It wasn’t long before the group entered chaos.

The child-lecturer was there, raining down an immeasurable amount of destruction at his will. Hibiscus stood back, watching light and birds and energy swirl about at his will. She found herself glaring a bit, both from the harsh light ahead of her and because of her reaction to the violent scene before her.

Hibiscus felt a wave rush over her, her armor seemed to change, all it’s magical properties were gone. Then, before she saw it, the Samurai took a leap into the air, blocking a beam of light headed right for them. He deflected the beam into other enemies. He, and the Kid, urged the others to fight.

Blueberry and company were more than happy to oblige. Swords and arrows lodged themselves into the undead. 

“Puppets.” Muttered Hibiscus. She stepped the the side and the hound followed. He barked twice as three undead corpses hobbled toward her. Their eyes empty, but their crooked teeth were gnashing, hungry for flesh.

Hibiscus raised her hand toward the trio. She focused her will, taking a deep breath. “STOP.” She finally bellowed.

The trio came to a halt, their teeth still gnashing, their limbs twitching every so often.

She extended two fingers, then flicked her wrist. “TURN!” Two of the three zombies about-faced, Then began walking the other way. “Hound, attend them.” The two zombies and the hound would not attack, but would defend Hibiscus from any oncoming volley or attacker, she needed to focus.

She approached the last zombie, who still stood obediently in it’s place. She gave the body a thorough look-over. It [i]was once[/i] a woman. Her head was in-tact, with only a few bruises and splotches of mud. Most the damage was seen in her crooked legs, and an unnaturally twisted wrist. Her clothes were tattered, Hibiscus reached up and touched the fabric, was she in some sort of uniform? She was [i]fresh[/i], she was injured by not rotting, the blood on her wounds bright red. Hibiscus thought it was very likely the one who killed her was the one who brought her back.

She thrust out her hand clutching the dead-woman’s throat and squeezed, as if to choke her. “SPEAK!” She growled. 

The dead-woman stopped gnashing, her body shuddered and convulsed, then began to open and close her mouth, her dry lips cracked as they moved. No noise came forth, something was wrong…

Hibiscus ripped open the front of the woman’s shirt with her free hand. Before her death there may have been a sight to appreciate, but her violent unnatural breath had stolen any grace or beauty she once had. [i]’Her lung is punctured’.[/i] Hibiscus winced. [i]There’s only one thing to do about that… luckily this wound is small.’[/i] 

She drew a knife, and cut open the woman's flesh under her breast, then worked her free hand into the dead-woman's torso. She found the rib that punctured the lung, and pulled it out. Then she covered the hole with her palm, took a moment to make sure that everything was as it should be, then her fingers squeezed the lung. 

“Speak.” Hibiscus said, this time more softly. “Do you remember who killed you?” Hibiscus spoke her question slowly and deliberately, so that dead-woman could understand her as much as possible.

The un-dead could not speak as they once did in life, this would be a struggle for her broken body. Hibiscus had more questions, but if she asked something to complex or asked to many questions at once the dead-woman would become confused or overwhelmed. She was unsure how many questions this body would be able to answer, every one had their limits, so she though to ask the most important first.

The ‘zombies’, and the drones, and even their living opponents were merely puppets. Hibiscus intended to find their master.