonally, her head towards the doorway. The blanket that was spread over the bed hung to the floor and concealed her from sight, unless one were to peer under from the head of the bed.

A few minutes after she had gotten settled, the cuff announced the start of the game.

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Plink.

Plink.

While the others had been conversing, trying to figure out a plan of action, Hazel had been throwing rocks towards the second floor of the building after turning her ability off. Closing her right eye, she threw another small rock, which bounced off the second floor railing and into the inside. She was used to having someone ordering her around, so these sort of things weren't really her forte, though she was paying attention to what they were saying.

"START."

Without warning, she activated her ability again. This time however, the arms she projected was two times larger than before. With the massive hands she projected, she simply scooped up the rest of her team and set them on the second floor, toppling the trellis there in the process. Hazel took a deep breath, returning her projected arms to their normal size. Lowering one of the arms, she got on her projected hands again, and threw herself up towards the balcony. Reaching the peak of her ascend just above the balcony, she landed flat on her face on the grass.

"A little warning would've been nice." Zoe muttered as they were set down. Still, that was surprisingly simple. She'd half-expected something to go wrong, but it looked like Hazel really didn't have any trouble getting them up there at all. Even if she did mess with the building a little - hopefully the other team had gone inside or they'd probably figure out that Team 3 were up here now.

She glanced back just as Hazel faceplanted, a look of slight concern crossing her features. Decided against calling out, seeing as the other team might somehow not have realised they were up there, but quickly walked over and tapped the other girl on the shoulder. "You okay there? Might wanna work on that landing."

Grass on bare skin.

There was an odd feeling Hazel was unfamiliar with welling up from under that haze. It took but a moment for her to realize what brought it on; she haven't felt grass against her skin since... since she could remember. Shaking her head clear, she sat up before replying.

"Understood. I will work on my landings more in future."

"Mph."

Lawrence was about as prepared for the sudden airtime as the rest of his team was- but couldn't really argue with Hazel's efficiency. They were effectively in a battle right now- politeness was a pointless exercise under the circumstances. Getting his bearings- and noting by the lack of electric shock that this level of demolition was apparently allowed- the Arbiter brushed himself off before offering Hazel a hand to help her stand. She didn't look injured, and they didn't have time to waste.

"Well, they sure as hell probably heard that if nothing else, let's hope we hear them before they launch an attack."

Hazel stared at the hand offered to her for a moment, before accepting it and standing up.

She moved first, towards the front of the group, peering into the house. Oddly enough, there was just an end table, a small table and nothing else in the room. Of course, there was other things in the room, such as the dusty paintings, and the potted plant, but those struck her as unusual. A small table by itself in the middle of the room was strange. A table without chairs nearby was very strange to her. Of course, there was the fact that all of this was some sort of projection from that strange girl she saw, so this could be the usual state, but considering what they were doing right now, it was very plausible that someone was here and moved those furniture.

"Someone was here," she spoke, entering the room.

Zoe walked past Hazel, looking around the room with interest. The other girl wasn't wrong, it sure seemed like someone moved things around. Zoe smiled. "Healers should be up here, then. Better get moving quickly before the other team has a chance to join us. Let's see if we can block-" She'd taken a few steps towards what she'd assumed were the stairs, but stopped, surprised, as soon as she saw the state they were in.

"Never mind. Seems like we don't have any stairs to worry about. Whoever's up here took care of them somehow." Kinda felt like they were stretching the definition of 'minimal demolition at this point', but it probably wasn't the time to ask questions. Saved them some effort anyway. She turned back to her team with a shrug. "Guess we should start searching."

Allison took a second to reorient herself before joining the others in the room. "Maybe give a warning next time, Hazel." The stairs had been absolutely destroyed, making getting down rather difficult, though it also prevented the other team from getting up. There was only one door that Allison could see. She moved to the door and threw it open.

The door swung open without any resistance to reveal an empty room. It was far from immauclate though, the bed cover was crumpled like someone had laid down on at and at the foot of a bed were the broken remains of a lighbulb and lamp head. The bathroom door was shut, but the sounds of a faucet and shower running were quite audible.

Gregory tensed a bit as he slid himself away from the wall he'd pressed his ears against. The toilet had already been marked, and his Launch Path was ready to send it hurtling through the wall. A towel pressed against the bottom of the door kept any light from bleeding through to the other side as his fingers rolled against the pole in his other hand. Hopefully they'd find Sophia first rather than trying to break down the locked door, but... even if they did, they'd probably still look for him afterwards.

Allison stepped into the room, becoming slightly cautious once she noticed the noise coming from the bathroom. The room itself was empty, with the only spots of note being the closet and the bathroom. She grabbed the bathroom doorknob, only to find it locked. Allison motioned for the others to enter the room. Someone was definitely in the bathroom.

Hazel looked on as Allison went into the room. Was the bathroom locked? Entering the room, it would seem the only place people could hide was under the bed, in the bathroom and in the closet. Everything points to there being someone else on this floor. The bed was crumpled, there were broken things around, and the bathroom itself was locked with the sound of running water inside it. Was someone in there?

Once again, without warning she activated her ability, and smashed both projected arms into the bathroom, grasping at anything that might be in there.

Gregory was prepared for someone trying to tackle their way through the door. Less so when the wall promptly exploded inwards, and his hand snapped up to shield his eyes from the dust that basically filled the bathroom. There was a sharp crack as the toilet ripped free, and he winced as it hurled into the bedroom. Or would have at the least if the ceramic piece didn't explode into countless pieces of shrapnel and shards against the pair of arms that'd just, "Oh yeah'd," their way in.

Wincing as he felt a few pieces hit him, he blinked as more water sprayed from broken pipes and examined his situation. Mainly he came away with the fact that it was poor. Still, the one by the door didn't seem like the one responsible for the floating purplish arms which left one other target. Given she didn't seem to have hesitated to bulldoze her way in and, well, he didn't see any reason to hesitate. Ducking beneath the hands, his free hand scooped up water and threw it at her face before he jabbed at her with the lamp post.

Zoe had just been watching the others look around the room, not really caring to interfere with what they were doing until Hazel smashed into the bathroom. There wasn't much time to react as someone ran out through the clouds of dust, going straight for Hazel with some sort of weapon she couldn't quite make out.

"Watch it!"

Without thinking, Zoe pulled Hazel backwards, placing herself in front of the other girl. Not smart in terms of self-preservation, but seeing a teammate get hurt when she could do something about it would leave a bad taste in her mouth. Or maybe she was just itching for a fight. Whatever the reasoning behind it, shielding Hazel meant that Zoe left herself without any way to avoid the guy's attack.

Of course someone managed to get in the way. Grimacing as he jabbed the girl's protector in the gut, he twisted the post and pushed it forward, digging it deeper. His grip loosened and slid up the post's length to readjust his grip as he stepped up against the girl and tried to shoulder check her, pushing them back into Hazel anyways.

Zoe hadn't quite gotten her breath back from the blow to the stomach as the guy lunged in with his shoulder. By all accounts, it probably looked like she was going to get her ass kicked. Her expression, however, changed to an odd smile as she took the hit and stumbled backwards towards Hazel, lashing out in an attempt to draw a black-lined hand across her attacker's face. He didn't seem to know what she could do, judging by the fact that he hadn't backed out of range. Might as well make the most of it.

Well, either she had something up her sleeve or she liked where this was going. Neither were particularly to Gregory’s liking, and he didn’t need to know anything about the other Aberration’s ability to understand getting touched by her marked hand was probably a bad idea. He smacked at the hand that tried to touch him with the post before kicking up some of the dust and debris laying about from the demolition that had just happened. Hopefully the pair were distracted, but he didn’t bother to make sure as he bolted back into the bathroom. The window had been blown out of its frame, he could fit through, and there was a terrace below… Hopefully this didn’t end horribly.

The move with the water did catch Hazel off guard, as well Zoe suddenly dragging Hazel behind her. But, in coming close to her, he had made a crucial mistake. She had disabled her ability out of surprise from that move, but now that she had regained her composure, she moved her hands from behind Zoe, before activating her ability. Once again, the projection of her arms this time was bulked up to twice its size. She felt like she was trying to move underwater, but she easily moved her hands to cover both Gregory's avenue of escape, and his back. Trapped in by both the bathroom walls, and her arms, she moved both hands towards each other, intending to just slam the boy between them.

Gregory’s eyes widened before he dropped to the ground with a grunt as the purplish arms clapped together just above him. With the constructs still right above him, he couldn’t exactly get up and so his hand moved backwards and then forwards in that instant. The sigil suspending the pole just above his head winked out as his hand left the tiled bathroom floor, and it shot out over him before reversing its trajectory in an instant and flying at the two girls.

Now Zoe was pissed. Still smiling, but there wasn't anything warm about it. She sprinted forwards, ducking under her teammate's projections and doing her best to ignore the rubble digging into her feet as the guy threw himself to the ground. At least she had the presence of mind to pay attention to what their opponent was doing, making the decision to quickly step to the side as he started levitating his weapon.

A smart choice, as it turned out, the pole flying past her way too close for comfort at a surprisingly high speed. Could only hope Hazel wouldn't get hit too hard, but regardless, throwing away his weapon meant this guy would have nothing to push Zoe away with safely. Perfect. Lunging forwards, she aimed to pin him to the ground before he could do anything else to cause trouble, the effects of her ability now visible across her whole body.

Unsurprisingly, the blatant telegraph made his projectile easily dodged, but hopefully the girl behind hadn’t noticed with her teammate in the way. Ignoring that, the sight of a black veined and coldly smiling Aberration was incredible motivation to get his shit in order. With nothing around to grab and no time to scramble up, he tucked his chin in and crossed his arms in front of his face to shield it. God damn, where was the other team that was supposed to be dealing with these four. "Oi!" He yelled, "A dynamic entry would be nice about now!"

The sudden fighting had caught Allison off guard, leaving her useless for a moment too long. Allison was snapped out of her stupor by a pole that was shooting straight towards Hazel. Allison dove towards the girl, who seemed to be making no effort to move out of the way herself, and pushed her to the ground, and out of the way of the projectile.

The moment he shot out that pole at her, Hazel's first instinctive reaction was to raise her arms in front of her face, her limbs solidifying after her ability cancelled. The pole would have probably gone through her shoulders if Allison had not tackled her to the ground.

It hurts.

Hazel lay on the floor stunned for a moment. Allison lying on top of her was making it hard to breathe, but that wasn't what concerned her at the moment. Was this not an excercise? Now that she wasn't actively fighting for her life, doubt, and fear started creeping in through the receeding haze in her mind. That boy certainly was dangerous, and from the looks of it, he seemed determined enough to hurt anyone and everyone that comes near him.

What do I do?

She would have to disable that boy enough to make sure he wouldn't be much of a threat. From her position under Allison, only the boy's legs were in view. Her right arm turned invisible, as she projected a large rod above him, and slammed it into his legs, breaking his kneecaps with an audible crack.

Almost as if on cue, the roof broke as something slammed into the room from above.

Jesus Christ, does nobody try to negotiate?

Lawrence didn't know exactly what had been going on in the room next to him, but he could get the gist of it. They found someone, things got violent, and three-to-one odds won out. From the sound of the call their opponent made near the end of the scuffle it was Gregory they had found- which meant Lawrence had been searching for Sophia.

So far in vain.

Not that there was much in the room he was in to search. A couple pieces of furniture and a houseplant that would hide nobody. The stairs were complete trashed- to what end he could only guess. One of the healers had to have done it, maybe the one his team had just subdued. Still, the other could still be down there. So it was with his ears that Lawrence did most of his searching, straining to hear the other team- or their healer- down below. Neither of which were reaching him.

The Arbiter had resigned himself to guard duty- rather than cramming himself into the same room everybody else occupied- when Determination quite literally crashed through the ceiling. Messy, loud, and annoyingly unexpected.

"Hazel, get rid of that thing!"

Lawrence, now halfway through the doorway of the room, called to his teammate on the floor. There weren't many other options at the moment. He didn't know if Allison could affect it, he probably couldn't, and Zoe looked to have her hands full with their team's healer. For his part, Lawrence kept his eyes moving between the stairs, terrace, and the new hole made by the arrival of Emma's summon. On guard for the first human opponents to show up and avoiding the chaos of the quickly overcrowding room.

There was no time to waste. Ernie blanched as Emma's summon plummeted through the roof, littering debris throughout what seemed to be a bathroom. It was all so stupidly sudden. No time to think. No time to be afraid. No, there was plenty time to be afraid.

More clawing in his chest. The space was too enclosed. Not enough exits, too many dangers. And that screaming. Ernie knew that tortured sound well. Team 3 was not messing around. Even with his durability, there was way too much risk. He looked to his team, a brief apologetic expression before he spoke.

"I'm gonna corner them," he excused himself hurriedly, and leapt down onto the top balcony before he could hear any objections. Sure, he was basically running away but he didn't give a shit. Being outside was a good place to start. No bone-breaking mages out here. Maybe he'd be able to slam some doors in the other team's faces before they caught sight of him.

Brent hadn't expected Emma to be so aggressive, what with sending her tank minion out ahead and just crashing through the roof. Nor had he expected the tortured screams of a male sound almost at the same time. Chills ran up his spine, before he tried to reason with all that. Tank dude hadn't just fallen onto someone. It must have been Lawrence or the healer. Probably the healer.

The screams continued.

Shit, definitely the healer. Brent slide the blades off his rollerskates, discarding them and reducing those badass skates to mere shoes. Sticking his feet into them, he let out a deep breath, before rising once more. Another silver explosion, and steel plates emerged on his shoes, improved with the concept of protecting his feet in mind. A weapon next? No, this was still supposed to be...

The screaming didn't cease.

...just a game.

Ernie ran off by himself and Brent turned to Savannah. "Go help him with that, yeah," he gestured. Emma could relay orders from Savannah's phone as well. But should he run into the hole that the tank made? Or should he stay back to protect Emma? Or should he go for the cornering method as well? Brent grimaced.

No hesitating.

"Emma, pull them all towards the tank and have it spin around or something. I'll get closer. Spot the screamer and all."

With that, Brent ran towards the hole in the roof. Hazel shouldn't have the power to see through walls as well, right?

When Emma had her tulpas thing just charge straight into the battle and punch through the roof like a badass, Savannah was a little impressed. Right up until the moment that screaming began coming from the room. Had Emma's roof smash crushed someone? It sure sounded like that, and being crushed produced a not-so pleasant sound. Savannah flinched at the sound.

Savannah nodded at Brent's instructions. Although she didn't think jumping off of the roof onto the balcony was the best idea, it certainly was better than standing around and doing nothing. Savannah, doing a running jump, ran off of the rooftop and jumped onto the balcony below with her eyes squinted shut. Luckily, she landed on the grass instead of the pavement.

When she landed, she scanned the surrounding area for the person she was supposed to be helping. It took a short second to find him, but when she did, she hurriedly rushed over and gave a short "'Ello."

Emma nodded at Brent’s command, but she hesitated before relaying it to her Tulpas. The screaming, the violence, what the hell was happening? Wasn’t this a friendly game? Wouldn’t getting hit by Determination hurt the others? Was this really all right?

The voice in her head told her it was. The voice in her head told her it was good. So she did what Brent said. Determination rose from the rubble he had created as Love appeared him. She went for her phone, ”Pull them in, Love! Determination, pummel them!”

What the hell is this game?

Hazel snapped to action the moment Lawrence shouted out that order.

Activating her ability at once, she swatted the tulpa into pieces. Emma's creatures. From what she knew of Emma, she needed to be close to actually be able to issue orders to them. So if the thing came from above, then the summoner must also be above somewhere. Pushing Allison off, Hazel stood up, pushing her ability to her maximum range, before cutting diagonally downwards, slicing clean though the roof, down the top floor, and into part of the middle floor, separating a piece off the building. Assuming there wasn't something else affecting the cut part, it should slide towards where the other team's safe point was, though she had no knowledge of that. With the diagonal cut she made, the cut off piece of the building should slide off before crumbling once it hit the ground, hopefully stunning or slowing down Emma long enough for them to retrieve Gregory.

More than a little worried about the increasing levels of destruction and with Hazel's leg-breaking coming way too close for comfort, Zoe was quickly realizing that she did not want to stay in this room. Needed to move Gregory as well, and fast, which would've been easier if someone hadn't decided to break his legs. She grabbed one of the hands he'd brought up to protect his face. No powers yet, just trying to get his attention as she spoke.

"Listen, I'm getting you out. Nothing else needs to happen if you cooperate - Piss me off, and things only get worse." She was still smiling as she made the threat. Knew fine well any more injury was unnecessary too, but she hadn't had this perfect a chance in ages! Trying to keep her mind on their objectives rather than her own entertainment, Zoe stood up, preparing herself to try and lift the 'healer'. It was a gamble to let go of him, but she had to if she wanted to move the guy by herself.

For how loud he’d screamed just moments ago, Gregory stopped rather abruptly as he tried to breathe through the pain. Unfortunately he was still conscious and not out for a nap, and he yanked his hand away the moment someone tried to grab it. Biting back the first things that came to mind when whoever it was spoke, it didn’t really do much to change his pained expression.

“I think I’ll take worse,” he spat as the house seemed to shudder from whatever the hell was happening. Between going down two floors conscious or unconscious with a pair of broken legs? Not really a hard decision. Sides, if he wasted more of her time than maybe the other team would be able to do something. As she stood, he turned his head to look into the other rooms and forgot about his pain for a moment as a chunk of the building began to fall away and crumble.

If he'd expected Zoe to be bothered by his reaction, Gregory was sorely mistaken. Without another word, she knelt down, powers active over her whole body, and dug a knee into his stomach. Grabbing the side of his face tightly with one hand, she watched as the flesh began to melt, turning red under her grip. The cuff on her leg started beeping, and she knew what that meant, but she'd only just gotten started. No way was she dropping it this early - she'd gone way too long without sating her Stigma, and it showed.

Ignoring the beep, she continued with her attack, digging her fingers deeper into his cheek. Within a matter of seconds, she felt her fingers meeting bone, showing no sign of stopping her assault. There was no question that Zoe was genuinely enjoying this, but she'd gone way too far. She barely had time to register what was happening, just felt her nerves explode with pain as a powerful electric shock ran through her body, her vision going black.

Emma felt the ground beneath her feet move. She wobbled as the building begin to slide, her footing threatening to lose itself. She felt Determination and Love‘s demise at the hands of Hazel. This must be her counterattack, she realized. It looked like the ‘keep demolition to a minimum’ rule was out the window. Emma couldn’t help but wonder if Hazel was actually trying to kill her, after all, this seemed a little excessive. She became acutely aware of the fact that she didn’t have time to worry about Hazel. Her panic would be clear to the spectators, ”Shit, shit, shit!” she cried out as she tried to maintain her footing.

Instinct took over. On the other end of the roof, which she identified as safe footing, Love appeared. ”Pull me to you!” she called.

He didn’t hear her over the sounds of the crumbling building, apparently, as he made no move to help. Before Emma could come up with Plan B her feet came out from under her, sending her toppling down the sliding roof. She went over the edge before she could find something to hold onto.

A scream escaped her mouth as she fell, the ground rapidly coming closer and closer to her. Once again Love appeared, this time below her. ”CATCH ME!” were the words that came out through her screams.

Suddenly she stopped falling. She was now floating in the air, suspended by the grace of Love’s power. She took a long breath.

That was actually kind of cool…

There were many sounds by the time Brent made it over to Determination's hole. The sound of something splattering into scraps. The sound of the high-pitched beeping of the cuffs. And...the sound that a massive telekinetic blade made when it diagonally sheared off a part of the building, sending Emma down with it. He gaped at that sudden display of destruction, at how easily it had cut through everything, at how Emma was now in freefall, before Love manifested, saving her just in time.

What remained now was most of the roof being pretty much destroyed. He couldn't spot Ernie and Savannah. He was pretty sure that what roof remained contained Allison below. Probably Hazel as well.

Good grief, when did a 'knife' equate to a 'fifteen meter death scythe'?

Despite himself, Brent smirked, almost laughed, before recalling just how dangerous of a location he was in. Do they give up on the roof? Yeah, at this point, there were two property destruction maniacs on team 3, one of them just got tazed for that reason, and he was pretty much alone at this point. So...how did he do this?

"Emma, Savannah, Ernie," Brent said, as softly as he could into the phone, "Get off the house immediately. Go shout into the first floor, telling Sophia, if she can hear, that an x-marked person has gone crazy and is fucking shit up and this goddamn administration doesn't actually care if they collapse the building. Probably gonna collapse it soon. They still have Greg up here with them, but at this rate, I think it's definitely better to challenge them on the ground than up above."

"Oh, and Emma? That was some clutch shit. Get down before Hazel force-chokes you though."

He'd really rather not have to drop into the gang of bone-breaking psychos down below...but if that's what it took to buy enough time for Emma to get out, that's what he'd have to do.

Ernie hadn't seen the giant blade materialize. He had been making his way to the door, only to see a diagonally-angled purple knife shear through the building and head directly towards him. With a loud yelp, he threw himself to the right and felt a slight breeze on his left leg. The ground began to tremble and shift. One side of the balcony had been split off and he and Savannah were starting to fall away from their destination.

"Ah, fuck!" Ernie gasped, clinging desperately onto the grass.

He looked back at Savannah and saw her struggling with the unsteady terrain too. The tiny girl wasn't going to have any powers to save her from the fall. And he had nothing to lose from helping her. Seconds before the balcony became impossible to stand on, Ernie sprinted unsteadily to the girl and enveloped her in a bearhug.

The world turned sideways.

Gravity pulled Ernie onto his back as he slid backwards into the banister. The fall only lasted second before a jolt shook them both. The severed building section had hit the ground and was continuing its fall sideways. The world lurched even more. Another crash. They fell through the shattered banister and onto the concrete below.

Ernie took the brunt of the fall with his back and felt all the wind get knocked out of his lungs. Shards of the banister glass littered down onto the pair, though they were only minor irritations compared to the scale of what just happened. He only dared to open his eyes once the sounds of crashing debris stopped. With a groan, he sat up and released Savannah, pushing her off to the side so he could catch his breath. His durability had saved him once again. A quick inspection showed no major injuries. The back of his singlet had been torn to shreds, however, and he needed to get the glass shards out of his hair. And then there was his leg. The bottom of his left pant leg, including the flag and part of the top bit of his boot, had been cleanly slashed off. Somehow his actual leg was completely untouched. He grimaced at the lost point but was thankful that they managed to get through that particular incident. He heard Brent's voice whisper through Savannah's phone and answered with a silent nod. They needed to keep as much distance between Team 3 and themselves as possible. Finding the other healer was a good use of time in the meanwhile.

"Watch out for the glass," Ernie muttered and brushed himself off as he stood up.

This wasn't going to end well.

Savannah hadn't seen the knife form, but she had noticed when it had cut off part of the building. And, which she quickly noted, was the side she was located on. She threw herself to the side with a high-pitched scream in order to avoid the purple knife. The ground trembled and moved, much like the balcony was falling off of the building, which is what it was doing at that exact moment.

"Holy SHIT!" Savannah screamed, trying her best to keep her grip on the unstable terrain.

What kind of idiot had come up with the brilliant idea to slice through the fucking building?! If Savannah had remembered correctly, the staff had specifically told them to keep destruction to a minimum. Well, that was thrown out of the window the moment someone cut through the building.

Just as Savannah was about to scream in terror at the ground falling beneath her feet, Ernie ran over and wrapped her in a large hug. Great. We're hugging before we die. Just great. Just then, the balcony decided to completely separate itself from the house, prompting Savannah to involuntarily hold on tightly to Ernie and squint her eyes shut. If she were going to fall onto the ground and die, she didn't want to see the ground.

Despite her efforts not to, Savannah screamed as they fell through something. The banister? She wasn't entirely sure, since she refused to open her eyes as they rapidly fell towards the ground

When they got onto the ground safely- Thank god for that- Savannah lost her balance and fell onto the ground. She was dimly aware of the glass on the ground as she breathed heavily. She pushed herself to her feet, brushing the glass shards off of her clothes.

"Who in the hell's bright idea was it to cut off the building?!" Savannah began. "I don't remember the aim of the game being 'KILL EVERYONE! It's a total free-for-all, have at it!' Not three minutes into the game and some fucking idiot decides to cut the balcony off of the house! The fuck?" the young girl ranted, clearly seething.

"Shut up and stay quiet!" Ernie hissed. His patience had been completely shredded by the events happening around him, "You saw what happened to the building. Do you want them to hear us and do it again?"

"Jeez, sorry. But it's not like the person who cut through the building can cut off a piece of the Earth."" Savannah retorted.

Anger flared through Ernie. "Stay quiet," he repeated lowly, "Or I won't be there to save your sorry ass next time you fall from the top floor."

He pushed down the rest of his irritation and trudged towards the door. He tried to push it open only to find that something on the other side was jamming it half shut. That was the final straw. With an enraged grunt, he pulled out his tomahawk and savagely hacked at the door. Splinters and wood chips flew with the careless motions. There was no thought behind his swings, only a release of frustration and anxiety. It was clearly just a makeshift venting method, but one that still barely managed to be productive for the two of them.

Everything was happening so fast, and Allison seemed to be little more than a bystander. Part of the building was sliding off, Hazel had just annihilated whatever fell through the roof, Zoe had been shocked, and Gregory was nearly dead. Allison had been pushed off by Hazel, and stood up just as Hazel broke Greg's legs. Allison had half a mind to tackle the girl, to scream at her, even to punch her, but was stopped only by the continuous flow of events.

What was even happening? This was supposed to be a game, a competition. It was quickly turning into exactly what Allison had wanted to avoid, and it was all her team's fault. At least Zoe wasn't going to be melting anyone else's face for the time being. If luck and time were on their side, Greg would survive.

Allison couldn't let this battle turn out anything like the previous, she couldn't let it become a massacre. This battle needed to end fast and without any more major injury. The girl's mind fluttered back to the portion of the building that was now tumbling to the ground, and those who might have been caught in the fall. Allison hoped that they had miraculously not gotten hurt in the fall, but expected much worse. More importantly, though Allison wasn't really sure on that distinction, there was at least one or two members of the other team ripe for the picking down on the ground.

Allison started towards the door of the room, turning around just as she passed Lawrence.

"Hazel, get Greg and... Zoe to the safe zone" She spoke Zoe's name tenderly, as if saying it wrong could cause her pain. "Join me at the rubble when you're done..." Allison hesitated. "And don't injure anyone else if you don't have to." She looked towards Zoe and Greg before spinning around and rushing to the new edge of the second floor, which left a sizable drop to the floor below.

That feeling had been building up ever since Hazel had first broke down the toilet wall to grasp at anything inside, but with the destruction of a whole section of the building, she could ignore it no longer. A sense of elation was filling up her mind, quelling the ever growing noise coming from her stigma, but also feeding her need to destroy more.

Hazel simply nodded at the command, grabbing both Zoe and Gregory with a projected fist, before going towards one of the more open area of the top floor.

He could hear it from his position, the voice of an unfamiliar female, speaking to the silent Hazel. Greg and Zoe could no longer move. Why? Electrocuted and violently knocked out? He bit his lower lip. They would be walking out soon, the telekinetic berserker and the house-cleaving girl. Was Lawrence with them? He didn't know. A brunette exited first, and Brent tensed, his heart rate accelerating violently, but he forced himself to remain still. If they turned around, he had nowhere to hide, even if he flattened himself against the roof. But at the same time, they had no reason to turn around. Neither Hazel nor the hypothetical Lawrence spoke up. And thus, Allison didn't turn around, even though Brent stood up tall on the roof of the house.

Was it Lawrence next? Or Hazel? And if so, what would he do?

Leap down and try to grab as many flags as possible? No, he'd be splattered instantly. He's not Marcus.

Leap down and cut into her shoulder with the machete? No, that'd be excessive.

Remain on the roof and shoot them? No, he can't ensure that he'd hit a non-lethal part of their body.

Leap do-

Hazel's head emerged, and Brent stopped thinking. Even if he was shocked to unconsciousness, he could take Hazel down with him. Zoe was already unconscious. Allison's power didn't help them transport people. And Emma, their VIP, was still unharmed.

Don't hesitate.

He raised his arms, interlocked his fingers, stepped off the roof, and, falling, bashed Hazel on the head.

This was just a game, but three of his teammates already almost died. And between like and dislike, he disliked that.

Brent didn't even get to see Hazel fall when the cuff beeped and tazed him unconscious.

---

Allison looked down at the first floor. It was an ungodly mess, likely the result of Gregory's actions, if their encounter with him was anything to go by. The floor seemed to be flooding with water, just as the bathroom from the floor Allison was currently on. Other than the water, the room was in general disarray, meaning that fighting would be difficult if it ever came to it, but movement would only be slightly more inconvenient. The main issue for the girl was that she was heading towards the wreckage of part of a building, glass and rubble guaranteed to be everywhere, and she didn't have shoes, thanks to Hazel's power.

After only a few moments of staring, Allison heard the sound of a heavy impact, and the familiar beep and zap of the cuff taking out someone who used lethal force. The girl's head snapped around immediately, to find the crumpled forms of Hazel and Brent lying on the ground. From what Allison could discern, Brent had slammed some part of a machete into the back of Hazel's head, though luckily there seemed to be no wound, so he hadn't outright killed the girl.

Allison rushed over to the two forms, though there was little she could do. She did, though, eye Brent's equipment, and specifically, his shoes. He was unconscious, and his feet didn't seem to be that much bigger than Allison's, so of course she took some liking to the idea of taking the boy's shoes. Though, it did seem like a pretty awful thing to do, just taking someone's shoes whilst they lay unconscious.

After a moment of debating with herself, Allison reached at the Brent's shoes, and pulled them off of his feet.

"Sorry, Brent." She said softly as she tied the shoes on. It was odd, wearing someone else's shoes, it felt wrong and awkward, especially to some part of her deep in the back of her head. The shoes seemed to be only slightly too large for Allison, and were comfortable enough that she didn't completely regret the decision.

After the shoes, Allison looked around at the rest of the boy's gear, tempted by the machete, and even Brent's gun, but ultimately decided to leave those where they lay. Allison had little use for them. Instead, she ripped off each of her opponent's flags, turning to Lawrence as she did so.

"We'll need to carry Greg down by ourselves. They're probably still by the bathroom." Allison's words were quick and dull.

Lawrence, for his part, was kneeling next to her, checking Hazel's pulse on the ground. He had no doubt that Brent and Zoe were fine after their shocks- USARILN East had a lot of practice making sure their methods weren't lethal. Overall, this clusterfuck of a team game had gone south incredibly quickly. Had the staff scheduled it too soon after their first combat mission? Whether by stress or misfortune, this was quickly turning into a bad idea.

Still, unless Brent's blow was fatal, Hazel would probably wake up in a few minutes. It wasn't the first person Lawrence had seen knocked out- and thankfully it looked like for the moment she wasn't going to join the list of people he'd seen killed as well. As far as Allison looting the other team while he did this- he didn't really have an opinion. In fact, he took a minute to strip the boy of his pants- the only real piece of clothing worth taking- while Allison spoke to him.

Finally, he grabbed the boy's weapons that his teammate had neglected before answering her:

"If she's not dying, Hazel should be with us again in a few minutes. If she is dying, they'll probably stop the game in order to treat her. We have an injured healer, one we don't know the location of, and as far as we know we're outnumbered three-to-two right now. If we go down there and get jumped we're going to have our hands tied by carrying that dead weight on top of being outnumbered."

Finally, moving to check on Gregory, he added:

"We should defend here, guard the healer we already have, and buy time for Hazel to come to. Do you think your power can destroy Emma's things when she comes at us with them?"

"Probably." Allison said, halfheartedly. "And if Hazel doesn't wake up in time?"

"Then she doesn't wake up."

He said simply, before looking at Brent's gun and shrugging.

"Look, if I could use lethal force- not that I want to- there's plenty of options for wiping out the other team with just you and me. We have to look at this realistically though- we have you and me. That's it. If we lose this game- missions get bungled. Right now our mission is bungled, and the priority is salvaging as much as we can."

With an added sigh he ran a hand through his hair and continued:

"The main lesson here is teamwork. If we were in the field right now we have no idea if our healer is still alive, but we do know Hazel is. Our focus at this point should be staying alive, and keeping her alive- while guarding the objective we managed to capture. If we can't apply this game to a real world mission then... there's no goddamn point to it."

"Alright then." Allison got up from her place next to Lawrence and the unconscious pair, and moved closer to the edge of the floor. She stood idly, watching for any signs of the other team.

Hoping his message had gotten through to the girl Lawrence made his way over to their overly violent captive, pants in hand. At least this way if he did manage to wake up and try to fight back again like an idiot later on in the match he'd be robbed of both his legs and arms.

”...ou there?”

What?

A short investigation revealed something him and Allison had missed a minute ago- Brent's phone- shoved into the pocket of his pants. Shoved into the pocket of his pants and broadcasting the other team's chatter. With the first bit of good fortune since this match started- Lawrence set it next to the body of their captured healer. Then, making sure to broadcast as little noise as possible to the other team- began preparing to tie up their prisoner.

Listening all the while.

-----------------

MEANWHILE:

Ernie's foot shot out and dislodged the last piece of wood needed to create a small entrance. Far too long. With people like Team 3 on the loose above them, he couldn't afford to lose his shit like that again. He needed efficiency. With exhausted breaths, Ernie pulled himself through and crab-walked his way under the table.

"Stay close," he instructed Savannah quietly, "If we get split up now, we're screwed."

His boots tread carefully across the half-flooded floor. Thank god he got his footwear back. Going shoeless through a battlefield was bad enough but doing it through all this would have short-circuited him. The floor itself looked like it'd be bitch to search. Already, it seemed like a mini-maze. Ernie didn't like the number of corners he would have to turn. Too many potential traps lying in wait. He tugged the table to the side to clear their possible exit route, but also to make the most of their current resources.

"Sav," he pointed to the small room that was closest to the way they entered, "Could you check that for me? And maybe the kitchen too."

While the girl searched, Ernie hacked at the table's legs. If Team 3 wasn't pulling their punches, then his own team needed everything they could get. It only took one or two chops for the legs to detach, much faster than the door. One for Savannah, one for him, and one for Emma. Brent already had his own weapon. Plus, there wasn't really a way for Ernie to hand it to the Arbiter teammate. The table rested on its side now.

"Thwacking stick. For you." When the girl emerged from her initial search, she was greeted with a makeshift wooden weapon about two feet long. Ernie decided to give her the second one too. He wanted his hands to be as free as possible. "That one's for Emma, when we find her."

Savannah crawled into the house with more ease than Ernie had, due to her stature. The house was wrecked. Who had done this? One of the healers? She hadn't recalled Team 3 having gone to the first floor, so it must have been them. If she had to take a guess, it would have been Gregory. From what she recalled when they had met, Sophia was not the type of person to go around wrecking rooms. Or, at least, that's the impression Savannah had gotten from her. Sophia hadn't talked much.

Savannah mock-saluted at Ernie when he gave her the instructions. She ran off into the smaller room, checking it pretty thoroughly. Just like the other rooms, it was wrecked, but no one was there. She checked the kitchen as well, but that yielded no results. She came back to the hallway, and was about to say that she found nothing when Ernie gave her a stick.

You were actually serious about that?" she asked. "I didn't find anything."

"We need to be prepared," was the only explanation he gave. He gestured silently to indicate that they were going to make their way through the house, "Did you check the fridge and cupboards too?"

"I don't think she could hide in there." Savannah replied. Ernie merely nodded in return. They could always check on the way back.

Emma was finally ready to move. ”Okay, you can put me down now.” She said, glancing down at the Tulpa below her.

Unfortunately, Love took her order rather literally.

Instead of gently floating down she was dropped suddenly. She hit the ground hard, wind knocked out of her. ”Shit. So much for my sweet landing.” she groaned to herself. She got up, dusting herself off. She reached for her phone, thoughts on what Brent had said. Find Sophia, get her out. Seemed sensible, but first she was concerned with regrouping with Sav and Ernie. They wouldn’t fare well if they were caught without her. She went for her phone, ”Hey, Sav, you there?” she said. She hoped that the small girl was able to get down safely.

She wasn’t as concerned for Ernie’s safety.

"Yeah, I'm here. Did you end up falling off the roof too?" Savannah said lowly into the phone.

"Uhhhh, yeah... you alright?" Emma whispered back. Savannah was whispering, so it only felt appropriate to do the same. "And what about Ernie?" she added as an afterthought.

"I'm fine, just got a few nicks and scrapes from the glass. Ernie took the brunt of the fall, but he's fine."

Ernie took the brunt of the fall? Sweet. She commented to herself. "Alright, roger that. We should probably regroup so we can make a run for the healers. Where are you guys?"

"Ground floor. We're looking for Sophia. Near the back door."

Emma nodded to herself, "On my way, than." She responded, heading towards the building.

While Savannah was updating Emma, Ernie searched the floor. The area after the kitchen consisted of two wide rooms, nothing there that could hide a small girl besides a few stray chairs. He noted the destroyed stairs that would have prevented them from reaching the top floor had they taken a more conventional route. The bedroom was the only remaining place on the ground floor that was a possible hiding place. The closet yielded no results. Same for the adjacent bathroom. Then Ernie peeked under the bed to find Sophia's wide eyes staring back at him.

"There you are!" he whispered in relief, "We need to get you outta here."

He turned to Sav with an excited smile.

"Tell Emma we found her!"

Savannah obeyed Ernie's instructions, whispering into the phone, "Hey, Emma! We found her."

Emma was coming through the back door by the time Sav updated her. "Sweet, I'm right-" She peeked out of the kitchen towards the bedroom, "Here!" she gently called, giving a small wave as she saw the small group. She began adding up the points in her head... with no word from Brent she assumed that he had been snagged, and that would mean Team 4 was still in the lead, even with Sophia. So, to win they'd have to duke it out more? Not something she was exactly looking forward to, but there wasn't a whole lot of choice.

Ernie offered his hands to the quiet girl and pulled her out from beneath the bed. Sophia's front was completely soaked but at least she wasn't bitching dangerously loudly about her situation. Unlike another tiny girl he could mention. He beamed at Emma's arrival. So they still had a fighting chance against the monsters on the top floor.

"We gotta move fast!" Ernie hurried the two girls out of the bedroom. "Sav, give Emma the other stick."

Savannah waved back at Emma. "Heads up!" she said lowly, and once she had gotten Emma's attention she gently tossed one of the sticks to her. She then turned her attention to Ernie.

"What are we supposed to do?" she asked Ernie quietly.

"For now, just get Sophia back," he replied, trying to sound as confident as Brent did. Thinking was for other people like the Arbiter and Emma, people with powers that could actually accomplish things. He disliked this position he was in. Remembering a detail about Allison's power from the team talk in the observation room, Ernie also began dragging the houseplant they passed earlier by a handful of leaves.

Emma caught the stick with a slight fumble. She gave it a curious glance What the hell do the excpect me to do with this? she considered mirroring her question aloud, but decided that it was best to just accept it and keep moving. Emma gave a slight nod to Ernie at the mention of getting Sophia to the safe zone. They could worry about the other team later, something that Emma was perfectly fine with. "Yeah, let's get her to the safe zone." She said, gesturing for the others to follow, hurrying out the back door.

Lawrence, for his part, was in the middle of tying up their captured healer's hands just in case he decided to try and cause more problems before the match ended. On the ground next to his kneeling form was the phone he had fished out of Brent's pockets a few moments ago, still broadcasting the other team's chatter as the Arbiter worked silently. For the most part what they were saying was unimportant- although he suspected the game would have ended if Hazel's earlier attack ended up fatal for one or more of the other team- just confirmation that each of the team members that hadn't been shocked into submission was fine. Annoyingly though it did confirm that Lawrence and Allison were both outnumbered and outgunned. Figuratively of course, in the case of the latter.

"Hey, Emma! We found her."

Shit.

While he didn't expect it, Lawrence still had hoped that the other team wouldn't be able to locate Sophia before the time limit expired. Just like on a real battlefield though- shit went wrong if there was any chance at all that it could. Fantastic. With a final, frustrated pull he tightened the pants around the arms and hands of his captive before standing up and leaving the phone where it lay. It had served its purpose. With a quick pause to check Hazel's state once more he then made his way over to where Allison had taken up her watch, scratching the back of his head before explaining:

"Well, other team has Sophia, I'd say we lose this one."

If the other team had Sophia, they needed to be stopped before they got to their point. Unlike Lawrence, Allison wasn't willing to admit defeat. Sure, she wanted the battle to be over, but she couldn't allow all of the suffering to be in vain.

Allison quickly lowered herself down to the first floor. If the other team had found Sophia, they were likely still in the building. From her vantage point, Allison could see one exit with quick access to the other team's point. If they were going to head anywhere, it would hopefully be that door. Luckily, Allison seemed to be right, the sounds of footsteps were approaching below her spot at the edge of the first floor. As they approached, Allison jumped down behind them, onto a couch at the bottom of what remained of the stairs. She summoned the shard to it's full length of 6 meters as she fell.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Shattered Buildings and Stolen Shoes

Ernie's blood ran cold when he heard the muted 'FWUMP' on the couch behind them. He spun around and saw Allison, not bothering to warn his teammates before he charged at the opponent with a battle cry. Hopefully they'd follow through with the first plan and get Sophia to the safe point.

The blade. As far as Ernie knew there was only one person on Team 3 that could summon a giant knife, only one person who could have possibly cleaved through the building and endangered his team's lives so recklessly. A small train of thought pointed out that Allison's knife looked different from the one he'd seen on the top floor but it was quickly derailed by the rage that seared through him. One part of him demanded payback. Another part, the cold, logical one, reminded him to protect his advantage.

He ran with the table leg, his improvised weapon, raised high above his head in a one-handed grip for a diagonal downward blow, yelling all the way to her.

Jesus fucking Christ. was the first thought to come to Emma's mind when she wheeled around to see Ernie charging down Allison. We're supposed to be friends, aren't we? was the next. This whole 'game' was a complete trainwreck. She looked at Sophia and then at Ernie and then at Sav, "Get Sophia into the safe zone, alright?" she said, giving the girl a small smile. She turned around to look at Allison and Ernie. What the hell am I supposed to do?

She felt all mixed up, part of her wanted to run away from this, another part of her wanted to make it stop, and yet another part of her wanted to rip them both to pieces. Before she knew what was happening Determination appeared between Ernie and Allison, taking the blow meant for the girl on the enemy team.

"Enough people have gotten hurt, just let the game end Allison! It's two versus one!" She called out.

Almost immediately after Allison hit the ground, a loud cry hit her ears. Ernie was rushing directly at her. Allison quickly raised the shard to cut through her attacker's weapon, the length of the blade cutting through the building around it as well, before something appeared in her blade's path.

Ernie's attack was stopped short by what must of been one of Emma's creations. Allison was surprised by the act, but she didn't let it stop her. She continued forward with her swing, bringing the blade down through both Ernie and the tulpa, now slightly more aware of the walls around them.

Motherfucking heck. If Ernie had the time to throw Emma an incredulous glare, he would've done so. Maybe toss a few slurs in there too. But he didn't. Instead, he stood there staring like an idiot as his weapon snapped against Emma's summon and Allison slashed through not just the summon, but his flag and rope too. The weariness he suddenly felt through his body was nothing compared to the annoyance directed at Emma. Of course a girl like her would pull some shit like this. Ernie had probably chopped her that extra table leg for nothing. When this game was over, she was really gonna get it. But there was no time for that. Ernie had to admit that there was a part of him that had hoped that her plea would work. But kindness was the last thing that made the world go round.

No, not kindness. Weakness.

His singlet had been slashed, baring his chest and making it look like he was wearing some impractical, avant-garde vest. His chest flag had been cleanly bisected. Only three flags left. Ernie charged once more, intending to jab his weapon's splintered end at Allison's face while also reaching for her blade hand.

I don’t want to fight. Was what the voice in Emma’s head said. At least, that’s what one of them said. Ideals, beliefs, resolve, it all seemed to melt away in front of her. It was a thing that was ephemeral, fluid, coming and going affected by the call of her stigma. Or was it her stigma? That seemed to be the question that was always on her mind.

She remembered the conclusion she had to came to in the hallway far below the Medical Center. They’re all monsters. I’m a monster. It was true even in this simple game, it seemed. So much violence, and for what? What were they fighting for? To foster teamwork? For Rosa and Fred’s amusement? Because USARILN liked watching kids kill each other?

Emma, at the very least, had learned a lot since she had arrived at USARILN. And now she had learned something else, thanks to Allison. Mercy doesn’t count for a lot. A voice echoed in her head. That’s what it was- mercy, because really, Emma could crush Allison, couldn’t she? Even without Ernie she was strong.

If Allison didn’t want mercy, so be it. She saw Ernie charge Allison. Honestly, a part of Emma was starting to get a little excited. Can’t hurt. Can’t kill. She had to remind herself. If Ernie was coming from the front, it only made sense for her Tulpa to come from the back. Determination appeared behind Allison, ”Grab her!” Emma called out to her creation.

Allison was once again being charged at by Ernie. She raised her hand to try and cut through what remained of her attacker's weapon, but something grabbed her from behind, a massive weight enveloping her. Allison screamed as she felt something slam into her face.

Oh man, the satisfaction he got from that was absolutely perfect. Ernie's mouth widened into something maniacal as he felt the impact on the other end of the stick. Something squishy. Maybe he'd taken the 'eye for an eye' thing too far. Too literally, too. No one really got hurt from the falling building, right? The screams that erupted from his blow threw all his doubts aside, grim satisfaction bubbling inside him. Eye for an eye. Payback complete. Totally worth it. Ernie was still grinning as he heard the loud beep and felt heat flood his nerves. His world turned black. Too far after all.

Savannah let out a light yelp when she heard the noise reuslting from Allison falling onto the couch. She whipped her head around, and set her eyes on Allison.

"Well, shit." Savannah said. She was just about to charge at Allison when Emma told her to go and deliver Sophia to the safe point. Of course. Someone needed to do that, right? "Hey, Sophia, we need to go.' Savannah stated, not waiting for a response before she grabbed Sophia's elbow and took off with her in tow.

Oh, shit. Emma cringed as Ernie stabbed Allison in the eye. Determination faded away as Ernie fell to the ground, Allison quickly following without the support of Emma's Tulpa. Sure, Emma had decided that it was time to teach Allison a lesson but this... this was way too far. Could Christmas fix this? Or... with a wound like that, there wasn't a large chance of keeping the eye without some subnatural medical attention. Or maybe not, Emma didn't really know enough about injuries like this to make a judgement.

Without thinking Emma ran over to check on Allison. As she passed over Ernie she eyed the now unconscious boy. Jesus, I knew you were a dick, but this is a little far. She moved past him to look at Allison. Her flags didn't even cross Emma's mind, she was far too worried about the table leg in the girl's face.

This happened because of me.

She looked around. For what, she wasn't sure. The cameras? For help? Surely the game would end now, right?

Allison felt nothing but pain. Everything went dark, and then she crumpled onto the damp ground. Somehow, she willed her hand to her face, feeling around where Ernie's weapon still protruded. Immediately her fingers reached a wetness that Allison assumed was her own blood. The broken table leg was sticking out at angle from her face, with several larger splinters of wood lodging into her eye, while some damage was done to the flesh around her eye. She wasn't dead, she just lost an eye. Allison made no attempt to get up. Even if she had the strength to, she didn't want to risk somehow driving the wood deeper into her eye, and she didn't even want to consider pulling it out. There was little to do but wait for the "game" to end.

When Savannah got to the safepoint with Sophia, she let go of her elbow. Well, now we've got the healer. Savannah thought.

"Nnngh.."

Still up on the top floor, Hazel opened her eyes, finally regaining consciousness after that hard knock to her head. Her vision was blurry, and there was that headsplitting headache, but she seemed to still be alive. She moved her hands automatically to her ears before remembering where she was and what she was doing.

"That's right, they tried to kill you."

Hazel glanced towards what was left of the top floor roof, before materializing a giant blade and cutting it off completely, angling it so it would fall away from her instead of on her.

"Stay here."

Without a word more to Lawrence, she grabbed both Gregory and Zoe again with one projected arm, and launching herself off towards Team 3's safe zone with another. Her aim was off, and her catch at the end to soften the landing wasn't quite perfect, leaving her rolling away a few meters from the safe zone, but she was there and she managed to retrieve a healer and return Zoe to a safer position.

It hurts...

But the game wasn't over. Her head was hurting, her vision was blurry, and she wasn't sure if she was really moving properly. But still, the game must go on. Even if her arms and legs were to fall off, she knew it would not end until they say it was over. For now, the people gathered in front of the house was the obvious choice.

Allison seemed to have been taken out, with the unconscious boy there apparently having stuck a wooden club into her face, leaving only Emma there to fight.

It hurts... I want this to end...

Hazel moved towards Emma unsteadily, her vision still blurry. Her hands once again covering her ears. The pain pulsed through her head as if a red hot spike was being driven into her skull with a large mallet, and the ever growing noise of her stigma was not doing her any favours.

"We break her. Just enough so the cuffs doesn't trigger. Then we break the others."

Without warning her left arm turned invisible, as if by flicking a switch, as a large projection of a purplish hand swung straight at Emma in an open palm slap.

Emma heard something move behind her. She wheeled around to see one of the two remaning members of the enemy team in front of her.

"Hazel-"

Before she could speak she was hit hard by something that she couldn't see. Hazel's attack. Emma was sent flying, a grunt of pain coming out as she hit the ground.

Hurts... hurts bad... was all she could think. She felt the pain throughout her body- she was sure that she had broken something. She had to fight back.

Emma didn't want to fight., was the problem. 'But she had to, didn't she?' That's what she had kept telling herself, but it felt wrong. All the same she knew that Hazel wouldn't stop. Hazel wouldn't pull any punches. Hazel wouldn't even think about the fact that they were supposed to be friends. Hazel wouldn't remember that time they got ice cream and suddenly feel bad about beating her senseless. Emma had to fight her, didn't she?

But she didn't want to all the same.

Still, she summoned Determination. At least she had tried to. He didn't come. Neither did Love, or Devotion, or Charity, or Happiness. There was a certain irony in that, wasn't there?

"Where... where are you...?" she groaned weakly.

Emma flipped herself onto her stomach, realizing that she had no help. She feebly clawed the ground, trying to get away. She'd never felt pain like this.

It hurts... just make it stop, please...

There was a small jolt of pleasure when that blow struck Emma; already the pain and nausea felt more bearable. Hazel could feel an almost overwhelming urge to just smash Emma both her hands, to snap her bones and hear that satisfying snap, or just crush her in her palm and leave a mass of flesh behind.

Almost.

Raising her hand high, she slapped Emma lightly with her projected hand, enough to disintegrate the flags off her body.

Shaking her head to clear out the voices, Hazel moved towards the other team's safezone, driven not by any sort of knowledge, but through the simple need to know if they had captured any healer while she was knocked out. The answer became readily apparent once she was in full view of the zone, seeing as there was two girls there, none of which she recognized as being from her team. Once caught in the open, the last member of the other team went down with barely any resistance, with their clothing frayed and their flags gone.

---

---

"Not good," Fredric mumbled to himself as he watched the game start. Gregory's opener had kicked the most volatile participant into high gear, but the Director's orders had been clear: the game proceeds unless someone dies or tries to escape. At the onset, he had already motioned for several of the guards to escort the barely responsive Christmas down to the location, around the same moment Hazel had broken Gregory's legs in retaliation. Now he was just watching for someone to paralyze--

He let out a low whistle at Determination's torpedo through the roof. "There's an entrance."

The second group lacked--severely so--the mostly good-natured humor of the first set and Fredric thought back to similar exercises with Shane's group, where most of them had taken it as a fun bit of sport, and even when Shane could have easily encased his flags in crystal and lifted himself well out of reach, the mage hadn't, because that wasn't the point. Well, not the point until Decker had snapped red threads along the floor onto Shane's pants and then pulled them together.

But he and Rosa had both warned the Director about this: this group wasn't as familiar with each other yet; they couldn't be trusted to maintain any semblance of sportsmanship. She needed more visual confirmation of data without risking the new students against threats they were woefully ill-prepared to fight, but she had also needed them in terms of a mock combat scenario.

This had been an attempt to compromise on the matter, but even then the students were effectively losing their minds over it.

"Oh, boy, that's another one down and out." On the screens, Zoe dropped to the floor beside an unconscious Gregory and Fredric's phone buzzed with a call from Rosa.

"I know, I know," he picked up the device, already guessing her complaints and letting her go on with them for a moment. "Yup, I've got Mr. Halvost on the way, Daisy, don't fret."

"Holy shit." Rosa's reaction on the other end was almost exactly the same as a large chunk of the building slid clean off and pandemonium broke out. He looked through the screens, watching everything feverishly to check for casualties and more than a little relieved when Ernie's durability dampened the fall for Savannah and Emma's summons did the same. But that kind of display was almost exactly what the Director wanted, so he held off on knocking Hazel out, the girl providing one of the most concrete displays of marked improvement in just three days.

"No, of course I--what is he doing--out." Brent knocked out next to Hazel this time and the noises on the other end of the line increased in speed and volume.

"Daisy, Daisy, please. My ears. I know, yes, I know, but they'll be fine. The healer's on the way--"

He kept an eye on the screens as Ernie and Savannah retrieved Sophia while Lawrence bunkered down near the four unconscious students. Had to give the veteran props for remaining calm in spite of the chaos around him, making a mental note to refer Lawrence for a potential staff mage position if the Director didn't have alternative plans for the group. They needed more calm heads on shoulders around the place--calm heads that weren't brutally unsympathetic either.

At the very least, the Director would have the visuals she needed, but Fredric couldn't help but think she was pushing the kids too far. Ruthless and terrifyingly efficient when she wanted something done, but she lacked empathy--except where she feigned it. She hadn't always been like that, but Fredric wasn't betting on a return to the past anytime soon.

"Oh!" Fredric flinched at the blow Allison received, wincing as he tapped the button on his phone's screen that activated Ernie's cuff. The girl's power had shut down Ernie's durability, so the taze went through without any trouble, but Allison's pained gasps in the aftermath and her weak movements had Rosa freaking out on the other end of the line.

"I said he's on the way, Daisy! Calm down!"

The guards moving Christmas to the building confirmed with him, just as Hazel woke up and downed the last members of the opposite team ("Girl's a damn machine..."), that they were near the game's location and Fredric sent out orders to the soldiers already on site to begin extracting the remaining students from the building.

"Carefully, by the way. Two of them's trashed the house quite magnificently," he added, a quiet growl of a sigh escaping his calm veneer.

A moment while one of the guards replied and Fredric tapped away at his phone, checking with various personnel for truck-mounted cranes nearby. "Yeah, go ahead and take one from the nearby construction site," he confirmed, ending the call and putting the phone away.

He pivoted smoothly on his heels and turned back to face the group gathered in the second observation room, customary grin back on his face.

"Well, then, that was an exciting round!" A cheery laugh without any substance behind it followed. "Let me make it official while you guys fill out the evaluation sheets."

A guard picked up the small stack of papers on the front desk and handed them out while another passed out pens to all the students who were still awake.

Over at the game's location, a long beep blared from all the cuffs.

"Wow! Talk about a match, huh? That's Victorious Secret's win, but...I don't think it matters too much at this point. Most of you are definitely more concerned about injuries. Don't resist the soldiers. They're gathering you up for the healer."

On cue, soldiers began moving the students together, carrying the ones in easy reach who couldn't move and grouping them at team three's safe point while another one motioned for Lawrence to remain in place with Brent on the building's highest (and mostly decimated) floor.

Several minutes later, a group of guards arrived escorting a short, blond boy with a cornflower blue ribbon in his hair who kept his gaze fixed to the ground. One of the soldiers bent down and said something, which seemed to have no effect until the man leaned down further and repeated it again, louder: "Heal."

Shaking, the boy fumbled for the bandages on his left hand, peeling them off and pressing on the recent cut in his left palm, small whimpers the only indicator he could speak. Red vapor thinned into a white mist that spread slowly around the group of injured students, repairing all the physical damage accrued over the past eight or so minutes and restoring blood lost, though the magic left mental fatigue and exhaustion alone, its effects still unable to catch that much.

Everyone was fine now, relatively, but the shimmering veil of mist remained, sliding and shifting around them aimlessly.

"That's enough," the same soldier commanded and the effect dissipated, trailing away into light wisps of white before fading completely, leaving only a wounded hand in its wake. A small group of paramedics arrived, cleaning up the students and providing hospital pajamas to the ones who had lost most of their clothes, Fredric's command to hurry leaving them little time to gather clothes from the students' respective rooms.

While this proceeded, a truck-mounted, telescoping crane arrived and several soldiers lowered Lawrence carefully to the ground, checking for external injuries and finding none. The crane raised again for another soldier to retrieve Brent, bringing the student down and placing him on a stretcher. The guards near the truck beckoned over the group managing the healer and another bit of white, glassy mist made sure there were no lasting injuries on both Brent and Lawrence. With that, a soldier rewrapped the bandages on the healer's hand and sent Fredric the confirmation that everything was taken care of.

As aftercare finished, more guards arrived and the students of the third and fourth teams were escorted back to the security outpost and into their original waiting room while the healer was brought back to the second observation room.

Students who were still unconscious or unsteady were taken back on stretchers and lowered into cots that had been set up during the match, a worried Rosa eyeing them carefully as they trudged back in.

"We'll let you go back to your rooms, soon, okay? You guys can wash up in the bathrooms or eat something while you wait." She tried for a sheepish smile, worry still etched into the furrows of her forehead. "Just gotta hold on for Freddy to gather up evaluation forms and everyone can go back in a jiffy!"

It was a strain to be positive, but Rosa didn't falter. There were too many depressing things in the world for her to waver.

---

---

---

Sounds and sights processed superficially.

Thoughts flickered on the lines of awareness and dimmed just as quickly. He was conscious and aware, but he wasn't fully present. Just enough of a mind left to manage his five senses and know when to stand and follow the guard who pulled him up by the arm.

It didn't matter where they were leading him. A part of him cared only enough to keep pace with the movements, so they wouldn't jab at him with the rifles or bark orders at him that made him instinctively flinch.

"Heal."

He knew that command. Knew it like the embedded instinct that wired his mind to understand the capabilities of his power. Even that was muted, but he at least understood. Fingers found their way back to the shallow cut in his palm and pressure pulled on the wound.

The pain prodded at the haze in his mind, his static thoughts shifting into half-formed ideas and resignations as the instinct took over and spread the white mist around him, blurring his vision where tears failed to rise. Christmas blinked rapidly, catching just a faint aftertrail of his awareness from the panic that had scattered pieces of him into the far depths of his thoughts. Not enough to face reality, but enough to steady his whimpering breaths.

"That's enough."

He obeyed and waited, eyes on the slate gray of the concrete because it was simple to grasp. Flat and monochromatic. Silent.

It was something that didn't need thought. Just as easy as letting the flow of power take over when the soldiers commanded him to heal a second time.

Simple.

There wasn't enough of him around to like simple so much as resign himself to it, so Christmas let the imposing uniforms of armored gray and black firearms move around him, let the curt sounds and commands that didn't pertain to him pass over his ears. If they wanted him to do something, they could insist. They could catch his attention. They could make it simple.

When they sat him back down in that room of flashing screens and he heard the shuffling of papers and clattering of pens falling from boxes, he thought--only for a second--that the air was too heavy with his unspoken fears. A small weight tucked into his pocket felt like the only affirmation he needed, so he floated fragments of awareness around that knife, knowing it would be there if all else failed.

---

---

Everything was catching up to him.

Sander leaned the side of his face against the wall, and even then, the cool surface felt lukewarm to him. Sleep promised comforting oblivion, but he fought it half-heartedly anyway, because they told him to watch the second flag football game and he was supposed to listen. The aftermath of his power was bearing down on him though, and despite his effort, his hazy eyes barely registered the movements displayed on numerous screens in the room. He knew violence, sure, the act itself as familiar to him as a second skin, but these were strange faces that elicited no emotion from him. Some of them were supposed to familiar; he had fought alongside with them before, but the memories were murky and unfocused, and he didn’t care enough to look closer. Because that didn’t really feel important.

After a while, the scent of coffee grew further away. Sander was mildly alarmed. Something about that felt important, but the lethargy in his limbs won out, so he just leaned against the warm wall and watched the light from the screens flicker. There was no rhythm to that, and it bothered him. Either that or something did, anyway. The discomfort remained in the space between his shoulder blades, until the coffee scent felt close again. He relaxed a bit then, exhaling slowly and rolling the kinks out of his joints. He really shouldn’t, but he did anyway.

Moments later, a paper form and a pen was shoved into his line of sight, so he automatically reached for them, squinting at the words on the page until they made sense. Once that goal was accomplished, he put his pen down and hastily scribbled out words without putting much thought behind them. Because this was what he supposed to do.

General Thoughts:

Fight was fine. Team did fine.

Suggested Improvements:

Fine. Is fine.

With that done, Sander put down the pen, uncaring as it rolled off the desk and fell onto the floor. His eyes drifted shut again, and he let darkness claim his thoughts.

---

---

He'd woken up groggy and irritated and in pants that weren't his. Huh.

Ernie groaned quietly, rolling in the temporary cot. He remembered feeling... damp, the stagnant water lapping at his face and ruining his clothes. Totally gross. Was that stuff even filtered properly? That kind of shit was exactly what caused moldy surfaces. He remembered being unable to move, unable to let out anything but a small moan as his nerves worked to regain their senses. All he could do was watch. Really ugly walls. The walls of the house. Weird decor. He hadn't noticed that when they were running to the safe point.

The paramedics had put him on a stretcher. His remaining teammates were... naked? What even happened there? There was a short, blond boy. He'd unwrapped his hand and a mist flew out, making the part on Ernie's leg where he'd gotten tazed feel a lot nicer. Then all of them had been taken inside. Which was where he was now.

Ernie sat up quickly and immediately felt dizziness rush to his head. Ugh, go slower. He was back in the observation room with Team 3 and 4, with everyone clothed thankfully. Ernie himself was wearing a blue pyjama suit. Snazzy. Comfortable. But not his. He didn't like wearing this outfit. His clothes were in a folded pile by his cot, the arrangement too sloppy for his standards. A lotta stuff to take in. But there were other things in the room that required his attention. Namely, the screens displaying every angle of the fight.

There was so much more chaos than what he'd actually seen. Team 3 had been an absolute mess fighting Gregory on the top floor, while Team 4 had been scrambling like idiots trying to get to the roof. Thank god Brent had taken so long to climb. If they'd engaged Team 3 any sooner, they probably would've gotten much worse than a building falling under their feet. Which brought another important point to his attention.

He'd gotten the wrong girl. The one with the bangs, Hazel, was more of a monster than he'd known. More than anyone on his team had expected, probably. It was more than just telekinesis. It was outright erasure. Ernie shuddered, suddenly thankful that he had been too busy snoring on that murky, flooded floor to go up against that beast. However, that meant that he'd impaled someone's face for no reason. He swore it seemed like a good idea at the time. It felt good, that's for sure.

"Allison!" he called flatly to the girl and, with a limp point of his index finger, indicated at his own face, "Sorry about your eye. I got the wrong person."

If he sounded insincere, it was because he was. It was just common courtesy, nothing he actually wanted to put effort into. He was too preoccupied with watching the game to generate any sort of sympathy for the girl he'd horrifically injured. It was incredible how lucky he was to avoid having to fight the majority of the other team. The reminder that he'd missed his chance to skip classes for a week didn't even cross his mind. In all honesty, he was just glad that he made it through relatively uninjured.

Ernie rose to his feet to sit at a proper chair and continue watching, less for the fight itself and more for the personalities. He'd probably avoid most of the other team after this. These East kids were freaking mental.

@VarionusNW

Hazel Baker

---

Once again, she was back in the observatory room.

This time however, Hazel was huddled in a corner, with her eyes shut and her hands covering her ears. The collar was damping the noise she was trying to shut out, but with the drug's effect having weakened, it was all she could do to suppress her desire. The sound of Gregory's bones breaking kept replaying in her mind, with that strange urge to find someone, and recreate that noise with their bones.



The house groaned and shook, violently tossing both Hazel and the furniture around the flooded room. With great effort she closed her eyes, preparing for the inevitable collapse of the house. And with it, her as well.

The end never came.

When she opened her eyes she was sitting, once again, in a garden, or rather what seemed to be a small garden in the middle of an endless ocean, so calm it could almost be mistaken for a mirror, reflecting the stars in the nights sky above. It was broad daylight, but oddly enough the sky was black.

It would make for a serene scene, albeit a slightly surreal one, with the starry sky reflecting off the ocean, if not for the incredible pressure she felt. It was as if the ocean and the sky was pushing, grinding, fighting against each other. Sparks flew around the air, like fiery butterflies. She had a feeling like it was tainted, but... it wasn't as frightening anymore.

"That's right. Don't be afraid."

Hazel turned in surprise, staring at the figure sitting daintily at a white table laden with food.



Hazel jerked, her eyes fluttering open.

She was still in the room, staring at the replay on the monitors from a corner of the room. Another one of the dreams. It didn't seem to be as frightening anymore. Not frightening anymore. Not like some here. At least, she knew who she couldn't trust from this fight, and combined with her experience from the last fight, she knew what she needed most at the moment.

As the battle began, Callan did her best to set aside her indignity long enough to focus on the screens. Such thoughts were easily shoved aside as soon as Hazel, wearing only her underwear, smashed into the bathroom containing team 4's healer. Every thing was happening so fast. Did she just break both of his legs? She suddenly remembered that these two teams were mainly composed of X-marks. Was that why...?

"I know, I know," Freddy's voice reached her then. "Yup, I've got Mr. Halvost on the way, Daisy, don't fret." Callan glanced back at Christmas's empty seat.

"Holy shit." Her head whipped back to the screens and she gasped, catching sight of Hazel sheering off a large section of the house containing Emma, Ernie, and Savannah. Things didn't get much better from there. Leaning forward on her elbows, her hands remained over her mouth and nose for the remainder of the fight.

"Wow..." she exhaled into her palms. The screens were so still, despite being filled with people. The majority of kids weren't moving for one reason or another. Barely hearing Fredric over the torrent of thoughts in her head, she turned her attention to the evaluation sheet that almost seemed to magically appear in front of her. She looked back to the screens, playing silent replays of notable moments during the fight.

Picking up the pen with a sigh, she obediently set it to the paper. It stayed there, still as stone, for a good amount of time while she tried to think of what to write. Just be honest, she thought to herself encouragingly, but was still coming up short.

Was this meant to be a game or a fight? Her own team's Flag and Seek had seen its own injuries to a lesser extent, but there had still been violence. Unnecessary violence. If it was meant to be a game, as Callan had originally thought, these aberrations were out of control. If it was meant to be a fight.... Zhang didn't really intend for them to hurt each other like this, did she?

A rebellious thought crossed her mind-- to leave the sheet blank or write her questions down for Zhang to see. But she merely sighed. She needed to trust that they knew what they were doing. Nobody had died and Christmas's ability did allow a good deal of wiggle room for injuries. Game or fight, victory had been the goal and Victorious Secret had come out on top.

General Thoughts:

I guess you could say both teams used teammwork. They didn't try to murder any of their OWN teammates, so that's a plus, ya? In the end, team 3 was just better. Or just Hazel. She was efficient if nothing else. Got Emma, Ernie, and Savannah away from her team, secured their healer points, and took out Emma. She definitely carried-- defensively and offensively.

Suggested Improvements:

Team 4 should have prioritized Hazel better and been way more careful. Brent almost took her out of the fight, but it was super reckless. Emma probably should have done more as the strongest person on team 4.

Zoe lost her cool. Ernie lost his cool. Allison recklessly jumped right into the enemy team and lost an eye for it. She got Ernie taken out as a result, but I don't think people should be trading themselves in like that. Same goes for Brent and Gregory. There's gotta be a better way besides going all kamikaze on your opponents.

Callan handed the paper to Fredric, feeling pretty dissatisfied with what she'd written. But she was anxious to put this whole mess behind her. They would get better. Stuff like this wasn't going to be a recurring thing, was it? They'd get better. They'd improve... right?

Marcus Howell

---

---

"Eyes up, folks! We're about to begin."

Marcus eagerly sat down in his chair, snacks and drinks at the ready. He felt like an excited little kid again, watching superheroes getting ready to dish out an amazing fight. He’d heard one of the guards mention demolition, which was kind of disappointing, but not surprising. Of course, when one of the healers started wrecking the place, Marcus snickered internally. Some of those ‘modifications’ were going to make this a tough fight. He watched with anticipation as the fighters all made their ways up to the top – Secret making it up significantly faster and easier, but Bruisers putting on a better show.

All the goodwill and excitement he had towards this fight pretty much dissipated instantly. The brutality, the destruction, the complete lack of control in most of these fighters; it honestly scared him a little bit. There was a good chance he’d be grouped up with some of these people in the future, and an equally good chance he’d come back from that sort of mission in a Tupperware container, based on what he was seeing on the screen.

His eyes flicked from Freddie to the screens as the events unfolded, listening intently to what bits of information he could get. It seemed like they hadn’t quite expected the teams to be this ruthless either. Guess he couldn’t be mad at them for overestimating the power of friendship.

Marcus stared at the screens, a million thoughts racing through his head, before the fight ended. To think he was complaining about Kusari taking it too far – after that show, he needed to apologize and thank her for showing restraint.

He looked around the room at the rest of his classmates while a guard handed a paper and pencil to him. He wanted to know that he wasn’t overreacting – that this was a brutal perversion of the ‘game’ they’d been sent to do.

He just wanted to know that this wasn’t what they expected. That he wasn’t naïve for thinking they needed to act better than the monsters they fought. The conversation he had with Callan flickered through his head:

…kind of figured we’d be able to do something like this without tearing each other apart like a bunch of feral animals.

He looked down at the paper he’d been handed. Suggested Improvements? Oh yeah, he had a couple suggestions.

General Thoughts:

What the actual shit was that? You guys managed to turn a game of capture the flag into an absolute mess that could have easily resulted in the death of everyone in that fight! These are your classmates! You know these guys, and yet you still tried to obliterate them. The fuck is wrong with you people?

Healer Dude: Maybe don’t go throwing huge chunks of porcelain at target you have not identified. That could have easily murdered someone – no real surprise they decided to break your legs after that.

Sports Bra: Maybe reign it in a little bit there. Try not to…you know… MELT YOUR CLASSMATE’S FACE FROM HIS SKULL.

Brett (Brent?): Cool move. Again: Classmate. I understand things had gone south quickly, but Christ man; trying to split someone’s skull open like that? Little bit ruthless, dude.

Ernie: You clocked a girl upside the head with a jagged piece of wood while she was restrained. Could have easily taken her flags (you know, the point of the game), but you decided to smash her face in. That’ll make you a lot of friends here at East.

Bangs: You did so many things wrong that I’m not even going to waste the time writing them down. When you get all of us slaughtered, make sure you get the bulk offer on coffins; you’ll save some money that way.

Everyone Else: Congratulations on not getting killed by your psycho teammates. Really not much I can say about strategy here because there was none; it was just a matter of not getting splattered across the kitchenware, which you somehow managed to do. You’ve proven that you can think on your feet and not end up a casualty when faced with numerous powerful threats. If I was in charge of the awards, I’d give it to you for actually keeping up with the goal of the ‘mission’, rather than trying to sate your bloodlust or whatever the hell happened here.

Suggested Improvements:

Control yourselves. It doesn’t matter how perfect your teammate’s moves are, or how flawlessly they execute the mission: Losing your goddamn minds like you did today will get them killed. People will die; your team will die. And from what I’ve seen today – I’m not too keen on getting teamed up with most of you.