@Ponn@ERode@VertigoWhen a fire is extinguished and the arsonist is executed, few people search for the match that started it. Finn was too fast to be stopped by anyone, and nobody wanted to stop him. Ashley and Estelle were too busy dealing with the aftermath, Magical Dream Princess was just waking up from her trance, Pink Pounder didnât care
unless he got too close, and the dragon seemed more interested in what was happening inside than the boy fleeing. Finn might have gotten a few judgmental glances, but the only people that could feel the weight of his sins was himself.
The Pink Pounder gave Ashley a thumbs up, even as the blood of several gang members dripped off of his crooked sword. Violet, however, did not react to Ashleyâs praise. As soon as her eyes were open, she stood up and looked inside the building. She skipped her way over to the window and jumped inside. Pink Pounder was about to follow her, but she raised a finger, signaling him to stop. The wizards all seemed to be relieved by this.
Ciriâs outburst seemed to be ignored by most, save for the Pink Pounder. He spun on his heel and shouted at her. â
LEAVE MAGICAL DREAM PRINCESS OUT OF THIS!â His body quivered with rage. Every square inch of him was splattered with blood, save for his pristine shield.
Fritzi listened to Ashleyâs report.
âI was anticipating things would go south. Maybe not this far south, but the cleanup detail is en route.â Fritzi was keeping her jovial tone up, but she didnât hide tired sigh.
âIâll see if I can get a hold of our runaway tin-can soldier. In the meantime, your mission is not over. These monsters are foxy, and itâs very possible that Timekeeperâs curse wasnât placed on him by Dante directly. We know he employs succubus as waitresses. Finish your investigation before returning to HQ. It would be a shame if the only thing we managed to do was create a power vacuum with all this.â Then a bit quieter, Fritzi grumbled.
âWhy was he so packed? Monsters donât even like to be out in the middle of the day.â Then Fritzi spoke up.
âYouâre going to write a detailed report when you get back. Can I get you anything else, maâam?âDuring the entire bar brawl, one corner of the bar had always had exactly one cowboy, dryad, and wizard. Despite belonging to vastly different gangs, they all sat together without fighting. The only time they did anything was when the wizard raised a magic shield to absorb the blast of a fireball. They had been watching Ashley, but their eyes turned to one of the broken windows. A man with a dragon head and a tuxedo was standing just outside.
âBoteg you old dog!â The cowboy slapped his knee.
âWe was waitinâ to play cards with ya!â âWere you dumpster diving again?â The dryad placed her hands on her hips. The feathers on the back of her neck raised when he looked at her.
âThinkinâ weâll need to find a new joint. Donât suppose a burning building is a great place to play.âBut the dragon, Boteg, only gave them a glance. He seemed far more interested in the grieving girl.
Amanda did not react when Estelle initially embraced her. Danteâs daughter hid her face behind her arm and cried into her fatherâs remains. But as she calmed down, she noticed who was hugging her so tenderly. She shrieked and pushed out of Estelle's grasp, before using her feet to push herself into a corner. Her arms were still clutching what remained of Dante, and her face was as red as a cherry. Even if she wanted to be comforted, only a fool would let an esper, and especially a
gemini esper, touch you. Nothing was stopping them from blowing you up with a melody, or worse, robbing you of all your energy so that they could drag your tired corpse to one of their experimental labs. Though Amanda seemed content with this setup. A little bit of personal space, with Estelle kneeling just a few feet outside of it. When there was a break in the sobs, she surveyed the room. Then she looked back at Estelle.
âWhere is he?â
@MajoraaFinn could run, that was something he was really good at. How many times had he just taken to the streets in no direction at all? How many times had it helped? The answers to both of these questions were very different.
But the bigger issue was that Pax Septimus was just not a safe place for espers to just run around. Even if one could ignore the looming presence of the Hand, espers were just sort of destined to run into each other. Sometimes they were friendly, sometimes they werenât.
That oni girl looked like she was running from something. Or chasing something. Maybe whatever she was hunting was still around, and Finn⊠Just so happened to run into something.
He fell backwards, a piece of buttered toast was laying on his chest. And before him stoodâŠ
"Problem?"â Oros the MadOros groaned.
"Oh come on! Iâm supposed to run into someone important with that trick!" She reached for the slice of toast and pulled it off of Finn.
"Shit, and of course it lands butter side down. Could you do me a favor and run a lint roller over yourself every so often? Is this barbecue sauce or cowboy blood?" She took a bite.
"Cowboy blood⊠I guess youâre forgiven." She continued to talk while chewing her food.
"Are you alright? You look like you just did something very âyouâ a few seconds ago. Iâm kind of running late, but youâre dating Betty, so I can spare a moment for you Romeo." She took another bite.
"Befides, if profifly hifafious!"Even if Finn felt and looked like he was on the verge of screaming, he was still able to shoot
the one esper he was wanting to avoid a quick glare. At this point it was expected of his luck to force them to literally run into each other. So it was some damn miracle Oros was willing to spare him cause of⊠Betty? Thatâs twice now the Mad had brought her up in relation to him, what was so important about her to this woman?
And he and Betty hadnât even had their first date yet!! His expression soon broke into a frown, his bottom lip quivering. God no, he canât break down crying, not here, and not in front of
Oros of all people. But yet once he could manage to speak, he could stop his voice from trembling.
â...W-Whatâs wrong with meâŠ?â
@KeroNoah Anderson had only recently become an Esper, and only
very recently became a freelancer. She had been enjoying the sights that Pax Septimus had to offer. The historic district was the cityâs single biggest draw, but there were plenty of eateries and parks to visit as well.
It was just a shame she didnât get to see it all
before the diver showed up in town.
It was a colossal monster that was spoken of in hushed whispers, and the reason some parts of the city were still off the grid. Only recently, Noahâs room had working power again. It wasnât uncommon to see volunteers distributing food and water to the recently homeless, and repairs had only just started on many buildings. It made for an unusual tourist experience, but at least her new side hustle would be getting some action.
But what to do? As a Freelancer, all Noah had to do was open her Shimr app and ask where she should get started. Several espers said that the âGreat Escapeâ was a nice place to start. The Bate Twins regularly appear there and itâs the largest hangout for freelance espers in the city. It has a humble hometown feel, they serve breakfast at every hour, and the orange juice is good. Raphael the Righteous Hearted had also been spotted there a few times. Some of the appâs users noted that Noah looked like a nun, and thought that it might be worth seeking someone who worked directly for the pope. Though many more users said that he was more likely to be found visiting the local churches, if not assisting with the distribution of supplies to the hopeless. In mere seconds, an esper had taken a picture of Raphael doing just that. He was at an intersection on Fifteenth Street ensuring everything was in order.
The good thing about being a Freelancer is you usually had choices, but that was also the issue. Noah had to decide if they were going to try and catch up with Raphael or meet up with other freelancers in the Great Escape.
Of course, just walking around was also an option. There was a rumor that espers who wandered were destined to run into another esper, if not a monster. Then again, this city was plagued by horror worshiping cultists, a weretiger mafia, among many other unsavory sorts. So just âwalking aroundâ was ill advised. However, it could prove to make for a very interesting event.
"I feel popular."â Mika Fang Mika hated to admit it, but the burning guy was kind of cool. A little rough around the edges and not a subtle sort, but definitely someone who rose to the occasion regardless of how insurmountable it seemed. His line about making things work sounded similar to something her mother might have said, except in perfect english. Heâd probably survive a total of three operations. That was how many her mother had survived in Pax Septimus.
"Letâs keep our eyes open. Trap or not, there should be some clues." It was a shame they hadnât managed to kill a single one of those nuns. But their presence here told her something. Lenore had been working with Justin von Carnage, and he had been working for the hand. Oros was not working with the Hand. In fact, she had given Ashley some information regarding the Diver before that operation. Moreover, Sovereign
was working with Oros, and she refused to hand Mika over to Lenore even though she had a perfect opportunity to. This could have been an act to earn favor with GEMINI, but-
Oh great, Sovereign was speaking to her.
As Mika had predicted, one of the first things the money obsessed esper did was tease her because she tried to save Sovereignâs life. At least she seemed appreciative of the gesture, even offering her a ârequestâ in the future. Mika was about to thank her for the offer, and be glad the verbose esper had decided to keep things short for once. But then she went on to add that she thought Mika should leave GEMINI when she gets tired of being âbossed aroundâ and should âjoin up with herâ along with other things that sounded like a joke. But when it was time to laugh, Sovereign didnât.
This girlâŠ"Are you okay?" Mika raised an eyebrow.
"I just want to kill as many monsters as I can before I die. I do not think you are going to help me do that from what I have seen." Sovereignâs performance was rather lackluster. She had killed a few of the construction workers, but it almost felt like she was holding back. Like she wasnât willing to put in as much effort as everyone else. She was fortunate that Mika found her too irritating to yell at. Otherwise, she would have been much more vocal about her poor performance. But they still had a job to do. Sovereign was a hard one to judge. She was reckless, so her number should be up in an operation or two. But it was weird. Mika got the impression she was being catty. It was possible she could outlive everyone here.
But all of that left her head when Marrie brought up her partner. With a groan, she hopped down from the balcony and walked towards Angelieâs severed head.
"No." She said with a sigh.
"Dead is dead." She lifted the head up while trying not to look at the stump. Though she inadvertently got a glimpse and noticed it had all been charred black. That smoke nun must have struck her with a melody once Lenore transplaced with her. Again, she lamented the fact that they hadnât killed a single nun. Angelie might have been annoying, but all of the other agents had been fine sending Mika on an operation without any backup. She would have expected Ashley to be fine with it, but even Estelle and âthat cute boyâ were fine with placing one of their own in the hands of strangers. She really was alone now. Though maybe that was for the best. Maybe there was some merit to what Sovereign had said. It was every esper for themselves, and the ones that didnât think that way ended up like Angelie and her mother. That was how she knew Marrie was only going to survive two more operations, and Justin would be lucky if he survived one. How he survived this one was a miracle.
Well, that was a lot of crap Mika really didnât want to think about until she got back.
Mika placed Angelieâs head with her body, then turned to everyone present.
"Oros didnât hire those nuns. Letâs keep looking and see if we find something." And with that, she headed to the back of the church to inspect the cathedral. It looked like there was a podium with a script on it.
