[center][h3][color=#FFE4B5]“[/color][color=#FDE2B6]O[/color][color=#FCE1B7]h[/color] [color=#FADFB9]b[/color][color=#F9DEBA]y[/color] [color=#F6DCBC]t[/color][color=#F5DBBD]h[/color][color=#F4D9BE]e[/color] [color=#F1D7C0]w[/color][color=#F0D6C1]a[/color][color=#EFD5C2]y[/color] [color=#EDD3C4]y[/color][color=#ECD2C5]o[/color][color=#EAD0C7]u[/color][color=#E9CFC8]r[/color] [color=#E7CDCA]e[/color][color=#E6CCCB]n[/color][color=#E4CBCC]e[/color][color=#E3CACD]m[/color][color=#E2C9CE]y[/color] [color=#E0C6D0]l[/color][color=#DFC5D1]i[/color][color=#DDC4D2]v[/color][color=#DCC3D3]e[/color][color=#DBC2D4]d[/color][color=#DAC1D5].[/color][color=#D9C0D6]”[/color][/h3][/center] Octavia listened to Ruby explain the battle plan. Her brow furrowed, her eyes darted from face to face in the crowd, and her finger tapped on her thigh. She was nervous about what was to come. She had been in a few of these bigger battles now, but it did not help keep these thoughts from overwhelming her. Still, she knew she would be okay as long as everyone did what they had to and watched each other's backs. “That’s not all,” Octavia added after Ruby, “time is of the essence. From what Aryin, and Linqian told me, and what Aislin should be able to confirm, they have a monster named Scott Reese fighting for them. If we want to have any chance today we need to be in and out before the sun goes down. I do not want to face the monster again.” “He survived everything that we threw at him,” Jordan sighed as he dabbed up Jasper. His eyes looked at the gap between Jasper and Luca and wondered if there was a way for him to accidentally push them closer together. “I’m Jordan by the way, I’m really strong and really durable.” “Oh we’re doing introductions,” Alex added as they looked over towards Anya. She was just as beautiful as Trevor described. Alex knew that they would need to work their magic to ensure that relationship was flourishing. They then turned their attention to Luca, and they knew that they would be their new best friend very soon. They had a few weeks until their time was up so they would be patient. For now. “I’m Alex. I can access the art dimension.” “We don’t know if he’ll be on the island but I don’t like the idea of leaving that to chance. Thomas, and I can use the force or whatever,” Thomas added as he flashed a smile. [color=FFE4B5]“Riley is the name. You know how you kill an evil person with a gun,”[/color] Riley paused as he turned to the side, showing the technologically advanced looking Plasma Launcher that Summer built and pointed towards it with his thumb, [color=FFE4B5]“magic gun. Besides that I’m a spell slinger so if I save your ass out there you’re welcome ahead of time.”[/color]. Riley shifted his eyes towards Jasper, and grinned at his soon to be target. “Cocky much,” Jason shook his head as he took a step forward, “I am Jason. I can create, and manipulate, plasma.” [color=1E90FF]“I’m Monica. I’m not much use in a fight but if you need information out of someone’s head I gotchu,”[/color] Monica stuck out her tongue as she flashed a peace sign. Octavia waited for the rest of the 317 to finish introducing themselves. “The rest of us are either not coming or with Faith and Sypha helping Greenwood scare the rich pricks to run home. If you need more weapons,” Octavia paused as she considered her options, “we’re willing to open our vault as a token of friendship. We don’t have much, but I want us to have the best chance possible today. If you would like to counterfeit something you can have your pick,” Octavia looked towards Sloane, “most notably we have The Chainsaw of Ash. And this war is coming regardless of today,” Octavia paused again as she looked towards Luca. He was cute, and he seemed like he had a good head on his shoulders. “This city stands on the precipice of conflict. We thought that defeating the Nazis would be enough to make this city a safe place for all but we were wrong. No matter what happens today there will be darker days ahead. It’s better to navigate those shadows side by side with your friends,” Octavia paused as she looked at Ruby, “than trying to do it alone, or by waiting for it to envelop you.” “If you want to take a look at the artifacts I will take you to them. Can I open a dimensional rift here,” Alex asked as they looked around for a painting. Jordan looked towards Jack as he placed his hand on Jasper's shoulder. “This plan today is ours but the war to come affects us all. You are right, though, there will be no shame in sitting out the fight if you’re not ready for it. This is sudden, last minute, but the longer we wait to attack back the more time they have to prepare for it, the more time they have to attack again.” [hr][hr] [center][img]https://txt.1001fonts.net/img/txt/dHRmLjEwNi4wNjhjOGUuVEdsc1lTQkNiR0ZqYTNkdmIyUSwuMA,,/gritluefdemo.regular.webp[/img][/center] [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/MyKmatB.png[/img][/center] Lila groaned softly at the continued conversation. She truly did not want to fight. She did not want the coven to fight. And she did not want to risk anyone more. Yet the 317 was only speaking truth to something that she suspected. Something bigger than Father Wolf was looming over the horizon. For the past ten years, the hardest thing she had to deal with was getting insurance to pay for surgeries and the recovery from them. Now, their coven was being murdered, the 317 was destroyed, Scott Reese was back and the 317 was talking about darker days on the horizon. Things are bad right now, and Lila knew this, and the more she thought about it the more she realized that this might just be the tip of the iceberg. Lila pushed her food away and stood up from the chair. [color=DA70D6]“Okay. If we’re going to do this we gotta have a plan beyond split into these teams and hit them harder than they can hit us, right,”[/color] Lila asked as she scanned the group until she landed on Octavia who simply shook her head. [color=DA70D6]“Holy shit,”[/color] Lila paused as her gaze went back to Ruby and rested there for a moment. Lila put both of her hands together in a prayer like position and she held them there as she closed her eyes and took a deep breath in.. They were going to run into a gunfight without any plan beyond ‘we have separate teams filled with the power of friendship’ and hope for the best. This was not acceptable. Lila exhaled as she leaned her hands forward, before dropping them. [color=DA70D6]“Lynn,”[/color] Lila paused as she looked towards her friend. The two looked at each other and Lynn nodded her head. Lynn’s eyes went green as she went to the possible future. [color=DA70D6]“For future reference any plans that rely on our shared strength alone are probably bad plans. No offense to whoever came up with it,”[/color] Lila paused as she looked back to Lynn. Lynn should be able to develop some small alterations to the plan that would hopefully improve things. [color=DA70D6]“Now. I don’t want to tell you guys how to run your assault. But I want to make sure we are not putting ourselves in any-”[/color] [hr][hr] [center][img]https://txt.1001fonts.net/img/txt/dHRmLjExNi5lNzA4ZjMuUlhabGJIbHViaUJCYm00Z1UyVnlaVzVsYkdsbmFIUSwuMA,,/georganodemo.regular.webp[/img][/center] [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/YkGhDeq.png[/img][/center] [color=F08080]“Oh my”[/color] Lynn shouted as she returned from the future. [color=DA70D6]“What, what did you see,”[/color] Lila asked as her feathers all ruffled at the sudden noise. [color=F08080]“A lot of zombies with guns. An endless horde. I think the entire Elite will be there. Jordan, you’ll say something like ‘at least the ghost ship isn’t here’. No Scott Reese, at least as far as I can tell. But there’s a lot of zombies,”[/color] Lynn paused as she looked towards Lila, [color=F08080]“there’s not much room for advanced tactics in this fight. It’ll be hell. If I were to suggest an alteration to the plan it would be for the Veil team. They should finish up quickly and then move to support the artifact team. That’s about as much as I could see,”[/color] Lynn paused as she tried to think of everything she saw. She began to chew on her fingernails. [color=F08080]“A word of caution is the best I can offer. They have a lot of guns, we don’t have a lot of healers, be smart. I won’t be joining you on the island. Is there a way for us to setup anything to support from afar? I don’t want to not help but I will be a liability on the island.”[/color] Lynn finished as she frowned. In truth she watched everyone die once again in the possible futures. It was never just one, or all, but the typical chaotic mismatch of death that battles brought. In one future Luca died but in several others he lived, and so on. As such, Lynn did not feel it was her place to tell people that she watched them die again when they already know death is in the cards. This was life for sad old Lynn. Always watching others being the hero, but always the afterthought herself. [hr][hr] [center][img]https://txt.1001fonts.net/img/txt/dHRmLjEwNi41MWNlMGUuU21GemNHVnlJRmRwYkdSbC4w/millaysia.reg.webp[/img][/center] Jasper looked up at Jordan and smirked. It had been too long since they had been around each other. The two used to be inseparable back when Jordan first joined. He took the hug from Lori and Alex and chuckled as he tried his best to return it back to them but the angles that they took made it difficult. Still, it was very nice to see many of the artists who had made his time at the 317 so memorable. He looked at the group as a whole and smiled brightly. [color=98FB98]“So these are my friends, Luca,”[/color] Jasper whispered as he used his eyes to point towards Jordan, Lori, and Alex. Jasper listened to what the groups were saying, what the attack would entail, and what the future told them that they could expect. He sighed in relief when Lynn said that Scott was unlikely to be a combatant in the fight. Small blessings and what not. Still, he knew that he needed to be better to protect his friends from what was to come and thankfully his training with Stormy had allowed him to think outside the box. And that gave him an idea. An endless horde of zombies meant he would need something to counter that. Jasper pulled out his bag and grabbed a canvas from it, and some paint to practice with, and began to work on a new summon. [color=98FB98]“I can’t promise I’ll be able to come up with anything in time but I might be able to help at least slow down a zombie horde,”[/color] Jasper sighed as he continued. [color=98FB98]“I’ll be in the support category for this attack for sure. I’ll be bringing out my ranged summons and helping keep y’all clear.”[/color] The idea that he had, which was beginning to take shape, was an expansion on his Army Ranger. Instead of being this tactical unit that was all about taking out priority targets from range he wanted this new summon to be flashy, tanky, and a priority target for the enemy. It was big, bulky, well armored and armed with a weapon with six rotating barrels. It was the most ambitious attempt yet for his summons. Time would tell if it would even work.