The Jaws was capable of many great things, and Madison was thankful for that. Such as being able to lift not just the injured Meifeng but also Penny and Lyss at the same time. Being hitched along the ride by the Jaw's extra limbs, they looked a little beaten up during this fight. Maybe things would have been different if she came along. The streets of Tampa were absolutely empty, and Madison didn't want to stick around and speculate just what happened to them with Annabelle around.
Though, those blood stains told a pretty clear story.
Madison wondered what happened to the other girls, she was hoping that they got away without a Wendigo eating them alive. However, she didn't know where they were going, the city was shit and she didn't have a place to go with the beach house gone. She was getting tired with all this fighting, flying around, and other craziness. She sighed, having no option but to preserve, thought she heard something in the distance... like a helicopter. Probably was one! With all of this craziness going on maybe it was a news copter or something.
However, it got closer and closer, until she turned her head and saw a large black military-style helicopter! Like a Chinook or something, the side door opened as a spotlight was flashed on her. She put her shoulder up, turning her body so the light would be blocked by her shoulder. She heard the helicopter bare over a megaphone or something,
"Land this instant! That's an- Huh?" An aggressive man said over the helicopter's speaker before he was interrupted. She heard a voice in the background and then the voice speaking changed.
"Please land!" A softer voice of a female spoke through the megaphone, "I am begging you, we can get Agent Liao and anybody else some medical attention. It is the DENS, we do not want to hurt you, or a fight. We just want to help, that's all."
Sounds like a fight waiting to happen. Madison thought to herself, however, she was willing to bet they were the DENS given that they recognized this bitch. There was a part of Madison that wanted to leave her after all those games that she played, but maybe she was being just a little too harsh. At the request of this woman, Madison silently lowered herself down until she was touching the ground. The helicopter lowered with her and Madison was getting tired of this helicopter, fucking killing her god damn ears. However, it shut off, which she was not sure how to feel about that.
The door opened again, and out came several DENS agents clad in all black armor and carrying Colt M4 rifles. They formed a perimeter around the chopper, facing every direction as a ramp came down from the side door. They heard some wheels creaking as a woman came into view. Not just any woman, a nice lady that Madison looked nice, but she was wheel-chair bound. She was being rolled down by a mousy woman in a suit with two soldiers at her side.
"Why hello there," The woman in the wheelchair said with a smile, "I am Director Alcott, and I would appreciate it if you handed my Agent to my men."
Two more DENS agents came with a folding stretcher and placed it down at Madison's feet, and Madison lowered Agent Liao down and they quickly jetted back into the helicopter to hopefully give her some medical attention. The wheelchair-bound Director placed her finger tips together as she looked at them.
"You are the Coven, right?" Director Alcott said.
"... What's left of it." Madison sneered.
"I'd like to issue a formal apology - one for letting your friends die, one for the actions of my Agents, and for letting things reach this point." Director Alcott said, "But, I am thankful that, despite it all, you stuck your neck out for Agent Liao. So, thank you... It seems I have a lot to make up for, yes?"
Lyss stood next to Madison with her eyes on Maximillian as he flew off towards Annabelle. Her golem moved towards the monster in an attempt to aid Max, but as she turned to face Madison she felt the golem fall to ashes. Max was on his own. She prayed to the devil himself that Max could do this alone.
As exhaustion set in, Lyss didn’t even scrunch her nose as the Jaws picked her up and Madison took off. The golem that had carried Madison crumbled into the ground. Her last undead soldier had returned to purgatory. Lyss felt relief wash over her, but there was an impenetrable ball of nerves in her stomach as she worried for Maximillian. She held onto the bones of the Jaws that carried her and hoped that she could stay conscious long enough to see Maximillian win the fight. Yet she couldn’t turn her head to watch the battle behind them.
The sound of a helicopter approaching gave her some hope. From the looks of it, it was the DENs. Hopefully with a fully equipped medic station onboard. Where the hell was their healer? The one that had helped her before? Meifeng needed help, and she needed it now. Lyss was beginning to realize that she actually feared for the woman’s life. When did she grow so close to these agents?
Lyss expected the harsh voice of an agent as the helicopter approached, but she was surprised to hear a soft voice after. Madison did the right thing by landing, thankfully, and Lyss forced herself to stand still while the helicopter landed. Lyss glanced back in the direction of Max and Annabelle and her balance wavered. The fight was so far away now that she couldn’t tell who was winning.
She turned back as the same voice from the helicopter speaker manifested into a woman. Lyss looked her over, a little unimpressed by Director Alcott of the DENS. She was glad to see Meifeng taken into the helicopter for aid, but she also wanted to go with the medics to make sure that Meifeng made it. She almost moved to follow, but her weakness spread to her knees and she rested her elbow on Madison’s shoulder to stay standing.
Her eyebrows furrowed as the Director addressed them as the Coven. She almost smirked because of Madison’s response. Lyss felt her chest tighten as the Director continued. The DENs could have done a lot more to stop Annabelle a long time ago. Why was she apologizing for it now? Why hadn’t she sent more backup before Annabelle killed so many of them?
Lyss exhaled slowly through her mouth, and inhaled through her nose before she spoke. “I think you have a lot to make up for this city, for my sisters, and for your agents.” She said with a grim tone. “Agent Liao could die in that helicopter while Agent Cornell is fighting not only for his life, but for the lives of everyone left in Florida.”
“Why didn’t you come to help them before this even happened? How come my sisters and I were more help to your agents than their organization was?”
Why did her sisters have to die to save Tampa, while this bitch sat in her office and listened to the reports? Lyss had to stop herself from saying more so that she didn’t piss off the only person that could help them rebuild.
"I'm not saying I understand what type of position you're in, but... Look, you can start by saving Liao's life and then pray to hell that Maximillian can handle the Hunger on his own."
Maximilian knew that everything came down to this moment, to this one single fight. The final gift that Lyss left behind for Maximilian was lifted above her head and ripped in half. However, Maximilian did not stand there and watch, he dropped down to a single knee. Both hands were on either side of the man as he focused on Annabelle ripping the creature apart, piece by piece. He almost felt sorry for her, especially with everything that has happened to her. Despite it all, he knew that she had reached a point where she just had to be stopped, sympathy be damned. He just prayed for Agent Liao, she had a family, after all. Right when the golem was in shreds, Maximilian closed his eyes.
He launched himself at Annabelle like a rocket, disappearing in an instant as all that could be seen as the trail of disturbed dust. The unstoppable force met the immovable object as a massive wave of blue energy came from Annabelle's side as she was sent flying over. The brute slammed her claws into the ground and came to a stop and each of the screaming faces looked at Maximilian. Her head regenerated at an extremely fast rate and then she loudly roared as she charged Maximilian head-on. Maximilian dropped his weight as he anticipated her getting closer and closer - she raised a balled claw into the air, bringing it down with enough force to devastate even a tank, and Maximilian's fist collided with her hand.
It negated the force of her own attack and knocked her off balance and Maximilian dropped his hands onto the ground. A massive blue crystal came out of the ground with explosive force, with enough to send Annabelle flying. She roared as she crashed into a building and quickly climbed to her feet as she grabbed two massive pieces of stone. She tossed them at Maximilian as the man jetted left and right in between them. However, when she tossed the stones, she quickly closed the distance and swiped her claw at Maximilian. Sending him flying through the air, for just a moment before he could get his bearings and activate his moment negating abstraction.
He shook his head as he oriented himself... and the first thing he saw was the gigantic Annabelle flying through the air towards him. Crap, he thought to himself as Annabelle grabbed him with both hands and slammed him into the ground. Ouch, Maximilian thought to himself as he flew backward, stopping just at the wall. Okay, it seemed that Annabelle had him outclassed in any upfront fight. He had to wonder where the rest of the Agents were.
Annabelle grabbed an SUV and chucked it at Maximilian with one hand and Maximilian stuck his hand out. A blue beam of energy came out of his hand and the SUV was converted into harmless air. Annabelle pounded her hand into the ground as she pulled out bits and pieces of the sidewalk. Maximilian guessed what she was going to do with that when she flicked her wrist and sprayed him with the barrage of stone chunks. Maximilian slammed his foot into the ground as he created a barrier made out of crystals. One that was shattered when Annabelle Heart charged through it and lunged through it with both of her claws outstretched.
Maximilian, on reflex, flew backward but Annabelle was already on top of him swinging her massive claw. Maximilian dove forward and punched her in the stomach with the same explosion of force as Annabelle slid backward. Maximilian flew forward and then punched her again and she retaliated by swinging back and hit Maximilian with enough force to send him rolling. Annabelle roared as she lept through the air and Maximilian quickly rolled out of the way and rocketed off out of the way. Annabelle landed - and with a hell of an impact as she went through the street into the sewers.
Maximilian took this time to think of a quick strategy to take Annabelle down for good. He saw the building and pointed his hand at it and out came a blue beam of energy. It sliced through the building sideways as it converted all that it touched into the air... creating a cascading wave as the building fell on top of Annabelle in a cloud of dust and debris. He could hear her muffled roar from underneath it... and knew that this wouldn't hold her for long. She's taken too much damage to go out like this.
Maximilian flew up into the air as he heard one boom, then another... then one final bang as Annabelle burst through the concrete. She roared as she sent stone in all directions and wondered how much can she possibly take... however, Maximilian had a different idea. He flew further away as he stuck both of his hands out and fired out the blue beams of energy. It converted everything around Annabelle into methane... which he triggered an explosion with one beam. It created a massive explosion that made Annabelle roar as she burned and burned and burned in pain. Okay, so she probably doesn't like fire. Maximilian thought to himself as Annabelle leap out of the flames and flew towards him like a flaming meteor. He had to think fast as he flew out of the way...
... But Annabelle caught his leg and he yelled in pain as he burned as she did as she slammed him onto the ground so hard that he bounced. Annabelle roared as she slammed her fist on him over and over again like she was a raging animal, but he quickly jetted out of her grasp the first second he could. He rolled back to his feet as Annabelle rushed him and he collided her claw with his elbow. The clash created an explosion of force that shattered Annabelle's hand and Maximilian realized that he was making progress.
However, her tail was launched at him from over her shoulder and Maximilian barely dodged it by inches as it broke asphalt. Though, Maximilian grabbed it and launched himself at Annabelle, bladed tail first, and stabbed her through the skull. Not that would really do anything, but Annabelle trashed around for a second as Maximilian punched Annabelle's leg behind the knee. He shattered her leg and she fell over as Maximilian punched her in the face and sent her flying across the floor until she hit the wall.
So it seems everything he threw against her didn't work... even though he was the strongest Awakened probably out there, he was getting pushed against the wall here. He panted as he took this opportunity to catch his breath... then he dropped his hands onto the ground, which violently vibrated as a massive spire came out of the ground and impaled Annabelle through the stomach. It quickly expanded and kept growing and growing and growing as Maximilian intended to cut her in half.
Annabelle thrashed and screamed... before she was cut in half from the middle and Maximilian just hoped that would be the finishing blow. Except for Annabelle's upper body, spraying gore in all directions, clawed her way over to Maximilian like the world's most persistent animal.
"Oh, you gotta be fucking-" Maximilian hissed as she moved surprisingly fast even missing some legs. When she got close, Maximilian flew upwards and gave her an uppercut and when he was in the air he slammed her head-on with an ax hand that sent her flying to the earth. That was when Maximilian flew downwards and stomped her head with both legs, creating a massive shockwave that knocked cars over. That was when he kept stomping her over and over again.
"Why won't you..."
Stomp.
"... Fucking die!"
He stomped her again... but Annabelle's arm contorted when her arm whipped around and grabbed him and she threw him at a wall before she lunged at him. Maximilian rushed her head on and punched her in the face, stopping her momentum entirely. He swung around with a haymaker that sent Annabelle flying through the air... crashing through several buildings. He kept panting as he realized that he was not going to win this fight at this rate, not with brute force like he originally thought.
"... Maximilian! " He heard Cindy's voice in his radio... which was conveniently intact. "Where are you?"
He looked around at all of this chaos.
"... That's going to be hard to discern," Maximilian said. "Do you have the cure?"
"Yes!" Cindy answered. "Do you think you can disable her long enough for Helena to slip her the cure?"
Annabelle had already recovered and was charging him, dragging herself forward with her claws.
"... I have an idea," Maximilian shot upwards as an idea formed in his head... he can't beat Annabelle Heart with the current tools he had. She was too strong but he had other tricks up his sleeve. "Keep far away from me as possible!"
"What?" Cindy replied.
"Trust me!"
Maximilian sighed as he turned and rocketed off towards the edge of Tampa... where his plan would cause the least amount of damage. Annabelle chased after him like a ravenous bull, tearing apart what little of Tampa remained as she just wanted to kill Maximilian. Though, Maximilian was realizing that it was becoming apparent that he couldn't lure her out of the city limits before he got tired. He tried his best to get her at least far away from the escaping Coven as he could.
He ended up in a suburb with Annabelle right behind him... and he stopped in mid-air as he said to himself. "Come on you bitch..." Maximilian hissed. "Come and get me...."
Annabelle came to an abrupt stop as she launched herself at Maximilian with such force that she created cracks in the ground. She roared as she stuck out both of her hands and Maximilian shot upwards as far and fast as he could to make sure that he was out of her reach. Annabelle soared past him and then hit the ground, crashing through some buildings. That was when Maximilian enacted his plan: he pointed out both of his hands and screamed at the top of his lungs as he fired one massive beam out of the blue light. It had the girth of a city block and it could be seen from all over Tampa... and probably beyond.
The beam seemingly caused the ground that Annabelle was standing on to disappear. She fell into a deep crater as she roared on the way down... she hit the ground. Maximilian flew far away from the crater as he could, pointing a finger gun at her as he grinned. Annabelle was about to jump out of the crater but she stopped. Just frozen, as if her endless lust for blood had stopped for just a second. A distinct blue eye rolled into her empty eye socket as a tear went down her face. She knew what that smell was, and what Maximilian was doing...
Out of Maximilian's hand came the beam that would trigger the world's largest methane explosion. It created an enormous mushroom cloud followed by a shockwave so powerful that it could be felt for dozens of miles away. The fireball was bright and incredibly powerful, so powerful that it reduced the area around it to ash. Sending rubble everywhere as Maximilian got far away as he could... thankfully dodging it. It took a few minutes for the dust to settle and then all that could be seen...
... Was the crater.
"Maximilian! What in the world did you just do!?" Cindy screamed over comms.
He smiled as he said.
"I ended things."
... Or so he thought.
In the crater, there was a small amount of activity. Just in the dead center of it, something was moving. It was Annabelle Heart. Maximilian's final attack had reduced her to merely a fraction of what she originally was. She was reduced to a skeleton with burnt strips of flesh remaining... and she was still moving as she dragged herself forward out of the crater. Those strips of flesh were regenerating as she was attempting to form a new body for herself... however, she noticed somebody landing in front of her.
Maximilian.
There was a low growl as she dragged herself towards him. He had the cure in his hand - given to him by Helena - as he sighed. He looked down at her and began to unscrew the lid to the potion... when a strange girl appeared out of nowhere and walked over towards Annabelle. Who seemed unafraid of the creature as she knelt down and gently stroked her head.
"It's okay, Anna," Sophia said as tears streamed down her eyes. "It's okay... You can stop now."
Annabelle halted in place as Maximilian walked over to Annabelle Heart... a few minutes ago this girl seemed to be unstoppable. He unfinished unscrewing the lid as Sophia looked at him.... and nodded. He poured the potion onto Annabelle's exposed skull and the creature began to convulse over and over again. Before she stopped, was she dead for good?
... Yes.
That was when an explosion of energy came out of Annabelle, Maximilian took a few steps back as all of the souls that were trapped in Annabelle's body were freed. They left in a whirling mass, disappearing into the sky... however, the spirit of one girl floated over to Maximilian and kissed him on the forehead before she flew off. Then they were gone, as quickly as they appeared. Maximilian sighed, looking down at Annabelle's corpse, and laughed. It was finally over, she was defeated. They beat the odds.
"... You're gonna stop Saul, right?" Sophia asked as she looked at Maximilian. As the spirits of all of the people killed by Saul that faithful night appeared... with Annabelle appearing last. "This is all his fault."
"... I will," Maximilian said.
"Please do it, for us," Sophia said as she faded away. "For everyone, he has hurt."
Every word that Lyss said did not, strangely, elicit even a flinch from the Director. She just kept looking at Lyss as she patiently waited for her to finish, almost as if nothing Lyss was saying was anything new. Alcott's mouth finally moved when she sighed as she answered Lyss - which in her own eyes was not sufficient. "I wish I had an answer for all of your questions, but in truth, they would not remedy the situation, not one bit."
She shook her head before she answered, "Truth is, you are correct. I tried to justify sending a small task force after Annabelle because of the lack of DENS manpower... they're the only fieldable Extra-Normals in the organization, and I couldn't risk anyone else succumbing to the Hunger."
She put both hands on the handlebars of the wheelchair as she started, "But, there was a third party interfering in matters... Saul's Forgiven." She looked off to the side, "They've lured us to Port Richey and then injured Walton to prevent the Task Force from getting back... you can infer that they lured Annabelle through Tampa straight to the Bay area."
"Wait, Kim's hurt?" Madison asked with a raised eyebrow as she crossed her arms and got a nod from the Director.
"She's been shot three times, she's in critical condition," Director Alcott answered. "I'm not sure if she will make it." She closed her eyes.
... Before they shot wide open when the shockwave hit them.
"Oh shit!" Madison shouted as she saw the massive mushroom cloud in the distance. Madison thought a nuke had gone off in Tampa! Except, when the shock wore off and rationality kicked in, she realized that they would be toast if it was a nuclear explosion. The Jaws activated not that it would do anything given that the danger was over.
The Director's earpiece activated when she heard Maximilian's voice say, "Annabelle Heart has been neutralized."
Director Alcott smiled with a near child-like excitement as she looked up at the two, "Maximilian did it! He beat Annabelle Heart!" However, she looked back at the Helicopter as she said, "... Do you want to continue this conversation on board?"
Madison crossed her arms as she looked at Lyss, telling her, "I'm gonna go look for Vashti and Emily - believe it or not - and make sure that they're okay." She put a hand on her shoulder. "You won't go missing or anything, sis?"
Maya had pretty much managed to avoid all of the action.
For once in her life she’d actually listened to what was essentially an order - unlike the others, Maya knew that she couldn’t help with the whole Anabelle situation. So she drove away when Lyss showed no signs of actually coming over to her. She hoped that they could handle it… and that they wouldn’t lose anyone else. She ignored the guilt she felt at that.
Only, she hadn’t gotten far in her car before being stopped by the many other abandoned cars littering the street. Great. Just great. Having to resort to going on foot was less than ideal.
It was by some miracle she didn’t get eaten, or completely deafened in the process of making sure she didn’t get eaten. And then by another miracle that she bumped into Trevor.
Which was how she ended up where she was now, approaching a fucking helicopter (only government agents had that kind of shit) with him, after almost falling on her ass from some kind of explosion (or earthquake?). She’d been pretty ready to just try book it out of the city but really, she didn’t want to abandon all of the coven in the end… and had no easy way out. A helicopter fixed that!
“Lyss, Madison!” she called out, letting out a sigh of relief upon seeing them still around. Especially after Lyss had decided to try and fight Anabelle (terrible decision in her mind). “Uh, glad to see you’re both alive.” She glanced at Lyss. “You look like shit.”
More quietly, she said, “... I guess I missed a lot.”
Lyss stood tall as she stared back at the director even though sitting down would feel amazing. She pressed her lips together as she expected a harsh comeback, but she was relieved that the director agreed with her at all. Everything the director said made sense. It still wasn’t enough, but Lyss understood why it had to happen this way. Lyss suddenly understood the bigger picture as soon as the director mentioned Saul. Lyss frowned. The bastard was the reason this all happened. The reason Max was battling The Hunger all on his own. Annabelle had been lured to their beach house by Saul’s master. He was next in line to be taken down.
The explosion from behind drew Lyss’s attention. She turned back to face the mushroom cloud of dust. Was that it…? Had Maximillian killed himself in the process of destroying Annabelle Heart. She could feel her chest growing tighter and her knees growing weaker.
Then she heard the director’s cheerful voice. Lyss sighed softly in relief and let her shoulders loosen. It was over. Max was safe. Lyss looked back at the director, glancing at the helicopter before Madison put a hand on her shoulder. She nodded along to what her sister was saying, and even cracked a smile at her last comment.
“I’m sure you could find me if I did.” She teased.
Someone called out for herself and Madison and Lyss looked over to see Maya coming their way. Lyss smiled, her heart full now that she knew most of her sisters had survived this shitshow.
“You look like shit… I guess I missed a lot.”
Lyss pursed her lips and shrugged. “We understand why you ran off. We were able to distract Annabelle until Maximillian arrived with the cure. Agent Liao is critically wounded, but she’s getting help right now.”
She glanced at the director before looking back at Madison and Maya.
“Madison is going to look for Emily and Vashti. You can go with her, or you can come with me into the helicopter. I’m going with them to finish the forgiven.”
She just needed to rest, and she could do enough to help the DENs with that fight.
Penny didn’t fight Madison sweeping her up in the arms of the Jaws. As much as she wanted to help finish the fight against Annabelle, she was absolutely exhausted and her head felt like it had been right against a speaker at a rock concert. It was painful to admit, but she knew she’d only be in the way. The migraine hit harder as the only sound that entered her ears was a pulsating fwoop. Penny closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. Last time she pushed it too far she’d temporarily gone blind, but maybe her abstraction hit all of her senses. Her concerns of losing her hearing was dashed when she heard a voice crack over the loudspeaker of the helicopter that had drowned out any other sound. Next thing she knew, Madison was putting her and the others down.
A bunch of government stiffs in suits armed with rifles poured out of the helicopter, followed by a woman in a wheelchair. The woman introduced herself as Director Alcott, assumingly the one in charge of DENS, and nicely ordered Madison to hand over Meifeng. Penny watched as the wounded agent was loaded onto a stretcher, a hundred if-I-onlys running through her mind as she was whisked away to the helicopter. Penny’s eyes widened as she heard Meifeng’s last name for the first time. Liao? Surely it was a coincidence, but the thought that she’d fought side-by-side with someone from Justin’s family without even realizing it made her smile—one that quickly faded upon realizing that Meifeng was likely in near fatal condition. When she had a chance she’d call Justin just to squash any of her concerns.
Penny dipped back into the conversation. She folded her arms and smirked from behind Lyss as the girl called out the Director of DENS for holding back. How many people lost their lives because Annabelle was able to get to the point where she was now? Penny stepped forward at the mention of Saul. She recalled meeting with the man. She had been hesitant then, nervous that perhaps Saul was holding back the end of the world instead of accelerating it. In hindsight, being cautious had been costly. She sank back at the mention of Kimberly getting hurt and glanced over at Madison as she probed the Director to elaborate.
"She's been shot three times, she's in critical condition," Director Alcott answered. "I'm not sure if she will make it."
“She was in your custody and you let her get shot?” shouted Penny, moving towards the Director. “Are you fu—”
She was cut off by a loud explosion followed by a massive shockwave. Penny’s head whipped around to see the huge mushroom cloud followed by the jubilant glee from the Director as she announced that Annabelle had been defeated. Her shoulders dropped as she stared dumbly at the smoke. She could barely manage to keep herself alive against Annabelle with the help of a few others while Maximillian was able to take her out himself. She should be relieved, but between the feeling of uselessness and the concern over Meifeng and Kimberly the defeat of Annabelle hardly registered. As Maya reunited with her sisters, Penny approached the Director.
“I’m Penny Lawson. I was working with Kimberly Walton to track down Annabelle. If you’re planning to go after Saul I would love to help but…” Penny trailed off, glancing over at the Coven. She swallowed and continued, “Could I see Kim first?”
She had a hand on her hip as she looked at Lyss and couldn't help but put in her two cents - as much as it made her feel like Vashti. "... Like this, sis?" Madison looked her up and down and noticed that Maya's comment was fully correct. She did look like shit.
"We aren't going to raid their compound just yet," The Director answered when she raised a finger. "We need to allocate the resources and let Maximilian and the others catch a rest. Ideally, I want to attack the Forgiven in the next few days... but, we're gonna keep eyes on them in case they decide to cut and run."
“I’m Penny Lawson. I was working with Kimberly Walton to track down Annabelle. If you’re planning to go after Saul I would love to help but… Could I see Kim first?”
"Of course," The Director said with a smile. "Let's get on, we need to get Liao to a hospital as soon as possible."
Madison nodded her head at Lyss as she took flight... and hoped that she could remember where Vashti and Emily were. She was certain that Maya would just go with the DENS, no offense to sis but she would honestly hold Madison back... and she knew that Maya would probably kick Emily while she was down and she didn't have the energy to stop her.
The Director and the others moved into the helicopter as they cleared the area, and prepared to give Saul what's coming to him.
When the mushroom cloud faded and on an unassuming roof a swirling mass of orange sparks and embers appeared. When they faded, the Messiah and Saul were on top of the rooftop, the former of which walked to the edge of the roof with their hands behind their back. When their foot touched the edge of the roof, they stuck their hand out as if they were presenting the chaos of what Saul unintentionally caused.
"Do you see this destruction?" The Messiah asked in a monotone whisper. "Do you see the evil that spawns from the false light? What Mother is protecting you from?"
Saul walked to the edge and saw downtown Tampa in pieces... was this caused by Annabelle Heart? His jaw almost dropped as he gazed upon it all. He stammered out the words, but awkwardly, "... Yes."
"Fortunately, thanks to my machinations," The Messiah turned around as they put their hands together from underneath their robe. "The demon died in this battle."
"Wait, Annabelle's finally de-"
Before Saul could finish the sentence, the Messiah shot him a glare from underneath the robe that he could feel... he wasn't sure if it was Mother's power being channeled through the Messiah or not.
The Messiah took a few steps away from the edge of the rooftop before they came to an abrupt stop. "They're going to come for you, next." They spoke the words that would etch their way into Saul's mind, "I want you to let them."
"Messiah!" Saul tried to protest. "Are you insane, we have to lea-"
The Messiah whipped their head around and shot him another glare as they said the simple words, "Are you lacking faith in Mother?"
Saul was quiet.
"Well, are you?" The Messiah said, "If you are, then I can always kill you and find another church leader."
"... no, I am not, Messiah."
"Then let's go," The Messiah said, "We will have plenty of time to prepare while they lick their wounds."
The Messiah raised their hand and they disappeared in a mass of swirling orange sparks and embers.
The DENS Base.
It was pouring down rain, not unusual for Florida but it felt like a strange portent for some reason. Madison was never all that superstitious but maybe the world of magic had opened her eyes to such concepts. The rain barely bothered her because she had on a hooded windbreaker that caused the rain to slide off of her. She stood around in the rain by the treelines looking up at the skyline... Tampa wasn't going to be the same but they should, at the very least, finish things. Because if it wasn't for Saul; Kayla and Izzy would still be around - though, Madison would be here all god damn day shunting the blame around when they could just go stop Saul now.
Lyss asked her and the Coven to help with the Forgiven raid, and some people declined but Madison was going to follow Lyss to the ends of the earth - For better or worse. Though, in her own eyes, the Coven was no more... she didn't see the Coven sticking together after this - especially with a majority of the group injured, dead, or disliking each other. Though with the latter she could see some people coming around, like how she feels a little differently about Vashti now.
Herik and Mariah cut and run and Madison couldn't blame them. They probably had less of a deathwish than her, but she felt like she was rambling to herself. She looked over her shoulder at the secret facility that the DENS has just outside of Tampa... it was a lot more active than usual with cars and trucks moving in moving supplies. Madison didn't pay attention to it all as she kept her hands in her pockets and sauntered over inside the building.
Madison quickly found the meeting room with the various DENS agents - and some of her Coven sisters and friends - gathered around a table. On the table had a blueprint of a building... which she guesses is the Forgiven compound. Madison didn't make a scene as she entered.
"Is everyone here?" Director Alcott said as she rolled up. "If they're not here, then we're gonna have to fill them in. Maximilian, begin the briefing."
Maximilian leaned over the table and placed both hands on it as he looked around the entire room. "Alright, so the objective of today's operation is the capture and detainment of Luther Saul and the upper echelons of the Forgiven cult. Here is a blueprint of the compound, however, we have determined that there are many secret passages throughout the building."
He looked to the side and saw Leon who gave him a nod.
"One leading straight into one of their sacrificial altars and dungeons... that has people in there."
"One of our priorities is liberating anyone that they have captured," Director Alcott chimed in. "However, our first issue is that we have determined that the Forgiven is heavily armed with weapons that they have acquired somehow - and the fact that the facility is crawling with children."
Alcott shook her head as Maximilian continued.
"I brought up that it is a likely possibility that the Forgiven may use them as hostages... or they may hunker down and a simple raid could be stretched out to months if they play their cards right."
"However, it's likely they are already prepared for a full-on raid," Alcott said as she put her fingers together. "They most likely aren't going to suspect a small team or two going in and grab Saul because he is the top priority."
"Which is where we come in," Maximilian nodded his head, "We can sneak in, grab Saul, and then extract him without the Forgiven knowing about it then we can take care of the rest of the group. However, Saul is the top priority here."
Vashti was thankful for the sheer terror brought upon by the wendigos that rampaged outside the clothing store she and Emily had hidden in. It forced the two to be absolutely silent, and the adrenaline that shot through her body anytime there was a loud crash negated whatever other tension she would’ve normally felt being stuck in a changing room with a girl who absolutely hated her. Rightfully so, too, at least in Vashti’s mind. She avoided eye contact with Emily and let her scarf hang low over her face. Earlier, as they passed by the mirror, she had seen her own reflection; already, her body was reverting back to the way it was before the Leviathan’s curse. Still, it was difficult to be happy when she could either die from a wendigo or from Emily’s withering stare at any second.
Vashti had almost screamed when the door to the changing room rattled before she recognized Madison’s voice. Madison told them that it was all over, but it didn’t feel that way for Vashti. Sure, her curse was cured and the monster that had been rampaging through all of Florida was no more, but as she watched Emily get scooped up by Madison she could only feel like it was a hollow victory. She allowed Madison to lead her away, and as the adrenaline faded Vashti realized she felt absolutely exhausted. They moved past ransacked buildings and shredded bodies and burning cars. She had thought the Leviathan had been a threat, but compared to this it was nothing.
She asked Madison to not bring her back to the others, but insisted that she wasn’t abandoning the Coven just because she had been cured. She doubted Madison actually believed her, but she obliged Vashti either way. Vashti had a goal, two of them actually, but she didn’t have a plan for either. The solution to the first was fairly easy: she found a place to stay at a storm shelter. The amount of other people there was alarmingly small, and already wild stories were popping up over what exactly had happened to the city, none of which were as crazy as the truth. Still, she found a place to sleep, but before she went to bed she did something she hadn’t done since being cursed: she called her mom.
The phone rang as Vashti sat on the edge of the cot inside of the basketball stadium and chewed on her lip. Her dad had stopped reaching out to her even before she had started ignoring them, but despite his coldness he still covered her accounts and paid her cards off in full every month. Maybe he just forgot to cancel the autopayments. The phone continued to ring. Her mom had kept trying to reach out to her, although the calls got less and less frequent as time went on. The last time they had spoken Vashti had gone off on her mom about how she hated how controlling they had been as parents, how she wanted to be her own person, and how she didn’t need them. Really, she was just being a self-centered brat, and now she just wanted to let her mom know that she was sorry and that she was alive.
The ringing stopped early and it went to voicemail. The call had been ignored. She tried calling again, but immediately it went to voicemail. Blocked. Vashti chuckled, shook her head, wiped her tears, and set the phone down in her lap. She looked at the reflection of the overhead lights on the waxed floor and then flopped back into the cot to stare at them directly. She didn’t blame her mom. If anything, the treatment was deserved. Forgiveness should be earned. Besides, it got the message out: I’m alive. She continued to stare at the lights until her eyes hurt. Shutting them, she watched the fireworks explode as she drifted off to sleep.
Vashti didn’t lie to Madison. Three days later, she went to join with the Coven at the top secret DENS base. A part of her felt like it was the stupidest thing she could possibly have done. As the Leviathan, she had not only destroyed government property but had attacked a couple of their agents. Still, if they decided to arrest her then so be it: that was what she deserved. Before, she would’ve said it wasn’t her fault, but really she could’ve done more to prevent the things the Leviathan had done. What if she’d gone to the authorities in the first place? They likely wouldn’t have believed her at first, but it’d be hard to ignore the evidence after the first time she changed.
Still, at the time her mind had been filled with conspiracy theories and hoaxes. She thought the government likely would’ve just experimented on her. Maybe it had been a wild thought at the time, but considering that she was now going to a meeting at a top secret government facility where their team of supernatural hunters operated out of then maybe it hadn’t been such a farfetched idea after all. If anything, it reinforced further asinine ideas and conspiracies. The Man not only knew about magic, but had magic as well. Anything was possible.
Vashti shook the urge to delve throughout the corridors of the facility looking for secrets and exposing them to the world for a few reasons. First, she was a guest. Second, she was thankful that they hadn’t arrested her yet and didn’t want to give them a reason to do so. Third, she wanted to be useful to the Coven, even if she doubted there was anything she could actually do now that she was little more than One-Eyed Opened. Finally, she wanted something out of the DENS and it was difficult to ask for favors if she got caught trying to snap a selfie with ET and Tupac.
Vashti was quiet during the meeting. She was no longer wearing her headscarf or her jacket, her hair tucked behind her ears and her bare arms showing off their complete lack of scales. She watched the faces of Madison, Lyss, and the others as the DENS agent went over the plan to attack the Forgiven. Normally, Vashti would be thrilled to be a fly on the wall as stiffs in black suits discussed setting up what sounded like another Waco, but given the reality of the situation she just felt uncomfortable. She was way out of her element here. If she still had the Leviathan perhaps she could’ve been a (very dangerous, very chaotic, and very awful choice for a) distraction, but now she was just a weirdo with no real skills.
"Any questions?"
“How can I help?” said Vashti, a nervous tremor in her voice. “I feel like I’d be utterly useless going in, but it sounds like you’ll have a lot of indoctrinated victims to take care of once you bag Saul. I could help with the setup of like a...a trauma center or a food line or...I don’t know.”
“We’d have to bag Saul first. How do you plan to sneak in without alarming the whole compound? Dressing up like homeless people or survivors of Annabelle’s attack and seeing if they let us seek refuge?” asked one of Kim’s friends. “Because I’m pretty sure they know what most of us look like and I doubt they’d fall for it again anyway.”
Maya had considered just bailing, but honestly, her life was too much of a mess suddenly to do that. She couldn’t exactly go to university as normal when it had basically stopped running after the city was nearly destroyed. Not to mention all the calls from her mother insisting she return to South Korea - which she absolutely did not want to do. Ever.
Technically she was still a student, so she could stay here.
And she did want to help the coven. She didn’t have much investment in all this shit apart from being pretty pissed at just how many of them had had to die for this to be resolved. And if there was one thing Maya was pretty good at, it was channeling her anger into destroying shit.
She listened to the explanation with a frown. Right, they just sneak in. That would be easy.
“She’s right, there’s no way they don’t know what we look like… Though I doubt every single member does.” Maya commented, nodding towards Penny (assuming she was remembering her name right). She narrowed her eyes at the map as if she’d miraculously gain the ability to plan this kind of thing. “Unless there’s a secret passage we can use? But outside of that, I don’t see how we can easily sneak in. I want to know what the plan to sneak in is too.”
The moment Madison started looking her up and down, Lyss knew what her sister was going to say next. She sighed softly, prepared to explain that she was going to help in any small way possible, but the Director responded with a relieving answer. Lyss would have time to rest. Her legs almost gave out at the thought of it, but she kept her balance. The look she gave Madison after Alcott spoke said it all. A few days to recharge would be fantastic after this fight.
Lyss nodded in agreement to the Director, and turned to give Madison a weary salute as her sister took off. While she was glad to know Madison and Maya were alright, she was hoping that Emily, Vashti, and Herik had escaped in time. The coven couldn’t take any more losses. It felt like their numbers had withered away during the past few months. The image of Kayla’s and Izzy’s bodies among the mass of flesh that made Annabelle still burned freshly in her mind.
They wouldn’t be forgotten.
As she made her way into the helicopter, she gave the wreckage one last look. Her speedster was somewhere out there. Probably underneath one of these rich pricks tesla. She shook her head before taking a seat within the helicopter. She could see the medics working on Meifeng where she sat. It looked like they were stabilizing her, but would she survive the ride to their base? Would she ever return to the field?
Lyss looked out of the side door to the helicopter at Tampa’s remains. Where would the Coven go now?
Lyss took the next few days to recover. The DENs base was cushy, even if she wasn’t allowed access to half of the building. The DENs still didn’t trust her, after all that she did for them? She blamed it on the fact that Meifeng was still in the ICU. Maximillian could vouch for her all he wanted, but Lyss had a feeling that Alcott knew of their… engagement.
Which hadn’t been a problem for a while since Maximillian was injured by the Forgiven, but now that they were living under the same roof? Well… they’d spent some time together during their mutual recoveries. It still wasn’t a good idea, at least that’s what her head was telling her, but it felt great to unwind before they’d face Saul and… whatever that thing was on the roof.
That thing led Annabelle to them. Had it known she would perish, or had it brought Annabelle to them to destroy them instead? They knew so little of Saul and his Forgiven, but how much did he and his friend know of the Coven? Only a few of them agreed to take the Forgiven on, but were the ones who chose not to safe?
These thoughts were the only thing to ruin her little vacation at the DENs. By the time the briefing was called Lyss was feeling stronger than ever. The only thing that could hold her back now was her fear.
She arrived at the briefing room at the same time as Maximillian, which would appear pretty incriminating even if they hadn’t seen each other since yesterday. Lyss simply tried her best to act nonchalant as she walked inside with him, but as soon as she realized Director Alcott was not there she couldn’t help but smirk.
She didn’t stay by his side long. Instead, she chose to stand next to Madison as she arrived. Her eyes moved over the map of the Forgivens compound. The fact that the place had hidden passageways and sacrificial altars wasn’t at all surprising, but she felt a twist in her stomach at the mention of prisoners. Were these prisoners nothing but sacrifices to Saul? And children too?? Her hands curled into fists by her side.
Lyss glanced at Alcott to see her reaction, and was relieved to see that the Director felt the same way.
Going in as a small team was wise. Lyss couldn’t be more confident in the team around her, and yet…
“Any questions?”
Lyss had many, but her sisters asked a few of them for her. She would have been proud if those questions weren’t the least of her worries.
“I’m also hoping we could go over those details, but there is something else that worries me.” She began, moving her attention from Maximillian and onto Director Alcott.
“Saul has a powerful friend with him. They led Annabelle to our home. Do you have any intel on this entity? What is our plan if this being knows we are coming?” They could very well be walking into a trap. It wanted them dead before, but why?
“How can I help? I feel like I’d be utterly useless going in, but it sounds like you’ll have a lot of indoctrinated victims to take care of once you bag Saul. I could help with the setup of like a...a trauma center or a food line or...I don’t know.”
In all honesty, Madison barely understood why Vashti was here. Maybe it was that previous bias from before leaking in, but at the moment Vashti was utterly powerless. From Madison's knowledge of the Extra-Normal, that meant that she had no Emotional-Field and thus was utterly defenseless. Even though Vashti probably deserved it a little bit, she didn't want Vashti to get hurt.
"We always need an extra hand in the DENS," Maximilian started, "We'll keep you on hand if we need anything set up. We just can't have you be anywhere near the crossfire." He nodded his head.
“We’d have to bag Saul first. How do you plan to sneak in without alarming the whole compound? Dressing up like homeless people or survivors of Annabelle’s attack and seeing if they let us seek refuge? Because I’m pretty sure they know what most of us look like and I doubt they’d fall for it again anyway.”
“She’s right, there’s no way they don’t know what we look like… Though I doubt every single member does. Unless there’s a secret passage we can use? But outside of that, I don’t see how we can easily sneak in. I want to know what the plan to sneak in is too.”
Director Alcott smugly smirked. Almost as if she had information that she kept from the rest of the group, until now.
"Leon has located some escape tunnels," Alcott started, "They're very crudely made but we all should be able to sneak in through there. However, they go down towards the dungeons... which don't seem to have a large number of Forgiven members in there so that plan will likely not work Ms. Lawson."
"Ideally, we are going to avoid confrontation with the Forgiven," Maximilian Cornell explained, "And it'd be best if we force the Forgiven out of their facility rather than go in and fight them."
He nodded his head as Director Alcott took it from there, "Our plan is to have two teams and one of them sneaks in there and cause a ruckus," She placed her fingertips together. "The idea is that it puts pressure on Saul that he got in and he'll attempt to cut his losses and run on out."
"... Y'know," Madison said as she looked between her Coven sisters, the DENS, and Penny, "Didn't we have that one chick with the beanie that could teleport?" She put a hand on her hip as she asked.
"Where the fuck did she go?"
"Even if he doesn't flee, the other team will then capture him themselves," The Director finished with a nod of her head.
“Saul has a powerful friend with him. They led Annabelle to our home. Do you have any intel on this entity? What is our plan if this knowing we are coming?”
"They should already know we're coming," Maximilian answered. "Just a matter of when."
It was hard for the Director to say that she didn't know anything about this entity... she heard something mentioned about "Mother" but there was not a hint of evidence about the thing. "Unfortunately, we don't have any information on this entity... however, ideally we are going to avoid confrontation with the thing. If the situation turns dire then we will withdraw all agents and then form a new plan based on the information we gain on it."
If we come out of that situation alive.
"However, we are trained to handle all sorts of supernatural dangers and threats and we know everything about it," The Director started, "So it's unlikely we'll be caught off guard this time."
Lyss's confidence in this mission was at it's highest, at about 80%. They had the strength, but not the numbers. They had good intel, but something about this was suspect. As if it was going to be too easy. The mention of secret passages meant they had an escape route if they were trapped inside the compound. It wasn't pleasant that their last resort escape route was in the dungeons- hell, it was fucking weird enough that the compound had a dungeon. Fucking religious freaks.
To have a team on the outside ensured that there would be backup, but they were definitely going to have to fight their way out. Lyss saw this happening just as their confrontation with Annabelle happened. Except for this time, Maximillian would be there from the start to fight off whatever was working with Saul.
A chick with a beanie? Was she talking about Isla? Lyss hadn't seen her since she got her ass out of the beach house. She hoped that Isla was safe somewhere out of this country.
"They should already know we're coming."
Lyss raised an eyebrow and looked at Maximillian. Isn't that a bad thing?
Lyss looked at the Director next and listened to her lack of information. She didn't mind the retreat and regroup plan, but she worried that it would be difficult to escape the entity if it showed itself. Hopefully having Maximillian there would make that easier on the group. She still didn't believe that they knew "everything", and she expected there to be a few cards hidden up Saul's sleeve, but she wasn't going to bring the team's spirits down before their mission. So, Lyss simply nodded and looked at her Coven sisters.
"Lets put this bastard behind bars."
"Splendid," Director Alcott smiled as she put her fingertips together in a tent. Before she said the next thing she closed her eyes... and then the Heart necklace that she had tucked underneath layer and layer of clothing began to glow a cyan color. Sigils appeared around her chest before they vanished just as fast as they appeared. "The chance of this operation's success is eighty-percent... rounded down."
She chuckled for a second as she rolled herself a bit closer to the Coven.
"Which mission would your merry group like to go on? Plant the distraction or bagging Saul?"
Penny was surprised that they were even given the option. She'd figured that DENS would make the Coven be the ones to bring the ruckus while their agents acquired Saul. The Coven were pros at causing chaos, but likely lacked the subtlety or tact required to peacefully extract a VIP. Penny smiled. It would be a shame if something were to happen to him before they were able to make the hand-off.
"We should be the ones to take Saul. He's a coward. He'd probably off himself if someone like Maximillian even steps into the same room, but he'd underestimate us," said Penny, folding her arms as she looked over at Madison. "If we were going to use a teleporter then Kimberly would normally be the better choice, but considering they let her get put into a coma we could use Isla. Does anyone have a way of reaching her?"
"Now, listen here," Cindy said to Penny annoyed. "We didn't let anyone get hurt. I don't know what they told you- but you gotta understand we were ambu-"
A hand on her shoulder from Maximilian stopped her as he said.
"No, no no... it was my fault that it happened," Maximilian sighed. "If we didn't jump the gun and have her teleport us all there, we wouldn't have fallen for such an obvious trick."
"Taking Saul," Maya said, agreeing with someone for once. If only because providing a distraction sounded more dangerous and she really wanted to make it out of this alive. Though a distraction would work better for her... anything sneaky would require her to not use her abstraction. "Isla? The Scottish girl, right. She only ever talked to that tall girl... Uh, she's in the group Snapchat I think. We could send a message there but nobody checks that shit unless it's a meeting day."
Madison put her hands on her hips as she looked to the left and then to the right as she pulled out her phone. Well, might as well give it a shot instead of standing around here with their thumbs up their asses.
Isla you out there?
She sent out into the Snapchat group. She shrugged. It was either this, or Isla dipped from the Coven when the beach house got destroyed... or she got eaten.
She definitely was not gonna bring that up.
And, of course, out of all the people to respond, Mariah answered the message. "she busy"-- and she didn't even bother to put any punctuation behind it. Mariah types as Isla fucking writhes around in flames.
While Lyss was thinking that bagging Saul would be her top priority during this mission, she was going to let her sisters decide what the Coven was going to do before she decided for them. Lyss looked at each of her girls, smiling when they agreed to do the exact thing Lyss was hoping for. Penny was exactly right. Saul would definitely underestimate them. He seemed like one of those misogynistic pricks that would think women were weak. She couldn't wait to see the look on his face when they'd drag his ass out of his cushy compound.
Penny mentioned Kimberly and Lyss immediately lost her smile. She knew Kim was still alive, but she was definitely out of the game. She looked at Cindy as the agent began to defend their actions, but Lyss was surprised when Maximillian cut her off and took the blame. Lyss gave him a look that told him it wasn't his fault at all, but she wasn't sure if her word about it meant anything to him. She wasn't there. In fact, she felt like he felt guilty that she had to fight Annabelle without him while he caught up to them.
Lyss let out a small sigh and looked at the Director.
"With or without Isla, it sounds like we'll be extracting Saul. I can't promise it will be a clean arrest, or that he'll come out unhurt, but he'll come out with us."
"I'm not expecting it to be clean," The Director answered with a smile... that perturbed Madison for a second before she added, "I just need him brought in... or down if you have no other options."
She looked to the left, then to the right. "I feel as if there is no longer any need to discuss this matter any further, Agent Page."
The blonde-haired Agent perked up, with her hands behind her back, as she finally spoke, "Yes, Director?"
"How far can your flock extend? Can they reach the entire building?"
"The most they've gone is about three city blocks," Helena answered.
"Excellent. Work with Agent Vahan to provide support to both teams... if you can, prevent them from reaching their firearms."
"Got it," Helena answered with a nod.
"Agent Cornell, Obott, you two will be on the team that causes a distraction," The Director started. "Agent Keagan... You're okay with leading the team to capture Saul, yes? I trust your abilities to get the mission done right... or close to it."
"Of course," Cindy answered as she crossed her arms.
"Let's get this done, I have confidence in this operation."
At least someone does. Madison thought to herself as she wasn't feeling all that confident in this mission. She felt like there was something that the Director was hiding from them? Maybe that was just Madison's distrust of the feds, however, she trusted Lyss fully... which is ironic given that she thought that, before, Lyss was going to sell them out. Madison was going to follow Lyss to the ends of the Earth and she hated herself for doubting her loyalty to the Coven...
It's not like my life matters much these days.
"Wow, Madison your tits," said Maya.
"Oh, Maya," Madison started. "Your lack thereof."
The tunnels leading into the compound were just as someone would expect. They were hastily made, probably with a shovel, and hope. Helena went in first with her flock and confirmed there weren't any traps, then the rest of them went in afterward. Maximilian was leading the group with a flashlight as they slowly moved through, with Agent Page giving them the heads up if anything changed or went wrong. Thankfully, entering the place was easy, but Madison had the feeling that exiting was going to be a different discussion.
They stopped at a ladder, made out of wood that was definitely handmade and Madison thought she was gonna get splinters from it. The ladder leads into a hatch that was already opened by Page and she could see the faint glow by the Flock. Maximilian went up first, followed by Cindy, then Trevor and Madison were taking point for the "Coven". She looked behind them as she floated upwards, illuminated by a faint glow.
She looked around and it seemed that they were in a storage room... and a crate full of something was moved aside. This was a bit iffy, but she felt a little bit more protected with the body armor that the DENS provided her... even if they didn't accommodate her sizable bust that well. Now she kind of wished that she wore that sports bra but she wasn't going to complain about it (Not out loud).
The faster they get Saul, the faster they can bring this madness to an end and get payback for Izzy and Kayla's deaths.
Maximilian walked over to the door as he looked back at them, "Agent Vahan, is there anything around?"
"No," Leon answered, "Just spooky dungeons."
"Alright," Maximilian answered as he opened the door and he looked at Agent Keagan. "We'll go out first, then you guys follow. Got it?"
Cindy nodded her head as she got, "Got it, boss." She said sarcastically before Maximilian rolled his eyes.
"Let's go," Maximilian said as Trevor followed him out the door and the rest of their team followed behind him.
"Okay," Cindy looked at the Coven, "Are you all ready for this? We have no room for error, just remember that."
Lyss nodded from where she stood in the darkroom, but her eyes were watching the door that Maximillian left through. On the outside, she looked calm and ready, but inside she was tense and expecting an ambush at any moment. Entering had been way too easy. Saul was expecting them, even if he didn't expect the Coven to be with the DENs. Maybe that was the reason the mission could succeed.
Still, she activated a black sigil above her ring and began to channel energy into it. She wanted to be ready if things went to shit.
"Lead the way, agent. I've got the rear."
Not a word left Cindy's lips, she gestured for them to come along as she quickly placed that hand back on her M4 Rifle. She kept the barrel aimed low as she proceeded into the halls of the compound. Her thumb was on the safety, ready to quickly switch to automatic when the time comes. The halls were... eerie. It barely phased the experienced soldier in Cindy, but she was still on high alert. It was dark, barely illuminated by the lighting fixtures that they had overheard. It was quiet... which wasn't good because every sound they made traveled. There was also that faint and odd smell - one that Cindy knew smelled like a dead body. They had to have something up their sleeve and it was a matter of being prepared for it... Cindy pressed her earpiece.
"Left or right," Cindy asked her eye on the sky.
"Right," Leon answered. "Just keep goin', I'll guide you through this."
"Copy that."
"What do you think?" asked Penny as she sidled up to Lyss. Unlike the others, she had outright denied the body armor despite the insistence from the agents. Penny felt better about relying on her own abstraction than being weighed down anyway. "Is Saul not there and we're walking into a trap, or are we walking into a trap and Saul will show up to taunt us?"
While the others began to advance, Lyss walked alongside Penny. She glanced at her and shrugged a shoulder. "I'm not sure. I'm sure they know we're coming, but they don't know when." She glanced behind them once before looking back to Penny. "You've spoken to him before, right? With Kimberly. What do you think he'd have up his sleeve?"
"Honestly? Not a clue. He pulled a gun on me almost as soon as he could. But I doubt you get to be the head of some mega cult without knowing a few tricks," said Penny, rubbing the back of her neck. "I just can't believe the guy has any followers. He's a massive asshole."
Lyss smirked. "You've got that right."
"You two," Cindy stopped abruptly on her heel and turned around to face them. "Lock it up, you don't know who else can-"
"... She forgives you. "
The voice appeared in Cindy's ear... it sounded so close that it felt like it came from right next to her. Cindy jolted as she looked to her right and immediately aimed her rifle at... nothing. Just the thin air. Her heart was racing and her eyes were wide open as she kept that rifle aimed in that direction for a few moments. Just before she tilted her head just slightly as she pondered out loud.
"... Did anyone else hear that? I hope one of you weren't playing a prank now of times."
Lyss raised an eyebrow, having just been about to admit the agent was right when Cindy aimed her gun at the air. "I promise you that was no prank." She listened closely to the silence but heard nothing. Her head turned to peer into the darkness around them. "I don't feel any apparitions nearby."
"... Doesn't mean it's an Apparition," Cindy grumbled for a moment before she stopped, took a deep breath, and shook her head. Quietly whispering to herself, "... Guess my mind was just playin' tricks on me." She brushed it off or at least tried to make it seem like she's brushing it off. She gestured for them to come along before they reached a T in the road.
"Take a left," Leon spoke into her earpiece, and then Cindy turned her head left. They kept moving down the hallways... as Leon directed them, that smell of rotting flesh got worse and worse. "Saul's in some type of church room they set up... with some other people. I can't tell if they have any weapons on them."
"Looks like we're gonna find out," Cindy replied as she kept going.
"It's just down the hall," Leon said, "Just radio silence from here on."
"Got it," Cindy said. They didn't need Leon to tell them that they were close, because they saw lit candles lining the wall as they got closer and closer. Eventually, they saw the main room and the smell of rotting flesh was strongest in here. It was hard to see everything but they saw all the candles and flowers that were decorating the room. In the center of the room, with Saul and other people kneeling at was best described as a sacrificial altar. An ornate stone slab that was just dripping with blood... fresh blood.
"Leon..." Cindy almost pressed her earpiece as she looked into the room. Okay, they had to be quick but something about this didn't feel right. Too easy. She looked at her group as she whispered, "We're going to go in hard and fast and we're gonna hit them before they have a chance to react - but be ready to pull out at a moment's notice."
She nodded her head as she asked,
"Is everyone ready? Is anyone not sure about this?" Cindy asked.
Lyss knew something fucked was going to happen the second they stepped foot into the room. Yet she agreed that the element of surprise they held would be their greatest chance to catch these sick bastards off guard. Holding back the bile in the back of her throat because of the horrid sight before her, Lyss simply shook her head and prepared to run straight into the sacrificial room. The second she stepped foot within she planned to summon a small army of undead to take any initial attacks from Saul's minions.
"Bit late for that now," Maya murmured but gave a nod to being ready. She covered her nose with her hand in an attempt to block out the horrible smell, not that it did much, averting her eyes. It all felt a bit wrong, even to her - but she still prepared to go in and provide cover with her abstraction as needed.
"Wouldn't be here if I wasn't," whispered Penny. She crept up next to Cindy to take the open spot next to the other side of the door leading into the sacrificial chamber. The zipper on her change pouch quietly sliding open on its own as she stared out into the room. Her eyes watered at the odor of death and decay but then focused, lasering in on Saul. She held her breath. She could easily hit him from here, but she held her shot. Something didn't seem right. Everything was going too smoothly.
With a nod of her head, Cindy took in a deep breath... not loud enough to alert Saul and the others of their location. This was not gonna end well, Cindy could feel it in her guts and she was certain that the others felt the same way. "Count of three," Cindy said as she grabbed a single flashbang from her armor.
"One..."
Cindy put her finger in the ring and twisted it, before it was pulled off but kept it in between her fingertips.
"Two..."
She pulled the secondary safety pin off and grasped the flashbang tightly.
"Three!"
She sounded as she chucked the flashbang into the room as hard as she could... it landed right by Saul and his cronies. Cindy turned away, closed her eyes, and covered her ears (and hoped that the rest of the Coven did the same) as it loudly exploded. She turned her body and uncovered her ears to shouts and screams of Saul's crew. She grabbed her rifle and aimed it into the room.
"Go! I'll cover you!"
"Agh, you idiot! A warning next time?" shouted Penny over the ringing in her ears as she rapidly blinked away the white light, her hand covering her eyes. She was as mad at herself as she was at Cindy who hadn't mentioned shit about taking cover. Growing up in rural Montana, Penny had dealt with her fair share of guns enough to know that your finger stayed off the trigger and the barrel was kept away from people you didn't want to shoot. Sadly, the country folks had failed to pull out the SWAT gear when she was growing up and she had failed to pick up the different shapes of grenades from the few times she'd watched her brother play video games.
"Pay attention!" Cindy shouted at Penny as she rolled her eyes at her.
"This is fucking why I like doing this fucking shit alone," muttered Penny to herself as she shook her head. Her vision came back soon enough, blurred like a poorly taken picture with a cracked camera lens. The coins snaked up her arm. She kicked off of the wall and extended her hand forward, checking only to see that no members of the Coven had moved between her and her target before repulsing a few coins through the air towards the spot Saul had been seconds before Cindy had blinded her.
Lyss reluctantly shut her eyes tight and covered her ears the moment she saw the flashbang in Cindy's hand. She heard her shout out, "Three!", followed by the pop of the flashbang going off in the room. Cindy gave the ok and Lyss heard Penny's complaints. She opened her eyes to look into the room. Amidst the smoke, she could see many of Saul's followers panicking, but when the smoke cleared for a moment around him she could tell that he was not.
Lyss felt frustration and rage overcome her and these emotions propelled her into the fray. She stopped at the edge of the chaos to slam her hands against the floor. Her eyes flashed black and suddenly the ground around Saul's sacrificial stone began to shake. Twenty undead soldiers emerged from the ground and stood in a circle around the smoke. They ignored any cultist that ran screaming past. Their focus was on Saul alone.
"It is time to face the consequences of your actions, Saul!" Lyss shouted as she stood from where she knelt. She took a step towards Saul and removed her gun from its holster. Lyss herself was wearing a bulletproof vest. She also wore a medium-sized bowie knife strapped to her thigh. "This game of yours is over."
"You been watching a lot of movies, sis?" Madison asked as she chuckled at Lyss's theatrical display... despite how serious the situation was. The Jaws activated on cue and Madison was covered from head to toe in a rather brutal looking mass of bones... it was odd given that normally the Jaws manifested normal bones. This time it was claws, teeth, and other sharp bits that covered her from head to toe. Not important, as she flew up into the air, and watched the zombie horde that Lyss summoned as they went for Saul.
Saul's followers were in a frenzy, screaming, shouting, and running. His own eyes were burning and his ears were still ringing... the flash-bang wore off, but he was still in pain and confused. He tried to run off but he tripped and fortunately caught himself when he hit the ground. He saw the zombie horde charge towards him and his eyes shot open... he tried to go for the other exit but they had him surrounded.
He looked over his shoulder and the first thing he caught sight of was the one covered in bones taking flight. This was not happening, this was not happening...
"... That is quite enough." Saul heard the voice of the Messiah in his ear... it was oddly comforting.
One of Saul's followers... an older caucasian man with a potbelly, balding head and heard, and wore a robe dropped to his knees. Glowing orange cracks formed on his body as he screamed at the top of his lungs. That was before his arms underwent a freakish growth... exploding expanding muscle sizes and length to the point they were both twice as long as he was. They were oozing orange pus as he screamed at the top of his lungs and swung his arms out at the undead.
There was something odd about the thing. They all felt the overwhelming chill of something wrong in their spines. Penny's eyes adjusted in time to see Saul scrambling away and began to move after him, but she halted dead in her tracks when she saw the orange glow. There was something eerily reminiscent of the light that made her heart jump into her throat. She forced herself to tear her eyes away from the freak and began looking for Saul.
"Run." The Messiah spoke to Saul as he immediately beelined for the opening that the minion created.
"Don't let him get away!" Cindy shouted as she touched the ground and created a cascading wave of green glass that quickly traveled towards the... thing. Right when they reached the monster, it exploded into a massive wave that caused it to yell as it was stabbed by the needle-like glass.
"... Tha' fuck? " Madison shouted as she watched the scene... well, she was probably physically the strongest here so she might as well try and stop him. She immediately dives bombed Saul and-
Suddenly, something came from the other entrance... it came fast like a fucking missile, which was surprising for how fucking large it was. Madison reacted just in the knick of time to stop and mid-air and throw her arms up. The raw impact of it felt like she had something tossed at her but she maintained her position in the air. Madison flew backward and landed on the ground skidding.
She looked up at her assailant and her eyes went wide. It was some kind of living armor. She could see the bits of a skeleton inside of it, but the armor was oozing orange pus from head to toe... that kind of reminded her of something. Not just that, it was huge easily twice her size. Madison narrowed her eyes as she caught sight of the thing's sword... which is grasped with both hands.
"We have contact!" Maximilian shouted over the comms. "Some kind of creature! I don't know!"
Penny cursed and turned to fire off a couple of coins at the knight in oozing armor that was attacking Madison. As expected, the coins pinged right off of the armor. If it shattered any bones, Penny didn't see and the skeleton didn't react. Fuck it, bone armor versus medieval armor seemed like a fair fight. Madison could handle it. Penny caught sight of Lyss running towards Saul. As Penny dodged around one of Lyss's shambling undead soldiers she shouted,"This one's yours, Madison! We'll get Saul!"
Lyss cursed as she watched Saul's freakish bodyguard knock her soldiers down. She ordered the rest to rush the being and decided to focus on Saul herself. She rushed towards him with her gun aimed his way. The flying armor flew right over to collide with Madison, but Lyss simply ducked to avoid it. As her minions all rushed the oozing muscleman Lyss got herself close enough to fire a round at the back of Saul's leg. If it missed it would just scare him.
"Don't take another step, bastard."
Saul yelled as the bullet pierced his leg and he fell over... Despite Lyss's orders, he attempted to crawl off. His leg was bleeding profusely as he attempted to flee. "I... It cannot... end... like this... Me-Messiah!" Saul cried out for the Messiah as he reached for the sky...
"... And it takes you being on the verge of death to finally put your faith in Mother? Some "church leader" you are, Saul." The Messiah's whisper appeared in his ear as he was frozen."I should leave you to your death and find another, more worthy, church-leader. However, I cannot live with even the ideation that the False God has succeeded."
The ceiling loudly and violently cracked in the middle of the room... in between Lyss and the main group. Madison was in the middle of fighting the armor, blocking a swing of its sword with her forearm. When she heard the cracking of the ceiling, she whipped her head around and screamed.
"Lyss!"
That was before the ceiling gave way and came crashing down creating thousands of pounds worth of rubble. It was a cacophony of noise and dust and rubble was sent everywhere.
"Fuck!" A blast of air sent Penny back away from falling rubble and she managed to stick the landing, her eyes looking up and her abstraction activating in time to see the loose bits of ceiling bouncing off the rubble towards her. The sigil under her neck glowed as she repulsed the bits of mortar and brick away from her.
After the dust began to settle it became clear to Penny that Lyss and Saul had been cut off from everyone else. Penny moved towards the rubble, throwing a glance over her shoulder to make sure that Saul's creepy bodyguards were not getting the upper hand on the others. She climbed up what rubble she could before brushing her fingers against the fallen chunks of the ceiling. As she touched them, the rocks violently swung around her back and were launched harmlessly towards her right as she began to clear a path.
The Knight fiercely clashed with Madison, but it turned its head towards Penny. Almost as if it was about to disengage... before the Knight (seemingly on purpose) lost the clash. It was launched off balance by Madison's attack and she jumped up into the air and landed on its skull. It was crushed in a sickening display as the orange fluids turned red and stopped glowing. Madison sighed as she turned her attention towards the rubble, she immediately flew towards it as it seems that Penny was already working towards it.
"Agent Keagan, do you copy?" The Director spoke over the comms.
"Yes, Director?" Cindy pressed her earpiece.
"Withdraw from the mission area immediately!" The Director said.
"Alyssa's been separated," Cindy answered as she glanced at the wreckage... only for it to be engulfed in orange light. Cindy tilted her head sideways as she laid eyes upon... Lyss. There was something... off about her, though.
Madison deactivated the Jaws when she saw Lyss, but she was closer so she could see what exactly was wrong with Lyss.... her eyes were a dark orange color that looked a bit familiar. "Girl?" Madison asked as she wanted to get closer but she was afraid to at the same time. Did she start talking to... nothing? Then swinging her fist at... nothing. She was spazzing out and Madison wondered just what Saul did to her.
Then she summoned her undead army and turned it on them.
"Girl!" Madison shouted as the Jaws reactivated seemingly unconsciously as she prepared for the undead tide.
"Ms. Burns!" Cindy shouted as she aimed the weapon downrange before she pressed her earpiece. "Director, Ms. Burn might be compromised!"
"Get her out of there if you can, if not..." The Director paused for a moment to say.
"... Then leave her."
"I... It cannot... end... like this... Me-Messiah!"
Lyss frowned as she stepped closer to Saul. If he was calling to this entity it meant that it was close. Even this entire team couldn't face it. She hesitated for a second, her foot almost finishing its third step closer to Saul as she watched him freeze in place.
The Messiah was here. She could feel it.
The ceiling above her head suddenly split. Lyss looked up and was relieved to see that it wasn't directly above her, but her heart dropped into her stomach when she realized what would happen if it collapsed. She was going to be cut off from her sisters. Lyss looked back just in time to lock eyes with Madison. She saw her sister open her mouth and heard her own name, but it was already too late.
The sound of the ceiling collapsing drowned out Madison's call. Lyss immediately turned towards the opening in the wall that Saul was crawling towards and booked it. She made it just a little past Saul when the falling rubble caught up to her and knocked her onto the ground. Lyss immediately covered her head and neck and braced for any further debris, but none came. She had made it far enough to avoid getting crushed by fallen concrete.
Unfortunately, dust filled the small part of the room left. Small bits of ceiling littered the ground around her. The only source of light came from the hallway. Lyss took a breath and found herself coughing from the dirty air.
So, she was alone in a low visibility situation with a maniac with a hole in his leg. It could be worse. Was The Messiah still here? Had it stayed on the other side to keep the DENs distracted?
She wasn't taking any chances. Lyss channeled her lux into her ring and pressed her palm to the floor. Whatever this thing was, she could only hope that it was an ancient apparition. She understood apparitions. She focused her energy and soon created a protective ward of a fifteen feet radius around her. Hopefully, it would keep this Messiah away from Saul as well. The cult leader couldn't have gotten far.
My pistol... Where's my pistol?
"If you wanted fair odds, Saul, you just got your wish." Lyss huffed into the silence as she got to her feet. She peered onto the ground around her to look for her pistol, but so far she saw nothing. If the only government-regulated vests came with a flashlight.
"Madison? Agent Keagan? Lyss asked as she pressed the button on her earpiece. "Is everyone okay on that side?"
Yet there was no answer.
An orange light appeared from behind Lyss.
"... Fair odds? No." Lyss heard a voice from behind her, it was the strange being wearing the white robe with the golden accents on it. Holding an orb of orange light in his hand. Appearing despite the usage of her abstraction. "Saul had them from the beginning... what Saul wished for was salvation, an easy way out..."
The Messiah's voice was a strange whisper that was a mixture of two separate people talking at the same time. The gentleness of a little girl and the harsher voice of a little boy. When Lyss blinked, the Messiah was now right in front of her.
"... And his prayers were answered. As always... Mother provides. She can provide for you too... if you so choose."
Lyss stared down at the being with an expression like a stone. Her back straightened with the heightened sense of danger that the entity carried with it. Disappointed in her abstraction's failure, she released the spell to save her energy for other purposes.
"What can your Mother provide for me that the Hound has not already given?" She asked with a strained voice. It was the only indicator that she was afraid.
"Many things, in fact," The Messiah said. "Salvation. Joy and... other things your heart desires."
The Messiah's lower face could be seen as they raised her head from underneath the hood. "The system that the False God has set up... their little game... I can feel its consequences wearing down on you. A demon created by its power has killed many of your friends. Your grandfather has passed down a dark legacy that you are forced to inherit. While there is a great fear of the Hound and other such beings in your heart..."
The Messiah trailed off as the area around Lyss... changed. It went from the rubble-filled basement of the compound to an endless voice. It was a very dark-orange color that had a faint light in the distance... completely featureless other than the Messiah and Lyss. They were seemingly all alone in this space.
"I do not offer power, instead I offer redemption... and knowledge of the world beyond the beyond."
Lyss frowned. Her hands tightened into fists. She didn't know how she was going to get out of this situation, but she sure as hell wasn't going to give in to this being.
"I do not fear the Hound. I don't fear death." She replied slowly. "I know you were the one to lead Annabelle Heart to my sisters. How could I trust you?"
"What will you do if I refuse?"
"I only lead her to you all because I knew that you would persevere over that... creature, it is not even worthy of a name," The Messiah spoke as a grin formed on their lower face for just an instant before their lips turned back into a smooth straight. "You may not fear death, but I can sense that... frustration hidden inside of you, Ms. Burns. You may deny it, but it is there."
The Messiah was quiet for a few moments as they felt that girl's presence. They grimaced... before focusing back on Lyss. Smiling yet again.
"I possess knowledge of the world beyond and something... beautiful," The Messiah said, "Would you at least hear me out? In return, whether or not you accept this gift, I will not harm you. In fact, I will even allow you, your sisters, and your allies in the DENS exit from this place."
Lyss clenched her jaw. It was a generous offer. It meant leaving without Saul, which would not make the Director happy. They could come back for him, but how many other innocents would die before they returned? She saw the bloody stone slab. She still worried: would the Messiah be this generous next time?
"What do you have to say?"
"Let me ask you a question..."
The Messiah kept half-smiling... never even showing the inch of a tooth (if they even had one).
"... Do you know the origin of creation?"
"I've heard many versions." Lyss answered. She had a feeling that this being's version was just like the others. Some twisted story to make this being look like the one true god like it said it was. She probably wouldn't believe it, but there was still a curious part of her that wanted to hear it.
"Of course, you have," The Messiah flatly said before they raised their hand. "I'll just show you their version of the origin of the universe before adding some... corrections."
The orange room suddenly went black... before it became dotted with countless stars. It was almost wonderful. Out of nowhere came two massive and cosmic looking beings. They were full of stars, and nearly featureless except for the feminine features one had, and the masculine features the other had. They floated through the stars... leaving behind a trail of planets as the Messiah looked on in disgust.
"They say that long ago, two beings are known as the "Ones above all"-" The Messiah's finger quoted. "Saw a cold, lifeless, universe and decided to fill it with life. Everything you see here was made in their image, and they decided to share a small piece of their Godly powers with... lesser beings."
The Messiah scoffed before they added on a (likely surprising) bit
"... Which isn't necessarily wrong but it's not the full story."
Lyss had been watching this Messiah's face, or what she could see of it, for their reaction between glimpses of the view. Her eyebrow rose. She was a little surprised that they didn't disprove the entire theory. "What's the full story, then?" She asked before adding, "What are you? How do you know this?"
"I am..." The Messiah trailed off for a second. "... One with Mother... I've given everything to her, and in return, she has given me so much. Knowledge, power, warmth, and comfort...."
The stars disappeared as it showed a vision... one of a massive ball of orange light similar to that of a sun. Constantly moving and flowing as glowing tendrils extended outwards for miles... Lyss could faintly see something underneath the mass. If she was observant she would notice that there was not a star in sight... only cold darkness, except for what had to be Mother.
"Ages ago there was Mother... and only Mother. She nestled all life inside of her and we danced in her womb. Inside of her... there was no such thing as loneliness, grief, or suffering. Only joy as we compensated for our flaws with the strengths of the collective... However, the other beings were jealous of Mother for her gift..."
However, the two celestial beings appeared out of nowhere and reached into Mother and yanked thousands of orbs out of Mother as the creature writhed.
"... So they took it from her," The Messiah spoke. "You owe your existence to Mother... we all do. However, they believed that they had killed Mother. They were wrong...."
The scene went black as it changed to the image of Mother floating over a city as the people below were running away screaming. Her tendrils were scooping people up by the boatload and the sky was red.
"... Mother began a rampage of retribution against the False Light. She took everything from them as they took everything from her...."
The next scene that the Messiah showed Lyss was Mother's tentacles wrapped around one of those being's necks and it squeezed down so hard that it decapitated him.
"... Even took their lives."
"However, in the process, Mother was weakened..." The Messiah trailed off as the scene changed yet again... there were thousands of Adepts wearing robes and had sigils all over her. They sucked the creature into a portal. "She was sealed in a different world... coincidentally, your world."
Lyss pressed her lips together. She turned her head to look at the being.
"If you and the Mother created our worlds, why would you ask Saul and his Forgiven to kill so many innocents? I could be persuaded to believe you, but I will not side with you. Annabelle Heart was created because of his actions, and she died by your hand because you led her to us. Her death was necessary, but she was created because of Saul. She killed so many in her search for revenge."
"It is not murder," The Messiah answered as they stuck their hands out and the void turned back into that dark orange abyss. "It is... worship. Simple worship by sacrifice, the highest form in my opinion."
The Messiah was silent for a few seconds. "Saul is... a new church leader. He is still growing into the perfect church leader. While it may seem that Saul created Annabelle, she was the one that cast away her humanity in pursuit of revenge. That Apparition... the Wendigo... he knew that this would happen. He was the one that took advantage of her and used her to kill countless to fuel his own power."
"Is that not what you are doing with Saul?" Lyss asked curtly, her voice revealing her anger.
"One would assume beings as ancient as you and your mother would understand the similarity. If you and Mother are truly the creators of this world, you would care more for its inhabitants."
"You misunderstand us," The Messiah said. "Mother did not create this world, nor the flesh that stands before us... more like the soul that pushes your body forward. By sacrificing bodies, we revert bodies to their purest form and are embraced by Mother..."
"That's where you misunderstand me. Yes, I'm frustrated with the way the world is now. That I've lost so much because of it. But I will not allow this senseless killing. It is not worship but fear that makes them sacrifice in your name."
"You have no choice but to allow it," The Messiah shrugged as their voice went flat. "Many have tried to stop her... The so-called 'All' and their Ancients, Ms. Lawson, Ms. Walton, Liao's son..."
The Messiah walked off into the abyss for a second and stared at it. Lyss's fist tightened as her anger rose. She shifted her weight onto one leg fully prepared to act if the Messiah tried anything. "And yet they have all failed. Mother has returned time and time... and she will keep returning. There is not a thing man or deity can do to stop her. And they will fall before she will...."
The Messiah trailed off before they whipped back around to face Lyss. "However, I will stop myself here."
The dark orange voice faded away to reveal the ruins of the basement... caked in dust from the collapsing ceiling and broken rocks. It was just Lyss and the Messiah.
"As we agreed, I will not impede your escape in any way, in fact," The Messiah raised their hand, and then the debris blocking the way was seemingly consumed by an orange light. Sparks and embers seemingly burned it all away. "Just remember..."
The Messiah slowly faded away.
"Mother forgives you."
Then they were gone. However, there was something odd going on the other side of the debris.
Lyss released the breath she'd been holding. She felt like she'd just avoided getting hit by a train. Her hands unclenched and clenched again. She shook them out and looked around her. Saul wasn't there anymore. She couldn't even see a blood trail.
"Fuck."
Her head turned now to where the wall of debris used to block her view of her friends. "Madison!? Maya?Anyone?"
However, on the other side of the wall stood three figures... her friends, or what used to be her friends. They were seemingly... corrupted by something. Maya was oozing orange pus as she was missing her entire front. Her jaw was missing and her internal organs were exposed. Her eyes were glowing with orange color as she stood there. Agent Kegan was covered in orange, glass-like, crystals that covered her entire upper skull and only revealed her mouth and rotting teeth... also oozing orange pus. While Penny was covered in blowing pulsating blisters and her limbs were twisted.
"... Unfortunately," Lyss heard the voice of the Messiah besides her. "Your friends weren't as defiant as you were. Thus, Mother has freed them from her bodies and... repurposed them."
The Messiah shook their head. "You should join them."
...
"You said they would be unharmed," Lyss muttered, her voice low and monotonous.
"And they weren't."
She turned towards the Messiah. Her body shaking with white-hot rage and her grief displayed clearly in her eyes. If she feared the entity at all at this moment she would have asked them to bring her sisters back. But her friends were gone, and at this moment she didn't give a fuck.
Lyss stepped towards the being and swung her fist right at their tiny 4'5" head. Which went through the Messiah's head.
In the blink of an eye
They were gone.
Were they even there?
Lyss stumbled as she swung through thin air. She caught herself quickly, huffing with frustration.
As she looked back at what was once her sisters, Lyss realized she didn't have the heart to hurt them. Even if they were the Messiah's soulless monsters now. If they went back on their word if these husks attacked her, would she have the guts to finish them off?
Lyss took a deep breath and pushed her hair back from her face before she knelt to the ground. She slammed her hands against the dirt, black sigils appearing over them. Fifty undead soldiers rose from the ground to stand between herself and the oozing bodies. She began to back away towards the exit. If anything she hoped to escape before she had to hurt them.
... And suddenly there was no exit. It was just her and the others. In a completely smooth and featureless room.
"No way in hell." Lyss hissed as she looked around the room. The Messiah was messing with her head. Was any of this real?
Even if it wasn't, she was better off safe than sorry. With a pained grimace, Lyss gave the order for her soldiers to attack. She stepped backward and prepared to summon more as her horde raced towards the three monsters that were once her sisters.
A harrowing death cry filled the air, almost drowning out Maximilian's own battle cry as he cocked his fist back and swung it forward. He punched the creature that was the thorn in his side center of mass and the explosion of force generated from his abstraction sent the thing flying forward in itty bitty bits and pieces. It oozed the glowing orange pus as it went flying through the wall... and suddenly the orange ooze turned into a regular old dull blood.
Maximilian panted, wiping a bead of sweat off his head as he stared at the creature. It was human-shaped but not actually human. It had two arms, two legs, and a head...except it looked off. It was unnaturally long, its arms and legs were so long and thin it looked as if the thing would collapse in on itself when it takes one step. It definitely didn't look like it would survive in a straight-up fight with Maximilian but yet... it did. It had black skin as if it was burnt, but underneath the skin was a glowing light - the essence of [i]whatever[i] empowered it.
When one got to its head, they would note that it was significantly less human. It had no lower jaw, its eyes were sunken and its nose was missing. It was some type of horrid eldritch humanoid abomination.
He panted again.
"... What in the nine hells was that thing!?" Trevor shouted from behind Max and he glanced over his shoulder to see Trevor standing with a revolver in hand... and holding Agent Page up with his shoulder. That wound on her midsection that monster gave her oozed blood over the white bandages that she applied to herself.
"I don't know, it's dead now," Maximilian said as he turned around to face them. "You two need to get out of here."
"Nah, no," Trevor said, "I see that lil' look in your eyes, and I can tell you're gonna try to go find that creepy chick."
Trevor shook his head.
"You heard the Director," Trevor said, "We gotta git. Now's not the time to be playing the hero."
"... If you're gonna go," Helena groaned out as the Flock assembled around her. "Just go, Max. I know it's a waste of time trying to convince you of anything."
With a nod of his head, Maximilian sprinted down the hallway towards Lyss and the Coven.
Penny shouted and whipped herself back with a gust of wind as the rubble glowed an eerie orange light and then vanished. A feeling of panic brought on by memories of the past surged and shrunk as the form that emerged when the light faded wasn't an unspeakable cosmic horror wrapped in twisting tendrils but Lyss. Penny sighed with relief upon seeing that the girl was okay and looked beyond her to search for Saul. Her vision refocused as her abstraction activated. There was no movement beyond Lyss, but neither was there a lifeless body of an asshole cult leader. Penny turned to question Lyss. Her eyes widened as her open mouth went slack, the question dying unasked as Penny caught a glimpse of the orange glow in Lyss's eyes moments before a legion of the undead emerged from the ground.
"Lyss, what the fuck do you think you're doing!?" screamed Penny.
Her words were drowned out by the sound of the horde stampeding towards their little task force. Penny had no time to move towards Madison or Maya before a swarm was already threatening her, the putrid smell of rotting flesh overpowering her senses as claws formed of bones swiped out at her. Penny dipped to the left of the strike as a chunk of ceiling she had blasted away from the disappeared pile came rocketing towards her. It smashed against the back of the minion's skull as it was joined by a dozen other chunks of stone and an uncountable amount of coins that swirled around Penny.
The sigil glowed brightly at the base of Penny's neck as she counted to manipulate the items around her to spin in a deadly whirlwind that served as a barrier against Lyss's army. Bones and muscle joined the spinning vortex as the undead tried to break through only to get smashed and shredded until instinct or command brought them to stop a few feet back from the barrier. She sniffed and tasted blood. She knew that she wouldn't be able to keep this up forever, but Penny had managed to buy herself some time to get a sense of what was happening. She frantically looked around—for the others, for Lyss, for an exit, anything.
"Lyss!" Madison screamed again as she landed on the ground on one knee. Penny had already shredded the undead minions and used them to create a barrier. However, Madison was hoping that Penny wasn't going to flip the switch and turn to kill Lyss. She gave them an opening to get their bearings and figure out what the hell is going on.
"We gotta go!" Cindy shouted as she gestured for them to come along.
"Not without Lyss!" Madison shouted back before she faced the undead horde. She needed to get to Lyss... then she thought about it: the ring. If they got the ring off her finger then maybe she would stop? Maybe. Madison figured that they had to try something. Anything. Madison shouted to Penny.
"Penny! Make me an opening!"
"Right!" shouted Penny, happy to see that Madison hadn't been overwhelmed.
Lyss staggered backward a step or two. Even under The Messiah's curse, her fallen sisters could harness their abstractions? She couldn't believe it. Were they willingly attacking her?
A third of her army fell to the hands of Penny. Lyss watched in horror as they were ripped to shreds and circled her. What could she do to counter that? What if Penny chose to use her abstraction on Lyss herself? Lyss looked towards Madison who stood facing her defense. If she used the Jaws, even like this, the bones would surely take a stronger form under The Messiah's power. Lyss's army would be shredded in minutes against these two. She needed stronger soldiers, or enough of them to wear down her sister's defenses.
How many of her friends had fallen to the entity's influence already? How many were facing the same fate? Lyss was beginning to panic.
"Maximillian? Are you there? He got them. All of them. I don't know what to do-I... I don't know if I can fight them like this." Lyss desperately spoke into her comms. To her sisters, it most likely sounded like she was speaking in tongues.
There was no answer, though. Lyss worried that she would have to face him as well.
Mustering up more energy to fight her friends, Lyss pressed her palms to the ground again. More soldiers crawled their way through the broken floor of the altar room. A few brutally large emerged as well. Two-headed towards Penny in the hopes that they could bash their way through the barrier before being ripped apart. Three-headed for Madison. Unfortunately for Lyss's affection towards her, Madison's bones would not hold against their strength for long. The rest of the army surrounded Lyss. They would be the first to take any hits as her personal body shields.
Penny had begun to press forward slowly as the whirl of bones and coins swirled in front of her. It violently slashed back and forth like a wiper blade against the storm of the undead, the skeletons being battered into fragments and added to the debris smashing around in front of Penny. Her skull felt like it was getting cracked open with a battering ram, but she knew she could press forward as she continued to decimate the horde that had begun to defensively retreat around Lyss. Madison likely had room to maneuver now, but it was difficult to tell with her blurring vision—as it was difficult to see the two looming figures thundering towards her through the mess in front of her.
Her barrier slammed against the first one, femurs and state quarters jamming through the loose flesh and rattling around in the ribcage. It was enough to slow it, and likely if there had only been one of the big boys Penny could've easily shredded it. Unfortunately for her, the second one hadn't been caused by double vision. The second one slipped past Penny's barrier with its fist cocked back. Penny attempted to pull everything she was in control of closer to her, but most of it was still stuck in the first bastard.
The fist flew forward as she dropped her abstraction to try and blast herself back with a gust of wind. She wasn't fast enough. Her neck snapped backward as a gush of blood exploded from her nose as the giant haymaker decked her right in the face. Her scream was accompanied by the blowing of the wind that lifted her and, coupled with the force of the blow, sent her flying back several yards. She was still aware enough to cradle her head as she fell, her elbow absorbing the blow with a loud crack as another flare of pain fired through her whole body. For a moment the world went dark and silent, and then the sound of fighting returned to her. Penny blindly kicked against the ground to scoot herself away from the lumbering undead as she tried to ignore the pain and buy herself a second to retaliate.
A part of Madison wanted to tell Penny not to push herself too far, but they needed to save Lyss regardless of the cost. Honestly, Madison put Penny on second priority while she tried to close the distance between herself and Lyss. Penny gave her an opening at the very least and Madison was gonna take it. She dropped down to her knee, took in a deep breath, and then charged through Lyss's army to take her head-on.
Lyss watched as her golems collided with Penny's field of flesh and bones. It looked like it was working. The thought was more bitter than sweet. It meant that she was getting closer to killing one of her friends. Even if that friend was possessed by an ancient power. Lyss watched with a grimace as one of the golems broke through and made a direct hit across Penny's face.
This distraction was enough to make Lyss forget about the other golem's advance towards Madison. Lyss turned her head just in time to see Madison blow right past them as if they weren't there. Lyss's heart skipped a beat. Madison was barreling through the undead at an alarming rate. It was the realization that she wouldn't have time to raise more soldiers that made Lyss turn and bolt for the only exit left in the room. As she ran in a diagonal direction to Madison, more soldiers rushed to stand between her and Madison. If Lyss could get through the exit in time, maybe she could summon more golems to block Madison's way. The golems that had been advancing towards Madison now turned back to rush towards Lyss. If they didn't make it to her side in time, Lyss would surely fall to her former sister's hand.
Penny heard the golem coming towards her and used another blast of wind to slide herself across the floor. She could feel tiny bits of debris lacerating her skin, but minor scratches were nothing in comparison to one of those punches. It was difficult to keep her breath between the broken nose and her abstraction sucking it out of her, but by the third or fourth round of their game of chicken Penny's vision had cleared slightly. She pulled herself up and with three rapid gusts of wind had managed to jump herself a safe distance away from the creature. She saw a blurry silhouette of Madison dive after Lyss and three of the golems giving chase.
Penny gave Madison a shout of warning but had problems to deal with of her own. Two of the golems were still stomping towards her. She backed up and tried to buy more time to let her vision fully recover, using the occasional blast of wind to propel herself even further away. Her vision cleared enough to notice that Lyss was running away. She couldn't wait any longer. She flipped on her abstraction, felt a hundred tiny little needles pierce her brain, and pressed on. A few more minutes. She knew she could make it a few more minutes.
She attracted everything she had touched in range back towards her. The various rocks she had scraped herself against, the shrapnel stuck in the first golem carved its way through, and even the individual bits of bone of the construct's fist that had hit her peeled off towards her. She unleashed the junk in rapid-fire succession like a machine-gunner picking off a bayonet charge across no man's land, the makeshift bullets shredding the golem that had hit her, attracting back towards her, and repulsing away again to pulverize it. Penny stumble-stepped forward dusted the other golem that she had already hit and gathered their scraps up as more ammunition as she began to unload on the large, shadowy figures that were going after Madison.
Madison turned her head back after hearing all the commotion oh so close to her. Lyss had summoned some undead monsters and sent them her way... and they were going to catch up to Madison one way or another. Of course, that was if she was staying on an even playing field... she flew up towards the ceiling and punched it hard as she could. A shockwave shook the entire compound as Madison grabbed a stone with as much girth as her torso, spun around, and tossed it at one of the Golems.
Lyss was running as fast as she could. Her heart was pounding, faster than it ever had before. She couldn't even look back to see how close Madison was for the fear that she would be inches away. So, she kept running.
A sudden crack overhead startled her. She faltered in her steps and almost tripped on her own feet. As she caught herself, she finally looked behind her to see Madison hurling a boulder right at the golem. She watched it crush the golem's head easily. It crashed to the floor and instantly turned to ash. The others would quickly meet the same fate if Madison continued.
There was nothing Lyss could do about it at the moment. She needed to get as far away as possible. So, Lyss turned her back to the two golems left and kept running. She was close to the exit now. A long, stone hallway that most likely leads further into the compound. As she neared the exit she pressed her finger to her earpiece.
"This is Lyss Burns! Is anyone there? Saul has escaped. We need to evacuate!"
"Lyss, wait!" Madison screamed, but she had to eliminate the other golems before she even had a chance to go after her. It looked like the crush their fuckin' heads with a rock idea worked fine so, naturally, Madison did it again. She punched the ceiling another time and threw the stone at the Golem's head and crushed it. Then she remembered something.
"Penny!" Madison said, "Are you okay?!"
"I will be!" shouted Penny as a twister of trash tore into the final golem lagging behind Madison. "Just keep going!"
Navigating the mazelike labyrinth was difficult for Maximilian. He was tempted to punch his way down, but he didn't want to injure anyone he didn't care about. At this point, he was fine with taking out the cult because they gave him the heebie-jeebies. He needed to get to Lyss and the others before something bad happens. Fortunately, he was fast enough to jet his way around the compound, unfortunately, it didn't matter much because he wasn't sure if he was even going the right way. However, his earpiece buzzed with Lyss's voice finally: he wasn't sure what was even going on beyond Lyss attacking them for some reason. Maybe this was his ray of hope to reason with her, and he immediately came to a stop as he pressed his earpiece.
"Lyss, I can hear you," Maximilian started, "I believe you've been put under some type of spell because you're attacking your friends!"
Lyss had just made it to the entrance of the hall when her heart leaped in her chest. It was Maximillian's voice loud and clear in her head. He was alive. Yet what he said made her stop in her tracks. She looked back at the twisted version of her friends with incredulity. Could this all be some sick trick of the mind? Was she being played?
"What do you mean?" She said back. Could Max's voice be an illusion too? "Their eyes are orange. They're oozing that shit that the Messiah's monsters have."
Lyss brought her hands up to her head and squeezed them. When she spoke again her voice revealed her distress."I don't know what's real anymore."
For several seconds, Maximilian was silent, because he was utterly speechless.
"Listen..." He started, "There's something strange going on here - even for our standards -, I can't put my finger on it."
He didn't know how to phrase this correctly... it was like his brain and his mouth was out of synch. He took in a deep breath as he continued, "You need to trust me... you need to call off your undead and we all need to get the hell out of here. Something is going on here that even I can't put my finger on."
Lyss listened to Maximillian closely. It felt like he was her only lifeline. Once he finished, she took a deep breath and lowered her hands. One stretched out to place her palm against the stone wall. Madison was still hurling rocks at her golems. Penny's whirlwind of flesh was still ripping the undead apart. If this really was just mind games, it meant that she was hurting the only ones who were still there for her. If it wasn't, and she sent her soldiers back into purgatory, she was going to perish at their hands.
The stone against her palm was cold and rough. It grounded her. She took one last breath before standing tall. Slowly, she walked back into the room with her hands held up by her head. "I'm going to call them off. If they're really gone, then-" She couldn't bring herself to say it. She would comfortably greet death by any other means, but to be sent to him by one of her sister's hands was different. "Just hurry, okay?"
Lyss swallowed before black sigils appeared in her palms. The soldiers slowly began to stop in place before collapsing to the ground entirely. Their bodies returned to ash the moment they hit the ground. So did the pieces of flesh in Penny's hurricane.
The sigils faded in her hands, and all that was left was Lyss and her two sisters. She kept her hands up. They were shaking now. Some mix of fear and shame.
"M-Madison? ... Penny?" She felt like her heart was going to burst out of her chest. "Is this really just a trick?"
Madison almost laughed in relief... despite that ever-present worry that this was too good to be true. She attempted to deactivate the Jaws.... but he was still trying to keep the barrier on. After some fighting with her dinosaur, as Maya would put it, she deactivated the barrier. She raised her own hands as she smiled, a tear almost running down her face.
"Girl," Madison said, "It's us, it really is."
"Couldn't have asked that first, could ya?" said Penny with a huff, her voice strange and muffled by the hand that cupped her broken nose as she approached the two. She took advantage of the respite and found herself a comfortable spot on the cold, hard ground where she could enjoy her migraine and regret her lack of self-imposed limits. "I'm glad your head cleared. What even happened?"
Cindy walked up with her rifle in hand, with Maya at her side as she shook her head then said, "I don't know how ya'll manage to do it... but we need to get-"
Maya screamed when a tendril penetrated her midsection from behind... Madison whipped her head around as she activated the Jaws to see a strange figure in a white hood. Aiming their arm at the group... except their hand had transformed into a long, fleshy, tendril that had orange specs of embers floating around it. They retracted the tendril that had a blade at the end and then put their hands together.
"Maya!?"
"... Ah, it seems there were factors I didn't take into account," The Messiah said.
"... That sounds familiar," Madison muttered to herself.
Lyss's temporary relief was squashed the moment she heard Maya's cry. She turned to face her and felt her heart jump as she saw the familiar white robe again. Her face contorted in anger and her fists clenched by her side. Yet her body began to tremble.
He was still here. Of course, he was. How stupid could she be to think the entity wouldn't stick around to watch his work? First, he isolated her from her friends. Then he manipulated her to fight against them. She managed to snap herself out of it, thankfully, but he could easily put any of them under his thumb again. It was an understatement to say that she hated his guts, but now she also feared him. Enough to make it difficult to move in his presence.
She couldn't let her fear overcome her.
Lyss stepped towards the being, her eyes blazing with black fire.
"Get away from my friends, you bastard!" She shouted. "Your attempt to tear us apart has failed. You may be able to put one of us under your spells, but you won't stand a chance against all of us together."
Lyss knelt next to Madison's side and pressed her hands to the ground. A group of undead emerged from the ground behind Maya and Cindy to stand between them and the Messiah. They wouldn't do much against the entity, but they could act as a protection barrier long enough to get Maya to safety.
Cindy grabbed onto Maya by the underside of her shoulders and dragged her away from some ways away from the Messiah. She saw the blood oozing from her body and had to act fast, but fortunately, nobody got seriously hurt during the engagement. She pulled out her first aid kit and slid off Maya's armor then shirt to get at the wound. She quickly began wrapping gauze dressing around the wound.
A wide-eyed and horrified Penny had staggered up from the ground as the glowing orange tendril speared Maya. She quietly muttered in denial under her breath as she tried to find her footing and fight back the fear brought upon by seeing it again. Her head snapped back and forth as she prayed that maybe she was under a spell-like Lyss had been. It wasn't the case; the others saw it too. Penny felt the chill run through her and then exploded into a raging inferno of anger.
"YOU SON OF A BITCH! HOW ARE YOU ALIVE?" screamed Penny, wincing in pain as she tried to pull all the scraps she had scattered across the arena back to her. Pushed too hard. Things started to fade away. Fuck no. She was still alive. Keep pushing anyway. Penny blinked and the world had returned and the asshole Speaker was still there in it. She breathed in deep, steeled herself, and folded her arms over her chest. She pinched a penny between her thumb and her forefinger, keeping it hidden from sight.
"Mother is capable of great things." The Messiah was nonplussed by the wall of undead in between themself and the Coven. However, there was obviously something up their sleeve.
"Forget it." Penny glanced over towards Maya, thankful to see that Lyss had already formed a guard around her. Hopefully, Cindy knew how to stabilize her. Get on with your monologue about how you decided to form a new religion because a couple of college kids killed your last lame god. I know you really love speaking."Penny was ready to whip the coin down the Messiah's throat the second that bastard went to open his mouth. " Just hurry up so we can go ahead and kick your ass."
Madison's jaw was open... before an idea popped into her head.
The Messiah shrugged, as they pulled their hood down revealing their facial features... which were distinctly childish, much like a prepubescent child with a distinctly Greecian nose.
"What's the point?" They asked. Penny shot the coin out of her hand. Her aim was true, but she felt her connection to the penny vanish as it disappeared. The Messiah acted as if nothing even touched it as they continued, "You're gonna die anyway... Lawson."
At this point, the Messiah lost form... transforming into an orb of different glowing orange and jagged wires. They swung, cleaving their way through Alyssa's undead barrier. When they struck, whatever they touched seemed to fade completely out of existence. Three of the tendrils shot towards Penny.
Madison jumped backward as she shouted, "He's stalling! He has something up his sleeve."
Lyss gasped as the tendrils wiped her soldiers completely off the map in one swipe. She dove to the side to avoid one and winced as her shoulder connected with the ground. As she rolled to a stop close to Madison she looked up at her sister. "I think he has friends coming. Or maybe he's going to bring this whole compound down on top of us."
She grits her teeth as she saw the tendrils near Penny and summoned a line of soldiers to take the blow for her. They disappeared one by one as the wires smashed into them, which meant that Lyss was just wasting energy to summon them, but hopefully, the hindrance would give Penny enough time to get out of reach.
"Does this thing have a range? If we could get out of its reach for long enough we could find a way to damage it... or to run for our lives."
"I don't know, this fucker didn't do that before! Fuck! I don't know!" shouted Penny after she blasted herself out of the way with help from Lyss's soldier sacrifice. Its amorphous form and ability to immediately eradicate what it touched was reminiscent of the Glutton, and if that was the case then it was too much for them to handle. Yet Maya didn't vanish when she'd been hit. Was the Messiah mixing illusions in with its attacks?
The Messiah had reformed back into their usual form, completely nonplussed.
"Madison, grab Maya. We should go!" said Penny, blindly blasting a few shots at the Messiah even though all she was doing was wasting change.
"On it!" Madison said as she grabbed the wounded Maya by the shoulders and went towards the nearest exit... seemingly unhindered by the Messiah.
"Everyone but Lawson can leave," The Messiah turned both of their palms upwards as the floor began to shake. In the middle of their group came a spike made out of an orange crystal... it was jagged and brutal. It intended to break the group up, but if it killed them, that would be sufficient.
"Oh like I'd need your permission!" yelled Penny as a gust sent her away from the spike but no closer to the exit. She was physically injured and mentally exhausted, but her determination had hardly been scratched. Penny had dealt with worse and had always pulled through. This wouldn't be the end. No way was she dying in Florida.
Besides, she remembered something Odessa had told her once about the Awakened. Penny stared down the Messiah with a knowing smile, a wave of calm washing over her. If it allowed the others to get away easily then she'd play the Messiah's game for the time being. She broke into a run as she circled the Messiah, moving away from the door while she opened fire with some loose change and shouted at the others, "Just go! I'll be fine."
The change collided with the Messiah yet they didn't even budge slightly. Small, orange, cracks formed on their being - even on the clothes. Almost as if they were one solid crystal.... they didn't move as they stared down Lawson. As if they were waiting for the Coven to leave.
"Hope ya' know what you're doing!" Madison shouted as she pulled Maya out... alongside Cindy running out the door.
Lyss pushed herself back to her feet from where she'd dove to avoid the giant orange death rock. Madison was well on her way out with Maya, but Lyss was still shocked that the Messiah was letting them leave so easily. What did he want with Lawson? Was this a ploy to get her alone and turn her against them? Lyss watched Penny throw a slew of change his way, most likely to get his attention than to physically harm him. Her hands clenched into fists at her side as she felt frustration well within her. There was nothing she could do to help. She'd already done enough damage when she attacked Penny and Madison. Penny was risking her life to get them out of there safely, and Lyss's only option was to run.
So, with a grim frown on her face, Lyss turned and ran for the exit after Madison and Maya. If anything she could protect them from any monsters the Messiah may have lurking in the compound. Hopefully, they would find Maximillian before he was mixed up with the Messiah's game as well.
"Max! It was just a trick... but the Messiah reappeared after I snapped out of it." She spoke into the comms as she made it into the hallway. "Maya is hurt, but he's letting us leave. Get out of the building as fast as you can. Please find someone who can help Maya... it's serious."
"I'm going to regroup with you all," Maximilian replied. "We can all get out of here."
Lyss huffed softly, but she didn't disagree with his plan. Part of her wanted him to get as far away from this place as possible, but she was also comforted to know that he was going to stay behind to help her and her friends. He'd been a sane voice in the midst of this chaos.
"I'll keep you updated then." She replied. Her feet began to carry her faster through the compound. A new burst of adrenaline carried her up to join Cindy with Maya and Madison in the air beside them. "Max is going to join up with us to escort us out."
The second they left the Messiah sighed, then shrugged.
"... Let's finish this, Lawson."
They stuck out their hand a nightmarish barrage of tendrils came forth out of their hand.
Penny saw the Messiah launch a barrage of tendrils out of its hand at her and the wind from Caelea's abstraction shuffled her out of harm's way as if it was on autopilot. She'd only come to Florida to search for answers about the vision she had been shown and find Saul, and now she was throwing her life away for bunch of witches and feds with so much left unanswered. Penny lifted her hand and chunks of ceiling shot towards her, whipped around her back, and threw themselves at the Messiah. Throwing her life away? Bullshit. As if she could live with herself if she'd just ran.
The best she could hope for was to buy time for the others. Penny knew she wasn't winning this one. Still, that didn't mean she was going to be the only loser. She remembered one frustrating game night with her family years ago. Her older brother Billy was absolutely dominating and everyone else but her had called it quits. Every move she made just prolonged the match from reaching its inevitable end where her brother would gloat and lord over her for the rest of the week. So she kicked the leg of the card table. It bent inward and caused the table to tilt as gravity did the rest and sent the pieces scattering all over the floor. She didn't win, but neither did Billy—and watching him rage and scream when she called it a draw was more satisfying anyway.
She just had no clue how the fuck to replicate that here as she continued to circle the Messiah and launch fallen debris at them. With every piece of debris launched at them, the Messiah waved their hand and it disappeared into a mass of sparks. Penny would know it was consumed by the Glutton, but the Messiah stood still.
"Thanks to the actions of your friends," They raised their hand into a fist and around Penny, similar clouds of orange embers and sparks appeared. "My bond with Mother is far stronger, we have unlocked more power than ever before."
Out of them came, brutal, vicious-looking, orange crystal spikes that launched themselves at Penny at high speeds. The spikes got within arms reach of Penny before her sigil glowed and they projected themselves back at the Messiah. Penny grimaced as the use of her abstraction caused a spike of pain inside of her head but kept a strong face. Her attacks had done nothing against the Messiah, but maybe she could give off the same illusion of being untouchable. Penny couldn't put on air for too long, but maybe long enough to frustrate the Messiah into acting sloppy.
"And yet you lost again, even with your lame little rebranding. Does Mommy realize how much of a useless little shit you are yet?" growled Penny as she kept stepping around the Messiah, readied for the next attack.
The Messiah merely raised a hand and the spikes went around them... except for one that graced their cheek. It left an oozing, glowing, wound, but the Messiah was otherwise nonplussed. Even as Penny taunted them.
The Messiah smirked and Penny stopped dead in her tracks, one hand held out with the other behind her back.
"You call this losing?" The Messiah chuckled. "Are you aware that Mother is free from that dreaded mountain - the timeline that the False Light was so adamant on hiding? That she's growing stronger every day? That your God won't be strong enough to stop the Promised Day?"
They laughed.
"That's fine," said Penny quietly as the laughter echoed throughout the chamber. As the Messiah had ranted, she'd unlocked the device behind her back and had started to film. Now Penny stood her ground with a defiant smirk of her own, her phone now held forth like a crucifix trying to ward off a demon as she sent the video of the Messiah off to Kimberly, Justin, Tuyen, and the others. The phone dropped from her hand and flew into her hip pouch as she stared down the Messiah.
"You think that we need help from the Child or God or fucking anyone else either than each other to stop you or the Glutton? Please. You had every goddamn advantage the last time—surprise, numbers, the home field, everything—and y'all still got your asses whooped by a couple of kids holding hands and singing kumbayah. This time my friends are prepared, are stronger, and want nothing more than to shut your stupid, mommy issues ass up."
"And oh no, our God won't be strong enough to stop the Promised Day?" repeated Penny in mockery, her voice wet with venom as it erupted into a feral roar. "You stupid bitch, I kill gods!"
Penny pulled her hand back and attracted the orange crystal shards that had bent around the Messiah straight towards its back.
The spike penetrated the Messiah and then they smiled as it disappeared. The Messiah was absolutely silent as they shrugged.
"... Then do it again."
The roof rumbled and shook above them... and then what was left of the ceiling suddenly broke and then came crashing down on top of Penny. She looked up and shouted; the gusts of wind wouldn't knock her far enough away from the collape. Penny reflexively protected her head with her hands and hunched down as she let her abstraction blast the debris away. She felt herself connect with hundreds if not thousands of bits of stone as she rocketed them away. She grunted lowly and tears began fall from her eyes as her head began to explode with pain from the overuse of her abstraction. Her ears rang. Her vision flashed white, red, and then black as she felt a sharp pain at the back of her retinas. She was about to blackout.
Penny dropped her abstraction and braced for the worst. She screamed and jerked to the side as a rock smashed against her upper back, her feet tumbling over a rock and sending her crashing down upon her rear. Two more chunks of ceiling hit her from above, one cracking against her forearm wrapped around her skull and another on her leg. She sucked in the cry of pain and coughed out the dust from the collapse. The alive burial she'd anticipated didn't follow. The rumbling from above had quieted. She had survived.
But for how long? Penny tried to open her eyes. It proved to be challenging. She heard a wet, viscous suctioning noise as she finally peeled them open and saw a dark, reddish haze and nothing else. She inhaled deeply, fought back the urge to cough, and calmed her breathing. She slowly pulled herself up off of the ground, certain that the Messiah wasn't done with her yet. The pain screamed at her that it would not be ignored, but Penny held it back.
"You can't beat me, Speaker. How about we call it a draw?" said Penny, blood dripping from her mouth as she smiled, damp hair tangled and matted to the side of her battered face, her blinded eyes a ruby spiderweb of burst capillaries. She stood with her shoulders relaxed and her chin up as she waited and listened, her beating heart nearly deafening.
"Well," The Messiah stuck their hand out at Penny, as a small, wry grin forms on their face. "We'll see."
They launched a barrage of orange tendrils tipped with brutal looking crystal daggers. Penny, with her eyes still blinded and her lips still smiling, threw her hands down at the ground as the Messiah spoke. A blast of wind shot out from her palms and propelled her upwards into the air as she attempted a blind dodge at whatever the Messiah had just thrown at her. There was a moment as she flipped in the air that she thought she had actually pulled it off.
Penny landed with a rough three point landing then cried out in pain as the tendrils pierced through her stomach. The red haze flashed white before being bathed in an orange light as she felt a searing pain spread throughout her body. Her mind and heart raced one another as blood gurgled out of her mouth between sharp, ragged breaths. Then everything stilled and Penny started to laugh. The laughter grew louder, a horrific, wet cackle as her hand lashed out and wrapped itself around the tendrils.
"I told ya, you can't beat me," roared Penny, practically feral. She pulled on the tendrils and with a blast of wind launched herself towards the Messiah, throwing a wild haymaker with her left. "I'm un-fucking-stoppable!"
The Messiah was punched across the cheek and... it didn't feel like Penny punched flesh. More like a slow crystal-like substance... and it cracked and sent shards of the Messiah's face all over the place. They grit their teeth as they floated up into the air, wordlessly this time as the ground shook and cracked. A large hunk of the ground was ripped from the ground and floated in the air... before it was launched at Penny.
A noise like a stuck boot being yanked free from a muddy bank rang throughout the chamber as Penny's howling laughter stopped echoing off of the walls. There was no sound of the rock impacting the ground, and as the dirt and the dust cleared the Messiah would be able to see Penny's clutched fist shaking as her abstraction kept the boulder locked in a stasis just inches away from completely crushing her. Teeth gritted, body broken, and choking on her own blood, the blinded girl felt her abstraction slowly lift the massive boulder away from her. Inch by inch, it slowly began to rise.
Penny had repulsed the boulder maybe a foot above her before she felt the warm glow of her sigil fade. She had surprised herself by being able to reactivate it at all. The fight hadn't been a total loss. The others would now know what they were up against, and she had the satisfaction of knowing that she had gotten in one good punch. Perhaps not the draw she was aiming for, but she didn't want a draw anyway. She wanted to win, and she knew she would—eventualy. But a break first would be nice. Maybe she'd see her friends. Penny smiled at that final thought as the rock dropped and her fist went limp.
Seemingly moments after Penny's death... the entire Forgiven compound collapsed in on itself. Reducing itself to ash, and leaving only traces of the horrors that went on there for people to dig through the rubble.
In the span of a night, Tampa went from a sprawling city in western Florida to... a complete and utter wasteland. Dead bodies litter the streets, the National Guard is trying to pick up the pieces with other emergency services, and Annabelle Heart destroyed the Beach House. Madison liked the beach house, she looked at the collapsed building that probably cost around a few hundred thousand dollars to even erect. Madison stood over the ruins of the beach house wondering if she should try to fish out the clothes that she had left on her roof. She was wearing tights that stopped right at the top of her thighs, a hoodie, and Adidas slides... and in her right hand, she had a glass of wine. Her car was trashed, and she had little to her name... funnily enough when Annabelle trashed Tampa Blakey dipped and now he's nowhere to be seen. Typical rich people, but Madison couldn't blame him, because she saw what Annabelle could do.
Everyone got away from that night except for... Penny. Madison scowled as she looked towards the ruined city of Tampa. The Forgiven Compound was destroyed shortly after they all left, and the basement floor of the place is almost literally buried under a ton. Along with everything else the Forgiven had hidden in there. So it was kind of like a pyrrhic victory? Or something? Honestly, Madison had nary a clue as to what the Forgiven's deal was and she honestly wasn't interested in finding out. She realized that this fighting evil and eldritch abomination stuff was not for her, but if the Speaker was back... that meant that thing was back.
She heard someone walking up...
"Hey," Lyss asked softly as she approached. She gave Madison a knowing smile as she stepped over rubble to join her. Her head turned to the ruins of the beach house and she took a moment to remember her time there. It had been nice to call it home, even for such a brief period of her life. She released a small breath, and with it, her attachment to this place faded. It was time to move on, again. Her sisters were no longer here. Only one remained, and Lyss wasn't even sure if she was going to stick around.
"Do you know where you'll go next?" Lyss asked as she looked at Madison. Her own decision had been made before their encounter with the Messiah, but she had to know what Madison would do next. She couldn't bear the thought of Madison going far.
"The far the fuck away from Tampa as I can get," Madison shrugged as she laughed. "Well, I got a job offer in New York as a Computer Network Architect... so I'm gonna take my ass up there ASAP." She awkwardly laughed again... though, she was worried about what happened last night. The fight with Annabelle, Vashti getting the cure, the raid on the Forgiven compound, and the disappearance of Kimberly and Penny... and most importantly of all, the Speaker's return.
That didn't make sense.
"I'm just worried..." Madison said as she scratched the back of her neck, "I never told you about me... well, the truth about me. Honestly, only Kayla knows this, but... yeah, it's gonna be a mouthful, girl, are you ready for it?"
The corner of Lyss's mouth teased a smile. New York wasn't far from the DENs headquarters. The quirk to her expression faded as Madison mentioned her worries. She also had to ignore the stab of grief when Kayla's name was dropped. So Lyss nodded before speaking up. "I'm here for you, no matter what. I'm sure it won't be any crazier than the past few days have been." If not for the seriousness of the conversation, Lyss's tone would have made it seem like they were gossiping over brunch. Though it seemed like those days were far gone.
"Well..." Madison awkwardly smiled as she looked off to the side, almost her way of saying it's gonna be crazier than this. "I died. Kind of. It's a long story... but years ago I accidentally killed my cousin Jordan, but as it turns out, she made a deal with the Hound so that she would die instead of me." She started.
"Wack, ain't it?" Madison shook her head as she said. "But, before she died and finalized the deal, she and her friends fought some... thing. It was called the Glutton... it wasn't extra-normal or something, but something else. I don't know much about it, but it eats universes and emotions or something... and it should be gone."
Madison paused, as she said,
"The Messiah was its herald... and now Penny's missing... I hope she's okay." She scratched the back of her neck as she looked down, shaking her head.
That was when Alyss began shitting herself so fucking hard that she shit out all of her organs.
"The first flight is to Atlanta," Maxwell was telling Mariah as they sat, waiting, in the airport terminal. A sigh escaped Mariah, but she had asked hadn't she? He continued, "Then it's twelve hours to Alaska. Refuel. Twelve to Okinawa. Refuel and changeover... directly to Manilla. Then we can take a flight straight to Scotland but uh," Maxwell looked from Isla to Mariah disapprovingly, "Yall wanted to? Do some even cheaper shit instead, right? A boat? Or train? Or something?"
Mariah knew he was only feigning ignorance to be obnoxious and she instead took her phone out. For whatever reason, she saw it fit to send a message to the "Coven" group Snapchat, now... of all times-- nice meeting yall I guess and I wish you the best <3
"We ain't all made of money," Isla piped up, swinging her legs back and forth on the uncomfortable airport chair. Her whole expression was bright - excited to be going home, and bringing some friends back with her. She peered over as Mariah took out her phone, very rudely reading it. "You think any of them are still alive? Weren't they raiding some top secret shit? Damn, I'm glad we left before that."
Isla had a point and Mariah answered, "I mean, just in case they alive, you never really know." It was at that moment she gave a very meaningful glance over at Maxwell. He winced and looked away. "Besides we kinda. Like. Uh," Mariah struggled to figure out just what, if anything, gave their relationship to "The Coven" meaning. Mariah snapped her fingers, "We bonded over sports that one day. In that field. Yeah."
Mariah fucking exploded.
The end.
There was the constant beeping... the other senses (the barrage of light, the repugnant smell of antiseptic, and the sound of nurses talking in the very same room) barely registered to her. Tampa was still a mess weeks later and... Emily couldn't find it in herself to really give any less of a damn. She stood right in the doorway, in no good shape herself with a cast on her arm and bandages all over her body.
As they put the cover on her younger sister Jacqueline and began to carry her out on a stretcher.
Emily's face was soaked wet with tears for her dead sister, the chance at saving her robbed from her by Vashti and Madison. She couldn't care less if Vashti had killed her in that situation, but now everything that she's worked towards is wasted. Gone in a flash... and the only person here to see this tragedy was her sister Miranda. Both of their parents were killed in Annabelle's rampage, unfortunately, and yet Emily found it hards for her to care anymore. She's lost so much that...
... She just wants someone else to feel the same pain.
"Yo, um, Em," Emily heard the voice of Madison behind her and turned her head around to see those two bastards behind her.
She barely reacted at all as she said, "You two got a lot of nerve coming here..." She said it completely monotone. Not a hint of venom like her phrasing would imply.
"Yeah that's fair," muttered Vashti as she gave Emily and who she assumed to be her other sister a pained look. When Vashti had talked to Madison about visiting Emily she hadn't planned on seeing a body bag being carried out of the room. They should've just left then. Hell, Vashti had already been half-turned to walk away when Madison had opened her mouth. The flowers and chocolates in her hand felt like stones sinking her to the bottom of a lake as she was drowned by the excruciating discomfort of the whole situation. Turns out just because she was able to claim fault for her stupid decisions didn't mean that was over making them.
"I...uh...I don't think there is anything I can say that can make this right, but I want you to know that I'm sorry, Emily. If I had the—" Vashti swallowed the excuse she was about to spit out. She set the stupid gifts down, shook her head, and scoffed at herself before looking back at Emily. "Did you know that you were like my only friend? And I know I totally fucked that up and don't deserve a second shot, but I think you should know that no matter how much everything sucked I did enjoy hanging out with you and that I'm really, really sorry."
Emily was quiet and Madison saw the look on her face as she began to bear her teeth. More tears began to run down her face. "... You think that fucking cuts it?" She hissed, though it was bordering a shout, barely restrained because she didn't make a scene. "I don't give a shit that you liked me, and I especially don't give a shit that you're sorry. If you were really sorry, you wouldn't have guzzled down the cure that was meant for my sister."
"Vashti was gonna kill you if I didn't!" Madison stepped in, a tear running down her own eye as she put a hand on her chest. She wasn't going to waste time for half-baked apologies because Emily wasn't going to take it. "I was too weak from fighting Annabelle to stop her."
"And then you should have let her kill me," Emily said.
"Can you even say that the potion would have even survived?"
"Shut up!" Emily shouted at her as she grabbed her surviving sister's wrist before she stormed on past them.
"Em, I know how it feels to lose someone you care about!" Madison shouted at her, but she didn't listen. Madison sighed, as she looked at Vashti, "Well, we gave it a shot... but, why do I have the feeling that this isn't the last we'll hear or see of her...?"
However, Vashti was already moving. The stoneface she had held up while Emily had gone off on her slipped as she moved past Madison. She shouted and broke into a sprint after Emily, pushing past nurses and skirting around stretchers. Her hand reached out towards Emily's shoulder and forcibly jerked her around so that they were facing one another. To Vashti, it was like looking at a reflection of her past self. Tears were held back under a knitted brow as a red-cheeked Vashti thrust an angry finger at Emily's face.
"Listen here, bitch! You have every goddamn right to hate me, but you're a fucking idiot if you think you'd been better off dead. How could that have saved your sister? Madison at least gave you a chance to keeping searching for a cure by saving your ass. You need to grow up and stop blaming others. It's not her fault you can't accomplish shit!" A slap echoed throughout the hospital hall as Vashti struck Emily's cheek. Baring her teeth, Vashti violently jabbed her finger toward the room Emily had fled. "Now go thank her, you asshole!"
Emily held her cheek... which was stinging with a red color and pain. Many things went through her such as adrenaline and... rage. Her hand then balled itself into a fist as a part of her wanted to tear this bitch's hair out with one hand... however, all Emily did was say.
"Go." That was the first word.
"To." Was the second word.
"Hell." Was the third and last word before she whipped around and stormed out of the room holding onto her little sister's hand.
"Like I'm not already going through it!" snapped Vashti. She shoved her hands into the pockets of her shorts, tilted her head back to burn a hole through the fluorescents, and let out a frustrated growl that would've harmonized perfectly with a screaming tea kettle. It was moments like these that she almost missed the Leviathan. Violent fantasies spun out of control in Vashti's mind as she visualized painting the walls of the hospital and turning Emily's little sister into an only child.
She stopped venting, drew in a breath, and exhaled slowly. Vashti grimaced and closed her eyes, phantom images of the lights quickly fading as she squeezed her eyes tightly shut until they hurt. She counted backward from ten and opened her eyes, blinking away the spots. Vashti turned and headed back down the hall to meet up with Madison. She wasn't happy about it, but she knew it would be good for her to have someone like Emily out of her life. Vashti paused outside of the hospital room and thought about what she had yelled after Emily. She'd been wrong.
"I'm getting through it," she corrected herself. "I'm getting through it."
"Ah, I just knew you'd be back."
It was hard finding Dollhouse after they went dark... however, if they wanted a particular someone to find them, then the crumbs were right there. The door to the warehouse closed behind her and all the monsters that she was originally against came out of the woodworks. With Natalie right behind her with an AK in her hand, Sharon landing on a container after turning human again, Luis sitting on the edge of shipping containing with his legs hanging down... and Hemorrhagia floating at his size oozing blood.
Babylon was still inside of... whoever that girl was, Emily couldn't care less anymore. She had one thing on her mind, and it was obvious to everyone here... She stood there, completely silent as she balled her fist up.
"Come now, why did you come all the way out here?" Hemorraghia said, "From the look on your face, I can tell you don't have a grudge against us."
"Ooooooh, let me guess," Babylon said with the widest grin on her face. "When it stopped being convenient for those "Witches", they turned their back on you, didn't they?"
Babylon followed it up with about of cheeky laughter that Emily normally would have clap backed on, but she knew that every word out of Babylon's mouth was correct.
"... Yes." Emily hissed.
"I told you time and time again this was gonna happen, you were never one of them, but you didn't believe me," Babylon cheekily said. "And where did that lead you? Back to me."
"Yes," Emily said, far kinder.
"Well," Hemorragia said, that constantly dripping sound of blood coming off her body was infuriating. She put a hand on her hip as she gave Emily a narrow-eyed look, "Answer my question."
"I want to join you..." Emily said, "Because I want revenge on those bastards that took my sister from me."
"And why did you come here for that?" Hemorragia asked, putting a hand on her chin as she looked down at Emily. "What's stopping you from killing them yourself?"
"It's because..." Emily trailed off.
"... She's a monster and wants to be among her ilk!" Babylon burst out laughing again.
"I am tired of the life I lived, I realized that I have no place among people like them... people like you... are where I really belong," Emily explained.
Hemorragia smiled.
"Well, that's convincing enough to me," She stuck her hand out and it unnaturally stretched as it went over to Emily. It was a handshake.
"Welcome aboard..." Hemorragia said with a grin. "I am quite interested in reuniting with the Jaws... and showing those bastards what happens..."
She looked to the left, then to the right.
"... When you mess with Dollhouse."
About the next morning, Kimberly rose herself awake... except she smelled nothing but disgusting smelling antiseptic and was brutally assaulted by the light rays. Her head was killing her, and there was a pain in her side - she attempted to use her right hand to cover her eyes but there was something metal binding her to this fucking hospital bed. She looked and, to the surprise of no one, it was handcuffed. She had to force herself to fight through the pain as she looked around and then she saw Rowan sitting next to her on a chair.
"Hey, thank God you're up," Rowan said as he hugged her, "I thought you weren't going to make it."
"I... what the hell happened?" Kimberly asked, "What happened to Annabelle?"
"We were ambushed by Saul's men," Rowan shook his head as he said. "But, Annabelle's..."
"... Annabelle Heart has been neutralized," Maximillian said as he opened the door... with a bag of Chick-fil-A in the other hand. He held the door open for Director Alcott, who was pushed in by Helena - when Maximillian stepped in he closed the door behind him as Alcott was pushed all the way up to Kimberly's bed, directly next to Rowan. When she was there, Helena took a step to the side as Dana put both of her hands together.
"Hello, Ms. Walton," Director Alcott said with a smile, "How are you doing?"
"Fine... for someone that just got shot," Kimberly awkwardly laughed but Director Alcott's face was completely flat.
"... You know you're in a lot of trouble right now?" The Director said in a chipper tone. "Trafficking human body parts is no joke... regardless of why you did it."
"I... I am sorry-"
"You aren't," Dana chuckled, "And I have every right to throw you down into the Pit."
"... The what?" Kimberly asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Just the place where I shove the things I don't want to deal with anymore... a real nice place, you would love it," The Director chuckled grimly. "If you don't play ball, you are going to become very familiar with the place."
"... What am I agreeing to?"
"Well... last night, after we handled Annabelle Heart; we went after Saul and inside the Forgiven Compound we ran into something that is beyond our comprehension... something that isn't even Extra-Normal," The Director began her speech, "We encountered the Forgiven's "Messiah", who your friend Penny seemed to be very familiar with.... unfortunately, she's MIA"
"WAIT, PENNY'S MISSING?"
"Likely KIA," Dana flatly said, "Again, not important, because I decided to look into things and I found your little Snapchat group... who seem to be all very aware of something called a "Glutton" and a "Speaker"."
Kimberly gulped.
"Now, I am a very fair and reasonable woman... I know you're young and messed up, and we can forget any of this happened... My Agents are very tight-lipped or else I wouldn't have selected them, and as for the Coven... none of them matter. They're probably going to do something stupid and become our next target."
Maximillian got a sharp glance from Alcott before she continued, "This is a matter of national security... so if you arrange for a meeting with me and this "Support Group" of yours, so we can get to the bottom of this."
Kimberly's eyes were wide open, as she did not like where this was going. Not one bit. Nor did she trust this Director who she just met a second ago... and where the hell was Penny. Unfortunately, her camera was nowhere to be seen, and the same with her phone. She had nowhere to teleport to, or escape...
"Can you do that for me?"
"... Yes."
Back at headquarters, in the Virginia wilderness, everything was fine under the sun yet again. It was unfortunate that it got so bloody there, but the Director did all that she could do there.... she rolled herself back to her desk in this pristine room. Blue rug with the DENS logo on the floor in gold, her desk was a dark-red color and made from the finest and fanciest wood around. Behind her were windows, but with the blinds down and the room was shaded with the barest amounts of light getting in. Just the way the Director liked it... her assistant had a fresh cup of green tea ready for her, as the Director always preferred tea to coffee. Especially after a stressful few weeks, the Director grabbed it, sighed in joy and took a sip, and felt everything about Annabelle Heart melt away...
The doors flew open and for a second Alcott was worried that this "intruder" was here to attempt her life. Which would be unfortunate; she didn't have her morning tea yet. The next second she saw Cindy Keagan right before her, giving her a narrow look as she walked in.
"Agent Keagan," The Director said, "Thank you for blowing my tea for me, but I am not taking any appointments at this time, would you kindly-"
"Why didn't you do more to help, Director?" Cindy asked as she put her hands on the table and Alcott did nothing but stare. "Thousands of people are dead, Meifeng's almost literally on her death bed, and you know how close we were to breaking the masquerade?"
Alcott gently put the cup of tea down, as she put her fingers together. "You've figured me out... It was either you or Meifeng."
She made a poignant pause, "Women are wiser after all, but I know Meifeng wouldn't act on it."
"Fact of the matter is; I could have stopped this before it even happened... I just needed to show them how dangerous the Extra-Normal can be, and what we're really protecting them from. The reason why we're so underfunded is that everyone treats us as some kind of joke!" Dana slammed her fist on the table as she shouted, and Cindy was quiet.
"You let all of those people die... for fucking funding?!" Cindy slammed her fists on the table and rattled it so much that the tea spilled. Yet all Alcott did was shake her head and grab her tea and hold it to her lips.
"I realize that it sounds harsh but... look around you, Cindy. We barely have the equipment or the manpower to keep the masquerade going as is! If we had simply handled Annabelle, the people above me would just shake their heads."
Alcott sighed, "Truth is, Annabelle Heart is the tip of the iceberg and we're treated as a joke!"
She shouted before she composed herself yet again."Now we showed them what out there and how seriously it should be taken. And we're better equipped."
"Like what?" Cindy asked.
"The impending apocalypse, after all," Dana said. Her pendant began to glow a cyan color as the Director looked at Cindy. Before she dropped the bomb,
"Despite Annabelle Heart's death," The Director started before she dropped the bomb, "... There's still a one hundred percent chance of the world ending."
Saul screamed at the top of his lungs as he endlessly plummeted to... he wanted to say ground but first it was a black void. Then it was orange. Nothing but orange light... it was oddly comforting, and soon he found it hard to continue screaming.
When he stopped screaming, he stopped falling.
Saul felt grass beneath him, as he looked around and felt an oddly warming light bearing down on him. He opened his eyes and he saw the sky was bright red, and the orange light came from nowhere. Bearing down on everything as Saul pushed himself back up to his feet and then he looked around to see rolling fields as far as the eye can see. Nothing but beautiful fields of flowers, and tall grass...
... And people dancing and frolicking in the grass. It was a bizarre sight as they appeared to be the happiest they've ever been in their entire life. Just by playing around in the grass.
"... Hello Saul," Saul heard the unmistakable voice of the Messiah right behind him and he slowly pivoted on his heel as he turned to see the Messiah with their hood down. They had both of their hands together, obscured by their robe. "You've never seen this place before."
"What... is this place?" Saul asked, rubbing his head in confusion as he looked around.
"You're inside the very Womb that Births Worlds, Saul," The Messiah answered as they walked around Saul. "You're inside Mother."
"I..." Saul was at a loss for words as he looked around... and in the sky was a massive and strange being. A massive orange orb that was surrounded by a constantly moving weave of tendrils, this orb stared down at Saul almost like it was an eye. Saul dropped to his knees as he gazed upon the true form of Mother.
"Beautiful, isn't she?" The Messiah said. "Mother is displeased with you... however, she is more than gruntled by what transpired."
"How?" Saul said, "We've lost the stronghold, countless Forgiven, and the federal government probably wants my head."
"But," The Messiah paused as they followed up to that by saying, "Annabelle Heart's dead, one of those many nuisances are dead, and they likely are not sure whether or not you are even alive... or if you're even their primary target anymore."
Saul... didn't think of that as the Messiah continued.
"While that meddlesome bastard will be back in a different form," The Messiah added, "The war is just beginning... Mother will end it all for them. Then glorious Redemption will finally begin on the Promised Day."
"When is that?"
"New Year's Eve... the last day of the year," The Messiah grinned as they walked past Saul, then they said. "However, we have so many pieces that have yet to be placed... that's why I need you."
The Messiah grinned before they stuck their hand out and a massive swirling orange portal opened just a stone's throw away. Out that portal... came an army of Corrupted minions. Each wielding a different weapon.
"I will lead the army that will kill our enemies... I need you for the most important mission of them all..." The Messiah stuck their hand out towards Saul as they said, "I need you to lead the hearts and minds that have been lead astray by the False Light and bring them... back to Mother."
"Do you accept, Saul?"
Saul looked up at the Messiah as he answered.
"Without a second thought,"
Saul took the Messiah's hand.
Having a meat suit was the worst, especially an unattractive one like this. Babylon longed for the days she showed her true form to the world! However, it wouldn't be long until she had what she wanted, as she always did in the past. Maybe she'll talk old Hemmy into getting her a better body at some point, though. In the meantime, Babylon was in the bathroom completely nude, tying her hair into a bun. She was more or less certain that nobody would come after her this time... given that it was a complete and utter coincidence that she ran into that bastard Coven the first time. With the disaster going on in Tampa... she was certain that they had far bigger fish to fry.
After she was done with her hair, she put on her clothes and then walked out of the room out into the main office of the warehouse that Dollhouse was situated in for the time being. While she was walking, she was applying lipstick. Then she reached the room that Hemorragia told her to go in a hurry: The Warehouse main office.
Without care to decency or good manners, Babylon threw the door open. There Luis was, with his hands behind his back gazing out the window at a new sunrise over Miami. Babylon herself would care for it if she hadn't seen more beautiful things thousand times over.
Then a pool of blood materialized just a few feet away from her. Little droplets fell upwards until they formed...
"...Hemorragia," Babylon half-whispered, as she saw her "friend".
"Yes, but you can stop calling me that already," Hemorragia said as she reached for a glass of "wine" (that was definitely blood) and took a sip.
"Fine, Laurey," Babylon said as she put her weight onto one hip and slapped a hand on it. "Let me guess... you are still after that insane plan of yours."
Hemorragia laughed cheekily and placed her fingertips onto her bloody chest. "Of course not," She started, "I just get delayed, Babylon the Great."
She finished the glass of blood until it was all gone. "And you still have a debt to fulfill, Babylon, and until I have what I am aiming for you are in my service."
Babylon grimaced, "Yes, yes, yes, your insane end of..." She took a deep breath, before she said, "... replacing God."
"... And a little birdy told me you know how to get into the Oasis."
Babylon bit her lip as she looked off to the side. "I do - but can't we just do a more realistic goal and take over the multiverse?"
"Ah..." Hemorragia said, "What would be the point if you don't have absolute power? If an Ancient will come back and steal all your hard work from you... because somebody made a deal with them." She sighed.
However, the door flew open and Hemorragia was about to scream "kill him", but she saw the person in the orange cloak. The hood was up but Hemorragia recognized the lady's figure, dark skin, and dreadlocks... and the lantern in her left hand. Hemorragia smiled fiendishly when she saw it and said,
"Odessa Maxwell," She started, "You never fail to disappoint, do you?"
Odessa took the hood off as she said, "I would have brought him to you sooner, but you were busy getting your ass kicked," She giggled as she put her hand to her mouth.
"Alexi..." Hemorragia reached for the lantern but Odessa snatched it away. Keeping an odd grin on her face as she wrapped her arms around it. Like it was some game to her.
"I stuck my neck out for you to get it, Lauren," Odessa started, "You getting what you want without me getting what I want... doesn't seem very fair, now does it?"
Hemorragia rested her face on her hand as she sighed and said, "What are your terms?"
"One; this should prove that I am on your side, so I want into your little Dollhouse. And two..."
That grin disappeared as Odessa hissed, "... I want to know where Byron Williams is."
Hemorragia smiled, "Done and done." With a nod of her head, Odessa handed her the lantern...
"Alexei!" Hemorragia clapped both of her hands together. "It has been so long, friend. How are you?"
"Laurey... I was enjoying a nap," Alexei said, "But, I am pleased to see you... so let me ask you..."
Hemorragia put both of her hands together as Alexei asked.
"... Are you ready to finally start this war?"
Hemoraggia laughed.
"Yes."
Where... am I?
Just what am I?
What happened?
After it all went down?
I remember something...
Being hungry.
Being angry.
I couldn't control myself.
I hurt people.
Because I was hungry.
I... lost control of myself.
I lost myself.
Everything after that is a blur.
But, who am I?
I remember something...
... A man.
Samuel?
Sawyer?
Sabastian.
Saul.
Saul...
Saul...
Saul...
SAUL!
The roar emanated outwards, carrying a primal force. Thousands of shadowy crows flapped their wings in the middle of the crater in which was destroyed during the battle with Annabelle Heart. They flapped in such a way that created a scream of sorts, a high-pitched shriek... the swarm of crows was scattered all over the place before they all flew inwards towards one point. Not like a swarm of birds, but something like a wave... a black liquid. They coalesced at one point and eventually made a shape.
They formed a replica of Annabelle Heart before her transformation... comprised of black feathers, that were messy and dirty. It was off-balanced and there was something wrong with how she was shaped: there were some limbs that were too long, her facial features weren't asymmetrical, and the legs, and beaks, and wings, of crows, were jutting out... and it had no eyes. It was like something tried to make a statue made out of the corpses of crows.
She panted as she knelt over, falling to her knees as she looked around. Seeing nothing but an empty void, and the night sky... she looked at the edge of the crater. I have to get out of here. Annabelle Heart thought to herself as she tried to think of some way to get out of this hole in the ground...
... Before she appeared there. She looked around, confused for a moment before she saw the barriers and police tape that was meant to stop anyone from falling into the crater... or finding something they weren't supposed to. Annabelle Heart couldn't care anymore about people, there was one thing in mind.
... Saul.
She had no choice why she came back, or what the hell she is, but she knew this was her second chance at revenge. She could feel something, but she didn't know what... beacons in the far, far, distance. Surely, she couldn't teleport that far... but... but what if she does the crow trick again? She took in a deep breath (except, it was actually a low caw, she was getting used to this whole "ghost" thing), and then fell apart again into a mass of shadowy crows.
Then she went towards the beacons as a mass of crows. They were her only idea of what to do next, but the idea of being a crow was... liberating. She was something new, something free, the bird that she always imagined herself being. She traveled for days - which turned into nights, then they turned back into days as Annabelle endlessly traveled for months.
Until she reached one of the beacons, which turned out to be the shape of a person... and she got closer to reveal it was actually a person. A red aura vibrated off of them, and Annabelle got closer. The person was a short, red-haired girl, that was missing her leg, replaced with prosthetics, sat underneath a tree, drawing the orphanage sign... Kindred Spirits Orphanage.
Annabelle had no idea how to approach the girl... she focused again, and appeared on the other side of the tree sitting in her alternate form.
"Hello..." Annabelle said.
"Aw, what the hell!" The girl said as she jolted, and looked around the tree... to see a living mass of feathers. A bloody living pile of crow body parts! Well, that was odd, she raised an eyebrow. "You're... a Wizard?" She said.
"... I don't even know what I am," Annabelle said, "I just... appeared, and I was lead to you... who... who are you?"
"Me?" The girl pointed a pencil at herself, as she said, "I am Sugar Reid. Who are you?"
"I... I think I'm Annabelle Heart,"
"You died didn't you?" Sugar answered.
"Yes..." Annabelle said, "All I know, is that I need to kill Saul."
Sugar snorted.
"Good luck with that," She laughed, "He got outed as a crazy cult leader that's been sacrificing people to "something" and his little "religious movement" went underground. Everyone wants a piece of him now." She stopped laughing.
"But..." Annabelle Heart said, "I'm wondering whatyou have to do with that?"
"Not a thing," Sugar said, followed by a snort, "I'm not sure what lead a ghost to me... that's a bit weird, to say the least. Why didn't your abstraction lead you to Saul if you want to kill him so badly?"
"I... don't know," Annabelle looked off to the side, "However, there are other people who I'm being lead to."
"'Kay, friend," Sugar sarcastically said, "When you figure out the rhyme or reason, feel free to come back here. It's not like I'm leaving anytime soon."
"Okay," Annabelle said, drifting off into the distance to follow the trail, and Sugar felt the whole encounter was random. She felt something odd about the girl, there was more to this encounter than Sugar knew or even Annabelle. However, the girl just went back to drawing the sign, then back to the monotonous orphanage life until she goes to college or becomes a homeless crackwhore or something. It was just made beds, clean, eat food, school, come back, clean some more, draw, and clean, clean, clean... it was awful, but at least she had a roof over her head for now.
A few weeks later, she was back at the tree, Sugar just couldn't get the painting right... then she heard two things falling behind her, and she couldn't help but whip her head around to see behind the tree. Because it was just too heavy to be an apple... and it wasn't a fruit-bearing tree.
She saw Annabelle, and another girl with ratty dreads right next to her, with a smile on her face.
"Bláthnat!" The girl with the stupid dreads said as she tried to hug Sugar, but the girl stuck her hand out to stop her as she damn near shouted.
"Just who the hell are you? And... how do you know that ugly name of mine?"
"I'm... your sister, Sharon," She said, "I..."
"... You can't be Sharon," Sugar snapped at her. "Sharon's dead, unless..."
"I'm her Apparition, we're both from Farmer Hill... and I caused everything to go wrong there when I killed Dad," Sharon started crying.
"It's..." Sugar looked at Annabelle. "... Why did you bring her here, Annabelle?"
"I know why I was lead to you, Sugar," Annabelle said. "We're all the people who have a bone to pick with Saul and his master, so..."
She smiled.
"... We're going to kill him."
In the dead of the silent night, there was an empty field that was lonely except for the stars above. There was only grass, and say the small rodent creeping through the fields. However, there was a tornado of fire that swirled upwards, as it faded, away, it revealed a massive, demonic-looking bull. Annabelle Heart stood on the opposite end of the field than the creature, now with a body of her own... and she said,
"The Bull..."
"Annabelle Heart," The Bull growled, but its grin turned upwards as he said,
"There is great rage in your heart."
It was a wild ride, here in Tampa, but now Madison was aiming to leave it all behind.
She needed to.
Florida wasn't for her, and all the weird shit was just piling up. Maybe it was for somebody, but it definitely wasn't for Madison... especially since she has problems of her own that she needs to work out on her own before she thinks about tackling them. Unfortunately, that meant leaving the Coven and her former sisters behind, but truth be told, after everything that's happened the Coven isn't much of anything. Maya went her own way, Herik up and left (Good riddance), Lyss sold her soul to work with the feds, Emily's probably moping on her own, Vashti's gone, and, um, everyone else is dead.
Oh well.
A few weeks later, Madison had packed up everything, got herself a new car, and gazed at the beach one last time before she left... sitting on her car, as she looked at the shoreline. Which was empty except for her, and likely would be empty until they rebuilt Tampa. Wow, this place was a shithole but it had some great beaches.
Then she felt a cold chill from behind her, and turned around and saw a ghostly figure.
Like a living mass of diamond dust and cold air, except shaped in a very familiar way. Tall, lanky, a huge afro...
"... Mademoiselle," And that confirmed it for Madison.
"Claud?!" Madison damn near ran over to her but stopped herself when she realized just how cold the Apparition was.
"I... what happened here?" Claudette asked.
"I... it's a long story," Madison said, "But... in short, you were killed by Dollhouse, Annabelle went cray and destroyed Tampa and now... there's no more Coven."
"Oh... I missed so much," Claudette said.
"You did, but it's cool," Madison shrugged.
"Um, I hate to ask," Claudette asked, "But where are you going next?"
"New York," Madison said, "Wanna come? I could use a road trip buddy."
The Apparition of Claudette formed a smile as she said.
"Gladly."
The Recollection that just played out faded away, everything that has happened so far, played before his very eyes. by complete and utter accident, one man has seen it all... and yet was helpless to do anything about it. He opened his eyes, after touching the ground with one hand and stood straight up. He looked around... seeing the ruins of Tampa, it was a mess here but now he realized something.
... He will do more to help here on in.
[Credits here]
However, after Annabelle was put down for good, and Maximilian left, there was something else stirring in the burnt remains of Annabelle Heart. Hiding, waiting for the perfect time to come out... and it did. You see, Annabelle Heart wasn't the only apparition to spawn, as the Hunger had grown so powerful...
Out of Annabelle Heart's remains came an Apparition... taking the appearance of a black heart the size of a small house. It had screaming faces on the left side and a massive wolf mouth. It loudly screamed.
