Marrie had enough time to recover from casting Flight by the time she and Orion reached the door, which was probably a life saver. In preparation of a battle, she lengthened the chains on Apexer Predator while it was hidden in her sleeve to about 15 feet, careful to keep it all hidden and off the ground. When the door opened she saw Sofron holding a gun of some time, she didn't think, she just reacted. She cast a melody to hopefully save her life at the same time that she rushed at the man and swung out with her instrument, swinging it to try to wrap around and embed itself into to enemy esper.

[Silver Self - Warm: Storm]

As she swung her right arm around with her dagger flying in an arc towards Sofron, she was enveloped in a blistering wind that would hopefully keep away the gunfire and ran head-first towards him. She instinctively retracted her instrument's chains slowly, trying to compensate for closing the distance between her and her target.

---

Jacqueline left the receptionist outside, then returned to Fable. She looked over the blueprint he’d found. It seemed simple enough, and was accurate up to the elevator. There, its existence proved the building did indeed have a basement. Jacqueline wasn’t surprised.

At Breacher’s suggestion, she shook her head. “I don’t think we should split up. Anywhere we go might be traps, but especially downstairs. And…going against Arzendale by myself wasn’t the best, so. I’d rather not repeat that,” she grimaced as she said so. Maybe she was too worried for nothing, or maybe going together was actually playing into the doctor’s hand, but scouting an unknown location – a basement where she suspected all those thralls might be being kept – didn’t seem particularly safe.

“Or, if you really wanna, we need a plan how to quickly go down after you if we need to,” she added.

---

---

"Sometimes, I do not have witty thought quotes."
Current Location: The Aspiria Refuge, Corridor

Searching through the physical files almost had nothing of value. While there was just more buisness mumbo-jumbo he didn't have time to sort through, there was something that caught his eye. Blueprints. Not really detailed but good enough to use as a map. When Leroux regrouped with Fable, he simply passed it over to her to hold, which then was passed to Breacher. Either the map was that barebones, or the elevator they found was a recent renovation.

At the suggestion of Breacher scouting ahead again, the boy slightly frowned. "Are you sure that's a good idea? I mean, if the bastard currently watching us can stop the elevator too..." He softly voiced his concern, just in case whoever was watching them through the camera could hear them. Atleast Jacqueline agreed this might go sideways. "Well I can always try and get some temporary power running just in case. But I haven't tried doing something like that yet, so I dunno if it'll work." The Timekeeper suggested.

The night air blew past Klava, humid scents of shore and steam whisking away the smell of alcohol as she twisted out of one window and then up into another, just in time for a dining room table to be flung towards her. Food waste was terrible, and tossing furniture out into the waters below essentially counted as pollution and illegal dumping. Verdict? The rodent was a bitch.

“Snowball Stunner!”

As her sashes latched around the edges of the window, Klava’s left arm crossed her right, her Instrument glowing ever-bright with the consumption and transformation of atmospheric mana. She pulled the tablecloth out of her way and jabbed her beloved blade forward. A melody thrummed, and then snow swirled out, striking the flying table with a tightly-packed ball of snow, sending it back to the one that had flung it to begin with. With any luck, it’d cause enough of a pause that would allow Klava to secure her landing inside the penthouse.

And after that? It’ll be a good time to improvise.

There was something to be said about the intelligence of jumping out into the rushing winds and then rendering yourself more weightless than a slip of paper. In ordinary circumstances, after all, one would have been blown back immediately, flung into the sky by the wind before being dashed against the asphalt six seconds after.

However, while the laws of aerodynamics would have told one story, the illogic of magic allowed for another, and in that brief instance, rather than be sent so far back it would have been impossible for Tetrad to rejoin the fight again, the esper shot forwards thirty feet instead, Pit Boss releasing a stream of cards towards the mounted gun.

She heard from on high the clattering of dice.

But Tetrad would not have time to marvel at the results before the Patriot caught up from behind her, Lenny reaching out with a hand to secure Tetrad and giving her the stability needed to swing herself into the rear passenger seats of the cramped vehicle…just in time to feel the explosion of gunpowder of gasoline shake through their bones, the opposing vehicle exploding in a fireball of destruction that sent it somersaulting overhead the Patriot and smashing into the asphalt…ten, fifty, now a hundred meters away. Perhaps exposing your engine and then placing a shitton of gunpowder there as well wasn’t the smartest idea.

Regardless of the intelligence of those involved, however, all that remained was the armored truck itself, continuing along. The only question, really, was how to approach it without causing it to crash and turn the Maverick esper inside into scrambled eggs. And then there was that other issue…

The radio crackled, and a voice sounded out.

“Got you in sight. ETA 12 seconds. Hold tight, Tinderbox.”

And, if Tetrad turned to look behind, she could see it, the black silhouette standing out against the green of the treeline and the blue of the sky.

A helicopter was inbound

---

_{@SilverPaw@Majoras End}
*Ding!*

While the three debated, the elevator rose, opening up to unveil a small, cramped space that looked like it was just large enough to fit four people, shoulder-to-shoulder. There were only three buttons inside: one to close the door, one to hold the door, and one to call for help. Fluorescent lighting sparked off the stainless steel walls, and there was the near-overwhelming smell of sanitizer present, that sharp, sterile stench cutting ever more deeply due to the contrast with the warm aromas that otherwise pervaded the Aspiria Refuge.

It wasn’t sufficient, however, to completely mask the other smell that laid beneath. Leroux was familiar with it. She was, after all, the one who had been most exposed to it. The smell of blood, like a rusted scalpel pressed against the tip of her nose.

Time continued to pass. The elevator’s doors remained opened. Whatever was happening above or below would continue on with no respect for what the three agents wished. So, once again, the question posed itself.

What would they do?

---

_{@The World@Ponn@ERode}

By the time Klava yanked the table cover out of the way, the rodent woman was already airborne, flying through the air fist first. But with some quick thinking, Klava turned the table into a projectile. The snowball smacked into the table, shoving it up into the squirrel and carrying her into the air. With a grunt, she was moved clear out of the way, and Klava was able to arrive.

But she wouldn’t have much time to assess the situation. An acorn, barely perceivable in its position by a chair, erupted into a ploom of smoke. The dust hadn’t cleared before the rodent woman hooked the chair on one of her tonfas and swung it in Klava’s direction, fully intent on following it up with a barrage of strikes.

”I cashew off guard!”

Sofron was pouring lead in Marrie and Ashley's direction, but neither esper were willing to remain on the defensive Ashley’s shield was a bit on the small side, and it was just a matter of time before Sofron’s bullets broke through the wall. The party downstairs was too loud for most to hear the gunfire, and what those in the bar might think wasn’t a concern for the espers.

Ashley aimed her wand at Sofron, who moved his shotgun towards her exposed arm. At this range, the rounds he was using were potent enough to sever limbs. But the projectiles would be scattered on Marrie’s arrival. Mundane weapons were a bane to most espers, but the shotgun’s low rate of fire was just the sort of thing Marrie’s melody could deal with. With a projectile and a chained knife incoming, Sofron gave up his position and dove over the counter and into the kitchen.

But physical weapons were never Sofron’s most dangerous feature. It was his magic.

The flaming skull screamed its way towards the espers. It was far too potent for Marrie’s melody and ended up striking her. Only it passed through her like a specter without having any noticeable effects. Ashley would also be unable to get out of the way. It passed right through her shield, harmlessly flying out the other side into the wall behind her. But the wall was where it finally decided to activate. On impact, the burning skull sent rippling flames along the wall. The skull itself turned around to face the espers and grew, until it was tall enough to swallow a man.

Or act as a portal.

The skull opened its mouth again, but instead of a scream, thousands of gallons of water spilled in behind Ashley. She was knocked off of her feet and washed forward, between the counters that seperated the kitchen and lobby. Marrie wouldn't have much time before she was swept up too.

Baleful barrier!"

Sofron swung his hand at a nearby toaster. This did two things. First, it triggered a touch melody that created a row of burning skulls that ran down the counter top in both directions, walling off Sofron and closing off either side of the isle. The second thing it did was shove the toaster towards the conductive saltwater that Ashley and Marrie were being washed away in.

Typically salt water isn’t too dangerous because it is more conductive than the human body, and will dissipate in the wide ocean before it becomes a problem for the people bathing in it. But if you replace the ocean with a smaller tub of saltwater, the human body becomes a much more attractive conduit for the electrons trying to escape the water. Not fatal on its own, But with Sofron present, it wouldn’t have to be.

(Huh, maybe I need a map for this fight after all.)

_{@SilverPaw@Majoras End}

Her companion’s concern was warranted, but really, splitting up was a necessity in Su’s eyes. She’d have a much easier time defending herself if she didn’t also have to defend the others, especially in a cramped elevator stall that was just barely wide enough to accommodate the three of them. They still didn’t know what was going on on the top floor, but Su knew that she wasn’t going to have much luck convincing Jacqueline to split up, In truth, she felt the last operation would have gone worse if Jaquiline had stayed behind with everyone else and allowed their opponents to harass them with AoE effects. Regardless, Su’s idea for getting everyone to the lower floor in an emergency was pretty simple.

“If I get stuck, Havoc open door, right?” She stepped backwards into the elevator.. Su was unsure how much their observer could hear them talk, so she chose to be a bit cryptic in how she narrated the rest of her plan. She blinked at Jacqueline and pointed down at the floor. “I can castle way up too. I radio you shortly. We still not know what upstairs.”

Ugh, now that Su was standing in the elevator, this smelled pretty bad. She didn’t think the cleaners she used at home were this overpowering.

Regardless, she hoped that her allies would let her go down by herself, but she really didn’t have time to argue if they were still going to come down with her. Regardless of what they chose to do, the elevator would be going down shortly.

---

Maybe Luna underestimated how fast the Patriot was driving, or overestimated the amount of push her melody would grant her. It didn’t really matter though. Luna spent most of high school making fat stacks gambling while her class mates (read: suckers) learned how to conform to the wills of their corporate overlords. Now what was more important, tuition, or freedom?

Regardless, it was probably best if she remained inside the Patriot until this “weightless” thing wore off. Or at least that was the plan until Luna heard something on the radio, and remembered that the US government loves to solve issues by throwing money at them. It wasn’t a strategy that Luna despised, she was just a little envious, as that hadn’t worked out for the Mavericks so far.

”Hey Lenny, wanna see if you can give me a view of the passenger? I wanna swap with them, they might enjoy riding with you more.”

Luna opened the door to the Patriot. The weightless effect was starting to wear off, but she could still feel the wind rushing past her pretty hard. If only she had brought her helmet with her, she wouldn’t have to worry about getting smacked in the face by insects.; But her eyes weren’t stinging too badly, and she could feel this melody was going to be another good one. With any luck, she’d be able to clock the passenger and hitch a ride. They just needed to roll down the window and try to shoot at her…

Marrie was thrown against the wall by the force of the incoming tide, and smashed against it just as Orion did as well. Catching her breath gave her a precious four whole seconds to react, which she used to throw Orion over the counter to her left. She wasn't able to fully get her over, but she was high enough up on it to hopefully not be shocked by the toaster. Marrie pointed her instrument at the ground just in front of her, where the toaster would be landing, and then again at the ceiling above the same spot, casting a multi-melody before attempting to vault the counter as well.

[Silver Projectile - Portal - Multicast - Silver Projectile - Portal]

---

In a display of impressive agility, Sofron dodged both Gale’s blade and Ashley’s own energy bolt, and then dove for cover behind a counter. But not before firing off a flaming, spectral skull that phased through both espers and struck the wall beyond. Ashley wouldn’t have much time to dwell on the oddness of that experience, as the skull promptly opened a portal, from which a torrent of water surged into the suite. The force of the water was so strong, it knocked the Knight of Tomorrow off her feet and sent her sliding towards where a second melody had conjured an entire wall of flaming skulls. Two additional walls of skulls, combined with a nearby counter, served to box the two espers into what was now essentially a bathtub or small pool, while simultaneously shielding Sofron from any further attacks. And to add insult to injury, the fiendish butler had struck a seemingly innocuous toaster to activate his melody, sending the electrified appliance flying off the counter and into the water below…

Well, that wasn’t good.

Being an honors student and all, Ashley knew full well that although salt water was less conductive than fresh water, such a limited amount of it meant that what was about to happen wouldn’t be particularly pleasant. Thus, she quickly prepared another protective melody. It wasn’t quite as powerful as the one she had just used, but if this was merely the work of a mundane appliance, it didn’t need to be. It just had to be strong enough to protect her from the initial shock.

At least, that’s what she was planning to do, before she felt herself being lifted from the water and pushed over the counter opposite Sofron. A moment later, she watched as Gale employed a multicast portal melody to hopefully deal with the toaster, but just in case that wasn’t enough, Ashley swiftly grabbed the sleeve of the bluenette’s jacket and bestowed upon her ally the melody she had been preparing to use on herself.

Only time would tell if either esper would be swift enough for their plans to actually be successful…

---

A Blink user! Their battle would be legendary!

Klava absorbed the thrown chair on her bent arm, tumbling backwards to disperse the force as the wooden chair flung itself overhead. In the distance she could hear Gale and KoT at it as well, grand magics flaring up. She would have to join them soon. Unlike last time, after all, they weren’t fighting in a corridor, and didn’t have convenient tear gas dispensers to flung around. Which meant, of course, that a rodent with twinned tonfas was going to be a hell of a pain in the ass to deal with.

Gritting her teeth, Klava backed up against the onslaught of bludgeoning strikes, using her own wakizashi minimally as she duck and wove. For all the ‘supposed’ disadvantages that split-Instruments held, they were undoubtedly more useful in an actual conflict. An advantage then, would have to be found elsewhere. At the back wall, her snowball gleamed still, rolling gently away from the collapsed table. Just one second. That’s all she’ll need.

The chair.

Klava swung Moya-no-Yume, two-handed, against the offending tonfa, forcing it aside with hopes of disrupting the rodent’s stance for just a moment. An opportunity for bigger moves. In the next, she hopped over the chair that had been thrown at her, and, with her foot, kicked it back up at the woman. A visual distraction to buy a single second. Whether or not it would land, it mattered not, for at that point, the Maiden turned and ran. A feint, to encourage straightforward pursuit. And, body turned, body blocking the gleaming light of her Instrument as it drew in mana and converted it into melody, Klava cast her spell.

A frosty sheen coalesced behind both Espers, before the snowball shot out a beam of arctic cold, crossing the length of the room instantly to strike the rodent from behind.

Interaction: Fable @Majoras End

---

---

While they were discussing the merits and demerits of splitting up, the elevator announced its arrival. A blatant open invitation…someone’s impatient to get us down there, huh. At Su’s words she nodded. “Alright, get going then. If I don’t hear from you, I’m coming right after.”

Then, the doors opened, and the strong scent of sanitizer, and a subtler one of blood wafted out. “I smell blood,” she whispered. “So, be careful.” She gestured for Breacher to go ahead. Once she did, and she was left along with Fable, she nudged him. “Just in case…” she trailed off, and pointed up the stairs, raising a brow. “I’ll stay to guard, but you could check upstairs,” she added quietly.

Regardless of what Fable did, Jacqueline waited only until she heard something – whether Breacher’s report, or something suspicious – or until enough time passed that she was sure Su had either exited the elevator or had become trapped within. Then, she used Havoc to pry the elevator doors open. She looked up and down the elevator shaft, checking if there was space for it to go both directions, or if it really led only to the basement.

Once she confirmed the elevator’s current position, she waited. Either Breacher contacted her as promised, or she didn’t – in which case trouble could be assumed. One or the other, Jacqueline would eventually follow after Breacher. The only exception was if Su explicitly ordered her not to come after her, or asked her to do something else. Or if someone unexpectedly showed up where she was, of course.

---

---

"Going up?"
Current Location: The Aspiria Refuge, Corridor

While he and Leroux had their concerns about Breacher's plan, the elevator finally revealed itself. Guess there was enough power left for it. If the incense from before wasn't bad enough to have Fable cover his nose, the sickening mix of sanitizer and blood did. "Be careful down there, ma'am." He couldn't help thinking the worst of what could've happened down there, and frowned in concern.

Once Breacher left to scout the lower levels, that left the other two by themselves once again. The younger agent was content with waiting. Until Jacqueline suggested he go ahead and check upstairs. His eyes widened in confliction.

On one hand, Breacher told hin to stay by either her or Leroux.

But on the other, nothing's happened yet so far, and Leroux thinks it'll be okay. And y'know, kill two birds with one stone?

On one hand, the last time he went ahead alone... Yeah, not going to even spare a goddamn thought about that! Eugh.

But on the other, this time he'd be prepared, wouldn't he? This time is different. This time was possibly a criminal. Possibly in cahoots with him. A stranger.

...

She was technically a stranger too. Remember that.

After a moment of concidering his options, the boy decided to take Jacqueline's suggestion. "I'll try and be quick about it." He quietly responded, then went and made his way upstairs. Creeping fears be damned.

“Roger roger,” Lenny responded, before she truly brought the pedal to the metal, the Patriot rumbling with ever-increasing power. Without its escorts, and presumably without any gun turrets built into it like the others, the vehicles were soon side by side with each other, running abreast as they sped down the winding path. Now, it was just a matter of baiting them into opening the window!

But whoever drove the truck didn’t do so, even as Tetrad opened her door, practically baiting them with her own body. The windows remained opaque, as was the standard for preventing any Spawn spells from passing through, and the Transplace melody that she wove would have no effect if she simply struck the armoured truck itself with it. In that moment, it was as if she was bullying an MMA fighter’s pet turtle while the owner was sprinting towards her with a golf club in hand. So long as the truck didn’t pop itself open, it could delay indefinitely.

However, this wasn’t just a turtle, after all. Indeed, from size and mass alone, it was a couple degrees greater than the Patriot.

Yes, this turtle was Bowser, and with a screeching of rubber, the truck swerved into the SUV, slamming into the rear passenger exit with enough force to cause the Patriot to go into a dizzying spin, while the truck itself ended up screeching to a stop as well, just a meter or two before it slammed into the roadside ditch. It would be an opportunity, while both vehicles were stalled, for Tetrad to run in and bust open the back door.

But before then, the central question had to be answer.

Had she been wearing her seatbelt?

---

_{@SilverPaw@Majoras End}
There was some hesitation on the part of Timekeeper, but in the end, did he truly have a choice? He was, after all, the most junior member of GEMINI, and he was on the rocky situation of having been a Maverick-hired Freelancer just some time ago. In circumstances like this, could Leroux’s suggestion merely be a suggestion? It was unlikely. He would have to do this then, regardless of all the counterarguments he thought up but didn’t voice. What was the worst that could happen, in the end? He had a new Silver glamour, and he had both Blink and Speedster. His options for extricating himself out of a tight spot were pretty good, so long as he didn’t mess around and instantly die.

It did not take him long to go up the staircase. It was reckless, perhaps, to do so. Who knew what sort of traps could be established here? What sort of devious designs an educated man like Dr. Sycamore could come up with to thwart the operators? But Timekeeper didn’t have the know-how to know what not to do regardless, and when he reached the top of the staircase, the door was unlocked. He entered.

The residency up on the second floor was, put simply, a minimalist mess.

There were few pieces of furniture, no appliances beside a single-burner camping stove, and the only electronics in the room was a wifi router and a laptop, placed atop a cardboard box. Large garbage bags were rounded up in one corner of the room, with a bottle of air freshener appearing to be the only bastion present to prevent the place from stinking to the high heavens. The bed was a sleeping bag on a foam mattress.

This was a strange place for the doctor of a well-visited health clinic to be. Stranger, considering his connections with the infamously wealthy Justin von Carnage.

His shoe stepped on something.

A credit card statement for this month, with large payments made to a medical supplier.

Now, what could that mean?

…

Breacher entered alone.

The door closed, and the elevator began to descend slowly. It must be poorly constructed, for it to be so slow. Perhaps two whole minutes elapsed while she was inside. But despite the circumstances, despite how massively suspicious this whole set-up was, the elevator neither stopped in the middle, nor did it suddenly explode or drop. And certainly, no monster burst inside and tried to kill her, like every other cursed elevator in the horror genre.

No, when the doors finally parted, there was a much simpler problem before Breacher.

A barricade laid right in front of the exit, craft of aluminum bed frames and weighty mattresses, all jumbled together in such a convoluted mess that she was incapable of actually looking past the barricade to see what laid beyond it. How many thralls awaited her? How many weapons pointed? This must be the place, then, where Justin’s army was gathering up again, prepared to rejoin the conflict at their dark master’s orders.

Should she charge in alone? Or should she radio for the others to join her first?

Time continued to pass either way, and the elevator, despite all circumstances, still functioned.

---

_{@The World@Ponn@ERode}

Things were starting to heat up now.

The burning bone wall had enough water slosh in front of it that Marrie didn’t slam into it, even if she did slam into Ashley. But that just made it easier for her to throw the GEMINI agent over the counter. She might have had the body of a highschooler, but all espers came equipped with olympian level physical qualities, and getting Ashley over the counter was easier than she might have expected.

But while she underestimated her strength, she overestimated the amount of time she had to cast her melody.

While Marrie was able to get off her portal melody, Her body straightened out like a board as electricity poured into it. Were she standing in fresh water her heart might have stopped, and that might have even been preferable to enduring a slow, agonizing electrocution. The cord on the toaster was pulled against the skull wall, and Marrie was not lucky enough to have it pull out of the wall. The toaster hung both below the floor and just under the ceiling, its connection with the water not having been broken. The salt water was starting to drain, but it was all falling right back into the tub Sofron had created. She wouldn’t be able to remain standing for long, as it was just a matter of time before her rigid body fell into the depths of the tub and she drowned. This is why it’s so important to have ground fault interrupts on all kitchen outlets.

But a gentle hand touched Marrie’s jacket, and she was able to move again.

Regardless of how powerful the electricity was, all physical harm was treated the same by protection melodies. As such, Marrie would have more than enough time to climb out of the tub. But both rookie espers would be alarmed when a flaming skull came out of the wall. The projectile had been aimed where the rookies were prior to the wall coming up in front of Sofron, and thus wouldn’t land a direct hit. But it didn’t need to. Everything the skull hit caused it to explode, igniting everything in the vicinity. Ashley’s fading defensive melody prevented her from getting burned, but Marrie’s upper body as well as her immediate surroundings were set on fire. The exception being the pool of electrified water. Though both espers would find their heads filled with the baleful screams of some wrathful specter, and wouldn’t be able to focus enough to cast melodies that exceeded 50 MP. Though if they were looking to cool off, Sofron hadn’t quite walled off the entrance entirely, and salt water was pouring in by the second.

Klava realized early on that a single knife was not a good matchup against two tonfas. While they lacked popularity, they weren’t intuitive weapons and could hold their own against much bigger weapons. Not engaging was a smart move, but the squirrel woman wasn’t going to give her that choice.

Even if Moya-no-Yume had the handle for it, swinging a knife like a broadsword was awkward. Almost all large weapons owed a lot of their power to leverage, which just couldn’t be found in a blade of this size. Alternatively, the short nub on the tonfas was just a few inches longer than the end of the squirrel woman’s fist. She would recover quickly from this attack. Not that it would matter, as a follow up from her other hand would come out swiftly. Though short weapons were also easy to escape. Klava had the dexterity in spades, and wasn’t shy about putting it on display.

When Klava kicked the chair back, the rodent woman was able to bat it aside without hesitation. The rodent barreled forward, her speed matching if not surpassing Klava’s own. They prepared their next melodies simultaneously. The rodent woman threw her projectile, and the snowball fired an icy blast. Neither esper missed their target.

For the rodent woman, this meant that her arm was now shrouded in icicles, binding her arm in place. Damaging melodies were never the most effective on an esper, but this one did drive an icicle into her shoulder deep enough to draw blood. At the very least, the pain was enough to make her flinch.

Though it wasn’t an opening Klava would be taking advantage of.

A scattering of poppy seeds peppered Klava’s back, and she could feel something welling up inside of herself. Was it opium? Unlikely, but it was some type of poison. She could feel it inhibiting her muscles, making her a bit slower than she was prior.

The rodent woman dove between two counter tops and rammed her tonfa into the ice sculpture on her arm. It shattered quickly, but had earned Klava a brief reprieve from the rodent woman. ”I’m not too poppy about how that went.”

Though Sofron had plenty of time to grab a Thompson sub machine gun from one of the kitchen cupboards and greet Klava. As soon as he stepped out from behind the counter, he fired what little ammo remained in his SPAZ-12 before grasping his Thompson with both hands to finish the job. He had a box magazine loaded. No low hanging fruit here.

Marrie was a lightningrod for mistakes, it seemed. And for electricity, given that there was a large surge of it running through her body. Enough to totally paralyze her in place as it continued to nearly kill her, until Orion touched her on the sleeve and restored her movement. That was enough to let her get out of the watery pan and into the fire, in a literal sense as Sofron's attack exploded nearby. Horrid screams filled her mind and took most of her focus. But it didn't do enough to stop her from instinctually casting a melody and running out of the fire, dragging Orion behind her as a whirlwind surrounded the blue-haired girl.

[Silver Self - Storm]

If it were strong enough to deflect a shotgun when bumped up a bit, it should be strong enough to push away the flames, Marrie assumed. Likely inaccurately. So she booked it to the other side of the large globe in the area and hoped that Orion would be able to do something useful while she recovered from being shocked, burned, and almost drowned. Not to mention the damned screaming of the damned stuck in her head.

---

A moment after Ashley and Gale had escaped the threat of electrocution, one of the flaming skulls shot out of Sofron’s wall and promptly exploded upon striking the spot they had just occupied. The ensuing blast sent horrifying screeches echoing throughout each esper’s mind and, of much more urgent concern, set fire to Gale’s jacket. In a panic, the blue-haired esper conjured a swirling whirlwind around herself, while grabbing Ashley and pulling her along as she ran to put some distance between them and the continuing effects of Sofron’s various melodies. However, Ashley was far more worried about the fact that not only was her partner still on fire, but she was close enough to set her on fire as well, and was even amplifying the flames by adding a strong wind to the mix!

Thus, in something of a panic of her own, the Knight of Tomorrow decided to take the most useful course of action she could think of. Tightening her grip on her partner, she yanked Gale down to the inundated floor, the blue-haired esper hopefully being too mentally stunned to resist, or even notice, until they were both on the ground. With luck, this course of action would both extinguish the flames on Gale (and possibly on Ashley herself) as well as grant both espers some cover from any further attacks Sofron chose to make.

---

_{@SilverPaw@Majoras End}

Was the descent slow, or was it long?

Su reported to Jacqueline periodically as the elevator made its descent. She was expecting the power to cut out, or maybe something to greet her at the bottom of the stairs, but but the last thing she was expecting was bed frames.

Was this really the work of Von Carnage or his goons? It seemed like Justin was the sort who liked to flex his power with every encounter he was behind. Cobra Gang were equipped with military grade weapons, and the fight in the foyer was meticulously planned. It was a little hard to believe that planning for GEMINI’s involvement with the clinic boiled down to creating a crude barrier out of beds. Where did the beds even come from? Were they taken from the resting quarters upstairs? If they had been, it couldn’t have been done with the elevator. Not if this was done in response to their arrival at least. The only exception was if they had a monster or esper on hand that could move everything via a portal or some other magical means. But even so, were aluminum bed frames a worthwhile defense against espers? It wasn’t adding up. It was time to check in again.

“At bottom floor. Seems to be blocked with beds. Yes, beds.” Su could hardly believe it, so she repeated just to make sure their communication was clear. “Be ready, may need help if trap. Maybe wait on top of elevator? Probably faster than me coming back up.”

Though so had one other idea for this. If the beds weren’t a trap, maybe they weren’t there to keep her out. Maybe they were there to keep something or someone else in. It did seem like a difficult barrier for a human to break, but a monster would just crush something like this.

She took her shield and shoved it into the bedframes. She wasn’t really trying to get through, just get the attention of whatever was on the other side. If they were being watched, someone already knew she was here anyway. “Hey!” Su swat the beds again. “Anyone over there?” Of course, Su could only gently "knock" without response for so long. They needed to investigate everything, and that included the opposite side of this barrier.

---

Was Luna buckled up?

Luna had asked Lenny to pull around to the passenger side of the vehicle so that she could lop a transplace melody at them. Her reason for opening the door hadn’t been exclusively to bait out a shot, but to put the person she traded places with in a more precarious spot. After all, what sense did it make to teleport with someone who was armed and also be buckled up behind your getaway partner?

In hindsight, probably a smooth brain move.

The Patriot was struck. Probably one of the few good things about the patriot was its side impact score. Not that Luna was really concerned about the condition of the rolling turd. She was shoved back into the patriot, only for centrifugal force to fling her out moments later when the vehicle began spinning. She gripped Pit Boss tight, as it was the only way she might get out of this mess alive.

She fired a giant die at the ground, the recoil of which launched her higher into the air. Being in the air longer meant that she could starve off death for a few seconds, but that was just delaying the inevitable. The die was there to help with that.

Rather than fly off into the ground, the die curved around and smacked into Luna. The melody itself slowed her down, attempting to suspend her in place. But Luna had intentionally made the melody weak enough to not remove all of her momentum, but nearly all of it. It was during this slower state of movement that her melody shoved her again, this time pushing her back towards the armored truck. With reduced momentum, her tumble out of the Patriot should be survivable, if a bit rough.

”Crap! And there’s a chopper headed this way too!”

Getting inside the armored truck was no longer a matter of rescuing a friend, it was a way to avoid getting blown apart by a mini gun. Unfortunately, Luna had no way to end the “slow” melody on herself, so she “ran” to the truck as fast as she could.

”Blah!”

She used Pit Boss to blow any lock that might have been on the rear hatch off, and noted its slower rate of fire. Right, of course, her magic was functioning like normal again.

The Restrain didn’t last even two seconds, huh? And where was KoT and Gale? Dead already?

Klava had caught a glimpse of them before, in between her trading blows with the rodent, but if Sofron could so freely turn his attention onto her now, that meant she couldn’t count on them for the time being. Also meant, though, that she couldn’t put her focus onto him too. With his shotgun primed and a machine gun waiting in the wings, heading down a corridor with no cover was a fool’s errand. And there was that poison in her veins, seeping deeper and deeper, crawling into her nerves, causing her muscles to stall by just that amount.

The decision came immediately.

Twisting her hips, Klava slammed her foot against the wall and propelled herself off to the side, the shotgun spread of the SPAS-12 grazing, but not pulverizing, her. The rodent was still there, crouched down, and in that second, the Maiden’s spell was made manifest, a silver sheen coating her body before she struck the ground once more…and then shot forwards! In an instant, she was upon the rodent, and in the next, it became a real fight, one that featured a blade against two wooden sticks.

And in a position so close that they were practically hugging?

A blade would always have space to cut, but a stick would not always have space to strike, and any attempt to grasp Klava in that moment would be confounded by the shimmer of magic that coated her entirety.

It was like that burning hallway again, choking and tearing up. But this time, she had another opponent waiting and no time to waste on a surrender.

Klava would kill that rodent. Twice, if she had to.

"Damn bitch, you live like this???"
Current Location: The Aspiria Refuge, Second Floor Residence

Surprisingly, it didn't take long for him to reach the second floor. Booby traps or not, someone who left their door unlocked was either scatter-brained, or whole-heartedly expected someone to take the stairs. And what awaited inside, as the Timekeeper slowly and quielty opened the door?

His face soon contorted in confusion. For how nice the main floor looked before it's blackout, the floor the doc lived in looked like a goddamn joke in comparison. It didn't even have a mini fridge! Atleast put in something to preserve food that isn't takeout or some shit! He stepped inside, glancing towards the sole electronic in the room. If it didn't need power like the desktop computer, there might be some valuable information here in contrast. As far as Fable knew, it was the doctor's personal computer, after all.

"Hm?" As he made his way over, his boot unknowingly stepped on something. He took a step back and picked it up. Looks like the doctor was cutting corners, if he was spending these large payments to another part of the rabbit hole. But who? Did Justin dabble in medicine as well, or was there someone else that they should worry about? He'll have to take this with him, see what the other two think. The boy folded up the statement and pocketed it.

Looking around, he decided to do a quick sweep around the floor before heading back. If he didn't find anything else useful, he'd move on to the next thing to search through.

But frankly there's no way he's dumpster diving through those trashbags. Some things are best left untouched.

It was a dizzying combo of melodies, strung together in a combination that was just effective enough that Tetrad, tumbling onto asphalt, made it away with only a half dozen bloody scrapes and bruises. Wounds that ached, but wounds that were superficial enough that it didn’t stop her from running up to the armored truck. Pit Boss’s arcane blasts shredded the door effortlessly, mundane materials lacking any intrinsic defense, and the Maverick esper was able to wrench open to door and finally lay eyes on her friend once more.

There she was, bound head to toe in a white straitjacket that was chained to the wall of the armored truck. Earmuffs, mouthgag, and a blindfold sealed off her senses, while the fact that she didn’t so much as twitch made it clear that something was done to sedate her during the trip. Most importantly, there was no sign of her grimoire anywhere near her. That made sense, of course. What better way to disarm a magical terrorist forever than to seal their grimoire up in a place they’ll never be able to find? It made interrogations easier, and it made negotiations easier.

And it didn’t matter either.

If Tetrad tore off the blindfold, she’d see her friend’s eyes still. Open. Unfocused. But moving. After all that, Jezebel was still alive.

But the world kept turning, and any sort of emotional reunion would have to wait until they actually got back. The Patriot was still stalled, perhaps a ‘play dead’ tactic employed by Lenny so her ride didn’t get absolutely obliterated by the chopper that was making its presence known now.

“Mavericks! Exit the truck untransformed! Do so and we will grant you a fair trial! Do not and we will turn you terrorist scum into Swiss cheese!”

---

_{@SilverPaw@Majoras End}
Nothing else seemed worthy of exploration, unless Timekeeper wished to try his hand at figuring out what was clogging up the toilet, and with Breacher’s summons, he soon reconvened with Leroux. It took some trial-and-error, as well as a whole lotta psyching up, for the young boy to follow her down the elevator shaft, but they descended in a safe manner, popped open the elevator, and joined their leader at the barricade of bedframes. It really was a strange fortification, in truth. One that seemed wholly ineffectual against monsters, and one that would likely be destroyed in moments with a couple melodies from an Esper. Outside of simply being a matter of ‘wasting’ mana, what was this supposed to be? A way to slow them down? A way to keep them guessing?

Breacher continued to swat, and then, there was a response.

A quiet click sounded. A gun being cocked on the other side.

A man’s voice, measured though lined with fatigue and resignment, resounded.

“Hello. Would it be too much to ask you three to leave and report that there was…nothing to see?”

---

_{@The World@Ponn@ERode}

There were a lot of creative ways to put out a fire. You could smother it in some non-flammable compound, use an explosion to rob the flame of oxygen, extinguish it with water, and even patting and rolling out fires worked, or enter a vacuum. The reason why all of these methods work is because they deprive a flame of oxygen, heat, or fuel. No matter how much wind surrounded Marrie or Ashley, there was still plenty for the fire to burn. Their damp bodies did little to slow the expanding flames especially with the swirling winds drying them off. The extra oxygen being fed into the fire didn’t help either. But It’s hard to think when you’re in a panic.

Ashley managed.

Maybe it was her GEMINI training, her college tuition, common sense, or a mix of all three. Her instincts forced her to bring both espers to the floor. The water was only a few inches deep, but a quick roll was all it took to extinguish the flames. Neither esper had suffered any lasting damage, and had survived Sofron’s trap.

Though nothing had been done to keep the pressure off of Klava.

A lesser esper would panic in Klava’s position. The barrel of Sofron’s shotgun was leveled with Klava’s torso, while an able tonfa fighter crouched between two countertops, no doubt preparing for a counter attack pun intended With only a moment to act, she let her experience guide her.

The volley of shotgun pellets graazed Klava. Sofron continued to approach, casting aside the SPAS-12 so that he could better hold his machine gun. But it didn’t matter. His distance to her, Klava’s poison, she could have been wearing concrete shoes. With a single melody, she had made herself slick and jetted down the hall towards the other opponent. The rodent woman anticipated the play, and brought her tonfas up to block the attack moments before Klava blasted towards her. When held the correct way, Tonfas are remarkably compact, functionally closer to gauntlets or bracers. But regardless if she had enough room to punch Klava, it would be hard to do so while she was falling backwards. Kneeling is a weak position in a fight, and Klava was ready to exploit it.

The rodent fell on her back, and Klava was upon her

She tried to defend herself, but it was already too late. Klava pinned one of the squirrel woman’s arm against her chest. One stick to deflect one knife? In this economy? Rodent girl was just delaying the inevitable.

The knife bit into her flesh. Her face tensed up in pain as Moya-no-Yume dug under her collar bone. Killing was seldom Klava’s first choice, but when the goal was to survive, to complete your mission, to be a professional, your personal wants didn’t come into the picture. But as the blade sunk deeper into the enemy esper’s chest, she could vaguely make out something being yelled behind her head. Mail flip? Rail nip? Hail rip?

Oh, Bale Whip.

With a crack, Her shoulder felt hot, no, her flesh was boiling. When Klava turned to look, she could see a burning whip rip through her shoulder, severing her arm from her body. A splash of crimson on her face that just lasted a moment before it was washed away. Without Klava’s weight behind the strike, Moya-no-Yume ceased to sink deeper into the rodent woman’s shoulder. A normal melody took roughly a second to fire off, but some espers could quicken their melodies, which was the only reason the rodent woman was still alive, and Klava’s shoulder smelled like barbecue. It was a shame Klava had no backup at this critical moment.

With a growl, the rodent woman rammed her tonfa into Klava’s ribs, cracking one and throwing her away with the force of a melody. More than the sudden push, she could feel the toxicity in her body increase. While she had felt a bit ill before, it now felt like her blood vessels were tingling, itchy even. Klava’s armless, instrumentless body came to rest a few feet in front of Sofron.

"I can handle this, May."

May didn’t waste time on another pun. With a grunt, she pulled the knife out of her chest and flung it into the kitchen, which was filling up with water. She was bleeding, but Klava’s stab wasn’t deep enough to reach her vitals. She was dizzy with pain, and would need to be healed sooner or later, but she could still be a threat. Though the real threat to Klava was Sofron, who was approaching the esper to crown her with his machine gun. Without her knife, it was only a matter of time before she returned to her normal mundane self.

But she had one second, at least that.

With the fire finally out, Ashley helped Gale to her feet. Now that the supernatural screaming had subsided, the sounds of battle were clearly evident. The pair couldn’t see much, thanks to Sofron’s wall of skulls, but the Maiden obviously needed their assistance. “Come on, Gale,” Ashley instructed as she ran to the sole unobstructed counter and leapt over it. Once she had done so, she was greeted with the sight of a one-armed Maiden sprawled on the ground with Sofron looming over her.

Of somewhat greater surprise, however, was the fact that a woman with a squirrel tail of all things was also present. She, too, was on the ground, and visibly wounded, but the Knight of Tomorrow knew that this person was almost certainly an ally of Sofron, and thus she couldn’t be allowed to reenter the fight. With an accumulation of glowing particles at the tip of her twin-pronged techno-wand, Ashley fired a bolt of neon green energy at the prone esper’s head…

---

Pain, and then her body was lighter, more unbalanced.

Push, and then she was falling back, watching in slow motion as her beloved blade was tossed away.

Close, so close. But to what? What was the goal? What was she to do?

The pain brought everything to a sharpened relief. The Balefire coursed deep, and the Poison coursed deeper, both impeding her functions. On every level, she was performing even worse now than when she first began. But on every level, Klava still held years of combat experience, of near-death experiences, of having to deal with shit without backup. Sure, her targets had changed from monsters to espers over the years, but what of it? They were fundamentally the same, and she was functionally still Pax Septimus born and raised.

A dirt-cheap bitch chomping at the chance to tear a victory out.

Even missing an instrument and one arm, the silver sheen persisted, a miscalculation on the part of her foes, and so long as it did, all velocity was preserved by the Slick melody still enhancing her! Twinned sashes shot out as she hit the ground…and kept going at the same speed. One leg braced and kicked off, adding to it even further! It would take one second for the sigils engraved upon her remaining arm to manifest her last melody, but it would take less than that for her to reach him!

“Storm’s here, Sofron!”

Twisting onto the stump of cauterized shoulder, the Maiden, Enraged, punched the machine gun upwards, knuckles fracturing against military-grade steel but redirecting the muzzle away from her exposed form. In that next instant, her sashes grew taut and her body spun around. Inertia converted into centrifugal force, and her leg swung up and out, aiming for Sofron’s hip.

Even with overpowering magical defenses, one could not wholly negate the effects of a push or a slick note. And when both were combined? The distance between the esper and the surging waters was minimal.

Last Regret. Make it bloody.

The second ended and Klava emerged from the husk of the Maiden. As Baleful Sofron hit the water, perhaps even fell into the water, she came in after him, attempting to pin him underneath the waves before bludgeoning his face with her fists. Physical violence always worked against Espers, and concussions were the best method for fucking up melodies. If you couldn’t focus, if you couldn’t even see, what spell could you use outside of a Mark?

Unfettered by the maledictions imposed upon her Esper form, driven into the corner by being on her last life, Klava did what she had to, with neither beauty nor grace.

Turns out, working out did have professional benefits after all.