It was a good thing that the job was posted with time to spare. It meant that Marrie had time to rest, after another day of training. The last time she'd given herself a break was when she and Walking Church had met Oliver, so a two day break leading up to today was a welcome relief. It also gave her time to buy ammunition, just in case. After all, if it came down to humans being the problem, as unlikely as that may be, it was better to be prepared than have to save mana. She glanced over the details of her mission one more time, and the two she had rejected as well. It sucked that she had to turn down Raphael's version of the job, but...

If Marrie had her way, she'd save both of the behemoths. But was she really going to fight other espers, G.E.M.I.N.I. directly, to save a monster that would almost certainly not survive against them? And what if she tried and failed, or the monster ended up being evil? She couldn't risk that. This was her trolley problem, to choose to sacrifice herself trying to save something that was presumably doomed or to try to save something that was likely to survive. Her id and superego both wanted so badly to choose the former, but rationality won out in the end. She'd save the one who could survive, and hope that the other avoided combat in the first place. And if all went perfectly, maybe she'd get her wish anyway. Preferably with little to no bloodshed on any side, though she knew that was a pipe dream.

Which meant that she was headed to meet up with Maverick Alternative once again. As she biked her way to the meeting place, she couldn't shake the thought that things would go exactly against how she hoped. That the behemoth she expected to fight G.E.M.I.N.I. would be the kind one, and that the one she would presumably interact with first would be the evil one. But she held out hope that together with Maverick, they'd save them both regardless of her preconceptions. Regardless of what was sure to be reality.

Marrie had ducked into an alleyway to transform before continuing biking her way to where she was told to go. When she turned the final corner, she couldn't help but stop her peddling and freeze in place. A dragon, a real, genuine dragon, sat on the roof of where she was going. She could only stare in amazement up until the thought of it getting hurt burst its way into her mind. But that just meant she had a bigger target than usual to protect, and she wasn't going to allow herself to fail this time, regardless.

Picking up her bicycle and walking the rest of the way, she would have waved if her hands weren't full as she called out to the golden dragon and what seemed to be the only other person, presumably an esper as well, that was with it.

"Hey! How's it going? Here's hoping for an easy time, for once." She placed her bike against the front of the garage. She'd prepped for the mission when she transformed earlier, donning her kevlar coat and hiding it under her Style, making sure her tungsten rod and pistol were within easy reach and that the gun had plenty of ammo. Now all she needed to do was wait for any other allies and make sure she kept everyone and everything alive that she could. Barring any evil garbage that might be involved, of course.

@BrokenPromise@Vertigo@The World

Himiko had decided to try something a bit different this time around. She had spent a fair bit of time messing around with Puddy and Gemini already.

She still had business with Puddy to handle, not to mention the Clockwork Killer. Though she supposed she should also eventually get around to the current team leader of Gemini as well, Tighty Brighty. But that could wait until later.

It was time to see what Maverick had to offer in comparison.

Though she had no real affinity for either organization, both had their issues after all. Issues that she couldn’t see either ever taking care of or changing.

But they paid well enough and it provided her with more than enough entertainment to keep her busy. Which was what mattered the most at the end of the day. Besides, it also allowed her to take care of her own business and do some of her own scouting in person.

Having made her way to the meet up location in no real hurry. She arrived with a little time to spare. Though from a distance she could already see there was something far more interesting than she could have ever dreamed for.

A golden dragon, now that was something that put inspiration into her own golden heart of greed. A wide grin hidden beneath her mask formed as she tilted her head to the side. She just had to make him her own somehow, no matter the price or task. She just couldn't pass up this golden opportunity, she couldn't believe her luck.

It was show time, the other two espers had already arrived.

One she recognized from before during the operation to secure the water. She hadn’t really had the chance to speak with her for too long, but she was the bold and brave type. The one that would throw herself into the fray at a moment's notice. That would make Himiko’s job a fair bit easier at the very least.

Though the other esper wasn’t one she had encountered before. Meaning she must be the Maverick representative, along with that Golden Stallion of course.

With that observation made, she decided to circle around a little bit and approach from the other side of the Golden Dragon. Moving with a swift, almost graceful silence as she leapt atop of the Dragons back. Peering down at the Esper who seemed far more interested in her phone then she was anything else.

“Ditch them?, my my, that isn’t very nice, I would have missed out on this glorious golden creature, that just wouldn’t do….so what’cha looking at? Some cute boys? Maybe one that is as cute as a button? Orrrrr are you more of those Tick Takers, or whatever that thing is called….” putting her hands on her hips as she turned her gaze up towards the Dragon and away from Ciri.

“Now as for you my handsome lizard boy, with such golden glory that you are bestowing upon this world, it is only right that you join my team and we become partners, it would only be natural…we would make a perfect dynamic duo” Her own golden eyes seeming to glow at the mere thought of having a Golden Dragon around. It would just match all her aesthetics after all, it was like destiny.

“Oh…one more thing, since you're golden and all,would your insides also be golden? you wouldn’t happen to have golden blood would you? I heard it can really knock you for a loop if you aren’t prepared,enough so that you might start carrying around a pet rock, orrrrr that is at least what I heard from someone one time….Anyway….that isn’t important, sooooo how about my offer?” The mission being pushed to the back of her mind. Only the thought of having a golden dragon by her side consumed her. Just how glorious it would be to ride in, double golden revolvers blazing away atop a golden dragon. It would be so much better then her beat up motorcycle that she had struggled to slap fake gold on it that would stick for too long.

@Ponn@Majoraa

Mika would have picked up Finn first. When she first decided she was going to do this, he seemed like a cool, if not very well put together individual. Basically, someone very similar to herself. But after that happened it was clear that they didn’t have that much in common after all. Perhaps any of the new agents could have been picked up first, but Mika didn’t trust them. They were new hires and could have been plants from the mole. As much as Mika hated to admit it, Ashley was the lesser of two evils, and so she swung by her first. Not only that, but she had some aversion to letting Mika and her neighbor interact. It sounded stupid, but it meant that Ashley could show up a few blocks away from her home en route to someone else.

She didn;t exchange any words with Ashley. The door to her mother’s van swung open and she was able to step in out of the rain. Then she was off again. The wipers were working overtime to keep the window clear. After driving for a few minutes, they entered a more affluent part of Pax Septimus where Finn’s home was. But again, Mika couldn’t get too close. This time it was because of police directing traffic away from the homes, as the area was suspected to be hit directly by the hurricane. Once fin was inside, Mika started driving again.

"I told you guys we have a mole." She had told Finn before their “date” at the fair, and she had told Ashley in person just a day afterwards. She made sure both times she was away from HQ so that nobody would know. But she hadn’t told them much more than that. "Someone sent Dante stuff about Timekeeper the day of the operation. I saved it in the glove box." If Ashley cared to look in the glovebox, she would see a single page dossier on Finn. An outline of his abilities, his appearance in both esper and normal form, as well as his close family and notes about his behavior. "I think the nuns were told about me and Oros too. We were told about our jobs a day before. There aren’t a lot of people the mole could be…"

---

@Vertigo@The World@Nakushita

The rain hadn’t quite set in over Boteg and Ciri yet, but as the clouds started to move in, he extended his wing over the oni so that she would stay dry. When she asked if they could ditch them, Boteg pulled his head back as if she had just farted.

”Big tech ask me to wait for signal. ” Boteg looked out ahead. ”Time is important. If thy scares cannot assemble before the signal is shown, methinks it would be best if we enacted the plan ourselves. ”

What plan hadn’t been said yet, which was a maverick standard. Billy was very big on winging things, and likely knew Ciri wouldn’t have the willpower or attention to repeat everything to the freelancers. That said, it was anyone’s guess was to why Boteg was left with the plan. He was a flight risk, and he had a tendency to turn everything he said into something incomprehensible.

Before long, the Freelancers started to show up. The first of which was Marrie, who greeted everyone on her arrival. Boteg’s expression immediately brightened, and his tail swung side to side. ”Methinks thy quest will be difficult, but thy optimistic attitude tis most pleasing!” An observant eye might have noticed a nervous twitch in Boteg’s eye. Even now, he was really nervous around espers.

And he didn’t feel any better when Himiko showed up. First she badgered Ciri, then she started half-flirting with Boteg, which was about as effective as Ciri’s puns when she tried to sway Boteg last week. ”Beg pardon!?” The conversation only got stranger as Himiko went on about what his blood was made out of and asked him to reconsider her offer. Was this a threat? Boteg’s eyes went wide and he looked to Ciri, silently pleading for her to save him from the tiny human on his back that was interested in his blood. and companionship.

As Ashley walked the short distance from her apartment to Mika’s van, the light drizzle rapidly intensified into a torrential downpour. Thankfully, like Olivia, she had remembered to bring an umbrella, and so her seat remained relatively dry after she stepped through the van’s front passenger door. A quick look around the vehicle’s interior revealed that she was apparently the first agent to be picked up, thus, the ensuing ride to their next destination passed in a predictably awkward silence. However, that all changed once Finn stepped inside. As soon as they had begun moving again, Mika brought up the possible mole in their ranks, noting that she had recovered info about Finn from the ruins of Dante’s diner. Opening the glove box as she was directed, the Knight of Tomorrow found the dossier in question and began reading over it. The information it listed was troubling enough, but that wasn’t the only thing that concerned the high-tech heroine…

“Does Director Moller know about this?” Ashley inquired, although she was pretty sure she already knew the answer. A part of her could understand keeping the information out of the hands of a potential spy, but if the mole was actually the director herself, then they were in far more trouble than the Knight of Tomorrow cared to imagine.

“As for potential suspects, and as much as I hate to admit it, I think the most likely candidates are Faith and Binky. The later was recently held captive by The Hand, and it’s very likely that The Hand was responsible for inserting the former into the Diver as a power source. In addition, they both have access to a great deal of sensitive information, including most of Director Moller’s plans. Now, I don’t mean to say that they are knowingly betraying us,” she hastened to clarify. “It’s very possible that they were brainwashed, or were simply implanted with some form of hidden surveillance equipment. That said, there’s one other significant possibility.” Pausing for a moment to take a breath, she continued. “While Betty isn’t a part of GEMINI’s command structure, you’ve been spending a lot of time with her, Finn,” she noted, turning to face the young agent. “Have you told her any potentially sensitive information? On a related note, I was just informed by my neighbor that, in addition to giving her tours of the city, you also revealed to her that you were an esper. I sincerely hope you didn’t tell her that you worked for GEMINI as well, or mentioned any classified mission details, but even if you didn’t, can you see how that was still a massive security risk?” she inquired, her eyes and voice filled with a mixture of disappointment and concern.

Although this really wasn’t a conversation Ashley wanted to have, it was better to get it out of the way now, as opposed to after the other agents were present as well.

---

Soon as Finn climbed into the back of the Van, Mika had brought up the mole issue. When she went on to explain how Dante had a literal dossier on him, Timekeeper and all, he couldn't help the frown that formed on his face. He was set up! Why can't they just see that already?? It was a good thing Mika had found it before it got into someone else's hands, but that doesn't change the fact it was there. It was scary to think about. Doesn't help that whoever was behind it set up the ambush at St. Bianchi's too. Finn quietly listened to the conversation between the other two agents, including Ashley's theories on who leaked the information.

And then the topic turned...targeted. The Timekeeper gave their glorious leader a pointed look as she went on about how Betty and fucking Olivia of all people could be suspects too. Just cause of their association with him. The machine sharply breathed in through his nose, then dryly chuckled.

"Y'know, you can just accuse me of being the mole. Makes things much easier." He crossed his arms with a hateful grin. "Since I'm already such a liability and all? Come the fuck on, Orion, for how much bullshit Betty's been through I somehow doubt she'd still be working for the very same people who kidnapped and enthralled her and god knows what else they could've done." Unless Ashley was accusing Betty of being a sleeper agent. That'd align with the current peanut gallery with both Faith and Binky having been in contact with the Hand too. "Compared to the rest of you assholes she's been the one of, if not the best to me. Unless you're saying I've been too reckless with who I trust?" Betty had been aware the whole time she had been controlled, according to her. She knows how much he'd gone through hell and back to save her, why would she suddenly betray him after all that? He had rose a brow, then his grin dropped to a glare.


"Especially if you think an innocent girl like Olivia can be a threat? I didn't tell her jackshit beside that I'm an esper, okay? Even then she could've tried to kill me in the catacombs when we went down there if you're somehow worried about that but she didn't. She just talked to me about stuff like her school and her partner." ....That he barely paid attention to. Hopefully mentioning that Olivia's taken doesn't give Mika anything to make a snide remark about though. His eyes then widened in an exaggerated tilt of the head, eyes boring holes into Ashley's skull. "Frankly if you think she's such a threat why don't you go ahead and go kill her yourself after this, hm~?"

Letting the tension simmer for a moment, the machine leaned back against his seat, reeling himself back. "Though having a potential sleeper agent does make sense. Had either Faith or Binky acted strangely over the past few days?"

Marrie liked to label herself as observant, but having been triple checking herself for a possible battle, she missed seeing Boteg's hint that he wasn't doing well. That is, until he exclaimed his confusion at Himiko. At which point he had her full attention.

"Hey now. Let's not aggravate the really cool dragon, okay?" she called up to the girl she only knew as Sovereign. "And maybe don't ask for someone's blood, like... at all, but especially not when just meeting them. Makes you sound like a serial killer, or something." Truth be told, Marrie wouldn't be super surprised if Sovereign turned out to be a maniac, but she hoped that she wouldn't prove herself to be one.

She also waved again, this time directly at the esper who had already been there when she arrived, but from the look of her and the assumption that she was a Maverick esper, it didn't surprise Marrie that the girl seemed to be sulking. Or rather, antisocial to some degree. Though that might be unfair to the girl. It wasn't like she herself was especially social either, though she was much more... she would charitably say "shy," and uncharitably perhaps call herself "terrified of making people upset," than this other girl seemed to be. At least as far as first impressions go.

---

Patience was a virtue, a virtue that Asher hoped his new employer had because Asher was late. It was starting to become a habit, unfortunately Asher wasn’t too particularly interested in remedying it. That had been one of the complaints when the band fell apart actually. The other guys always told him they felt like Asher never cared about anything because he never seemed to care about arriving on time. Asher always told them they took things too seriously. Hopefully this new employer didn’t take things too seriously, Asher needed money.

Asher had gone with a new employer for this one, the church. He wasn’t really a religious fellow, unless you considered money a spiritual icon. But he’d already run an op for one of the city’s big players, although the contact and information he’d gathered had been minimal. As for the other, they’d met in a bar over a few smoothies and a gelatinous blob monster. That had been far more interesting, Asher had actually learned something new. Rare.

For some reason Asher felt like taking a third party approach to this next one, choosing not to side with either group. Did he want to see how they operated from afar? Did he want to evaluate them further before choosing some sort of side? Asher didn’t really have a reason, he’d not put much thought into it truthfully, just felt like more of a hassle to get involved with.

The bright red doors of the church were the first thing that caught his eye. The sight pulled Asher from his thoughts as he started to take in the scene. He couldn’t help but smirk a bit, the last time he’d been to a church he’d let himself in with the heel of his boot. Good times. Asher approached with his hands in his pocket, eyes looking from person to person as he inspected the little team he’d joined up with.

“Well well, nice little posse we’re formin’. Sorry I’m late, what’s the plan?”

Noah found herself incredibly thankful for the stamina her esper form granted her, as it was more than likely the only thing guaranteeing that she wouldn’t be horribly late. Instead, just mildly late. Not enough to get marked absent from a class, but certainly enough to be docked points. She could only hope that it wouldn’t go like college.

She’d been too wrapped up in her own head. Ever since she saw the job and read its description, it’d been just stuck in her mind like a bug in a glue trap. She’d seen the man who’d put up the request mentioned a few times on the Esper app, whether it was in passing or a suggestion to seek him out. But she always avoided looking too deep into him, or looking for him.

Why, though? Whatever reason would someone who’s esper form, their transformation that was said to represent their hearts desires, was a modified nun outfit, have to actively avoid others of her own religion? Well… Noah didn’t really feel like getting into it.

But she’s getting sidetracked. Just being conflicted on the person sending out the job wouldn’t be enough for her to think so hard about a job that she was going to be late. If this had been her first job, she would have absolutely been on time because she’d have nothing hammering a nail through her perspective.

The whole problem she’s having came down to the fact that this was her second job, and her first job involved Oliver. Even if she’d done her best to not let it show at the theater, the boy (Man? She wasn’t sure of his age.) had gotten her unsure of the perspective she’d walked in with. In regards to monsters, she means.

He was strange. Her thoughts of monsters equating to demons did still make some sense to her, but only distantly. It was a bit difficult to hold that perspective and look at the ghost she and Marrie had gone to investigate when seeing him act like he had. After the job, Noah had been trying to get what she knew in order to see how Oliver fit into what she already knew, and, well…

He did, is the thing. He fit rather solidly inside the box of a hellspawn. And it was hardly unheard of the devil and his minions to take on a sympathizable form to trick you. But it was more like… It just didn’t feel correct to Noah. She couldn’t help but feel like she was missing something the more she thought about it, but she couldn’t figure out what it was that she was missing.

And then this job comes along. Well, one of three. There was one from the government, one from that terrorist group, and then the one she took, from a third party. Together, they painted a pretty clear picture. Two monster trains were on a direct course for the city, normal people only saw them as hurricanes, and everyone wanted to stop them in their own way. GEMENI wished to destroy one of the trains, the terrorists wished to save one of the trains… and Raphiel wanted to destroy one and save the other.

Why save the other? Apparently, one of the trains was an angel.

That was the sentence that threw Noah for a complete loop. How did he know that- what did he even mean by that? Where was the distinction? Clearly her idea of monsters being demons had some amount of validity if someone working directly for the Vatican voiced the same thoughts, but if one of the trains was an angel, however that worked…

Noah couldn’t wrap her head around it. It just didn’t make sense, with what she knew about monsters. And that was what had gotten her to take this job over the government’s request. She knew she was missing something, and this was a prime opportunity to figure out what that missing thing was. (Also, she needed money for rent.)

… And that was all well and good, but Noah was still late. Not terribly late as she’d already said, only a couple minutes, but still late. No matter the reason, she couldn’t help but feel embarrassed about it as she finally saw the church that she was told to meet the other espers at.

St Bianchi Church stuck out rather clearly between the rest of the surrounding city, and its uniqueness was only made more obvious with the cast of characters standing at its entrance. One of which appeared to have only just arrived.

Noah felt a little ashamed at the relief she felt when she realized she wasn’t the only one late.

Slowing her run to a jog, and then a walk, Noah made absolutely sure she wasn’t harshly glowing before properly approaching the other espers. She’d learnt a little from that first job.

Coming in just behind the man who looked like he’d gone to a Halloween store and bought everything off the shelves, Noah followed his example. “Ah- I'm sorry as well. I was caught up on the way.” The choir said. Noah checked behind her. “Are we the last ones?”

@Ponn@Majoraa

When Ashley asked Mika if Fritzi knew about her plan, she slowly shook her head. "She knows I found something. I didn’t tell her what it was. It’s hard to get her by herself." It wasn’t that Dr Moller wasn’t trustworthy, she just surrounded herself with a lot of people. Whoever the mole was, they were someone that she trusted very much. Thus, keeping her discovery a secret from the doctor was a must. Maybe that was the wrong call, but at least Mika knew Ashley and Finn weren’t moles. It wasn’t totally impossible, she supposed. But as much as Ashley and Finn drove her nuts, she didn’t feel like they would make for good double agents.

That didn’t mean they weren’t going to find their own ways to sabotage the operation. Ashley decided now was the best time to press Finn about his relationships. He retaliated with all the maturity someone of his age was afforded. Maybe Himiko was right, but Mika wasn’t ready to admit it.

"Can we talk about the mole without bringing up Timekeeper’s girl friends?" It was something Mika was personally done hearing about, and didn’t feel like wasting more time on someone that absolutely wasn’t worth it. "And maybe don’t do the chuuni act? I’m being serious guys…" Hopefully there wouldn’t be any more incidents. "So our prime moles are Binky and Faith. I trust Timekeeper didn’t tell Betty our mission. If I remember correctly, he met with her before the meeting and didn’t see her again until after it concluded, right?" Mika hated coddling Finn like this. There were a lot of reasons why she detested it, but the main one is that she had to acknowledge that Ashley was the more mature one of the two of them. "Has anyone spent any time with either one of them? Faith always acts weird to me and I haven’t personally spoken with Binky. What should we do?"

They didn’t have long to devise a plan. The others would be joining them shortly.

---

@Vertigo@The World@Nakushita

As bewildered as the dragon looked at Himiko’s comments, that confusion seemed to melt away as soon as Marrie started talking. Boteg grinned and his head bobbed up and down. ”’Tis most splendid to be called ‘chill.’ Thou art most right! Methinks asking for thy blood tis most unusual. If thou wish to devour captain crunch, go to the glass rectangle and get a chewy block!”

This seemed to pacify Himiko Or the shita just forgot to post and Ciri was too busy being antisocial to respond. But there was someone present that wasn’t too antisocial to respond .

”’Hey girls!” Trixy gave everyone a big wave. One so big that it might have even shamed Marrie with how big it was. It was a full hundred and eighty degree wave, and her feet practically left the ground with every swing of her arm. ”’You guys must be the freelancers! I’m Trixy! Boteg here is going to fly us over to Crazy Train, at which point you guys and Ciri are going to hop off. Then I’m going to stay with Boteg and keep him safe. The other Mavericks are going to join us later via cars, but you guys need to figure out what has this behemoth so upset and see if we can rectify it.” She rubbed her chin. ”’Like maybe it’s giving birth, or it wants to meet up with the other train for a hot date. I dunno, monsters are weird sometimes. But if we can find out what it wants, we can calm it down.”

---

@TaintedMushroom@Kero

When the two late arriving espers arrived, Raphael turned to look at them, but answered Noah first.

”Yes, you are the last ones to arrive. Though while you have arrived late, I suppose it was inevitable. The storm made getting here a little difficult, didn’t it?’” He folded his massive arms. ”But none of the other factions have acted yet, so we still have time. Would the lot of you like to get introduced?’”

The other freelance espers would turn to look at the newly arrived. Both Noah and Asher might be taken back by what they saw. For Noah, it would be that there were four other nun espers not unlike herself. For Asher, it would be that these nuns had tried to kill him in the last operation they were on. Though one of them a nun wearing little more than a habit and some wraps seemed to be a new addition, or just wasn’t present during the attack. Or maybe she was present, and she had just gone unnoticed?

”We’re familiar with this one, anyway!” Lenore stepped up to Asher and stuck out her hand. ”No hard feelings about last time, right? We’re freelancers, and we’re all in it for the money in the end. Bobo might be scowling right now, but she won’t shoot you unless you shoot her first.” She winked.

Nova and the new nun were grinning right along with Lenore, but Bobo wasn’t smiling. ”Small world.” she groaned.

Raphael looked between Lenore and Asher. ”Is there a problem?’”

The new nun strutted past Asher and approached Noah. She was a tall woman, and her massive head dress made her seem taller still. ”Well, these are all new faces to me.” A smirk crossed her lips as she, too, extended her hand to shake Noah’s ”I’m Lexi, and the four of us make up Black Sabbath.”

Well, it seemed that Boteg, the name given by Trixy, at least understood that she was trying to compliment him on being impressive, if perhaps somewhat differently than she had intended. Also inferred from Trixy's explanation was the name of the Maverick esper who would be accompanying them. Marrie gave a slight bow of her head towards the seemingly excitable girl.

"Sounds like a good plan. Thank you for keeping this guy safe." She pointed her thumb at Boteg as she mentioned him. "My money's on both, though. Let's be honest, with the luck this city has, they're a duo who are mad because they're looking for each other while one's pregnant with their offspring who will, of course, be meaner than both of them combined."

She paused for a beat as a thought occurred. "I assume they're actually trains, given their names, but if they're giant hands maybe calling in Mario would be smarter."

After a sigh and a stretch of her arms over her head, Marrie decided it was about time to get focused. "So, a few questions. Do we know if it speaks? Preferably english? What about a trajectory, do we know if it's on track to hit the other?" She didn't register her accidental pun. "Is there any extra info that might help? And... if we do run into the other one, what's the call? Do we try to help save it too, or leave that to the church? I know that 'Crazy' is the target, but in my limited experience, things tend to get messy even with easier jobs than this."

Deep down, she knew that this wouldn't end without a fight with at least one of the other job posters, but she could hope that she was wrong.

Predictably, Mika had not, in fact, informed Dr. Moller of the dossier on Finn she’d found in the charred diner, but Ashley didn’t allow herself to be too concerned by this fact. After all, Mika’s reasoning for doing so was sound in light of the need for secrecy, and besides, the Knight of Tomorrow had a far larger problem to deal with…

Ashley’s eyes widened in shock as Finn went on his little rant. She knew he’d been having a hard time, and that he was still just a child, but the cruel vindictiveness he was exhibiting was taking things to another level. To say that it was worrying would have been a massive understatement. Especially when he joked(?) about her murdering Olivia to keep the girl quiet.

“Kill her?” the Knight of Tomorrow repeated. “Finn, what has gotten into you? Clearly I’ve struck some kind of nerve, but that still doesn’t give you the right to start acting like a deranged psychopath! Look,” she added after taking a deep breath. “I don’t think you’re the mole. All I’m saying is that I’m worried you might inadvertently reveal sensitive information, based upon your recent actions. Furthermore, I don’t think Olivia is a spy either, but as you said, she’s both talkative and innocent. If you tell her something, who knows who else she might naively reveal it to? As for Betty, no, I don’t think she’d willingly serve The Hand, but she was brainwashed by one of their members, so I think it would be foolish to discount the possibility that they may still have some form of influence over her.”

Finn then inquired if Faith or Binky had been acting oddly of late, as if his recent outburst hadn’t even happened, making said inquiry all the more ironic. Mika followed that up with some comments of her own, before asking how they should go about discovering the mole’s identity.

“Well, first off, I think we should try to get the Director alone and bring all we’ve learned to her attention,” Ashley began. “Then perhaps we could have her share false information with each of the suspects one by one and see if The Hand responds. I’m afraid I haven’t spent a lot of time with Binky since we rescued her,” the high-tech heroine continued. “But when I did, she seemed like her normal self. Faith is an… interesting person. She’s certainly acted rather strange on the few times we’ve conversed, but I don’t know how much of her eccentricities are natural aspects of her personalty, or signs of mental manipulation. We also can’t rule out the possibility that they don’t even know they’re supplying our enemies with information. Based on what we’ve seen so far, I think it's safe to say that implanting hidden surveillance technology or employing magical means to replicate the same effect is well within their capabilities. That said, there’s a more immediate concern I’d like to address.”

Taking another deep breath, she turned back to fix Finn with an intense gaze.

“I don’t know what, exactly, is causing you to act out like this, but if things are too much for you right now, then I think it’s in everyone’s best interest if you sit this mission out,” she told the young agent in a firm tone. “I can’t say we don’t need all the help we can get against a threat of this size, but if you’re just going act like an unhinged loose cannon, instead of a GEMINI agent, then your presence will do far more harm than good. So, what will it be, Timekeeper? Can we count on you to control yourself and cooperate with your fellow team members, or should we leave you behind to work through whatever problems you’re dealing with?”

---

Aaaaand Mika lumped Olivia in as another girlfriend anyways! Great. Not really. Finn's only response to her remarks was an eloquent flip of the bird, but at least she was more business than Ashley, who had deftly tried to justify her accusations against Betty and Olivia. He nodded when Mika asked for confirmation about when he had met up with Betty.

"Faith's a bit of a chatterbox but the few times I've run into her, her behavior seemed pretty consistent enough." He spoke up with what he had noted, crossing his arms in thought. "I've... Actually, I've not seen Binky since you guys got her back from that weird casino. You don't think...?"

Then Ashley, sweet, stupid fucking Ashley. Decided he was somehow more of a threat than what they were actually THERE for. As she went about her little ultimatum with him, she could see his hands tighten their grip against his arms as he glared daggers at her. He could so easily fling himself up to the front of the van and.... Finn sharply inhaled, shutting his eyes for a moment. "Agent Orion, there are bigger things at stake here than you gleefully signing off my pink slip. If you wanna act like I'm the bigger threat than two behemoths with the destructive power of hurricanes, then cut the shit you're pulling here and let me do my job before we end up killing each other first? You can cry to Dr. Moller that you want me out AFTER the threat's been neutralized." The machine's glare had reeled back to a more tired bitchface.

"Oh but don't worry though, I'll be an obedient little killer. Trust!" He even crossed his heart to emphasize.

Albeit with a rather spiteful smile.

@BrokenPromise@Vertigo@The World

Letting out a sigh as she plopped herself down atop of Boteg, crossing her legs and her arms as she tilted her head aside. Seeing the new arrival from Maverick, and also hearing the remarks to her question.

“I did not ask for any blood, I just asked if it was golden, I’m not some kind of vampire, just a curious pioneer of this tainted world, but….you still haven’t answered my question, so how about it? We would make a excellent team, our aesthetics fit like a nicely tailored suit, if you are willing to join up with me, I may take you up on that offer of whatever this glass rectangle of chewy blocks is, is that not a fair trade?”

Turning her golden gaze towards Marrie and Trixy after she had made things as clear as she could with Boteg and Marrie. “Name’s Sovereign, It is nice to finally get a chance to rub elbows with Maverick for once, those Gemini folk are so drab and serious all the time, so….I figure we can have a little bit of fun without them sulking and scowling all over the place, so it will be a nice chance to blow off a little steam” A hidden smile clearly on her face as she introduced herself to Trixy, Ciri and Boteg. Though she was at least familiar with Marrie amongst this group of new people. So that wasn’t all too bad, as she was a known asset.

Though after what had just left Marrie’s lips, she wasn’t too sure if she had Marrie totally figured out just yet. She had not imagined her to be one to slip in references or puns into her conversations. But, that made her all the more intrigued with her. She had a side to her personality that gave her that extra level of entertainment for Himiko.

She had thought after that first mission, Marrie was just a gung-ho, throw herself into the middle of the fray, little on words type of gal. But it seems she had misjudged her, but that was part of the fun.

Now as for the trains, she thought some of what was said likely had some truth, but other parts she didn’t agree with. “So, as for the trains in question, I don’t think monsters are all that weird in the context of what you have suggested, to me any of those activities are things that humans would partake in as well, is that really so weird or odd? It just sounds like life to me, monster, human or otherwise…” Snapping her fingers as a thought crossed her mind now that she had started talking about the situation.

“I lost my train of thought for a moment, but ya’know, regardless of what language it speaks, we should be able to keep it from going off the rails, all we need to do is figure out its destination, as the destination is sure to provide a lot of clarity about its objectives and once we do that, it should answer our questions about what is happening, Which will help to keep this mission on track without any issue as long as we don’t get tunnel vision”

Keeping herself posted atop Boteg quite comfortably at this point. She figured this mission wouldn’t be too hard when it came to figuring out the train's problem. The hard part would be stopping it and dealing with any other groups that would surely show up to capitalize on the situation. But that just gave her another opportunity to pursue her glorious goal, so it wouldn’t be all that bad at the end of the day.

@Ponn@Majoraa

Mika’s grip on the steering wheel got tighter as Ashley and Finn continued to spar words with one another. Mika wasn’t rooting for one or the other, only that they could decide on a course of action. But it was clear this was not something that was going to get settled right now, as both Ashley and Finn were more interested in their current social dynamic. Mika considered this far less important that discovering who the mole was before they sabotaged a second time. They got Angelie killed, and while Finn kind of did in Dante, things were only hard because someone sent him everything they could on Timekeeper. Someone else was going to die if they didn’t stop them. Well, die sooner, at least. Mika wasn’t so stupid as to think any of them were going to get out of this alive. What was being an esper but rolling the dice and hope you get a high roll?

But if they couldn’t cooperate in a low-stress environment like Su’s van, then maybe this had to be dealt with first.

The rear view mirror let mika look directly into Finn’s eyes. She could look at Ashley easily enough just by glancing into the passenger seat. She knew she wasn’t a smart girl, but she knew what the doctor would want her to do in this situation.

The road was empty. Anyone with a car was out of Pax Septimus or hunkering down in a garage somewhere. Only an esper or a deranged storm chaser would be on the road right now. As tense as the air was, Mika resisted the urge to slam on the breaks and instead slowly brought the van to a stop. Then she turned to ashley and rested her elbow on the steering wheel like a trucker might.

"Pair-a-dice is waiting for us a few blocks away. Fritzi also said Cereza and Cerise are good healers and will be joining us as well." She moved her finger between herself and Ashley. "Then there’s you and me. A full squad is just five espers, right?"

---

@Vertigo@The World@Nakushita

Trixy laughed, then snorted like a pig. ”’We’re all about having fun here, Sovereign! I’m looking forward to having fun with you too!”

”’...Mario?” Trixy raised an eyebrow, but decided to answer marrie’s questions instead of make sense of her wordplay. ”’Those names are just what GEMINI calls them, which happens to be what the rest of the esper folks have taken to calling them. We don’t know their exact shape, but if it’s anything like ‘highway to hell’ we can probably expect it to be something like a train. So probably a giant snake, an eel, or maybe even a pair of drakes!” She chuckled when Marrie mentioned how things tend to get convoluted. ”’Oh they absolutely do! But I wouldn’t worry my pretty little head off about if or when we meet the other ‘train’. How we react to it is going to depend on how we fair with Crazy Train. If we get control of them, or uh, they die before Peace train shows up, then of course we’re going to help them! But if we have our hands full and the church is holding their own, well, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, right?” She rubbed her chin. ”’As for anything else… Crazy train seems to be greatly wounded, maybe? It seems to be leaking some black fluid. Could be blood, or maybe oil or diesel. But those were some very good questions! I bet as soon as we get over there, you’ll figure something out right away.” She waved her hand. ”’Let’s get aboard Boteg!”

With a leap, Trixy fell in place right behind Himiko, who hadn’t stopped tormenting Boteg with her unusual questions. ”’Boteg is just a little shy. But he’s going to work with you and everyone else so long as you’re with us on this operation! He’s a Maverick now, after all.” She placed her hands on himiko’s ribs, to better center herself during the flight, of course. ”’Yes, that’s a great observation! I think as soon as we arrive, we’re going to have a better idea of what has to be done!”

Once everyone was loaded up, Boteg pushed off the ground. All espers aboard could feel the downforce from the dragon’s mighty jump. Then Boteg spread his wings and began to coast forwards. One might have been expected to get pelted by rain as they flew, but it seemed as though boteg was inside some rain and wind resistant barrier. The dragon remained dry in flight, and the espers could only feel a gentle breeze as it flew through the air.

Below them was Pax Septimus, Black tar roads and grey concrete buildings. The rainfall only washed out the colors more. For those who witnessed the diver’s arrival, they might have compared this day to that one. Hopefully things will end better this time.

Boteg peaked over his shoulder to look at his passengers before returning his gaze forward.

Unfortunately, but predictably, Finn responded to Ashley’s question with yet another moody outburst, one which painted Ashley herself as the problem, the one looking for an excuse to be rid of him, while he only wished to do his job. Of course, his concluding quip that he’d be an “obedient little killer”, made the Knight of Tomorrow more than a little doubtful of the sincerity of that response. Yet, even as Ashley was trying to figure out the best way of dealing with Finn’s disruptive behavior, Mika seemed to have her own idea. Slowing down considerably, she parked the van on the side of the road, noted the other agents who would be joining them, and asked the Knight of Tomorrow to confirm that a standard G.E.M.I.N.I. squad consisted of only five members. The purpose behind this wasn’t lost on Ashley, although she was a bit surprised that it was Mika who had decided to take the role of the parent stopping the car to deal with a petulant child. Regardless, this was an ultimatum for not only Finn, but Ashley as well, since she would now have to come to a swift decision on how to proceed in regard to the team’s youngest member.

“Correct,” Ashley confirmed after taking a deep breath and exhaling it in a tired sigh. “But Timekeeper has committed to fulfilling his responsibilities as a G.E.M.I.N.I. agent, so I will take him at his word.” Against my better judgement… she kept to herself. Yet, for all the various red flags and warning signs inherent in Finn’s recent behavior, the young agent was right about one thing. They’d be facing a major threat, very likely one approaching, or even equalling the power of the Diver. With that in mind, they needed as much strength as they could muster, and with the recent loss of Ellie and the even more recent incapacitation of Estelle due to a weretiger ambush, they were already two agents short. The Knight of Tomorrow only hoped that keeping Finn on the team wouldn’t be a decision she’d later regret…

---

---

Well would ya look at that, Asher already knew this was going to be a fun mission. He certainly remembered Bobo and her crew, or more so Bobo over the others. Asher hadn’t specifically duked it out with the other two Espers present as he’d mostly been tied up taking out their goons and then saving that electric kids’ ass. That was particularly when he and Bobo had met. Theirs had been a short scrap but fun nonetheless. There was no hesitation in him as he firmly grasped the offered hand and gave it a good shake.

“Oh yeah, I remember y’all,” Asher started, a cheeky grin growing on his face. “Real fiery attitudes, the kinda gals I can get down with.” Asher said with a wink, the way he figured it he was more likely to suffer a knife in the back before anything else but that didn’t stop the natural urge to banter. Besides, maybe the nun was true to her word and there really were no hard feelings, only time would tell but Asher wasn’t too big on grudges himself.

“Yeah, no hard feelings,” Asher started with a more serious tone, but quickly a grin took over once more as he turned to more indirectly address Bobo, “I get it. Bobo’s always free to try and even the score if she’s feelin’ frisky, I don’t mind a few nibbles around the edge. I like a little warm up before the main show anyways. Small world indeed.” Asher directed the last line more directly towards Bobo, sending her a wink for good measure. He hadn’t quite decided if he’d spend some time pushing her buttons, he did need to get paid after all. He was sure there would be plenty of other’s to dance with soon anyways.

With a smirk Asher turned towards their new boss, “Nah, not a problem Chief, just had a little brush up with these gals before but it’s all ancient history, no hard feelings.” He started in an effort to reassure the…priest? Father? He wasn’t sure what he should use to refer to the man as a matter of fact. He’d just stick with Chief.

Asher watched as the mystery nun strutted by, paying attention as she spoke with the other new freelancer who’d not tried to kill him and who he’d not actually met yet. A little voice in the back of his head wondered how he ended up working with a bunch of bible carrying nerds but Asher chose not to worry about that so much right now. “Black Sabbath, huh? Sounds like a killer band name.” Asher said to no one in particular before looking around to see if there were any other interesting arrivals.

“So what’s the plan?” He asked, although he threw the question out into the air with no intended recipient, hoping anyone really would pipe up and give him an idea of what was going down.

@BrokenPromise@Vertigo@The World


“A little shy huh? Well we can work on that later, until he warms up to being able to answer my request, hopefully in a positive manner of course.” Letting out a small little chuckle of her own. Not minding the grip on herself from Trixy in the current moment. It was actually somewhat pleasant as most times when someone put their hands on her lately, it was in order to try to kill her.

She had bigger fish to fry after all, if Boteg didn’t want to give her an answer right now, well she would just have to pull one from him later when she got the chance. This was just too good of an opportunity to pass up. A golden dragon teamed up with her would be absolute perfection as far as she was concerned. Not to mention it may help push along a few of her other goals.

Feeling the downforce as she tightened her grip on Boteg as they took to the sky. She had to admit that it was quite majestic and an impressive display. It only made her desire Boteg joining her little pet project of a group all that more.

Glancing down towards the sights below as she took them in quietly. “The more things change, the more they stay the same eh?, with weather like this, it may be harder to locate our objective, but at the same time anyone else out in weather like this and in a place like this isn’t likely to be up to any good” shrugging her shoulders as she was quite impressed by the protection being provided to the passengers aboard Boteg from the elements.

“Now…for finding this crazy train of ours….what are the chances that our dragon friend here is able to sniff the scent of our target, if it is truly wounded and leaking out this black fluid, it should have a unique scent to it I would have to imagine that sticks out amongst the normal stenches of society…” Her golden gaze searching the land below for any sign of a trail or evidence of the target as they continued on their journey.

Boteg’s brief glimpse back was met with a wink from Sovereign as she couldn’t help herself in the moment. After all, it wouldn’t be any fun if she just left him completely alone and didn’t keep working away at him.

As for what awaited them, she was sure it would prove to be quite worth her attention. To provide her that spark of interest and fun she so desired in this world.

While Noah had planned to take Raphael’s suggestion immediately, her greeting was immediately caught in her throat when she noticed exactly what forms the outfits her fellow freelancers had taken. From the way all of those users of the Esper app talked, Noah had been under the impression that espers whose clothes took the form of religious garb were at the very least some flavor of rare. Even more so when it came in the form of the clothing of a Christian nun, if altered somewhat.

On one hand, it was nice to feel unique in such a mixture of ideal selves. On the other hand, Noah would admit that she did feel a little bit of embarrassment that her faith was so core to her that her Esper form had decided to take it and run. Really, it was one thing to know yourself as faithful, but a whole other to see it represented outwardly in plain view!

So she couldn’t help but wonder as she took in the four, were espers like herself really so rare? If it wasn’t for how Raphael had named them as freelancers, Noah wouldn’t be thinking about this at all, but… Perhaps it was a result of the majority of the espers on the app being stationed in cities, that those with forms such as herself were seen as rare. Complete speculation, but it was a thought that would linger in her mind.

Of course, none of the espers before her had an exact copy of a traditional nun outfit - she’d be more surprised if they did, honestly - though one of them, Bobo, was actually quite close. Take away the book, the belt, and the giant flamethrower and mace, and it was nearly a perfect copy! … Though, Noah couldn’t help but wonder why Bobo was wearing a cross necklace on the top of her head. The one with the piercings on her ears was also pretty close, Noah had to admit. She was missing a coif just like Noah, but hers was the right color. Really, all that needed to go was that belt wrapping around her body and the accessories.

The other two, though, were dressed very... Before going any further, Noah felt the need to state that she wasn’t a prude. Really, she wasn’t! But that didn’t really change the fact that the other two espers were both dressed in some strange approximation of a nun outfit that Noah was rather certain would fit in with those costumes in certain kinds of videos! Well, the one of the two that was actually wearing something resembling clothing! Though, that was a point towards the one with the sword, Noah would admit. Even if it was a pretty revealing outfit, it was still an outfit! The other one, who was also that tallest of the group and certainly taller than Noah, was wearing a habit, wraps, and nothing else! And she had a piercing on her belly button??? Seriously, what was with this?!

And, yes, Noah knew that she was being a little judgy right now, but sue her for not mentally preparing herself in advance for someone wearing what Noah would very generously call next to nothing! She didn’t even want to think about how red her face might be…

And oh lord in heaven she’s walking over to her right now-

Noah, in a manner similar to a deer in headlights, took a moment to properly process that the esper who wore basically nothing was talking to her, and quickly took her hand and introduced herself in turn. “Uh, I-I’m Walking Church, it’s nice to meet you.” She said, doing her absolute best to smush any feelings of embarrassment or awkwardness at this situation (and failing, her choir of voices betraying her).

Doing her level best to focus on everywhere but the torso of the very tall and confident woman in front of her out of fear of the heat on her face increasing much further, Noah decided to divert attention a little away from herself, and towards the remainder of the now known Black Sabbath. “Ah- so- um.” A cough. "... Who are the rest of your group?" Her choir finally asked, deciding that learning the names of everyone present would be an okay distraction from what was directly in front of her.

@Ponn@Majoraa

Mika continued to eye Ashley after she spoke. The vehicle remained stopped, with the rumbling engine drowned out by the rainfall. With a groan, the vehicle rolled forward again. "Affirmative."

It didn’t take long for the other espers to come into view. With Ashley’s new promotion came reason to request more assistance, and Fritzi pushed her case with the higher ups as hard as she could. Raven, codenamed Paradise, stood in a dark garage that had the door left open. Her black clothes would have blended in with the darkness were it not for the striking cyan accents on her outfit. Flanking her on either side were two miko-looking espers, which must have been Cereza and Cerise.

The twins had been a part of GEMINI for much longer. Longer than even she has. While they usually were found managing the PR department, they were also local legends for their shared healing powers, that which can heal a mundane human back to prime condition as if they were an esper themselves. Maybe that was why Dr. Moller had reached out to them, considering the undermanned squad's condition. The two were nearly identical at first glance, save for the ways their vibrant red hair was styled; Cereza's hair was wilder than Cerise's straighter locks. And they were armed with an elegant looking bow and shield respectively.

The side door on the van slid open, and the three espers piled into the back with the “obedient little killer.” There was plenty of room for everyone, but there was a bit of a scramble as everyone understood time was of the essence.

"Hello again." Raven called to Ashley before taking a seat.

"Hello!"

"Excuse us!"

The twins quickly said their hellos before taking their seats next to Finn, who lazily waved back.

"Welcome to hell."

---

@Vertigo@The World@Nakushita

Between Sovereign and Trixy’s gabbing, there wasn’t much room for anyone else to speak.

”But he’s already working with us, why do you need him to offer to work with you specifically?” Trixy chuckled. ”’But I have a feeling that, whenol’ Crazy does show up, we’ll know what we’re looking at.”

Trixy was about to comment on Boteg’s ability to “sniff out” their mark, when he did so himself. ”’This scent intake o mine is not so strong to pick up much. Me has a most splendid time identifying currents of changing fizzle fazzle! ”

The Maverick esper blinked her eyes a few times before looking to Ciri. Can you translate that? I think he said he can detect things without scent, but I’m not sure.”

While it hard to make out much in the rain, Billy’s white skin stood out against the dark streets. He reached a hand into the air and pumped his fist, and the bikers behind him all honked their horns. Maverick was going to put whatever they could into this operation, but they couldn’t all fit on Boteg. They began to lag behind as the golden dragon picked up speed, jetting off into the distance.

”’Close… ”

---

@TaintedMushroom@Kero

Lenore’s grin only widened as Asher continued to talk. ”We’re feisty, eh? I think we can take that as a complement. I’m sure Bobo would love to play with you later. But let’s focus on getting paid first, eh?” Bobo did not respond, verbally. She kept her eyes glued to Dead Head and her brow crossed.

Raphael nodded. ”I suppose it is inevitable that freelancers may end up being pitched against previous acquaintances, or work with former rivals. It makes sense that you would need to learn to overcome such differences quickly.’”

Lexi reached an arm around Noah’s shoulder and turned to point at her group, not caring about their closeness or her apparent state of undress. Perhaps part of her enjoyed Noah’s discomfort. ”The nun with an eyepatch is our leader. That’s Lenore. The rest of us work with her. Bobo is the bunny nun and Nova is the smoker.” She kneeled so that they were looking eye to eye. ”I thought you were one of Raphael’s girls for a moment”

”And I thought she was one of yours.’” Rahael crossed his arms.

”Oh, she couldn’t be one of ours! We’re all very experienced but, don’t take this the wrong way, but you seem a little…Green? To me?” She pointed to Lenore with her thumb. ”Lenore use to teach espers how to fight. We were-”

”I think that’s enough picking on the new nun.” Lenore looked to the priest. ”Like Dead Head here said, what’s the game plan?”

Of course Raphael had already gone over the plan with those who arrived on time, so the late arrivals were going to get a quick refresher.”Black Sabbath is going to split up and join with the Bates, who have also split up. Regina will be leading the team against Crazy Train while Elroy will attempt to save Holy Roller.” He pointed ahead. ”We know where the behemoths should be meeting up, and so the two of you will come with me to clear out the area so that we can act as reinforcements once they cross. We should start moving soon, but we do have time for a few questions.”

Giving voice to a small sigh of relief when it seemed that the tense situation had finally been resolved, if only for the moment, Ashley refocused her thoughts on the coming operation. With the addition of Paradise and the twins, their team’s size would reach six members, the same number of agents that had gone on the raid against Justin’s mansion about a month earlier. To say that particular operation had gone rather poorly would have been a fairly massive understatement, and that was with a decently well-coordinated team, composed of mostly veteran agents. This impending operation, on the other hand, promised to be at least equally difficult, and the Knight of Tomorrow was growing increasingly concerned that her current, dysfunctional team of embittered (and possibly unhinged) teenagers, along with more experienced agents with whom she’d never worked before, would be utterly incapable of meeting the challenge ahead of them.

“Hello,” Ashley greeted the final three agents as they piled into the van, the high-tech heroine mustering the most welcoming smile she could manage, given the circumstances, while doing her best not to roll her eyes after hearing Finn’s little quip. “It’s good to see you all again.”

She had met Raven, aka Paradise, shortly after the bird-themed agent had transferred in, and while the Knight of Tomorrow hadn’t gotten to know her exceptionally well, the young woman seemed pleasant enough, and brought a welcome level of maturity that was in distressingly short supply of late. It also didn’t hurt that Raven shared a similar ultra-tech aesthetic to Ashley’s own. Unlike the more combat-oriented Paradise, Cereza and Cerise were healers and administrative specialists first and foremost. In fact, in her time with G.E.M.I.N.I.’s Pax Septimus branch, Ashley hadn’t once seen the pair take part in a field operation, even if their miraculous post op medical treatments had made them figures of considerable renown, both among their fellow agents and the imperiled populace of the city in general. With that in mind, the high-tech heroine couldn’t help but worry that the crimson-haired siblings would be more than a bit out of their depth in the middle of what could very likely become a full scale battle…

Initially, Ashley had considered employing freelancers to bolster her team’s numbers, but that idea turned out to be something of a disappointment. The latest post on Noble Spark’s Shimmer page was a comic review that was nearly three weeks old, while Elzy’s Shimmer page made it quite clear that she only handled issues involving goblins. The city’s other freelancers, such as Dead Head and Gale, had either taken other jobs, or didn’t want to risk dealing with a threat of this magnitude, especially so soon after the Diver’s catastrophic visit. Thus, the Knight of Tomorrow was forced to resign herself to the fact that the motley collection of espers surrounding her was all she had to rely on.

Truly an unpleasant thought, indeed…

---