---

---

It was going so well.

Trevor had grabbed her chin, and it was a bit clumsy, but Maya didn’t care. She closed her eyes as Trevor moved towards her, thank fuck, they were finally going to kiss it had only been far too long of dancing around each other.

A gunshot rang in her ears and she cursed loudly, spinning around to face whoever had interrupted her finally getting somewhere. She was going to give them a taste of a blast of sound-

“What the fuck?!” she practically yelled, eyes wide at the sight of Kimberley of all people running up the stairs. She didn’t get a chance to think, consider any other options, as Trevor grabbed her and got her out of the way.

She appreciated it, because getting crushed to death by club goers seemed a terrible way to go, and running in heels was an absolute nightmare even when being dragged away from someone. But as soon as the fighting broke out she was ready to join. She gritted her teeth and narrowed her eyes while trying to figure out what to do, and half listening to the one sided DENs conversation she was getting through Trevor.

“The fuck is going on?” she asked, as if he’d have any more idea than her.

As much as she was still pissed at being left outside, she couldn’t just abandon her sisters. She cursed and bent down to pull off her heels, wincing at the thought of probably getting numerous diseases from the floor but also not at all fond of using her abstraction while wearing them. It already threw her back enough.

Her head snapped up, preparing to make a run for the stairs to go up and help everyone. As she discarded her heels, Kimberley came running down the stairs as fast as she’d gone up.

Like hell was Maya letting her get away.

“She’s come back down,” she gritted out, which was all she said before clenching her fists and starting to push through the thinning crowd.

If she could reach her, the first thing she was doing was sound blasting her till she couldn’t walk.

---

---

Isla had zero clue what was going on. Honestly, she had no idea where she was or who she was. Everything was swimming, multiplying in a haze of colours that had her eyes hurting. Her throat was so dry from lack of water but she’d managed to misplace her drink. Not that she could really tell where her hands were.

Loud bangs rang in her ears, ricocheting around her mind and causing her head to pound. She slapped hands over her ears and blinked onto the floor, crouching down to protect herself from the shooting colours and loud sounds all around her.

Everything was merged into one now, a mix of reality and weirdness that she couldn’t tell apart from each other. Her drugged mind only had one thought: to get out.

She blinked again, towards the black gap that seemed like a way out, wincing as she slammed right into a fucking wall. This knocked her right back on her ass, head spinning and more giggles spilling from her lips. Wow, this was kinda fun! It was like a crazy obstacle course of flying colours and morphed, terrifying looking people.

Purple sigils glowed around her beanie, shining far too bright in her eyes, as she blinked around the room like crazy to try and avoid perceived threats both real and not. By some miracle she blinked just out of the room before she collapsed from exhaustion.

A light hand tapped on her shoulder, and blearily looked up to see a familiar face peering down at her through the blurs of colours. The fuck? Even in her drug addled mind she knew that she shouldn’t be here. Automatically Isla scrunched up her nose…

… but no nose boop came. Instead the girl just smiled and handed her some weird container. Was it tea? She tilted her head in confusion. “Wha? 'Dessa?”

When there was no response she just shrugged and chugged it. It tasted like nothing to her slightly numb tongue and did basically nothing. She went up to ask Odessa what the fuck she’d just drank.

But she was gone, all that was left was blurring colours and her mind growing increasingly fuzzy.

---

---

The chair rest went towards Luis and he got hit outside the head with it. It didn't do anything to him other than distract him and made him tilt his head a bit. A very... humiliating moment for him however Madison took advantage of the moment to shove Luis off of her. He was tough as fucking nails - if he could regenerate from the Jaws tearing his throat out...

However, Lyss trapped him and Babylon in a bubble and separated them. She floated out of the mini-crater that was left behind.

It was perfect! Madison could tend to the others, like Claud and Isla... the police were probably on their way and they probably didn't want to be here when they did. Madison flew towards Claudette because she was injured (and a lot more important than Isla to her), but a strange flock of glowing birds had filled the doorway. They immediately went for the two, applying bandages to Claudette as they picked her up and lifted Isla.

Madison had no clue who they were but flew after them. A wall of them appeared in front of her as a parrot floated up and said.

"DENS, Helena Page."

Then flew off with the group, at least Madison knew that they were with their little guardian angel, but there was one problem...

Who the fuck invited them?! Madison almost spoke as she turned around. She was going to make sure that the Coven got out of this, and she was going to break her foot off in Kimberly's ass the second she found her.

---

“We came here to make a deal, Luis! We have nothing to do with Walton showing up here.”

"I can tell from the looks on all your face that you do," Luis said as he crossed his arms in the bubble, almost completely nonchalant to the fact. "You lead her right to us, so die..."

Luis reached into his pocket and then he pulled out a throwing knife... which he chucked at Lyss with his superhuman strength, aiming straight for her center of mass.

A loud buzzing sound came from Sharon as she fell apart piece by piece, seemingly dissolving into a swarm of flying insects. In an instant, she was a million bugs and then she quickly dispersed and dodged the bones that went for her. However, she had little interest in fighting as she immediately flew out the very door most of Dollhouse.

Babylon barely even flinched as Hraevelgar was dragged down into the depths by... whatever. Better luck next time, fool. Babylon thought to herself as she created the glowing sigils in her hands and... Hraevelgar's attack was deflected by a stranger that Babylon didn't recognize at all. She rolled her eyes as the Coven changed lineup every ten seconds.

"You can burn with them, whore!"

Babylon shouted at Penny as she forgot about the whole stopping Lyss thing and then she trapped her in one of her black lux barriers. She rolled her eyes as Sharon and the others just left! Come now! They had a deal, and she guessed that it was up to her to get herself out of this. The blonde-haired bitch repulsed the bones right at Babylon... and she reacted by transforming her skin into solid gold. They barely even scratched her skin as the glowing green sigil appeared over her head... and it wasn't long before they faded away into nothing, which was Babylon's hint that Hraevelgar was dead. Sad.

"Burn in hellfire!"

Babylon fired off a sigil at the ground and it quickly exploded into a cloud of red hot flames... they could see the faces of her previous victims in the fire.

They can hear their screams.

She kept firing them into the ground in hopes that Lyss would get the hint and let her haul ass out of here.



From the rooftop, the Flock came out of Helena's back as they filled the club. They grabbed onto various first aid as they flew into the place and her priority was to get the injured out. Then she was going to apprehend the Dollhouse... there were two people on the ground that she recognized as members of the Coven. One was bleeding on the ground and Helena rolled her eyes as she had the flock apply bandages and first aid to Claudette as they lifted her off. Before they grabbed Isla and carried her outside as well... she had a parrot that was apart of the Flock inform the Coven that they were friendly. However, she had a special bird on a special mission.

"Hey, that's how you get foot fungus-" Trevor tried to warn Maya as she pulled off her shoes for whatever reason... even if they were heels, any shoes were better than no shoes. She seemed to be intent on going after Kimberly, which Trevor was all on board with... if he had a weapon himself. However, Trevor looked up and he saw an eagle carrying...

... An M4 Carbine.

He stuck both of his hands out and caught the assault rifle and grinned as another bird handed him some clip. He'd have to be very careful here not to seem like an active shooter. He charged right after Maya and to that extent Kimberly.

Kimberly ran straight for the exit... before she paused like she heard something. She looked over her shoulder and saw Maya charging at her and slowed down her pace just a bit... only to charge Maya and then tackled her straight to the ground. She aimed the pistol at Trevor as she was on top of Maya and lifted her with some surprising strength as she put the pistol to her skull.

"Maya!" Trevor stopped as he aimed the rifle at Kimberly. "Aight, I dunno what the hell has gotten into you, Walton."

Sweat dripped down his head as he wondered if it'd be worth it to try to take the shot... there was a chance it could blow Maya's head off that he couldn't take.

"Back off," Kimberly answered, taking steps back, "And tell your little agent friends to back off, too."

However, a strange glowing blue owl walked up from behind the counter unbeknownst to both of them... slowly rolling an empty beer bottle in the way of Kimberly.

---

Lyss glared at Luis from where she stood. Her hands continued to grow closer and closer as her trap shrunk. It looked like things were going well, until Luis pulled a knife and threw it directly towards her. She gasped. It was going too fast. She jerked her body to the side to avoid it hitting her heart, and in a second the knife had found her.

Searing hot pain erupted from her shoulder and Lyss cried out. She grit her teeth and closed her eyes. The pain was unbearable, but she couldn’t let Babylon get away. She didn’t care if Luis slipped out, but there was no way in hell she would let that bitch go. Her trap glitched a few times. The barrier around Luis faded and reappeared between him and Babylon. The bitch wearing Ellie’s skin was still trapped, but in her pain Lyss had released Luis.

Her right arm remained stretched out towards Babylon, trembling as she tried to keep the trap working, but the knife was still in her shoulder. Lyss reached for the knife with her left hand and flinched as she felt where the knife had made its mark. It was directly beneath her clavicle, and while it hadn’t found any major organ it was embedded in the muscle. She could feel it in her flesh that the tip had scratched the top of her shoulder blade.

Just as she was about to worry if Luis would attack her again the floor before her erupted in fire. Lyss stepped backwards, clutching her shoulder with her good arm. “Fuck,” she muttered, still grimacing from the pain. Still, she kept the trap in place. “You won’t get away so easily, Babylon!” She shouted over the screams of those trapped in the hellfire. While her voice was still strong, her pain could easily be heard in her tone.

“Madison, I need something to trap her in!” She yelled in the direction of her sister. “We can’t let her get away again!”

---

---

Things really didn’t go as Maya planned.

She must have gotten too used to idiotic enemies, because she absoolutely did not expect to get body slammed into the ground. And not in a sexy way at all. Normally Maya was all here for someone being on top of her but not in this situation. There was something distinctively terrifying about having a gun pointed at her head.

Likely the high risk of her death.

She went absolutely still, even as her mind went a mile a minute. There was no way for her to use her abstraction. As much as a sound blast might knock back Kimberley it would probably also end up with a bullet in her brain. For once she didn’t just use it right away, or struggle.

She really, really didn’t want to die.

Looking at Trevor, she was fairly certain he wasn’t going to be able to help without her getting shot. Fuck. This was just meant to be a meeting, and then it had turned into her getting hooked up, but of fucking course it ended up with a gun to her head.

“What do you want?” She asked, mostly to stall her inevitable death as opposed to wanting an answer.

She was ready to sound blast at any moment if she was given even the slightest chance to.

---

---

"Release me," Luis sharply ordered Lyss as he was completely unaffected by the fire as he crossed his arms. "Release Babylon as well, or this is going to get a lot uglier."

"I'm not going anywhere with you whores," Babylon shouted as she kept bombarding the room with red fire - she was intending on burning the whole bastard to the ground! Or at least create enough smoke to kill them, she was never truly alive so she doesn't have anything to worry about! However, she forgot about the stupid human safety and saw that the sprinklers had finally cut on. Her hair was completely soaked as her face went flat as her fire was extinguished.

However, amid the chaos, a lone poker card floated through the air, a queen of hearts. Probably unnoticed through all the madness going on in the club as it floated behind Lyss... then it exploded in a cloud of smoke and appearing was Johnny J. Valos, a man on a mission. He stood tall behind the girl and opened his hand, fingers spread before he swung his hand directly towards Lyss. Preparing to give the chick one helluva slap on the back of her head.

"Like ya' cut, G," Johnny spoke.



Trevor's heart was racing as he thought about pulling the trigger - his (almost) the first kiss with a girl and now there was a gun pressed against her head! Trevor didn't want to miss but he wasn't the type of person to take a chance like this with someone's life.

And then he was supposed to be able to handle these situations!

His grip on the rifle was shaking as a bead of sweat dripped from his head. He was certain that if Kimberly could smell fear; his smell would be as strong as a stripper's vagina! However, in a flash about five green glowing tethers came from over his shoulder and before he could react they wrapped themselves around the pistol. Squeezing it incredibly fast and slicing it to pieces.

He heard the heels tapping behind him as... Emily walked up wearing a bright green dress.

"Enjoy that freebie, Maya," Emily started, "Because you're not getting one again."

This was worse than he thought possible. Herik expected a fight, but he didn't expect for this to be a set up. Kimberly didn't seem like the type to double cross them, she even sent her friend to keep an eye on things, so why would she come in guns blazing and trying to get them killed. Something doesn't add up, but he can't think of it right now. Claudette's hurt, Ilsa's been drugged, and there's a serious possibility that half of them will die in the crossfire. He didn't know what to do with himself. A flock of birds came in and carried away their injured. That left him, Lyss, Madison, Penny, Babylon, and Luis cause he heard screaming and is sure a few of Luis's friends are dead. He called Asta to his side. Time to jump in from the couch. He's glad they're in a small space and he doesn't have to move from his spot to do damage. Asta repelled Babylon's hellfire away from him, until the sprinklers came on. He didn't want to waste Asta to keep him dry, so he ordered him to stop and let the water soak him through. Now his cast is wet. That's another trip back to the hostipal to get it changed. He needs to go anyway. Hasn't seen his mother in awhile.

Lyss was struggling and asked for Madison's assistant, but asking for help didn't get far when a man suddenly appeared behind her. Herik hesitate; Asta immediately went to Lyss's aid, grabbing her around the waist by his tail and pulling her away from the man split seconds before he could hit her. Asta let go of Lyss by his side. Herik's not sure if moving her made her release her hold on Luis and Babylon, but he knew for sure if she got knocked out it would and he's not sure if he and Madison could take down three people on their own.

"I'm not sure if we should fight this out with the three of us. Luis healed when you attacked him earlier," He said to Madison.

"You're bleeding too much," He said to Lyss, worried that if she didn't get help soon she'll pass out from blood loss. "And I'm on a bad leg." He climbed onto Asta's back, leaving his crutches, just encase they needed to make a quick get away.

---

---

Penny cursed as the girl she had targeted with her coins shifted into a mass of insects. It wasn’t the first time Penny had dealt with a massive swarm like that, but still caught her off guard. Even though she splattered a few bugs of the swarm, it was obvious that wasn't enough to do any major harm as the swarm buzzed out of the room. Her other attack proved equally ineffective as the woman’s skin turned to gold, the bones slamming against her before dropping to the ground. Reflexively, Penny attracted the coins and the bones back within her range to restock her supplies, but the bones faded away with the disappearance of Molly.

"Burn in hellfire!"

“Seriously?” scoffed Penny, twisting away as Babylon fired a sigil off at the ground. The explosion of flames and plume of smoke was accompanied by twisting, horrified faces. Penny was honestly surprised that the woman hadn’t just blasted her directly, but then she noticed the faint black prism being cast around her foe by Lyss. Did Lyss’s ability create a one-way defense against abstractions? No, if that was the case Penny wouldn’t have been able to pull her coins back. It was something else. Something powerful. And, clearly, something that the Dollhouse was aware about, because they were all going after Lyss.

Penny shouted as Luis hit Lyss with a throwing knife, her words muffled by another blast of hellfire that hit nowhere near close. The sprinkler system opened up and immediately doused the flames as Penny turned towards Luis. She unleashed the coins swirling around her towards the leader of the Dollhouse. She doubted it’d do much with his rapid healing, but she had a plan to keep him out of the fight. The moment the coins hit, she’d attract them back to her and then repulse them into him again.

Out of the corner of her eye she caught a man appearing behind Lyss before the girl was whisked away by a goddamn lion. Disappointment set in as the lion didn’t turn and immediately maul the attacker. Most of the Dollhouse had fled, but it seemed like the Coven were the ones taking the beating. Penny twisted and sent a few of the coins meant for Luis towards Johnny, potentially creating an opening for the leader to act against her. Her head was pounding like a motherfucker. The sooner they ended this fight the better.

---

---

Maya was pretty certain Trevor was more terrified than her.

Which was great, because she was the one with the gun to her head. She was completely and utterly fucked. Might as well just accept this was the end and go out dramatically-

Her eyes widened as glowing green tethers cut the pistol into pieces. Before Kimberley could do anything Maya slammed her with the directed sound blast she’d been preparing to use, using the backwards momentum to get her the fuck away from her.

She turned to her saviour with a thank you that promptly died on her lips. She couldn’t quite hear the words Emily said but she was getting good enough at lip reading by now to get the general gist of it… And it was Emily. It was going to be something absolutely bullshit.

“Oh fuck you,” she retorted, far too loudly for the lack of crowd (it wasn’t her fault she basically couldn’t hear). “I didn’t need your help.”

Untrue, but she would rather take a bullet to the head than be saved be her. It would be far better than having to look at her smug face another fucking minute. She was also really regretting leaving her heels somewhere to the side, because they would have been perfect to throw right at Emily.

“Don’t expect a thank you, either, because you’re not getting it.”

She turned away with a scoff, considering sound blasting Kimberley again for the sake of it but deciding against it. Trevor was there, he was technically an agent, he could handcuff her up or some shit.

Mariah had a temporary lag in attention. After having thrown furniture at Luis to no effect, a lot of things kept happening, and it was all a bit much for her to pay attention to, especially after having witness whoever-the-fuck-knows what drag someone into the floor. That was some spooky shit. Reality was that Mariah had stared at the spot in the floor until the sprinkler system went off. This somewhat snapped her out of that laser focus and into the present-- immediately she noted that Isla was not where she'd last saw her.

And Claudette?

Where did they go? More importantly what the fuck were they doing right now-- as in herself and the others in the room. What were they doing? Yes, these spooky Dollhouse people had attacked them, but didn't they have a traitor on their hands instead? Hadn't two of their friends disappeared? Wasn't this deal in shambles with no hope of repair? Clearly they had some kind of previous beef with this "Babbylawn" but that wasn't important right now. If Kimberly was here then the possibility that Vashti had been harmed back in Tampa presented itself-- and that's three.

It was then, in her loudest Latin-Tia voice that Mariah shouted, "Why the fuck are we fightin' them when we should be guttin' that KIMBERLY BITCH?!"

"They ain't givin us no cures-- that's her damn fault-- fuck this goddamn shit--" Mariah whipped around, then made her way quickly toward the door they'd come though. Channeling the volume and fury of every Latin parent when their kid wssnt home before the street lights came on, Mariah shouted, as she left the room, "ISLA?!"

And thus did she see Maya, Emily, and Kimberly downstairs. In an instant Mariah was running, gracefully as hell considering the six inch heels, with a murderous look in her eyes, as she made a path toward Kimberly. The whole way, she dripped water and left puddles, seemingly only growing in anger as she went. Spanish-curses and rage left Mariah as she closed her fan up, balanced on one foot, and withdrew her knife from under her dress. Oiled and sharpened, the switchblade opened with a flash in the light, as Mariah marched toward Kimberly.

"--fuckin' explain yoursel' GRINGA--" was thrown in her curse filled shouting, but did it really matter? If she was able to close the distance with "Kimberly", she was going to shove past Emily and Maya and beat the shit out of her with the straight edge of her fan, if not begin some classic Latin Gangster knifing-- the fuck your face up forever type of knifing.

---

“Release me.”

Lyss’s attention moved to the asshole who’d knifed her shoulder, her eyes narrowed. For a second, she was completely caught off guard by how stupid he really was. He hasn’t noticed that he’s free now? She thought bitterly as her hand tightened on her shoulder. Stupid fu-

Her thought was interrupted by a sudden voice behind her. Lyss froze in place. She half expected another knife to go through her from behind. She braced herself. Her eyes began to close. She was expecting death, or for whoever it was to throw her across the room. Either way, she was ready to take it.

Out of nowhere, she felt something wrap itself around her waist and pull. She was pulled away from the threat behind her. The movement jostled the knife in her shoulder as she was yanked off to the side of the room.

“Agh!” She shouted mid-saving. Her hand gripped her shoulder like it was about to fall off. It felt like it was. Her right arm fell. The trapping spell was broken and the black energy around Babylon was cut instantly. Lyss could only focus on the pain in her shoulder, and the need to stay standing. She didn’t lose consciousness, but she definitely wished she could.

Stay awake. Get yourself out. There’s nothing else for you here. Her thoughts were muggy and distant, but she remained upright and awake. Her head turned to her saviour. The figure of a lion. Asta. She leaned against the abstraction for support. Herik walked over. He was speaking. She didn’t know what he said to Madison, but she heard him when he told her that she was bleeding too much.

Lyss pressed her lips together. She would have said “no shit” if she had her head on straight. He was right, of course, but there were other things to worry about right now. Like Babylon and her stupid fucking boyfriend Luis. And whoever the “like ya cut” guy was.

She’d have to find Babylon again and finish the job then.

“Alright. Give me one more second.”

She raised her arm one more time, and even though it hurt like hell, she wanted to do this last thing. To protect the rest of the Coven, and to get back at Babylon.

“You want to leave so bad? FINE! Get the fuck away from us.”

That said, Lyss let her black lux flow from her ring one more time. Instead of flowing out like a funnel, this time it exploded from her ring in the form of a bubble. It grew fast. She was using as much energy as she could until she could rest after this. The bubble expanded, blowing past Herik, Penny, the smacker guy, and Madison without a problem. When it hit Babylon and Luis, though, it pushed them with a force equal to a rough shove. Her warding was cruel to the affixed and abscised within range. If they hadn’t moved fast enough, they would probably leave a dent in the wall.

Lyss turned to Herik and, after reluctantly releasing her shoulder, held out her good arm towards him so he could raise her onto the lion. “Let’s get out of here before I faint.”

---

---

"We shouldn't," Madison answered Herik as she realized that maybe this isn't a fight that they can win - or should even try to win. "We need to get the hell out of here!"

A fire was extinguished in Johnny's eyes as the spooky ho was yanked away by a fuckin' ghost lion. Fuckin' Aberrations. Johnny thought to himself before he was hit right in the dick with something - it was like a rock hit him. "Mah dick!" Johnny shouted as he grabbed his dick, and on reflex, he managed to teleport away to another stray card. He wanted to save Babylon, but he also didn't want to risk his dick for her! He disappeared in a cloud of smoke, never to appear again.

Luis was sent flying towards the wall by Lyss' attack and hit the wall full force. It left a hole in as there was a sickening crack as bones were shattered - hitting Luis with an attack that would kill any other human being. He was covered in his own blood... and then he put one hand on one side, and another hand on the other and then forced himself out of the mini-crater. The blood that he lost was sucked back into his body as the same sickening cracking noise was heard as he near-instantly regenerated.

He looked to the side... Babylon had hit the wall even harder due to transforming into gold again. Which wasn't wise as she should have just dodged. There were a few dents on her but she survived the vicious bash into the wall and merely cracked her neck as she turned back to normal. She was free from Lyss' grasp and couldn't help but crack a little wicked grin. She looked towards Luis and then she hauled ass towards their little escape hatch - or where she saw them run off to.

"Zara!" Luis shouted and the Abscised that was guarding the exit door activated her abstraction... and the room was filled with a strange, light-blue, mist that covered their exit. Lyss most likely would sense their presence fading more and more - until it was gone, and the fog faded away.

The whole time, Madison had her guard up and was ready to punch anyone or anything that tried to sneak her. When the smoke cleared, all of the Dollhouse members were gone. They knew that it was best to cut and run as their own members had done. Madison sighed as she floated up into the air as she said, "C'mon, let's go!" She flew out of the room and then everyone scrambled to their vehicles.



"Oh, well," Emily said with a smug look on her face as she shrugged. Completely ignoring the situation to bicker with Maya... like she hasn't been doing that for months now. "I'm sure you had a grand plan - oh let me guess."

Emily chuckled as she put her hands up, doing mini-jazz hands as she taunted, "You were going to suck her dick if she let you go. It isn't like a slut like yourself knows anything else."

---

The sound blast directed towards Kimberly sent her flying.

Right into a wall! Trevor had a goofy smile on his face as he aimed the rifle at her, getting ready to make up one cool one-liner.... then this giant psychopath charged at Kimberly, screaming gibberish or something! Trevor's eyes shot wide open as the giant moron got in the way of his shot. "Dude!" Trevor shouted, "You're blockin' my shot!"

"--fuckin' explain yoursel' GRINGA--"

Kimberly was still on her side as Mariah charged at her with that fan in hand. Kimberly grinned as she hopped up to her feet oddly fast. She shrugged with a smug look on her face, "Sorry, but you've been used." She started, "Now you're useless; go back to Tampa, trash." She just stood there as Mariah got closer and closer...

... Before Kimberly suddenly dived at Mariah once she got close and kicked her leg from under her with some surprising speed. She quickly turned around on her heel and hauled ass out the door.

"Fuckin'!" Trevor shouted as he fired off a shot at Kimberly... and fucking missed. The wall exploded as the bullet collided with it and Trevor figured he'd stop shooting. He pressed his earpiece as he took off after Kimberly, "Aye! She's running off!"

"On it!" Leon shouted as his glowing eye appeared in the sky and gave him a bird's eye view of Kimberly. He quickly ran through the streets of Miami after Kimberly as he saw the police pulling up fast... shit.

"I'm still trying to take care of the girls!" Helena shouted, "I'll catch up!"

Trevor was hot on this girl's tail as they were running behind the stores and bars of downtown Miami. A thought went through his head as he figured that he'd be filling out a lot of paperwork after this. Might as well add some more, he had a clean shot on Kimberly as he dropped to his knee and looked down the sight of his weapon. It felt wrong shooting her in the back like this, but she deserved it after what she did - bitch was a psychopath! He waited until his breath was at its peak, and then Trevor took the shot; the explosive blast of the bullet hit Kimberly square in the back. She screamed as she fell forward... but still could somehow fucking crawl? Huh?

She climbed to her feet despite having a 5.56 round in her back and turned the corner.

"Aw no, you fuckin' don't!" Trevor hopped to his feet and took off after Kimberly as fast as he could - so fast that he almost tripped. When Trevor rounded the corner, it was a dead-end... and Kimberly was gone. He heard Leon running up as he turned towards him and shouted, "Where the hell did she go?!"

"I dunno, I had eyes on her the whole time," Leon said, "She just... disappeared."

Trevor loudly sighed as he hung his head then shouted.

---

Fortunately, with the help of the DENS, the Coven was allowed to avoid a long, long, talk with the police. They quickly hauled ass back to the mall slash their hotel room, but the DENS had requested that they have a "meeting". Which certain members weren't super on board with, but the DENS insisted. So they assembled in the parking lot, not looking super happy due to what happened. Madison was leaned up against her SUV with her arms crossed, and patiently waited with her eyes closed, it was a pretty tense and silent affair.

Then Emily broke the silence.

"... I just knew we shouldn't have trusted that slut!" Emily hissed as she pushed herself off that car, and made it abundantly clear that she was not happy with what she heard. Though, to be fair she was totally on board with Kimberly's stupid plan only because she was hoping that it would work - Not that she thought it was a good idea. "She just used us to play her stupid ass games with our lives."

Madison kept her mouth shut because... there was something off about the whole thing. However, Emily turned her attention to Penny, "... And I can't find a reason why you're still even here," She hissed at her as she crossed her arms. "You need to get out of here, we don't want you."

"Oh my fuckin' God, Emily," Madison hissed as she hopped off her car and faced her. "Will you fucking chill for one God damn second?! Jesus Christ." She fueled this fire out of stress.

"... I'm just stating facts here," Emily was unphased, "Unless you want to side with your little friends."

"What we need to be fucking asking was why were the feds there!" Madison clapped right back.

"You know why," Emily chuckled as everyone probably should have got what she meant - except for the big meatheads like Herik.

The DENS showed up in their black tinted windows sedan and pulled up right in front of the group... and they all got out one at a time as the two girls faced them. They looked a little sad about something but Madison kind of hoped that it wasn't what she thought it was. Helena had her hands together as she tried to professionally stand before them. Trevor had leaned up against the car as he tried to avoid eye contact and Leon... he sighed as he put his hands together and walked up to the group.

"... What's wrong?" Emily asked.

"I really hate to cut to the chase," Leon answered.

"Just come out with it," Madison hissed.

"I regret to inform you that Claudette, she..." Leon trailed off.

"No, don't fuckin' tell me..." Madison hissed under her breath.

"... She didn't make it."

---

---

Isla was fairly certain she’d missed something big. Or a lot of big things. For a start, her head was absolutely pounding and her legs barely worked. Having absolutely no shame at this point, she’d parked her ass right down on the ground in the parking lot they’d all gathered in.

Along with that, everyone else seemed absolutely pissed. Definitely not the time to ask what had happened while she’d been drugged up.

“For once, I agree with Emily,” Maya spoke up from where she leaned against her own car, eyes sharp with anger over the whole affair (and getting cockblocked). “Why the fuck did we think trusting some outsider was a good idea? The hell was someone going to just give us useful information? And why the fuck are you still here?”

She turned to Penny with a brandished finger, eyes blazing with anger. “For all we know she was feeding that bitch information the whole time!”

“Hey, Penny wouldn’t do that,” Isla piped up in her defence, as if doing that in the face of someone blinded by rage was a smart thing. “She-”

Thankfully for Isla, and for Maya not getting arrested for destruction of property and murder via soundblasts, the very feds Madison was giving up about turned up. Maya turned her furious gaze towards them, narrowing at the sad expressions they all wore. What the fuck. Whatever they had to say wasn’t going to be good news.

"I regret to inform you that Claudette, she… She didn't make it."

It took a moment for the news to set in. Isla stared up with wide eyes… confused about how it had even come to that. Fuck, if only she hadn’t drank that drugged cola then maybe she could have teleported them out before shit happened… and saved their leader. Former leader. She wasn’t exactly sad, she didn’t know the girl, but she felt a sinking guilt over it.

“She- fuck- are you kidding me?” Maya gritted her teeth, fist clenching at her side. She spun around and kicked her car, hard. It didn’t make a single dent, because she was weak as shit, but it hurt her foot. Which just seemed to fuel her anger more as she turned back around. “Did no one help her? How the fuck did she… What the fuck! What’s the point in trying to solve our problems if we all end up fucking dead?!”

She hadn’t even been particularly close to Claudette, but it was too much. Their numbers were reducing too quickly. And fuck, if anyone deserved to die it wasn’t Claudette. She’d been trying for all the Maya had rolled her eyes at it. Fuck.

“We can’t just let them get away with this. We’re not going to get any fucking cures from them, so we might as well just destroy them.”

It was an incredibly idiotic thing to say in front of the DENS, nevermind as an idea, but Maya’s mind was entirely clouded by a boiling rage she’d felt since having a gun held to her head. They couldn’t just go back to Tampa empty handed and pretend everything was fine, until the next one of them was murdered.

“Kimberley too.”

---

---

Penny smirked as Johnny doubled over and disappeared. She spun back towards Luis and stepped forward, intending to get herself within a close enough range to have full control over her coins, plunge them into his body, and whip them around to start shredding his insides like an industrial blender. She made it only one step closer before a wave of black energy blew past her and slammed Luis and the golden girl up against the wall. Penny let out an excited whoop and glanced over her shoulder to see Lyss, the source of the spell, getting lifted onto the lion and...retreating?

“What are you doing?” hollered Penny, unintentionally smearing the blood streaming from her nose across her cheek as she wiped it with the back of her hand. “We have this!”

They didn’t, but it didn’t matter. A blue mist descended upon the room and by the time it was gone the remaining members of the Dollhouse had vanished. Penny swore, poked her head out of the door, and caught herself against the frame as she started to feel faint. Her head was racked by the most audacious of migraines, a full on orchestral symphony of pangs like the cannon blasts at the end of the 1812 Overture striking right behind her eyes. The coins that were trailing behind her clattered to the ground as she groaned. With the Dollhouse gone she’d intended to go after Kimberly, but the presence of the police forced her to stick with the Coven.

Penny had no clue who the fuck they were, but one of the DENS helped patch up her scratches. The dress would be beyond saving. She had saved the tags too, just in case. When they got back to the hotel the first thing she attempted to do was call Kimberly. The phone rang, and rang, and rang until it hit an automated message informing her that the owner of this number had not set up their voicemail. A loud “FUCK!” could be heard echoing around the corner of where the witches were meeting with the feds. Penny slammed out an angry text that ran the whole rainbow of colorful language, erased most of it, and sent Kimberly this:



She took another minute to finish her cigarette, catch her breath, and cool her head. Then, with a flip of her hair, she walked around the corner looking calm and collected, as if she wasn’t fazed at all by her friend using her and the others as bait. The few eyes that met hers didn’t seem friendly. Could she blame them? Penny was totally in the dark on what Kimberly had been planning, but why would anyone in the Coven believe anything but the opposite? She knew if she was in their spot she wouldn’t be giving herself the benefit of the doubt. She also knew that if she left it’d all but seal the idea in their head that Penny had been a part of the whole grand fuckup, even though she’d been there to prevent a fuckup in the first place. Good job on that, by the way. Penny sighed and lit another cigarette as Emily opened up on her.

"You need to get out of here, we don't want you."

“Noted,” said Penny cooly as her blue eyes stared down Emily. Her tongue wanted nothing more than to unleash a beatdown on who she was beginning to see as the Coven’s resident asshole. She wanted to call her out for not being there in the room to fight the Dollhouse, to point out that without Penny it’d be very likely that this parking lot meeting would be a lot less crowded. Don’t want her? Those fucking idiots needed her. Her teeth smartly held her tongue down.

“For all we know she was feeding that bitch information the whole time!” yelled Maya, pointing an accusatory finger at Penny. Penny scoffed but didn’t get a chance to reply.

“Hey, Penny wouldn’t do that,” said Isla.

Penny smiled at her friend with a hint of sadness. Isla was wrong: Penny had totally been doing just that, although she never thought this would’ve been the outcome of keeping Kimberly in the loop. It just didn’t make sense. She knitted her brow. Kimberly said she wanted a cure for Annabelle. If she wanted to hunt down the Dollhouse, she would’ve just told Penny. Right? Kimberly probably could’ve convinced her it was the right thing to do, and maybe Penny would have convinced Kimberly to not act so rashly. Penny scoffed. It still weirded her out when she was the one being the voice of reason.

A pained look crossed Penny’s face when the feds showed up and told them that Claudette had died. Son of a bitch, if she’d only reacted quicker she could’ve repulsed the fatal bullet away from the woman. She hardly knew their leader at all, but knowing that she could’ve prevented it hit hard. She hung her head and bit her lip, tightening her hand into a fist as she replayed the moment of Claudette getting hit over and over in her head. Penny noted every single moment where she’d failed to stop it, each one feeling like a knife to the gut. Acting like she was fucking Supergirl was goddamn childish and stupid when people still got killed. An unstoppable force wasn’t so damn impressive when it couldn’t stop the worst from happening. Her shoulders shook.

“We can’t just let them get away with this. We’re not going to get any fucking cures from them, so we might as well just destroy them,” said Maya. She was right. She was so fucking right. Even though Penny knew getting payback always felt so hollow, they could just call it justice to make themselves sleep better. Penny wiped her face, lifted her hand, and was about to throw in her support.

Then Maya said, “Kimberly too.”

“Fuck you,” said Penny, her voice as a jagged and cold as shattered ice. “Seriously, go fuck yourself. I am angrier at Kimberly than you can ever be, but none of you are touching her, get me?” She rolled a quarter between her knuckles, her narrowed eyes scanning the Coven and the DENS for challenges. “Things don’t add up. I don’t know what the fuck she was thinking, but she had to have a good reason. And if she doesn’t...”

Penny shot Maya a withering look full of hate and disgust. “Then I’ll fucking take care of it. But you? You’re going to do nothing.” A wicked smile curved on to Penny’s lips. “Nothing seems to be about what you’re good for, anyway, so I don't doubt you'd nail it.”

---

---

Claudette was dead.

And it was all Kimberly's fault.

Emily was seething from the news, while she didn't really know Claudette personally - she couldn't help but feel a bit of rage that celebrity bitch killed one of them. What was really pissing Emily off was that she was dangling a cure for her sister over her head... only for it all to be a bullshit ploy to get at Dollhouse, obviously. Emily should have known it was just too good to be true, now they're out of a leader. Honestly, Emily didn't care enough for that seat.

“Fuck you. Seriously, go fuck yourself. I am angrier at Kimberly than you can ever be, but none of you are touching her, get me? Things don’t add up. I don’t know what the fuck she was thinking, but she had to have a good reason. And if she doesn’t... Then I’ll fucking take care of it. But you? You’re going to do nothing. Nothing seems to be about what you’re good for, anyway, so I don't doubt you'd nail it.”

However, Kimberly's slut friend definitely didn't help matters, not one bit. Even though it was directed at Maya, Emily couldn't help but get a little pissed off at her. Just a little bit.

"... Who the fuck do you think you are?!" Emily hissed at Penny as she pointed a finger at her. "I don't think you saw - maybe you were too busy sucking dick - but your psychotic whore friend put a gun to Maya's head. A fucking gun." It felt weird defending Maya but it needed to be said.

"At that point, you lost the fucking right to talk and tell us what to do... Now please, I told you to scram, so why the fuck are you still here? Instead of saying noted, you can use that singular brain cell you have and u-"

At this point, the flock violently deployed from out of Helena and filled the space between Maya, Emily, and Penny. Making a nice little wall that drowned out each other's voices with the violent flapping of wings. However, Helena took a few steps forward as she slid her hands into her pockets and then shook her head.

"Alright everyone, calm down here!" Helena shouted, "This is not helping."

The birds faded away as a falcon floated over to Helena's hand and perched itself onto her hand as she faced them. "I know you're all a bit emotional about what just happened, but you all need to cool it! Agent Keagan and Agent Liao are going to handle Kimberly." She glanced at Penny, then Emily, then Maya.

Then she pointed both her fingers at the ground as she frowned.

"If anyone has an objection, then we can talk it riiiiight now."

Hector had a spare helmet from his Boxing nonsense laying around, right? Because, as Mariah staggered into the parking lot, she figured that she should just start wearing it, whenever the Coven went anywhere. Max had met her very conveniently with his car down the street from The Dollhouse. Maybe it was the fact she looked like she'd dived into a pool-- the fact shed had trouble even grabbing the car handle-- or perhaps it was her downcast body language, but Max hadn't said a word when she climbed into the back seat.

He'd very conveniently, again, brought a gym bag with clothes in it for her to change. In the light of police cruisers, Mariah started getting dressed in the back seat in silence, as pain caused her vision to blur, and she ended up puking out the window.

"You're going to the hospital," Maxi told her, putting the car into gear. "Meeting," was all she managed to mumble coherently. That earned a wordless grunt of anger from Maxwell, but she was already out the door, and headed for the parking lot.

So this is how she came walking up, in the middle of Maya and Emily yelling at Penny, dressed in a track suit. Wordlessly, she plopped down next to Isla, and would have prayed to the god of Head Trauma to keep her conscious, if shed had any ability to focus. This was worse than the horse. All she recalled was walking down the stairs after Kimberly in the club and then a blackness took out anything that happened next.

"She didnt make it."

Floating to her clearly through her concussed haze, Mariah turned her attention toward the DENS-- when did they get here? Who were they talking about? Mariah looked at the group-- who was missing? She squinted as she looked again-- counted again in a harsh whisper under her breath-- who didn't make it? Her head was pounding as the lights seemed too bright, as she counted again she bit her lip-- who? Why was it so hard to focus? Where was Claudette?

No no, she was here with them, wasn't she? Damn concussion. As her eyes overflowed with tears, Mariah looked around the group and counted again, finding it hard to focus-- damn concussion. A sob left her.
Who? No.
Not Claudette-- Mariah counted again

---

---

Maya was beyond pissed. She’d been angry before, but that Penny bitch had the gall to tell her that she had no right to go for Kimberley. Oh, how dare she want to go after the person who had <i>tried to fucking kill her</i>.

It didn’t even register with her exactly who was defending her, because for once her anger wasn’t directed at Emily at all. She was glad that someone saw what she did.

“Fuck off with your bullshit about being better than us! She didn’t just put the gun to my head she pulled the fucking trigger. I. Could. Be. Dead. So piss off, I’ll show you what I can- FUCK!”

Maya had been close to just blasting Penny, completely thrown off by the sudden swarm of birds in between them all. She waved her hands as if that would help getting supernatural birds away, lips twisting further downwards (impossibly so).

"Alright everyone, calm down here! This is not helping."

“Who are you to tell me to calm down?” Maya snapped, hands clenched into fists at her side. It was so hard not letting herself redirect it all at the agent… the only thing stopping her was the knowledge that if she attacked even one of them, their boss bitch would end her life. “Yeah, I have an objection. First of all, what the fuck are you all even doing here. Not that I ain’t delighted to see some of you, but really, what are you doing here?”

“Second, when have you ever done any shit that’s helped us? They’re going to handle Kimberley? Alright, I’m sure they will, because you don’t already have so much shit on your plate that you’re handling just great.”

She didn’t care how disrespectful she was being, the fact she was talking to someone who was technically a federal agent… Being told what to do rubbed her the wrong way, especially when she was already incredibly angry. She was in no mood to be told to back down.

---

Isla stared at the ground, feeling numb. She wasn’t quite sure how to process this. This was the second time that someone she’d just met, someone that tried to help her and others, had died. The other had been much brutal, sure, but this one she maybe could have prevented.

Maybe.

She heard a sob from beside her, slowly turning her aching eyes to look at Mariah. She wasn’t taking it well. Who was? The others were shouting, a noise that crashed against her aching head, and she had no doubt that it was over this even if she couldn’t quite pay attention.

She wasn’t sure what to do, not really, so she cautiously raised a hand to pat Mariah’s shoulder. Was that comforting? She didn’t know, but it was all a bit shit, and it was the best she could offer.

Lyss brought them some time when she forced Luis and Babylon into the wall. That's good enough for him. He helped her onto Asta's back, pulling her up with her good arm and kept a good hold on her so she didn't fall off, then they backed away from the fight. Penny was ready to keep going, but they didn't have to. The Dollhouse were covered in a blue mist, then they disappeared. Crisis averted. Or so he thought. They were all in the parking lot with the DENS agents. He's ripped a part of his shirt to wrap around Lyss's shoulder, hoping that'd stop the bleed until they were able to get to the hosptial. He's just tied the knot when Helena told them Claudette didn't make it. Claudette didn't...what?

His head swam and suddenly everything was spinning. He clumsily climbed off Asta's back, paid barely any mind to his leg, and collapsed on the ground. This couldn't be happening. Not another sister. Not the one person that was actually leading them in the right direction. The one person he had faith in not to get them all killed, to actually take care of them. He sobbed loud and hard. He couldn't remember the last time he'd spoken to Claudette without all the usual drama between members. If he hadn't just stood there when she got shot. If he'd done something maybe she's still be alive. Rationally he knew there was nothing he could do for bullet wounds, but his rationality could take a backseat, because nothing made sense anymore. He couldn't hear all the arguing going on around him over his tears.

If he hadn't suggested that Kimberly help them they wouldn't be in this mess. His, Vashti's, nor Emily's problems were solved, their sister was dead, and the person that got away with it was no where to be found. He hoped the Coven didn't hate him for this. He's responsible for bringing her into their lives, which makes him indirectly responsible for Claudette being dead. And now Kimberly was off in the wind and...Oh no. They left her with Vashti. He puts a lot of stoke in Leviathan keeping her alive, but if she had her guard down then it wouldn't been easy to take her out. He rubbed at his tears, while taking out his phone. He dialed Vashti's number, hoping she'd pick up, that she was safe, that another member didn't end up dead.

---

---

“Oh, bullshit,” said Penny with a shake of her head as Emily dared to fabricate some story about Kimberly holding Maya up. She continued to refuse to believe it even as Maya corroborated it, although Penny was struggling to come up with a reason as to why they’d lie. At the same time, she was beginning to see plenty of reasons as to why Kimberly would want to turn a gun on them. But to actually fire it? Utter horseshit. None of this felt right, but there wasn’t time to parse through it all because the look in Maya’s eyes had turned hostile. Bring it on, then.

However, before it could be brought a wall of squawking birds emerged between the girls, their caws echoing through the parking lot and drowning out the sound of their screaming match. Penny’s eyes turned to Helena as she tried to gain some control of the situation, her lips drawing thin as the woman claimed that they would handle Kimberly. No, they would not. It didn’t matter if they were, apparently, government agents. The absurdity that a group like the Coven were even aligned with an agency was utterly baffling. Penny was about to voice her objection to this clown when Maya continued her barking.

“I don’t even know who the fuck you people are,” said Penny. Even if she were in a calmer mindset, she wouldn’t have pieced together that the Liao she knew was related to the Liao mentioned by Helena. She was going to reiterate her stance on nobody going after Kimberly, but she was too beat to take on the entire garage. Plus, the agents Helena had mentioned likely were already on the case, but did they know that they were going up against a teleporter? Kimberly probably wasn’t even in Miami anymore.

“I’d have less objections if I knew what your entire deal is,” said Penny, gesturing towards Helena as she pressed her for information. “Are Agent Liao and Keagan here or could I speak with them? Also, what will they do to Kimberly if they catch her?”

---

---

Madison couldn't help but ball her fist during the whole exchange. In all honesty, she had no clue what the fuck happened but something didn't seem right. Out of anyone here, she seemed to be the one that knew Kimberly the most... and no disrespect to Penny, but even though the two fought an eldritch abomination together, she didn't seem to know Penny. Something here didn't seem right, this didn't seem like the Kimberly that would so selflessly help Madison. Again, no disrespect to Kimberly but it seemed like that was a classic drive-by: she came in, shot up the place, and hauled ass. But, it seemed like she wanted to ruin things with Dollhouse.

“I don’t even know who the fuck you people are,”

"... And you obviously, don't know your friend," Emily said with a shrug and a smug look on her face. To Emily, Penny was just as responsible for Claudette's death as Kimberly was. Why? Because that whore didn't stop her friend-whore from killing her. For all they knew, Penny probably helped. "And I don't want to get to know you, I want you to get lost, because if you want to start a fight, well..."

She crossed her arms as she looked around the Coven. "You're outnumbered, you might as well take your retarded friend and get lost while we're giving you the chance."

“Who are you to tell me to calm down? each, I have an objection. First of all, what the fuck are you all even doing here. Not that I ain’t delighted to see some of you, but really, what are you doing here?”

With a wave of her hand, the flock dispersed.

"The reason we came was because your friend Vashti didn't think you all were competent enough to handle this without it becoming a bloodbath," Helena quickly spat back, and didn't blink for a second as she added on, "I don't think she was wrong."

"Look, look, look!" Trevor tried to placate things as he put his hands up. "Liao thought that you guys could use a little backup! An eye in the sky to lend a hand case things went south!" Trevor answered for Maya - even though the Coven isn't happy to see them, they can't say that they didn't help at the very least.

“I’d have less objections if I knew what your entire deal is. Are Agent Liao and Keagan here or could I speak with them? Also, what will they do to Kimberly if they catch her?”

"No, you can't, because there's nothing to discuss regarding Kimberly," Helena flatly answered as she crossed her arms. "She's going to get arrested then she'll answer for what she's done... Assuming that she doesn't display any more behavior as she did in the club." Because Keagan and Liao will kill her. Helena thought to herself.

So far this was going nowhere, Leon rolled his eyes as he knew that the Coven was useless or stupid. He placed a hand on Helena's shoulder as he said, "This bickering is starting to get on my nerves," He started before he looked up at the Coven, "We came here to tell you that Claud's dead, nothing more, nothing less. If you all want to fight and bicker among yourselves, then go ahead - but we're going to handle Dollhouse, there has to be a way we can get a cure from them. Gotta be."

Madison's eyes glanced towards Herik, who was desperately calling someone - probably Vashti. In all honestness, Madison wasn't all that concerned about Vashti. Well, for two reasons, one; she didn't like the girl, and two; she didn't think that Kim did this. Like, seriously, is everyone this dumb? She balled her fists as they argued and at some point, she couldn't take it.

"ENOUGH!"

Madison shouted and the Jaws unconsciously activated with her... his monstrous voice augmented her own. Not that it was particularly unwanted. She wanted to get these idiots' attention, she needed to get their attention. She sighed, closed her eyes, as she slid her hands into her pockets while the Jaws was still around herself - his three skeletal necks were hovering around. Glancing at everyone.

"Guys, I can't believe that I'm the only one that thinks that there's something bullshit here - wait, I can, no offense to ya'll..." Madison trailed off before she continued, "... But, ya'll really dumb sometimes."

She had to sigh again as she glanced at Penny... she knew all of their struggles with the Glutton, even if Penny had no clue who she was. She liked it that way.

"Like, I know Kim," She placed a hand on her chest, "This just doesn't seem like her, y' know. Know what this seems like? A setup. Like she came in, announced herself, then started blasting. That don't seem right."

She took a few steps forward as she stepped to the center of the group. She placed a hand on her chest as she said, "Say what you will about me - I never said I was coming back to the Coven so I'm in the same boat as Penny here - but I'm dying on this fuckin' hill."

She stuck her hand out and one of the Jaw's necks slid its way onto her hand.

"Besides, it's not like ya'll haven't seen the weirdest shit already. Who's to say that somebody doesn't have like a disguise abstraction or something?"

Honestly, Madison didn't know the DENS enough to trust them with Kimberly, but what was Madison really going to do here when Kimberly was hundreds of miles away? Throw a rock over there?

---

---

Penny’s eyes narrowed as Emily insulted her, the vaguest hint of a smile curling on the corner of her lips as the Coven’s resident asshole insinuated that Penny would be stupid enough to smart a fight. She was cocky, not suicidal. But, if there was a fight, Penny knew for certain that while she might lose, it would be a pyrrhic victory for the Coven. Her attention turned to Helena. She shook her head as the DENS agent refused to play ball. Penny was tempted to send a warning text to Kimberly, but with Emily watching her she doubted she’d be able to pull out her phone without it being considered an open act of hostility.

"ENOUGH!"

Madison yelled at the group, unleashing the trio of dinosaur skulls around herself as she stepped in to defend Kimberly. Penny was mildly surprised until she remembered that Madison had been the one to contact their mutual friend in the first place. She smiled wryly and folded her arms as Madison called them all, Penny included, dumb. She wasn’t wrong. Of course Penny had thought there was something strange about the way Kimberly had acted, but she had been too pissed off to take a moment and piece together the evidence. It didn’t help that her head was still throbbing with a mild migraine.

Still, she felt like an idiot for not considering that it hadn’t even been Kimberly in the first place. Penny had been too focused on trying to come up with a justification for why Kimberly would do something like that when she should’ve just realized that there was no way Kimberly would’ve done something like that. Kimberly was too obsessed with Annabelle to ruin a chance to get a method of dealing with her. Even if she wanted the Dollhouse dead, she would’ve gone after them after they had taken care of Annabelle. Likewise, she would probably know that the Dollhouse was chock-full of apparitions. She didn’t even try to seal a single one of them. She didn’t even stand and fight with them. None of it made sense if it was actually Kimberly; a kind of doppelganger, as outlandish as it was, seemed less farfetched.

“You’re, like, totally right. Thank you, Madison,” said Penny. “Look, Kimberly gains nothing from pitting the Dollhouse against the Coven except for a shitload of enemies and loses her best chance at finding a cure for Annabelle. Unless she’s completely batshit insane, which she isn’t, then it had to be someone else trying to fuck us all over. Someone who either wants Annabelle to keep raging, or wants you girls to get screwed over”

“Now, I’d find it hard to imagine with the oh-so-cordial treatment I’ve been given,” said Penny with a roll of her eyes, casting a look of scorn towards Emily and Maya. “But has your little Coven made any enemies that’d benefit from this? That one gold bitch who joined late seemed to have a bone to pick with the lot of you.”