After wishing the guys a good evening at the bar and seeing them take off, Angélique immediately went to each room she could afford and raided the snacks and wine shelves. If the boys would go out in town to have fun, then why would the girls not have a fun time too? Gathering the snacks and wine into the biggest and most comfortable living room she could find, the girl adept at organizing events took a few large bowls, poured snacks individually into their own bowls and brought a dozen of stylish glasses and expensive looking wine glasses onto a living room table. She even minded those who wouldn’t drink alcohol. She brought a few liters of soda and juice of varying flavors to the table. A mischievous part of her wanted to add alcohol to those, but for the sake of the underage teenagers, Angel stuck to her virtuous side. Turning on the TV, the singer Aberration switched to a music channel playing pop songs without stop.

Once everything was set up, Angel gave the thing one last look, making sure it was looking quite good before making her way in the middle of the penthouse. Channeling the familiar energies of a magic she had gotten used to, the sound Mage focused her thoughts on the recipients of her message: all the girls of her unit.

“Attention ladies! The boys are out in town for the evening! It’s time to party! Gather around at the living room!” Her voice enthusiastically reached out to the rooms where the targets of her message were residing.

Allison Revel had just changed into her bikini, planning to slip into the jacuzzi for the second time that day, when Angel rushed into the room to raid the snacks and wine. Wordlessly, Allison threw on a loose tank top and helped her friend get everything together. Allison considering abandoning the partying, especially with all the alcohol, but didn't want to dissapoint Angel. Besides, it was a good chance to interract with the rest of the girls.

Allison sat down as Angel turned on the television. Still, there was one big problem that sat in the back of Allison's mind. 'As long as I avoid the wine, I should be fine,' She thought to herself. Though, not being drunk didn't stop her earlier encounter with Emma from being awkward, and it didn't keep that thing with Kusari from happening. It was probably best for Allison to not think about all that and just enjoy herself.

Lying on her bed with eyes fixed on the ceiling, Zoe flinched at the suddenness of the noise. She was tired, but sleep only meant things got closer to whatever consequences she'd have to face. After all, she'd given away classified info on live news, which she didn't think would get her any points with the staff. Plus crushing half her teammates' reputations by proxy.

Perhaps that was why she'd spent the past hour or so drinking alone in her room - Not that she'd have called herself drunk yet. There was reason to just leave them be, of course. Even without today, some of the other girls weren't about to join her fan club. But what exactly was this gonna do, make things worse?

So Zoe had emerged from her room, an obvious look of relief on her face as she realised the TV wasn't showing the news. One repeat of the experience had been more than enough, knowing what she looked like to the wider world. The redhead was clearly exhausted and yes, ever-so-slightly drunk, but she figured it might be understandable. For whatever reason, it would appear she'd decided to join the group regardless.

Emma surpressed a heavy sigh as soon as she heard Angel's voice. She wasn't sure exactly how she was talkng to her, but considering the nature of the Aberration's power it wasn't too surprising that she had some way of reaching them. Reluctantly, slowly, Emma rose. She wasn't relishing talking to Angel again, but if the others were there... well, that would be enough.

Emma took a hesitant step outside, giving Angel a small nod. She couldn't just ignore her presence, after all. She examined Angel's spread. Lots of alcohol, lots of soda. She gave a slight smile, "Good work, Angel." she said.

This shit is bush league. she thought. But she'd keep that to herself, she decided, taking a seat.

With her roommate gone for what Siena assumed would be the rest of the night, Siena found herself flicking through the screens of her newly acquired phone. No SIM card meant no calls, but the Wi-Fi had been more than enough to scrape together the last backup she'd saved to the cloud, which restored her phone virtually back to tip top condition. She'd have to put the contacts back in, but that was something she could do when she got back to USARLIN.

The call history was disturbingly blank.

'Maybe I should try calling them again when I get back...' Siena thought to herself. Almost a full week without a single attempt...what if they'd called her back? What if they thought she was ignoring them? Something close to panic rose like bile from her stomach, through her chest, clogging the back of her throat. She hadn't really thought about that. Or worse...what if they hadn't even tried?

Thankfully, a sudden voice called--oh? Though her recent thoughts had torn most of her desire to party away from her, the brunette sat up, put her phone aside, and made her way out of her room as she reapplied the mask. It was better than being alone. Finding a handful of others already out Siena gave a brief smile. "Oooh..." Not exactly the same as the parties she was used to, but that meant it was probably going to be more enjoyable than the stiff, rigid rules that had to be followed.

Due to the events of the past night and early morning, Sophia had done little more than sit around, listen to music, and think the entire day. And rest, trying to catch up on sleep. The sudden intrusion of a voice without a person accompanying it made her start, looking around for the person to no avail. "Meet in the living room," she murmured, at last assuming that the voice was part of one of her classmate's powers. Which one, she didn't know. That nightmare had been right, she really didn't know her classmates at all. Couldn't even list all of their names.

Some strange coincidence that one of them was hosting some kind of a party, as if to help her along. Get to know her classmates, that was one thing she wanted to do. But... a party? Parties meant lots of people, and people meant... ugh. Interaction. Talking. Exchanging information. All of which she sucked at. Would going to the party be worth the effort, the anxiety?

One way to find out, part of her said, but the other part, You'll just be confirming to them that you have no social skills whatsoever, and are some kind of mumbling weirdo. Go. Don't go. Go. Don't go. She made herself get up, walk to the door and leave that safety. I can come back whenever I want. She headed towards the living room, lingering every few steps as she felt her hands grow warm and shaky. But she made it there, to the edge of the living room where she now stood, trying to look relaxed and like she belonged.

Except she really looked decidedly nervous and out of place.

Lily was by the window, staring out into the night sky, her mind again on her past. Or more like the absence of it. It was a huge blank, a big void. And lately, she had been wondering if she'll ever be able to fill it. Piece by piece maybe. Or maybe one whole chunk all at once. Or maybe none at all. It would have been useful if any of her classmates had powers that can see into the past. That would be incredibly cool and convenient. Maybe there's someone in USARILN like that. I should ask when we get back. And then--- She looked towards the source of the voice or at least the direction it came from.

"Gather around at the living room," she repeated, looked thoughtful for a moment and then jumped down from her perch. "Okay," she said as though the person calling out to them would hear her.

As soon as she entered the living room, she grinned. There really was a party. She has never been in one nor has she ever been invited to one. Or at least as far as she can remember.

Spotting the familiar faces of Emma and Siena, Callan entered the room a little too eagerly. Amethyst eyes immediately fell on Zoe and she froze, mentally cursing herself for not being more careful. Her plan had been to peek inside and see who was there before making up her mind to join in, but.. she honestly hadn't expected to see Zoe. Part of her felt annoyed by that. Even more so when she noticed the red tinge to the girl's cheeks. Was she drunk? Maybe it wasn't too late to leave. Had anybody else seen her? Callan edged back towards the door.

Of course Zoe of all people would be the one to notice Callan's entrance, but she didn't turn towards the girl. It was clear what the problem was, why she froze at the door. Coming in would be the hard part, actively approaching the place where Zoe sat. Almost like there was some kind of reason to think that way. Ha.

It was pretty simple to deal with. Zoe stood up, deciding to just go with it. She'd... She'd ruined enough today, right? Let Callan enjoy the night, or something like that. Pretending not to have noticed Callan, Zoe stood up, giving Angel a look of semi-drunken apology. She'd probably figure out Zoe's reasons.

"Be back in five. Gonna... walk, or something." Wasn't quite up to thinking of a good excuse, but it wasn't like where she went mattered. As she stood, she gestured slightly towards Callan, indicating that someone should talk to her. Even if the girl was a childish brat, Zoe didn't feel like ruining anyone's night so soon.

Seeing one girl after the others showing up by the living room, Angel greeted them with an enthusiastic wave. She kept to herself however when Emma showed up, unease settling in as her eyes crossed the other Aberration’s. Memories of what they had spoken of back in La Plata were still fresh in her mind, but Angel figured that this party would be a nice first step towards bringing everyone together. Plus, it would be nice to ease off the tension by having some fun tonight.

Sophia was no exception to Angel’s enthusiasm. Upon seeing the girl timidly staying by the edge of the room, spying at the party, Angel beckoned her to join them with a wave of her hand and a cheerful smile.

Of course, things started to get awkward when Callan showed up and immediately returned where she came from upon seeing Zoe. Can’t blame her to not stay in the same room as the one who rotted her arm out. But still, Angel felt like everyone should have the chance to have some fun tonight.

“Alright! You better not pass out on the toilet though!” Angel went along with Zoe’s excuse, faking a heartily laugh as she walked towards the redhead. “You better be back, you hear?. No way am I just going to let you mop around by yourself while we’re supposed to be having fun. You two don't need to talk to each other.” the would-be party organizer whispered to Zoe.

Emma had been sitting, stewing in the awkwardness between her and Angel. At least Siena and Lily where here- along with a few others she hadn't recognized. She greeted them both with an enthusiastic wave- it couldn't be too bad if she had a couple of friends, right?

Just than Emma noticed Callan peeking out, ready to head back in. Emma wasted no time in trying to catch her glance, standing up and looking at her with pleading eyes. She stepped over rapidly, making sure to catch her before she completed her retreat, ”Cal, you're planning on joining us, right?” Emma glanced back at Angel and Zoe, before turning back and mouthing 'I DON'T THINK SHE LIKES ME' as subtly as possible.

"I know, but it'll be hard enough to get her in here anyway. Helps if I take some time." Zoe replied, glancing back to where Emma was approaching Callan. There was a reason she'd been drinking before she knew about this, and it wasn't for the taste - she was upset, and angry, and didn't feel like dealing with it. It was showing slightly as she sighed and sagged her shoulders, eyes flitting to the TV. "Don't wanna ruin anything else today. I'll be back."

Angel nodded, giving the Aberration an exaggerated sigh. "Okay okay. But hey. If you don't make it back, you owe me an hour of drinking together." the singing Mage playfully nagged Zoe with a grin, contrasting the redhead's foul mood.

"...You know I'd do that anyway if you asked." Zoe replied, looking for a brief second as though she were about to say something else before she shook her head and started towards the door out of the room. "Just tell me when I can come back in."

Seeing Zoe stand up, Cal retraced her steps a bit more quickly. Spinning around, she beelined for the door.

Hearing Emma's voice as she reached for the doorknob, her shoulders tensed. She turned to face the girl with a forced grin. "Uh." The smile slipped as she read Emma's lips. She looked past her, noting with relief that Zoe seemed to be leaving as she tried to determine who Emma might be referring to. Feeling more comfortable already, and genuinely curious about who Emma might be referring to, Callan opened her mouth to ask, but was interrupted by Kusari's sudden arrival.

"You really have a bad habit of running away." Kusari said, showing up behind Callan. She let out a yawn and adjusted the silk robe around her. She had to tie the thing pretty tight to prevent it from slipping off of her thin frame. She had only decided to answer Angel's call because she was unable to sleep and bored out of her mind. She glanced at Zoe as she passed by, the girl seemed to be a bit tipsy already. Now wasn't the time to talk to her about what she's done to Callan, that could wait until they were back at the school.

Lily made a beeline towards the snacks on the table, inspecting each bowl with an excited grin, not really realizing the tension between the others. In her mind, they were all allies, they were all friends, there was no reason not to be comfortable around each other. She popped a corn chip into her mouth before she finally decided to look at the other girls. It was apparently Angelique who had organized and called all of them over. Of course. Her power was the use of her voice. She greeted her enthusiastically. "This will be fun," she added. And then there were Allison, Zoe, Emma, Sophia... She lifted a hand and waved hello to her friend and present room mate, gesturing for her to come closer to where the goodies were.

And then Callan and Kusari.

But Zoe and Callan wanted to leave even before things started. She wondered why but as always, didn't really ask. Instead, she looked for Sophia again, noticed that she didn't make a move to approach where she was, grabbed two bite sized chocolate bars and headed straight to her. She extended one of the chocolates to her. "It'd be terribly boring if you just stay here, you know?"

'Too many people...'

With everyone entering, Siena realized her mistake a fraction of a second too late. If anyone had been close enough to notice, they might have seen a flicker of panic flash across her features. No, she wasn't good at parties. Not by herself. Not without them. But...it was too late to leave, right? Too many steps away from her door and the different type of danger that being alone posed.

So she smiled instead, watching the girls of her class, eyes searching for cues she could read. Ways she could meld into the crowd just like--'But it's not like those parties, is it?' The thought shattered her perception for a moment, the reality of the situation quickly eliciting a powerful mixture of emotions. Oh god, she didn't know what she was doing there. The curious part of her burned, the part that wanted to experience everything, but the coward heart tried to back away. Observe things until the uncertainty washed away, or...anything, really.

While her heart battled with itself, the brunette chose to make as though she was perusing the beverage selection. A multitude of soda (unfamiliar) and alcohol (somewhat familiar) was easier to handle, right? Her eyes lingered over a few of the more expensive bottles. Drinks that could be sipped and savored...drinks that she'd once shared with--

'Stop it.'

"Guess something familiar might make getting used to this easier..." Siena tried to convince herself of that much while sending a sidelong glance at the others. Maybe she could drink half a bottle at once and see where that got her on the "ready to party" ladder.

"Wh-- I'm staying. Uhm. I just-- uh," Callan stepped sideways to view Emma and Kusari at the same time, struggling to come up with an excuse. Her eyes flickered towards Kusari's thin silk robes before she quickly looked to Emma, and then towards Siena in the distance. "Er-- is that wine?" she asked, gracelessly shifting the subject.

Emma gave Kusari a small wave before turning towards Siena and the wine, ”Looks like it. Angel set up a real party, huh?” Emma gave the turquoise-haired girl a slight nudge on the shoulder, ”Thanks for staying, by the way.” she said with a hushed whisper. An uncertain smirk from Callan was all she got before her attention was torn away by someone else who had approached the snack and beverage table.

Hazel, drawn by the unfamiliar word 'party', had expected some sort of gathering where they were to initiate a strike against the boys or some thing similar. Instead she was greeted with bottles upon bottles of strange looking liquids, and presumably edible things in large bowls. Still wearing that overly large shirt with a poorly tied robe on top, she snagged a drink and starting chugging it. It had bite, but in a different, more hissy way. There were those other food stuff to try, and the girls to talk to, but for now, they were less important than her drink.

"Whoa," Callan commented immediately. "D-does she always drink that much?" she asked Emma, more quietly.

Emma gave Callan a wide eyed glance.

”Oh god, not again.” she said, already taking off towards Hazel, ”Woah! Woah! Hazel, let's slow it down this time.” Emma stuck up her hand in a 'stop' signal, ”You remember how you felt last time you started drinking that stuff, right?”

"I remember. Do not worry." Hazel stopped drinking long enough to reply. "He is not here to mix the drinks together. There should be no worries if I just drink it without mixing them."

She paused for a moment, before offering the bottle to Emma.

"Did you want to drink as well?"

”Oooooooh...” Emma said hesitantly. ”You should know, just because Ernie's not mixing doesn't mean they won't have the same effect. It's the alcohol in the drinks that makes you feel that way.” Emma reached for one of the bottles of wine, filling a glass, she took a slow sip before looking back at Hazel, ”See, slow? Enjoy it, don't drink it all at once. And try not to have too much.”

Listening in on Emma and Hazel's exchange, Callan laughed uncertainly under her breath. 'Not again'? 'This time'? Ernie mixing drinks? She'd definitely missed something. Making up her mind to ask about that later, however, Callan left the pair alone and approached the snack table herself.

Watching Zoe leave the room for a moment, Angélique returned to overseeing how the party went. Emma reached out for Cal to keep her here along with Kusari, Siena and Hazel were already enjoying the liquor while Lilianna went to check up on Sophia. This was going rather well, despite the circumstances, Angel figured. It was nice to see that everyone showed up.

Satisfied with the outcome, Angel walked to the table and poured herself a glass full of red wine. She then joined Siena's side, offering the girl a smile as she approached "Hey there Siena! Enjoying yourself so far?"

"O-oh! I'm um...still getting warmed up, I think." Siena let a smile pull at her lips, raising her cheeks and forcing herself to allow it to reach the corners of her eyes. Close to an authentic smile for anyone that didn't know her well enough to have seen a real one--she supposed that was almost everyone. Carefully selecting her own glass, she deftly selected a bottle that she recognized--one that she doubted anyone realized the value of. Not the most expensive bottle, not even one that she especially liked--'I don't mind if you drink with me. The rest of 'em will expect you to drink a little better than this, though.'--but there were at least a few fond memories.

She poured herself two fingers of bourbon with ease that came from familiarity, though it wasn't entirely precise. Giving a mild-yet-mischievous smile to her companion, the brunette raised her glass lightly, allowing the liquor to lightly swirl around as she did so. "Through the lips and over the gums."

'Look out, stomach, here it comes.'

Callan watched quietly as Emma and then Angel each poured themselves a glass of wine, feeling only slightly tempted. Wine wasn't a drink she was very familiar with. Flavored beers, Rum and Coke, and Screwdrivers seemed to be common favorites when it came to the parties at her high school. At least the ones Gaby used to drag her to. None of them tasted very good, either.

Filling a plate with a few snacks, Callan gave one last glance towards the wine glasses before shaking her head and reaching for the punch. Of course, there was her super strength to consider, too. Definitely needed a clear head to keep that in check.

Reluctantly, Hazel put down the bottle, and poured herself a tall glass of wine instead. She diverted her attention instead towards the snacks, sitting down near a whole bowl of them, before starting to slowly but surely devour the contents of the bowl.

All Angélique had gotten as response to her wave and gesture was a small smile from Sophia, and she made no move to come closer in. She was fine right where she was, at the edge. She knew she would need to approach someone eventually, but... she'd wait. Just being here was good enough for now. To give herself something to do she observed the girls at the party closely, trying to remember their names and observing how they interacted.

Having Lily appear by her side made her feel somewhat better, though at the same time she felt a twinge of guilt. "Thanks." Sophia took the bar and opened it and ate, letting the chocolate melt in her mouth. Lily should be interacting with the rest, not staying here by her side. "Yeah, I know..." she responded with a sigh, her behavior noticeably different from how it usually was when alone with Lily. "Just..." A hand gestured to the people around them before she shook her head. "Nope." Looking over at the table where a few were now gathered around... alcohol, she frowned. Was this a good place for her to be?

"Really? You want to just stay here alone when there's food and drinks and people to talk to?" Lily raised an eyebrow and then shrugged, realizing that her friend was shy. "Okay," she said. "Or we could go together. I want to try those jellybeans there and maybe the marshmallows too and... well, everything including the drinks everyone's trying," she admitted with a giggle. "Though, I doubt I'd be able to keep up with them," she added, popping the chocolate into her mouth.

Sophia smiled tightly at Lily's remark about all the drinks, but agreed to go and snack with her. "Yeah... alright." She made her way over to the table, looking at each snack bowl as she decided which to try. "These do look good," she remarked quietly.

As the sounds of conversation began to fill the room, Zoe - Who'd actually been standing outside the door instead of going anywhere - Decided it would be safe to come back in. She tried to be as subtle as she could, but that wasn't really her strong point at the best of times. And at this particular time, she was a little shaky.

Probably wouldn't draw the attention of anyone that was caught up in conversation, or so she hoped. She wasn't normally too clumsy when she was drunk, but she'd been distracted anyway and the alcohol wasn't exactly helping. Taking note of where Callan was, Zoe decided against getting anything else to eat or drink for the moment and took a seat on the sofa, not looking at the arbiter other than an occasional uncomfortable glance.

---

Angélique grinned as she looked Siena down her glass like a seasoned drinker. Damn, Angel did not expect her delicate and well-mannered friend to be this intense when drinking. It sort of made her feel bad to have poured herself wine instead of the good drinking stuff. Wine tasted good, but it was better when savoring it slowly. "Damn, no restraint, huh? I like that!"

Finishing her glass of wine in one gulp, the seasoned party animal poured herself a glass of the same liquor Siena was drinking. Raising her glass high, Angel returned Siena's mischievous smile "Cul sec!"

Allison watched silently from her seat as the scene around her unfolded. Hazel chugging wine before adopting a more reasonable approach, Zoe coming, leaving, and then coming back quietly, Kusari being there at all, and Siena and Angel seeming to have a drinking contest. Allison probably seemed pretty antisocial, just sitting there not interacting with anyone. For a moment, she considered talking to Lily and Sophia, who seemed particularly uncomfortable, but Lily could probably keep the young girl entertained better than the room of drunken, awkward women. Instead, she got up to join Siena and Angel, opting to leave the drinking to the professionals.

"You two having a drinking contest over here or something?"

She'd forgotten how nice it was to drink with someone. Not the sipping of sherry or chardonnay, actual drinking. Though she'd tossed her first glass down in an attempt to loosen up, Siena found herself already starting to slip into a better crafted version of herself. Pouring herself a second helping--another two fingers, this time to savor the flavor--the girl smiled at Allison at her approach.

"I...think I'd lose a drinking contest," Siena said, punctuating the claim with a laugh. "But this is definitely the type of bourbon you'd use for one. It's a little sweeter than most, so it goes down easy."

The bottle of bourbon emptied itself quickly as Angélique helped herself a second time as well after her drinking partner did, taking her time to drink it this time as she listened to what Siena and Allison had to say. "Nah, just enjoying the drinking company. It's good to finally be able to have a proper party after so long."

Angel glanced at Allison, who had joined their side but hadn't taken a drink. "Got that right. The sour or burning stuff don't make good for drinking in one go."

"C'mon Alice, join us! We've got enough alcohol here to survive for days on the stuff. Can't leave this place without emptying at least one of their rooms, right?" Angélique pressured her best friends to empty those bottles, giving Siena a wide devious grin. It was hard to tell whether Angel was just as enthusiastic as her usual self when she was in a bright mood, or if the drinks started affecting her. Angel was known previously for being able to hold her liquor rather well for a while.

"I-I'm good," Allison said awkwardly, raising her hand in rejection, "It's probably better that I stay sober." If Allison was to start drinking, she was sure that things would go south extremely fast. Especially with the young Sophia present, Allison didn't want the tempting of her stigma to become any louder in her brain. The number of women drinking around her was already amplifying it enough.

"Hmmm, it's a bit of a shame though, missing out on this one." Siena claimed while gently tracing her fingers over the top of another unopened bottle. She'd noticed it earlier, but certainly felt a bit of hesitation in opening it. Pappy Van Winkle's was, by and far, the bourbon to top all bourbons...or so she'd heard. Gerwulf had once told her about the small glass he'd shared with her father after a rocky return from something vaguely described as a business trip...and even he could not deny that it was the type to drink straight up. No frills, no ice. Not even a few drops to open the aroma. "Apparently this is the king of its kind. It'd be nice to try it with--" She didn't miss a beat even as her mind fumbled for the correct word. "--friends."

It...it wasn't quite a lie, right?

"I think I'll shamefully miss out on it, then. Sorry."

"Really? Then that's something I have to absolutely try." Angel commented on Siena's bait about the bottle of apparently-sublime bourbon that hasn't been touched yet. The heavy-drinker of a Mage did the honors and opened the container with little effort, pouring the drink not only in Siena's and her own glass, but also in a third one.

"Oh, I'm such an idiot. I forgot you weren't drinking." Angelique said with a clearly fake apologetic tone, smiling ear to ear as she looked back to the two girls, mainly at Allison. "But now that there's a third glass full, it would be a shame if it that unclaimed drink goes to waste, right?" Angel playfully added as she slid the glass of bourbon towards her fellow Aberration friend.

"Not. Drinking." Allison said pointedly, leaving the glass on the table. She probably came off as rude, the other two just wanted to have a good time, but it was such an impossibly bad idea for Allison to drink. Maybe she should just go?

"Honestly..." Kusari grabbed the drink Angel was pushing onto Allison and downed it in one chug. "Such a bad influence you are." She said, wiping her lips. "If you want to drink with someone, how about me? That is, if you can keep up?" Kusari glanced over to Emma, flashing her a look that said "keep quiet."

Angelique's face turned more serious as she heard Allison's definitive negative answer. Perhaps she went too far, that much she realized. She wasn't as tipsy enough yet to miss those subtleties, as far as she knew. "Fine... you don't know what you're m-"

The sudden appearance of Kusari and her foretelling words heralded a challenge to Angel's ears. Smiling once more, she bottomed out her drink and let out a satisfied sigh. "Is that a challenge?" the fallen idol gave the white-haired Arbiter a cocky grin.

"I dunno." Kusari said with a mischievous gleam in her eyes. "Will you make it one?" She refilled the glass in her hand. This was probably a little unfair, in fact it was basically cheating. But it was something else for sure, funny as hell.

”Hell yeah I will, girl! I haven't had a challenge in months!" The Aberration answered, looking passionate and enthusiastic as ever.

Watching as the challenge unfolded before her, Siena glanced at Allison with a sheepish smile and the bourbon in her hand. Well, this wasn't exactly what she saw coming when she'd sung the praises of a drink she'd never tried, though it was still an entertaining change of pace. "Well...that drinking contest is happening after all." Though thankfully it didn't involve her. She might have appreciated liquor, but Siena certainly didn't appreciate being drunk. "Well, if you're not going to sample any of the liquor, maybe I can at least interest you in something else here."

Making a motion over the selection that Angel had made available, Siena only noticed then how full her glass was. The alcohol would take its time working through her system if previous experience was anything to go by, but she'd never really been much of a quick drinker--this was probably the fastest she'd ever ingested the intoxicating substance. No doubt that was why she could feel a faint heat trying to rise through her. Too much too quickly. "Oh, I really was just going to sample this..."

"I really shouldn't..." Allison protested, as she looked over the table, and the drinking contest going on next to her. It was very likely that this night wasn't going to end without her drinking something. Maybe just one glass would be okay? "Fine, but that's it."Allison took the glass that Siena was clearly hinting she should take. She had no knowledge of the substance, in fact she had never had alcohol before. This was an impossibly bad idea. She took a sip of the strange liquid. It was... weird, not awful, but not something she wanted to sip at for a while. Allison threw her head back and downed the glass in one go.

At this point Kusari was on her eighth glass of wine. As she expected she didn't feel anything at all, she was more worried about how soon she'd need to go to the bathroom than how hard her liver would need to work. She let out a fake yawn as she refilled the glass. "You might want to throw in the towel now."

While it was clear that Angel looked no longer sober as she matched Kusari's drink count, she was having difficulty standing up but her liveliness and joy seemed to not only have remained the same, but instead doubled. At times she was tipping forward or backwards, her soft giggles transformed into laughter. When she heard Kusari's remark, the drunken angel of rock would laugh again as she poured herself another glass of vodka. "Hey... th-thiz con...contezt iz far from... over! I... juzt need a zeat." She stammered through her alcohol-induced haze.

Stumbling her way to a couch, Angelique let herself drop onto one free spot, not too far from where Zoe was sitting. Her glass-full of vodka was surprisingly intact from the fall, suggesting the girl still had good muscle reflexes despite her state. Or maybe it was true that she was far from over yet.

"Man, is thiz... juzt me or iz... the couch feeling like... quickzand? Can't get up... a-anymore." The rockstar of old laughed loudly before muting herself, chugging the drink in her hand as quickly as it was water.

Zoe was starting to figure out she'd had more than she realised. Maybe she hadn't realised quite how much she'd had to drink before coming here, never mind after a few more trips to grab more. But even still, she didn't think she was as drunk as the girl who'd taken a seat next to her, whose contest she'd watched out of curiosity. As Angelique flopped down next to her, she laughed.

"...'s not that soft. Shouldn't get in a contest if..." Zoe looked at Angel, and then to Kusari, the girl who'd challenged her. Kusari, who wasn't drunk in the slightest, despite the absurd amount of alcohol they must both have had. "How--" In a moment of realisation, Zoe came to the obvious conclusion. Can't get drunk.

"...Dick move." Zoe muttered, slightly underestimating how loudly she was doing so because Kusari would almost definitely hear her. Luckily, she didn't seek out a fight, instead moving towards the other girl on the sofa. Hopefully Zoe could take her mind off of rejoining the drinking contest, in the spirit of no-one getting alcohol poisoning. "Angel... You, uh, good?"

"B-better than ever!" The black-haired young woman replied cheerfully, fumbling in her seat as she was trying to get up shortly after realizing she was out of drinks and forgot to bring the bottles. "And... and you? En-enjoying yourzelf?" She added, her wobbly legs shaking as she tried standing up.

"Lot better than earlier." Because she was too fuzzy to properly recall the events. Watching Angel try to stand up, Zoe shook her head. So much for getting her to stop thinking about drinking. Ha. Rhymed. "I'll get 'em. You want a bottle or something?" At least this way she could try and stop the black-haired girl from having enough to put herself in danger. Plus she'd pass raptor girl on the way.

Of course, Zoe probably could have found something more stable to pull herself up with than grabbing the rockstar's arm but her judgement wasn't great either at the moment. She was halfway through the action when she realised her teammate's balance might not be up to it, but at least Zoe made it to her feet.

"Don-don't worry. I got... thiz." Angelique replied as she finally made it carefully on her legs, but the sudden shifting of weight as Zoe pulled herself up using her arm threw the rockstar off-balance, flopping back onto the couch. Despite that, she laughed innocently. "Or y-you can ind-... bring a bo-bottle of Jack."

"Gotcha. I'll be back." Zoe laughed off the fact that she'd sort of accidentally slammed Angel into the couch, turning towards the drinks table. So, there was a lot there... Bottles. Needed a bottle. Man, she didn't know what half of this stuff was, but at least Angel had asked for something she'd recognise. Grabbing the smallest bottle there, along with a glass of vodka for herself she turned to head back and sit with the girl some more.

Which she would have done, but on her way she couldn't help but catch sight of Kusari. Deciding the bottle seemed sturdy enough and that Angel could open it on her own, Zoe tossed it over to the sofa where it landed next to the singer. Turning to look at Kusari, she could have just forgotten about it until the morning, but that wasn't her style. Glancing at the glass in her hand, Zoe spoke. "Must be fun havin' drinking contests with a magic liver."

Her opponent was effectively defeated, much to the amusement of Kusari. Angel couldn't even stand on her own at this point, she was so out of it Zoe decided to try and help her.

Kusari had ignored the first remark Zoe had made towards her, seems she had put two and two together and figured that her ability was granting her an edge. She let that one go, however the second remark got a reaction out of her. Kusari put on a borderline manic toothy grin, and quickly placed her right arm around Zoe's shoulder, bringing the girl close. "That's what we're here for right? To have fun."

"'Course. 'Fun' like trickin' people into going way past what they should. Life of the party, raptor girl." Zoe returned the grin almost hungrily, as if she'd been waiting for an opportunity to rile someone up. It was unclear whether she was genuinely angry or just hoping to get a rise out of the other girl, or both. Either way, she seemed to be enjoying the situation. "Gonna start putting stuff in drinks next, or's that only on weekdays?"

Allison felt absolutely terrible. Drinking that entire glass was not exactly smart. Immediately, her nose and throat felt as if they were on fire, and the rest of her seemed to feel distinctly off. How strong was that alcohol? It only got worse by the second, though Allison could feel her mind loosening up, her thoughts running wild, if a bit sluggish. She needed to sit down. Angel was sitting down, clearly drunk off her ass, and Zoe had vacated the space next to her, so that seemed like as good a place as any.

"H-hey Angel, you alright?" She said as she sat down, well enough that she didn't seem completely drunk, or at least the alcohol hadn't really gotten to her yet.

While Zoe went to have a talk with Kusari, Angel cracked open the stopper from the bottle of Jack Daniels, taking a quick sip straight out of the bottle after 'making sure' no one saw her. Pouring herself a glass of the popular brand of rhum, Angel called out "Ten!" just before emptying her drink. God, now she started to feel it.

As Allison joined the drunken mess of an Aberration, she gave the girl a wide smile. "W-why d-doez ewery...one geep a-azking me that?" she mused, looking over at the table of drinks. "I-I guezz I d-did dring a lot... huh?" Angel said, sounding somewhat lucid of her own behavior.

"H-help me up... would y-you?" She asked Allison, her tone growing more serious despite her jolly mood.

Kusari's borderline manic smile had now foregone the 'borderline' aspect. "Zoe 'Severing' Fletcher is giving me a moral lecture, that's richer than the dipshits staying below us." She let out a chuckle before reaching her hand into Zoe's pant's pocket, her right arm still holding onto the girl's shoulder.

"Raptor? Come on now, you know what a raptor looks like." She pulled out Zoe's phone and held it to her mouth. "Hey Siri, show me what a velociraptor looks like." The phone quickly lit up and searched the internet for her question, bringing up a picture of the small dinosaur. "Now you see that? You see the way it's legs are bent? That's what is called Digitigrade. My leg, my leg is plantigrade, just like your legs." She zoomed in on the picture, focusing on the creature's feathers.

"And does it look like I have feathers? Nah girl, I don't." She lightly tapped the phone on Zoe's forehead and handed it back to her, also letting her shoulder go.

Holding the phone tightly, Zoe couldn't help but be thankful that was all Kusari had decided to do with it.

"...Not here for a biology lesson. Don't care if they're digi--" She broke off after a couple of attempts at the word. Not the point, anyway... And was she being laughed at? Scowling at what she saw as the implication she was a dumbass, Zoe shook her head.

"Figure of speech. And stealing things outta people's pants? Not helpin' your case here." Zoe locked eyes with Kusari, clearly unwilling to let it go. If she'd been more sober, she might've dropped it, but then common sense was out of the window by now. And she was needled by the girl's comments, so instead of walking away, she stood face-to-face with her classmate. It wasn't the first time she'd picked a fight when she was drunk, and it was heavy on her breath as she spoke. "We got some kinda issue to work out, Kusari?"

Kusari's grinning expression flattened into a blank glare. "Oh, no issue at all, Zoe. You've done Abso. Lutely. Nothing. Wrong." She let out an annoyed sigh and walked over to the snacks. She grabbed a bag of chips and tore them open, nearly causing the salty contents to spill onto the floor. Holding herself back from laying into Zoe now was harder than she thought it'd be. She didn't want to ruin the party, so she decided to drop the issue, and not bring up Zoe mutilating one of her allies.

Despite being drunk, there was one thing Angel could always rely on, her hearing. From her spot, the tipsy Aberration could hear the not-so-subtle discussion Zoe and Kusari were having.

It's all fun and games until people start getting worried and bicker.

While her initial plan was to get herself so drunk she'd pass out for the night, Angel could no longer afford to drink herself up to that state if her friends like Zoe and Allison starting being worried for her well-being. Even worse, started arguing and find someone to blame for her current drunken state.

With Allison's help, Angel managed to get up, and slowly started walking with her best friend supporting her. "Enough... both of you." Angel's magical voice reached out to the two girls, severely dampened by a mixture of alcohol getting to her throat and the suppressing cuff.

"It'z al- alright, Zoey. I... I know w-what I waz doin'." The raven-haired Aberration said, putting a reassuring hand on the redhead Mage's shoulder while giving the white-haired Arbiter a not-so-defeated smirk. "I... just w-wanted zome... one to k-keep up with my dri-drinking anticz." It wouldn't have been the first time Angel brought up a challenge for an ulterior motive, Zoe having experienced one of such quite recently.

Glancing back at Angel, Zoe shrugged the hand off of her shoulder, forcing a smile but still worried. She wouldn't stop the girl from drinking if she was aware of what was going on, but she couldn't help but be protective, even if the singer was older than she was and probably just as - if not more - experienced with all this. Hopefully. "Just so long's you don't poison yourself." Backing down for the most part, she shot Kusari one last warning glare.

Man, Zoe hated interruptions. And here she'd been all ready for a fight, but... Yeah, maybe she should've figured out what was happening first. Probably would've tried if she was thinking clearly.

"But... fine. She's running away anyhow. Think that means I win." Zoe raised her voice slightly so Kusari would hear her, more out of drunken stubbornness than anything else. Realistically, she'd have forgotten most of this by the morning, but for now, it was fun to try and antagonise the other girl, and why would she hold back now? With a shake of her head, Zoe walked off to get another drink. Something non-alcoholic this time. She got the feeling she'd had enough already.

Allison Revel unsteadily propped up her friend as Zoe walked off. The conflict was resolved from what the fuzzy mind of Allison could tell. The thing that she was most aware of was the girl she was propping up, clearly not able to stand on her own. "Ang... Angel," A wide smile hung loosely across Allison's flushed face, "Ya know, you're kinda cute when you're drunk," She paused for a moment, "like, really, really cute, actually." A drunken giggle escaped the poor girl's mouth.

"Awww jush Alice. Y-you're juzt bein'... drunk." which surprised Angel considering she had a hard time convincing the girl to drink. But her breath clearly smelled of bourbon. Did Siena managed to make her cave into peer pressure? The brunette Arbiter sure was full of surprises tonight.

With Zoe gone back to sitting where she had been previously and Kusari raiding the snacks, the singer's mind was at peace, although she felt partly responsible for the squabble between the two girls. Probably wouldn't have happened if she didn't have the bright idea to get herself wasted with their Immortal Arbiter.

"I'm... zorry 'bout that. Guezz we'll... have t-to gon-gontinue our jallenge... another time." The raven-haired rockstar gave the girl an apologetic smile. "Guezz I gotz... two lil' siz wo-worried b-'bout me."

"Let'z have a g-go... at it a-again zomeday, K-Kuz... Kuu." Angel stammered through the Arbiter's name, settling wih a familiar nickname instead. With a proper apology being said, Angel returned to her previous seat with the help of Allison.

“Zo? How wazzit?”

"Fucking awful!" Allison words were loose, slurred, and probably a bit too loud. She flopped onto the couch next to Angel. "I'm never doin' this again!" She leaned against the other girl without warning, resting her head on Angel's shoulder with a much too pleased look on her face.

"Oh... I guezz alcohol izn't for e-every...one. But zometimez it'z for the feelz... not the tazte." Angel replied, her drunk-happy mind not minding the head of the loving girl resting on her shoulder. On the contrary, being so close, Angel couldn't keep her hands to herself and began stroking Allison's hair, gliding her fingers through the other Aberration's silky strands of hair.

"Veelin' zleepy?"

"No," Allison couldn't help but let another giggle escape her drunken lips, "I just like lying here. This is nice." She wrapped her arms loosely around Angel.

Angel simply nodded, oblivious. Yeah... it zure iz a comvy sova."

"Yea... but I meant with you, silly," Allison said, pouting. Angel sure was dense sometimes, wasn't she? "As punishment, you get to be my pillow." Allison removed her head from Angel's shoulder, repositioning herself so that she was laying down, resting her head in Angel's lap.

"O-Oh, I... I like bein’ with you… too." The words echoed Allison's although they had a different meaning in Angel's sisterly mind. It felt weird to have Allison's head resting on her laps now, but somehow it didn't feel totally wrong. As a matter of fact, she welcomed it. It felt like those scenes Angel saw on TV when the little sister was looking for comfort by putting her head on the big sister's laps. The fallen idol felt gratified to have someone be that way towards her, she who always dreamt of having a sister. "I thought yo-you weren't sleepy? Billowz are m-meant to be zlept on, y‘now?" Angelique chuckled as she petted Allison's hair.

"You're awful," Allison joked, releasing another dumb giggle. "But you're my kind of awful. I've been holding myself back just for you, ya' know. It's really hard to hold myself back. Like, really, really, really, really, really, really..." Allison trailed off. The stigma had been beating at her brain all week, the stress of trying to avoid doing anything rash building up with time. Allison wasn't usually one to let the stress get to her, she had dealt with it for a while, but it seemed that the alcohol had brought it to the surface, letting it mix with the stigma's free reign of her thoughts. It was apparent in the sudden sadness of her voice.

Although drunk, Angel was not deaf to the shifting tone of a friend's voice. She was curious as to what Allison was holding back. No, she knew exactly what it was, but Angelique had refused to acknowledge it ever since that time she read Allison's love song at the motel. Sooner or later, she will have to face the truth. But not right now. Not while she did not have her whole mind clear. Instead, Angel just put reassuring arms onto the brunette lying down on her laps. "I-It'z alright. I'm z-zorry."

"Mhm. Thanks, Angel." Allison went back to sounding much too chipper, a drunken smile apparent on her face. "Yur the beszt." Allison continued to mutter unintelligibly for a few moments, before she clearly dozed off in Angel's lap.

"You're my bezt too..." Angel trailed off, hearing the heavy breathing of the girl falling asleep. Her lips returned to a serene smile, allowing her own eyes to wander to the living room, overseeing what the others were up to.

---

From her seat far from Zoe, Callan observed the drinking contest with great concern. Allison, Kusari, and Angel were throwing back glasses like they were shots. At this rate, someone was going to throw up, pass out, or both. It was fortunate that she managed to finish her cup of punch before Kusari slung her arm around Zoe as she immediately tensed to the point of crushing it in her hand. When the pair finally parted ways, Callan sighed heavily, leaning back in her seat. Everyone was getting hammered. Responsible drinking at its finest.

Her escalating nerves were getting to be too much and she wondered for a moment if her idea to completely forgo the booze had been a good idea. A buzz would probably make everything that was happening seem a lot less horrifically dangerous than it was anyway. At least Emma seemed to have the right idea. Having told Hazel to take it slow. "Hey," Callan turned towards Emma, glad to have at least one mostly sober person to talk to, "Who were you talking about before?"

Emma had been glued to an awkward corner; she'd came out for the drinks, not the company. She was in a weird mood, received an unexpected message. Plus, with the party focused around Angel, Emma would rather not get in the way of the girl's fun, the air around them remaining unclear after their little spat.

Callan, however, was a welcome voice. Ever since their little arcade outing Emma had been more and more convinced they'd be friends. Emma gave a small huff when she heard her question. ”Angel.” Emma said plainly under her breath, ”We had like... a... weird thing at the motel. I dunno.” Emma said quietly, making sure Angel wouldn't hear. ”And who have you been avoiding?” Emma said, raising her eyebrow slightly, well aware of how aloof Callan was being.

Callan did her best to keep her eyes off Angel while Emma explained-- though the older girl would probably be incapable of suspecting their gossip if she stared. It struck her as odd that Emma might not get along with someone like Angel, but then again, she hadn't really spoken to her beyond a few pleasantries. All she could say for certain was that Angel was friends with Siena, who didn't have the greatest history with Emma either, now that she thought of it. Brushing the thought aside for later, Callan balanced a pretzel stick between her teeth as she mumbled a barely audible answer to Emma's question.

"Zoe mostly," she said, willing herself not to look at Kusari again.

Emma's mouth opened a little, but she stopped herself. ”That... makes sense.” Emma sighed, ”Did you talk to her at all after that... thing?”

"I did," Callan answered grimly. "It... didn't go very well."

Emma nodded. ”Well, don't worry about it too much. You've got plenty of reason to avoid Zoe, meanwhile me and Angel just had a dumb argument.”

Her only response was a short, dry laugh before Callan slid a few more pretzels into her mouth.

Emma's phone buzzed in her pocket. She pulled it out quickly- she'd set it to track any news articles about Time Scar or any other of the notable Subnaturals in the group. Her eyes flew over the headline before she let out a light gasp.

”Are you fucking kidding me?” she said, irritation cutting clear through her voice. ”Take a look at this, Cal.” Emma said, lightly lobbing her phone at the girl.

On it a headline read in large block letters 'SUBNATURAL RAMPAGE? TIME SCAR AND PROTEUS SPOTTED IN D.C. NIGHTCLUB'. The ensuing article was a clearly written slam piece condemning any positive press Marcus's interview might have caused, describing the fight between two unidentified Subnaturals that accompanied Time Scar and Proteus into the club, further decrying them as a general nuisance and danger to the Regulars around them.

Callan glanced at Emma's phone. Her eyebrows immediately shot up as soon as she read the headline. Apparently Zoe wasn't the only person she needed to be worried about right now. "Whoa-- this is recent, isn't it?" she looked up at Emma worriedly.

Emma gave a frustrated sigh, ”The article just went up. After all that good press we got too...”

"It doesn't mention the two subnaturals that were fighting," Callan noted, scrolling through the article some more.

”It doesn't, but I have my guesses.” Emma said with a frown. Didn't Marcus know better than to try something like the after what happened at the orchestra? ”I wish they waited until we got to CC1 to pull something like this. D.C. already hates us enough.”

Callan was quiet for a moment, staring at the words of the article without reading them as she thought. Handing the phone back to Emma, Callan frowned. "Who do you think it was?" she asked, concerns clearly elsewhere. Remembering the general's ominous warnings from before, she looked visibly afraid, "You think they're okay?"

Emma answered Callan's first question without hesitation, ”Sander and Ernie. Did you see the way they were sizing each other up at lunch? They shouldn't have been out drinking together.” as for Callan's next question Emma bit her lip. ”I wouldn't worry about them. They have superpowers... and... I don't think the school is going to let anything happen to them. We're important to them, for whatever reason.”

Sander and Ernie? Callan had almost completely forgotten about their little spat during breakfast before Wisford. With everything that had happened since then, it seemed so long ago. Comforted by Emma's reassurances, Callan was finally starting to see why Emma was so frustrated. She groaned, pressing her hands against her head. "They're drinking?" Callan glanced irritably back at Zoe, who was continuing with her table antics, "They couldn't have done that here at the hotel?"

”Apparently not.” Emma muttered.

Vrrzt

Another notification. Emma groaned as she unlocked her phone again, ”What the hell have they done thi-”

'SHOTS FIRED IN D.C. NIGHTCLUB- SUBNATURAL MASSACRE?'

”O-oh no.”

Emma got up quickly, ”Police at the club. There were gunshots. I'm going to call Marcus.” Emma said hurriedly, voice shaky. She retreated towards her room, finding Marcus on her contacts list. Callan shot one final look of concern back at the others before hurreidly following suit, heart pounding in her ears. Nobody else was sober enough to help anyway.

---

Speaking of Zoe, the girl was bored again. Had enough sense not to resume the confrontation with Kusari, and Angel and Allison were caught up in something or other. Who else was there around here? Lily and Sophia were already talking together, then Emma and Callan, which was obviously a no-no, and Hazel was Hazel. Well, process of elimination...

"Fancy meetin' you here." She grinned, walking up beside Siena and tapping her on the shoulder. "Done with drink tonight. Hangover'd kill me otherwise." Or someone else. Ooh, that was a good one. Have to work that into a one-liner, like... Something. About hangovers. All deadpan and shit... What the hell was she on about?

"So, how much're we messin' up the etty... eaty... The manners?" Zoe laughed, realising she was doing a pretty good job of answering her own question. But hey, Siena had said something about being rich, so that made her the expert or something. "Outta ten."

It was hard to believe the differences in everyone's interactions as soon as (enough) alcohol entered their systems...though Siena wasn't oblivious to the fact that alcohol reduced the inhibitions that normally kept one acting like a functioning member of society. Despite that, the brunette couldn't help but feel twinges of entertainment as she watched the events before her unfold.

It was nice, seeing how everyone acted when they weren't completely on their guards.

...which apparently hers was not, as Siena jumped slightly at the tap on her shoulder, her attention jerking to the source. Before she could even fully register the words, the brunette felt her guard dropping again. Siena still couldn't deny the odd sense of comfort that rose to greet her as she gave a small laugh before responding to the redhead's question.

"Well, I'd say maaaaybe an eight." She took a look around the room as if scanning it for her analysis before continuing her statement, a cheeky grin forming as she did. "I don't think there's a ten until someone begins dancing on the tabletop while singing in Italian with her clothing either half off or flung over the nearest chandelier." The grin fell into a controlled chuckle. That was actually a true story. "So I think we're doing a pretty good job."

"'That mean we're losin'?" Zoe laughed before she went quiet for a moment, looking up at one of the chandeliers with earnest curiosity. It wasn't that high up right? She could make that throw, and really, it wasn't like she was modest... It didn't occur to her that maybe Siena wasn't making a suggestion. Nah, that'd be dumb. After all, it was - Yeah, it was a great idea. But it wouldn't really work, she realised.

"...Don't speak Italian." She shook her head, looking slightly disappointed. That was the issue as far as Zoe was concerned. From the look on her face it was fairly obvious that Zoe had been considering the rest of the idea. After a pause, she snickered, appearing to brighten up as she turned a wicked smile to Siena. "You speak Italian?" It wasn't hard to see where she was going with this, although the redhead wasn't entirely serious.

...

"H-Huh?" Siena wasn't entirely sure what she was hearing, or...well, no. She was certain about what she was hearing, but the implications...Zoe was kidding right? The wicked smile, the brightened mood. The question. Siena battled with herself for a moment, uncertain over whether the redhead was serious or whether it was the alcohol and the desire to be funny. The brunette felt her smile falter for a moment, the alcohol dampening her usual rational thinking until an answer came. "Uh, I know some arias?"

...why did she feel like she was making a terrible mistake?

"R...Really?" Zoe looked like she hadn't been expecting a yes. And also like she wanted to ask what an aria was, since she couldn't quite remember but was almost 90% sure it was some kind of Disney character. It sounded right! But now that she realised her dumb idea wasn't a complete loss, the table didn't look that wobbly... Screw it. She'd done worse to her reputation already today. In a moment of something that was either bravery or outright stupidity, she looked at Siena, drunken determination settling over her expression as she decided she'd come too far to back down now.

"You just do the singin'? ...'less you felt like, 's up to you." Zoe laughed, completely ignoring what a terrible idea this was, although part of her was vaguely hesitant about it. Honestly, if Siena protested, Zoe would probably reconsider the whole idea, but otherwise hey, she was great at dancing! Or at least she'd reached the point where she thought she was, but reality didn't exactly agree. Besides, it was Zoe, and... "'S not anyone hasn't seen me half..."

Although come to think about it, last time had ended with her getting tased, so maybe she could do it without that part. Or did that ruin the point of it all? Either way, oddly enough, she couldn't shake the slight feeling that she might regret this tomorrow.

You really should stop her.

The thought was more distant and hazy than it should have been--probably the effect of having had more alcohol than usual without any food to help soak it up. Against her better judgment, Siena took another sip from her alcohol-filled glass. This was a terrible idea. She really should prevent Zoe from reenacting the singular most embarrassing thing that Siena had ever seen someone subject themselves to.

"Maybe we should uh..." Oh shit, where was her train of thought? The brunette cleared her throat to buy herself a moment to try and grasp the threads of what she wanted to say. It didn't return to her. "...uhh, go for a different language? Everyone does the Italian stuff."

That was not at all what the original train of thought was.

"...wait, can you dance?"

"Nope!" Zoe looked oddly proud of herself for that. "Not got-- Rhythm, all... She waved a hand around randomly in a way that failed to get any point across at all, but it seemed to satisfy her. But then she smiled widely, refusing to let her complete lack of ability to carry out the plan get in the way of carrying out the plan.

Stubbornness wasn't really a well-placed trait in this case. So instead of accepting the fact that this wouldn't work, she looked at Siena with a smile. "'S school, right? I'm learnin'." Zoe said, with the almost infallible logic of a complete idiot.

"Just... Choose one! German or something, that's almost Italian!" It was probably nothing like Italian, but Zoe wasn't sticking around to hear any protests. Her gaze fixed on one of the chandeliers as she stood up and started to walk towards the table. At some point, she'd forgotten that there was at least one person in this room scared shitless of her, but still-- What could go wrong, right? Trying to stop her at this point was probably futile.

And she looked precariously close to faceplanting as she attempted to climb onto the table.

This is a terrible idea.

That was the prominent thought as Zoe began (attempting) to climb a table just a bit too close to a nearby chandelier While Siena was aware that she should probably have stopped th redhead, a mixture of being stunned and morbid curiosity stayed her hand just long enough to let the alcohol start trying to talk.

"Wait, Zoe, you have to be careful climbing onto..." Was that really what Siena should have been concerned about?

"Don' worry, I have this!" Zoe did not have this, but eventually managed to make it onto the table with great difficulty. Not standing, but definitely on the table, having displaced an almost impressive amount of drinks and snacks in the process. Looking over at Siena from where she was lying across the table, she raised a hand lazily for a thumbs up. "See! 'm an expert!"

Still, looking at the chandelier, Zoe appeared to be trying to judge... Something. Yeah, the dancing was unoriginal, but there was definitely another idea that had grabbed her attention. Right now, though, she felt like there was something missing from this - Specifically, background music. Wasn't dramatic without background music. "Hey, you doin' the singin' thing?"

"I don't think I'm a terribly g--" Too late. Way too late. That alcohol-induced haze had set into motion a series of events that had grown into something that couldn't be stopped. She really should have stopped Zoe. Again the voice tried to sound, this time loud enough to break through at least part of the stupor, but not enough to make her take action.

Not waiting for an answer on the music front, Zoe looked at one of the chandeliers that was hanging a few metres over from the table. The whole idea of the things got on her nerves, really. And now that she looked, it wasn't that high up-- Well, it was, kind of. She wasn't sure whether it was too high for her to reach on her own, but when had something like that ever stopped her? Hmmm... Nope, she wanted to do something to it, but she wasn't quite sure she could reach.

Improvising was a good skill. She liked that skill. Barely even paid attention to the others in the room as she took her shirt off and tied it (badly) into a loop, glaring at the lighting all the while. Honestly, who even had the time to pay for chandeliers? Nobody. Absolutely nobody. They were dumb. Fuck chandeliers. Still half-committed to the original plan, she threw the loop, and whether by luck or some miracle of hand-eye coordination, it caught on the chandelier.

Of course, coordination and physical fitness could only stretch so far with the state she was in. A fact which the muscular redhead was to learn all-too-quickly as she jumped off of the table, stretching out towards the loop. It wasn't really a question of being able to physically reach the chandelier - Because she missed horribly regardless. But for what it was worth, it managed to be one hell of a faceplant.

"Oh my--Zoe!" The stripping was one thing, the loop was another thing, the jump was disaster. Quickly abandoning her glass on the nearest flat surface (ironically, the table), Siena quickly made her way to the redhead, concern evident in her voice, on her face, and good lord, Zoe really hit the floor with her face. Carefully, the brunette tried to think back to whatever useless first aid knowledge Gerwulf had tried to impart onto her. Tried being the key word in that instance.

'I knew I should have paid more attention to him then.'

"Oooh, this was totally my fault..."

---

Emma merely returned the thought with a mischievous grin. ”We'll see about that.” Emma said, leaving the room and reentering the party.

Entering the room, Callan immediately noted Zoe standing on top of one of the tables. She did her best to ignore it as that foreign feeling of fear and anxiety tried to creep in, making everything seem like a bad idea as she forced herself to keep moving towards the drink table. Her discomfort was obvious as they drew near, but she said nothing. She was going to enjoy herself tonight. If that arm melting psychobitch got to be shitfaced drunk, why shouldn't it be okay for her to have a little to drink, too?

After what seemed like a lot longer than a few seconds, they reached their destination. Callan stared at the various bottles on the table, completely at a loss for what to drink. She rose her hand hesitantly, reaching towards one of the glass bottles at random while trying not to look like she'd never done this before. Gaby had always been the one to bring the drinks to her-- complaining loudly about Callan making her hold two if she refused to accept. And they always came in a plastic cup.

Carefully gripping one of the crystal wine glasses, Callan ignorantly picked up a bottle of straight vodka and moved to start pouring.

Emma was close behind Callan. She was prepared to offer suggestions, but kept quiet when the girl reached for a glass herself. However, when Emma saw what she was reaching for, ”Woah, woah, woah, Cal.” Emma said with a laugh, reaching to stop her, ”You know that's vodka right? Hard liquor? If you want to grab that maybe go for a smaller glass, although I'd recommend starting with some wine.”

Callan paused, suddenly overcome with embarrassment. Shit. Wine. Of course she should have reached for the wine. But what was she going to say? She reached for the bottle she thought looked the coolest? Cal forced out a short laugh, but didn't proceed to pour anything.

"Who's scared now?" Callan challenged, still hovering the bottle over the wine glass teasingly, "Geez, I thought you were the Party Queen?"

Emma laughed. She laughed hard. Cal was clearly in over her head, but if this was how she was going to be... Emma reached for her own glass. ”Alright, you're on. Pour me one too.” Emma said, extending her glass. It didn't take long for it to fill, followed shortly by Callan's. Emma's eyes were filled with daring as she raised her glass to her lips before quickly knocking it back- it tasted like shit, but it wasn't Emma's first time and she gave no indication of the discomfort she was feeling.

Cal mimicked Emma's movements with rising excitement. From the moment she started filling the glasses, she couldn't excuse that thrill that always came with rule breaking. This wasn't exactly rule breaking, but it was enough to make her smile as she rose the liquor to her lips. Unfortunately the taste of the stuff was far less pleasant. She'd tried to expect it-- the smell alone was enough to make her wrinkle her nose-- but half way through the glass she couldn't take it anymore. Any attempts to look like she had any idea what she was getting herself into vanished in an instant. Leaning forward suddenly to avoid spilling any on her clothes, Cal coughed into the wine glass, splashing the sharp liquid across her lips and chin. She quickly covered her mouth with her free hand, eyes watering as she continued coughing, attempting to subtly scrape her tongue across her teeth to get the vile taste out of her mouth.

Emma finished her drink in a much more graceful manner, draining the last of the liquid with a small groan. ”Doesn't taste so good, huh?” Emma grabbed one of the sodas on the counter and poured a bit in a free glass, ”Here. Chaser. Helps it go down.” Emma said, extending it to the girl.

Callan shook her head, still reeling too much from the horrible taste to feel embarrassed. She accepted the soda, drinking it eagerly. "Agh," she grimaced once finished, staring at the remaining vodka in her hand like it might bite her. "That's fucking gross," she frowned, glancing at Emma's empty glass.

Emma laughed again, ”Yep. My fault. I really should've stopped you.” Emma glanced over the liquor table before picking out a bottle of rum, bringing it alongside the bottle of coke. Next she found a highball glass before speaking aloud, ”You're supposed to have it with lime but we don't have any, so we'll have to make due.” Emma said as she combined the drinks- two parts coke, one part rum- to produce, unsurprisingly, a rum and coke, which she extended to Callan, ”This'll taste better than the vodka, I promise. Good beginner drink.”

Callan laughed, shaking her head, "Meh, I was kinda asking for it there."

She watched intently as Emma prepared the next drink-- the coke was something she was familiar with at least. As was the word "RUM" spelled out along the bottle she held. 'Rum and coke'. Glancing down at her vodka glass one last time, she abandoned it on the table in favor of the new drink Emma offered her. She smiled gratefully, a tinge of heat reaching her cheeks-- more out of shame. "Can't fool the Party Queen, huh?" she chuckled self consciously at the 'beginner' remark before taking a small sip. The taste was still slightly unpleasant, especially with her prior gulps of vodka still tingling in her throat, but it was far more tolerable.

Emma gave the girl a slight smile. ”Yep.” she chirped, agreeing with both statements. ”That probably doesn't taste great, but it's hopefully better than the vodka. I'm sure I'm not the first person that's told you that you don't drink it for the taste.”

"Yeah, I've heard that before," she laughed. A loud thump sounded somewhere behind the pair. A cursory glance at the table Zoe was no longer standing on quickly solved that mystery. The alchohol had yet to work its magic and so Callan couldn't bring herself to laugh. "Oooo," Callan winced quietly.

Emma raised an eyebrow. ”That's what happens when you get drunk and try to climb on tables.” Emma said, making not move to help the downed girl.

Callan nodded solemnly, but made no move to help Zoe up either. She felt bad for just leaving her there, though... so she quickly snatched up the rum and coke bottles and ushered Emma towards a further corner of the room where they could pretend they hadn't seen it at all.

Zoe didn't seem to be seriously injured... and Lily and Kusari were here if she was. Anyway, it wasn't like her arm had fallen off and she was bleeding out all over the floor or anything.

"You know, there was this teacher at my school who did that once. Right in the middle of the lunch room," Callan mused thoughtfully, taking another quick swig of her drink, "He was fired on the spot of course, but apparently the story was that he had a nervous breakdown after his wife left him for one of his old students." She smiled sheepishly, "That was the rumor, anyway. I think the guy was just nuts."

Unfortunately that turned out to be the most eventful story Callan had conscerning any of her high school teachers back in Atlanta. Evidently, despite her life of crime, Emma also got along well with her teachers. A boon for any high school student who wanted to get good grades, but not so great for conjuring up many stories to tell. Callan's habit of falling asleep in class was certainly no secret, but all that amounted to was embarrasing tales-- including the one where she almost took off her roommate's head on the first day of class.

It took more drinks than usual before Cal started to feel that somewhat familiar buzz cloud her mind. Though certainly no more than it did Emma, who undeniably had her beat when it came to all things liquor. Gradually, more and more giggles slipped in between her words as she spoke and by the time a lull in the conversation came about, she made up her mind that she was desperately tired of standing up. Making their way over towards an unoccupied couch, Callan sprawled across the cushions, stretching her appendages to take up every inch of the luxury furniture piece.

Emma had her fair share of drinks as well- after all, it was rude to leave someone drinking by themselves. Emma was quick to follow Callan to the couch, hovering over her for a moment before deciding to also plop down on the couch, well aware of the fact that Callan was occupying almost the entirety of it. She paused for a moment, searching for a topic of conversation, ”So, Cal, I've already interrogated you about the boys here... what about the ones before USARILN? Any fun stories? Tragic tales?”

"Oof! Callan cried as Emma sat on her stomach, though it was really more out of habit. Emma seemed to weigh about as much as a pillow-- definitely not enough to be a nuisance. "Make yourself at home why don't you!" she griped playfully, squirming easily out from under Emma until only their legs were intersecting.

Callan erupted into another small fit of giggles as the topic of boys came up. "I've had a few dumb crushes that never went anywhere," she sighed, But actually, I think that most guys might be, like... secret assholes or something? Like-- but only if you kiss them, right? Then it's like there's this switch.... I don't know. I haven't actually kissed very many people anyway. Only like... three? Oh! But I'm sure Marcus isn't like that. You're lucky, Emma." she giggled, but not even the booze could fully numb the small pang of heartache she felt as she said it. Her train of thought suddenly took a different turn, however. She groaned to herself as the memory came to mind.

" Oh my God, I totally have a story." she said, gripping Emma's arm as if it were ground breaking news. "Okay, it's not actually that great of a story, but I'm gonna tell you anyway." she chuckled.

"A week before I got picked up there was this big back to school party at Nate's. Gaby dragged me to it, she started, already missing details as the story spilled out like vomit, "And there was this guy-- Zac was there. I didn't really know him but he was the captain of the boy's basketball team. He was in a few of my classes and I sort of met him at this volunteer project we did last summer. He was tall and cute and funny...." Callan ran her fingers through her hair, "Anyway, Gaby told me to go talk to him because he was apparnetly looking at me and I didn't notice."

Her mouth twitched into a small smile, "So I went and talked to him. He was really funny. And really cute." She giggled self-consciously, pressing one hand to her cheek as her face flushed. The laughter stopped abruptly as she resumed the story, "Anyway, after a while he asked if I wanted to sit out in the backyard with him. It was really nice outside. And the fireflies were out and the moon was really pretty... we talked for a while. Just the two of us, you know? It was kinda romantic, even."

Callan frowned and tightly folded her arms, "That was my first kiss since 4th grade. It was really nice at first. We made out a little. but I think he'd had too much to drink... or I gave him the wrong idea... I dunno. Anyway, he unbuttoned my pants when I wasn't looking and I kinda freaked." She set her forehead up against her hand and sighed heavily, "Then he was like. Suddenly a huge asshole. He got real mad and asked why I came and talked to him if I wasn't going to put out."

She glanced down at her empty glass, swirling the last drop around the inside of the base as she was silent for a moment. "I haven't actually told anybody that story."

Emma laughed, both at the story and the fact that Callan was clearly drunk. ”Zac does sound like an asshole.” Emma agreed, ”You're right. Men... most men! Are all the same. Just assholes. Take it from me... only nice so they can get what they want.” Emma mused bitterly.

Callan brightened up and joined in with Emma's laughter, "Oh my God, yeah. That's what I'm saying, though." She laid further back on the couch, sighing in exasperation. "But it was kinda my fault, too. Like I probably shouldn't have kissed him I think."

”Nah, nah, nah.” Emma said, pushing her glass forward empathetically to highlight her speech, spilling a little in the process, ”You just kissed him a little, that's not a big deal, but man, trying to stick your hands in a girl's pants the first time you're doing that stuff? No way.” Emma leaned back a little too, ”That's why you gotta avoid guys like that. Captain of the basketball team? Guy's probably used to getting what he wants.”

Callan giggled for a moment, but she took the words to heart. "Yeah, no. You're right... He was an asshole. She tried to reassuringly nod while lying down, staring up at the chandelier. Apparently someone had turned the lights down at some point, but she didn't bother sitting up to see who was still hanging around after it had gotten so late. She yawn and stretched, clumsily trying to set her empty glass on the end table by the couch.

Callan's yawn made Emma yawn. ”Tired?” she said, the lethargy in her own voice evident. She knocked back the glass, finishing the rest of her drink and setting it down on the table. The moment felt oddly nostalgic- sitting here, on the couch, drunk in the post-party stupor... but now she was with Callan, who still oddly reminded of the person she was really thinking of. Emma stretched out across the couch, swapping from sitting to laying down herself, squirming in next to Callan.

Hopefully she didn't mind, because Emma was quite comfortable.

"Kinda" Callan shrugged, stifling a second yawn. She didn't say anything as Emma laid down, too. The couch was big enough to accomodate and the cushions were plenty cozy. The extra warmth from Emma wasn't a bad touch either. The bittersweetness that always seemed to linger whenever she spent time with Emma was almost entirely gone now-- whether by booze or the genuinely good times they'd had in the past few days. Replaced by a simple, happy feeling. Happy to have someone to talk to about stupid things. Happy to have someone to cuddle with. Slightly adjusting her own position, Callan felt like talking more than she did sleeping, but the jumble of words in her head couldn't keep up at the rate she was going. She almost attempted to mumble something before sleep finally whisked her away.

---

Lily grabbed the bowl that had the cheese flavored snacks and brought it with her, offering some to Sophia. Once in a while she would look over to the other girls. Some were getting drunk while some were merely talking. She would have jumped up and joined them, say hello and taste some of the drinks but it seemed like everyone was busy. And she had no idea what would happen to her if she got drunk. Her stigma was already a handful now, would it go crazy if she got intoxicated. No, no, just staying here then... Besides hanging out with the mostly silent Sophia was relaxing. She didn't need to worry if she should start making small talk or anything. But she did anyway.

"I guess you're not one for this sort of party too, huh?" she asked, munching on a cheese puff.

Sophia was getting increasingly uncomfortable as the minutes went by. So many of them were drinking, and she was the youngest here. She wasn't sure if it would have been best if she had left long ago and let the older crowd drink together. Interacting with the other people was something she wasn't considering anymore, watching was good enough for now. Though still nervous, she was feeling a little better now that she realized that no one was going to approach her. It was interesting to see how they talked and reacted, and to see who resolved arguments, who made efforts to approach people, and who preferred to wait for others to start conversations.

Taking another sip of juice that she had gotten, she looked back over at Lily as she was spoken to. She was surprised that Lily hadn't left her long ago to go and talk to the rest, she had thought that her friend was of the more social type. "Nah, I'm not. Too many people... end up doing nothing." Sophia shrugged. "Probably going to leave soon."

---

---

The Pentagon's basement floors were as confusing to navigate as its aboveground counterparts, but Vincent had been living in the facility ever since the United States' government bartered his citizenship from Vietnam in exchange for providing the weaker country military aid during the opening years of the Slumber.

He had already frequented the US prior to that, but never forced to remain under US military rule until 2011. For all his fame and power, it was staggering how little clout he truly had in the government. Even now he was only consulted for matters directly pertaining to subnaturals or Dreamcatcher's monsters. As a teenager, he had wanted to rebel against the established norms, taking up inspiration from old tales of vigilantes and superheroes. And the day he ran after Dreamcatcher on its slow, gliding walk through an underdeveloped countryside of hand-tilled fields and rice paddies whose owners were still fast asleep, he had wanted to change the world for the better. Fix the country's corrupt government that even his fledgling mind had understood to be broken. Save the people. Become a hero. Childish ideations.

Actually having power, however, wasn't about how many mountains he could fling before he exhausted himself. It was having a nation at your fingertips. Or, in the case of one USARILN director, a school of supernatural, magically gifted students at her beck and call. In exchange, she provided them a sort of sanctuary from the horrors of discrimination so long as they were willing to fend off monsters on command. On a bigger scale, the Precursors were under the same agreement, with a simple stipulation: if they ever fought back, Benediction would die first. The world's only known hope of revival, even from death, would be executed through a simple implant--similar to a pacemaker--that would trigger a heart attack. Any attempt to tamper with it would kill him as well. And the public would hear that the Precursors had killed the only power that could resurrect the dead. It didn't truly matter that most people would never have access to Benediction. The fact resurrection existed at all was a large beacon of hope to most in a world where death lurked and loomed from every angle. And none of them were so heartless that they would abandon Renard to die for their own "freedom," which would end up a perpetual chase until the day one of them slipped up.

Of course, the healer Precursor himself had always harbored misgivings when it was his life on the line, but to his credit the man had never faulted any of his teammates for their predicament. The government knew the damage they could wreak if left unchecked and the threat of death to the world's most competent healer was enough to stay the hands of countries, let alone eight magical humans.

Vincent and Julia had subtly offered to find a workaround to the death trigger implanted near Renard's heart, but a simple glare from the man had ended the double-sided words and implications. He didn't trust them to manage it without killing him and Vincent had accepted that the paranoia was fair enough when neither of them could perform surgery to remove the thing. It was just as likely that Julia's power would wear off and Renard would die from other complications of open heart surgery performed by complete amateurs with zero medical knowledge. And even with the aid of a practiced surgeon, there was no guarantee that the device didn't have alternative consequences on removal that they weren't aware of. Too many uncertainties, and Stella had only confirmed for every question and hypothetical solution Vincent could think of that "Yes, Renard will die."

No one was happy with the situation, but they had lived with it for years now. Among their skillsets, it just seemed like they didn't have the powers necessary to secure everyone's freedom without sacrificing the healer.

Now, though, with the events of the previous night behind him and a small hope, he had a few questions for the woman who seemed to maneuver through the current storm of politics like a leviathan through water. Her underground room was clean and painstakingly neat, the director of USARILN East seated behind stacks of papers and folders as she flipped quickly through a thick document secured with a binder clip where staples had failed.

She didn't acknowledge the Precursor stepping into the room, pausing only to take a quick sip from a cup of coffee nearby.

“So, the Hyatt Regency,” Vincent began with a curt statement, his tone remaining as flat and uninterested as ever. Without waiting for her permission, he took a seat in a nearby couch, crossing his legs on the coffee table in front of it and settling into his seat. He would be here a while.

But Zhang had interacted enough with the Precursor to understand the question behind it, so she looked up from her mound of paperwork, waiting for him to elaborate.

“And using your own money, too? What’s wrong with an official facility?”

"They refused to let over a dozen powerful subnaturals into the safest locations in the Pentagon and the White House, so I had to settle for the safest civilian-accessible location." As if that explained everything, she returned to her current file, content to let the Precursor stew in his seat.

"That's quite a lot of resources invested on these kids."

"Yes."

"Which begs the question why."

"I believe we've already discussed this. And no one should have any issues with my decisions since none of these expenses come from taxpayer dollars." The Director earmarked her location in the document and placed it on the desk, turning her full attention to the Precursor. "So what are you here for?"

"Let's just say that...I have a feeling you are still hiding an agenda from us."

"Even if that were true, what makes you think I'd just tell you?" She swirled the liquid in her cup briefly before downing the rest and looking to the nearby coffee machine, checking if it had finished brewing another batch.

"Thought I'd ask."

"Well then. You've asked."

"And I would like to ask some more." The Precusor remained in his seat, the message clear. He still had yet to accomplish what he came here for. "I want a favor."

"I make no promises." But she didn't turn him down.

"You have always had such an...uncanny luck when it comes to asking Stella questions." The previous night came to mind, when the Director had managed to find out when and where her subnaturals would be causing trouble. "I want to ask her something, too."

"I'm sure you don't need me to get what you want from Foresight. You are the Precursors' tactician, after all."

She stood up when the light on the coffee machine flipped from red to green, sliding her cup beneath the dispenser as the coffee poured out and filled the room with a hazelnut scent.

"But let's say I agreed," she continued without turning around, keeping busy with adding sugar and cream to her coffee, "what would I be asking her? And what's in it for me?"

"You will get a favor from me. From us." Vincent watched her back, choosing his words carefully. Because this was, no matter how he looked at it, treason. A dangerous offense. The underground rooms were the only safe locations to talk due to the excessive sealing and fortifications on every room in the event of emergencies. The same level of defense prevented any significant wiring for cameras or audio within the rooms themselves, and just beyond the automated sliding door, the paneling ofthe room could be made airtight in under a second if a biological attack commenced, the wall panels designed to close swiftly over the door's opening. He was lucky, then, that the Director had chosen one of these rooms during her stay rather than better accommodations on the upper floors. Or she was lucky. Again. "And in return, all you need to do is ask Stella about Renard's implant. Or more specifically, how to remove it."

"I could secure an even larger favor from the President himself if I notified him of this, you're aware."

The Director returned to her seat, a new cup of coffee in hand.

"You must be very confident in me to even present the offer. That, or you're not as intelligent as everyone believes."

"Perhaps a little bit of both." Vincent merely held her gaze, expression betraying nothing. "So what's your answer?"

"It's not a favor from you I care about. It's one from Benediction. Guarantee me a resurrection in the future should something go wrong and I'll see what I can do for your...situation."

"Deal." Vincent rose to his feet then. "I would wish you luck, Director, but you don't really need it, do you?"

She only smiled in response. "Some of us are just lucky."

As he turned to leave, the Director called out. "From my session with Foresight, Kadabra, something exciting will happen today, though telling you any more would alter the flow of events. At the very least, I'll tell you to stay alert and prepared."

"...Thank you." The Precusor paused for a few moments, then turned around to face Zhang once more. "And call me Vincent."

With that said, he left.

---

---

"You're fucking kidding me. They really went into Washington," Donovan groaned, peering at the fortified defenses of the city's outer rim where multiple layers of tall, electrified perimeter fencing hummed with live and lethal current. There were several different entry points into the city, but on the furthermost edges guards and K9 units prowled like a scene straight from a prison break movie.

It seemed strange, perhaps, that the city hadn't walled itself in like so many other small towns that had the resources, but the matter wasn't too difficult to fathom after some thought. Given the wide variety of Dreamcatcher creatures and powers along with the constant stream of refugees surging into safer, better equipped areas, most large cities had to cope with balancing both a strong defense and flexible city spread during the years immediately following the Slumber, something construction of a wall would have hampered incredibly. And even then, a wall wasn't nearly as effective as people wanted it to be. The near constant demand for ground-based fortifications had died down quickly when a massive sphinx had flown into the city and wiped out much of the main downtown square, decimating the old Pinnacle Theater in the process.

It was proof--horrible, yet effective proof--that elimination and fast response trumped standard methods of prevention. These weren't cockroaches that could be dealt with simply by blocking off routes of entry. These were full-blown monsters with a plethora of unnatural attributes and abilities courtesy of Dreamcatcher's interpretation. Most of them would not be fazed by a wall.

Now preventative techniques were focused on stopping any straggling small fry, while the city relied heavily upon Precursor intervention to withstand larger attacks. In the last few years, there had been progressively higher rates of monster assaults, though most of the public were spared the panic of awareness. USARILN East's first experimental unit, after all, had borne the weight of rerouting and annihilating the enemies at the steady cost of their own members, the group whittling down to the paltry six that remained, two of whom had been more recent additions within the last month.

But the payoff was the glistening city and its gleaming new downtown center, a gift worth the price of human (or subnatural, rather) lives. Not a shred of justice for the forgotten dead, nor would there ever be.

Perhaps what followed was deserved, then.

Donovan tracked the group of Aberrations Cat's Cradle had been chasing on foot and through teleports since La Plata, straining to catch the sense of relief and safety just as they passed out of his range. Even the notorious terrorists weren't keen on marching straight into the jaws of heavy military and the waiting Precursors. A game of cat and mouse between Jonathan and the enemy group's teleporter had ended with the other side's victory and escape, Jonathan's randomized portals costing them precious time in the chase.

And it was all the more disturbing that in one of the United States' most hostile cities, the runaway group had felt relief. The ginger suspected a safehouse, potentially. Or contacts in the city.

Contacts influential enough to let them pass through the security checkpoint without issue.

"I don't think we can challenge this, Nico," he mumbled, trying to sense anything other than the soldiers in the distance.

"They have two Aberrations about to become Animi and you're telling me we can't challenge that?" Nico's glasses were cracked in several locations and the left hinge wobbled dangerously close to breaking apart.

"That's exactly what I'm saying. It'd be bad enough just getting in and out, but to fight two at once and the Precursors? Not to mention a stray bullet can kill any of us if someone isn't keeping an eye out constantly for soldiers. That's a disaster waiting to happen."

Donovan felt the hypocrisy rise in his throat like bile. Just days ago he had argued about Nico's callousness in letting Wisford's civilians die, but he was all too willing to let the citizens of Washington fall prey to the two Aberrations just a few quick kills from becoming the latest in a long series of monsters.

"Then we wait here," Nico's voice pulled Donovan's thoughts back to the present.

"What? We're way too close for comfort. If we don't leave now there's a real high chance we'll get caught--there's no way someone didn't catch Maaya's giant worm display back there. We're lucky they aren't patrolling as far as this freaking hill!"

There was heat rising to both his neck and voice at Nico's stubborn insistence on staying. It was true that they couldn't pass up the opportunity where two Aberrations would change, but everything about the location was a death trap for well-known terrorists and their targets weren't close enough for Donovan to scare back towards an approachable distance.

"It's our lives to two more tries, Nico. I don't think it's worth it. ...And I don't want to argue with you. Feels like we've been doing that too much these days."

Whisper came up to them, then, the raised voices drawing his attention. Rhian followed behind him, her expression mirroring his concern. "Hey, Nico," she cast a wary glance towards Donovan before motioning towards the rest of the group behind them, "The others are getting kinda antsy. We want to know what the plan is. Are we waiting for something?"

Even from that distance, though, the group could already tell that they were far too late.

A nanosecond in time.

And for all the Aberrations in the city it felt like a choking firebrand gripping their necks across the lines of their mark.

But only two today. Just two.

Yes. Two.

Too brief to comprehend and just long enough to feel with every molecule in a body, but in the moment time stretched to eternity, running away from its own flow like it feared for its life.

Light froze and fractured and every particulate matter in the air knew its place like space itself was holding its breath and waiting to drown.

The Animi of Cat's Cradle felt the thunderous pressure crash over them again, rushing towards the vacancy of their Stigmas and into the sanctuary of their thoughts, slipping fingers into the gaps, widening, searching, peering.

And then it was gone, as if dragged away by a slipstream.

An emergency siren blared in the distance and suddenly the protective perimeter surrounding the city was in chaos. Soldiers craned their necks in alarm, some ran towards vehicles and others shouted orders to one another just before a low rumbling drowned it all out. A massive pillar of dirt and debris burst up from within the forest of skyscrapers and more recently erected watchtowers that dotted the city.

Before the dust could settle, a second noise drew all eyes towards the sky. A high pitched ringing accompanied a bright white light as it flared and condensed just before firing off a thin beam that, for a moment, seemed as though it were headed towards Roosevelt Island but instead plunged into the Potomac. Chilling flurries of snow spilled from the beam in short bursts, spiraling off in some direction like a rogue firework before exploding. The first wisp found its way dancing towards the reflection pool in front of several shocked and terrified citizens and tourists. With a sparkling pop, everything within an eight foot radius was completely encased in ice. Bloodcurdling screams increased in volume as, along with a small corner of the long pool, several people were frozen in place.

Meanwhile, a small whirlpool formed in the center of the river where the beam met the water. A massive hand composed of solid ice rose from the deep blue currents, reaching for the shore. Five clawed fingers, roughly the girth of redwood trees, plunged into the asphalt of one street, sending cars veering off the road and crashing into each other. A gargantuan shoulder emerged next, followed by a head and face that, aside from its icy exterior and frozen expression, seemed remarkably human. Two sapphire eyes were lifted high above the city as the ice giant rose to its full height and the beam disappeared. Standing in the river, frantic boats moved towards the opposite shore at excruciatingly slow speeds, leading some men to abandon ship in panicked confidence that they might outswim the monster. Unfortunately the temperature of the lake had fallen well past what any normal human being could withstand and those unfortunate enough to try their luck couldn't help but sink as the cold overcame them.

While the river's shores erupted in chaos, more screams filled the main streets thick with smoke and debris. On the northwest side of the city, a blob of gelatinous, transparent substance had formed. It was large, rivalling skyscrapers with its height and could easily engulf said buildings. Within the substance of its body, a floating heart and brain could be identified, and from those two organs, nerves and veins thread across the clear slime. The creature appeared harmless, its shapeless body devoid of any claws or fangs, until it began to catch people with its slime. Civilians and soldiers alike sank into the blob like quicksand as it spread, slowly but surely drowning city blocks.

In the distance, the air around one guard tower suddenly shimmered with jagged gray lines like the space was cracking apart, distorted by an unknown power. Seconds later, the walls collapsed in on themselves like paper. The phenomenon repeated a few moments later at another guard outpost, disabling the city’s defenses at a frightening speed.

By sheer coincidence, all of the threats originated from the far side of the city, towards the border of Washington, D.C. and Bethesda, Maryland, leaving the White House and the safest political havens and buildings untouched for the moment, but with an ice titan as tall as the Washington Monument lumbering through the town, the blessing of distance was a small one indeed.

In the Hyatt Regency Hotel, pandemonium had broken out among the staff and occupants, with many of the VIPs and major political figures ushered quickly towards the safety of the White House bunker. Those with less ties to the government were directed towards an underground tunnel that led to a fortified shelter just outside the White House grounds--one of many developed under the city for fear of this exact event. There was no concern for the subnatural occupants of the top floor, with only the USARILN soldiers rushing to their rooms and calling for backup from any nearby military troops. The deafening crash of a building toppling just several blocks away cut the message relay short and Officer Brahms was the first to issue orders to the students themselves.

"Two or three hostiles in the city, all high threat!" he barked as soldiers ran to pull students out of their rooms and into the living room. "And a monster we're classifying as a three until further notice! Orders are to evacuate and regroup for an assault once backup arrives--"

The entire building rumbled as the titan broke into a sprint, tearing through the city haphazardly. Military fighter jets had already sortied and were firing from afar, but the creature was already retaliating in kind, breaking off segments of buildings and pitching them towards the planes. A giant swatting at flies. One of the thrown building sections--a fifth of a high-rise office building--smashed into the ground level of the Hyatt Regency's East Tower, the force of the impact crushing half of the ground floor and destabilizing the entire tower. The skywalks that connected the towers creaked and groaned dangerously from the impact and sections of the glassy encasement broke off, shattering on the ground far below.

But it was a jump from the ice titan that did it, the creature jettisoning itself forward to lunge at another squadron of jets hammering missiles into its rapidly repairing body. The impact of its landing about seven blocks away was an earthquake and the unsteady tower lurched.

Once.

Twice.

Then toppled.

But the royal penthouse suite had long been advertised as "bulletproof" and "bombproof," boasting about the multiple layers of protection anyone staying on the top floor would receive. And it wasn't all smoke and mirrors. The tower collapsed forward, tearing away from the attached skywalks and falling across New Jersey Avenue and the shopping plaza across the street, sending debris, glass, and dust surging out of the impact in a wave.

Inside the intact penthouse suite with its fortified walls and floors, most of the windows had shattered on impact, raining glass onto the students tumbled onto the side amidst the scattered furniture and spilled snacks from the shelves. Several soldiers were dead or injured, bodies crushed by sofas or injured by chandeliers. The wall of broken glass was now the floor and the adjacent wall, with its row of shattered windows, was now the new doorway.

Officer Brahms was unresponsive near an equally knocked out Lawrence, both rendered unconscious by the fall and impact while other soldiers attempted to move furniture off their fellow military.

Emma and Hazel had, by a miracle, landed on an upturned sofa, sustaining only light scratches from the hail of glass. One of the soldiers still standing glanced at the two and, gritting his teeth, fished Brahms's phone from the downed man's pocket, tapping at a few commands that opened all of Hazel's cuffs save for the original school's cuff and the collar around her neck.

Ernie was pinned under a coffee table nearby, but the glass and wood structure wasn't heavy enough to be of any serious threat. Sander and Marcus had tumbled cleanly onto the new floor of windows and glass, both sporting lightly embedded shards and small gashes across their bodies. Brent, Lily, and Chris had been partially buried under a mountain of miscellaneous items--lamps, small end tables, cushions, and the broken frames of various paintings.

A larger group of Grant, Kusari, Siena, and Callan had fallen onto each other into a large dog pile, in that order with Grant on the bottom, nearly speared through by Kusari's claws. Angel and Sophia were half caught beneath a bookshelf a short distance away, the weight of the damage looking almost certain they'd suffer internal hemorrhaging. Gregory, Zoe, and Allison had been caught by one of the chandeliers and its torn wiring in a corner, tangled and held down by its weight.

Christmas had stumbled near the balcony during the hotel's initial shakes, and had barely avoided tumbling out in the fall. When the entire hotel had finally crashed to its side, the balcony segment had broken off, dropping him a short, but painful distance to the group below where a broken edge of the railing slammed into his leg, impaling it as another bar stabbed into his side.

Between the pain and his short, uneven breaths, he had no time to scream.

---

Grant sat up quickly, his breaths heavy and his head the usual disaster it was. That dream again. He wished it would just... stop. Wishful thinking. As he knew, all his wishes were eaten up by the position he found himself in. He sighed, his chest burning a bit. He got up just in time for the world around him explode in chaos. A siren sounded off somewhere, and he turned his head to the window. Something was happening.

It was time to move.

A soldier came into his room just in time to pull him out and into the living room with everyone else. He looked around at everyone, the tight knot in his chest long forgotten. Before the Officer could finish his orders, the earth shook. Everything shook. He barely kept his footing, his chains getting ready... Stay calm. Stay calm. Stay... Another shake. Everything began to tilt. Slowly. Slowly. Everything began to fall. Slowly. Slowly. It’s as if sound failed to keep up with what was happening. He looked up as he fell, ready to catch whatever fell. That’s what he thought. Three fellow classmates were above.

He wasn’t ready for this.

He hit the floor, hard, fast. The air knocked out of him, noise filling the air with the sound of glass shattering. But that wasn’t the main threat. One. He felt pain and blood seeping from his side. Two. His ribs creaked and everything hurt as he was pressed more against the floor. Three. ”AGH!!” He let out on instinct. He couldn’t move. Everything hurt like hell, and he couldn’t move. After a few moments, he felt he weight lighten a bit, but it was still there. His eyes wandered up, looking at just who had fell atop him. A classmate he has not yet identified and… S...Siena. He thinks. His mind swam as he recovered slowly, and as it did, the weight lessened even more.

He had to get up. He squeezed his eyes shut and his chains began to move again. They snaked up to the remaining unknown classmate on him, and they attached onto her clothes. Slowly, carefully, she slid off of him, and he took in a breath, air returning to his lungs. His hand pressed down onto the floor to push himself up, but his hand only stabbed onto a small piece of glass. ”Ow…” He let out, using his other hand on a more clear spot, pushing himself up. A somewhat sharp pain pierced his side, his hand pressing up against the cut, blood staining his hand. His gaze wandered around, looking at the chaos of the toppled living room, catching his breath.

The people around him, pinned down by many things. He caught eye of Angel, along with another, much younger, subnatural. His feet began to move, crunching on the glass, toward the bookshelf, his chains swaying behind him. They lowered and touched the bookshelf, lifting it easily from the two subnaturals. Still a little breathless, he asked, ”Are... you alright?” to the two.

Peaceful days passed like the eye of a storm, and little did Sander know, he was far too unprepared to weather its devastating force.

First was the burning grip on their marks. Then something exploded. Collapsed. Shattered. Sander didn’t know. Couldn’t check, because guards were already herding them into the living room and issuing orders.

Then everything went to hell. Sander didn’t notice much else as the floor shook, hurling him onto shattered glass and jagged metal. Pain spread across his body, both from the impact and the bite of sharp debris. It left him breathless, and it took a couple of minutes for him to finally recover. He climbed to his feet as soon as he did, the process took far longer than it should have because of the shards of glass that littered the ground.

Droplets of red entered his vision. His. He knew by scent. But he turned his head to the left, and there was more red. Tempting. Too much, and not his. Then another scent hit him. Familiar. Too familiar. And too much as well.

Christmas.

His chest constricted, his lungs were starving air even when his breaths grew rapid.

Quick steps took him closer to the source, but all he found was a broken off balcony. He peered over the edge.

All he saw was blood. There was too much of it, pooling beneath the broken body. He could still see the ribbon. How it was all soaked in red.

With neither hesitation nor thought, Sander took a leap off the balcony. Wind rushed pass him as he fell, and he landed hard. More pain in his legs as they collapsed beneath him, sending his face toward the ground. Instinctively, he braced himself on both of his arms, only for something to snap in his left wrist.

He fell sideway, breathless and dazed from the pain. His mind remained lucid though, enough to know that jumping off a balcony was a terrible idea. But he couldn’t really care, because Christmas was right there, bleeding out and dying.

He couldn’t let that happen. He couldn’t, yet at the same time, he didn’t know what to do, besides what he had always done: charging in. Without the bloodhigh, Sander was painfully aware of his own mortality. But that didn’t stop him from jumping. Didn’t stop him from pushing himself up on his good hand and knees, ignoring the protest of his injuries as he dragged himself to Christmas’ side.

How could so much time pass in an instant?

From the sirens to the rise of the monsters to the violence that had erupted afterwards, Brent hadn’t even had time to grab what remained of his gear before soldiers busted in, pushing the well-dressed subnatural out into the living room. From the ceiling-high windows, he could see the cacophony descending upon the once-glittering city.

A frozen titan, smashing apart fleets of fighters like nothing, cracks in its crystalline form sealing just as quickly as they were made.

A translucent blob, swamping the streets with its aberrant mass, swallowing everything whole in its viscous body.

An unknown power, crushing towers like cans, undisturbed, unstopped, crippling Washington’s defenses in mere moments.

He could see all that, but he couldn’t comprehend it.

And then, it all fell down.

---

Gravity pulled at them, and immediately, Brent dove for one of the leather couches within the living room, practically slamming into it as silver blood coursed through the objects. His hearing was busted already, the combination of the penthouse smashing through another tower and the sudden altitude change disorientating the arbiter, but he didn’t care.

This was like a month past.

A life or death situation, where hesitation meant destruction.

“RGHHHH!”

Through clenched teeth, Brent pulled the closest person to him, Lily, with him onto the couch, as the material expanded in volume, wrapping around the two subnaturals in a cushy, marshmallow-like substance. But that wasn’t enough.

Harder.

It roared, like an engine on overdrive, more and more of that magical blood pumping into the object as it warped and burned and twisted and softened, until it became almost like a coffin, the arbiter hugging one of the most important members of Experimental Unit B as tightly as possible while the world turned to ruin around them.

And even then, with three overclocks to dampen the impact, his breath was still knocked out of his lungs as the penthouse smashed into ground. With that much damage on an already unstable, sloppily constructed form, the couch turned into ash, material disintegrating. The smaller objects that had previously been above the ‘coffin’ now fell, but it took little effort for Brent to push them out of his way. His arms were numb, and all around, he could see blood and bones and wreckage.

It felt like floating, and he didn’t even realize he was slowly suffocating Lily in his embrace until moments afterwards

Chris laid there as well, and without even a thought, Brent shoved the draconic mage off him, before releasing their healer.

His ears rang. It was a different sort of tragedy compared to Wisford.

His nose bled. It was a different sort of tragedy compared to the outskirts of Crimen Culpae.

His vision blurred. It was just like Exeter, a tragedy that he could barely react to.

And just like then, he was still here, alive.

Slowly, not yet able to trust his own legs, Brent stood up. Allowed himself one deep breath that took in all the blood and death and dust. Pushed everything aside. Focused. And then…

“CUFF TRANSMIT!”

Shout to silence the fear.

“EVERYONE THAT’S STILL ALIVE, SAY SOMETHING!”

His eyes turned around and around. Siena, Ernie, Marcus, Angelic, Lawrence, Chris, Lily, Kusari…the count continued, one after the other, until the arbiter realized…

“Dammit, where’s Ch-” Sander’s movement was all he needed. Caring not for injury, the x-marked blood mage had leapt out the window, an unpleasant snapping sound ringing clearly above the chaos, and Brent soon followed, leaning out.

Oh god.

“Lily, get over here!” he shouted, amethyst eyes glinting violently, “Christmas is down! Transfer those wounds to Kusari, fa-”

But the bars skewering the boy would still be present, wouldn’t they? And the drop was high enough that Sander was just lying there, body broken. And even disregarding that, everyone was injured one way or the other, some still stunned, others still…

Done so soon?

“Ernie, help me out!”
@Kyrisse@banjoanjo

---

---

A caustic flare searing through his throat. Something to go with the burning vice gripping his skull, he guessed. He probably deserved it.

Ernie had uselessly hoped that the emergency sirens would be the worst of the nuisance waking him from his midday nap. The noise seemed to physically bash his brain in with every infernal wail.

“Hammer head,” he groaned, blindly pawing for his canvas bag as a soldier barked orders to evacuate.

There was no time to take it in. The sudden brand on his neck. The ice giant he glimpsed through tired, half-lidded eyes. The world turning sideways yet another time. Ernie had summoned his rope in the blind panic, feeling impact but no pain as gravity took its brutal course. A cacophony of shattered noises, screaming both human and mechanical in nature invaded his ears. He felt the weight of something stiff and unyielding rest on his chest. He was safe, for now. His rope had saved him from another fall. Physically he was unharmed. But Jesus H. Christ.

This migraine would fucking kill him before any tower fall would.

Grumbling incoherently, Ernie pushed the coffee table off him and tried to make sense of everything happening. His classmates were here, some pinned, some in trouble. He…he needed to help, right…?

A sudden lurch of his stomach and Ernie bent over, barely managing to keep his meagre breakfast in. His hands alternated between clutching his neck and holding his head in some attempt to block out the noise. Neither actions were doing anything to help. It was like molten lava seeping through his skull, scorching and pulsing with every fucking beat of that distant siren. Ernie resisted the urge to curl up and just lie there until it went away. Getting away was the biggest priority. He just needed to…just needed…

“Rrrrgh!” Ernie suppressed another groan as Brent’s voice blared through. Another call from Brent, not from the cuff this time, and Ernie heaved himself to his feet, lumbering unsurely to whatever his friend needed. The Aberration vaguely recognised the prone, bleeding form of Christmas through his daze and understood the situation immediately.

Searching around, Ernie found a rod-like object to latch onto in the form of a long, broken frame piece. Feet were planted firmly on the floor. The rope latched onto the frame piece and was tossed over the side. With that, traction was secured. Ernie looked to Brent with a silent nod, signalling the “a-okay” with his free hand before closing his eyes and massaging his forehead.

Urgh, hopefully he’d get some time to recover while everyone got themselves sorted.

Christopher Francis

Everything happened so fast. Chris barely had time to armor his body when the building toppled over. The impact made him a bit disoriented, buried under debris he didn't even notice there was anyone near him until he felt Brent move him aside. The movement jolted some of his perception.
He was a bit surprised, and thankful, that Brent's voice came on the cuff. Not that he particularly liked Brent, but that meant that there were survivors nonetheless. Hopefully the whole crew was able to survive, and while he didn't want to admit it, most of his thoughts were on what was Siena's fate.

"Y-yeah I'm fine." The arbiter spoke lightly, knowing Brent was near him.
"Cuff Transmit."
There was a pause as he was still trying to get some of his bearings.
"This is Chris, Don't bother digging me out I can take care of myself, focus on anyone else that needs it. I'm going to start transforming now so if there is anyone near me you have about three minutes to clear away."

If things weren't so hectic right now he would have waited to make sure there was space for him to transfer as to not risk others, but shit was going down now and he couldn't afford to waste time with his transformation. Helping survivors wasn't his specialty, he needed to go on the offense as soon as possible. According to Brent's screaming Christmas was already down, hopefully he isn't dead. More over, the others could take care of themselves well enough, Brent seemed to be taking the role to restore order and get everyone else that needed help. He remained confident that Brent and whoever else that were still OK could take care of that.

Even though he felt his body crushed under all the objects that covered him, Chris began his transformation. His hardened scales over his body cracked and fell apart like glass as the skin beneath began to sag and blacken into tar. It took a great deal of willpower not to scream through the pain and otherwise odd body experience. He felt his crushed body weaken as he began to pool over the floorboards.

---

Burning was the first thing that Zoe registered. It hurt, agonisingly, like someone was branding her across the mark. Searing, sudden pain. A cry before she gritted her teeth, air hissing through in sharp breaths as her breathing got under control and the pain started to subside. Oh, that hurt. That really, really hurt. Perhaps it would have felt worse to someone else, but then, she never minded pain so much. But what was that?

Her throat, her mark, it had been her mark. What the hell did that mean? Didn't make sense. Something was wrong, something was really really wrong.

Zoe didn't know what was about to happen as the feeling subsided, but she knew it wasn't going to be good. The siren was loud as it started, too loud for her to want to deal with, hammers pounding in her head. Monsters. An attack of some kind. The ice giant wasn't something she could fight, that was for sure. And it was huge. A blob... thing, that was equally gigantic, but seemed more natural. At least it had veins and a heart. As for the other, it was--

They were falling. A complete loss of control, and somehow this was a whole lot less relaxing than in the dreams. Maybe because it was only a matter of time before they stopped, and wires tangled tight around her limbs. Painfully, certainly tight enough to bruise, but nothing was about to be amputated.

She groaned, dazed and confused, trying to figure out what was going on. They were being attacked, she knew that much. Normal monsters were bad enough, but now it was giant monsters. Of course it was giant monsters. And she was stuck on a fancy light instead of doing something about it. Well, she'd made plenty of bad decisions, but at least she was right about one thing yesterday. Fuck chandeliers.

Still, she doubted her classmates were going to up and leave without fighting the damn things, despite the fact that everyone in this city could charitably be described as a collection of gaping assholes where Unit B were concerned. Nope, it would be all about the 'greater good' or some other crap. Stupid virtuous morons. But they wouldn't listen to her, and they'd think she was a coward for saying anything, instead of just someone that realised this was a thankless task.

Zoe didn't want anyone else to die. So that meant she had lead the charge, take the most dangerous job she could do. And also that she couldn't be lying stuck under a goddamn chandelier while they ran off and got themselves killed. She glanced at the others, trapped in the same situation. Gregory was no use, but--

"Allison, cut this thing!"

Of course, it had probably already occurred to her classmate, but it made Zoe feel like she had some control here to be yelling. Even if she sounded like she was being a bit of a bitch, arguably that wasn't an inaccurate assessment.

Either way, the girl cut them free, and Zoe stood, slightly shaky and hurting in more than a few places as she pulled the cut wires off of her arms and legs, tossing them aside. As for her powers... Zoe wasn't placed to be rescuing anyone here, even if she wanted to. And being surrounded by so many classmates in various states of injury was putting ideas into her head that she preferred not to have. So long without properly sating anything. Really, some of them were a mess anyway, so why not--

This wasn't good, and Zoe looked suddenly half-rabid, especially with the hungry, desperate bloodlust that left her eyes shining as she looked at the carnage. She had to leave, and quickly. Raising her voice a little, but still speaking quieter than she would have liked, couldn't be sure how many would hear.

"I'm sorry. Can't stay here, not safe."

No, it was getting very difficult to hold it back. Because they were so weak, and she'd let herself start to get closer, and... Oh god, she wanted to so badly. It probably looked bad when mixed with her expression. But then, it was better than the alternative. Because making it go away meant, well...

Not me.

Monsters. There were monsters. She could kill them. The blob, the creature, she could kill that. It had a heart. If it had a heart, she could kill it. And it wasn't someone else. That was good. Better. Better, yeah. She wasn't out of control, not yet, but she would need to hurt soon if she stayed. So weak, so vulnerable.

"Transmit." Smiling so wide, even as her words faltered. A laugh, borderline manic as something dark twisted her expression. It'd be so easy to make them all scream. Stop that. "I'm going after the blob, you guys can catch up. Over."

At least they'd know she was alive, too.

And with that, she ran, ignoring the pain in her legs and the scrapes left on her body, the aching lines of bruising where the wires had wrapped around her. Ignoring the injured classmates behind her. It always came back around to that now. Pain. She didn't want to let it be theirs. Past the blood, past the carnage. Past everything and out onto the streets alone. It was safer this way.

It had only been a hour after Angel’s dispute with Emma, but everything was still so intense in Angélique’s mind. The recent verbal bout with her Aberration classmate had poured oil into the fire that was the singer’s Stigma. The thing had been left unchecked for almost a whole week now. The volume of the whispers had grown tremendously without any real way to sate her destructive urges, given the group’s current circumstances. And it was now taking its toll on Angel’s unfortified mind. She had grown restless, impatient, aggressive.

To sate whatever destructive lust Angélique was feeling, she locked herself up in the gym this late morning. As she told Zoe, they couldn’t sate their Stigma like they used to in Ground Zero, but whatever she could manage to work with, she’d do it. Despite the roaring headache caused by her slight remnants of hangover, Angel just pounded the punching bag in front of her though the pain.

Kill herself. Destroy every part of her being that she wasn’t satisfied with.

And then everything went to hell.

The burning on angel’s throat was unbearable, nothing she had ever felt before. Not even the stinging pain from reaching her power’s limits came even close enough to that branding-like sensation. Feeling as if she had been attacked personally, egging on her already bad mental state, Angel shouted out in pain and rage, a sonic wave erupting all around the gym that shoves everything away from the Aberration and toppled them over. What was happening to her?

She did not have much time to ponder over the situation as the sirens and distant rumblings could be heard from outside. There were no windows for Angel to see what was going on, but it was evident something went wrong as a guard came to get her. She had expected to be tazed or shot down, as per warning of that guard a night ago for what she did in the room, but it wasn’t the case. She was brought into the living room with her peers, all standing there and waiting.

Two earthshakings. That’s what it took for the whole world to seemingly fall down all around Angel. Instinctively, the raven-haired older Aberration reached out for the girl standing next to her, Sophia. Whatever the fuck was happening, she would not let another young girl get killed by strange turns of events. Wrapping her arms around the dark-brow haired teenager, Angel held on firmly to the girl, trying to cushion Sophia’s fall with the athletic body Angel had.

Unfortunately, little did she expect that the fall wasn’t what caused the most damage. It was the bookshelf that came down onto the two. Despite the Aberration shielding most of the young Arbiter’s body, the heavy thing came crashing hard enough for Angel’s body to crush the little’s girl frame in her arms as well.

Angélique could feel something had snapped in her body as she suddenly felt intense pain flaring up in her sides from the bookshelf crushing her body. A broken rib, a vertebrae, a punctured organ, she could not tell. She wasn’t a doctor, and she never sustained an internal injury this bad in her life. The pain was intense enough to emancipate a loud, pained gasp, followed by a muted shout hissed under gritted teeth.

She was dazed, the world spinning upside down and her sensitive hearing was shortly deafened from the cacophony the building made when it fell. Still holding Sophia tight in her arms, the obsidian-haired young woman barely registered the shifting weight as the bookshelf was removed from her crushed body, only letting out another gasp of pained groan as the shifting weight caused her internal injuries to flare up once more.

She did not initially answer Grant as he asked if she was well. The pain was too intense in her sides to voice a coherent answer. Her mind was still foggy as well. But when Brent’s alarmed voice blared into her cuff, the Voice Mage knew she would better answer than make her classmates worry over her apparent broken body.

“I’m… alive and-” Angélique let out a painful gasp. God, even talking wasn’t helping her case. “I may have… hnngg… something broken.”

Her voice was faint, strained. But her pained words reached out magically with ease to everyone within range of her newfound ability. The daze would not go away. In fact, it only seemed to worsen as minutes passed by.

For once, she was not bleeding out. She was bleeding inside. And it was way more painful and worse than suffering a bloody external injury.

But hearing Zoe’s words echoing, and that unsettling laugh, Angel wanted to get up. Get up and fight. No… she couldn’t leave her be like that. Not after swearing she’d look over her and prevent the darkness from claiming her red-haired friend.

But as she tried getting up, she was paralyzed from the pain in her sides. It was too hard to move around with something that severe.

“Zoe… please…” Another agony-filled gasp followed by coughing blood. “Stay safe.” Her lips moved without speaking, her voice reaching out almost-telepathically to her fellow Aberration training partner.

---

Lily was curled on the sofa in the room she shared with Sophia, her eyelids fluttering close. She was slowly drifting off to sleep, her mind filled with thoughts of the brother she had no idea what looked like intermixed with the voices that incessantly whispered about death and destruction. A few more seconds and she would have entered her dream world that was always plagued with nightmares and horrors. A few more seconds and she'll see those faceless people again.

Is one of them Sebastian? she thought in her sleepy daze.

However, before she could completely sink into unconsciousness, a searing pain on her throat made her sit up, her hand automatically touching where it hurt. Her disoriented mind tried to make sense of things. Did she take on another injury? Whose was it? How bad was it?

Her hand touched smooth skin. There were no cuts or burns on it and strangely enough, the voices in her head were quiet. There were no whispers of hurting others. Silence. But while her stigma was silent, the outside world erupted in chaos. There were sudden sirens, rumbling sounds and soldiers barging into their room, one of them pulling her to her feet.

What's happening? She didn't say it out loud. She didn't ask. This was how they were always treated anyway.

The golden haired subnatural blinked the sleepiness out of her eyes as she tried to slowly piece together what was happening. She wasn't hurt. There was no injury to transfer. She was still in the penthouse they had been put up in.

Hostiles in the city.

Monster classified as three.

Evacuate and assault.

What. Is. That? she thought as she looked towards the window, at what looked like an ice colossus coming closer. She didn't have time to think or to notice the other monstrosities that had come down onto the city when the whole world tilted.

She had no time to react, no time to duck and cover when things began falling on her. A cushion blocked her view while some other heavier stuff fell on her. Again, she had barely time to react when she felt someone pull her. She was sandwiched between something soft and a warm body, strong arms holding her in place. At first it was comfortable but the longer she was held that way, the more she found it difficult to breathe. "Can't... breathe..." she muttered and took a sigh of relief as soon as she was released.

As soon as she was free, she froze, her entire body becoming rigid as her senses were bombarded. So many injuries. Broken bones, cuts, bruises... blood everywhere. She didn't need to see them. She can feel them all around her, the he shout that came from the Arbiter that shielded her from injury barely registering to her. She wanted to help everyone, she wanted to take all the injuries at once but she needed to calm herself.

You can't hold them all by yourself, okay? You need to stay alive. Ernie's words echoed in her head.

He was right. She needed to prioritize and not haphazardly taking everything without thought of how she'll be able to handle them herself. She zoned in on the worst of the injuries and even before Brent called out to her, she knew the extent of the damage. Penetrating wounds and broken bones. Two people. But who were they that had been injured that badly?

A feeling of dread came over her even as the black thread materialized on her wrist, it's other end hovering just above her head, waiting for her to direct it to its target. It wasn't the pain that she feared but the violent thoughts that came after it. She came over to the window as fast as she could, sidestepping broken furniture and glass and trying to ignore those with minor injuries. At the corner of her eye, she saw Angelique and felt what was wrong with her even before she heard her say it. The thread above her head floated slightly towards her location but the golden eyed Aberration stopped herself.

Sorry, Angelique. I'll get to you soon, she thought grimly as she stopped just beside Brent. Ernie was there too. She looked down.

Christmas and Sander.

Her eyes took in the scene below them. The healer was bleeding. If she didn't act fast, he would die. But there were broken railings impaling him. She can't transfer those to herself. She needed someone to remove them first before she can take the injuries. And right now, the best person to do it was the person at his side. And that person had broken bones in his legs and a broken left wrist. It was clear who she needed to heal first.

"Take those things stabbing him out, Sander," she called out in a voice that sounded stronger than what she expected. As the words left her mouth, the end of her thread wrapped itself around Sander's wrist.

The small teenager crumpled to the ground as the blood mage's injuries transferred to her.

Hazel Baker

It burned.

Her throat burned. Her world shook and turned upside down, but her screams drowned out even the pain from the shards of glass cutting her skin. Hazel only noticed everything had stopped once the extra cuffs came off her, freeing her from most of that feeling of mental suppression.

Emma seemed alright, as with the rest that she could see. There seemed to be a few injured among them, but those can be healed. They did have people who can heal wounds among them after all.

No, what she was fixated on was the monsters rampaging through the city. The rumble of the giant's footsteps, every move it made, every time it destroyed something. It sang to her, the destruction, the noise, the sheer chaos. She wanted to... No... She needed to fight. Something, anything to make that music louder. Even if her body breaks. It only took her but a moment to run back into her room, taking off the robe and leaving only the oversized shirt on, before putting on the chainmail she had piled neatly into a drawer.

Zoe had already disappeared, apparently going after the ooze.

"Transmit. This is Hazel Baker. Engaging the ice giant," She blinked, pausing for a moment. "Recommend retreating. Over."

Hazel only stopped for a moment beside Emma, to hand her the white collar she always wore. Without a word more, she projected a large fist around herself and launched herself into the sky. With another projection she threw herself upwards again, and again, moving faster and faster as she did so. With a final throw, she redirected her flight path towards the ice giant. Not directly at it, but aiming for somewhere just to the right of the creature. She didn't need to go directly at it after all.

Projecting a huge 30 meter sword, again an almost exact replica of the sword she bought, she swung it straight towards the middle of the ice giant as she flew past it, activating all her abilities at once, ensuring anything she cut would explode.

Christmas couldn’t remember ever feeling like he both was and wasn’t present in this way. Pain stabbed out his breath and voice and the dampness around him was a sure sign that everything would be over soon. But he felt like he was nowhere and going further away. It hurt and if he was screaming, he couldn’t hear, but everything was surely fading away into the pain and the nothing and Christmas wondered, as tears drained slowly from his eyes, if he had the strength to stay even now. Maybe it would be easier to go; run from the overwhelming world. Be in that “nowhere” that was the only place he belonged. Dust and sky blanketed his vision and Christmas waited for the wind to take his breaths away.

Once his wounds were healed, Sander blinked in surprise, but didn’t look up. He already knew who. Instead, he quickly looked over at Christmas, because his roommate required more attention. There was just so much blood. His hands hovered, shaking. The voice above urged him to remove the protruding bars, but Sander didn’t know if he could. Didn’t know how.

All the while, the Craving stirred in the back of his mind. He still needed its strength.

His hands quickly absorbed the pooling blood around the blond boy, fueling the power of his high and sparking to life the healing mist around his and Christmas’s torsos, though one no longer needed healing and the other couldn’t be healed through that power. Once that was accomplished, Sander turned back to Christmas, breaths shallow and eyes wide.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” -He mumbled, words jumbled and slurred together, but his hands had grown steady. He gripped the jagged end of the metal bar in Christmas’ leg first -”Forgive me.” -As the last word left his lips, Sander pulled.

The healer jerked with the motion, screams little more than keening gasps from the onslaught of pain and shock. He stared at nothing, pain blinding him to all but the most basic recognitions.

“I’m sorry. J-Just one more. They will heal you.” -More desperate mumbles as Sander’s hand closed around the metal bar sticking out from Christmas’ lower torso. His free hand reached up to brush against the blond boy’s cheek, the touch feather-light -”You’ll be alright. I promise.”

If Christmas noticed the touch, it didn’t show on his face, pale and gasping for breath with eyes wide and blank. But his arm fumbled mindlessly after the brief contact before falling still again.

Sander quietly yanked the stray piece of metal out this time, hand quickly pressed against the gaping wound as soon as he did to slow the bleeding. Yet, warmth still seeped between his fingers, and the Craving suddenly spiked, becoming far too much. Sander held his breath and turned to look at the balcony above, waiting.

Emma felt stupid for not seeing it coming. For thinking that the week could pass quietly by relatively free of incident. No, that wasn't the kind of life they led. Not anymore. She'd tried so hard to devolve into normalcy, despite D.C.'s prejudices, despite the constant reminder of their reality on her neck, buried in the doublethink of declaring herself Subnatural, being a subnatural, but trying her hardest to convince herself she was Human.

It was all so stupid.

She'd been resting on the couch when it started, scrolling idly by on her phone, keeping up with the news surrounding them and texting a certain someone. of course, she didn't realize there was anything wrong until she felt the burning pain in her throat, like hot coals sliding down her esophagus, like hands pressed upon her neck. The only indication she gave was a scream cut short by her attempts to catch her breath, panicked gasps that were gone before she knew it, a moment that stretched into eternity and then was suddenly just... over. The pain subsided like nothing had happened at all.

She shot up, searching desperately. Something bad was happening. A glance out the window and her questions were answered- monsters in D.C. again. It wasn't the first time- it was too late that she realized the building they were in was about to collapse.

---

It could only be described as a miracle, really. The fall was so sudden that Emma didn't have time to think about protecting herself, but somehow she got out mostly unscathed, landing on an upturned sofa besides Hazel. She got up slowly- her injuries were light considering they just fell from the top of a building, only scratches and minor wounds, but the wind was still knocked out of her, heart thumping wildly from the adrenaline rush that came from falling several tens of stories. She looked around- chaos around her, but people were starting to get up, the others hurrying to help those trapped and injured before she could.

"Hazel-"

She turned, seeing the girl was already up. Emma accepted the collar and then Hazel was gone before she could protest. Emma sighed. She still worried for Hazel, even if she was a single-minded killing machine. She couldn't exactly help her though. She held up the collar, examining it, trying to somehow divine what exactly it was that it did to Hazel. For now a mystery that was unsolvable. Instead she did her best to fit it in her pocket, roughly half of it still sticking out, but at least it was relatively secure and wouldn't take up her hands.

"Transmit." Emma said, still trying to catch her breath, "This is Emma. I'm safe... over."

Now, she just needed to figure out what the hell they were going to do.

Kusari slowly wobbled to her feet, her vision blurry and the room spinning. At least the room wasn't literally spinning anymore. She must have passed out, because she couldn't remember the room landing. She looked around, her eyes focusing on the first thing she saw moving, Zoe. Kusari looked passed Zoe and saw the culprit behind the destruction of the hotel. "Oh come on..." She groaned. They couldn't catch a break could they? Just how many giant monsters and rogue subs would they be fighting?

Her magic quickly brought her senses back to normal, and she looked around the room. No one seemed to be dead, well aside from some of the soldiers that had been guarding them. She couldn't say she felt bad about their deaths, they were just goons looking after their masters slaves. She switched her attention to Lily, who was making her way over to the balcony in a hurry. Kusari followed and saw what the girl was rushing towards. "Christmas." It didn't take an expert to see that he would die if he didn't get help soon. She may not like his timid nature, but she couldn't help but feel a crawling worry at the site of his bloodied body. That's the way it should stay, she didn't want to see this so often that it became mundane.

As Lily focused on the two of them, Kusari heard Hazel announce that she was going to attack the ice giant. Why were her and Zoe so quick to jump into battle? They had no obligation to fight, she didn't remember an order being given and this city hated them anyway.

A sudden burning gripped Allison's throat, forcing the breath from her. Blinding pain radiated from the aberration mark. She would've thought to lower herself into the nearest seat, but even such simple thoughts seemed to be driven away by the searing pain. Searing pain, followed by the appearance of a monstrosity made of ice, and a giant gelatinous blob. Had it been a week since their last fight already? These things seemed to occur on a fairly regular schedule. Things were only going to get worse. Suddenly, everything was falling.

A few solitary moments of floating, realization of what was going on, and silent waiting for everything to come to an end. Allison had survived climbing a monster made of pasta, as well as being stabbed in the eye with a table leg, but in those few seconds even she questioned the survivability of the situation. At the very least, something was going to break. Impact.

Breath flew from Allison again, the weight of a chandelier pinning her to the ground. Somehow, she had become tangled in it's wiring in her fall. Not good. Quick inspection. Zoe and Greg were trapped underneath as well. They needed to get out from underneath it. They needed to untangle themselves. The wires were constricting.

Zoe yelled something about cutting. She had yelled it at Allison. It felt way too loud, and it took way too long to comprehend. What did she mean? Cutting? Why Allison? The shard? Right, the shard. Allison's right hand was free enough that she could summon the thing. It felt like an eternity before it appeared in her hand, the familiar blade cutting through the chandelier and it's wires with ease. In moments, the trio were free, and able to remove themselves from the debris.

Allison sluggishly started to check herself for injury as she rose, allowing the shard to disappear. Nothing immediately felt broken, but with how sore every part of her was, it was hard to tell. Her fingers started to fly over her, checking for breaks, when she started to notice the transmissions from her classmates. Brent wanted everyone to say something, to make sure they were alive. Allison needed to do that as well. Her hands fell to her side before completing their mission. Checking herself for wounds was tiring, she needed to catch her breath first. She needed to say something. Allison took a deep breath, preparing to say she was alright, before she watched Zoe dash out of the remains of the suite. Not good.

The action shocked Allison at least partially out of her sluggish stupor. There was no way that she was going to let Zoe fight something like that alone, even if she could destroy it single-handedly. Besides, She wanted to use the shard more, just itching to stab the giant blob, no matter if it worked or not. She had to follow Zoe.

"Transmit." Allison's breathing was becoming less labored by the moment. "Going after Zoe," her voice was cold and tired, "over." Suddenly, Allison's legs started carrying her, as fast as they could, after the dangerous redhead.