By the time the little group had separated and gone their seperate ways, it seemed that the rest of the teams had been doing the same thing. Everyone was starting to move towards their designated locations, which meant he needed to find the rest of his team and start heading for the APC. According to the map, it wasn't too far off - it shouldn't take too long to get to, but maybe they'd have enough time to talk powers and strategy.

Not that there was any strategy besides watch for people and carry them into the truck, but it'd be nice to have all the bases covered.

"Evac team!" he said, raising his voice just enough to carry over the few people that were still milling around. He was cautious to not shout, lest they immediately be swarmed by some hidden monsters the advance team had missed. He did wave his arm, hoping that the rest of the team would start heading his direction.

He was looking for three other people: Lawrence, Sophia, and Savannah, and he had no idea what any of them looked like. Hopefully they hadn't already started walking towards the APC, or he'd just be standing here waiting for people that were already gone.

Sophia hadn't moved far from the truck since they had arrived, pretty unsure about... everything. She still had no idea who Lawrence and Marcus were, but she lifted her gaze from the ground in front of her and scanned the area around her for them anyway. She regretted it doing so. Her surroundings were absolutely dismal and didn't help with the fear already gathered in a thick knot inside of her. After her initial glance around the area upon arriving, she was trying her best not to look around too much.

She was so scared.

The way she showed her fear didn't make it immediately apparent to someone who would just glance at her. Her arms were tightly crossed, and her back was straight as she kept herself drawn up to her full height. Her face, including her eyes, were blank, her face in her neutral position that resembled a slight frown as she concentrated her attention not on her outer appearance, but on controlling how she felt. But it still wasn't too hard to tell.

She knew she needed to get moving, and soon, though she was tempted to just stand in place and wait for someone to approach her instead. Since she didn't know who half of her team was, should she just head off alone and hope that they would all meet up at the assigned spot? Forcing herself to look up once more, she was about to begin looking around for Savannah when a call, along with a waving arm, caught her attention.

One of the students from the Evac team? Relieved, she headed over to the boy until she stood diagonally in front of him, arms still crossed as she gave him a small nod. Lawrence or Marcus? Did she trust herself to speak? But it would be weird if she didn't say anything, so she didn't really have a choice, did she?

"I'm Sophia." A whisper of a voice, but at least she had managed to speak. That was good, right? Hah. Had it even been audible?

A taller student came up to them soon after Marcus's shout, his gait disturbingly calm despite the ruin around them. "Lawrence," he replied, checking the map on his phone like he was simply out for a walk through town. His other hand was occupied with a shotgun and a pistol hung from his belt holster on one side while a knife was comfortably sheathed on the other. Invisible to the group, a flare gun sat nestled in his jacket's inner pocket, making the comfortable, broken-in leather bulge slightly around his ribs.

Behind him, a small blonde girl followed, face pulled into a scowl that didn't quell her shaking hands. "This is so stupid," she muttered, the attempt at anger giving way to fear. She had taken a bit of time in Ground Zero to sate her Stigma, because every other X seemed to be doing it, but now she regretted not having that veneer of fury to hide behind--to wash the world red so she couldn't see all the details of the reality in front of her. A glance at Sophia and a quick wave was the friendliest she could manage at the moment, caught between terror of the unknown and terror of a "kill on sight" order. "Let's just get going already. I hate this."

"Marcus." he greeted, nearly missing Sophia's name. She was probably just nervous, and he couldn't exactly blame her: two of the members on their team, Sophia included, looked to be no older than middle schoolers, and they'd been thrown into the middle of a warzone. At least the other one seemed a little more capable, especially with the shotgun he was toting around. Good to know that he wasn't the only one with a decent weapon.

"I hear you." Marcus said, responding to the blonde girl's comment. "Might as well talk while we walk. he added, turning and doing just that. He made sure to keep his pace so that he was in line with everyone, unwilling to walk first; or perhaps just not wanting to seem like the unofficial leader of the group. Heavens knew he wasn't qualified to lead anybody.

"So what're you guy's powers?" A strategic question as much as it was an attempt at small talk as they moved to their destination. "I'm mobility. I can instantly move forward, or jump back a little bit to where I was previously."

That was about the best explanation of it. He'd internally debated adressing it as a rewind, but that kind of nomenclature was more confusing than anything. Best to keep it simple.

"Mind influence," Lawrence answered, "More specifically, I can align the mental state of others with my own. Sometimes works on DC monsters. Generally used for calming subnaturals, though."

Savannah twisted the baton in her hands as she spoke, "My power only works on spell casters. I put a mark on them and they explode when they cast a spell and it takes a long ass time to recharge. And it's like five minutes."

At least Sophia had already thought about how she would tell what her power was, so it wasn't as difficult as it could have been. Still, she went last and used those extra seconds while the others were speaking to run over what she would say once more, barely catching what Lawrence and Savannah could do. "Mine's related to seeing... in different ways," she began when the rest were finished, raising her voice so that it was louder than before. "I can use... well, X-ray vision, but it's kind of weak? Then there's also night and 360 vision too. But it only lasts for around ten, then takes five until I can use it again."

Maybe she should write down the main points about her power and print out a few copies so she could hand those out instead of repeating herself everytime. Because she had a feeling that she would need to keep repeating herself more in the future. Remembering she had forgotten to say something one last thing, she hurried to add it on. "Also, I can't see living things when it's on. So like, any subtle hand motions or facial expressions... are lost on me." Or had that been too detailed? The rest had just described their powers in two sentences.

Interesting setup they'd been given here. Basically a perfect team for trying to rescue panicking civilians, and a little bit of backup if they were attacked by the subnatural group that was apparently hiding around. Whoever had put together the squads had certainly put a fair amount of thought into it, something he was relieved to notice.

"Well, between the four of us, we should be pretty good then." Marcus said. He minutely jerked as he remembered something, pulling out the long bolts of armor they'd been given. He wrapped two the smaller ones around his arm as he walked, his rolled up sleeve showcasing the burns down his arm as the material flowed across his skin.

"I'd suit up now if I were you guys, just in case." He squeezed his hands together, impressed with how well it blended, and how little he could actually tell it was there.

He hiked up his shirt just enough to shimmy the larger bolt underneath and make sure he didn't cut off his holster belt, before dropping it back over the exposed skin as that bolt melted across his chest. He'd apply the legs once they'd gotten comfortable in the APC. The added protection made him feel a little bit safer, but his eyes still darted around the ruins, watching for anything that might break out of a destroyed building and rush them. Ernie's advice about them being on the outskirts and therefore being easy prey had really only served to make him slightly jumpy.

"Way ahead of you," Lawrence remarked, holding up his hand to display the barely visible layer of wishalloy. The older boy looked past the map on his phone to observe the marks on Marcus's arm, but made no comment. Nothing new.

Savannah nodded at Marcus's suggestion and got to work applying the material to her own arms and legs as they walked-- over her clothes, because, despite everything, there were still boys present. Her movements were quick and angry, accompanied by several frustrated sighs before she finally watched the material settle over her dark red rain coat and denim jeans.

"God DAMN IT!" Savannah exclaimed after a moment, patting frantically at the pocket of her pants. A small canister-shaped bulge was enough to indicate she'd forgotten to remove the pepper spray from her pocket before putting on her wishalloy.

Oh right, she had almost forgotten to put on the remaining wishalloy. Curious to see how it worked, Sophia had already put it over her arms and torso while riding in the truck, and it now lay hidden under her black cardigan. Though she would soon loose access to her jean pockets, at least she would have those two pockets in addition to the belt. After pulling out the material that had been shoved in her pockets, she glanced up at Marcus and, seeing the marks there, her eyebrows drew together. Scars on his face, burn marks on his arms. I wonder what happened, she wondered before busying herself with putting on the wishalloy.

Falling back a few steps from the group as she stopped to cover one leg, she hurried to catch up once more before doing the same for the other leg. She was now finished, and it seemed Savannah was as well, but with a complication. It was too bad that Savannah had forgotten to take an item out, but at least she would get it out in a few hours, if what the Commander had said was true. She considered saying something to try and make the older girl feel better about the pepper spray, but decided against it.

Instead, she reached out and put a hand on Sav's shoulder. Shrugging her shoulders, she gave the girl a half smile by pulling up only one corner of her mouth and holding it for a second before finishing it into a somewhat forced, small, smile. The actions were intended to show the girl that it was okay and there was nothing she could do about the sealed in can, and the smile was supposed to be reassuring. But she didn't hold the smile for long, for a few seconds later she dropped the hand and looked away as she bit her lip hard and slid her hands into her pockets.

Marcus chuckled softly to himself, having surmised what it was that the blonde girl had sealed away in her pockets. "Locked your pepper spray off, huh?" he said, snapping his off of his belt. He didn't need the spray himself; if there was anything that could be sprayed, it could just as easily be beaten over with a large hunk of hardware. He doubted that a small girl swinging a baton would have quite the same impact, so it'd serve her better than it would serve him.

"Heads up!" he said, lightly tossing the canister over to her.

Sophia's attempt at comfort was met with only a slightly less irate stare. Savannah's shoulder flinched away from the girl's touch as she instantly took offense to Marcus's question, but she kept her mouth shut. Not even a 'thank you' as she clumsily caught the canister he offered her. She swallowed hard and ran her thumb along the metal, trying to look past the fear as they finally came to the APC.

"Alright," Lawrence said, unconcerned with Savannah's mistake as he stowed his communicater in the pocket of his jacket. "Once we get started, we'll have to move fast to best take advantage of Sophia's eyes. Most of the people we'll be evacuating will be indoors. I suggest we have Sophia scope the buildings from outside first. Then, Marcus, you can head inside and do a quick secondary check. If I'm understanding your ability correctly, you should be able to jump back out of the house if you see anything Sophia missed, right?"

"Once the coast is clear, I'll join you while Savannah waits with Sophia outside as lookout. From there, we'll help get people outside and into the truck."

Nice of Marcus to give Savannah his can of pepper spray. That was something Sophia should have thought of and done, it was better than just making a bunch of motions at Sav that hadn't seemed to have any effect. Shifting her attention from Sav to the APC up ahead, she listened closely as Lawrence began to make plans for what each of them would be doing. It sounded as if it might be able to work, but then she had pretty much no experience with strategy, so she wouldn't know. At least it was something to work from. Simply nodding to show she had heard and understood, she remained silent.

Oof, tough crowd Marcus thought to himself, noting the blonde girl's general irritation. He turned his attention to Lawrence as he spoke, nodding as he detailed the plan. Get in, make sure that there wasn't anything hiding inside one of the houses, and get back out if there was something hiding inside. He noted that Lawrence failed to mention what to do if there was something dangerous inside the building, but he assumed the answer to that question was easily found with the shotgun he was toting around.

"Sounds like a plan. Definitely be on the lookout for any landmarks or important looking buildings around here - those are the most likely places for people to have run to when everything went to hell." Of course, a greater chance of finding civilians meant a greater chance of encountering hostile forces too. Hopefully they'd all been pushed back, though.

A soldier, rifle in hand, waited by the open driver side door as the group approached the already running APC. His eyes only briefly flickered to the children as he carefully surveyed the surrounding area.

"Keep an eye out for other subnaturals, too," Lawrence warned as Savannah stepped in front of him, clambering in and taking her seat first. "They may blend in with the people we're meant to be retrieving, so don't let your guard down too easily. And let's try to make sure none of them end up on the truck."

Savannah stiffened in her seat at the mentioning of that possibility-- having hurried into the APC for the aura of safety it seemed to exude. But she said nothing, not even being given the chance as the solider urged them to hurry up and get in.

---

---

By the time she exited the truck, Zoe had managed to put most of her concerns to the back of her mind. No point in worrying, really - there was nothing she could do to change the overall situation. Still, it seemed like standing around waiting for something to happen was kind of a waste of time. She'd sorted things out with Ernie, but the other member of the team wasn't someone she could say the same for. Frankly, the kid seemed too fragile for her to have even considered spending time with him. At this point though, there wasn't much choice in the matter.

Christmas wasn't too far away when she caught sight of him, but was seemingly talking to another boy from the group. Judging that interrupting the pair wasn't worth the potential confrontation, Zoe took a moment to look around. Had to wonder what state this place had been in before this subnatural became a thing, but the group was at least far off enough from the danger that there didn't seem to be a need to worry yet. 'Yet' being the key word in that sentence. As Christmas' companion walked off, she gave it a couple of seconds before calling out.

"Hey, Christmas, mind if I come over there?"

"...Huh?"

It was a voice he didn't know and Christmas whipped around, thoughts quickly trying to rearrange themselves and figure out who this was--a face from a classroom came to mind, but nothing further, so he settled for the next best explanation: the other person on his team? Maybe. But he had been so focused on Ernie's name in that list he had forgotten to commit the third person to memory.

"N-no?" He quickly added, "I-I don't mind. Sorry."

Zoe figured that was as much of an agreement as she was likely to get. "Why're you sorry? Just thought I'd talk to you myself before we go get Ernie." She headed over towards him, noting the complete lack of recognition on his face. Wasn't exactly together, was he? Reminded her of stuff.

At the realisation, her voice seemed to lose a lot of its sharpness as she continued. "I'm Zoe, by the way, just so you're not stuck on names. You doing okay?" She considered extending a hand, but quickly realised that it wasn't a good idea. No point taking risks if she didn't have to.

"Um." He didn't have a good answer for that, so he nodded to the question before following up with a "Chris-Christmas."

It took him a few seconds to remember she already knew his name, so he mumbled a quick apology and looked down at her shoes, waiting for her to continue.

Again with the apologising? Zoe sighed, deciding to just move on. "Okay, it's my job to look after you out there, so I'm gonna need you to listen to me and not panic once we get moving. If I tell you to do something, there's probably a reason, and I'd rather we all just work together without anyone causing problems. Sound good?"

Christmas nodded, afraid of irritating his apparent teammate. She had her own brand of callous demeanor distinct from his experiences with Kusari and he wondered if he'd end up pissing her off, too. The light rain tapping against them and the desolation stretching ahead of them certainly didn't work wonders for anyone's mood, but Zoe at least seemed marginally more at ease with the battlefield than any teenager should be. If nothing else, that was a small relief.

Okay, he definitely wasn't very talkative. Almost seemed like he was scared of something or other. Still he'd agreed, and deciding that'd do for now, Zoe grinned. "Glad we're clear. Guess we should probably find Ernie before we actually figure out a plan. No point explaining everything twice."

Assuming that the kid wouldn't cause any problems, Zoe started to look around for Ernie. Took a little longer to spot him than it did Christmas, annoyingly, but at least it wasn't too difficult. Didn't take long enough to really get on her nerves anyway. He was standing near one of the buildings, seemingly having put the armour on already. Had guns, too - hopefully he actually knew how to use them. With a grin, she decided to head over. "Found him, I think. Come on, Christmas."

Ernie rolled his shoulders, testing the weight of the shoulder holster. Seemed fine enough. He'd managed to adjust the leather to rest on the fabric of his singlet to avoid chafing while he ran around. The wishalloy had been applied to his torso and legs, the remainder of the bolts kept in his backpack in case he'd need it later. The only problem now was his jacket. He had worn it for the cold journey but he couldn't exactly have it tied around his waist in battle, or taking valuable space in his pack. The truck seemed like a good place to leave it but an easy way to lose it too, and he would rather keep it in sight where he knew it wouldn't be lost. It was a silly thing to fret over but that's what made it such an effective distraction. Luckily, a potential solution presented itself in the form of Zoe and Christmas. He waved to his Aberration teammate as she approached but only regarded Christmas with a carefully neutral glance.

"Hey," a smile was attempted to match Zoe's grin. He nodded to her casual oufit, "Armored up and ready to go?"

Christmas stepped a bit further behind Zoe as Ernie greeted them, his eyes fixed on the ground.

Glad that her other teammate at least didn't seem too freaked out about all this, Zoe looked down at her t-shirt before responding to Ernie's comment with a chuckle. "Yeah, well. Didn't really seem worth getting body armour, you know?"

She glanced at Christmas, deciding that the kid didn't seem likely to say much for whatever reason before turning back to Ernie with a shrug. "So, you think we're ready for this?" By which she meant him and Christmas - She already knew she could cope.

The dark-haired Aberration raised an eyebrow at her response. Maybe that spare wishalloy would come in handy sooner than he thought. He slung his backpack onto his back as he replied. Hm, overall weight was satisfactory.

"Don't know about you but I'm ready as I'll ever be," he remarked honestly, "Can't do much of anything that I haven't done already. How about you? You are wearing some of that wishalloy stuff on you, right?"

"I grabbed some. Didn't get it on yet, but I'll probably just stick with the torso stuff out of what I picked up." She spoke casually, although irritation flitted briefly across her expression. It was kind of a pain to keep track of everything, and it'd only get more annoying once things really got started.

"I can just wear it over my clothes anyway - all my stuff's in the belt." As she spoke, she checked her pockets, eventually finding the larger section of alloy. "See? You two wanna talk or something while I get this on?" The last part was punctuated with a stern look at Christmas. She didn't know what was up with the kid, but it'd probably help if her teammates would actually communicate. Zoe assumed he was just freaked out by the battle or something - seemed logical.

Christmas quailed at the look, but managed only a quick glance at Ernie before looking back down at the ground. Ernie looked back, the healer's frightened glance confirming that they weren't going to be on small-talk terms anytime soon. Whatever. Hopefully it wouldn't affect the mission too much.

"Nah, I think we're good," Ernie said offhandedly, suddenly looking very interested in fiddling with his belt.

At that, Zoe frowned, looking between her two teammates before beginning to wrap the alloy around her torso, silently trying to figure out the situation. This was weird. Something had to be up between the pair of them, even she could tell that. Just her luck too, being stuck on a team with two people who couldn't even look at each other. Things like this made her wish she was better at being subtle, but instead she spoke bluntly as she finished putting on the armour.

"Right, one of you gonna tell me what the problem is? Ernie, you seemed all ready to talk before and suddenly you're going quiet. And Christmas? I don't know if you're normally this jumpy or what, but if there's something on your mind then say so."

There were way too many things on his mind to just voice them so Christmas nodded to the comment, but remained quiet.

"It's nothing," Ernie said equally as bluntly, "Christmas already looks kinda nervous. I didn't know if it was a good idea to freak him out more with battle talk."

She couldn't find out about what happened. No one could. It was already bad enough that Marcus knew. He didn't want the only real Aberration out of the class to despise him. But maybe she would kinda understand...?

No. Absolutely not. Not even his fellow X-mark could know. Ernie breathed, trying to think of a way to divert the conversation away from the subject of him and Christmas.

Zoe wasn't fully convinced, but there wasn't time for her to actually get to the bottom of this. Ernie's explanation seemed reasonable, but Christmas' reaction left room for doubt. She couldn't really tell whether he was agreeing with the 'jumpy' comment, or agreeing that there was a problem. It'd be easier if the kid wasn't such a mess.

When she spoke, she was keeping an eye on Christmas, deciding he was more likely to react if there really was something up. "So that's what we're going with. I think it's kinda late to pretend the fight's not happening, Ernie, jumpy or not." She sighed, shaking her head. "I'll leave it for now, but if you get me killed 'cause the pair of you can't work together, I will find a way to haunt you both. Clear?"

Christmas seemed to sink further into himself at the admonition and his eyes were unable to look at even the space around Ernie, let alone the person. He managed a fixed stare at Zoe's calves instead, nodding again.

"Sounds good to me," Ernie nodded, incredibly relieved that the topic was glossed over.

Argh, was Zoe angry at them now? Having shredded connections with both his teammates seemed like a fatal situation. Maybe it would help him to oblige a different request.

"You came to talk strategy, yeah?" he piped up again, eager to fix the atmosphere, "I'm almost definitely the sturdiest out of us, unless you've got some Hulk power I don't know about. Do you think I should be personal meatshield for our healer? Ah, but I have some kind of stopping power with my rope too..."

Ernie scratched his head. He hadn't thought of many applications for his upgraded power yet. And even if he wanted to, he probably lacked the strategic intelligence for it. Hopefully Zoe would have more ideas than him.

Zoe nodded, glad to be talking about something actually practical instead of trying to figure out her teammates' drama. "Ideally we avoid needing a meatshield in the first place, but I've got nothing on the defensive front. Unless we run into any other subnaturals, I can't do much offensively either. The rope might be our best bet if we're up against the constructs - Find a way to trip them or get them stuck on something and then run like hell, 'cause I don't think we're killing them."

With a glance out at the battlefield, she sighed. "If we do run into subnaturals, then I can hopefully handle them. We've got free reign on the kill order, right?" Smiling a little too much for that statement, she directed her attention to Christmas. "Just to confirm, that mist thing you do is blood, right?"

It took him a minute to notice Zoe was talking to him and not about him. "Y-yeah." More rapid nods followed the statement when a sudden anxiety flared about Zoe not hearing him the first time. He didn't want to try her patience.

Subnaturals. Ernie nodded grimly, recalling his own warning for Marcus. Zoe's apparent enthusiasm for 'handling' any potential human threats was only mildly disconcerting. Reminded him of the things he feared back in Reno. But he of all people had no right to judge another Aberration's character. At least Zoe would be able to take on any subnatural enemies without a moral dilemma. In the end, all that mattered is that it would keep them safer than what an Arbiter could provide. Ruthlessness was what made mages strong, after all.

"Gotta make sure we don't run out of blood too. Maybe pick and choose who gets healing?"

"...U-um..." Christmas's hands pulled at the long hem of Sander's jacket, and he wished the owner was there at the moment. He was afraid to say much around either of his teammates, but he had to make sure they wouldn't rely on him to--oh, god--choose who to heal, especially when he couldn't tell one injury from another. He should have learned, but there were a lot of things he should have done over the course of 18 years that he never had. "I don't--don't know h-how to...ch-choose." A quick breath in and he finished what words he could muster at the moment. "...Sorry."

"There goes that idea then." Zoe was slightly surprised at Christmas showing any kind of dissent, but shrugged. "Honestly, unless it's something pathetic, I'd rather not pick and choose with the others anyway. If there's a lot of injuries, we could try and heal them in groups so we're not wasting blood." Even if it wasn't going to be fatal, Zoe didn't like the idea of her teammates running around hurt. It was meant to be her job to look after the people on their side, right? That was why she had to be willing to do what it took.

"That's only part of why I was asking. If, and only if, we run into any hostile subnaturals out there, I'm gonna need your permission to use my power on you in case we get separated, Christmas. As a precaution." It didn't dawn on Zoe how threatening that would sound to anyone that didn't know what she did about how her own ability worked, so she appeared fairly relaxed as she said it.

"...H-huh?"

Zoe looked at Christmas with what she hoped was a reassuring smile. "I can use my ability through other living things I touch. Best way I can describe it is like a disease or something. I can control how fast it works too, so it should be an itch at most." It was difficult for her to actually put into words, but she figured it got the meaning across well enough.

"Point is, blood's organic, right? If someone got a hold of you, it means you could maybe use that mist to defend yourself so long as I'm not too far away. I'm not one-hundred-percent sure, but it seems like it'd make sense."

There was a tinge of horror in Christmas's eyes as he looked up and didn't know where to stare for a second. Zoe's shoulder seemed a safe enough location to process what she had suggested. He didn't know if it'd work--and she needed to...inflict him with an illness? No. Poison him. Just an itch, she said, and he wished he had paid attention to the video feeds last Monday.

But it was a better idea than the absolute nothing he had to offer.

He didn't know if it was okay to let her poison him, but that was just in case, right? It probably wouldn't happen. Just in case, he reminded himself.

"O-okay."

"Wow, you sound really strong," Ernie remarked. Zoe had figured out a trick she could use with her power. Which meant that Ernie was getting a lot closer to becoming the official deadweight of the group. He wasn't sure how he felt about that so he tapped the side of his backpack.

"Healing in groups is a smart strategy. But if we can't round everyone up for whatever reason to save blood, I've got a first aid kit in here. Might be able to do a temporary fix if Christmas can't. Do you guys know any first aid?"

"Not me. Sounds like a good idea though, if you know what you're doing." Zoe nodded. Their situation still wasn't exactly safe, but she was starting to feel a little more confident about all this. "We can always look for supplies while we head through the town, too."

It had been more than a full month since the last time Ernie performed any sort of first aid during a mission but it was probably for the best to leave that detail out. Didn't want to lower team morale right before they moved out. He considered asking around to see if either of them had any gun but that would mean potentially giving up his protective weapon at some point. He didn't want that.

"That's a good idea," Ernie nodded yet again. He wasn't going to stop doing that anytime soon, was he? Not with Zoe coming up with such useful bits every few seconds. He was very glad that she was here with them.

"So we've talked powers, supplies, general tactics. Anything else we need to go over?" he asked, thinking as he went along. He suddenly remembered, turning to Christmas.

"Have you armored up?"

When the silence stretched a bit long and Christmas realized Ernie was addressing him, he nodded briefly at the ground, still doing his best to organize his scattered thoughts on the periphery of a battlefield. His arms hugged the loose jacket closer to his torso and he kept his fears at bay with the thought of returning to--and returning the jacket to--its owner.

"Oh, are you cold?" Ernie examined the boy a bit closer, misinterpreting his actions. Or maybe he just really wanted a solution to his earlier dilemma. Or maybe he was still trying to make it up to Christmas. Whatever. Ernie held up his dark jacket, "I'm not gonna be using this in the mission and I don't want it taking up space. Do you want to borrow it for a while?"

"...Huh?" Between Zoe's fail-safe plan and Ernie offering a jacket when he was already wearing one, Christmas was nearly at his limit trying to comprehend the enormity of both their mission and their target. Ernie's proffered jacket seemed as much an abnormality as everything else about the situation, but he didn't want to cause any sort of commotion between a tall Aberration who seemed versed on the battlefield and the other Aberration who needed to torment people for satisfaction and Stigma relief. Christmas stared at the article of clothing for a second longer. "I can--can hold it f-for you."

"Awesome. Ooh, maybe you should hold onto my leftover alloy too. Just in case."

Ernie pulled the remaining wishalloy from his backpack and zipped the two pieces into the pockets on either side of the jacket before handing it to the Arbiter. Christmas took the jacket reluctantly and did his best to fold the lumpy material over one arm, leaving the other free in case they needed him to hold more stuff.

"Thanks, buddy. Welp, I don't think I have anything else to say. Zoe, you got anything?"

"Nah, I think I'm good." Zoe shook her head. "Just gotta wait and see what happens once we're out there, I guess."

"Alright, let's get this show started!" Angel spoke to herself, as if to gain some confidence for heading out in battle.

Getting out of the trucks, the sight of the ravaged town greeted the singer's sight. Seeing it for herself was disturbing, instead of at the TV news. Angel shook her head, trying to remain undeterred despite the rubbles and corpses littering the streets. She had to remain calm and focused. Her team needed someone battle ready; SHE needed to be ready for what was coming.

After a while, when everyone gathered into their respective teams, Angel walked up to her own, looking in turn to Siena, Emma, Hazel, Grant, Brent and Gregory.

"Do you guys thought up of some plans on the way here?"

Truthfully, Angel had already imagined various possibilities, strategies and planning ahead of time both during the trip and before then. Hell, she even wrote down possible strategic deployments on everyone's profile sheets back when she was reviewing what she knew of her teammates. But she wanted to hear what the others' thoughts were. She desperately wanted someone else to come up with the plans. Not that she wouldn't mind carrying the burden of the responsabilities, but deep inside, Angel wanted someone else, way more stable than her - an Arbiter like Siena, Brent or Grant - to assume the position of leadership. Angel wasn't confident in her own emotional stability to make sound decisions and uphold them.

A frown crossed Emma's face as she surveyed what remained of Wisford. All this, done by one subnatural? We really are monsters. Emma shifted uncomfortable as Angel began to speak. She felt out of place. Very out of place. This was a real battlefield, no place for a high school girl. Between Hazel's armor, the helmet, and Hephaestus's 'wishalloy' she felt like a little girl playing dress up. Emma kept her head down as she responded to Angel, "N-not really. Sorry." the words came out quickly. She knew she wasn't ready.

The battlefield didn't bother Hazel the same way as the others however; it was similar to Ground Zero after all, though she was the one that did most of the killing there. She was more concerned about the coming battle and the horde of enemies she might have to face. With a wide reaching ability like hers, sticking together was just as likely to harm the others as well as those monsters. If she went alone, she might get blindsided once again. There was something in the books she had read over in the library, something she found while reading about armour.

"Trap them in a killzone."

She didn't think to explain more, instead she started fiddling with several earplugs she brought along as well as the wishalloy everyone had been given. Would the alloy help with the earplugs?

Another battlefield, though this one more real than any of the ones she remembered. No...not all of them...but this one was worse than what she'd seen with her own eyes. There was no doubt about that. Her mind, however, was preoccupied with thoughts of their abilities. With the others fully capable of doing direct damage, Siena wasn't entirely certain where her place was. She could help them be stronger...or perhaps defend...?

"We need to distract them, right? If they have vision like we do, I can probably attract them while taking a name." She paused as she considered the names she might take. "We could set a trap that way. Better still if we can limit how many come at once."

Angel listened to Siena’s idea, nodding apprehensively at the plan and quickly adding that to what she had already been thinking, see if she could somehow manage to fit the puzzle of stratagems together.

“What do you have in mind?” Angel asked, wondering how a trap could work out in the situation they had to face.

"Well, between all of our abilities, it shouldn't be difficult to attract their attention..." Siena thought for a moment. "Grant's abilities could almost literally pull the ground out from under them if needed, but if we're speaking practicality, it would be best if we could lead them somewhere where we won't be flanked." Unfortunately, running for a building was out of the question, and the brunette had serious doubts about how long they could maintain anything created artificially for those purposes. "I'm concerned about their durability though. There's a good chance they won't notice pain, so they might not be hindered by anything short of crippling or outright killing them..." Which in turn meant more energy spent per monster if they didn't function like living creatures.

A soft sigh as Siena considered the situation they were in. "Honestly, our backs are against the wall here. We could draw them into a building to pose some limit to the number we take on at once, but then our ranged support wouldn't be able to reach us."

Hearing out what her teammate had in mind, Angel figured out that most of it were idea factoring unknown variables. Siena’s ideas were sound, but Angélique felt it could be refined, be a bit more specific about the general course of action to take.

The obsidian-haired Aberration stood pensive. “I agree. It’s either we rush in there and cause a commotion on an open field with numbers overwhelming us, or be trapped inside the town with machines swarming in on us without snipers covering us.”

Her sight turned over to Hazel, who had been quite silent despite being the one firmly proposing the killzone plot. “Mind telling us more about your idea, Hazel?”

Hazel blinked.

"This is.. a town." She pointed down a road. "Funnel them down a road. Strong buildings on either side, for shooting. Someone to remain on the road, to fight and hold their attention."

It was a simple plan, one she had derived from her reading before. In searching for protection and hence armor, she had read over a few history books and inevitably read a treatise on castles. Of course, there she had read about how castles were made, what each structure was for, and why their shape was the way it was. And of course, she learned of the killzones the architects made when designing a castle. It was invariably a one way road to funnel in the enemy, hemmed in by all sides by walls where archers could shoot at them from cover. A one way street with buildings on either side was in no way scarce in a town like this. Of course, how that translate to their sort of fight remains to be seen.

"Killzone." Hazel repeated.

Hazel’s plan bore much resemblance to what Siena had explained earlier, Angélique figured. The idea of thinning out the horde by straining them into a single alley. As much as Angel wanted to trust into that plan, she simply couldn’t find the better outcome in this plan.

Firstly, while their main objective is to distract and thin out the army of clockworks, everyone was basically here to prevent Factory from regaining control of the town and sow more destruction that it already had. Luring the machines into a street was just inviting the mass of metallic animals into the very area, making the battle even more difficult considering those creatures could simply just disregard the Support Team and run amok in the town to look for easier preys, like the Healer teams, the roving unit, or worse, civilians.

Secondly, the snipers were to cover their asses with suppressing fire, or shoot down stray clockworks that managed to pass through. If they would go with the funnel tactic, not only the snipers would potentially not get a clear shot at the monsters inside the street, but the cover of the surrounding houses would be problematic should some machines decide to go off in the town and ignore the distraction. Again, that would only make it easier for the clockworks to roam the area and get to the other teams or civilians.

Lastly, Angel wasn't confident enough in their individual firepower to engage Factory's minions on separate fronts. Just seeing the flying giant mechanical snake circling its master overhead, it was clear to the fallen singer that those machines were possibly capable of clearing obstacles. If those metal creatures were able to reach the attackers on the houses by climbing or flying, then it meant those attackers would be forced to fight isolated and on multiple sides.

A funnel trap attack was inconceivable in Angélique's mind. If they were facing humans, it would have been feasible. But their enemies were monsters, unpredictable and far more capable than simply human soldiers. They have to stay united and take the battle to the open field, outside of town. Now she understood why Kardos had selected their position on the map earlier.

Angel frowned, looking somewhat unsure about the given explanations so far. She turned to the last member of their team who hasn’t spoken up yet. The black-haired Aberration figured Grant was the silent type, from her past experience of teaming up with him at the Flags and Seek event. But he was also praised by a lot of classmates for his wits, and that’s what Angel hoped he would show today. Hopefully, he could see the flaws of making a trap and speak up about it.

But seeing he wasn’t saying much, Angélique found little choice but to coax him out of his silent shell and get his input on this planning. “Grant, what do you think of this plan?”

While his teammates were talking among themselves, Grant was instead looking around the chaotic landscape of the once full town, thumbing the hilt of Her knife in his belt. Something that could have caused this was not going to be so easy of an enemy. Especially if it was supposedly a subnatural, like himself and the others.

When his name was said, he blinked and looked over at the girl- what was her name? She seemed familiar. A... Ah, Angel. That girl from the flag football game. He turned toward her when she had asked him this question. Frankly, he hadn't been listening too intently on the plans, but he caught some... a few key words as he inspected the surroundings

He glanced to his other teammates before looking back at her to focus his words on. "...Well, for one. We don't know exactly what to expect out of the creatures aside from the fact that they are both mechanical and animal-like. Underestimating them by making a set plan could prove our downfall. It's 50/50 if we put our trust into one. Something that caused this devestation is something not to be taken too lightly. Such as funneling them into a road where we can receive no ranged support." He gestured over to the collared girl, indicating her 'Killzone' plan. "That could end up being our killzone. Or leading them into a building. Again, no ranged support, as well as the possibility of the building not being able to hold while we deal with the Metalworks." He continued, using the word Metalworks to describe the creatures as he, once more, gestured to... Siena, indicating her plan. "Put simply. With the scarce information we have about the Metalworks now, having a set plan at all would be stupid." Grant would finally finish, his eyes keeping their signature tired gaze and tone, stuffing his hands back into his pockets.

Hazel glanced at the boy, reviewing what he said about her plan.

She went over the scenario again and again in her head as they walked, trying to think of what would happen if they did not have a plan and simply went in. Without cover, without a killzone, but with ranged support. They were still outnumbered, and fighting without a plan or any sort of preplanned actions was just as likely to get them killed, especially if they were boxed in by enemies at all sides. Should that happens, they might have to fight uncomfortably close together.

She had no desire to stand near Angel and her screams, nor did she like having obstacles in her way when she was trying to destroy something else. Having enemies escape them was one thing; they were here simply to take attention of the main bulk of the monsters here from the strike team after all. Defending the townsfolk was not their — or her— primary objective.

Should they wish to fight out in the open, surrounded by enemies, it was not her place to say otherwise. She could only follow the orders imposed on her; she will endevour to keep herself alive at any cost and disregard any orders to the contrary unless it conflicts with the first directive. Even if she had to leave them or fight alone.

"Understood."

Having already decided they would not fight with her in a safer location, she continued walking, slowing her pace as she looked around at the surrounding.

Angélique listened to Grant's remarks about the plan so far, applying the Wishalloy bundle she had been given to her torso, arms and just enough for her legs. Deep down, she was glad he had pointed out some fallacies in the plot. The both of them seemed to have just about the same worries, she figured.

"Not to mention we absolutely cannot afford the machines to slip by inside the town and get to the other teams. Our priority is to distract and destroy the bulk of the army, but we were told last Monday to make sure the enemy never finds our Healers." Angel added to Grant's opinion.

She mumbled a curse underneath her breath. So was there really no other way than simply confronting them up front? The raven-haired Aberration suddenly let out a nervous laugh.

"So we got our back against the wall here. Really, we just go in there, guns blazing and cause a ruckus? If you ask me, it sounds like we've been assigned as the real-life version of the Suicide Squad."

Angélique paused, her expression grave as reality slowly settled in. They were simply canon-fodder, in the end. Nobody would care if they died in this town. Readjusting her shades, Angel's gaze set forward, down the ruined road.

"If we are to go there and simply fight the metal monsters head on, should we agree on a battle formation? At least maximize our group's efficiency instead of throwing ourselves randomly onto the horde. What say y'all?"


While the others walked and talked, Gregory fiddled with the last straps of the ballistics vest he’d grabbed. Putting on the Wishalloy pieces underneath it had been a bit annoying, but hopefully the extra protection was worth it. Tapping at the metal trauma plates inserted, he rolled his shoulders and twisted around to make sure it was secured properly before he trudged after the others. A few carabiners dangled from the straps above his shoulder while several lengths of knotted rope and canteens hung from his belt. Aside from the three items given by the guards, it didn’t seem like he had picked up anything more than a crowbar.

“There’s at least one person that summons disposable minions. Send them out to scout first if they’ve got the range. Gauge how the Metalworks react,” he chimed in while looking around at their surroundings and then towards the destination.

Emma finally decided to chime in, raising her hand slightly indicating that she wanted to speak. ”Well… they work as long as they’re in earshot of me. Which brings me to another point, in the Capture the Flag… game, we worked out a system where we used Brent's phone so I could relay commands to them while I was in relative safety. Since I don’t really have any options if we fight close up it might be a good idea to get some kind of similar setup…”

"I'm inclined to agree with keeping Emma herself out and away from the main battle." The brunette claimed while tracing the outline of her tablet with a fingertip. "We lose too much manpower if she gets too injured comparatively." There might have been other reasons for that concern, but Siena didn't bring up anything beyond the pure rationality of it. That aside, at least most of the support's main body had ways to defend themselves directly if the worst case scenario rose. "More importantly, our job is to create enough chaos to attract the majority of the forces. Having the summons attract forces that don't respond to any initial attacks would be a good fallback."

"While I don't really like the idea on straying too far from each other, I agree Emma should stay safe in the back." Angel replied, her gaze shifting towards the X-marked alluring girl. "Emma, you think you could stay within earshot of the group, at the back? That way, you could probably command your... golems(?) from a safe distance, keep an eye on our back and warn us if anything is heading towards us from behind."

Angel recalled the warning they got at the briefing about possible Subnaturals lurking in the area and possibly teaming with Factory. "While our main target is the metallic horde, keep an eye out for those Mages we've been warned of. Especially Emma, if she is to stay alone at the back."

Ah. There was the dreaded topic.

"Speaking of opposing Mages...if any of them do attack, are we really ready to kill a human?" She should have felt uneasy about it, but Siena was aware of what kept the emotion from growing much further than a hollow pang. "I mean...we're prepared and likely lethal, but it's different trying to kill a human and trying to kill a monster."

Grant did the same as some of the others and went ahead and applied his Wishalloy onto himself as they walked and talked. The topic of the supposed enemy subnaturals came up and he focused his attention to the others. "We're already helping to get rid of the target, who is also supposedly a Mage. If they come to us, and they're in the way, it won't matter if we're ready or not. If they're ready, and we're not, that's it for us. We'll be doing ourselves and everyone else a favor by dealing with them." He paused as he looked ahead...

"If they appear." He added after.

Emma sighed. One answer at a time, first Angel. ”I’ll do my best to stay back while staying in range. Looks like I’ll be getting a vocal workout too…” a hollow laugh followed, ”And not that it matters much, but I’ve decided to call them Tulpas. Thoughtforms from Buddhist texts… like I said, it doesn’t matter much.” and then Siena’s question. ”… Grant’s right. I’ll do what I have to if we see a Subnatural.” Emma’s tone was entirely passive, intent on not giving her thoughts away.

Seemed like everyone were quite willing to pull the trigger on another human being, Angel understood. The question Siena asked brought back some memories of the talk Angel and Zoe had last week, about caring for others, pulling the trigger and taking all the blame. Surprisingly, Zoe seemed to be wrong about everyone after all. Even about the caring Angélique.

“Humans or monsters, it doesn’t matter. If it’s out there to kill us, then I won’t have any regret taking a Mage down. Better him than you guys.” The singing Aberration confessed, feeling a small hint of uneasiness creeping up. She had taken human lives before, and it still tormented her to this day. Why did it feel so right now? Was it because her concern for her own survival and the others’ disregarded the nature of the threat, being it human or monster?

"I see..." Well, she supposed that was the best she could hope for. Siena tried not to acknowledge the startling ease she considered the situation in. That certainly wasn't the type of person she wanted to be, at the least. The girl wondered briefly if she would have even hesitated if one of their own decided to flee. If one of the faces she was just starting to accept as part of her new daily life would at least make her think twice. Releasing a soft breath, the brunette tried to focus on the path ahead. "I suppose my next question would be what we think we're lacking most. I can fill in the holes, but I sincerely doubt we won't be noticed once I start."

"I can manipulate nonliving matter, so I could act as offense, defense, or even ranged if need be." Grant mentioned to narrow the list of what they were lacking at the moment.

Angel took a bit of time to think about the question. What had she been writing on her personal notes earlier today. A support; a berserker; an attacker and defender; two jacks-of-all-trades. “I’ve been thinking about it earlier today after the briefing. We seem to be able to bring up a lot of everything to the table with the team we have currently.” Angel paused, trying to puzzle the pieces together with the strategy they were trying to get through with.

“Let’s say Hazel is our primary attacker, since she’s the one with the most destructive natural power here. Being the one with the potential to bring down a lot of creatures by herself, I was thinking of having a formation centered about her, as to protect her from the monsters while she cleaves them down. Taking that into consideration, her best position would be at the front, or center. Gotta give her some space and a clear front for her to pulverize anything standing against us.” Angélique commented as she looked towards Hazel, wondering if she would be alright with the suggestion.

"Emma can probably cover roles we lack too. Her big armoured Tulpa seem to be just as able deffensively as offensively? It might as well engage some Metalworks or protect Hazel if she's hard-pressed. The pulling one could serve mighty well as a support to line in the fuckers into Hazel's attacks too." the Aberration then remarked about Emma's versatile options.

“Grant and I would probably be best flanking Hazel’s side from a distance, to give her some space but at the same time make sure nothing comes blindsiding her. Grant can potentially pull the earth to both attack and defend whatever’s coming at him.” The singer added as she glanced towards Grant.
“As for I… well I’m not going to lie to you, I’m sort of a liability here. My shouts most likely won’t affect the machines as they do to humans. At best, I can only knock them back a few feet away, but I doubt I won’t be dealing as much damage as anyone here. I was thinking of positioning myself a bit away from everyone so you guys won’t get caught up in my sonic blasts.”Angel added with a hint of disappointment in her tone. Really, what was Kardos thinking about putting her on the Support Team instead of someone actually useful?

“Maybe you could fill up that attacker and/or defender role with me on your side, Siena? I don’t know what you have in mind for powers, but I most likely won’t be of much help to protect one side by myself. You got a powerful enough name to take on that side of the army?” Angel then asked as she looked towards Siena, the images of what kind of destruction Siena was capable from the two training sessions they had together were still fresh in her mind.

Ah...that was right, Angel's power would probably meet with some resistance in the face of metal creatures like that. Something akin to concern welled up in the pit of Siena's stomach, but the brunette did her best to quash it. Now wasn't the time to try and figure out which emotions were left. Still...Angel's shouts had a wide range, and she'd watched them take down Chris's dragon form--well, at least the one without wings--so they at least had some effect on even thick armor. The Aberration was right though--there were probably things that wouldn't be kicking in when it came to creatures like metalwork beasts.

"If we're concerned about how dampened your abilities are, I...I think I can provide enough support to make your shouts completely viable attacks. It'll consume less energy on my end than having to directly attack and demolish them alone." Giving herself a moment to think...well, that was completely viable. "In that case, I won't have such precise control over my targets, but as long as we're not getting in each others' way, it should be okay."

"Oh..." Angel let out in surprise. Truthfully, she had been thinking about that possibility before. However, most of the power she held was based on her stunning capacity, not her destruction potential. It would be a waste for Siena to use her potential on buffing someone who didn't belong here in the first place.

"I'm... not sure about it. I feel like you would be a better asset with using your full powers yourself than simply giving me a boost. I'm not even sure if an upgraded scream would destroy them."

Moreover, images of a kneeling Siena after abusing her powers played back in Angel's mind. Her partner probably wouldn't have had that breakdown if she didn't try over-optimizing both their magic at once.

Shifting her gaze back to the brunette's eyes, Angélique reached the girl's shoulder for a reassuring pat. "Just... do what you would feel more comfortable with. I don't want to exhaust yourself like that time." Her tone of voice was quieter than before, as if the last part was meant to be heard only between the two of them.

A reassuring hand on her shoulder and soft words reminded Siena of things she'd rather have forgotten. Things about the failsafe she kept tucked neatly away in the inner pocket of her coat, ready to be drawn and used at a moment's notice. A failsafe she prayed she woudln't have to use, because she knew she couldn't control it. Still, she gave a weak smile and a nod of understanding.

"I know." Soft, careful words."I'll be careful."

Grant adjusted his clothes, the Wishalloy protection working its wonders underneath. Hopefully they were effective as they had explained. Either that or he could just avoid getting hurt altogether. He glanced back at the others that he was walking with. Once more, thrust into a team. They were better alive than dead. For my survival, he added in his mind. A few more steps, before he finally spoke up to them.

"Everyone's got the Wishalloy stuff on?" He asked to his team.

Angel nodded slowly to Siena, a faint crack of a smile appearing on the corner of her lips as her classmate reassured the singer of being careful. When Grant asked about the strange armore material they were give, the obsidian-haired young woman turned to the Arbiter with a grin and raising a thumb up. "Good to go on my end, sir." she didn't put as much emphasis on the last word, but Angel hoped the joke would shift the leading role of this group to Grant, rather than herself. Truthfully, with everyone tossing plans and ideas here and there, she had forgotten about her worries and unwillingly went on with the flow, her leading nature taking over again without realizing it, and spoke a bit too much despite not wanting to take the lead.

Ah, right, the Wishalloy. She'd been holding off on applying the largest section of it--mostly to see if it would do anything bizarre when applied. So far, nothing seemed to be going wrong, so... "Ah, I should get the last of it on." Not much of a hassle, really. Even keeping it in place wasn't entirely difficult with her coat doing most of the work for her. Untested as it was, the girl couldn't deny that she wanted to take on a name more than capable of taking hits, but at the cost of time or potency for what she wanted to do...? It didn't seem quite worth it. Instead, the brunette gave a quick nod of affirmation as she waited for the fabric to complete its magic. "Should be good to go."

Wishalloy was a pain in the ass to apply, especially considering how he effectively had to strip to his underwear before putting the strange material on his body. It was also a bit of a shame that it couldn’t be Overclocked, meaning that he still had to keep his body armor on…but, on the bright side? Two layers of protection was better than one. The rest of the group had already left by the time Brent finished gearing himself up again, from helmet to boots to his assortment of weaponry placed all around his body. It still rattled, but the weight was more or less distributed around his body. He could do this. He could get used to this. He could…

…take a deep breath of the burning wind and drink in the destruction wrecked all around him. His amethyst eyes lingered on the stains that couldn’t be washed away, the debris of clockwork and the remnants of humanity. This wasn’t the worst end.

But this could be much better. The silence was deafening, even as combat raged farther away. Brent turned to the truck that was already driving away, and picked up his pace, jogging over to the rest of his friends? Teammates? Inmates.

“Yoho, sorry for lagging behind. Whatcha all discussing?” he called, the same smile as always standing in stark contrast to the bleak atmosphere.

"Took you long enough. Probably brought a bit too much gear with you, no?" Angel commented as the late arrival chimed in. "We just finished planning out our battle strategy. Nothing too fancy. We agreed on formations and decided we'll do our best to distract and destroy the machines by bringing the fight straight to them while you sniper guys cover our asses from afar."

Looking at her surroundings, Angélique felt uneasiness becoming ever more present as they walked further in town. Hopefully, the early attack force managed to effectively contain the horde of metal freaks and didn't let anything leak in the city. Last thing they wanted right now was to be caught in an ambush in the middle of the town and crush their morale even further.

"We'll escort you to just a bit before reaching the outskirts of town. At least to make sure you two don't run in into an ambush before we get to the clearing outside of town." the fallen idol explained further. "Which makes me think..."

The oldest student of the group took the phone she had been given from the briefing earlier today, as a mean to communicate between every member of her class. Thinking about an ambush, it made her feel some worry for the others. Would they be fine if something just showed up and attacked them? Not that she didn't trust in her classmates' abilities, but the bulk of the powerhouses were at the front, leaving those with little offensive abilities at the back. If anything came up from the rear, they were fucked quite badly.

Extending the antenna from the phone, Angélique pressed the 'push-to-talk' button and took a deep breath.

"Testing testing. One two three. Angelic here, you guys hear me?" She paused, waiting to hear if the phone worked as intended. When she got confirmation, she resumed "I wanted to tell you guys, even if we are all split-up in different groups, we are still a team. Communication is key here. So please, if you spot anything out of the ordinary: a stray Factory's minion, an unknown Mage or whatever, warn the other groups, even if you are not to engage them. Let's keep ourselves updated, so we can adapt if things go wrong."

Angel paused again, letting a soft sigh as she felt uncomfortable about this whole setup. Why was she taking the lead again, despite trying to rely more on Grant's? Could it be that, deep inside, she still yearned to prove herself as a worthy leader, or at least someone who cares deeply about her fellow teammates?

"Y'all stay safe and be careful, alright? Support Team nearing objective. Angel out."

---

---

---

---

Data streamed into their mission-assigned phones constantly, updating the map display with various markers and filters, the most notable of which was the real-time damage report filter, coloring all areas reported to have heavy structural damage in a warning shade of orange, with lighter shading where the damage was prevalent, but not severe.



Without any selective filtering, the map looked about as chaotic as the situation, rendered in colors and corresponding legends that threatened to distract more than they would define.

---

The large expanse of scarred terrain around Factory rumbled with the whirring armatures of clockwork creatures and screeching metal, scores of the machines dying by the drove as orbs of exploding light impacted the thickest congregations of enemies. What little remained of the buildings and streets in the area had been shredded apart by both the fighting and intentional demolition to clear out any structure the enemy could launch a surprise attack from. It left the group of six USARILN East mages in the midst of it entirely unprotected, of course, but that was the cost of clear vision.

Ethan, Myla, Genevieve, and Eric were huddled under the transparently blue barrier again, firing attacks at the amassing scores of mechanical monsters. High above them, a dark-haired boy with fair skin hovered upside down, feet stationary against a large, two-dimensional fractal pattern of a platform that was slowly expanding bright white and unhindered, already large enough to cover a rough radius of 15 meters from the center where the mage was positioned. The area directly beneath it was completely clear of living constructs and within seconds it was obvious why. A newly formed bird darted for the easiest target, but the moment it flew within range of the expanding pattern and the caster’s line of sight a needle-thin line shot from the fractal above, connecting to the clockwork and moving in parallel with it as the bird’s mechanisms slowed, sending it crashing into a shuddering roll along the ground. A quick burst of light shattered its body and the rest of the machines held their distance as the field’s area quietly deconstructed the material until nothing remained of the bird’s twitching mechanical parts.

A thick worm construct nearly eight meters long burst from the marred ground nearby, surrounding them with its long body and intending to crush them before the field fully demolished it, but a clockwork android followed it from its burrow almost immediately afterwards, slamming into the massive annelid’s steel-plated body and merging into it. The construct’s winding motions stopped almost immediately and parts of its body began segmenting into longer portions, revealing an unused function of the clockwork shell. The segments detached and broke apart, crumbling away under the effects of the degrading field and shortening the worm’s body until a few more blasts of neon and white lights tore the receding length asunder just as the android burst from the thickest part of the worm, launching outwards in a spray of shattered gears and springs and landing on all fours a short distance away.

Several seconds later, the android’s metallic body melted away, revealing a slim, dark-skinned boy breathing heavily with exertion. The lack of surprise on any of the other combatants’ faces made clear this was, by now, a common occurrence. Ethan reached out to help him up and Eric pulled a phone from his back pocket, voicing something to his teammates. The boy above them pointed forward at the winged snake above Factory, shouting something indiscernible to the group below.

It was Myla who finally took note of the recent arrivals with a quick check on her phone, notifying her group without taking her eyes off the cursors on her map. They couldn’t spare the time for communication with some 40 odd machines bearing down on them, but she at least took heart that backup would be here soon, and it wouldn’t be the previous shift’s exhausted group forced to battle again. With every setup, they had managed to push the creatures back towards Factory, but now both sides were at an impasse. The students couldn’t push any further with the rate more creatures were spawning now that they were close to the source and the clockworks couldn’t advance effectively past the spreading deconstruction field. But it was only a matter of time before they collected enough to pile into the zone’s effect at a rate faster than it could break down.

The monsters ahead of them moved backwards several steps, almost in unison, as the encroaching white above them edged closer. There were, at a quick glance, 17 canine clockworks, each standing at nearly 1.5 meters tall in front of three centipede constructs only half a meter in height but almost 9 meters in length. Seven birds hovered above the horde, banking around the large spell as they waited for an opportunity to strike and another 13 mechanical spiders only slightly smaller than the dogs hummed in the distance, the gears of their joints spinning as they waited on the rest of the group’s movements. This wasn’t the first time they had dealt with the breakdown effect. It was simply a matter of time and this close to their source the students would be hard pressed to retreat again unscathed.

In the distant background, Factory took note and began creating more.

---

The APC crawled carefully through the ruined streets, avoiding the worst of the destruction as it took long, winding paths deeper into the town. Most of the outskirts had been cleared of survivors, but there had been little opportunity to search deeper in town between magic and monsters and keeping track of rogue subnaturals (all of whom had, fortunately, decided not to resist in the face of USARILN soldiers and students, allowing the next relief truck to take them back to the temporary camp with the first shift of exhausted USARILN students).

The experimental unit’s arrival, then, was timely for all the right reasons, especially in light of how much more damage output they could contribute compared to the stalling and slow advance tactics of the last day and a half.

Where the roving evacuation team was located, tucked in a narrow street between two rows of buildings whose tops had been shorn off by something that had apparently cut clean through the wood and concrete, four machines prowled, their forms different from the combat types Factory was currently pumping out.

These were larger, lumbering bulks on four pillar-like legs and a comically spherical head dotted with the same red lights as Factory’s eyes. The pinpricks flashed on and off, like it was blinking, though the act was entirely useless for something inhuman. They stood a little over four meters tall, elephantine in their stature and build, but missing the signature trunk of their natural counterpart.

Their eyes were scanning, and in that mass of tessellated metal shapes resembling houndstooth that formed the outer shells of their bronze bodies lay dozens of dead, dying, and injured humans.

A thundering footstep nearby convinced the driver to turn down a different corner and into a tight alley that barely fit the width of the armored car. On the lowest floor of a nearby building a scrawny teenager and his younger sister huddled in a corner near the door, freezing up at the sound of the rumbling car that they presumed to be the collector machines patrolling again. The boy’s left arm ran red with a deep gash tied under a makeshift bandage of a torn T-shirt and the limb dangled uselessly at his side, the wound his price to pay for dashing into the nearest convenience store and scooping up what food he could. He didn’t think he really escaped—after all, the creatures were closing in on where he was last seen, but they had both been hungry and help would come, right? There were soldiers all around the town. Surely, now that the fighting had moved away from the town’s center, help would come. He clapped his good hand over his sister’s mouth, shushing her and holding her small body against him protectively as the car moved closer.

---

General paths to Christmas’s and Brent’s positions were clear albeit devastated and traversal required moving on foot, the amount of toppled buildings and scattered machine parts forming effective barricades for almost all vehicles. Brent's position, as damaged as it appeared at first glance, was mostly intact, the reported destruction in that area luckily more superficial than scathing, leaving several two-story office buildings and a four-story apartment complex standing. The initial plans had considered airlifting them to and fro, only to be met with Kardos’s utter disappointment regarding the high risk of visibility to both Factory and any flying clockworks. There was no cover in the air, after all, and their helicopters couldn’t match the maneuverability of magic, period. Movement had to be on land and if the offensive support team garnered enough attention, the healers wouldn’t need to encounter combat at all.

Lily’s and, to a lesser extent, Gregory’s locations ran into the slight issue of either defeating or circumnavigating the large collector clockworks, but they were both far enough away from the nearest ones that there was no real danger so long as they weren’t seen on their ways to a diner surrounded by used clothing stores and miscellany shops (for Lily) and a series of townhouses near a large movie theater (for Gregory).

There was some heart to be had despite the overwhelming straits: where the collector types prowled meant there were people to find—people to save.

---

Hazel Baker

---

It bothers her.

Even through the drug's haze and the suppression of the collar, Hazel did not feel comfortable staying out in an open field. Regardless of the others also being there, regardless of their plans, and regardless of how they feel. Even with two long ranged people supporting them, they would be swarmed almost immediately; she did not trust in any of them or their abilities to be able to rely solely on those to survive.

Nevertheless, she was ordered to go first to her appointed location. There she could decide if she needed to leave those people and take cover somewhere else.

Hazel once again checked her armor, looking for any spots she might have missed while applying the wishalloy. It would seem she had only enough to coat the surface of her armor and the exposed part of her clothing, with nothing left for her helm. The material, if she recalled correctly, was made of the same thing as the cuffs on her ankles, and thus should be resistant to her own ability. However, the rest of her uncoated items remained vulnerable. The earplugs, the whistle she had bought just in case, the odd rectangular thing they handed out to her would disappear immediately should she be careless with her ability. The baton and such weren't that useful for her to bring, nor did she know enough about guns to want any of them.

She took in a deep breath before exhaling.

The part of the town she was going through seemed to be empty, with destroyed building and rubble everywhere. There were dead bodies here and there as well, though those weren't as important to her as the previous fact.

As soon as Hazel and the others arrived at the location, she would look towards the north west, noticing the pile of rubble lying around there. Nodding to herself, she put on her earplugs, before heading over there to stand beside it, looking over both the rubble and the enemy in the distance. The other team that was there first was not of her concern; they had their orders, she had hers.

Her ability could reach only as far as 15 metres for now, though combined with the explosion, that would only stretch as far as 35 metres. An exceedingly weak attack at that range, considering how explosions worked as well as being as likely to injure her as it was any target, seeing as she would be at least 5 metres in its radius. But, if she had this right, she might have a way to extend her range further.

It was from her life before, in that stark white room alone. With no real way to amuse herself, she had taken to doing many things. Jumping from tile to tile in different patterns, trying to stand on her head, walking on her hands and the likes. One of the things she did was playing with a piece of paper that was left in her room. It was fun seeing it flutter every time she slapped her hands on the floor.

The world shimmered around her, as she focused on her form, materializing large projections of purplish arms in the air. The form on the gloves was perfectly recreated on those projection. With those huge hands feeling like they were moving through molasses, she folded one hand on another, making a sort of a tent with the fingers of one hand extended horizontally out. With a push she disintegrated some of the ground around a pile of rubble, covering the pile with her projected hands with the opening aimed in the general direction of those creatures, before activating her most recently acquired ability.

Like a cannon, the space inside her tented hands exploded spectacularly, throwing out a lot of purplish smoke as well as a shockwave, kicking up dust around her. Even a small explosion can propel a bullet to tremendous speed, but an explosion normally 20 metres in diameter focused in that small space? It was akin to a huge bombard cannon, or even a ship mounted gun going off. However, since she wasn't exploding anything like a bullet, the rubble inside acted more like the pellets in a shotgun shell, large pieces flew everywhere in a cone, spraying the area in front of her with high velocity heavy projectiles.

In all honesty, the deafening silence of their ride over the first day (at least before the attack) was far preferable to the current situation. The thunderous footsteps of some far-off creature were in great contrast to the low humming of the APC. Every snap of timber they drove over, and the soft crunching of the debris underneath served to put Marcus in a slightly tenser state of mind.

He’d already finished applying the Wishalloy to his legs, acutely aware to not make the same error that Savannah had. The clear material caught the light every so often as he bounced his leg nervously, sitting silently on a bench under the assumption that Sophia was currently scanning the area.

The maps that were being uploaded to their phones was a welcome distraction in some ways, but another layer of his ever-growing nervousness in others. Most of the clockwork forces were right where they should have been, but the ones that weren’t were the most concerning. Designated as ‘Collector/Elephant’ types, Marcus could only assume that they were the source of the giant footsteps. Part of him wondered what gave them the ‘Collector’ designation, but the other part hoped he wouldn’t have to find out.

The crackling of the radio pierced the ambient silence of the APC as Marcus pulled it off his belt to listen to the monsters.

"Testing testing. One two three. Angelic here, you guys hear me? I wanted to tell you guys, even if we are all split-up in different groups, we are still a team. Communication is key here. So please, if you spot anything out of the ordinary: a stray Factory's minion, an unknown Mage or whatever, warn the other groups, even if you are not to engage them. Let's keep ourselves updated, so we can adapt if things go wrong."

"Y'all stay safe and be careful, alright? Support Team nearing objective. Angel out."

"Evac Team; we're reading you, Angel." Marcus replied, his tone much more business-like than it usually was. "Adding to that list: if anybody sees any groups of civvies, ping it on the map if you can; we'll see what we can do. Like the woman says, be careful out there, you guys. Evac team over and out." He put the phone back into safe-keeping, and spoke up, the message having spurred him into impatientness.

"See anything out there, Sophs?"

Sophia turned on her power once the APC began to move. For the second time, she watched as everything around her faded into shades of gray and as the people around her disappeared, leaving only the clothes and items they wore behind. To make things easier for herself she looked out of the windows around the sides of the truck, head turning side to side as she tried to see through the materials around her, most of them too thick for her to make out any clear shapes.

She tried to ignore the occasional ominous footsteps that showed there was something prowling around nearby, but couldn't help jumping almost every time one sounded. Though she also heard the message from one of the other teams through the radio, she didn't respond as Marcus was already doing so.

After a particularly loud footstep that made the driver turn down an even narrower road, she began to shake her head in response to Marcus's question when she saw what looked like two sets of clothing ahead, floating in midair. Changing her shake to a nod, she looked over at Marcus, or at least tried to. Her seemingly unfocused gaze rested at the place where Marcus's face should be for a second before she turned back to looking at the two people. "There're two people up ahead..."

"Well then I guess this is our stop! Marcus said, tapping the armored wall of the APC twice to signal the driver. "Got some up ahead!"

When the APC came to a stop, Marcus carefully stepped out the back, scanning the ruined town. He looked down for just a moment to check his pistol: safety off. He looked over the rest of the buildings, leaning towards Sophia without turning. He kept his voice low, nearly a whisper. It certainly wouldn't be very good if the two were hostile and he gave away their position by loudly shouting. Not that the armored vehicle driving through town was super stealthy.

"Just the two of 'em?" he asked. "Where are they at?"

As the APC came to a stop and Marcus stepped out, Sophia made herself follow a few seconds later. She would rather stay in the "safety" of the APC, but it would be easier to point out where the two people were if they were both standing on the same spot. Noting the soft voice that Marcus used to speak, her reply was soft as well, not that that was unusual for her. Raising an arm and hoping her finger was pointing in the right direction, she aimed her index finger towards the building where the two people were huddled.

"Around there... I think?"

Lawrence followed her gesture with his eyes, standing up and leaving the APC behind Marcus. "Whether we kill them or save them, better make it fast. We don't want to stay in place too long."

A glance at Marcus and a quick look at the approximate location Sophia had pointed out gave the Arbiter a few milliseconds of pause before he spoke up again.

"Marcus. The more dangerous move of opening that door is on you. I'll be ready to calm them down if whoever's behind that door is agitated." He shifted the loaded shotgun in his arms, the alternative clear as well.

"What about me?" Savannah called out loudly, not catching the quieter tones of conversation.

"Stay quiet. Stay inside," came Lawrence's curt answer.

While Lawrence's curt response of "kill them or save them" had seemed like daily business to him, Marcus was a little taken aback by the statement, truthfully. Still, he gave Lawrence a nod, taking a defensive position near the door.With his back to the wall, Marcus checked his gun one more time, taking a deep before he moved.

Four seconds. Whatever happened, he needed to make sure that he had four seconds of safety.

He grabbed the handle with his free hand, allowing himself one more breath. On the exhale, he flung the door open, immediately raising his pistol while taking a step inside, readying a rewind if needed.

Rustling movement to his right and down greeted the armed savior (of a sort) and the brown-haired boy had to hold back his sister from running off in fear, the girl's muffled screaming taking long seconds to finally quiet down as she stared up at the decidedly unimposing Marcus, fear slowly turning into a careful stare at his face. Both siblings' eyes were a cool shade of jade green, but that was all the similarity they shared having both taken very different sides of the genetic lottery. The older brother's features were sharper and more defined, while his little sister--who didn't look any older than 7 or 8--had inherited someone's softer cheeks and wide brow, looking far more innocent than even a child her age had a right to appear.

His quick scan wasn't exactly necessary, as the muffled scream of a small child immediately directed his attention to the two figures in the corner. Two of them, a young looking girl and a slightly older looking boy, neither of them marked with DC's lovingly rendered stamps. He immediately holstered his gun, raising his hands to show he meant no harm and giving a quick "Clear!" to the rest of Evac team.

"Don't worry; we're here to help." Marcus said, kneeling slightly, his tone as calm and cool as he could make it.

The older brother blinked at the scarred boy currently kneeling before them, shoulders relaxing just a touch when he heard the word ‘help’. However, tension bled back into his limbs once he spotted the white mark right below Marcus’ eye.

“N-No. You’re a sub.” -Wide eyes brimmed with fear, and he unconsciously pulled his sister closer to himself –“Stay away!”

"Hey, hey, hey." Marcus said, in what was probably a poor attempt to defuse the situation. "I'm one of the good guys, see?" he said, giving his cheekbone a quick tap. There was a part of him that was unconsciously ashamed of the divide between the abes and arbs he'd pointed out, but it was a necessary evil at this moment.

"What's your name, kid?" he punctuated this sentence by kneeling further, his right knee fully touching the ground now.

“J-Jake.” -Came the breathy answer, and wide eyes were still wary of Marcus’ every move.

"Alright Jake, I'm Marcus. We're going to get you and your sister to safety, and get your arm all patched up, okay?" he held out his hand slightly, extending it to the injured boy.

It took a few more moments of careful staring before the young boy finally relented. It was either this smouldering ruin or the extending hand at this point, and despite his fears, Jake knew what he had to do. For his sister’s sake and his own. He took the hand.

“Okay.”

"Alright, let's get you out of here then."

He took the young man's hand and stood up, helping the two kids to their feet. With a small gesture to the door, he led the both out, taking a moment to give one last scan to the room before leaving.

"That all for around here, Sophs?" he asked, keeping an eye on the kids as they approached the APC. He'd completely forgotten that Savannah was a Abe when he'd been trying to win their trust, and he hoped that it wouldn't come back to haunt them. Worst case scenario, he figured; Lawrence was there to calm them down if they started panicking. He gave Lawrence a quick glance at this thought, hoping he was ready.

Despite his injury, the young boy managed to help his sister climb into the truck. Entering after her, he froze as soon as he saw Savannah on the far seat, glancing back at Marcus before deciding it was alright. "Move, Isla," he muttered, positioning himself between the young girl and the Aberration-- just in case.

Savannah took notice, but merely pursed her lips and looked away-- the best thing she could've done considering her current mood and temper.

After what had seemed like ages, at last Marcus came out of the building with the two in tow. Now that the civilians were standing, she realized how short one of them was. A child, probably not much older or younger than her sister? It was hard to tell without seeing a face. Continuing to stand watch while the trio approached, she didn't answer Marcus's question immediately, taking the time the civilians took to climb in the APC to have one more look around. Scanning the nearby buildings once again, there seemed to be no one else around. Then paying attention to the objects farther away, she didn't see anything worthy of note eith- wait.

Had she been imagining it or had she seen the movement of a person appearing in the distance, before vanishing behind something she couldn't really see through? Maybe she had imagined it. Was it worth mentioning if she might be wrong? Buying herself time to think, she got into the APC while still trying to keep an eye on the place where that person had disappeared.

"I... don't know."

"I don't know" wasn't a good answer. "Maybe?"

Wasting time. Her voice took on a stressed tone as she tried to articulate herself. "No one... nearby."

A sigh. "But for farther away... I don't know. I might have... but I don't know." Hidden inside her pockets, her hands made fists. "I'll keep looking... but we don't have time."

Marcus clambered in as Sophia spoke, garnering a slightly raised eyebrow from him. It only took her a moment to articulate herself, and Marcus gave a quick look in the direction she was, peeking out the window. There certainly wasn't anything he could see, but he honestly wasn't even sure if he was looking the right way; she'd mentioned something about '360 vision'.

"Which way? We might as well head that direction..." he asked. " It's not like we've got any other leads."

He contemplated asking the kids if they knew were anybody might be, but it didn't seem like a great idea. They'd clearly been through a lot already, and the fact that there were only two of them didn't bode well for any sort of caretakers. Right now, they just needed to rest and try to not think about it.

In response to Marcus's question, Sophia pointed with her left arm directly towards the spot the person had disappeared before remembering that the rest couldn't see the way she did. Dropping her arm quickly, she switched to explaining verbally. "Around a block ahead, I think it's the road that's on the left?" Lowering her voice, she muttered, "But don't take my word for it."

"Hmmm... Marcus pondered. A block ahead and to the left; he checked his map real quick to make sure his hunch was correct. That was pretty close to Lily's healer team - even if there wasn't anything actually there, it probably wouldn't hurt to go that direction. The alternative was getting dangerously close to whatever the 'collectors' were, which wasn't something he was looking to do.

"Welp. You heard the girl! Full speed ahead, Captain!" Marcus said, allowing himself a moment of reprive from his own seriousness.

He became accustomed to it, for what it was worth. The flames, the trash, the blood, the constant need to swivel one’s eyes around in every direction. There had been a sense of comfort, approaching the battlefield in a group of powerhouses, but even then, the rumbling of massive machines could be heard. The flying snake stood out as a symbol of just how massive Factory’s automatons could be, and once Brent separated from Offensive Support in order to reach his own location, his heartbeat only rose.

He had a gun with limited ammunition and a machete that was more useful for chopping shrubbery than steel. Perhaps he should have grabbed more guns after all, but with no opportunity to practice with them…

He had to optimize his spare time better. The handgun was a good start, but he should have stayed persistent, requesting heavier arms earlier. Not that it’d help him here. Alone, Brent strode through rubble-filled streets, trigger finger pressed against the side of the polished steel of the Desert Eagle. The map had told him roughly where the enemies were congregated, but who knows how accurate it was? A shotgun would have been nice, huh? In case one of those monsters were just lurking inside a building. Blast it away in a single Overclocked buckshot, before pulling out the machete and slicing it into ribbons.

Brent breathed deeply, readjusting his gas mask. The filtered air tasted of rubber, but it was better than dying to a random gas attack. His grip tightened over the phone as it cracked to life. Ping locations that survivors are found in? Irrelevant for him. The areas before him were shaded heavily with orange, property destroyed via collateral damage. Chunks of concrete and rebar formed mounds that could be climbed over, but not hidden in. The main team, or, what remained of it, was doing good work, huh? His grip loosened on the phone and grasped for his machete instead.

The Flag and Seek game came to mind. Taking too big of a risk for, ultimately, no reward. Jumping down into a group with no immediate backup, nor any plan of taking them all out before the surprise wears down. He really didn’t have any support right now, and Brent’s gaze only continued to sharpen as he entered the apartment complex.

Who supports the supporters?

No one.

Four flights of stairs, and then a trip down a hallway of scattered belongings. Clothes, dented cans, toys. Not a single door locked, many of them ajar. A few were busted off the hinges, leading to rooms with bloodstains and no people, the walls shredded by jagged appendages. Within, even as explosions from the warzone shook the building, there was a distinct silence, the emptiness of it all ringing in his ears. Breath hissed from the dual filters of his mask, the pounding of his own heart echoing in his skull. Something crinkled below his feet as Brent marched into an arbitrarily chosen room, closing the door behind him even if the lock was busted. Furniture was strewn about, and a display rack over the faux fireplace was empty. A crib laid in the corner. A portrait remained upright on a work desk. The bedroom was only large enough for a single person.

But what was important was the patio, glass shards sprinkled all over it. Stepping out onto it, the brunette pushed the toppled-over BBQ grill away, eyeing the propane tank curiously. The flamethrower of his dreams?

Ah, already punctured.

Clicking the safety off, he cocked the hand cannon and brought the cellphone out.

Suppress and re-focus.

“This is Brent, in position. Angelic, looks like Hazel’s already begun the ass-kicking, but how ‘bout you play as our Joan of Arc and start things off with a proper warcry? Announce the debut of Experimental Group B and blow this terrifying atmosphere out of the skies!”

With that said, Brent shuffled over to the toppled grill, using it as a little more cover, another thing to hide behind as Factory's birds flew through the air, still not challenged by Chris.

The sniper life was real tough, huh? He couldn’t even hit anything at this range.

Now this was a scene completely new to Kusari. She'd seen wrecked cities before, but it had always been through a television. Walking through the city she saw body after body, faces contorted in horrible ways that conveyed the suffering they no doubt went through. She shook her head and steeled herself. She had a mission, she didn't have time to freak out over every little thing. She was walking ahead of Allison and Lily by about two meters, if they ran into anything she wanted to be the first thing in it's path. She took note of the buildings and streets as they passed them, making a mental note of the layout. They had access to a map, but it didn't account for every bit of fallen debris and altered terrain.

As she stepped over a deflated car tire her cuff came to life, it was Angélique. If not for her introduction Kusari would have been lost as to who it was, she really needed to get to know the others better, at least enough to recognize their voices. She glanced back at her team, they'd also gotten the message of course. Angel's advice seemed like common sense to her, but she supposed someone may need reminding.

Marcus then chimed in, telling them to point out any civilians. She didn't like the idea of helping people that would likely want her and the others hanged or locked away in some dark cell, but it wasn't as if she could just ignore people dying in this hellscape. "Kusari, Heal team Brandt... Acknowledged." She responded through her cuff. She didn't have anything else to say, words of motivation weren't exactly something she was comfortable with.

Passing by a shop full of miscellaneous goods, Kusari's pace slowed. She remembered scrapping together whatever money she could to buy cheap art supplies from a store like this. Oil pastels and colored pencils brought a sense of solace and joy that was rather sad in hindsight. She wondered how many people this store had brought joy to...

"Evac Team; we're reading you, Angel." Marcus replied, his tone much more business-like than it usually was. "Adding to that list: if anybody sees any groups of civvies, ping it on the map if you can; we'll see what we can do. Like the woman says: be careful out there, you guys. Evac team over and out."

As the offensive support team reached the premises of the area that would be their battleground, Angélique was taken aback by the sight of the raging battle that was taking place before their eyes. Ethan and his team were already out there, fighting back to horde of clockwork creatures trying to get past them. The USARILN students were heavily outnumbered, but still held their ground by destroying the machines as they kept coming. But even for a short moment, Angel realized the stalemate this situation has become. They might have gained ground, but they were so close to Factory now that for each creature destroyed, the Mage abomination simply created replacements to defend him.

The sight terrorized Angel from deep within. If Ethan and his five other teammates put this much effort into keeping their grounds, just how will her own team fare? Watching them fighting, they truly fought like a team. On the opposite, the sonic Aberration barely fought with her teammates, let alone figure out how to work as a team. The thought of going out there, with all of their inexperience weighing in the balance, only to be slaughtered as they failed to maintain their positions scared the obsidian-haired Mage beyond words. Already, she could feel a nervous knot forming inside her throat.

She would however soon to snap out of it as, from the corner of her eyes, saw Hazel walking towards the battlefield on her own, heading for a giant pile of rubble, no doubt remains of a shattered home. A hesitant hand reached out to the collared girl in armor “Hazel… wait! What are you-“

Too late, the reckless X-marked took the initiative and began the assault, spraying massive bullets from her projected hands towards the masses of clockwork animals.

Silently, Angel clenched her teeth and swore repeatedly in her foreigner’s language. Initially, she wanted to reach the other team and ask Ethan for a quick debrief on the machines they were fighting. But it would appear that, with Hazel’s sudden assault, they would be hard-pressed to surround the girl and assure her safety while fighting the army of metallic monsters.

“Fuck! Get ready!” Angel called out to her team, about to make her way to Hazel’s side. But she stopped, turning to face Emma. “Emma, you sure you want to stay at the back? Those winged monsters could try picking on you if you isolate yourself, or those burrowing machines could get to you behind our backs.”

Emma didn’t know. The pressure, clearly, was getting to her. The wrong decision will kill us all. It could’ve been just like Flag and Seek, her entire team getting wiped because she hid in the back. Separation was dangerous for both parties in this situation, but… ”It’s fine! If I get in trouble my tulpas can come back quickly!” she was already second-guessing the words that came out of her mouth, but she reminded herself to stick to the plan. She was there to follow orders, she wasn’t a good planner. That was what was safest for everyone, right?

Emma snapped herself out of it. She had to back up Hazel. Determination, Devotion, and Love appeared alongside Angel and the others. ”Ready when you guys are!” she called from the back.

"Alright... just shout if there's anything, okay?" Angélique nodded to Emma before taking off running towards Hazel.

Once reaching the other Aberration, the sonic Mage shot up a scowl at the clockwork gang, the voices inside her head growing louder, telling her this whole plan was doomed to fail from her teammates' inability to stand together. She tried to deny them all, but the traits of her face and her facial expression slowly darkened to reflect her mood. For now, all she could do is prevent her teammates from getting harmed.

"You should've at least warned us you were going to attack, give us time to prepare." Angel apprehensively said to Hazel, her inner darkness leaking out as the situation did not helped to put neither her mind nor her stigma at ease. Her eyes however still kept staring at the horde of metallic animals, ready to shout at anything going towards them. Her right thumb reached for the safety switch, disengaging it as she gave the pump action a go, priming the shell inside.

Too much too soon. No time to prepare, not even a moment to think properly through her options. Siena swore under her breath--the opponents were sure to notice.

"D-damn it, this is hardly the time to..." So much for figuring out a decent series of options. She'd just have to work with what she had on hand, but the brunette could barely give any time to the thoughts as she tore a phone and a tablet from their place, only quick glances going between the two. Right, so no need for flashiness on her own part, she supposed. Hadn't she said that starting up would be plenty? And besides that, was that not just an explosion? Apparently friendly fire wasn't exactly the first thing on Hazel's mind.

She swiped through a series of titles with both hands--was her e-reader set? The emergency fallbacks were set away, but there was absolutely no way that Siena could control that beast either.

Too many things to process at once.

It took a moment for her to finally decide on what kind of power she wanted, but fortunately she came here well-prepared. Once her mind was set, it didn't take long for the brunette Arbiter to select the title of the book she wanted to borrow a name from. As she called the name out loud, it seemed as if the name came out from its source and came flying towards Siena's neck, printing itself at the back as purple magic circles glowed signaled her power being activated.

Satisfied with what she pulled, Siena ran towards her attacking crew, taking place by Angel's side just like they planned beforehand.

“This is Brent, in position. Angelic, looks like Hazel’s already begun the ass-kicking, but how ‘bout you play as our Joan of Arc and start things off with a proper warcry? Announce the debut of Experimental Group B and blow this terrifying atmosphere out of the skies!”

Brent’s voice came out from the phone hanging by Angélique’s belt. He always had the words to just uplift her spirit, whether unknowingly provocative or encouraging. The raven-haired sonic Mage simply grinned, feeling confidence rising up to the surface.

Yes, Brent was right! There was no point brooding deep inside and be afraid. If she wanted to be the voice of change, then it needed to start on this battlefield, by making a point. She will be blowing anything that stands in their path for survival; for change.

Side-stepping as to avoid getting the others an earful of her powers, Angel raised her head and let out a controlled scream, modulating her voice as to reduce the height of her blast while keeping it broad, hoping to knock a few avians machines out of the sky with a forceful shout without hitting her teammates. Judging from how far she was and her previous experiments with her power, she figured she’d only be able to reach for the nearest avian on the left.

Emma took a breath. A deep breath. She did her best to formulate a battle plan in her head, desperately trying to remember the strategies she had practiced. Her thoughts drifted briefly...

Holy crow, you're a summoner? Do you have any idea how awesomely rare that is?

You can't just end a list like that was 'And that's it'! Modest and badass, huh? You really are something.

Yeah, that sounds like the power that's going to win us the game.

Emma's our VIP.

Nothing but a disappointment.

She shook her head. She couldn't let her stigma get to her. Especially now, of all times, in the middle of a battle where people were relying on her. "Love, I want you to start pulling canines one by one towards you! Determination, stand next to Love and hit them once they come close enough! Devotion, any of the monsters start charging towards us I want you to slow them!" Emma's voice didn't sound very commanding, but it was loud enough that they heard.

Whether her orders were good enough remained to be seen.

Well, things are going just dandy so far. Teammate rushed in the moment they got there, so not a good omen to start with. Grant watched everyone run to support each other against the incoming enemy, so it seems the battle's start. His chains sprouted from behind his back and both made contact with the ground next to him, and pulled the very earth from the... earth.

A big chunk of ground hovered with his chains, pressure pushing down on him, yet still with somewhat fine control of his makeshift projectile, connected with both chains. He reeled the chunk back before he let it loose toward the direction of the various Metalworks that were on the ground.

Once Chris decided when it was time to initiate the assault, he lifted his wings up and darted into the air. As he rose above the village his first order of business, going by his strategy, was to find that snake construct. Sure enough, it remained conveniently above Factory itself. Though most of his instincts were dampened, he had an in-explainable urge to let out a battle cry; The desire to let out a primeval roar to intimidate his foes, if these machines could even understand fear. He fought against the idea of it as he was already fairly visible being in the air. It wasn't his role to draw attention to factory's army, that was the role of his comrades on the ground. Perhaps once he was deep in combat he'd allow himself to become lost in the thrill of it all. Better to be passionate in battle then to feel that presence of danger he felt prior to transforming on the battlefield.

Chris studied the battlefield as he drew closer to factory and its guardian serpent. He wasn't sure what sort of weaponry he would be up against, he hoped at least that Callan and Sander followed his pace. Though he wasn't completely sure of when to charge, he didn't feel like waiting too long as the burden of providing the opening attack gnawed a bit on his anxiety.

The sound of helicopter wings was deafening to all but her thoughts as Callan stepped on, doing her best to brush aside the pinpricks of anxiety that followed her as it rose into the air. She'd never ridden on a helicopter before, but that wasn't important. Shouldn't be important. Up in the air, she was able to match the images on her phone to the city below. She listened to the vaguely familiar voice of Angelique, paying even closer attention when Marcus's message followed. Should she message them to call on her if they need help?

No, she decided. The sooner she took out Factory, the sooner everyone would be safe. Focus and prioritize. Stick to the plan. Leaning forward in her seat, her hand gripped the edge of her chair and tightened just enough to bend the metal frame.

It was a long way down, but also-- she did her best to count them all, but gave up-- watching everyone surge forward towards the horde of clockwork animals wasn't helping. She caught sight of Marcus's APC disappearing behind a building that seemed precariously close to one of the few massive "collector" bots and couldn't seem to tear her attention away after that. She held her breath and watched, crushing the seat further.

Sander blinked at the metallic grey beneath his feet, twisting his restless fingers together as the fire flared in the space between his ribs. They were on their way, so he had to get ready. He had to loosen his grip, just a touch. Just in case. And already, it took conscious effort to stay in one spot. His gaze flitted, and he caught sight of Callan's fingers bending the metal frame of her seat right next to him.

“Your seat…” -Against his better judgement, he spoke up –“It’s…crooked.”

"Wha-- oh." Callan inhaled sharply and shook her head, immediately letting go of the seat. "Shit," she muttered, looking between the seat and the last place she saw the APC.

"You're alright?" -Crimson eyes narrowed slightly.

Callan looked at him before leaning back in her seat, uncertainly prevelant on her expression. "Yeah. I'm-- I'm fine."

“Nervous?” -The blood high let Sander be bolder than he ever could, so he ventured –“Someone’s waiting for you too?”

"Oh," Callan seemed surprised by the question. A small smile wormed its way onto her mouth as her gaze dropped to the floor of the helicopter. "N-no," she chuckled, "Not really."

Was that fair? Marcus had promised he'd come out alright if she did-- that was sort of like having someone waiting for her. But she got the feeling Sander was referring to something a little different.

“Nervous, then?” -Sander cast a meaningful gaze toward a distant looming figure.

She followed his eyes to the clockwork creature; her heart beat wildly in anticipation. The familiar rush from the first night was suddenly there to numb her concerns-- if only for a moment. It was a partial lie, but the words felt right. "Not at all," she grinned more genuinely.

“Good to know.” -Sander nodded, though his eyes still trained on the mound of misshapen metal that was their target –“…I think you will do alright. You are strong.”

She laughed. His assurance was comforting, though she felt it was a little misplaced. "You're damn right!" She nudged him lightly with her elbow, the adrenaline spurring her on, "You'll do alright, too, Sandy. Gotta get you home for Christmas, right?"

Sander blinked first at the half-forgotten nickname, then later at the nudge on his arm –“Sandy?” -He asked, mildly surprised.

Callan raised an eyebrow at him, "What? You don't do nicknames?"

“Uh no. It’s just…” -It took a few more moments before Sander finally let a smile bloom on his lips –“It has been a while since anybody called me that.” -There was a note of sadness in that smile, too, but he turned his face away, staring at their target once more.

---

---

Angel's message and Marcus's response fell on deaf ears as far as Christmas was concerned. He wasn't sure he'd have the presence of mind to inform them even if his group did run into stray creatures. There was a disturbing amount of certainty that he would simply panic or run instead. As for civilians, he wasn't sure he'd care enough about them if he was in danger.

Not nice. Trying. And in a devastated town he was sure that if the decision came down to saving himself or another person, he'd save himself first. He wasn't strong enough to take a third option and maybe save them both. He wasn't even strong enough to protest what Sander had fixed for him. So long as it was an undetermined future person tormented by Ernie and not him, he thought he might never work up enough courage to care.

...I'm sorry.

Zoe had walked them only slightly towards their destination, stopping the group in an intact building and waiting on the offensive support group to reach what appeared to be the main swarm marked on their maps.

Ernie checked the map on his phone, holstering the pistol briefly. Wisford was an annoyingly well-settled town. Big enough for the healer team to arrive too late if anyone on the support team got severely injured. Big enough to make his cowardice clear if anyone paid attention to his map marker for too long. What a pain. At least they would be stationed on the outskirts of the town, unlike the other healer. Compared to Allison's group, they had a much safer position, considering the distance and the escape routes available. It was an easy compromise between being close to help and being far enough to run away. They had the luckiest pick of destinations out of the other teams, it seemed. That was fine with him.

Marcus' voice rang through the radio, mentioning the rescue of civilians. Ernie frowned. He hadn't once considered having to share Christmas' blood with the Regulars but now that it was brought up in his mind, Ernie was adamant in keeping the team away. He didn't need some soft-hearted sap endangering them because they believed that 'every life matters' or some shit. As far as he was concerned, those Regulars would just have to suck it up. This healer team had more important people to prioritise, more important places to be.

"Support team's getting close," Zoe said, looking at her own map, "We should go too."

Ernie glanced once more at their designated destination on the edge of town. Fine with him. He put away the phone and drew his gun. "Yeah. Okay."

Despite the distance, they made it to the location--a fairly untouched, two-storey house--in little time. Ernie was hesitant about camping inside the building itself (large houses and monsters made a deadly combination, as he knew all too well) but they waited indoors nonetheless, by the windows. The two Aberrations kept careful lookout, their eyes constantly flickering towards the streets and the roofs, scanning for any signs of danger.

Gregory Irving

---

---

He supposed he was fortunate in a manner. Unlike Brent who had to head off in his own for some time from the rest of the support group, his position was pretty much along the way the offensive supporters had to take. Ducking out of the group when he was close enough without a word, he stepped into the movie theater as quietly as he could and looked around at the lobby.

It wasn’t exactly a pretty sight. While not torn apart and warzone-like, he could see it hadn’t gone missed by the clockworks and paled a bit at the sight of red streaks marring the marble tiles. Yeah, he didn’t want to spend a lot of time here. Investigating for survivors wasn’t his task anyways, and he didn’t want to go wandering about in the building by himself anyways. Get to the rooftop as quickly and quietly as he could, and maybe there would be something he might be able to do. Probably not though.

Tiptoeing his way up the stairs, Gregory couldn’t help but look around constantly. Some lights had all been destroyed, while others flickered and lent the building an ominous atmosphere. If only he had Brent’s power and a hearing aid. Maybe he’d be able to hear more than the hammering of his heart. Fingers drummed against the side of the pepper spray can while he flicked out and then collapsed the baton in his other.

Thankfully nothing jumped him as he ascended to the theater’s rooftop, and Gregory peeked out to make sure that was also clear. The flyers off in the distance made him a bit wary to step outside immediately though and he stepped away from the doorway to glance back down the stairs. There were windows down below that’d give him just as good a view of the area, but did he really want to poke around and just hope he didn’t run into a construct that decided to hang around? On the other hand, he also didn’t really want to be out in the open rooftop where the flyers would be able to spot him pretty handily and chase him down.

Hm… it took a few moments before Gregory decided to tie up an escape rope at the rooftop before exploring the floor beneath. At least that way he had something to bolt towards other than the ground entrance if he did run into something hostile. Leaving the bundle coiled up so nothing on the ground came to investigate the dangling rope, he made his way back down the stairs.

---

---

---

A dragon was typically hard to miss.

A dragon flying straight for the machines' source was a spectacle to all roving eyes, regardless of its smaller size in comparison to Factory. The sky serpent, in particular, curled towards the approach with a flash of its eight eyes, one that the rest of the airborne clockworks imitated. The circling birds near the offensive support team lifted upwards, moving as one to intercept the dragon.

As luck would have it, the advance team had focused down enemies with projectile capabilities early on, given the vulnerability of their best crowd controller to high-speed objects. Any newly identified ranged types were also swiftly dealt with, though they had yet to figure out the capabilities of the floating snake.

But at least one thing was certain: it had either direct control of the creatures or could communicate with specific targets. Targets that were, very quickly, homing in on Chris's approach. Six mechanical birds speared towards the dragon, apparently intending to slam into the reptile.

Shortly after the dragon took off, the rest of the striker team was deployed. Their helicopter went in after the dragon and veered off in another direction, giving the scaly vanguard a wide berth as it aimed to approach from another direction. The plan was to use Chris as a distraction to protect the helicopter from any of Factory’s potential projectiles while the mechanical horror was still adjusting to the changing situation. However, command didn’t account for the flying serpent’s ability and with the offensive support team already engaging, they had little choice but to capitalize on the advantage now, before Factory redistributed its processes to creating more aerial attackers. With a sudden lunge, the snake reared its head, eight eyes once again glowing bright red while vein-like lines of equally red light flashed across the outer layer of its body, concentrating heavily around its mouth. A thick, red laser discharged from its gaping maw for only a few seconds, but that was more than enough. The beam immediately seared into the helicopter’s hull, tearing the steel apart as easily as a hot knife through butter before dissipating in a thunderous crack of sound. The serpent curled in on itself, light wisps of smoke drifting from the paper-thin kinks in its outer shell of finely meshed metal, each piece no larger than a penny and carefully patterned along the length of its body like scales.

There wasn't much of the helicopter left to explode and the cleanly sliced segments of propeller blades and steel alloy frame rained from the sky, crashing to the ground roughly a hundred meters from Factory's location.

Below, Factory's ground forces met a sudden bullet of concrete tearing through their ranks, shattering three of the large canines into jagged, twitching parts and tearing off a fourth of one centipede's body before finally coming to a thundering halt on crushing impact with a steel and iron spider near the backlines.

The seventh bird, despite initially mirroring its allies' movements, felt a sudden impact against the underside of its body, slamming it upward without control and flipping it off balance. The magical propulsion that seemed to power most of the flying clockworks failed briefly without explicit control, the bird tumbling back to the ground and smashing into it, one bladed wing bent at an unnatural angle. It hopped in vain, whatever flight system it used apparently broken. Instead its head flicked towards the direction of the attack that had crippled it, noting the latest batch of students.

Whatever attack it had up its sleeve (or wing) was for naught, however. A ball of white light snapped towards its head, detonating and leaving behind a mess of crumpled metal. Ethan gave the screamer mage a glance and a quick, two-fingered salute, turning back quickly to gauge the actions of the remaining horde.

The dark-skinned assimilator mage who had burst from the worm-like construct earlier rested a hand against Eric's shoulder while the runes on the other boy's arm trailed across them both at the connecting junction. Several seconds later, a mage whose body seemed to be made of the dirt and concrete he stood on had replaced the first mage and within seconds he was gone, body merged with the ground below. Not long, though, and the exertion showed even with the backup from Eric. A hand formed from the ground near the closest, bewildered dog and clutched at its front leg. The rest of the body followed quickly afterwards and for the split second between one form and the next he looked like every movement hurt.

The mage was clockwork and machine parts again and in the snap second it took for him to integrate with the dog, Myla had already cleared the area immediately around his current target, pushing them back with a fence of neon lines and daring them to try her. One of the centipedes grabbed at the discarded body segment of its compatriot, lifting itself up and hurling the nearly three meter length of legged metal towards Ethan's group as the assimilator crippled the afflicted dog's legs and expelled himself from its body, shifting to dirt again and relocating back to safety.

Genevieve flinched at the impact but her barrier held steady and within seconds the discarded fragment was already falling apart.

Deciding they would deal with the stationary team later, ten of the dogs shot forward, easily avoiding the slow-paced spread of the fractal field and aiming straight for Hazel. Myla cut the legs out from under one, sending its body flying into the dog behind it. Suddenly hampered and reeling, the creature in the back had too much forward momentum to dodge another shatter of white light scattering half its body in a spray of broken metal parts.

That left the remaining eight bounding swiftly out of range and towards the offensive support team of experimental unit B.

In the back, the remaining spiders shuffled closer together, thin metal wire spooling from their protected abdomens while unoccupied spiders plucked at the strands, arranging the wires and knotting them at particular intersections.

---

The evacuation team's APC rounded the corner of the nearest building and onto a safe street just as the figure appeared, rising from a crouched position behind an overturned car. A pale young woman with platinum blonde hair, dirt clinging to it in clumps. Covered in an assortment of scuffs and scratches, she ran towards the APC, waving her arms above her head to try and catch their attention.

"Help!" she cried out, her voice muted by the thick walls of the vehicle and the engine's low hum.

She quickly approached the door as it opened. The girl, who didn't seem to be much older than Lawrence, hesititated for only a moment upon seeing the mark on Lawrence's cheek as he stepped out first. Her eyes were red rimmed and tears cut through the layer of dirt on her cheeks. Every other breath was a distressed whimper as she gestured towards a Food & Drug store with all the windows busted in a short distance away-- the direction she'd been running from.

"M-my boyfriend's stuck in there! He needs help," she pleaded in between breaths, "He's in there with one of those things. We have to hurry! You have to go help him! He'll die! Please!"

"Okay, calm down. Can you be a little more specific?" Lawrence asked, watching her carefully in case he needed to use his ability. The activation of Sophia's eyes had put them on a timer. There was no room for hysterics.

"I-it's one of those robot animal things," she started, seeming to compose herself, "I th-- I think it's a little broken. Or hurt. He trapped it in the other room, but it's trying to break out. H-he told me to run and find help."

Lawrence motioned for the APC to follow them as they moved towards the store, surrounded by broken glass and debris. The lighting inside was dark. Beyond the checkout counter, one could barely make out the several rows of shelves, which seemed far emptier than they should be. A good deal of the missing merchandise decorated the floor.

In the back of the store, just behind the pharmacy counter, Sophia would be able to make out the figure of a young man in a heavy coat and jeans leaning heavily against a shaking door, one foot firmly planted on the counter as he tried to keep it shut. Beyond the door, an animalistic machine clawed at the wood, sparks flying off one side of its head. Every so often, the mechanical beast balanced itself on its hind legs before slamming its frontpaws against the door, allowing it to squeeze a muzzle full of sharp, gleaming teeth through the allotted crack with a metallic snarl akin to a feral canine.

---

Near Gregory's position, one of the collectors rumbled past, each pounding footstep sending small vibrations through the building. Its scan range was small despite its size, but a flicker of activity registered in its sensors regardless as it approached and the creature's outer carapace opened at the shoulders of its two front legs, metal rods and sliding wires slipping cogs and gears into place until two arms about seven meters in length extended from either side of its circular head.

The detection wasn't perfect, courtesy of a creator that had lost its mind, but the machine could sense a living creature's general area if close enough. Now, it needed to find the source of the signal.

It pawed at the door to the movie theater, tearing through the already damaged building and shattering chunks off the concrete of both floor and walls, exposing the inner ironworks of steel reinforcing bars and building foundation. When it had created an aperture large enough to fit its bulk, the thing lumbered through, arms scattering counters and arcade machines as it blindly groped for someone warm and fleshy.

---

Seeing the mechanical bird crash down to the earth and prevent it from flying off towards Christopher brought some confidence back into the screaming Aberration. Even if it was only a small deed, Angel felt relieved to know she could be at least of some use to her team, despite having told herself countless times how useless she would be in that fight. Spotting Ethan's two-fingered salute, Angel returned the greeting with a raised fist and half a smile.

Her grin turned into a frown however as her eyes caught the horror lurking from above Factory. The avians they were meant to deal with had left the area to rush towards the black-scaled Dragon that was Chris in his transformed state. Angelique would've tried to bring some more down, but they were already out of reach as she realized the appearance of the Dragon within the area. The Striker team was charging into the fray already so soon? Not even half of the clockworks had been taken care of, even less were actually focusing on the offensive support team.

And then, shit happened real fast. The mechanical snake Angel had been wondering about shot a laser beam towards the helicopter carrying her Striker classmates, tearing it apart and sending it crashing somewhere behind Factory. The sound of the impact was clear, but there was no explosion. At this sight, the jet-black haired young woman clasped a hand to her mouth, quivering slightly in shock at what just happened. Were they dead, or heavily injured? If the Strike Team had been taken out this early, then this mission was already doomed to fail.

But Angel clung on to hope. She'd seen firsthand the outstanding resilience of her two classmates before. Could it be possible for Sander and Callan to have survived that crash with their superhuman endurance? There was only one way to find out. Angel shifted her shotgun from one hand to another, leaving her now-free left hand to detach her radio phone from her belt and turned it on.

"Striker Team... are you there?" Angel's voice was leaking of concern, seemingly on the edge.

"I repeat... Callan, Sander, are you two alrig-... Ah shit!" the sonic Mage repeated, only to be interrupted as she took notice of the ten clockwork hounds charging her team.

Releasing the push-to-talk button, the fallen rockstar however kept her grip on the phone as she desperately held on to hope of hearing back from her classmates. As the dogs approached, a familiar feeling began creeping up to the surface of her mind; an emotion she had repressed throughout her life but had begun to let out quite often ever since she took the path of a Destroyer. It was hate and rage, pounding at the back of her mind and screaming for release.

If that asshole Factory dared to even kill, even injure one of her friends, then Angelique will make damn sure he gets what he sowed, even if it meant walking up to him and scream the metal frames encasing its body. The voices inside her head were starting to grow louder; the images of her dead friends seemed to become only clearer.

Already, the musician Aberration took a few steps forward towards the battlefield. She wouldn't advance to get in the other's way, but rather move a bit further from the group again to position herself and leave plenty of clear space in front and around of herself. If Emma's Devotion was indeed able to slow the mechanical hounds, then Angel would make sure those metal beasts never reach her allies and knock them back at a safe distance.

The screaming Mage let out a piercing and forceful long-lasting shriek. From the swaying grass, the dust and debris it kicked out in its path and even the echoing voice that was hinted with hatred, it was clear this shout was less controlled than the initial one Angel had let out. However, from her positioning and her relatively still stable mind, the path of the sonic wave was meant to hit only most of the artificial dogs, her teammates left unscathed from this attack unless one decided to move in during the few seconds of screaming Angel had indulged herself into.

---

---

Ernie's horrified gaze traced the path of the laser as it seared through the sky, obliterating the strike team's chopper in a single shot. The Aberration reeled back from the window, refusing to take in anymore as flaming metal rained from the sky. This class of rookie mages --children-- were supposed to take down a monstrosity like that?

"Oh my god..." Ernie breathed, despair lining his expression. He wasn't going to make it through this, was he? Not against robotic beasts that could bring a whole town to its knees. Not against a storeys-tall titan that had just annihilated the likes of Sander and Cal, their strongest chance against Factory.

Oh fuck. Cal.

He'd been so stupid. He'd been so caught up with his own situation that he'd barely thought about how his classmates would make it out. Selfish as always. Shallow guilt congealed in his stomach but was vastly overshadowed by his growing fear. His vision went indistinct and he barely registered Angelique's voice. He barely registered anything until--

"We're FINE! Stay focused!"

A sudden snap back to the task at hand. Ernie couldn’t help but feel a relieved grin growing on his face. That was far too close. He wasn’t new to the experience of loss but he wanted to avoid it if possible. Even when it concerned friends he’d met only a week ago.

The Aberration returned to his lookout by the window with a renewed determination. They were lucky that time. It was an effective reminder of what was at stake here, and what he should have been doing instead of standing around in a daze when comrades were lost. Useless reactions like that would help no one.

Hazel Baker

---

She didn't quite make out what Angel said over the ringing in her ears despite the earplugs.

That and the explosion had sent her blood boiling. The sheer volume of the noise, the reverberation through her body, the excitement of the shockwave travelling through the air. It was enough to make her mind go white for a few seconds, as the feeling coursed through her body like an electric bolt. Not even the presence of that thing shooting large laser beams or her collar could dampen the feeling; if anything, the sense of impending danger made it even more exciting.

Dogs ran after them, lured by the noise and threat made from their side, a good sign that their plan was working. But regardless of how fast they ran, it would not take more than a second for her to simply move to a nearby pile of rubble, and doing the same trick again.

She narrowed her eyes as once again came that raucous explosion, dust and smoke flying everywhere from the shockwave alone, though the approaching monsters would face debris far bigger and more threathening than simple dust. The smoke from the first explosion was starting to mingle with the smoke from the second arguably making it slightly harder to see.

Silently the antler logo on her collar started to glow red.

---

Well, shit. Talk about fireworks.

Zoe's eyes widened as the laser shot through the sky, annihilating the helicopter way too easily for comfort. That wasn't exactly a confidence booster, although their classmates could hopefully take the hit. They were tough, but tough or not, that hadn't exactly looked good. She couldn't help the slight thrill that she felt in the back of her mind as she saw the destruction, the pieces falling to the ground. Were they alive? Much as she wanted to know, she couldn't worry about it, just had to keep going and focus on her own team.

Her expression remained neutral, looking away and out of the window as she tried to think things through. Better that she didn't seem anxious, she wasn't meant to be the one freaking out here. Somehow, she had a feeling that she'd have to hold it together for the healer's sake if nothing else. Of course she was worried for everyone -- Honestly, a huge part of her wanted to go out and try to help, dumb as the idea was -- but she had to stay here and look after these two.

So instead Zoe forced a grin as she turned towards the others, feigning confidence. The reaction was less out of actual callousness and more in an effort to piss Ernie and Christmas off in case the sight had gotten to them. If they were angry at her for being a heartless bitch, then that meant they weren't freaking out about the magical death lasers, which seemed like a good trade as far as she was concerned. Anger could be useful, panic not so much.

Luckily enough, it wasn't long before Callan's voice could be heard confirming that the two strikers were, in fact, alive. That was a relief, at least, allowing Zoe to relax a little. See, she'd known it'd be fine - Or told herself that, at least. As for her own team, with the knowledge that no-one needed immediate help, there wasn't much for the three in the building to be doing until someone else took action. Frowning, Zoe glanced out at the surrounding area one last time. Certainly didn't seem to be anything requiring their attention.

Still, with everyone on edge, she didn't want to spend too long around the other two with nothing happening. Even if it felt oddly restrained, the urge was definitely there after seeing the battle's beginning. She could deal with it well enough, sated as her Stigma was, but she needed to stay focused and if nothing else, it was a distraction from her job.

"Tell me if anything important happens."

Speaking abruptly, she turned away from the window and walked out of the room. It didn't sit right with her to be standing around doing nothing anyway, so it seemed like a good idea to start searching the rest of the house while they waited. Maybe there'd be something useful in here somewhere.

By the time they neared their target, Sander’s heart had gone into overdrive. He was up from his seat, fighting the urge to launch himself out of the helicopter and onto whatever waiting bellow. Fear and doubt ebbed out his nerves, leaving behind violent urges and an eagerness to pit the monster beneath his skin against the one beneath that hide of steel.

Bits by bits, he let go, until his heart hammered and he bared his teeth in a grin, eyes locked onto the monster below. Right then, above it, a light flashed. He saw the beam coming, and its wake, he only grinned wider. Harmless, like raindrops against his skin.

But there was still the scent of carbonated sweetness behind him. With all those parts of him that was still lucid, Sander turned just as the red beam cut through the distance, grabbing Callan’s upper arm before diving out. He split a piece of his fire and gave it to her too, just like how the dream taught him. Just to be sure.

Damn. Probably wasn't the best idea for Chris to go airborne before it was time to go, huh? Callan stood and watched as Chris was immediately swarmed. Not good. She turned her eyes to a flickering of red light coming from the massive metal serpent up ahead, watching with a steadily rising apprehension as its mouth filled with light.

NOT GOOD.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sander smiling. An absurdity that seemed so out of place in that second that it actually gave her pause. Creepy. He spun to face her. There was a sudden pressure on her arm followed by a sensation of fiery warmth that preceded the beam of red energy. She flinched away and shielded her face with her free arm out of reflex.

It passed over her, vaporizing the unprotected fabric of her maroon hoodie, helmet, and even her hair tie, but otherwise not causing any physical harm-- even as she processed what was left of the helicopter exploding around her. Then there was a sharp tug as Sander yanked her sideways. In her disoriented state, she moved her feet to catch herself, but there was nothing there. She was falling.

Ears still ringing from the foray of sound, her heart beat wildly in her chest as she opened her eyes to see the ground rushing towards them. She was basically supergirl. Falling from this height probably wouldn't hurt too bad. Despite these facts, she couldn't will herself to calm down. She latched onto Sander's arm tightly and did her best to brace herself.

Sander only let go of Callan once they had hit the ground. It was a rough landing, but his power protected him, just like how it protected Callan. He withdrew the fire though, because he needed more than she did. He wanted it more. He didn’t have to check on his teammate though. Just from the scent alone, he could tell that she wasn’t bleeding. So he left, dashing toward his target while the broken pieces of the helicopter was still raining down around them.

She didn't notice the glow from Sander's ability until he let go and it faded away. Was that why she was unscathed? She wasn't allotted much time to think on it. Picking herself up off the ground, she noticed Sander had already gotten to his feet. Off he went towards Factory.

"Wait!" she shouted, but her voice was drowned out by a particularly large chunk of helicopter crashing into the ground beside her. She quickly stood up and glanced down at herself to assess the damage-- or lack thereof. She was durable, but not THIS durable. Sander had definitely done something.

"Striker Team... are you there?" Angel's voice was leaking of concern, seemingly on the edge.

"I repeat... Callan, Sander, are you two alrig-... Ah shit!" the sonic Mage repeated.

A hint of irritation rose over the concern as the message cut off abruptly-- and not just because she realized her communicator had been vaporized as well. They shouldn't be allowing themselves to get distracted like that.

"Transmit," she said, moving forward, "We're FINE. Stay focused! Over." In spite of her efforts to sound confident, her voice faintly betrayed that she was a little shaken. She hadn't paid any mind to the pilot of the helicopter, but she got the distinct feeling there wasn't going to be anything left of the man. But again, no time to think about that.

She broke into a harder sprint after Sander. He seemed to already have an idea of what to do now. She only hoped it was a good one because, as of now, their previous plan was fucked.

Sander either didn't notice Angel's voice or was just too far gone for the transmission to reach him. Regardless, he forged forward, his body a red blur as he launched himself toward Factory’s looming body.

Callan grit her teeth and inwardly cursed. Kardos said to take out the lower limbs first! And that giant serpent thing with the death laser was still right there. Regardless, she figured she couldn't just stand there and watch. She had to make the best of things. If Sander could take one of those laser hits unscathed, then perhaps he was all the distraction they needed for now. As she ran, she kept her eyes trained on the serpent, approaching parallel to Factory in an attempt to reach its leg without falling into either's line of sight.

Nearing the limb, she summon the same obsidian colored hammer she'd practiced with at Ground Zero, staggering slightly under the weight as she tried to raise it just enough so it wasn't dragging in the mud while she ran. Just before she was close enough, she swung the hammer in a full circle before pivoting into a slight crouch and taking one last step forward. Hopefully Sander had bought her enough time for it to connect. Nonetheless, she braced herself for the worst.