[hr][center][img]https://i.imgur.com/TdqeVVE.png[/img][/center][right][b][code]Ten years ago, Downtown St. Portwell…[/code][/b][/right][hr][hr]
Rooftop Group

Claire stood there, watching as the Stygian Snake rose from the darkness… its massive body blocking the night sky. Its eldritch red eyes shone brightly through the darkness as red electricity pierced through its body like an eldritch storm cloud. The Apparition recoiled for a moment before its jaw opened unnaturally and let out an echoing, blood-curdling scream that sounded [i]vaguely[/i] human and was so loud that it hurt her ears; she had to drop her hockey stick as she had to grab her ears.

“... of fucking [i]course,[/i]” Claire mused to herself; she bent forward and grabbed her hockey stick, and raised it in the air. Returning to her group, she announced, “Everyone, we gotta cut and run! We are [i]not[/i] prepared for this fight!”

Alizée paled considerably and gave a nod to Claire.

"Shit, let's go," Bianca winced, boost dropping. With the hellhound gone, Linqian snapped out of her panic enough to react, glaring up at the snake. She stepped away from Bianca, body temperature rising to dangerous levels as she started to glow. There were still apparitions; they'd need to get through them to flee.

"Bea, stick with me," she hissed before beginning to burn her way through the constant wave of apparitions [i]away[/I] from the snake.

Alizée slipstreamed behind Bianca, using her hands to ‘part the seas’ and scoop away handfuls of minions so Linqian had less to burn through. Like hell she was sticking around when the [i]snake[/i] was so close by.

While this was going on, Jack took Reza to go make out in the corner.

At this point, the Stygian Snake had created a barrage of spear-like tendrils, ending in a barb. He created dozens and launched them at the group on the rooftop… each striking with enough force to shatter concrete and quickly flatten the buildings around them. Destroying a majority of its minions in the process

Several of the tendrils hit the building they were standing on…

“Everyone, jump!” Claire shouted as she hauled ass to the edge of the rooftop and lept… landing on the adjacent building with a roll. Fortunately, her barrier was enough to stop most of the damage from the roll. Amy had lept and landed next to Claire, using his club to take most of the impact by slamming it down first.

Alizée was the next to jump, balancing herself in the air and landing cleanly in a roll on cushioning void hands. They only felt a [i]little[/i] cold.

"Fuuuuckkkkk," Linqian yelled as she jumped to the other roof, landing on her knees and rolling to the side, increased temperature making it only a little less painful. She immediately dropped it back to normal and turned around to catch Bianca as soon as she jumped over - like hell was she letting her get as hurt too. 

A bright flash filled Claire’s eyes as Elsa and Zoey launched a monstrous bolt of lightning at the Stygian Snake… it had to be a distraction, as the two hauled ass down the fire escape immediately.

The light stung, but Alizée couldn't afford to let it slow her down. Alizée took a slightly faster approach than Claire, dropping from window sill to window sill until she reached the ground floor. She cast her eyes up, waiting for Claire and the rest to make it down safely. Linqian and Bianca ran for the fire escape, scaling down it as quickly as possible. 

The Stygian Snake wrapped its dark tendrils around the building Zoey and Elsa were standing on… bringing it down as if it were styrofoam. Sending debris and a blinding cloud of dust in all directions. Claire prayed the two of them had made it off safely.

However, before Claire had a moment to think, Amy (a girl that was far smaller than her), scooped her up over her shoulder like it was nothing. “Hey, wa-” Claire tried to protest.

“No time, sugar!” Amy shouted as she lept towards one of the non-destroyed buildings… and slammed her kanabō against the wall, and it dug in; their momentum stopped just seconds later, and they were ground-level. Amy threw Claire off her shoulder and then stuck a booted foot against the wall to pull her club out.

“Thanks,” Claire said. 

“Don’t mention it!” Amy shouted.

The two turned and ran in any direction the Stygian Snake was not in; Claire dug into her fucking utility belt that she had under this stupid robe and shouted, “Hey! [i]Anya! [b]ANYA!?[/b][/i] Is this damn thing on?!”

"Yes? You don't need to shout."

“I thought the Wonder Women were keeping Stiggy busy!”

"Well, clearly they failed," Anya replied drily. "The situation is worse than expected. What's your status?"

“Our status?” Claire mused, “Our status is that we’re beating feet! We can’t take this thing on!”

However, the Stygian Snake dove into an alleyway, completely immersing itself in its shadows… before reappearing before the group, towering above them. Amy and Claire stopped as they looked at the Apparition in shadowy glory. It created a massive, club-like tendril made of darkness that violently slammed on the ground and swiped it across the area, knocking over buildings left and right.

“Shit!” Claire shouted before she turned her head over to Bianca. “Bianca!”

“... What are you planning?!” Amy shouted.

“Boost me!” Claire commanded.

“Heh,” Amy shouted as she slammed her club on the ground, creating fire, “I want in!”

"On it!" Bianca frowned, starting to boost Claire. Then, with great difficulty, she split it to boost Amy too. She'd just improved this spell recently… Claire bared teeth as she dropped her weight, digging herself into the asphalt, and stuck the hockey stick out like a shield. She sweat, as the tendril got closer and closer, and closer, and closer. However, she collided against the tendril, and with the help of Bianca’s boosting and Amy at her side, they could slow down the colossal tendril and bring it to a halt. It wasn’t easy, but Bianca, Linqian, and the others had an opening to escape.. 

[i]“Ge-GET OUT OF HERE!”[/i]

Behind the group came a brightly colored pink snake out of the shadows. Its shape much like the Stygian Snake’s. It roared to get the snake’s attention. Behind it stood Tayla, pink lux activated for the illusion. Beside her was James; his orange lux added to her power, making the illusion real. Out of its mouth came barbs, similar to the ones it released earlier, but concentrated on one target, the Stygian Snake. The Stygian Snake countered the barbs with its shadowy tendrils, which wrapped around and knotted them.

The Stygian Snake quickly flew through the shadows with some unholy grace and wrapped itself around the illusion, constricting it.

“Get going, you guys! Or hit it! Something!” Tayla yelled. She could only hold the illusion for about five minutes without James’s help before she needed a break. James boosting it extended her time, but she’s afraid of the aftereffects if she exceeds the entire time limit.

It went without saying that Claire and Amy were a little bit tied down at the moment, as the Stygian Snake’s darkness was beginning to push them against the wall… it looked like they would get flattened, regardless of Abstraction. However, a portal opened behind him, and the Stygian Snake’s darkness gracefully pushed the two through it. The two fell on their ass and looked up to see Victoria and Drake Blackmore. 

Drake had his makeshift wooden sword slung over his shoulder, crackling with electricity, and grinned, “Looks like we made it in the knick of time!” He laughed. “Don’t worry, the Blackmores got your back!”

“Drake, take this seriously!” Victoria rolled her eyes. 

“Am I happy to see you!” Claire shouted as she raised her hands, and Victoria and Drake hoisted Amy and her to their feet. She looked around, and then Drake spoke again.

“We would have gotten here faster if Victoria hadn’t teleported us to St. Portwell [i]in a different dimension.[/i]” Drake gave Victoria a shit-eating grin as she could only slap a hand into her face.

“... I’m still working on the spell.”

“Who gives a shit?” Amy said with a raised eyebrow. “Where are the others?”

However, the others made themselves known when the Stygian Snake destroyed the illusion… Amanda came flying in, slamming her hands together and creating a massive burst of fire and electricity that vaporized all the minions. She landed on the ground and wiped the sweat off her hands as the next up was Samantha Alger, who picked up a sedan and threw it at the Stygian Snake.

“By the power of the Sycamore, I will vanquish you!” Ella appeared in her magical girl glory, yelling a cringy catchphrase and hitting the Stygian Snake with prismatic light. Saskia rolled their eyes behind her, blood-forming long blades from her knuckles. 

“... Thank you for making me vomit in my mouth, weirdo!” Emily G. Reed shouted after she loudly and dramatically gagged. Babylon floated over her shoulder with a delightful smile as she flamed them down. Other members of the Coven joined the fight: Ripley and Lionel Hunter, the Blackmores, Lynette Domingeuz, Paige Auclair, Carol Doyle, George Nelson, and more….

A spinning pile of bones slid onto the scene as if it was some type of blob… on top of it was the Coven’s leadership, Ashley Stone, Auri Auclair, and Daisy Hunter. Ashley pointed at the Stygian Snake as the other members of Sycamore came in, then grinned as she shouted

“... Go, Sycamore, go,”

[hr]

Theater Group

Lisa experienced pure horror as her heart was [i]pounding[/i], and she stared up at the Stygian Snake in horror… while trying to reach into the pouch for her walkie-talkie. She grabbed it - almost dropping it - and finally raised it to her lips.

“J-Jinhai! The Stygian Snake… i-it’s… it’s…” She couldn’t get the words out. She was so scared right now. Before panicking, she shouted into the walkie-talkie, “... [b][i]WHERE IS ADORA AND TRINITY?![/i][/b]”

"The woods," Jinhai replied, sounding more harried now. "They couldn't keep it contained."

There was a brief silence before Lisa continued calmly and reasonably...

“... [i]YOU [b]THINK?![/b]”[/i]

She shook the walkie-talkie as she said it.

“Don’t worry, Lisa!” She could hear Adora on the other side. “We’re on our way!”

Their conversation was interrupted when something came crashing down some distance away like a meteorite… when the dust settled, [url=https://i.imgur.com/IP3Rfxk.jpg]it[/url] was revealed in its eldritch glory—a tall, demonic-looking man with razor-sharp claws, and a wide and sinister grin. Many would recognize this creature as Scott Reese, the man behind the massacre at the party before everything went wrong. He walked over to a stop sign and pulled it out of the ground as if it was nothing… facing the group as he menacingly sauntered before sprinting. His heavy footsteps could be heard from down the street.

“Uh-um, Jinhai!?” Lisa spoke into the walkie-talkie, “Scott Reese is here, too! What do you advise!?”

"Run," Jinhai said succinctly. "Towards the woods. Olivia, try to slow him down."

“Run… Okay, [i]run[/i]… okay… we can do that..” Lisa said.

Olivia, who also had a walkie-talkie and had been tuned into the same channel, said, "I'll try!"

Olivia pulled back in all her vines before using them to form a thorny wall across the street between them and Scott - ten feet tall, likely not enough to stop him but enough to slow him down.

“Fuuuck,” Jasper shouted as he stood up and watched as the vine wall blocked off Scott, “I’m spent for now,” he looked down at the Paladin in process.  He knew he needed at least five more minutes before it could do anything,  “Evelynn, can you run?”

“Yes, yes, I can,” Evelynn responded as she wiped some of the blood off her face.  She paused as she channeled her powers.  Returning to the present, she looked over towards Michael.  “Crows are still useless on him I’m afraid.”

“We’re going then,” Jasper shouted to the group, “run.”

“Everyone, get down!” Lisa shouted as she cupped her hands together… and, in a move that has [i]disturbed[/i] many members, vomited two handfuls worth of random spiders into her digits. She threw them at Scott, and they quickly mutated, growing bee-like wings and horrible acid-filled cysts, and they flew around Olivia’s wall towards Scott.

… They exploded in his face and released their horrible, toxic, acid-filled load. He dropped his stop sign as he grasped his face and stumbled momentarily.

“Get on!” Lisa shouted as she slammed both hands on her mount, which was engulfed in a brown-colored wave of energy, which was a sign she was mutating it… causing it to grow dragonfly wings. The fastest insect in the world… 

…The only issue was that it would be [i]loud.[/i]

[color=6B8E23]”Uh, I can’t,”[/color] Luca shook his head from where he stood at a distance to them all, holding up his hands. [color=6B8E23]”I’ll hurt it- and you all. Don’t worry, though, I’ll be fine!”[/color] 

“... We are [i]not[/i] going to leave you!” Lisa shouted… then she had to think fast, she closed her eyes, tapped her temples, speaking to herself. “Think, Lisa, [i]think![/i]”

Then it hit her.

“Quick! Turn around!“

“Okay!” Luca had no [i]idea[/i] what Lisa was thinking, but he turned around instantly and Lisa hopped off…. She created a thick strand of web between her hands as she approached. Then stopped.

“... Your Abstraction doesn’t work through your clothes, right?” Lisa asked.

At this point, the hulking monster Scott had broken through the vines, using the traffic sign as an axe as he cleaved apart Olivia’s barrier. He roared as he raised his sign and rushed the group.

[color=6B8E23]”Shit- It doesn’t!”[/color] Luca replied.

Olivia winced when her barrier was destroyed, drawing back her vines and trying to use the remainder to entangle Scott’s arms and legs. At the same time, climbed onto Lisa’s spider. 

Michael was the first one onto the back of the spider, followed quickly by Evelynn and then finally Jasper.  Jasper turned towards Scott and shouted, “fuck, that'll have to do,” as he flipped his paintbrush and began to pull the Paladin from the canvas.  He groaned as the canvas fought his attempt, but before long, the Paladin was pulled from the page.  The artwork was clean, and a lot of the detail was there, but it was missing a lot of the polish that Jasper typically added to his works.  The Paladin looked like any old painting of a knight, with thick armor on the chest and arms, complimented by a large shield and an armored-up fist.  The only noticeable issue was the legs were not as detailed as the rest of the body, clearly missing a few layers of paint.  

The Paladin hit the ground and stumbled before charging at Scott, shield raised in front. He took the hit head-on; Olivia’s vines held Scott down, but the Paladin tanked the hit. Scott used his strength to pull one arm free…

“Okay, um!” Lisa tried to find the words to explain her crazy idea to Luca as she commanded her spider to spin a web in a long rope… she connected the one rope that she had in her hands to Luca’s back and connected the two strands into one that was lengthy enough to keep them all safe from Luca’s abstraction.

Scott freed his other arm before his legs grabbed the stop sign and continued his offense.

“... You know what? We’re a [i]little[/i] short on time! So just trust me!” Lisa shouted as she hopped back on the spider and then commanded it to begin flying. It fluttered its wings as it started to fly, and it was painfully loud for [i]everyone[/i], but this was a last-ditch effort. Due to the strand of web, Luca was hoisted below like he was in a rescue helicopter, and he was the stretcher thingy they used to hang underneath. Lisa remained in the street, using the buildings as cover, because the [i]last[/i] time she flew into the sky, she got mobbed by the Stygian Snake’s minions. Then, the Stygian Snake itself.

Fun times.

As she flew down the street, she could hear that hulking bastard Scott running behind them very faintly… he was just that goddamn loud. The issue was that Luca was dangling helplessly below them. She glanced over her shoulder and had to [i]scream[/i] just not to have her voice drowned out by her voice,

“[i]... DOES [b]ANYONE[/b] KNOW THE FASTEST ROUTE TO THE WOOOOOOOOOOOOODS!?[/i]”

[color=DA70D6]“I DO”[/color] Michael paused as he grabbed a handful of cheap jewelry, dollar bills, and various treats and held it out to his crows, [color=DA70D6]“DIRECT…US…TO…THE…WOOODS..”[/color]  His crows swarmed the offering before they flew above and before the spider-fly.  [color=DA70D6]“LISA… FOLLOW THE CROWS.”[/color]

[i]“OOOOOOKAY!”[/i] Lisa shouted as she desperately tried to avoid hearing damage… there was that part of her that was jealous of Luca who was precariously dangling below her. However, Lisa focused on the trail of crows that Micheal was so gracious to use to lead them to the woods. She was desperately hoping that Adora would see them and get rid of Scott… who was jumping up in the air, trying to whack Luca with a stop sign like some type of fucked pinata. Lisa was sure that when she made it out of this, she would laugh about it with Luca and the others in ten years!

The birds led the group to an intersection, and Lisa narrowed her eyes as she lowered her body, grabbed onto the straps tightly, and shouted,

[i]“EVERYONE, HANG TIGHT!”[/i]

Lisa’s voice started to burn after that. Still, she made a hard left, desperately hoping that Luca would hold on, and everyone yelped before she managed to correct her flying minion and continued heading toward the woods. She could still hear Scott chasing after them and was tempted to slow him down with some minions, but she stopped hearing the footsteps. They came to a complete stop.

Which was concerning.

Lisa looked over her shoulder; then her eyes widened as she saw Scott priming his stop sign to throw it like some type of fucked up javelin. He chucked it, and Lisa attempted to dodge, but the stop sign cleanly cleaved through one of her flying mount’s wings. Everyone on board screamed as they approached an excruciating death by crashing….

[center][hr][hider=I May Fall - RWBY Soundtrack][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3BzzNjLh8o[/youtube][/hider][hr][/center]

… They were stopped midair.

Lisa looked around, confused, wondering if she [i]finally[/i] made it to the other side. However, they gently floated to the ground and were placed… and at both sides, they could see [url=https://i.imgur.com/GI8zEeh.jpg]Vanessa and Clementine Washington[/url], standing with their arms crossed, and Adora floating above them holding the strand of web that Luca was attached to. To which she gently lowered him down. All three of them were wearing a golden colored robe with black accents.

“... Good thing Jinhai was on his shit today,” Adora said, “Made it in the knick of time.”

Scott Reese slowed his approach, grabbing onto a nearby pickup truck and cleanly ripping off its bumper to use as a weapon. None of Trinity was phased by this, as Adora pulled out her walkie-talkie and said, “Jinhai, Lisa, and the others are safe. Should we engage Scott Reese or the Stygian Snake?”

"Scott Reese. Deal with the immediate threat."

“Copy.” Adora answered, then looked over her shoulder, “Get out of here; we got this.”

“Adora,” Michael shouted broadly, “thank you so much.”  He looked towards Evelynn and Jasper.  Evelynn had stumbled off the back of the spider and already started moving in the opposite direction of Scott Reese. Meanwhile, Jasper had his canvas in front of him, and he was painting it black.  “I owe you one,” Michael said to Adora as he ran towards Evelynn’s side and began to walk with her.  Jasper, looking down at where he was at with the next summon, whispered “fuck” and started towards the group.  They would be able to find others who needed help before long.

[color=fd8a6c]“Don’t mention it,”[/color] Adora said.

“Hey, what about us!?” Clementine said with a smile.

"Shit, I thought I was a goner!" Luca exclaimed, looking a lot worse for wear. His hair was an absolute mess, and the right side of his body was covered in scrapes and bruises from bashing into a building when Lisa had to make a sharp turn. He turned to Lisa with a grin and a thumbs up… not realizing that half his face was utterly fucked up and bleeding. It hurt, but his whole body hurts nowadays. "Thanks; we wouldn't have made it out without your quick thinking!"

"Hey, drink this," Olivia piped up before he could continue talking at Lisa as if they didn't need to escape. She threw him yet another potion from her seemingly endless supply (her bag was stuffed). Luca carefully caught it, concentrating on not destroying it and knocking it back. "Thanks, Adora, Clementine, Vanessa… Luca, let's go."

“Don’t mention it!” Adora shouted for the three as she put her walkie-talkie away. “We gotta take care of Scott! Get out of here!” 

Lisa was still on her mount and made the other wing fall off; she looked back at Adora as Scott made his monstrous approach. She sighed as she commanded her mount to take off to safety. Adora, Clementine, and Vanessa merely stood side by side as Scott approached them with the bumper. He roared as he raised it into the air and tried to bring it down on Adora’s head as hard as he could… Adora merely raised her hand and stopped the bumper in its tracks. This caused it to bend as Clementine and Vanessa flew forward, and they both kicked him in the chest hard enough to make Scott stagger backward.

His chest was caved in… but there was a sickening sound as his chest regenerated, and he rushed forward, punching Clementine hard enough to knock her out of range of the other members of Trinity and down the street.

“... Fuck,” Vanessa said as the two cut and were desperately running to get back in range of Clementine before this Hulk wannabe got close… and right, they got their true power back right when Scott bearhugged Vanessa. Adora whipped around and kicked Scott in his knee, making him stumble as Vanessa could get free and elbow Scott in the face. All three charged Scott, flying at him and pinning him to the ground with enough force to leave a crater. Adora began savagely punching Scott in the face, turning his face into a bloody mess. However, he grabbed Adora’s body with his monstrous hand and slammed her on the ground…

Only Clementine and Vanessa charge Scott from two directions and punch him in the face. Caving in his skull in an attack that would have killed anyone else… However, his skull decompressed, and the two managed to grab Scott’s arm he smacked them with the free hand he had, but they caught it. Adora caught it too, as she shouted,

[color=fd8a6c]”TOGETHER!”[/color]

They lifted Scott into the air by his arm, flying as high up as possible until it was absolutely [i]freezing.[/i] All three of them let out their battle cry as they brought Scott down on the ground as fast as they could, all while he thrashed around… 

… And hit the ground and turned Scott into a stain, leaving a crater. Scott exploded into darkness as Adora dusted her hands off and reached for her walkie-talkie. 

[color=fd8a6c]”Jinhai,”[/color] Adora started, [color=fd8a6c]”We eliminated Scott Reese, has Lisa and the others gotten out of range?”[/color]

“Affirmative,” Jinhai replied. “They’re all clear.”

[color=fd8a6c]”Good,”[/color] Adora nodded at Clementine and Vanessa, and then looked up at the Stygian Snake. They all flew up at it as Adora said, [color=fd8a6c]”We are going to engage the Stygian Snake,”[/color]

She grinned.

[color=fd8a6c]”... Wish us luck.”[/color]