---

Something’s not right. Dallas squinted his eyes at the dead thrall and knelt closer. He’d seen over a hundred Lost disperse after death. This time was different. He scanned his eyes over the vaporous aftermath of the thrall's death and noticed that it wasn’t spreading evenly, but rather moving… towards something. Dallas looked sideways and saw the landscape painting leaned up against the wall. Can it be? Did Akaia really find it this easily?

Dallas’s train of thought was interrupted by a tremor that vibrated the entire house. Dust loosened itself from the ceiling and fell on his head, forcing him to blink involuntarily, but his mask kept the worst of it out of his lungs. He waved his hand to clear the cloud of debris and stood up. What the hell was that, an earthquake?

Just after the tremors began, Dallas could hear Desmond and Erik call out to them from the entrance. Once Akaia was done reorganizing herself, he patted her on the shoulder and pointed his thumb to the exit. ”Akaia, I think you found the mistle! I don’t know what’s going on outside, but this building is about to come down on top of us! Let’s get out of here and tell the others!”

”No time!” She replied in a mild panic. Returning to the painting, she gripped the top edge of it and slid it enough to the side that the mistle was visible to them both. Wasting no time, she carefully pushed her fingers into the softer dirt near the plant’s base and began digging the thing out. Within the minute, it’d been exhumed and was now cradled in both of her hands as a dimly glowing flower sitting in a small patch of dirt. Bits of concrete were still stuck to its roots. ”Okay.”

---

Dallas, Akaia, and Licorice made their escape from the house while narrowly avoiding fallen pieces of wood and drywall. The structure was in such a fragile shape that even the slightest disruption was causing sections of the walls and ceiling to fall apart.

Dallas cleared the final doorway just in time to behold the colossal mass of flesh laying waste to the city. When he saw it, his heart nearly fell into his stomach. Though his face didn’t betray his thoughts, he was secretly panicking over the idea of an entire city block going up in flames. He looked between Desmond and Erik and started to speak.

“Erik, why the fuck is there a Tsar out here!?” Dallas impulsively blurted out. Realizing how alarmed he sounded, he took a composed breath and straightened his respirator. ”Shit, I mean, listen! We found the mistle.” Dallas nodded to Akaia, who tenderly opened her hands to reveal their golden egg. ”Look boss, if there’s a Tsar in this city then delivering this mistle is the last of our worries. What’s our plan for not getting turned into ash!?”

---

Place(s): Ruined City
Time: Feb 23rd, 2057 - Late Afternoon
Interaction(s): Team Ajax-Cerise-Lysandra-Vincent

---

Things had suddenly went from cautiously calm to all-out chaos all in the span of a few minutes. Cerise had paused just as Ajax suddenly seemed to sense something. At first, she wasn't entirely sure, but upon seeing that Ajax was also having a reaction, she quickly decided that something was indeed off. As Lys called out for someone to spot for her, Cerise immediately moved to action. "Got it, Lys! I'm going to a high ground!" A moment later, Cerise's eyes glowed bright red as she became engulfed in shadows, disappearing from sight. Not long after that, she reappeared fully. It took her several 'jumps' using her power, but she had now managed to perch herself on top of a tall, half ruined bell tower about 30 meters high from the ground.

There, crouched with Lariat stabilized on one corner of the building, it was not difficult for Cerise to reorient herself; not with the faint tremors and collapsed buildings that she can clearly spot about 500 meters away from where she and the rest of her team were. Cerise's eyes opened wide from surprise. At such a long distance, it was still not very clear with the debris and dusts from the collapsing building partially concealing it, and yet it was also very obvious that the creature must be huge and powerful to be able to do what it was doing. Is that a... No... Please, don't be one of those. It was not the first time Cerise had encountered such a creature before, and it was not difficult for her to guess what it possibly was. Fearing the worst, she regardless started to prepare Lariat, aiming down the scope to get a better look at the creature.

And as it soon became clear to her that her hunch was right, the creature's massive roar all but confirmed what it was. No. No no no no no! Not now of all time! Through her scope, she were also able to confirm that the creature was very close to where the other team were. The situation was quickly going critical. She leaned out of the tower and just as she was about to shout, she heard Lys already shouting and confirming it to the rest of the team. She then shouted her own words to them. "YES, I SAW IT! LYS, AJAX, VINCENT, GO! I'LL FIRE AT IT FROM HERE!"

And with that, Cerise returned to looking through Lariat's scope, sight on the massive 15 meters tall creature. Her hands were shaking, from the intensity of the situation, the danger involved, and out of fear for the lives of her comrades that were in direct path of the creature. She took a deep breath just to calm her nerves down. About 500 meters... Wind speed... Favorable. Direction... Non issue. Yes. You can do this, Cerise. You have to! 500 meters in favorable conditions, way within Lariat's capability to deal serious damage... At least, that would be the case if the target had been a thrall, an infernal, or other such enemies. A Tsar Bomba? It will take a LOT of ammo to bring it down. She probably doesn't even have enough ammo with her to do so... But then again she was not alone. No, all she needed to do was to focus on doing her part as one of the Commune's sharpshooters, helping her comrades as much as she can from long distance; allowing her to not be a burden that needed protecting.

".... Alright. Let's do this." She breathed in and out deeply once more, and then she was calm and focused. She said nothing more. Instead, in place of her voice were the booming sounds of Lariat's roars, the noise of rifle bolt being cocked after each roar, and the swishing of bullets flying through the air as each one impacted on the gigantic target threatening her comrades.

Location: Ruined City inner city
Interactions: Team Mistle, Ajax

---

Poppy followed the events unfolding from higher up, her eyes shifting from one place to the next. She surveyed the area, flitting between buildings. The unmistakable and terrifying roar of a Tsar Bomba came at her. It instantly sent shivers through her body, skin prickling and senses on high alert. The Sidhe steadied herself on a ledge and relaxed her wings.
"A Tsar Bomba....."

"If it explodes it will destroy all of us."
The safest plan would be to retreat, sample or not. Poppy didn't want any of them to die. She soon realized that plan was no longer an option. It was moving towards them at an alarming pace. Fear spread through her in a way she hadn't felt in years. She started to breathe faster, her chest heaving, the onset of a panic attack. Poppy opened the sides of her mask with trembling hands, allowing more air to fit through. At the same time she upped the oxygen supply to compensate for the small amount of pollution in the air. Spores escaped immediately, sticking to area around her. The fear exponentially increased the speed of their growth. A trail of red flowers sprouted from the broken ledge.

Erik's question snapped her out of it. She closed her mask and took back control over her fear. She rose up into the sky narrowly dodging a swooping tentacle. It was much closer than any of them had realized. The medic stood face to face with the immense creature and she could only think of one thing. She raced back down towards her group.
"RUN!!!"

The buildings around them trembled, the movement of the Tsar Bomba reverberating through the entire block. The shaking off the fragile buildings created dangerous pathways. Stone and metal parts came crashing down from up high. It forced Poppy to take her eyes off of the team below and ensure she wouldn't get hit by the flying debris. She decided to gain more altitude to get a read on the position of the Tsar Bomba. It was being attacked by Lysandra's drones and in the distance she heard the unmistakable sound of Cerise firing Lariat.

Poppy caught on to what they were doing. She cast one pained glance at her allies below an rushed to cover the distance to the other half of the Commune. She crash landed next to Lysandra and Ajax, forgetting her ankle was injured. Poppy drew in a sharp breath at the pain and took a minute to catch her breath. She steadied herself on Ajax's shoulder, looking at him with both fear and determination.
"We need to distract it. We can't let it get to the others."

With no time to waste Poppy immediately got back into the air and fired her crossbow at the same spots Lysandra's drones were aiming for. She kept shooting and reloading and was quickly running out of ammunition.

_{Location | The Ruined City
Time | February 23^rd - Evening
Interaction | V-C-A-L Squad; Lysandra (with @Force and Fury)}

---

Ajax kept on his way in the lead of the pack, senses on high alert. As their squad progressed further into the arid skeleton of the city, he kept his eyes moving. On the low, given that Cerise had found one of her memory fragments here, Ajax hoped that perhaps he could find one as well…It had been quite some time since the last one, and that agitated the hunter in the back of his mind. However, he was more than disciplined enough to keep to the course they were on; the safety of his squad depended on that.

As far as observation went, in the direction they were headed, the Sword took note of the growing amount of Grimes. Although the slime creatures didn’t impede their path, nor present much of a threat themselves, it could be an omen of more Lost ahead. Since their last encounter hadn’t exactly gone well, he was more on guard, as there were much less of them now and Vincent was still injured. That was when he felt it, and he stopped in place. He raised his hand as he did, indicating to the squad to pause.

Rumbling beneath his feet, barely audible to even his hearing, yet without pattern. Definitely not an earthquake, or footsteps…yet there was an eerie familiarity to it. As memory of Cerberus served him with regards to various Lost, as well as the implication made by Lysandra earlier…His head turned to her as she broke the news to their group.

Before he could make a call, Vincent had already broken into a sprint for the other group; running through walls in an already crumbling city. Good heart, boneheaded decisions. Regardless, as each member sprung into action in their own way, Ajax stuck close to Lysandra who had gone into her ‘drone zone’. The last thing they needed was for her to just be out in the open alone and somewhat unaware of her surroundings.

Lys was almost wholly immersed in a world of pure videogame combat, darting and dodging tentacles with Sky Princess as Sage hovered above her keeping a proximity alert. A notice flashed through her heads-up display as Poppy approached and the group's lone human gave a brief, blind thumbs-up.

With her clearly still being unstable on the ground at least, the Sword had a hand ready to catch the Sidhe pixie. Though with her determined task laid out to them, Ajax nodded as she flew off. Ajax recognized that they needed to move; he needed to be there for the distraction to be more effective.

”Alright Legs, we need to hit the ground runnin’.” He called before throwing an arm beneath and between her wheeled chair to lift it with one arm.

Lys died a little bit inside at the quip, but it was more or less a routine thing at this point. It was weird being around people and hearing them, but not feeling like she was around them. With the headset on, she was Sky Princess. Presently, a sharpened tendril came shooting out for Vincent and she blunted it with a rocket strike. It was enough to make the thing recoil, but Princess’ regular payload wasn’t having much of an impact except when it struck things like those ‘eyes’. Wasting my fucking ammo, dude. Goddammit! There was a brief pause in the action and she responded to Ajax, pursing her lips in unamused duckface. ”Alright, arms, let’s roll. Pops is right: we need to distract it. That means drawing Big Ugly off.”

Clearly not much fazed by how little she weighed, even with the chair, Ajax started on the rush down the street. His coat straightened and flapped behind him as he raced towards the increasing sounds of carnage. ”Once we’re close enough, I’m going to go in to help with the diversion directly.”

“Roger that, chief, and thanks for the lift.”

The crashing of debris and gunfire now much clearer in earshot, Ajax put Lys down, just out of sight. ”Alright. Keep an eye out, as soon as they are out of there, start rolling out. Once you have a good head start, signal to us with the drone and we’ll follow after you.”

Lys flicked Princess’ controls and the drone momentarily buzzed up outside of the Tsar Bomba’s reach. She flipped her headset up and glanced Ajax’s way. “Don’t have to tell me twice.” She paused for a moment, extricating her breath mask from a backpack pocket. “And watch out for that powder cloud thing it does. That shit messes with your eyes.” She slipped it over her nose and mouth and pulled the headset down over her eyes. “Stay safe out there. I’ve got your back.”

On that note, Ajax ducked out of the corner and sped for the action. Time was of the essence, but he would be very deliberate. Although to catch its attention, it’d need to take damage, the Sword would be wary of going for the kill. It would not be worth the risk of a final explosion, especially with his allies all so close. Thus when he arrived on the scene, he took notice of the direction where Poppy and Cerise were firing.

Calculating his route, he lowered into a crouch start with one hand on the ground. When the other unsheathed his blade, his body surely became a blur to the eye as he sprinted full force for the Tsar Bomba. He timed a jump as a tentacle was coming down, using a two-handed slicing motion to diagonally dismember that limb. Ignoring a possible roar of pain, the Sword nimbly flipped between retaliating spikes that protruded to impale him. With one quick strike in, he got out of range of the Bomba’s body. Using a perpendicular building as a springboard to repeat the process, this time he jumped nearer to the head.

Hopefully the ones inside got what they needed, because now all of them were on a dangerous time table…

---

---

---

---

Lys’ thoughts mirrored Ajax’s. The Bomba was in turns recoiling or lashing out, unleashing terrifying wails and roars. There was… something about it that filled her with a sense of primeval terror in a way that more humanlike Lost - even ones just as powerful - didn’t.

Ajax sliced a tentacle free, which thrashed and wriggled like a giant dying worm underfoot before dissipating, but a new one just grew up in its place, the damage impressive in appearance but ultimately negligible. Lariat struck true and the beast roared, weeping blackish pus from its damaged eye-hole. A whitish grey mist spread through the area and it took Lys a moment to notice it through Sky Princess’ camera. She pulled her mask away from her mouth for a second and shouted at the top of her lungs. “Protect your eyes, people! That stuff is blinding! Desmond: mask on!” She suited words to action and sealed hers back over her mouth and nose.

A bolt from Poppy’s crossbow struck true along with one of Princess’ rockets. The glowing red pits ruptured, and pungent, corrosive slime splashed down across the battered pavement, burning and scarring the concrete. The Tsar Bomba let out a higher-pitched shriek that reverberated through the evening sky. Lesser lost scampered about, snarling, chattering, and gnashing their teeth. This was bad: really bad. The massive grime had slowed, but was still headed broadly in the direction of the group.

Then, Lysandra got an idea. “Ajax,” she called, “Vincent. I need you two to make it feel some real pain. I need it facing me and roaring!” The mouth. That led directly inside it. That had to be a point of vulnerability, but one that the melee types couldn’t reach. If she could feed it some high explosive, that might really do some damage. She’d have to hope that Cerise would catch on as well. Poppy had switched targets as needed and was cleaning up Thralls, and Erik seemed to be working on something with Dallas but he, too, had taken out some of the nuisance enemies.

”Oh, I can do pain!” Vincent called out, though it was hard to hear Lysandra over the noise the massive grime and surrounding Lost were making. He stood on the pile of rubble he had perched on to avoid the mist, cracked his neck, then brandished his improvised weapon as energy flickered across his shoulders and down his arms once more.

He then leapt from his perch and into an open second-floor window of a nearby building. He sprinted down the length of the floor as the building worked to provide cover, though he still had to jump over and slide under the occasional tentacle. As he made his approach, using holes in the ceiling to ascend a couple more floors, a flash of inspiration hit him. ”Ajax! Sync up with me!” he yelled. With that, he crashed through the window on the far side of the building and launched himself at the Bomba. He landed on the base of the nearest tentacle and began to hop from one to the next, using them as platforms as he ascended higher up the monster.

Vincent and Ajax were doing their thing. Lys knew they would give her the opening that she needed but, to her horror, as she watched, the surface of the Tsar Bomba began to bubble around its eye holes. The three eyes that had seemingly been taken out reemerged, no worse off than before. Its ability to take punishment was unbelievable!

The Sword in the meanwhile had been pinballing in a circle around the creature, putting his agility on full display. Throughout varying aerials and swift slashes, he’d been keeping an eye on Vincent’s position. When falling down into the gas cloud, he shut his eyes. Having taken a mental snapshot of his landing position, he rolled upon impact with the ground. Using the momentum from the motion, he sprung up into a jump up and out of the cloud again.

Now able to see his surroundings again, an arm smashed through a window on the opposing building from Vincent to grab hold. Ajax turned his head behind him to see his contemporary leaping from the creature’s tentacles. Remembering the admonition from both him and Lys, Ajax began to climb up higher with Vin’s pace in mind. When near the top, he looked down to where Vin was one more time to confirm the timing. Then, pushing off of the wall, he let himself drop to sync his downward attack with Vincent’s upward.

Of course, it wasn’t all quite as smooth as the two of them thought. Ajax’s agility was stunning and Lys let out a low whistle, mostly inaudible, in appreciation, but there were still a lot of tentacles. She had to expend two more rockets on protecting Vincent from being blindsided, and one on Ajax, which she hoped she’d be able to tease him about later, assuming they all got out of this intact. Only five left, she lamented inwardly, making a snap decision. She set Princess to follow a specific target and sync her fire with it, moving the drone out of the colossal grime’s range. Then, Lysandra flipped back her headset, grabbed her bow, and plucked a very particular and rather heavy arrow from her quiver. She nocked it, raised her bow to the right angle, and pulled back, ready to loose.

Vincent looked up to see Ajax in freefall above the grime and knew it was now or never. He leapt off of a final tentacle and held his improvised weapon over his shoulder. Time seemed to slow down for him as he drew in a deep breath through his mask. He tightened his grip on the rebar as he felt power flow through his muscles. His silver eyes flashed red and, with a roar, he swung with all of his might. As his weapon made contact, the Tsar Bomba’s flesh rippled as a low boom could be heard.

The two of them impacted at almost exactly the same time: Vincent smashing and Ajax slashing, the latter carving a deep furrow in the beast’s disgusting flesh. Lys didn’t even wait for the roar. She sighted where its mouth would open, pulled back with all of her considerable arm strength, and let the nitroglycerin-packed arrow fly. The Tsar Bomba unleashed a deafening noise and the bellow was so loud that most of the people close by visibly flinched.

Lysandra’s eyes followed the arrow as Ajax and Vincent wasted no time in clearing the area. Into the great grime’s mouth the projectile flew, joined moments later by a bright barrage of smaller projectiles as Sky Princess unloaded her entire payload. From a distance, the repeated fire of Cerise’s Lariat could be heard. Lys eyes widened and she grinned in malevolent glee as a colossal explosion shook the Tsar Bomba. For a moment, it was only visual, before the sound and shockwave reached her. Her hair whipped about her head and shoulders like so many tendrils of her own and her jacket fluttered behind her. “Fuck you, Eldritch motherfucker! Hahahahaaa! Eat it!”

She had calculated on the fly as best she could: just enough explosive force to stop the monster dead in its tracks without triggering its self-destruct instinct. It took a moment for the flash and smoke to clear and Lys lowered her bow, ready to behold the results.

---

---

Desmond Mores

---

"What was that sound, did they kill it?" Desmond said while running with the group. A fricking Tsar Bomba. He remembered Lys talking about that once, but he never expected to face one. Let alone seeing one die or rather hear one die if that is what that sound was. If it did blow, then chances are they would be dead. And the last thing he wants is to leave Amelia in this world alone. All for a mistle that they luckily found. Well, Akaia found it and got into some trouble, but things seemed good now.

However, if this city is hosting a Tsar Bomba, then this city might host other dangers they have yet to encounter. Though what can top a fricking Tsar Bomba? But, now that they have the mistle so they can just leave this cursed city and head back to base and get their reward. Even if their reward is useless to him personally. Either way, Desmond kept pace with his team and kept running. This day is not over yet, and who knows what else lies in this city.

---

Desmond and Akaia didn't have a revenant's supernatural strength, so Dallas was naturally pulling ahead of the team. While they were on the retreat, he had to squash his natural desire to run back and grab everyone in a fireman carry. Erik was picking up the slack from behind, and if the other two were in dire need then Erik's barriers would protect them. Dallas focused on watching out for new enemies or obstacles that might hinder the retreat. Despite all the noise the immediate area was devoid of Lost, which made him wonder if they were afraid of the massive grime or if there was some other reason. A sudden gust of air pulled Poppy's shawl off the handle of his axe. Dallas was quick to react and snatched it in mid-air as he continued to run.

Dallas stopped sprinting for a moment to look over his shoulder. Akaia was really falling behind. Erik was pretty close to her though, so if she couldn't go on he would be able to help. Desmond was keeping up surprisingly well for a human. Desmond didn't run as fast as Dallas, but he ran much more efficiently, exhibiting parkour feats someone like Dallas wouldn't bother with. Dallas turned his head forwards again and continued. He didn't know how far Erik intended to lead them or what the next step was. He simply hoped for the safety of the other team.

---

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---

---

There are some things a person doesn't have to be told twice, Lys thought as she whirled on the spot. They were instinctual, automatic survival behaviours, like "OMG run for your life." The problem, she decided, as she frantically paused to strap her bow to the back of her wheelchair, is that my instincts are all wrong. Even after four years as a paraplegic, her monkey brain still hadn't gotten the 'line down' memo and was still trying to send messages through a cable that was out.

The Bomba lurched to the side, shuddering and flailing. Its 'head' was almost split in half at the mouth and the top flopped back disgustingly as it began to reform. Lysandra put hands to wheels and was starting to pick up speed when a piece of rubble snuck up on her and thumped beneath one of her caster wheels. She pitched to the side and swerved and, when she glanced down in front of herself, noticed that one of her feet had been jarred from its footrest and was dangling limply in front of her.

The others blew past her, shooting concerned glances her way, but Lys shook her head tightly at them. She didn't need anymore help even if, truly, she did. Instead, she let out a sigh of vexation, grabbed her leg as she was coasting, and shoved the errant foot back into place. The gigantic grime let out an ear-ripping howl and thrashed some more and, had she the ammunition, she'd have turned right around and done her damnedest to kill it, if only to protect Akaia's precious find. How the scientist yearned to have a crack at that mistle: a real, live specimen!

Yet, she pushed that to the back of her thoughts. The next twenty meters were all dodging divots and bracing for rubble. Her chest heaved, her arms and shoulders burned with exertion, and she had to push herself further up into her seat twice. Then, just like that, she was in the clear and it was a nice, straight, gentle downhill. Lysandra's face lit up with a relieved smile and she more or less flew. The Tsar Bomba was well behind her now and had evidently decided that anything that could hurt it so badly was pointless to chase until it was fully recovered. By then, Lys had plans to be in a van, headed back to the Crows' Nest. She counted the others ahead of her and, eventually, far enough away and having to deal with some slightly trickier terrain, she scrubbed most of her speed and let herself coast, hands lightly on her wheels for 'just-in-case'. She reached up to brush a few sweaty locks of hair from her eyes and took a deep, satisfying breath, feeling a twinge of sympathy for the others who could no longer do the same. Mission accomplished, she thought to herself. Now the real work begins.

---

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Victorious Retreat

Cerise kept on shooting at the Tsar Bomba as her comrades retreated away from the massive creature. Even as the gigantic grime struggled to reform, the booming sound of Lariat's shots remained echoing through the air. After the first few hasty shots, Cerise shifted her aim to specifically target the likely weak points of the Tsar bomba, namely the eyes and mouth, and it had worked wonders. Six..... Five..... Four..... Still, Cerise knew she cannot kept her attack going for much longer. Only four bullets remained until she ran out of ammunition. But then again, the objective was not to try to bring down the Tsar Bomba, but merely to stop it to allow everyone to get to safety. And that objective, it seemed, was looking right on track to be successfully fulfilled.

Cerise took a deep breath in and out, and one more bullet flew out of Lariat's muzzle, landing cleanly and piercing one of the creature's eyes just as it almost finished to reform it. This earned her a pained bellow from the gigantic creature as it nonetheless continued attempting to reform. It also gave her the time to shift her focus to check if her comrades had managed to sufficiently retreat, and upon doing so Cerise realized that such was indeed the case. The fighting retreat had, in effect, been a success. She relaxed at once, letting a big breath out. Thank goodness...

She stopped firing after that, there was no more need for it after all, and further attacks might end up attracting the Tsar Bomba's attention again. She retreated from the tower, quickly heading down by a combination of climbing and using her blood powers to teleport around. Soon enough, she rendezvoused with the others back on the ground, greeting them all with a big relieved smile. Whether or not the other team had found the mistle was not something she currently cared much about. It was secondary next to the safety of her comrades.

INNER CITY

---

The members of the Commune were hauled up on the side of a street after a harrowing escape from the Tsar Bomba. Their improvised but impeccable teamwork allowed them to complete the objective with minimal casualties. It was a testament to the trust they had in each others skills. A select few had entered inside a broken-down building, it's original purpose barely identifiable. Others remained vigilant outside, fighting the post battle exhaustion best they could.

Poppy was perched on the remains of a busstop. She sat with her back against the glass, her eyes were closed, shawl wrapped around her like a blanket. The Sidhe appeared unposed, but was acutely aware of her surroundings. Next to her sat a makeshift box, containing the mistle, secured in a handful of soil.

---

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---

---

Lys cracked a lopsided smile as she rolled up to Akaia’s find. “Well, wouldja lookie here: it’s a radio, complete with…” She paused, furrowing her brow. “Ooh, it’s an old one.” She tucked some hair behind an ear, body language halfway between exhausted from her recent narrow escape and excited.

Erik grinned widely beneath his mask as Akaia unveiled her discovery. He crouched down to get a better look. “Now this is a find!” He gave Akaia two thumbs up and stood to allow Lys to fiddle with the radio.

She bent over and played around with a few things. “Heh, that’s a record player on top. It was considered ‘classic’ even before the collapse. I… know someone who used to have one.”

“Oh my. A record player," Cerise remarked, "huh… Sure brings back some feelings of nostalgia, doesn’t it?” She giggled briefly and Lysandra flashed a quick smile back, but she had become engrossed with the machine, mind evidently swirling with possibilities as it was wont to do. Perhaps her inner child couldn't help itself. After a few moments, however, she blinked and straightened, half-twisting to look at Akaia. “It’s absolutely lovely. Looks like it somehow escaped any really serious water damage too.” She glanced at the others - “Been a while since we’ve had a good radio…” - and turned on the spot, eyes roving curiously across the room. “Think we can spare literally two minutes to poke around?” She addressed Erik and, as she spoke, of course, she was already reaching into a pouch on her backpack. ‘No’ clearly wasn’t going to be an acceptable answer, but it was clear by his body language that he also couldn't wait to work on it. “Two minutes?" he laughed, I was thinking five!”

Lys tossed a pair of flashlights onto her lap and flicked one on, settling it between her knees. “We’re in a music store,” she said matter-of-factly, “which is a mecca for things like this. You’re going to look for big black discs -” she gestured out the approximate size with her hands “- and little rectangular things with two holes in them, for the cassette player. They might be in packaging, so open things up.” While she spoke, Erik proceeded to look around but only in his immediate surroundings to start - almost as if he already knew what he was searching for. Lys bit her lower lip for a second, probably not keen on being out later, but too tempted to be prudent. “If you need a flashlight, by the way, I have an extra.” Her eyes darted about. “I know we’re on the clock, so maybe we can divide and conquer? I’m gonna look for something else: been trying to find a new mic for the karaoke machine and I’d rather not have to make one from scratch.”

Erik glanced her way momentarily, and then at Cerise. “You can take the flashlight if you want, Cerise, and you know, I'm still wondering what happened to that thing.” He added at Lys' mention of finding a new mic for the karaoke machine.

“Truly one of the Commune’s great mysteries,” she sighed.

“Oh sure, big bro!” Cerise managed to get a word in and she took the flashlight. Lysandra knew that she actually already had one herself, but the group's scout was never one to say no... to anything.“Anyways, just look for records and cassettes, right?" Lys nodded by way of reply. Got it~” Cerise proceeded to do just that, turning on the flashlight while looking around the store for those items. It wasn't a particularly difficult task, considering that they were in a music store, even if it was a long-abandoned one.

Lys, meanwhile, made an immediate beeline for a door near the back behind the counter area. That was where all the goodies were in stores like this: usually in boxes. Of course, ‘beeline’ was a ferociously relative term at that moment. After wheeling at full tilt away from that Tsar Bomba, her arms felt little more useful than her stupid legs. Of course, that too was relative.

As the others were searching, Akaia gingerly picked up the player and placed it in an empty space on the counter. She turned to stand next to it and looked over the first batch of items Cerise had found. Nothing in particular stood out to her as the splash of colors and words seemed to coalesce into an unintelligible thing.

Naturally, the door that Lys was trying to open was locked. Naturally, Lysandra Tran, once Fresh Haven’s best scrounger, had a solution for that. She reached into her bag, fished a set of thin strange–looking metal hooks free, and jerried the lock open with one. Inside was a treasure trove: dusty old boxes just positively filled with audio junk. Grateful for Erik’s enthusiastic “five minutes”, she eagerly set to work and, before long, her lap was laden with dozens of items. Then, she hit pay dirt. “Found it!” she called, at full stretch to fumble down a box with an image of a microphone on it. It half-fell into her arms and she grinned like a Cheshire cat. Lys came rolling out of the back room, quite pleased with herself. “It’s karaoke time!” she chirped, pulling up beside Akaia just on time for Cerise to arrive and show off the smorgasbord of audio delights she’d found.

“Well, I’ve managed to scrounge some up." Go ahead and check these out, Lys!”

Lysandra grinned broadly. “You're the best, Cherry." She took a few seconds to sift through them before realizing that there were far too many. She straightened. "Promise I'll do it, homey, but on our way back. This is such a haul!” She bobbed up and down and sways from side to side a bit, smiling and snapping her fingers. “I can feel the music already! Ugh, this place is great. We need to come back if we can. There’s a lot more here. Speaking of which…” she twists to look for Erik. “What’d you find, gramps? Got us some good dadrock?”

Erik's head popped up like a prairie dog from the furthest aisle. “I wish! I didn't really find anything on this end.” Beside him but unseen by the others were the remnants of a revenant ash pile. “I grabbed a few tucked away vinyls around, but I'm kind of afraid to take them out of their jackets. Might need a more delicate hand.” He took a quick reflexive glance back at the aisle as he walked up carrying four white vinyl jackets in one hand and a miniature orb shaped barrier in the other. The faint light coming off the orb was a makeshift torchlight.

Cerise looked very much pumped up at the prospect of having a little karaoke party back in the Crows’ Nest. “Hehe, karaoke huh? I can’t wait for it! It’ll be just the perfect thing to lift everyone’s spirit after what we just went through.” She clapped her hands a few times, looking giddy. “Who knows, maybe one or more of our newer friends are actually really good at singing, and then we’ll have a singer that can accompany me playing the piano in the Great Room~”

“Ahem,” says Lys, “Are you saying I’m not talented?” She posts her hands on her hips for a moment, but then removes them and takes everyone in. “But seriously: they say all’s well that ends well, whoever the proverbial ‘they’ are. Doesn’t mean that wasn’t hell, though. I think we could all use a wind-down.”

Akaia nodded at Lysandra in agreement and it was, without doubt, the most unarguable shared sentiment of the day.

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A weary Akaia stuck to the heels of Cerise as both girls left the store. By now the sun was sunk behind distant mountain ranges and the horizon was ablaze in color. Brilliant red and orange hues danced at the edges of a night sky that was spreading far above them and with its arrival, the last light of the day died out. The circles around Akaia's eyes were almost impossible to see now but the brighter spark in Cerise's was as impossible to miss now as it ever was.

Walking along with Akaia, Cerise noticed the exhaustion in her best friend’s every movements. It was the main reason why she had decided to accompany her outside instead of staying inside with Lysandra and Erik. She gently held Akaia’s left arm with her right hand to support her, and was ready to offer more. “Want to rest a bit, ‘Kaia? Should we sit somewhere? You can lay your head on my lap if you want to take a little nap. I can keep watch all the same, hehe. Oh, right, before that…” She waved and called out to the other members of the Commune that were outside the store. “Hey everyone! We found a pretty good place to scavenge for stuff! Go ahead and check it out if you want, Lys and Erik are inside!” She pointed at the entrance of the store behind her and Akaia.

As Cerise addressed the rest of the commune, Akaia moved a little closer to her and leaned her head on her shoulder. A yawn escaped her lips. Cerise turned to face her again, nodded with an affectionate smile on her face, and then started leading Akaia to a nearby miraculously-in-decent-condition bench so she'll be able to rest more comfortably.

---

Dallas was sitting cross legged on the roof of an abandoned car while Erik was leading most of the girls on a scavenger hunt. The whole team had been walking, running, and fighting for what felt like hours. His feet were close to blistering, and Dallas could feel his toes cramping inside his boots. He was seriously contemplating taking a nap in the driver's seat of this sedan.

With nothing to do but recuperate, Dallas explored his jacket pockets for something to kill time with. He still had that book of magic tricks he brought with him. That might be interesting. Dallas felt his fingers brush against something he didn't recognize. It was small and thin. He retrieved it and his eyebrow raised in bemusement. I still had this thing...?

It was an old candy cigarette. Dallas forgot he even had it on his person. Erik shared it with him not long after he showed up to the Crow's Nest. During one of her many forays into the city, Akaia had apparently found a retro candy store. Dallas remembered them marking that spot with a much bigger circle than usual...

Dallas turned the plastic wrapped confection between his fingers. It was most certainly a confectionery, but it looked disturbingly like the real thing. It even had the brown filter tip. Dallas pulled the thin plastic off and, without reservation, held the candy stick between his lips. Right away, he could taste the chalky sugar. There was also something else inside. Powdered candy? Dallas seldom ate sweets so he had a hard time describing the artificial flavor. It was citrusy though. As he chewed on the fake cigarette, Dallas childishly blew the powdered candy out the other end. The sweet cloud hung in the air for a brief moment before being dispersed by the wind.

Dallas saw Cerise and Akaia exiting the building and spat the candy out. “Hey everyone! We found a pretty good place to scavenge for stuff! Go ahead and check it out if you want, Lys and Erik are inside!” Cerise happily waved at everyone. Dallas uncrossed his legs and slid off the roof of the car. When his feet touched the ground, he suddenly felt an uncomfortable yet familiar sensation creep through his body. Dallas shook his head and called out to the others.

"Actually, I need a bathroom break. I'll be right back."

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The alleyway Dallas chose was a sizeable distance away from the group. He didn't want to disturb anyone's peace of mind with the sound of a man relieving himself. It was filthy as expected, with discarded trash and rumble lying everywhere. The fire escape stairs overhead were mangled and the alley smelled like a dead cat. Dallas quickly started to take care business while looking side to side in paranoia, not wanting to get ambushed by a Lost with his fly open.

After a few minutes, Dallas was finished. He straightened himself out and breathed a sigh of relief. He'd consumed a few too many blood packs and water bottles on this trip. Dallas grabbed his axe which had was leaning against a dumpster and started to walk back towards the street. Just as he was about to reach the end of the alleyway, a bright light flashed in front of him. Without warning, a translucent gray barrier had blocked his exit. Dallas's heart began pumping into overdrive. An infernal had snuck up on him! He turned around with his battle axe readied.

There, at the other end of the alley, stood the transgressor. Dallas gritted his teeth in anticipation of an attack, prepared to counter whatever ability the infernal decided to use. Moments passed, but the follow-up never came. They simply stood there. Dallas squinted his eyes suspiciously. He could barely feel the sweat drop crawling down his cheek. They're not moving at all. Is this person possibly sane? What the hell do they want from me?

A few tense seconds passed but neither Dallas nor his visitor made a move. Then, the other person slowly walked towards Dallas. Their face was obscured by the combination of a hood and their miasma filtering mask. Dallas looked for the person's hands, expecting them to be holding a weapon, but Dallas noticed that the sleeves of their pullover sweater hung limply at their sides. Still, it was clear that this was a revenant he was dealing with. An O-type at that. Their blood ability alone posed a threat to him, and in a space this small Dallas would be at a disadvantage if this individual meant to harm him.

No longer comfortable waiting for the other revenant to make a move, Dallas kicked himself off the ground and charged. He was fast, but they were faster. Several more barriers appeared and boxed him in place. As narrow as the alleyway was, Dallas was trapped. Damn...!

In a panic, Dallas smashed his axe into the energy field trying to find a weakness. As Dallas raged against his prison, the mysterious revenant closed the distance until the only thing separating the two of them was a barrier of light. Dallas ceased swinging his axe and slammed his body against the barrier. "Who are you!"

The revenant took an audible breath through their mask before addressing him. "It's okay Mr. Dallas... I'm not here to hurt you."

_{Interactions: Poppy (@dreamingflowers)}

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There was nothing quite like running for your life that got the blood flowing, as far as Vincent was concerned. While he would have loved nothing more than to stick around to finish off the Tsar Bomba, every instinct, the very thing that had kept him alive (or undead or whatever he was as a revenant) so far, he had was yelling at him to run, that there was no way he could kill it without causing it to explode. As much as he loved fighting, he knew when to cut and run.

By the time the group stopped to rest, the sun had started to dip below the horizon as it pulled a deep blue curtain flecked with stars across the sky. Vincent took a moment to look around before, having not seen anything in the dying light of the evening, he let out a long sigh. "Goddamn, that was fun!" he exclaimed as he stretched his arms over his head. "I haven't had a good time like that in as long as I can remember!" It was always a thrill for him to go up against a tough enemy and, as far as he could remember, that was the strongest one he had fought, yet. Due to his excitement, he was probably one of the few who wasn't tired.

It was then that he noticed Poppy sitting against an old bus stop. He heard Cerise call out to everyone that they found a place to scavenge, but he wasn't all that interested in whatever old stuff might be inside. Instead, he walked over to where Poppy was sitting and leaned against the glass of the bus stop next to her, his hands in the pockets of his coat. "Think this is the first time I got to chat with you since I joined up," he mused. "This is a good group. I'm glad we all got out of there with all our fingers and toes."

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With a start, Lysandra twisted. She immediately knew what Erik was talking about by his tone alone. Events had forced her to compartmentalize and push her earlier disquiet somewhere else, but now it trickled back in. Her fingers kept working, retensioning the spool on a cassette, but her eyes were all his... for a moment. Ever flighty, they flicked towards the outside, where Akaia had disappeared from view with Cerise, and flicked back. She nodded tightly, her shoulders flexing towards him. "Yeah," she replied simply, "you do." Finished with the cassette, she placed it gently on her lap and set hands to wheels, turning partway to face him but not all of the way. "But I understand in retrospect why that may not have been the appropriate time to address it." She shrugged, taking a moment to lock her brakes. "So, sorry. I'll own my panic." She swallowed and glanced down at her lap idly. "You know me well enough to know I'm not half as collected as I seem." Her eyes came back his way. "Just like I gather you also know it never should've happened in the first place." She shook her head, releasing a small breath, and her voice was earnest. "I've been with you for more than two years and I don't think I've ever given any sign that I'm not committed and trustworthy. If our goal is to actually fix this sad sack world, then I need all of the information, not just what you and the other longtimers think is 'need to know'. Not to sound like an ego case - " Lys knew that she did, sometimes. " - but I'm the expert on these matters. I need the opportunity to sift through all the information because I know what's going to be useful better than anyone else."

Unbidden and unwelcome, an intense spike of self-doubt stabbed at her insides and she wrapped an arm around herself. Sometimes she wondered: was she really any good? Was she actually useful? Was she the expert that she thought she was or was it all make-work like some kind of Truman Show? Did people just humour her and tell her what they thought she wanted to hear so that the poor human girl in the wheelchair would have a sense of purpose? Lysandra pushed the irrational thoughts down, however, not giving voice to such paranoia. "I've said my piece. It's cool." She shrugged. "Now spill the goods." She managed an expectant smile, not totally devoid of warmth by any means.

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"It's okay Mr. Dallas... I'm not here to hurt you."

A girl? Dallas thought to himself. "What are you, my stalker? If you want to talk we can do it without the barriers." The revenant shook her head in response. "I'm sorry. I had to make it look like I'm tormenting you or they'll start to suspect me." She looked over her shoulder fearfully before turning back to Dallas. "This might be the only chance I have to talk to you for a while..."

Dallas slapped his hand against the barrier, sending a ripple through the wall of light. His captor instinctively recoiled at the sudden noise. "Who is they!? Who is watching? You're talking nonsense right now!" The girl didn't respond to his line of questioning. She closed her eyes, and an object floated out of her sweater pockets, carried by some unknown force. It was something round, but it was wrapped in a piece of cloth. It softly landed on the ground between them. "I want to tell you everything Mr. Dallas. I do, but it would take more time than I currently have. This is all I can give you." After offering Dallas the mysterious gift, his uninvited guest began walking away. Before exiting the alley, she stopped to speak one last time.

"You don't know how broken you are... What they've done to you..." The revenant girl sounded like she was choking back a sob. "They said that they're going to come for you again soon. You need to get stronger. We need you to get stronger. You're... you're the only one who can save us now." Just as soon as she arrived, she was gone. Once the revenant was out of sight, the barriers around Dallas gradually faded away. Though he was free, he continued to remain standing in place, feeling confused by the girl's cryptic words. He could scarcely comprehend what just took place.

What the fuck is going on? Dallas rubbed his temples in frustration. There were so many things to think about based on that short exchange. Who was she? Why did she seem to know who he was? Most importantly, who is coming? It was too much to take in. Dallas knelt down and carefully took possession of the object wrapped in cloth. It was hard as a rock, and its surface was jagged and uneven. It felt like holding a large gemstone.

When his hand closed around it, Dallas swore he could hear faint voices echoing in his head. However, the sensation quickly disappeared. Was he imagining it? He didn't let curiosity get the better of him and stowed the item in his jacket. At the very least, it probably wasn't going to explode. This simply didn't seem like the best time or place to investigate the package. The crew would start looking for him if he didn't go back now. Dallas hefted his axe over his shoulder and began walking to the bus stop, his thoughts filled with turmoil.