Voyage Through the Multiverse (Ended) [IC]

[Jraden]

Secreta of the Raven Collaboration Post
Part Four

"How old are you?" Augustus asked. "How long has it been since you died?"

"I died when I was 25, that was 23 years ago-"

"I've lost my ability to give a fuck before you were born. What you say doesn't matter." He stated with causality.

"Then why haven't you shot me?"

Augustus didn't seem to have an answer.

"I think you want me to talk you down." Skylar said, a commanding tone in her voice as she stepped forward. "You want me to inspire something in you, to believe in you-"

"I think I want you to shut the fuck up-"

"No, YOU SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Skylar yelled, using her powers to make Augustus do that instead of putting a salty bullet in her face. "I'm sorry about that." Skylar said, doing her best to use her abilities to ease Augustus' mental state. "You want to know how I died? I died giving birth. It felt...surreal, dying as I helped give life to the world. And you were right, when you said I don't deserve to exist. I don't. My family could live without me. My existence spits in the face of everything I once believed in. And I know that you've lost your faith, maybe literally, maybe metaphorically. But I've seen the other side. I know what it's like..." she reached out and put her hand on Augustus' shoulder. "You don't have to be afraid."

"What the hell are you on about-"

"Take it from me, take it from someone who has seen it all, who has lived and died...you don't want to spend your life bitter. Don't you wish you could spend your final days being a good person? Being the best you could be, for yourself? Not as such a hateful person who shoots children? Who refuses to listen to reason because they're too angry and stubborn to back down?"

Augustus remained unimpressed. "So you're my shrink now?" He questioned, though the tight grip on his gun was faltering, and his face wasn't as...glareful as it was before.

"I'm not your shrink. I'm your final chance. You're an old man...I know you're beyond your happy days...but if you put down that gun, if you listen to reason...you've proven that you're not a bitter old man. You're someone that can still do good. That you won't let your bitterness determine who you are. You can help us stop an evil greater than this, greater than all of us."

"And what if I don't want to?" Augustus questioned. "What if I just say "fuck it" and gun you down, let Cassidy put a bullet in my back like she's always wanted?" He wondered, though he didn't seem as angry anymore. He seemed tired. Like he was delaying getting to the point, just playing along with what Skylar was doing.

"Then thats your choice. And it's how you ultimately chose what your life is. What it's meant to be." There was a very long pause as Skylar's words, mixed with her persuasive power, finally seemed to be getting to Augustus.

"You know you were right." He admitted. "About me letting you talk."

"Why?"

"I figured I'd either piss you off, make you kill me, or you'd talk me down."

"Do you really not care about this?!" Cassidy yelled. "We've been standing here for five minutes!
"
"I've been suicidal for a long time." Augustus admitted, not caring about the plight of Cassidy's uncomfortable legs. . "I can't find in me to care, ever since..."he sighed.

"You lost someone?" Skylar cautiously asked.

"I lost a lot more than that."

Cassidy rolled her eyes at his sob story, but said nothing.

"And it was my fault." Augustus had tears in his eyes now.

Skylar shook her head. There were tears in her eyes as well. "I know it's hard to move on when you've lost everything. I know what that is like. And I want to tell you, that it only gets better if you want it to get better. Do you think the people you lost would approve of you letting innocents die because you're angry? They'd want you to move on and be the best person you can be."

"I can't move on!" Augustus yelled. "I was planning on getting myself killed this mission. I didn't care. That's why I shot that girl. I was planning on running on every loose board in this hope in hopes I'd fall through it. I was hoping to charge at you and you'd rip me apart. I was hoping I'd piss off Cassidy until she pushed me into a trap. And if that didn't work, I'd play Russian Roulette again."

Skylar watched in horror as he moved the gun to be aiming at his own head.

"I have nothing left. You've made me realize how much of an asshole I am. But it doesn't change the fact that this world is still awful." He lamented. "But I want to thank you anyway."

"It wasn't your fault!" Cassidy interjected, snapping Augustus out of his overdramatic monologue.
"Please..." Skylar begged, tears flowing from her eyes as well. "If you want to make peace with yourself... this isn't the way it should happen. You could do one last thing before you do that. You could help us stop the cult. One more thing in your life. Possibly the greatest thing you could help us do. And then you could finally move on."

Skylar offered her hand out to Augustus... who wordlessly handed her the gun, and began to cry. Skylar didn't hesitate to hug him, and he didn't hesitate to hug her back.

[Naval Monte]

Secrets of the Raven Collaboration Post
Part Five
Skylar's outburst frighten the witch a little but she was use to dealing with enraged wraiths before and with her in the middle of a spell she couldn't afford to be distracted. "A shame that damn ghost had to get herself involved in this mess. Looks like I will have to summon her out of the Shadowlands once this is over." The witch let out a sigh, annoyed at how chaotic and hectic her day has been.

Just as she was about to leave she felt a tenebrae appear within her shadow. "What's going on?" The tenebrae soon began to play the voices of everyone it heard in the hall to her, even distorting light to show illusions of what happened in the hallway. After seeing the events play out before the witch was dumbstruck. "How the bloody hell she manage to get those heartless bastards to agree to her? Let alone make one of them bawl out like a baby!" The witch was having a hard time adjusting to what she had witnessed before her.

Yet soon the tenebraes began to show her of a man in green armor throwing a dead cat at them. "That's a totally dumb thing to do." The witch sassed. "You guys keep an eye on him. Somehow Skylar pulled off one hell of a Hail Mary and I don't want anything fucking it up." The witch ordered. The tenebrae left to deliver the orders as she left the room, finding another one to create more traps and to find a good hiding spot should their miracle crumble.

The witch heard the bellow of the Ranger but dare not follow the source for if she heard it than the Ushers heard it as well, drawing them to his location. Yet she was quick to recite an incantation to order them to block his voice from reaching the room where Skylar was.

When Elizabeth found another room for her next trap she open the door quickly, almost tripping up when the door came loose and fell on the floor. "Jesus Christ how is this building still standing if it's this easy to break stuff in here." The witch got close to the door and began to draw on it. As she was close to being finished she let out a loud and agonized scream as she held on to her arm, dropping the marker as she rolled to her side. Elizabeth can feel the tendrils of the tenebraes digging deep into her arm, breaking the bones and tearing the tissue and muscles in their ways.

As the witch screamed in agony she knew that something as enraged the tenebraes into enter what she dubbed their "rogue state". They would not normally harm her into such a state if she was in control but when enraged to their current state the tenebraes would act on their own and would want to absorb more blood from her, ignoring the damage and pain they are inflicting on her. "Skylar! Lilith! Anyone please help!" The witch screamed out, not sure if her cries can be heard. Unfortunately for Elizabeth the tenebraes with Skylar were tasked on blocking out the Ranger's shouts, this also meant that Elizabeth's cries for help were also blocked. Elizabeth can feel her skin stretching due to some of the tentacles pressing against it, the witch worried they might rip out of her skin as she was still on the ground due to the pain.

"Oh right, I almost forgot about the two people you arrested." Skylar admitted as she patted a sobbing Augustus on the back. "Well I mean... they kind of burned a building down. That's their fault, and its up to you to decide what to do with them. But are you sure you want to bring them into this rickety old building?" The wraith questioned. "I think if one more person walks in here then the building will collapse on itself."

"This was the most suitable location to use as a temporary base of operations." Kessler admitted.

"No, this is the most suitable place to get lung cancer." Skylar said with a sigh. "Let me find Elizabeth, she can talk things out with you and then we'll..." she tried to find the right words to say, but she was just too tired. "Deal with all this!" And with that, she was gone again.

"Elizabeth!" Skylar called out. "I managed to talk down the Ushers like I said I would! They're down to sing campfire songs!"

Skylar vaguely heard Elizabeth's screaming from a distance, and quickly changed into her incorporeal form as she found the source of the noise: Elizabeth's arm was being violently attacked by dorm strange mess of black tentacles.

"Elizabeth!" Skylar yelled in concern. "What happened?!"
Elizabeth only shouted in pain, thrashing on the floor as the tentacles travel deeper, the two women hearing bones cracking from within the arm. "Something set them off! I can't control them!" She yelled through her pain. "They are sucking me dry and are tear my arm apart! Please do something." Elizabeth once more yelled in pain as she rolled on the floor. The witch was reminded of her knife and in her state contemplated on cutting off her arm to end the pain.

"What should I do!?" Skylar yelled. "I don't think slapping them off is going to work, you know what these are, right? RIGHT!? Elizabeth, if you don't want me to cut off your arm, you're going to need to be rational and explain what those things are so I can save you life!" Skylar yelled, growing increasingly concerned as she took the knife off the floor and out of Elizabeth's reach.

The witch wanted to curse at the wraith for taking the knife away from her but feeling more muscles popping she was instead chose to explain to her about her rogue summons. "The tenebraes can't stand sudden bright flashes of light. The ones outside should leave but the ones inside my arm will stay." Elizabeth was trying to say what needed to be said but found it difficult to say the words. "You just need to spook them off with intense light okay. Please I want this pain to end." The witch pleaded, any bravado or broodiness she had was now gone, in their place was a desperate woman begging for help.

---

[Demincia]

Secrets of the Raven Collaboration Post
Part 6

"That's it?" Skylar questioned, sounding confused, almost disappointed with how simple the solution was. "Flash them the brightest thing I have? I should just show them my personality! Or my daughter's future!" She said cheerily, hoping humor could make Elizabeth more calmer.

Elizabeth gave the wraith a furious glare. "Do I look like I'm in the mood for fucking jokes woman!? Just bet rid of these things!" She shouted, more in rage this time than in pain.

"Oh well, saves me time anyway." She muttered, before letting out a loud yell as she changed her corpus to that of her 'Angel Form', and said "Close your eyes and look away!" releasing a beautiful, yet utterly blinding flash of light that scared off most of the tenebraes, and she continued her assault of pure bright light at Elizabeth's arm with enough force to make the women's entire body feel warm, though that could be from the strange feeling of the tenebraes leaving her body.

When Elizabeth released a flash of light the tenebraes outside screamed as their forms crumbled into dust and soon to smoke. As the smoke linger in the air Elizabeth began to take much needed deep breaths. "Tha.. AAAHHHH!" She screamed as her arm began to thrash about. Skylar and Elizabeth would hear the sickening sounds of flesh tearing as more tentacles shoot out from the deep cut from the palm and out from the coat sleeves and wrap themselves around Skylar, the tenebraes causing her light to dim as they began to absorb the energy and photons her powers released.

Skylar would see Elizabeth's fingers break and tear as more tentacles emerged from the mangled mess that was once her hand. She would see eyes from the tendrils and mouths opening, revealing rows of curved, serrated, fangs as they drew close to her. Elizabeth looked at Skylar. "The knife Skylar, you have to use it to cut my arm open! The rest are hiding inside of my arm, if they stay in than no amount of light will remove them." She explained to the wraith. As the tenebraes attempted to block out Skylar's light, the wraith became utterly furious, her face changing from a concerned angel to an almost demonic looking wraith.

"You think you can stop me?!" She yelled. "I befriended a lot more of your fellow species than you, and you know what, I'LL FUCKING BEFRIEND YOU TOO!" She screamed with all her might as she unleashed a massive blast of light that knocked back the tenebraes, though Elizabeth was still writhing on the floor in pain.

"I'm not going to mutilate your arm Elizabeth!" Skylar responded to Elizabeth's pleas. "I got into this building by phasing through solid matter, I'll do that with your arm, but I need you to stay calm!" She attempted to reason, holding a thrashing Elizabeth down. "Elizabeth, pick a song, any song, I'll sing it you, and it'll calm you down because I have special singing powers, and then I'll get them out of your arm, but I need to stay calm, otherwise I can't focus, okay?" She explained, her motherly side coming out. "It'll be like an Angel is singing for you, scaring away these monsters..." she said in a soothing voice.

Elizabeth covered her eyes as Skylar unleashed a blast of light to drive away the tenebraes. When the wraith was close Elizabeth heard what her plan was. "You know I would normally question how effective this plan would be but I want this pain to end now." Elizabeth thought about which song to pick to calm her down. The motherly tone that Skylar somehow reminded her of one song she heard back in her child. "You know how to sing Scarborough Fair?"

"Of course I do, I love the song, I sing it to my daughter every once in a while!" Skylar said cheerily. "Now don't fight what I'm about to do..." before Elizabeth could question what that could mean, Skylar wrapped her motherly arms around Elizabeth, enveloping her in a comforting hug to hold her down. And Elizabeth would notice that her back was pressed against...ahem..."soft pillows".

And then she began to sing in what Elizabeth could consider the most angelic, beautiful voice she had ever heard.

"Are you going to Scarborough Fair?
Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme;
Remember me to one who lives there,
For she was once a true love of mine."

Elizabeth seemed to have calm down, and Skylar began to slowly phase her arm into Elizabeth's arm.


"Tell her to make me a cambric shirt,
Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme;
Without any seam or needlework,
Then she shall be a true love of mine.
Tell her to wash it in yonder well,
Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme;
Where never sprung water or rain ever fell, And she shall be a true lover of mine."

Skylar's hand had shifted into Elizabeth, who had calmed down enough to stay still.

"Tell her to dry it on yonder thorn,
Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme;
Which never bore blossom since Adam was born,
Then she shall be a true lover of mine."

And Skylar lit Elizabeth's arm right the fuck up, causing the remaining tenebraes to flee, leaving Elizabeth with her mangled arm.

"My God, your arm..." Skylar's toned was etched I worry. "Elizabeth, I can heal right now, very quickly...but I need your permission to possess you." She stated, looking directly into Elizabeth's eyes, because that was better than looking at the mangled mess that was left of Elizabeth's arm.

[Demincia]

Secrets of the Raven Collaboration Post
Part 7


Elizabeth didn't feel the tenebraes being expelled from her body, the combination of the soothing song and the power behind them mixed with her nerves being destroyed made her feel nothing but serenity as she pressed the back of her head on Skylar.

Yet with the tenebrae gone the witch can feel her body was still cold, worse of all herveyelids were getting heavy. "Oh you got to be kidding me. I'm going to die in this dump? Just my fucking luck." The witch complained, trying to get to a pack of cigarettes but realizing quickly that she can't get them due to them being located at a pocket that only her destroyed arm can reach.

"And I can't get a final smoke." When Skylar told her that she wanted to possess her to try and heal her arm the witch said nothing to the request. In her mind she thought over her options. Letting Skylar in can save her arm if she is powerful enough to fix her arm, but if she can fix her arm then she can change other parts to her body and she dread to think of the wraith messing with her brain. But not fixing it would result in her demise and assuming she can be saved on time she would lose her arm and would live with either a stump or some crappy metal claw for a hand.

"How can I be sure you won't mess with my body if I do let you in or you won't try to control me? How can I be certain you won't place something in me?" The uncertain witch said, her voice getting weak.

"Well I mean I could always take away your cigarette addiction." Skylar joked. "Maybe make you a bit more upbeat, positive, less broody, less inclined to use magic vampiric tentacles." Skylar's voice was still soothing her. Even though Elizabeth's arm was... fucked up, for a lack of better words, she was in a state of peace. It was probably from the blood loss and her impending demise, but Skylar chose to think it was her singing skills that put Elizabeth in this state.

"I'm not going to let you die Liz. I mean I could kick your cigarette addiction, but it's your choice to do that, no matter how many years of your life it takes off-though your lifestyle isn't much safer-anyway! I'm not going to let you die. I know what that's like, it's rather unpleasant, even if it is possible. And really, it's just an evil thing to let you die, or to lie and warp your mind like that. So unless you want to peacefully die inside this dusty old building, I would fully recommend giving me your consent before I enter your body." There was a pause as Skylar realized her poor choice of wording. "That sounded off, I'll admit, but the same concept applies and you know it!"

Elizabeth let out a weak laugh. "Yeah no, if I want to kick my habit I want to do it on my own free will. I don't want anyone messing with my head even if those changes are for my own good. If I start doing that just for my health then will it stop? How much can I change until I'm no longer the woman that I am? What does changing a person's mind say about free will and individuality?" The witch said to Skylar, her eyelids slightly closing but opening as Elizabeth fought against the temptation of closing her eyes and rest. "Just heal my arm Skylar. I would love to talk about philosophy after I'm sure I won't bleed to death in here." Elizabeth began to softly mutter a chant in what sounded like Latin. "Go now."

"Alright Elizabeth, just let yourself be at ease, move your head..."she tried to find the right words to say. "Against my rack, don't make it weird okay, they're soft and I don't want you to hurt your neck. All right, got that awkwardness out of the way, just listen to the sound of my voice, get lulled into that state you were earlier...close your eyes, it feels weird for people to be possessed when their eyes are open, it feels violating, even more so when your wounds are being healed. Just listen to what I do, and it'll be like falling asleep..." for good measure, Skylar sung Elizabeth's favorite lullaby one last time as Elizabeth fell into a state of peaceful serenity, with death likely to follow soon after if Skylar didn't hurry up. But hey at least she was pressed against a nice rack if she died, right? Wait a minute, that's technically necrophilia!

The witch had no reason to argue where to place her head against since if she died she would be resting against something soft. "Whatever you see just get it on with it." She told the ghost. As the detective fell into a resting state her body felting a jolt go throughout her body, shivering from the cold as her hair stand on ends and goosebumps appeared on her skin.

Lilith, who'd mostly kept her distance from Elizabeth because of her bleeding, drew closer. The smell of blood was starting to drive her insane, and she was going to flee from it until she heard quiet prayers. She rose up from the fog behind Elizabeth, wincing at the smell. She knelt down beside the witch carefully.

"Be still, child." she said quietly. "Your pain will not last much longer." She took the woman's undamaged hand in her own and lowered her head. "Áve María, grátia pléna," she began softly. "Dóminus técum. Benedícta tū in muliéribus, et benedíctus frúctus véntris túi, Iésus." she glanced up at Skylar and nodded at the ghost, then proceeded again with the rest of the prayer. "Sáncta María, Máter Déi, óra pro nóbis peccatóribus, nunc et in hóra mórtis nóstrae. Ámen"

Skylar began the unconventional process of possessing Elizabeth's body, and she herself leaned her body against a wall so that it wouldn't collapse and cause Elizabeth to fall over. As Skylar possessed the sleeping woman's body, she began the utterly strange process of taking control of not just Elizabeth's mind, but her actual body. It was a process that allowed her to heal Elizabeth's wounds. As Elizabeth wasn't awake, she was fortunate enough to not feel the medically magnificent process that was Elizabeth's arm being healed from nothing.

When the possessions reached the point of taking over her body the witch felt as though she was observing the life of someone else even though she knew it was her life and she was seeing through her eyes. Elizabeth both felt the excruciating pain of her body repairing itself at the cellular level yet the pain was so minor that it wasn't worth registering it or reacting towards it.

It was a slow, meticulous process, Skylar didn't want to rush it and mess up, and yet at the same time, it was almost soothing in a way. Skylar only healed Elizabeth's mangled mess of a limb and safely exited her mind and body, the thought of doing anything else to Elizabeth never once crossing her mind at all.

Elizabeth would wake up with her arm completely healed, feeling very revitalized... and her dead pressed against the rack of ghost boobs. If she liked that, congratulations Liz, you're a necrophile. Specterphile? Eh it doesn't matter, Simon and Hope are too.

When the process ended it took a few minutes for Elizabeth to wake up, yet the witch still felt to exhaustion to even bother opening her eyes. "Who's holding my hand? Is that you Skyar?" The detective open her eyes and she saw a blurred figure. Blinking a few times her vision cleared enough to see Lilith. "Lilith? I thought you were going to stay hiding just to wait on snacking on some poor schmuck?" The witch said.

Lilith just smiled softly. "Originally, that was the plan yes. But old habits die hard, and when someone in need is praying, I'd be remiss if I wasn't there to help them through it." She let go of the woman's hand, then closed her eyes and sniffed a few times. "You have very... pleasant... smelling blood." she said, wincing slightly. The vampire stood up, backing away from the pair. Her head turned to the side, and it was obvious that she was fighting against something by the occasional twitches in her neck. "I'm... I'm afraid I must go now." she said quietly. "Before I become a danger to everyone in this house. The air... it smells... Lovely." She slowly forced herself to look at the two younger women. "I will find you again later, but I cannot stay here... The temptation..." She looked up to the sky, her eyes taking on a golden glow again. The storm overhead dissipated, and the fog in the building began to slowly roll out and burn off. She nodded at the two, a pained smile on her face before she joined the fog and quickly rushed out the door.

When Lilith let go of her hand Elizabeth used it to grab on her twitchy and shaking hand, getting it to stop. "Thank you for staying Lilith." Then the vampire told her that her blood smelled pleasant. The witch blinked a few times after the odd comment. "I'm gonna ignore how creepy that sounds and just take it as a compliment." The vampiric nun told the two she had to leave because the stench of blood was getting to her. As the weather began to return to normal she fled. "Hopefully she will return because I'm not in the mood on chasing her ass for the third time today." Elizabeth turn her head up to look at Skylar. "You can let me go now love.

"Well if you wanted me to hold your hand, you should have just said so." Skylar said, smiling down at her captive, er, patient. She began to lightly touch and hold Elizabeth's arm and hand. "You feeling all right? Anything off? Phantom pain? Is it any weaker?"

Elizabeth rolled her eyes at the wraith's suggestion as she looked at her now healed arm. When she lift it up the witch was struggling to keep it up as it began to twitch, the limb falling down on the floor. "It feels like lead was inside of it." The witch complained, the hand twitching a little, the touches from Skylar also felt off to her as she can feel it but at the same time not. "Yeah it feels kinda weak and numb." She answered back, worried about the state her arm was in and how her life will be under it's current condition.

Once Elizabeth answered, Skylar's face turned into a more serious one, her voice gaining a more chastising and scolding tone a mother would use on their daughter after getting hurt. "Well I know I was being motherly to you earlier, I'll be motherly again, Elizabeth, stop summoning demons that rely on blood. I can do half the things they can anyway, and those things have a habit of breaking allegiances. Not only that, it was pointless! I talked down the Ushers! If I was off by a few minutes you would have died for no reason! This is a wake up call from the universe and from me to quit being so damn reckless." She scolded her in an oddly comforting yet motherly tone. And poor Elizabeth was still trapped in the ghost mother's hug.

When the ghost began to chew her out over her use of the tenebraes and what they have done to her the woman glared at her but any signs of it being a threat was render moot on just how exhausted the woman appeared, especially since she had no will to argue at the moment. "How was I suppose to know that talking to the Ushers was going to work or that something was going to set the tenebraes off? I was going by my experience and my general experience told me that those two things don't happen every day." She replied back.

"Speaking of the Ushers... they might be getting anxious, and as nice of a moment this was, we should wrap it up." Skylar said with a sigh.

[Apto]

Empty Wallets, Kirika Kure
New York Administration District

"Abeona Antoinette? Mm. A lovely name, if you don't mind my saying. I can't thank you enough for appearing when you did but I think it'd be for the best if we got going. I'm sure Fett Kath is someone of import in this world and that you'd know that he was a particular penchant for the gorily gauche. Perhaps departing would be to the benefit of all parties, sans the dying man down there, poor thing."

Abeona for her part, kept a polite front upon hearing Cassius' compliment, limiting her reply to a dainty smile before she pressed a finger against her earpiece, uttering the words "Get us out of here, now." While the others were busy with the dying man, the doors of the VTOL craft closed now that everyone was on board. Soon enough, the group was in the air, the only source of illumination being the lights that lined the ceiling and floors. Far bellow, their departure point was a conspicuous mark of black amidst a sea of neon lights, but there didn't seem to be anyone chasing them, and that was good enough for the would-be rebel.

Walking towards the door that separated from the cockpit from the rest of the aircraft, Abeona coughed into her fist once to garner everyone's attention. They were safe for the time being and that meant it was time for the big spee- ?!

---

The aircraft shook as the reinforced glass of the cockpit shattered, the culprit, landing neatly onto the chair of the now dead and skewered pilot. Alarms blared like the world was ending as the autopilot kicked in, steadying the momentarily shaking craft.

With barely any effort, Kirika placed her foot against the dead pilot's chest as she pulled her hand backed, extracting her claws from his skull with a meaty squelch. Timing her jump to the exact moment where the aircraft passed the skyscraper she was watching from wasn't exactly the most exciting of activities, but the group inside should change that soon. "Yo!" Her voice could be heard despite the howl of the wind, the whine of the rotors, and the sound of the door opening. "So, who decided going loud at the party was a good idea?" The girl asked, hands on her hips and lips pouted, absolutely heedless of the blood that clung to her outfit. "I would be at home right about now if a stray bullet or two didn't end up scaring the big man." She shook her head at that, kicking a imaginary pebble away as Abeona's hand went for the pistol by her side, feet carrying her away from the intruder as the rebel gritted her teeth. "I gotta get a trophy or something as proof I did my job and I'm thinking..." Eeny, meeny, miny, moe "I'll be taking your arm if you don't mind, then I'll leave ya guys be!" Kirika's finger was pointed at Jeff, her pout turning into a grin at the thought of getting this night over with.

[Menschenfleisch]

Secrets of the Raven | Jacquelyn and Kyle

Jackie was the first one to wake up. Kyle followed suit shortly thereafter, apparently mostly healed from the his last battle. There were still deep wounds on his chest, face and... everywhere, but at least they were covered with bandages. Unfortunately his first reaction was to vomit a mixture of blood and pink water and speak; with a trickle of blood escaping his mouth worryingly as he did so.

"Motherfucker! Jackie, look at this shit! Look at it!"

He held up his hands, gesticulating wildly in an apparent attempt to garner Jacquelyn's attention. Rickard was left on the sidelines as usual; as drunks tend to be. How strange to house two of the most dangerous persons; one an esper and one a thermokinetic, in the same car as a drunkard.

"Look at my fucking hands! They literally welded the cuffs together so I couldn't pick the lock! That is abso-fucking-lutely bullshit! Augh! What now?!"
"Shut up. You're acting like me! Eugh. My mouth tastes like almonds. Tell me. What's outside the car?"
"I- shit, I can't see. I think I'm still meant to be unconscious. Only a tiny sliver of my brain's actually working."
"Alright. So we're working with me and basically a regular guy. Hey you, who're you?"
"I'm Rickard. I asked you what you were in for. Heh heh, you look funny when you're asleep, you know that? I'm in for-"
"Yeah yeah shut up, you're probably just a secondary character. For your information it's burning down a building, my name is Jacquelyn Vanth, his name is Kyle Hearse, don't look at me when I sleep and if you know what's good for you you're going to look away."
"Huh?"

Jacquelyn's wrists flashed for a moment with light before immediately dying down. It repeated, brighter this time. Again and again, each time releasing more heat and light. The car's windows fogged up with steam with each successive burst of heat, turning the inside into an oven. It was after roughly the twentieth try; at that point easily drenching Kyle in sweat, that she gave up. The cuffs were, for all that trouble, entirely unwarped. It seemed that it'd take a little more heat than expected to melt through. Rickard stared at her in fear, watching sparks dance in her eyes as she tried to free herself.

"Rickard."
"Wh- yeah?"
"You are the most annoying ex-machina I have ever seen. The authors put you in this car for the sole purpose of keeping me in here. I could probably free myself easily, even without the use of my hands, but you being here fucks up everything! I can't melt through these things because I'll probably kill you!"
"Whatever! Just stop frying us! Jesus!"
"Aughh, alright."
...
"So what're you in for, Rickard?"
"Hah. Public intoxication. You burnt down a building?"
"She did, along with frying the eyes of four others. I clobbered seven police officers to near death and half-killed a government agent."
"Oh, you guys are funny! Hahahaa... where'd you get those nasty scars by the way? What, were you in a bar fight?"
"We- umm, yeah. Bar fight. Really nasty."
"Who were you fightin'?"
"A bunch of random thugs. Nobody you'd know or like. You know, Randy Seymour. Those kinda guys. It was... we were arguing about homosexuality. What about you? Why'd you get so drunk?"

Rickard squinted for a moment, a thin line of dribble running down his stubbly chin. He was a well dressed man, all be told. Nice suit, good shirt, pressed pants. But his eyes were bleary and his hands were calloused. He spoke with an air of brevity and flippance toned with the voice of an eloquent speaker, an endeavouring man.

"Well, actually, I wasn't-"
"Right, well, before we get into a fun fucking expedition into the life and times of sidelined unimportant character No. 15, I'm going to cut it short and start ignoring your drunk ass."

Jacquelyn held up her hands, very much uncuffed. Kyle looked down at himself, very much not on fire.

"What? How did you do that?"
"Hard-light lockpicking. It's not an easy skill."

She snapped her fingers and sent a series of tendrils Kyle's way, freeing him too.

"Hey, can you let me go too?"
"Hmm... how about no? You're better off not getting hunted by the police anyway."
"What do we do now? There's too many Ushers outside for us to fight and I don't want them coming down any harder on us."
"It's pretty fucking simple actually. We wait for Elizabeth to show up and we blow her the fuck up."
"Sounds good to me."
...
"So do you still think traps aren't gay?"

Respite | Julyan

Even though he'd invited his teammates to do so, the impact on his body was still staggeringly powerful. Alucard's blasts were easily enough to singe the hairs off his skin, even through the suit's endless insulating layers. The cushioning systems did their job, largely helping to mitigate the kinetic impact but nevertheless he was sent stumbling backward, his feet leaving the ground for a single panic-inducing second. He couldn't even flail his arms for all their mechanical stiffness. Plague Knight's followup was even more devastating. A great front of fire engulfed him entirely, sending him rocketing through the air. Julyan hit a sharp stone outcrop hard, pulverising the ornament and delivering an agonising strike to his spine. Just as quickly as the pain came however it was replaced by a cold metallic numbness. He looked down at his suit, battered and barely functional. He disengaged the lockdown and felt the back of his abdomen where the rock had punched straight through his suit. Underneath he felt heavy steel, running the length of his back. The parasite was working its way through his body, taking advantage. Every time he was injured the wound was overtaken with analogue and clockwork material. He felt no panic; chalk it up to a memetic hazard or something. He had a battle to win.

"I don't know what you're made of. Your skills are pretty impressive, huh? You can jump and dive, match the best of anyone in hand-to-hand combat. But even so, I doubt you'll be getting up after this!"

Julyan came in close reaching forward with his converted arm. It sparked and glowed as the components went into overdrive, a gust of hot wind escaping it and blowing his hair back as it screamed with the grind of polished metal. He charged forward and engaged his ram-jet parachute, sending him half a dozen metres into the air. Then, as he came back down toward Waka, he threw his arm downward, aiming to strike him down.

Empty Wallets | Cassia

It didn't take long for the ship to take off. Cassius stumbled in a very ineloquent way as the vessel's door rose up beneath his feet, depositing him on the hard metal floor. He took a seat and looked out the window, watching the swirl of neon lights beneath them. Endless rows and plazas of glistening plastic and steel, interspersed with the glare of electronic lighting. He couldn't see the sky. What a novel world! There must be a great deal of industry contributing to such a grand city. Perhaps there was more advanced technology, too. He'd always wanted to go full tourist in an advanced civilisation; maybe get a post-space-age car, sail the cosmos in his own ship. Great heroes always had their signature vehicles. What would his be? A car! No, a plane! No a- wait what? Was that the pilot? Why was the ship tilting? It was that girl. Kirika! A rush of elation filled him as the pilot's soul filtered into his own, joining the maelstrom within his heart. Safe forever in his personal sanctum. Noah's Ark. He clutched the metal of the ship even as it began to fall, smiling broadly and laughing. He shouted over the din, his face shifting and breaking.

"What in the blazes have we got here, Ms. Kure? I didn't know we'd be meeting so soon! What a dramatic entrance! Mind if I do as well?"

Cassie looked toward the girl. She was wild, fierce, spunky. All the traits that she loved in an enemy. Perhaps even a future ally! That was how things usually went. Cassie let out an excited sigh, tilting her head and focusing beady eyes on Kirika. She giggled; flicking her wrist and seemingly conjuring an ornate black sword from thin air. Her other hand began to glow, overtaken by a glistening fluid and flickering blue lightning. She swung it like she was delivering a wide slap, swiping through the air and leaving a trail of glowing blue phosphor, taking the most over-the-top pose possible.

"I'm really sorry but I think I might have to kill you. After all, the whole point of me existing was to cheat death. Oh what the dead would say to you! Did you know the pilot had a crush on Cindy Bluelion? Fascinating! Personally I think her eyes were a bit too asymmetrical but that's just my opinion. So while we're at it. Kirika! Mind telling me where you're from? How you ended up working for that deliciously plump capitalist? I'd love to know about it, in case I don't get to kill you! Although I really don't want to fight you..."

She looked ready to strike, but paused. Thinking, for a moment.

"Say, I could give you my arm if you want. It'd be just as much of a memento, and I'm sure it'd hurt me less than Jeff."

[Prusselanden]

Wakada
Ignis groaned a bit, as she was put into the pod but soon quietened as she let it heal her. Looking to her right, she could see T'challa talking with the rest of the group. Bursting into tomatoey redness while being carried by one of her idols was embarrassing enough, but she was still glad that she would be ok. All she had to do now was wait.

Inkopolis
"Celebrities?" Konny cocked her head and yawned. "Can you guys sing then? You guys look like Idols of some sort."

"Yeah, I told you she was a weaboo." Jona rolled his eyes.

"Yee, and I'm proud."

Miranda, meanwhile, was polishing off her knives. "Shame I didn't even get to break out the big one this time." she sighed.

Empty Wallets
Julian sighed as she checked the driver's breathing for one last time but did not feel air going through his nose. This could only mean one thing-he was dead. She did not save him.

Julian slumped down on the ground as she tried to grasp the fact that he had deceased in front of her. This had never happened-she had never failed to save someone-until now.

But the mourning had to stop a Kirika broke into their ship, and was about to attack them. Julian's first instinct was to flee, and so she dove behind the biggest closest thing she could find and hid. However, when Kirika threatened to take Jeff's arm off, Julian felt herself slowly coming out of the hiding place and walking in between Jeff and Kirika.

"Please don't, people are not trophies."

[Apto]

Empty Wallets, Kirika Kure
New York Administration District

"What in the blazes have we got here, Ms. Kure? I didn't know we'd be meeting so soon! What a dramatic entrance! Mind if I do as well?"

Cassie looked toward the girl. She was wild, fierce, spunky. All the traits that she loved in an enemy. Perhaps even a future ally! That was how things usually went. Cassie let out an excited sigh, tilting her head and focusing beady eyes on Kirika. She giggled; flicking her wrist and seemingly conjuring an ornate black sword from thin air. Her other hand began to glow, overtaken by a glistening fluid and flickering blue lightning. She swung it like she was delivering a wide slap, swiping through the air and leaving a trail of glowing blue phosphor, taking the most over-the-top pose possible.

"I'm really sorry but I think I might have to kill you. After all, the whole point of me existing was to cheat death. Oh what the dead would say to you! Did you know the pilot had a crush on Cindy Bluelion? Fascinating! Personally I think her eyes were a bit too asymmetrical but that's just my opinion. So while we're at it. Kirika! Mind telling me where you're from? How you ended up working for that deliciously plump capitalist? I'd love to know about it, in case I don't get to kill you! Although I really don't want to fight you..."

She looked ready to strike, but paused. Thinking, for a moment.

"Say, I could give you my arm if you want. It'd be just as much of a memento, and I'm sure it'd hurt me less than Jeff."

Kirika ducked beneath the telegraphed swing, her magic kicking in as time slowed to a crawl. "I didn't expect to see any of you so soon either!" She could smell the ozone from her foe's weapon, the arc merely inches away from touching a hair on her head. "But," A wide sweep of her leg to unbalance Cassius,"if you wanna talk shop then," A grin and a jump back to the pilot's seat. "I'm game. Not like you lot have a chance at killing me anyways." The girl shrugged, time resuming its normal flow as she pushed the corpse away and sat on the pilot's seat, making it swivel towards the newcomers as she did so. "I'm just a girl from the urban sprawl that is Mitakihara, looking to get back home." She crossed her legs, a hand supporting her cheek. "And when I woke up in this dump, some folks cut a deal with me." Abeona drew the pistol at her side, finger at the trigger. "I do them a solid every now and then, and they send me back home when their machine is done." Time slowed as the pistol reported several times, emptying its contents. In response, Kirika tilted her head, the bullets impacting the the chair instead of flesh and bone. "They've made good progress, I think." Abeona cursed, hastily reloading as Kirika continued to talk, letting go of her hold on time. "But enough about me."

But the mourning had to stop a Kirika broke into their ship, and was about to attack them. Julian's first instinct was to flee, and so she dove behind the biggest closest thing she could find and hid. However, when Kirika threatened to take Jeff's arm off, Julian felt herself slowly coming out of the hiding place and walking in between Jeff and Kirika.

"Please don't, people are not trophies."

"I'm getting mixed signals here." The girl stood from her seat, shaking her head as she threw her arms up in the air. "I'm gonna give you, as a group, 30 seconds to make up your minds on who I'm gonna give as a trophy to the big man." Hook like blades slid from the cuffs of her outfit, three on each hand. "But try to be quick about it, ok? I got a stream to catch and being a minute late always sucks."

[Naval Monte]

Secrets of the Raven

As the others either talked with each other in the building or stayed outside no one saw a man wearing a dirty and torn hoodie jacket walking to the building from behind, his face obscured by a ski mask. Randy was a man who was down on his luck and if given enough booze would mope about his rotten luck. His wife left him after cheating on him for years, winning the divorce case and taking almost everything including custody on the kids. His boss laid him off due to hard times on the company and he struggled to find a stable job, to make matters worse his father was diagnosed with cancer and his brother was killed for by a random thug for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

With so much shot thrown at him it was no surprise Randy would would turn to crime and booze to make his life bearable. Already with a record for public intoxication, theft, and assault his life was coming apart at the seams when he was given the job by his current employers to help them with a task they need, willing to pay him enough money to make him live a comfortable life and pay for his father's chemotherapy. Yet right now Randy didn't recall much what that favor was or who they were, in fact he doesn't know why he was where he was other than following through a powerful compulsion.

Randy took out a bottle with an alcohol soak rag going into it, he light the rag and threw the bottle through the broken window. Inside the building the glass shattered loudly and immediately set the aged wood on fire. Randy walked to the next window and threw another molotov cocktail throw it to set the next room on fire. The man walked to the third window and repeated his action. As the fire began to spread throughout the room and go to the hall he stretched his arms out and shouted.

"May the fury of the Crimson Mother consume you all!"

Inside Elizabeth and Cassidy heard glass shattering. "You two check what fell." The blond said to two agents. As the two agents nodded they heard another sound of glass shattering as the two left the room. It didn't take long for the group to smell smoke and for the agents to run back to the group. "The kitchen is on fire!" One of them said as once more they heard glass shattering. "Someone is setting the whole place on fire." Elizabeth told them as she began to run out of the building, no one stopping her as they joined her on fleeing the building.

Once they were outside Elizabeth heard Morgan ordering for the others to search the area for the arson when they heard a gunshot and saw one of the Ushers go down after seeing the side of his head explode into a bloody mess. "Shit, we have a sniper!" Elizabeth heard Morgan shout as the group rushed to the cars to use as cover, another gunshot being heard and another Usher going down as they were shot at the knee.

From behind the police car Elizabeth had a chance to hear yet another gunshot coming after the first along with the side mirror of one of the cars breaking. "There's a second sniper somewhere." Elizabeth told Morgan as the two were hiding behind the same car. The two would hear another Usher screaming in pain as they were shot by a gun man hiding in the alleyway. The gunman was quickly taken out from another Usher. The group would see more hoodie meh leaving from the hiding spots and quickly moving to cover as a few were taken out by the Ushers, a few with pistols and revolvers firing back from behind cover.

Elizabeth heard Augustine shouting how they manage to get guns and Elizabeth wondered the same thing but was reminded of the vision she got from the Scrouger. "Damn it, the cult made a deal with the Fates." She said, loud enough for Morgan to hear her. Elizabeth stayed close to the car as gunshots rang out follow by agonized screams from those that were shot, most coming from the large group of hoodies wearing people coming towards them. A few more tried to surprise attack the group from another alleyway but because they only had melee weapons they were quickly gun downed.

[Petrokovia]

Secrets of the Raven

Agent A eyed the short, bald man for a quick moment, before speaking.

"I'll looking for a Ms. Elizabeth Ashwood. Could you tell me what her room number is?"

Agent A's words were cool and casual; He was so used to lying on the spot by this point that by now he could say anything as if it were natural. However, gears were turning in his mind, as he thought ahead for what his story for this man would be.

Should I tell him my current cover story, that I'm an investigator tasked with aiding Elizabeth's case? No... That information would be too sensitive if I were really an investigator. Besides, the CIA would surely give me the proper room number. No, I have to be a random civilian to this man. But obviously a foreigner. Maybe Elizabeth was 'lonely,' and went onto a dating site, began chatting with me? Yes, that could work. I'll have to come up with a new name for this, though; It'll be a cover story that the CIA gave me, along with a fake name...

The man thought for another couple of seconds.
...Thomas... Rettinger should do. Perfect.

---

Empty Wallets

Teru jolted to his feet as the aircraft shuttered, and as Kirika entered the bay. She had obviously killed the pilot, but the craft seemed to stay aloft despite this.

It must have had some kind of autopilot triggered by a dead-man's switch, Teru thought.

Kirika seemed entirely unfazed at the thought of killing the pilot, and even wanted a trophy.

This girl must be a psychopath... Huh, kind of like Agent A... Teru mused.

Suddenly, one of the others in the group attacked Kirika, who seemed to dodge at speeds far faster than Teru could track.

What? Is she an amplificata? he wondered, surprised. Without much effort to hide it, Teru was somewhat intimidated; after all, a normal human's odds of survival against an amplificata were generally quite low, and he hadn't had very much in depth anti-amplificata training. I'm going to have to be careful...

As Abeona shot at Kirika, Teru stepped between the front wall of the room and the front of his car. This ensured that if Kirika stepped back out, and chose to go after Teru, there would only be one direction for her to go, limiting her approach.

Sure enough, Kirika did come back out, speaking to the group again.

"I'm gonna give you, as a group, 30 seconds to make up your minds on who I'm gonna give as a trophy to the big man."

Teru drew his revolver out from inside his jacket, thumbing the hammer back.
"None of us."

Despite the impressive line, a very sharp eye could see the slightest amount of shaking in Teru's hand, as he fought back a sense of dread. Teru squeezed the trigger of his gun, eliciting a deafening crack that reverberated through the metal room; as he fired shot after shot, he noticed that his hearing seemed to tune out the world around him, and everything seemed eerily quiet.

[Apto]

Empty Wallets, Kirika Kure
New York Administration District

"None of us."

Despite the impressive line, a very sharp eye could see the slightest amount of shaking in Teru's hand, as he fought back a sense of dread. Teru squeezed the trigger of his gun, eliciting a deafening crack that reverberated through the metal room; as he fired shot after shot, he noticed that his hearing seemed to tune out the world around him, and everything seemed eerily quiet.

Teru's efforts were joined by Abeona's own, the computer implanted in her brain assisting her with firing solutions that were further perfected by the computer in the gun itself. Everything from wind speed to the steadiness of the wielder's hands were taken into account. Alas, even with such fancy toys, mere bullets, no matter how well-aimed, failed to find any contact as Kirika lazily swayed in placed. "Hey, hey, hey! Didn't anyone teach you manners?" The girl began, eyeing both Teru and Abeona as she pouted and crossed her arms across her chest. "I mean, I did help you guys escape the mansion," Seriously, some people these days just didn't know how to be grateful! "Plus! I'm even doing you a favor you know? After that fiasco in the mansion, I could have just taken someone's head without asking for permission," Like she usually did. "But instead, I'm asking for a limb and letting everyone live even if the boss'll chew me out!"

Then, she grinned, pupils contracting as her tone turned saccharine, perhaps even mocking. "It's like no one appreciates what I do for them!"

[Naval Monte]

Secrets of the Raven

The man rubbed his chin as he ponder on the question. "The pale short woman who wears a lot of black? Yeah I know where her room is. It's over there." He pointed at the same room Agent A ignored due to the smell. "So why are you looking for her?"

When Agent A gave him his fact story of meeting her on a dating site and he was here to meet her face to face. "Well she got lucky. I don't know what you see in a woman like her but I wish you good luck on your date." Agent A would soon get a ring from his phone. "Looks like your date is getting impatient. I won't hold you two back anymore." The man would say his good blues as he closes the door.

When Agent A checks on the phone he would see that it came from an unknown caller but if he decides to listen to them he would hear Claudia's voice. "Mr. Pershing there has been a change of plans." The woman told him.

"We spotted Ms. Ashwood with another group who are a threat to us on the same location. We saw the opportunity to remove both and we took it! As we speak our forces are trying to eliminate both, your mission has been changed in light of these recent events. You are to enter her room and take every object that appears to be magical or is used in magical workings. Regardless of she survives our attack or not this should harm her progress to an extent. Contact us if you need help with knowing which possible object is arcane in nature."

With those words Claudia hung up, leaving Agent A alone in the quiet, foul smelling, hallway.

---

Empty Wallet

When the aircraft shook the squad was about to think they hit turbulence but the shattering of glass killed any such ideas as Curse, Trick, and Hex put on their helmets and masks respectively and those sitting on the floor got up and prepared themselves for a crash. But instead of the aircraft flying out of control and crashing they saw the same girl from the party covered in blood, no doubt the pilots.

"This is just great, the kid who helped us was a fucking psycho. This world just keeps on getting better." The squad heard Conman "say" through their telepathic link. As Cassie seem excited to see the deranged girl the squad's one expressions were difficult to discern, only them drawing their weapons at her face a noticeable clue on how they feel about the girl and the threat she made.

When Cassie swung Kirika the group saw the girl dodge the blow quickly, in fact for some they missed it due to blinking. "How the hell did she moved so fast? Is she a speedster?" Trick said astounded by the feat of superhuman speed they saw.

Yet for Hex what she found more intriguing was her story, just like them she came from another world but she made a deal with the rulers of this world and in exchange for helping them they would send her back with a machine they are building. "So these people are building a machine to send you back home?" Hex asked the girl "Are you sure they are telling you the truth about its capabilities? It seems strange that they would be making a machine based on what should be for them a recent phenomenon." In her mind she thought that if they are already making a machine then it wasn't recent as it would appear to them, assuming it even works and this girl isn't being fooled.

With her threat of bringing a trophy Hex responded back to that, but at Cassie. "You can regrow limbs correct? Give her your arm but make it resemble Jeff's arm."

---

Rise of the Masked Man
Courtroom

Wright looked nervous when Avarice when she began to insult the prosecutor. "Ms. Famei, please don't insult or threaten the prosecution." He asked, not wanting the prosecution to use the outburst to their advantage to get the judge to make his job harder.

When the conceptual being slammed her fists on the podium and made cracks on it the lawyer gulped in fear, worried that Avarice was going to snap in the courtroom and that security was going to be sent in., the glare she was giving him only made his fears grow.

But instead of going wild on everyone she began to give a tearful confession on her mental state during the incident. "Huh? What is she planning?" Phoenix had been with his client enough time to know that her being emotional wasn't the usual, in fact she had trouble understanding human emotions sometimes. As she kept speaking Wright slowly realize what she was doing, the smirk she gave him just further solidified the conclusion he came too.

"Trying to appeal to the jurors emotions, sneaky but effective. Right now I can't get much with Madison story since most is irrelevant and I can’t find a contradiction to her story. I might have to let her go.” Phoenix didn’t like that idea to much. “Ms. Goodwell, can you give me a repeat of your testimony before you can step down?”

[Demincia]

Secrets of the Raven
Lilith von Brandt

As Lilith rushed from the building, she was almost away when she heard the glass in the window break. She stopped in her tracks, then heard another before smelling the smoke. She rushed back to see what it was in time to see the third bottle thrown and the man stretch out his arms and yell. Lilith's anger and hunger might have gotten the better of her for a few moments, as she transformed back into her regular as she flew towards the man, her momentum slamming into his back and pinning him into the wall of the building he just arsoned. She covered his mouth with one gloved hand and didn't hesitate sinking her fangs into his neck.

He struggled against her grip, but she was far too strong for him to come close to overpowering, especially as blood left his body. At first, the vampire just kept drinking without much care for the safety of the arsonist in her hands, but as she felt his skin begin to cool as his body tried to compensate for the blood loss, she managed to regain her senses and pull away. She cleaned the wound, and turned the man towards her.

She forced him to look her in the eyes, which started to shimmer with a familiar golden glow. "You will wait here, and surrender yourself peacefully either to the authorities or the Ushers that you tried to kill. You will tell them everything you know about those that sent you." she said, before pushing the man away, causing him to stumble and fall on the ground.

Lilith took a few steps back, then transformed into mist again and rushed off. She was ashamed that she lost control for those few moments. All of the blood from Elizabeth had flooded her senses and disrupted her composure. She fled in a seemingly random direction, as if she was looking for something.

Eventually she came upon the town cathedral, and coalesced in the alley nearby. She entered the building, and found a wooden stall with curtains over the entrances. She knelt down inside, removed her hood, and clasped her hands. "Vergib mir, Vater, denn ich hab' gesündigt," she began.

Soon after, she approached the foot of the altar and knelt down again, muttering quietly to herself in Latin.

[Prusselanden]

Empty Wallets
”Wait!” Julian shouted and held a hand up. Quickly thinking, she decided to play along with Kirika a bit to buy some time. Even a few seconds could work.

“I-I’ll g-give you something. Just leave everyone else alone. I’ll give you my-my-”

She’s thought of the first thing she’d lose in case of a real mutilation. Not her eyes...not her hands. No, then all she worked for would be lost in an instance. But not...her leg.

“The right foot or right leg, take either!”

[Jraden]

Secrets of the Raven
Skylar Kent
Why couldn't the happy moment last? Just when she had managed to get everyone to calm down, the building had been set on fire. Wonderful. Good thing one of the many abilities Skylar had as a wraith was a useful one called "Outrage" that allowed her to inflict her will on her physical surroundings similar to a Poltergeist. This ability extended to fires and controlled heat, allowing her to easily keep the flames at bay, much like she had earlier when she was in the building Jackie had burned down. (Come to think of it, Jackie was the reason Skylar had been stuck in two burning buildings in the last twenty four hours, she was really going to have to speak to the girl about the dangers of fire once she made sure she was safe) while Elizabeth and the Ushers escaped the building. Skylar could not put out the flames, but it's not as if she wanted to, the building was horrible anyway. As Skylar wondered why she enjoyed watching the building being burned down so much, they were then attacked by armed attackers. Well, firearmed attackers, when you put into the account the multiple bullet that bounced off Skylar's Corpus. They didn't hurt her of course, but the attackers were undoubtedly perverted, because they kept shooting at her breasts which made them uncomfortably jiggle, and even worse, the attackers also murdered several Ushers, which sent Skylar flying into a rage as she shouted "STOP BEING SO BLOODY RUDE!"

Her target was a cultist who had murdered an Ushers and was armed with some sort of rifle that was far too powerful to be sold to the public in England. He was out in the open, but was keeping the rest of her allies now. But he was defenseless against an angry wraith. The last thing he saw was Skylar's usual beautiful form shifting into a demonic angry specter, who took the rifle out of his hands and swung it at his head like a bat. The resulting blow instantly killed the attacker and left an ugly indention in his head that would have crippled his mental state if he was unfortunate enough to survive.

Her next victim was an idiot who was brave, no, stupid enough to get close to Skylar, close enough to aim his shotgun inches from her face and pull the trigger, throwing her into the car which her allies were hiding behind. Skylar's unstable rage was only worsened as she slowly got up and walked towards her target, who was desperately shooting his gun at the unstoppable specter, but to no avail. As Skylar closed the distance, he was petrified by fear, his legs locked and stiff as urine began to pool in his pants. His gun was out of ammo, but he continued to uselessly pull the trigger. Skylar easily ripped the gun out of his hand, and her voice turned into a soft, comforting one as she said "You've got one chance to run. Take it." He obliged and fled the scene of battle.

Despite her display of superiority over her attackers, it did not stop several foolish ones from charging her with melee weapons...despite a shotgun being useless against her. I mean at this point it's just survival of the fittest. she thought as her dingers extended into long claws, which she used to kill the nearest attacker with only two slashes of her arm.

"Bring it on Wolverine!" An exceptionally stupid (Or perhaps suicidal) thug shouted, uselessly firing his gun at his essentially invincible target. "You want Wolverine?" Skylar asked. Her form shifted into the on screen version of Wolverine, as portrayed by Hugh Jackman. "I'll give you Wolverine!" Skylar (As Hugh Jackman/s Wolverine) shouted, metallic claws popping out of her hands as she lunged at her victim, impaling him with her "Adamntium" claws. Being able to change her Corpus was really fun.

"W-W-Wolverine?!" Another thug exclaimed and stuttered in fear. "B-B-But, you're dead! Thanos killed you!"

The third and final part of the Infinity War Trilogy was a cinematic masterpiece that had killed off one of the MCU's oldest characters; Wolverine, and retired the character to allow Hugh Jackman and the rest of the X-Men to move on. His death had made her cry, which her family to cry, and her powers unintentionally caused the rest of the theater to cry. She almost felt bad she was killing a fellow Marvel fan. Almost.

"I CAME OUT OF MY GRAVE TO PUT YOU IN YOURS!" (S)he screamed, charging the terrified Marvel fan and quickly eviscerating him. As the rest of the thugs stared on in horror at the carnage, she jumped on top of a nearby car, allowing her to survey the battlefield and for everyone to see her as she used her voice to scream "I'M FUCKING WOLVERINE!"

This terrified many of the cultists she was glaring at to flee in terror (Or maybe just find a better position to attack from) though there was still a sniper and many other attackers remaining.

But not for long. She thought, a wicked and evil grin appearing on her face. Hugh Jackman never looked so evil, and Skylar charged at her opponents, drawing away their bullets and allowing Elizabeth and the Ushers to get away from the awful cover that was their car and hopefully perform a decent counterattack. Or just run away. Either or, really.

[Menschenfleisch]

Secrets of the Raven | Jacquelyn and Kyle

Jacquelyn and Kyle watched as a gunfight broke out outside, taking down several Ushers and distracting the group. Rickard was still delirious, speckles of red wine still on his neck. This was a real headache. A stray bullet shattered the windows of the car, suddenly turning the muffled firefight outside into a living, immediate threat. The body of an Usher collapsed against the hood, a bullet splitting his head open like a blooming flower.

"It's now or never. Kyle, head for a gun and keep them off me."
"What's our plan? Are we going to run, get Elizabeth, or try getting the Ushers?"
"We're saving lives, dammit! Now get going!"

The car burst like a ripe grape, the doors flying away and ricocheting off the pavement. Chunks of scrap metal and long lines of molten steel sprayed into the air, leaving nothing more than the base of the car. Rickard, to his credit, reacted to the sudden explosion with total calm; if not a totally catatonic stare. Kyle grabbed one of the stray doors, holding it up and fending off a burst of gunfire. For the moment, they were targets of both sides. The glow of fire and the smell of rickety wood filled his senses. He was still too delirious to accurately assess how many enemies there were but from his reckoning they were all coming from the alleys. That meant that he only had to maintain an angle of-

"Gah! What the fuck?! Elizabeth! You're here?!"

Kyle practically tripped over the detective, hair singed and probably reeling from the blast. She hadn't been caught in the explosion itself, thank god; Jackie had largely directed it vertically - but she still looked quite the worse for wear, no doubt because of the ongoing firefight. Kyle took a moment to duck to the ground and liberate a pistol from the body of one of the Ushers, pulling back the slide and delivering a quick strike with the butt of the gun across her face, though only with the intention to grab her attention.

"You bitch! You sold us out to the police? How the hell did you know where we were shopping!? I've got a fuckload of questions and if you don't give me a straight answer, you're going to have a fuckload of lead in your skull, you got that?!"

He paused for a second, watching as Skylar tore the gangsters apart with her(his?) bare hands (claws?), coating themselves in a thick mist of blood.

"And call off your fucking wraith-thingo! We've had enough trouble with the law as it is! Now stay here and don't die. I'm going after the sniper."

Jacquelyn meanwhile was having a more successful fight. She held up her hand, an oblong blaze of white light surrounding her body. Gusts of boiling wind came off her shield, deflecting and melting bullets as they approached her. She ran toward the line of gangsters, glowing legs propelling her faster than any regular human should've been able to walk. She ran straight into the densest cluster of gangsters, a group of men taking shelter in an alleyway, around about seven of them hidden behind various dumpsters, bins and large pieces of debris. She came to a stop, walking forward and holding up one hand. A cone of transparent hard-light surrounded her, deflecting the various projectiles they were shooting at her.

"This is your first and last warning, people. I'm not planning on killing you. But, if you really insist on being pains in the ass about this, then I'll have to burn you. Sorry but that's just the way it is. And you don't want to get killed by Wolverine over there, do you?"

A molotov cocktail sailed over her head and coated her in thick burning tar. She stood in the middle of the fire, her body almost totally obscured by the flames. Jacquelyn sighed. Might as well get it over with. She snapped her finger and a wave of heat and fire raced down the alley, turning the walls into slag and liquefying the ground. A terrifying boom accompanied the sudden burst of heat, an explosion propelling rubble in all directions. The blast had largely been concussive. Her assailants would live. Probably. She pulled them out anyway and dumped them on the pavement, just to be safe. If they died now, it'd be their own fault.

"Christ. What's wrong with you people? Don't say I didn't warn you, dumbasses."

Jacquelyn hovered through the air, covering her skin with a layer of solid gleam. She probably looked like some kind of blinding angel. Hovering was a requirement in this form; she didn't want to sink through the pavement. Her glowing figure rose into the air and reached out with one hand, a long beam of light carving molten pits in the ground, creating impassable rivers of liquid concrete about a metre wide and twenty metres long; attempting to drive the gangsters back rather than actually kill them. It seemed to be going well when a sniper's shot punched her in the head, shattering her armoured shell and sending her tumbling to the ground, bleeding from the cheek and dizzied. She.quickly reached out with one hand, a glowing claw reaching out and curling its metre-long fingers around a dumpster, pulling it over and placing it in front of her for cover,

"Dammit, Jack. You can't stay in the open like that; you're not Roy Mustang."

Kyle on the other hand emerged from behind the car and delivered a shot. It ricocheted off an alley wall and off the roof of a dumpster, flying directly upward and snapping a segment of gutter above a heavily entrenched group of gunmen. The structure snapped, dumping heavy lead piping and fetid water over their heads. Another shot snapped the pole of a satellite dish, causing it to collapse and fall in front of an alley from which the gangsters were attacking, clobbering a pair of truncheon wielding hooligans over the head. Jackie collapsed nearby, dragging herself behind cover. His primary concern was weeding out the second sniper. Jackie could handle herself.

"Come on, come on... give me a shot, little guy."

A sniper's shot came screaming through the air. The flash of a silenced muzzle gave off a momentary blink of light. It was all he needed. Kyle's arm came up to deflect the bullet, the impact nearly snapping his wrist as the car door fell out of his stinging hand, a mutilated copper shell embedded halfway into its surface. What kind of hardware were these gangsters equipped with? He ran to the nearest building, scaling the side like an acrobat, clambering on windows and leaping off pipes. He landed on top of the building and began running along the roof toward where he estimated the sniper's shot came from.

Empty Wallets | Cassia

Bullets flying, people stepping forward to offer their limbs, a general lack of productivity. This had gone on for long enough. Even though Cassandra wanted to fight, it was obvious that any such confrontation would probably end very messily for her and her companions. Death was just about the lowest thing on her priority list at the moment and so she made a compromise.

"You know, asking someone to give their arm up for charity isn't something people regularly do. Besides, it's not as if I can grow arms willy nilly. I can regrow them, sure but not perfectly. Who knows what I might get? A rocket launcher? A live octopus? Actually, that sounds kind of fun. You know what? Take my arm. Just pull on the tab and be on your merry way, Kirika."

Cassie held out one hand, the one clutching the sword and dropped the weapon on the ground. Her arm shifted like plastic and sand, gaining a grainy and coarse texture. It solidified like putty, making a rather realistic replica of Jeff's arm, although any close examination would reveal it to be very clearly different to his own. A thin plastic seam ran along the arm below the shoulder, with a single plastic tab emerging from it.

"Come on then. We haven't got all day. Every moment you wait is another moment you'll spend walking back home. Be thankful by the way that I didn't decide to fight you. I had a great speech about 'come and get it!' prepared and everything but this... well, it just seems more convenient for the both of us."

Cassandra pointed her arm out the cockpit window of the plane, maintaining a relaxed position. It was a subtle change of direction. Hidden within her elbow was a bundle of fireworks which, upon being triggered by someone pulling on the tab, would violently erupt; propelling the arm forward and hopefully knocking Kirika out of the plane. It would also obscure the very obvious flat gap between the arm and her shoulder. If anything, Kirika would be thankful that she was hiding the fact that the arm was fake!

Cassie smiled and beckoned the girl forward.

[Jraden]

Simon me Hope Kent
"The dazzling display of abilities I just witnessed was incredible! Completely reckless and dangerous, but nonetheless incredible!" Hope complimented enthusiastically as she placed her hands on Sayaka's shoulders. While she was not as tall as her mother, she was only short by two inches, so she still was much taller and authorative than the magic girl, and Hope herself also had a worried look on her face, as if she was scolding a child.

"But I adamantly refuse to let you go any further! You suffered injuries that require further medical attention! Furthermore, two little girls, no matter what kind of abilities you have, are simply not equipped to handle dozens of armed men who easily defeated you and your two friends who were arrested despite the incredibly foolish but impressive fight they put up! They are also clearly not afraid to cause you harm, so your wish of not being treated as a child will backfire on you! Youo don't stand a chance by yourself, and more importantly, you have no way to follow them! So you know what, I'm going to be doing what your mother should be doing, and not let you get yourself hurts or worse!" She stared into Sayaka's eyes as she mustered an incredibly authorative, yet concerned and understanding tone that was hard to argue with. She was clearly concerned about Sayaka's safety, and was not belittling her in a condenscending way, she was just explaining why her goal was incredibly difficult, if not outight impossible to do.

"I know you want to help your friends, but this isn't the way to do it. We can call Elizabeth, and she can help us out. The more the merrier, right? Also, Jackie seems like a nice gal, bt she has kind of burned down a building and did..." She gestured at the ruined shopping mall. "This. Some times people make more decisions and they have to deal with the law, but that's not a bad thing, they can improve themselves! Also, I recognized one of the Ushers, her name is Morgan and trust me, she knows exactly what she's doing! Your friend is in good, understanding, law abiding hands that will help her out despite the mass amount of destruction that everyone caused!"

[The Palmetto]

Empty Wallets

Aestus was about to elaborate on all his points to the humans. They had good questions, and seemed to be very “aware” and pragmatic of their situation. Again, it seemed this group of humans would get along with him well. Curse’s rant, while understandable, almost seemed like a misunderstanding of what Aestus was saying. He wished to reaffirm that he agreed with Curse, but something happened. Kirika came in, and he quickly snapped into action.

Aestus was not one to fear for his own life, but if he had flesh, Kirika would have made him shiver. What looked like a human had effortlessly flew to the ship and killed the pilot. Worse, she seemed to be psychotic, asking for a trophy but nothing else. Aestus liked to be able to predict his opponent, but this Kirika was simply psychotic. It wouldn’t show, but that terrified him. She could pull anything out and he wouldn’t know what the expect. While it might be most logical to let her take it, or to scheme, Aestus was more defiant to the idea of negotiation.

“Alright, kid. I’ve got a counter offer for you,” Aestus said, gesturing for his ray to go protect Jules. It was quickly dispatched, and the creature circled close to the woman to protect her in case of a sudden fight.
“You leave us, now, or I rip out your intestines and use them to hang your fat boss. I do not care if you are a child, I do not care if you’ve been traumatized, or blackmailed into doing this. You could pull the most tragic backstory from your ass and I wouldn’t care,” he continued coldly, clenching his fists and preparing for a fight. For Aestus, it was true that he didn’t care. During the revolution, many opponents tried to pull a morality card to try and get him to come to his senses, from meat shields to child soldiers. Aestus was generally quite caring, but his mind demonized the enemies of the people. But this wasn’t even the main drive behind his actions. He did not want to negotiate with enemies of the people, and he was willing to fight if needed.

However, to a degree….he was bluffing. He hadn’t quite thought about what he was saying, and while he was mildly confident he could take her on, it wouldn’t be without many people dying. As such, he was somewhat glad that Cassie had made an offer. He collected his thoughts together, and began to speak again, trying to sound intimidating.
“What are you waiting for? Take the offer or I take your life,” Aestus threatened.

[Mundeo]

---

Secrets of the Raven

---

Abigail's Apartment

It looks like there's nothing else here that needs to be looked at - but where do they go next? Trevor remembered the note in his hand, and pulled it out. There was an address written on it, down to the street name and number. It seemed that this was going to be their next destination. He wasn't sure what the relevance of this location was to the victim, or just what this place even was, but that was for Trevor to find out. "I'm done with this place. This note is our only lead, so if you two are done messing around, we can start heading to this location"

[Skylus]

Madi
Courtroom

Madi took a deep breath, nodded, and then spoke again.

"Aurors showed up from nowhere, other people were fighting, and so I decided to join in, the Time Stones activated on their own accord, I was sent to Hyrule, I met Link, the kid took me on a tour of the castle, he got sucked into a portal, I followed him, we ended up on Mt. Silver in a snowstorm, we found Gold's tent, others showed up, then the giant bird and Team Rocket, they tried to kill us, we fought them, Avarice did her thing, the Police showed up and we split up and I came here. Is that all?"

Madi shifted a bit and waited for Wright's answer.

[Kentucky Fried Land]

Lamar and Ryder
Abigail’s Apartment
Secrets of the Raven

Ryder looked Trevor up and down, realizing quickly that they were done here. “Yeah, I guess so. Come on busta, let’s get movin’.” He told the vampire hunter, brushing past him and towards the door. Meanwhile, Lamar was busy cradling his fragile head, pounding headaches and fear surrounding him. “Huh? O-oh yeah, y-yeah, I’m comin’.” Lamar told Trevor, standing up and following Ryder out the door.

Jacket
The Fight
Respite

Hearing the cry of Julyan, Jacket lowered his weapon, aiming it at the enemy swordsman. This would be over in but a few quick bursts. Seeing the plague doctor toss a bomb towards the swordsman as well, Jacket reacted accordingly. A burst of fire flew from his rifle, all bullets headed for the swordsman as he began to spray wildly.

[Aeternabilis]

War of Flesh and Metal

With the sound of a titanic smash, the final tank was disposed of and Alex teleported back to the group, immediately collapsing to the ground from exhaustion. Panting, she said, "Holy crap, I think that's the hardest I've ever worked in my life. Tanks are gone." "You did amazing, Strawberry," Marcus replied with a smile, helping her back to her feet and giving her a hug. "Come on, it's time for us to go. I'll carry ya!" Alex laughed. "I'm not that tired, Marcus! I can walk just fine." She attempted to demonstrate this by taking a step, but her leg buckled and she ended up back on the ground. The Rogue sheepishly looked back up at Marcus. "Well... maybe just a little bit couldn't hurt." Marcus grinned then scooped her up in a bridal carry, both laughing as he did so, and the two turned to face the others. "I think that's everything. Let's get the hell out of here before the army decides to abandon us."

El-Sayed yelled out one last order, and the defenders of Cairo moved out. Packed in trucks or jogging alongside them, the soldiers made their way to the great Nile to meet up with their comrades and mount a great defense. Trailing behind them were the heroes, doing their best to not be left behind as they navigated the strange and unfamiliar city. Behind the heroes was the robotic army, finally entering the city hot on the defenders' heels. The army and heroes rounded one last corner and finally hit the river, and the mass of Egyptian soldiers gathered along its banks.

El-Sayed's group immediately melted into the rest of the soldiers, taking up their assigned positions, while the heroes paused for a moment to try and figure out where they should go. In that moment, though, was when the true assault began. The mighty waters of the Nile began to churn and stir, with rapids covering the surface. A huge wave rushed downstream, destroying bridges and sweeping away anything in its path, before it suddenly and unnaturally stopped right at the army encampment. A figure rose from inside the wave and stood atop her tower of water- a shortish woman of Indian complexion. Her piercing eyes, icy blue in color, scanned the crowd gawking on the shore below before finally resting on the heroes. With a determined and satisfied expression on her face, the woman lifted a hand, pointed at the group, and yelled, "YOU'RE ALL COMING WITH ME!"

[Halend]

The Shape of the Nightmare to Come
Ensari ship

There had been a great many unpleasant things that Mirai Kuriyama had dealt with up to this point. Anyone who was around her for any length of time could tell you this--after all, she was ever so loud about it. It seemed like even mild annoyances would elicit her infamous cry of protest. And an interdimensional portal suddenly opening up and sucking her in was a lot more than a 'mild' annoyance.

As was being unceremoniously spat out onto cold metal, as if whatever thing had done this disliked how she tasted. She cringed as she hit the floor, trying and failing to catch herself and skidding along the hallway.

She gasped for air as she willed herself into a crouching position so that she could at least look around. Not that looking around was much help--everything was golden and so bright. She didn't recognize this at all.

When she caught the breath that had been knocked out of her in the fall, she squinted, grabbing her glasses off the floor and putting them on. "...Where...where is this...?"

[Apto]

Empty Wallets, Kirika Kure
New York Administration District

"So these people are building a machine to send you back home?" Hex asked the girl "Are you sure they are telling you the truth about its capabilities? It seems strange that they would be making a machine based on what should be for them a recent phenomenon." In her mind she thought that if they are already making a machine then it wasn't recent as it would appear to them, assuming it even works and this girl isn't being fooled.

"They're my best bet at getting home, ya know?" Kirika responded to the armored figure's question, seemingly skeptical of the young girl's intelligence. "Besides, it's easy to keep 'em honest when I can disembowel them, their boss, and their entire extended family!" There was a hint of pride at that, memories of the first few eggheads meeting a rather grizzly end when they thought they could lie to her face.

With her threat of bringing a trophy Hex responded back to that, but at Cassie. "You can regrow limbs correct? Give her your arm but make it resemble Jeff's arm."

“The right foot or right leg, take either!”

"Come on then. We haven't got all day. Every moment you wait is another moment you'll spend walking back home. Be thankful by the way that I didn't decide to fight you. I had a great speech about 'come and get it!' prepared and everything but this... well, it just seems more convenient for the both of us."

“What are you waiting for? Take the offer or I take your life,” Aestus threatened.

No! No! No!

They just didn't get it, did they? "Well, this got boring real quick." She sighed, leaning forwards, knee bent as her gaze turned to the floor. "I was hoping to see some talk between all of you, some real teamwork." Whatever mania that possessed her earlier was gone now, replaced by a expression of neutrality and a cross between boredom and disappointment. "All I got from this was some groveling on the side, empty threats and enough bluster to weigh this bird down." She stepped back, claws detracting as she climbed onto the cockpit's broken window. "Feel free to prove me wrong though." One last smile, almost serene against the night sky, and Kirika let herself fall from the aircraft.

One heartbeat.

Two heartbeats.

A sigh of relief.

Safety.

Abeona placed a hand against her earpiece. They were exposed in the air, and that meant their vulnerability once the plane landed could only get worse. The others had to be warned to tighten the security of the meeting place lest this whole endeavor-?! A trio of black projectiles, seemingly reflecting the malevolence of their owner, pierced through the floors, screeching like banshees. One whipped centimeters away from Julian's face, another almost grazed Teru, but the last of the trio spilled crimson, cutting cleanly through flesh, bone, and cloth as Jeff's arm was severed from the rest of him, the limb pierced by the blade's hook as it shot through the roof along with the rest of the projectiles. At the sudden attack, Abeona could only bark out a panicked order into her earpiece as she felt her heart miss a beat. "Viktor! I need a medical team in the meeting place now!" They were so close to their destination! Just a few more minutes!

---

Kirika fell through the air, her back turned against the ground as she eyed the quickly disappearing craft. In the distance, against a backdrop of clouds, the tiny pin pricks that used to be her claws fell towards her. This didn't end up quite like she had hoped, but, it was a valuable experience all the same. With one quick motion, her other set of claws suddenly extended like a whip, wrapping against a water-tower situated at the rooftop of some high-rise condo. All it took was a mental command, and the Magical Girl found herself reeled towards safety, the ache in her muscles and bones soon disappearing as all three blades fell around her along with their prize.

Yeah, this would do.

[Mundeo]

---

The Grand Adventure

---

Wakanda

T'Challa knelt down to Issun. "Thank you, little one, but this won't be necessary. She will have a swift recovery with our technology, but see if any of your companions need it"

He then turned to Chris, who had asked who everyone was. "Hello there..." The Wakandan king was still getting used to seeing all of these strange new faces. Seeing an anthropomorphic was certainly among the most interesting things he had seen. "I am T'Challa, King of Wakanda. And you are?"

Wanderer had also approached Chris. "Greetings. You may simply call me Wanderer. You're probably wondering how you ended up here, are you?"

---

The Multiverse’s Most Dangerous Game

---

TARGET: DEFEATED
LOCATION: INKOPOLIS

"Duh! Of course we can sing" Marie said to Konny, Jona, and Miranda.

"You want us to sing for you guys?" Callie asked.

"I don't think we'll have time for that" Samus interrupted. Her helmet had re-materialized, a message displaying on the visor:

TARGET: DEFEATED

When the message disappeared, the huntress heard a voice over the communications in her helmet - it was her employers.

"We see that you have eliminated your first target"

"I nearly died in the process, but you can say that" Samus replied.

"We were certain that you would be able to defeat Godzilla; that is why we hired you. For the completion of your first assignment, we shall reward you for your success"

There was a suddenly flash of light as something materialized in front of the group. The light faded to reveal a sleek, metallic ship before them. The cabin was box-like, but had long, crescent-shaped wings and nose that extended outwards to a point.

"Due to the unfortunate loss of your gunship, we are giving a new vessel to take its place, one that is capable of multi-dimensional travel"

"Thanks" Samus curtly responded. "But while we were on the topic of introductions, do you think you can at least tell me who you are?"

"Since you have proven your abilities as a bounty hunter so far, we shall gladly give you the information that you seek. You may call us the Imperium of Time. We watch over many worlds and timelines and ensure their protection. Now, it is time that we give you your second assignment"

A new image appeared on the screen, one of a massive, draconian creature that was given the name SMAUG. What surprised, Samus, however, was where the dragon was located: Mount Celeste, British Columbia, Earth.

"Earth?" Samus read audibly. With the whole multiverse available as potential locations, she didn't expect that the human home world would be one of them. But this was her task, and she was going to complete it. With the new mission given, she turned to the others. "Looks like we're heading to Earth. If you're ready, get into the ship"

---

RESPITE

---

Plague Knight's explosives sent Waka flying back with enough force to send him through the wall of a nearby building. The broken wall sent dust scattering through the street, clearing to show the swordsman sprawled out inside.

"Magnifique..." He muttered. "Just... what I was looking for..." Dirtied and bloody, the swordsman slowly lifted himself from the rubble, bringing himself to his feet only to immediately collapse back onto his hands and knees. "For a second... I was afraid... you may actually kill me..." Waka looked back up, but to see the bent point of Alucard's blade.

"You speak nonsense" The Dhamp said, holding his sword mere inches away from Waka's throat.

"Allow me to explain myself then..." The swordsman made a successful attempt at standing up, albeit with a limp. "I was trapped in this place, much like you, expect I have been here much longer. The moment I saw all of you appear here, hope swelled up within me as I may recruit you to help us escape this place. I merely wanted to test your abilities"

"And if our abilities didn't satisfy you?"

"Then you all would have died, ma cherie, and I would have gone back to waiting"

Alucard picked up Waka by his collar and lifted him up. The Dhampr bared his vampiric fangs with a hiss "Give me a reason why I shouldn't end your life right now?"

"Oh! You're quite the violent one. Because, mon amie, only I know how to get to the castle"