As Marcus nervously waited for the doors to swing open at any moment, his twitchy finger was almost set off by the series of quick shouts behind him, causing him to jump and whirl around just in time to see two gargantuan wings sprout from one of their passengers. The girl who had been hiding behind the scarf.
He had no time to let out the expletive he intended to shout, instead being thrown sharply from the vehicle as the air escaped his lungs and Savannah was pulled screaming out of the vehicle. His shotgun clattered from his hands as he hit the ground, but was quickly retrieved as Marcus lunged towards it, quickly turning to the newest threat, attempting to stead himself into a kneeling position.
Sparing no time to gaze upon the newest threat's features, he pulled the trigger once, aiming to shoot her in the center mass. The shotgun nearly wrenched itself from Marcus's hands as he fired, not prepared for the increased recoil, and as the tail slap sent him sprawling across the dirt, the shotgun bounced away from him.
As he pulled himself up again and reached for his pistol, he began to feel weightless. The gravity controlling mage was at it again, and there would be no way for them to defend themselves with her in play.
Marcus looked around, trying to find the source. Every mage had a telegraph; he had his static, Sophia's eyes glowed, Grant had his chains. One of them had to be- there!
He spotted the woman with the yellow hands, twisting and trying to aim as he floated off the ground, taking a clumsy shot at her as he struggled to maneuver.
With her attention fixed on the back doors and what was about to happen, Sophia didn't see what was happening nearby until she felt something bang against her, nearly knocking her off her seat. She let out a quick shriek of surprise, watching as a set of clothes flashed past her and out the doors along with three other people. Marcus, one of the men, and Savannah. A screaming Savannah.
It took her a second to realize what was wrong. The person who had slammed the nearby people against the wall couldn't have been strong enough to do that without some kind of power... meaning that there had been another subnatural with them in the APC. As if on cue, the ten minute timer on her power ran out once more and she was able to see what was really happening. Upon catching sight of the winged and clothed monster pinning down Savannah, she got up from her seat and began to scramble backwards away from the back of the truck, only half realizing what she was doing.
Her attention was fixed upon the winged woman as she continued her transformation, not even looking at Marcus until the path of the woman's tail collided with him. Oh no. Lawrence had been injured, Marcus was beginning to float, Savannah was pinned down. She was the only one in her team who had the potential to do
something unhindered, but she couldn't do anything. Her power was useless. Even if she could shoot well enough, bullets did nothing against the winged thing. Her power was absolutely useless and weak, and therefore, so was she.
Marcus's shot hit the ground in front of his intended target, forcing her to step backwards, but not far enough that there was any noticeable difference to the field she projected.
The shots from Brent hadn't gone past her notice, either, and though her ally was blocking the sniper's line of sight for the moment, it was only a matter of time, especially if the USARILN mage had any other tricks up his sleeve. With Dreamcatcher's absurd magic anything was a possibility.
"Take them out! Quickly!" she shouted to her comrades as the three of them stepped back behind the safety of the armored car so the demonic Aberration could move freely.
Anchored to the ground and relatively safe from anything in the immediate vicinity, the clawed Aberration girl grabbed at Savannah's throat, squeezing as the girl's screams broke into jagged, choking noises.
Her small hands had no effect on the now rough skin of the mage's transformation and even a spell sigil placed right on the demon's forehead did little more than ignite in a fiery explosion that would have nearly killed anything less durable. The Aberration girl simply barked out a series of sharp, angry sounds that finally fell into enough rhythm for laughter, clutching tighter until Savannah's arms went limp.
Bits of shattered asphalt exploded at Callan's feet with every stride.
"Callan, they'll be to your right." Brent's voice was just barely audible over her own footsteps and breathing, which was bordering on a wheeze as the heavy feeling in her chest persisted.
"Four subnaturals now. Blond-ponytail can create spikes out of pre-existing material, black hair girl has some sort of anti-gravity or telekinesis, and the male's ability is unknown. Fourth is some bullet-resistant gargoyle, pinning down Savannah."Turning right down the nearest street, her eyes fell on the APC. Everything was as Brent had explained. The question of who she should go for first, however, was given little forethought as she surged forward.
"
HEY!"
The four hostiles turned to face Callan, but wasted no time gawking. A wave of the blonde girl's arm brought up a wall of spikes to shield movement from the sniper as she and the black-haired girl moved away, leaving the winged monster and the dark-skinned man behind, though the anti-gravity Aberration maintained her field even as she moved.
For his part, the man made sure to stay squarely behind the truck as ice particles shimmered and condensed around his body, spreading outwards from his feet along the ground, then into the surrounding air. Where he stood closest to the APC's wall, the metal there became ice-cold to the touch before slowly freezing solid.
The sound of another voice caught Marcus's attention as he floated around, helplessly watching Savannah get strangled. He craned his neck to look, happier to see a streak of aquamarine than he had ever been. His mind didn't ask any questions about why she had suddenly appeared, all to grateful for the intervention.
"
Hit the rock-lady!" Marcus shouted, perhaps a bit unnecessarily. Callan's sudden arrival had put the subnaturals into a defensive position, one that he'd be able to take advantage of if he could only aim properly.
His mind raced to come up with a plan. Something he could do to help before his entire team got wiped out by a product of his own carelessness. He did the one thing he could do in the situation - he rewound.
The sound of static faded as he found himself back towards the ground, but still floating. He mentally cursed himself for not using his power sooner - another one of his, thus far, numerous mistakes. Still, maybe he could do something with this.
He pushed the ground with his hand, sending his body into a lazy rotation. It probably would have been a hilarious scene at any other time - him slowly spinning in midair - but he at least had line of sight on the subnaturals who were crowding the APC, including the one with glowing hands.
One last desperate attempt he could try. Reaching into his holster, he pulled out the one thing he'd not used yet - the flare gun. As he waited for his body to spin into just the right position, he was vaguely aware of the sounds of other voices he couldn't locate. He ignored them, right now he had to focus. Marcus breathed deeply once, took aim at the anti-gravity mage's face, and squeezed the brightly colored trigger.
Callan was the fighter, his power didn't allow for much more than support - if he could distract, or even force the bad guys to shift their focus to him, he was doing his part.
It didn't take long for Emma to arrive, aided by Determination's speed. Anyone looking in her direction would be greeted by the sight of her desperately clutching onto her Tulpa's back as it sped down the street, suddenly stopping as it came within view of the APC. Emma dismounted, turning to take in the fight before her. Callan and Marcus already moved to fight the enemies, but Emma took a second to process the situation. Savannah was pinned to the ground... and she had stopped struggling.
That was a bad sign.
Lawrence was also downed and bleeding severely, red pooling underneath him. Emma brought a hand to her mouth, tears threatening to break- but now wasn't the time for that. She had to help them.
"Get the gargoyle off of Savannah! And be careful, make sure to not hurt her!" she said to the Tulpa. Emma layed her hand on the knife- just in case.
Recognizing Savannah's dilemma as Marcus directed her attention to it, Callan set her sights on the gargoyle. As she neared, she heard a second familiar voice calling out some distance away. Emma was here? Of course she was here. Marcus was her boyfriend. As quickly as the thought came, however, it was gone. Recentering herself, she focused on what needed to be done, leaping towards the enemy in hopes of knocking her off of the young blonde aberration.
Callan's tackle caught the gargoyle just as Marcus's flare shot hit the black-haired girl dead on. She screamed as the flare flashed and burned her face before the cartridge fell to the ground only seconds before she did, crying and clawing at the likely permanent damage to her eyes.
Without her conscious control the targeted antigravity field disappeared, dropping all its victims to the ground. The ice field was still spreading and thickening, however, and the blonde-haired girl spared her a single glance before abandoning her, escaping the field before it reached critical levels.
Perhaps, in the series of events that occurred, a different action would have saved Savannah. Or perhaps not.
As frost steadily coalesced on everyone within the ice Aberration's field, the impact of Callan's charge against the gargoyle had two effects.
1. She and the demonic girl flew over eight meters away from the APC, crashing into the ground together.
But the Aberration's clawed grip on Savannah's throat remained.
2. On landing, the small girl's body continued moving with the momentum. The gargoyle's hand and its unnatural strength did not.
There was a sharp snapping sound. Savannah's neck bent at an absurd angle.
And the Aberration released the corpse, howling and swiping at the superhuman mage on top of it.
As soon as Callan made contact with the demonic aberration, time seemed to move as if it were drowning in mud. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see a small body moving with them. That wasn't supposed to happen. They crashed into the ground and a loud snap brought everything in her mind screeching to a terrifying halt. That wasn't supposed to happen. She turned her head just enough to see as Savannah's body slide out of the gargoyle's grasp. Her breath hitched in her throat as honey gold eyes, wide and lifeless, stared back at her. Those eyes burned themselves permanently into her mind in the split second she had to observe.
Her fault.
That wasn't supposed to happen.
Callan was forced to look away as razor sharp claws embedded themselves in her cheek, carving out four linear divots as her head turned. Anger and regret washed over her in the form of nausea, but there wasn't time to stop and be sick. She could even feel her shadow beginning to bubble up from the distress of seeing her teammate's lifeless body, but there wasn't time. Wasn't time to lose control. Wasn't even time to think. Her brain buzzed with static. This girl-- no-- monster. She shared the blame for what had just happened. She couldn't be allowed to hurt anyone else. "
RRRGH!" Callan screamed through her teeth in irate frustration, though her lungs painfully protested. Callan lifted her fist and sent it flying towards the creature's face, already cocking her other fist for a second blow.
He hit the ground, sadistically pleased with the sound of crying that had denoted his hit. On Callan's end, she'd done well, sending the gargoyle, herself, and Savannah sailing across the battlefield. She'd probably need a healing after a fall like that, but-
The sickening sound of crunching bone, and the young girl's sudden stop caused Marcus's heart to skip, and his stomach to do several flips. She was throw to the side like a ragdoll, and although he didn't want to acknowledge it, he knew. She was dead - no amount of healing could fix that.
A million different emotions coursed through him - he was angry at Callan's recklessness, he was furious at himself for letting this happen, distraught, sickened, afraid. All of them whirling around in his head, threatening to burst from him.
Later.
No time to stop and think about them now; there were people that were still in danger.
Always later.
Right now, he was allowing one emotion to slip through. The current offender was Ice Man. He gripped his crowbar tightly, the sound of static filling his ears.
He was vaguely aware of Emma being nearby. He should have called out to her, asked her to get Lawrence to one of the healer groups. Or maybe
he should have gotten Lawrence into the APC. So many strategies, lost to the breeze.
It didn't matter. Right now, anger was clouding his judgement. He rushed forward, a sudden sprint with the aid of a fast-forward jump, bringing his weapon down on the man.
Oh god.Determination had moved to do as she had asked, but all too late. Callan got there first, and what happened next... Emma didn't know if she wanted to blame herself, Callan, or the gargoyle. Maybe they all shared the blame. If Emma had been there quicker, if Cal had been more careful, if Marcus had done a better job of protecting the little girl...
That and approximately a hundred other thoughts raced through her head. Her stigma roared. Determination was gone.
Useless, again. Can't save anyone.An unsteady breath came out of Emma. She watched the scene unfold, on the verge of crying or maybe screaming. Maybe both. By all accounts she should be doing something right now- fighting to save Marcus, to save Cal, to save Lawrence... but her body wouldn't move. Her Tulpas wouldn't come. Her grip on the knife was lost.
She was filled with fear. They were all going to die.
Dervish
]
