Mitch blinked, and shook her head to a room where nobody could see. Chosen breaking ranks, odds dwindling, more and more lines converging in unfavorable directions. She swallowed, and kept tapping away at her machines. Amity and Saika had surged on ahead, but the team would not be so divided for long. Mitch tapped her com into the Blessed channel again, a new steel in her voice. "The body count is rising- Three, now." She cleared her throat. The evacuation alarms were still droning on in the endangered sector, and a few adjustments to the traffic grid on Mitch's end assured that nobody else would be coming in behind the team, at least not in a car.

"I've also fixed the lights for a few blocks around you- I'm rerouting any inbounders to keep bodies out of the way." Her eyes, owlish and tracking like a security turret behind their lenses, let on to far more of concern than her voice. There was nobody left to send after them if things went south- the security forces could not leave the gates weak, and the remainder of forces were on deployment. Normal police would just be flesh against something like this, and possibly tripping stones among chaos. "Good luck, and gods be with you."

-----

Maeve breathed in through her nose, and out through her mouth. She put her hands in her lap, folded. Then she fidgeted to shift the way she was sitting, and her hands found their way to her seat belt. Unclick. Click. She pulled at the edges of her gym shorts. Then, hands back in the lap. Her green eyes skimmed back and forth with a motion akin to reading as her gaze fixed on a spot out the window and followed it for a moment as they passed. It was an oddly nice day to go full-on Saturday morning cartoon on some 6'6" bitch, she thought.

She leaned back to look at the ceiling, flickered with a light on the roof. Someone cleared their throat. Her gaze and hands fell back into her lap.

Morgan was across from her. Weird kid. She opened her mouth to say something, maybe "we got this," perhaps, but nothing came out. She covered it with a cough, which gave her hands something else to do. She nodded to the disembodied voice, and cast a glance around when Clifton spoke. When she landed on Oren, she did manage to choke out, "I'm on you." What she really meant to say was, "I'm with you, on your mark." She didn't say that, and gave Silvarae a squeeze on the shoulder instead of horribly mangling the phrase "We can do this, but please don't run away on us."

The road wasn't peeling away fast enough. If this truck went any fucking slower, she was going to-

They stopped.

Thank the fucking gods, they stopped.

Maeve was standing as soon as she felt the parking break, and out the door before Clifton could even get it all the way open. Because Odin in an omelette, she was going to lose it if she sat in that sardine can for another fifteenth of a second. She caught sight of Makorai's flare, and definitely heard him.

Good- make the thing come to you. A fair fight on even footing was better than some running around nonsense. "We gonna do- Um." She looked to Oren, who seemed to know something about this. "Your call, boss."

For several long moments, the jotun and the lady faced off in silence.

Then it all happened at once.

The explosion of a flare over head, the gasp of surprise, the blast of a shotgun, the crash of the jotun diving into the furniture and a roar of pain and fury as the shot winged the world eater's shoulder and splattered blood upon the wall and floor. The jotun dropped onto her hands and knees and threw her head back, noise of rage shaking the windows, a noise far closer to a wild animal than a human.

And as it roared, fire began to bloom out of its hands, spreading across the carpet and up the walls with alarming speed. Soon in addition to the noise of the jotun itself, the sound of screaming smoke alarms and the sight of billowing smoke issued from the house in turn.

--

Over with the Runes, Oren had spent the journey silent. It would be pointless to express her grim view on Amity and Makorai's actions, and any logistics that could help at this point were Mitch's area of expertise. Any knowledge she had to impart was coming too late. She was just going to have to hope they took her word for it.

Maeve's rather mangled delivery of what she assumed to be something like 'I'm with you.' elicited a short nod from the Isa rune, and little else. At least in part as the red-headed woman was not the team member Oren was worried about.

The light of the flare in the sky caused her to bite the inside of her cheek in barely-repressed frustration. Few minutes in and this was already veering off-protocol so drastically there was little hope of returning to it. She had a very bad feeling that this fight might have a number on it.

As they drew to a halt, the young woman hopped down and turned her head immediately towards the awful noise.
"It's inside a house."

Dawn left the truck’s back as soon as the path was clear, eyes steeled, lips sealed into a tight line. It hadn’t gone unnoticed that she was the sole member of her team to have taken the ride with the other Runes- both by her as well as Clifton. She had given him as grateful a smile as she could manage in the time being, although her mind was elsewhere. It hadn’t gone unnoticed that they were heading straight into the heart of the suburbs on their path to the Jotun. It hadn’t gone unnoticed that, upon stepping out onto the sun-heated concrete, a brilliant flare was sent into the sky, casting a bright red glow across the sky.

Makorai had arrived before them. Without hesitation, Dawn reached into her purse and drew her gun, gripping it tightly. The crack of the shotgun and the howl that followed- there was no possible way that could spell anything good. Especially with Isa’s confirmation that the beast wasn’t just roaming backyards and hopping from one street to the next. It was in someone’s house. And, if the shot was any indication, that someone was home.

She stared off into the direction the sound had come from, a sort of horror budding in her chest as smoke began to curl its fingers into the sky. She glanced back at the group. “I think there’s people still inside,” Dawn said. “We need to do something. Fast.”

While Makorai was already at the house, running off on her own in a blind panic to try and save whoever remained inside would only put both herself and the others in danger. Better to work out some semblance of a plan first before they charged in.

---

“Thank you.” It was soft, but still audible enough for the transmitter to pick up on as Mitch cut out. There was little else to say. The Runes were wonderfully, incredibly talented, and already possessed enough strength at their fingertips to make even professionals envious, but most were still novices. Rookies. It would be their first time that some would even see a World Eater up close, and Madison just prayed that it wouldn’t be their last.

He slipped out from behind the wheel, shutting the door behind him and joining Clifton and the Runes behind the truck. Bright red light cast odd shadows across his face, making his worried frown seem somewhat warped. “If there are civilians still inside,” he began, “then I’d say that our first priority should be getting them out. If you all could keep the Jotun distracted for a time, I might be able to help any survivors escape.”

Madison pawed around in the folds of his own satchel, fumbling a moment before pulling a notebook and pen from the depths of fabric and knicknacks. It seemed an odd means to defend oneself with- Madison was just as aware of that as anyone- but it was one of the best weapons at his disposal. Runes were the best weapons at his disposal. He gave the pen a click, looking over at Clifton.

“Mr. Clifton, would you be willing to help me in the search?”

He spoke calmly, quickly, but the worry in his face was as clear as day.

A flare shot up into the sky, illuminating the heavens above with a crimson glow.
Amity stopped in her tracks, a slowly spreading grin on her face. Flicking her eyes down away from the flare, she caught sight of the others down the road she stood on. She pressed her foot into the ground, shooting down the street with enough speed to leave a tailwind before she hit the ground and slammed her fist into it. She skidded to a stop, sliding past Makorai and leaving a long hole in the ground where she'd jammed her fist. She paused for a moment, watching the house. She'd arrived just in time to hear a gun go off.. a shotgun?
There were people inside.
Growling deep in her throat and straightening herself up, Amity dropped her giant weapon with an incredibly loud clanging noise that echoed around the area. She parted her jaws, dropping the sword clenched between her teeth onto the floor as well before tossing the blade in her left hand into her right and gave a loud, affirmative grunt before shooting forward into the now-burning building. She cleared the area quickly, taking a deep breath-
People.
And a J-
"JotunJotunJotunJotunJotun-
No, now's.. nnnnnot the tt-ttimmmmeee.. save.. sssssavv-vve- peop-ple..
Save. People. Save. People. Save. People. Jotun. Save. Peopl- Jotu-PEOPLE.
SAVE. PEOPLE. SAVE-THE-PEOPLE. SAVE-THE-PEOPLE-IGNORE-THE-JJJJJJJJJJ-
J O T U N.
IGNORE.
J O T U N J O T U N.
IGNORE THE STUPID THING.
J O T U N J O T U N J O T U N.
I SAID IGNORE IT!"

She shot up the steps and through the front door, following her nose as she dived through the house. She bared her teeth as the scent of Jotun grew thicker and thicker and, eventually, Amity skidded to a halt in the kitchen. Her eyes shot open as she immediately shot over to the Jotun and, while it was still recovering, booted it violently over to the nearby wall. It didn't go through, but the thing would've smacked into the wall hard enough to crack it. Panting hard as rage boiled through her veins, Amity was ignorant of the fire around her. Turning to the lady, her crimson eyes glowed brightly as they reflected the fire.
"Take.. your kids.. run. Now! Friends.. are outside." Her eye twitched as she spoke, struggling to force her mouth to form the words she needed to say, speaking between haggard breaths from the effort of forcing her brain to work. Immediately after, however, she turned back to the Jotun and gripped her sword in both hands, feeling a feral screech building itself up in her throat as her eyes locked onto the form of the Jotun.
Holding it back and doubling over a little, Amity's eyes glowed violently in the fire-coated room.
"Why.. are you.. even... here.. JotUN?!" She roared the final word, her rage-filled scream echoing off of the walls as her grip on her weapon increased- almost cracking the hilt between her fingers as her knuckles turned white.

She didn't care that the house was turning to a flaming wreck around her. Her eyes were focused firmly on the Jotun before her.

---

Kana stepped out onto the grounds of the Blessed's lovely mansion, making a face as she took a deep sniff. Shrugging her shoulders, she quite casually sauntered out of the base. There was a lovely scent on her tongue, actually, brought to her by one of the many thousands of tiny little snakes that sat around the city. Humming to herself, Kana looked back over her shoulder with a small smile.
Almost every room in the mansion was now host to a nice little snake, barely visible to the human eye and definitely not visible to any security cameras. She gave the camera nearby a wave, wondering if Mitch was watching, before skipping over to the nearest wall and leaping over it. Waltzing over to a nearby car, she yanked the door open and sat down inside.
Reaching over to pull out her phone, she clicked her fingers and the driver nodded, immediately taking off down the road towards the smell of.. something. Humming to herself, Kana flopped around in the backseat several times before making a noise. The only car going towards the attack was pretty conspicious. Sitting up, she gave the driver a grin.
"I'll call ya later babe, got some buseeneesh to attend to, ya feel me, homedawg? Yeah? Yeah! Nice, have a good day, your horns are nice and sparkly today!" She gave the driver a grin, sliding out of the nearby window and rolling across the asphalt. Brushing herself off as the driver quickly got out of there, Kana pulled her phone from her pocket. Dialing a number quickly, she licked her lips excitedly and watched the commotion at the end of the street.
"Heeeeeeeeeyyyyyy buuddyyyyyyy. I'd like ya ta do two thingies for me, mhmmm~ First, I'd like you to, uh.. leave a meeting remind with the upset guy. Secondly, I'd like you to book a nice suite for me- just one night. No big deal, promise, something upper class and fancy. The casino? Something likely very busy and very not likely to be attacked. Okay, thaaankies! Byebye! Sayonara! Arrrrivederci! Tschuss! Awh, no, you hang up first! No, no, you! You~! Psh, you're such a cutie. I could just gobble you up- literally! I'd totally eat you whole! Huh? No, no, that's a compliment! Ciao!" Slipping the phone back into her pocket, Kana skipped over to the nearest wall and slammed herself against it with a grin.
"Dinner and a show, eh?" The pale girl looked up for a moment, leaning casually against the wall and closing her eyes.

"Yes," Clifton began in quick reply to Madison's query. "Myself along with the--" but whoever and whatever was going to happen would never leave his mouth.

"Miss Amity!" Clifton shouted as he saw her trajectory. He tried to tell her to wait, but she was gone. No, no, no. Blasting inside with no backup? She could not be in two places at once. She could not both fight the creature and ensure that the civilians made it out safely. And the structural integrity of the home seemed to be decreasing every moment. Concern and frustration roiled in the agent's chest as his bright eyes darted among the remaining rune bearers. This required a snap response.

But there was no semblance of organization here, or even illusion of oeganization, just scattered individuals who were either unsure of what to do, or brashly taking matters into their own hands.

Silvarae, her posture coiled for battle, had followed Amity's lead and was charging into a flame-licked window frame, scattering blackened shards of glass.

Volkir was close on her tail, a tinge of bloodlust in his expression, as potent as his earlier sugarlust.

Thank the gods, the civilians came stumbling and coughing their way out of the hot smoke.

Clifton rushed forward to help the woman with one of her children. The little ones were lagging and she had one in her arms.

There was an almost unnoticeable balking at the prospect of touching the filthy ash-covered kid, but he took him from the woman's arms gently nonetheless and hurried him farther from the house, jerking his head for the others would do the same for the other straggling civilians.

The family was more or less safe.

But now three rune bearers were inside an increasingly unsound building, rearing up to fight with a Jotun in possibly the worst possible fighting ground Clifton could imagine.

Makorai was foolish, but he wasn't entirely foolhardy. The flare, while obvious, and ignorant as some would rightly say, wasn't a symbol of brashness, but rather, a beacon for the brawn and booty that made up a point of the pyramid that was his team. He heard the rest of the team settle in behind him, moments before Amity struck ground like a living bolt of lightning, tearing the asphalt beneath her like it was gravel beneath a skidding truck.

Ahoy the- He stopped immediately, her eyes mirrored those of a beast more than a woman. He recognized that look, and in that recognition understood she wasn't going to hear anything he said.

He quickly realized that coordination was out of the question. Which was fine with him. He didn't have much of a head for planning.

"Dawn!" He called back, waving at her. "I'm..I'm probably just going to start shooting it so...I don't know."

He had planned on checking who was inside of the house before he started shooting, and, if possible, getting them out. Since that had already been accomplished by Mr Clean Cut, he figured it was time to start shooting shit.

Going into the house was a no go. Too hot, too much smoke. Hard for him to see. Instead. He'd find a vantage point.

"What do you want to do? Because I'm not running folk out of the area, we got enough people doing that."

The shot sounded, flames were licking the windows, and smoke was billowing through any crack it could find. The fire was in the roof, climbing into the crawlspace and sparking against the fluffy insulation. It gnawed at the wooden beams of the walls, thinning them and splitting the fibers into curled, charred tangles. Maeve still hadn't gotten used to that- Just knowing what the fire was doing. She could feel it growing and spreading and billowing off of the body of the Jotun.

And the Jotun was in the house and, now, so was Amity.

The residents came out a split second after Amity ran in, and were whisked away by the only people around who felt remotely like adults. Well, the only two real adults. Not mid-to-late 20 somethings who worked two night jobs and lived in a shitty flat without air conditioning and lived off of protein shakes and beer nuts. And sometimes beer.

Non-adult food.

Maeve looked to Oren, only to catch sight of Volkir and Silvarae rushing past them and into the house. "Son of a-"

Maeve took off running running after them, having seen something else in their path: Through the window, just ahead of them, there was a ripple to the air. Not heat- it didn't feel hot. But a ripple she could see from this distance, like the ripples of propane off of a grill that had gone out. "ZERO! Put it out! Someone, put it-"

There was no way for Volkir or Silvarae to have known- No way to have seen the shower of buckshot clip the burner valve off of the gas stove in the kitchen, below the window facing the team. No way to know that gas was pouring into the room, and certainly no way to know that Volkir's body smashing the glass would draw flame into fresh air, and then into the open cloud of gas filling the kitchen...

The bang was louder than Maeve had expected- The wall of flame rushed over her body and she skidded to a stop, unharmed but clothes singed. She could see through narrowed eyes the blinding brightness as Volkir was propelled behind some wall of the house and out of sight. Perhaps onto the roof. The kitchen wall splintered into bits, and popped a few more times for good measure before the gas pipes were melted shut.

Maeve threw up her hands out of instinct, and the explosion parted away from what was left of the team.

It did not, however, stop the momentum of Silvarae's corpse. The former Rune bearer's broken body, or what remained of it, continued out toward them. Her torso stopped a yard from Maeve's feet. A spurt of blood bounced upward where she hit the ground.

It splatted on Maeve's leg.

One of Silvarae's legs, however, was somewhere else.

"Z- Zero-" Maeve looked behind her, face white and flecked with ash. "We- we gonna fucking do something? Isa-" Her hands balled into fists, and she nodded toward the other side around of the building. "That way's- That way's better."

She cleared her throat as she took off around the alternate direction. There was less fire there, it seemed. "And that was a fucking lot."

And it smelled less like burned body.

It was as Makorai looked toward Dawn expectedly, waiting for her input on how they should proceed, when he heard the explosion. A body soared past his field of vision, and landed with a wet slap on the adjacent pavement. As Makorai looked over, surprise clear cut on his lightly reddened face, blood began to pool around the body. The skull had been split by the concrete, which was quickly being soaked by fluid and brain matter. Eyes wide, his brain identified the corpse from recent memory. It was that kid, the strange one who was kind of creepy.

Well now, he was kind of dead.

A leg had fallen in front of him. He hadn't noticed in light of Volkir's final entrance. Mutely, he bent down and lightly touched the metal plated boot attached to it. His hand burned, but he hardly noticed. This boot beneath his palm had been attached to that one girl. The one with the heart on her sleeve she had so desperately tried to hide behind bravado. Makorai could feel his stomach drop.

Makorai stood up, and wordlessly took a deep breath, followed by a sudden flinging of his now empty sake bottle. It struck the top of the burning house and shattered.

"How about everyone stays the fuck out of there other than the girl who pulls off doors." He forced his words out through gritted teeth. If he had been greener he'd have asked himself how everything had just gone to shit. He knew now. This is how it happened. He'd repress it for now, repress their bodies and repress the events so he could focus, so he could shoot with a steady mind.

The jotun had sprung to its feet just as Amity collided with it, sending the creature into a wall with an impact that shook the building and dislodged chunks of brick. It rose again quickly with a feral snarl and turned its crimson gaze on Amity. It looked from her, to the sword, and back to her, before dashing forwards with alarming speed and swiping at the Uruz rune's head with enough force to split open concrete. Her aim might have stood some change of landing true, had the explosion not shaken the place, throwing her off her mark with its force.

Flames poured through the room, surrounding the jotun, who was, as one of the children of fire, both unharmed and unfazed by it. The flames ate away at patches of the top she wore, leaving more of the greyish, fractured-looking skin. The crack-like markings seemed to glow dull red in the scorched room. The heat had all but cauterized the wound across its upper arm, which was now black and sticky. Emobolded by this, the jotun roared and surged forwards, making another swipe at Amity with an intent to grab her. If it could get hold of her then it would be over.

----

Complete chaos. Rather than wait for Clifton or Madison to give the order, runes from teams had already broken formation and run towards the danger. She moved to call after them, but the moment the first cleared the window.

Boom. In a split second Oren could feel it. Feel the rune on her back seem to flicker and diminish a little, like a candle in a bell jar. Algiz was dead.

She was not the only one. At least one more body lay like a broken toy far from the point of the blast.

Her remaining teammate was looking toward her, about to take the next route into the current vortex of death that was the burning house. Sowilo rune could protect you from the fiery death that had consumed Silvarae and Volkir. But there was not a lot it could do about getting crushed by a collapsing ceiling. Not to mention they were now working at half capacity with one of Heimdall dead and the Aett Field diminished.

The woman spoke up, shouting over the roar of fire.
"Listen! If you don't want to end up like that then you don't go in and you do as I say!"

"Ansuz. Kenaz. You don't feel a change, right? Your power does not feel diminished? If so you're the only ones with a full aett right now and you need to make use of it. We have to lure the jotun outside. As long as it's in there, it has the advantage and the hazards of the environment are more likely to kill us than the jotun is. Kenaz, do you think you can create an illusory raid in there, let it think its cover is gone? Ansuz. Try and work out what the hell is going on in there and where it's going to breach. Be ready because when it does it's coming out fast. Sowilo, going to need you repressing the jotun's fire when it breaks out. House is a lost cause at this point. Laguz hang back. At this rate we're going to need you. Berkano? Where's Berkano- SHIT!"

As she tried to locate the rune needed for using roots to prop the house exactly what she feared happened and the house gave a drunken lurch as the side that had just exploded began to collapse under its own weight. The Isa rune broke into a run forwards and extended her hand towards the crumbling wall. The cracks and charred gaps of exposed masonry of the building glimmered merrily against the flames as weaved through the cracks and locked it in place like mortar. She stopped next to the broken body of her former teammate, stepping over it as if it were a potato sack. Her steely grey gaze was all on the house. The constant heat from the fire was going to be fast eroding her improvised prop, and the house's water supply was already compromised, so she was struggling to pull anything to work with from the dry air. She had no idea how long she could keep this up, but it wasn't long.

"Uruz! If you are still alive then get the fuck out of that house!" she shouted over the roar of the fire. Almost out of water. Almost out of time. Unless. She extended a hand out toward Silvarae's body, or more accurately, the pool of blood that surrounded the bearer of Algiz. It began to collect from the ground and bend to the Isa user's will, collecting into a cloud of icy crystals before being directed into the collapsing wall, now tinted a cheery pink by its content. Waste not want not.

Having done this, she turned to look back at the remaining members of the runes.
"Get to it."

Where was Berkano, Oren asked?

Trying to find a way to save the hostages she didn't know were already safe.

Jeddah, like many other runes, had immediately started sprinting across the ash-dusted pavement. Her compassionate nature did not allow her to sit and wait for orders.

Unlike Silvarse, Volkir, and the more fortunate Amity, however, Jeddah did not have the skill and thirst for battle and desensitization to danger woven into the fibers of the muscles that had propelled the others into sheets of flame. She needed to find a safer way in. She couldn't help the helpless if she was dead.

But as she rounded the corner, she spotted a small cluster of people, a few paces down an alley. Some of them were mere teenagers. Some of them had their phones held high.

"I caught it through the window a second ago."
"Oh my - did you see that? Someone else is in there!"

"Hey," Jeddah cried, incredulously jogging to them. "Get out of here. What's wrong with you? Get as far away from here as you can!"

This might have gotten no response if it wasn't for the sudden explosion that rocked the ground and burst windows even here on the other side of the house. The spectators stumbled back and scattered, disappearing around the next corner. Jeddah could hear their shouting fade...in tandem with the flickering of her rune. She pushed her hair out of the way and placed her hand on it. Her stomach was it knots.

One man, however, hadn't moved.

"Hey. Sir," said Jeddah, approaching him with urgency. "You need to leave."

"You're here," he acknowledged with a charming half-smile. He stood with his hands in his pockets, looking calm as can be about the fire and chaos.

"Yeah, well, I'm - I'm chosen by the gods," Jeddah said weakly.

"Oh. Well in that case." He didn't move, looking at her like she was a dumb kid playing make believe.

He seemed like a real douche canoe, but that didn't mean Jeddah wasn't going to save him from his own stupidity. Sufficiently flustered and annoyed with his smug, terse replies, she looked toward a patch of weeds crowing in the cracks of the cement and coaxed them to shoot upward, growing ten times their length in the space of a second. Then she turned around and showed him the rune on the back of her neck.

Now his curiosity was piqued. He examined the marking, twirling something in his pocketed hand.

Now, Jeddah thought, he would take her seriously. It did not come naturally to the sweet natured girl, but she mustered her most authoritative voice. "You need to get out of here, now, or - "

Those were her last words before cold steel slit deep and clean through corotid, jugular, and trachea.

Spire - Fenrir, Fenris Wolf, Fenrisulfr, but Spire for now - held her up with one arm around her waist and the one with the short combat blade grasped in her hair while she sputtered and gagged and jerked against him, so that he could easily pull her further from the main road while continuing to examine the marking with a calmly satisfied air.

The smell of the bright thick blood cutting theough the scent of the fire and the charred meat and the much closer traces of the coconut soap in her hair was a pleasant distraction from his task, but the berkano rune on her skin was clearly fading, like a trick candle in a strong wind.

It disappeared entirely at the same moment as Jeddah's blood soaked body went entirely limp.

Interesting.

---

The ride on the way was silent, each of them thinking to themselves. Morgan stared at his hands, shaking slightly. He didn't want to be here right now, on his way to fight a Jotun. He didn't even want to be a Rune. He just wanted to be home, with his mother. He wanted to be taking care of her, not with this group of older people who all had more useful powers than he did.
They arrived, and Morgan hadn't even noticed it. He shuffled out of the car, his hands grasping each side of the double blade. He felt like maybe he should've used a longer distanced weapon, but he didn't have much experience with that. He'd have to learn because he felt like he was mostly there for defensive purposes.
Everything was flying past him and over his head so quickly, that he couldn't grasp it. So instead, he grasped his blades tighter.

As Morgan stood there trying to comprehend what was happening around him, he heard one of the others yelling for someone to "put it out". As Morgan began to look up, the rush of flame engulfed the building before him and he had to shield his eyes. His heart lurched, hurting so that he stumbled a little. He looked back up, tears stinging his eyes. "Who was in there...," he said at first, not so much a question as a statement. "Who was in there?!" he screamed now, glancing over to Maeve and then his eyes landing on Silvarae's torso. "Oh gods," he muttered under his breath, looking away and around at the others who were standing with him. He heard someone yell for Laguz to hang back. Wasn't that what he had been doing?

Morgan fell to the ground, scraping his hands along the way as he gave out a yell of pain and his heart lurched once more. What was going on?! Had...had both of his other Laguz members...no, he refused to believe it. He wasn't alone, he wasn't, and couldn't be.... But he knew they were. Something in his Rune told him that his fellow Laguz members were dead. Everything had happened so quickly. He couldn't understand any of it. What could he do? How could he be helpful?

Morgan decided that staying out of the way, for now, was his best bet. It took him a moment, but he stood up and watched as other Runes ran towards the building to try and bring the Jotun outside. Tears ran down his cheeks, not by his command, as his subconscious mourned for the two Runes he had barely even known.

At first, the only response to Kana’s question was silence- well as close as one could feasibly get to silence with all the crackling of flames and earth-trembling bursts and shouting of innocents and Blessed alike. Then there came the faintest of flutters from the depths of the nearby alley, the click of heels against pavement, and a young boy came strolling into sight, a shy smile on his face. As if he had been caught with his hands in the cookie jar, and was readying himself to mumble out an apology.

It did nothing to temper down the dark, almost hungry look in his eyes, however. A sweet face could only do so much to hide the true nature of the Yggdrasil dragon, after all.

“I suppose that you could call it that, Miss Kana.” Nidhoggr, or, rather, Gael spoke softly, joining the serpent against the wall. “I had come here to watch, mostly. But I suppose that a meal wouldn’t be out of the question, either.” He watched the scamper of activity in and out of the house, although his gaze was focused on one person in particular. A dark haired young man, charging into the depths of the burning house after a rather athletic looking blond.

And then flames burst from the windows, blossoming outwards like the petals of a wildflower. Bits and pieces of flesh and meat flew outwards, propelled by the blast, and, lifting his head, Gael could catch sight of Volkir’s remains as they rose and splattered across the cement.

Gael’s face seemed to brighten considerably, and he began to bounce a little on his heels, curls bobbing with the movement. In another time, another place, perhaps the sudden...excitement? impatience? might have come across as endearing. “That one,” he said. “He murdered his parents years ago in cold blood. Their deaths meant nothing to him.” There would be the matter of waiting for the rest of his number to disperse, of course- a lone child arriving to pick over a corpse would do little but arouse suspicion- but patience was a virtue. Gael could wait. He steadied himself, drew a pair of lollipops from his pocket, and offering one to Kana, unwrapped the other and corked it into his mouth. Cherry-flavored.

“Did you come to watch as well, Miss Kana? It’s certainly proved itself to be quite the entertainment.”

@Kuroakuma

---

To say that things “weren’t going well” would have been a severe understatement.

There was the sharp crack of concrete somewhere off to the side, and Dawn turned just in time to see Amity- the last piece their team had needed to be whole again- charging into the now-burning house, face twisted into an animalistic snarl. She had just enough time to call out “Wait, Amity-” before the woman swung out of sight, two others on her tail. Volkir and Silvarae.

Thankfully, despite the rapid disintegration of the team, the civilians seemed to be making it out safe- escorted away from the worst of it by Clifton and co. With the most pressing concern out of the way, Dawn turned towards Makorai to respond.

The sound of the blast drowned out whatever sound she might have made.

Dawn’s head snapped back around, eyes wide with alarm. There was the distinctively organic slap of meat against cement, of bone snapping. Mutely, she looked from the charring ruins of the house to the pavement surrounding her.

The body of the strange, pale young man from before lay in a steadily creeping pool of crimson, the white of his skull just barely visible beneath the tangle of hair and exposed brain.

And a leg. A boot.

“Oh dear gods.” The words came out in a low whisper. It wasn’t the first time she had seen a body. It wasn’t the first time she had seen ones that were...fresh, either. But that hardly detracted from the fact that it was only mere minutes- seconds- ago that they had been talking. Moving. Alive.

Dawn sank her teeth into the soft wall of her cheek, forcing herself to look away, give Isa a nod before facing Makorai. She chose not to focus too much on the pale pink ice that now made up the house’s foundation- for now, at least. “Shake me if we need to move,” she said. With that, her eyes glazed over, and her rune glowed beneath her sleeve. Her fingers tightened unconsciously around her gun.

From inside the house, the Jotun would suddenly hear the shrill cry of tires against pavement, followed by shouts and cries of warning- then, soon enough, footfall rumbling its way inside the house and towards the kitchen. Looking outside would only yield the sight of scores of armored trucks parked outside, and if she waited, it wouldn’t take long for the “soldiers” to burst into the room.

With any luck, that would encourage the Jotun to leave.

@Magister@VitoftheVoid

---

Madison watched with anxious eyes as three of the Runes charged into the shuddering building, hand open and extended as if he had half a mind to charge after and grab them before they could get any farther. “Stop, please!” His shout fell on deaf ears, and, taking one step forward, he shook his head and went instead to aid Clifton in helping the survivors get to safety. Trying to go after them now was a lost cause.

One of the escapees was a young man, limping as fast as possible away from the scene, but visibly struggling. A long, grisly burn crawled along the side of his left leg. Madison rushed over, tucking his shoulder beneath the man’s arm, and, murmuring reassurances, began to lead him away as fast as he could manage. They were only a few feet away from the truck when the sudden burst of an explosion caused the man to stumble, and Madison to look over his shoulder, lips parted in a silent gasp.

The house was in ruins. Even from where he stood, Madison could see that the explosion had easily taken out most of the building. He could see the lone torso of Miss Silvarae lying on the ground, swords still attached to its back. He could see the blur of movement as another, dark-headed body was flung away like a ragdoll.

Two.

Two out of three.

Madison swallowed thickly, shutting his eyes for a moment before turning away. “Come on,” he said, softly, sitting the man down. Miss Silvarae. Mr. Volkir. He had spoken to both on occasion, had hoped to come to know them with time, and now…
Drawing a small pocket knife from his purse, he cut away some of the fabric from the man’s wound, taking in just how deep the burns were. The muscle was quite clearly visible, ringed and charred with blackened flesh. The knife was swiftly tucked away, replaced by clipboard and pen. Madison’s fingers sketched down a familiar pattern- the rune of Laguz, the healer- then lightly tapped it, pointing it towards the gentleman and causing it to glow softly.
Slowly, soft, baby pink began to creep over the burning red, and the man audibly sighed in relief. It wasn’t a perfect job, but it would let him move without too much trouble.

From the corner of his eye, Madison could see more survivors making their way towards the truck, some of which bearing injuries as bad- if not worse- than his patient. Nails digging into his clipboard, he walked briskly over to Morgan and place a gentle hand upon his shoulder.

“Morgan.” Tears were running down the boy’s cheeks. Madison gave him a squeeze, eyes sober. “I...I’m sorry, Mr. Sydnous. But I need your help.” He gestured behind him, towards the wounded. “I can’t heal them all by myself. I need you to attend to those with more life-threatening injuries. Do you think you could do that?” Madison waited a few moments before returning to the crowds, kneeling beside an older woman. Her arm was bent in the entirely wrong places, and she was clutching it and howling.

His heart ached for the boy. But as unfortunate as it was, the situation allowed them little time to mourn. Not now, at least.

@GoodLuckTuck

Oren's plan made sense to Mako, he could tell this really wasn't her first rodeo. She was one of the few that had been in these kind of high stakes situations, he could tell. Shame the other two experienced fighters had been blown to pieces. Makorai took a deep breath, and prepared his rune, till looking at his other team member. He'd keep her alive for this run. That was his solemn, silent promise to himself, and to her. That wasn't a dig at her experience, she clearly had it by the way she could focus her power, but the simple fact that a P.I. would never have a reason to be ground zero during a Jotun incident.

"I got your back Dawn." He responded, softly.

His eyes closed, but his world wasn't darkness. There was still the muted glow of the sunlight lighting his eyelids. Next came a length of fabric, one that looked like it had been torn from something larger, and expensive. He tied it around his eyes, securing it firmly in the back.

Makorai took a deep breath, and the rune on his forehead glowed. In his minds eye, Makorai could see a scene unfold from all angles, he could see Amity's face, twisted in rage, he could see the Jotun, focused on tearing her opponent apart.

He could see the chaos of Dawn's illusion SWAT teams busting in.

His hands blurred around his weapon, switching ammunition and tweaking the firing mechanism to switch from bolt action to semi-automatic.

"JOTUN, LEFT SIDE BREACH, INTO THE STREET."

The future wasn't a passive stream. It was active, it could change on the fly. It could even be influenced.

Staying beside Dawn, Makorai raised his rifle, and began to fire into the building, shooting with a sight far beyond his mortal eyes. High caliber rounds ripped through fence and wall alike, each one passing inches away from Amity, and toward the vicinity of the Jotun, enunciating the threat Dawn's phantoms posed. No bullet would hit his teammate. He knew where she'd be, seconds before she did.

The jotun swung at the Uruz rune, teeth bared and hands wreathed in crimson fire. The creature was in no hurry to abandon its cover, especially with one of its attackers separated from the rest.

That changed when the sound of footsteps crashing into the kitchen reached its ears and several shots thudded into the floor. The world eater hesitated, looking back and forth in something approaching alarm.

Outside, Oren stood, steely gaze toward the house. The place was falling apart. Keeping it upright was only going to deplete what little she had to work with. Uruz was going to have to look after herself now.

With the call over from Ansuz, Oren hurried round to the left side, listening over the roar of the fire.

Wait for it-

CRASH!

The wall of the house exploded as the grey shade of the jotun shot through the storm of rubble, trailing fire behind it. Bits of scorched brick and plaster flew in all directions, and Oren took off at a sprint right across the path of the wall of destruction that was the world eater. Just as she crossed in front of it, the Isa Rune dropped into a slide, her hands contacting the ground and raising a slick of ice in her wake.

The jotun hit it with a burst of steam, and its feet were ripped from under it, heavy body slamming into the asphalt and beginning to liquify the tar. Oren sprang up on the other side, shouting as she extinguished the fire on the sleeve of her coat.
"Sowilo! Suppress the fire! Rest of you, fracture points on its body are its weak spots! Aim f-"
Isa cut off as a swipe from a the downed jotun forced her to spring back, narrowly avoiding a blow that would have shattered her knees.
The thing was getting up, they had very little time.

Maeve had never considered herself a squeamish woman, but in all of five minutes, she had catalogued a considerable list of things she would puke about at a later time. Her gaze was deliberately on the house and away from whatever Silvarae's body looked like drained of blood, but she still had a good idea of what her night was shaping into: She'd have a nice blanket, a trash bin, and the unavoidable mental slideshow of Silvarae's transformation from woman into strawberry icepop on a late-night-infomercial loop. Would it look like spilled daiquiri mix when it melted, or more like first-floss-in-a-week spit in the sink basin? Probably, Maeve figured, it would look a whole lot like the grimy water she helped mop off of the ring floor with push brooms at the end of a long night.

A gurgling snort came from Maeve's sinus as she hocked a ball of mucus.

She caught what Makorai was saying and got ready to hold back the flames from where he had said-

"FUCK!"

That thing was big. It was fucking big, and it was on fire, and it was closer to Oren than it should have been. The hulking, grey, glowing behemoth hit the ground with a thud, and Maeve could feel it through the soles of her shoes. Suppress the fire, Oren said, though the exact best way to do so had Maeve at a loss. She had blocked the wall of flames from the explosion, but that had all been reflex- An involuntary extension of throwing up her hands.

She took a few running bounds, coming in a yard or so behind Oren. Maeve's hand swung out toward Oren as the creature's arm lunged, and the fire burning from the Jotun's flesh was quelled for a moment before flaring back to life.

"I don't know what I'm doing!" she yelled at Oren, but mostly herself. Her palms swept forward again, this time both at once as if trying very hard to hold a door shut. The flames grew brighter, but their range became less, clinging closer to their source. Her control flicked in and out; the fire was squirmy, like a cat that did not want to be held.

"I don't know how long I can do this!"

Dennis fumbled with his keys as he kicked the door shut behind him, before setting the bags of groceries down on the table. He spotted Tommy sitting back on the couch, TV remote in hand, and the low buzz of a news report coming through.

"What are you doing, Tom?" he asked, ruffling his brother's hair as he passed by. "You never watch the news if you can help it."
In answer, Tommy just waved a hand at the screen, directing Dennis to pay attention to the woman on screen.
"-he Jotun in question is reported to be female, and has reached as far as 34th Street. Thanks to the timely intervention of the Blessed, we now know the surrounding area has been evacuated, and the threat is in the process of being contained with their forces on the scene."

The screen switched over to a bird's-eye view of a dark van, with parts of the buildings around crumbling apart from impacts of incredible strength. There was a group of people gathered around one another, but three broke off, going their separate directions - two charging directly in.

"You shouldn't be watching this..." Dennis said in a low voice.

"Why not?" Tommy asked. "You're the one who said I should be learning things - and Harvey's parents let him watch their action movies."

Dennis held out his hand for the remote. "This isn't a film or a show, Tom. This is an actual thing happening in the city - in our city. People could be dying, for all we know-"

The sound of a large explosion rocketed through the TV, causing both brothers to jump, before Dennis snatched the remote and turned it off.

"Look, you're not a kid. You know what happens with these. You don't need to see this sort of stuff."

Tommy rolled his eyes before getting up. "You're such a downer, sometimes, Dennis."

Standing himself, Dennis looked at Tom. 'I'd rather be a downer than let you lose your youth to what happens out there...' he thought. 'They don't teach you the gory stuff in school.'
The thought passed, and he snapped his gaze away. "Go on - I know you've got some homework to do, go do it."

With a groan, Tommy went to his bedroom, shutting the door behind him. Dennis turned back to the groceries to begin putting them away - but just before he picked anything up, he cried out, causing him to jolt, knocking one of the bags to the ground. Its contents spilled across the floor - luckily, it was nothing that would have broken or smashed. A cutting pain had just shot through his throat, as though a burning needle had been drawn across it. A sickly warmth spread down the front of his neck briefly. Blinking away a blurry glaze of tears, he leaned against a chair.

Both the pain and the warmth had disappeared by the time he recovered from the sudden shock. He put a hand there just to make sure... but felt nothing. Glancing at where the bags were - and the bruised vegetables that he'd knocked across the floor, he sighed. Just... marvelous.

Unbeknownst to him, though, Tommy had opened his door and was staring at his brother. Since when did Dennis have a tattoo? And why was it the letter B of all things?

Amity's ears rang.
Somehow she'd ended up on the floor.
The entire building was.. on fire..?
When did that even happen...?

Right.
An explosion.
The others had charged in behind her.. but they were gone now?
It had thrown her across the room, and she'd slammed into a large piece of sharp.. something.
No.
Looking down at her stomach, Amity noticed the giant piece of metal piercing through her gut. It was something from the kitchen, she figured, something that had exploded and shot conveniently towards her.
It hurt.

Of course it hurt, Amity, it was a giant piece of metal jutting from your stomach.
Gritting her teeth and pulling herself upwards, Amity let out a pained yelp as she fell forward.
The skin on her back was practically melted.
Flames burned brightly around her, the entire house lit up like a fireworks exhibit. Amity felt the heat, sweating from it, her eyes watering and sizzling a little in their sockets.

It. Hurt.
It. Really. Fucking. Hurt.
Amity reached forward, grabbing the floor and jamming her burnt fingers into it to rip herself across the ground. The kitchen had been the epicenter of the blast. That's why she'd taken a hit.
Several hits, actually, but she barely noticed. Her lungs burned as she breathed in flames, choking herself on the heat.
That's it.
Get as much pain as possible.
Fill yourself with it.

That Jotun is your kill.
No matter how much pain you feel.
No matter how much agony you're in.
No matter if your body is breaking apart.
That Jotun is your kill.

Gritting her teeth, Amity let the pain mix with the anger. With a scream that built up in her burning lungs as she staggered to her feet, a monstrous scream ripped itself from her vocal cords and filled the air louder than the crackling of the fire.
She took a step, numb to everything except the pain, and then took another.
Her leg snapped as the fracture it had sustained from the blast turned into a break, but Amity simply roared and stomped hard on the floor, rocking the entire building and forcing herself to move.
Unfortunately, the bone now jutted out from her shin like a spike.

Another step, another, Amity heaved and panted like an animal. Her entire body was now coated in flames.
She was blinded by rage.
Also by fire, but that's not relevant to her.

Where was the Jotun?!

Amity noticed her sword on the floor beside her and she grabbed it, letting out a pained noise like that of an injured animal as the searing metal branded itself on her palm.
She gripped it tightly.
The hilt crunched under her grip, snapping from the immense force.

Amity's healing was fighting off the flames, her body constantly burning and healing and burning again and again in an endless, painful cycle.
She sniffed.
She smelled the Jotun, saw where it had evacuated the burning house.
She tossed her sword through the hole, watching it slam into the Jotun's palm and sink deep into the ground below it, effectively pinning the thing to the floor.
Amity quickly did a self-check.
It didn't look good.
Left leg, broken.
Spine, injured.
Left arm, shattered in several places.
Face, burned and scarred and still twisted with animosity.
The pain was almost overwhelming.

She could work with these odds.

Amity leaped.

She crashed through the same hole the Jotun did, slamming into the ground still ablaze and pulling herself to her feet. Her body, still ablaze, glowed a bright red that seemed utterly unnatural. The fire had burnt msot of her clothing right off, exposing her skin except in the place she'd prefer nobody else saw.
Convenient.
Like the Jotun, Amity's body was crisscrossed with lines but hers were of bright crimson that started from the Rune on her stomach and covered the rest of her form like cracks that bled scarlet light. The Berserker took a quick look around and snarled, launching herself at the Jotun as it swiped at Oren and tackling it away from her. Amity rolled, eventually managing to grab the Jotun's throat and slam it into the ground beneath her. Gritting her teeth tightly, Amity pulled back with inhuman speed and slammed her clenched, bloody fist into the Jotun's nose with enough force to push it's skull back into the concrete below it and shatter the ground it hit. She lifted her fist again, slamming the Jotun's face full of rage-fulled punches and strangling it at the same time.
Taking a moment to stop, the shockwave wind from her punches having essentially put the fire engulfing her out, Amity leaped away and grabbed the Jotun's leg at the same time, yanking it through the air and over her head to slam it face-first into the concrete. Her hands sizzled painfully as she clutched the thing's burning limb, pulling it back over her head and slamming it into the concrete again. The ground shattered below it with each throw and Amity grinned savagely.

She slammed the Jotun into the floor again, its body still billowing with flames before she let go of the Jotun's leg and stood up, savagely stomping on the thing's face over and over again, strong enough to push it into the ground below them. Panting hard, Amity reached down and pulled the piece of metal from her chest. It was slow at first, but she needed to act quickly.

She screamed as she wrenched the piece of metal from her stomach, blood splattering across the pavement and glowing slightly before dulling. Amity hurriedly slammed the piece of metal into the Jotun's own stomach, pushing down on it until it slid deep into the thing's body and stayed there. Stepping backwards, she felt her broken bones intruding upon her rage-filled consciousness and winced a little, the fire in her eyes dying just a little as she began to feel the effects of her body overexerting itself.
This was probably the longest she'd fought a Jotun for- the fire had come out of absolutely nowhere for her and she'd never expected an Ice Giant to burn her clothes almost all off.
First time for everything, she supposed.

Gritting her teeth, Amity lumbered away and sank to her knees, her body finally giving in on her. She was absolutely drained, the fire having chewed up the majority of her healing abilities and the broken bones were only just starting to repair themselves as she crouched there. She didn't know if the Jotun was dead or not, but she was sure she'd given the thing a good run for its money.
Like nobody else probably could.

She bowed her head, panting hard and loud as she reached up and touched her face softly. The burns were already fading, which was good, but her Berserker rage was already leaving her.
Swallowing painfully, Amity coughed up a bit of blood and wiped her mouth.
"Go grab the thing, Oren.."
Her voice was soft and gravelly, pained.
She'd done her job.
Now they just had to make sure the thing wasn't going to escape.

---

Kana listened to Gael idly, her eyes focused on the show down the road.
Then there was a rather loud explosion.
"That wouldn't be enough by far."

Watching Gael get giddy with excitement and probably hunger as well, Kana chuckled to herself a little. Taking the candy offered to her, Kana bit it apart and swallowed it- stick included. Her eyes were still trained on the show down down by the house.

"The real show starts now, little brother."
The faintest of grins.

And then a burning monster lunged out of the house, got tripped over, took a swipe at a Rune, and then was promptly tackled and beaten up by yet another burning monster. Kana watched Amity toss the Jotun around like a ragdoll, screaming and roaring all the while.
She'd been waiting to see the redhead's true colours in person.
It was breathtaking how much of a monster she really was.
"That one's mine, Niddy, so please don't eat her even if she absolutely reeks of sins, but yes, the entertainment was great." Kana giggled to herself, letting her oversized tongue flop out of her mouth and wiggle a little before she slurped it up, licked her lips slowly, and then slurped it into her mouth. Cracking her neck, Kana took a step away from the wall and narrowed her eyes.
Something else smelled around here.
Her eyes narrowed.

It smelled like.. dog?
The scent was faint, very faint, but it was still there.
Kana instinctively hated it.
Part of her wanted to go check it out, but she wasn't sure if she'd be able to stop herself from spitting at whatever carried it.
She hated dogs, you see.
Clearing her throat, Kana watched the fun down the road die down before reaching over and ruffling Gael's hair energetically.
"It's like an anime. I'm surprised nobody died.
Oh, wait, plenty of people died.
Ah, but if you die in the prologue, you mustn't be very important anyway, right? That's how anime works.
Cheap deaths to pull on heartstrings or progress the plot. Shame this isn't an anime..
... Is it..?!"
Kana whirled around, trying to catch a camera watching them. She turned her head to look behind her.. and kept going like her name was Regan and she was trying to unnerve some priests.
"I'd advise waiting a little while before going in to feed. There's a very keen-eyed person keeping watch over the site. They smell delicious, so I might eat them later, but for now I'm a good hero and I won't. For now. It all depends on if they increase my Affinity Bar to 100% before starting the final quest, y'know?
Y'don't know?
Nevermind then, buddy."

Grinning from ear to ear, Kana watched as her favourite human in the world kneeled on the floor and barely held onto consciousness.
If she want in now..
Kana drooled a little, but reached up and wiped her mouth.
Not just yet.
But eventually..
She'd be delicious and Kana would enjoy her thoroughly.