[sub][h3][center]Archie[/center][/h3][/sub][hr]
The reptile lashed out suddenly and with impossible speed as Natalie approached, a single preternaturally powerful and fast leap covered the distance between himself and Natalie between Lynn finishing her last word and her mouth closing. The monster swung with almost [i]surgical[/i] precision, its enormous hard wrapping into a fist and colliding with Natalie’s entire upper body in a downward arch that cracked the concrete beneath their feet.

She crumpled instantly, the giants single powerful strike being enough to send her already heavily taxed body over the edge. Instantly the reptile’s body language shifted, its enormous body slinking around Natalie’s as if to put an impossibly large wall of muscle and scale between her and the outside world. The enormous lizard regards Lynn like a mother lion, with a snarl. Wild and impulsive. 

Not exactly softly but not brutally either, Archie pulled Natalie’s comparatively tiny body into his arms, cradling her like a baby. It was amazing what control he suddenly had. The great beast roared, as though having determined that it was the medicine for all of Natalie’s pain. He does so a few times, but the behemoth seemed to know when to acknowledge a failure. A low, drawn out moan rumbled from its throat, not angry or rage addled as the noises it made normally were, but like a wounded animal in total agony. It’s head snapped upwards in the direction of the restaurant they had come from, which was emitting some sort of low hissing sound. It grew in volume, to the point where it sounded like a hot kettle, and then further into some sort of scream. It sounded like a person, but not at the same time. His thoughts were cut short when the restaurant [i]exploded[/i]. An enormous wall of plasmatic fire blew the front half of the building away, almost instantly turning several people that were unfortunate enough to be within a few dozen feet of the storefront to ash. The wall of fire petered out as is reached the edge of the road, and stopped entirely after a second or so. Man versus nature type parahumans oftentimes exploded when they withered. The process had continued postmortem.

Archie shielded Natalie from the blast, although it was more on instinct than it was for any other reason. They were well clear of the blast. Archie rocked Natalie is his enormous arms, he rocked her until ribs cracked and his arms stopped responding. He rocked her until he couldn't see anymore, and it’s so uncomfortably hot that he cant bear to stay still. A seam on the great lizard’s spine cracks open, releasing him from the sarcophagus of muscle and bone that had been his previous body. He felt raw and pruned, as if he had spent the past several hours underwater or a sauna. He pushes against the body’s mass, muscles and tendons snapping away from his eyes and allowing him to see once again.

Archie gasped, breathing in the cool outside air and sliding out of the husk of his old body for the first time ever. He had never been conscious at the end of a transformation before, at least until now. He fell out of the giant’s torso, naked and surprisingly cold. He felt like he was in a haze, as if he was drunk but... not. Everything felt slower and faster than normal at the same time. He tumbled back until his back hit the wall, and he looked up to the broken window of a pillaged Dillards outlet. It had seemed that it had been mostly ransacked, with clothing strewn around everywhere and knocked over mannequins. His body seemed to register a pair of trousers before his mind did, reaching across the broken glass barrier and yanking them off of a plastic dummy before he even fully gathered what he was doing.

He didn’t normally steal, but he was willing to make an exception. He pulled them onto himself, his eyes flashing to Lynn and then very quickly looking away when he realized that she [i]wasn’t[/i] wearing pants. He circled around the body of the beast, and slid Natalie out of the rapidly disintegrating body’s arms. “Nat?” He said, wiping a few strands of hair away from her now rather flushed and inflamed face. God, her neck looked bad. Purple and punctured like one giant bruise rather than her normally cream colored skin. “I gotcha. You’re okay.” He babbled on, unsure if she could even hear him but not entirely caring. “I won’t let them hurt you again.”

As if the flood gates opened, security began pouring into The Promise’s ring. They were methodical with their work, instantly on students and warding off and capturing inmates. Two had come to assist Archie and Natalie, and another for Lynn. Keaton would no doubt be found and processed herself, soon. One of the security agents, a woman, had appeared with a big, warm woolen blanket at hand. She wrapped it around his shoulders and attempted to coax Natalie out of his arms to give her the chance to receive medical treatment. He didn’t budge, and the woman elected not to separate them for the time being, instead forcing them both up and onto the step of one of the security cruisers. The same that had been used to capture Freaky-D. The blanket served as a barrier, in Archie’s mind. From the danger that was the outside world.

The Promise hospitals were busy. The security force was busy. The whole administration was busy. The Promise was a beehive of activity. Their world had changed when they were brought aboard The Promise, and in the wake of the carnage and destruction their world was going to change again.