[center][h1][color=orangered]Gathering[/color][color=firebrick] Storm[/color][/h1][/center]

[color=orangered]"That went rather better than expected."[/color] The Greater Clara said.

[color=firebrick]"Did... did it now?"[/color] The lesser clara said, sinking to her knees... or what she had as knees anyway after the tension had dissipated. 

Even to her, that had felt like a dangerous gamble. What if Diana had asked for her to die? Or to bring Cel back from the dead? No matter what, she thought that the price to acquire Diana would've been high, but 'anything'? Suddenly a chill ran up her spine as a new thought crossed her mind.

[color=firebrick]"Wait... you didn't... you couldn't have calculated that outcome, could you?"[/color] She asked.

[color=orangered]"Of course not. But... didn't that approach remind you of a certain someone?"[/color] Clara replied.

[color=firebrick]"Mephisto...?"[/color] The lesser clara whispered.

That's right, this was the favored tactic of Mephisto, their 'father'. To those working under him, he would offer not just anything in his power to give, but everything in the world there was to take. They had witnessed it many times, but the request he grants... and the extent to which he grants it, they had never seen.

[color=orangered]"It was a trial of sorts..."[/color] Clara said. [color=orangered]"The method... I suppose. And the character of Diana, but that was of a secondary concern."[/color]

[color=orangered]"We need her. We need everyone."[/color] She sighed. She set her sights on the building of St. Lucifer's. Their long-time base of operations. She had said to the young man, Ward, that she hadn't cared about their location at all really. Was this a change? [color=orangered]"We need everything we can get our hands on to weather the coming storm."[/color]