[h2][color=00aeef][b]Marrie Knight[/b][/color]
VS
[b][color=6ecff6]Klava[/color][/b] 
[/h2]


As Marrie brought herself back to full height, coughing a few times as she did, she turned to keep track of Klava, just in time to hear the sound of Sofron being freed. Shit, she was fast. With Raven's support, she hoped that the fight would end soon.

[color=00aeef]"Just to watch out. That guy's got a tommygun for an Instrument, and his Melodies can weaken yours if he hits you with one. Maybe the bullets too. He also likes fire and explosive Melodies."[/color] She shrugged her shoulders a few times, trying to loosen some of the tension that was filling her body, and cracked her neck in both directions.

[color=00aeef]"Claims to be immortal, dunno if that's real or if he just is good at healing. He might be out of mana, and I'm down to try whatever plan you can think of if you want to lead, but if not, I think we can win if you can keep his shots off me and not get shot yourself."[/color]

A short pause. [color=00aeef]"What's your element? Mine's wind, if that helps."[/color]

[color=4682b4]"I… Am wind as well."[/color] Raven huffed, speaking quietly now. After waiting a moment, she could hear murmurs from inside the hall. [color=4682b4]"Guess they’re strategizing too. If he’s out of mana, his melodies shouldn’t be a problem. How about this, I’ll go in first, then you can follow in behind me. I might not have a shield, but I can shoot him before he shoots me. Then when the ice queen comes in, I’ll get behind you and assist as best I can. Sounds good?"[/color]

Marrie nodded. [color=00aeef]"Yeah. Here’s hoping Maiden can’t give him mana back."[/color] With that said, Marrie prepared her Instrument and stood aside, ready to follow through with Raven’s plan.

Raven quite literally, flew into the hallway. Sofron had his tommy raised, but so was Raven’s pistol. He started to spray the hallway with bullets, but they all passed under Raven as she fired back at him. She scored a hit on his shoulder, his chest, but all it did was got him to stumble backwards. He hadn’t looked nearly as fearful or bothered as when his head had been nearly cut off. She then flew back out of the hallway with Sofron shooting after her. 

[color=4682b4]"Okay, yea, he’s pretty durable."[/color] Raven looked to her shoulder and noticed she was bleeding. [color=4682b4]"Just a flesh wound, but it looks like Klava’s hiding behind him, so we need a way to deal with him first."[/color]

Marrie paused for just a moment in thought. [color=00aeef]"If you have to spare mana, a Storm Melody could let one of us get close. Otherwise, our best bet might be to disarm him, somehow. I’m… pretty low on mana right now, but I could probably get a good hit in if…"[/color]

[color=00aeef][i]I could probably get it done, but I’d be out for a while…[/i][/color] A glance at Raven. [color=00aeef][i]If Maiden is full up, that’d be a tough fight…[/i][/color]

[color=00aeef]"If you’ve got the ability to hit his arm, wrist, [i]whatever[/i] to get him to drop his Instrument, preferably with a Homing Melody so it hits where we want, and something to make it stay that way for a bit, I could rush before he can retrieve it. Then you’d have to keep him playing hot-potato with it while I fight Maiden."[/color]

Wait… Didn’t espers detransform when they dropped their Instrument? [color=00aeef]"If he doesn’t get it soon enough, you might be able to put him out of the fight from a distance. Otherwise we might be playing hide and seek for a bit. Was there anyone else still standing besides those two?"[/color] 

[color=4682b4]"Disarm huh?"[/color] Raven lifted her plasma katana. [color=4682b4]"Yea, I think I can do that. I don’t have very strong melodies, so I wouldn’t expect my wind to be able to keep him at bay for long, but how about this?"[/color] She touched Marrie, and the wind around her started to pick up. [color=4682b4]"It won’t keep you safe if you charge him, but it’ll stop a stray bullet from hitting you."[/color] With a sigh, she looked back to the doorway. [color=4682b4]"Alright, let’s do this!"[/color] 

Raven entered the hallway again and looked in their opponent’s direction. [color=4682b4]"Well that kinda sucks."[/color] A massive ice block slid down the hall after Raven, forcing her to retreat further down. With the doorway clear, Klava launched herself back into the room feet first. She struck Marrie’s weapons before rebounding and landing a short distance away. 

[b][color=6ecff6]"What are you guys doing? Gossiping about boys or something?"[/color][/b]


[color=00aeef]"In a sense!"[/color] The ice implied that there wasn’t any further fodder in the area, so Marrie decided to focus on Maiden while she had the chance. Although… With the Storm only having a few seconds left, Marrie rushed towards Klava, aiming to feint a stab but actually slash across her arm. She could only hope that Raven could deal with Sofron for a little while. 

With a somewhat frightening thought in mind, she jumped backwards instantly after attempting her attack, allowing her Instrument’s chain to extend to a few feet but keeping her hand on the hilt. Even without much mana, she [i]should[/i] have a slight advantage in the fight, so long as Klava didn’t do what she was afraid of. She banished the thought from her mind in case there were any mind-readers hiding in the area. 

The best thing she could do right now was wait and draw out the fight, she decided. Any attempts to end it early would likely be fatal to [i]someone[/i], and a great way to run out of mana if there was need for more later. That decision led her to turn her Instrument around again, fins forwards, and take a defensive stance.

But all while Marrie went about performing her incredible display of feints, changes of mind, banishing her thoughts from anyone who might be looking, Klava was just standing there. 

[b][color=6ecff6]"Is that what you’re going with? Just making sure."[/color][/b]

Klava stabbed the ground with her katana, and ice ripped along its surface. Both she, the floor, and Marrie were starting to look a bit frosty. But neither of them were frozen solid, rather, everything just felt kind of slick. The floor beneath Marrie’s feet felt like it was covered in soap.

Then Klava slingshotted away, one of her belts had wrapped around a nearby pillar and pulled her away. She surfed along the wall, her additional belts helped her ignore gravity. As she slid over the doorway, she tossed a few frozen icicles at Marrie. She even pulled out a tungsten rod, nearly identical to Marrie’s, and hurled that at her as well. With that done, she slid down the wall and came flying at Marrie. 

Up until now, Klava had always used a dagger. And while that was still the case, her knife’s edge rapidly froze over, getting longer and longer. Soon Klava was not rushing towards Marrie with a dagger, but with a full sized katana. One made out of ice that shined like glorious Nippon steel. 

Marrie may not have followed through enough to connect, but she was glad she hadn’t now. With the slippery floor, it was all she could do to dodge or deflect the icicles flying at her. Which is why, when she saw the metal rod coming at her, she grabbed it with her left hand. Unfortunately, this threw off her balance and she had to use it to catch herself on the floor, but the impact cracked enough of the ice to use it as a very small cane and push herself back up to full height. 

Holding the rod out in front of her like a second knife, she wore the tiniest of smiles. [color=00aeef]"You know, two fliers with a dagger? Seems I’ve lost my niche."[/color] Despite the confident words, Marrie only stood still, both her Instrument and the tungsten rod held like swords in a defensive stance. Her feet were almost stable, but her back foot moved slightly in preparation for Klava’s incoming attack.

[b][color=6ecff6]"It’s kay, we can fix that easily enough."[/color][/b]

And then in a puff of snow, Klava appeared on the other side of the tungsten rod. One of her belts wrapped around Marrie’s leg as she skidded away. She fell onto her back as the ice maiden curled around again. Between the melody she cast earlier and her velocity, Marrie didn’t have much recourse but to slide after her. At least she wasn’t going to get rug burn on the smooth floor. 

She skated up to a wall, at which point she released Marrie on her way up it. The ice maiden backflipped off the wall, souring over Marrie, and bringing down her sword to split the girl in two. All while Marrie slid towards a metal wall at breakneck speed. 

Marrie kept her left hand tightly on the tungsten rod even as she slid around by her leg. Her Instrument’s chain extended to its full length in the hopes of catching onto [i]something[/i] to slow or stop her movement, but to no avail. Instead she found herself looking upwards at Maiden while rocketing forward. With the ice-blade coming towards her, she cast a Melody to try to survive, desperately trying to throw her instinctual Note choice out the window. 

{Intangible - Bronze Self - Shield} -80

She watched as Klava’s sword bisected her now-ghostly body, returning to corporeality just as the blade left the area of her head, and just in time to slam into the wall feet-first with her Shield Note active. A nice bonus was Fenrir’s chain managing to catch on Maiden’s Instrument as it trailed in the air behind her before smacking Marrie in the head right as she turned back to face her opponent. Unfortunately the tungsten rod of Klava’s [i]also[/i] smacked her right in the forehead after being freed from Marrie’s grip by her intangibility. 

[color=00aeef]"Geez…"[/color] Marrie said as she both picked up the metal rod with one hand and whipped her chain around with the other, trying to throw Klava’s landing off-balance. [color=00aeef]"If you’re that upset about it, there are easier ways to fix it."[/color] Her body was still bent halfway over in a crouch as the last word left her mouth. With one foot against the wall like a sprinter’s starting block, she could feel the adrenaline pumping through her from her latest near-death experience.

[b][color=6ecff6]"I’d rather you just get out of here. Maybe jump out a window or…"[/color][/b]

Sofron fired his machine gun. The ice block that Klava had used to get Raven out of the way was being pushed back. Once it slid past the door, Raven was briefly visible, pushing the ice block back down the hall. 

[b][color=6ecff6]"Huh."[/color][/b] 

With a wave of her hand, an ice wall appeared before Klava in the space between her and Marrie. Then with a kick, it began to fall towards the misty esper. All while Klava rushed off to help Sofron make his daring escape. 

[color=00aeef]"Great idea."[/color] Marrie took the slightest moment to appreciate that the instinctual Melody she had thrown out would have been perfect, possibly better than what she had actually done. [color=00aeef]"I’ll do just that."[/color] She cast a Melody through her planted foot.

{Bronze Touch - Portal} -32

Luckily, the oldest portal was the entry-point, causing Marrie to fall through the other portal and out next to the window in the hallway, coming out behind Sofron. It was too soon to use another Melody, but she took advantage of the momentum from passing through and rushed over to him regardless, her semi-physical feet stepping as softly as she could to not alert him. Upon reaching Sofron she wrapped her left arm (still holding the tungsten rod that Klava had gifted her) over his shoulder to place the rod under his shooting hand and stabbed her Instrument into his wrist to try to sever the muscles that led to his trigger finger. 

[color=00aeef]"Hi again~"[/color] Sofron had to be able to feel it when she twisted Fenrir counter-clockwise inside his wrist, trying to pry apart the scaphoid and radius bones if not cut the whole hand off. [color=00aeef]"I don’t really appreciate you shooting at my allies."[/color]

It was true. Pain or not, if he didn’t have the muscle fibers in his tendons attached, he probably couldn’t fire his weapon. [color=0099a6]"How did you-"[/color] Was all he could grunt out. He released the handle on the Thompson and attempted to shove it into Marrie’s ribs, but it was somewhat awkward with her being positioned behind her. With a groan, he dropped the gun. Though it seemed that Marrie’s initial theory that the gun was his instrument was not the case. Even as the seconds ticked by, he did not untransform. [color=0099a6]"It doesn’t matter, anyway."[/color] He managed to groan out with Marrie having a choke hold on him. He was able to use his only free hand to give himself the ability to speak. [color=0099a6]"Ice Maiden is going to kill that agent, then she’s going to come here for you."[/color] He coughed. [color=0099a6]"And you don’t have what it takes to kill me."[/color]

The ice block filled the hallway, and while there were a lot of bullet holes in it, none of them went through to the other side. Meanwhile, the sound of Klava and Raven engaged in combat could be heard from the other side. 

[color=00aeef]"You’re probably right."[/color] Marrie didn’t let up, but did shift her Instrument’s location to just inside his thigh, then adjusted her balance to begin slowly dragging him towards the portal. [color=00aeef]"But there are better options than that."[/color] 

When she finally reached it, she turned herself and Sofron around towards it. She cast a Melody to tie his good hand to his body, then began the arduous task of angling herself and her captive in such a way that she could get them both through it and onto the floor of the other room without falling back through it.

{Gold Touch - Restrain} - 64

[color=0099a6]"Hmph."[/color] Sofron looked at the confrontation between Finn and Ashley. [color=0099a6]"Ah, that boy is full of surprises."[/color] He smiled. [color=0099a6]"I’d have never suspected him to fight so hard."[/color] With a groan, he rolled over onto his side. [color=0099a6]"I suppose I’ll just lay here while you do whatever it is you’re doing."[/color] He laid back on the floor. [color=0099a6]"I do not understand the young in this day and age. Not. One. Bit."[/color]

[color=00aeef]"That’s fine. We probably couldn’t really understand you either. But we'll have plenty of time to change that, [i]later.[/i]"[/color] Having said what she felt she should, Marrie took stock of the situation. The two girls who had to be twins were… fighting? Hard to tell, one was handcuffed. As much as Marrie wanted to help Orion with the mess she was dealing with, she knew that Maiden was just as important, if not more. 

And so with a deep breath in and an equal exhale, she steeled herself and ran towards Raven and Klava’s battle.

Marrie hadn’t exactly been tardy in Sofron’s capture. It sounded like the fighting had gotten a lot more intense after she pulled out of the hallway. But when Marrie peered into the hallway, there they were. One of Raven’s arms (still holding a pistol) had been frozen to one of the walls, and Raven was doing her best to defend herself with an energy katana. She was also on her back on top of a frozen puddle, with Klava strafing side to side, waiting for an opening to deliver the final blow. She appeared to be perfectly calm, like she was waiting for the dry cleaners to finish one of her outfits. 

And she adjusted her grip on her knife, preparing to strike. 

[color=00aeef][i]Shit, really!?[/i][/color] At least Raven was still alive; Marrie had lost a limb in the past, this should be fine. As long as… The blue-haired esper stopped in place, raised her Instrument to point towards Klava in an attempt to draw her attention, and cast a Melody targeted at Raven. 

{Bronze Projectile - Quicken - Homing - Blink} - 84

Around half a second later, when the projectile hit, she was crouched in between Raven and Maiden, ready to try to block the incoming attack. [color=00aeef][i]That’s not good…[/i][/color] She’d wanted to Transplace, but with so little mana she didn’t have any other choice but to Blink instead.

But Klava was a good distance away now. In fact, she was standing by the door where Marrie had come in. The fragments of an icy string glistened before evaporating away. There must have been a trap in the doorway to teleport Klava to its location when Marrie came through. 

[b][color=6ecff6]"I’m not really in the business of dragging things out."[/color][/b]

She extended her arm, and an ice block formed in front of her. One that filled the hallway and had rows and rows of spikes facing Marrie and Raven. But weren’t they a bit too blunted to look like traditional spikes? Either way, touching them would not be good. With a kick, Klava sent the ice block careening towards the two espers. The back of the hallway was still blocked off by Klava’s first ice block, which made getting smashed a very real possibility. 

Speaking of smashing, seeing that Klava was no longer where she just was, she turned and, gripping her Instrument sideways to not cut or stab her, smashed the ice holding Raven to the floor. She hadn’t intended to smack her with Fenrir, but in her panic she put too much force into it. 

[color=00aeef]"I [i]really[/i] hope you have some sort of flamethrower or a lot of mana left! But if not…"[/color] Marrie glanced behind herself at the other ice block, then back towards the incoming one before turning on her heels and rushing to get Raven’s severed arm and gun free. It took her a second or two, but soon she had the arm in the crook of her elbow and the pistol in hand. With a quick shot at the highest of the spikes, she shouted to Raven, [color=00aeef]"If you don’t, then can you buy me, like, eight seconds!?"[/color]

[color=4682b4]"Sure, I can try!"[/color]

Raven growled and stabbed her energy sword into the ground. It held fast, and seemed to be securely inside the concrete floor. She couldn’t remove her hand from the sword as the ice block neared or risk detransforming. But when the ice block slammed into the sword, it stopped dead in its tracks.

Then the ice block lurched forward again, but stopped.

And again, and stopped. 

And again.

Raven lowered her voice. [color=4682b4]"She’s out of mana."[/color] Raven sighed. [color=4682b4]"She’s trying to kick it into us. She has a pushing melody that would be much better to use right now"[/color] The woman stopped to think for a moment. [color=4682b4]"Do you have enough mana to do anything? I’m not completely empty, but I don’t think I can push this hard enough to catch her unaware."[/color]

[color=00aeef]"I have one option, but it’ll only work if you don’t need what little you have left. If I can borrow a little, I can get us out and hopefully take her down before she realizes we’re not here."[/color]

[color=4682b4]"Borrow my mana?"[/color] Raven lifted an eyebrow. [color=4682b4]"I mean you can, but how are you- Ow!"[/color] She pulled back her arm, then gripped her sword again. [color=4682b4]"I only have one of those left! Be gentle!"[/color] 

She’d tried to be as gentle as she could with the chain, but desperation made her hit Raven a little harder than that. [color=00aeef]"Sorry, but now…"[/color] Marrie knelt down next to Raven to touch the ground next to her sword, and cast a Melody. She’d have to time it right, but…

{Bronze Touch - Portal} - 32

As soon as the two espers fell through the portal, Marrie grabbed Raven and pulled her to the side so she wouldn’t fall back inside the one next to Sofron. With her out of the way, the blue-haired esper put Raven’s other arm and pistol on the ground next to her. 

[color=00aeef]"If you can keep this guy here from finding some way to break free, I’d appreciate it."[/color] As she said ‘this guy’ she poked Sofron with the tip of her foot. [color=00aeef]"I think this means we’re all out."[/color]

Without her sword, Raven pretty much needed that pistol to stay transformed. So she was quick to pick it up again. Then she turned and aimed it at Sofron. [color=0099a6]"Do I look like I’m going anywhere?"[/color] He said with no shortage of annoyance. 

Marrie stopped for a second as she had an idea. She gave Raven a thumbs up and slowly began towards the hallway.

As Marrie approached the hallway, she’d notice that the sound of Klava kicking the ice block had stopped. In fact, she couldn’t hear much of anything but a slow walking pace. It was hard to judge the distance, but they couldn’t have been too far away from the door. Klava started to whistle as she approached. 

[color=00aeef][i]Shit. There’s no way she thinks we’re dead… Which means I’ve got one shot at this.[/i][/color] Well, only two options were there, and one wasn’t great. So Marrie reached into her Style once more for her pistol, this time grabbing a magazine instead of a single bullet and loading it in. Not trusting herself to try something new, she stabilized her gun on the side of her Instrument like she’d practiced, and rushed into the hallway to crouch down and aim towards the whistling.

She really hoped that Klava hadn’t picked up the tommygun…

Of course she hadn’t, [s]she was too stylish for that[/s] but that didn’t stop one of her belts from coiling around Marrie’s legs and tripping her up. She fell onto her back, but her composure remained unbroken. The professional dragged her target closer and spun her dagger in her hand. Marrie had just a moment to line up a shot, but how would the pacifist choose to aim in such a decisive moment?

[color=00aeef]"Gotcha."[/color] Marrie spoke through gritted teeth. Her finger pulled the trigger right as the barrel pointed towards Klava’s suprasternal notch. She couldn’t fully stabilize herself with her being dragged along the floor, but if the bullet hit anywhere in that general area it’d give her the chance to force everyone who’d been fighting to survive, whether they wanted to or not. And if it didn’t, at least she still had her Instrument in hand as well.

The bullet ripped through Klava, close enough to where Marrie wanted it to go. Her blood spurted out of her back, but the professional killer didn’t cease her momentum. Her dagger’s frigid edge extended while she thrust and pierced just a few inches above her heart. Klava pursed her lips as she gave the knife a twist, at which point the ice knife broke in half as she partially collapsed over. If Marrie had the medical knowledge, she might assume that the knife had severed her pulmonary vein and cut into her lung, which would give her a heart attack in a few minutes if not seconds. If she didn’t, she would at least know that her lungs were filling up with blood, given that every time she coughed, it sprayed all over Klava’s face. Neither one of them would last long like this, yet the first to transform would be at a disadvantage, possibly. 

[color=00aeef][i]Fuck![/i][/color] No time to think. Marrie thrust her blade forward, as much as she could with the pain she was in, and prepared to cast the one Melody she could. Fenrir found itself in Klava’s wrist, just enough to attempt to get her to drop her knife. But she was too stubborn, and perhaps with death looming her aim was off. That’s when Marrie dropped her grip on her own Instrument, letting it dangle a few inches on the chain as it stayed stuck in Klava’s wrist, then pressed her other hand against Klava’s gunshot wound, still holding her pistol. Klava’s other hand reached to grab her wrist, but both of their strength was starting to fade.

{Bronze Touch - Stabilize} - 0

She couldn’t assume that Maiden wasn’t stupid enough to not detransform, so she had no choice but to use it on her instead. The entire time from dropping Fenrir, its chain was extending to allow her hand that had been holding it to begin ripping away anything that might be Maiden’s Instrument from her and throwing it aside. She only had a few seconds, but she’d gotten every bit of clothing that seemed likely. With a bloody cough, her last ditch effort was to kick away Maiden’s knife and force her onto her back before leaving her esper form. 

As soon as she could breathe again, Marrie shoved Klava, and she rolled onto her back. Then she stood up, grabbed her Instrument’s non-magical form, and took a few steps back, keeping her pistol at the ready just in case. But Klava was out cold. Weakened or dying targets usually fell unconscious when touched by a stabilizing melody. 

One of the Miko twins leaned into the hallway to see what was going on. Her eyes wandered from the wounded but unconscious woman on the floor to Marrie. [color=e4255e]"Do you need any help?"[/color]

Marrie’s head whipped around towards the voice just barely faster than the rest of her body, but the speed she was moving at made her fall over onto her side, gun pointed straight up into the air. Somewhat embarrassed but more concerned at the potential danger, her neck craned to look at the speaker only to fall back to the floor after seeing who it was. 

She groaned, but did respond.[color=00aeef]"Pllllllllleeeeeeeeeeaaaaaasssse."[/color] With the adrenaline slowly leaving her body and her fear that transforming would kill her, she was barely able to keep focused on anything. [color=00aeef]"Both of us took a probably fatal hit, if you can help me make sure she makes it out of this, and hopefully stops being an esper too, that’d be great."[/color] Marrie sat up and carefully removed the magazine from her pistol, making sure not to point it anywhere but towards the ceiling to not accidentally shoot someone. She’d wait to empty the chamber until she was completely sure the fighting was over.

[color=00aeef]"I don’t think I can turn back into my esper form anytime soon, so I really hope whatever was going on in there is done."[/color]

[color=e4255e]"I’d say it’s starting to wind down."[/color] She kneeled down beside Klava. [color=e4255e]"It looks like you stabilized her. If I remove her instrument from her hand, she could transform back and wake up. I can heal her a bit so her condition isn’t so grave, and then we can remove her instrument when it’s time for her to wake up."[/color]  And she did just that. In a wave of light, the girl’s wound was partially healed. [color=e4255e]"It’s dangerous to move around like that. Why don’t you wait until we’re all ready to extract? Then we can guard you while we move down the hall."[/color] With all the portaling Marrie did, they didn’t have a clear path out to where Boteg was. There was a hole in the far wall they could all use to escape and not risk running back into the building. [color=e4255e]"Oh! Do you have a connection to anyone from Maverick Alternative? There’s no need for them to act as a distraction anymore, so you can tell them to back out."[/color] Fritzi would also need to be notified, but that was Ashley’s responsibility.

[color=00aeef]"I’ll trust your experience."[/color] In all the commotion, Marrie hadn’t checked the cameras in a while. She grabbed the older phone she’d been using to watch them and set it on the ground, then pulled out her personal phone. A few buttons later and she’d sent a message to all the Mavericks she had the contact info for. 

[color=00aeef]‘Upstairs is about done, feel free to pull the distraction back out.’[/color] Honestly, she wasn’t sure if they’d want to do that, or if they would check their phones, but hopefully all of them beeping at once would help if they did want to leave. But just to be safe, she called Stacy directly to give her the news as she switched the camera view to downstairs.