"Somehow?" Trevor said, all offended. He looked at Lyss as he scrunched his eyebrows and narrowed his eyes as well. "There ain't no somehow; I tracked little miss pancake ass-" He pointed at Emily. "-all the way here. Some of you dumbasses, when you hit up the Dairy Queen, didn't even change clothes afterward. And we aren't stupid, you morons have a similar body type and abilities as the people who attacked Greenwood. And I didn't comb through all your little Reddit conversations for hours for nothing. Like I ain't go-"

"Trevor," Maximilian said as he raised a hand.

"Heyyyy, you just used my slave name," Trevor answered.

Maximilian sighed, "Either way, it's our mission to take down all Extra-Normal organizations in Tampa-"

"Secondary mission," Sonya added with a cheeky grin. "Don't forget why we're here in the first place."

"...but let's skip this; you're the leader, so you're going to meet Supervisory Special Agent Liao," Maximilian said.

He turned his head towards Maya, "And you're coming with me, Trevor, cuff her."

"Aye, aye, captain," Trevor said as he put handcuffs on Maya. He put her hands behind her back and slapped those puppies on, but as he did so he couldn't help but say, "You're kinda cute, y' know?" He chuckled.

"Maria and Sonya, keep an eye on the rest of them," Maximilian said as he grabbed Lyss by the arms and began to carry her out through the door. Trevor followed as he dragged Maya along. "Everyone stay put and maybe we can work something out..."

"... You just got shocked, bro," Trevor said as he narrowed his eyes. "I think we're beyond working this out."

"Trevor..." Max said.

"Oh yeah, right," Trevor narrowed his eyes at Maya as he said, "I got you under my spell, so try any funny shit... well, you're going to see something real funny, ya' hear?" He said as he was prepared to use his abstraction on her... if she tried to attack anyone she would find herself breaking out into an intense laughing fit.

"Aye, aye, cap'n," Sonya said as she saluted Maximilian. She hopped up on the nearest poker table... as her features began to change. Her green eyes started growing to freakish size, her fingertips began to extend and web as her fingertips began to form bulbs like a frog. Her toes did the same thing as her mouth extended and formed sharp, vicious, teeth. "Rawr, I'm a monster, you don't want to mess with me. Just stay where ever you are and nobody gets hit with a dart. Got it?"

Maria, on the other hand, was handcuffing Emily just in case something happened. She transformed into ink and the unconscious girl was carried alongside her as she slithered her way to Sonya's side. When she got there she shifted back into her human form and left Emily's conscious body on top of the table.

---

"Cindy!" Meifeng shouted as she dropped her body weight.

The second that Riley pointed her hands at them, they just knew that she was up to nothing good. Cindy had to utilize her abstraction against whatever she was planning. Massive jagged spikes made out of an emerald-colored glass appeared in front of them that was tall enough to block whatever came their way. When the electricity hit, it harmlessly dissipated against the glass which at worse, only melted a bit.

"Alright, bitch," Meifeng shouted as she ejected the current clip of taser dart rounds and switched them to actual live rounds. "Surrender now or we're going to use lethal force."

Cindy placed her hand against the ground as the cracked and jagged concrete and asphalt that made the pathways around the casino were transmitted into the same green glass around Riley's feet. However, before the two could use their abstractions to synergize somebody walked up. Four people, Maximilian, Trevor, and two girls that were being carried.

"Supervisory Special Agent," Maximilian said over the ear-piece, "We found the leader and another person I want to keep close."

Meifeng grinned, "Good. Take this bitch down for me, she's an electrokinetic, be careful."

"Affirmative," Maximilian said as he approached her and attuned his emotional-field to render himself resistant to electrical damage. Unlike Meifeng, he was willing to try to talk her down. "Alright just surrender-"

A blast of electricity hit him and he didn't even flinch. Almost as if it was a wind.

"Alright, I'm going to let that slide just calm down and we-" She shot him again and it didn't do anything. "... That's not going to work." He sighed.

---

Trevor and Cindy brought the two prisoners before Meifeng as they went back into the command vehicle. Meifeng put her hands behind her back as Cindy held onto Lyss, and Trevor onto Maya. This was not good.

"... I presume you two are the leaders of this Coven?" Meifeng asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Um, well, we haven't been able to sort that out," Trevor said with a shrug. He pointed one finger at Lyss, "She said that she was the leader. But this girl, this one," Trevor pointed at Maya with a smile.

"She thought that it'd be an amazing idea to attack us and this one-" Trevor pointed to Lyss and remembered what happened. "... Said that she was the leader. Yeah, I don't know." He awkwardly repeated his previous point.

The first thing that Meifeng did was walk over to Maya and introduce her to the back of her hand. Then she went over to Lyss and did the same thing. There was a loud clap as Meifeng used every ounce of herself that she could pull. She narrowed her eyes as she said,

"Do you want to know how embarassing it is to be responsible for bringing a city under control and then a supernatural gang war breaks out in the middle of the city?" Meifeng hissed through her teeth as she stared at Lyss. Before her attention turned towards Maya, "And you... don't you ever attempt to lay a hand on one of my agents again or I'll kill you myself."

Meifeng took a few steps back and sat down in the chair, she crossed her legs as she pressed her fingertips together. "All I have to do is make one phone call - just one - and I'll have a kill order on all of you. So.." She said as she closed her eyes and shook her head, "... Give me one - just one - good reason why I shouldn't press that button."

---

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Interactions:

---

"You're kinda cute, y' know?"

“So are you,” Maya replied with a wink, even as she let out a huff of annoyance. She was entirely unsurprised to be slapped in handcuffs, what with the whole attacking them thing, but she’d hoped she would at least be left inside while Lyss took on the role of being the Coven’s leader. Being hauled off to meet their leader with a long title was exactly not what she wanted to do. She just wanted to sit down, because her ears were still filled with an irritating background ringing and her legs hurt from the crystals that had shattered beneath them.

She rolled her eyes when Trevor said some bullshit about her being under his spell and was so very tempted to try anyway. It was soooo tempting to do the exact opposite of what she was told to but for once she decided against it. She might as well make the most of having to face this Supervisory Special Agent - and losing her hearing would just be a pain right now. Still, she responded to his words with a slight smirk and said, “You’re going to show me something funny, Agent! That’s so nice of you!”

She didn’t drop the smirk even as she was dragged outside to Riley going absolutely wild and honestly, Maya had to give the girl some credit for actually having the balls to fight back (unlike most of the others). She secretly hoped the girl would pull something out of her sleeve to beat the bad guy but she doubted it. Not that she’d get to see it, since they were hauled off into what she assumed was their command vehicle.

It was kinda cute how Trevor completely stumbled over explaining the situation and she would’ve given him a thumbs up for his efforts if she wasn’t, well, handcuffed. Still she looked entirely shameless for the fact that she’d decided to attack them.

The only thing that stopped Maya nearly falling over, being the weakass that she was, when slapped was the fact that Trevor was holding her. She still stumbled, head twisting to the side and knees half buckling under her. Fuck, that women could pack a punch. She was pretty sure that was the hardest she’d been back handed… and it had happened quite a lot. She forced herself to straighten back up and meet Meifeng’s stare with a confidence she shouldn’t really have.

“Isn’t it illegal to hit defenceless prisoners?” Maya asked coyly, one eyebrow raised as she ignored her stinging face. Then, quieter, she added, “I thought that only happened in porn. Are we actually in the middle of a porno...”

“And technically I never laid a hand on your Agents I just hit them with the force of some very powerful sound waves. Really, it was all in self defence because they attacked first before giving us some bullshit orders to-” she cut herself off once she realised it was the most idiotic idea to argue with someone who had just threatened to kill her, and would probably see through with it. Someone who had just backhanded her with no hesitation. Still she hadn't been able to stop herself… so she tried to do damage control as best as possible. “It won’t happen again.”

Then Maya smiled prettily (as pretty as you could get after tear gas) and turned her head towards Lyss. “I’ll let our illustrious leader convince you to not kill us all.”

---

When the Hound brought it's paw down, Kayla desperately attempted to do what she could to shield the blast, but she would need another few minutes before she could do something like that again. She wouldn't be able to dampen in incoming shock wave on her own.

Thankfully, she didn't have to.

Molly had appeared, summoning a wall of earth before them both and diverting the force away from them both.

"Whatever you have planned, I would hurry."

Respect surged through Kayla in that moment. Not even because Molly had been blind or appeared powerless up until now, but because she had taken it upon herself to defend her while she was downed. Kayla nodded, wiping her bloodied nose on her sleeve and clearing what was left of the hemorrhage away from her face. She breathed once in and once out and spoke. "Molly," she began, forcing herself to her feet. The pupils of her eyes already glowing a dull red like molten metal. Kayla peeked out from the side of the wall. At quick glance, it appeared that Madison was clear. Kayla turned to Molly, and with practiced glace gave Molly her shoes.

"Take these, get Jess and Madison, and run. Book it to the car. I'll be right behind you."

Kayla didn't give her any time to fight her on it. This was her ace in the hole, her eject button. It was truly all or nothing now, for this was not a foe they could best. Kayla's whole body began glowing a dull red, like when one held a powerful flashlight under the hand, except it was her whole body. Her bones shone through her clothing as her core temperature skyrocketed, casting skeletal and angular shadows. Her hair danced, changing from her natural brunette to brilliant yellows and reds and blues as it became flame. She pushed her sleeves up, revealing flames that danced across her forearms.

The forest was alight, it was like she was one enormous light bulb. It was so hot near her that the ground beneath her feet began smoldering and catching fire. The rain that made it through the trees above didn't even make it to the ground, evaporating into hisses of mist as soon as it came within ten feet of her. Her shoes, if she hadn't given them to Molly, surely would've melted. She cracked her knuckles, each eliciting a supernatural crack. Like each bone was a supercharged firework. The Hound's attention was shifted to Kayla.

There were no words exchanged, no insults or clever taunts that were so typical of Kayla. The woman wasted no time, and with both the Aether and Oblivion whispering in her ear she drove her hand into the overturned earth and roared.

If the power she had released earlier had been empyrean, a the will of heaven above... then this was the chthonian wrath of hell. The cracks in the earth created by both Kayla and The Hound began glowing incandescent hues of reds and yellows. It held for a moment, Kayla's eyes flashing to Molly and Madison as they made it behind her and away, and then Kayla let loose for the second time that night.

The earth beneath and around The Hound erupted in a hellfire that consumed everything it touched, uncaring of the rain. It split the beaten earth, throwing it up and away with explosive, concussive force. The flames climbed higher, consuming the destroyed forest in a primordial torrent of fire and rage. It was a wall of fire, climbing up and above the tree tops- which caught flame and spread uncontrolled in the blaze. The forest was alight, scorching the the earth and turning everything it touched to ash in its rage.

With The Hound at the center of the inferno.

Kayla directed the holocaust like a conductor of a runaway train, unable to stop the spread but capable of aiming the apocalypse that was unfolding. She couldn't stop it now that it was going- not this much fire, but she could aim it. Waves of fire crashed in The Hound's direction as the forest became an ocean of fire, fueling her onslaught to an almost unprecedented degree. In that moment, Kayla didn't care about self preservation, or thirst, or hunger, or air, or sex, or guilt, or Madison and Molly and Jess. She let go of anything that made her human, and her body erupted with the fire.

It felt good.

But she was dying, and even if she didn't know it and didn't care, the passenger within her did. It tugged at her psyche, pulling her out and away from her high and forcing her back down to earth. Run, Kayla.

Her body's internal temperature dropped, and her body extinguished even as the forest fire's flames licked at her body- the devil on her shoulder encouraging her to come back to them, except it was all around her. The visibility was so low and the fire so loud, and the smoke so thick that there was no way The Hound could track them. She was tired, she knew this, but she was dehydrated now. More so than she felt she had ever been. She felt the heat of the forest around her, burning at her clothing and attempting to make her one with it once again... heat had stopped affecting her a long time ago but er dehydration dragged her psyche, making her sluggish and confused. She couldn't remember which direction was safety, and while the heat of fire was no longer dangerous, the smoke that came with it could still kill her. She had completely forgotten about The Hound, her addled mind more focused on not suffocating to death in her own flame.

The smoke in the sky hid the stars above, darkening what had once been the canopy of treetops in a thick, soupy smog. She could see the dark, skeletal shapes of tree branches that had yet to burn. Come on, Kayla! that voice hissed in her ear, urging her up from her hands and knees and onto her feet. Her legs shoved her forwards in a direction, pushing her forwards every time she stumbled or fell, unwilling to let her own flame go out in the dark.

Kayla didnt know how long she walked, but when she stumbled out of the woods and her feet hit the gravel of the parking lot, she collapsed. She hoped she wasn't far from Madison's car now. She hoped that they had seen her, that they would help her, and that they hadn't left her. "Help-" she choked out. The rain felt good against her still unnaturally warm skin, hitting her body and disappearing in a hiss. Her clothes were singed on all areas, some of her jacket had been burnt away. Her feet were bloodied and dirty from stumbling barefoot through the woods. Blood still lazily oozed from her nose. And she was dehydrated and confused.

She could hear the echos of firetruck sirens in the otherwise quiet night. The fire in the distance lit up the night, unconcerned with the rain up above.

It was a crack of thunder that finally roused Izzy from her slumber. She released a discontent groan before turning onto her other side. It was too late though. The general feeling of shittiness from a night out was weighing down on her body. Deciding on some pain killers, Izzy opened her eyes to an unfamiliar bedroom. It was messy as hell with clothes covering every inch of the floor and LED lights tinting the room purple. To her right, was a fairly attractive guy she vaguely recognized as a friend of a ‘friend’ or something like that. It seemed as though the both of them had no clothes on which meant that hers were somewhere amongst the chaos. Izzy had to take a deep breath to gather up some motivation to get out of bed and search for her clothes. Luckily, they were on the top layer of the mess, so it wasn’t too difficult.

Since Izzy had gone straight to the club after changing at the DQ, she had an extra set of clothes to wear home. However, thinking back to yesterday, maybe she shouldn’t wear the exact outfit. So she kept the very short shorts and put the Florida shirt on. Just to be safe, Izzy rummaged around and found a hopefully clean hoodie to borrow. Now to find the bathroom.

The first door Izzy peaked through was a closet, but the next was unfortunately the roommate. The dirty blonde had been lounging on his bed, but looked over with an annoyed facial expression. Oh god, Izzy was not drunk enough for this. She put on a nervous grin before asking, ”Bathroom?”.

“Down the hall, last door on the right,” He jerked his head in the direction before turning back to whatever he was doing on his phone.

”Thanks!” Izzy squeaked before shutting the door and rushing to the bathroom. God that was awkward. She doesn’t remember much of what happened last night, but by the look of it, her and her partner had not been considerate roommates. Izzy still had her makeup on from last night, so she simply had to fix a couple things up. Though as she looked around the extremely sparse bathroom, there was no brush or comb to be seen. It looked like her hair was going to suffer. At least there was some Ibuprofen in the cabinet.

Returning to the room, Izzy found her phone and checked her camera and Insta to try and jog her memory. It looked like a standard night out, thank god. There were quite a few comments and likes which made her smile as she read through each message. But, taking a look at the time, it was late. Like 1pm late. Shit. They had a coven meeting today. Oh well, it was too late at this point and Izzy decided her priority was resting up and getting ready for work tomorrow. Thinking of work made Izzy want to bash her brains in, but she shoved it aside when her partner began to rouse himself.

”Hey Dylan, I’m heading out. Thanks for the good time.” Izzy planted a kiss on his forehead before gathering her things.
“It’s Daniel,” He managed to mumble, but Izzy was already at the door looking at Google Maps.

”Bye!” She waved without looking away from her phone and shut the door behind her. Luckily she wasn’t far from her own apartment, she could make it without getting too soaked if she ran.

---

After returning to her apartment, Izzy took a nice long shower to warm herself up and wash away the grime from last night. As she dried herself off, she looked at her phone. Surely the Coven meeting was done by now? Those meetings never really lasted that long. If anything important happened someone would’ve texted her.

So, Izzy decided to change into some comfortable clothes and snuggle down with a berry smoothie and some fluffy blankets. Maybe there was something good on Netflix.

The Hound made a strange noise that sounded like an inhuman hissing sound as it was cut in half. Normally it would had regenerated all of this but it was taking a little while longer to fix itself. What didn't help was Kayla's all-out attack that nearly incinerated its form. It didn't make the same sound as before but when the flames faded the splinter group of the Coven could see that the Hound was nearly burnt to a crisp. A majority of its form was burnt away and all that remained where it's "skeleton" which was seemingly made out of a crystal with the black smoke flowing underneath it. The Hound still managed to climb back to its feet after reattaching itself and its body was quickly regenerating. The Hound merely stood there, being damaged by that girl's abstraction convinced him that it was not worth pursuing this little fight any further.

"Kayla!" Madison shouted as she flew over towards Kayla and grabbed her, picking her up from underneath her arm. She quietly muttered, "The Jaws." As skeletal Raptor claws appeared and grabbed onto Kayla's body as support as the two flew back into Madison's car.

Madison herself got in as she turned on the car, she looked in the rearview and saw the Hound... the size of a two-story building, standing in the flames. Completely unaffected. He just stood there. Madison decided to just start the car and floored it and left the thing in the rearview. However, they all heard his voice in their heads.

"Run... and never seek me out again if you know what is good for you. Dread the day you see me again as it will be the day I come to claim your soul. So enjoy your time Coven, because I can tell you that many of them are not going to make the coming storm. Goodbye."

The Hound disappeared into black fog, the same way he appeared and Madison could only sigh in relief as they left the thing in the rearview. God damn, Kayla was a firebird... and she did it all to save them. She looked like she was in shitty shape though, and she did remember Kayla saying that she got dehydrated after using her abstraction. Fortunately, Madison always keeps a bottle of water in her car and passed it to Kayla. "Here, drink up." She said. Madison sighed as she realized that she owed her a lot of Dairy Queen...

... And they passed one.

Wow, that was easy. After pulling a U-Turn Madison pulled into a spot as she placed a hand on Kayla's shoulder as her face was stained with dried tears. The whole situation was out of control and... all her fault. Madison sighed. She just needed something to comfort her and keep her mind off things. Madison said, "Hey, I'm going to treat you to whatever you want." They then got out of the car and Madison remembered something...

"... Oh, Hraesvelgr. I should have sensed you."

Madison immediately whipped around on her heel and turned towards "Molly". Taking a few steps towards the girl she muttered, "The Jaws." As she was surrounded in a mass of ethereal purple bones, normally she would have been cautious about using her abstraction in public but she knows the normies can't see it. She grabbed Molly by the neck and lifted her into the air with all of her strength.

"Okay, why the fuck did the Hound call you Hrays-vel-something?" Madison asked, "You... what the fuck did you do to Molly? Start talking before I start breaking."

Agatha Loom

"Good point, good point, Mademoiselle.... however, maybe we just need a stronger push in the right direction. A few members of the Coven are... dealing with curses. Perhaps we should help them, I'm certain many would be willing to lend a hand... given how Kayla was able to sway them to fight vampires."

"Maybe... We might earn more respect if we actually offer an ear to members, actually try to see through and help them with their problems. You make a good point, Claudette."

Claudette extended a hand, smiling "Come on, let's try it."

Agatha managed a smile of her own, then took the frenchwoman's grasp gently.

Then before they were able to return to the room, Agatha heard a loud smashing of glass. For a split second she thought the Coven lacked the responsibility to act like functional adults for a literal fucking minute in her absence. Then she heard a loud hissing sound-- Okay, what the hell did they do now?!

Agatha ran back around the corner and saw gas rapidly flooding the room, with the rest of the Coven scrambling away from it lest it choked them into a coma.

"FBI! FBI! FBI! F-B-I!" She heard someone shout, before three figures entered the building, clad in body armor, flashing badges, and wielding guns.

Oh FUCK. The Feds were onto them! Why the fuck were they there, how the fuck did they find them?? Did Kayla cause too much trouble in her shakedown of the vampires, Agatha didn't even fucking ask her how it went even once and now the police tracked themd down! Why the hell didn't she think to tell her "No, you can't turn the entire Coven into your own personal legbreakers and go beat up a bunch of people, now her ass was going to get arrested, and even if she didn't get tased to death her Grandpa was going to murder her, and-- and--

Agatha's heartrate went from mildly agitated to fucking exploding. Her instincts immediately told her to run out the back door, but she reacted exactly like a deer-in-the-headlights where she wanted to run, but was too paralyzed with terror not to. Combined with the gas flooding into the room, Agatha's breathing started to sound like a deflating squeaky toy as she began to cough and sputter on the rancid smoke as well. Soon enough her legs buckled under her, and she fell to the ground before quickly passing out. She lay sprawled out, having desperately tried to crawl off before losing consciousness and collapsing on the floor of the now-exposed hideout, just a smidge around the corner, making her fallen body a total non-issue during the raid.

---

Lyss slowly turned her cold stare from the big guy towards the little one. Her head tilted as she refused to turn her back on the asshole before her. She looked Trevor up and down as he rambled on about the pile of evidence they had on the group. Why did half of the Coven have to be idiots? She had to remind herself that most of them had never been in a fight before. There goes our chances of denying it.

She glanced back at big guy as he stated their mission, but the blonde woman confirmed Lyss's suspicion that it wasn't their only reason to be here. From her knowledge, the Coven hadn't even been on the map until the Greenwood fight. Surely the FBI, even a special forces team, wouldn't come to Tampa just for their dysfunctional group alone. She eyed the big guy, who chose to move on from that topic. Just as she was about to ask what the other "mission" was, he finally accepted that Lyss was the leader. Step one. Convince them they have the right girl. Step two. Convince their boss we aren't worth the paperwork. Trevor stepped towards Maya, and Lyss inwardly seethed when the jerk grabbed her arms. She was tense as he walked her towards the door, but she complied with his silent command to move in that direction.

Maybe we can work this out, if the little one would just shut up. Although, inside she was proud that she'd at least tagged one of them. Especially proud that she'd tagged the biggest one. She let the picture of the big guy vomiting onto the musty carpet keep her from thinking about the tight cuffs on her wrists.

Outside, Lyss was happy to see that Riley was fighting back too. She only grew worried for the firecracker's safety when the big guy was ordered to take care of her. Lyss eyed the older woman, whom she assumed was Supervisory Special Asshat, but also gave Riley a glance that would warn her to be cautious. Be careful, girl. She thought before she was lead into the fed's obvious van.

What will the neighbors think?

She was now being held by another older woman, who held her arms with a vice grip and stood like a soldier. Military, perhaps? She remembered seeing the woman outside standing by shards of green glass. At least the big guy can't cut Riley. She thought before remembering the way he held the knife. Seriously, where the hell did these feds come from?

Lyss stared the leader of this group down with a blank expression. She kept her shoulders high, and her arms relaxed within the hands of the female agent. Appear meak, and she'll tear you a new one. Look like a bitch, and she'll treat you like one. Trevor was explaining the situation, and Lyss had to suppress the urge to smirk when he glossed over the part about her target practice. She could hear it in his voice that he was embarrassed. Poor guy.

The supervisor moved towards Maya. Lyss tensed when Maya's head flew to the side, but she stood taller as the leader moved her way. The backhand hurt. Her head whipped to the side, but she did not buckle like Maya had. She grit her teeth. The side of her face was burning and her cheeks flushed. Her chest was rising and falling as she took heavy breaths to keep herself calm. She didn't break beneath this woman's force, but instead slowly turned her head back to look at the woman with the same blank expression. This time with flushed cheeks and a tense jawline. It was taking all of Lyss's might not to spit on the woman's shoes. Fucking bitch.

Lyss continued to stare at her, giving the woman nothing but the physical signs that she was trying to contain her anger. Maya sounded brave, despite how fragile she'd looked when she was hit. It kept Lyss sane. I am steel. I cannot be bent or broken. She told herself, trying to gather the courage to keep this meeting civil. She didn't have a physical abstraction, like the other girls. She'd had to get along in the black market on wit and strategy. This situation could be handled verbally. No one here deserved to be hurt. Especially not her friends.

A kill order? Are you serious? The woman was bluffing. She had to be. Lyss couldn't believe that they'd go full Salem on anyone that caused trouble with their magic. The government didn't kill normies that got into fights, so why kill witches for the same thing? Still, the threat had Lyss's stomach churning.

"I'll let our illustrious leader convince you not to kill us all."

Lyss took a deep breath through her nose so that her voice wouldn't waver. This was an extremely delicate matter. Even if this woman was bluffing, the girls could face jail time for the brawl. Especially for assaulting an agent. "I'm sure the last thing you want to happen is to push that button. Whether it's a real option for you or not."

"Thanks to Trevor over here, I'm also sure you're aware that we made this group with the intentions to find a home together. We're just a group of outcasts trying to get along in this world. What you call a "gang war" was just a simple fight."

Fuck, Lyss. It wasn't simple at all. You have to say more than that to get this woman off of your back.

"You'd do anything for your colleagues, right? If one of them was threatened, you'd hunt down the person that hurt them and let them know not to mess with you." She nodded her head towards Maya. "You just hit my friend here because she harmed one of your agents. That fight you heard of was just our way of doing the same. One of theirs tried to kill one of ours. So, we helped our friend get them back."

"I'll admit, the fight got extremely out of hand, and I won't let that happen again, but now those vampires won't attack our friend ever again." She added one last thing with a stern voice. It was mostly directed towards Maya. "Just like my friend here won't attack your agent again."

Meifeng paused. She was completely still as the girl explained the whole situation to her. A group of outcasts, right? It made sense, everything she said made sense. She turned towards Trevor for a second before her attention went to Maya as she smiled, "Girl, don't tempt me." Before she turned to Trevor and asked him, "What did you gather from their little internet conversations?"

"Wellllllll...." Trevor trailed off as he grinned at Maya. "They talk a lot about magic and stuff, but I ain't see nothing, like, bad." He shrugged.

Meifeng sighed, "You are correct, I would do anything for my subordinates-"

"Hey, she said colleague, there's a diff-"

"Zip it, Trevor," Meifeng said, "-but, what you girls did was commit several crimes; assault, battery, vandalism, tresspassing, destruction of private property, destruction of public property, and public indecency - in the span of about ten minutes. You've given me a reason not to push that button Miss..?"

"Lyss."

"... But, tell me why I shouldn't haul each and every one of you to jail, then?" Meifeng asked. "Two members of your little Coven thought it'd be a great idea to attack my agents and regardless of what your idiot friend-" Meifeng narrowed her eyes at Maya, "-says, that is still a serious crime. I have full authority to eliminate any threats to my mission... and somebody willing to attack a government official sounds like a serious threat to me."

Lyss pressed her lips together. Even though the boss understood what she said and agreed, Maya could still take the brunt of the consequences here. Lyss wasn't sure what to say that could 100% help the girl. Damnit, Maya.

Maya shifted her feet so she was in a steadier stance, just in case she got slapped again, and met Meifeng's narrowed eyes with one of her own. "I felt threatened." She let out a sharp sigh. Time to play the trauma card. "For a start, my hearing is kinda funny, y'know? So I didn't really register the FBI part..."

"... We literally have FBI all over our armor." Meifeng flatly said as she pointed towards her own.

"English also isn't my first language," she continued. "And this big guy was coming towards us and I freaked out and attacked in retaliation. I've got some past baggage with large men, you see."

"Meifeng," Cindy rolled her eyes, "I think she's just stupid."

"Stupidity is not an excuse," Meifeng said.

"Wellllllllll..." Trevor said as he added on. He had a plan in mind, a plan to get in this girl's drawers and it required her not being in jail. "How about we let this slide, boss? Just this once? Besides you know, we're going after a bigger target and we can totally sweep this under the rug... and there are lots about today I want to sweep under the rug." Trevor tugged at his collar.

"And just look at her!" Trevor put both his hands out towards Maya. "She won't last a second in jail! She's too fun-sized!"

If Maya could she would've put her hands together in a prayer position, but instead she just tried to make herself look as unthreatening as possible. Which wasn't hard, considering.

"Trevor..." Meifeng trailed off.

"I'm just saying this Coven of witches aren't out to do malicious things," Trevor started off, "They seem like a bunch of lonely lesbians... and Chris Hemsworth."

Lyss rolled her eyes, but she wasn't going to complain when the little agent was helping her friend.

Meifeng turned towards the leader of the group, "... Tell me, Lyss, what are your goals as an organization? What do you want to even accomplish?"

"I'm going to be completely honest with you. We honestly don't have a clue." She glanced towards Maya and thought of the others before looking back into Meifeng's eyes. "This is kind of like a safe haven for us. A support group, kind of. We all have been through a lot. We have a lot to learn and a lot of things to work on, but we're here for each other."

"What I can promise you is that we have no ill intentions."

"... Meifeeeeeeeng," Trevor said with a smile. "I hate to pull this card but you know how it feels to be lonel-"

"Trevor, I swear to God," Meifeng hissed as her accent slipped and she began sounding more... Chinese.

"I'm just saying, maybe you should let this one sliiiide," Trevor said.

Meifeng sighed as she got up off the seat and walked over towards Lyss and didn't break eye contact for a second. She had her hands folded behind her back. She got real close to Lyss' face as she said, "Perhaps we can... cut a deal, yes?" Meifeng said as she got back into her chair and folded a leg over the other. "... So tell me, are you willing to play ball?"

"I've played a few games before," Lyss said cautiously.

"I've longed for the joys of... feminine companionship, so I'm going to let this slide on a few terms," Meifeng chuckled as she raised one finger up into the air. "First, you dumbasses keep whatever activities you and your lesbian sex cult are up to off the radar. I'm not even going to bother telling you not to do it; because obviously you don't care. Long as I don't hear about it, I can focus on more important things."

Meifeng raised another finger, "Second, I am doing a huge favor for you all, so I expect the same thing when the time comes. Just.. a favor. So be ready to be called on."

She raised another finger, "Third, I want to know about any and all supernatural nonsense you run into. Like any threats... and if you come across somebody in a black robe and a deer skull, immediately drop what you're doing and tell me."

She shrugged, "Then you're going to want to run. After you tell me... I quite frankly don't care what you do."

Another finger went up, "Fourth, I'm putting you, you, and the bitch who threw lightning at me on probation. As in, I'm keeping tabs on you all and you have to report to me once a day - actually, Trevor. You're going to report to Trevor."

Trevor looked awfully excited. "Finally, "Trevor-Duty" I look forward to!"

"I'm glad you picked the cutest agent," Maya said with a thumbs up behind her back. "I mean, the least scary looking."

"... And if I catch you two fucking I'm cutting it off," Meifeng hissed at Trevor. "Mark my God damn words."

At this point, Lyss was just glad it wasn't going to be the big guy. This negotiation was going a lot better than she'd expected it to. "You have my word." Fuck my life.

"Good," Meifeng said as she got up and walked towards Maya, "But one last thing."

She slapped Maya one more time, but this time... open handed right across her cheek.

Maya hissed at the sudden impact, head twisting to the side and falling down onto one knee. Fuck that hurt. She pulled herself back up onto her feet.

"Supervisory Agent, no more slaps!" Trevor said as he reached and snatched her phone out her back pocket... and he effortlessly got past the passcode because he saw it in the camera of the Dairy Queen when she opened it. He punched his number in, making his contact name BIG TREV and slid it back where he got it. Trevor said as he wrote down his contact information on two stickey notes. He slapped the note onto their foreheads as he said, "She's a delicate flower!"

Afterwards Meifeng pressed her ear piece as she said, "All agents, withdraw from the field."

"What about the kids?" Maximilian asked.

"Leave them."

"Affirmative," Maximilian answered as the agents began to withdraw.

"Oh, just one last thing," Meifeng said as she raised her hand up into the air. The two girls were pulled together by their handcuffs as they were connected to each other the second they made contact. It was probably awkward as hell. She grabbed the two by the arm as she walked them out the door before throwing them off the truck. "Go back on our deal and I'm placing that kill-order with impunity. I have the authority and the power to do so."

"Oy, what about the handcuffs?" Maya yelled back, struggling to get back into a sitting position having both been thrown down the stairs and connected to Lyss.

"That wasn't in the deal," Meifeng said with a grin. "Adios, just remember... I'm always watching..."

"... Wazowski." Trevor added on his best impression of that slug monster thing.

Maya gave Trevor the biggest puppy dog eyes in an attempt to beg him to get rid of the cuffs.

Trevor closed his eyes as he looked away and Meifeng slammed the door closed. They heard the truck coming alive as the vehicle began moving and what few FBI agents were in the area simply left towards their rally point.

"...So, you don't happen to know anyone who can control metal?" Maya asked.

Lyss groaned.

---

The pitter-patter of raindrops on Vashti’s black umbrella was drowned out by the thump of the bass that escaped through a pair of pricey noise-cancelling headphones. She hummed along with the melody as her sneakers splashed through a muddy puddle as she crossed the street. Today was supposed to be a sunny day according to the weatherman, which was why Vashti brought along her umbrella. Her life motto was Chaos Rules Everything Around Me and the sudden appearance of gray clouds and torrential showers continued to validate that life choice. However, as she passed by the old shirtless men in jean shorts and their pencil thin, leather-skinned wives running for awnings to seek shelter from the storm, Vashti couldn’t help but think of the real possibility that she had caused the rain. While improbable, it was possible that the act of her grabbing an umbrella was the catalyst needed to spark a summer shower.

It was a ridiculous belief, of course, but Vashti was a girl fueled by believing in the absurd. Bigfoots were real, aliens built the pyramids, and the government was controlled by the New World Order. Umbrellas, in particular, were quite ornery, especially when opened; in doors it spelled bad luck, in Dealey Plaza it signaled a fatal shot. Vashti had to be more careful. Sometimes it was better to get wet than to draw suspicion. The fine old men and old women of Florida had been giving her the evil eye the entire time she’d been walking with the umbrella before the rain came. Certainly it was the umbrella, not the hijab or the heavy wool coat in the blistering heat, that caused the withering denizens of Florida to glare. Still, they’d stare even more if she had taken those articles of clothing off. Sometimes it was better to draw suspicion than to straight up incite a panic.

However, now that there was no sign of the rain letting up there were very few sun-dried WASPs out and about to even notice Vashti. The trailer parks and cheap retirement centers of outer Tampa faded into dilapidated strip malls with boarded up storefronts for Froyo joints, hookah bars, and cell phone repair shops. It was the sad part of town, the dying sprawl where only meth heads and Florida Mans, often one in the same, dared to stay. Vashti normally wouldn’t dare to tread on what was practically a nature reservation for dumbasses, but being trapped in a rideshare with her current circumstances sounded like an awful idea. Thankfully, the rain kept the junkies away and Vashti was free to march through their turf to what could quite possibly be much more dangerous territory.

While she trusted Kimberly Walton with her life (despite being an absolute stranger, Vashti had been a super fan of the girl’s webseries which basically meant they were secret BFFs), she was still a bit apprehensive about joining up with a bunch of Internet witches. It was a justified suspicion, considering the last Internet stranger she met with turned into that thing, and one she tried to shove out of her mind with bright, sugary pop music and fantasies of all the fun she’d have with the Coven. She’d be hanging out with her girls telling fortunes and making charms; it’d be like the good days of school all over again before everyone started to think those things were childish. Yeah, it’d be a good time. No, scratch that, a great time. The best time. This is gonna be awesome, she thought to herself as she stepped out into the street.

The blaring of the horn was so loud that she could hear it through her headphones. Vashti whipped her head so fast that she felt dizzy, the shape of the giant truck just a blur. However, the headlights were a dead giveaway and she jumped back to the curb. Her foot caught it wrong, and a torrent of pain shot through her body as she crashed down on her tailbone. The force of the hit made her lose her grip on her umbrella, and her headphones took her headscarf with them as they plunged off of her head onto the ground. “Awesome,” said Vasthi as she lifted up the drenched headphones. A little water damage wouldn’t hu—the vehicle and a few other black cars with sirens flashing buzzed by her and drenched her with a tidal wave of street water, leaving her mouth agape.

Her umbrella was gone, caught by the wind and trampled underneath the lead vehicle. Her headphones were destroyed, water digging down deep inside of them to drown out the sound of bubblegum pop. Her clothes were soaked, her ass hurt, her hair was ruined, and she was absolutely shaking. She could’ve been killed, smeared across the street like shit on a shoe and left to be picked apart by a pack of wild animals. Asshole Florida drivers like that didn’t stop. She reached down to grab her headscarf. Her hands were trembling as she wrung it out and draped it over herself. Her heart was racing in her chest. She swallowed and looked around in a slight panic, trying to find a way to center herself. She had been shocked by the near hit, but she wasn’t shaking because she had been scared. Rather, she was shaking with an absolutely uncontrollable

No, no, nonono, not now, thought Vashti. She could feel it stirring to get out, and she knew there were only moments before the Leviathan was unleashed. She hadn’t realized it, but she had been running after the truck. Vashti forced herself to stop. The good thing was she couldn’t see it anymore, so it was easy to shift her eyes onto something else. Only there wasn’t anything around but dead buildings and dead highways. She glared up at the gray clouds as the rain splashed onto her face. Vashti squeezed her eyes shut tight. The sound of rain on pavement wrapped itself around her. Unlike the bubblegum pop, it was real, authentic. Peaceful, even. A relaxing shower, sent to her by mother nature. She let it wash away her anger as she counted back from twenty. The threat was gone, let it go.

Slowly, she lowered her head and opened one eye. Part of her felt like she’d see the smouldering remains of the police truck, but to her relief she hadn’t moved. She let out a deep, relaxed breath. She had gotten lucky that the driver didn’t stop. If they did, she doubted she would’ve been able to pull her focus away from what the Leviathan had perceived as a threat. She took another deep breath and did another count, just to be certain. Nothing stirred inside of her. Good. Good. Everything was good. She continued on down the road to the Lucky Strikes Casino, the rain hardly bothering her. She’d swam in so many rivers the past week that being soaked from head to toe was becoming the new normal.

She could see the Lucky Strikes Casino coming up over the horizon now. The road curved the long way around it, so she opted for a shortcut. Vashti cut through an overgrown field, hopped down into a stream (like it mattered, she was already soaked), and swam to the otherside. It was as she was trudging up the muddy bank of the stream that she heard it: the blaring of that horn again. Her eyes grew wide, the gray clouds above darkened, and a guttural roar erupted from the pit of her stomach to answer the challenge of the horn. Vashti clapped a hand over her mouth as she lurched forward, her muscles tightening as she fell to the ground and convulsed in the mud. Too many teeth split her face in two as she howled while her soft flesh shifted to hard scales. A giant tail ripped through her trousers, and Vashti’s last coherent thought as she sunk deep into the pool of her mind was that maybe she should switch to dresses. A meaty claw gripped the edge of the bank and pulled itself up, accompanied by the stock castle thunderclap of an old horror movie.

The Leviathan was here.

---

---

And things were about to get fucked.

The Leviathan stood up from the bank to its full height. Five foot fucking five, the pennacle of heights. Never had there been a taller lizard. She moved forward with the lithe grace of a drunken toddler. Land was fucking stupid. It existed only for scared bitches to hide from the Leviathan. Stupid metal elephant was so afraid of the Leviathan that its legs turned into circles so it could run faster on the land. Didn’t matter. She’d find it, rip its loud ass snout off, and beat it to death with it. Take one of its round legs as a trophy. Put it on a spike, set it outside of her lair as a fucking warning to any other metal elephants around to not fuck with her. The Leviathan was Queen of the water and the land. Stupid idiots just didn’t know it yet.

She’d teach ‘em today.

But walking was the worst! A dumb invention for dumb bitches. Necessary only to teach the filth of Florida land their place.. Each step brought forth new fountains of hatred that served as fuel to keep the Leviathan pressing onward through the reedy field of mud and trash. Above, heaven applauded her efforts with another rumble and boom. She dropped to all fours. Faster, although not significantly, and sneakier, although not really with that tail thrashing through the reeds. Not like it mattered. Metal elephants were dumb and couldn’t see through her camouflage.

The Leviathan perched at the reeds at the edge of the parking lot, covered in a muddy and tattered outfit too expensive to be purchased on an apparition’s salary. The Leviathan liked the clothes. Regal. Fit for a fucking Queen. The primates hadn’t noticed her approach, too busy dragging around weaker primates. Typical behavior of a dumb, stupid inferior species of idiots. She snorted. If they wouldn’t announce her appearance with their awe and respect then she’d trumpet herself. The primates would shit their fucking pants.The metal elephant started to move and raised its voice as it rolled away from the primates. The Leviathan waited for it to close in on the reeds, and then roared as it leapt at its target.

Immediately it was pure, wonderful chaos.

As it jumped, the Leviathan whipped around its powerful tail and smashed it right into the face of the metal elephant or, rather, the front grill of the FBI command truck. The truck came to a sliding halt as the front of it crumpled around the Leviathan. The monstrous apparition freed itself from the “elephant’s” powerful jaws by tearing at it with its claws, absolutely turning the smashed hood into ribbons as it cut out the heart of its foe. Triumphantly raising the engine block over its head with a victorious roar, the Leviathan soon lost interest in its kill or the terrified primate trapped inside of it. Prize in hand, the Leviathan lumbered over to a nearby sewer drain, kicked it open, and jumped in like an overgrown, irradiated turtle trained in the art of ninjutsu before anybody could even be certain of what the fuck had actually just happened.

The FBI just left without a word and left whoever was handcuffed... well, handcuffed. The Coven quickly gathered at the usual table as an emergency meeting was called for. Claudette looked around, her hair was stained with puke, and whatever debris was on the ground because she was knocked out when the whole shitstorm began. She just stared at everyone as not a word was said. Not even a loud breath.

"... What in the fuck was that?" Claudette asked, heavily accented. It was a strange experience for the Coven because this was probably the first time hearing Claudette. "Seriously, what the fuck?" Her French-Canadian accent was abundant.

".Oh my God..." Emily said as she roused herself awake, her head was wobbly and everything was sideways. And cold... probably because her head was against the fucking floor. Okay, what? She looked around, but she realized that her arms were handcuffed behind her back. She tried to wobble her way out but she realized that she was handcuffed. Her eyebrows furrowed as she felt a stinging in her ass.

"One of you!" Emily shouted at the top of her lungs. "Get me out of this!"

"... Remember that whole spiel about them not helping you?" Babylon casually said as she grabbed Emily by the handcuffs and helped her to her feet.

"Yeah, I do," Emily seethed as she turned towards the table and not one of those lazy sluts are helping her. Like they see her with her God damn arms behind her back with fucking handcuffs. What the shit? She stared at them as rage welled up inside of her. "YOU FUCKING SEE ME WITH THESE HANDCUFFS ON!" Emily shouted and they ignored her.

Okay, she was gonna give them a piece of her mind when she got over there. Emily first took a step and immediately fell onto her face as the whole hands behind her back thing made it hard to walk. That, and she missed the tear gas canister at her feet. Babylon helped her up as Emily tried to move back over there, carefully maneuvering to the table... and falling over again. Babylon laughed as she helped her up and she continued walking over to the table.

And by some miracle, Emily made it to the table and she looked around as her face was burning red with pure hot rage. Her gaze landed on Agatha and Emily herself was like a bull with tunnel vision. "Don't you even open your fucking mouth," Emily started, "I refuse to even listen to you open your mouth! Where the hell was you when all of this was going on?! Curled up in a fucking ball or something?! We were getting destroyed and if you couldn't handle it, then you can't handle being a leader!"

"... Oh, don't mind her," Babylon said with a grin on her face. "She's just a bit cranky. You could say that she woke up on the wrong side of the bed!" She loudly laughed as Emily seethed.

"Also she got shot in the ass. Make sure she never forgets that."



After the agents pulled out they were in the command truck and Meifeng was driving with Cindy in the passenger seat and the various FBI agents in their spots. Meifeng was driving carefully as the rain started again.

"Okay, do you want to report this to Director Alcott?" Cindy asked.

"I think she can go without knowing it... just for now," Meifeng said. "Let's just get back to the nest and see what comes up."

"... Can we go by a liquor store?" Maximilian asked as he sat in the back of a true.

"Oh, Maxi," Meifeng playfully said. "You of all people want to drink on the job?"

"I don't know," Maximilian started, "All of that was like... so draining. Those girls are like cancer. I just feel like a... like a zombie right now after all of that-"

"Holy shit! Look out!" Cindy screamed as a fucking alligator monster came flying through the air. Like out of fucking nowhere. Cindy immediately unbuckled and got out of the seat into the back as Meifeng did the same. They were all launched around and dazed and confused by this fucking sneak attack by... Was it Annebelle? No.

"Uhhhh..." Meifeng said as she looked around, she could feel the thing tearing apart her truck. Her truck. Her truck! Meifeng got to her feet and ignored the blood that was trickling off her forehead as she ran to the front and saw that this... thing, had taken the engine out of the truck. In other words; it was totaled. Meifeng ran to the front as she screamed,

"Oh my fucking God you ruined my fucking truck, you fucking piece of shit! You know how fucking hard it is to get one of these?! I'll have to fucking write an essay about how a fucking alligator ruined my fucking truck and watch them look at me like I'm fucking retarded! And if this shit comes out of my fucking paycheck; I am going to fuck you up in so many ways you didn't think were fucking possible! Mark my fucking words you ugly piece of shit..." Meifeng screams were becoming increasingly incomprehensible until she had devolved into yelling at the thing in Chinese.

The Agents were staring at her in shock. Before Meifeng pointed forward.

"GET THAT FUCKER!" Meifeng screamed.

"On it," Maximilian launched himself forward like a rocket until he was directly over the manhole cover and came to an abrupt stop. Before he just fell in.

"Ribbit," Sonya said as she transformed into her frog form and leap into the sewer.

"One liner," Helena said as her flock of bird Apparitions was carrying her into the sewer after the beast.

Maria just stood there and Meifeng blankly stared at her,

"... Water and I don't mix, boss." She smiled.

---

Kayla didn't remember much, between fading in and out. She remembered being carried, and jostled around some. She remembered the hum of an engine being brought to life. But the thing that really brought her back was the water. Sweet fucking live bringing water that made her feel like she wasnt a mummy. She desperately snatched it when it was passed to her and downed the thing in what felt like record time.

She felt better then. Not quite one hundred percent, but better. Not catatonic, which was always a good start. She had pushed the envelope again, because of course she had- that's what she always did, but what really rubbed her the wrong way was why she had to do it. Competition, inspiration, resolve to improve strengthened the muscle and fired the will, but having to give something her all as to not be killed was not something she was planning on doing this evening. It'd be different had she walked into that forest knowing that she was going into combat of some sort. Kayla was uncharacteristically quiet for the rest of the drive, and a part of her was happy they had seen how dehydrated she was. They would think she wasn't talking because of that.

When they pulled into DQ, Kayla had placed her order, a bottle of water and an Oreo Blizzard as always, and excused herself into the restroom. She walked into one of the stalls, locked the door, and cried. She cradled her legs against her chest, and buried her face in her knees, making herself as small as possible as she sobbed into her dirty smoke-smelling jeans. She had almost died tonight. She had walked into the forest without Oleander, without mentioning anything to her Uncle, and she would've never been seen or heard from again had things gone any different. Had that Hound decided to pursue them, had she not held out as long as she had, it could've found her through the smoke and fire and taken her soul with it to hell. She wasn't ready to die.

Kayla remained in that stall for several minutes to just... unwind. Allowing all that nervous, fight or flight energy to leave her body. She shuddered after a while, realizing she had no more tears left to cry, and forced herself to get up and stand up and go make herself at least somewhat presentable. She spent another few minutes hosing the dried blood off her lip and plugging her nose with a paper towel to stop the bleeding, and running water over her hands and feet to wash away the dirt and grime that had accumulated from stumbling through the burning woodland so that she didn't dirty her clothes further or infect the many cuts she had given herself. She ran her hands under the sink, and splashed the water on her face to wipe away any other crap she had built up.

"...After a freak earth quake caused a landslide. Tonight's storm seems to have created a wildfire in the forest over by..." A news anchor droned in the background from one of the TVs when Kayla walked out of the bathroom. She noticed that Madison was holding Molly in the air by her neck using her abstraction. These fucking women couldn't keep it in their pants for ten minutes without supervision, could they? They just survived being turned to ash and dust by death's hound and they were fighting each other?. Kayla walked up to the table, too emotionally and physically drained to deal with The Coven's bullshit, and grabbed her ice cream and her water.

"Madison," she said, giving the group a cursory glance and not a second more of attention despite the show they were putting on. "Outside. When you're done."

It was more of a command than it was a request, and she would know that. Kayla didn't wait for a reply, or to find out who Molly was. At the moment she didn't care. Stepping out of the Dairy Queen and into the humid Florida evening air was a welcome rush of warmth. A subtle comfort. She sat down on the curb and ate her ice cream, content for now on counting how many fire trucks passed by on the way to the woods.

---

After a bit of time recovering from the pure shock of being thrown out of an FBI van, Maya and Lyss managed to figure out how to get out of the sticky handcuff situation. Really, it was more Lyss - who had said she could unlock the cuffs with a bobby pin after Maya had started spouting off nonsensical ideas to help the situation.

But Maya had provided the bobby pin, even if it was a bit awkward as Lyss used her teeth to pull it out of Maya’s hair and drop it into her hand. She held back a wince at the tugging of her hair - it was nothing compared to the rest of the day. And anything to get out of these handcuffs.

She let out a sigh of relief when the handcuffs were finally removed, moving her hands to infront of her to rub her wrists with a hiss. She turned her head to look at Lyss. “I never, ever want to meet that bitch again.”

Immediately after speaking she pushed herself up onto her knees, then her feet with a wince. She was going to be fucking sore tomorrow. Totally worth it to send those Agents flying. After taking a moment to get adjusted to having free hands and being on her feet again she stumbled back towards the casino, in time to hear talking and then a bunch of shouting.

“We can explain what the FBI wanted.”

Maya stood in the door with a semi-dramatic pose even though she looked like an absolute mess. Her face was red from those fucking slaps, which still hurt like hell, and her eyes were puffed and red from the tear gas. Her hair was incredibly disheveled and she was now soaked through thanks to the fact that it had started raining because, of course. Not to mention the sticky note in the middle of her forehead - a little wet now, but still readable.

“They had a few conditions for not throwing all of us in jail.”

She walked over to the table with a confident smile, even as it was more of a limp than anything. Act as if she hadn't just been put through one of the worst lectures in her life with the threat of death and past memories hanging over her. She was totally fine and definitely wasn't feeling all the realness of the situation rush to her now that her anger had subsided. But she ignored this, and instead removed the sticky note from her forehead and slapped it down on the table. “First off me, Lyss and Riley are on probation… there’s contact info on that note I think. Second… Well I don’t really remember, Lyss can explain it.”

She then heavily leaned against the table, turning to face Emily and all her (not entirely unfounded) rage towards Agatha as if she’d just noticed her.

"Hey Emily, how's your ass? And that’s a nice pair of handcuffs you got there. Why don’t you shut the fuck up and stop pretending you didn’t try to run away as soon as shit hit the fan? As if you’re not a self serving bitch who’d rather run than help the rest of us?"

She turned her gaze to Agatha. “Not that she’s entirely wrong. What were you doing during this entire thing? What’s the point in having a leader who’s just going to freak out as soon as it gets dangerous? I’m not saying we’re going to look for it,” though they totally would, “but if we’re on the feds radar… that means we’re on other people’s too.”

She paused as she pulled herself up to sit on the table, since she couldn’t see any chairs nearby and fuck her legs were beginning to hurt. She thought about her words for a moment - how to explain things in a way that didn’t make it seem that they hadn’t been backed up against a wall and only saved by that cute agent stepping in to ask their superior to let it all slide.

“That’s why I think it’s about time we pick a new leader. My vote’s for Lyss who, like I said, can explain all the conditions of the deal she got to stop the feds from wiping us off the map.”

---

The second Lyss freed herself and Maya of the cuffs, she took to rubbing her twisted wrist and the shoulder that broke her fall out of the van. Her cheek was still burning from that bitch's backhand, and to be honest her pride was hurt. She slowly rose to her feet and tore the sticky note off of her forehead. Half tempted to crumple it up and toss it, Lyss stuffed it and the bobby pin back into the pocket of her jeans to deal with later. Her silence spoke volumes as she followed Maya inside of the casino.

While Maya seemed to brush off the event easily, Lyss didn't feel the same way. She headed straight towards the bathroom. Standing at the broken and dirty mirror, Lyss rubbed her sore eyes before she saw the state of her lipstick. "Fucking bitch," she muttered before wiping the smeared paint off of her lips onto her soaking wet tank top.

As always, Lyss carried her lipstick in the pocket of her jacket. She pulled it out and took her time to reapply before storing it away again. Her hair was wet and clung to her skin, but at least the rain had washed away the streaks of tears on her cheeks. She didn't look that bad, aside from the red mark on her cheek.

Lyss made her way back towards the girls just in time to see that they had all recovered too. She also came in just in time to hear Maya vote for herself to be the new leader. She grimaced, but her attention was quickly pulled away when she saw that Emily was still cuffed.

"Turn around, Emily. I can get you out." She murmured, pulling the bobby pin back out of her pocket. She was quiet as she stepped up to the girl and picked the locks on the cuffs. She tossed them aside, and then quickly removed the inactive dart from Emily's ass too and let it drop onto the floor. Next, she made her way over to Ellie and offered her some help to stand again. Then she turned to face the group.

"We just got our asses handed to us by the FBI." She started before pausing for a moment to think. "No," she thought aloud, "They couldn't have been the fucking FBI. There's no way they followed government regulations." She frowned and rubbed her eyes again. She was too flustered to think clearly.

"I don't know. I don't like this. Whoever they were, they're dangerous. They easily overpowered us, and we outnumbered them." She put her hand on her hip and winced. Her wrist was still sore. In fact, her whole body ached. Lungs, face, wrist, shoulder- everything.

She wanted to scream at Emily for turning tail and trying to run. She wanted to scold the girls who did nothing to defend the group. Now was not the time. She was sure that the others felt just as shameful with how things went. They didn't need to be scolded. They needed to figure out a plan.

"We need to be prepared next time they decided to drop in on us like that. I mean, what if it had been the vampires from Greenwood? We should expect them to fight back too, right?" She sighed and walked over to the table. Her shoulders sagged as she took a seat at her usual spot.

"That group. The agents, or whatever the fuck. They're not going to just disappear because we talked them out of killing us." She glanced up at the girls. "Yes. Their bitch of a leader threatened to end us if we don't comply. Something in me says that they're completely capable of it, if we're not stronger the next time they come around."

Her hand balled into a fist as she felt anger rising in her like bile in her throat. "I, for one, will do everything in my power to make sure we aren't beat again. I hope that all of you will do the same."

Then there was the matter of explaining their "conditions" set by the people that had just kicked their asses.

"The leader. Meifeng. She told us to stay off of the radar. If we need to settle a fight, like with the Greenwood Coven, we need to do it professionally and without leaving a trace."

"She found us because some of you didn't even change clothes before going to Dairy Queen. Could you imagine if the actual feds found us? We'd all be in jail right now. Use some common sense, girls. Who else do you think noticed our group because of that? What other groups like them are out there? What if a witch hunter had figured us out?" She sighed and shook her head.

"No. I don't want to be the leader. I want everyone to do their part in this group. No more fighting. No more sitting around. We all need to work on our abstractions and try our best to defend our sisters."

"That bitch and her goons will come back. She told me that we owed them a favor. Riley, Maya, and I have to meet with one of them every day to update them on what we've been up to. I'm going to use it as a chance to find out who they really are. Maybe even squeeze some information out of them. I mean, the person she assigned me with is just their IT guy. I overpowered him pretty quickly."

She looked over at Maya. "He likes you. Use that to your advantage. Flirt with him. I know you think he's cute too. Maybe you can get him to slip up if you're cute with him." She glanced at Riley and had to think for a second before coming up with a plan for her. "Riley, I want you to tell him that all we do at meetings is gossip about the latest celebrities or vent about our day. Make him think that we're just a bunch of girls grabbing coffee."

She looked around at the others. "As for everyone else, I think we need to start teaching each other tricks. You're all smart and capable women. We all have something to share and teach."

"When Madison, Kayla, Jess, and Molly get back we need to let them know what happened while they were gone." She pressed her lips together. If they survived their meeting with death. She didn't say that out loud. Instead, she looked around at the girls. Her words had come out in a muddled way, but she said what she wanted to say. She just had to hope that it sunk in, and that they would go along with it.

Molly heard Kayla call her name as she was between the girl and the Hound. She angled her ear to Kayla to pay attention to the instructions. Nodding to confirm she heard, Molly immediately turned and began to head out of the area and towards the vehicle they had arrived in; grabbing Kayla's shoes on the way and waving to both Madison and Jess to follow along. It wasn't long before the group arrived back at the car and Molly simply climbed into one of the available seats and seemed to relax, though her eyes remained steadfast to watch the scene before them. Mostly making sure the Hound didn't get past Kayla without notice.

Without much delay the forest before them began to burn, and rapidly increase into a roaring whirlwind of fire; Molly couldn't help but smile at the sight. It was truly a brilliant sight to witness. After some time the fires dimmed, only slightly, and eventually she noticed Kayla come tumbling out of the smoke; her clothes singed to the point Molly was surprised they still remained on the girls figure. She was about to get out and help the girl to the car before she noticed Madison taking care of that detail. As the four were all finally in the car and heading down the road Molly looked back at the scene they were leaving; Noticing the now unscathed and massive figure of the black wolf simply watching their retreat; soon hearing the words inside her head. She groaned audibly to herself. This was going to be a pain. It was difficult for a Apparition of Fear and Deity of Death to not cross paths on occasion. She simply hoped the threat was towards the mortals and not herself.

After a short ride the car pulled into a Dairy Queen, as the car was pushed into park Molly lazily pushed her door up and began to walk towards the entrance with the group. Stopping in mild surprise as the girl Madison suddenly turned on her and hoisted her by the neck, her afforded strength given by the Jaws. Molly sighed as her feet lay dangling a few inches off the ground, seemingly unphased by the fact that a strong grip bruised the skin around her throat.

"Hraesvelgr. But you may simply call me Molly. Seeing as that's the name of the meat I am wearing." She stated rather casually, her soft brown eyes looking down at the girl holding her up in the air. "And I didn't lay a finger on her. Someone broke my toy, and I saved it from bleeding out on the floor of a dusty building. So I believe, if anything, a thank you would be appropriate."

"Okay, what the fuck?" Madison nearly shouted at Molly - No, Apparition. Tears began falling down her face. "I'm not thanking you for shit. Tell me what happened to Molly or I'm going to tear you out of her!" The hand that wasn't holding Hraesvelgr materialized a glowing purple claw with massive nails.

"Or better yet, fly you up somewhere really high and drop you, don't fuck with me, I'll do it!"

Molly couldn't help but mildly chuckle at the threat. "I guess Molly didn't tell you much of me. I am the Apparition of Fear. Threats don't terrify me, nor does the consequence of pain. But I have no reason to keep it a secret. You found out who I really am, so that portion of fun was taken from me. So, I will tell you the memories I have of Molly before she was nearly killed..."



"..And that's how I came to possess this girls body." Molly finished simply.

The Recollection faded and there was something inside of Madison that snapped. For a second she stared at "Molly" with wide-eyed shock as she yelled as she tossed her across the near empty parking lot. Floating over towards the girl and she cracked her knuckles as the barrier around her reformed into its usual mass of eldritch bones. Letting out a yell she quickly closed the distance as she brought her fist down in an attack that would probably kill any normal human being.

Molly believed that explanation would be enough to end all this foolishness, but suddenly her body was tossed across the parking lot, only to crash into the pavement and tumble a few more foot. Molly groaned in annoyance as she pushed herself up to her feet, noticing the few scrapes she recieved from the pavement. Could these incessant creatures stop damaging her toy! Molly eyes narrowed angrily as the girl came at her to strike. Molly wasn't dumb enough to assume it would do nothing if she simply let it happen. As the strike came down towards Molly suddenly appeared between them a thick wall of bone and flesh. The wall shattered and split on impact, but kept Molly untouched all the same. As Madison tore a hole through the wall Molly could be seen smirking before being hidden my a pillar of the same material came rushing through the opening Madison created and towards the girls center mass with violent force.

The pillar caught Madison off guard and sent her flying backwards and the sheer impact cracked the bones that comprised the barrier, but not break them. She flew backwards and did a flip as she regained control of herself. Madison was quick to fly towards Molly as she shouted, "GET OUT OF HER BODY!" Madison grabbed the pillar and it snapped off as she attempted to use it as a battering ram.

Molly's pompous smirk remained on her lips as she was yelled at to remove herself from the body she was inhabiting. As Madison broke the pillar and came at her like a battering ram she didn't move, simply allowing Madison to charge right towards her. As the pillar was nearly about to impact into her chest it simply deteriorated into ash and leave Madison holding nothing but air. As Madison's body continued to launch towards her Molly suddenly reached out in a flash of motion, gripping tightly around the barrier covering the girls throat and slamming her body into the concrete.

"Get out? You realize, if I leave... Molly's soul withers. She isn't strong enough to survive the damage it took." Molly stated firmly, staring down at the girl pinned beneath her hand to show how serious her words were. However, Molly forgot about the various skeletal limbs and skulls that were floating off of Madison's body. A raptor's skull chomped down on Molly's lower leg and blood trickled as it refused to let go. The only thing was...

... Madison didn't command the Jaws to do that.

"... That means she's still in there," Madison said as she lifted Molly up into the air. "... Which means we can do something to help her!" She shouted.

Molly flinched and growled in protest as the ethereal teeth sunk into her leg, before being lifted high into the air. Suddenly two large, crescent shaped blades of bone struck across the skeletal limb that held her in opposite direction; like scissors cutting through paper the limb shattered and released its hold and Molly began to fall back to the ground. She landed on her feet, but instantly collapsed to her knees as the strain on her bitten leg caught her off guard. She pushed herself back to her feet and glared down at the girl not far from her. Suddenly a large skeletal scythe appeared at Molly's side, grabbing it firmly in hand.

"You keep pushing me kid and I will take off the training wheels." Molly declared viciously. "The only reason I haven't tried to kill you yet is because this incessant voice keeps pleading me not to."

Madison floated in the air, looking down at Molly as the rain began to fall yet again. Madison merely shook her head at Molly's assertion. "... You're not going to be standing that long with a bite like that," She pointed at the wound on Molly's leg. "And if you try to leave, you're not going to get far..."

Madison sighed.

"... And you heard the Hound, right? I already fucking died. Think I'm really afraid to do it again if I got to?Think again, dickhead. You call yourself the Apparition of fear? Well, I've seen things that are a lot scarier than you. Much worse. And I've seen them get their ass kicked. So what you think that you're any different? Any better? Well you're dead fucking wrong."

Madison stuck her right hand out. The Jaws suddenly disappeared as Madison decided to use a secret weapon, or technique, that the Jaws told her about. She formed an enormous T-Rex skull comprised of all the bones that the Jaws could materialize. It was bigger than her entire body and she was holding the ethereal thing like it was nothing. The Jaws told her that this was focusing all of his strength into one club... at the cost of sacrificing protection of the rest of her body.

However, she heard a voice behind her.

"... Both of you. Keep it in your pants." Kayla said, dragging herself up to her feet as soon as she finished her Blizzard. She had been enjoying the show so far, if nothing else. Between her own thoughts and the general tone the night had taken, she was so mentally exhausted with The Coven's crap that her typical endless well of patience for bullshit had reached its wit's end. "I will tear both of your hearts out of your chests, so help me god."

Madison turned around towards Kayla, "Kayla, do you even know what's going on!?"

"No, Madison, I dont. I dont fucking care. You know what I want? I want to go home and get some sleep, because I just burnt down the fuckin' countryside getting our asses out of a deal with death that none of us were prepared for. You want to fight, that's fine, but for the love of god and all that is holy do it on your own time. I have stuck my neck out enough for one night."

"Then go home," Madison nearly hissed. She wanted to explain it but she had a feeling that Kayla wasn't going to listen.

"You are my ride home, Madison!" Kayla said, exasperated. "This is just another Babylon situation. We know where Molly lives, and we'll work it out, but not now. Fighting each other is not the way to do this. If Molly 2.0 is telling even a modicum of the truth, the real Molly is going to die right here and now on the pavement." Kayla argued, crossing her arms. "Honestly, Madison? What is your plan here? How do you intend on extracting this entity from Molly's body? Or are you just going to rush in guns blazing again? I can't bring people back from the dead, so I cant bail you out if you fuck it up." Again, she almost said, biting her tongue. Madison obviously was being emotional right now, and was handling sensitive subjects in knee-jerk, gut reactions. Kayla got that, because she did that too. She was better about it now, but she had been there. She would probably be there again. "We're all tired. You're not thinking. Take it from me, you dont want blood on your hands if you can help it."

Jessica had watched the end of the fight against the hound, and the fight of Molly vs Madison in quiet. She couldn't help but feel a little out of place here, and she really couldn't bring herself to attack Molly's body, possessed or not. "Madison... fighting this thing is just going to kill Molly, Kayla's right. Let's call it quits for now and figure this out later. Killing Molly won't make any of us feel better." Jess sat on a bench with her knees pulled up besider her. She had an inner desire to work harder to stand on level with her fellow coven sisters, and now she had another goal. Getting that ugly fucking monster out of Molly. "Let's just leave. This was... a lot." Jessicas usual smile was nowhere to be detected on her face. She felt tired and powerless, and needed rest.

The whole speeches from the two made her... think. She paused. Just floating in the air as not a word left her mouth... she turned towards Molly with her own jaw agape and just stared at her. The tears stopped, oddly enough, as the massive club that she materialized through the Jaws faded away. It... made her realize... she wasn't alone here. She was being selfish, oh, oh so selflish. Madison wasn't acting like there were three other people with her the whole time. She was acting like she was doing all of this alone, yet getting the people she cared about hurt.

She sighed.

She fell from the sky onto her feet as she crossed her arms and didn't say another word. Madison had messed up and she had gotten these people who, like Kayla said, stuck their neck out for her and into danger. She closed her eyes as she turned away. Madison didn't say a word, because it was simply not her place to speak anymore.

Molly remained still, holding her position as the two other girls began to talk Madison down from her rampage. Her eyes never leaving Madison to ensure that Madison didn't suddenly change her mind and strike while Molly dropped her guard. Though as the giant T-rex head faded and Madison came back down to ground level Molly let her Scythe deteriorate and was no longer wielding a weapon.

"I believe you, Madison, misunderstand me, or my intentions." Molly began, her anger subsided and speaking casually. "I have no interest in causing Molly harm. Or letting her slip away. I took over her body to save her. Sure, I had a mild interest in seeing through the eyes of a mortal. But I don't like my toys being broken. Especially when they haven't reached their potential. I am tirelessly bored of this.." She was cut short, taking her gaze away from Madison and looking towards Kayla as she spoke.

"Molly, or whatever the fuck your name is-" Kayla said, turning to what had once been their friend. "Shut the fuck up. Please. You are not helping your case calling our friend a toy. I need, need, need you to understand that you are allowed to continue this on our terms right now. I'm trying to stop Madison here..." she said, motioning to her friend with both hands, being as obvious as possible in her pitch to the entity that was more out of touch than her great grandfather had been before his death. "... From making a mistake. But we people, not toys, people, have a phrase called 'death with dignity', and if it means freeing Molly from the cage that you have her locked in, I am okay with making that mistake. Again." she sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose in frustration.

"We'll discuss the terms of your stay later. You did technically save Molly's life, so I'm sure we can work out some sort of... I dont know, reward as a thanks? But you must understand that I do intent on talking to her again. Call it part of your experiment if you must. Grade school details obversation a necessary step."

Kayla groaned, and took a long drink from her now half empty water bottle. She approached Madison, and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, it's gonna be okay. I want to talk to you about what happened tonight. Later. Not now."

Jess nodded along with Kayla, half-heartedly. She didn't have the usual spunk, so wasn't nearly as talkative. Still she felt like she had to say something. "Look, we just care about Molly. We don't want you hurting her. I'm really uncomfortable having an apparition like you in her, but if you have to be her version of the Arc reactor, I guess that's how it's got to be. But if you do anything to hurt her. I will fight you, and I will win." She grimmaced at the demon wearing her friend. Her channeler began glowing almost involuntary as her courage had begun to restore a bit.

Molly groaned slightly as she was lectured on the terms of Humans and their weird fetishism with friendship, or whatever they called it. Though the pain still in her leg from the bite reminded her that she was currently outnumbered. And had no special gift to leave this place and into safety while stuck inside this body. So, Molly simply nodded in the direction of the two girls, in a manner of agreement to the current terms.

Finally Madison spoke.

"Let's go," She sharply said, before she pointed at "Molly" and hissed, "You're coming with us back to the Coven so we can figure this out. Try any shit and I promise you - they won't be able to stop me." Madison said as she got into Mollys face.

"Fine. But I am getting an ice cream." Meat-Suit Molly retorted sharply. Before heading towards the entrance of the DQ, trying to hide the slight limp in each step. As she pushed herself through the double doors and headed to the counter she looked around, seeing no one in sight.

"Hello..?" She called out curiously. Apparently they had all fled due to the commotion outside... fuck.

Molly then returned outside to see the others still where they previously stood.

"We need to leave. Everyone left and probably called the police 'cause of our fight." Molly stated casually as she hurriedly limped to the truck and practically threw herself into the back seat.

Madison immediately flew her way into the drivers seat... realizing how stupid all of this was. And if Kayla or Jess weren't in the car at this point?

She was leaving them.

Jess got into the back seat of Madison's car and folded her arms. She was ready to get to her car and go home. She counted on her fingers how long she had til her next DND session, coming to the conclusion there were still 4 days to go. Oh well. She decided to lighten the mood a bit. She knew she was probably annoying the girls but it was better than silence. "So... you all sure you don't want to get into dnd? I'll teach. It could be fuuuun." She tried to sound natural, like she always did, but her tone came across as forced.

However, there was one person who didn't flee... recording the whole fight with a cellphone out of notice.

Herik barely reached the table before Ellie grabbed him and they were gone. His stomach lurched, he vomited on the concrete, the fresh air cleared out his lungs, and his eyes stopped burning. He coughed up the rest of his breakfast and looked up through blurry eyes just to not see Ellie. She went back. He leaned against the wall to wait get himself together and wait for her to come back, but she didn't. Alright, time to get up. He stood, legs wobbly and his shoulder worst for ware. He didn't think the ace bandage worked anymore. He walked around the corner and recognized he was a mile away from the casino at a convenience store. Okay. It shouldn't take him long to get back. The girls were in trouble and it wouldn't do if they did something to irreversible. The we wasn't on the same street he parked his car for his run. Damn. He would have gotten back quicker if he was. He was half way to the casino when he realized he didn't have his car keys anyway. He set them down on the bar counter...he thinks. Now's not the time, he'll figure it out later.

It took fifteen minutes to get back just in time to see Maya and Lyss walked back inside and the FBI truck was down the street. So they left and no one was hurt, right? He hoped so. He jogged inside, everyone was around the table. Emily was yelling about her cuffs. The mood was somber at best. Half the members looked worse for ware. He took a seat at the table and listened to Lyss explain what happened. They got in trouble for the vampire incident yesterday. It was a bad idea after all. He sighed, of course it was. Violence didn't get anyone anywhere and now their lives were on the line. If they messed up again they'd end up dead. He took a deep breath in and let it out. This was a lot more than he bargained for. He wanted friends to practice magic with. Now they're on the radar of the government and could potentially die. If he goes, then who will look after his mother? What happens if she wakes up and he's dead? He didn't want to think of her grief. Tears welled in his eyes at the thought of her being alone. He's all she has. No other family than just them.

"I agree with Lyss. We've had trouble two days in a row. I don't want anything to happen to any of you. So far our actions almost got us killed. I think we should avoid funerals for at least another sixty years." He might have to bury his mother if he can't figure out how to help her, he doesn't want more lives lost, especially to senseless violence. They needed structure, rules, like in wrestling. Illegals moves were called and could lead to disqualification. They needed something like that. "What if we had rules for when we do things and when we don't, and for how to handle situations like today? If Lyss is correct and there might other groups out there that might come for us we don't want to be unprepared."

Ellie heard Emily going apeshit but barely cared. What was new? She always did that, plus Ellie was exhausted and feeling the exact opposite of perfect. She accepted Lyss' help to her feet and gave her a mumbled, but sincere, "Thank you." The FBI apparently let them get away with quite a lot, but the price bothered her. A favor. So nondescript, the same kind of thing her parents would say before having her slave away all day.

Then the subject turned to leadership. Not again. Ellie remained quiet and sat on the roulette table. She was starting to find the place less charming now that it was filled with the smell of vomit. Speaking of vomitting, Herik walked back in. SHE FORGOT HIM! She blushed, extremely embarrassed. She noticed he had gotten sick, which was not a surprise when you weren't used to teleporting, but she said she'd be back.

She meekly hopped off of the table and sat next to Herik, looking down at her feet the whole time. "I'm sorry that I left you behind. I-I was trying to help the others and exhausted myself... and forgot about coming back..." She was quiet but she had turned to him so her words were directed straight to him.

Fortunately, Lyss didn't have her thumbs up her ass like the rest of the Coven.

She got Emily out of the cuffs... but decided to get the dart out of her ass for her. Emily couldn't help but furrow her brows at that because she always got suspicious when one of these lesbians got a bit too handy. She shrugged it off because, at the moment, she really didn't have the energy to fight or protest these things. All Emily did was sigh as she walked over to her usual spot and put her elbow against the table as she pressed her cheek against it. Staring aimlessly into nothing as Lyss explained everything and spoke up a few times.

"We just got our asses handed to us by the FBI. No, they couldn't have been the fucking FBI. There's no way they followed government regulations."

"They could be the Men in Black for all we know," Emily shrugged with her eyes closed as she spoke. "Fact of the matter is... they have resources." And what Emily meant by that was; they had the gear to find them and catch them completely off guard.

"... What if a witch hunter had figured us out?"

"Then that would be fun!" Babylon said as she appeared. "It's been ages since I fought a proper witch hunter... but since we're not proper witches then we probably aren't going to fight a proper witch hunter. It's only fitting."

"No. I don't want to be the leader. I want everyone to do their part in this group. No more fighting. No more sitting around. We all need to work on our abstractions and try our best to defend our sisters."

This made Claudette finally speak up because she was pretty much just waiting for Madison to get back so she can get a ride back to the apartment and take a shower. However, this was her point exactly as Claudette finally found someone who thought similar to her. "Ah, yes, this is what I was thinking," Claudette started, "We should start helping each other towards our goals, yes? Some of you want to learn about magic, and some of us have problems that we could help each other solve." She turned her head towards Herik.

"Like Emily here!" Babylon loudly said with a smile as she pointed at Emily. "But she's just too prideful to admit it - so she's willing to let her sister suffer-"

"Babylon," Emily sighed, normally it would have been a lot louder but she didn't have the energy at the moment.

"I for one think it's hilarious that it took you all getting defeated, effortlessly, to realize that there actual-" she fake-gasped "-threats out there to your little Coven," Babylon said as she floated her way to the center table like she usually did and had one arm cross underneath her chest and another fist against her face. Her trademark pose it seemed. "This is only the beginning, I always said: strange attracts strange. You all were just lucky that they didn't seem to want to kill you all - and even luckier that they were willing to make a deal. Because if they wanted you dead, none of you wouldn't have been able to stand a chance. Especially with how they had us on the ropes with minimal effort and I could sense that some of them were really powerful."

Babylon shrugged.

"But, ignore me as you usually do, when the next threat comes around and tramples you all - and there will be another - I'll still be here and I'll just find another host. Ciao." Babylon said as she faded away.

Emily just shook her head.

However, the doors swung open and Emily whipped her head around to the doors. Madison, Kayla, Jessica, and Molly were back and she was happy that they survived their battle with death itself. However, they all looked a bit... beat up. Molly's leg was bleeding, Madison looked like she was about done with the world, Kayla looked like death, and Jessica looked horrible - oh wait, that's just her normal look. Nothing was wrong. Did the Hound push them to their limits? However, Emily was quiet.

The car ride back was really awkward, what with the fact that Molly was more or less possessed by a demon. Madison's face was stained with tears and she didn't look like she was in the best place right now. She sighed as she was absolutely drained from the turn of events... and the casino looked like shit again. There was trash, vomit, and debris slung around... though Madison bent down and picked up a canister that said GAS on the side and she raised an eyebrow.

"... What the hell happened here?" Madison asked.

"I'll tell you what happened; we got attacked by the Feds," Emily said.

The Jaws materialized unconsciously as Madison shouted, "... Are you fucking kidding me?" And her swear word was compounded by her crushing the gas canister.

"Yes, but me and Babylon fought them off," Emily said with a cheeky smile. "They came in here with tear gas but we got their leader's gas mask off and then he got rid of the tear gas. That was when I fought their leader. He was tough but I managed to fight him to a draw and make all of them retreat. That's how I saved the Coven."

Claudette shrugged, "... I was passed out so I have no clue what happened myself."

Agatha Loom

Agatha's period of unconsciousness didn't last too long. By the time she regained consciousness, the Casino was a mess, but there were still some people left, but for all she could see through the now-broken window, the FBI left. She did a quick headcount, seeing that though some were left behind, not everyone was. Come to think of it, just before passing out she vaguely remembered hearing them ask who their leader was. Maybe they completely overlooked Agatha and took on either volunteer members, or started making their own judgements...

Once Agatha was stable and back on her feet, she made her way back over to the roundtable, which the rest of the members came to for discussing what the hell just happened. Agatha tried opening her own mouth, but--

"Don't you even open your fucking mouth," Emily started, thrusting a finger at her, "I refuse to even listen to you open your mouth! Where the hell was you when all of this was going on?! Curled up in a fucking ball or something?! We were getting destroyed and if you couldn't handle it, then you can't handle being a leader!"

Agatha was overwhelmed, with both fear and confusion, trying to give a satisfactory response. Thankfully Maya came to her defense and brought Agatha back up to speed in the process.

"Hey Emily, how's your ass? And that’s a nice pair of handcuffs you got there. Why don’t you shut the fuck up and stop pretending you didn’t try to run away as soon as shit hit the fan? As if you’re not a self serving bitch who’d rather run than help the rest of us?"

Then after shutting down Emily's bullshit, she turned towards Agatha, “Not that she’s entirely wrong. What were you doing during this entire thing? What’s the point in having a leader who’s just going to freak out as soon as it gets dangerous? I’m not saying we’re going to look for it, but if we’re on the feds radar… that means we’re on other people’s too.”

Agatha just remained silent and standing there, her gaze tracing to the ground as the rest of the Coven devolved into bickering and discussion. Just like always. Even when they got raided by the fucking police, all anyone could do was stand around and bitch. They weren't a Coven, they were just a toxic fucking clique. And Agatha was finally sick of it. How in the fuck was she even supposed to react to the literal fucking FBI smashing their door down? She was just some woman with an eye for the supernatural, not a professional crime lord!

“That’s why I think it’s about time we pick a new leader. My vote’s for...,” Maya continued.

Agatha's head snapped in her direction.

"Fine. You do that. All of you just fucking do that. Because I am done with this shitshow. When I joined this group I thought we'd just be exploring the Extra-Normal and understanding magic better. Not getting on the FBI's nerves, or becoming some gang to shake down someone's fucking vampire problem!"

Agatha pulled her half-removed denim coat back on, then started walking out the front door. She didn't even pay a word to Madison and the bunch, who finally returned from the actual sort of thing the Coven was made for.

"I am not cut out for this bullshit. I'm going home. If you all still want to play around and fight over who gets to be leader of this little clubhouse while the law is onto us, then you do just that. I don't care anymore."

Shen then walked right out the door, completely ignoring whatever was behind her.