[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/27xik2o.png[/img][/center]
[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/X3HEnmq.png[/img][/center][hr][center][color=silver]𝕎𝕖𝕕: 𝕆𝕔𝕥. 𝟟, 𝟚𝟘𝟚𝟘   / /   𝔹𝕒𝕝𝕕 ℍ𝕖𝕒𝕕 𝕀𝕤𝕝𝕒𝕟𝕕   / /   𝕃𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥𝕙𝕠𝕦𝕤𝕖   / /  ~𝟘𝟝𝟚𝟝[/color][/center][hr]
Wind and rain seemed to pick up in speed as the group of Aberrations approached the lighthouse. Having lost their main tracker in the scuffle with Zhang’s soldiers, they were operating more blindly than Nathaniel preferred. Raindrops splattered against an invisible sphere around the group and whisked away, a small benefit of his power that Nathaniel had been forced to use once visibility became too impaired with the rushing weather. The decision to attack when weather forecasts predicted dangerous conditions had been entirely intentional, the group operating under the assumption that they would be more comfortable in harsh conditions that most in their way. They simply hadn’t accounted for the excess of soldiers at the usually unguarded estate and the unpredictability of otherwise “harmless” powers from the estate’s servants.

A familiar flash of light in the distance, bright enough to mimic daylight, and Nathaniel’s jaw tensed as he turned to look, instinctively. The maid girl was alive after all. Even from that distance, the light left spots in his eyes, its brightness too much—too uncontrolled. He took a moment to blink it away, as did the rest of the group, but there was no going back to check on the state of their fellow comrades. They had to leave.

Small mistakes and inevitable ones in their line of work—predicting the future was impossible without a proper seer in their midst and for all his connections the Amigos’ leader had yet to procure an effective psychic. The disaster at Washington had been their cue to move in, while the rest of the world busied itself trying to repair one of the strongest, and now fallen, bastions of humanity. The job should have proceeded easily, but if there was one thing Nathaniel had learned it was that even weaklings could survive with a bit of luck and miracles. 

But luck was also on their side that day. He glanced at the Aberration girl’s missing legs and mutilated throat, her body swinging like a broken rag doll with every step of Rhohan’s beastly form. Too easy. Too lucky. It set him on edge and the orb hovering in his hand pulsated faster in anticipation of something going wrong. Anything. Maybe the sky would fall on them next, or one of Dreamcatcher’s monsters would appear to block their path.

The group neared the pier quickly, Nathaniel’s tension seeping into the pace of his walk, turning into more of a run. The sooner they boarded and left, the better, and if the others couldn’t make it back in time, that was their problem to deal with. To their left, dawn lingered beyond the horizon, the morning’s shades still hued in navy and the muted darkness of an overcast sky.

[color=f7976a]“Wait,”[/color] Thi’s voice called out, stopping the group instantly, their quick response a product of years living on high-alert. [color=f7976a]“There is someone. Not ours.”[/color] She pointed into the distance, towards the lighthouse entrance, eyes sparking purple and black light as her body’s modifications adjusted her vision.[color=f7976a]“Four—no, five—I think.”[/color]

And the Amigos had always been known for tearing through anything that stood in their way.

[color=f7976a]“Kill them. Get to the boat. Anyone who gets left behind stays behind.”[/color]

Rhohan moved first, throwing the disabled Angel aside, letting the girl roll onto her stomach. The shadow monster dashed towards the direction of the lighthouse door, moving far too swiftly for his size. In the howling storm and darkness his approach was almost impossible to detect. In his wake a sandstorm raged, propelled by the powers of another mage while strange, humanoid trees bent and twisted out of the earth before marching along in the depths of the whirling sands. They stood five meters tall and lumbered forward on sturdy trunks of legs, more forming by the second as they followed the dark beast’s hunched back. Rhohan’s form was shifting away from the relatively compact form that had carried Angel thus far, arms and legs molding into thicker, heavier masses, propelling the demon forward with blinding speed.

As the battle approached the students in the distance, Nathaniel remained back with Thi, eyeing the limp body of the captured girl.

[color=f7976a]“Thi, remove as much of her as possible. She needs to be lighter.”[/color]

[color=f7976a]“I can remove several organs—they are the heaviest parts after the muscles.”[/color]

[color=f7976a]“Sure.”[/color]

The surgeon stooped down instantly, hands no longer human as modified bones and augmentations tore through her skin, ready to operate instantly. A finger extended on over ten metallic joints humming with purple lights and deftly flicked open the woman’s briefcase, retrieving the chain of instruments. She took most of the twisted, unusual contraptions, fastening them to her fingers with extra lines of tendons and muscles that detached and reattached at all the right points, other hand already tearing cleanly through the remainders of Angel’s legs, slicing off the thighs at the hip juncture with an large oscillating saw, its thin purple line connecting back to the main equipment chain. Rapid movements of the other hand punctured the girl’s back and severed key spinal nerves to prevent Angel’s body from squirming. The new amputations were cauterized. 

Then went her arms, severed at the shoulders.

A malformed, mechanized hand with enough instruments attached to look like an oversized Swiss army knife flipped the torso over, tearing away clothes and plunging into the stomach, the large intestine, a kidney, and clawing out large amounts of the girl’s fat. The end product, after a mere minute, was a steaming mess of organs cast aside and stitches all along the now significantly flatter torso, with a stoma and metallic tubing leading out from Angel’s colon. The dissected body sparked black and purple lines of light along sutures and modified organs and Thi took a moment to consider what else to remove. Hair was heavy. As were breasts. 

Those, too, were left behind and the result was a borderline corpse stripped almost entirely of “excess.” At least, whatever excess Thi could take away at that moment without immediately endangering the captive’s life. There would be time to remove more if they returned to their base. 

[color=f7976a]“Is this light enough?”[/color] she asked Nathaniel, hand slowly reshaping back into something vaguely human.

He tested it, lifting the girl with his telekinesis.

[color=f7976a]“Light enough.”[/color] A glance at the African-American girl behind him as she adjusted her ponytail, looking entirely unfazed by the rapid surgery not two feet away from her.  [color=f7976a]“Orla, wall. To the docks.”[/color]

She was still tying up her hair as a 20-meter wall rose up in front of them, cutting the group off from Rhohan and giving them cover all along the shoreline, up to the docks and ferry itself. Nathaniel moved first, keeping a safe distance between himself and the wall, but using it as cover and impediment both while they made their way to the ferry. Robert, the boy who had heated Thi’s saw earlier, walked with his fingertips touching the blockage, heating the compacted sand and dirt until water evaporated on contact and the wall itself was enveloped in a heavy cloud of steam.

Within the lighthouse, the staff that had come with the students followed the foolhardy ones outside, several of the maids attempting to usher them quickly towards the ferry when the wall rose and knocked one of the girls down beside Sander. She looked at the towering creation of densely packed sand, eyes wide, before scrambling to her feet and turning to the nearest students, the other six members of the mansion staff already trying to shield them from whatever was coming.

[color f7976a]”Get back inside, hurry!”[/color]

High above, an injured Arbiter leaned against the enclosed space on the second highest floor of the lighthouse, resting against the wall while his injured arm trickled blood from several thin, shallow cuts. Bruises ran along his ribs and limbs, marring the tan skin there and throbbing painfully with every motion of the young man’s wiry muscles. An angry scrape crossed his brow, near the hairline of messy, layered auburn. He looked the athletic type—a runner or a swimmer, by the svelte frame, and his pale, green eyes narrowed at the sounds of approaching footsteps. He placed a hand against the wall, ready to turn it into cement dust or sludge to block off the stairs, but stopping at the sound of voices. Teenage voices. Young. Different from the cutthroat sounds of commands and ruthless orders.

Against his better judgment, the mage waited, though the wall rippled dangerously, ready to surge inward like water the moment they seemed hostile.

[center][img]http://i.imgur.com/3R5vYYi.png?2[/img][/center][hr]
[hider=OOC Notes]
A week deadline. As usual, for any questions refer to the GMs. 
    
Angel is now further away with Thi, Nathaniel, Orla, tree mage, and heater mage on the other side of the wall. Rhohan (shadow monster) is about to get up in your faces with a tree army and sandstorm. Remember there is wind and rain now buffeting you. 
    
Angel is now barely conscious. I'll allow some blurred, pained observations and dramatic wheezing noises, but after what just happened to her, you can also leave her unconscious.
    
Chris can finish his transformation by now and in this round can charge into battle in dragon form if he wants. Collab with GMs for everything here.
[/hider]