Pax Septimus continued to live up to its reputation. The Holy Diver was slain, but to no small cost to the city’s espers. While the Diver had not attacked the espers directly, other monsters flocked to defend the creature. Many lives were lost, and it still managed to take out the city’s infrastructure. It did this by reenacting the plagues of Egypt on Pax Septimus. Millions were left without power and clean drinking water. It rained frogs and hail. Flies and locusts swarmed the streets. Boils and cysts broke out on everyone’s skin. Even the sky was blotted out for three whole days. But the Diver was slain before it could claim the eldest sibling of every family. Those not privy to the supernatural world were told it was all due to a freak hurricane. The government spent the next several weeks erecting shelters and distributing drinking water to the devastated population.

None of the esper factions came out great after this. While GEMINI was credited for taking down The Holy Diver and Justin, this wouldn’t be the first time they refused to share information so that they could eliminate a target first. Prejudice against monsters was never low in Pax, but it’s become as high as it’s ever been. Innocent, and sometimes even beneficial monsters are slain with extreme prejudice. Maverick Alternative has taken a lot of flak for housing monsters below Pax’s surface, but hasn’t stopped trying to preserve the good ones. The Freelancers were fewer in number then they once were. Many had died during the night the Diver attacked, and the growing pool of dark web espers has made many freelancers distrustful towards their own members. You know things are bad when rumors of the Inquisition start to spread. Allegedly, the situation is so bad that Raphael the Righteous Hearted has been personally dispatched to deal with the growing unrest in the area.

All while the remaining members of the Hand continue to plot and scheme to some unknown end.

---

_@Majoraa

Hospital rooms were white, but the white in this room was almost absurd. The diffused light poured in through ceiling and wall fixtures and left no space for shadows. Even the room’s sole occupant was white. Betty was as pale as the bed she was laying in. The only spark of color in the room were some screens giving readouts on her condition.

Justin Von Carnage may have been dead, but Betty hadn’t just reverted back to being a normal human. They would need to treat her to reverse the “dark blessing” that made her a vampire thrall. But her body had been grievously wounded, and treating her vampirism now would kill her. They needed to keep her as a thrall until she recovered enough for it to be removed.

She laid in her hospital bed like a fairy tale princess, but no kiss would wake her from her slumber.

So what spurred the person behind those wounds to come here now? After everything has been said and done? After he had to recover from his own?

Finn always hated hospitals. This time was no different. But yet here he was, quietly opening the door to Betty's room a crack to peer inside. Once he saw she was still asleep, he took a quiet, deep breath. God, what was he doing? Back there should've been the end of this. All he wanted was to get her back safe, back to her mother, family, the life she'd waste by being involved in this hell. And in the end, he was the one who hurt her. Wouldn't be surprising if she still wanted him dead.

...

He tensed himself up to lessen his trembling. Right, in and out, and make it quick.

With slow, careful steps he entered the room with a small bouquet of flowers. That's what people usually bring to patients, right? He approached the nightstand to set them down.

As Finn drew closer, Betty’s head rolled over onto its side causing him to emit a quiet shriek. But she stirred no more. It wasn’t visible under her sheets, but her arms and legs were bound to the table. That, and several IV drips were running straight into her arm. If she wasn’t unconscious, she was so out of it that she didn’t respond to Finn’s presence. Even when he was standing right next to her, she didn’t respond.

When Finn turned to leave, he could see a pair of big blue eyes looking at him from beyond the door. There were an uncountable number of freckles between her peepers.

”Oh!” The ‘spy’ slid out from her hiding place. Finn didn’t have a chance to speak with the woman they pulled out of the Diver, but he knew this was her. He also knew her name was Faith and that she had been given free reign to go wherever she wished in GEMINI HQ. Likely because Fritzi was using her as an assistant until they found a better replacement. ”Am I interrupting something? Gosh, I hate when I interrupt something. That would always put me down in the dumps when I interrupted my parents. Even when my father was watching TV I would just watch him until a commercial break started. But if it looked like he was enjoying the commercial I’d just wait for it to run its course. Mom got mad at me once because of that, because she wanted me to get my dad and she thought I was watching the TV. But I told her ‘no ma’am, I’m just waiting for dad to finish.’ But she didn’t believe me.”

Ironically enough, Finn waited for Faith to finish her rambling before speaking up.

"N-No. No you're not." He hadn't spoken up at all since he nearly killed Betty, having to communicate to others through other means for a while. He glanced back down at the unconscious thrall, his face breaking into a frown for a moment.

It's all your fault.

He stayed for too long. Quickly as he could muster, he exited the room to approach Faith instead. "H-How are you holding up?"

”I’m fine.” She stared at Finn, totally deadpan. As soon as he thought to say something, Faith spoke up again. ”I mean after hearing that you guys pulled me out of a giant monster I’m not so sure. I’ve grown my hair back but I’m still a little foggy on the details. I’m not sure if you’ve ever seen Evangelion but I kind of felt like Rei. There’s this one part in the first episode where Shinji is like ‘no, I don’t wanna do it’ and then his dad’s all ‘okay, let’s get Rei.’ So then they cart out this girl. She’s as white as Betty is but is also banged up pretty good. I guess that makes her just like Betty huh? But she gets up and stumbles, and then Shinji’s all like ‘I’ll do it, I’ll pilot that thing!’ And it’s just the most amazing thing to happen in the first episode of an anime ever.” She blinked. ”I felt like Rei in that scene, the pale girl that kinda looks like Betty. I guess I could have said I feel the way Betty looks but I really love that scene. I'm okay now thanks for asking. But you look like a Shinji to me.”

The boy sheepishly glanced aside. "_{Never really watched anime...} Anyways, what can you remember how you ended up in the Diver? Or before that?" Then again, could be nothing but blanks there knowing his luck. Oros had said something that eluded to experiments with Behemoths or whatever, but that wasn't enough to make up for the fact she attempted to attack him for some reason. And apparently change her mind at the last second? He didn't know why.

”I mean I remember who I am. I’m an artist that can’t stop drawing!” Those sketches Finn saw on the walls leading up to Betty’s room were starting to make a lot more sense now. She seemed to really like drawing fairies, as she doodled them all over the place. ”I’ve actually been working on a mural to stay sane. It’s going to feature a bunch of fairies flying around a forest, and maybe I’ll have two sisters walking through the forest admiring its beauty! I’m visualizing an older, big sister kind of character with her timid younger friend. Might be fun to have her hide her face behind a mask. Or is that too weird?” She held her chin.

"That sounds nice actually." Finn managed a smile in response.

”Oh! But you wanted to know what I remembered. I really don’t remember much. Just some really obnoxious laughter and a swarm of hands washing over me. It was kind of spooky. But I’m remembering more all the time. Oh! And speaking of remembering, Fritzi sent me over here to tell you that she’s giving you paid leave. So I guess you have time to relax and recover.”

Swarm of hands and an annoying laugh. Not much to work with but it's something, he guessed. His brows rose when Faith informed him he's been given time off. Maybe in other circumstances he'd argue against it, but as he ghosted a hand over where he was shot and patched up, he was simply thankful Dr. Moller cared enough. "Right. Alright." He nodded. "Give her my thanks next time you see her."

He had been meaning to check back in with his normal life anyways. His family must've been wondering where he disappeared to.

”Okay! I better get back to Fritzi. It was fun to talk to you. When we get a moment I’ll have to recommend you some more anime to watch. Or are you more of a reading person? Because there are some good manga out there too. Like there’s this one where-” Her pocket beeped. Faith pulled her phone out of her pocket. ”Hi Fritzi! I was just heading back! Yes, Shinji- Finn! Finn’s okay!” She power walked down the hall.

After waving goodbye Finn had turned to leave too, but he noticed that Betty had turned her head. More than that, she was looking at him.

Like a deer caught in headlights, he fumbled over his words before something coherent freed itself.

"S-Sorry- Sorry sorry, I was just leaving-"

"I’m not mad at you." Her voice was weak and groggy. Even though she was an albino, her eyes looked a little redder then they should have been. "I’m just disappointed. I came here to end things. I wanted everything to be better back home. But it looks like you decided to follow me to Pax. And as bad as things were in the old place, I feel like they’re going to be even worse here." She closed her eyes and sighed. "I guess we’re both being punished for being cowards. We dropped out of purgatory and fell straight into hell."

The fearful boy didn't understand her words, how she spoke as if they already knew each other. Everyone kept acting as if they knew each other. But that wasn't true. Right?

But his heart ached so much now. Even if the memories weren't there, the emotions seemed to remain. Finn gently sat down at the edge of the bed.

"...Guess you already figured out my real name, huh?" He softly looked back at Betty.

"I don’t even know who I am anymore." Betty groaned. "I’m so tired..."

"Unfortunately I know the feeling." Finn slightly frowned. At least she didn't have a skull-faced bastard haunting her dreams. But, different issue, different time. "Anything you need right now? Food or...?" He asked her.

But Betty didn’t respond. She had drifted off to sleep during their short conversation.

"Art thou going to return to thy family now?" Came the rumbling voice of Chernabog. Half of the demon’s skull was visible through the doorway. "Me is eager to meet thy sister."

Speak of the devil. Literally. Finn tiredly glanced at the aformentioned nusance, waiting for them to return home. "Yeah." A brief answer. He got up from his seat. The IV medicine was gonna leave Betty knocked out for a while.

"See you later, Ms. Barton."

But that wouldn't stop him from checking on her again whenever he's free.

The flowers would need to be swapped out at some point.

The demon’s head backed out of the way as Finn walked past it. "Thou hath chosen to ignore the problem? Me thinks thou will regret thy decision."

---

_{@Ponn@ERode@Izurich}

One good thing about the buildings in the historic district was they were made plenty tough. They had to be if they wanted to stand against the ravages of time. Anything that didn’t last had to be built back better than ever. The Golden Platter Casino was a testament to this philosophy.

It started life as a brewery and was erected once Pax had become established. Business was good until the Prohibition started. The equipment was broken down and sold as scrap, but men still had their vices. Slot machines, black jack, and roulette tables sprouted up in their place. It was still a nice place to blow some cash on risky thrills. But if you were a mobster, it was a good place to launder money.

The hailstorm did little to the Golden Platter Casino. The concrete roof took the beating like a champ, as could the brick walls. The only thing that had been damaged was the old fashioned light up sign. But in the weeks after the storm, the sign had been fixed and looked better than new. The words “GOLDEN PLATTER CASINO” shined off the sign as lights flashed along the border.

The casino was starting to close for the night, but they were about to get a rather tough customer. A minivan pulled into the parking lot and shut off its lights. Nearly all of the seats were filled, and everyone inside was a GEMINI agent.

They had already been briefed on why they were here. In the weeks following the Diver’s death, a weretiger by the name of Big Tony had started flexing his muscles. Tony heads the weretiger mafia and has been advancing his territory recently. A phone call was intercepted that implied that the recently missing “Binky” was being held at the Golden Platter Casino. At the back of one of the teller booths was an elevator that could bring them down to the lower levels, which was where she was being held. Fritzi was expecting heavy resistance.

Many of the more experienced agents were moved to other divisions, leaving Fritzi without much to work with. Getting their numbers back up was an important step in regaining control of Pax Septimus, so every available esper agent was sent on this mission.

Even Mika.

She hadn’t transformed into her esper form yet. Probably for the best, as a cat girl driving a minivan to a casino wouldn’t have kept a low profile. Not that a teenager who got her license a few months ago was an inconspicuous choice either, but GEMINI had to work with what they had. Her amber eyes scanned the casino before she reached up and adjusted her rear view mirror. She positioned it so that she could look at Ashley.

"What are we doing, leader?"

Excluding Mika, Ashley was the youngest member of Fritzi’s unit. Estelle and Ellie were transfers that were rotated in to replace Samuel and Jacqueline, and Finn wasn’t present. She had served under Fritzi the longest, even if it was just a handful of operations.

---

_{@The World@Nakushita@TaintedMushroom@FamishedPants}

The government might have been keen on sending aid to those in Pax Septimus, but the police force wasn’t up to the task of defending it all. It was inevitable that a tractor trailer filled with bottled water would be stolen. GEMINI was busy forming it’s operation at the casino, which didn’t leave anyone to recover the water the cultists stole. No demands had been made, but that hardly mattered. Fritzi considered this an act of terrorism and had the same stance as the US government: She didn’t negotiate with terrorists, and would rather put up triple the ransom as a reward for the heads of those involved. But since there was no ransom, she just put up a reward to have them dealt with.

An offer some local freelancers were more than happy to collect on.

The semi had been taken to a MicroMart on the outer fringes of the city. It had been “hidden” behind the convenience store in the employee parking area. When the mart was active, semi trucks would have been unloaded in that area to keep the store stocked. But the hailstorm took out the roof, and it was no longer a place that could service the public. The damage was so bad that it was doubtful the cultists could use the MicroMart as a hideout. It was a temporary stop while they decided what to do next. There wasn’t a lot else around. The edge of the city had short buildings, and the other side of the mart was rolling hills and a few trees. They’d see someone coming if they came from anywhere but the front of the MicroMart. Which was where the Freelancers were gathering.

Freelancers weren’t as organized as GEMINI was. A few espers would discuss things over Shimr. An arrival time for the operation would be decided, but it was a crapshoot if anyone was going to show up or not. But the pay for this job was good, and anyone that wanted to line their pockets with cash or felt like smacking around some cultists would turn up in front of the MicroMart.

Pax Septimus... The so-called City of Blood, a den of scum and villainy where otherworldly creatures preyed upon His children, running rampant without care as they desecrated all that was good and holy, the Devil's agents set upon Earth to rape, torture, and murder. Knowing these, Angelie was anything but surprised that she'd eventually be assigned here, God's divine mission ordained upon her through GEMINI, for surely He wouldn't let His faithfuls continue to suffer, not after what the ironically-named 'Holy Diver', that bloodsucking monstrosity, and all of their ilk had wrought upon the city. Then, as if those weren't providence enough, her very first mission ever since arriving at this hellhole was to eliminate mobsters, weretiger mobsters...

... In a rather unusual display of reticence from the normally boisterous and energetic esper, the blonde girl sat in restless silence even as she gazed absentmindedly toward the minivan's passenger window, amber eyes reflecting the street lights of Pax Septimus. She knew what she and her fellow agents must do, she knew that innocent lives were at stake, and she also knew that a proper operative shouldn't let their heart reign over their mind, yet still... Ellie would be committing the sin of falsehood if she claimed otherwise. Dad, are you watching? Is this what you want? She had no concrete proof that Big Tony - or any of the mobsters really - was the one who murdered her father, but she felt it, deep in her soul, that the killer was among them, they must be.

Calm down, Ellie, calm down, don't screw this up or you'll add even more victims to that bastard's list. While she wouldn't mind reuniting with her dad in heaven when her time is due, she had a solid inkling that being killed by weretiger mobsters isn't it. Yes, she'd do this mission, give her departed father his due justice, and put the nightmare behind her once and for all. So I can look to the future, where I can do even more good in Your name, Lord.

"What are we doing, leader?"

"Eh-...?" So occupied with her thoughts, the blonde failed to realize that they had arrived at the target location, up until Agent Mika Fang's quip that is. Blinking a few times to properly focus her mind to the matter at hand, Ellie turned her amber gaze toward the three other girls inside the vehicle, each and every one of them government-sanctioned espers.

First, the aforementioned Mika Fang, daughter of the late Su Fang a.k.a. Breacher. If only I was there... then maybe I could've saved this girl from experiencing the same tragedy as I did. She might not have been there for either her father or Mika's mother, but she was here now, ready to prevent the creation of more orphans.

Second, Agent Estelle Page, Witch Hunter of the Far West, one of the two frontliner espers in the group along with Mika. An ex-Freelancer who wields an indestructible katana, huh? But aside from her dossier, Ellie didn't know anything else about her as she had never worked with the ice-haired esper before, but knowing Dr. Moller vouched for her was good enough. Besides, the same can be said for myself as far as she’s concerned.

Then last but not least, the squad's designated leader, Agent Ashley Avenir the Knight of Tomorrow. She was one of the brave souls who battled the unholy beast and the bloodfeeder... As the most experienced esper amongst the squad when it came to anything Pax Septimus, Ellie would be surprised instead if she was not made squad leader.

Between Ashley's emerald photons, Mika's bestial claws, Estelle's invincible blade, and Angelie’s sacred bullets, they'd lay down divine punishment to those literal monsters.

Mentally clearing her throat, Ellie briefly closed her eyes before opening them back up along with a wide grin, "What Clawdia here said! What's our next move, Laser~?"" the blonde added, shutting only her right eye in an extended wink.

@BrokenPromise @Ponn @ERode

Atop the edge of the roof of one of the short buildings near the front of the MicroMart sat Kira, already in Esper form, who had arrived a fair ten minutes before the established arrival time she and the other Espers on Shimr had set for the purpose of observing the enemy. As much as she liked the "run in and punch things" approach, more information was always better than less. Granted, it was difficult to see what was going on behind and inside a building from the front, so she hadn't learned anything particularly useful, but it was reassuring that no particularly strange activity was evident, either.

As nice as it would have been to have a better vantage point, there was nowhere around where she could see the targets without them also seeing her. Well, she *could* have floated above Mart and observed from there, but chances are if she did that, the rest of the Espers taking on this job would have spotted her, thought she was trying to get a head start, and rushed in without giving her an opportunity to relay any info she gathered.

With a groan, she fell sideways from her seated position and laid on her back, pulling out her phone to check if anyone else had given an ETA on their arrival. If I knew it was gonna' to be this boring, I wouldn't'a bothered bein' punctual. She wasn't entirely used to how these "operations" worked, let alone how other Freelance Espers treated them, given she rarely took part in them in favour of saving her mana for her performances, but stealing drinking water was a bit of a sore spot for her.

Her blasé expression shifted into a lazy smirk as she recalled her mental image of how this would go; getting to knock the heads of some inconsiderate goons, reclaiming the people's drinking water, signing a couple autographs for any Espers who happened to be fans of her's. She stuck her phone back in the pocket of her sweatshirt and closed her eyes, chilling with her left leg hanging off the side of the roof as she waited for the arrival time to come around. Acting out of habit, she began humming the melody from Northeast Frost Street into the air to pass the time, the foot of her dangling leg bobbing in time with beat in her head.

Glass-like eyes looked out at Pax Septimus as the minivan drove through the historic district. The scars left by the Holy Diver persisted, not through damage to infrastructure, but rather damage to the populace. The streets were almost completely emptied out, a month insufficient for healing the physical and mental wounds left by that supernatural disaster. It was once known as the city of blood, Pax Septimus, but perhaps it was the case that even such sinful a city would end up becoming a ghost town. Her first few days in the city had been strictly above-the-board work, helping out with building shelters, distributing aid. Busy work, considering the nature of mana and the concentration of monsters, but important work all the same.

Her smartphone buzzed. She flicked through the notification, a faint smile creasing her features as the minivan rolled to a stop.

The Golden Platter Casino. It had more monstrous guests than human ones as of late, and if Dr. Moller’s information was good, it held one of the most powerful GEMINI agents around as well. Plenty to do, and plenty of resistance too. Her eyes flickered between one of her teammates to the other. Miss Avenir was the most experienced of them here, a veritable veteran of Light Magic. Miss Belrose looked well-suited enough for drawn-out firefights; regardless of the inefficacy of bullets against monsters, there was still nothing better for suppressive fire. Miss Fang was a bit of a black box compared to the others, but there were more than a few rumors surrounding her own capabilities. You didn’t survive the Holy Diver without being special in one way or the other.

Whether that would be enough to take on a cadre of weretigers was a question all on its own. A mission like this felt more suitable for someone like the illustrious Silhouette, the shadowy hand of Dr. Moller, but perhaps a point was to be made here instead.

She frowned. Slipped her smartphone back into the pocket of her trousers. Folded her arms, allowing her Instrument to nestle in the crook of her elbow. Her eyes, like glass, cast an inquisitive glance towards Miss Avenir’s direction.

The others already asked. Was just a matter of waiting for a reasonable answer, really.

Securing bottled water wasn’t normally something that Himiko considered worth her time or effort. But she would make an exception, the pay was surprisingly good for what seemed to be a straightforward operation. Handling a bunch of cultists appeared to be easy money, far easier than most other jobs that had been offered as of late with shit having hit the fan.

The semi had been easy enough to find and locate, as was the MicroMart. Making the first part of the mission fairly easy, with not much else being around the area. It didn’t seem like she would have to worry about any innocent bystanders. Anyone she would come across being a Freelancer or a cultist which simplified everything nicely. Friend and foe being easily distinguishable with very little need to care about the infrastructure of the MircoMart.

Arriving at the front of the MicroMart in her esper form as planned, Himiko glanced down to check the time on her fake golden Golex. It was a primitive means of keeping time in this day and age, but she liked how flashy it was. There was still some time before others would arrive if they decided to show up at all. Though if some did not show, perhaps she could bargain herself a bigger cut of the money.

She may as well bid her time until the planned start of the operation. If no one else showed up by then, she would just have to handle the cultists on her own.

Leaning her back against the front wall of the MicroMart, she opened up her long white jacket. Reaching in across her body to pull free one of her hefty fake gold plated revolvers from her cross chest holsters. Spinning the cylinder around with the index finger of her left hand, she checked each chamber to ensure it had a round within it. The clicking sound as it spun was always a joy to her ears. Satisfied that it was loaded and ready to go, she spun it in her right hand as she smoothly rammed it back into its holster underneath her white jacket. Repeating the process this time with her second revolver, before resealing her jacket once she knew she was well prepared.

It would be foolish not to double check her weapons before she went into action. She didn’t want to end up as that idiot who got killed because they forgot to load their weapons. Making use of the time she had before the others arrived to ensure everything was ship-shape.

Pulling out her smartphone to scroll through Shimir, it was clear that three other Freelancers seemed like they had interest in showing up. She wasn’t too familiar with any of them, at least through Shimir so she didn’t know who or what to quite expect. Bringing a hand up to the side of her hand as she brushed away some of her golden locks.

“Well, this should be interesting…I doubt those cultists will even know what hit them with this many Freelancers on the job, seems a bit overkill if you ask me…” Muttering to herself, her lips and mouth hidden away by her mask. Sliding her smartphone back into a secure pocket of her jacket, she crossed her arms and kept her golden gaze searching the general area around her. Both as a means of self-defense and to spot the arrival of any Freelancer that had come for the operation.

Marrie had spent the past few weeks after the Diver incident mostly recovering, and reassuring her mother over texts and calls that she had survived with little problem. Not exactly the truth, she knew, but making her worry even more wouldn't be a good idea. Luckily, her second-floor apartment wasn't horribly damaged from the incident, so she could show video of it to "prove" that things were relatively okay. There were even a few government subsidies for rent, so she would have to thank G.E.M.I.N.I. for that.

As she prepared to head out for the newest job from Shimr, she couldn't help but wonder how Stacy and the others from Maverick Alternative were handling the rising tensions. Once she'd grabbed her things, including her new pistol she had invested in after quite a lot of thought, she went outside to the alleyway behind the building and transformed. A quick glance over her things to make sure she didn't forget any of it, and she was on her new bike and headed to the Micromart.

When she arrived, Marrie noticed another girl there, one who was wearing a mask. So she got off her bicycle and spoke up to her, pulling out her phone with Shimr loaded. "Hey, what are you doing here? Here for some water or are you just wandering?" Sure it wasn't the most subtle way to announce her status as a Freelancer, but it was better than flat-out saying it.

Marrie paused a moment after her question. She was getting a terrible feeling of deja vu. Memories of her first job in Pax sprung to mind, the battle with the Monkeys and the Bees, those horrible, horrible memories. She was glad she had been able to compartmentalize what had happened that day, but times like these still brought a terrible feeling to her mind.

Marrie shuddered, both from her memories and anxiety. Hopefully this wouldn't turn out like that had.

It was Christmas.

A time of merriment and cheer.

A time of gifts being given and received.

The Wise Scientist had hoped to contribute to these festivities by bestowing upon a particularly special individual a particularly special gift. And so, the Wise Scientist had created a most festive apparatus, an apparatus which promised to bring great joy and delight to one very lucky person. A Christmas Miracle Machine. Alas, that device, which had taken the form of the most sublimely perfect of Christmas Trees, was now nothing more than a pathetic pile of ash and soot, and as she gazed down at what remained of her invention, reduced to this wretched state after having bestowed its miraculous power upon a certain someone who had proven herself manifestly unworthy of receiving such a blessing, the Wise Scientist could not help but be filled with the deepest despair. Much like her poor creation, the Wise Scientist’s hopes for a merry Christmas also lay in ruins. It had once held such great promise, and yet, now all that remained was…

Wait…

What was this?

There, amidst the charred remnants of her once glorious creation, a faint glow could be seen, where none should have existed, as if it were the last, flickering embers of the final star, mere moments before the heat death of the universe snuffed out its radiance forever. Kneeling down to take a closer look, the Wise Scientist saw that the pale emerald incandescence was emanating from a small spheroid, about the size of a marble. It was one of the tree’s many ornaments, simply a humble power accumulator. It should have been utterly destroyed, just like every other aspect of the once magnificent machine, but it hadn’t… Upon carefully retrieving the sphere from where it lay, the Wise Scientist began a detailed examination, one which, to her great surprise, ultimately revealed that the glowing orb had become infused with a staggering amount of transcendent energy. The innocuous device was now a Vessel, one filled with unimaginable possibilities…

Yes, the Wise Scientist reflected, this remarkable artifact would serve as a most suitable instrument with which to make right all that had gone so very wrong. But first, the Wise Scientist realized that if the Vessel was to succeed in its new task, it would need to be carefully modified. Most importantly, much of its vast power would need to be sealed away, lest the very, very lucky individual chosen to be its bearer be reduced to the same pitiful state as the pile of ash it had been plucked from. Of course, full access to all its myriad abilities would be granted in due time, but it would be a gradual process, proceeding in several stages as the very very special individual acclimated to its power. Slowly, but inexorably, each new aspect would be unlocked, until, at long last, complete mastery would be attained, and the Vessel’s very very lucky barer would reach the very APEX of poly-plenumic power…

Today may have been completely ruined. Today, the Wise Scientist may have utterly failed to display her full super-scientific prowess. But tomorrow…

Tomorrow, she would show them what supreme success truly looked like…

Tomorrow, she would show them all…

---

Ashley Avenir awoke with a yawn and a stretch, the last vestiges of her dimly-recalled dream vanishing one by one as the sound of each new note of her alarm’s pleasant melody reached her ears. Slowly opening her eyes, the young woman was greeted with the sight of a vibrant blue sky, while warm rays of sunlight poured through her window to bathe her blanket-covered body with their comforting radiance. She couldn’t help but smile at the beauty of such a sight, one which kept her from noticing just how much more brilliantly her grimoire was glowing as it rested upon her nightstand. Indeed, it was almost enough to forget the horrors of the past few weeks, the Diver’s cataclysmic descent having ravaged her own heart just as comprehensively as it had the city of Pax Septimus. Some of her comrades were still missing, as was her mentor, Binky, and another, Su Fang, was dead. Yet, just as the city was slowly getting back on its proverbial feet, so too was Ashley herself.

Her apartment had been spared the brunt of the Diver’s wrath, and the minimal repairs it had needed were completed mere days after the behemoth’s defeat. Others had not been so fortunate, and Ashley had spent many long hours assisting with volunteer relief efforts, at least when she wasn’t training, patrolling, or visiting Finn at the local hospital. Although she hadn’t been swift enough to keep up with Oros, the Depraved Esper had apparently had a change of heart regarding the young agent, as when she finally arrived at Finn’s hospital room, Ashley had found the boy alone and unharmed. It was a minor blessing, in the grand scheme of things, but one she was still immensely thankful for.

The successful liberation of both Betty and Pac-A-Fist from Justin’s vile clutches was also an achievement to be celebrated, a fact that hearing the sound of the latter’s voice as she listened to her podcast, The Arcade, gave Ashley ample proof of. Today, Pac was interviewing Dana Noel, the official spokesperson for (and unofficial leader of) Argentum Civitatem’s flagship freelance esper team, The Seven Nation Army. As Ashley listened while conducting her morning hygienic routine, she couldn’t help but reflect on the profound contrast between Argentum Civitatem’s reputation as America’s “Shining City”, and the cursed conurbation that was Pax Septimus. It was her fervent hope that, one day, her new home would shine with the same radiant splendor. A formidable challenge, to be sure, but Ashley found that focusing upon this ultimate goal bestowed renewed conviction upon her efforts to attain it. Indeed, just a few days earlier, news had been received detailing Binky’s possible whereabouts, and tonight would see the commencement of an operation to retrieve the captive agent. To that end, Ashley had determined to spend the day in preparation for the upcoming mission, a course of action she felt sure her missing mentor would approve of. However, before she could head out, there was one very important obligation she needed to attend to…

Before coming to Pax Septimus, Ashley and her little brother, Adam, had spent every Saturday morning watching the latest episode of Knights of the Cosmos. It was her brother’s favorite comic, and he held its animated adaptation in equal reverence. As such, the pair had made it a tradition to sit side by side and enjoy each new episode while having their breakfast. Of course, it wasn’t exactly possible to continue this cherished tradition in its usual form, now that she had moved to another city, but Ashley had promised her brother that she would continue to watch Knights of the Cosmos every Saturday, at 9 a.m. sharp. That way, they would still be viewing it together in spirit, if not in person.

Pac and Dana were in the midst of discussing how cool it was that they both wielded energy pistols as their instruments when Ashley muted the volume on her phone and switched on the tv, just in time to hear the first swelling notes of a majestic opening theme…

---

The epic opening sequence of Knights of the Cosmos gave each of the titular Knights an opportunity to display both their prowess in battle, as well as their unique personalities. It began with Vyk Vega, a cocky and brash member of an avian race possessed of powerful pyrokinetic abilities, flying rings around a three-headed, crocodilian, cyber-ogre space pirate, before finishing off his massive foe with a pyro lance and, upon landing atop its prone form, blowing smoke off his finger as if it were the barrel of a pistol. Next, Quinthonis Quasar, a super genius among even the other super geniuses of his frog-like amphibian race who commanded mighty mental powers, was engaged in a duel of intellectual enigmas with Singularion, the hyper-intelligent omnimind of Synthanis VII. After that, the orange-skinned, crimson mohawked Pallara Pulsar, greatest champion of a proud and noble warrior race, took center stage, slicing apart the tendrils of an eldritch void fiend with her gleaming, two-handed energy blade as she leapt from asteroid to asteroid, her toothy grin giving ample evidence of her delight at facing such a challenging foe. Things then shifted to a more tranquil scene, as the blue skinned, teal-haired Stella Starlight, the kind and gentle emissary of a pacifistic race with powerful healing abilities, freed a pair of star dragons from the clutches of a malignant corruption, restoring both their bodies and minds with a serene smile and a wave of her glowing hand. Even young Timmy Tellus, junior space navigator in training and official sidekick of the Knights, got a brief moment in the spotlight. And last, but by no means least, was the Knights’ gallant leader, Captain Conway Cosmic, a true paragon of heroism and justice! Once all five (and a half) Knights were assembled, the thrilling theme swelled to a climactic crescendo, before fading away like wisps of stardust as the episode proper began…



A dark and foreboding theme accompanied a slow pan across a craggy, volcanic vista, until ultimately coming to rest upon the sinister spires of an imposing fortress. Inside the throne room of this shadowy citadel, surrounded by its gothic opulence, a tall, ostentatiously attired figure, whose every aspect evoked menace, stood upon a raised dais, admiring a gargantuan machine, which completely dominated the vaulted chamber.

“At last, the time has come…” the figure began with a wicked smile. “Now that my Nega-Nuclonic Superluminal Sublimator is complete, I shall employ its tachyonic tubular spacial warping capabilities to eliminate all my hated foes in one magnificent stroke! Yes, I, Space Emperor Nefario, Speaker for Khen’Bronne, SHALL DESTROY ALL THE CIVILIZED PLANETS!!! Thus, with the end of the wretched Cosmic League, democracy and civilization shall CEASE FOREVER!!! HAAAAHAHAHAHA!!!” tossing his head back and spreading his arms wide, Nefario gave voice to a peal of deranged laughter, before composing himself once more. “And with nearly all the vaunted Knights of the Cosmos imprisoned in my chronolock capsules,” he added, gesturing to a row of glowing crimson cylinders. “Only one being remains who can stop me now…”

The next instant, a massive explosion herald the arrival of said being, who dropped down through the gaping hole in the ceiling to land between Nefario and the line of chronolock capsules, his fall being cushioned by a pair of counter-gravity boots.

“Captain Cosmic!” Nefario exclaimed, his eyes going wide.

“None other!” the paragon of interplanetary heroism replied with a confident grin, his lantern jaw, slick, black hair, and crisp pencil mustache presenting a visage most valiant. “Your wretched scheme has failed, Nefario!” he declared, pointing a gloved finger at the sinister sovereign. “Surrender, and you have my word as a Knight of the Cosmos that you’ll be given a fair trial.”

“Surrender?!” Nefario scoffed. “I think not! Like your compatriots, you have fallen into my trap! Now you shall share their fate!” Raising a clawed hand, Nefario fired a crackling crimson beam at Captan Cosmic, who barely dodged in time, causing the ruinous ray to shatter the chronolock capsule behind him. “Even your Beta Wave Personal Energy Barrier cannot hope to withstand the unrivaled destructive power of my Superion-class Nefario Beams!” the vile villain taunted. “Nor can your Alpha-class Proton Pistol possibly penetrate my Super Superlative Negation Screen!” he added when Cosmic snapped off a proton bolt, which harmlessly dissipated against the field of force surrounding Nefario.

“That my be, Nefario,” the courageous captain conceded, even as he dodged each of the emperor’s consecutive blasts in quick succession. “But raw power isn’t everything. It’s how you use it that counts, both your own, and your opponent’s!”

It was only as Cosmic dived out of the path of his latest beam that Nefario realized the courageous captain’s true plan. Each time a shot was fired, it shattered one of the chronolock capsules containing a captured Knight, and now all of them had been liberated from their chronometric confinement…

“Perhaps I alone am no match for you and your sinister science, but with my fellow Knights beside me, I know the day shall surely be ours!” Cosmic declared, his heroic voice filled with unshakable determination.

However, it didn’t take long to realize that something wasn’t right, as the eerily emotionless and dead-eyed Knights began to surround their leader in a distinctly threatening manner…

“You fiend!” Cosmic bellowed in indignation. “What have you done to them?!”

“Why, nothing more than implanting them with my nanoscopic mental manipulators and turned them into mindless puppets who heed my every command! Haaaahahahaha!”Nefario revealed with a gleeful cackle as the mind controlled Knights closed in on Cosmic. “Unless you strike down your own comrades, you will surely fall by their hands!”

“Never!” the courageous captain shot back. “The will of a Knight is not so easily broken!”

Closing his eyes and furrowing his brows in concentration, Cosmic focused upon the transcendent mental bond he shared with his fellow Knights, even as a multifaceted crystal on his right gauntlet glowed with ever increasing power…

Even now, I am certain they are fighting Nefario’s control from within, and so I shall use the Prism of Ari’Esia, which was bestowed upon me by the enigmatic Ari’Esians, the wisest, oldest, and most powerful race in the universe, to go en rapport with their innermost beings and grant them the power to resist Nefario’s commands with their whole selves!

One by one, each of the Knights began to break free of Nefario’s mental control, and the evil emperor’s eyes began to widen in ever-growing disbelief.

“No! I-It cannot be!” Nefario cried in horror as the mental shackles he had placed upon his captives were throughly shattered.

“It can,” Stella replied in a calm, yet icy tone.

“It is,” Quinthonis croaked, his eyes narrowing as he gathered his prodigious mental powers.

“And by the Pillars of Pycrath,” Pallara swore, while activating her energy blade.

“We’re gonna make you pay!” Vyk declared, his avian body igniting in pyrokinetic fury, like the legendary phoenix.

“Nefarioids!” Nefario cried, at which point a dozen imposing war machines emerged from the chamber’s shadowy alcoves. “Eliminate them!”

“Knights!” Cosmic called, raising a clenched fist high. “To the challenge!”

With that, an epic battle began. Although the Superion-class Nefarioids were mighty indeed, even they were no match for The Knights of the Cosmos in all their heroic glory. While Vyk and Pallara battered their robotic foes to bits with pyro blasts and sword slashes, Quinthonis and Stella subdued their opponents with technopathic neural cortex rearrangement and empathic persuasions to pacifism. And, as always, Captain Cosmic was at the very forefront of their efforts, leading the fight and rallying them to new heights of heroism. Mere minutes later, and it was all over…

“It’s over, Nefario!” Cosmic announced once the last of the Nefarioids had crashed to the floor in a smoldering, sparking heap.

“Indeed, Cosmic,” Nefario agreed with a wicked sneer. “Over for YOU!!! Now that my Nega-Nuclonic Superluminal Sublimator is fully charged, I will ensure that your cherished Cosmic League is utterly wiped from existence! HAAAHAHAHAHA!!!”

“How will that happen if I inverted the hyper quantum null harmonic polarities of the nega spacial inverter?” Quinthonis inquired as the massive weapon began to shudder violently, phantasmal after images of it rippling out like waves to the left and right.

“Or if I rend this neutrino compressor asunder?” Pallara added, even as she brought her crackling power blade down upon the component in question, slicing through it like a hot knife through butter.

“Or if I entreat the Luminarian pupae imprisoned within this device’s power accumulators to fully metamorphose into astral butterflies, and thus transcend this plane of existence and the cages you sought to confine them in?” Stella noted, as the various crimson spheres protruding from the towering technological terror began to darken, one after another.

“Or if I fry your control console!” Vyk concluded, reducing the console in question to a mangled cinder with a star-hot pyro lance.

“No! You fools!” Nefario cried in alarm. “What have you done?! Your meddling has completely destabilized the Negaversal Syphon! In mere moments, it will rupture, and then…!”

The next instant, the sinister sovereign’s hysterical shrieking was suddenly drowned out by a deafening detonation, the war machine not so much exploding as twisting into itself, until all that remained was a crackling, pitch-black vortex, from which emerged a truly nightmarish figure…

“By Follarion’s Ferro Fibrous Fangs!” Pallara exclaimed. “What in space is that?!”

“An Abominable Ascender…” Quinthonis murmured in a mixture of terror and awe. “A being composed of purest evil. The destruction of Nefario’s transdimensional weapon must have torn open a hole in the very fabric of reality, allowing this twisted creature to rise from the darkest depths of the Negaverse and pass though it into this plenum!”

“Yet, I sense that its malice is directed towards a singular point,” Stella revealed, her eyes closed in deepest concentration. “One linked to it on a trans-etheric level, such that if one of them ceases to be, so, too, shall the other.”

“What point are ya talkin’ about?!” Vyk asked urgently.

“The individual responsible for the means of its arrival here,” Stella responded. “Emperor Nefario!”

“Then, by Terronnoh’s Tarbonic Talons, let him perish at the hands of his own evil creation!” Pallara declared.

“No, Pallara,” Cosmic admonished. “No one dies today, not even Nefario. He shall stand trial and receive a just sentence for his heinous crimes, but to take the life of a sentient being, no matter how contemptible they may be, would make us no better than them. Yet this being,” he added, gesturing to the menacing form of the Ascender as it loomed over them. “Is entirely bereft of conscious thought. It seeks only to act on its evil impulses. Thus, all we can do is ensure its removal from our universe. Junior Space Navigator Timmy!” the courageous captain called over his comlink. “Ready the Paladin’s Trans-Etheric Tachyon Shears!”

“Oh-Kay, Cap’n!” a chipper voice replied. “Shears ready an’ rarin’ to go!”

“Well done!” Cosmic commended. “Locking in omni-spacial coordinates now! And… Sever!”

With that, a pair of enormous, glowing energy scissors materialized between the Ascender and Nefario, before promptly snipping the invisible thread linking the pair’s life forces together.

“And as for you…” Cosmic added, turning his attention to the Ascender. “I think a time out is a good start!”

Holding out his clenched fist, the courageous captain sent a glittering silver beam lancing towards the extradimensional monstrosity, one which, upon striking the creature, encased it in a shimmering field of force.

“Okay, Timmy, I’ve got the Ascender in a Zone of Confinement, but it won’t hold for long!” Cosmic called out as he tapped several digits into his gauntlet’s keypad. “Lock on to these coordinates and hit it with a Neutralizer Ray on maximum blast!”

“Roger that!” Timmy acknowledged, his youthful voice filled with eagerness.

“And make sure it’s dialed in nice and tight,” the courageous captain added. “I don’t want to get my whiskers singed!”

No sooner had he finished speaking, then an almighty beam of incandescent annihilation fell upon the Ascender like the celestial hammer blow of a vengeful deity. When the glow of its terrifying radiance faded, the nightmarish abomination was no more.

“Nice work, old chum!” Cosmic congratulated the junior space navigator (in training).

“Aww, it was nothin’, Cap’n…” Timmy replied modestly.

“And now Nefario,” Cosmic added. “It’s time we took you to Cosmic Command HQ. I hear a stasis cell there is calling your name!”

“Curse you, Knights of the Cosmos!” Nefario spat, shaking his fist, before Pallara restrained him in a pair of stun cuffs. “You may have thwarted me, but when the Council of Khen’Bronne learns of my defeat, they shall utterly destroy you all!”

“Let ‘em come!” Vyk shot back. “We’ll kick their tails, too!”

“Indeed,” Captain Cosmic concurred with a sage nod. “As you know, when our worlds joined together with bonds of friendship and formed the Cosmic League, they did so with the promise that peace and justice would reign throughout the cosmos, and as Knights of the Cosmos, it is our great honor and privilege to ensure that promise is kept, for eternity and beyond!”

“For eternity and beyond!” his fellow knights echoed.

“No matter what challenge the forces of evil may send against us, know that The Knights of the Cosmos will triumph against it! For the power of goodness shall always prevail!”

With that, the episode, and the season, came to an end.

---

“The power of goodness shall always prevail…” Ashley whispered, before switching off the tv.

If only it could be so simple… she reflected with a wistful sigh. But the real world doesn’t work the same way as a Saturday morning cartoon show. Sometimes, not everyone can be saved… Sometimes… the villain wins…

Of course, she didn’t expect her brother to understand such things, and she refused to be the one to shatter his idealism. After all, it was that very idealism that she was fighting so hard to protect, so that he could grow up in a world where things really did work out that way. As such, she had resolved to recast her initial few weeks in Pax Septimus in an equally idealized light when she visited him for Thanksgiving and regaled him with her tales of being “a real life superhero”. Her various harrowing experiences would become thrilling adventures, which would inspire Adam to never give up, and remain true to his convictions, even in the darkest of times. Yes, Ashley reflected as she prepared to head out, she would guard his dreams of the future even as she worked to make that future a reality.

It’s not going to be easy, but I will make it happen. I just have to take it one step at a ti—

“Ah!” Ashley yelped as a body crumpled against her the moment she opened her door.

“An’ don’t speak ta me again, if ya know what’s good fer ya, ya little freak!” a burly man was saying as he stormed off down the hallway.

Ashley dimly recognized him as one of the other residents of her floor, but of more immediate concern was the young woman slumped against her. “Are you all right?” she asked the girl as she helped her regain her footing.

“Oh, yes!” the girl replied in an enthusiastic, if rather nasally, voice as her excited visage beamed up at Ashley. “I’m perfectly fine! Thanks for asking though!”

As the young agent looked her over, she saw that the girl appeared to be a few years younger than herself. Like her, she wore a pair of glasses, but instead of casual clothes, her attire was instead a uniform such as would be worn by the students of a prestigious private school.

But… It’s a Saturday…

“Um, what happened between you and that man?” Ashley inquired.

“Oh, I was just heading to my room when I saw him leaving his, and I thought I’d ask him about what it was like to live here,” the girl explained. “He said it was pretty terrible, what with the recent hurricane, and I told him that back in Geopolis, where I grew up, we would have these monster blizzards that would bury the whole city, but he said that was a stupid name and… Oh, gosh!” she exclaimed, her eyes widening as something occurred to her. “Maybe you don’t have a Geopolis here! I didn’t think of that before… Oh, but anyways, then he started talking about the insects and frogs that showed up with the hurricane, and I said that sounded fascinating, and then I started to tell him about how amazing the incubation process of fly eggs was, not to mention the interesting properties of certain types of frog mucus, but before I could finish, he started yelling, and then he pushed me… I know I can get carried away sometimes,” she added with a frown as she adjusted her glasses. “So it’s not really anything out of the ordinary…”

“I see…” Ashley replied with a frown of her own. “Well, you might have gotten carried away, but that still doesn’t give him any right to physically attack you. That said, you might want to avoid him in the future,” she advised with a small smile.

“Oh, I’ll definitely be sure to,” the girl assured her with a giggle that sounded more like a snort. “I’m Olivia, by the way,” she added, holding out her hand. “Olivia Bell.”

“It’s very nice to meet you, Olivia,” Ashley replied as she took the offered hand and gave it a shake. “I’m Ashley Avenir. So,” she added. “I take it you’re new here?”

“Yes, that’s right!” Olivia confirmed with a nod. “I’m here on a single-student field trip that my school’s counselor set up!” she added. “She arranged this apartment for me and everything!” the excitable girl continued with a big smile. “It’s been fascinating so far, and I haven’t even had a chance to explore the city yet!”

Single-student field trip…? Ashley wondered.

“W-Well, um, there are a lot of interesting places, especially in the historic district,” Ashley informed her. “Although things still haven’t fully gotten back to normal after the… hurricane,” she added with a slight frown. “Oh, and when you’re sight-seeing, please try to be careful and stay close to your chaperone,” she advised. “I don’t mean to alarm you, but certain parts of the city can be a bit dangerous.”

“Oh, that shouldn’t be a problem,” Olivia replied with another giggle/snort. “I don’t actually have a chaperone, but darling Xolys always keeps me safe!”

Darling… Xolys…?

“Well, anyways, I’m gonna go check on my room, now,” Olivia told her as she headed off down the hall. “It was very nice meeting you, Ashley! See you later!”

“S-See you later…” a still-dazed Ashley replied with a wave.

Who sends someone on a single-student field trip to Pax Septimus, of all places? Not to mention one who still believes in imaginary friends…

Still, Ashley reflected as she made her way to the city’s GEMINI HQ, just as with Adam, it was people like Olivia, people who still maintained their sense of wonder and hope, that she was fighting for. Seeing their joy made all the sacrifices and pain she’d endured since becoming an esper pale in comparison. For them, she would endure it all over again. For them, she would endure anything.

---

Leader…

Ashley almost couldn’t believe what she was hearing. The word sounded just as shocking now as when Dr. Moller had spoken it at their pre-mission briefing. Even then, Ashley had questioned if she had heard the doctor correctly, if, perhaps there had been some sort of mix up. But no, she, Ashley Avenir, Agent Orion, The Knight of Tomorrow, had been chosen to lead the upcoming operation. It had all the markings of a sick joke, and Ashley’s head had spun as she tried to ascertain some logical reason for receiving such an appointment, but try as she might, she could think of no sane reason for giving such a young and relatively inexperienced agent command of an entire field team. When she had privately questioned Dr. Moller about it after the briefing had concluded, the renowned researcher had told her that it was simply because she trusted her the most. As much as she had initially wanted to object, Ashley found that, for the first time, she actually understood where the doctor was coming from.

With the reassignment of veteran agents Jacqueline and Samuel, the capture of Binky, the loss of Su, as well as Silmeria and Lilliah being MIA ever since the Diver incident, Ashley was now the sole remaining agent of Dr. Moller’s original Pax Septimus team. Looking at it that way, it was only natural for the branch’s head of operations to put her faith in someone she had firsthand knowledge of. After all, reports could only convey so much. There was truly no substitute for personal interaction and observation, something Ashley herself was keenly aware of as Mika drove them to their objective. The Knight of Tomorrow had gotten to know Su’s daughter fairly well over the last few weeks, but they weren’t exactly close, and they had yet to go on a mission in the field together. As such, Ashley could only wonder at how the new agent would perform on a real mission, let alone how much the trauma of her mother’s tragic death might still be affecting the feline esper. Ellie and Estelle, on the other hand, were virtual strangers to her. She had familiarized herself with their dossiers, of course, but she hadn’t had time to exchange more than the briefest of introductions before setting off on her first mission with them. Her first mission as team leader. It was unnerving, and then some…

While Jacqueline had always been a steadfast presence, Samuel’s absence was by far the most acutely felt. Indeed, the infiltration abilities of the renowned Silhouette would have been an invaluable asset for an operation such as this, to say nothing of his vast wisdom and experience. Even now, Ashley couldn’t help but recall how he had served as her invaluable guide on her first mission after arriving in Pax Septimus, when the two of them had eliminated a pack of goblins infesting the city’s sewers. Yet, now was not the time for looking backwards. The future was what mattered most, not the past, and in order to create the bright one she had envisioned, Ashley knew she needed to focus on the present, and on the people who were now looking to her for guidance.

Upon hearing Ellie’s light-hearted quip, Ashley forced herself not to frown. A serious situation such as this was no time for that sort of levity, although, after reflecting on it further, she realized that this might just be the blonde’s way of relieving stress, something the feeling rather overwhelmed herself Ashley couldn’t really fault her for.

“Well, to start with, I think it would be best if we split into two teams,” Ashley began as she adjusted her glasses. “According to what we know of the casino’s layout, the elevator leading to the lower levels is located behind this teller booth, here,” she explained, pointing to the location on the map displayed on her phone. “Getting there while attracting the minimal amount of notice or opposition should be our first priority. Therefore, Estelle, you and Mika will make your way around the side of the building, avoiding security cameras where needed, until you reach this exterior vent. This leads to a corresponding vent right next to the hidden elevator. Assuming you are not being observed, you will then transform, remove the vent cover, and make your way through the air duct passage. Meanwhile, Ellie and I will approach the main entrance. Depending on whether or not they allow us in, we can either serve as a distraction, or make our way over to the teller booth via the main floor, which will also allow us to ascertain the locations of any potential adversaries. I had the techs make us these fake IDs to assist with that,” she added, handing Ellie one of the IDs in question.

Ashley’s reasons for choosing the composition of these teams was twofold. For one thing, it would hopefully allow the two melee-oriented agents to get into position without attracting attention, and the possible hostile fire that went along with it, to say nothing of the fact that Mika was far too young to legally enter the casino in an overt manner. Secondly, since Ellie was the eldest member assigned to the operation, Ashley figured it would make a fairly convincing cover story for her to play the part of the boisterous veteran party girl who was helping her reserved and studious friend learn how to have some fun for a change. Only time would tell if those choices had been the right ones.

“I imagine, at some point, Mika and Estelle will trip an alarm,” Ashley continued. “Which is when we’ll transform as well, hopefully taking any hostiles by surprise. After that, we’ll all head to the lower levels, and since we have no idea what might be waiting for us there, we’ll just have to rely on our training to see us through. Oh, and while transformed, please make sure to use the code names Dr. Moller assigned you,” she concluded, casting her gaze over her three teammates. “I don’t need to tell you how bad it would be if these guys learned our real identities. Are there any questions?” she asked. “If not, then let’s move out.”

They would save Binky. They had to…

GEMINI HQ needed to be defended. Naturally, it would need to be defended by an esper. The issue therein was that espers had a finite amount of mana they could use. If they used it all up, they would need to wait for it to recharge. As important as the operation was, someone needed to keep their mana levels up in the event that the Hand decided to retaliate. Fritzi had underestimated how well organized they were in the past, but she wouldn’t be making that mistake again. It didn’t matter if they dispatched darkweb esper squads or hordes of monsters, holding the line was something she could do on her own.

But Fritzi was not an active sentinel. She had her own research to attend to. Data on the monsters to exploit and future operations to plan.

*ping!*

*pong!*

But Fritzi was in the break room playing ping-pong with Faith.

”Is this really all we can do to help right now?” Faith tapped the ball back to Fritzi. ”I’ve been thinking about Neon Genesis Evangelion a lot ever since I spoke with Finn. I know the robots needed a lot of support people to relay information back and forth and I don’t ever recall them playing games. Like maybe you could be on the radio with them and give them guidance the whole way through or something? I kind of get Gendo vibes from you, but they’re like good Gendo vibes. Like you have a plan but things need to move along a bit more before they can be realized.”

With a flick of Fritzi’s wrist, her next return had a crazy amount of spin on it. It flew just over the net before dropping straight onto the table and firing straight ahead. Faith didn’t even have time to move her paddle before it soared past her.

”We need to work on your rambling.” Fritzi smirked. ”I have my earpiece on me, and they can contact me if they need it. But there’s only so much I can do by myself. It’s just you and me here, and you aren’t trained to use any of the equipment. Given your circumstances, I’m not sure how the squad would feel about receiving mission critical details from someone that was fished out of a behemoth.”

Faith came back to the table with the ping pong ball. ”I guess that makes sense. But in Muv-Luv, the-”

”Never heard of it.” Fritzi opened her hand, and Faith tossed the ball to her. ”I’ve given Ashley everything I could think of. They’re on their own now. Many of our future operations will depend on the success of this mission, so there’s nothing for me to do. Though getting to know more about you will help with my research. You think we’re just playing a game? I’m testing your reflexes!”

”That’s going to help you learn about the Elemental Chaos?”

”Eventually!”

”Couldn’t we just interrogate some monsters?”

The scientist huffed. She placed the ping-pong ball on the table and set her paddle on top of it. ”We’ve attempted to do so in the past. The information we get from monsters is impossible to verify ourselves and isn’t enough to explain what the Elemental Chaos is.” She folded her hands behind her back. ”I don’t care for theory craft much, but there is a small group of the scientific community that does. It’s theorized that our world and all of the worlds the monsters come from are ‘bubble universes’ trapped in a ‘foam,’ with that foam being the elemental chaos.”

Faith’s ears perked up. ”Bubble universes? I wonder if the person who thought of that theory was a fan of Mihoyo’s games, because there’s a theory that-”

”Possibly, I wouldn’t know. But it’s based on eye witness accounts from monsters and doesn’t help us figure out how to enter the Elemental Chaos. Who cares about skies filled with freezing lava or alternate realities where everyone’s a vampire? It’s pointless if we can’t access such phenomena ourselves.” Fritzi sighed. ”But to this day, there’s only one person who was able to spend any real time in the Elemental Chaos. Someone who walked beyond the threshold of any portal we’ve used to look into the place.”

”You’re referring to Oros the Mad?” Faith set down her paddle and folded her arms. ”I could be wrong, but she has ‘mad’ in her title. It doesn’t seem like her mind survived the trip even if her body did. It kind of reminds me of Arakune from Blazblue, because he was once a very intelligent scientist that had his personality almost entirely devoured by his research. No matter how many times Litchi smacks him with her pole he doesn’t snap out of it.”

”...I kind of understood that analogy.” Fritzi turned around and started walking towards her office. ”But if we talk to someone close to her, especially someone scientifically minded, they could give us a lot of valuable information.”

Faith peaked around the table. ”Does-” She scuffed after Fritzi. ”Does such a person exist?”

---

_{@Ponn@ERode@Izurich}

With a plan set out, the agents could get moving without any further delay.

Estelle and Mika could easily slip around the exterior of the building, not every security camera outside had been fixed after the hailstorm damaged them. They'd eventually reach the mentioned vent. From a quick glance-over it looked big enough for an average male to fit. Pair that with an easily breakable grait, and the two were able to crawl inside one at a time.

Now if they can navigate through the inside to the booth, that'd be fantastic.

Meanwhile Ellie and Ashley were able to get a good look at the inside. Slot machines, roulette and blackjack tables, all the usual works that goes into your typical casino. There were two sets of stairs leading up to a second floor lounge for the gamblers to smoke, drink, and be merry, with a decent view of the main hall. A grand chandelier hung over it all, but that's not important right now. At the very back was their target, a keen eye could glance an elevator at the back of the teller booth, with an "employees only" sign hanging on the side.

There weren't many people left skulking there either. While the workers were cleaning up and getting ready to head home, there were still a few patrons that hadn't left yet. Such was the sharply dressed man talking with one of the card dealers. The man spared a quick glance at the two girls when they entered through the door, but did nothing further to investigate. They probably had a good reason to swing by so late. Maybe they left something here and they came back to pick it up. Maybe they were looking for a friend they were supposed to meet up with.

Spades McGraw took another puff of his cigar. She warned them about a couple of feds coming by, didn't she? Through an earpiece, Spades spoke up:

"Look alive, gents. I'm smellin' some rats."

"You gotta be fucking kidding me, now?!" "Honey Badger" whisper-yelled back in response.

"Relax, Badger, just act natural. Doesn't look like they're itchin' for a fight yet."

Honey Badger was about to sharply retort when Ellie and Ashley finally walked up to the booth. With a strained groan, he leaned against the back, next to the actual teller.

Before the two can be shooed away, the vent grate by the wall burst open, and out came the other two. Honest to god, Honey Badger should've expected there to be more than two. "Oi what the fuck- You ain't supposed to be back here!!" Despite his rising panic, he was reaching for a weapon. They couldn't allow GEMINI to gain access to the lower floors, Tony would have their damn heads for lunch!

---

_{@The World@Nyahahameha@Nakushita@TaintedMushroom@FamishedPants}

A woman humming from a nearby rooftop? A girl leaning against one of the few standing walls of the MicroMart? Another trying to remain inconspicuous while in one of the most vacant parts of the city? Oh yes, there was no way they weren’t all espers.

Kira was able to take in quite a bit of the area from her vantage point. The city wasn’t so congested this far out. There were strips of grass growing between the buildings and around the roads. There had been plans to develop this part of the city and expand towards the mountains, but everyone holding the money noticed how “accident prone” this area was and cut their losses. The MicroMart was in shambles, but the hailstorm only did in what was already a deteriorating building. The tin siding had been knocked off the rusting frame, and twisted rebar poked out of the building's foundation. While it wasn’t a giant store, it was still big enough to completely hide the semi behind its far remaining wall. Looking past the mart at the distant hills revealed some far off movement. A group of people on a hill, too far away to see in detail.

The freelancers in front of the MicroMart met without incident. Marrie didn’t look too unusual on her own, but Himiko with her neon yellow hair and eccentric outfit made for an unusual scene. Aside from Kira, no one else appeared to witness it. But that didn’t mean there was no one else around. Someone was giving a speech just on the other side of the MicroMart. Kira was too far away to hear in much detail, but the other two freelancers could hear everything.

”...And the day the storm came, I witnessed a giant shadow fall out of the sky! And when it waved its arm, my flesh broke out into boils and cysts. You all felt that too, didn’t you? At the time I was hungry, tired, and in pain. My shelter crumbled and my arm trembled. My wound had been festering for a while, but when the boils formed on my body, my arm opened up like the petals of a flower. And do you see this? Beneath my weakened flesh was this pearl appendage. It feels no pain, it does not bleed, it does not break. I knew in that moment that the shadow I saw in the sky, that cloaked figure, was the shadow of corruption cast by our politicians!” several voices roared with approval. ”But that shadow is us, and maybe instead of twisting ourselves around to conform to what our so-called leaders want, maybe it’s time they bent to our shape. And that’s why we’ve taken this water for ourselves. I’ve already purified a few bottles for our purpose. But we will need more, so much more. We will need food, more followers, more of everything our corrupt society withholds for themselves. Let us not cease our momentum here. We must continue to claim ground. So long as we have the dragon, we cannot fail!”

The leader’s followers roared, and those roars were joined by the sound of a semi starting. Its diesel engine shook the ground, along with an uncountable number of footsteps. Then what poured out from the side of MicroMart were… The homeless. Dozens of men and women in dirty clothes brandishing improvised weaponry. Broken bottles, steel pipes, shivs, all with a look of madness in their eyes. Or was it desperation? Marrie and Himiko were close enough to the MicroMart that they escaped the mob’s vision. They pushed forth without as much as looking in their direction.

But not Kira. With about fifty pairs of eyes looking in her direction, it was inevitable that she would get spotted. A few outstretched hands pointed at the woman standing on the rooftop, others tightened their grip around their weapons. But while Kira was visible to them, she could also see down the side of the building at what was coming. The semi was rolling around the corner with more bums flanking either side of it. Though the most interesting person in the mob’s numbers was a man reclining on the vehicle’s hood. He wore less than the bums that he was traveling with. He had coveralls, but they were torn to tatters. He wore them like pants and let the upper half of his uniform hang behind like a tailcoat. His torso was sculpted like a Greek statue, and covered in scars. He also wore some occult jewelry like a necklace made of fangs and an engraved silver bracelet. But no detail was more interesting than his left hand. From the elbow to his fingertips, there wasn’t a scrap of flesh. It was stained red bones and nothing else. But he could move it like any other. A red scrap of cloth was tied around his elbow, and it fluttered in the breeze.

The vagrants didn’t look like cultists, but they were in possession of a truck that, according to their leader, held a lot of water. The freelancers presently had the initiative but it wouldn’t last. They weren’t too pleased to see Kira on the rooftops, and they might turn hostile once they noticed the other, much closer espers standing beside the MicroMart.

Kira had taken note of the arrival of two other people in front of the MicroMart as she continued humming. She wasn't too concerned with the movement on the distant hill she'd noticed before laying down, either; cultists weren't known for having immediate access to long range weaponry nor were they known for having a high number of Espers in their ranks, so chances were, if the distant figures presented a threat at all, it wouldn't be immediate. What did cause her to cease humming and sit up, however, was the faint sound of voices coming from the rear of the mart.

Narrowing her eyes as she gazed at the top of the MicroMart across the street, she tried to concentrate on what she was hearing, but she was too far away to catch most of it. What was most audible were the cheers of a crowd of some size, which seemed to be responding to a single voice. Is there some kinda' rally happenin' back there?! That sounds like way more people than I was hopin' to have to fight, Kira remarked inwardly, slowly moving to standing position. The thought occurred to her that, if there were that many cultists here, they'd probably have plenty extra to leave on watch. Chances are the Freelancers here wouldn't have as much of the element of surprise as she'd hoped they would.

The roar of a diesel engine confirmed Kira's concerns, making her grit her teeth in consternation. She almost didn't hear the footsteps of the congregation that were moving alongside it. But she wasn't about to miss the sight of them, pouring out of the front entrance of the MicroMart. Nor was she about to miss that the semi was being driven out from behind the MicroMart, coming around from behind the building and driving down the side of it toward them. She wasn't sure what the two other Espers here were capable of, but she did know she could stop that truck from leaving. She didn't want to damage its contents, though, and it was also surrounded by people, so simply pulling it over wasn't the best plan. No, if she wanted to flip it without harming the people currently surrounding it, she'd need to wait for the right moment.

Kira's eyes darted back and forth between truck and the crowd of...homeless people? Right...wouldn't be hard to get people who feel like they have nothin' left to lose to join a cult. Probably told 'em they'd make the world that failed them a better place or somethin'.

From what she could tell, the people in the crowd had no projectile weapons, if they were armed at all. Could those weapons even hurt an Esper? No, don't underestimate them, Kira told herself. She decided to begin doing a simple dance that kept her moving from side to side, making her a more difficult target in the event something was thrown at her. It would also help her keep their attention on her.

"Where ya' goin' in such a hurry?! The party hasn't even started yet!" Kira taunted, her already gravelly voice full of vocal fry and her consternation having given way into a confident-looking grin. She wasn't addressing anyone in particular, but if anyone was going to answer, she would bet the important-looking one on the hood of the truck would be it, given how much he stood out from the rest. Which worked for her - she could make it look like she was talking to him while actually keeping an eye on the truck. She just had to wait for it to start turning onto the road in front of the MicroMart...

Whether Ellie recognized Ashley's disapproval or not, it wasn't clear, but the bespectacled agent was right on the money that the blonde's current attitude was a subconscious attempt at maintaining control of the situation. Nevertheless, the gunner esper put her money where her mouth is by actually listening to what Ashley had to say, being all ears from start to finish. "I see, roger that." Though the confidence exuding from her voice never relented, it was now clear that Ellie had no intention of underestimating the assignment, after all, they had a veteran agent to rescue and mobsters to cull, regardless if they were weretigers or not.

"You got it, boss," Ellie nodded as she snatched the forged ID offered by Ashley, "In the past, I used to... err... indulge in these kind of vices, not anymore though, don't worry, but I shouldn't be too rusty at this, just let me do the talkin', k~?" She finished off with a quick wink, already getting into character, or more like, who she used to be. ...oh God, now's not the time for nostalgia cringing, El! Keeping her turmoil purely internal, she flashed a thumbs up at the second-youngest operative in the squad, "Orion, Witch Hunter, Nails, and last but not least, yours truly, Angel." The blonde enunciated her impromptu roll call, turning her amber gaze at each associated agent before finishing off with a small bow the moment she mentioned herself. "And no more questions, ma'am."

With that, Ellie took the initiative by opening the van's passenger door before disembarking. Soon, they would pass the point of no return, but she was confident that no one here would chicken out at the last moment.

Approaching the thug-faced bouncer stationed at the main entrance, she flashed him a knowing grin, a natural (former) party girl at work, "'Sup, big man, now, I know you're closing in, buuuut... can't you at least let us play a few? You see..." She leaned in ever so slightly, eyeing her "nerdy friend" for a moment, "You won't believe how hard it was to slip her out, religious parents, you see? This may be her only chance to know what living for real feels like, so... please~?" The older - and taller - of the pair begged, while slipping a few green notes into the bouncer's chest pocket...

Then, after a quick (fake) ID check, they were in, just like clockwork.



Ahaha... I swear I'm not falling into my old ways, dad. Ellie couldn't help but mentally cringe at all the sinful debauchery on full display before her; the blings and dings of slot machines, the cigarette smoke, and the alcohol. To think she used to find this kind of life... desirable. Work hard, play hard, that's what she used to say, oh how utterly wrong she was. From the outside, however, the blonde sauntered through the main floor with all the swagger of a social butterfly, even giving the sharply dressed man a quick smirk after she noticed him looking at her and her ”'friend”. "So, how do you like it, girl? Waaaay better than a boring ol' mass, am I right or am I right?"

Eventually, the two passed under the grand chandelier then reached the booth at the other end of the floor, "He-" "-y, sup'~ can a gal get some chips?" was what Ellie about to say to Honey Badger when the stereotypical-mobster-looking-ass was promptly spooked by the vent gremlins. "Welp, actually, nevermind, I'm cashin' my chips now!" The blonde guffawed as she promptly reached for the ruby-encrusted gold cross hanging at her sternum, clasping it as she solemnly closed her eyes...

Even though I journey through the valley of death's shadow, I shall fear no evil, for You are with me; Your light and Your embrace, they comfort me.



In a nigh-instant, the young woman's body shone a divine golden glow before the light erupted into a shower of luminescent feathers, heralding the arrival of Angel, Jehovah's Messenger of Gunpowder. Blonde locks igniting into blazing red as a pair of shining halo and prismatic wings manifested around her, the hand that was clasping the cross pendant was now holding a decidedly SMG-esque instrument as her stylish dress morphed into a set of equally stylish techwear uniform. With the immaculate power of God vested in her, she'd smite these monsters, in His name.

"Here's a newsflash for ya, the house doesn't always win!" Angel quipped as her now-winged form took flight, soaring backward to the grand chandelier, aiming to use the fixture to her advantage as a form of cover, then, she took aim at the mobsters on the main floor, "And this is why!" before promptly started blasting, raining bullets after bullets from her supernatural firearm, the more attention she can grab, the better, give her allies an easier time at dispatching these tangos with her Heaven-ordained covering fire!

@BrokenPromise @Ponn @ERode @Majora

To Ashley’s pleasant surprise, the initial stage of the operation proceeded smoothly, with Ellie and herself both entering the casino without trouble and crossing the main hall to the rear teller booth with a similar lack of obstruction. Ellie had played her part in their little ruse to the hilt, and Ashley couldn’t help but admire her fellow agent’s skill and enthusiasm.

“O-Oh, um, I-I suppose so…” Ashley stammered a nervous response to her partner’s playful in-character inquiry, keeping up her own role as the socially-inept introvert of the pair. “I-It certainly has a distinctive, um, ambiance,” she added with an awkward adjustment of her glasses.

As they moved through the hall, Ashley’s eyes scanned the room, taking in every detail. She had to admit, it was a fairly typical casino, all things considered, with nothing particularly out of the ordinary about its general layout. Yet, it was the small collection of remaining patrons she paid the closest attention to, making carful note of their number and locations. Soon enough the pair were standing before the teller booth, behind which was the elevator entrance. One of the men behind the booth, a rather intimidating-looking fellow in a leather jacket and sporting several ear piercings and a white wool cap, seemed more than a little pissed off about something. However, before the obvious bouncer could utter a single angry syllable, Mika and Estelle chose that precise moment to burst through the nearby vent…

Even as the bouncer whirled around to confront the new arrivals, who had provided just the distraction she was hoping for, Ashley promptly entered the esper state, her oversized hoodie and jeans morphing into a white, ultratech bodysuit with neon green accents, while in her right hand was grasped a twin-pronged techno-wand. The plain, unassuming Ashley Avenir was now Agent Orion, The Knight of Tomorrow.



Since she had full trust in Mika and Estelle’s ability to handle the bouncer, especially in such close quarters, where their melee instruments could be used to greatest effect, the high-tech heroine turned her focus to her impetuous partner. While Ellie had transformed only a split second after Ashley and had almost immediately propelled herself into the air, in that small window of time between transformation and takeoff, the Knight of Tomorrow had activated her glowing energy shield and gently tapped it against the angelic agent, who would subsequently find herself encased in a protective aura of neon green energy.

With her flashy entrance, Angel was sure to draw the lion’s share of attention from any security personnel that might be stationed in the main hall, and so protecting her was Ashley’s primary concern. For her part, the Knight of Tomorrow raised her shield to cover her torso, while preparing to snap off a quick energy bolt from her techno-wand at each revealed hostile in turn, starting with the closest, and aiming for their center of mass to ensure the best chance of a hit. Hopefully, the bouncer behind her would be dispatched swiftly, and they could all retreat down the elevator, since a prolonged firefight in such an open space was something she very much wished to avoid...

---

Mika examined Ashley in the mirror only until their leader directed her attention to Estelle. Then Mika's gaze moved to the casino just ahead of them. This would be her first assigned operation, but she wasn’t scared. Her hands were still, her gaze was steady.

She wasn’t oblivious to the danger. Anyone in the van right now could end up dead, even herself. But that was just life. In Pax, you’d be a fool to think you could live forever. Vampire lords, giant prophets, her mother, nothing could survive long in this place. But Mika barely knew any of her squad mates. Estelle and Angelie might as well have been complete strangers. Ashley was someone she'd known for a few weeks, and only in small doses. Thankfully, only in small doses. How could she be nervous when nothing of value was at stake?

With no objections presented, everyone started to disembark from the van. But not before Mika glared at Angelie. "I’m not Claw-dia, and it’s not nails either. On a mission, I'm-"



Fritzi had originally suggested Cat-Sith as a call sign. Mika understood why. Cat-Sith was a feline and a collector of souls. Mika had feline features and could call upon the power of animal spirits, so it made sense. But she couldn't help but think of a certain cat riding on the back of a giant marshmallow every time she heard it. Mika wanted to be feared and respected, not likened to a fluffy mascot. So when Fritzi suggested Cerberus, her eyes lit up. It was a hound, but one that guarded the gate to the underworld. Nothing fit her better than that.

It wasn’t difficult for Mika and Estelle to walk around the side of the building. There was no one around, and the hail had wiped out the cameras in their path. But they still needed to be cautious. Weretigers could pass as normal humans until they decided to get aggressive. Most had a hybrid and a full tiger form that would be hard to deal with as a human. But the casino didn’t have anyone stationed outside.

"Guess all the bodyguards are inside." There was little pizazz with Mika’s transformation. In a burst of teal light, her school uniform had become her esper’s dancing outfit. Mika was about to pry the vent open when Estelle asked how this branch of GEMINI deals with threats. If they give them a chance to surrender or take them down quickly. In truth, Mika was unsure. Her training over the past few weeks focused less on etiquette and more on how to stay alive in a fight. Though it apparent what Ashley wanted for this operation. She seemed convinced they would “trip an alarm” which would let Ashley and Angelie “hopefully take them by surprise.” She wondered if her mother died doing some bullshit stunt like this. "They’re monsters. If we don’t kill them, they’re going to kill us." Mika’s arcane claws had little issue crushing the gate. She cast it off to the side and climbed inside. Unfortunately, her eyes didn't offer the same kind of dark vision an actual feline’s would, so she turned on her cliplight. Unless someone was looking inside the vents, they’d never notice. Not unless one of them started talking.

During the crawl ahead, Mika noticed some light pouring in from one of the vents. She immediately turned off her clip light and banished it from sight. As she got closer to the end of the vent, she started to crawl faster, practically charging the last few feet to the end. With a swipe of her hand, the interior vent cover was cast aside, and she somersaulted to the ground. It would have looked more graceful if she didn’t half fall out of the vent.

The situation wasn’t hard to assess. Angelie started spouting obnoxious one liners as soon as she appeared and Ashley graced everyone with a wordless transformation. With any luck, the nutty angel wouldn’t hose them down with bullets. But more important was the man with a wool cap who seemed to be reaching for a weapon. Mika smiled at this. Maybe it was because of how seemingly helpless he was, or maybe it was Estelle’s earlier question creeping back into her mind. Only Mika knew.

Her smile vanished when she sprinted. The gold accessories on her outfit jingled with every step as she drew closer and closer to her target. Mid charge, Mika’s hands transformed into the heads of wolves. Their eyes gleamed in the chandelier’s golden light as she closed in for a bite.

"They’re monsters. If we don’t kill them, they’re going to kill us."

But they approached this still, as if Binky was alive to be saved.

...

Cerberus broke out first, but it was Angel whose bullets traced through the casino, the Knight of Tomorrow's protection over her as she rained bullets from above. Between bullets and claws, beanie man was covered. Too many cooks may make quick work, but on the other hand, too many cooks would just get in each others way. Swinging down from the air vent, Witch Hunter landed some distance away from that duel and spotted a second individual instead. A sharply-dressed man, completely at odds with the others who ran away in a panic. Embers burned from the cigarillo in his mouth, that spot of light giving away his location from the bannisters of the second floor, and Witch Hunter tightened her grip on her Dai-Katana in response, the light in her own eyes evidence enough that she had spotted him.

Holy sigils formed over the scabbard, symbols of prohibition of the arcane and the occult. She dashed forth, a singular swing slinging the mana-consuming symbols towards the smoking man. If it struck him, it wouldn't kill or even harm him. But if he were a monster? It would drain him. And that would be enough for her to know whether to strike with intent or to rely on human tools.

In the meanwhile?

It was through the aisles of slot machines, up the carpeted stairs, and then a quick turn to charge for the crouching hypothetical-tiger. One hand on her scabbard, the other on the hilt, as if intending to draw it in order to deliver a bisecting strike.

But that was bait, of course.

The Witch Hunter simply wanted to provoke a reaction and parry whatever choice he made for his offensive. And if she got things wrong, and he turned out to just be an underpaid card shark? Well, she'd be happy she didn't crack his skull open too! Monsters were monsters, but the problem with weretigers was that you couldn't tell the difference when they were just humans.

Huh. Maybe she should say something too?

Right.

"FBI! ON YOUR KNEES!"

---

There wasn't much need for an aspiring hero like Justin to ponder if the job posting on Shimir was worth it. He was there when the Holy Diver had caused much destruction in the short time it was manifested, leaving many dead or injured in its wake and countless without the means to survive without some form of aid. Now, that aid was being stolen by cultists. Even if there was no monetary incentive, Justin would not dare turn his back on such a perfect chance to prove his worth as a hero!

To say he was eager for the job would be an understatement. He was determined to be the first to arrive at their meeting place in front of the convenience store, hoping to get there about half an hour before they were supposed to meet. Given his experience with other Freelancers up to this point, that was more than early enough. That would be enough time to give him the chance to find a cool place to pose for when the others arrived.

Unfortunately, in his rush to get out the door, he made two mistakes, one of which wouldn't reveal itself until later. His first mistake, however, was that he had forgotten to charge his phone. By the time he realized this, he couldn't justify turning around. Unfortunately, as he had only been in Pax Septimus for a few months, he was not familiar with the area. So as he tried, poorly, to recall the directions he had last seen on his phone, he made a mistake and took a wrong turn.

...twenty minutes before their scheduled start, Noble Spark finally arrived in at the convenience store he had been seeking out. His unintentional detour cost him ten minutes off his ride and had him approach from the side, but as he looked around, seeing nobody, he grinned at the fact it hadn't cost him his spot as first to arrive or blown their surprise. That said, there was something off about the store, but he couldn't immediately place a finger on it. Deciding it was probably nothing, he shrugged and started to look for a cool place to pose in front of the store, like he had intended from the start.

It took about two minutes of searching before his second mistake began to dawn on him. Occasionally casting a glance up towards the convenience store in the hopes of maybe catching movement from the cultists, he thought it strange how the posting emphasized the poor condition the store was in, yet this one only had a few broken windows that were boarded up. There was nothing on the outside he could see that would suggest it couldn't be cleaned up in a productive weekend, and what little he could see of the interior betrayed no signs of life inside.

Strange. The posting made it sound like you could blow the store down if you really tried. I wonder if they got the right sto-

Noble Spark's eyes moved up from the sides of the store to the sign that sat atop it. His confident expression slowly faded. Though it had seen better days, the sign clearly read,

T-Tiny Mart? Wasn't there some alliteration going on with the name of the store? Oh... no.

As he started to pace, he reached into his pocket and immediately retrieved his phone, briefly forgetting it died earlier. He was reminded as soon as he tried to turn it on and was greeted with nothing but a black screen.

Ah! That's not good! I can't look cool if I'm too late to the operation!

Somewhat panicked, Noble Spark was too busy contemplating whether he could get a charge from using a lightning melody and if it would be worth the risk to pay attention to where he was going.

Bardo’s life had never been in a greater state of upheaval than it was now, and Bardo could barely summon the energy to deal with it. Slowly he walked along the sidewalk without any real care for what lay before him with his hands stuffed in his pockets, his eyes half glazed over, and his mind miles away. With a deep sigh he cast his eyes to the sky and watched as the clouds lazily passed by overhead. Things were rough right now, and he wasn’t quite sure how to handle it, let alone able to fully wrap his head around it.

Two months ago Bardo’s life was relatively standard. He was just a local college student whose family had been in Pax Septimus for generations living with his grandmother and helping her while attending school. He was always going to the roller rink after school, watching Tobikatte Kira videos and shows when possible, and really anything a normal college kid would do. Then, around a month and a half ago, his life was changed forever. Bardo came into possession of a grimiore, a dark tome which almost seemed to eat the surrounding light, while exploring a haunted library on a dare.

Ever since that day things had started getting a little bit out of control. Apparently he was now something called an ‘Esper’ and that came with a whole bag of crazy that he still hadn’t quite wrapped his head around. A weird app he’d found suddenly on his phone, shimir, was somewhat helpful in figuring out what crazy course his life had taken, but not completely. A sigh welled up out from deep in Bardo’s chest as his gaze came level once more with the street. There, a few blocks further down, a convenience mart stood which Bardo was pretty sure was where he was supposed to be going. But these days he wasn’t really sure of anything.

With another sigh he cast his eyes back towards the sky and tried to get a handle on what was going on. After all that craziness that had gone down a few weeks ago Bardo hadn’t really been out much. Beyond the fact that it was terrifying to experience on its own, Bardo’s elderly grandmother hadn’t been doing too well prior and was certainly doing much worse after. As a result most of Bardo’s free time was taken caring for her and trying to ensure she was comfortable, which led to him eventually having to get more water for her, which of course led him to realizing there was an issue with the supply.

Of course luck would have it that checking shimir revealed a job related to the sudden water crisis, and Bardo felt like it might have been some sorta sick joke that he’d have to participate rather than care for his grandmother. Things had become very very complicated in Bardo’s life over these last few weeks and mentally Bardo wasn’t dealing too well. Regardless though grandma needed water and the only way to get that water was to get back the truck that had been stolen. So even though Bardo really didn’t want to do much of anything right now he still found himself pulling closer and closer to the store.

Bardo was so wrapped up in his own head with his eyes lost to the clouds, it almost seemed like he was fated to experience a head on collision with another equally distracted fellow who was walking along Bardo’s path.

While the collision wasn't enough to knock either man off their feet, Noble Spark was essentially power walking by the time they met quite literally head-to-head. It likely felt like running into a wall for both parties.

Noble Spark grunted in surprise as he stumbled backward a couple of steps. Rubbing his head, he shot an irritated look at the person. "Hey, I'm walking here!" Initially expecting a cultist despite his suspicion he wasn't in the right area, his tone was fairly aggressive, but it softened when he noticed the blindfold. "What are you doing all the way out here? Don't suppose you're looking for water?"

Bardo stumbled back as well, taking the brunt of the collision to his jaw as he struggled to maintain balance. With a slight grunt of frustration, mostly at himself, Bardo shrugged his shoulders in response and tried to maintain a level tone in his response, “What of it? Who are you? My bad, by the way, I was a tad distracted.”

In response to being asked his name, the blonde-haired Esper laughed heartily and stowed his dead phone in his pocket. "Trouble yourself not, I must share the blame for my attention was also not on the path I was walking. Noble Spark, at your service, my blind friend! The Jolt of Justice that Pax Septimus needs, now more than ever! And how might I address you?"

Bardo was taken aback at first, reaching towards his face, “Oh I’m not bl…well, it’s complicated.” He said, catching himself from trying to launch into a long explanation. He didn’t even quite fully understand it himself yet anyways. “I’m…uhhh that’s not your real name is it? I guess I shouldn’t share mine either… listen I’m kind of new at this whole thing, just call me Bard for now, I guess. Work in progress. Umm didn’t you say something about water? I was actually looking for that, is this the place?”

"Ah, I see! Your eyes have only recently opened to the truth of the world, huh? Or, well, I am sure you catch my meaning even if I suppose my wording could be better," Noble Spark awkwardly shifted his posture a bit, apparently still under the impression Bard was blind. "...Anyway, it sounds like we're both here for the same reason: getting that water back from the cultists and into the hands of the people who genuinely need it!" his loud voice deflated a bit as Bard asked if they were in the right place. "...unfortunately, I fear we may have ended up at the wrong abandoned convenience store...I curse my unfamiliarity with the area, this spark of justice is not native to Pax Septimus. And although my heart is unyielding in the pursuit of what is right, my phone, regrettably, does not have quite the unbreakable will or battery."

Bardo laughed awkwardly, a little thrown off by Noble Spark’s demeanor. Regardless, Bardo didn’t really have much of a plan B since he was in the wrong place and perhaps this fellow could help him figure out this shimir app a tad bit better as well. A few other tips and tricks might not hurt either, with a shrug Bardo decided to go with his gut. “Yeah, I’m relatively new. Still learning the ropes so to say, anyways your phone’s dead, right? Is that what you meant? Mine’s not, I have it right here, think you can get us pointed in the right direction?” Bardo asked, casually tossing his phone over to Noble Spark.

"And at the darkest moment, a guiding light appears!" Noble Spark caught the phone with a laugh, and then immediately opened the Shimir app. After confirming that it was, in fact, MicroMart they were supposed to head to, he set the phone to give them directions to it before tossing it back to its owner. "You're a lifesaver, maybe even literally! It's there. The place we were meant to be at. As unfortunate as it is to say, even if we hurry we will likely be a few minutes late. But thanks to you, it won't be by much! I owe you a favor for the save once we've dealt with the cultists, Bard."

Bardo caught the phone and shrugged once more, trying not to seem too eager to get back on the road, “It’s okay, I’m not in a huge hurry…I mean I am! I am just nervous, I haven’t taken any jobs before, I’m only doing this one because I need to. I need some of the water for someone else. Anyways actually that reminds me, we really should probably get a move on. Phone says this way!” Seeming to renew his vigor upon remembering why he was originally here, Bardo turned in the direction they were supposed to be going in and gestured along to Noble Spark.

“Would you like to team up? Or travel together? I uhhh, ya know I don’t really know what I’m doing, wouldn’t mind the assistance. If that’s cool with you I mean.” Bardo did his best to remain casual, waiting to see what Noble Spark would say before heading out.

Noble Spark strode up to his side and gave him an affirming nod, ready to follow. "Of course! It need not even be said. I understand your plight. The earliest days are the most intense and disorienting, and these grimoires don't come with much in the way of an instruction manual to make it any better. Together, we'll knock some sense into those cultists and get the water back, easy."

Wanting to waste no more time than they already had, Noble Spark urged Bard to lead the way as the two finally made their way towards the right abandoned convenience store this time. Hopefully they'd be there in time to do something next cycle.

@FamishedPants@BrokenPromise@Nyahahameha@The World@TaintedMushroom

Himiko’s golden gaze shifted towards the newcomer as she heard her question upon arriving. Her eyes scanned Marrie from head to toe as she sized her up. Not finding her to be the most imposing, but she seemed experienced from a quick glance “Nice bike, how much did it cost you? Name is Sovereign, I assume you are also here for some water, it can be quite sparse around these parts” Picking up that Marrie was a Freelancer by her question. Even if she found the approach unusual, Himiko couldn’t blame Marrie for treading carefully. Taking the extra effort to ensure that who she was speaking to was here for the mission and not by some random chance a cultist, or a vagrant.

Their brief conversation soon interrupted by the voice of what likely was the leader of the cultist. At least based on him being the primary speaker and seeming to be the guiding voice. Some of what was said, Himiko could understand the reasoning. But parts of it didn’t make much sense to her. His remark about the dragon catching her attention the most. As did the great response and support that the cultists showed the speaker. It was clear had the the admiration and the belief of his group firmly behind him.

Quickly ruling out this operation going by easily or without some form of violence. It was quite clear that the cultists were fully behind their leader. The chance of them handing over the water willingly at this point seeming rather remote. “I have no clue what the dragon is but it looks like we will have quite the scrap on our hands wouldn’t you say bike gal? They seem really into what that man had to say, I have a feeling that they won’t be happy to see us…” Himiko remarked to Marrie as she turned her golden gaze towards the sound of the semi’s loud engine rumbling to life and the shuffle of footsteps pushing out from behind the MicroMart.

As the Semi and the mob that followed came into their view, Himiko quickly scanned the group with her eyes. Taking in all the information she could as quickly as she could. Observing the poorly armed and dressed mob, she looked for anyone that appeared to be the leader, or a more immediate threat. The ragtag bunch being a sorry sight, but still a threat regardless of appearance. Spotting a man reclined on the hood of the semi. Though he wore less then many of his followers rags, the red cloth around his elbow and his demeanor led Himiko to quickly assume that he was the leader of this group. His left hand and the red bones drawing her attention almost immediately. It was unusual, and gave her reason to tread more carefully as she figured there was much more to that left hand.

Gesturing towards the man with her right hand “You see muscles there on the hood? If I had to make a bet, he is the leader of this rag tag group, the red cloth, the necklace and the silver bracelet, not to mention that left hand, he is likely the one we will have to watch out for.” Himiko quickly remarked to Marrie her opinion. Pointing him out too Marrie if she had not yet spotted the man herself.

But before she could come up with a plan of what to do, she spotted a figure on a rooftop a short distance away. Shouting and dancing as they appeared to be trying to get the attention of the mob. Himiko glanced over at Marrie in slight disbelief “That wouldn’t happen to be a friend of yours? Either way they seem to have quite the death wish, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t take advantage of the distraction” Crossing her arms over in front of herself as she reaches into her long flowing white coat. Pulling free her two golden revolvers “Then again…I’m not one to speak about being the most stealth oriented” Letting out a small hushed laugh before crouching down, she slowly inched her way along what remained of the MicroMarts front wall.

“So, you want to go in guns blazing, or would you prefer a more calculated approach?” Himiko questioned as she brought up one of her revolvers to ready it. “If shit hits the fan, I think I’ll be able to take out a few of the tires, or in the worst case scenario the engine itself…” She figured a few slugs would be more then enough to either cripple the semi or stop it entirely if push came to shove.

Normally Himiko would have already started firing, but with Marrie here, and the figure out on the roof, it changed how she wanted to approach it. With the help, it would make the operation a lot easier and less work, making that money much more sweet. Plus it was free help and nothing could beat free help.

Sovereign, huh? Well, despite the somewhat pretentious codename, she seemed like a decent person. She didn't quite get a chance to reply before she had to go quiet to listen to the speech. Whoever was giving it was certainly a good orator. It wasn't all that dissimilar to a preacher of any of the one true gods that were out there, at least. Probably thought himself one of them, too. But wait, purified the water? That really wasn't something she wanted to hear.

When the homeless started pouring out into view, though, Marrie blanched. The chance of innocent people getting hurt, or worse killed, was now much higher than she was comfortable with. As Sovereign stated the mostly obvious, Marrie ran her eyes over the "cultist" group. Something didn't seem quite right here. Didn't the speaker say his "appendage" was white? Did he mean that literally or was she thinking too hard about this? She was roused from her deepening thoughts by Sovereign pointing out what was hopefully another (friendly) esper on a nearby roof. How had she not noticed her before? Her bad habits of overthinking and getting too distracted by her own thoughts only gave her further pause. The bad feeling in her gut was getting even worse, but she wasn't going to let things go to shit this time.

Sovereign seemed to be letting her make the decision on an approach. The sight of her firearm reassured her a bit. Being a mostly melee-focused fighter herself, having a ranged esper there was good. Marrie took a deep breath, squared her shoulders, and did her best to focus.

"If you don't know the person on the roof, that makes two of us. Since they haven't attacked us, I just hope they're friendly." She glanced at the semi and back to Sovereign as she pulled Apexer Predator out of her sleeve, letting some of its mostly contracted chain dangle next to it. "If you're not for stealth, that's fine, but you have a range advantage on me. I do have an idea though. If I mess it up, I'm screwed, so some cover fire would be great. Just please try not to kill anyone if you can avoid it."

With that said, Marrie began to cast a melody, aimed about 150 feet (45.7 meters) in front of the truck's path. With any luck, she wouldn't get instantly run over.

{Bronze Spawn - Blink}

This stupid idea was a huge risk, but if someone was going to get hurt, better her than anyone else.

Maverick had been dealt a pretty crappy hand ever since arriving in Pax Septimus. Technically, they were no better off than the GEMINI espers, but most of Pax’s espers didn’t believe in their cause. It was hard to convince a city besieged by monsters that they weren’t all bad. Moreover, espers had a natural inclination to kill monsters when they came across them. Most freelancers pushed tomorrow’s problems and moral quandaries out of their mind to indulge in the thrill of killing monsters. That, or they were cowards who were unable to stand up to GEMINI. It didn’t really matter to Luna. The number of freelancers that weren’t total tools could be counted on one hand.

But they had never met monsters like Stacy Stitches. The Zombie woman hummed while she skipped beside Luna. Her flesh was green and slimy, but she didn’t look bad for a zombie. All of her stitches were tight, and she was wearing a fresh set of street clothes. Someone might mistake her for a normal woman with enough beer in them.

Stacy was a new addition to Maverick’s ranks. While she enjoyed spending time with Marrie, it was safer for her to remain with the Mavericks. All it would take was the wrong neighbor discovering Marrie’s secret to get her in trouble with Gemini or even other freelancers. But Marrie spent enough time online that contacting her wasn’t too difficult. Though Stacy hadn’t spoken with her since she left.

”Do you find a lot of monsters at night?”

Luna shrugged her shoulders. The diamonds on her jester-esque outfit seemed to shine in the dark. ”Not ‘a lot’ of them. The diver showing up caused most to go into hiding. It makes it a lot harder to discern which ones we should be bringing back to the Bastion.”

”Can’t get a good read on them when they’re all scared, huh?” Stacy grinned. ”That’s fine! I like to consider myself an excellent judge of character! Just put me in front of someone and I’ll do the rest!”

A black gelatinous monster leaned out from behind a corner. Luna took a step back and drew her hoop. ”Who goes there?”

”No need for hostility, Tetrad!” Stacy approached the blob. ”Gelatinous blobs can’t speak anyway! You need to find other ways to communicate with them.” She reached towards the blob, and it coiled around her arm. Then with a firm yank, the stitches on her arm detached. It flooded inside the gelatinous slime, going round and round its core. ”See? He’s just hungry! Now you try feeding him!”

”Ahhhh…”

---

_{@Ponn@ERode@Izurich}

At the first stroke of gunfire, chaos breaks. While the few who had no intention of dying on the job fled as fast as they could, the guards scattered around the first floor quickly took cover behind flipped over tables and walls. Ashley had already taken down a couple of them as soon as they drew their weapons. Of course, their cover wasn't infallible, what with Angel being a damn flyer and blessed with a protective melody, and being backed up by the Knight of Tomorrow. The guards were forced on the defensive if they didn't want their numbers to dwindle fast. Someone should really deal with that.

Spades himself took the opportunity to slip between the fleeing crowd and sneak up to the second floor rafts, prepping a Tommy gun to snipe down the winged rat from the air. But before he could pull the trigger, he locked eyes with the blue-haired Witch Hunter. Her intentions were clear enough by the way she held her weapon, should've known someone would gun for him too at some point. Sorry Badger.

As Witch Hunter flung a melody at the gangster, Spades only had enough time to dodge for it to hit his arm and... nothing. Ah. The hell was that for? He flicked his cigar out of his mouth and stomped it out. The man was as human as it'd get. But that didn't matter in the heart of things, human or monster, both are threats none the less. And Estelle's bait only confirmed this further. Spades only held his gun up to block the hypothetical strike, no transformations or spectacle. "Let me guess." He spoke up to the Witch Hunter, seeing as she hadn't sliced him in half. Yet. "Ya' thought I was one of the cool cats?" He chuckled.

"Nah, that'd be him."

Before Estelle could react, a sickle wielding weretiger had launched himself at her, primed to strike with a mad cackle. But more importantly, launched Estelle a distance away from Spades. Taking advantage of the opening thanks to Loki, Spades opened fire on Angel, chipping away at the neon green shield until it broke.

"FINALLY! I've been itchin' to kill for DAYS!!!" Once more Loki sprinted forward at Estelle, wildly swinging his sickles at her with the intent to overwhelm his opponent.

Meanwhile Mika had been the only one to properly target Honey Badger. Seeing a girl's hands shapeshift into a pair of bloodthirsty wolf heads was enough to spur the bouncer into grabbing the teller instead and forcing them in front of him to take the attack. The teller howled in pain as the wolves bit into flesh, but it wouldn't be enough to kill outright. Something Honey Badger would take advantage of. He fled from behind the booth out into the firefight, pulling the wounded teller with him as his human shield.

"The hell are you idiots waiting for!? Shoot the damn broad already!" Honey Badger barked at the guards.

Before either Mika or Ashley could go after him, they'd have to avoid being crushed by a slot machine thrown at their direction. A second weretiger had emerged, more muscular than his swifter companion upstairs. With a roar of bloodlust, Lorenzo pried another machine out from the wall and prepared for another throw.

Hope your shield can deflect that, Orion.

---

_{@The World@Nyahahameha@Nakushita@TaintedMushroom@FamishedPants}

The homeless fanned out in front of the semi. Kira might have been a popular face, but not at this distance, and not at this time of night. Light pollution from nearby street lamps drowned out the stars, and the truck’s headlights lit up the crowd in front of it. Kira was used to mobs forming up at her feet, though they weren’t this uneasy. Many of the men in the front tightened their grip on their weapons as Kira gleefully danced in front of them. The truck had stopped behind the mob.

Their unrest only grew when Marrie teleported in front of them. First the wind tumbled in front of them, then a creepy girl seemed to phase out of the shadows. A few of the bums hopped backwards once the mysterious display concluded. They were keeping their distance.

The man on the hood turned to look at Himiko out of the corner of his eye. ”An ambush…” The man rose to his feet. He reached out with his good arm and a slew of bones flew out from his bony palm and created a staff. ”It was inevitable that others would oppose us. But we must retain what we have. Our survival depends on it.” He gripped the staff with both hands. ”Do not be afraid. We’ve lived in fear long enough already. Today we fight! Me, you… And my pale guards!”

What is often overlooked on a semi is the sleeper cab. For a driver, it allows them to sleep in a cozy bed without having to pay for a night at a hotel. For a palemancer, it allows them to hide their strongest soldiers.

There wasn’t even time to blink.

The doors on the cab flew open, and out came the pale guards. Six individuals that looked like tall, pale corpses. Corpses with draconic features, like webbed feet and large horns. They were dressed just like the bums were, but looked to be at the peak of human fitness. Though the way they bound towards the espers, their abilities went beyond human limits.

Three of the pale guards, all men, ran straight for Himiko. One yanked a piece of rebar out of the ground mid sprint. Another gave a concrete pillar a running haymaker and pulled away a large stone. The third one tipped a shopping cart upright and pushed it ahead, seemingly unbothered by the one lazy wheel in the front. There wasn’t much time to react, and one was about to shove a bar of rebar through Himiko’s chest.

Why fear a little girl who can fade into existence when you have horned corpses among your numbers. The mob let out a battlecry before charging towards. Either by dumb luck or tactics, Marrie had put herself a safe distance away from the emboldened mob and had a moment to decide her next course of action. Leading the charge was a middle aged man with a foot long beard holding a folding chair over his head.

The remaining paleguards were not standing idle. The palemancer hopped off the hood and sprinted forwards. Two of the paleguards, which were women, trailed just behind him. Though their target was not Marrie. They circled around her and headed straight for Kira.

The final paleguard was distributing bottled water to the vagrants at the back of the mob. The reason why was anyone’s guess.

The truck came to a stop. Kira's eyes narrowed as her brain shot into overtime to reassess. She had figured the truck had been moving in the first place because they were planning to take the water somewhere, and the presence of Espers would just make them more eager to get it to its destination. But instead, it stopped when they were spotted. No, forget why. Stopped truck doesn't need to be prevented from getting away. New plan, now!

Kira looked down at the crowd below, a smile spreading across her face as her new course of action formed in her mind. Please, I control bigger crowds than this once every month.

Before she could act on it, her attention was drawn by the man on the hood rallying the crowd around the truck, but the moment his hired help burst out from the truck, Kira's mind gave her a swift figurative kick in the pants. She leapt into the air while zeroing out gravity's pull on her body, imitating the effect of a [Self][Weightless] Melody and allowing her to soar off the rooftop with some forward momentum, moving her in the direction of the MicroMart as her floating body turned horizontal. At the same time, she held out her hand in front of her toward the ground with fingers splayed, and cast a Melody.

"Room!" called out Kira, floating about 18 feet in the air above the street, having leapt from the roof of a one-story building. Beneath her grew a rectangle, visible only by the way it darkened the view of things seen through it, that reached 20 by 20 by 10 feet, covering from the direct outside of the MicroMart where Sovereign was, to just past the middle of the road. Kira then pointed her finger toward the sky behind her. In response, all of the vagrants within the zone, and the pale guards rushing Himiko, would feel themselves begin to be pulled upward into the air. Those who eventually reached the top of the cube would exit it, only for Earth's normal gravity to make them fall back into it, leaving them bobbing up and down about 10 feet off the ground.

Afterward, Kira would alter gravity's pull on her body, causing her to list in the direction the now parked semi while maintaining her ~20 foot altitude. Her body twisted in midair, her head angled toward the truck while turned to face back toward the rooftop she'd come from. She had moved before observing, so she wasn't sure, but at the speed those creepy dead lizardmen looked like they were moving toward the blonde girl in front of the MicroMart at, if any of them had been targeting her before she moved, chances were they would be coming from that roof.

“I figured I’d err on the side of caution,” the Witch Hunter replied.

Because it did matter in the heart of things. Monsters preyed on human suffering. Humans, while they could prey on human suffering, didn’t necessarily need to in order to survive. Redemption was possible, whether it too years or not. And revenge wasn’t hers to take either. Someone else would probably be better saved, doing that. For her, however?

The man was neither monster nor witch, and his ally was more cat than tiger.

The beast’s initial charge sent her flying away, Estelle having leapt backwards at the moment of impact to minimize damage taken. It had given her the time necessary to see the twinned weapons her opponent wielded. Sickles, razor-sharp and whistling in the wind, rushed towards her in the facsimile of a tiger’s claws, and she met them with the scabbard of her Dai-Katana, holy mantras upon her lips. Loki could see the spell being woven, sigils aligning overtop the back of her hand, and yet, his frenzied rush failed to break her defense.

Now!

A half-step to the side, and the heft of her Instrument! A sacred shimmering resonated from the scabbard of the divine sword, parrying the weretiger’s strike and then reflecting it. His arm swung back, leaving himself exposed, and the Witch Hunter’s melody completed. Brilliance bloomed, a talisman constructed by divine will, aimed at…Spades, whose form was no longer obstructed by a sickle-wielding weretiger.

The beam shot forth, aimed at the gunman’s torso.

And, following through with her own parry, Estelle thrust the sheathed end of her Instrument into Loki’s chest, in order to knock him off the second floor railings that he had ended back-to-back with.

At this point, it was beyond any shadow of a doubt that shit had hit the proverbial fan, but hey, it was already admirable that the squad came as far as they did. Initially, Angel had the inkling that they'd be sussed out right at the porch, but sometimes, it was nice to be proven wrong. "Yeah that's right! This here is a fucking robbery, so scram if you value your lives!" Fortunately, the civilian employees - who weren't paid enough to call a bluff from the 'lunatic redhead with a gun' - immediately retreated from the vicinity. Good, the less collateral damage they had to worry about, the better it'd be for everyone involved.

With her aerial form still encased in Orion's neon-green barrier, Angel decided to err on the side of offense more than caution, saturating the first floor with supernatural bullets from her equally-supernatural gun of an esper instrument, forcing most of the mobsters to hunker down behind cover, just as intended. Hey, if she could get a lucky tag here and there, then it'd be nice, but her main priority was to keep them occupied.

As a result, Angel's rambo rampage allowed Cerberus and Witch Hunter to more easily close the distance with their respective targets; Honey Badger for the former and Spades McGraw for the latter, engaging them in melee. Only time would tell how well that'd go...

...and apparently, not too well as a pair of those devil-touched monsters finally made themselves known, weretigers, neither tiger, nor man, living insults upon God's creations, abominations deserving nothing more than extermination. "Oh, shit!" However, as much as Angel wanted to assist her comrades - and also indulge in a bit of personal vengeance - in culling the feline mutants, Estelle being accosted by Loki meant Spades was free to fight fire with fire, peppering the Messenger of Gunpowder with hails of .45 from his own SMG, the classic Tommy gun. Perhaps as a testament to his skill, he was accurate enough to hit Angel enough times to shatter Orion's shield despite the redhead being a moving target and partially covered by the massive chandelier.

"Tch..." Okay, now it's personal.

For a brief second, Angel's fiery ambers and Spades' sharp golds mutually found each other, and though it lasted barely an iota of passage in the grand scheme of the universe, in that infinitesimal moment, they both understood what they must do, what must transpire.

Blessed be the Lord, my mountain. He who trains my hands for war and my fingers for battle.

Furious swirls of golden wind began surrounding Angel's body. This time, she opted to let her defensive Melody protect her while she hovered in place, focusing all of her attention to one thing and one thing only, neutralizing the SMG-wielding mobster. If God wills it, he'd go from sharply-dressed to bullet-ridden very soon.

Thus, without a moment left to spare, the two gunners of opposing sides began furiously exchanging shots, a deadly waltz of bullets backed by the symphony of hammers striking against primers. Time itself seemed to slow down, allowing any would-be universal observer to witness a few of the projectiles clashing mid-air, mutually flattening each other with impunity, while their compatriots blitzed through the air, whizzing past, occasionally shaving a few locks of either red or dark hair, and maybe, just maybe, one or two would be fortunate enough to claim the grand prize of a forever home within the vitals of their respective target.

@Ponn @ERode @BrokenPromise @Majora