[h1][center]Hellsalem's Lot- Bitter Steps[/center][/h1]

"One black and one with cream, half and half; that should be fine," the waitress responded to Shotaro before nodding yes to his question.
"I assume that Satori girl was with you, then? She seemed a bit too... I dunno, sheltered to be walking around like that. Who doesn't know how coffee shops work these days, am I right?"

While that barista attempted to make some small talk as she sent the order through, another walked behind the display and gave a wide grin to Saber.

"Is there anything that catches your eye?" he asked, smiling.

While all this was going on, Satori had continued to dig through the wave of information, but without much luck. Much of it was the usual: complaints, gripes, and the occasional childish whining.

"No matter where you go, people always stay the same, I guess..." she sighed, shaking her head as she waited for the rest of the group to order.

[hr]
[h1][center]The 13th Hierarchical City of Kagutsuchi[/center][/h1]
[center][h2]Hanging Gardens[/h2][/center]
The knives shot by the assailant were scattered all over the place, and a few even shattered under the force. However, this didn't seem to stop them completely; though thrown off-course by a thoughoughly unexpected attack, the blades quickly repositioned themselves to fire at Akuma.

The blades abruptly stopped, though, once Alex jumped into the fray. The shockwave, as predicted, stunned the woman for a moment, causing the blades to waver and clatter onto the ground before disappearing.

"Alright, cool, we've got countermeasures now. Good work!" Kagura shouted before rushing in once more. "Seriously, though... This is new from Tsubaki..."

Tsubaki quickly moved to recover, barely ducking away as Kagura grazed the edge of her shield as he swung. A flurry of attacks followed, which was probably surprising considering the size of his weapon.

"Let's go! No more holding back if you're willing to go that far!" he shouted, swinging his blade to try and push Tsubaki back... Or, at the very least, towards those helping him.

[h2][center]Laboratory[/center][/h2]
The white samurai barely registered the presence of the two girls who had come before him. Though the fact that they had come from deeper in might have been noteworthy, it was of no matter now.

"...Down that hallway." he stated, motioning behind him as he stepped forwards, past Miku and Hibiki. "Exit soon; this place shall be in ruins soon enough."

With that ominous statement, he continued forward, his white figure slowly fading into the darkness of the hallway.

[h2][center]Orient Town[/center][/h2]

"Nya-nyah!?"

The sudden shift in the red-haired girl's attitude shocked Taokaka, who proceeded to barely slip forward and past her opponent as she swung with all her might. The splinters, however, were a different story. Though her clothing was durable, it wasn't something that would cover everything. And so...

"Nyeow! That hurt!" Taokaka shouted before attempting to grab onto Tailred's nearest arm. "But Tao's food deserves vengeance! NYAAAAH!"

[hr]
[h1][center]Unknown City, Somewhere in the U.S.- ...The Hell?[/center][/h1]

The reactions from both Goldibanne and Artorias were... Strange to Claire, to say the least. This... Thing... Had almost killed a member of the team, but... Well, that member was neither injured nor was there any active conflict.

...

"This is why we don't try to give surviving civilians military training..." she sighed, shaking her head before turning to look at Sol. Who was, well, smoking.

"...Mercenaries. Well, can't say he gained any diplomacy points for that one..."

With the issue settled, Claire deactivated the alert and sighed, walking back to the command center. Those guys had their job, and she was fairly certain that the others in the facility wouldn't take kindly to a hot-tempered... Thing... Walking around. There were only so many people here, after all...