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They did what they could in the face of despair. 

Fable was not deterred when the giant didn’t bleed. If his weapon could cut its flesh, then he could decapitate it. He pressed his sword into the Diver's neck and surged forward. Each time he circled its neck the blade would cut deeper.

Mika did as she was instructed, and her second fist sunk inside the Diver’s flesh., though it was not easy to punch through. [color=tomato]”It’s like mo-lass-sees!"[/color] But while Mika struggled, Ashley drew closer with her glowing wand. 

The more experienced espers weren’t holding back. Sam made sure the area was locust free, allowing Jacqueline to fire a stream of stones. 

Mika drew back her fist as the melody landed. It made a crater, and the ensuing blast from Ashley’s wand made it bigger still. Surely Mika would be able to destroy the harp now. She plowed her fist into the creature’s flesh. Her fist struck the harp.

But it was too slow to do any damage. 

The harp remained in one piece, but Mika didn’t give into disappointment. [color=tomato]”I think I feel something!"[/color] While too hard to punch through, Mika could maneuver her fingers inside the creature’s flesh. She forced her hand open and was able to get her fingers around the harp. [color=tomato]”I got it! I got it!"[/color] But pulling the harp free would prove to be a challenge. She had planted her feet on the behemoth’s chest, but she was sinking into it faster than the harp was being removed. Ashley and Sam took hold of Mika’s waist to help pull her out. It had to help, but now all three of them were sinking into the Diver.

Finn was tired, but he made good progress. He needed to slow down a bit to balance on the Diver’s collar bones in total darkness. But racing around its shoulders and back were a simple matter. He just needed to lean towards the neck to ensure his footing. But as he maneuvered around the behemoth, he spotted a white shape in the darkness. A giant skull. That of some long dead animal.

[color=ee9B77]"Yee of little faith! Why doth thou try so hard?"[/color] Chernabog, or maybe Baphomet, floated behind Finn. [color=ee9B77]"If thou can not save thy sister, why not get thee gone? Why risk thy life in a plot thou can not change?"[/color] The skull pressed into the side of Finn’s face. [color=ee9B77]"Are thou…mad?"[/color] By this point, Finn had cut as deep as he could. The hilt of his blade was pressed up against the Diver’s neck. When Finn blinked a few times, the skull disappeared. He really was tired. 

Something tore out of the Diver’s back. A pair of butterfly wings with a fluorescent glow. Unlike the Diver themselves, the wings had every color one could think of. A rainbow of shades from tip to tip. The Diver was starting to float higher in the air. It was clear what was about to happen. 

The Diver was leaving, and it was taking the firstborns with him. 

[quote]
[i]"About midnight I will go throughout Egypt. Every firstborn son in Egypt will die, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sits on the throne, to the firstborn of the slave girl, who is at her hand mill, and all the firstborn of the cattle as well. There will be loud wailing throughout Egypt—worse than there has ever been or ever will be again."

— Exodus 11:4–6

[/i]
[/quote]

But off in the distance, Finn could make out a green-skinned person standing on a railing with a young woman. Or at least, he could hear them. It was still pretty dark.

[color=MediumAquamarine]”I thought you had a plan!”[/color] The zombie chuckled. [color=MediumAquamarine]”But that’s fine. I play a lot of board games so you know I have a strategic mind. Backup is probably going to arrive late so it’ll just be you and me.”[/color] Stacy turned to the Diver. [color=MediumAquamarine]”Here’s an idea, let's hit it as hard as we possibly can!”[/color]

Most espers had olympic level fitness, but many monsters possessed strength in another league entirely. When Stacy leaped off the balcony, most espers would assume she was a monster by her athletic ability alone. The metal handrail bent as Stacy propelled the duo through the air. They soared through the downpour of blood towards their target. Stacy pointed her feet towards the behemoth and landed square on the back of its head.

[i]CRACK[/i]

The diver’s head would normally be too strong to kick off, even with a monster delivering the blow. But Finn had cut deep into its flesh, and necks were hollow by their nature. The partially severed spine was the only thing that held it in place, and it gave out when Stacy landed her blow. The head rolled off of its shoulders. 

Below, Ashley and Sam were still pulling on Mika. The snapping of the Diver’s spine caused their eyes to look upwards. The Diver’s bioluminescent wings offered just enough light to make out the head. But it wasn’t possible to tell if the Diver had been killed or not. Its wings were still moving, it still floated higher into the air. The weak point had yet to be destroyed.

Agent Leroux wasn’t quite done yet either. With all the other agents tugging on Mika, she had finally scaled the giraffe to help them. But when the head came tumbling down, there was an opportunity. She held onto Mika with one hand, and swung her war pick at the Diver’s falling noggin. The intent was not to destroy it, but to imbed her weapon in its flesh. If the three of them couldn’t pull Mika free, maybe the weight of the Diver’s own head would be enough. 

The other agents caught on. Ashley and Sam held onto Jacqueline and Mika. They locked their arms and limbs around each other however they could. The problem with using such a massive object is that there was the chance they could be pulled off of Mika without pulling her free. And of course, none of this would matter if Mika’s hand slipped off the harp. But there would be no time to think of all the possibilities. Once the head fell and pulled everyone taught, it was over. The Diver’s chest detonated like a bomb. The espers could feel the strain on their bodies as their limbs were stretched as far as they could. But there was some relief when something gave inside the Diver’s bosom. And there, soaring through the air, held sternly in Mika’s paw, was the harp. Even with the blood and tar flying through the air, it shined in the dull neon glow of the Diver’s wings. 

But Mika wasn’t the only one holding onto it.

On the other side of the hand was a young woman, bald and wearing a straitjacket. She had a white knuckle grip on the harp and didn’t seem like she was going to let go. Mika’s pupils dilated when she realized how close they were to each other. She could understand the whole esper thing. Her mother had told her about it from time to time. But she was at a loss as to what to do here. They were all falling, and she had no idea if she could trust this new person or not. But did she even have a power that would work here? As intuitive as being an esper was, she drew a blank. The ground was coming at them faster and faster.

Then out of the darkness came a massive inflatable stunt bag, the kind that stunt men use when falling off of buildings. The more advanced ones are able to accommodate multiple stuntmen, and could reset themselves between individual impacts so that nobody “bounced” once they landed on them. It was softer than landing on the asphalt roof of the building, but the espers had the wind knocked out of them on impact.

Meanwhile up above, Finn, Marie, and Stacy stood on the Diver’s shoulder. [color=MediumAquamarine]”Looks like I killed it! Why didn’t you guys try hitting it in the head?”[/color] The trio lost their footing as soon as the Diver’s headless body crashed into the roof. Before it could do any real damage, the behemoth’s molasses-like body lost its shape and seeped off either side of the building. Even the wings were melting. The remaining espers (and monster?) fell onto the stunt bag along with the other Gemini espers.

Samuel, Jacqueline, Ashley, Finn, Marie, Stacy, Mika, and the woman in the straitjacket were all present. The latter of the bunch had fallen unconscious, but even in sleep retained their grip on the harp. Even with the Diver dead, the harp was in one piece. 

A ninth person slipped out of the darkness and landed before the group. Veronica stood before them with a tea cup in one hand and a platter in the other, but her smile was not present. 

[color=#bd71e8]”Kept you waiting, huh?”[/color] She folded her arms. [color=#bd71e8]”Seems our enemy was able to predict the Diver’s arrival. But you were able to complete the objective regardless.”[/color] Veronica looked over everyone present. [color=#bd71e8]”Where’s Breacher?”[/color]