Walking Church
Noah Anderson
Noah nodded, accepting the information Raphael gave gratefully. It wasn’t as much as she hoped, but if no one really knew how they fought, then she supposed this was going to be a learning experience for them all. That they caused natural disasters certainly explained the horrible storms approaching the city, but why did they do that? Noah had much the same question in regards to how demons would form up around the behemoths. She certainly could toss out a couple of ideas as to why, but she could hardly know for sure by just guessing in her own mind.
Noah decided she’d ask after the job was over, provided it went well. And she absolutely made a mental note of that comment on demons. But again, later. Perhaps if she hadn’t been late… but there was no use worrying about it now.
The dramatic effect of the departure of Black Sabbath was lost on Noah, as she had the misfortune of being right next to Lexi when they left, and was given a facefull of smoke. She coughed a couple times, and waved her hands around to try and dispel the smoke. Walking away from the quickly ascending smoke cloud, she shook her head and held a hand to her chest. She might’ve found the disappearance cool, if not for that.
And, with an ominous warning from Raphael, the three of them were off. The storms in the clouds raged, and rain beat down upon them as if it was trying to pass through them like a bullet. The wind was so rapidly changing that Noah wondered if there might be a tornado forming. And yet, none of it really impeded them. Their esper forms didn’t allow it to.
Noah found the whole experience novel, she couldn’t help but feel like an outside observer to the hurricanes, despite being right in the middle of it. She just felt like she was back up north, back in college, watching a reporter stand out in a storm. As thankful as she was for such protection from the elements, she couldn’t shake a feeling of vague disappointment. It may not have exactly been the kind of thing she wanted to experience, but she couldn’t help but feel deprived of it regardless.
Things began to change some minutes after she and her allies departed from the church. Though the hurricanes had already shrouded the city in such darkness that it appeared to be night, they began to lose more and more of their ability to see the further they went. Noah, unwilling to break the somewhat uncomfortable silence that had fallen over the group, silently willed her natural glow to increase in an effort to counteract whatever likely magical happenings the storm was causing.
Those likely magical happenings became in Noah's definite when her own light collided into it as if hitting a wall. It pushed back enough that the three could properly see their nearest surroundings, but such a passive effect could hardly do much more than just that against whatever spell was being employed against them…
It was at that same moment that Raphael ordered them to stop with a hand. His pace had been slowing steadily since the darkness had begun obscuring their sight, but he did not stop them for just that reason, Noah realized. He had probably noticed it before she heard it. Notice what, you might ask?
The demons lurking just outside of the magical dark. She could see parts of them, sometimes. A claw, talon, an eye, or a maw. She could hear them, too. That was what let her in on the fact that there were more than the few who were just occasionally peeking through the dark. She never fully saw any of them, but all those sounds sent her hand to the cross she rested upon her back, drawing it forth and into physical existence. Her right arm held it roughly in the middle of its shaft, at an angle. She fell into a vague defensive stance, and her heart rate sped up, awaiting whatever might come next.
The demons, despite all their posturing and snarling, hadn’t yet struck. The reason why became clear, when the voice of a woman pierced the darkness, saying some vague threat towards Raphael.
Noah’s head jerked to face the direction of the voice, and upon spotting the blonde woman on top of the building, a good number of Noah’s thoughts came to a screeching halt. In the back of her mind, she quite simply put together that this woman was likely behind the darkness surrounding them, and might even be working with the demons. She certainly couldn't figure out why, maybe she had some grudge against Raphael, priests, or just wanted other groups to succeed and for them to fail. Too many possibilities, and it was also not what Noah was focused on.
No, Noah was focused on something much different, something that had utterly drained any tension she had been feeling towards the situation because of its sheer absurdity. Because, really, “What on earth are you wearing?!” Noah unceremoniously blurted out in complete disbelief. Her left arm immediately slapped over her mouth and her face promptly turned red. She really hadn’t meant to just say it, but who could blame her?! The woman had perched herself atop a building in full fetish gear! Why?! Why was that her esper outfit?!
Her focus returned moments later, and she gripped her cross a bit tighter in recognition of the threat, but still! All dramatic tension was lost! And Noah really couldn't get over the outfit at all! How did that woman expect any of them to take her seriously when she was dressed like that?!