---

---

Linqian was preparing to sprint over to Sully, cover be damned, when he turned the tides himself - and Britney sent some nasty looking plant over to the guy attacking him.

Her attention was distracted by a ball of fire crashing into the ground and Linqian snapped her head towards it, lips parting at the sight of a St. Portwell Police Officer stepping out. What the fuck, SPPD had magic meteorites now? No way. Things had changed a lootttt since she was last here if that was the case… She mentally made a note of it as info that might earn her some money, before going back to paying attention to more pressing concerns.

Like not bleeding out. She was preparing to just stumble away and get a bus to the nearest hospital where a green light washed over everyone. The bullet hole in her hand began to close, her skin knitting itself back together. The bullet stuck in her side made its way out before the wound itself healed. She let out a slight sigh of relief, raising her body temperature back to normal. Fuck, that felt so much better than freezing blood to keep the wounds sealed.

She now had a bit more capacity to pay attention to what else was happening - like Alizée getting shot (good riddance), Stormy going after her already gone killer (fucking idiot), and Sully getting kicked by the fucker who’d threatened her with a gun (that had her blood boiling). She moved into a crouching position, peering around to make sure no one would shoot her if she ran over to him.

With this she melted the strange sight of the werewolf practically melting away and leaving an almost naked man (thankfully he had some really ugly underwear on)... One Linqian recognised after a bit of squinting. Leon. Fucking Leon had wrecked her car! Now was not the time to take it up with him, as much as her anger at it threatened to break to the surface again - not when she could get shot. But when she next saw him she wouldn't let him off. She'd get a replacement car, or enough money from him for him, one way or another. From what she remembered Leon was pretty reasonable, but he also couldn’t turn into a fucking werewolf last she saw him-

"Ooooooooooh, Judas!"

Judas, like the possible father wolf Judas? Linqian craned her neck to get a better look at him. She shivered at the dog like features in them, punctuated by their barks, and tried to press down the fear clawing in her chest. Not dogs, monsters. Somehow that made them less scary to her. But the irrational panic (well, slightly rational here) was still there, making each breath feel like glass was scraping her lungs.

The fear was quickly overwhelmed by anger at the sight of him. She ground her teeth together to try to keep at least a little bit calm in the face of her brother’s possible murderer. Everything in her wanted to jump out and punch him with a burning hot fist… She tried to reign it in.

He possibly wasn’t even the killer. Looking at him, she found herself hoping it was something… A little better than a small-time biker ganglord.

As much as she wanted to, there was no way she could go out there and fight. She wasn't that stupid. She would be impaled by whatever metal stuff he controlled before she even got close, if he didn’t shoot her. Then the first thing she'd see in the afterlife, if there was one, would be Jinhai laughing at her. She could already hear him saying in disappointment, why did you try getting revenge when you couldn't succeed, Qian-er? Just the thought of it irritated her. She knew very well if their positions were swapped that he'd ensure he struck the killing blow, and no less. Jinhai wouldn't risk his life on someone that might not even be her killer.

She wasn't as calculating as him, but she knew when to not get killed.

They had to get out of here. If that meant sacrificing Everleigh and Stormy, and a little bit of money from Edict by having less information, fine. She didn’t care much for them anyway… Money could be earned in other ways.

She glanced back at Sully, the only other person she really cared about keeping alive here, and watched him starting to crouch run towards one of the other coven’s members (presumably, she wasn’t entirely sure they were also a coven). How were they planning to leave? Sully obviously knew them, and they seemed friendly… But she didn’t feel it was right to abandon him with them. Maybe they’d also abandon him. She didn’t know them, and didn’t trust them (even if they’d healed her bullet wounds).

”C’mon,” she nudged Britney, which she could do now she was a normal temperature, and jerked her head towards Sully. ”Sully’s on the move, let’s go… unless you’re sticking around to get killed.”

If Britney wanted to stick around and help Eve (and less likely Stormy) out, she could be Linqian’s guest. Linqian wasn’t going to wait and watch. She’d sooner run the whole way down the street and get a bus than stay crouched behind this car, at risk of getting sand in her shoes (and worse places) and getting shot.

Just like Sully, she took off in an awkward bent over run, moving towards a car nearer to him (and hopefully Britney's ride). It looked a little more inconspicuous when she was doing it, because she wasn’t over six foot tall, but it was still much like someone in the cinema trying to go to the toilet while avoiding blocking anyone’s view, but in fact just blocking everyone's view and looking ridiculous while doing it.

She didn’t have much experience with running and avoiding getting monster dogs sicked on her. It'd probably just be more efficient to run normally.

”Oy, Sully,” Linqian hissed, half waving to him as if that’d get his attention if he somehow didn’t hear her. ”They got a way to get out of here?” she glanced at Amelia, who he’d been running towards. ”Or you coming with us?”

If the few seconds of checking got her killed, then she’d deal with Jinhai’s mocking when she reached the other side.

---

Evelynn and Lila came at a bad time... The ability to see the future was not the ability to influence it, and change the outcomes to work out well. Under any other circumstances, he would've been happy to see others trickling in after the meeting. But Jack wasn't in the most social mood anymore. He expected better from Drake after all these years. They used to be better than this around each other, even if they constantly bitched back and forth; It was all in good fun. They felt like friends, but were they only friends when the world was at stake? They could all be dead at any moment, and now they couldn't help but spill blood. It didn't show on Jack's face, but the reunion was taking on toll on him now. This felt wrong, and the Void seemed more like home than St Portwell did, even back during the days when the Coven was all he had. Jack would have liked to tell himself that he wasn't the type to yearn, to long for a time that was never coming back. But he could not fool himself so easily.

It seemed that self preservation was the only thing that had a chance of bringing them back together. Not even the prospect of better days.

The shadow hands binding Drake disappeared, he could go now. "I wanted to think that we could be better than this, Drake. And I do, even now. For all that it's worth, I still think of you as a friend, and that is more important to me than holding a grudge against you. But you need to look inside yourself and ask if you can say the same of all of us. We've been reunited for less than a day, and this is the road we have all gone down," Continuing to not let up on Drake, Jack's voice seemed heavy. More than people typically associated with the otherwise unbothered, Void-walking madman. He was disappointed, and felt regret in his choice to return to Shimmer. Maybe all those memories would be a bit sweeter otherwise.

"I'm taking us there, now. You may feel dizzy for a moment, Sloane. Three... Two..."

Shadows condensed under Drake's car, and jarred the ugly thing with a loud thump. This caused the car to start blaring as if someone tried to break in, and at the same moment that everyone outside turned their heads to the noise, Jack and Sloane vanished from sight in the darkness.



"One."

To Sloane, it would've been like falling through a lightless pit, as the world around them both faded away to a place beyond their reach, only to fly back into perspective from the opposite direction. In a fraction of a second, they were no longer at the DQ. Rather, they were between two buildings, in an empty alleyway devoid of anyone who might've seen them. Jack was unable to feel is Sloane was still holding onto his hand, as the hand she was offered was just made of shadows, and had no nerves. Regardless, he kept his fingers closed for her sake. She was vulnerable at the moment, and it seemed to Jack that the physical contact (or technical lack thereof) was helping her work through it.

"The hospital is five minutes away from here on foot. I thought you'd like a few minutes to get your thoughts in order, before interacting with more people." Jack was many things. Arrogant, powerful, prone to decade long bouts of wanderlust; Uncaring was not one of them.

---

---

She caught the damn shield with sand. Because of course she did. This Samson guy was denying the assumption that he was PRA, despite crashing out of the air while on fire, getting everyone's attention and talking through some sort of radio. Whatever, Stormy didn't particularly care if wanted to keep it a secret. It made sense, given what they did. Just as he was about to start battering Elodie with more shields, Stormy heard a voice. Elodie, Bianca, and everyone else in this fuckfest turned their attention to the rooftop. There stood a man flanked by paranormal animals. They were calling him "Judas," and saying Victor was dead too. Well, that was good at least. This was him, then. The "Father Wolf" they suspected, and the big dog of the Wolfpack. Immediately, he started attacking Eve with an abstraction that she countered. And then Eve started running. So did Sully, and Linqian... They were retreating. Alizee was dead, a child was shot in the skull, and the people who put a demigod to sleep were running.

Fine.

Stormy wanted to shatter all of the Wolfpack bastards like fragile glass for hurting his people. He wanted to get even with them, not out of personal anger, but because these people had hurt the friends he grew up fighting monsters together. He wanted to give Judas a piece of his mind for possibly being the Sycamore's killer. But he was a protector. Stormy couldn't protect people if there was no one standing around to protect. If they wanted to live to fight another day, then so be it. But he was still going to do his damnedest to keep them alive while they ran.

Ducking down behind his shield again, he turned to Bianca and Samson. "If you're going to attack them, then just do it. See those people out there? I'm going to use my shields to make sure they don't get shot in the back of the head by these degenerates. I'll keep these shields up as much as I can, but if you're leaving too, then go now. I can get you somewhere safe while your fellow "police officers" deal with this." Stormy said to Bianca specifically, as he raised his hands up, forming a ball of green energy. "And stick near me if you want, I'm guessing those dogs are apparitions. I've got the kryptonite for those, right here."

"That woman who they shot, she was better than the Wolfpack made her out to be. Do me a favor and don't let them get away after what they've done." His parting words to this Samson person.

He stood, and renewed his Phantombane aura. Green energy arced up and down his body again, as Stormy dismissed various shields around the parking lot, which weren't being used. Replacing them were forcefields that followed behind the members of Greenwood and Sycamore who deemed it necessary to run. These shields would deflect gunshots and likely stop them from being impaled by the rebar from Judas' magic. And the beasts tailing him would have a hard time attacking him or Bianca, if she happened to be leaving with him.

He hopped over his barricade and took off, following behind the fleeing party. Bianca's cover stayed, even if she didn't follow him. He wasn't about to leave her defenseless.

Mention: @Punished GN

"Why are you being such a bitch, Dean? What? Did that lil' junkie make you soft? St. Portwell's full of whores that'll fuck for their next hit, Dean! Stop being such a pussy!" Elodie said an eloquently as ever.

"Look dumb bitch, if you want to die today that's your prerogative. Too big a word. I meant do whatever hell you want, crazy bitch." He turned the key in his bike about to peel off, when



Judas called for the pack from the roof tops with the Curs on their leashes.

So dramatic. He stayed on his bike, but he didn't turn it off. Judas being here meant shit was about to go sideways for the Greenwood hoes and the Coven bitches. He didn't care to be here for the carnage, but he also didn't want Judas on his ass for not sticking around. He's still ready for a quick escape though. He leaned on his handle bars, making himself comfortable.

Elodie accused some girl of killing Joe and Victor. "When the hell did Vic die?" he asked her. He knew it was chaos, but he could've sworn he'd just seen him. Just seen him as in confronting the girl Elodie accused, before all hell broke loose. Probably did kill him. Can't say he'd miss him, but now they're down a person. Great.

Judas attacked the girl and half the group they were fighting started fleeing. They were dumb fucks, but they weren't that dumb it seemed. They could finally go home and he can prep himself for the next four hours of pain.

"About damn time, Jude! I got accounts to balance. Let's get this on, so I can go back to the money before I'm indisposed," he yelled at him, projecting his voice so he could hear him from below. He revved his bike to make a point.

---

---

---

---

---

The more Jack talked, the more Drake wanted to clock him. However, the moment that Jack let go, Drake simply walked away and left that Jackass to listen to the sound of his voice. He didn't say a word or offer a glance to any of the other members of the Coven, not Lilla or Everlynn; he just got up and walked out without a word to any of them. However, Jack was fucking with his charger, and Drake whipped his head around back inside, ready to really give him a reason to rant and rave.

However, they were gone, and Drake sighed as he hopped into his car and made sure to speed off before the police came and started asking questions. He made it to the highway quickly and went for his destination.

The Blackmore Manor.

---

---

---

Auri put her clothes back on. After she finished, she realized how it was just somewhat poor leadership to get her rocks off while the rest of the Coven was off... doing whatever. She was sure that nobody even went to the strip club, and she had to handle things independently. It was a shame that was the more useful member of the Coven, but it was dead clear to her that many of the Covenites still had growing to do.

And they were not trying to.

Justin pulled his pants up and asked,

"Need help cleaning up the Flower Shop?"

Auri scoffed and waved Justin away.

"You can head home if you like, but I have-"

Then she got a text message from... Layla?

---

---

She passed on the meeting; she wondered what would be so urgent, as she called Layla... Justin looked on with a raised eyebrow.

---

---

---

---

Thanks to Britney and James, the Biker that was attacking Sully was driven off... she was hoping that it would have killed him (or rendered him impotent for the rest of his life), but getting him off Sully was top priority. Now, Britney was going to grab Linqian and the others and-

She heard the two extra bullets pop.

They were louder than anything else as Britney whipped her head around to see the unthinkable happen. Alizee was shot dead by the Wolfpack; Britney gasped, her mouth agape as she saw Alizee dead on the ground; the healing field was a second too late as Alizee was dead. Britney dropped to her knees as tears ran down her eyes as one of her only friends in the Old Coven was just cut down by a bunch of bikers. She couldn't even feel satisfaction as Cyril was dragged off into the Void by the Void Heart. Britney pounded the ground until her hand went red as she was brought back to the old Coven, where she watched many of her friends get killed by the Stygian Snake and its thralls.

Britney just never got used to it.

Britney cried out as this peaceful strip club visit went so south. She thought that she was just going to see some hoes shake ass! Now her friend was dead. And she felt like it was her fault because she didn't help - she should have sealed The Void Heart while she could! She shouldn't have been so stupid to assume that Alizee had a leash on the Void Heart. More Wolfpack had arrived, including what had to be their leader, but Britney had little to no desire to fight the Wolfpack like the others. However, their leader immediately dove for Eve after getting picked out; Eve was able to defend herself and escape.

”...C’mon, Sully’s on the move, let’s go… unless you’re sticking around to get killed.”

Linqian brought her back to reality as Britney shot her head around to see Sully going towards that other group of girls (and that one hunky guy). Followed by a mighty wind, they disappeared, leaving behind disturbed dust, debris, and leaves. So, Sully was (hopefully) safe, leaving the matter of Britney and the rest of them saving themselves...

They got their opening when a freaking phoenix flew from the other side of the parking lot and went directly at Judas, attempting to kick him, only to get countered by a wall of concrete. That was the distraction they needed as Britney whipped her head towards her car... thankfully, it was safe and only took a few strays. She quickly jetted over there, opened the door, and pushed it to start. Eve and Linqian got in... she wasn't sure where Stormy was, nor did she particularly care.

If he wanted to play the hero, then that was his prerogative.

Britney reversed and prepared to speed the fuck out of there and leave with her life. However, there was one last thing she had to take care of... she saw Leon; she stopped her car, stuck her hand out to the rear door on the opposite side of her, and summoned a vine to open the back door. Then shouted at Leon.

"GET IN!"

Feeling a great deal of shock at the forces in motion in his favor, Leon quickly shifted Alizee's body in his arm to yank the SUV door open. As it swung, his body twisted backward, and with both legs, he launched himself into her back seat, keeping the sleeping dead unharmed by the motion. Still in his lap, Leon flicked his foot beneath the door handle and pulled his leg back to slam it shut.

"Go, now! Just get us to the Temple, Brit. Head toward Liendale and the woody side of town!"

Then Britney put peddle to the metal and sped down the street as the Phoenix fought with Judas, bobbing and weaving through the shields. She noticed some militaristic tan truck, but the only thing on her mind was getting the hell out of there.

Off to this... temple.

---

There was a quiet regality in the old steeple that the Richoux clan had first purchased almost 30 years ago. Dating back to the settlers who first made this region of America their home, the building had been restored over time using artisanal techniques to preserve its beauty in a way accepted by the State Historical Society.

Surrounding it, half a dozen other buildings of more modern construction filled the small cul de sac with lights from windows and open doors. Young people gathered outside in small groups, smoking, drinking, and laughing as they spent the night in celebration: It had been a Ceremony Day, and many followers had spent nearly sixteen hours locked in the main steeple performing prayer and ritual under Matron's guidance.

However, as the vehicle approached their little dead end of the world at high speed, there became a certain defensiveness. The youth enjoying their freedom formed a large clot in the road to prevent Britney from proceeding.

As the vehicle slowed, Leon could see what was happening. He rolled his window down as they approached the car, sticking his head out. Some immediately backed off, prompting the others to do the same and allowing Britney to continue toward that main steeple building.

It was a slow drive for the last hundred feet, the vehicle pulling into the Temple's driveway to park among the two dozen other vehicles gathered in the parking lot.

“Just pull up to the front, Brit. Someone will valet the truck for you…”

Leon's voice didn't sound like it used to; there used to be joy there. Regardless, the vehicle swung its side up to the front curb of the steeple, and someone watching the door descended the steps to begin the greeting process. He opened the back door, letting Leon slowly slide from the back seat as Britney handed her keys to walk beside him.

When the two stood alongside one another, that vaguely familiar face was already staring at them from the entrance. Leon bowed his head in reverence toward the tall, robed woman. Her raven hair and piercing green eyes stuck out from beneath a hood that gently peeled back. As she removed it, her arms widened as if awaiting an embrace.

“And what is this, Leon?”

The simple question cut through the night air like a bullet. Leon didn't let it stop him from starting his somber climb up the steps toward her, breath ragged. His head turned to Britney.

“Come on, Brit.”

“The Britney Williams? It has been some time indeed.” the woman spoke to her now, stepping to the side of the door as Leon made it to the top.

“Yeah, me,” Britney said, “Trying to get an autograph?”

The two of them exchanged words with one another in French, and like a light switch, the woman went from calm and matriarchal to an absolute crying and wailing mess as her hands moved to cup the face of the corpse.

She wept momentarily until she began snapping orders out to those gathered around. Within moments, the corpse was being ushered into the building and down a set of stone stairs while the elder woman clung to Leon in mourning. Those who had previously blocked them now coalesced into a massive huddle, almost trapping Britney in the mass of flesh as they responded to their matron's cries like loyal animals.

They managed to file into the building in suits, the rows and rows of pews filling up as people began to gather around Lynette Richoux and her crying pain. Orange and white banners depicting a sun rising over the crest of a forest-covered hill hung from the high rafters, electric light beaming down like the place was a gallery.

Leon stuck with his mother mostly, and when some of her adjutants began to shuffle her down a set of stairs behind the pulpit, Leon finally got some clothes in the form of a robe someone brought him. He slung it around himself and made his way back to Britney.

“Fuck of a reunion, Sycamore… What the fuck happened at that God damned meeting that compelled her to go to Veni Vidi? Brit, what the fuck did I miss?”

Britney shrugged as she looked up at Leon,

“I don’t know... I showed up late, and all I was told was that we were heading to a strip club, and I was like, 'Sure, let’s help some poor girl get through college!'”

Then she awkwardly laughed as if trying to add levity to the situation. Then it hit her, and she asked the other group members.

“Was she even at the meeting? I did not see her there, and mumbled something about a-" Britney finger quoted. "-'personal investigation' before she... you know.”

She cringed at the thought. While Alizee was her friend, Britney knew that she was a problem. A problem that she should have been the one to solve.

---

---

---

Two shots went off, and Ruby craned over to the street. She knew it couldn't have been anyone she cared about, but curiosity still drew her attention to the street. Naturally, that bitch that started all of this was cut down by the Wolfpack... Hmph.

Serves her right.

Kashmira stopped singing as she looked on in shock herself, and thus, the healing aura was dropped. Ruby would tell her to drop the aura anyway, as it did more harm than good - they had completely negated all the damage they did to Valjean, taking him from his death throes back to total health. Whatever, they still had the full ability to kill him, as long as Wolfman...

... Didn't ignore them all to go and recover Alizee's body.

"Good grief!" Ruby said to herself as she aimed her staff at Valjean, and a dull-yellow beam of energy came out and launched him off his feet. He crashed, hitting the ground, and thanks to Stormy's aura, he might not get back up...
"... Oh, for fuck's sake." Ruby hissed as she craned towards the roof to see Judas Bennet himself standing there with the Curs. Now, Ruby had total faith in their chances of wiping out the Wolfpack... as long as Judas wasn't here. Judas damn near defeated the entirety of Greenwood by himself - and he has his wannabe biker crew (albeit the ones that hauled ass) this time. So, Ruby didn't have high faith in their odds... she didn't know what the other crew wanted to do, but it was dead straightforward that they wanted no part of this - well, except for Shield-Guy and the 8th St Goon.

"... Ain't it funny," Jessica chimed in from Ruby's side, "We were supposed to get the drop on him, but he ended up getting the drop on us."

"That bitch ruined our entire plan," Ruby hissed. "She deserved a lot worse than a fucking gunshot."

"Do not speak ill of the dead, Ruby," Pearl chided her. "She is dead; it is over."

"Amelia," Ruby said, "Get ready to teleport us out of here. We'll have to regroup and devise a whole new ass plan." She rolled her eyes.

Amelia nodded as she subtly prepared the wind spell.... thankfully, the phoenix that made his explosive entrance had decided to engage Judas. Keeping all the attention off of them just long enough for Greenwood to make their exit. Ruby raised her staff in the air and shouted.

"Everyone, bunch up!"

That was when the Greenwood Coven bunched up under the cover of Stormy's shields - even Sully jumped in - then Amelia activated her spell... and a barrage of violent winds infused with leaves hit them. Then, when it reached its peak, they vanished.

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

"HOUDINI NINJAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

James could be heard shouting from the distance.

---

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---

Bianca got behind the shield and gave Samson a bit of a boost... he was tempted to joke that he didn't need it, but Momma always told him to be appreciative. Bianca would probably be safe as long as Samson remained the biggest problem for the Wolfpack, and he hoped Agent Phillips would be here with the others. However, Stormy had some parting words for the two PRA Agents...

"That woman who they shot, she was better than the Wolfpack made her out to be. Do me a favor and don't let them get away after what they've done."

Samson chuckled. He had no clue who the girl who just died was, but if they didn't stop the Wolfpack, a lot more people were likely to die.

"Don't worry, I got this-"

Then she looked up at the rooftop and saw a God damn kid in the jaws of one of the Curs. He was getting thrashed around like he was some type of chew toy... Samson's eyes shot open before he just acted on complete impulse. He hopped into the air, transformed into his phoenix form, and flew directly at Judas, rushing him head-on with a valiant screech. Samson flipped mid-air and attempted to kick Judas... only for Judas to throw his hand up and create a circular wall of concrete, rebar, wire, and windows, and Samson kicked the barrier, sending bits and pieces of debris skyward.

Judas let go of the Curs and launched his hand forward, creating several enormous hands made out of concrete that stretched toward Samson. He ducked and dove opened his mouth and spewed an inferno out of his mouth, and Judas simply swiped his hand and created another barrier made out of concrete. Samson then dove in, spinning so fast that he just appeared as a drill, broke through the barrier as if it were nothing, and continued pushing. Judas detached the piece of roof that he was on and flew backward as he created tendrils made out of concrete that hit Samson directly and launched him.

He did a flip midair and kept flying towards Judas, not letting him get so much of a second of respite by barraging him with fireballs out of his mouth. Forcing Judas to continue backpedaling, putting up defensive barriers. However, he lifted them all, sent them at Samson, and hit him several times, leaving cracks in his phoenix form. Samson was forced to land on one of the other rooftops and came to a skidding stop as the wounds Judas left regenerated...

"... Oh, hi, Samson,"

Samson turned to see Agent Mayfield and Agent Page on the rooftop directly beside him, with the former giving him an awkward wave.

---

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---

It was funny that Dean didn't leave while Judas was here despite making it clear that he wanted to cut and run. Even he wasn't going to piss off Poppa Wolf! Élodie wasn't going to run, not from some kids, nor would she just let them run. She noticed Greenwood vanishing and another group of bitches getting in an SUV and trying to speed off.

Well, trying was the keyword.

Élodie grinned as she knew the shields wouldn't block an attack from above, so Elodie raised her M79 Grenade launcher and grinned as she prepared to send those bitches to Go-

A taser dart hit Élodie in the neck, and she convulsed, dropped the grenade launcher, and fell over.

"Élodie!"

Valjean said in his monstrous voice... he felt the vibrations in the ground; many of them were approaching. He looked up at the rooftop and saw a sniper and another bitch... then a whole-ass army truck approaching.

Then it all hit him!

Valjean saw Judas fighting Samson, but as it stood, it was very unwise to stay in this engagement. Not with Cyril and Victor dead, Maggy and Shayton MIA, and the PRA coming down on them at the same time. Élodie would have been fine dying in an insane hurrah, but not Valjean; he still cared for his sister and fellow Wolfpack! He managed to climb out of the ice and jog over to Élodie, knelt, scooped her up... and got hit with a taser dart from the sniper, which couldn't pierce his shell. He turned towards Dean and said,

"Dean, I'm getting out of here with Élodie! Figure out what the fuck you're going to do quick"

With his claws, he grabbed his and Élodie's motorcycles. That was when he started running down the street... unfortunately, he wasn't that fast in Scorpion form, but he was functionally impervious to any taser darts or bullets. He wasn't sure what Dean was going to do, nor did he give a damn long as he stayed out of Valjean's way. Judas and the Curs were probably going to be the center of attention.

---

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---

The GPS said they were two minutes away; Nakala could hear the chaos in the distance and wanted to put peddle to the metal because it sounded crazy. However, Nakala did the opposite, bringing the vehicle to a skidding stop and looking in the back.

"Sonya, Helena, get into position on the rooftop! Snipe anyone that's in the engagement!"

"Aye, aye!" Sonya said as she hopped out of the PRA truck and into the air, attaching to the wall, and scaling it as if it was nothing with her M24 strapped to her back. Helena stepped out, stuck her hands out, and summoned glowing blue ethereal birds that lifted her to the rooftops.

Then Nakala put peddle to the metal and sped down the empty streets of St. Portwell in this militaristic vehicle with the FBI Logo on the side. However, on the way there, a white GMC Yukon hauled ass in the opposite direction, and Nakala put her finger on her earpiece and shouted,

"Helena, tail them with some birds!"

"On it,"

Then that was when Nakala finally made it to the scene... she had to swerve suddenly to the right to avoid running over one of Stormy's shields and trashing another vehicle.

"I think I see Agent Manalo!" Fiona quickly detected Bianca with her superior senses and pointed; thus, Nakala stopped the vehicle. She hopped out, grabbed her compound bow, and aimed it at where Fiona was pointing, loaded an arrow glowing. with a green aura... she launched it. It exploded into a portal that created a pathway directly over to the PRA vehicle. Then she shouted,

"... I got a nice body armor for youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!"

Trevor shouted in a sing-song as he poked his head out the window, holding a bulletproof vest (that ironically said FBI) with his thumb and index finger.

"Trevor, get your ass back in the truck!"

---

---

What the actual fuck.

Having gotten out of the stripclub shootup situation, Linqian had assumed she'd be able to get home and get some fucking rest… instead she was was dragged to a cult. At least, it looked like one. Why else would a massive group block the car till they saw Leon, or why would they congregate around a steeple?

Linqian followed Britney and Leon out her car, sticking close to Britney. She did not like the look of this place at all.

Leon and some older, kinda sexy, lady started talking in French… Linqian recognised a word here and there thanks to learning a tiny bit of French when she live in the Congo, but she didn't understand what was said as a whole. Presumably about Alizée's death… was she her mum or something, with the way she was sobbing dramatically? Probably not, she looked way more like Leon… wasn't blond enough to be Alizée's. Fucks sake, no one needed to witness this.

Well, actually, it seemed like everyone wanted to… they filed in as a mass, gathering around the crying woman. Alright, definitely an actual, real cult. With a Morticia Addams lookalike leader.

Linqian shuddered, discomfort crawling across her skin. At least Leon was wearing some clothes again… and Britney asked if Alizée had even been at the meeting.

"She came," Linqian replied with a shrug. "Then left soon as Kali said he was a fed. It was a whole thing. Eve here nearly shot him."

She really didn't feel like explaining that whole disaster. It was a whole thing she'd much rather forget, honestly.

"I assume she went to Veni Vedi because Auri said she found a lead there. What led to all the fighting is beyond me. I assumed we'd all go there, get some strippers, and ask around for some info. I was even ready to buy everyone's drinks," with Edict's money, "but nooo by the time I turned up it was a shitshow."

She rolled her eyes. "Knowing Alizée she went in there causing a scene. Kinda her fault she died."

At least she'd had a chance to run. Or to avoid the fight altogether by not starting it, from what Linqian had gathered. Father Wolf's victims hadn't been so lucky.

Sure, she was callous, but Linqian had more than enough of her own grief to deal with without dealing with other's for someone she didn't even care about. Actively disliked, really. Something about the whole thing left a bad taste in her mouth. All the people gathered in pews, the presumed leader weeping over Alizee, her dead body being taken away… where they doing a funeral right there and then for her?

She hadn't even been able to afford a funeral for Jinhai.

What did Alizée do to deserve all these people mourning her? What good did she ever do? Why did she have all these people who cared about her death when all of Jinhai's friends and connections, so painstakingly made, had disappeared as soon as he was dead. Not a single one reached out. Not a single one cared. Her friends? They abandoned her as soon as they realised she wouldn't be passing them free booze under the bar anymore. She was left to deal with it alone because all she had left was a brother who was barely an adult and a shit ton of debt.

Irrational, heavy anger swirled in her gut. It had been simmering underneath the surface ever since her car had broken down, pushed down by trying not to get fucking shot. But now her life wasn't at risk, it bubbled to the surface and exploded. Linqian turned on Leon and got right up in his face (well, chest, he was a good foot taller than her). He was the target of her anger because he'd brought them here- and had been the start of it anyway. She glared up at him, lips twisting down into a ugly scowl.

"You," Linqian jabbed a finger into his chest as hard as she could. "You owe me a new car. You fucking destroyed mine when you were playing golden furry while trying to run away with her… which sure worked out well! You know she wasn't the only one who got shot… we just weren't fucking stupid enough to walk up to someone with a gun as if they wouldn't shoot us! No wonder she was insane enough to if shes part of this cult... I lost my car and got shot, for what? I just walked into the parking lot! I can't afford a new fucking car… some of us don't have a cult to take care of our dead bodies and have their brother's. Fucking. Ashes. Sitting in their cupboard."

Shit.

That was not something she'd wanted to share.

"Fuck," Linqian covered her face with a hand, taking a step back so she was no longer pushing into Leon's personal space. Her other hand clenched into a fist that shook with rage and another feeling she was trying to suppress. ”Forget it.”

Dean revved his bike again, deciding he would stick around. With Judas here, this would be quick work, until the dumb bitch dropped being shock by a taser dart. Fuck. At least they won't have to answer to the cops why a grenade launcher went off at one of their places of business. He didn't know what the hell was going on. He looked in the direction of where the dart came from and saw a sniper. The ground rumbled under him like a mini earthquake. They didn't get too many of those around here. The fuck?

It's when Valjean took the next dart that didn't faze him and shouted,
That Dean got clued into what the fuck was going on. Shit. They could pay off the cops, but ain't no way they had connections with the Feds. Valjean grabbed Elodie and they were gone down the street.

He would've road after them, but he didn't have time to think. The next dart came for him and instantly turn him and his bike into smoke, before transitioning to a shadow and traveling far from the strip club in seconds. Judas can handle himself. He's not fucking with the Feds. That would ruin everything.

He popped back up on his bike several blocks away and gunned it down the street back to his apartment to settle the accounts before his time was up.

Personal investigation' before she... you know.

Leon spun in his seat trying to figure it all out when it was really just so simple. It all snapped into place, like he could hear his Father's voice in his head. She was just stressed... Just like everyone else, she was probably tense about what was going on. And, now that the concentration in the city was rising again, blowing off a little steam like she'd been known to before. Like him, she probably just wanted things to bottom out so that they could figure out just what the fuck was going on. It was all dumb. Poor Alizee had died over recklessness and complacency, and there was nothing he could do to bring her smile back. Another person taken from him, only this time it was a complete clusterfucking crossfire.

His massive hand climbed up to rub his chin as Leon turned his body.
"Personal investigation, I get. That's why I didn't bother going to Auri's little pow-wow; I had my own ideas about this Father Wolf from the jump."

She came, Then left soon as Kali said he was a fed. It was a whole thing. Eve here nearly shot him.

Leon turned a bit more to make sure his body language included her in the conversation. Any input at this point was better than none, and if she'd seen what happened there he was all ears.

I assume she went to Veni Vedi because Auri said she found a lead there.

Fair, he nodded along as she continued about what had happened thinking about the conversations the two of them had about possibilities prior to the big meeting.

Knowing Alizée she went in there causing a scene. Kinda her fault she died.

Alright, again fair but uncalled for. Leon bit his tongue to hold in the gut reaction, but he couldn't stop a scowl from spreading across his face as Linqian approached him and began to lay into him in front of at least a dozen followers, as well as the other Sycamore members.

Leon held his jaw clenched as Linqian spewed venom into his face until she finally pulled back and released his personal space from assault. Twenty years of meditation and deep breathing exercises for moments just like this... Leon ground his teeth together slightly, like rolling a piece of chewing gum between his molars, then nodded as the muscles in his face released their tension.
"Alright Linqian, good to see you too, first." he started, considering what he was about to say next very carefully.
"You've certainly not lost your skill at tearing someone down, especially in the worst places... Now, I broke your car? Well, you're not the only one, but tonight you'll be the only one who has the chance to scream at me for it, so congratulations."
Again, Leon paused as he closed his eyes just a moment longer than a blink before opening them again. Happy place, Leon. Happy place.
"Now, while you left St. Portwell after the Coven dissolved, Alizee didn't. And, amazingly, neither did I. No, see, we stayed because this place is home. But, people like you and your brother couldn't build good memories here. You left as soon as you could. So, while there were people here who gladly would have helped you, well... You weren't here to help. Now you walk into a place where someone who had deep and serious issues came to escape her problems and be with people who cared about her; and you look at my mother grieving over the loss of a beloved congregate and insult our practices that you know nothing about? Over dollar fucking bills? You're damn lucky that we're in the middle of a fucking crisis or-"

"Leon!"

Oh did her regal voice cut the room and Leon's trembling rage like a hot blade through soft butter. Visibly, Leon choked upon his words and turned back to see his mother standing at the pulpit in her place as Prophet. The sun beamed from her in his eyes, and a small tear welled up.
"Steel yourself. Your fury and defense are both unnecessary in the case... For all that brave little Coven did, each of your old companions are welcome here in our House and are counted among our extended family. As any family, she hurts with us and we shall not turn her away... Young Lady, I encourage you to place your name and information in the Book of Registry, that we may deliver unto you the recompense that you deserve. Medical expenses and transportation necessities will be provided for without question. The same can be extended to any of the Sycamore Tree Coven's many disparate members."
Lynette's voice was firm and commanding, as if she was making a complete guarantee and unwilling to leave a shred of doubt in their minds that she was genuine.
"Though, we do... Well... Sonnenrad's Remnants are not exactly the first people we'd like ourselves associated with, perhaps it's a necessary evil. Now, please... Register and be recognized as one of the most charming and graceful."
A woman from the group of onlookers broke away and came back rolling a special cart that had a massive tome of truly old paper. Even now, fresh names were being added to the entry columns, each with addresses and contact information. An archaic practice, but the only official way the Temple handled any kind of membership cursory or otherwise. In front of the book, an inkwell held a quill pen waiting for takers to jot their names down.

---

Jack left with Sloane and then Drake also left, which was good in Luca’s opinion. It did leave him awkwardly standing around with two women he didn’t know particularly well. Really he wanted to take some of his fast acting painkillers, but it would be awkward to do in front of others. Later.

“Uh, the others went to some stripclub, I think,” Luca answered Lila, rubbing the back of his neck while he tried to remember the name. V something. “Vini? Or something? It was Latin.”

He then looked at the massive amount of crows watching them… Yeah, sure did get bigger. Half joking, he said, “Your crows aren’t able to pick up medical supplies, are they?”

If not, which was likely, he'd just head home and deal with it.

“I mean,” Lila stopped as she leaned on her back foot, “I never tried to use them for something like that.” Lila knew that the crows could do much, whether she needed to find someone or locate something she lost, yet she had never had them try and locate a medical device, much less a brace. “But you’re hurt, so it is worth a try you know?”

“Put faith in them, I think you will find them quite capable.” The Maiden whispered. Lila looked over to her left ear and shook her head. There was something.. Off about her voice, it was almost too pleasant.

Lila reached into her bag and grabbed a plastic bag with a combination of unsalted peanuts, dried fruit, and plain unsalted popcorn. She looked up at the crows all around and shook the bag. A deafening *caw* responding in unison. “Alright, I offer you this treat. In return, you will locate and bring back a brace for Luca here. You will not steal it from a kid, nor will you steal it from someone older. Figure it out if you don’t find one on the streets, and don’t you all go hunting,” she paused as she shook the bag one more time, “we have a deal?”

*caw* *caw* *caw*

In an instant, the skies darkened as the murder began to circle above. “Alright,” Lila said as she opened the bag and tossed the contents on the ground at her feet. Half her murder descended at once, and a feeding frenzy took shape on the ground. For five seconds the crows devoured the offering before they quickly returned to the sky. They departed at once, spreading out from the Dairy Queen in a circular formation spreading across the city at once. Lila knew that if there was a way for the crows to find one they would, and if they had to rip it from the broken arm of some teenage boy they would do that for her. “They shouldn’t be long, even on the weird requests they are oddly efficient.”

“So, Vini or something,” Lila paused as she contemplated if she even knew the name of any strip clubs, “that’s a start.” Lila looked around the area once more and finally noticed the trash can near the door and she quickly tossed the wrapper into the trash.

”Thanks,” Luca flashed Lila a genuine, if slightly pained, smile. ”I’ll buy you some replacement snacks.” Not that he was sure what crows liked… well, he’d just ask her when they got to that. ”Yeah, sorry I can’t remember the actual name. I’m sure Sloane would’ve… Maybe text Auri, she was the one that found the lead.”

“I can see if I can get anything from a possible future, at least I can narrow down the search a bit that way,” Evelynn paused as she steadied her footing. “Keep an eye out for me, I’ll be out for five or so minutes,” she finished the thought, channeled her power, and drifted off to a few possible futures.

“So, Luca, we have a few minutes to spare while the space cadet is off to the future and the crows are out looking for the brace,” Lila paused as she took a step forward. She did not remember much of the specifics of Luca’s power but she did remember that she could not get very close to him without falling into decay. She did have questions that she wanted to ask, yet she did not want them to be brought up to just everyone. Lila knew that Luca had Rot inside of him, and she wondered if Rot ever talked to him, or if it ever asked him to leave the town, venture far into the woods without anyone for help, to meet face to face finally.

“I do doubt that Rot would ever ask that,” The Maiden whispered again.

“Shut up, shut up,” Lila whispered, turning her eyes towards her left ear. “Great,” Lila thought as the realization dawned on her. “You can read my thoughts." She quickly turned back towards Luca and laughed. “Do you mind if I ask a few questions about your aberration?”

”Uh…” The question visibly threw Luca off guard, his smile faltering and eyes widening. He supposed it made sense, if Lila was dealing with something similar. He couldn’t quite remember if she was. He quickly shoved away the negative thoughts he had about talking about it, smiling brightly once again. ”Sure, ask away! I’ve got plenty of aberration knowledge outside of my own too.” Thanks to ten years of research, and no results. ”So whatever you want to know, I can probably answer.”

Lila turned her focus to the ground. She knew she needed to have this conversation, she needed to find out more about what was happening to her, but the thought of actually talking it through felt like she was speaking the crazy into reality. She could keep it hidden, of course, and simply speak in a general sense. Like “what was it like” or “how are you adjusting” or anything besides the actual true question she wanted to ask.

“How did you know if an aberration was bound to you? Like, did you just wake up one day with a voice in your ear, telling you to let it in, take a trip into the forest, and meet it in its world,” Lila paused, “because I have had these crows for ten years, and in those ten years I haven’t shared my mind with anything after the snake, and something’s changed,” she felt a weight fall off her shoulders, She leaned in close, feeling the aura hit her forehead for a brief second before she pulled it back an inch, “The Maiden, it calls itself,” she paused as she crossed her arms. Her leg began to shake. “Have you run across anything in your research that could explain it, or anything about The Maiden?”

Luca furrowed his brow, trying to recall if he had. Most of his research had been focused on getting rid of apparitions, why they adjoined to people and the like. He’d come across information about a few specific ones, but most of it was from talking to other adjoined. The Maiden… Unfortunately he hadn’t heard of it.

”I haven’t heard of the Maiden… Or of anyone having an abstraction, then getting adjoined and keeping it.” Luca paused, thinking for a moment. ”Maybe it was always there? I don’t know. For me, yeah, it was waking up one day with a voice in my ear… But I woke up with that and the rotting. It was pretty obvious something was wrong when I tried to pick up my phone and it disintegrated in my hands.” He laughed lightly, as if it was a funny thing to look back on rather than an everyday nightmare. ”The Rot’s quite quiet, actually. It maybe talks to me once every few days… It’s certainly never told me to meet it. I’m pretty sure it lives inside me. But it’s always talked a bit, since I was adjoined to it ten years ago. I can sort of tell it's always there, too.”

Always there. The Maiden was always there. That wasn’t what Lila heard Luca say but it was all that her mind would repeat. From that first moment, the crows began to follow her, waiting for their first order, to them blinding monsters on the battlefield, to everything that has happened since The Maiden was always there. The more she let that idea sit, the more her leg shook, and the more she shook the faster she breathed.

“I don’t like that idea,” Lila spoke somewhere between her normal voice and a whisper, “that she was always here, you know? Like, why now? Why reveal yourself now? I don’t like it, I don-” Lila paused as she pressed her palms to her temple, took in a deep breath, and exhaled. She felt a little bit better after she did this, although she still kept the shaking leg. “Yours is quiet compared to mine. More questions that need answers I suppose,” she chuckled. Lila realized that The Maiden was oddly quiet. Lila pondered her next question, should she ask where Luca started his research into his? Or should she ask them if they know anyone else who could provide more information? What if she asked him to ask his apparition? That might work, at least in theory. These things had to have crossed paths at some point in time, right? The more she thought the more she realized that the conversation would not go on like this for much further. She would not be able to go on with this conversation for much longer. She would spiral, she would need to run home, and she quite enjoyed being in the company of her old friends once more. As well, she knew she had not caught up with her old friend yet. With a smile, she went to change the subject. “Thank you for that information, you are the best as always. How have you been since the Coven? You look good, all things considered,” she finished the sentence with a smile.

”It’s a little difficult, but you get used to sharing your mind,” Luca smiled sympathetically, not pushing on the matter. It was obvious Lila wanted to change the topic and Luca was more than happy to. He didn’t like talking about the rot at all. Though the topic change did come with the dreaded question - how have you been. The honest answer was awful, but he never gave the honest answer. ”Yeah, pretty good. I’ve managed to get a decent remote job that funds all my destroyed phones, and I’m living pretty well.” Outside of the whole rotting from the inside and not being able to be near other people thing. ”I did lose contact with Olivia a week ago… Dunno if you remember her, we were always together when the Coven was still together. That didn’t change much, honestly, till she moved away a few years back… Hopefully she’s alright. I haven’t heard anything bad from her family, so I’m sure it’s fine-”

Luca abruptly cut himself off, shifting awkwardly. ”Sorry, I’m rambling, I haven’t talked to anyone properly in a while.” Two weeks before today, to be precise, when he last called Olivia. ”How’s it been for you? Aside from all the new crows.”

”All things considered? Pretty good, yeah things have been in an alright spot since the Coven. I grew a spine which was pretty exciting,” Lila chuckled, “but I have been good. And I do remember Olivia,” she paused as she pondered the situation, “did she go missing here? I can use my crows to search the town and the surrounding area for any signs of her, I’d just need a picture to show them.”

”No, Oklahoma,” Luca shook his head. ”She moved a while back, but thanks.”

“Your crows will return soon,” Evelynn spoke as she returned to the present. She turned to the group and smiled. “Veni Vedi Veni,” the smile vanished quickly, “Auri asked if I knew the first letter why didn’t I just google St. Portwell Strip Clubs and look for the ones that start with a V but that is neither here nor there.”

“Did they have a brace?” Lila asked with a raised brow. “Please say yes,” she thought to herself.

“About seventy percent of the time, yes,” Evelynn said with a smile, “I cant speak to where they found it, but they usually got it back before Auri responds to my text,” Evelynn paused as she glanced at her phone, “which should be in ten minutes.” Evelynn looked over to Lila and did a quick full-body glance. “Long time no see to you as well, Lila. So. The Maiden was it,” Evelynn paused as she thought for a moment. She grabbed the flask from her bag, opened it, and took a quick swig. She extended the flask out, first towards Drake, then Lila, and finally Luca. “If you ever need me to see what she wants I can always look ahead for you,” she paused as she crooked her head and shifted her eyes away from the group, “provided you give me a place to sit for a few days and can ensure nothing happens to me during that time otherwise,” she chuckled as she shifted her eyes back towards Lila, “would have to start all over again.”

“Do you think you can actually learn something about her that way,” Lila asked with a hushed tone.

“Possibly,” Evelynn responded in a dry tone. “I can’t guarantee it, and it would take a lot of time, but if you ever need my help I can at least try.” She took another drink from her flask. She offered it to the group once more. “Whisky.”

”No thanks,” Luca shook his head, holding up his good hand with a smile. Drinking alcohol with a body that was barely functioning wouldn’t be smart. He had no idea what state his liver was in. Probably not a good one, like the rest of him. At least he should be getting a wrist brace… He turned to Lila. ”If it’ll work, I think it’d be worth looking ahead to see what she wants. One thing I’ve learned is to not trust apparitions.” Not that he needed to do more than live with the Rot in his head for a few days to figure that one out. ”Otherwise, talk to one of the others who knows more about magic, like…” he hesitated, lips twisting downwards for just a moment, ”Britney.”

“Britney….” Lila responded first. She grabbed the flask from Evelynn and took a long drink. “Oh that..I think that is just a grand idea, I think I would like to talk to Britney.”

---

---

“... Britney,”

A girl off to the side said as a group of three people caught the attention of Lila and Luca… they would be three people that they would be very familar with.
Being members of the Old Coven.

The one who spoke was a very short girl, known as Carol Doyle, one of the casualties during the final battle. She wore a grey hoodie, a black skirt, and black combat boots. She had a Milkshake that she drunk as she stared down the three, then she turned to Luca.

“When are you going to stop being such a pussy and just kill her already? Just wrap your fucking hands around her neck and decay it away - and if anyone tries to stop you, you fucking kill them, too!”

The next person to speak was another old and infamous sight in the old Coven, and unlike Carol, he was massive. At least seven and a half feet tall, wearing a sweater, jeans, and hiking boots. He was George Nelson, big-time bully, and one of the many frontlines on the battle against the Stygian Snake. He crossed his arms and smiled as he said,

“If you won’t do it, then just lead me to her…. I’ll take care of the rest from there! You can watch and everything!” He laughed.

”Hi Carol, George,” Luca said with an awkward politeness, as if they hadn’t just come up and told him to kill someone. He hadn’t seen them since he last looked to 8th Street for help… which had been far too recent for his liking when it came to George at least. ”I don’t want her dead… Unlike both of you, I’ve moved on.”

Luca winced. Was that too harsh? Maybe he was a coward, hiding away his feelings, not killing her- Nope! He was just reasonable! ”I don’t even know where she is, anyway. I saw her, like, once.”

“… You can’t move on while that thing is killing you, Luca,” Carol answered, “Stop fucking lying to yourself.”

”Carol, oh my god hi,” Lila smiled before she shifted her eyestowards George, “George..” Great. Out of everyone to run into today she happened to run across one of the more vile people from her childhood. While he never stuffed her in a locker, nor did he ever physically hurt her in general, he still bullied her relentlessly at every chance he had. That continued into their time together at the Coven.

“Your bully,” The Maiden whispered, “he did not change I take it?”

Lila shook her head side to side as she shifted her gaze over to Luca.

“Soooo, it has been a long time you two,” Evelynn did not like how hostile the conversation started. She knew that the two would never run with their coven again, and while she could not blame them for that she suspected that they were not here looking to catch up on the crazed adventures of old. She also did not like that they were not present in any of her visions from just before. If it was just one possible future she would chalk that up to the sheer number of variables that could change the path of the two, but when she looked as many as she did she knew a sudden appearance could mean something weird.

“I don’t know where Britney is,” Evelynn shifted her weight onto her back foot, “if you want I can peer into a few possible futures for you. See if I get lucky on a text or something.”

"Let's not, better to leave Britney out of this," Luca shook his head at Evelynn. He would rather take whatever they had to say than direct them towards Britney… much as she'd ruined his life. He looked back at Carol, smiling as if her comment hadn't hit a nerve. He hadn't wanted anyone in the coven to know that, he hated it being voiced. He clenched his fist, short nails digging into the palm of his hands. The pain barely registered as he tried to talk cheerfully, as if they were just nicely catching up. "Honestly, Carol, I've accepted that… Y'know. That I'm… yeah… well, I've accepted it. That's basically moving on. Hurting Britney won't exactly stop it. Better to use our energy looking for a way to fix our problems, right?"

For someone who claimed to accept it, he struggled a lot to actually vocalise it. Carol could bluntly say his abstraction was killing him, but Luca couldn't. He turned back to Lila and Evelynn, "Uh, don't think too hard about what she said." Smooth. Definitely making it seem not serious.

“... Then tell me, why did you leave 8th St when I told you I was working on something? Sycamore only reformed to save their own asses…” Greta fixed her glasses and stared Luca dead in the face as she flatly said, “They’re not going to help you, and you know it.”

That was when a third person walked up, holding a little cup of chocolate ice cream… known as the girl that Daisy scorned, Greta Faust. A girl with dyed red hair, and glasses wore a studded leather jacket, jeans, and spiked boots. She spoke with a very nasally voice.

“I didn’t get an invitation to the little… reunion…”

“Heh, me neither!” George said.

“I got one, but I told Auri to fuck off!” Carol answered.

“Isn’t that funny?” Greta lightly chuckled.

"Hey Greta… You know why I left," Luca couldn't quite meet her gaze, looking away. He did feel bad about that because she had been helping. Greta was one of the 8th Street members he actually liked. But he couldn't stay when they started stealing artifacts, and with Emily's increasingly brutal methods to try to get rid of other groups. He'd said as much to some of the more reasonable members when he left. "I'd rather help everyone stay alive than help Emily take over. I'm not going back to help myself, anyway… but I thought Auri invited everyone."

He glanced at George, who was understandably uninvited, then back at Greta. "She didn't invite you? But Daisy wasn't even there…"

“That bitch Auri just cherrypicked the people she liked!” Carol shouted, followed by cocky laughter.

But Greta shrugged.

“I guess she knew it was a waste of time because I wasn’t going anyway,” Greta said as she put a hand on her hip. “My time with Sycamore is over.”

“I wouldn’t think too much about Greta’s ideas on how to fix Luca, or yourself,” The Maiden whispered, “I don’t trust her.” Lila shook her head in response. She knew that The Maiden was right, in this instance. While she had her own issues that led to her not joining back, she did not want Britney dead.

“I got an invite but I opted out,” Lila shrugged, “too much bad in the past for me to consider it. I may need to reach out to a few of them here soon, but I want to keep my distance.” Lila turned her attention towards Luca. She wondered what help Greta offered him. While Lila loved her murder and would do anything for them, she did not like The Maidens's sudden appearance and wanted to know as much as she could. “Hey Greta, how versed are you in Apparitions, named ones?”

“A mistake,” The Maiden whispered.

“Maybe I know something...” Greta shrugged, “... Maybe I don’t, but maybe our little supernatural expert Nadine…“ She paused and briefly glanced at Luca, “... Does. However, I’m not lifting a finger for anyone not in the 8th Street Coven.”

“I was going to be with the coven today but I have a bad habit of having bad luck at the worst time,” Evelynn said with a chuckle, “Somehow ended up here, at a Dairy queen of all places. I didn’t think I’d ever run with a group again until these deaths started happening and the future offered no solutions.”

“My point exactly,” Greta said, “Even though we are literally dying; Auri is sitting around trying to play favorites. Inviting the people she does like, while the rest of us are just… left in the dark.”

“Fuck Auri, fuck Britney, and fuck Sycamore,” Carol said, “You two should come over to our side. Emily has a plan for everything. Auri does not.”

“Come back to 8th Street, Luca,” Greta started, “We have a place for you.”

Luca frowned. Greta had a point… Luca had assumed Auri had invited everyone back because they were all dying. Even if they wouldn't come, she should've given them the choice. His head hurt just thinking about it and he could feel the rot stirring in his mind, pushing him in a direction he didn't want to go. "I, uh, really appreciate it. I liked 8th Street, before Emily started having everyone hurt people. The Nazis were one thing, but everyone after…"

Luca trailed off, looking back at Lila and Evelynn. "You should ask them what they do before you consider joining. Maybe it's worth it for you."

Greta deviously grinned.

“We, the 8th Street Coven, ensure the safety of St. Portwell by achieving the magical domination and subjugation of other factions.” She looked at Lynn and Lila, pointing at Luca.

“He refuses to tell you about how St. Portwell is in chaos… the Elite, the Nazi-Cosplayers, the PRA… they all prey on this city, and he must be delusional if he thinks you can play nice against them.”

"That doesn't mean we should hurt them either," Luca said softly.

“You know there will be cost, ask yourself if you are willing to pay it,” The Maiden whispered.

“What’s the cost of entry,” Lila asked as she lowered her eyes.

“A hundred dollars, paid to me up front,” Greta put her hand out, grinning like a fool.

Lila did not intend to join 8th St, she did not want to join Sycamore. She just wanted to live her life free of the chaos that a coven brought. While she wanted to learn more about who The Maiden was, what she wanted, and why she was chosen, she did not want to hurt people for those answers. At least not yet. For now, Lila knew that it was better to seek help from a devil she knew rather than risking the likes of the 8th Street. At least not yet. Lila shifted her attention back towards Luca and gave him a quick smile. She hoped that it would communicate that she was not going to truly hear them out, that she was just going to pretend and listen to them, and take his recommendation and seek out Britney. Yet something in her brain told her she needed to get The Maiden figured out, to get The Maiden out forever, and something in her brain told her she needed to start now.

“The cost will be paid for with blood, the blood of your friends, and the blood of the innocent people of St. Portwell.”

“I don’t think I will be interested,” Evelynn paused as she took another swig from her flask. She gave it a shake and noticed she had already gone through half of what she brought. She offered the flask to Greta, then George, and went to offer it to Carol before she paused. Evelynn thought of the implication of offering alcohol to the person permanently stuck in a kid's body. After a second, she shrugged and offered the flask to Carol as well. “You spend enough time in possible futures you see a thing or two.”

“Gimme that shit!” Carol snatched it and downed it all… not even saving any for anyone else.

“So let me ask a question then, Ms. Evelynn,” Greta started, “Can you see a future for the Sycamore Tree Coven? Because I don’t have your Abstraction, I can tell you there is none.”

Greta glanced at everyone here, “Just look at Auri, look at what just happened: Drake Blackmore just decked Sloane Farris. I know his little cum dumpster died, but it’s proof that the patterns of the old Coven are doomed to repeat themselves.”

She pushed her glasses up her nose with a finger.

"Hey, that's harsh," Luca looked at Greta with a frown, while hiding his broken wrist behind his back.

Evelynn shook an imaginary magic eight ball, took a look, and returned Greta’s gaze. “Cannot predict now, ask again later” she paused as she looked at Carol and the now empty flask in her hand. “Damn,” she whispered. “The future is hard to read, Greta, I can’t say what the future holds for me let alone a Coven. I appreciate your offer but I got to say no.”

Luca was relieved that neither seemed to be taking the offer, lips curving back into a slight smile. "I'm not coming back… I don't want to save myself by hurting others. It was nice to see you all again, though."

Even though they'd spent most of the time trying to convince him to come back and shaming him about not doing it, Luca was mostly genuine about that… though that was probably because he'd barely interacted with anyone recently.

Greta just shrugged upon getting rejected.

“Well, we tried,” She started, “I wish you could see the from our point of view; but I guess this is a lesson you all will learn the hard way. Have fun being miserable under Auri Auclair. Ta-ta…” Greta gave them a wave goodbye as she walked out.

“You’ll see our ugly mugs again real soon, I know it!” George laughed as he walked out, downing his milkshake.
Carol stayed still for a moment, staring at Luca, and said, “Look motherfucker - I don’t mean to call you a motherfucker, but you’re a real motherfucker. This wasn’t just hot air; we miss you, and I want to help you. We’re like kindred fucking spirits or something, but just keep your goddamn head on a swivel…”

Carol nodded her head before she walked out.

“... There’s a lot more to all of this, I know it. Stay safe… motherfucker,”

"I will," Luca said at her departing back, waving his good hand. Then, quietly, he added, "I missed you all too.'

“Look, the crows return with the brace,” The Maiden whispered.

Lila looked up to the sky and spotted the Crow that carried a brace. It led the rest of the murder back towards the small group. “It worked,” Lila chuckled, “Luca,” she pointed towards the Crow, “I hope that it is the right size.”

Luca was surprised the crow had actually managed to get a wrist brace - and exactly what he needed too. Pleased, but surprised. He flashed Lila a bright grin. "Thanks!"

Evelynn watched as the crow in question flew above the group, positioning itself right about Luca. Lynn wondered if it was too above him, and if the Crow dropped it would it hurt Luca when it landed. In an instant, the crow dropped the brace and it began to plummet downward. It was heading towards Luca’s nose. Lynn gasped and took a step towards Luca when her telekinetic curse activated and the brace was instead pulled towards her face. A second later it impacted right on her nose. “Ow, what the fuck,” she winced as she pressed both hands to her nose. It did not feel broken, but it hurt and a small amount of blood started to drip. She leaned down and grabbed the brace off the ground. She noticed that there was already blood on it, blood that wasn’t hers. “Hey Luca, Lila, looks like the crow had to fight someone for it.”

"Oh shit," Luca's mouth fell open at the brace straight up jumping away from him and smacking Lynn in the face. He had to suppress a laugh at how ridiculous it was. "Uh… hopefully that person wasn't hurt too much. If you want to just throw the brace over to me, Lynn- wait, actually, throw it on the ground near me."

“Here,” Lynn whispered as she reached down, grabbed the brace, and tossed it towards Luca’s feet.

”Thanks,” Luca smiled at her. He rummaged in his pockets first, pulling on another pair of lycra gloves before bending over to pick up the brace. He carefully put it on his left wrist. It should last a good enough amount of time… And he could order more if it rotted away. Once he was done he looked back at Lila and Lynn. ”It was nice to catch up with you both, but I should probably go home. Gotta rest up.” He yawned as he said that, fatigue from actually going outside starting to catch up with him. ”Hopefully I’ll catch you both at the next meeting… or somewhere else.”

With another yawn, he waved to them both, before heading for the nearest bus stop that would take him home.

---

---

---

Britney was unnerved by the Temple.

She wished that she had just ignored Leon, swerved to the left, and found some random field to bury Alizee in (because God forbid they take her to a hospital or funeral home, that would end so poorly). The Temple was a cult, plain and simple - and unlike Sycamore, they didn't seem like they had good intentions. Though Lynette was a very sexy cult leader, she had that sinister allure... Britney had to keep her head on a swivel and not get roped into a cult because she got horny. She swallowed as Linqian eloquently answered her questions...

"She came, then left soon as Kali said he was a fed. It was a whole thing. Eve here nearly shot him."

Britney tilted her head as she contorted her face into one of confusion.

"Kali is what?" She started, before turning to Eve, "And Eve did WHAT?!"

Now, Britney had just wished she had just given it another day and heard about all of this second hand.

"I assume she went to Veni Vedi because Auri said she found a lead there. What led to all the fighting is beyond me. I assumed we'd all go there, get some strippers, and ask around for some info. I was even ready to buy everyone's drinks, but nooo by the time I turned up it was a shitshow. Knowing Alizée, she went in there, causing a scene. Kinda her fault she died."

"Linqian!" Britney scolded her on the final sentence, even though she couldn't find why she would be wrong. As Britney can tell, Alizée went off without telling anybody and got into a whole situation. Granted, Alizée was a grown-ass woman, and Britney and Sycamore shouldn't have to babysit her. Still, they also had to remember that she was adjoined to a dangerous Apparition that was clearly influencing her mind. If Britney had just sealed the damn thing into a coin and thrown it into The Pit, this wouldn't have happened. Hopefully, now that she's dead, the Void Heart will remain in the Void where he belongs.

"You. You owe me a new car. You fucking destroyed mine when you were playing golden furry while trying to run away with her… which sure worked out well! You know she wasn't the only one who got shot… we just weren't fucking stupid enough to walk up to someone with a gun as if they wouldn't shoot us! No wonder she was insane enough to if shes part of this cult... I lost my car and got shot, for what? I just walked into the parking lot! I can't afford a new fucking car… some of us don't have a cult to take care of our dead bodies and have their brother's. Fucking. Ashes. Sitting in their cupboard."

Britney listened to the rant and visibly cringed, especially at Linqian's revelation towards the end. Britney sighed as she grabbed Linqian by her upper arm and pulled her away from Leon. She sighed before she spoke,

"Look, Linqian, relax," She started, "I'll help you fix your car, it's the least I can do for Jinhai, and... you know what, we'll talk about the other thing later."

She tried to buff things over before Leon got mad, and Britney couldn't help but get a little bit fearful as he began his spiel. She wanted to tell him to calm down, too, but she knew that was not going to help... then Lynette spoke.

"Steel yourself. Your fury and defense are both unnecessary in the case... For all that brave little Coven did, each of your old companions are welcome here in our House and are counted among our extended family. As any family, she hurts with us and we shall not turn her away... Young Lady, I encourage you to place your name and information in the Book of Registry, that we may deliver unto you the recompense that you deserve. Medical expenses and transportation necessities will be provided for without question. The same can be extended to any of the Sycamore Tree Coven's many disparate members. Though, we do... Well... Sonnenrad's Remnants are not exactly the first people we'd like ourselves associated with, perhaps it's a necessary evil. Now, please... Register and be recognized as one of the most charming and graceful."

The last thing that Britney wanted anyone here to do was sign their name in a creepy book. She grabbed onto Linqian a bit tighter as the urge to cut and run was so strong right now. She raised a finger to her mouth and began chewing her nails - she hadn't gotten her nails done in a while! As she looked at Lynette and flatly said,

"I'm good; I have my own resources, thank you,"

That was a sign to get the hell out of here before shit got too deep, but there was one pressing question on Britney's mind. One only Leon could answer, so she turned and asked him,

"You were there when we got there, just what happened?"

"I'd been there since the place opened doing the exact same thing everyone else wanted to do. Saw some titty, day drank, sitting there waiting for Judas to hopefully show up. But he didn't. Eventually this red headed lady shows up. Burly chick, I figured she was a day bouncer or something, but I kinda..."

He paused momentarily, reaching for a cell phone that wasn't there. It was probably smashed machine parts in the strip club parking lot.

"-Fuck, I don't know, I thought I recognized her from the internet. Either way, its status quo for hours, but then Alizee shows up. Doesn't see me, so I watched the whole thing. She was at the bar, standing and talking for a minute or two, and then bam! Her and the red head are into it. That's when I tried to step in, and some of the others showed up to help their friend. I was trying to talk Alizee down, and then you all showed up. That's it..."

Britney put a hand on her hip.

"... You were there since it opened? You like titties that much?"

She laughed... trying to play off the fact that she thought that there was something that Leon was leaving out. She knew it, but she knew it was not the best idea to keep pressing the subject when all that would happen was splinter the group. She shouldn't have asked in the first place and just went there to trigger a Recollection and see it with her own two eyes.

Or third eye. Or mind.

Whatever.

Maybe finding out who those girls are would help; maybe she would ask Sully. She turned towards the other two and then to Lynette and raised a finger, asking.

"What will you all do with Alizee's body?"

---

"I'm taking us there, now. You may feel dizzy for a moment, Sloane. Three... Two...One."

Like a poorly coordinated trust fall near the roof’s edge of the Burj Khalifa, the darkness and weightlessness Sloane experienced felt like it lasted much longer than it actually did. Jack seemed to slip away. He was replaced by a strange sensation of serenity that only solitude could provide, one that was stripped away and replaced with a feeling of vertigo as the fall stopped. There was no dramatic splat on top of the Lamborghini but rather the unsatisfying and sudden end of a recurring nightmare where Sloane awoke before ever hitting the ground. She blinked her eyes and shook the dizziness away as the Dairy Queen became an alleyway, Jack once again by her side. A gripping fear that she’d just isolated herself with a potential Father Wolf left as sudden as it came when Jack spoke:

"The hospital is five minutes away from here on foot. I thought you'd like a few minutes to get your thoughts in order, before interacting with more people."

“Okay. I’ll manage on my own from here,” said Sloane, sounding exhausted.

She gently slipped her hand from his and then, much to her own surprise, hugged him. Surprising no one, her hug was an empirically bad one. It was stiff and oddly hesitant, as if she was unsure of where to put her hands or how to angle her head. Jack would probably detect her involuntary shudder, and like their step through the Void it ended almost as soon as it had started, with Sloane even muttering a quiet okay to signal that she had overdone her quota for the year. She turned and walked, perhaps a bit quicker than usual, away from Jack but paused at the mouth of the alleyway and looked back.

“Thank you, Jack. I,” Sloane stopped, unable to admit that she had misjudged the Void traveler. She cleared her throat with a cough into a clenched fist and continued, “I owe you. If you ever need anything, you have my number.”

Sloane kept her head lowered but her senses on high alert as she made the trek to the hospital. It was properly dark now, but still early enough into the evening that there were still people out and about. She turned her head to look across the street or windowshop at a closed boutique whenever she stepped into a streetlight or passed by a stranger, low-key worried that someone would see her face and embarrass her further with their attempt to help. Perhaps more worried that they’d see her nice watch, her fancy shoes, and her disheveled state then proceed to generate an opportunistic idea in their head, fail to control the dark impulse, and act on it. And not because they were a bad person, per se, but simply because they were a normal person and normal people were capable of terrible things.

She quickened her pace, her hand in her pocket, her fingers on her Channeler, her other hand holding her phone up to her ear and “listening” to a mock call in the universal sign of don’t-bother-me. Jack had prescribed her to get her thoughts in order and so she tried as she made her way towards the hospital, blue H’s posted on street corners guiding her way to a building that began to tower over the rest like a protective sentinel. The punch could’ve been many things. It could’ve been humbling, teaching Sloane to be more careful with her words and less liberal with her judgments, or at the very least to learn how to use tact when she spoke. It could’ve continued to be defeating, sending her spiraling into a further state of depression as she perpetually realized she had nothing and was nothing, lacked control and understanding, and loved and was loved by no one.

However, as she stepped through the sliding doors and into the bright fluorescents of the hospital lobby—chairs filled with normal people who had made a terrible choice, been put in a terrible situation, or just had terrible luck, all too distracted by their own troubles to notice the woman with a bloody face move towards the receptionist—Sloane realized that with the flare up of pain in her face there was also a kind of pride. Drake had hit her because she had struck a nerve, but she had only struck a nerve because she was right. So instead of the punch being humbling or defeating, it was toxically self-affirming: when Sloane did a terrible thing it was justifiable and for the greater good, when anyone else, including Drake, did a terrible thing it was because they were a stupid, shit-eating peasant who was simply unable to change their barbaric ways.

After the paperwork, and the waiting, and the waiting, and the waiting, Sloane found herself in the bathroom of a private hospital room still waiting as she posed in front of a mirror and admired Drake’s handiwork. The broken nose morphed and became a symbol, a badge of honor proving that Sloane was someone of great import simply by possessing a nose worth breaking. The swell of vainglory she’d feel the first time she would attempt to put on a pair of designer sunglasses only to find the bridge didn’t fit quite right would be well worth the pain, the crooked frames proving to the world something that she already knew: Sloane was better than a normal person. It was with that in mind that when the doctor finally returned and presented Sloane with the idea of coming back for reconstructive surgery to correct the crook in her nose she simply shook her head, unwilling to part with her crown.

---

Linqian flinched slightly when Britney grabbed her and pulled her away, but didn't resist or shake her off. Her own words, letting slip something she hadn't wanted to, was enough to make her start to cool off. She was still glaring up at Leon.

”Sure,” Linqian said stiltedly to Britney. She didn't like to accept help for something like this, and there was that fear it would be used against her… but Jinhai had thought highly of Britney and had trusted her. Linqian trusted his judgement more than her own.
”Alright.”

Of course, then Leon opened his mouth and started spewing off absolute bullshit that had Linqian's just barely suppressed anger threatening to burst out again. She let out a short laugh. If Britney hadn't been holding onto her, Linqian would've gone right back over to him to slam a burning fist in his face.

"Or what, Leon?" Linqian sneered. She wanted to hear what he'd had to say before he was interrupted by his mother. She dropped the hand covering her face, wiping away the water that had pooled in the corner of her eyes - from anger, of course, nothing else. ”Can't say it now that mommy's told you to stop?”

Did he really think St Portwell was the only place they could build a life? That they'd just gone off somewhere else and not tried? That the place where their parents had been brutally killed, where they'd had to fight an interdimensional threat just to survive, could feel like home? No, her parents house in St Portwell hadn't felt like home long before Jinhai was gone too. Their small apartment in San Francisco, where her brothers had to share a small bedroom and hers was practically a closet, had been home. Until someone had died in it too, that was.

The only people who could think money was so unimportant were those that weren't lacking in it.

Her anger, still burning, was practically shocked out of her by the lengthy, creepy speech that Leon's incredibly hot mother made. The cult invitation was like a bucket of freezing cold water putting out the fire of her rage, completely cooling it down. Britney's fingers dug into her arm and Linqian grimaced, but still didn't shake her off - now in a state of shock rather than anger. What the fuck had she just listened to? They were counted as their extended family? Place their names in a book that looked like it'd crumble under one touch? Unironically speaking like a noble addressing her peons?

Like hell did Linqian hurt with them. Her hurt was her own and they could fuck right off.

”Y'know what, I'm good, Linqian snorted, rolling her eyes at the ridiculousness of it all. She was tempted to write down someone else's name, like Sloane's, but decided against it. Not because she felt it was wrong, just too much effort. "I got all my frustration out, I'm going to get help with my car, and I don't have time for anymore commitments.”

She also really didn't want to stay here any longer, because of Leon's stuck up ass and his mother's creepy (if sexy) cult vibes. The ancient tome full of personal details was the icing on the cake.

When Leon explained what had happened, Linqian couldn't help but roll her eyes multiple times. So she'd been right. Alizée had started a fight, hadn't backed down, and had gotten killed for it. Honestly Linqian was surprised this hadn't happened years earlier. She held her tongue, just because she wanted to leave as soon as possible.

She was curious about what they'd do with Alizée's body too… not that she actually cared about Alizée.

”Once you get your answer, can we leave?” Linqian said quietly to Britney, leaning in towards her. ”I feel like we'll be forced to sign up if we're here much longer.”

---

“So,” Lila started as she watched Luca walk away, “what now?”

“That depends,” Lynn responded.

“On,” Lila asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Do we get roped back into whatever the Coven is up to tonight, or do we take the night off and relax while we wait for further orders,” Lynn paused as she looked back inside the Dairy Queen and noticed someone who appeared to be Lyss. Lynn thought about going inside and talking to her, but she decided against it. She had had enough conversations at a random Dairy Queen for one night, but she wouldn’t be upset if Lyss came and started the conversation herself.

“It is late,” Lila spoke as she glanced at her phone. The conversation from before weighed heavily on her mind, as did Luca’s recommendation for her to reach out to Britney. She tapped at the screen, first on the messenger app and then on the ‘compose new message’ button. Typing in a specific name, she pulled up the old message history and noticed that it was still empty. “Britney,” Lila thought to herself as she considered whether or not to send a message. She knew that Britney would be a good person to talk to about the sudden appearance of The Maiden, and she knew if Britney was in town still she would be able to at least give some semblance of an answer. Lila exhaled harshly, and she quickly typed a message and hovered her thumb over the send button.

Lynn noticed the hesitation. She turned her face away from Lila, facing into the Dairy Queen before she channeled her power and slipped into a possible future. In this possible future, she grabbed the phone out of Lila’s hand and took a look at the message, and the recipient. While the murder that followed was not pleasant, it still gave Lynn enough of a heads-up on what to expect with the conversation. “All this for Britney,” Lynn thought to herself before she turned her head back towards Lila, and looked down at the phone.

“Everything okay,” Lynn asked as she smiled.

“Hmmm,” Lila asked as she looked up and noticed Lila looking at her phone, specifically at her inability to send a message. “Yeah, yeah it is not an issue. I just feel… weird reaching out to someone like Britney. It’s not like she ever did anything wrong to me, but Luca, Carol, and everyone else like them have been dealt a… terrible fate. I understand times were desperate but she did horrible things. If I seek her help I would have to brush aside those feelings, and that feels wrong. I only hated her until she was useful, you know?”

“My offer still stands, I would just need a place to crash and stay safe for a day or so until I can potentially find an answer,” Lynn paused, “but something tells me that you may find a better one with Britney. You don’t have to like her to have her help you,” Lynn paused as she shuffled her footing.“I’ll tell you what, if you need it I can look forward in time for you, right now, and see if you get a response. If the response is not what you need you can avoid sending the text altogether. If it looks like it may be good, you can send it.”

“No, no that’s fine,” Lila paused. While she knew there may be an answer in the future, she would rather make that step in the present without knowing how it may go down. Lila looked up at Lynn, resting on the first half of her last statement. Lila remembered that Lynn moved away five years ago and she wondered where she would spend the night. “Where are you staying at,” Lila asked as she put the phone away, forgetting to hit send. “I can walk you there, make sure you get there safely.”

“Actually, nowhere,” Lynn whispered, “I may have forgotten to book a place in town to crash and did not follow up on it until this morning,” she paused as she opened the Uber app on her phone, “I was planning on just using an Uber to get back home if the Coven didn’t have any lodging. Going to be expensive but I can swing it.”

“You can crash at mine if you want,” Lila spoke as she crossed her arms, “Gran is down south at her other home for a few months so I have the place here to myself. I can put you in the guest room,” Lila paused as she looked over Lynn, “we’re close enough in size, I should be able to let you borrow some clothes to sleep in if you did not bring any.”

Lynn was taken aback by the offer. Lila was not someone she was particularly close with before she left town. The two would talk, and occasionally hang out even after the Coven fell but they had not seen each other face to face in almost five years. “Yeah,” Lynn paused as she shook her head, ”yeah that would be awesome. I don’t want to take away your night though.”

“Don’t worry about it, I had no plans for it anyway,” Lila paused as she knew all she would be doing was scrolling aimlessly through TickTok while a random YouTube video played in the background from the TV. ”Let’s go, we can walk home from here. There should be a shop along the way if you want to grab anything,” Lila spoke as she waved her hand, motioning for Lynn to follow.



The two eventually arrived at Lila’s house. It was an older Victorian-style house that had a wrap-around porch. The lawn was well maintained, and that level of maintenance was evident on the house as well as it featured delicate gingerbread trim, ornate corbels, and decorative shingles. The red of the brick was complimented by the purple paint on the wooden surfaces and window frames. The door itself was a delightful mustard yellow. Lila had tried to tell her Grandma that the color of the door may be at odds with the look of the house as a whole but she did not listen.

“Hold here for a minute, I need to grab them a different offering real quick,” Lila said as she pointed to her crows before she opened the door and ran inside.

Lynn could hear the sound of drawers opening, and closing, and the sound of Lila rustling through the contents of the drawers. Lynn looked around the area while she waited. The neighborhood was nice. All the houses were bigger than she expected, and they all seemed to have the same level of care as Lila’s. There was another, even bigger, Victorian-styled house next door and a third one across the street. It wasn’t enough to call this a Victorian village but it was plenty for Lynn to know that there is some history to this area. She glanced to the doorway and noticed a ‘historical society’ placard. Lynn leaned in and read it, “built in 1882, old ass house.”

A second later Lila emerged from the doorway, hands filled with various gems, crystals, and jewelry pieces. “Alright, you fucks,” Lila shouted to the crows above and received a *caw* in response. “I want you to stay outside, outside, tonight. I want you to stand guard for us and alert us if anyone is coming towards the house. If they threaten us, I want you to peck out their eyes.” Lila placed half the pile on the ground. “I will come outside at midnight and I will give you all the rest, we have a deal?”

The crows all *cawed* in response as they swooped down and picked the ground clean in an instant. They all flew up to the top of the house, to the trees surrounding the property, and onto the roof of the neighboring house. The area fell silent a moment later as the crows fell into their mission.

“Alright, the house should be free of them and should be clean of any.. Crow accidents,” she looked down at her phone, realizing she had not hit the send button yet. Lila deleted the message before she retyped it again. After a quick review, she sent the messages before she put the phone away. “Let’s get inside,” Lila motioned for Lynn to follow.



“Right behind you,” Lynn said as she quickly put a bag on the ground. Inside the bag was an assortment of cheap snacks and a six-pack of beer. She typed out a message to Auri before she too went inside, closing the yellow door behind her.

Location: Downtown, Layla's Apartment
_{In collaboration with @Punished GN}

---

The line connected with a click. Void's expression twisted with a look of misery, not bothering to let Auri get an introduction in.

"She's dead, Auri. Alizée's... dead." His breath hitched, eyes unfocused, jaw clenched.

Void's face contorted into a snarl, biting out his next words. "And it's your fault."

There was a brief silence.

"Before you start throwing accusations around, please actually inform me of just what happened," Auri started, "Alizee left the meeting essentially moments after it began. Without telling anyone where she was going, why, or giving so much as a farewell. How do I even know she's even dead and you're not playing some Apparition-Games?"

"You think I'm playing games, bitch? You think I'm joking?" With each word, Void's metallic voice increased in intensity. "She went to Veni Vedi, Auri. And she... she... Fuck."

Layla emerged from the bathroom, dressed in a blue flower dress. Her eyes were wide in shock. The tone Void was using to address the new leader of the coven was shameful, entirely disrespectful.

"You don't talk to her like that-"

"Shut up! You weren't there! You didn't see an innocent girl fall, shot twice in the head. And it was all at her order." Void spat, jerking his head roughly at the phone.

Layla shivered as she stood there, still painfully aware of the hands Void had wrapped around her neck moments before, and fell silent. She looked away, eyes staring hard at the floor to keep frustrated tears out of her eyes.

Void stared for a moment before scoffing, and turned his attention back to the phone call. "I don't know if your lead was right or not. Hell, didn't even see fucking Judas. But,"

His tone lowered to a dangerous note.

"Mark my words, Auri. I will have you stripped of your supposed 'leadership' position so quick, you won't have time to count the street lights as you're chased out of town."

"If you can find someone else willing to take the position; I will gladly step down." Auri answered, in a chipper sing-song. "But, just note they're not going to follow you, or whatever puppet you find next. Now, I am done speaking with you, put Layla back on the phone or I will hang up."

Void's jagged teeth clenched, glaring hard, before he tossed the phone to Layla. A whimper escaped her lips in surprise as she just barely caught the phone, before holding it up, watching the seconds tick by as Auri remained on the line.

"H-hi, Auri..." Layla started, glancing at Void sheepishly before focusing her attention on the phone.

She remembered what she knew of Auri. Butterflies... it was butterflies, right? A voice of reason, always, even in the old days. As far as she was aware, not the greatest defense, not like Stormy. Trusting, too. Easy enough to catch off-guard and impale with a knife-

Well. it was probably to her advantage that the Coven never had mind readers.

"Some mind you have there." Came a dark, metallic thought. Layla immediately snapped to attention, her eyes settling on Void, who had taken to circling around her shoulders.

"Wh-what-" She thought.

"You're my open book, honey. That's part of being adjoined. Now focus on your call. Tell her everything is fine. That you're heading out."

"I... I don't want to-" What she really wanted to do was tell Auri about her new... situation.

Void immediately glared at her, purple aura flaring up menacingly.

Layla stiffened. "I..." She turned her attention to the phone, feeling cold.

"S-sorry I didn't make it to the meeting, Auri. And for uh, bothering you. E-everything is fine. I'm... uhm... actually about to... head out." She tried to think of an excuse, her eyes searching the walls of her home for inspiration. "To... to work. Yeah, work. You know I started night shift, right?"

There was silence on the end of the Phone.

“No I did not- but do you need help with anything? Maybe me, you, Britney, Stormy, and Sully can get together and help you out.“

Layla swallowed, hoping Auri hadn't caught onto her lie. Void merely raised an eyebrow at the lineup of names. Suspicious.

Layla sighed. Of course she needed help. Of course she did. But she wasn't in a position to say anything, was she?

"No, you're not." Came the biting thought.

Layla glanced at the Void Heart out of the corner of her eye. She had Auri on the phone. The voice of reason! If anyone knew what to do, she would. All she had to do was-

Void eyed her, danger in his eyes. "You're not gonna like where this goes."

Layla gritted her teeth, feeling her heart race, her head throbbing. She stared at Void straight on, and did something even she was surprised of-

"Auri, there is actually something you could hel-"

A sudden thud, and a wheeze. That's what Auri would hear over the line. Void had shoved Layla into the wall, pressing a phantom hand to her mouth and airways, his eyes cold and narrowed.

"I warned you." His voice hissed in her mind.

Layla felt the chill of entropy cutting her to the core before she noticed she couldn't breathe. Again. She couldn't make a sound, left to stare up at Void.

"You really want to do this the hard way, don't you?" His voice in her mind sounded cold, furious.

Void glanced pointedly at the phone, then back at Layla.

"You ready to play by my rules?"

Layla's lungs started to burn. "...Yes."

"Good. Apologize, answer any remaining questions she have, deny you need help, and let her hang up. You make her suspicious, you're gonna regret it. Got it?"

"...Got it."

Void narrowed his eyes slowly, before slowly letting go of Layla, phantom hands disappearing. She took a breath, feeling warmth pool in her insides again, before she addressed Auri again.

"Sorry. Uh, I uh... don't need help with anything. But a get-together sounds nice. Did you uh... have any other questions for me? How did the meeting go?"

She tried to sound as natural as possible, and there was a silence on Auri's end of the phone before she spoke.

"... It went great! Everyone had fun, and we got back together. You really should have been there," Auri started, "Unfortunately, your friend the Void Heart left with Alizee before we could really get to the meat." She then chuckled.

"Huh." Layla tilted her head, her brows furrowing.

"Sounds like you left before the meeting was done. What if you missed something important? Something that... could have saved Alizée?" She thought, giving Void a sideways look.

Void immediately frowned, his voice buzzing in her mind. "You think I planned to run head-first into danger? No. It was a bullshit assignment that was sour from the start. Still Auri's fault."

Layla's lips pursed, regarding Void with an unsure expression.

Void rolled his eyes. "The meeting was also bullshit. Just talked about how the Coven is getting hunted down. I can smell a dead-end waste of time a mile away."

At Layla's shocked expression, Void smirked. "You didn't know that? Surely, you would have heard it in Auri's invitation."

"I... didn't listen to the voicemail."

"Hm. Well, that's the state of things. Murders. You people are dropping like flies, and Alizée and I just wanted to get some answers as fast as possible."

Layla stood there in silence for a long moment. So that's what this was really all about.

She squeezed the fabric of her dress at the chest, her eyes tight, lips pursed. Hesitation. Then, a small intake of breath.

"Auri... is there... anything I can help with?"

There was another silence.

"... You can, actually," She started, "Just swing by the next meeting. I'm hoping to do it real quick tomorrow at twelve before I get back to work."

Void raised an eyebrow at that. Layla, however, naively breathed a sigh of relief. "Right, right. I'll... I'll be there. Thanks, Auri."

“Alright, see you there!” Auri chipperly said before she hung up.

---

The motorcycle roared down the highway, white and chrome reflecting the streetlights. Layla, helmet darkening her features, pressed the pedal further. Her dress was flurrying in the wind to reveal white leggings, her hair whipping in the night light. Void hovered just behind Layla as a backpack, keeping an eye on their surroundings as they neared Veni Vedi Veni.

There was rumbling. Crashing. Like a battle was still going on. Well, the fire lighting up the parking lot indicated a battle, anyway. Void told Layla to hit the brakes, and she skidded to a stop behind an overturned car.

From their hidden vantage, there was a lot to take in. Void peered over the car, eyes narrowed.

“Alizée isn't here.” Came the thought.

“What the heck happened here?” Layla pursed her lips, looking at Void anxiously from where she was crouched.

“Long story.”

A man with monstrous hounds was in the midst of battle with a man commanding fire. It would have been impressive to watch if Void didn't trust either party with a copper pin.

That girl Britney was gone. Nearly everyone was gone…

There were lights. It seemed the cops had finally shown up.

“They're late.” Void muttered over the telepathic link, feeling a pang deep within him. Too late to save Alizée.

He eyed Alizée's purse on the ground, covered in dirt, half burned. He wondered if anything within had survived.

He wondered if he should even bother trying to pick it up.

He wondered if it was even worth risking his neck to try.

Void stared a little longer, jagged teeth gritted.

Was it worth risking getting caught by Wolfpack again? Was it worth getting caught by the cops?

His red-rimmed eyes tightened.

Was it… worth it for Alizée?

His eyes resolutely narrowed, and he gave Layla a sideways eye.

“There's something here I need. Turn the bike around and get ready to press the gas. When I say ‘go’, peel outta here like it's life or death. Got it?”

Layla swallowed nervously and nodded. “Got it…”

Void went low to the pavement, phantom hands summoned. He steeled himself, and he dove forward, zigzagging into the heart of the parking lot, hiding behind what remained of the shields and taking cover behind tossed cars, before reaching the purse.

His hand clutched the purse.

He turned.

His eyes landed on Judas.

And dove as fast as he could back to Layla's bike.



If he was successful, he'd slip onto the back of the seat just as the bike screeched out of Veni Vedi. Next stop?

The Temple.

If anyone knew anything about Alizée, it would be Leon. If Void was lucky, Leon would be there.

Leon's expression softened as things drew to a conclusion. How could he ever explain to her that he understood what her problem was, but couldn't do anything to fix it? He didn't even want it to be this way in the first place, and no matter what she wanted to say, he still wanted to help. Whether she thought he was some sort of wretch or pup, it didn't really matter with a man so confident in his own position. To him, she was labeled a child now, and he'd treat her as such by no longer dignifying her tantrum. Britney's final question hung for a moment before Lynette stepped forward. The keeper of the massive tome smashed it shut, leaving the blank white cover to stare at them. Within a few moments, Lynette stood beside her son with a gentle expression.
"You're both entitled to your own actions, and I pray they are justified by good fortune. As for poor Alizee, she'll be interred beneath the soil as all of our adherents are. The ceremony will be three days from now, and while I expect that the three of you ladies will have no interest in attending, you're all welcomed. The Temple of Charming and Graceful Individuals maintains a revolving door policy for all recognized Teeoh.-"
She paused for a second, seeing flashes of confusion.
"-Third Eye Open... Tee, E, Oh. Teeoh."

Leon didn't exactly know how she was feeling until she did that. That jeering little sarcastic explanation. Like they needed it, they were adults who could figure out what she meant or ignore her like he knew they wanted to. The body language, the snarky remarks about not needing their help. Leon stuck his hand in front of his mother, backing her off as her face turned from stoic regality to vague indignance.
"They're grown women, Ma... And they don't want to hear it, I don't think."
His arm pushed her back a bit further, and while the look of indignance toward her son remained, Lynette followed his motion and backed off. It gave Leon time to change his body language, turning intentionally to disclude the three Sycamore Tree members from any further interaction. His face looked up at Britney and a half-formed smile crawled across it.
"Thanks for the ride... And I'm sorry things got so fucked up. But, I think we're all tired. Cooler heads will prevail a different day, and we can talk about compensating whoever needs it without... All this." Leon finished by waving his hand about the creepy grandiosity of the Temple, the book, and the dozen or so people who were simply crowded around them staring at the proceedings. It was all unnecessary business that once again was ruined by his association with his family. As if he had to be ashamed for their practices and personal life any time someone was around.

Leon couldn't deny that it gave a bad image. America was full of cynical people; even ones who abjectly knew that the supernatural existed. He always assumed that if evidence was placed in front of an individual, they'd instantly accept reality. Ergo, if all of this crazy bullshit exists, of course God exists. And, of course he'd speak through a Channeler of his own.
The thought alone frustrated him beyond the point of talking, and he shook his head.
"Now, drive safe Ladies. Father Wolf's still out there..."
And in a final flourish, he turned his back on them. As if in lockstep, the various cult members shifted in practical unison. Each and every body turned a hundred and eighty degrees from where they'd been, and a low din of conversational French began to fill the room in a way that was clearly blocking these accepted outsiders from further interaction. Leon still kept an arm around his mother, and while they walked away the two began to argue in very serious tones despite the language barrier now present. It more or less filled in the dead air, even as they descended the stairs behind the pulpit and disappeared from view altogether. Linqian, Britney and Eve weren't just free to go: Rather, it's as if they weren't even there to begin with.

---

---

---

"Now, drive safe, Ladies. Father Wolf's still out there..."

When Leon said that, Britney's eyes shot open... that was a threat if anything else, and Britney's hand on Linqian's bicep went down to her hand as she held onto it (fingers interlocked), and then did the same to Eve. She awkwardly smiled and laughed as she faced Leon and Lynette, then said,

"WellthankyouforhavingusGOODBYE!"

As she darted for the nearest exit... she wasn't sure what the fuck was the layout of this place, but she sure as hell was going to find an exit (or make one). Her second objective was to ensure that she kept her hands on Eve and Linqian... she didn't want to turn her head, and everyone was gone. Eventually, she found the exit and made it to the parking lot. There was that urge to check her car in case one of these sons of bitches sabotaged it... but she turned her head, and the place was completely gone.

That did not cause Britney to relax at all, as she (and the others) got into the car and hauled ass out of there! She didn't put the pedal to the metal, but she was just about ready to do so. She sped off, and the second she was out of the woods, she sighed as the car approached the first red light.

"... Remind me to NEVER trust his ass again."

Then her phone rang with a text message from Lila, of all people... she glanced at her passengers and said,

"... Texting and driving, I know."After the texting was done (and some psychopath didn't attack her), she turned to her passengers again and said, "I'm going to drop you two off... I have an errand to run."

Then Britney proceeded to drop the two of them off...

---

Afterwards, Britney stopped by her house and grabbed some wine and the ingredients for that tea she talked about, then she was back in her car. She wanted to return to her house and remove all her clothes and relax after that stressful ass day (well, two hours), but duty calls.

She wasn't going to let somebody else get lost in an Apparition.

She got back in her GMC Yukon and hoped that it would survive until the morning! She sped down the streets of St. Portwell towards Everlynn's house and hoped that the PRA wasn't looking for her for questioning... her phone rang, and it appeared on the dashboard as Auri Auclair. She hit answer and then realized that she hadn't updated Auri on anything that went down at the strip club.

"Good evening, Britney," Auri said.

"Hello, Auri, how are you?"

"I'll cut to the chase... you were at the strip club, right?"

Britney awkwardly laughed.

"Yeah, but Auri Auclair wasn't..."

"Do you know what happened to Alizée Altieri?"

".... Uhhhhhhhhhhh, Ehhhhhhhhhhh, Ummmmmmmm..." Britney tugged at her collar as she said, "... She's dead, Auri."

"So, the Void Heart was right,"

"What do you mean? What's going on?"

"The Void Heart called me, blaming me for Alizee's death.... "

"I... I don't know what happened, but apparently, she got into a fight with this group of girls at the strip club. She said that they jumped her. They say that Alizee tried to kidnap one of them. I was trying to de-escalate things, but Alizee flew off the handle and attacked Stormy and one of those girls... Sully tried to jump in the way, but she attacked him."

Britney cringed at the thought. If the Wolfpack hadn't shown up, Britney would have had no choice but to attack Alizee and restrain her.

"Then the Wolfpack showed up, and Leon - you know, Daisy's cousin - grabbed her and dipped... she then came back, and the Wolfpack shot her dead. Right there on the spot!" She got emotional, but Britney took a deep breath. "Wait, the Void Heart called you?"

"Yes... well, Layla Hyacinthus called him, but she put him on the phone; he told me she was dead and it was my fault but never elaborated when I asked. I honestly thought it was lying or that he killed Ms. Altieri. I did not appreciate how he spoke with me, so I told him to put Ms. Hyacinthus back on the phone. However, it's clear he's holding her hostage."

Britney was silent as she processed all of this information. Then, she sighed, then spoke,

"It's time we do what we should have done ten years ago..." She dramatically paused, "... It's time we seal the Void."

"I concur," Auri said, "He seems... erratic. Dangerous."

"He was always erratic and dangerous, and we should have sealed him from the beginning! But Alizee didn't want help, and... you can't help those who don't want help." Britney sighed.

"I'm going to see about speaking with Stormy... I know he doesn't care for you-"

"... You think?" Britney chuckled.

"I know... I'm going to talk to him, then Jack."

"Just keep this on a need-to-know basis, on the low, you know... I don't know, but..." Britney trailed off as she thought about Leon, "... I feel like the ten years have changed some people for the worst."

"I feel the same way," Auri said.

Eventually, Britney made it to Everlynn's house, and she came to a stop.

"Keep me in the loop, and understand that the Void Heart is extremely dangerous..." Britney trailed, "That said, enjoy the rest of your night. I'm going to talk with Everlynn and Lila."

"Will do; stay safe,"

Britney hung up, exited the car, grabbed the tote bag, put her wine and ingredients for her "herbal tea," and walked to the front door. She gave it a few firm knocks, and when the door was opened, she smiled and said,

"Heyyyyyyyyy, how are you all doing?! I'm not sure how long you all want to stay up, but I'm fine with staying up allllllll night long! We can do each other's hair, paint our nails, talk about boys ^{or girls if that floats your boat}... I can teach you all to seal and then go fuck off for the night! Whatever you all want to do!"

And she proceeded to have a fun night.

---

---

---

Initially, the alleyway seemed derelict, with trash and locked doors against either wall. Clancy persisted; the rooftop view from the streets had demonstrated that there had been a way. Judas didn’t strike him as a man who scaled the side of a building with his bare hands.

Rounding a corner, he realized why: a twisted chainlink, rebar, and asphalt staircase had been formed in a backlot space behind this building. What remained of a nearby fence had been pulled away to form the structure's base. Unfortunately for most, the creator had the foresight to cut off the stairwell at the midpoint, leaving an excellent human-sized gap between the malformed chainlink steps and the twists of rebar and asphalt at the top.

No loose ends, right? Clancy shook his head; there was still just enough structure to get him a few meters off the ground. Clutching the axe in one hand, he planted a foot on one step to ensure it wasn’t going to fall apart on contact, then sprung off that onto an adjacent row of dumpsters angled at just the correct position to let him step up to the guttering. He pushed off, vaulted, and clamped his tiny fingers around one of the rungs fixing the pipework to the wall, then began to pull his weight up, alternating between using his feet and his one free hand to push and pull against any handholds he could.

Enjoy it while you can.

Unlike the big man, Clancy had taken the more challenging route. Yet, midway through, he noticed a thin window, no bigger than a mail slot and probably used to light up a storeroom in the building, except a meaty face was positioned in the center - transparent, almost, as though it sat in the reflection rather than behind it - and something heavy was clacking along the rooftop from the other end, like a collection of farm animals skidding on gravel.

Keeping those kids busy, he rationalised.

The boy gave it no further thought, continuing his ascent; one last time, a hand clamped around the top of the gutter, this time no further handholds waiting behind it. He was at the top. Clancy pulled his weight upwards, peering over the top - face-to-face with one of Judas’ pets, rushing at the ledge. Before he could pull back, the creature clamped its jaws around his shoulder and pulled him over the edge, tossing him mid-air like a toy.

A golden light approached on the horizon, swelling in his vision until it was blinding.

---

Bianca rolled her eyes at Trevor's "singing" and stepped into the arrow-created portal, stepping out the other end and jumping into the PRA vehicle.

"Boy, am I glad to see you all," she chirped as if this wasn't the middle of a paranormal turf war (that she'd been shot during, but it was okay; she was healed). She took the bulletproof vest from Trevor and pulled it on over her jacket. She paused, giving him a questioning look. "Wait, aren't you also off today?"

“Yeah, but I heard that you were in trouble and had to help!”

"Sure, bet you were dragged along 'cause you didn't have anything better to do," Bianca snorted before patting her leg - right above the pronounced blood staining. "Unfortunately for you, I already got fixed up by another healer… anyway, you don't have a gun for me too?”

“... I do,” Fiona said as she handed Bianca a Glock 19M from the back seat. “It’s great to see you’re safe, Agent Manalo!” She said in a bubbly tone.

"Thanks," Bianca nodded to Fiona, gratefully taking the Glock. Much better than being unarmed. "Course I am! It takes more than a bullet and a shadow fist to take me out."

“Well, I hope you are, because we gotta solve that,” Nakala gestured towards the fight between Judas and Samson.

---

Sonya looked through the scope of her sniper rifle and observed the fight with her own two eyes.

Judas was able to fight evenly with Samson’s phoenix. What in the world?! Samson was one of the most vital PRA Agents, and Judas could fight fist-to-fist with him… However, what was more urgent to Sonya was the kid getting thrashed around by the monster-demon-dog-thing. She winced as she desperately looked for an opening to snipe it with a taser dart so they could get the kid free. Still, with Samson right there, it was impossible to get a clear shot at the bastard…

… Then Samson was sent flying by Judas, and Helena and Sonya were forced to dodge! He landed right next to them, and Sonya said…

"... Oh, hi, Samson,"

Sonya waved at him before she looked down at the scope, and finally got her opening at one of the dogs. She had to be careful, as a subsonic round like this would be heavily influenced by the wind. She held her breath, and at the top of her breath, she pulled the trigger and fired a taser dart… she saw it go from the barrel of her M24 to the neck of the Cur. It convulsed and dropped the kid, and Sonya fist-pumped!

“Nailed i-”

Then the building collapsed underneath her feet, then she screamed…

---

Clancy writhed in the grasp of one of Judas’ pets. The axe had slipped from his fingers shortly after being tossed, leaving him to wrestle in its jaws with his own unconventionally strong hands. Then-

A crackle was followed by the entire mass of the beast seizing as something made contact with its body. Clancy threw an arm out and pushed hard against the roof of the beast's mouth, hard enough to rend the connective tissues between upper and lower jaws, saliva, and other crimson fluids spattered everywhere. Something gave, and its hold on him dissipated as its legs gave out; his body dropped, rolling onto a puddle of blood and asphalt, only stopping when it hit an AC unit.

He found his footing quickly enough and only then realized after looking back how much damage had been done; the collapsed monster's jaws were bent out of alignment, like a pair of partially opened pliers that had been bent sideways. He wasn't looking much prettier either. His clothes were ruined] at this stage

Tears, punctures, and other signs of extensive damage pockmarked his apparel, with patches of pasty white, unblemished skin intermingled with gouges that led to a cold, black hollow beneath. Teeth.

They were bloody, although none of it was his.

The axe, nearby, remained there waiting for him. Clancy hollered at the leader of the Wolfpack and stood at the far side of the rooftop.

”I'm getting tired of this bullshit, lardass.”

Judas just gave Clancy the side eye.

“... What are you doing up here, kid?” He asked before he looked over Clancy and saw the Phoenix on the other rooftop… with some people on it. Judas snapped his finger, and the building collapsed, giving them no time to plot. Then he turned back to the kid and said, “Go home and play some video games.”

Overhead, great wings swept as flocks of birds scattered from the chaos, although neither seemed to notice.

”Ashley Stone!” Clancy called back, the first time some genuine emotion was in his voice. He knelt, fingers tightening around the ornate handle of what was once Victor Villarian's
axe. A gaunt expression was set on his face.

“... And who the hell is that?” Judas raised an eyebrow at Clancy.

”Father Wolf killed her,” the boy answered sharply, beginning his approach, ”And there's only one asshole here calling himself Daddy Wolf..”
It prompted Judas to level his shotgun at Clancy’s head.

“Kid,” he started, “If you don’t get off this rooftop and stop distracting me.”

”Won’t work-” Clancy growled, only to be cut off mid-sentence as the man kept his word and squeezed off a shell. He staggered, then tumbled - before he hit the ground, a flock of birds swept over and under him, talons gripping through what remained of his shredded clothes and pulling his body away and towards where the PRA had stationed their armored van.

---

Jetlag was a bitch.

He got off the plane, checked into his hotel, and dropped off all his bags… A man got out of a taxi cab. He was wearing a grey hoodie, sweat pants, and some white Air Force 1s, with a backpack over his shoulder. Before he pressed on, he looked up at the towering building before him. What building, you ask?

The St. Portwell PRA Office.

I’ll see this place often, I take it? He thought to himself as he walked forward until he walked up the stairs.

“... Maxi!”

The man came to a stop and turned his head to the right to see somebody even taller than himself, wearing a suit and tie with his arms crossed, grinning at Maximilian while leaning against the wall. He pushed himself off the wall as he approached the man and asked a simple question,

“... Don’t you know how to take a break for a second?”

The man cracked a smirk.

“... No, sorry, I don’t, Leon,” He said as he walked up to the man, gave him a nice, firm handshake, and wrapped his other hand around him. He returned and said, “It’s great to see you again, Leon. Know the last time we met was…”

The man visibly cringed.

Leon raised his hands and chuckled, “I know, I know… I’m surprised Director Alcott didn’t bring you here sooner, Maxi....”

There was a dramatic pause as Leon looked at the skyline. He couldn’t see Samson anymore, so maybe that counted for something.

“.. St. Portwell is in chaos,” He chuckled, “We might be the only people who can help it.”

“Can?” The man raised an eyebrow. “We will help it.”

“Heh,” Leon crossed his arms, “You really are Superman.”

“Do you know where Senior Agent Phillips is?” The man started. “I was meaning to have a word or two with her.”

Leon shrugged.

“One of her agents - you probably never met her - got attacked at a strip club, and Agent Phillips grabbed some agents and went there.”

“... And why didn’t you go?”

“Because it’s my day off, and unlike Trevor, I know how to stay out of sight, not to get dragged into a bullshit mission,” Leon chuckled. “Besides, I wanted to be the first person you see… I don’t need magic to tell what you will do next.”

“I’m going to call her to make sure things are okay,” The man said.

“Loooooooooooook…” Leon rolled his eyes from behind his sunglasses. “Just take it easy for a little bit. I know your whole deal is… you know, being a workaholic… but relax for a bit. It’s a Monday night in St. Portwell, I mean, it’s not Hawaii. It’s not Vegas. Not LA. Not Miami. Not even Tokyo…. But it’s a Monday night in St. Portwell, and instead of going to the clubs to talk to girls, you come to work.”

The man ignored him as he scrolled through his near-endless contacts until he found Senior Agent Phillips and hit the call button… after ringing, she answered.

“... Agent Cornell?” Nakala said with a strained voice. “We’re kind of in the middle of something here!”

“Wait, what’s going on?” The man (well, Agent Cornell) asked.

“We’re dealing with a high-level Paranormal. I think his PTA might be three! Agent Brown, Agent Mayfield, and Agent Page are engaging him, but they’re having trouble.”

There was a pause before Agent Cornell responded.

“... Do you need my help?”

“It would be much apprecia- AH FUCK!” Then Nakala dropped the phone and hung up.

Agent Cornell looked up at Leon.

“Vedi Veni Vedi,” Leon said, “That’s all I know.”

“I’ll get suited up…” Agent Cornell trailed as he rushed into the building.

“Heh,” Leon chuckled. “Me too.”

She then followed after him.

---

The building collapsed under Samson’s feet, and he could hear Agent Mayfield screaming… however, she quickly used her tongue to attach itself to a street light and used her momentum to swing forward. Meanwhile, Agent Page summoned ghostly birds that latched themselves to her, allowing her to levitate in midair. Samson himself just hit the ground with little to no damage to himself as he looked up at Judas… the bastard was distracted by that damn kid! He thought Agent Mayfield gave him the opening to get out, yet he was still jawing to a crime boss.

If Samson was in human form, the world could see him smirk.

The only problem was that Samson didn’t want to rush in until that kid was safe, lest he got killed. Samson turned towards

“Agent Page! Get that kid out of there before he gets killed!”

“On it!” Helena created several birds, sent them at Clancy, and extracted him from Judas’ presence, taking him to the vehicle with Nakala and the others… Samson flew in directly at Judas like a rocket. Judas waved his hand up, creating a wall of concrete and rebar, which Samson collided with, sending debris in all directions again. Samson kept the pressure up by spewing fire at Judas, who raised his hand and created rebar out of the ground. He took steps back as the Curs recoiled in fear.

“You know what?!” Judas shouted, whistling and pointing at the PRA vehicle. “Kill!”

He let the chain loose, and the two remaining Curs went on a rampage… all going for the PRA vehicle. Samson looked over his (bird) shoulder and was about to turn around…

… Only to get whacked with a wall of concrete that sent him skidding across the ground… and then Judas. Made rebar spears stab out of the ground to impale his Phoenix body more and more… however, Samson quickly shifted back into his human form, where there were gaping holes in his body where he was stabbed - they ignited with flames as they quickly regenerated. However, his human form was more diminutive, and he was free from getting impaled by the rebar.

Judas twisted his hand and made the rebar curve inwards, only for Samson to leap up and shift back into his phoenix form, and fired a blast of fire at Judas as he quickly flew upwards - at the apex of his leap, he flipped over. He examined the battlefield and had to choose between fighting Judas and helping the other Agents.

However, Judas was a high-level Paranormal, and Samson was the most obvious target.

So… here we go again.

Samson dove at Judas once more.

---

The rest of the Wolfpack cut and run… it is evident that Judas stayed behind to ensure they got away.

They’ll get them later.

Nakala observed the battle from the safety of their armored vehicle… it is evident that Judas was too powerful for two supporting units, an inexperienced trainee Agent, and one Senior Agent to handle. So, Nakala remained in view, but she had kept Bianca nearby to boost Samson and, hopefully, two of the strongest PRA Agents and their top sniper could take care of Judas, but Nakala wanted him alive.

Agent Liao would want him alive for questioning.

Nakala threw open the barn doors of their van to let her flock deposit the child into the vehicle's safety. Clancy slumped against a seat, one hand covering his face, and murmured with an almost guttural pitch, ”Don’t have time, turn off-” There wasn’t much time for them to argue or deal with the kid; Judas’ pets had slipped into view, bounding for the vehicle.

Nakala had no choice but to floor it, tires screeching against gravel and asphalt. One of the Curs quickly closed the gap and threw its weight into the side of the van, horns punching almost deep enough to tear through the exterior chassis.

“Shit!” Nakala hissed to herself as she made a sharp right, almost overturning the vehicle. The boy, now upright despite the traumatic injury he’d suffered, fell sideways out the open doors and disappeared under a carpet of shadow that enveloped his form.

“Oooooooh lord!” Trevor shouted, “I don’t want to die a virgin!”

“Same!” Fiona shouted.

"Fuck," Bianca slammed into the left wall of the van, managing to catch herself and sit down before she fell out too. Before turning to look at Trevor with a snort. "Don't spend your days off at work then…"

“Agent Phillips!” She could hear Sonya’s voice in her headset, “We’re coming to help, but you’re too fast!”

“Well, can’t help that, Sonya!” Nakala shouted, “If we slow down, we die! Help Samson, we can handle this!”

“... Are you sure about that?” Agent Page asked.

“... Well, maybe use your birds to do something!” Nakala grits her teeth.

“On it!”

“Everyone else, weapons free!” Nakala shouted at the three in the back.

"Got it!" Bianca had never holstered her gun and aimed it towards the open doors in case the Curs got close enough to shoot while gripping a handle to stop herself from falling out.

One of the Curs approached from the right side, growling as it lowered its head to charge the PRA vehicle. It collided with the side, almost flipping it over.

“Jesus, that thing’s strong as fuck!” Trevor shouted as he held onto a handle to prevent himself from falling out of the chair.

“For fuck’s sake,” Bianca grunted, jerking forward and just barely managing to stay seated. “We’re all going to fall out or get crushed before we can handle these things!”

“I have an idea!” Fiona shouted as she looked at the open door. “Everyone, cover your ears!”

“Just don’t throw us out or anything!” Bianca swiftly holstered her gun and slammed her hands over her ears, hoping that they wouldn’t be hit again while she wasn’t holding onto anything else.

“Or get yourself killed!” Nakala shouted, not taking her hands off the wheel, “Remember, you’re still a trainee!”

“Trust me!” Fiona said as she got out of the chair and climbed towards the open door… out of unique vents in her specially made armor came four praying mantis wings. They began fluttering loudly as she hopped out of the PRA vehicle and flew into the air. She cupped her hands together and then shouted,

“Here, doggy!” She grabbed the attention of two of the Curs as it chased after her as she flew down the street… towards Sonya and Helena, who were in hot pursuit.

That left one of the Curs… however that one began sprinting and collided with the PRA vehicle. It lowered its head until its horns were underneath the speeding military-like vehicle and whipped its head upwards, flipping it over.

As the vehicle was laid on its side, Nakala screamed, and so did Trevor. It let out an unholy screech as the Cur attempted to rush inside to pull out one of the PRA Agents… only to be stopped by its horns preventing it from getting more than its nose inside the vehicle.

“Shit!” Bianca screamed, falling forward and barely managing to avoid slamming her head into the wall. She rolled onto her back and backed away from the Cur’s nose (and thus the rest of it), was a little too close for comfort. She pulled out her gun before unloading nearly half the ammunition, in panic, into its nose. Blowing away chunks of its face as it was forced to recoil.

Trevor laughed and said,

“Nice one!”

However, the Cur quickly flipped the vehicle over again until it was upside down. Nakala’s compound bow fell out of her lap, and she hissed as she reached for it… but the Cur rammed the flipped-over vehicle and sent it spinning!

Bianca protected her head with one hand, trying to hold the gun securely with the other while bashing between the vehicle walls like a ping-pong ball. Being shot was way nicer than this! “Nice one, my ass, I just made it angry!” She just about managed to yell.

When the vehicle stopped spinning, Nakala’s bow landed in arm’s reach of Bianca… The Cur was charging the vehicle again.

“Chuck it my way!”

Bianca twisted around, grabbed the bow, and threw it at Nakala - who caught it. Once the bow was out of her hand, she started boosting Nakala too. “Here!”

Nakala pulled the arrow back, aiming it towards the broken front window, and created an arrow made of green energy…. Then she mused out loud.

“Heh, pulled off stupider shots than this.”

She let it fly a reasonable distance away; she created a portal… and right above their upside-down heads, she created another portal. Nakala quickly unlatched her seatbelt and fell in… ending up on the other side. She fell to the ground but quickly flipped over to face the Cur that roared.

Trevor fell on his stomach, too, and Bianca fell right after him.

“Nobody move! Trust me!” Nakala said, “Bianca! Keep boosting me!”

“On it!” Bianca gritted her teeth, concentrating solely on boosting Nakala as much as possible.

The Cur charged them head-on.

“... What sort of crazy idea are you cooking up here!?” Trevor shouted as he crawled backward on his ass. He quickly grabbed his pistol and aimed it.

“Just shut up and don’t move!” Nakala shouted as she aimed her bow and arrow at the raging beast.

“... That’s not going to do anything to it!” Trevor shouted.

“Shut! UP!” Nakala shouted as it finally got close....

… a mountainous stone spike ruptured from the ground underneath the Cur, impaling it through the stomach. It was enough to lift the monster off the ground, thrashing around for a few moments… before it went limp.

Nakala sighed in relief.

“Oh, thank god,” Bianca said, rolling onto her back and dropping the boost. She was exhausted. She still had some boosting juice left in her, but not much. “Realllly thought that was going to be the end. I can’t believe getting shot wasn’t the worst thing that happened to me tonight.”

“What about the other tw-” Trevor spoke.

They heard a mighty roar and various barking as Nakala and Trevor turned their heads upwards to see one of the Curs lifted high by glowing blue birds… before getting dropped to the ground. It yelped as it fell towards the earth and landed with a thud. Several gunshots followed them.

“We neutralized the other two doggies!” Sonya shouted over the intercom. “Are you okay?”

“Yes, we neutralized the one pursuing us…” Nakala said.

“Wait,” Nakala looked around, “... Where the fuck did the kid go?!”

---

Judas looked up at Samson as he charged him head-on; Judas willed several hands made out of concrete into existence. They all went for Samson to grab Samson, but Samson dodged them, soaring left and right. He opened his mouth and spewed a fireball at Judas; Judas prepped to block it like before… he thought it would hit him head-on, but it went to the side and exploded on contact with the ground. It burned Judas’ arm, and he loudly yelped and then hissed as he recoiled, dropping his shotgun in the process. Then Samson did a flip mid-air and dive-kicked Judas, letting out an eagle-like screech as he collided with Judas’ concrete barrier, forcing Judas to dive out of the way. He hit the ground with a skid, flipped over, and swung his hand in the process, sending a wave of concrete that hit Samson head-on and launched him backward.

Samson dropped his weight, and his talons carved apart the rooftop as he spewed fire like an oversized flamethrower. He forced Judas to throw up more concrete and rebar walls to block as he hopped to his feet. However, Samson lept over it with his wings stretched outwards and dove Judas again, forcing him to haul ass to dodge. The sheer impact launched Samson through the rooftop into the building… and Judas raised his fist in the air and brought it down. With that motion, the building caved in on Samson. Then Judas raised his fist into the air, creating massive pillars around Samson and bringing them down on the Phoenix.

Samson screeched, stretching his wings outwards, sending fire in all directions - making Judas raise his already burned hand and step back. Samson came out spinning - but Judas didn’t let up as he tore chunks of the rooftop and launched them at Samson in a ball that hit him head-on and slammed him into one of the adjacent buildings.

Judas summoned rebar out of the ground without letting up for a second and quickly impaled Samson with as much as possible. Until his phoenix form was mainly impaled by the rebar and rendered unable to move… he shattered, and Samson reverted to his human form. He had a gaping hole in his chest, one that was oozing blood until fire came out as his abstraction attempted to heal him.

Judas summoned one final tendril of rebar, wrapped it around Samson’s neck, and kept squeezing until Samson’s head entirely came off. Samson let out his death cry as he faded away into ash.

“Hmph,” Judas said as he turned around…

… He heard a helicopter approaching.

---

The plan went successfully… Fiona had lured two of the Curs away with her loud-ass flying. The issue was that, while she was above them, they were still way faster than she could fly. One of them lept up with its jaws open, and Fiona flew to the side to dodge… only for them to keep lunging at her. Damn, those things were insatiable. However, one lunged and got a Taser dart right in the neck. It went limp and hit the ground with a thud before it recovered.

“Nailed it!”

Fiona turned her head towards Sonya and knelt on the roof, aiming her sniper rifle at the street. Helena had knelt at her side, “We got you, Agent Barrett!” She shouted at Fiona, then loudly whistled. “Here, boy!”

The other Cur turned its head towards the rooftop and, from the street, managed to jump and land on it with enough force to dislocate some bricks. The two agents dipped backward as Sonya aimed her sniper at the Cur and fired a taser dart, which stunned it. However, Helena summoned the Flock, and they quickly swarmed the Cur. They approached the Cur, surrounding it from all directions as they dove the beast randomly; it snapped at a bird but couldn’t quite get there. One of the birds ripped one of its eyeballs out as the birds attacked its genitals all the while.

Helena cocked her glock, walked up to the Cur, and her Flock made an opening as she pressed the pistol against its head and magdumped it. It reduced The Cur’s head to nothing more than a red mush. It dropped dead, which left the other Cur… which was still chasing after Fiona.

“Agent Barrett! Come here!” Helena shouted, and Fiona diverted course. The Cur lunged after Fiona…. Sonya shot the Cur with a taser dart, and while it was stunned, Helena’s flock floated towards it, and they latched their talons into its skin. They floated up into the sky with the beast as it thrashed around… high enough for the fall to be as fatal as possible.

Then they let go… and it fell, hitting the ground with a thud and leaving cracks in the street. Before Helena floated over to the downed street, reloaded, then emptied her clip into its head. She sighed as she shouted up at Sonya and Fiona,

“Kill confirmed!”

Then Sonya chatted with Nakala for a moment before she shouted back,

“The other one is dead, too!”

---

“... Why are we taking a helicopter? I can fly there!”

Maximilian asked as he stood at the helicopter's open door, looking at the streets of St. Portwell from above. They approached the Veni Vedi Veni club, where all hell had broken loose, and Leon just chuckled,

“Easy there, Maxi,” Leon stated, “Somebody will notice you flying around.”

“Maximilian, are you there?” He heard Agent Phillips's voice on his earpiece.

“Here,”

“Agent Brown is currently battling Judas, but Sonya claims he’s losing,” Nakala started, “Hopefully, you can get there fast enough to support Agent Brown,”

“Don’t worry, Agent Brown is strong,” Maximilian narrowed his eyes as he saw Samson fight Judas in the distance. Then he smiled as he said, “I’d hate to fight him.”

“The area is evacuated - but, look, we need Judas Bennet alive so we can grill him on how in the world the Wolfpack got abstraction, so please-”

“... Hold back, I know the drill,” Maximilian rolled his eyes.

“Yes,” Nakala answered, “I know Agent Liao is going to throw a fit tomorrow morning, but maybe if we deliver Judas-fucking-Bennet on a silver platter, we can get her to chill… maybe.”

“... Maybe?” Maximilian chuckled… until his smile flattened as he saw Judas execute Samson, and he was tempted to jump out. Afterward, Judas stared up at the helicopter and snapped his fingers. A rebar spear came out of the ground, stabbed the tail rotor, and sent the aircraft spiraling; then Maximilian did the unthinkable.

He jumped out.

While he did jump out, he floated in midair, quickly flew under the spiraling copter, and caught it. He turned with it, and it eventually came to a graceful landing, and he gently placed it on the ground. Then Maximilian looked over his shoulder up at Judas, and Judas looked down at him.

“... You know, I didn’t like that,” Maximilian said.

“I don’t give a fuck what you like!” Judas shouted, then gestured for Maximilian to come closer, “Come up here and fight me, pussy!”

He didn’t flinch…

“If that’s what you want…”

Maximilian shrugged.



He flew forward with his fists outstretched. Judas threw up a circular barrier of concrete… which did as much as diddly squad as Maximilian just punched through it like it was nothing and continued flying towards Judas… whose eyes shot open in shock; he made a circle appear in the floor underneath him, so he dropped and dodged Maximilian. Who cracked a cocky grin as he followed Judas by flying through the concrete.

He then decked Judas… not with the same concrete pounding force as before, but enough to send him stumbling backward. Judas wiped the blood from his face, then coated his arm in spiky, sharp concrete and used it as a mace as he wildly swung it at Maximilian. It shattered against his body as Maximilian swung again and punched Judas… who stumbled backward again but made the ground underneath him collapse.

He rode a concrete block through the streets of St. Portwell as he turned around to see Maximilian floating in the air. Judas grits his teeth as he raises both hands into the air, and massive chunks of St. Portwell come out of the ground. Buildings, streets, etc, all floating in the air… then he shot them at Maximilian; they all came at him in all directions and collided simultaneously. Trapping him in a concrete ball, Judas willed it to grind him into nothing…

… A golden beam pierced outwards to the right, then traveled horizontally and cleaved the orb of concrete in half. Then Maximilian burst out, flying directly at Judas, who had to launch himself upwards with a pillar of concrete and rebar, then attempted to drop it on Maximilian while he fell to the ground. Maximilian flew upwards and caught it, then dropped it on the ground as he flew as Judas.

“Fuck!” Judas shouted as he created more concrete from the ground to catch him and floated away from Maximilian… who was in hot pursuit. As Judas flew towards the ground himself, he could tell that Maximilian was faster than him. He awkwardly glanced at the street as he said,

“Fuck this, I’m out of here!” Judas lept from the floating platform he had created for himself… only for Maximilian to fire a golden beam of energy from his hand that hit Judas directly in the back and sent him rolling. He couldn’t pick himself up… he couldn’t feel his fucking legs! They were limp, and as much as he commanded them to move, they wouldn’t. Judas dragged himself away as Maximilian floated towards him with his arms crossed.

“... I didn’t want to do that,” Maximilian shook his head.

“... What the fuck? Who… who the hell are you? Why isn’t anything working on you?!” Judas asked as he fell on his ass… his ordinarily gruff voice shifted a bit; it ended up being more feminine.

Maximilian tilted his head.

“I’m Maximilian Cornell,” He jammed a thumb into his chest, then said, “And I win.”

Judas gritted his teeth, but Maximilian raised his hand at him and said,

“Surrender, Judas,” He started, “It’s over; we have a lot of questions to ask you,”

He looked at all the chaos that was around him, then shook his head,

“Primarily; how could a two-bit crimelord like yourself get an Abstraction this powerful?”

“FUCK YOU!”

Judas swung his hands out at Maximilian and sent everything he had at Maximilian… which was enough to launch the midair PRA agent away, and then Judas began sinking into the ground slowly…

Something clamped around his face from behind, arresting his descent and almost wholly obscuring his vision. A humanoid shape formed of what could only be described as a third-dimensional representation of a black, smoky shadow, no smaller than five feet, with sharp, angular features, emerged from a nearby hollow in the ruins. The shadow was cold, almost freezing to the touch, and its ‘head’ was a near-featureless black oval, with a vague representation of a toothy maw bored into the center.

It warned the observing PRA, dragging a flailing Judas back toward a nearby alleyway like a ragdoll.



“What the hell?!” Maximilian shouted as he flew towards the alleyway… only to find a dead end.

The voice was a growl, an inhuman resonance mingled with the child’s pitch; two voices merged as one. ” Ashley Stone. Father Wolf. Dollhouse. Want answers.”

Judas was thrown against a nearby wall, and long black fingers dug into his wrist, tight enough to crunch bone and tissue like cardboard. Accentuating its point, the shadow’s other hand interlocked its fingers around Judas’ other bicep and strained it back as far as a regular human’s bones and connective tissues could take, threatening to pull him apart like a wishbone

”Talk, or suffer like the others.”

The shadowy ‘head’ partially receded, revealing the face of a boy that was halfway to ruin, one half-pockmarked where the buckshot had stripped away part of his scalp, an eye, and the right-hand segment of his jaw. Where hair and skin were missing, a hollow black emptiness sat beneath, staring back at Judas - the only blood was the spatter on the untouched half of the boy’s face.

“I… I don’t fucking know who the fuck Ashley is! You’re after the wrong one, freak!” Judas shouted in response.

”Someone is killing people who were with her ‘coven’. Killed her. You-” Clancy pulled back a little harder, close to dislocating his shoulder.

“... WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!?” Judas screamed. “I don’t know this bitch! I don’t know anything about a Coven! Only those retards in 8th Street and those bitches that fuck around in the woods call themselves a Coven!”

Change tack. ”Dollhouse. Know you talk to them. Were they in on it?”

“Look, I’m not saying a damn thing about Dollhouse,” Judas started, “Don’t you know who they are? Or what they do to rats!?”

”What I'lldo-” Clancy interjected. This time, he pulled hard enough to dislocate the arm from the shoulder. Judas shrieked, clenching his teeth with his eyes closed.

“Do your worst, you bastard!” Judas pushed out the words.

”-take you apart. Then finish your club of assholes.”

“I’d like to see you try! Wolfpack, don’t surrender for anyone!”

”Skinner said the same. I changed his mind.”

Judas narrowed his eyes, fighting through the pain. “I’m not SkinnEAARGH-” Clancy didn't wait for him to finish, black digits twisting until the wrist was reduced to a strip of meat, tendon, and loose bone fragments.

”She was family. Took that from me. I'll take everything that matters and break the rest. Dollhouse, what did they do? Where are they?!” The shadow-child pressed the man further into the brickwork.

“I’m not telling…” Judas trailed off, “... You know what? Fuck them! Leave us alone and I’ll tell you everything They gave us these damn… ‘abstractions’, or whatever the fuck they’re called so we can work for them. Be their muscle. They don’t like getting their hands dirty. If you want those fuckers, they’re at the-”

A gust of wind came by… in the blink of an eye, there was a massive gaping hole in Judas’ chest that was oozing blood and viscera. There was a brief moment in which the man's expression contorted in recognition of what was happening before his head drooped as everything slipped away.

… and off to the side was Shayton, with his hands behind his back. He turned over his shoulder at Clancy and then said,

“Hmph,” Shayton began, “... And you’re just a kid, right?”

”Just a kid.” Clancy echoed, the child's pitch overlapping the inhuman resonance.

For a moment, he remained frozen, comprehending the situation. No. No. No! His shadowy digits relinquished their hold over the now-lifeless corpse that had been Judas Bennet, dropping it to the ground like a slab of meat.

”I needed him,” he bristled, the boy's face disappearing behind an oval, toothy maw, guttural pitch taking precedent, ”Do you know what you've taken from me?”

“No,” Shayton softly said, “But I’m certain you can come and tell me another time. I have to go. I need to report some things to my bosses…”

Shayton narrowed his eyes at Clancy.

“... I would suggest you keep your head down. Whoever- whatever you are. These days, everyone is a target. They don’t know it yet.”

Shayton disappeared in another burst of speed before the shadow-child could lash out, leaving the alleyway behind.

As the PRA spread out into the area, searching for their missing suspect, they caught a glimpse of the shadow creature scaling the brickwork of the alley and disappearing into the night, leaving behind the ruined corpse of their wanted man.

---

Maximilian had taken up to the sky… he knew that finding Judas was easier said than done in this urban jungle. He tapped his earpiece, noticing Helena’s flock covering the area. They would have better luck than him in finding Judas…

“Maximilian!” Helena shouted over his earpiece, “Come here!”

The birds took the shape of an arrow that pointed downwards, and Maximilian flew over that way. Then floated downwards… only to find Helena knelt next to Judas’ dead body. She nodded her head at Maximilian before she said,

“Judas is dead,” Helena said.

“Wait!?” Nakala shouted over the comms. “Who killed him?!”

“Got a glimpse of an Apparition fleeing; my birds couldn’t keep track of it.”

“Fuck my life!” Nakala shouted, “Apologies… alright, get ready because we have to clean this mess up…” She trailed.

“... Agent Liao is not going to be happy about this.”

---

---

---

It was going to be a looooooong day.

Fortunately, a cup of coffee helped with that.

A pear-shaped African-American woman,, walked through the door with a cup of coffee and a clipboard in the other. She sipped her coffee as she walked through the frantic halls of the PRA office; she had one destination. Her office. She walked up to the door, and on the side in brass, it said

CINDY G. KEAGAN.

SENIOR AGENT.

She quickly put her key in, opened the door, and closed it behind her - not turning on the light because she didn't want anyone to bother her. She placed her clipboard on her desk, sat in her computer chair, logged in, and checked her email. She got together the morning brief... and noticed the door opened, standing in the doorframe as Agent Phillips crossed her arms. Cindy leaned forward, putting her fingertips together as she said,

"Good morning, Agent Phillips," she started. "I heard you had a real fun night last night without me."

"Hmph," Nakala shrugged. "Didn't have a choice in that one."

Nakala then got off the wall, slapped a hand on her hip, walked over to Cindy's desk, and said, "I take it Meifeng has already started her warpath." She rolled her eyes.

"She's already having a word with the leader of the 8th Street Coven,"

"I thought if... if we could get her Judas, we could get her to chill,"

Cindy laughed.

"You thought you could calm her down?" She said, barely holding back laughter. "I mean, I'm not trying to talk down to you-"

"Sounds like you're trying to talk down to me," Nakala rolled her eyes.

"I've known Agent Liao - Meifeng - since grade school, and lemme tell you something," She started. "Twenty years, a marriage, two kids, becoming a bigshot government agent later, and she's still the same Meifeng I met in middle school." She chuckled.

Nakala smiled, then it turned into a frown as she slapped her hand on her hip.

"I'm hoping Meifeng doesn't one-eighty on 8th Street after all that bullshit we let them slide on..." Then, she rolled her eyes.

"I told her we should have taken care of them from the jump," Cindy said as she typed away at her computer. "She wanted eyes in St. Portwell... and didn't think they were "that big of a deal."" She finger quoted.

"Hopefully, with Maximilian, we can just go there and flatten them and be back for lunch break..." Cindy kept typing. "But, let me finish this email. I'll see you at the morning brief."

Nakala nodded her head as she went to head to the meeting room.

---

A short while later, Cindy walked into the PRA's meeting room. It was a large room that had a beautiful view of the city on the side opposite of her. Every PRA Agent was there... except for Meifeng. She smiled as she chipperly said,

"Good morning, everybody!"

She walked up to the table, set her cup of coffee down, and smiled.

“We have a new Agent here at the St. Portwell office. Would you stand up, Agent Cornell?” Cindy asked, and he obliged as he stood up.

“Good morning, everyone,” Maximilian said, “I’m certain you all heard a lot about me… a lot of familiar faces in here, heh.”

“I’m certain you met everyone here except for Agent Beaulieu…” Cindy gestured towards a Skinny, average-height black lady with a curly afro.

Agent Beaulieu smiled and waved and said, “Hi!”

“Agent Manalo…” Cindy gestured towards Bianca.

“Hey,” Bianca smiled, barely visible behind the coffee mug she refused to put down. “Nice to meet you.”

“... And Akira Shinjo,” Cindy gestured towards a short Japanese woman with a bobcut that had an Ōdachi hanging off her hip.

“It is great to meet you, Maximilian Cornell. I’ve heard much about you,” Akira softly said.

Cindy added, “She’s one of our guests from the PRA’s little foreign exchange program.”

Maximilian smiled as he loudly clapped his hands together and spoke,

“It is great to meet you three and to everyone else… I’m glad to see you all are doing well, especially after… you know,”

Various agents awkwardly chuckled. Samson pulled at his collar as he looked to his side.

“... The Lighthouse Incident?” Trevor said with a cocky smile on his face.

“Trevor, no!” Samson said,

“Shut up! I still have nightmares about that!” Sonya grabbed onto her head.

“Trevor , I swear to God, stop talking about that!” Nakala pointed at him.

“Shut up, you’re just asking for a beating!” Bianca leaned over and made out to smack Trevor on the back of the head but ended it with barely more than a tap.

“Bring it up again; I’m shoving my katana up your ass,” Leon said with a roll of his eyes.

Trevor kept grinning.

“... Don’t threaten me with a good time!”

“... Lighthouse Incident?” Akira said, raising an eyebrow.

“Trust me, Shinjo,” Samson said as he leaned back in his chair with his hands behind his head. “You don’t want to know. I still remember flying around just torching forests…” He shook his head.

“Okay, let’s move on,” Cindy said, putting her hands up. “Regional Commander Liao is currently out and will be back later, but I heard you all had a very… busy night.”

She then turned towards Bianca.

“I’ll ensure you are compensated for last night, Agent Manalo,”
“What about me?” Trevor asked.

“... Depends on how much you keep your mouth shut, Agent Obott,” Cindy answered.

"You didn't get shot," Bianca pointed out.

“But I almost got humped by a murder-doggo!” Trevor answered.

“... And here I was thinking you were tired of seeing the HR guy,” Samson rolled his eyes.

"That 'murder-doggo' was not interested in you," Bianca snorted before turning to Cindy, a voice filled with (probably false) hope. "Will I get another day off too?"

“Tomorrow,” Cindy said, “Agent Liao wants all Agents here.”

“Is that why I got called from my day off?” Leon said with a raised eyebrow.

“Yes…” Cindy said, “After we reviewed the after-action reports from… all the involved Agents, we may be taking action against either the 8th Street Coven or… the Sycamore Tree Coven.”

“... The what Coven?” Samson asked with a raised eyebrow.

Bianca almost spat out her coffee. "It wasn't so bad that we'd have to go after them, surely? The Sycamore Tree coven doesn't even really exist anymore." She then glanced at Samson. "It's a coven from 10 years ago that disbanded and is kindaaaa back. Barely."

“You didn’t hear about what happened to Agent Mahendra just two hours after he went to their reunion, right?” Leon asked with a raised eyebrow and crossed arms.

"Oh shit," Bianca smacked her forehead. She had yet to put two and two together with that one. "Just find it hard to believe it was them… they're way too dysfunctional."

“Look, this stays in this room,” Cindy shook her head as she rubbed her temple with her free hand. “That was a stupid idea off rip, but Agent Liao thought she could trust him. Thought that they wouldn’t sniff him out. And look what happened?”

“Liao’s on the warpath,” Samson added with another roll of his eyes.

“Exactly,” Cindy said before she turned back to Bianca, “And not just that; the woman that attacked you, Everleigh Thorn, was a member of that Coven, correct?”

"She was," Bianca said reluctantly - reluctant to admit she'd ever been part of the same group as Everleigh, that was. "Hairpin trigger that one… her and a few others wouldn't like an agent being around, I suppose."
“Well, I worked with Agent Liao plenty of times,” Samson chuckled. “She does not like it when people hurt her agents.”

“Isn’t she a part of the 8th Street Coven?” Helena asked with a raised eyebrow.

“She probably doesn’t even know what she’s a part of,” Samson shrugged.

“It’s probably why Agent Liao is talking to 8th Street’s leadership,” Cindy said with a roll of her eyes, and the room went silent.

“... By herself?” Fiona asked, tilting her head.

“Yuuuup,” Cindy flatly said.

“Oh, right,” Samson started, “You’re new… Agent Liao doesn’t play; she made sure that 8th Street understands who’s in charge.”

"8th Street's got nothing on Agent Liao," Bianca shrugged. She would've loved to see Emily getting her ass handed to her by Meifeng.

“Wasn’t the Sycamore Tree Coven the ones that defeated the Stygian Snake…?” Akira Shinjo asked, her expression not changing slightly. “... As children?” Akira added.

"Uh," Bianca awkwardly rubbed the back of her neck. Just hearing about it still sent a shiver down her spine. She tried not to make that too obvious. "They were, yeah. Ten years ago."

“... Then why did the Director call her best agents here to find the damned thing if a bunch of children took care of it?!” Sonya said before laughing. “I can handle a little murder-noodle by myself.”

“That is curious,” Akira said.

"Because it destroyed half the city," Bianca replied bluntly. "And half of those children died… I really wouldn't underestimate it."

“The Spirit Wardens want it contained-” Akira said before she was cut off.

“... Isn’t it already contained?” Trevor asked.

“Being sealed in a tree somewhere is not contained, Obott,” Akira said.

“And it’s why I was sent here,” Maximilian said.

“Have we made any progress on locating the Stygian Snake?” Helena asked Cindy.
“Regarding progress,“ Cindy stated, “We have made no progress.”

“Typical,” Helena answered.

“Regardless,” Cindy said, “At this very moment, we have some of the PRA’s most powerful and skilled agents in this office. Everything will work out in the end. I promise.” She nodded and had the utmost faith in everyone here.

Even Trevor (just a little less than everyone else).

"Heh, yeah, we'll be faster checking every Sycamore tree," Bianca said.

“That’s why I’m here, heh,” Helena chuckled.

“Alright, everyone, don’t go too far. You can go grab breakfast or something, but once Agent Liao gets back, we’ll probably find out what we’ll be doing today,” Cindy said, raising her fist. “Meeting dismissed. We are…”

Everyone raised their fist in the air as they shouted.

“... TREVOR!” Cindy shouted at Trevor.

---

---

---

---

---

It doesn't get easier.

Therapy helped her out, but there was that underlying guilt and that inability to get across just how bad things got. Telling a diluted version of events was not the therapy that Adora Phoenix-Prescott needed, nor was it what she wanted. Between working her Remote Job, Adora rarely left the household she had inherited but still shared with her mother... occasionally, her mother left and went out with friends or on dates, leaving the house empty. It was one of those nights. While the members of the old Coven had assembled, Adora had spent it at her residence, as she was not ready to do so. She wanted to go, but just thinking about it was... not ideal.

So the gal just did the usual coping mechanisms her therapist had set forth. Mainly, painting was a hobby that would shock even her closest friends and family. On the lanai of her house, she had a lovely little stool as she painted a beach from memory (She's basic, yes). She had the peaceful, gentle sounds of the St. Portwell forest that surrounded her house to accompany her and soothe her mind a little bit easier.

Though there was that feeling that she should face the problem head-on instead of dodging around it... which wasn't accessible at all, she admitted. While afterward, she would beat herself up, when the moment came, it was... terrifying. Adora heard a knock outside her field of view, turned her head towards it, and saw a complete spider web that had formed in the corner of the lanai...

... She could feel a flip-flop sensation in her chest as her breath accelerated. Her hands started shivering so intensely that she dropped the paintbrush that was in her hand.

They keep appearing.

A fully formed spiderweb would appear in her house, gym, or grocery store. No matter how hard Adora would clean it up, it would appear again later. She quickly ran to the other side of the lanai where her trusty broom was resting and whacked it down. She sighed in relief as she traced her fingertip alongside the back of her hand, the sleeve of her shirt, and then her upper arm.... and then she sat down and went back to finishing this fucking painting...

There was another knock.

Adora whipped her head.

The web was back.

Adora just dropped the paintbrush and went inside for the night.

---

It was the following day... Adora was lying in her bed wearing nothing but a T-shirt... the sunrise violently assaulted Adora as she was at just the right angle for the sun to bypass the blinds and hit her directly in the eyes. One eye shot open, and another one was squinted as the girl lay in the bed. In agonizing pain...

She managed to motivate herself to get out of this predicament she was in... by moving slightly to the side so the sun wouldn't annihilate her eyeballs. But she knew it was time to get ready; she wouldn't pass on another Coven meeting nor let Sloane spend one more day with her Grandfather's rings. There was something that she had to do first, something that she had meant to do for a long time but just was unable to bring herself to do. It wouldn't be easy, but Adora fought herself out of bed. Her heart started racing just thinking about it, and she had to pause to calm herself down by breathing deeply and focusing on the wool blankets her grandmother had made. She gently rubbed her hands against them as she walked across the hall to the bathroom, threw her shirt on the ground, and got in the shower.

After a long hot shower, Adora poked her head out to see if her mother (or grandmother) was out and about, and it was dead silence. However, Grandma was very quiet for a sixty-two-year-old woman, and something got the drop on Adora. Not today, though; she lept from the bathroom back to her room, hopefully before she had another awkward encounter with her "roommates." Adora quickly threw on some grey sweatpants, white tennis shoes, and a red hoodie... before she swiftly vanished.

---

A red Nissan Altima stopped at a gate... a metal fence surrounded a particular sight: a razed mansion. Adora got out of her car and slowly approached the gates... her heart started fluttering again as she forced herself to breathe slower to calm herself down. There was a lock and chain on the ground, long and rusted... Adora pushed the metal gates open as she approached the mansion. She sighed as she slowly forced herself to move forward, as this wasn't just any place.

It was the lair of the Old Coven.

She wondered what the hell happened to the place... it was an abandoned mansion for sale that the Coven had just "moved into" after scaring everyone off. After a while, rumors formed that there was a coven of witches and that the place was cursed. She wondered when the place was burnt down, but she desperately hoped that her objective was still there. She grabbed onto her bicep with her free hand and sauntered her way around the destroyed mansion as walking through a burnt-down building was... unwise. Once she made it around the corner, her eyes lit up as she saw it.

That tree.

It wasn't the tree that the Stygian Snake was sealed in... it was something more poignant to Adora and the others that lost people. Strangely enough, it was surrounded by beautiful flowers that looked well-maintained. She had meant to do it for a long time but couldn't do it... triggering or not, she needed to do this for her soul. She walked over to it; at some point, she dragged her feet out of sheer force of will...

Carved into the side were the names of the members of the Old Coven who were lost fighting the Stygian Snake, written in code... Adora traced her hands across the mural, examining each name until her fingers traced the one name that was most essential to her.

LT GGA - F. Green Tiger Beetle of the Cherry.

It was enough to trigger her as she lost all control of herself; her heart started racing, and her breath just absolutely accelerated. She tried to focus on something, anything, to keep her grounded as she felt weak in the legs and grabbed. However, she couldn't hold on as she had just given out...

---

Adora was brought back to that day... the same day they finally defeated the Stygian Snake, and they erased their memories of the damned thing's location. Adora saw the Coven formed behind their old lair, with Ashley, Auri, and Daisy standing in front of a tree with a drape on top of it... Adora looked down and saw that she was transparent, like a ghost. She turned and saw herself on the edge of the group, not looking happy. The night had fallen, and candles illuminated the three leaders... and the eclipse had already passed. Auri and Daisy nodded at Ashley as she stepped forward and made another speech.

"Just hours ago, we faced the stuff of nightmares, the Stygian Snake. But guess what? We didn't cower in fear. We didn't give up. We didn't run. We didn't let it stop us. No, sir! We stood tall, united, and we took the snake down!"

"Whoooooooooo!" Auri cheered as everyone clapped.

"We fought through the shadows, faced our fears, and did it! It wasn't just about magic anymore but the bond we shared as a Coven. We're not just a group anymore; we're a family. But, my friends, our journey doesn't end there. No, it's time for something extraordinary. I've gathered you all here today to reminisce about our battles and honor those we lost along the way..."

She paused dramatically as Auri commanded her butterflies to lift the drape they had over the tree and revealed it... the mural with the names inscribed in code.

"... I present all the culmination of our victory, the symbol of our strength and resilience! Our official mural! of everyone we lost fighting the Stygian Snake!"

Ashley took a step forward and pointed backward, shouting,

"This is proof they were there here. Proof they fought and gave their lives for the good of the city. They loved something - the city, their families and friends, whatever that may be - so much that they were willing to die to defeat the Stygian Snake. So, let's celebrate our victory and never forget all the friends we've lost to get here!"

Everyone began cheering.

The Recollection ended.

---

---

---

---

---

The light ray hit her eyes again as she fully opened one eye and squinted the other. It felt like she was back at home again... she was comfortable under the flowers that she was probably crushing with her body. However, someone was standing over her... someone familiar. Adora tried to force her eyes open only to feel excruciating pain. She clutched her eyes and yelped as she sat up.

"Easy there!"

She heard a familiar voice as her eyes adjusted to the light. She looked and saw Britney. It was years since she had even seen her. She was wearing a white sundress, with a white sunhat and... black combat boots. She bent forward and offered her a hand, which Adora took; she was helped to her feet, but Adora couldn't make eye contact with Britney as she had just turned away. She sighed but felt Britney hug her from behind, and Adora could barely contain her yelp.

"Adora! It has been years!"

Adora sighed.

"... Yeah, it has been,"

Britney released her and stepped away.

"It's great to see that you are doing well,"

She thinks I'm "Doing well,"... so I must be doing something right. Adora mused in her head as she continued to face away from Britney. "You too, Brit..."

"You know, you shouldn't wander around here by yourself," Britney started, "You realize how dangerous St. Portwell has gotten... and you're standing on my flowers, so... would you kindly?" She then chuckled afterward.

Adora quickly hopped into the grass.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Then she looked up at the burned mansion. "What happened here? Was it destroyed in an attack?"

"I was gone by the time it happened, but either... well, you weren't there, but the Coven got a little... chaotic after you left. Either someone screwed up and burned it down by accident, Daisy threw a temper tantrum on the way out and burned it down, or when the Old Coven finally dissolved, they burned it down."

"A lotta memories here..."

"Hopefully good ones?"

She grabbed her arm and turned to the side,

"... I wouldn't go that far,"

"Then why did you come here? I thought..., nevermind,"

"I finally worked up the strength to come here; I've been trying to do it for years now," Adora smiled, "I'm... proud of myself."

Adora only heard Britney walk up, put a hand on her shoulder, and say,

"You should be... will you attend Auri's next meeting?"

There was a silence.

"... Will Sloane be there?"

"You can ask her."

"I'm not in contact with her, and I'm not on speaking terms with her..."

There was another awkward silence.

"... Then why do you want to know if she will be there or not?"

"I need to get something from her," Adora said as she put her hands in her pockets.

"... She has the Trinity-Rings, doesn't she?" Britney asked, and Adora slowly nodded. "Well... just ask her for it. I mean, Sloane's a piece of work, but she's not that bad."

"I will," Adora started, "Can I get some alone time...? I'll be at the meeting, just... I need some time to work up the courage to go there."

Britney put a hand on her shoulder again.

"Take all the time you need... I'm here for you, friend," Britney started, "You got my number, right? Everyone does."

Adora slowly nodded her head.

"Well, I'll be off. Take care, see you at the meeting, Adora!"

Adora could hear Britney stepping away... and then she sighed again. Now that she said that she was going to go...

... She just had to go.

---

---

---

Auri ground her teeth... and then took a nice sip of the tea she had prepared for herself.

After the fiasco that took place at her Flower Shop, the "New Coven" (as Auri was going to refer to themselves) made it abundantly clear that they can't behave like adults and should have zero respect for Auri's business that she worked hard to get off the ground. Thus, Auri decided that the New Coven would assemble somewhere open, in the public... so she chose the Tranquil Haven Park. It was a relatively cool day, not super cold, but it was windy today, so it felt colder than it was. It was a simple park, and she set up at the nearest gazebo and made sure to bring snacks.

It wasn't long until everyone trickled in, and Auri coughed.

There was that urge to flip her shit because she heard about everything that had happened... the Coven fighting the Wolfpack, Drake decking Sloane, and Alizee's death. However, Auri had to keep her cool and try to at least fake some motivation. She knew no one liked each other or wanted to be here, but she would make the best of it!

"Hello, everybody! You are all looking wonderful today!"

Auri's eyes glanced at Sloane for a moment before she reached into a red and blue cooler at her feet and raised a bottle of water.

"Does anyone need water? I have plenty to spare!" Auri started. "We have much to talk about... I have some new leads, but I would love to get us to our lair ^{so you all don't trash my darn Flower Shop again} before something crazy happens and settle some business!"

She sighed as she was forcing the chipper attitude at this point. She decided to stop faking it and went with her more neutral and lowly tone as she said,

"I have something to tell you all, however..." Auri started, sighing again, "... Yesterday, Eksa Thresh, Simone Le Lay, and Finn Reid were found murdered. All of them stabbed to death..."

She sighed.

Hopefully, this would get the Coven to get their act together.

---

---

Anya woke up a bit later than normal, at just past 10am. Her business, which she lived on the second floor of, was closed for the day. She’d had more than enough clients yesterday to fill up her nights for the rest of the week, leaving her with the freedom to close the shop as she pleased.

It meant she could attend the Sycamore Tree Coven meeting today, after missing the first one.

Of course, Anya wasn’t going into this meeting completely blind. She’d texted with Sloane the night before, getting filled in with most of the details, and then had visited Auri’s dreams. What she’d managed to scry from them was enough to fill her in.

It was best to be prepared for these things. It also made it clear that most of the group hadn’t changed. If anything, they’d somehow gotten worse. It seemed rather pointless to get everyone back together when they could hardly control themselves. There were very few that Anya had any faith in. It was a shame that some of their… better members had already been victims of Father Wolf.

Brushing aside her concerns, Anya concentrated on getting ready for the meeting. She perused her large collection of clothing, carefully considering what to wear. She couldn’t go for anything too bold when they were being killed, but too plain would make her appear vulnerable. The weather should be taken into account too, along with practicality if things turned out like they had the day before. That meant that most of her dresses weren’t an option. She also had to make an impression. After all, it had been ten years.

Finally, she settled on a stone grey turtleneck and fitted, black slacks. Her makeup was kept relatively simple, outside of dark red lipstick, and her long hair was tied back in a high ponytail. She finished the look with a pair of high heeled, black boots and a dark grey, long wool jacket.

On her way out, she put a few small crystals infused with her dream locator spell into her bag. If there was a chance, she would slip them onto some of the coven members whose dreams had been a bit more infrequent recently.

Just a precaution, to make sure everything went smoothly.

---

---

A park wouldn't have been Anya's choice of meeting place in late October, but at least today seemed to be slightly milder weather wise. By the time she arrived, most people were already there. She'd timed it that way - there was no point wasting her own time by arriving early and having to endure small talk. There were very few here she was interested in catching up with.

Anya surveyed everyone who'd turned up, hints of judgement hidden behind her cool gaze, before walking over to Sloane and settling beside her. Her gaze immediately moved to Sloane's nose... And the obvious damage to it.

"You look awful," Anya didn't mince her words. Sloane knew her well enough to read between the lines and see her concern, only visible to those who knew where to look. "When you said Drake hit you I didn't expect it to be this bad. I suppose I should have... Ah, but don't worry, his dreams weren't particularly pleasant last night."

She lowered her voice so only Sloane and anyone right next to them could hear. "It's a shame I couldn't be there yesterday. Between us we could have sorted out this rabble much more efficiently than Auri."

She'd seen just how yesterday had turned out from visiting select dreams, and Sloane's texts about what had happened at Dairy Queen. It was about what she'd expected - complete and utter chaos.

Red lips pursed together, Anya turned to watch Auri as she started the meeting. The new leads could be interesting, if they actually went anywhere… and Anya wasn’t sure how much she trusted Auri for that.

And she didn't particularly care for those that had died. Simone was useless, Eksa a coward, and Finn an abomination. They wouldn't be particularly missed, beyond the family knowledge Simone had never passed on beyond the dreams Anya occasionally visited. Of course, she was smart enough not to vocalise these thoughts in front of the group.

”It’s a shame that we already lost three more of our comrades,” Anya said diplomatically, lips curving into a mournful smile that looked like she was truly saddened. ”But it does highlight some… issues. We came back together to solve this problem, yet three are dead after the very first meeting. Hardly protecting us from the threat. If anything, we’ve made it easier for Father Wolf.”

She paused, letting her words sink in for the group, before directing her words at Auri specifically.

”As our new leader, how are you proposing we stay alive? Do you have any plans, or only leads?”

---

---

Luca didn't like visiting parks.

He visibly winced as the grass wilted underneath his feet with every step he took, a trail of light yellow following behind him. He walked as quickly as he could to the gazebo, stepping in and finding a spot distanced enough from anyone else so they wouldn't get hurt.

Luca had been unsure about whether to turn up today or not. After yesterday he was exhausted, and the aching of his broken wrist added on to the difficulties he was already dealing with. He’d struggled to fall asleep thanks to it last night, and woken feeling the opposite of rested. This morning he’d just about managed to drag himself out of bed… But he wasn’t sure how long he’d last.

Hopefully today’s meeting would be more reasonable. No one would pull a gun out, and no one would get punched. Then it’d be pretty great! And Auri had even brought snacks this time… Not that Luca was going to eat the snacks, because there was the risk of him damaging them to the point no one else could. But still, snacks!

"... Yesterday, Eksa Thresh, Simone Le Lay, and Finn Reid were found murdered. All of them stabbed to death..."

Luca’s positive thoughts ground to a halt.

Three people, dead, just like that? Just yesterday, they’d been alive. Simone had come to Dairy Queen with them! How did it happen? Was it Father Wolf? Why them?

Luca felt sick.

A wave of dizziness caught him and he leaned back on the railing behind him, squeezing his eyes shut. He knew someone was hunting them, that people had already died, but this just made it more real. They really were being hunted down and killed. He wasn’t worried about losing his own life - he didn’t have too long left, anyway. But watching as everyone else died one by one?

That was like a nightmare.

”When did they die?” Luca asked, opening his eyes and squinting at Auri. His voice trembled slightly. ”Was… was it Father Wolf, like the others?”

---

---

Far on the outskirts of St. Portwell, there exists a mansion of a family known as the Pendletons… a family with long and deep roots in magic, one of the many to be blessed by the Ancient known as the Spider. They had aspirations, like many, of taking over St. Portwell’s magical scene, and to that end, they amassed a collection of different magical artifacts. They were making a museum in their mansion, where an artifact is on display at every corner of the mansion!

A silver fox of a man, wearing a robe, with his hands behind his back, inspected his artifacts. He systematically checked every one of them...

Until he noticed that one was missing.

“Huh?!” He leaned forward as he opened the case. “Where is my Amulet?!”

He shook his head and quickly dialed a number on his cellphone.

“Charlotte!” He shouted. “One of the artifacts is-”

An arrow came out of nowhere and dug itself directly into his forearm. He hissed in pain as he grabbed onto the arrow, then instinctively whipped his head around to see a Caucasian woman with reddish brown hair that held a particular crossbow made out of marble. She had it directly aimed at him.

“I would hang up that phone if I were you,” Another girl, a tall African-American girl with dyed yellow and green dreadlocks said as she walked up to him, waving an amulet around in her hands. “Your life may depend on it, Lucius.”

“Go to hell!” He shouted as he swung his hand and erected a green barrier between himself and the two girls.

“... That’s not going to work,” The girl said, shaking her head, then she turned towards the gal with the arrow and said, “Flora.”

Flora aimed her crossbow at Lucius and fired off another arrow…. The man expected the barrier to stop it, but it had wholly bypassed it and nailed him directly in the shoulder. He hissed in pain as he fell over on his display case.

“Hang up the phone,” Flora said, “Or the next one’s going in between your eyes.”

“Who the fuck are you two?”

“We’re…” The tall black girl said…

The wall behind the girl exploded, bursting into a mess of debris and dust as a horde of undead minions emerged. They shuffled their way through the mess as someone came out by the time the dust cleared…

… It was Emily G. Reed, with her two little sisters and Vashti behind her.

“... The fucking 8th Street Coven!”

Emily shouted.

“You bitches?”

“Yes,” Emily smiled, “Us bitches.”

A tall woman with an afro and plenty of jewelry coughed as she walked up, wearing a black sweater and bright blue jeans. However, floating over her shoulder was a Skeleton in a suit with a cane; he tipped his hat. With a wave of his hand, his undead minions were smashing open all the display cases and taking all the artifacts as Emily and the 8th Street leadership watched.

Lucius grits his teeth as he fights his way to his feet.

“So… Flora here can shoot through your little barrier,” Emily said, putting her hands on her hips and doing a little dance as she swayed them from left to right, “Are you going to be smart and drop the barrier, or she gonna have to turn you into a pin cushion?”

“Like hell...” Lucius said before he closed his eyes in pain. He could feel little bits of blood dripping down from the arrows. “This is my life’s work! I’m not going to let some cult take it from me!”

“And it’s about to be this cult’s life work!” Emily replied; she stopped swaying her hips, then looked at her fingernails as she said, “My little cultists are subduing the rest of your family… we’re going to put a tragic end to your little plans to join the Elite. So drop the barrier, and we can all make this quick.”

“I swear to God if you touch my family…”

Emily snapped her fingers. “Flora put an end to him.”

“Wait, Emily-” Jacqueline said as she reached forward towards Flora, who fired the Aegis Piercer shot that would have ended Lucius…

… A glowing pink barrier was launched and sent Lucius flying.

Emily whipped her head around to see two girls; one was an older girl with freckles and black hair, she had her hand outstretched. The other was a younger one, a teenager, who stood scared behind her wearing pajamas.

Emily narrowed her eyes, pointed a finger at them, and said,

“Vashti.”

Vashti glanced over at Jacqueline and produced a bouquet of heavy-duty zip ties and a roll of duct tape from her hoodie.

“Okay, dudes, read the room. Now’s the time to stop being stupid bitches. B-b-but it’s my life's work,” said Vashti, mocking Lucius by shifting her voice up into an annoying, sniveling whine. “You’re rich, idiot. Buy new shit.”

A loud tear ripped through the air as Vashti unwrapped a length of tape to use as a mouth gag and stepped toward the two girls.

“So get on your knees and put your hands behind your back. Who knows? Maybe you’ll earn Daddy a second chance.” Vashti shrugged casually before she took another step forward and bared her teeth in a cruel smile, swinging the duct tape like a Morningstar. “Orrrrrr don’t, and I burn down your entire family tree.”

They looked at each other…

They stuck their hands out and launched a thin, rectangle-shaped barrier out of their hands directly at Vashti.

“Oh, for fu—” Vashti bounced off the barrier as the zip ties and duct tape scattered to the floor.

A skeletal minion was kind enough to act as a cushion and got dusted as her body impacted it. The hit was accompanied by a loud clap of thunder that shook the house as Vashti tumbled through the shower of bone dust and did a handspring, the floor tiles splintering where her palms hit. She landed on her feet and scampered behind a display case, moving to flank the girls as the rest of the 8th Street Coven moved into action.

“Where in the fuck are Greta and the others?!” Emily facepalmed before raising her hands into the air. “God, it’s so hard to find good help around here!” She exploded into an aura of flames and aimed both hands at the two sisters. They quickly put another barrier together that completely blocked her hellfire from getting close.

However, a giant of a man that was easily over seven feet tall walked up to the barrier with a smile on his face. The girls launched the barrier at him, but the man stuck his hands down, dropped his weight, and managed to slow down the advance of the giant obstacles. They dug up the dirt as they pushed him back, and he barked, “This is boring! Make this fun!”

“It’s not supposed to be fun,” A short, Asian woman with long reddish-brown hair scoffed, appearing at the other side of the girls; she was definitely not meant to be keeping out of the way (or subdued; however, Emily had phrased it). She pushed out her hands, sending a blast of sand toward both their eyes - hopefully, they only had one barrier between them… “Let’s get this over with so we can go home.”

The girls shrieked and covered their eyes, the barrier they erected proving that it was impossible to prevent sand from getting everywhere. Temporarily blinded, the girls wouldn’t realize that a veiled figure had emerged on their six until the younger of the two was already in the process of being taken down as Vashti pounced on her back and knocked her out cold by bouncing her skull off of the floor.

The older sister reached her hands out only for Vashti to catch them with her own as she leaped to her feet, Vashti’s nails slowly piercing into the back of the woman’s hands as she began to hyperextend her wrists back. She made the woman buckle with a couple of kicks and forced her down to her knees, dragging her back so that they were closer to her sister. Vashti put her shoe on the unconscious girl’s head and smiled viciously at the restrained one. She leaned in to whisper so that only her captive could hear.

“Sorry about my ungrateful friends. Thank you. This was fun for me,” she hissed before pulling back out. She gave a couple of playful taps to the head of the knocked-out girl with her shoe and then, loud enough for the group to hear, added, “Remember, you’re the ones who made this choice.”

Vashti raised her foot.

“... Vashti, no!”

Jacqueline shouted as she stuck her hand out, then walked over. “We don’t need to kill anybody!”

Emily crossed her arms and scoffed as she said,

“... Jacqueline, these people are going to come after us,” She narrowed her eyes, “They’re trying to join the Elite.”

“I know, I know,” Jacqueline answered, “But we’re responsible for a lot of deaths, and I can’t take it anymore.”

Emily put a hand on her hip.

“Now you’re developing a conscience, after we killed… how many Nazis?”

Jacqueline narrowed her eyes,

”... You know what I’m talking about, Emily,”

“Yeah, let’s just take their artifacts and get out of here!” Miranda supported her sister as she walked over to Lucious, knelt, pulled the two arrows out of him, grabbed him, and transferred the wounds to her. She barely even felt pain as they were regenerated in mere moments.

Emily sighed,

“Fiiiiiiiiiiiine,” Then she spoke to the only conscious Pendleton sister while looking off to the side, “Look, you fuckers are going to forget this ever happened, and if you join the Elite…”

She pointed at her without even looking in her direction,

“We will come back, except we’re not going to steal everything; we’re going to come back and then burn this fucking mansion to the ground with all of you in it. Got it?”

She awkwardly nodded her head, then Emily whipped around and said,

“Nadine, grab ever-”

That was when a door to the side burst open, and tripping over each other were the other members of 8th St who were supposed to be handling everyone else and making sure they don’t get in the way. They fell on each other like a pile, and Emily couldn’t help but facepalm.

The first to get up was a [url=http://]well-built, blonde-haired guy[/url] who created a glowing sword made out of a mysterious energy and raised it in the air. “Emily! They snuck around us!”

“No shit,” Emily rolled her eyes.

However, a monstros four-legged beast with a mouth full of teeth, white leathery skin, and claws, lept over them, growling. It turned toward the two Pendleton sisters and raced like a savage animal, knocking over the display cases as it charged them. It lept on one of the display cases and hopped at them, jaws open and claws outstretched…

… Only to get bear-hugged by George.

“Heeeeeeey, easy there, girl!” George said, chuckling as the monster slashed its claws back and forth, snarling like crazy.

“Ugh,” Emily facepalmed before she said, “Cynthia, heel!l”

Then the monster exploded into a cloud of pink mist, and when it faded, it revealed an African-American girl with a blonde afro. Still waving her arms and legs forward like she was still in her… alternate form. At least briefly before she stopped and craned her head towards Emily.

“Pack leader,” Cynthia said, “Cynthia was told she could eat this time. Why is Cynthia not allowed to eat?”

“We changed plans!” Miranda shouted, “If you want to eat… I’ll give you one of my arms!”

“Cynthia wants variety,” Cynthia said as George put her gently on the ground, “Cynthia accepts these terms, but next time…”

She narrowed her eyes at Miranda,

“... Cynthia will eat.”

At this point, Nadine’s undead thralls had cleared the little museum of artifacts… of its artifacts. They all went back to where 8th St initially broke into the mansion, and standing there was a short, mousy girl with brown hair, holding her cellphone in hand. She nodded, put her hands together (with the cell phone in it), and stretched them outwards… creating a spinning portal back to the 8th St Manor. The undead minions went inside first, followed by Emily and her sisters, then the rest of 8th St, with Brianna being the last.

As fast as they appeared, they vanished.

---

The next day, it was business as usual in the dining hall of the 8th St mansion… it was their usual hangout slash meeting location, and it was a massive wooden table with various wooden chairs pressed against it. At the head of the seat was Emily’s chair… a very particular throne that she took from Kaiser Draeger before they razed his “sanctuary” to the ground. Emily sat in it. And it was way too big for her, as she couldn’t comfortably put her arms on the armrest! She leaned back in the chair, put her fingers together, and observed her minions…. Chattering and talking as usual.

Greta had on massive oven mitts as she mixed various ingredients into mason jars and created her potions… with a smile that looked too excited. Carol was right next to her, complaining about how she was getting her ingredients on her. Nadine was sitting with her arms crossed, watching everyone else like Emily. Phoebe was looking over all the incredible supernatural artifacts they gained last night… Jacqueline and Miranda were quietly sitting beside her, across from each other. Talking about girl things…

“Hey bro!” said Vashti, striking from ambush as she suddenly emerged from behind Emily’schair and leaned against the armrest. “So I’ve been thinking—”

“... Ah, that was a great haul last night, wasn’t it?” Babylon said as she faded into existence.

“—that I’m just absolutely swamped and got just, like, so much to do today!” finished Vashti, visibly cringing at Babylon’s appearance. She vigorously waved her hands as she backed away towards an exit. “Love ya. Call me if a neck needs wrung!Byeeeeeeeee! ”

Babylon placed a hand on Emily’s shoulder and floated beside her. “Perhaps 8th Street will go further than the last cult I worked with!”

Then Babylon leaned back, shrugged, and said,

“If not, it’s not like I’ll end up with another group,”

“... And who are they?”

“Just a little group of nobodies!” Babylon started chuckling, “... That was coincidentally the biggest threat in the All-Verse!”

“... That doesn’t answer my question, Babylon,”

“Oh, just a little cult called The Inner-Circle… led by a supreme mad woman named Sunshine Jones. Their goal was to get to the very source of magic by any means necessary. And boy! Was Sunshine such a monster! I miss her…”

“Elaborate.”

“Sunshine killed so many people in her pursuit to “drink the blood of magic,” and created monsters that could threaten entire universes,” Babylon explained. “However, they were defeated by a man named James Vanburen.”

“... The rich manslut that knocked up every woman that bent over for him?” Emily raised an eyebrow as she gave Babylon the side-eye. “Probably died from all the STDs he probably got?”

“He is more than just the rich manwhore! Well, was, before you know he died,” Babylon chuckled, “Well, long before that, he was an adventurer, a king, a collector, a hero, and various other things… For whatever reason, he dismantled the Inner Circle piece by piece and defeated Sunshine in a climactic battle. However...”

“God damn it, Babylon!” Emily hissed, “Keep talking…”

“He didn’t kill Sunshine; he placed her before the multiversal council that was around at the time… The Accordance, they called it, and they stood around in robes and decided that the best thing to do was to throw her in The Pit for her list of sins so long that there was not enough paper in the All-Verse to list them all. However, I heard Sunshine escaped the Pit and killed James. Then I also heard that Sunshine died in the Pit, and her Apparition escaped… and killed James. Then I heard that she gave birth in the Pit and-”

“Babylon, that’s enough,” Emily interrupted. “You said James was a collector… of artifacts?”

“Yes, he had many,”

“Then, we’re going after the Vanbur-”

“No, no, no, no,.” Babylon quickly shut Emily down, then said, “James was a very cunning man. Very dangerous. Many allies. With our current situation, attacking the Vanburens would be…”

Babylon then trailed off,

“... Unwise.”

"Can't we take a fucking break anyway?" Maya walked into the dining hall in time to hear the tail end of Emily and Babylon's conversation… wearing nothing but a towel wrapped around her chest, barely reaching her thighs. It covered everything it had to. Her hair was wrapped up in another. Obviously, she didn't live here, but the showers were much nicer than her apartment's. "Some of us have day jobs outside of theft."

Emily didn’t even look at Maya; she stared dead ahead as she responded.

“... Can’t you fucking go put some God damn clothes on?” She started, “I told you this before; don’t come out here naked. Nobody wants to see your sweaty vagina.” She rolled her eyes.

“... Speak for yourself!” Babylon said.

“Babylon, fuck off,” Emily replied, and her Apparition faded away.

“Your day job is 8th Street, we have much work to do to get ourselves out of our current predicament… and put some fucking clothes on already!”

She rolled her eyes at Emily, dumping a plastic bag she'd been carrying on the table. There was a whole bunch of Tupperware inside filled with misshapen cookies (definitely not practice for a stupid work thing). "I brought food." Then she glared at Greta. "Can you do that somewhere we don't eat?"

Greta lifted her welding mask and said, “You have plenty of room to sit elsewhere, my dear Maya. I have to finish these potions for the next mission.” Before lowering it and getting back to work.

Maya rolled her eyes and flipped Greta off as soon as her mask was lowered.

“... Food?” Cynthia heard and immediately came over with a grin on her face… which didn’t last long as she raised an eyebrow, looking at the bag. Then Maya. Then, back at the bag. Then at Maya. “Where is food? Cynthia heard food.”

While they were all distracted, a person entered their hall with a tray of desserts, sat down, placed their phone on the table, and began playing on it.

"Ohhhhh," Maya looked at Cynthia and then at the bag. Then back at Cynthia. Whoops should've remembered about the group's carnivore. This is what she got for being able to cook and bringing her food experiments to the coven to test (mostly meat dishes, incidentally). Completely deadpan, she said, "I must've forgotten the human meat cookies I'd made at home. If there's any meat around that isn't part of my body, I'll try to recreate them."

Cynthia looked at Emily, pointing at Maya,

“Pack leader, can Cynthia eat?”

“If she doesn’t go put some fucking clothes on,” Emily responded.

Nadine walked over, grabbed a cookie, then looked at it before taking a bite and silently walking back to where she was sitting and not reacting to Cynthia asking to eat Maya (she was curious if there was somebody that Cynthia didn’t want to eat).

"I know I look delectable, but I doubt I'll taste nice," Maya rolled her eyes. But she still walked out of the room to get dressed because the only thing worse than doing what Emily said was getting eaten alive.

Maya returned shortly after, appropriately dressed in a loose, blue-checked dress. She was still rubbing her hair with a towel and looked around to find a victim to talk to. She honed in on Phoebe and the ton of artifacts they'd gathered. "How much shit did we get this time? Was it worth the hassle?"

“You looked better in the towel.”

Phoebe chuckled.

“Heh, I know,” Maya snorted, shrugging. “But some people don’t appreciate it…”

“I think the Elite is going to pay top dollar for these… but there’s something I want to keep…” Phoebe smiled as she answered Maya, cradling a glowing potion. Then she lifted it by one hand, presenting it to Maya.

It was a glowing potion that pulsed with rainbow colors.

“… Wanna go pour this in the water supply?”

Maya took the potion, turning it over to get a good look. “What does it do, turn everyone gay when they drink it?” Probably something worse, but who cared as long as it didn’t affect them? “Let’s do it.”

Phoebe grabbed Maya’s hand (fingers interlocked), and the two skipped out of the dining hall… to the relief of Emily.

However, after they left, there was a groaning from one of the side halls… followed by slow footsteps as Emily’s head darted towards that hall. Stumbling out of the shadows was… a tall, spindly being almost as tall as the hall itself. She walked in, completely nude, one claw over her face as she walked into full view. She groaned as a line of drool came from her mouth, and she placed the other claw on the adjacent wall. She took in deep breaths as she stumbled forward, only to catch herself on one of her freakishly long limbs.

The second 8th Street saw her, they all dropped whatever they were doing and hopped up, staring at the woman.

Emily grits her teeth as she glances at Jacqueline and Miranda, and with a hint of worry, she says, “... Ge-get her back to her room! Hurry up! Before she does something!”

“On it!” The two twins said in unison as they quickly ran over to the creature. Miranda grabbed her hand, and the two coaxed her into the darkness of the halls. Emily sighed.

“... When are you going to help her?” Brianna asked with a raised eyebrow.

Emily was silent for a moment before she answered,

“I’m working on it.”

“Pack leader!” Cynthia shouted at Emily, then pointed at their mysterious guest they had not noticed until now. “We have an intruder.”

All eyes were brought upon the mysterious woman sitting at the end of their little dining table. She was wearing black jogging pants, a pink sports bra, and an armband that previously had her phone in it. Off her side, she had a nice metal tray of cupcakes covered in wax paper and plastic wrap. She continued playing on her phone for a few moments before she raised her head.

“... Oh?”

She said in a curious tone and faced Emily down.

“... Am I interrupting something?”

Emily narrowed her eyes as the woman continued.

“I’m just having a seat; I’ve just finished with a long jog and thought I’d stop by for the… atmosphere.”

The mysterious woman stood up and presented the tray of cupcakes. “I’ve brought you all cupcakes.”

All of 8th Street stared at her in shock, and Emily rolled her eyes as she sank back into her chair.

“... I thought you had your fill on bullying us, Agent Liao,”

The woman looked down, twisting her head slightly to the left and the right, then lifted her head to face Emily.

“‘Agent Liao’? Can’t you see I’m not on duty right now? Don’t call me Agent Liao, call me… Meifeng.’”

Emily rolled her eyes again,

“Whatever,” She started, “Can I help you with something? Can’t you see that I’m busy?”

Meifeng put a hand on her hip and scoffed as she said, “... Sitting on your little throne?” She playfully chuckled.

“Fuck this!” Carol shouted as she stood up, facing Emily but pointing at Meifeng, “Are we going to keep letting this asshole bully us! She’s by herself; we can take her!”

Meifeng was silent for a moment.

“... I imagine you can,” She started, raising her hands, “I left my gun in my car. And as you can probably tell, I’m not dressed for concealed carry. So…”

She let her words hang in the air.

“Do your worse, Emily.”

Emily stared Meifeng down before she sighed and sunk back into her chair.

“... Just get to the point, Meifeng.”

Meifeng crossed her arms before she spoke to the 8th Street Coven.

“I want to speak to your leader in private.”

There was a brief silence before Emily waved her hand in the air and said,

“Everyone go.”

“But I am working on my poti-” Greta injected.

“I said go!”

With that, the 8th Street Coven dispersed. Leaving the hall with only Meifeng and Emily, the former walked towards the latter. Not breaking eye contact for a moment until she finally spoke,

“Your follower attacked one of my agents.”

“Which one…?” Emily asked, putting her fingertips together.

“Everleigh Thorn,”

Upon hearing that name, Emily smiled.

“... She’s not one of us anymore,” Emily started, “She left us to go back to those Sycamore sluts. Go bark up that tree.” She rolled her eyes.

Meifeng did not so much as blink.

“Is that so?” Meifeng asked as she got closer to Emily until she was in her face. “Did you forget the deal?”

At this point, Jacqueline and Miranda returned, stopped, and looked around. Then, their gaze landed on the metal tray Meifeng left on the table.

“... Cupcakes!”

“Don’t eat those!” Emily shouted. “They might be poison!”

“Please,” Meifeng rolled her eyes, “Just what about me suggests that, if I planned on killing you all, I wouldn’t just come here and put a gun to your head?”

They were silent.

“Exactly,”

Emily slammed her hands on the handlebars of her throne and stood up. Putting her hands on her hips as she

“You keep coming over here to bully us! Don’t you remember just who got you your position?” Emily glanced at Jacqueline, who had helped herself to one of the cupcakes. Then Emily added, “Remember just who exposed Porter Johnson?”

Emily smiled and sunk back into her chair before she added,

“The PRA is just as responsible for Das Sonnenrad as Kaiser Draeger is…”

Meifeng sighed,

“While I am not responsible for the actions of my predecessor, and he has been taken care of, the PRA needs to take more action to weed out extremism in our ranks.”

“It goes high if Mr. Johnson was a Regional Commander!” Emily shouted, pointing at Meifeng before sinking back in her chair again. “You should be more appreciative, Meifeng…”

Meifeng scoffed as she walked up to Emily and jammed a finger into her chest.

“I am appreciative… I’m not putting a kill order on you and your cult as I should,” Meifeng started, fury in her eyes. “I am turning a blind eye to your antics only because I need that Stygian Snake and eyes in St. Portwell…”

Meifeng took a step back and walked towards the door; as she spoke,

“But if I find out that you’re still associated with Everleigh Thorn or had something to do with that shitshow last night…”

She paused right before she walked out of the door and finished with, “... It will be the end of you and everything you know.”

She closed the door, and Emily sighed in relief.

“... Isn’t Eve spying on Sycamore for us?” Miranda cut the silence with a knife.

“Yes, but Liao doesn't have to know that,” Emily chuckled. “It's good that Eve is causing trouble for them and not us… Oh!”

A lightbulb ignited in her head.

“The PRA is probably going to fuck those sluts up! Grab some popcorn, and grab some cameras!
We can not miss this!” Emily said as she got up.

“... Didn't they do the same thing to us?” Miranda raised an eye.

“Shut up about that; that never happened,” Emily said as she walked off to find some chairs, popcorn, and cameras!

She wasn’t going to miss those sluts getting theirs!