Binky closed her eyes. Her brow twitched a bit before she brought up her hand. Like a compass trying to gain it's bearings, she turned side to side before reaching out her hand. Her finger was pointed at a locker at the end of the room.

"There, I think it's over there."

Estelle followed Binky's finger, nodding. Honestly, the Witch Hunter was happy that despite the great amount of evil present, there were plenty here who were still alive, and their captors were either dead or arrested at this point. She spared a smile towards them, a lightness in her step as she approached the locker. There was a chance that it was booby-trapped, but honestly, she didn't imagine anyone wanted to stay here any longer than necessary. Places like these, in a way, ought to just be repurposed into social housing or something.

"I can test for weretigers," she said, turning her head towards Cerberus. "Would require them to be gathered as close together as possible though, or I'll burn out my Mana pretty quick."

Before that, however, she did what she had to.

A swift swing from her Dai-Katana, and the Witch Hunter bashed the lock off of the locker, allowing the door to swing open of its own accord and hopefully reveal something that wasn't a time bomb strapped to a grimoire.

Noble Spark hoped that his ally wasn't making any crazy assumptions, like a mint-condition Golden Age comic or something. He didn't intend to part with anything particularly old or valuable, which is exactly what those were. Specifically, the first edition of Wonder Woman's newest series was what he had in mind, and while he had certainly lucked out by getting one in mint condition, her expectation should be a few hundred in the best scenario.

Granted that was still a lot of potential dollars to be spending on some random Freelancer he just met, especially to be encouraging her to do her job, but he wasn't too worried about it. The lives they could potentially save with that water were worth the future hassle of finding another comic of the same quality. Probably. Hopefully.

Noble Spark looked back after dealing with the pale guard only to find that Sovereign had been claimed by the shopping cart the undead bum had been shoving toward him. It didn't seem to get very far before it slowed down to a snail's pace, and though understandably embarrassed, Sovereign was well enough to get composed and utterly annihilate the two remaining foes in their immediate area.

Gone, reduced to atoms...

Despite how obviously overkill the melody was, or really because of it, Noble Spark grinned. "Bold AND just, as is ideal!" He gave an entertained and hearty laugh, turning to face his merc-natured companion but catching the commotion coming from cultists and the truck as he did.

There was quite a bit happening all at once. One of the cultists was using his fellow cultists as human shields to avoid melodies, while another, pink-haired one was spouting lines too far away from Noble Spark for him to hear, probably for the best. His most trusted GPS ally of the fight, Bard, was... learning to fly right after slaughtering the wheels on the truck full of the water Noble Spark was concerned about. It wasn't until he noticed the boy slowing his descent with pages that he even considered the airtime wasn't intentional. Still, Bard stuck the landing, or at least the monster that was with him when he landed.

A good first edition so far!

But his appreciation of Bard and the backstory of the grunt was short-lived, as around that time, a higher-pitched scream of pain erupted from the female Esper on top of the truck, snatching his attention away.

"Accursed villains! She's been disarmed!" Noble Spark cried, outraged by the bad guys landing a solid blow. They weren't supposed to do that! Eager to pay them back for this impropriety, he acknowledged Sovereign's worry about compensation with a quick nod, then immediately burst into a sprint towards the semi.

Those bastards, haven't they ever read a comic? If you're gonna take a hero's limbs, you gotta have a name and be a credible threat! And even then, you're usually tolerated for the catharsis that comes when you get beaten!

The air in an moderate-sized area around Noble Spark surged with electricity as his righteous anger became manifest. One could only wonder how much more pronounced the effect would be if he witnessed what happened to Finn, but that was sadly not the case as he was far too focused on catching that truck.

The aspiring Winter Soldier without the cool prosthetic was holding their own it seemed, managing to force two of her opponents off the truck, or maybe that was just the truck having difficulty driving straight. Whatever caused their sudden departure from the top of the truck, he watched as they hit the ground hard, yet did not die. He hadn't intended to stop for them, but he might've been tempted had he known they were going to turn into zombie-bum-mantis chimeria hybrid things.

As he looked back to the truck he was chasing, he could no longer spot the Esper that used to be atop it. He could deduce that they likely hadn't fallen off like the Mighty Morphin' Zombie Bums, but that was about it. From his perspective, the truck was still trying to make a getaway and that wasn't gonna stop without intervention, so he prepared a melody.

Noble Spark wasn't exactly the most humble Esper, but he also didn't fancy himself Deadshot, either. He launched his blink-bolt towards the door of the semi, the intention being to teleport and either grab onto the lip of the window or the large mirror on the truck, and then see about yanking the driver out of the cab.

There was a lot going on, a lot. Bardo had foolishly catapulted himself towards the truck in a reckless bid to do what? End the battle in one fell swoop? Make some grand entrance? Likely the idea had been borne from some sense of vanity, certainly a dose of foolery. Bardo should have known better than that, he was physicist for fucks sake. Getting blown clean from the truck with nary a scratch was far more than Bardo could have hoped for, and it was no surprise that the extent of his luck stopped there. He was afforded little time to recover before one of the pale guard approaching from the truck attacked Bardo in his vulnerable state.

Panic and instinct took over, Bardo flailed in an effort to throw off his opponents aim and keep them from working him into more advantageous positioning. A brief scuffle proceeded to take place as the two fought for purchase over the other, scrambling about in mid-air under the effect of Bardo's suspension melody. In a moment of clarity Bardo thought to release the melody as the struggle brought him above the pale guard and as gravity suddenly came back into effect he maneuvered his sword over his opponents neck. The moment the two came back to the ground it was over, Bardo's sword acted as a makeshift guillotine and the pale guard's head rolled away as her body went still.

Bardo's breath was coming in short rapid breaths at this point as his body and mind found themselves at odds with how to handle things. Every neuron in Bardo's mind felt like it was in overdrive, an overwhelming rush of adrenaline rocketed through Bardo's veins as if he was base jumping off the top of the worlds tallest roller coaster while being pursued by a pack of hyenas with wingsuits. Simultaneously his body felt as if it had ice in it's veins and a slight shaking was developing in his hands.

Moments before Bardo had been calmly surveying the battlefield and the truth of the situation still felt like a far off dream. Then, in an instant, the metaphorical blindfold had been pulled from Bardo's eyes. He'd killed someone, or what had used to be someone. The name Peggy still bounced around in the back of his mind, Bardo had a classmate once by the name of Peggy, could they be one and the same? Bardo hadn't the time to contemplate this, nor really the time to stand in shock as he was. The hulking mantis like creature shambled Bardo's way much quicker than he'd anticipated, or had he merely lost track of time as he tried to process events?

Regardless Bardo had to do something before he had a chance to discover just how far his opponents would go to achieve victory. And so with that Bardo did the only sensible thing to do in a situation like this. Bardo turned and ran, angling away from the truck and the monster and towards the other group of hopefully friendly Espers in the area. But, as he spun around to run, Bardo flung his sword out in a desperate gambit to buy himself some time. Willing a haphazard idea into a melody cast from the point of contact, Bardo sliced the pole like one might cut a weed from the ground, aiming as close to the ground as he could manage whilst maintaining his goal of running away.

A flutter of pages enveloped the pole as Bardo cut it free from the ground, keeping it suspended in the air as gravity manipulated it to point headlong at the approaching monster before a push note aimed to send it flying straight for the abominations chest like a bolt fired from a crossbow. Although Bardo moved in desperation as he turned to flee he hoped that the attack might at least find purchase and buy him a moments distance between himself and his pursuer.

Marrie watched in what seemed like slow motion as Oros turned to face her and fired a melody of her own. Regardless of what it was, it meant that Finn would end up getting hurt, despite her efforts. She had been half hoping that Oros would try to deflect it and she'd switch places with her sword, but she didn't expect the pink haired girl to anticipate a feint like that. Surely it would have made more sense to assume she was attacking her, right?

... Her head hurt, and she found herself standing where Finn had just been. Still, she turned quickly to look at where she had started, only to see as Finn lost his legs. She couldn't react. She couldn't think. She couldn't even move. And that paralysis continued as Oros walked over and asked for a reward for only taking off one person's legs.

Marrie's mouth was agape. If she weren't somewhat traumatized by the day, she might have thought that Oros' request was unwarranted. As it was, though, she could see the logic behind it. Holding back when you want to go all out is hard; she wouldn't have been able to hold back against the cultists who slaughtered the homeless people.

"... I don't know how to respond to you. Like, in general. As a concept." Marrie closed her eyes for an instant, before opening them and looking over the scene that was (now) in front of her. She couldn't see the truck, but she could hear it, so its tires must be missing. Oros was standing right in front of her, and behind her were the remaining cultists who seemed to be leaving. Leaving? Was she going to let them leave after that? Rage boiled up from her gut before she continued dragging her gaze across the area. There was the boy who had saved her. She had almost forgotten about seeing him losing his lower limbs from all the shock of Oros' comments. And on seeing him laying there all of her anger left her, the void left by it quickly filling with worry.

Welp, time to be a smartass, she figured as she cast a melody.

{Bronze Beam - Rain - Stabilize - Heal}

And as the beam fell from the sky towards Finn, she focused on Oros. What kind of thing would someone like her even want? Her mind went blank. After a quick reboot, she tallied the espers who she knew were there. There was herself, Sovereign, that one who was on the roof, and now the boy who had saved her and was (hopefully no longer) bleeding out. If Oros was bothered by the others, but not Marrie, that left three. She hurt one of them, pretty severely, so... That left two and a half out of three, right? "Well, you half killed the guy who saved me, but you haven't hurt anyone else, so..." A pause. "I'm not sure what kind of thing you'd want, so I guess it's like a giftcard instead of an actual present sort of situation."

Then it hit her. Why was she even here? "A fourth of the water, maybe? Otherwise I don't have a ton of things to give out, and I'll probably get in trouble for even that, bu-" The hamster in her mind fell off its wheel, and she was suddenly once again aware that the water wasn't secured yet.

Shit. Marrie glanced over her shoulder to see... holy shit where did that mantis thing come from!? Turning back to Oros, she gave a quick request. "Quick raincheck, we can figure something out in a bit?" Then she began to run towards the palemancerguardmantisguy, putting her Instrument in her left hand and pulling out the pistol she was glad to have brought with her with her right.

@FamishedPants@BrokenPromise@Nyahahameha@The World@TaintedMushroom

Satisfied that her effort to eradicate the two foes before her had impressed her benefactor she holstered both of her revolvers. “If you think so, maybe I’ll have to up the price the next time around, to get you to sweeten that pot, but that comic will do for now” His thought about a good first edition being better left unspoken when a comic had been the promised prize and the confusion it might have entailed. Placing her hands on her hips as she turned her attention to what had drawn Noble Sparks focus.

“Disarmed? In more than one way if you think about it…” Himiko considered it for a moment. Before she could add anything else Noble Spark had already taken off like a bolt of lightning straight for the crippled but still functioning semi. Heading off to assist the Esper from the rooftop before the truck made it any further away. “You better not forget my payment, or else I'll start putting more debt on your tab!” Waving after Noble Spark as she figured that he would have the semi side of things covered without any further help from her for the time being.

Her own focus turning towards Marrie and the last remaining cultist that still had yet to flee. With three freelancers focused on the semi truck, it was only right that Himiko tried to help out the one that seemed to be having to handle things alone.She hustled over towards the trio only slowing down as she got closer. As she slowly approached the scene as her eyes drifted towards the scattered body of Finn strewn across the ground. Unsure of his identity, affiliation, she did at least know that the last remaining cultist had been the one to cut him down.

As she arrived to see what was going on, Marrie was already in the process of taking off to head towards the rest of the action after trying to heal the injured Finn. Leaving only what remained of Finn and the cultist, Himiko let out a sigh and gave a shake of her head. Whoever this cultist was, Marrie didn’t seem too worried about them if she had just turned her back on them to run off to take care of trying to secure the water. So that must have some prior relationship or meeting before in the past based on that alone.

Her golden gaze fell upon the cultist, arms crossed as she took in Oros handiwork. “Quite the mess you made of that guy, hopefully he will be able to pull himself back together..” Pausing for a brief moment not taking her eyes off of Oros, shifting too her next thought “Though, considering you didn’t turn tail like the rest of the cultists, you must have a reason to stick around, though looking at you now, you don’t seem affiliated with the cultists, considering how badly you messed up this guy….it's easy to figure out that you have your own agenda, perhaps one that may favor us both...” Sizing Oros up for good measure. It was clear that she was way above Himiko’s pay-grade. It had only taken a quick glance for Himiko to understand that much.

After seeing what she had done to Finn already, it was clear that Himiko was dealing with a very dangerous individual that wouldn’t hesitate to kill. Even so, where there is danger, there is always money to be made. You just had to make sure you didn’t anger the monsters in human form in the process. She knew she was walking a fine line once Marrie had taken off and left Himiko alone to approach Oros. But fortune favored the bold, and Himiko favored the fortune.

_{@Ponn@ERode@Izurich}

Elise rose a brow as she leaned against the wall next to the cell. Of course they’re still wary of any booby traps or fake outs, for all they knew Binky could’ve been a damn shapeshifter. ”Feel free ta’ double check, but I’m tellin’ ya’, most of ‘em were upstairs!” She added. It’d take a while to clear out the rest of the cells regardless, but with Binky and her grimoire freed they could call in some back-up to properly secure the area and get her back to HQ along with the arrested.

Mission accomplished, as far as the agents were concerned.

---

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



Oros watched with no small amount of amusement as Marrie tried to heal Finn. The effectiveness of any healing magic was largely dependent on how bad an injury was and the strength of the weapon that caused it. The wound was grievous, and the weapon was fearsome. There was little the meager healing magic could do, but the stabilization magic at least ensured he wouldn’t bleed out. Though perhaps stronger than the melody’s effect was what the gesture represented in present company.

"If you knew what that little runt did a few weeks ago, I wonder if you’d take his side." Oros looked away with a “humph!” while keeping her arms folded. "But fine, I guess I’ll depart for now. I’ll just call you or something and we can get something set up." She held her chin. "Now that I think about it, she could just go on a date with me. But where would we go? All the good grocery stores are closed…"

While Oros was considering her options, she was rudely interrupted by some masked freak. She was monologing about her while also coming across as a shady venture capitalist. But what was Oros but the queen of rambling thoughts? "Oh yea, I’m like, super mysterious and stuff. Very deep. So deep. If your dad was as deep as my agenda was, you’d probably climax." Oros waved her sword a few inches in front of Himiko’s nose. "But it’s like you said, I did a number on the kid. Meanwhile, you struggled with mooks. I could have slain them faster than Rachel Zegler can kill interest in her own movie." That joke would age horribly, as most celebrity jokes do. But Oros didn’t care. "I think a test of your abilities is in order. For starters, you will get Mika Fang to St. Bianchi church. The time does not matter, so long as it’s within four days and the place isn’t crowded. She also needs to come alone. Secondly, your patron needs to remove the insinuation that you are an ‘oros’ from your champion script. Once you’ve taken care of that, I’ll treat your words as more than just the lip service of a charlatan." The mad esper pointed her sword off in the distance. With a roar, her form was covered in a cloud of hair and teeth. The cloud fell to the ground and scattered, and Oros was no longer there.

Without his instrument in his hand, Finn reverted back to his true form, as did his sword.

But there were still other dangers.

Marrie was running towards danger, but Bardo was attempting to run away from it. The mantis abomination shambled along, but picked up speed as it learned how to control its limbs. The secret slayer flew right past the thing and sliced into a lamp post. While Bardo did have a solid idea when he threw away his weapon, the timing was wrong. Rather than firing the lamp post towards the palmaster, it launched the lamp post straight into the air. Perhaps a well-timed delay note would have allowed the lamp post enough time to fall to the correct trajectory before being fired off.

Bardo continued to panic, and Marrie had difficulty seeing down the street with so little lighting. Too late would she notice Bardo stumbling out of the darkness. They tumbled to the ground with the mantis hot on his trail. It stopped before the two espers before releasing some guttural warcry. It raised one of its scythe claws into the air, but the next thing to fall would be a lamp post, which pierced the creature through the back. It seemed that Bardo’s improvised ballista shot had decided to take a less direct route to its target. A monster would have easily resisted the attack, but the human palemancer at the mantis’s core did not enjoy such protection. The abomination collapsed into a heap, occasionally spasming

The only remaining loose end was the semi’s fate.

The driver struggled to keep the vehicle on the road. The loss of the trailer’s left-rear most tires made for uneven weight distribution, not to mention weaker traction on one side. But that didn’t stop the driver from trying to get away. The petal was on the floor, and he continued to drive further away from Pax. Even the suburbs were starting to thin out as they entered cow country.

Justin was able to target the semi’s door with their melody, and grab a hold for dear life. But there was about to be a slight complication. The driver of the semi wasn’t a normal human. Nor were they a paleguard, or even a palemancer. The driver was a man with a dragon’s head wearing a tuxedo. It was quite surreal. If you ignored his head, he looked like a regular guy dressed up for a formal event. Instead, the driver stared at Justin in shock. ”Static scare!?“ The dragon used one hand to keep Justin at bay, and the other to keep driving. But one hand wasn’t enough to keep Justin out of the vehicle. He managed to unclip the dragon’s seatbelt before attempting to wrench him out of the vehicle. What ensued was a game of tug of war as the vehicle swerved around more and more. The dragon braced himself against his seat. One foot was pressed against the dash while the other was on the accelerator. Justin had one of the dragon’s arms, and the other was trying to keep the vehicle going straight. But it very much felt like a stalemate.

Until Kira intervened with a kick.

Justin and the dragon were thrown clear from the vehicle. Justin’s fate depended on how gracefully he landed, but the dragon man tumbled out of the truck with hardly a scratch. He immediately got up and ran.

Needless to say, having an unstable, unmanned vehicle is never a good thing. Kira took the steering wheel and kept the Semi on the road. She didn’t even need to apply the brakes. With the trailer dragging behind her, the vehicle gradually came to a stop on its own. Out the side window, she could see the dragon man running for the hills. A series of golden sparkles twinkled behind the dragon man, and in the blink of an eye, he turned into a dragon. It spread its wings and took off into the night sky, where all could see the golden luster of its scales fade in the shadow of the night.

The water had been recovered, and the threat had been dealt with.

A successful operation?

As Finn’s consciousness faded, the figure over Oros’ shoulder came into focus. Their black body, their white face, their red eyes.

It was

…

…

…

Finn looked at a clock.

It was a neon pink wall clock. Among the roman numerals was the silhouette of a bat swarm. Rather than having hands, the clock rotated bats around its axis to point out the time. It made a light ticking sound as the seconds passed by. But it didn’t take Finn long to realize that he couldn’t remember when he started looking at this clock.

What had Finn done?

How did he end up here?

He had no recollection.

Though it did seem to be late, far past his bedtime. His parents would likely worry about him. Upon looking around, Finn would discover he was in a bedroom. One that had to belong to a girl going through her goth phase. Everything in the room was either pink or black, and was morbid and cute in design. A light on the nightstand used a human ribcage as a shade, but the bulb was a pink heart. There were a few decorative spiders placed around the room, but they all had big smiley faces painted onto them. Anything that might have been scary seemed less so if it was examined for any length of time.

Before Finn could find an exit, he heard someone chewing something. He hadn’t watched nearly enough ASMR muckbangs to know what it was, but it sounded… crunchy. His ears would guide him to the bed. It was hard to tell what the girl was supposed to be. She had horns like a demon, but fangs like a vampire. Her revealing clothing invited the eyes, but her spiky accessories warned not to touch. She said nothing as she reached into a bowl of vegetables and stuck a piece of broccoli into her mouth. Once she was done chewing, she stared at Finn for a moment.

”You call him Chernabog, right?” She shrugged her shoulders. ”You wanted to know what he can do? Welp, this ain’t even half of it.”

The boy tilted his head at the stranger in confusion.

”Well he hasn’t exactly graced me with a proper introduction.” He finally spoke. ”Mind humoring me instead, since you apparently know of him? Miss…?”

”Amanda works, I guess. We both know none of this is real.” She sat upright. ”And I do mind, actually. You became a Gemini agent, and I’m pretty sure that means you’re at war with us. He’d kill me if I gave them his name.”

”Charming considering he already implied siding with the Mavericks wasn’t a good idea earlier.” Finn rose a brow. ”And if I wasn’t there with them, Justin would’ve survived. Someone had to distract Betty. And who else but the one she wanted dead the most, right?” He solemnly glanced aside. Yeah, she said she didn’t actually hate him, but that doesn’t make it any less painful. ”But that doesn’t mean I’m just gonna suddenly become some murder-bot or whatever, I’m working on common sense here!”

”Yes, you have a complex situation. I can barely keep up with it.” Amanda chucked her bowl of broccoli at the wall, but it just sort of phased through it without making any noise. ”I’m not going to keep you totally in the dark. I wanted to show you something, but I wasn’t expecting you to drop by while I was setting up.” After humming a bit, she fell backwards onto her hands. ”Actually, if you’re here, I guess we can talk a little bit. Chernabog wouldn’t approve of me throwing his name around, but they are kind of interested in you. He can’t figure out what your deal is, you know?”

”Why though? Why me? There are other, more powerful Espers out there, out of every one in Pax why did he settle for some- some-”

”Let’s see…” Amanda brought her hands in front of her and fell all the way on her back. She kicked her legs in the air while counting off her fingers. ”You’re as cute as a button, you take on some of the most dangerous jobs, you went from nobody freelancer to town hero really quick, all while having significantly less experience, power, and-” After looking at her next finger for a moment, Amanda shrugged before folding her hands over her stomach. ”It’s all very curious. I should also mention that Chernabog doesn’t like most espers. So you know, it’s expected that he would have me harass you a bit.”

Finn blinked. The demon thought he was cute??? ”So I’m like, an exception to that? The ‘town hero’ part was never intentional, I was just doing what I thought was right. People just…catch on quick, so to speak.”

”There’s not a lot to be optimistic about, I suppose.” She grinned. ”You’re taking this all very well. I thought you might freak out, but it seems I was wrong.”

The boy shrugged in response. ”It’s just good to finally get some sort of explanation.” He did freak out at first, he’ll admit. But he quickly understood this was something he was going to be stuck with for a while. Much to his annoyance.

Amanda studied Finn for a moment before folding her hands behind her head. ”Tell you what? We’ve gone about as far as we can here, I’m going to see about setting up a meeting between you and the big guy. Expect a message from us in a few days. Obviously, I’d appreciate it if you didn’t tell anyone about it.”

They probably wouldn’t believe me either way. And if Oros is gonna keep trying to kill me, I’ll need whatever help I can get. Finn thought about it for a moment, then looked back at Amanda with a nod and a zipping motion to his lips.

...

...

...

Bleh. Sand. Finn slowly woke back up, pushing himself off the weird pile of sand up to a sitting position. He may have been untransformed, but at least his legs were still intact. He dusted his face off and glanced around. He looked like he was expecting Oros to pop up out of nowhere and try again.

"I-Is she gone?"

After feeling her foot connect with the semi's driver, Kira took a quick glance down the length of her body. The sight of a second person sailing through the air along with who she presumed to be the driver just before they fell out of her line of sight did give her some pause, but as the semi was still barreling out of control, all she could do for him was shout a quick "Sorry!" as she righted herself in the driver's seat. Taking the wheel, she did her utmost to keep the semi moving in a straight line as the lack of a foot on the gas brought it to a slow halt.

And with the semi halted, Kira let out a breath and closed her eyes. A throbbing pain spread from her shoulder stump as the adrenaline wore off, and fatigue began to overtake her.

Sorry, I think you guys are gonna' have ta' take care of the rest, Kira said inwardly, taking some breaths to try to calm the heavy beating of her heart.

It was at that moment she heard a huge clatter from outside the truck - the sound of the light post lancing through the palemancer and into the ground. She opened her eyes and turned toward the driver side door, and leaned out to survey the state of things. The cultists had all apparently left at some point, as had all the homeless people by then. There was no sign of the jackass that took her arm off, so someone must have dealt with him at some point. And the last undead monster, by the look of things, had just been taken out. Kira let out a heavy sigh and turned to face forward in the driver's seat.

...Yeah, no, fuck this shit. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and, with a bit of struggle due to not having her dominant hand, deleted the Shimr app from her phone. I got ways I can help people that don't involve losin' arms and philosophical debates with terrorists. Leave that shit to Raiden Metal Gear.

With that done, she shuffled herself across to the passenger's seat, then out of the semi entirely. While making sure nobody could see her, she left her Esper form. It didn't actually change her appearance, but she knew the magic mumbo-jumbo that governed how this stuff worked usually prevented people from recognizing her if they'd only seen her in Esper form to begin with. Having made her decision, and seen through what she'd started, she slunk away from the scene.

Never to be seen off-stage again.

From his spot on the second floor, Spades glanced down at Angel. Incredulous. "Hah! I'm more surprised ya' let Blueberry spare my ass." With the hall quieted to a dead literally silence, they could hear each other clearly. "Can't promise you anything, doll. I'm just a man tryina' make a living in this shitheap. No more, no less. But you've got my respect. If you need a bit of extra muscle, I'm willing to oblige."

A life for a life, after all.

"No shit?" The floating redhead quirked an intrigued eyebrow at the sharply-dressed mobster's surprisingly candid answer. Had he given her some spiel along the lines of being incredibly sorry for his actions or that he'd definitely change for the better, which might or might not accompanied by crocodile tears, she'd have immediately called out the BS, preferably by laughing into his face, but nope, the man had no delusions about his motivations. "Hey, can't say I agree with your methods, working with literal aliens against your own kind and all that, but I appreciate the honesty."

Angel then rubbed her chin, musing, "You're a good shot tho, regardless of your... questionable allegiance, so if an opportunity opens up for you to use that talent defending humanity and getting paid good while doing it, you'd take that, yeah?" It was a rhetorical question, Spades didn't look like the type to prefer spending time rotting in a jail cell over dangerous field work, "I can't promise anything either, but I'll at least put up a good word about you to the head honcho." Hey, Dr. Fritz wasn't exactly brimming with spare agents at the moment, right? So maybe...

"Oh?" Then, an intercom from one of her squadmates interrupted her train of thoughts, Well, I'll be damned, Cabbage is still kickin', heh, should've known, tigers aren't exactly fond of veggies, weres or otherwise. Welp, between Binky and the hostages, looks like that should be a wrap, "Good news, Ken," He called her 'doll' so... "Looks like you'll get your verdict sooner than later, better nail your first impression to the boss if you know what's good for ya, hehe~"

@Majora @BrokenPromise @ERode @Ponn

Despite her well-founded concerns that they might still encounter a trap or ambush at any moment, to Ashley’s considerable astonishment, no further opposition was forthcoming. In short order, Estelle had located and retrieved Binky’s grimoire, the prisoners had been freed, and the whole group had returned to the surface, where Ellie and called-in cleanup units were waiting to meet them. Of course, there was always the possibility that some of the imprisoned civilians were secretly weretigers, but a quick scan by the ever-useful Estelle proved that they were all just as human as they appeared. Still, Ashley couldn’t help but feel that things had gone a bit too easily. They had been expecting heavy resistance, after all, and she didn’t think a pair of weretigers and a few mundane guards fit that description. As she returned to the team’s van after turning things over to the cleanup crew, the Knight of Tomorrow only hoped that something important hadn’t been overlooked…

---

@FamishedPants@BrokenPromise@The World@TaintedMushroom

Himiko stood her ground, even with the blade of Oros sword being a few inches from her nose. She could tell by the way that Oros spoke and her posture that she wasn’t going to become violent. Even so, she still felt a sense of uneasiness having a weapon waved in her face. Himiko could tell right away that Oros was the type to strike right off the bat if she was going to strike at all. Keeping her arms crossed over her chest, as she listened quietly to what madness Oros had to share. Letting the insults and other crude language go for the time being. Focusing more on the important details amidst her mad words.

Golden eyes lighting up at Oro’s last remark about about 'Oros', she couldn’t help but to let out a small laugh of her own. “Careful now, it might not be wise if you start talking about it out loud and in public so clumsily, the others will overhear, after all they are always watching… so it may be shrewd of us to avoid such a joyful little topic,but if it's Mika Fang you are wanting, I’m sure that can be arranged with great swiftness, with both of our desires satisfied and conquered in the process” Reaching a hand up to rub her own chin in thought as the mad esper took her leave, she felt a sense of relief. Her own ambitions and greed growing in the process. Himiko had not heard of Mika Fang, but if Oros was interested in her she had no choice in hunting her down. Hopefully she wouldn’t prove to be too difficult to locate, but Himiko was sure she’d be able to find her once she started to search through her sources.

But what Oros had said and wanted had to wait for the time being. Himiko had more important things to tend to that required her more immediate attention. Her golden eyes drifted down towards Finn as she turned to approach him. Feeling like she had hit the jackpot multiple times today. Figuring that she'd be able to get something else that was just as juicy as that comic that Noble Spark had promised her. Crouching down by his side as she started to rustle around in his pockets while he was still out of it. Digging out his phone, a silver pocket watch that was near his side, wallet, gun, medkit and a puppet as she examined each item as she pulled it free from his pocket. setting aside the gun, medkit, phone and the puppet as she turned her focus to the wallet in particular.

Cracking it open as she shuffled through its contents with great glee. "Damn this kid is loaded....this is the best day ever.." Her eyes full of greedy joy as she admired its contents. Only to be interrupted by Finn's voice as he finally sat up and spoke. Himiko, still being crouched next to him, turned her head towards him as she took a finger and booped Finn on the nose. "Of course she is gone, if she was still here you wouldn't be able to feel what I just did, but glad to see you are still alive, looks like you had a fun little nightmare” Himiko answered before giving him a closer look. Her eyes brightened up as she smiled beneath her mask.

“Oh my my, aren't you as cute as a button...She did a real number on you, you must have done something to really piss her off, but worry not, I drove her off, while you were unconscious I decided to secure your belongings...so here take this I can tell it's more important than the other stuff" Tossing him his silver pocket watch, still clutching the wallet in her greedy little grasp.

"So....since I kinda saved your life and all, you wouldn't mind giving me something of value in return would you? I think it is only fair…after all that Oros is a real dangerous one” Trying to sweet talk him into rewarding her with something of value. Even though she hadn’t done all that much but spoke with Oros. Finn didn’t need to know the real details of their encounter. All he needed to know was that he was still alive, and that Himiko was here by his side in the aftermath.

A thought came to her as she glanced back down at his wallet. “Well, there is also something else you might be able to help me with, I’m actually looking for someone, someone that maybe you know….oh wait how rude of me, I haven’t even introduced myself, even after going through all of your belongings and learning a fair bit about you in the process, you can call me Sovereign, and as you have likely surmised by now I'm a freelancer, now back on point to the real question, you wouldn't happen to know someone named Mika Fang would you, and if so, how I would be able to get in touch with them?" Himiko questioned as she figured it was worth a try. As he seemed like the type that might have an idea of who Oros was looking for. Especially since she had gone through the effort of scattering him across the ground like a broken puppet.

Honestly, it was a pretty good ending for all involved. Spades somehow managed to get friendly with Angel, all the Weretigers were taken care of, the casino will probably be closed for the forseeable future, the human-trafficking victims were all safely secured, and now, the ace of the GEMINI branch in Pax Septimus was back in action.

Which was kinda weird, because while Estelle certainly wasn't a pessimist, she hadn't really expected Binky to just be...alright. What was the point of kidnapping and holding her there, if they didn't have a single underground guard? Were they just really lucky, having come in at a time when the casinos were lightly staffed? Why was the grimoire just lying in that locker there, rather than having been tossed somewhere like, oh she didn't know, the bottom of the ocean? Why was Binky even alive, if she was so scary to begin with?

"Huh."

Then, the biggest oddpoint stuck out, as she turned to her fellow operators.

"Tony's still at large, isn't he? Wonder where'd be more important than like, guarding Binky."

Shit! Marrie found herself entangled with what she hoped was a Freelancer before she could even attack the monster. Fallen on the ground, she looked up to watch as the mantis was impaled by a lamppost. Finally, some good fucking food a Freelancer she could trust to kill something. As she untangled herself and stood up, she had a realization. Had she even met any other Freelancers who didn't leave right away when in danger, other than Pac and that Bates guy? Was Pac even a Freelancer? She couldn't remember. She shook herself out of her thoughts to find that she had been standing still in confusion. Looking around showed that the semi had stopped and the fight was over.

The thoughts of what had happened today began to creep their way back into her mind, forcing her to shove them out once again. It wasn't quite over yet since the water hadn't been delivered. She headed over to the semi only to find that nobody was there. Hadn't another esper gotten control of it? She didn't know who or where they went but she silently thanked them nonetheless.

She gave the water a quick once-over and took a picture of it, sending it to the job poster, along with a message.

-Hey. So the water's been recovered, but it's not going anywhere anytime soon. The tires are shot, and it'd be smart to bring someone who can purify the water since the guy who had it last mentioned doing something to it.
-...
-Also probably someone who can take care of some people who died. This whole thing was a mess.

With that hopefully sufficient, she leaned against the trailer and closed her eyes. She'd be having nightmares about today, she knew.

Bardo was damn sure it was all about to end. Blindly running about in the dark like a fool he'd collided with someone, a friendly he'd surmised from the fact that they'd not taken the opportunity to strike him down there. But in that moment of folly the creature closed the gap and had stood poised to bring them both to a gristly end. And then, suddenly and unexpectedly, the light pole from before impaled the beast straight through center mass.

Bardo couldn't believe his eyes, his fortune, or even reality at that moment. He couldn't really form much of a coherent thought as the other Esper extricated themselves from the tangled mess they'd become and departed. Bardo had no idea who it even was, not that it mattered in the moment. His eyes were glued to the dying creature and the light pole that had brought about it's fate. It wasn't how he'd planned on using it but it had worked in the end, perhaps slowing down the action next time would yield better results.

Bardo took a deep breath and as he exhaled it felt almost as if his entire body deflated. The mental toll suddenly crept in as the events played themselves on repeat in Bardo's mind. Momentarily he curled up, trying to take a few breaths to keep himself under control. Bardo was way over his head, this shit was crazy. But what could he do? Options were very limited at the moment, and the mission had been a success right?

Bardo suddenly remembered the water and the damage he'd caused to the trailer that had contained it. This sudden realization drove him to his feet in a rush. A quick survey of the area revealed the truck and the esper from before leaned against the trailer with her eyes closed. Bardo wasted no time, choosing to jog in order to reach the trailer quicker.

"HEY! How's the water! Did we save it all?!" He asked rapidly, barely taking a moment to breath after jogging over.

Mika did little to engage with the others. Even though the mission wasn’t over, a sense of calm was starting to lower over everyone. This was especially evident (to Mika) when Estelle pointed out that Tony was at large somewhere.

"’Why would a bad guy like Tony be guarding Binky?” She rapped on the concrete wall of the underground prison. "’The only place out of here is that elevator. If I was Tony, I’d have everyone wait and have the elevator explode when we were inside it. Waiting down here like a video game boss would have been totally stupid.”

With a huff, Mika walked to the back of the room and wandered inside one of the prison cells. It had been open, but visibility to the rest of the group was limited. Once she confirmed no one was watching her, Mika covered her face and leaned into the wall. Her entire body trembled as she slid into a sitting position.All the blood that had soaked into her dress was smeared on the wall. She wanted to scream, but she restricted her voice to a whimper. She pulled back her hands to look at them, and they were covered in blood. No doubt some had gotten on her face, but there was nothing to wipe off on. She was a mess, and would need to take a shower when she got back. Regardless of how clean her normal form was. With a groan, Mika stood up and raked her claws against the wall.

"’Yea.” Mika mumbled the words. "’It doesn’t look like there’s any other way out of here. Are we ready to go?.”

---

_{@Ponn@ERode@Izurich}

…

…

…

Elise stayed behind a bit longer to watch the agents leave, lingering in the front doorway. Hopefully she’ll be able to salvage a few things here and there and scram before Tony decides to check in on the place. Not like she was concerned about what happens next after tonight.

After all, he wasn’t who she really worked for.

”...Are you sure it’s okay to just…let them have her like that?”

…

”Yeah I know, but we could’ve put more effort into this shit than that. Tony’s not gonna be happy they took the other captives with. Not to mention they took the hired gun into custody.”

…

”Right. Did I really have to play the damsel card though? Getting bitten by hand-wolves isn’t what I had in mind for a night out.”

…

”Understood. But next time, I’m kicking his ass.”

---

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

After looking over the truck’s shipment, Marrie could verify that only a small number of cases had been tainted by the palemaster’s influence. At least, that had to be why only a few bottles looked foggy and opaque. It didn’t take long for Marrie to get a private response back.

Thank you for the update. We have a team on standby to recover the truck and do any necessary clean up. Just stay in the area so that you can get paid and put in a report when we drop by.

Further away, and without warning, a snake dove out of the darkness and bit one of Himiko’s arms. Its rows of serrated teeth cut through it instantly, before the snake buried itself in the parking lot. Himiko’s arm hit the pavement afterwards.

”Oops! I missed! I’d better get out of here before she kicks my ass! Again!”

---

”So.“ Fritzi paced back and forth in front of Finn, who was anxiously avoiding eye contact with her. ”I gave you some time off, but apparently you love being an esper so much that you decided to join some random freelancers.“ Fritzi grabbed the collar of her lab coat and tugged on it. ”I am a doctor, you know? If I give you time off, it’s not to be used, well, ‘being on.’ Do I need to prescribe you some Ritalin? I was hoping it wouldn’t come to that.“ She placed her hands on her hips. ”And that was before we realized Oros had it out for you. Why were you out there?“

Finn flinched, straightening up in a snap. ”I-I’m fine, really! I’m so sorry, I was going back home but t-they needed the help! I didn’t even know Oros had been involved, much less that she had gathered her own followers!” He tried to explain himself to her.

”Quite frankly, I would be surprised if she didn’t have so many followers. This city is not well, Finn, that’s why we’re here.“ She leaned in. ”But that’s also why we can’t afford any more casualties. We were fortunate that Breacher’s grimoire responded to Cerberus the way it did. But I’m not so sure we’ll be so lucky with you. That said, I doubt your sister would consider herself very lucky if she got wrapped up in this because you got yourself killed.“ Fritzi placed a hand over her face. ”Did Faith not make it clear how volatile your situation is?“

The boy’s eyes widened.

_{”S-Situation…?”}

Fritzi slowly spread her fingers until she could see through them. ”Your curse? You know, you fell unconscious in the arcade and there was sand everywhere? That doesn’t happen to normal people I assure you. It was a curse.“ When Finn continued to give her a dumbfounded look, she lowered her hand. ”We recovered Binky recently. That was a very important operation. I would have included you in the squad if I thought you were fit for combat. It’s infected both your true and esper forms, that’s why-“ Her arms swung at her side. ”That fairy really- Well okay, I’ll have to talk to Faith about relaying information later.“ Fritzi tapped her foot. ”Finn, something has control of your mind. It’s in your subconscious, and we’re not sure exactly how it operates. It’s comparable to a dark blessing, and we can’t just blast it out of you.“ She sighed. ”I don’t even know what triggers it. It happened to you in an arcade, and again when Oros cut your legs off. Is it adrenaline? Hypothetical question, don’t answer that. But.“ She folded her hands together. ”Do you remember anything? Like a tingling sensation, a vision? Maybe a weird dream?“

Christ, that was a lot to take in. With a shaky breath, Finn did his best to explain:

”Besides the sand? Vivid dreams. To the point where I swear I could’ve died if I didn’t wake up. A-And I think… I think I’ve been seeing things, stalking me. Ever since I took that job at Dante’s, that thing that damn succubus summoned in her little dream world’s been haunting me ever since. I tried to tell Ashley about it, but not even I knew what it was. Or this…” He deeply frowned, hugging himself tightly. To think he’d somehow ended up in a situation that not even his employers could easily help with. ”I’ve been meaning to go back to investigate the diner, but I haven't had the time. I-I don’t even know if it’s all in my head or if something’s after me.”

Fritzi held her chin. ”Could be a coincidence, could be something else. A succubus is a curious threat to encounter before experiencing dreams and hallucinations.“ With a click of her tongue, she straightened her posture. ”It’s worth looking into. But I don’t want you going back there yourself. Who knows what will happen if you go back there by yourself. I’ll set up an operation and we can see if there’s anything that can be learned. I will have to keep you in the dark about some details. If someone is projecting illusions and dreams on you, they might be aware of everything you do.“ Fritzi turned to walk back into her office when she stopped and spun around again. ”Unrelated, but you’re still interested in learning about ‘other worlds’ and such, right?“

Finn glanced back up at her with a nod. ”Mhm.”

Fritzi pointed at a door beside her office. ”Someone decided to stop by. We’re still in the process of getting her acclimated, so try to ask too many silly questions. Otherwise, I think you’ll find her rather interesting.“

It wasn’t like Finn had anything else to do right now. He entered the room without expectations. By now he knew that Fritzi loved her theatrics, but there wasn’t anything too unusual here. It was just a small office space furnished with some plants and an overhead fluorescent light. There were only two chairs, one of which was occupied by a smaller woman donning a coat similar to Fritzi’s. She didn’t look up when Finn entered, and seemed to be playing around with a tablet.

”Oh my, that’s certainly-” She fretted her brow. ”Why does the UI need to change after every update?” At last, she looked up at Finn. ”Ah, Finn, right? Fritzi told me a little bit about you.” She set the tablet aside. ”You have an interest in other worlds? What sparked your interest in that? Is it just a passing curiosity, or were you hoping to meet other versions of yourself in far off dimensions?”

The boy sat down in the other chair. ”Well, uhm, I had an interesting encounter with someone who explained to me about… ‘Reality Plenums’, if I remember what he called them correctly? He made this machine called the Syllogismobile to traverse across the multiverse, but he hadn’t been able to master inter-reality travel entirely yet since he’s been struggling to return home.” Finn explained. ”I’ve been considering a device of my own since then, but preferably in a more compact form than a whole vehicle, yeah?”

”A Syllogismobile, you say?” She grinned. ”Wouldn’t that be a little parbaked without a proper flux capacitor?” The scientist placed a hand on her chest. ”My name is Doctor Webber, but you may call me Sharr. I was a close friend of Doctor Muller a long time ago. We did a lot of research together, primarily on what might lay beyond the elemental chaos. Since then I’d been abducted by Oros the Mad and went on a tour around the country. I had expected a warmer welcome, but it seems like she doesn’t fully trust me yet.” She leaned forwards. ”I thought you might be interested in what lay beyond the elemental chaos as well, but I can’t tell if you’re pulling my leg or not. A Syllogismobile? What child’s show did that appear on?”

”How old do you think I am??” Finn rose a brow at the jab. ”If you had already been looking into what’s beyond our realm of comprehension, I would’ve figured you’d already be aware of the possibility of denizens from alternative realities trying to travel through it themselves. We wouldn’t exactly be the first to achieve such a feat, by that logic, but having an easy way to cross through would help push our research further wouldn’t it?” He lightly kicked his legs back and forth. ”Been thinking since monsters from the Elemental Chaos are led here by the overflux of mana, that there could be a way we can harness it in a similar manner. Kinda like how grimoires work. But at the same time I don’t really know how the things are made, much less if it’s possible to replicate or whatever else. Though, from how you talk about this…” Finn glanced back at Sharr. ”You know more than you let on.”

Sharr blinked. ”You had all that to say, and you still chose to open with a Syllogismobile?”

”I’m not the one who named the damn thing.” He tiredly retorted. ”If I did, I’d probably just shorten it to something like, the Syllogis. Same derivation from Syllogism, just a bit more to the point.”

”If it wasn’t apparent, I don’t know anything about this Syllogismobile. It’s not a term I’m familiar with. But I’m fine moving the conversation past it.” Sharr leaned back in her chair. ”As you’ve pointed out, monsters have been coming to our world for a long time. While Gemini isn’t known for showing monsters much hospitality, we did attempt to talk to them about it. The issue is that nothing they say lines up very neatly. They all come from somewhere else, but there are too many different ways for them to get here. Many traverse the elemental chaos like it was just a hike, others use powerful rituals, a few even use vehicles to get here. Perhaps this Syllogismobile is an example of such a device. But we haven’t had a lot of luck communicating with monsters in the past. Even recovering the vehicles does not provide us with much. They are often made of materials not found in our world. We can’t even use them because while they can safely transport a monster, they do not offer humans the protection they need. Replicating their rituals is something else that has eaten through a lot of tax dollars without yielding much in return. Magic is a very volatile thing, but it’s easy to forget that when a grimoire is doing all the work for you.” She raised her finger. ”There’s only one human who has ever safely traversed the elemental chaos, and that’s Oros the Mad.”

”Okay, yeah, I am not going to the woman that sliced my legs off.” Finn quickly knocked that idea out. ”And after the Holy Diver I doubt it’d be easy to even find a monster, much less one willing to hear us out.”

But then again, Amanda and Cherno…Baphomet? Cherno-Baph, seem chill with me. Maybe they can help?

Finn crossed his arms in thought. ”Still, if anything, I can try and toss my hat in if I’m lucky enough to cross paths with one.”

”There’s no need for you to consult anyone, especially Oros. As I’ve mentioned, I’ve been with her for some time and was able to witness her traverse the elemental chaos. She used a ritual, but it’s not something I could easily replicate or that she would willingly do for me. Especially now that I’ve returned to Gemini.” Sharr propped up her head with her arm. ”I find it a lot more interesting that Gemini’s current poster boy knows someone with a ‘Syllogismobile’. They wouldn’t happen to be a monster, would they?”

”Uhm… I guess a sharply dressed talking dog counts as one? He had a monocle. But he left as quick as he appeared.” Unfortunately.

”That does sound like a monster, but I suspect their contraption wasn’t fit for human use anyway. But I believe you said you wanted to make a more compact version? How would you do that without having the original version to study?”

Finn’s eyes widened.

”I-I hadn’t… _{thought about that…}”

”You asked me what I thought your age was. I do not think you would be flattered by the answer.” After looking smug for a bit, Sharr sighed. ”If you’re interested in seeing other worlds, that’s certainly something we can work towards. It won’t be easy though. You’ll probably need to spend a lot more time here. I’m sure Fritzi can come up with an excuse that will satisfy your care takers. But is that what you want? Are you willing to leave what little of your old life you have behind to pursue such a goal?”

”I don’t exactly have much to lose in the first place…” The only thing he was concerned about was juggling school and work. Lydia might catch wind of something amiss, but she was almost as busy as their parents. ”How long do I have to think it over?”

”The question was hypothetical. Naturally, Fritzi is skeptical about letting me go right back to work. While Oros did abduct me, I’ve been traveling with her for some time. It’s reasonable to question my allegiance after such a long time. But Gemini needs espers, and I don’t see her holding out on me forever.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out a closed fist. ”I did enjoy our little chat. I’d like you to have something. A token of a budding friendship, perhaps?” She presented her hand to Finn. When she opened it, there was a pocket watch in her hand. There was something alluring and frightening about its aura. The gothic clock face was like his own grimoire, but the watch was made from a very dark steel. It was almost black.

”Wh-What is this?” Finn carefully took the watch from Sharr’s hand, inspecting it more closely.

”I call it the Black Swallowtail. At a glance, it looks like a normal, if well made, pocket watch. Surely you can sense it’s not an everyday item? If you’ve been doing the esper thing long enough, you may be fortunate enough to find someone willing to share a small portion of their power with you. And, well, that’s exactly what that is.” Sharr folded her hands together. ”A special boy deserves a special gift. It took me some time to make, so I do hope you can go a few operations without using it.” She laughed. ”Ahh, but when faced with ultimate despair, don’t hesitate to use it. If my gift saves your life, I won’t mind that you used it.”

Finn blinked in surprise. ”Well, u-uhm, I don’t know what to say! Th-Thank you, I guess!” He pocketed the watch. ”I’ll try my best to save it as long as possible!”

”As you should.” Sharr chuckled. ”Ahh, but enough discussing business. How has your tuition been? Surely being an esper is no reason to skip one’s studies?”

---

Things were relatively quiet in Pax for a time. It had been a few days since Binky was recovered, and Fritzi already had her hard at work. She was in Fritzi’s office arranging documents and evaluating reports about the stolen semi that the freelancers recovered.

Fritzi herself had locked herself in a room with Sharr and was pressing her for questions. Anything GEMINI could learn about the Elemental Chaos could be used to fight monsters, or perhaps even keep them out of their world. Though anyone who knew Fritzi for any length of time could likely tell she didn’t fully trust her old colleague.

Faith was around. Somewhere. Mika probably was too, and Fritzi had mentioned Betty was healthy enough to have her vampirism cured today.

The GEMINI agents were on standby for the moment. Fritzi was going to give them all a briefing, which should commence before long. Until then, they had time to talk amongst themselves or find other ways to entertain themselves. There was a ping-pong table in the break room and a copious amount of magazines ranging from modern science to beauty and even paranormal topics.

---

Espers come in all ages, from teenagers to elders. As a result, any hangout where Freelancers congregated needed to appeal to all age groups. That meant no teenage hangouts and no strip clubs. But for their diversity, the Freelancers always had a habit of copying what the most successful of their lot did. Because Elroy frequently visited the Great Escape, that was where everyone else went as well. It had an old vintage aesthetic, and sold every meal under the sun. They were also known for having really good ice cream. But the reason why Elroy and Co came here was because they served good orange juice. Elroy’s love for the stuff was legendary, to the point where Freelancers will say a place “serves good orange juice” if it’s a Freelance hangout.

There were quite a few espers hanging out here already. Elroy was seated at a table by himself, though he seemed like he was trying to ignore some bickering between his sister and someone with a bunny puppet on their hand. There was also a nun sitting in the corner of the place. She had one leg folded over the other, and her habit was just tall enough to be seen over the newspaper she was reading.

The days following Binky’s recovery had been a whirlwind of activity. In addition to the expected debriefings, training sessions, and patrols, a second abducted G.E.M.I.N.I. researcher, one Doctor Webber, had also returned to the fold, a development which had captured Dr. Moller’s near constant attention. Indeed, it had nearly prevented Ashley from speaking to the director about potentially initiating a Freelancer outreach program as a way of possibly aiding in recruitment, an urgent necessity in Ashley’s eyes, especially in light of how woefully understaffed the Pax Septimus branch currently was. Thankfully, she had managed to secure just enough of Dr. Moller’s precious time to receive approval for the project, and the subsequent trial run had been rather promising, as had her efforts to unlock more of her Grimoire’s power. In particular, she had discovered its ability to tap into a hitherto unknown energy source, enabling her to use less mana when employing melodies. Thus, when Dr. Moller announced that she would be holding an important briefing for all active agents, Ashely couldn’t help but feel a sense of optimism at what would be discussed. Yes, she reflected as she stepped out of her apartment, things were really starting to improve in a meaningful way.

“Hi, Ashley!” a chipper, if rather nasally voice called as soon as she had closed her door.

“Oh, hello, Olivia,” Ashley replied with a smile at the sight of her scrawny, bespectacled neighbor. “How has your, um, field trip been going?”

“It’s been going great so far!” Olivia revealed, her azure eyes seeming to sparkle with excitement. “I’ve been seeing so much of the city, and learning a lot about its history, too!” she explained. “There’s this really beautiful library in the historic district that didn’t really suffer too much damage during the hurricane, and they had so many fascinating books on the city! Oh! And then there was this really cool bookshop run by this funny old man in a wizard’s outfit! Or maybe he was a magus? Or perhaps a sorcerer…? Anyways, he was super helpful! He told me all about a bunch of local myths and monsters! I was really hoping to see one, but the only exciting thing that happened was when these two guys in robes tried to get me to be a sacrifice in this ritual they were planning. It’s okay, though!” she hastened to add upon seeing the horrified look on Ashley’s face. “I told them that they could see an eldritch creature without having to sacrifice anyone, and then I showed them Xolys! And then they both ran away screaming... I really don’t know why so many people have that reaction…” she added with a puzzled frown.

“U-Um, that’s… Q-Quite the story…” Ashley mumbled, still in a bit of a daze after listening to Olivia’s bizarre ramblings.

Who even is this girl… she wondered. And who or what is Xolys? At first I thought he was just an imaginary friend, but now…

“U-Um, Olivia?” Ashley asked tentatively, her voice lowered to little more than a whisper. “Are you an esper?”

“No, I’m not,” Olivia replied with a shake of her head. “I’ve heard that term a few times since coming here, but I don’t really know what it means. Why do you ask?”

“W-Well, because espers are people with extraordinary powers,” Ashley explained. “And I was wondering if you, or perhaps your friend Xolys, might possibly be one.”

“Oh, I see!” Olivia said with an excited nod. “That sounds extremely fascinating! I guess they’re like this place’s version of Magical Girls, then, huh?!”

“U-Um, yes, I-I suppose you could say that…” Ashley replied cautiously.

Magical Girls…? I can’t tell if this girl just has an overactive imagination, or if she’s actually being serious…

“Oh wow!” Olivia gushed. “In that case, I really hope I can meet one!”

“I-I wouldn’t be too eager for that, Olivia,” Ashley cautioned. “Espers can be very dangerous, and usually only appear in response to equally dangerous situations, so I wouldn’t advise seeking them out, even with your friend Xolys to protect you.”

“Oh, don’t worry!” Olivia reassured her with an amused giggle/snort. “Darling Xolys always keeps me safe!”

“Okay, well, in that case, good luck, I guess,” Ashley bid her exceedingly odd neighbor with a departing wave as she headed for the stairs.

“Thanks, Ashley!” Olivia called. “See you later!”

What a strange girl…

---

Upon arriving at GEMINI HQ, Ashley found only two of her fellow agents waiting for her in the break room. Even as she greeted Finn and Estelle with a polite and gentle smile, she couldn’t help but notice how the virtually empty room threw their distressing personnel shortage into sharp relief. Mika was probably around somewhere, but the girl’s pronounced anti-social tendencies were beginning to worry Ashley. Binky and the other researchers were busy working away as usual, but Ellie was suspiciously MIA, a fact that didn’t exactly bode well for an organization tasked with protecting a city as large as Pax Septimus.

“How have things been going, Finn?” she asked the branch’s youngest agent in an amiable voice, before switching to a more subdued tone. “Have you made any progress on your… investigation?”

Finn didn’t have a chance to respond before Fritzi came back into the room. She wasn’t an easy person to read, but it was clear she had been in high spirits. She looked at the espers present and nodded slowly.

”There’s been a development.” Her smile didn’t waver for a moment. ”Cerberus encountered an interesting individual on her morning patrol. She wanted to interrogate them. I gave her the go ahead.” The corners of her lips twitched. ”I make mistakes sometimes. Anyway, Binky has the situation under control, but it might be nice to have someone a little less emotionally charged just in case.” While she spoke to everyone, her eyes seemed to be resting on Ashley. ”Also, Betty’s fully recovered, and we’ve since administered a cure for her vampirism. She might be a little out of it, but she’s down the hall with Faith. Don’t be long if you choose to see her.” This time her eyes rested on Finn, and she winked? ”Bring Mika back with you. I’ll be setting things up for the briefing when you return.”

---

”I just don’t understand the big deal.“ Regina placed a hand on her hip. ”What’s so important about your distinction as a demiboy? There are only two genders, so-“

”NO!“ Mary proclaimed. Regina only laughed, but she continued. ”First of all, people can be born intersex.“

”Are you intersex?“

”I’m not finished. Secondly, it’s just rude to call someone something that they don’t want to be called! You wouldn’t like it if I called you a guy, would you?“

”Interesting example. In order for me to not like being called something, I have to care enough about the person saying it. And in your case, I don’t care about anything you say!“

Elroy only sighed as the “disagreement” continued behind his head. The nun lowered her newspaper to look across the tables at him. ”The kids are misbehaving again?”

Elroy gave the nun a nod and a smile before looking ahead. He really just wanted to talk with the espers about the water truck incident, but none of the Freelancers on that operation were coming in. Pac wanted to grab one of them for an interview, and Elroy had some questions about the homeless.

”Slow day.“

The doors to the Great Escape swung open, and the silhouette that came through was almost as big as the doorway itself. His steps sounded like far off thunder, and the cross on his chest glinted in the interior lighting. As he came into view, his attire was a combination of a catholic priest’s vestments and a knight’s armor. His gauntlets were massive and swung with every step. Other espers slid their seats in as to not get in the man’s way. Behind his aviator sunglasses was a piercing gaze, and nobody wanted to be in the way. Once he got to Elroy’s table, he placed a hand on one of the seats.

”May I?” As soon as Elroy nodded, the man took a seat. He had to turn the chair sideways to avoid hitting it with the massive cross on his back. Elroy was known as the immortal volcano, but the man before him was a true mountain. Compared to that, he looked more like a child’s science experiment. But he wasn’t intimidated.

”Raphael the Righteous Hearted?“ With a shrug, a grin crossed the esper’s face. ”Does that mean the inquisition is getting involved with Pax?“

”Not yet.” Raphael Placed an arm over the back of the chair. ”I was contacted by a freelancer and told that Patricia was in danger. Once I confirmed that the rumor was true, I made my way here as fast as I could.”

Elroy looked to the nun, but she was turned the other way now, with the back of her head pointed towards Elroy. He shrugged before addressing the newly arrived. ”Welp, thanks for coming, but we managed to recover her. Trisha is safe now.“

Raphael tipped his head. ”I was not under the impression that the city was safe yet.”

”Ah, well-“

Mary raised her voice. ”And I’m just saying a cisnormative hetronormative white supremacist patriarchal society oppresses everyone! As a woman you should be able to see that!“

”Who even talks like that!?“ Regina managed to wheeze her words through her laughter.

Elroy scratched the back of his head. ”I imagine you have strong feelings about America’s culture war.“

”I do.” Raphael confessed. ”But now is not the time to discuss it. Where is Marrie Knight?”

@FamishedPants@BrokenPromise@The World@TaintedMushroom@Majora@Erode@Ponn

It was not easy for Freelancers and GEMINI agents to encounter each other in the wild. GEMINI HQ was well hidden, and the espers within seldom interacted with Freelancers. But GEMINI operatives did have a number of responsibilities, such as going on monster hunting patrols. It wasn’t exhilarating work. Few monsters wanted the attention of GEMINI, especially if they were acting alone. But ambushes were always possible, so a patrolling agent would always need to be on their toes.

Though Mika wasn’t too worried. If she failed to notice something, her magic would save her so long as she wasn’t being too reckless. The idea of walking around a cursed city by herself didn’t bother her at all. If anything, she was hoping something would try and stop her. But as the case was yesterday and the day before, the monsters seemed to be hiding. Though Mika could feel someone’s eyes on her. Someone was nearby…

Meanwhile, Himiko perched on the ledge of a windowsill of one of the many ruined buildings waiting patiently for the expected arrival of her furry little GEMINI agent. Letting the nice breeze blow through her long golden locks as she enjoyed her current peace and quiet. Himiko took the time to check her phone as she scrolled through a list of information she had taken down from her conversation with Finn. Which gave her a rough idea of where she should search if she was going to find Mika Fang. Though she appreciated the information Finn had given to her, she appreciated the cash that he paid her even more, having split his wallets contents with her 50-50.

Lost in a day dream about her recent additions to her stocks, with the comic book from Noble Spark that she still needed to collect on, and the cash from Finn. It had been an eventful but rewarding operation. It was only the sight of someone down below walking through the cursed city that snapped her out of her fantasy. “Ahh that must be the little kitty cat that I’m after, unless that cute little button led me astray…” Knowing from her notes, that this individual seemed to be fitting the description that she was able to gather from Finn. “Hey you!, up here!” Himiko called out to Mika as she leapt from her windowsill to the ground below to greet her, taking position in front of her current patrol route.

The cat girl’s eyes followed the masked esper as she descended to the ground. "This isn’t an ambush, is it?" She folded her arms. "You’re not supposed to be here. Who are you?"

“Awwwww what's the matter little puddy cat, weren’t expecting company? I guess you could call this a bit of an ambush, though not so sneaky, nor is it to attack. You can call me Sovereign, I was sent to find you by a rather demanding pain in the ass, you know that saying it costs an arm and a leg, well it already cost me an arm, I’m just waiting for the leg” Laughing as her own golden eyes came up to meet Mika’s gaze upon landing.

"I’m not in the mood for jokes." Mika flexed her hands, and the black nails on her fingertips glistened. "How about you start by telling me why you are here? I don’t plan on going anywhere with you."

The glisten of the nails was all Himiko needed to see to know that Mika was agitated. It was typical behavior of a cat after all, though Himiko didn’t feel like finding out how much a scratch would sting. “Oh, not even if I gave you some catnip? Don’t get all hostile now, I can see your fur sticking up like you jammed your tail in a light socket, I told you why I’m here, but if you want the specifics, I’m supposed to take you to St. Bianchi church, though I should have asked at the time why she wanted you at the church, butttttt we can figure that out together, what do ya say?” giving a shrug of her shoulders and spreading her hands out to either side.

Mika lifted an eyebrow. "She? I don’t suppose you can tell me who hired you?"

Letting out a long sigh Himiko relented as she gave a small shake of her head “Well, I suppose you could say she is an acquaintance? family? Though she is quite mad, though you may have heard of her, at least that GEMINI agent that was as cute as a button that I assisted knew who she was, she styles herself under the title of Oros The Mad” Reaching her right hand up to scratch the back of her head knowing that this was likely to be the hardest part of convincing Mika.

"...What?" Mika’s face scrunched up, like someone held a smelly sock in front of her face. "You mean the depraved esper Oros the Mad? And when you said it cost your arm-" Mika ran her hand over her face. "So let me get this straight: You encountered a wanted esper. She cut your arm off and demanded that you take me to St. Bianchi church. And you expect me to just stop what I’m doing and follow you? Even though she could just kill me on the spot?"

Rubbing her chin as she considered Mika’s response, she paused to give a thumbs up and a satisfied nod of her head. “That sounds about right, though the way you say it sounds so much worse when it's spoken out loud, but you have the gist of things, if you are worried about her wanting to kill you, I doubt she would go through the effort of having me come find you, she would come find you herself, as for my arm, she decided to be a real bitch and took it after I already agreed to find you, but hey what can you do, she is the Mad for a reason, so how about it, don’t tell me you are just a scaredy cat, embrace that inner dog that is within all of us, let loose the catdog, I’m sure it will all be fine” taking it all very nonchalant, as if a invitation to meet with someone like Oros the Mad was just a ordinary every day event. Her sole focus remained on what she could potentially gain if she succeeded in convincing Mika to do as Oros had requested.

Mika tried to speak, but the only thing that came out was a sharp gasp. She spent the better part of ten seconds just staring at the woman before shaking the surprise off her face. "I’m not going anywhere with you. Leave,Now!"

Himiko recoiled at the blunt refusal as she tried to think of something quickly on the spot. “Oh come on, don’t be such a pussy cat, I’m sure she just wants to meet with you for something important or to talk about something, I already saw earlier that if she wants to locate you and chop you up into little bits she would have already done it, what if I offer you something to come with me? Like a ball of yarn? Maybe a fresh fish? Some catnip perhaps? Maybe I can put in a good word for you with the ole depraved one in advance, I really can’t leave without bringing you along, I don’t think she will be all that happy with either of us” Himiko tried to reason, putting her hands on her hips as she changed her posturing. She wasn’t about to let Mika slip right off the hook, even if she didn’t want to do things the nice and easy way.

"Well I really can’t leave, period." Mika fished an intercom out of her waistband and held it to the side of her head. "Cerberus reporting. Possible dark web esper sighted. Requesting backup at the west end of Country Boulevard." She didn’t take her eyes off of Himiko as she lowered her intercom. It disappeared into the same space that held the rest of her non-esper items. "It won’t take them long to get here." She raised her nails and assumed a fighting stance. "If you want me, you’re going to have to drag me away!"

Himiko stared at Mika for a moment as she got ready to fight, bringing the palm of her right hand to her forehead as she started to shake her head. “Oh come on, we don’t have to get all hostile and worked up over this do we? Besides I’m not from any dark web, I’m just a run of the mill freelancer, here to convince you to come along with me….do you have to make this harder than it has to be?” searching one of the inner pockets of her long flowing white coat. Finding what she was after as she pulled out a plastic spray bottle filled with water. “I didn’t want to have to use this, but you have left me no choice, bad cat…” pulling the trigger of the spray bottle to squirt a jet of water right into Mika’s face. “If you come with me now, I won’t shoot again and I’ll put it away….” Himiko’s tone shifted, becoming more stern and serious by the minute, even if her actions did not.

"Hngh!" Mika winced as her face was blasted with some mysterious fluid. She swung her hand in retaliation, and her claw cut through the spray bottle. Its contents hadn’t hit the ground before she swung again, and again. Mika roared louder and louder as face glowed red like a dull ember.

In a blink of an eye, Mika had countered before Himiko had a chance to pull the bottle back. Glancing down at the remains of her now worthless squirt bottle Himiko let out a groan “Oh come on, I just bought that earlier today, it was still brand new and cost me like a dollar and you went and ruined it right away!” Complaining about the waste of her new purchase. But with Mika temporarily blinded by the water for the first few swings, Himiko was able to sidestep her onrushing claw meat grinder. Letting the enraged beast pass on by as Himiko jumped off to the side. “Hey now, watch where you are swinging those things, you might hurt someone with those things!” Himiko admonished her as she gave a reluctant shake of her head. “I don’t want to hurt you, but you're not giving me much of a choice, can’t we just talk about this reasonably?” Yanking free one of her golden revolvers from its holster beneath her coat and pulling back the hammer with her thumb, turning it towards Mika hoping it would keep her at bay for a moment. Though it didn’t seem like Mika was the type to solve things with diplomacy. If Mika wanted to handle it in a physical display of force and combat, Himiko would oblige, the sting of the loss of her squirt bottle still in the back of her greed filled mind.

Mika’s vision returned, but not the relative calm she was displaying before. If anything, having a gun aimed at her just made the feline girl that much more determined to fight back. Himiko Didn’t want to kill Mika, but she needed to be subdued, and most people slow down a little bit after they’ve been shot. So that was exactly what she did. Though if Himiko was more aware of Mika’s abilities, she might have known what was going to happen next.

Mika’s form dissipated as soon as Himiko’s bullet tore through it. Before she knew what was happening, the cat girl shoulder tackled her. Himiko fell forward, and Mika grappled one of her arms. Spirit animals flowed out of Mika’s wrists, and Himiko’s arm was pinned to her back by a small gathering of mice. The feline esper reached for Himiko’s other arm.

“Shit, you're agile like a cat, guess those ears and all of that isn’t just for looks! But working with mice? Don’t you know you're supposed to be mortal enemies, haven’t you ever watched Tom and Jerry?!?!” Himiko complained.

"Shut up already!"

Mika’s cat-like agility and her unique ability had taken her by surprise. She should have likely asked Finn more about Mika’s actual capabilities when she had the chance. But in her rush to locate her, she hadn’t paused or stopped to consider it, only the potential reward consuming her thoughts. This situation became far more hairy than she had hoped.

It would be game over if Mika was able to get a hold of her other arm, spreading it as far out to her side as she could manage. She extended an index finger, pointing towards the roof of a nearby abandoned car. Blinking herself out from underneath the feline, and positioning herself on the roof of the car. Quickly realizing the rodents had come with her as she let out an annoyed grunt. Taking her free arm and reaching inside of her jacket to pull free her second revolver. Pointing it at Mika and firing off a couple more rounds aimed for Mika’s legs. “I’m damn lucky that I have two of these things, or else you might’ve had me with these mice! Come on, just come with me before one of us ends up going overboard! But if it's a game of peek-a-boo you want, let's play!” The rounds from her revolver ripped through the air precisely at Mika’s knees. Regardless of how fast Mika was, she couldn’t outrun a bullet. Again, her bullets scattered the feline girl’s ethereal form. This time, Himiko had learned her lesson after her first shot had torn through her dissipated form earlier. Holding a few rounds in reserve, fully expecting Mika to attempt the same trick a second time as she preemptively fired another round off in anticipation of where she thought Mika might end up. Expecting her to reappear closer to Himiko like the first time and aiming the round at a spot just a few feet in front of her hoping to catch the Feline esper as she appeared from her dissipation.

Though as it turned out, Mika hadn’t appeared behind Himiko again. It seemed she was shrewd enough to understand the same trick wouldn’t work more than once. But then where had she gone? There were a number of side streets, other cars, some sparsely populated trees, windows, all good places to hide. That was assuming Mika hadn’t decided to up and run. Regardless, time wasn’t on Himiko’s side. If Mika wasn’t bluffing, there were reinforcements headed this way.

Bewildered when Mika didn’t reappear anywhere within her line of sight. Himiko spun around on her heels, golden eyes quickly scanning the area all around her for any sign of the fluffy feline. “From peek-a-boo to hide-n-seek? Come onnnnnnnn we don’t have time for this, I know you couldn’t have gone too far, here kitttttyyyy kittttyyyyyyy!”

When Mika still didn’t reappear Himiko’s golden eyes narrowed as she had scanned the surrounding area multiple times. Either Mika had run away to escape, or she was hiding somewhere that Himiko wasn’t able to see right now. Her suspicions and weariness grew with each passing second of valuable time that ticked away. There was one final ploy she could try, but it was a desperate one and the chances of it working seemed minimal. She had nothing to lose, but everything to gain by giving it a go “Fine then, don’t come out and play, guess I’ll just have to leave and give up on trying to get you to come with me, Oh well…you did have a chance to capture Oros The Mads little sister, but I have no more time to waste so I’ll be blinking out of here, see you around little puddy!” Making her voice nice and loud as she stomped her feet into the roof of the car to make it sound like she was leaving. When in reality she remained in place atop of the car, waiting to see if her claims or the sound of her earlier stomps had drawn Mika out of her hiding spot.

Stomping around on the roof of a car might have fooled a far off opponent, but the place Mika decided to hide was inside the very vehicle Himiko was standing on. The headliner had rotted out a long time ago, and the metal roof was never designed to hold a person. It was possible to see what direction Himiko was facing based on her shoe’s imprint in the roof. Her lie about Oros’s little sister was equally easy to pick apart. There isn’t a lot known about Oros personal life, but she is something of a traveling nomad. If she had a sister that meant anything to her, they weren’t traveling together. Moreover, Oros was mad. Only the newest espers wouldn’t spot such an obvious lie.. But Mika…

She leaned out of the window and pointed her finger at Himiko. Glowing spirits swirled around her form as she held back her melody. "Keep your gun pointed away from me and you won’t find out what this does!" Mika squinted her eyes. "Tell me everything about this little sister."

Lowering her revolver with a small sigh, Himiko turned her golden eyes upon Mika. A wordless stare followed for a brief moment as Himiko’s eyes didn’t move from Mika, nor did she try to move any other part of her body. “If you wish to find out, then you must make a deal with me, if you come with me willingly to St. Bianchi I’ll tell you everything you wish to know, my goal wasn’t to fight you or try to harm you in any way, but we both can gain something valuable from this arrangement” her tone and posture shifting to a more serious one as she holstered her revolver, keeping the palm of her hand on its handle.

If she could avoid further hostilities she would in a heartbeat. Shifting the ball into Mika’s court, seeing that her words had taken a hold of her curiosity. It was only natural for a cat to have a strong curiosity that was innate within them. Mika appeared to be no different, she just needed the right kind of bait before she would bite. Apply leverage in the right spot and even the most stubborn boulder would budge.

But it had to be the right spot.

Mika’s pupils dilated. "You sprayed me in the face! And when I retaliated, you shot me!" Her voice was straining.

There was no time to respond. A squad of police cars came racing through the boulevard. They swerved around the street to form a barrier before piling out of their cars. A close look at their division badges would reveal that they weren’t regular police. They had an insignia that depicted two eagles, one upside up and the other upside down. They had their talons locked together and wings spread. Their shape was eerily similar to the symbol for the GEMINI horoscope, which was an intentional design choice. They leveled their rifles at Himiko, and one of them pointed a megaphone at her.

”Get down on the ground! Get down on the ground now!”

Himiko’s eyes did not leave Mika, not even when backup arrived, guns drawn, all zeroed in on her. As if they did not even exist at this moment, even with the threat they posed. The loud megaphone didn’t rattle her, or even get her to turn her head or acknowledge them. Her sole concern and focus was on Mika and Mika alone. Removing the palm of her hand from her revolver as she wanted to make it as clear as day that she had no intention of using it again.

“It was only water, more of a prank, one that you took way too seriously, you didn’t have to unsheath those claws of yours and try to shred me to bits, those things are a deadly weapon so it was only right I responded with appropriate force, if you had not escalated it then perhaps things would have went a lot more smooth, now call off your guard dogs so we can settle this properly, or things might get unnecessary complicated” Golden eyes still glued to Mika as Himiko remained calm and collected even with the threat of getting shot or arrested.

"You forgot the part where I told you to back off and you ignored me!" Mika hissed. "Why would I go with you anywhere?"

Her gaze finally breaking away from Mika as she looked up into the sky as she gave a shrug of her shoulders followed by a little laugh. “Well, as I said before if you want to learn about Oros little sister, and more information than anyone has ever likely gotten about Oros past, I will only share that if you cooperate, as I said before I’m not your enemy and if Oros the Mad wished to kill you she would just come do it herself as she has proven before in the past, no….I suspect she has something else in mind, and despite her madness, she can be reasonable if approached the right way….”

The seconds ticked by as Mika kept her finger pointed at Himiko. With a sharp inhale, she stepped backwards. "Then you won’t mind talking with my boss first." She lowered her hand and walked towards the police officers.

”Drop your weapon and get on the ground!” The police officers were becoming more agitated. With Mika distancing herself from the “darkweb esper,” some of them drew shotguns and aimed them down the street.

Disappointment in her eyes and even through her masked face. Shaking her head slowly as she searched the sky for a moment longer. Lowering her head slowly and deliberate towards the feline GEMINI agent. Mulling over her choices, the police officers' weapons and presence doing little to make her rush things. Her eyes returned to Mika, tuning out the other noise and acting as if no one existed in this moment but Himiko and the cat.

“Stubborn, but I s’pose that isn’t too surprising, it keeps cats alive in the wild, it is part of your natural instincts, though if you wish for me to meet with your boss, I’ll only do so under the condition that once the meeting has been finished, you are willing to come with me to St.Bianchi, I’m not going to fight you, I only want one thing and one thing only” Keeping herself atop the roof of the car as she kept her hand away from her weapon in its holster. Showing Mika she had no intentions of shooting at her again, rather than complying with the officers demands.

Mika stopped and looked over her shoulder, barely making eye contact with the freelancer. "Oh I’m Definitely going to St.Bianchi. The only unsettled manner is if you ‘re going to come with me or not."

"Back to the old header for now."

In its efforts to aid “seekers of knowledge” to the fullest extent, Torvald’s Tomes and Trinkets had a rental policy when it came to books. When all the needed knowledge had been gleaned, a “seeker” could return the tome or tomes in question to the shop and allow others to partake of the knowledge held within their (allegedly) ancient pages. Thus it was that a certain young esper entered the quaint little shop to return a handful of manuscripts detailing spirits with powers over dreams…

“Ah ha! We meet again, young seeker!” Torvald greeted with an amiable gleam in his eye. His amusingly archaic outfit and long, white beard might have made him look like a storybook wizard, but if he actually held any mystic power, one could only guess. “I trust these tomes proved most illuminating, yes?” he added as he reached out a wrinkly hand to take back the small stack of books.

”I-I don’t know, not yet at least.” Finn held out the books for the shopkeeper to take. ”Just wanted to make sure I returned these before I forgot.”

“Oh, how kind and considerate!” Torvald commended. “Such splendid manners truly give me hope for the youth of today! Now then,” he added, placing the books behind the curiosity-covered counter. “Did you simply come to return these tomes, or did you plan to linger and infuse your mind with yet more esoteric knowledge?”

Well, he did have a lot more free time while he was on leave. ”Got nothing else planned at the moment.” Finn shrugged in response, moving to browse the shelves. Though his planned meeting with Cherno-Baph was still in his mind, thus he took more interest in grabbing anything pertaining to demonology. Best to brush up on homework beforehand.

As Finn browsed the shelves, one of the shop’s other visitors was making their way down his current aisle, their arms piled high with a stack of musty tomes. So high was this mountain of manuscripts, in fact, that it thoroughly prevented its holder from seeing where they were going. Finn had barely noticed the stack-holder’s approach, before they crashed into him, sending the tower of books tumbling to the floor, along with Finn himself.

“O-Oh gosh!” a nasally voice filled with worry called out. “I-I’m so sorry! Are you all right?!”

Upon regaining his senses, Finn would find a fairly scrawny and bespectacled teenage girl with black hair styled in twin braids kneeling beside him, her blue eyes filled with concern.

”U-Uh, yeah! Hang on,” With a groan the boy pushed himself off the floor. He glanced over the scattered books, and began to pick them back up. ”Believe it or not I’ve been dealt worse. This? Is nothing.” He reassured the girl with a smile.

“Oh, that’s such a relief!” the girl exhaled. “I know I probably shouldn’t have been trying to carry so many books, but they were all just so incredibly fascinating! Local legends, haunted buildings, various monsters native to the city… I just can’t wait to start reading! Oh! I’m Olivia, by the way!” she added with a smile, while holding out her hand. “Olivia Bell!”

”Finnegan. Most people just call me Finn though.” With a free hand he shook Olivia’s. It felt weird not introducing himself as his alias, but he figured there’d be no point in keeping it up if people already knew he was Timekeeper.

Maybe he didn’t do a good job with the whole “concealing your identity” part of this whole thing. Finn began passing Olivia’s books back to her. At least the ones he thought were her’s. ”So what’s got you into researching the paranormal?” He asked.

“It’s very nice to meet you, Finn!” Olivia told him with a smile. Then the boy innocently asked about her interest in the paranormal, and the proverbial floodgates opened… “Oh, I just find that sort of thing absolutely enchanting!” she gushed. “I’ve always loved learning about monsters, and spirits, and all kinds of otherworldly entities! It’s been a hobby of mine since I was very little, although most people called me a freak and a weirdo for liking those sorts of things…” she added with a frown, before quickly brightening again. “But my school’s guidance counselor said my love for those things meant that I would be a perfect candidate for a single-student field trip to Pax Septimus, since this city is filled with all the things I love to learn about! And she was right! There are so many different types of monsters living here! I’ve heard stories about vampires, weretigers, and even a giant snake that lives underground! And then there are all the various haunted structures, like this abandoned laundromat, and the cults! Oh, they all sound so intriguing! This book here has a bunch of information on some of the more prominent ones,” she explained, holding up a tome titled Paranormal Pax Septimus. “They all have such unique themes, like this one that dresses up as bees!” she added with a giggle/snort as she pointed to an artist’s depiction of a member of the cult in question. “And of course, there’s also the city’s nickname, The City of Blood! It just sounds so ominous, like something out of a horror story! I never imagined a city like this could actually exist, and I’m just so happy I found this wonderful little shop! Now I can learn about all the best places to explore! I haven’t encountered any monsters, ghosts, or cultists yet, but I’m sure after studying these books, it’ll only be a matter of time!” she declared triumphantly, before giving voice to yet another delighted giggle/snort.

Single-student trip…? That just sounded like the teacher looking for an excuse to be rid of her. Finn frowned in thought. ”Those people are idiots, for one. Like what you like, you’ll find people you can bond with over your interests eventually.” He assured her, glancing aside. ”But stuff like vampires aren’t all it’s cracked to be, believe me.”

“Oh, I was able to make lots of wonderful friends at my new school!” Olivia reassured him. “And, of course, I’ll always have my darling Xolys,” she added with a happy giggle/snort. “Oh!” she gasped as Finn’s last comment sank in. “Have you seen a vampire, Finn?!” she asked, an eager gleam in her eyes as she thoroughly invaded his personal space, her face mere inches from his own.

”Unfortunately. _{U-Uhm, could you back up a bit?}” Finn blinked in surprise at how…eager the eccentric girl was. ”Right fucking creep he was. There was an incident weeks ago, a girl about your age got kidnapped by the aforementioned, turned into his thrall.” He tiredly furrowed his brows as he told Olivia how he learned about Justin. ”People ended up clamoring for her rescue, and for the vampire’s demise of course. Both eventually happened, but not without a bit of struggle.”

Still wish I could’ve been there to bash his skull in, but I’m just glad that’s all over with. I’ve got my own problems now.

“Oh gosh! How exciting!” Olivia replied. “I’m so happy that girl is safe now,” she added, thankfully backing away a slight bit. “But how did you hear about all this?”

Finn glanced back up at Olivia. ”Cause I was technically the one who brought it all to the public’s attention. Well, I had a bit of help, but they sorta drew more towards me for some reason.”

Not for some reason. He just didn’t want someone else to think Betty was his girlfriend.

“Are you a paranormal investigator, Finn?!” Olivia asked, her eyes lighting up as she leaned closer to him once more.

”Yes actually-”

“Oh wow! I bet you have all sorts of knowledge about all sorts of interesting things!” Olivia gushed. “Oh, I know! You could be my guide to the city! That way you can show me all the best places to find ghosts and monsters! And cultists, too!”

”I-I still don’t think you should approach these things without a way to defend yourself!” Finn quickly spoke up, then thought it over. Technically he’d be around to protect her, and he guessed whoever this Xolys was too. He pulled his phone out of his pocket. ”But, alright, we should keep in touch in that case.”

“Oh, that’s a good idea!” Olivia agreed, retrieving her own phone and presenting Finn with her contact info. “You know, at first I was worried I wouldn’t be able to get a signal here, but my counselor said she’d make sure I wouldn’t have any problems, and she was totally right!” the bespectacled chatterbox explained with another giggle/snort. “I really shouldn’t have been so surprised, though. She’s super smart and super resourceful! Oh, and please don’t worry about me,” she reassured him. “Darling Xolys always keeps me perfectly safe!”

”Who’s Xolys anyways?” He couldn’t help asking as he added Olivia to his contacts.

“He’s my super handsome best friend and soulmate!” Olivia gushed, her eyes sparking with delight. “Ever since I met him, so many wonderful things have happened!” she continued. “Before we met, I didn’t have a single friend, but now I have lots, and we’ve done so many fun activities together! Like, a short while ago, we had this really fun slumber party in a haunted classroom for Halloween, and Xolys dressed as this adorable bedsheet ghost, just so the real ghosts wouldn’t notice him and run away before I could get a good look at them! Isn’t he just so thoughtful?!”

The boy tilted his head. ”Guess he’s like your good luck charm. Sounds like a sweetheart. _{But aren’t soulmates usually in a romantic context…?}” He trailed off with a mumble.

“Yes, of course!” Olivia agreed with an enthusiastic nod. “We’re both very much in love!” she added with still another giggle/snort.

”O-Oh, well, good for you both then!” Finn’s eyes slightly widened in response. Guess the best friend part threw him off.

“Thanks! Do you have a special someone, Finn?!” Olivia asked, seeming quite eager to know the answer.

He went silent for a second. Instead of answering outright, he sighed. ”Despite what people think, no, I don’t. I’ve never even been in a relationship like that with anyone. Well, I- I don’t really know what to make of what me and one of my friends is yet, if I even feel anything like that for them, I don’t know yet.” Finn frowned. ”I don’t really know anything.”

“T-That’s okay!” Olivia hastened to reassure him. “Until I met my darling Xolys, I didn’t think anyone would ever fall in love with me, so you should never lose hope!”

”If I ever feel that way for anyone.” He shrugged. Big if, as far as he was concerned.

“Well, who can say what the future holds?” Olivia noted with a smile. “A-Anyways, thanks for all the help!” she added as she somewhat clumsily regathered her books. “I-I’ll let you know when I’d like to start exploring, okay?”

Finn nodded, letting her grab the books before collecting the ones he grabbed. "I’ll let you know now, I won’t always be available once I’m back at work, but I’ll try to be there at the earliest convenience.” He added. Until the other agents can get rid of whatever, or whoever cursed him, of course.

“O-Okay!” Olivia confirmed as she wobbled her way to the front counter. “I’ll pick out a location, and we can go whenever you’re free!” she added. “Oh gosh, I’m really looking forward to our first adventure together!”

The boy nodded with a smile. ”Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a lot of research to do. See you later!”

Little did poor Finn realize just what he had gotten himself into…

---

Finn had been raiding the vending machine in the break room when Ashley had approached him about his investigation into Cherno-Baph. But before he could answer her with what Dr. Moller had told him, she herself stepped into the break room to share some news. Mika and Binky interrogating who he assumed was Sovereign was the least of his concern, and then Fritzi brought up something that actually was his concern. Betty fully recovered. She was finally cured.

"I'll explain later talk to you later Ashley!!" Finn hurried down the hall soon as Dr. Moller was done talking. Hopefully they can talk longer than a few words this time, especially with what Betty implied before.

”Shinji!” Faith rushed out of Betty’s room to meet Finn. ”Oops! Haha! I meant Finn! You know, the only reason why I called you Shinji was because of our discussion about Evangelion the other day. I wasn’t sure if you picked up on that so I figured I would repeat it. Though the more I think about it, you seem more like Kosei Arima from Your Lie In April. His emotional distress makes it impossible to hear music. That’s not very good for an esper is it? Hahahaha!” She patted Finn’s head. ”Well tiger, did you want to practice smiling before you went in to see her? It might send the wrong message if you walk in their with a frown on your face. I bet we can stretch those lips into a big smile if we try.” She reached for Finn’s face. ”Did you need help?”

"_What-" He gently swatted Faith's hand away. "N-No I don't need help! Just let me go inside already! Uhm. please?" Finn asked her. He seemed more eager than distressed even if the vague insult didn't register in his head yet, practically fidgeting in place the longer this was going to take.

”Oh…” Faith pursed her lips. She didn’t say anything for a moment, but eventually tipped her head towards the hospital room. ”Right in there. She’s up.”

Finn wasted no time in rushing into the next room. Sure enough, Betty was sitting at the end of the hospital bed watching TV. She wasn’t wearing a hospital gown, nor did she have any bandages sticking out from her clothes. As soon as Finn entered, she turned her head.

"Ah… Hello." She averted her eyes. "You’re back."

Finn sighed in relief, and straightened himself up. "Of course, why wouldn't I be?" He walked over to take a seat next to Betty. "A part of me is still hoping you can just... forget all this once you're free to go home. But that's probably not gonna be the case, is it? How're you feeling?" He asked. Though his gaze rested on the TV instead.

"For someone that was turned by a vampire and spent the past few weeks doing god knows what? I think I’m feeling a lot more normal than I should." There was an awkward sort of tension in the air. Finn knew brainwashed Betty longer than he had ever known the real one. All things considered, they were more or less strangers. "Fritzi told me a lot about what’s going on. What espers are and what they do. I got the impression she wanted me to join you guys. I wish I could just go home and pretend it was all a dream, but Justin might not have been able to turn me if I knew I could transform into a superhero. This sort of thing is becoming worse, isn’t it?"

Finn only hummed in agreement. His face twisted into a remorseful frown when he looked back at Betty. "I'm really sorry. I shouldn't have let any of this happen."

Betty turned to look at Finn. "Knock it off with the apologies. Circumstances beyond our control brought us here. You didn’t teleport me into a bathroom, and you didn’t turn me into a vampire, okay?" She grinned. "Now, please tell me you wanted to do more than just apologize."

The boy's expression softened. "To be honest? ... I-I don't know. Just wanted to see you off, I guess." He pulled a knee up and wrapped his arms around it. "Or maybe I needed the catharsis in knowing everything's okay now, that my efforts weren't wasted. Hell I don't even know if there was a reason for me to do any of this. The only thing I cared about was getting you back." He didn't hate her either. "Even if people ended up taking it the wrong way, It didn't seem fair for you to have to give up on the life you had before this. I certainly don't have much to lose, myself..." A tired scowl crossed Finn's face for a second.

"Nothing to lose, huh?" Betty’s smirk remained. "When talking to Fritzi, I got the impression that I would have been killed if we weren’t a ‘Shimr sensation,’ So I very much think it was worth doing." She raised an eyebrow. "Or are you saying I wasn’t worth saving? For some reason?"

Oh.

Finn's head quickly snapped back at Betty. His eyes were widened and a flustered shade of red colored his face. "WHAT?! Nonononono- I didn't mean it like that! Hoooooly shit why did she tell you about that part?!" With a groan he curled himself into a ball, hiding his face in his knees. Betty held her hand over her mouth to stifle a chuckle.

After taking a moment to recollect himself he'd speak again. _{"Of course you were worth it. I-I tried to quell the rumors about us, trust me, but they wouldn't listen. I n-never wanted it to come off like that, I mean, w-we've only just met. ...Right?"} Finn slightly tilted his head back up to look at her.

"I was just teasing you! You’re wound way too tight!" Betty couldn’t hold back her laughter at this point. Even her perfectly white cheeks were getting red. "Ah, I don’t think I’ve laughed like that since coming to Pax Septimus." She took a few deep breaths. "I’m not really a famous musician or anything, but I can’t say this turn of events surprises me. I’ve had casual conversations with fans before, only for them to get misconstrued by others. I think people really like the idea of watching romances bloom in front of them. It is a little awkward, but there are worse people I could be associated with. Like that vampire, or the person who threw me into a bathroom." She clicked her tongue. "If everyone thought I was going steady with one of them, I’d probably just flee the city."

"Y-Yeah. I didn't expect to get so popular so quickly either, so." The boy cleared his throat and rested his chin on his knees. "But you have no idea how relieved I am to hear that. N-No offense, or anything! I'm just... I don't have experience in romance like that." He confided with her, like he did with Olivia. "Never had any crushes or anything."

"Did you want some experience?"

"W-What...?"

"Do you want to be in a relationship?"

It took a moment for him to process what she was saying, longer so to figure out an answer. As if he wasn't flustered enough, Betty was actually asking him out?? Finn sheepishly glanced around. "W-Well uhm, I-If it's something you want t-then- then maybe? We could f-figure something out...?" He fidgeted in place as he stuttered in response.

"Did I say that was something I wanted?" Betty’s grin kept getting wider. "Well, if it’s something you think you might want to try, why don’t we pick a date to go back to the Great Escape? Maybe we can finish our talk this time. After that, we can decide how true we want this rumor to be."

Finn nodded, quickly nodded. "Y-Yeah. Yeah, that sounds wonderful actually! O-Okay!" He giggled, an anxious yet elated grin mirroring Betty's. "I'm probably going with the other agents to investigate Dante's but after that I should be free!"

Betty laughed. "Alright. I’ll talk to you later. Maybe then I’ll know what I want to do in regards to Fritzi’s offer."

"Mhm!" The boy quickly bounced off the bed and, after waving her goodbye, hurried out to the meeting. His schedule's going to be packed as hell between this, Dante's, and his meeting with the demon, but a part of him knew it was all going to be worth it.

Faith watched as Finn ran past her without saying a word. Once he was gone, she thought out loud. ”He certainly doesn’t look like Shinji anymore. I bet they kissed, and I missed it!”

Marrie was the type to hate being without money, and that meant that she couldn't imagine ever being so without it to become homeless. So as she waited for the recovery team, after giving Bardo a quick rundown on the situation, she thought through what she assumed she'd need for food and rent. Unfortunately, doing so made her realize even more just how desperate the survivors of the night were, but when she finished her calculations she was at least hopeful that she'd be helping them.

When those behind the mission arrived, she gave them the information they wanted and a request. She took from her pay only what she thought she'd need to survive until the next mission and asked that the rest be divided up and given to the survivors. Once she'd gotten confirmation, she waved goodbye to the team and any of the other remaining espers within sight as she went to her bike and headed home. As soon as she got to a private enough area, she transformed back to her normal state. When she did, however, something felt off. It wasn't wholly dissimilar to what she had felt when first transforming into esper mode after her Grimoire powered up. She resolved to figure it out later and went home to sleep.

The next day Marrie woke at the ungodly hour of six in the morning, having had nightmares for as long as she'd been asleep that night. A few hours of metaphorically beating her head against a wall with trying to code emotions later and she decided that she really needed to get out and go somewhere. She got ready with her esper gear and went out, ready to head to the Great Escape, but left behind her gun. Normally she wouldn't take a gun anywhere she wasn't prepared to use it, but an esper hangout wasn't the least likely place for violence to spring up. Despite that, she didn't think it was wise to bring a weapon that was so easy to misuse when she was still reeling from the night before.

As usual she took her bike and went to a secluded area to transform, then went directly to the Great Escape. With any luck, she would be able to distract herself from her dreams.