[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/9zU3FKR.png[/img][/center] [sub][@Ponn][@Crusader Lord][@FamishedPants][@Izurich][@SilverPaw][@OwO][@mantou][@ERode][@Majoras End][/sub] The path ahead was dark, but short. Binky and Billy didn’t even have time to pass each other a menacing glance before the final door was upon them. This had to be where Justin was hiding. In addition to the hallway getting darker, the statues were getting more ornate and the armoires were becoming more numerous and larger. It was doubtful a man as vain as Justin would surround himself with anything but his finest treasures. They both shoulder tackled an ornate door, blowing it off its hinges. The splinters fell around their feet as they charged forwards. They weren’t waiting for a talk with this evening’s villain, they just wanted him eliminated so that they could continue But their opponent was not some anime villain waiting in the wings with a lengthy monologue. He was not sitting in his chair petting some exotic animal. He was not prepared to fight the heroes with a damsel locked in a tower behind him. He was escaping. Betty and Sofron were leaving the room through a portal the baleful esper had created, and Justin was following close behind. The only reason why he hadn’t left already was because he was dragging a dresser along with him. He was half way through the portal when he smiled back at them from behind the armoire he carried. [color=662d91]”Adieu, my friends.”[/color] [hr] Su was the first to take initiative, which surprised some of her own allies. Why she was so eager to shoot at the freelancers/Mavericks hadn’t been stated. But shoot first she did. The approach of a blood-soaked esper armed with a pistol and shield, gun raised and ready to fire, was enough to send the freelancers running for cover. Most sought cover behind the nearby armoires, but Klava attempted to run for a nearby statue so that she could engage the rest of GEMINI’s forces. Everyone was still winding up their melodies when Su started to shoot, and Luna hadn’t yet provided covering fire. Without any distractions, One of Su’d bullets managed to find purchase in Klava’s arm before she made her way to cover. By this point, melodies were starting to fly. Finn was able to tag Klava with a speedster melody. On the other side of the statue, Ashley was healing up Jacqueline, and Klava was making herself S L I C K. Wukong also dove for cover and summoned a wind elemental to protect her escape. It took Apollo a bit longer to fling his melody, as it was a powerful one. It was also possible some of his attention was divided between his spell and his rant, but no one knew but him. But the projectiles didn’t stop flying. Luna fired around cover, but only managed to hit Su’s shield. With Klava gone, there was little distracting her from blocking the shots. Silmeria was there to counter attack, and managed to fire off three rounds at Tetrad just as she was back behind cover. While Apollo had wanted to protect Luna from the incoming shots, he had prioritized lobbing a flash bang over the statues to cover Klava’s entrance. The first round penetrated cover and struck Luna’s arm. It pierced flesh, but Silmeria’s weapon did significantly less damage when it broke through cover. Moreover, it was hard to pick up Luna’s exact location being that she was far quieter than both Apollo and Su’s gunfire. When the second shot came, it struck “Restraining Order,” as Apollo had lobbed his flash bang at this point. Though blocking a bullet with a staff weapon was rough, at least the way Apollo was going about it. Leverage was against him, as the distance between his hands wasn’t nearly as great as the distance between his hand and the end of his mancatcher, which was where the bullet struck. The bullet shoved the head of the mancatcher into Luna’s ribcage, causing hairline fractures. His weapon would have done less damage if it was arcane, but it at least dispersed the force and kept Silmeria’s bullet out of her chest cavity. Before the third bullet could strike, Luna had fallen onto her back, in pain but still able to move. Apollo still ranted at those around them about their situation. Elsewhere, the flash bang had gone off, and Klava was poised to strike. The good thing about having a one-handed weapon was that if someone shot one of your arms, you still had a backup. Lilliah had moved out of Klava’s intended flight path, but her elemental rushed up to her to attack, only to get sliced through by her dagger. Weak summons like that were really better as distractions than anything else, and couldn’t be expected to do much on their own. Jaquiline had managed to avoid looking at the flash directly, as she had looked over her shoulder at Ashley when she healed her. But now Klava was rushing at her full speed, and she had no interest in slowing down. While Klava did have a huge speed advantage over Jacqueline, it was rather elementary to simply move her weapon in front of her leg just as Klava slashed. But this did not set her up very well for counter attacking on the same side. Klava would slide on by before she could get Havoc around Klava’s small knife. The frozen ninja slid towards Ashley and Silmeria. What happened next was in their hands. [hr] [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/rGLuY96.png[/img] [img]https://i.imgur.com/UIqPsWe.png[/img] [color=PeachPuff]“We share this one."[/color] [color=75c159]”Okay~<3”[/color] [color=888888]— Luna Gallo & Su Fang[/color][/center] The closest people to Apollo’s position were probably the people he was mostly trying to yell at. Luna was laying on her back, looking up at the faceless monk that saved her from critical injury, if not death. And just on the other side of the dresser was a blood soaked Su who had her gun pointed at him. He did a lot of yelling, guessing his position wasn’t difficult. But she didn’t fire. Jacqueline’s voice could be heard behind Su’s head, and it seemed to make her relax a bit. [color=PeachPuff]“Apollo, right?"[/color] She cocked her arm and pointed her gun at the ceiling. A default stance for when you didn’t want to shoot anything. [color=PeachPuff]“Why you here? Get money? Save Betty? Maybe both?"[/color] She stepped in front of the statue, but not so far that she would be able to fire behind Apollo’s cover. [color=PeachPuff]“Maybe we team up in three weeks. Maybe you stay with terrorist. Maybe you shoot me again even on same side. I not know these things. I know today you with terrorists. Maverick not like us much. Mavrick do bad things in the past. Feed monsters, orphan little girl, bad things. Maybe you not know about them?"[/color] Luna groaned. [color=75c159]”Implying the government stooges are any better.”[/color] Her words were half said in a grunt as she stood upright. But she went ignored by Su, either because she didn’t hear her, or chose not to react. [color=PeachPuff]“Maybe you putting on show. Maybe not. You not sound like show."[/color] Even if her gun wasn’t pointed at anyone, it was clear she wasn’t going to holster it quite yet. [color=PeachPuff]“Who esper who go through wall? We not encounter anything like that."[/color] [color=CCBFFF]”Klava!”[/color] Kristina, that girl Klava “dated,” charged into the room. She had a rocket launcher resting on her shoulder when she burst onto the scene. [color=CCBFFF]”I’m here to save youuuuuuuuu!”[/color] She was closely followed by Protector and a [url=https://i.pinimg.com/564x/09/e2/30/09e230c71a7df016453a64c57dc1d939.jpg]jester[/url] wearing extendable claws on her wrists. [color=#db79ee]“We gunna tussle or what?”[/color] Su lowered her pistol to aim at the Jester, but Luna spoke up. [color=75c159]”Hold up, Apollo’s got a point.”[/color] She looked around. [color=75c159]”That ghost could be anywhere. Did you guys see it?”[/color] A shape emerged from the statue of Justin. Gunther’s head turned to look at the bickering espers as if the statue’s body was his own. [b]”Are you talking about li’l old me?[/b] [color=CCBFFF]”Gah!”[/color] Kristina fired a rocket at Gunther, but all her rocket managed was to blow the statue into chunks. Su was only able to just manage getting her shield up, but the hail of debris couldn’t be totally mitigated by her shield. Stones rained down on her head, and the blast from the rocket was enough to throw her onto her back. Her ballistic jacket kept her torso safe, but her right shoulder was filled with stone shrapnel, and one of her horns had broken off. Gunther looked at all the surrounding debris. The dressers, and everything else in the room that wasn’t nailed down. Perfect. [b]”Hey kids? Let’s try this one more time!”[/b] Five white flames flew into the room, followed by thirty-one more. They flew into the couches, tables, dressers, suits of armor, the gargoyle statues in the corners of the room, and the rubble that Justin’s statue had been turned into.. The furniture closest to Gunther was orbiting him like a planet while everything else came under attack from his spectral magic. Silmeria, Luna, Finn, and Lilliah were all in separate corners of the room, but all came under attack from suits of armor. The rest had to contend with flying furniture, and the lights were starting to go out. The tables dumped their lanterns onto the ground, and the flames within were extinguished. Only the chandelier provided any light, and it looked like Gunther’s spetures were about to smash it into a wall. [b]”Do you feel that? Do you see that?[/b] Gunther inquired as he soared over everyone’s head. [b]”Every one of those souls hates you! They cry out for nothing more than your elimination! I wonder how your allies will react when they join them.”[/b] [hider=Su] [center]32 | Female | Gemini | Steel Gaze Bipartisan | Handgun, Greatshield | Physical | Bullet Window Dragon Breacher | Kevlar Vest Debris | Wind | Locally Sourced [Storm, Flight], Push, Pull, Construct, Purify, Restrain, Damage DAMAGE: D | SPEED: E | SENTINEL: C | 500 [Bronze nothin’] = 0 PHYSICAL: D | ARCANE: D | CHAOS: C | 144[/center] [/hider] [hider=Luna] [center] 21 | Female | Maverick | Fortune Pit Boss | Staff | Arcane | High Roller Croupier | Graceful Gambit | Gravity | Draw 4 [Weightless, Suspend], Stabilize, Damage, Push, Transplace, Extend, Heal, Zone, If: Friend, Else DAMAGE: E | SPEED: C | SENTINEL: D | 750 [Silver zilch ] PHYSICAL: E | ARCANE: C | CHAOS: D | 56 [/center] [/hider] [hr] [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4Pzx1NDTtI][img]https://i.imgur.com/OYSa6cT.png[/img][/url] [sub][@The World][/sub] Stacy did not struggle too much when Marrie grabbed her and jumped through the portal. When they came out back in the sewer, it was all pretty much the way Marrie remembered it being. The only change being that Pac-A-Fist was now wearing a headset, and seemed to have grown accustomed to the smell. She wasn’t even trying to cover her nose. [color=orange]”Guys? I really think you need to focus up and-”[/color] She turned to look at Marrie. [color=orange]”Never mind! Looks like someone already found it!”[/color] [color=magenta]”The hell?”[/color] Regina roared over Pac-A-Fist’s headphones. [color=orange]”Gah!”[/color] She cast her headset off as Regina’s shouts continued to pour out of them. [color=magenta]”This sucks! How didn’t we get to it first? I didn’t even get a chance to cook a snake!”[/color] [color=c9272c]”Stop screaming!”[/color] Elroy barked equally loud. [color=c9272c]”We’re getting a text!”[/color] Sure enough, they were getting a text. Marrie had decided to put up the coin and even her part of the reward to recover Stacy’s head [color=c9272c]”Is she there, Trisha?”[/color] Elroy sighed. [color=c9272c]”Look, Highway to hell is dangerous, and-”[/color] Regina cackled like an imp. [color=magenta]”Fuck YES! The Ruinous Meteor is gunna pave the SHIT outa Highway to Hell!”[/color] [color=c9272c]”Regina![/color] [color=magenta]”Champagne supernova!”[/color] The headset crackled with white noise. Pac folded her arms. [color=orange]”I was kind of hoping to end their squabbling, but if it’s for a fellow, um, esper? I don’t mind sticking around a bit longer. I just hope they’re okay.”[/color] From there, it was a waiting game. Pac and Marrie didn’t have a whole lot to talk about, and Stacy wasn’t in a position to ask any questions, or even be aware of her surroundings. She was reaching out with her index finger to rub the concrete floor around her, but otherwise didn’t move a whole lot. But they would not have to wait long for something to happen. The coin shook and leapt out of Marrie’s hand, where it turned into a blazing portal. The first person through was a middle aged butler, followed by a girl in a black japanese school uniform. They tumbled across the catwalk and nearly fell into the sewer water, but the school girl was able to use her massive sword to stop them from sliding. The last one through was a blond aristocrat, clutching a large dresser as he flew out of the portal. The portal closed into a puff of smoke, denying anyone else entry. The aristocrat looked to be in good shape, but the dresser had taken quite a beating. [color=662d91]”And, Sofron.”[/color] The blond man turned to look at the butler. [color=662d91]”That is why you don’t prepare a monologue for people like that. Binky knows she can’t dawdle, so she’ll attack on sight regardless.”[/color] [color=0099a6]””Of course, master Carnage."[/color] Sofron bowed. Pac-A-Fist backed up against the wall. [color=orange]”You’re Justin!”[/color] [color=662d91]”Brilliant detective work, Pac-A-Fist.”[/color] He waved a hand towards her. [color=662d91]”Betty, how about you make sure she cooperates with us?”[/color] Pac-A-Fist was fumbling with her phone when Betty pointed her sword at her chin. [color=ade81b]”Don’t even think about it!“[/color] [color=662d91]”She won’t.”[/color] Justin opened his [url=https://i.imgur.com/DVn5PGe.jpg]eyes[/url] while looking at Pac-A-Fist.Though when the lids of his eyes were up, there was nothing there. Just two empty cavities with something glowing like embers at the back of his skull. Blood dripped out of his empty sockets and ran down the corner of his lips. It didn’t seem to bother him, but Pac-A-Fist was visibly struggling to move. Sofron was able to remove her phone and spin her around, at which point Betty was able to keep her at sword point. They were getting ready to depart when Justen spoke up. [color=662d91]”Were you the one who collected the coin?”[/color] He closed his eyes before turning to Marrie. There wasn’t a single drop of blood on his face, almost like his horrific visage was a dream. [color=662d91]”I must apologize. There's no coin to hand to the collector. Your task will remain incomplete. But I do have some good news.”[/color] He kneeled so that he was at Marrie’s level. [color=662d91]”I was the coin collector, and you did well to protect it as long as you did. Maybe you’d be interested in serving me?”[/color]