A Grimm Beginning

@americanvalor_: @ada_guillaume: @hawkshade:

"You don't come out clean, that's the point, Brian," Ada finally broke their telepathic conversation. Whitaker had no idea about the thoughts they shared with one another, but even he felt like he was listening in to the middle of an argument. Michael turned his head over to Brian wondering if he was wrong to trust Brian again. Turning his head back to the woman who held Grimm City hostage, "What's your relationship with this woman Brian?"

"You could kill me, right here, Right now, and you will still gain nothing. You will spend your time trying to pin it on me, a person you killed. But at the end of the day, when the dust settles. You will still be the villain here." Ada was staring back at Whitaker. Her cold eyes piercing his mask. "You will still be the villain here.""Was she wrong?" Brian was possibly trying to save Grimm, but did that make him a hero? Was Michael supposed to forget about his obsession with his belief that Brian killed Danny? Or did him saving the city make up for the fact he probably murdered their former colleague?

"They will investigate, they will find out what I already know. They will come and you will be crucified. Your city will still hate you, and your claims about me in death will lose credibility."

What did she know? What did Whitaker not know? Was he slacking on investigating Brian? Did he miss something? Was she playing with Whitaker? Thoughts poured into the Former Detective's mind and it was beginning to be all he thought about, beginning to lose himself in thought after thought.

"You, you're not the person this city needs. You.Are.Weak. Nothing but a boy pretending to be a man. A body of emotions" and that's what made this woman unique, her emotions or lack thereof. She was stone in a city on fire. Whitaker could be calm in a storm, agents of the FORCE had their own way dealing with fire. Some fought fire with fire chaos with chaos, Whitaker chose to try dealing with it at a calm level minded head, but not today. This woman of stone emotions were shattering Whitaker's and as her cold heart eroded Whitaker's fortress-like mind, she shined. It was as if she thrived on a city full of fire, full of chaos. Brian, on the other hand, was the brightest flame in the city. He was beginning to lose himself in all of it.

"You will not do what's right, then I have to do it for you!" Then silence once again surrounded Whitaker, after something was fired in his general direction. Michael had seen from the corner of his eye, Brian's weapon beginning to shift towards him, and then the jerking of it, but he wasn't able to get fully out of the way.

Whitaker fell to his back, his head hitting the pavement, stunned after what just happened. Muffled yelling trying to break through his hearing sense but to no prevail. Whitaker's eyes were wide as he tried to gather himself, instinctively he tried to retaliate at whatever hit him. He tried to pull out both handguns under his trenchcoat, but only able to put one of them in his right hand. He lifted his head to see if his handgun was missing, but it wasn't. It was exactly where the seeker of justice believed it to be, but the missing part in the equation was him. A part of him. His left arm wasn't where he believed it to be, it was nowhere in his line of vision.

He looked over at his left shoulder trying to trace the missing limb, but there wasn't much to follow. The shot fired from the "God Mode" had partially hit him. Whitaker couldn't believe it, he was beginning to go into shock over the whole thing.

He leaned his head back facing up at the dark sky, trembling began to engulf his body, and his breathing was picking up in speed just like his heart's pulse. He was fading. The city's sky was beginning to blur. Whitaker wasn't sure if he was going to die here on the pavement of Dominus Internationale. He tried to look up with all his might to see if Brian was going to stop Ada, but his body was heavy.

"Is it time for me to join you big guy?" Whitaker chuckled thinking about Donut Danny and the possibility that this was gonna be his end. Michael's hand released his handgun, letting it fall to his side.

@xxbelladonnaxx: @rosso:

"What the flippin-"

Dog erupted in a coughing fit as the fire extinguisher's noxious chemicals spewed all about the room like air from a metallic balloon. His healing ability greatly slowed lactic acid buildup, so the chances of his suffering cardiac failure before the the extinguisher exhausted its contents was fairly minimal.

It was still irritating as hell, though.

He waved an arm in front of his face repeatedly, attempting to clear himself some breathable air, as his deprived lungs worked to violently expel the powder. Glaring at the aperture from which the improvised projectile had originated, he took in the new arrival. Huh. Dog was starting to wonder if he was ever going to have an encounter with a redhead that didn't go violently. Must just be his type.

"Gonna guess you ain't Brian, either," he growled, punctuating his sentences with dusty coughs. "Might not be enough to save ya, though, after that stunt. Spill, now. What's yer deal?"

@grimmwald:

There was a chaos in the 'hospital tent' that Ashley and her team created. Patient’s were non-stop rolling. Some escaping the city in ruins by swimming through the bay since the bridge was out. Others were patient’s who lived through the collapsing of the bridge. People were coming for exhaustion, dehydration, bleeding, had multiple closed and open fractures and some with hypothermia. Some of the people who managed to survive the swim across had sustained blunt like trauma, gunshot wounds and lacerations. But through it all, the Knightfall Saint remained calm. She thrived in this environment.

It was through the chaos that word was brought over that a crimson masked individual was bringing patients to the medical tents. One of the nurses described it as “appearing out of the shadows”. Kellan, he was here too. Did that mean Richard and the rest of the team was there too? But then, she saw him, handing over a couple of more people to another one of her nurses.

She made her way over to him, dressed in blue scrubs (now with stains of who knows what) with her white coat on, the sleeves rolled up to her elbows (that also had stains of who knows what). Her hair tied up in a messy, held up with a pen. “Red.” She spoke up, careful not to give away his identity around the crowd of people. “Come.” She motioned to him to follow, as the two would walk into her ‘office’. It was just a tent that was disconnected from the other tents. It was open, and people were seen passing by, but not nearly as much traffic as inside the tents. Had a desk, a laptop and a pot of coffee in the corner with supplies scattered about. “Thank you for bringing the civilians. But I need your help.” There was a sense of urgency in her voice, worry in her eyes. “I have someone in the city, she goes by Honor Girl. She’s been gathering civilians, taking them to a warehouse by the docks. I’ve been trying to get the police force, someone, anyone, to go out there with a boat and retrieve them, but they refuse, stating it's too dangerous. I’m trying to get a boat out there myself, but no one is willing to drive it out there. I know she has at least thirty citizens. Is there any way you can help bring them over?”

@ashley_knightfall: @clara_mass

Arms folded over his chest, dermal senses reaching out to pluck the vibrations they found rippling through the night air - Kellan felt the vital organs of the wounded. Felt them struggling to keep bodies working, people breathing. "No rescue helicopters or government intervention", he paused, turning round to meet eyes with Ashley, "I can't even imagine how many people would be dead by now had you not come here to set up these tents". Every instance the red in his eyes met the blue of Ashley's, the Horned Saint saw it. The inherent goodness in her heart. The hero's willfulness. It was what he lacked. Ashley was a savior, a healer, a protector. Kellan dealt justice. He was an avenger. A judge. She embodied the kind spirit, the nurturing side of a hero, the side that protected the innocent. And he embodied the dealer of justice, the side that punished evil.

The side he never wanted to be. But was. Catching the urgency in his girlfriend's eyes and voice, Kellan unfolded his arms and stepped forward, "Don't thank me. If anyone's to be thanking anyone, it should be the city mayor, the government thanking you for doing all this shit", he paused, arms gesturing at the tent they stood in. "And you're doing it for free. I've said it before Ashley, you're a good woman. Anyway, I'll find your friend and the civilians she's protecting. Don't worry about the boat. You have me", was all he said before striding out the tent, into the night air - into a shadow. Climbing out the shadow of a building near the docks, Kellan caught the moon's lurid glow glimmering on the dark water. Breathing in, he plucked his right glove from his hand and let the cool air's vibrations bounce off against his bare skin till his dermal senses could pinpoint the one thing he searched for; the vibrations of breathing lungs rippling from inside a warehouse.

He searched and searched until he'd crawled out a shadow inside the warehouse. "Honor Girl", his voice called out, deep and cool as he dropped down from a steel beam near the ceiling. Landing on the ground with nay a thud, Kellan swept his eyes across the warehouse, pulling all thirty civilians into his gaze before locking eyes with Honor Girl. Her eyes are like Ashley's, he thought. "Your friend Dr. Knightfall told me you needed help transporting these wounded civilians to the medical tents outside the city. I can help", he assured, "We need to be quick. All of you, come together and hold hands", he paused, walking towards the nearest shadow. "And then one of you hold hers", Kellan added, eyes shifting back to Honor Girl before he breathed deep. He'd never had to transport these many people before. The strain it'd force upon his body wasn't one he was yet familiar with. "Grab a hold of my arm", Kellan implored, his eyes on Honor Girl.

The Horned Saint'd wait to feel Honor Girl's hand on his arm, shut his eyes, breath in and out - and sink into the pit of a shadow, dragging all civilians with him as they soared through darkness until they'd left the warehouse. It was sudden. In a heartbeat, Kellan'd returned to the tents with all from the warehouse. Chest heaving and his brow scowling as he took a knee on the grass, Kellan clutched his chest, panting, struggling to gather his bearings. Too many people... I'm drained. I have one more shadow jump in me. "Take... take them to the nurses... to Ashley", he implored, his words chopped by his short breaths, his eyes soon breaking from Honor Girl's as he stared at a blade of grass. Glancing at the nearest shadow, Kellan latched onto it - and vanished. He'd returned to the city. To where his dermal senses had sensed the hum of a sudden surge of telekinetic energy just before he'd left the warehouse.

Stumbling out a shadow in a dreary alleyway, Kellan's red eyes lifted to meet the lilac gaze of a woman crackling with energy. With power. "You're a meta...", he barely managed, still clutching his chest, still drained. "You've got a lot of power. A lot of energy. Put it to good use. Help me help this city", he paused, gathering his breath, "Unless you've come to funk it up". In which case, I'm fine with going out fighting for it, he thought.

@ashley_knightfall@grimmwald

The Past Reflected

Her bloodline was cursed by the gods for an oath broken by betrayal. She was born in spite of them and for that she cried every night in the light of the moon. As the last daughter of Olympus, she was destined for despair. For every blessing there was loss and for every loss there was grief. She would live her youth in fear of every tomorrow.

Little did she know that she possessed power like no one before her. She withheld the cunning integrity of any queen and the supremacy of any king. Centuries ago, when her bloodline was cursed the Gods above never suspected they had cursing themselves all along. For one she realized the goddess was always within, she ascended the throne of Mount Olympus with a certain win, but that was decades ago.

Clarice Michelle the Queen of Olympus was never one to trust anyone other than herself. The days of listening to the whims of men were long over. There was no Michael cracking an obscene amount of jokes. There wasn't an impervious Impero discarding her like garbage. All she needed were her boys, Sean and Lionel. They were her only saving grace. The way their laughter echoed throughout her castle made her believe in paradise. For once she could smile and not smirk. And for some time she even danced across the halls and she would such harmonious enchantments to the glee of her babies. Her people prospered from peace, but even peace has its price.

"Oh Clarice Michelle, how you disappoint me with your silly magic spells"the woman's voice was hoarse as she spoke. Her approach was condescending a she peered down while talking to the Queen in front of her people. "With so much potential to exist beyond this plane and you settle for parlor tricks? " Despite creating incantation spells meant to conceal Mount Olympus inside a pocket dimension, this towering figure alongside her mindless devout penetrated the seal and entered Mount Olympus as a show of greater power. It was an overwhelming experience for the Olympian demigoddess. Her kingdom was laid under siege without warning in a matter of minutes. The bio-technological advances of this woman's so called Heavenly Warriors far exceeded the weapons of Hephaestus by centuries if not eons.

"My name is Mother Science and I'm here here to tell you what your Queen hasn't." With each arm extended outwards, Clarice Michelle clutched the palms of her sons while this woman lambasted her during their annual independence day. "Your universe is dying! It is being eaten away by the greater evil and your Queen hides from this truth like a toddler with a tiara." For a moment the Queen snickered at her proclamation. "What is so funny? I don't believe your insolence is funny at all. You're a god like no other and you've yet to put any of that godlike power to good use. For yourself or your people. I come before you not asking but rather demanding that you help me..."

The Present Foretold

"...help this city." He paused, gathering his breath, "Unless you've come to funk it up." Clarice Michelle looked behind those his reddened eyes and could hear his mind thinking thoughts about fighting her. At first she laughed, because she was beginning to wonder about how many strangers she would let speak out of turn before she crushed their throats with the crackling metaphysical energies that surrounded her being. Unlike the universals gods Mother Science, Observer and Y-Intercept...this man was a mortal dressed like the devil from Catholic faith. She had no reason to fear him. She had no reason to even head his call. She could tell he was neither the king nor leader of this city. Otherwise, he would have been fighting Ada Guillaume. Instead, he was playing search and rescue while greater actions were at play.

In a soft voice that she didn't know she had, Clarice Michelle reassured her new acquaintance. "I'm not here for a fight."

Without hesitation she approached him whilst flicking specks of metaphysical energies from her fingertips onto his face. "I'm here to make a difference." Clarice Michelle understood she arrived too late to stop Ada from acting on behalf for the why behind it all, but there was still a chance for another tomorrow. If that were to happen she knew she'd need the company of selfless heroics. So, she gestured her hands in a circular motion and attempted to heal the strained teleporter with an elixir spell. In the distance, she could feel psionic energies exploding as the hollow puppet left her stage. In her wake she left a man desperate for answers, one on the brink of an anxiety attack and another just moments from fading into the valley of the dead.

"Tell me, can you help me do that?" Shortly thereafter, Clarice Michelle positioned both of her index fingers and thumbs into a diamond shape. With enough concentrated effort she pulled them apart like she yanking at the strings of this reality. Her metaphysical energies crackled like fireworks and from the sparks materialized two doorways through reality. One previewed Ashley Knightfall and Brian Newcastle together bonding over a wounded Whitaker's rehabilitation. The other showed Alpha Dog murdering the likes of Hawkshade and the remaining Grimm City survivors.

"I can offer you the choice, hero. With my power I can handle the remaining villains on the field as long as you help me help Brian Newcastle. He's the key to this city's future. I've seen it, but I have to warn you. If you help him it'll threaten whatever love story destiny has in your cards. Deny him and the blood of those innocent survivors will be on your conscious. Not mine." Was it vindictive of her? It most certainly was, but it was the only way she knew how to test the metal of his worth, because if he did teleport Ashley Knightfall onto the field to give medical attention to the bleeding Detective Whitaker than Clarice Michelle would know what heroes to surround herself with the next time she decided to cross paths with the likes of Ada Guillaume.

@alpha_dog: @xxbelladonnaxx:

A series of audible bumps and physiological revulsion told Rosso her attack had achieved at least partial success, but the chemical itself prevented her from making out any details. But it sounded like neither was particularly worse for wear, aside from mild embarrassment for Belle and pure annoyance from Dog.

By the time the chemical cloud cleared Valentina may have been in a worse position than where she started. Perhaps it'd been a mistake. She'd just barely missed being impaled, the plant woman vanished and because of the cloud she'd have a harder time tracking her, and on top of that she now stood facing down an angry dog. In perfect health she may have been able to hold him, outwit and outmaneuver him. Maybe. Still under the effects of Belle's toxin? Not a chance.

Thankfully, somehow it seemed he was inviting pacification. An opportunity the Criminal Isle exile would not waste.

"That woman. She's important to me. I need a little personal time, but I need to get close without becoming on the wrong end of her twisted food chain. They call you the Dog, right? If you help me track her, I can pay you and lead you to Brian. Won't take long. Just a little girl talk that might go smoother with a little muscle behind it."

@ashley_knightfall: @clara_mass:

In the black heart of an alleyway, Kellan panted, one knee on the dirt, chest heaving, and his breath lost to him. While the city burned and pillars of smoke climbed high into the night sky, his body was drained and aching. Red eyes lifted to those of the woman before him, his ears caught her words, and his mind sighed in relief. He wouldn't have to fight her. She'd come to lend a hand. And lend a hand she did. He felt her energies seep into his pores and as he blinked, he was revitalized. One hand closed into a fist, as if testing his own strength, the Horned Saint rose to his feet with a roll of the neck and shoulders. But as he stood, the wind howled as energies beyond the grasp of man swirled around the woman like a vortex until reality tore two holes in the air. At the sight of the first, of Ashley with another man, his brow scowled and his heart sank as if stabbed by a knife and left to bleed out.

But as his eyes peered into the second to meet the sight of Alpha Dog's dagger-like claws tearing away at Richard's flesh until his brother was nothing but blood and gore... Kellan's face went pale with horror. Eyes shut and his nerves steeled, the Horned Saint stood in silence, calmed his heart, cleared his mind - and made his choice.

"It'll threaten whatever love story destiny has in your cards"

Eyes opening as his ears caught the woman's words, Kellan faced the woman before him, and locked eyes with hers. "Yeah. Doubt it", he answered. He trusted Ashley. She was good and kind and pure... she would never hurt him so, never be unfaithful... or would she? "Look", he smiled, cold and sharp like a steel blade, "I trust her. More than I do what I see in some magic mirror. I'm secure in what she and I have", he said, folding his arms over his chest, eyes never breaking from the woman's. "But if she's going to be unfaithful, if she's going to cheat or leave me", he paused, realizing then how much it hurt him to utter those words, "Then it's best I know now than later. Because if it's not this Brian Newcastle, it'll be someone else. So if she's going to hurt me, there's nothing I can do about it. I can't control her. I came into this world on my own, and I've been ready to go out of it on my own", he said, his tone more fatalistic than usual.

Mind pulling back to thoughts of Alpha Dog painting the streets with uneven strokes of Richard's blood, and those of the city's people in despair, Kellan held the woman's gaze and remembered. Remembered why he'd risked death by defecting from the Strigidae. To help and save and protect and avenge. To be a hero. And it was why he was so drawn to Ashley. She was everything he yearned to be. She was the ideal he looked to with wonderment, the moral redemption he sought. "I'll help Brian Newcastle". If teleporting Ashley to the field of battle was necessary for the good of the city and Richard's survival, he'd do so.

The False Flag (Cathedral)

"What? You mean Adaline actually made it out alive? Huzzah! today is a grand day for a celebration!" Jameela's display of fabricated jubilation left her henchmen dumbfounded.

"That means, she can still die by my hand. And by my hand, she will!" The Young Brit continued, this time her voice far more menacing. Despite their allegiance to the Order, Jameela hated Ada and often found herself tossing shade on the much older French woman.

Jealousy, it became a reoccurring theme in their rivalry; Jameela felt that Ada purposely tried to outperform her, something that became evident in the rearranging of their positions. Jameela used to be the first one in, use some sort of event to distract the populace--something as small as a charity concert to something massive like an assassination; afterward, Ada would be called in to reduce the population.

Now they were working backward, Ada reduced Grimm's population and even went as far as to try and pin it on Brian Newcastle--Something Jameela would've done.

"Ms.Sircar, Weston wants a status report..." One of her guards reported, before turning on the projector casting her bosses face all over the wall.

"Mr. Weston, tis always a pleasure to see you." She immediately began to pander, despite the usual stern nature he seemed to be in good spirits which were rare.

"We have infiltrated Grimm City but the fighting continues to my knowledge. Ada failed to frame Brian for the events, but she has succeeded in reducing the population handsomely. I will have to wait until the entire thing dies down to provide numbers. Damage to infrastructure is minimal."

She reported, but his eyes told a different story.

"How do you plan on getting Dominus International on board with the Order?" He asked smoke billowing from his mouth the result of his cigar.

"I-uh-um...what?" She stuttered, unsure as to why she was supposed to be doing that.

"Ada framing Newcastle was perfect, it allowed me to see I need a financial footprint in Grimm City. You get him on board or replace him with someone who is."

"Oh...I see..." she responded sheepishly. "I will have a full-fledged plan for you by tomorrow. What will become of Ada?"

"Ada is on her way to Georgia. Something in the city of Atlanta...has my attention."

Weston's face disappeared, leaving Jameela seething. She hated Ada, and should the opportunity come to where she could kill The Poetic Assassin she'd take it.

But for now, she needed to call her father. This seemed like a matter the rich had to discuss.

“Doctor Knightfall!” A voice cried out as the Knightfall Saint’s head shifted to see Nicole (still dressed as Honor Girl) rushing into the tents. An almost sigh of relief could be seen from the seasoned physician but at the same time she took note of the urgency in her CVnU versions self voice.

“They’re here?” She asked as Honor Girl nodded her head, motioning her hand outside the tents.

“Nurses get outside and start triaging the people outside! We got a couple of heroes who managed to bring these people over from the city!” Dr. Knightfall spoke out as several nurses began rushing outside, bringing the people into the tents to be properly threaded.

Several of the new patients had different needs. Dehydration, exhaustion, fatigue, chest pain, shortness of breath, dizziness, lacerations, broken bones even bullet wounds that were wrapped up with whatever they could find in the warzone. But there was one person she hasn’t seen yet. Where was Kellan? All the patients were now inside and the nurses were busy. Did he leave?

She quicken the pace of her walk as she made it outside to see him standing there. With another woman that… looked awfully familiar. But at the moment she didn’t care, she walked up to Kellan with a relief of a smile, wrapped hands behind his neck and pulled him for a deep kiss. He had just saved dozens of people and made it back in one piece. How was she so lucky to be with a selfless man like him?

She pulled away, a smile still on her face as she realized the woman was still there. “I’m sorry my name is-“ she paused in mid sentence as she realized who she was. “Ms. Mass?” It was the ex-president! Ex-President Clara Mass! Her eyes looked over at Kellan and then at Ms. Mass. A dozen questions filling her head in that moment.

@clara_mass: @ashley_knightfall: @detective_whitaker: @hawkshade

In the time a heart took to beat against a chest, the Horned Saint and mysterious redhead had vanished - leaving behind the dark of an alleyway for a sea of tents. And though his ears caught the wails and groans of the wounded and the dying, Kellan's eyes swept through the frantic nurses to lock with Ashley's. Her blue eyes glimmered like sapphires under the pale moonlight. Matching her smile with his own, Kellan stepped forward, the grass crunching under his strides until her arms wrapped round his neck, and his round her waist. If it wasn't clear then that the redhead's cosmic mirror was more test than truth, more illusion than reality - it was clear now. He felt the warmth of Ashley's breath, glimpsed the shadows dancing over her face, and met her lips in a kiss that left their chests heaving without breath.

And there was a surging tide in his veins. Of desire, but of something deeper still. Of admiration and of passion for the woman who lived and breathed as the ideal of goodness. The woman who inspired his more dangerous and predatory side to give way to the goodness fighting for prominence in his heart and mind. The woman who was the moral redemption he dreamed of. Pulling away from the soft graze of her rosy lips, Kellan met eyes with his girlfriend and smiled. "I'm happy to see you again too", he smiled, small but warm, and genuine. With a hand on the side of her face and his thumb stroking her cheek, Kellan drew her eyes in. It was strange, he didn't think his touch could be gentle or loving. He'd been a warrior all his life, and his hands better fit to break bones than caress faces. Yet it all melted away at Ashley's gaze. "I care about you a lot". Though as his voice echoed warm just above a whisper, his ears soon caught the frenzied sounds that rushed all about them.

Stepping back, Kellan's eyes followed Ashley's to the redhead, "Ms. Mass?", he parroted, curious, not yet familiar with world politics. He'd spent much of his life living like a Spartan. That this woman was known by the world, was lost to him. "She's offered to help with the city. To deal with the remaining villains burning the buildings down. Deal with them, but don't kill them. And we'll do our part", he paused, eyes returned to Ashley's. "There's someone who needs your help. He needs on-field treatment before he can be taken here. I have to take you to him, otherwise he'll die", he warned before gesturing for a nurse to retrieve a medical kit. Handing it to Ashley, the Horned Saint cast his gaze skywards and caught the grey fingers of smoke blotting out the moon. "We'll need to be quick. We get in, he gets on-field treatment, then we bring him back here. Let's go".

Wrapping an arm round Ashley's waist and holding her close, Kellan sank back into the nearest shadow and weaved a path in a world of shadows and no light before easing into Dominus International. To where his eyes caught Brian Newcastle, a dying man and... Richard?"Hawk", the Horned Saint called out, his deep voice the calm to Richard's storm. "What happ-", he paused, his dermal senses tingling, warning him about the weak vibrations from the man losing consciousness on the cold pavement. "Ashley, babe, go, go. He needs you. We need to get him out of here quick or else he'll die. I can feel them, the vibrations.. his organs'll shut down soon". Unwrapping his his arm from his girlfriend's waist, Kellan turned to first lock eyes with Brian - then Richard. "What happened? Who did this?", he asked, "You should come with us to the tents, Hawk".

"To tell us what happened here". Eyes returned to the man whose chest heaved weaker and weaker, Kellan'd watch as Ashley - ever the good doctor - saved a life before pulling back into the nearest shadow and dragging them back to the medical tents, lest Richard stay behind for a bout of unfinished business.

@detective_whitaker: @grimmwald:@hawkshade@americanvalor_

There was absolutely no time to waste. She grasped the kit that the nurse handed her and began to pat herself down to make sure she had appropriate items to perform battlefield medicine on her unknown patient. “Understood.” she replied to her teammate and love. The Knightfall Saint may not have known what kind of a mess she was about to be taken into, but she was confidence in her skills and knew she was going to be able to do whatever needed to be done to save this individual. The couple vanished from Ashley’s medical camp and instantly appeared to an entirely different location.

The all too familiar stink of iron filled her nose as her eyes quickly began scanning the area. Only to catch a glimpse of… “Brain?” she whispered, so softly, inaudible in the chaos around them. The sight of her CVnU version of her deceased husband, it caused her to pause in what she was doing as her eyes lingered on him for just a half second longer than normal. She could feel her heart palpitate just a little faster, for just a moment. The last time she saw him, he was at the Catholicon as a patient. It was… so hard at that time. It’s still hard even now. To see the version of a man she once loved what felt like an entire lifetime ago. It was an entire lifetime ago. Was he the one injured? No… he was fine. But then Kellan’s voice brought her back to reality, her cobalt eyes blinked as her attention quickly shift to see a man laying on the ground in his own pool of crimson iron.

She rushed off, no hesitation as the seasons physician shift her mentality almost effortlessly. She didn’t have time for her petty feelings right now. A man was about to die if she didn’t focus. She knelt down to the ground next to him. “Sir?” She called out to her patient, snapping on a pair of gloves as she scanned him. He was pale, taking shallow breaths, cold to the touch, trembling and his left arm, from above the elbow and down, was missing. He was bleeding out. He wasn’t reacting to her, even as she sternal rubbed his chest. This wasn’t good. She quickly opened up her kit with one hand as the other placed the stethoscope in her ears. She listened to his heart and lungs. His heart should have been beating fast and strong, but it was faint. His breaths were short and shallow. He had lost way too much blood and his body was beyond shock.

But she had to get him as stable as she could before getting him back to the tents. Leaving her stethoscope hanging around her neck she began to tourniquet what was left of his left upper extremity. Cutting off blood vessels as they almost instantly began to slow in bleeding, but still oozing. She pulled out her RPG (Rapid Polymer Generation or Rapid Plugging Gel for more simpler terms) and began to inject along the open wound. “Anyone see his arm?” She called out to no one in particular. There was a chance she might be able to reattach it, a slim chance, but it was still there. The bleeding stopped once the RPG was applied to the wound as she let out a sigh of relief, but he wasn’t saved yet, he had lost a lot of blood, his body was still in shock. With one hand she began feeling his upper chest as the other hand began pulled out a small syringe of adrenaline, unable to give pain medication because of the faint beating of his heart. he slammed the needle in the right side of his chest and injected the medication directly into the heart, quickly removing. It wasn't enough to wake him up, just enough to get his heart pumping stronger and to stimulate his lungs as well. She then pulled out a can of oxygen, placed the mask over the man’s face and turned it on, instantly giving him some much needed oxygen to the body. But he needed blood more than anything and she needed to perform surgery on him, now. “Kellan, we need to leave, now.” she emphasized on the last word.

She felt his hand upon her as once more their surroundings shifted and the two were now inside the tents. Several nurses gasped at the sight as they began to quickly rush to get what they assumed would be needed. “I need surgery to be ready and I need blood, lots of blood. We got a young man, left arm is amputated by unknown forces on the battlefield. He’s lost a lot of blood. Type and screen him but for right now get me some O blood, we can deal with rejection if it happens. Let’s go!”

A group of nurses picked up her patient up from the ground, placed him in a gurney and rolled him off to surgery. Ashley looked over to Kellan, her coat and scrubs covered in blood from the patient as she gave him a reassuring smile. “I need to go. You do what you need to do, I’ll be here when you’re done.” With that she rushed off to surgery. She needed to save this man's life.

@detective_whitaker: @ashley_knightfall:@americanvalor_@hawkshade

Blood. The air was thick with it's irony scent. And it was as familiar as the sight of a dying man drowning in a puddle of his own blood. "Hawk", Kellan said, eyes locked with his brother's while Ashley did as all good doctors did - save lives. "Do what you have to", he paused, scarlet eyes dropping to glimpse at any cuts and bruises on Richard's flesh, "But come see the team after. We'll need to make sure nothing like this happens ever again".

"Anyone see his arm?"

Catching the echo of his girlfriend's voice, the Horned Saint swept his eyes through the scene until the sight of a severed arm pulled into his gaze. "Yeah", he answered, plucking it from the ground, and feeling the cold kiss of it's flesh even through his gloved fingertips. Yet there was no horror in his eyes. The sickening crunch of bone, the piercing screams of the tortured, the anguished wails of the dying - were as familiar to the Horned Saint as breathing. He'd seen worse. He was raised to. With a turn of the heel, his soundless strides carried him to Ashley's side, watching her with pride and warmth in his eyes till her voice floated to his ear as clear as day. "Right", he rasped. An arm tucked round her waist, Kellan breathed in and pulled back into the shadows till only Richard and Brian stood in the night air.

Elsewhere, out the city's reach, Kellan, Ashley and her newest patient had arrived in the tents. "He's lost a lot of blood", Kellan said, meeting eyes with a green-eyed nurse to whom he'd handed the man's severed arm. "Help her reattach it, if possible", he said. Turning back to catch Ashley's smile, Kellan felt the ice in his veins melt away. "Ashley", he called out, grabbing her hand and matching her smile with his own. Drawing her into his arms, he said nothing more. One arm round her waist and his other hand on the back of her neck, he caught the deep blue of her eyes, felt her warm breath on his face, and her chest heaving against his. He kissed her, his lips grazing hers with a deep and slow tide of passion. Pulling away, he break their embrace and nodded ahead, "Good luck". Though as he watched her walk off with purpose in her strides, Kellan heard the whispers of his dermal senses.

The vibrations from her patient's organs and body. They were weak and bouncing off his skin as though the man's grip on life threatened to break. Arms folded over his chest, head low as his mind pulled into deep thought... he felt it. The rush of blood in the man's veins, the weak rise of his chest and slow stretch of his lungs... he needed to do something. To help. Somehow. Ashley had done much on her own this night. It was time he lend her his hand however possible. Trailing after Ashley, Kellan walked past rushing nurses and hobbling patients. Pulling the glove from his left hand, his bare skin better catching the vibrations from the man's body, the Horned Saint strode into surgery. "Ashley, I'm not a doctor, but I can help. I can feel the things going on inside his body. And I can tell you better than any machine", he said, his eyes and voice filled with a confidence colder than ice.

"You don't have to do this alone. I'll be by your side", he swore, eyes meeting his girlfriend's with the feelings he couldn't echo with words alone. "He's lost a lot of blood. And I can feel it... there's not a lot of blood heading to his brain. Blood his brain cells need for respiration. They're at a risk of dying and he's at a risk of a stroke". Stepping forward and lending what information about the man's body he could, Kellan stood by Ashley. Clara's prophecy rang with some truth. Ashley would bond with someone over the wounds of a patient. Only it wouldn't be nor was with Brian - but Kellan. "He mustn't die".

"You don't have to do this alone. I'll be by your side."

She paused for a moment, caught off guard. The last person who said that to her, was her husband. The Knightfall gave a small smile and nod her head, leading the way to the hopsital tent version of the operating room. It looked like a surgical room, and was still sterile, but obviously lacking things she had at the Catholicon or at any normal hospital. But she couldn't risk leaving here. There were still patient's that needed her help here too. She scrubbed in. With her mask already over her face, she was washing her hands in a routine like manner, as if she had done this a million times before as she went from her hands to her forearms, running them under the water as she dried off her hands with a sterile towel as she began to go through the motion of dawning her blue surgical gown and sterile gloves. She was meditating on what she was going to do. Several scenarios of what could happen. The percentage of being able to reattach the upper extremity was slim. Chances of him rejecting the blood while he was on the table was high. Chances of him having a stroke on the table was high. Chances of him falling into a coma after the surgery was a possibility. Chances of him having chronic phantom pain from his lost limb was a possibility. So many possibilities. But one she was sure of? Was that he was going to live.

She stood on the left side of the patient, where the wound was. The gel she applied before was already beginning to dissolve and oozing of blood could be seen. But first thing first, he needed oxygen. She intubated the patient, placing a sterile tube down through his mouth and into his lungs, allowing oxygen to flow throughout his body, nourishing his organs and with the fresh blood flowing through his body, it would carry the oxygen right up to his brain. Ok, one crisis averted. Onto the next thing. Her cobalt eyes were the only thing to be seen as the rest of her face was covered by the surgical mask. Her hands, ever so steady and precise, began to work on the arm. Cleaning it, tying vessels off for a moment as the nurses who were in the room with her brought the severed limb to her. She evaluated the limb that had been disinfected and clean via betadine. The browned arm (from the betadine) was held to his arm as she began to look at the vessels, nerves, tendons, ligaments and bone. She tried. She tried so hard to reattach it. Sweat could be seen accumulating along her brow. But she couldn't. The blood vessels she needed to reattach had retracted into the limb. The nerves were tattered, the bones shattered. Whatever caused the limb to be taken off, did so in a manner that it made it impossible to reattach. She cursed under her breath, frustrated. If she was in the Catholicon, she could have tried different things. But she was limited here and she couldn't leave. She couldn't risk it. Her eyes looked up at Kellan, defeat in her eyes as she shook her head and handed the arm to the nurse. She couldn't waste anymore time on the limb. She had to go and file down the bone and tie off vessels and try to close the massive gaping wound where his arm once was.

Kellan did help. Telling her when his blood pressure was dropping before the on staff anesthesiologist could. Telling her when the patient was beginning to stir before her staff could. Warning her of abnormal cardiac activity before she could see it on the monitors. It was amazing. She was impressed almost in awe of his power. He was trained to kill people using this ability, but now, he was helping her save a life. She was proud of him.

"Finished." She let out a heavy sigh. Cleaning off her work as she then took a step back. Looking at the staff in the room with her, you could see all their shoulders relax after being scrubbed in for hours, looking exaughisted just by the way they stood. She looked up at Kellan, smiling with her tired eyes as she stepped away from her patient. It was going to be a long road of recovery, but he was going to live. She began to take off her sterile gown, almost as if she was pulling off her own gear after a long battle like a soldier. Turning to Kellan, she walked him to him. Grasping his hand with her own as she stood on her toes to give him a kiss. "Thank you for your help." she smiled, only to give a deep yawn. She was beyond tired. When did she sleep? She missed her nap several hours ago. The Knightfall already didn't sleep much (taking thirty minute naps at a time) but now she missed several naps since the start of this war on Grimm. "I need some coffee." She didn't have time to sleep, she had more lives to save.

@grimmwald@detective_whitaker

@detective_whitaker: @ashley_knightfall:

Standing by Ashley's side, his scarlet eyes peering into the patient's body as the vibrations from working organs bounced off his face, Kellan's dermal senses zeroed in on the patient's blood flow and organs. Watching the flush of color return to the man's face, the Horned Saint stepped back as the nurses - with slumped shoulders and exhaustion in their eyes - breathed a sigh of relief. He'll live, Kellan thought, a wave of relief washing over his face. He'll have one less arm but he'll live, he thought, soon feeling the pull of Ashley's gaze on his face. Turning round to lock eyes with his girlfriend, the Horned Saint matched her smile with his own, and felt her toes step on his - and her lips draw his into a kiss. His hands cupped her face, one gloved and the other not, and his lips sank into the slow and languid flow of their kiss that made his bones feel as though they'd been surged through by a lightning bolt.

Breaking his lips from hers, Kellan caught her yawn and the words they echoed.

"Thank you for your help"

Mouth pulling back into a small and soft smile, the Horned Saint stroked her right cheek, his thumb sweeping just under the bag of her tired eye. "You don't have to thank me, Ashley. Just like you don't have to do things on your own anymore.. but I should probably follow that advice too", he chuckled, the laughter flowing low out his throat. "Give me a minute. Maybe two", he asked, stepping back till he sank into the nearest shadow and vanished. The nearest clock ticked and tocked, and Kellan climbed out the black pool of the tent's shadow with the smell of freshly ground coffee beans floating like a fragrance in the air. Walking into the tent with a coffee mug in one hand, Kellan met eyes with Ashley. "It's not Starbucks and I'm not an expert on coffee but", he smiled, "I know a place where they roast their own coffee. The beans taste fresher too", he said, handing her the mug.

"It was the place I was going to take you to coffee for", again he smiled, grabbing her by the hand and leading her out the tent. Glancing up at the night sky as his face caught the moon's lurid glow in a night so filled with dread and death, Kellan sighed. "We lead difficult lives. Helping the good and stopping the bad. You're the only doctor I know who'd treat anyone for free, much less these many people", he joked, his eyes returned to hers. "You don't sleep much. But neither do I", he paused. He and Richard had dedicated their lives to protecting and avenging the weak and the innocent. There was no rest because crime and evil never did. "I was always told that sleep was the cousin of death. I guess someone told you that too", he joked, his laugh held behind a small smile. "After things have settled down and we have time, we should go somewhere and just... take it easy. But".

"Only after we deal with Dog".

The Curtain Call

"I'm not her. I'm not Clara Mass." Clarice Michelle tried to reclude into her thoughts, shying away from the attention brought unto her by Ashley Knightfall's revelation. She was discomforted by their praise because she didn't deserve any of it. She wasn't their president. She wasn't their hero returned from the dead. She wasn't here to redeem herself before the gods above. She didn't want their absolution either. She didn't need it, but Clarice Michelle knew this was a means to an end. And for that, she smiled as any hero would and did as she promised. Helping Kellan help this city. "I'm no hero. I'm simply me."

Through her metaphysical connection to the strings of reality, she followed her chosen heroes unto the front steps of First A.I.D. Labs. It was a strange experience for the redheaded mystery. Her violet eyes lingered on the image of a mourning Brian Newcastle. He was a wounded hero disturbed by the consequences of his actions. He was mystified upon seeing their arrival, but Clarice was just as shocked as he was.

He was just an ant compared to the universal gods she'd come to fear, but his choices as small as they were had such power on the grader scale of things to come. Now imagine her excitement when his eyes fell upon Ashley. His anxious heart pattered, even more, when she teleported onto the scene. His soul knew they belonged together even if his mind was blind to the universal frequency.

"This world is so tense. Anyone got a laxative?" Clarice Michelle, on the other hand, found humor within the pain. Her tether to multiple realities allowed her the foresight of various possibilities. She warned Kellan about this because in most realities Brian and Ashley are meant to be. She warned him about the dangers of particular decisions and the fallout they could bring, but much to her confusion...the devil had faith in his love. Personally, she'd never known such devotion save for her children, but their defiance impressed her immensely and for that, she couldn't wait to see them again.

"I'm feeling like letting go of the bullsh!t." Until then, the alleged Clara Mass materialized herself within the medical division of Dominus International's First A.I.D. Labs. Without much concern for the games of Belladonna, Alpha Dog, and Rosso the Crimson; the powerful entity known as Clarice Michelle used every ounce of her being to release an incomparable amount of metaphysical energy from her core that would not only disintegrate whatever harmful toxins the botanical bombshell birthed from her plant-based powers, but bring the messy conflict to an abrupt end.

"So, I think you should all leave." Her violet eyes glimmered with a crackling crimson aura yet again as she commanded reality to open portals that would hopefully absorb Belladonna and Alpha Dog inside. If they teleported away, Clarice Michelle wouldn't have much concern for where they ended up. Instead, she would to Rosso the Crimson with a devilish smirk on display. "As for you, sweetheart. I think your job is over."

A Final Goodbye

So much has happened. Thousands are dead. Thousands are still suffering, but nothing has changed. For most, it's just another day for this country. Even with the Grid broadcasting the final moments of this catastrophe, the president is having his press secretary passively dismiss their pain. She stands before an assembly of journalists, very much aware of what's happening outside, but her stoneface doesn't crack.

These news outlets pretend to care, but where are they? Brian hasn't read a single think piece, but he's watched children protest their pleas for help. The morality of American leaders wasn't lost on him. Holographic glimpses of the world beyond the Honor Valley river flickered before his eyes as his connection to Grimm City's A.I. system began to shut down from Belladonna's plants shaking the foundation of First A.I.D. Labs.

"Please, Michael. I know I've said you're a pain in the ass, but..." He's been disorientated from the blast, the side of his head bleeding as he crawled to his former partner. Brian wasn't by any means okay, but the psionic blast wasn't designed to kill him. It was an evasive maneuver meant for Ada Guillaume's escape. If he could string his thoughts together, he might've screamed every obscenity he'd ever come to know, but he couldn't. Instead, he found himself sitting on the gravel before his company's estate and pulling Whitaker on his lap.

"You can't die on me...that's an order." Brian's hand tremored as he pulled off Michael's Enigma mask. He's known it was Michael since he arrived at his apartment last night, but to see his face for the first time in almost a year. Brian could see the consequences of his actions scarred on his old friend's face. He couldn't do anything for him. He tried to cup the wound, but that only left his forearm bloodied. "You can't die on me,"Brian continued to mutter to himself as he tried to telepathically mute Michael's pain receptors. He even tried to absorb his pain so that Michael could spend his final moments peacefully. Brian believed it was the least he could do. With blood on his hand, the Newcastle legacy started to hyperventilate from the distress on his heart.

"Brian?" His head swiveled as he looked up to see Ashley Knightfall. He couldn't comprehend her arrival. As she knelt down beside them, he was mystified by the way she took command of the worst kind of predicaments, but it all happened so fast. One minute she was asking for his arm. The next minute she was placing an oxygen mask over his face. As it all happened, Brian couldn't stop himself from feeling the violet eyes of the redheaded mystery looking upon him with a sense of whimsy. Who was she? He couldn't quite place her face, but she smirked at him like she'd known him well.

"Where is she? Where'd she go?" For some time there was a numbness to everything around him. So, when he finally came to...there was no one to answer. Ashley Knightfall had taken Michael somewhere else. The man she was with. The devil. Was he with her or was he waiting for him? Brian's head ached as he brought himself back onto his feet. "She's gone. Can't you see?" Brian answered Hawkshade, assuming he'd asked about Ashley. Even so, his answer still sufficed if it concerned Ada. She was gone. Couldn't he see? With the side of his face stained by Whitaker's blood, the bruised Newcastle legacy supported his fractured ribs with his right forearm as he hobbled past Hawkshade and walked into the shattered front entrance of First A.I.D. Labs.

Broken glass colored by his blood, a damaged van leaking gasoline and the barely breathing body of Alpha Dog's hostage set the scene before him. Even with Ada Guillaume gone, Brian knew the second night of hell was far from over. Alpha Dog and Belladonna were still inside his company's building. So, he pulled God Mode from its holster once more. His hand trembling at the thought of shooting someone else and he said a prayer to God. And she answered. Below his position, the prime universe goddess below used her reality-bending powers to end the chaos that befell Grimm City.

"Hahaha," He could feel the anxiety in his heart fade as his the grip on his gun loosened. "Hahaha!" He laughed as tears streamed down his face. He wasn't special by any means. He was a simple boy in the right places at the right times, but he projected such power. Brian demanded it so from the universe and because of that he knew his prayers would always be answered. And for that, the last King of Grimm knelt down beside the young woman clamoring for life. She reached out to him and in return, he clasped his palms around her hand.

"Everything's going to be alright."For the first time in the last 48 hours, his voice sounded hopeful. In his own way, Brian had finally come to know that his willpower alone had strengthened the people of Grimm City in the face of death. They didn't need the nation's president. They didn't need their weak city council. All they needed was him because together they'd show this country what it meant to have real American valor.

@laughlyn@jondoe14@americanvalor_

Tessa ran for her life. She could hear the cackles of the blonde behind her, but as soon as the tinny voice came over the school system talking about a bang and calling for the evacuation, Tessa knew she needed to pour on the speed. Suddenly her morning runs didn't seem like enough - her lungs were screaming, her muscles straining, and without the mask she'd previously been wearing over her mouth, she could catch the faint hint of gas lingering in the air. He was going to blow the school.

She poured on the speed, her chest heaving, and slipped on something on the floor as she took a corner. Her back and shoulder slammed against the hard tile of the high school's floor, and she groaned and rolled to her knees, before pushing down the pain and continuing on. Her joints screamed at her, her lungs burned, but she had to get to the pool, it was where all these innocent damn kids were.

She turned another corner, and another, and made her way through the circuitous and confusing floor plan of the school, always pushing herself faster and faster, ignoring any worries or concerns in the back of her mind. After a while she no longer heard footsteps echoing behind her. The psycho blonde had either given up or formed another plan.

The smell of gas started to diminish, and as she turned the final corner, she came face to face with the mountain of a man carrying a gas canister. Some dark instinct in her told her to kill him, but the cold and calculated snakelike portion of her brain knew that it would just be a timesuck. Saving was the first priority today, despite some of her baser instincts, and so she ran past him and threw open the door to the pool area.

It reeked of gas, and they were coughing. They would need ten minutes of exposure to it before permanent effects started kicking in, but she didn't trust anything anymore, and knew she needed to work quickly. She grabbed the can from the floor and threw it into the pool, preventing any further disbursement. They were panicked and this was going to be like herding cats, holy hell. This is why she gathered info and killed people on occasion. Saving civilians? Not her forte, not by a long shot.

She put two fingers between her lips and whistled, the shril sound piercing the air. Pairs of frightened eyes focused on her, and she let loose another piercing whistle to get the rest of everybody's attention. "I'm going to blow a hole in the wall and create a path for everybody to get outside, okay? But I need you all to stay as calm as you can until I do that." Once they had calmed, Tessa pulled some C4 from the pack on her waist, and got to work.

Five minutes later, and she held the detonator in her hand, and was ready to go. "We're going to walk into the locker room right over there and I'm going to detonate this." She didn't give them a chance to think or worry, just herded them in, held her breath, sent up a prayer, and detonated the charge. There was a boom and a rattle and a few gasps and cries, and then Tessa was leading everybody back out to the pool area, where there was a four-person wide hole in the wall. "You all stay here for just a minute. I'm going to take a look to make sure that we're safe."

Tessa ignored the adrenaline surge as she pulled her gun and looked up at the rooftops. There was a silhouette with a gun on the top of the administration building. That fecking blonde bitch. But she had her back turned. Tessa gestured for them to come forward, but put her fingers to her lips. "Go along the side of the building, and keep quiet and low to the ground. When you get to the edge of the building, keep along the side of it. They're sending emergency services, they'll be here soon. Do not turn back for anything." She looked through the crowd of about fifty, most teenagers and children. She pulled one girl forward. She had deep brown skin, hair in thin little braids, and eyes that were clear and focused. "You're in charge. You lead them out while I stay behind and cover the flank. Do. Not. Stop. Do you understand?" Once she nodded, Tessa gestured for them to get moving.

She waited until the last had exited through the hole and waited another three terse minutes, her eyes on the blonde's back as she camped out on the roof. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and looked over her shoulder, where the last child was rounding the corner of the school, putting more distance between them. Tessa holstered her gun and walked back into the building. There was one way to end this and end it for good. She stood in the hallway,standing over flammable chemicals that had been poured throughout the hallways, stopping just outside the doors that led to the pool. She'd spotted enough to bring the building down. If she timed it right, she would be able to bring the building down and really feck with the blonde's day. The kids were far enough away, and according to her comms, emergency services were on their way. They were no longer the immediate concern that they had been just a moment ago.

Tessa started walking back into the pool area and pulled a grenade from her belt as she did so. She took a deep breath, pulled the pin, and tossed it into the hallway. The blast would ignite the flammable chemicals and cause a cascade effect. Her leisurely stride turned into a trot, which turned into a run, as she began to escape the impact area.

KABOOM!!!

The grenade had detonated and started the irreversible chain of events that followed. With a fiery whoosh the trail of chemicals lit and began spreading throughout the building, small little explosions rocketing in its wake. Tessa was running for the escape hole when pieces of debris began to come down. And she had missed something, something important. There had been something stored near the pool area that was flammable, and as the heat and flames caught up with it, an explosion blew right behind Tessa as she neared the great outdoors.

The power of the blast propelled her through the air, driving her outside, as shrapnel embedded in her skin. Her back was screaming, her joints aching, her eyes burning. She tried to dig into the ground and find purchase to get to her knees, but her arms collapsed out from underneath her. Her throat was dry, her voice unusable, as she tried to pull up her comms. Something, anything.

Kellan wasn't here to find her this time. She had to get clear, she had to. She tried once more to raise herself off the ground, and her arms wobbled and collapsed once again. The burning in her back was preventing her from rolling onto it, to get a good picture of what was happening, and her vision was starting to go fuzzy around the edges, a sensation she was a little too familiar with.

"Feck," she mouthed, right before passing out, her body giving up the fight against its fatigue and injuries.

@clara_mass:

This is just gettin' ridiculous, now.

He had no idea who this woman was, any more than he had a clue who the woman she was now asking him to track was. Hell, he was still a little unclear on just why he was being asked to find this "Brian" and snuff him, and the soporific chemicals in the air weren't making things any easier to figure out. Neither were the chemicals his new would-be ally had just sprayed all over the room.

"Ya want me to track the person ya just chased away, with a nose ya just filled with chemical crap?" He pointed one clawed finger at Val. "Enough's enough. This was plenty o' bloody fun at first, but I'm done bein' yanked around. Yer gonna tell me what the hell's goin' on and what yer role is in all o' this, so I can decide whether helpin' ya or guttin' ya is in my own best interests."

Unfortunately for Dog, his questions looked as though they would go unanswered. The feral mutant murderer's expression shifted from savage to puzzled as the very ground beneath his feet shifted and distorted, and Clara Mass's portal tore a rift in the very fabric of space.

"Oh fer the love of-" As he was pulled through the portal, he made a silent promise to himself. He was going to find out exactly who had been pulling strings in this whole business, and he was going to kill them.

Slowly.

H.A.T.V. (Grimm City Skyline)

It took forever for them to mobilize, they were operating with limited personnel. Agent Amanda Line, like former S.T.R.I.K.E Director Ruby Gallagher; Line was a no-nonsense leader of recruits. She initially trained the likes of Agent Norfleet and Barnes in field-work.

She was credentialed to be the leader of S.T.R.I.K.E however, she declined in order to retain her job as the Senior Technician.

"We're late to the fight. Hundreds of people have been killed. I want the sustainment team to post-camp; set up a clinic with surgical capability. I want the recon team to move throughout the city locating those that still need to be saved. Lastly, Bravo team will scan the area for any traces of gas; ensure that life support systems are back online."

As each team commander left with their crew to execute her orders, she thought of a time when it was her that was executing such missions.

With the H.A.T.V finally landing in the middle of Grimm City, the De Facto leader of S.T.R.I.K.E sought to meet with the man being blamed for this conflict.

@clara_mass:

Despite his aggressive overtures Valentina remained confident she could outthink and outtalk Dog. But she never got the chance. It just wasn't her night. Almost as soon as the stranger appeared, @alpha_dog vanished into thin air and Valentina knew who was responsible.

Within moments of the chemicals fading from the air she felt markedly better, but still they'd take a bit longer to pass through her system (she assumed, hoping they'd pass at all). On its own this would've been an improvement but Valentina was none too pleased with her wannabe savior. Because of this woman her hound-to-be vanished into thin air, and with him, her chances of catching the self-appointed target (@xxbelladonnaxx).

She was quite pleased with herself, this woman. Valentina sized her up and surmised in those few seconds that if she lived another eighty years she might never see anyone more snugly self-satisfied for nothing. And over a screw-up at that.

<One of Newcastles employees? Has to be. Why else would she be here to clear those two from the building? How else would she know about the job?>

That, in particular, nagged her.

"Sweetheart. I think your job is over."

"Yes...For now, I suppose it is." And the Scarlet Shadowrunner was no longer beholden to any contract.

She raised her pistols and fired three shots at Clarice Michelle before the mags ran dry. Quick and impassive, there was no art or theatre to the attempt on her life. This was not the game and it was not a performance. Just the final dispirited notes of the coda for a performer who was not yet ready for the curtain call.