[center] [h1]Sander Makes Bad Decisions[/h1] [img]https://i.imgur.com/FWMorlL.png[/img] [img]https://i.imgur.com/xp0eIcQ.png[/img] [h2][color 00a99d]Ernest[/color] | [color cyan]Sander[/color][/h2] [img]http:// i.imgur.com/3R5vYYi.png?2[/img] [hr][color=silver]π•Šπ•¦π•Ÿ: π•Šπ•–π•‘π•₯. 𝟚𝟘, 𝟚𝟘𝟚𝟘 / / π•Žπ•’π•€π•™π•šπ•Ÿπ•˜π•₯π• π•Ÿ, 𝔻.β„‚. / / β„‚π•šπ•₯π•ͺ / / ~πŸ™πŸšπŸπŸ˜[/color][hr] [sub]Collab with [@RedDusk] and [@January][/sub][/center] The Aberration leaned against the roof's barrier, sighing in frustration as he surveyed the city. Almost a whole hour had passed since the evacuation order but still the crowd showed no sign of easing up. If anything it looked like even more of a pain to wade through. Ignoring the Regulars, his gaze moved vertically, binoculars trained on the rubble shooting up in the distance. The slime and grey lines were still present. Man, shouldn't the Precursors' top dog have the situation handled by now? Kadabra was really taking his sweet time. And Brent's team was right in the midst of it all. There was no time to uselessly stress though. A distant figure traversing the rooftops caught his eye and Ernie's hand moved back to the communicator. [color=00a99d]"Sander? What are you doing?"[/color] Sander's only response was an annoyed grunt as he flung himself onto a vertical wall and began climbing. A pang of annoyance rung in the buzzcut boy's voice. [color=00a99d]"C'mon man, talk to me. It's the least you can do after ditching me on the other end of the fucking city. What's your plan here?"[/color] Sander's hand snagged on a jagged piece of glass, and the entire shattered window fell on him. He recovered his footing easily enough, taking his time shaking glass and dust out of his hair as he clung to the wall. Ernie's voice chose that exact moment to blare through the cuff, and Sander's frown only deepened. "[color cyan]I'm fighting.[/color]" -He almost growled -"[color cyan]You stay put.[/color]" [color=00a99d]"I'm not gonna sit around while my friends are making dumbass decisions and putting themselves in unnecessary danger,"[/color] Ernie spat back, summoning his rope to hop off the building safely. There were no civilians in the area to witness it, thanks to the ice giant, [color=00a99d]"If you seriously feel the need to babysit me even during the end of D.C. then just ask for my location and I'll give it to you. It's not like you can stop me right now, the way you're heading. Are you going after the crusher or the slime?"[/color] "[color cyan]The what?[/color]" Jesus, was this guy for real? Ernie jogged down the road, his head trying to juggle the conversation and his current task. The area by the arboretum was mostly residential, which meant that there'd be family homes. Which meant children. Which meant scooters and bikes. [color=00a99d]"The air crusher who's summoning grey lines and turning buildings into literal dust. Entire guard towers and jet planes. It's calculated. This guy knows what he's doing so don't just charge in with zero plan."[/color] "[color cyan]Oh.[/color]" -Sander mumbled, heaved himself onto another rooftop. From there, he finally got clear view of the chaos bellow. In the distance, the slime monster kept moving, but he did notice the human silhouette floating in its mass. "[color cyan]I see him.[/color]" - Red eyes zeroed in on his target, and Sander couldn't help but sniff the air -"[color cyan]Brandy.[/color]" -He whispered, almost as an afterthought. The last comment went unheard. [color=00a99d]"Alright, what's he got surrounding him? Maybe you can knock a tower down and charge during the distraction or something."[/color] "[color cyan]He's in slime.[/color]" -Sander stated the obvious, fingers curled then uncurled as he fought the urge to charge. [color=00a99d]"Fuck, really?"[/color] Ernie groaned as he sifted through an unlocked house, looking for the entrance to the garage. A check of the communicator confirmed Sander's location. Not far from Brent, which meant not far from the slime. Crap. [color=00a99d]"Whatever you do, don't touch that slime. Is Kadabra there too? Do you see what he's doing?"[/color] "[color cyan]He's throwing stuffs.[/color]" Made sense. Ernie didn't know why he asked the obvious. [color=00a99d]"Use him as a distraction then. Remember, don't touch the slime."[/color] Wait. There was something else about this. The guard towers had been systematically disabled. Strategic. This wasn't a random rogue. This was someone with a plan, with the aim to cripple the nation by striking at its heart. Ernie only knew of one organisation with the balls to do something so catastrophically large-scale. [color=00a99d]"One more thing, Sander,"[/color] the Aberration's tone was more serious than anything previous. More calculating. Entire corpses were always somewhat unnerving, like they could spring back to life when you had your back turned. But less than an entire corpse... [color=00a99d]"If you manage to beat this guy, see if you can bring his head back in one piece. The USARILN guys might be able to find something important."[/color] The morbid request did make Sander quirk an eyebrow, but he simply nodded with a quick "[color cyan]Okay[/color]". Ernie was pleasantly surprised by the lack of follow-up questions. Of course Sander of all people was alright with this sort of stuff. [color=00a99d]"Cool. Good luck then."[/color] With that, the line cut. A scarf and pair of gardener gloves were procured to hide his glow. Armed with his soldier's uniform, a whistle and a Razor scooter, Ernie began making his way through the panicked throng. As Ernie’s voice quieted, a lot seemed to be happening in the streets bellow. Yet, Sander chose not to observe, instead focusing his attention of the oozing slime and its human-shaped accomplice. Turning around, Sander dug his fingers into the concrete and ripped out a small section of the floor. With all his might, he launched it toward the human mage, already readying another follow-up attack. A crushing field timed to eliminate Kadabra's projectiles took care of the new intrusion as well, though a sudden spray of lines around Sander's approximate position was enough clue that the mage had caught on to someone aiding the Precursor. The crisscross hatching of gray lines folded into and out of themselves for a brief second before piling inward towards a designated center point, one that Sander was dangerously near. Ignoring the obvious telegraph around him, Sander merely reached for another slab of concrete. The building around the Aberration vanished into a thin powder of wood and concrete dust, the inward implosion beyond anything a man-made object could withstand. With the disappearance of half a building, anyone within viewing distance would have seen the appalled look on the attacking mage's face when he saw a body falling to the ground below, unmarked by his devastating power. Fear and shock all rolled into a large, multilayered barricade of timed implosions, clearing out another wave of Kadabra's projectiles and much of the ground around them, forming a shallow moat that the slime oozed over easily. More lines timed their detonations down the trajectory of Sander's fall, but every section of building turned to particulate matter still left an ominously glowing Aberration in its wake, entirely unfazed by the damage. Sander hit the ground hard, cracks spreading like spiderwebs beneath him. Yet, he was unscathed, the force of the blows only fueled his fury. Seconds after his fall, and the blood mage was already back on his feet, scaling another building to get the height advantage on the slime creature. Ernie's words still echoed in his head. [i]Don't touch the slime.[/i] But how else would he get to the human mage? Frustration gnawed as him, so he gave up and dove straight for the crusher, heedless of Ernie's sensible advice. The slime swallowed him in a thick liquid that cut off air and hindered movement. Without any traction to push off of and only uncooperative slime to struggle against, Sander's movements bore little fruit. Meanwhile, the living ooze shifted further into itself, condensing carefully and keeping its empowered ally above the suffocating mass. At the same time, it pulled Sander deeper into its body, intending to confine his movements there. With his air supply cut off and his strength neutralized, there was little Sander could do. He struggled in vain, feral growls bubbled from his throat, just as his lungs began to burn for oxygen. He fought uselessly, the slime contouring and deafening any shows of force deep within its body. While Sander was immune to the digestive effects, he wouldn't be able to withstand the lack of air for long.