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The Church of Ass.
At this very moment, Layla caused the group to devolve into petty bickering over leadership over solving the important shit, like the murder. Adora merely took a few steps from the group, faced away, and crossed her arms as she listened to everyone speak. For starters, if memory served Adora correctly, Layla was that little kid that other weird girl dragged into the Coven - and Adora remembered giving Alizée loads of shit for it. Naturally, that Layla girl had a problem with Adora being here. Without even looking at Layla, she said,
”... Weren’t you a goddamn kid when all of this went down?” Adora started. ”I don’t care who the leader is, as long as we get to the bottom of this… but I’m not voting for you.”
Then Adora whipped around and put a hand on her hip as she said,
”I’ll vote for whoever the fuck promises to get my damn rings back.”
Then she laughed.
Things got increasingly chaotic as a fucking kid entered the fray with an axe, causing Adora to tilt her head at the kid. Then, another girl started rambling about killing people last night and how some didn’t make it. Adora recoiled as she raised her hands, saying,
”Okay, okay, okay, everyone slow the fuck down for my sake, please,” Adora started, ”I was not here last night. So could someone enlighten me on what the fuck happened? Like, what the fuck happened to Alizee? Who the fuck died? Who the fuck did ya’ll kill?”
She let her question hang in the air as she continued.
”Because I was under the assumption that we got back together to solve this whole debacle we got ourselves in. Not… whatever the fuck ya’ll are on. Jesus.” Her heart started fluttering as anxiety crept down her spine.
”I can fill you in if you’d like,” Lila spoke up from her spot in the pews. She stood up, shuffled past Lynn and Jasper before she reached the center aisle and moved towards Adora. She motioned for an area off to the side, offering at least a more private conversation.
”Please…” Adora said as she followed Anya’s lead and walked off. ”My fucking anxiety is about to go crazy.” She said with a roll of her eyes.
”I feel that,” Lila said as she led Adora to the end of the furthest back pew. ”Honestly, it is one of the reasons I stayed away today.” Lila smiled as she finished her sentence. “It is good to catch up with some of the people, and it is good to see you again,” she paused as she looked back at the rest of the coven, before returning back to Adora, ”I never got to chance to thank you back in the day for everything you did, you saved my life more times than I could count,” she paused as she looked down, ” and I wanted to say sorry that we weren't there for you when you needed us most.”
Adora sighed.
”Thank you… I needed that,” Adora sighed. ”I know, I ghosted you all after… you know, but it was just so hard. It’s… hard being back here, too…” Her heart started fluttering harder as she took a step back; her heart rate went up as she leaned up against the most adjacent wall before she fell on her ass.
”Oh shit,” Lila whispered as she looked around to see if anyone saw her fall. ”It is almost miserable to be back,” Lila said with a sign. She offered her hands to help pull her up, ”If you need anything here, let me know. You’ve done so much for us, might as well repay the favor while how I can. Now, for the recap,” Lila paused as she exhaled deeply, “I was at the Dairy Queen when everything went down. Drake decked Sloane, broke her nose, and then 8th Street rolled up and tried to poach Lynn and I, and they wanted to kill Britney. Across town, Alizée was at the strip club and picked a fight with a gang. A kid got shot,” she paused as she looked at the kid with the axe. ” After the kid got shot, from what I was told, the groomer over there got pinned down, and Alizée tried to save him. She got shot, and it devolved from there.”, Lila paused as she took a deep breath. ” Britney came over to my place after covered in blood, and told me all that before she sealed my apparition.”
”That should catch you up to this morning at least,” she paused as she looked around the Coven, ” Something tells me we have more to come.”
Adora tilted her head, jaw slack.
”... In one fucking afternoon?!?!”
”In one fucking afternoon., Lila paused as she looked out the door and noticed a half dozen crows outside looking at her. ”Just like the good old days.”
Adora stared at her, awestruck for a few moments. ”I mean… you’re just gonna have to explain to me who the fuck 8th St is because remember… I’m a little out of the loop.”
” Emily Reed, remember her?” Lila paused as she let the question hang in the air, “After the fall of the Coven, she formed a crew out of the remnants; George, Greta, and Carol were who we ran into last night, and there are a lot of former friends of ours in their ranks,” she paused as she tilted her head, ” which makes the fact that they are actively trying to control the towns magic scene through force and violence, and have been waging war on all the other groups all the more conflicting,” she paused again as she scratched her chin. ”I don’t know much more about them than that; I have kept a low profile since our coven days.
Adora crossed her arms.
”... How could I forget Emily?” She asked. ”That bitch was Lisa’s biggest bully… George too…” She trailed off momentarily.
”... I’m surprised Greta is rolling with her… If memory serves me right, she didn’t like Emily.”
”I don’t know if you were around when Greta left, were you? We accused her of creating monsters to test her potions and stuff. She wasn’t, mind you, but she left soon after and was poached by Emily,” Lila laughed for a second, ”it turns out all it takes to get back on good terms with one another was how much each of those two hated our leadership. Bonding experience, you know?”
”I mean…” Adora trailed off. ”Not gonna join in on the “down with the leaders” circlejerk they got goin’ on, but Ashley and them let their friends do whatever they wanted. I get the whole bigger picture thing, but c’mon…” She shrugged and rolled her eyes.
”It felt like I was the only one keeping them in line.”
”Do we even need a leader?”, Lila paused as she eyed up Anya, ”Like I think we could get a lot more done if we had a centralized area to meet, get support, and stuff, but work together in smaller groups towards the bigger picture.”
”I mean…” Adora shrugged as she paused, ”... It don’t seem like it’d make a difference. Auri just talked big, walked here, and then dipped off for a wild threesome with Stormy and Brit in the bathroom or something.” She ended that sentence with a roll of her eyes.
”Yeah, feels like they’re keeping shit from us again, you know? I don’t like it. I never liked it, Lila paused as she looked back towards the group.
”Well, I heard from Vanessa and Clem how much it worked out for them in the end, so,” Adora sighed as she shrugged. ”Hopefully, it works out. And if it don’t… ” Adora trailed off.
”... It don’t. Unlike the rest of these assholes, I’m only here because everyone in this building, everyone who died and beyond, is important to somebody. And I can’t just stand by and let us all get cut down.”
Adora, naturally, left out the part where she was past the point of caring if she went down.
”Fair,” Lila said with a smile, ” You don’t have to do that alone, how about this,” She paused she looked over towards Lynn and Jasper. ”While you watch over everyone here, we’ll watch over you. Make sure someone has your back if and when things go south. You have a few people who care about you here.”
Adora was silent for a moment before she said,
”... Thank you,” Adora answered. ”So, what did happen to the old Coven? In your own words.”
”It died the death it deserved…. The Coven could have been special, could have been,” Lila shrugged, “instead, it went out with a whimper due to how it treated the average member.”
”Not surprised,” Adora shook her head. ”We were a bunch of dumbass kids trying to play cult. While the leadership was also playing a popularity contest while we were literally getting cut down by a demon… well, maybe it should have died. Maybe we shouldn’t have reunited.”
”You’re right, maybe we shouldn’t have, Lila said as she looked around the group. In truth, she did not want any more harm to come to anyone in the coven. No matter what clique they were in, how grating their personality, or how much she already hated them. She did not want to see another die. “At the same time, Father Wolf, the missing artifacts, and all the crazy that has happened in the past day already,” she paused as she looked Adora in her eyes, “feels like we’re on the verge of something awful again, and I’d rather face it with the devils I know, you know?”
”Well…” Adora knew that Lila had a point, but there was a point that Adora wanted to raise herself. She lifted her hand and showed Lila the sole Trinity Ring she had, ”At the moment, I can’t do much even if something awful happens… Clem and Vanessa are in DC right now with a fancy government job, and they gave their rings to that pissant Sloane before they left. I’m… I’m… just look….” Adora tried to will herself to fly like before, and she did! She raised off the ground very…
Very.
Very.
Slowly.
”I had the source of my power sealed away, I may be relegated to pulling wounded back to the healers again if something does happen, she nervously laughed, the memory of that was very much still present in her mind, ”If I still had my powers I’d say ‘hey crows, I want you to go across town and search for Adora’s missing trinity rings’ or something like that and have them ei-”
*CAW*
Lila looked towards the door and saw about five crows in the doorway. Each one had their eyes on Lila as if they were awaiting something. Lila recognized the look; it was the look they would give her if she asked them to do something without an offering in hand. She looked at Adora and chuckled. ”I guess they still have a thing for me.” Lila looked down at her hand, removed two of the cheaper rings she had, and jokingly offered them to the crows before one of the crows swooped in and grabbed the rings out of her hands before the small murder left the doorway of the church and took to the skies. Well, old habits and all. Doubt we will see them again anytime soon. Fuck me, those were important.”
Adora chuckled as she fell to the ground (which was like two feet at this point). She crossed her arms and said, ”Who knows,” Adora started. ”I kinda put more faith in those random ass birds to find the rings than them.” She nodded at the group.
”They were always reliable, if a little dumb ha,” Lila said as she leaned against the pew and let out a laugh of her own, ”I’ll tell you what, on the off chance that there is still any magic in those crows, and they find anything, you’ll be the first to know.”
”Yay,” Adora tried not to say sarcastically, but it probably came off that way to Lila. Nothing Adora could help, but she said, ”If they can do that, maybe you can ask them to get Clementine and Vanessa to rejoin, and we can throw Father Wolf through a building.” She chuckled, making clear it was a joke.
Lila could not help but notice the sarcastic ‘yay’, and it caused her smile to fade for a brief moment. She smiled again but it was not as warm or inviting as it was. ”Yeah, I can do that.”
The birds, there was something about Lila that she didn’t quite put her finger on… Adora walked over to Lila, closing the distance in a manner she hoped that Lila wouldn’t interpret as intimidating, as she looked at Lila… she grasped onto her hand (fingers interlocked), and then asked a question. One that was probably going to get interpreted as Adora being an asshole (again). ”My memory is a bit fuzzy…” That was a lie, as Adora was actively suppressing the memory of the Old Coven. ”... I need a reminder on a lot of things. Like… you look familiar but at the same time sooooo different.”
Lila blinked once, twice, and a third more at the statement. Yes, she should look both familiar and so different simultaneously. ”Ummm,” Lila whispered as she rubbed her hand against her other elbow, ”“yeah you probably knew me by a different name entirely back then,” she paused as she took in a deep breath, ”I am going to deadname myself here but does the name Michael ring a bell?”
”Oh shit… you’re…” Adora’s jaw dropped. ”... You’re Micheal? I thought your abstraction sounded familiar. You look…” Adora looked Lila up and down.
”... Different.”
”That…” Lila paused as she rubbed her arm again, ”was the point,” she paused as she looked back to Lynn and Jasper. A small sense of panic began to brew deep inside her and she wanted nothing more than to run back to the safety of her friends. Yet that was what Michael would have done. He would not have confronted these feelings of fear, he would not have maintained the space he was taking up, and he would have apologized for any confusion he caused. ”I was Michael,” she kept her words short and sharp, adding an extra emphasis on the ‘was’,”Michael died during the battle with the snake. Lila was born anew in the time that followed.”
”Are you cool with all that?”
Adora smiled.
”... And why wouldn’t I be?”
”… thank you. It’s just a little weird coming out again after a while. Sometimes I just forget that I had a life before, is all.”
”Come now, it’s just-”
A window broke and Adora immediately whipped her head around, then she saw several canisters being launched into the room through that window. With a fun word on the side saying
GAS
. It wasn’t more than a second after that Adora experienced absolute hell. Her eyes burned, and she coughed as she fell to her knees, trying her damnest to hold onto Lila.”... WHAT IN THE - *Cough* - FUCK?!”
The door got kicked down, and people with guns charged in; at the corner of her eye, Adora could see one of them waving a badge around.
“EVERYONE! GET ON THE GROUND! ON! THE! GROUND!”
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The PRA.
Interactions: None.
The PRA Headquarters.
By the time Meifeng had returned to the PRA building, she had already changed into a suit. She stormed in, went to the elevator, and went up a few floors, and a short walk later, she was walking right into Cindy Keagan’s office… she was playing on her phone instead of working. She raised her head as Meifeng entered the office, put her phone down, and said,
“Gather everyone in the meeting room, fully armored,” Meifeng started, “it’s time.”
Cindy nodded.
Less than twenty minutes before Meifeng’s little agents were ready to go… she walked into the room, and everyone was wearing armor, with their helmets nearby. She looked to the left and right as she looked around. She wasn’t in armor yet, and she clapped her hands together and said,
“Good morning, team,” Meifeng started, “How have you all been today?”
“Good as we can be hearing the news last night,” Leon said as he leaned on his hand.
Meifeng was silent as she twisted her face up momentarily, then spoke,
“... We’re going to take care of that right now,” Meifeng started as she grabbed the remote control to the projector. She pushed the button, and a slide showing a collage of the various members of the Sycamore Tree Coven was shown. “As you all know, the Sycamore Tree Coven had their… reunion yesterday,”
She let her words hang in the air for a few moments.
“... And in less than two hours, they attempted to kidnap someone, attacked one of my agents, and got into an all-out gang war.”
“Heh,” Samson chuckled. “They got busy!”
“I have no clue just what they are doing, but I feel like it’s time we give them a nice, warm reception and show them that this is my city, and they can’t go around doing whatever the hell they want,” Meifeng calmly said.
Meifeng turned her gaze to Trevor Obott,
“Trevor, did you do what I asked?”
Trevor audibly gulped as he stood up, holding a stack of papers, “Yes, ma’am!” He walked over as Meifeng held her hands behind her back. He then said, “I tapped into all their phone records, internet history, and we are working on placing bugs in all their homes, but after going through it - and getting PTSD from their porn habits - I managed to track down their lair to this church.”
Meifeng pressed a button, and the slide changed to a photo of the Coven’s new lair, the church.
“Their dumbass leader doesn’t turn off her location services! And going off of her communication, she will lead the Coven to their lair today.”
“... We’re going to be there, waiting for them,” Meifeng said, “Once they get settled, we’re going to go in, hard and fast, and give them a good ol’ scare and find out which one of them is responsible for what happened to Agent Mahendra.”
“... And what about the one that attacked Agent Manalo?”
“I was getting to that,” Meifeng pointed at the projector screen and pressed the button, and it changed to various photos of Everleigh Thorn. “I don’t care what you all have to do; before my shift ends, I want her in a cell.”
“Can we waterboard them?” Leon playfully asked.
Meifeng chuckled.
“... Maybe if they don’t behave,” Meifeng started before she turned to Bianca. “Agent Manalo, do you have an issue with any of this? I’m giving you full permission not to participate and take the rest of the day off, but if you do…”
She chuckled again deviously as she looked off to the side, then said,
“... Maybe Everleigh ”resists”, and you have to employ more drastic measures to detain her?”
“Is that in regs?” Helena asked with her arms crossed.
“Nope, but who will shoot it up the chain?” Meifeng grinned. “I know you don’t care.”
"I've got no issue with this, much as I'd love a day off," Bianca shook her head before cracking her knuckles. "I'd love to give Everleigh back a little of what she gave me."
“Great to hear,” Meifeng responded before she spoke to the rest of the group. “I am authorizing strict use of taser rounds for this operation,” Meifeng started, “However if any of them get violent, switch to live rounds and send them to their God. Clear?”
“Clear!”
“Now, let’s get ready. We’re going to hit them so hard and fast they will have no clue that we were even there,” Meifeng said, then narrowed her eyes at Trevor. “... If you shout ‘Just the Tip’ like a dumbass again, my foot is going sooooooo far up your ass!”
Trevor gulped.
“Now, the meeting is adjourned… we are…” Meifeng raised her fist into the air; everyone raised their fist as they shouted.
“... THE TIP OF THE SPEAR!”
“Let’s get to work, everyone!” Meifeng shouted.
The New Coven’s Lair.
Long before the Coven arrived, most of the PRA were already set up in the bushes… in full armor, wearing gas masks as they patiently waited for the Coven to arrive. They had surrounded the church… while many were chatting, playing on their phones, and whatnot. Meifeng and some other agents were not in the bushes but in the enormous mobile command center parked on the opposite side to the church - completely hidden by the church itself. Meifeng was sitting in it, texting her husband while sipping some relaxing green tea. She turned her head towards Trevor and said,
“Trevor! I know our intelligencers are off, but if this information is faulty…” She trailed.
“Relaaaaaaax!” Trevor laughed as he put his hands up, “They’re coming, trust me!”
“You better be right…” Meifeng growled, “Or next time you hang out at HQ on your day off, you’ll be cleaning the entire building with a toothbrush!”
“Aw.”
“... They’re coming!” Meifeng heard Helena announce on the earpiece, and Meifeng grinned as she pressed her earpiece.
“Let me know when they are inside.”
A few moments passed as Meifeng heard Nakala speak, “They’re inside.”
“Go in.”
Cindy gave Meifeng the side eye as she said, “You’re excited.”
“Nobody hurts my Agents, Cindy,” She could hear the screaming and shouting, she turned the keys to their truck as she added,
“Nobody,”
It was go-time, and Nakala was selected to lead the insertion group… and the moment the door closed behind them, a team of herself, Maximilian, Samson, Akira, Fiona, Claudette, Sonya, Helena, and Bianca came out of the foliage and converged on the location from all sides. Each of them armed with the M4 Colt Assault Rifle save for Akira, who just stuck with a pistol at her hip, and Nakala… who had a tear gas launcher with only her compound bow strapped to her back and a pistol at her hip.
The Agents formed a line, leaning against the walls at the entrance, save for Nakala, who nodded at Sonya and Helena, who scaled the building and set up shop on the roof. Nakala took a few steps back, aiming the teargas launcher at the window with one hand and then raising her other hand and counting off.
Three…
Two…
… One!
Nakala quickly put her other hand on the teargas launcher and let out several teargas canisters that broke through the window, and she could hear them coughing and screaming inside. With a nod of her head, Maximilian kicked down the door, and the PRA Agents charged in, forming a line as they aimed their assault rifles at everyone. Nakala walked in after them, flashing a badge, her voice booming,
“EVERYONE! GET ON THE GROUND! ON! THE! GROUND!”
She walked to the front of the line of agents as she shouted, making it dead clear who was in charge here.
“DON’T MAKE ME SAY IT AGAIN! YOU'LL GET A NICE TASER DART IF YOU DON’T GET ON THE GROUND RIGHT NOW!!”
“I know it hurts, but just comply,” Maximilian calmly said. “It’ll be over before you know it.”
“Yeah, we don’t want this getting ugly,” Samson added. “Some of you seem like good people!”
Nakala raised three fingers as she shouted!
”ON THE COUNT OF THREE! IF YOU’RE NOT ON THE GROUND, YOU’RE GONNA BE SORRY! THREE…”
That was when her eyes landed on Clancy, and she tilted her head…
“... What the fuck?! Why is there a fucking kid here!?”
“Oh lord, we teargassed a white kid,” Samson awkwardly laughed.
“Wait,” Bianca squinted her eyes. “That kid got shot last night!”
“You sure?” Samson turned his head towards Bianca. “He looks fine to me…”
He then thought about what he said,
“... Well, except for, you know.”
“Certain,” Bianca shook her head in confusion. What the fuck. “I got a real good look at him first.”
“Someone get him the fuck out of here! Agent Liao is going to have a fit!” Nakala ordered, pointing to the exit.
“On it,” Samson said as he slung his rifle over his shoulder, walked over to the kid, grabbed him by the arm, and prepared to drag him out of there. “Hey, little guy-” only for the boy to yank his arm back with enough strength to throw him off his footing. Samson landed on his ass, dropping his rifle in the process. He raised his head and raised an eyebrow from underneath his gas mask.
“... What the hell?!” Samson asked.
While everyone was pushing in from the bottom, Agent Page and Agent Mayfield would be the eyes in the sky. They both took position by the window that Nakala had just broken and knelt as Sonya aimed down the scopes of her M4, just itching to give someone who couldn’t follow instructions a taser dart. Helena just knelt beside her and summoned her birds, spreading them out as far as possible so they could have as many eyes on this operation as possible.
“I can’t see shit in this damn gas mask…” Sonya hissed to herself as she scanned the room. “That tear gas burns the fuck out of my skin any-”
When her sight landed on Clancy, her jaw dropped.
“... There’s a fuckin’ kid in there!”
“Hostage?” Helena asked.
“Don’t look like it!” Sonya started,
“I can get him out of there,” Helena calmly asked.
“No need, Agent Brown is on it!” Sonya said as she patiently watched the scene unfold… and Samson got put on his ass.
By a kid.