Demon World

Alison followed the rest of the group as they ran toward the barracks. She had decided that she was virtually useless against these things and wasn't going to waste her gun's 'ammunition' firing at them. bullets were easy to find, but her gun ddin't use bullets. It used magic. Which meant she would have to ask one of these magic users to replenish her power cells when they ran low. The pious Spaniard with his salt and holy water or the weird German CO with his fire magic? Oh, how she dreaded the thought of asking either of them for anything. And then there was the little girl with the butterflies and the quiet girl with the lightning magic -- probably demons, both of them. Alison groaned at the thought of that too.

They soon reached the barracks hall and Mr. White Suit gave the order to spread out and gather what was needed. After recovering from the slight annoyance that accompanied the constant Spanish and German jibbering, Alison decided she needed nothing from her dormitory. She was wise enough to take everything she needed before she left. Everything that remained was just useless junk that would get in the way, so she swiched her gun to its 'sniper' setting and went to aid the seamen with holding off the approaching demon horde.

She walked toward them slowly, with a calm deliberate stride, watching through the rifle's scope and taking aim. Their CO, the white suited German, was battling them up close and personal, which Alison had absolutely no intention of doing. Instead, she stood back, taking shots at the creatures' heads. It was good target practice, if nothing else. She would blow a head off, another would form in its place, and she blew that one off too. Rinse and repeat.

Nevermind that her CO was within inches of her line of fire. She trusted her aim enough to know she wouldn't hit him and felt that she was doing him a favor by covering his back. But does he trust my aim? she thought as another bullet wizzed by his dome and knocked one of the demons back. She also couldn't help but wonder why that other sniper wasn't doing his job? He was standing around doing nothing. Can't expect everyone to be as talented as me, she thought as she locked in a fresh power cell and continued firing.

Five minutes. Thank God I barely unpacked. It was a simple matter for Mack to gather the few things he had taken from his backpack back into it. While he stuffed some things in, he took other things out. Small vials of oil, some homemade fuses, and one of his many lighters. These materials he stuffed into his jacket pockets and swung the backpack over his shoulder.

Finally, he took up his automatic, loaded it, and made sure the safety was on. He then hung the gun on his other shoulder.

Before he left, he took the crucifix that lay bound around his neck and kissed it, adding a quick prayer.

He exited into a hallway that was becoming chaos; people scrambled in and out of doors, and the demons had come with reinforcements. Mack took one of the vials and thumbed off the cork. It took a fuse and a flick of the lighter to start his own little bit of magic. He threw the glass vial on the floor at the demons' feet and a puff of flame belched up. The remnant was a little puddle of burning oil, melting away parts of the demons.

Mack threw another before he noticed the ninja woman exit a room; one blade drawn and a satchel over her shoulder. Even with the blade there was nothing she could do...except...

"You!" He called out and waved her over. "If ye want to be of some help come here." She obeyed, weaving through ally and demon alike to get to him. He uncorked another vial.

"Lay out your blade." She held it to the horizontal, and he poured the liquid over it, then lit it.

"Go." She'd have only a few seconds with each application, but she made the most of the first one. One demon was chopped into several useless slices that couldn't re-bind.

Mack grinned as he threw another of the custom bombs.

The officer had told them to gather supplies, but that could wait after the daemons were dealt with. She took aim with her rifle and fired another shot. This shot however was nothing more than snow, which slowly died down into tiny flakes.

"What the hell?!"

She smacked her gun, damn a malfunction, at a time like this. Apparently she would have to reconsider the offer. Bolting into her room she grabbed a back pack that held all of her magick tech tools inside. She bolted back out and grabbed a lancer from her backpack. Firing the mini bit of superheated flames she started to go to work on her hypercube's rifle form.

While concentrating on that she also began to make notes on her TCS,

Note to self:

Make sure hypercube is properly adjusted in quadrants 3, 8, and 2 at a 90 degree angle precisionary technique in the Polar Notation equation.

Joseph heard a splash from right behind him, released the obviously dieing demon from his grasp and looked to see another's head regrowing. "Scheint, dass eine cupid gekommen, um sich mein Herz heute. Ich hoffe nur, dass ich nicht die Wut cerub." He said locking eyes with her and winked before turning back to the demon and burying his hand into it's new face. His men laughed at the statment but kept shooting, he was known for his taste for fine wine, and finer women. "Ein Opfer für meine neue Göttin." He added softly more to the demon than anyone else.

Fransisco went the opposite direction from the others who seemed to be fighting in one directions. Though two quickly joined him. He noted that the one now wore a cross, and had even given it a quick kiss. The same one who had said amen after his blessing. Fransisco could only think that his only obvious fault was that he was not spanish, but then again no one was perfect. "I can stop them in their tracks if you can finish them." He said and didn't wait for a reaction. He pulled the pouch he had used last time and then scatered it into the air in the direction of the water demons. "En nombre de dios yo te mando que se siguen hasta que son enviados al infierno de donde viene." He shouted and the demons within the throwing range of his salt froze shaking as if they fought against the holy grip of god.

The accent was thick on the Spaniard's lips as he spoke in English for the first time that Mack had heard. The lieutentant nodded at the words, and the priest stayed the demon with the words and the elements. Mack took advantage, throwing a little Molotov at the demon's feet. The splash of the liquid pelted the creature, sinking into its protoplasmic body. Then the flame caught.

Unable to move, the creature ignited from the inside and began to burn up with an unearthly shriek.

Mack nodded to the priest.

"Bless you, Father."

With a wall of people now surrounding her, Ava fell back into her usual state of mind. The screams of demons behind the men and women reached her, but were hardly registered. Instead, she stood waiting for another order, the three butterflies always nearby. The red and black swarm had vanished when the demon had, leaving only a single specimen, which was now resting on the wall not far from where Ava was standing.

Ava had been in combat situations before, but always as an observer, not a participant. She would be told what to do, what areas to watch, what to report on and what to ignore. This situation, the running and the screams nearby, were not calming. A small frown appeared on her face; her heart rate was elevated. Nearly, she raised her hand. But questions were not allowed in these situations.

Unlike the others, Meav had no way of fighting the demons. She was a doctor, after all, not a soldier. All she could do was duck and weave through the hallway until she reached her room, where she dived inside and slammed the door behind her.

Five minutes. Grabbing her bag from the floor she stuffed her medical kit and a few essentials inside, then snatched her rifle from where she'd propped it against a wall. Swiftly she flicked the safety off, not that it would do much good other than to buy her time, then prepared to reenter the hallway. She gave her book once backward glance - what a waste - then took a deep breath and kicked the door open.

The hallway was in chaos. People were scrambling in all directions, engaging here and there with the demons though few were able to do effective damage. Meav squeezed off a few rounds into any demons that got too close, not doing any real harm to them but giving her time to slip away and run down the corridor in search of the others from the conference hall.

She ended up a little way from the German man and one of the other women.

"Tell me again that the ship's not done for," Meav called as she passed the CO, firing at another demon and blasting it back a few feet.

She went into a dive roll to avoid being hit, and gained her feet across the hall from the little girl with the butterflies. She was stood still, watching the commotion all around her, a small frown on her face as though confused. Meav wondered both at the child's calmness, and her inaction.

"Are you hurt?"

A priest spoke briefly to Alice in Spanish, insulting words. Something to do with a back stabbing.

“Insolate, usted no me quisiera en mi forma verdadera.” she said to the man before she could stop herself.

She moved to the back of the group, she was tired of seeing the holy signs these men wore, to Alice they screamed of danger. After a few moments of silence the captain ordered them to retrieve their belongings from quarters. Alice had what she needed on her the cull sleave and what she wore. She stayed with the captain and helped to flank him. She was becoming frustrated with the foreign language being welded, though she was capable of understanding it she knew how to perform or postpone an exorcism in ten different languages. However she did not like the continual bounce of tongue.

The sighting of demons pushed the group back into panic and for a moment Alice let her eyes settle on the little girl. She seemed well adapted to the situation, there was no sign of fear or despair in her. A woman stepped in to protect the girl and Alice moved in front of them to defend their position. A demon moved towards her and she beaconed it in demon tongue. It was a foot from her when it unleashed a heavy attack. Alice blocked and lunged forward her hand clenching the demons head. Her hand sparked with electricity, the heat scolding the demon her clench tightened and the demon convulsed falling to the floor. She was looking forwards to a chance to use her brute strength instead of bolt blows. The method though effective was slowly draining her of strength.

"Ok, ve vill move on now." Joseph anounced walking confidently forward. "Everyone ve just need to fight our vay to the dock and then I'll load you onto the escape ship." He anounced stepping forward into another demon.

The group fought their way down the hall, forcing more demons back than they actually killed, soon they reached an door, the door had been bent and broken. Joseph scowled and then with the two gaurds charged through the open door weapons up. The group started to follow hearing gun fire ring out. A scream, and Joseph was perpelled back into the doorway, slaming against the wall, gun landing at his side. He coughed and stood up "Snappers." He growled walking swiftly back into the room. "Follow me." He ordered.

Five snappers stood around the dock, angry looking armored turtles standing on their hind legs. Though unlike turtles their hard shells where more like plates and extended over the creatures entire body. Pitch black was the armor,the only spot of color coming from the creatures red eyes. They spotted the group and in unision. "Food." They anounced their huge clawed hands open and prepared to feast. The two solders that had charged through where held by the one closest to the door, crushed by his gripp and both already partially eaten as the creature took turns bringing the bodies to his mouth and taking bites. Joseph scowled and raised his lugar, knowing that it wouldn't do much to the beast.

They charged into the dock, and Akane stopped short, observing and analyzing the new situation they had been forced into. Her blades would be useless against those armored hides; even if she could get close enough to use them. In the same grain, it didn't look like standard rounds would help much here either.

Still, a wall of covering fire might keep them back long enough for somebody to think of something a little more effective. Akane rarely felt that such displays were useful; but they'd need something much bigger to fell these beasts. She sheathed her blade, drew the pistol on her hip and began firing rhythmically.

* * *

Mack had a lot of faith. But not that much. A mustard seed's worth might move mountains, but his apparent speck wasn't enough to dismember a passel of Snappers. He'd need something bigger than that.

This he realized a handful of seconds after he unslung his auto, snapped back the bolt, flicked off the safety and began firing in short, controlled bursts. The rounds wouldn't do much; and there was a slight danger that some of the rounds would ricochet and do damage to the wrong side.

No, if he wanted to be of some help, he'd need something bigger...

"Cover me; I'm gonna build something to toast these bastards!"

He tucked his gun under his arm, shrugged off his pack, and knelt. His head came up to squeeze off a few rounds in between laying out components on the steel floor.

Alison continued covering the German as he battled the creatures. She stood stark still, with her rifle on her shoulder, rhythmically firing into the pack of demons and not missing a single shot. She was like a stationary turret and could guard a spot for hours in this manner. But they didn't have hours. Five minutes. "Five minutes is up," she muttered to herself. Guarding this spot was a waste of time and energy. As the Celtic woman had said twice before, this ship is a done for. They were just waiting for their CO to realize that.

"Ok, ve vill move on now," he announced, walking confidently forward. "Everyone ve just need to fight our vay to the dock and then I'll load you onto the escape ship."

Alison nodded, ceased fire, and fell in step with the rest of the group as they retreated toward the docks. She didn't fire off any shots along the way. Somehow, his mention of boarding the escape ship reminded her that their actual mission hadn't begun yet; she had been wasting ammunition all along. These bullets were meant for killing New York demons, not helping some prettyboy in a white suit keep his tin can afloat.

But when they reached the dock area, Mr. White Suit got his reality check when he was thrown across the room by some unseen montrosity. They all stepped into the doorway and discovered that it was not one but five creatueres. Snappers. The group fanned out and began peppering the creatures' thick armor. Alison frowned at their wastefulness. She never liked to see a single bullet deferred. Fortunately, it looked as though someone was working on a better idea, something that didn't involve throwing away perfectly good bullets.

"Cover me; I'm gonna build something to toast these bastards!"

It was the other holy man, slightly less pious than the Spaniard, and far less annoying. But anyone who was smart enough to propose a plan that didn't involve flushing bullets down the drain was fine by her, so Alison slowly made her way to him. Without a word, she went down on one knee, shouldered her rifle, aimed it at the nearest Snapper, and began searching for an appropriate place to shoot.

The eyes were an option; tiny but certainly easy enough to hit at this range. Other shooters might struggle with such a small target, but not her. The creature's mouth was also a viable target; much bigger, but only available when opened. She also considered firing at its knees and crippling it, but the thickness of the armor was unknown; that could be a wasted shot.

The demolitions man seemed to be getting impatient with her. He was still occasionally squeezing off shots at the creatures. Alison frowned at him. "I got it," she said coldly, then returned her attention to the scope. Two shots. That's all it will take. She waited until the stupid demon opened its mouth again. When it did, she fired a single shot down its throat. The bullet did not emerge; it probably ricocheted through its body on account of all that armor. The Snapper coughed a small puff of smoke and doubled over, clutching at its belly. That's when she delivered the second and final shot to its right eye. It's thick skull showed no signs of damage, but the blood spray from its ruptured eye made it clear that the inside of the creature's head had been ravaged by the bullet. The demon collapsed face down, dead.

Erika followed after the group attempting to fix her weapon, just a few more seconds of time.

"Almost... there," a flash of light and beep got her gun working, "ah ha, got it!"

Their officer got thrown out of a room and he blatantly said something about snappers. If they were going to fight those things they would need something big and powerful. She looked at her gun,
"I wonder if it will work?," she said quietly.

"Cover me; I'm gonna build something to toast these bastards!"

she looked to the sound, the woman with the sniper was already there and giving him cover fire. She looked back at her gun, "well I do need an accurate field test," she pressed a button on her gun which changed it back into its original cubed form. Pressing another button the cube changed into what looked like a Bazooka. She hefted it onto her back and ran over to the two.

"I'm thinkin' this will work," she said pointing towards her RPG.

On-the-fly bomb. Ingredients; three pounds C4, one handful connecting wires, one wireless reciever, one detonator. Combine components on a large plate. Serve hot. Serves one Snapper.

The makeshift bomb came together quickly. The girl who had made quick work of frying the water demons on their way here had answered his call for covering fire. She was young, and because of that, Mack assumed, inexperienced. And so, he still gripped his gun as he worked, just in case. Even after she assured him he didn't need to.

It was when she felled one of the creatures with two well-placed shots that he dropped his rifle completely, freeing both his hands to work. Young or not, this was the sort of ally to stick close to.

Mack completed his recipe. One bomb done; hot and ready to blow as soon as he hit the detonator. Problem, though. He needed to get it close. Preferably in the Snapper's mouth. And with the way they were eating these guards; Mack didn't want to get anywhere close. Nor anyone else for that matter.

"Okay, done!" Mack said. "Now...any ideas for getting 'em to eat this?"

"Okay, done!" Mack said. "Now...any ideas for getting 'em to eat this?"

"That was quick," she started looked around, the couple of seamen that were being eaten still had a couple of limbs on the ground.

"You think if you threw it over there into that mess those things would start gobbling it up?" She looked at the man and shrugged, "that's about the best I got, so... good luck with that."

She flipped the switch to a red circle and took aim with her bazooka, "Hey ugly, I got a snack for you!" It turned its attention to her and opened its mouth to roar, "smile pretty why don't ya!" She pulled the trigger and shot off the fire rocket, the meteor like projectile slamming into its mouth and the head completely getting blown off along with part of its upper body. It landed with a thud and she smiled at her accomplishment.

"Looks like we're gonna have a buffet at this rate," she blew the last bit of smoke from the rocket and the weapon turned back into its cubed form into her hand, "ah snap," she pressed a button and a small cylindrical vial popped out of it, "well I'm out, any ideas for ammo?"

"Are you hurt?"

Ava looked at the woman, all black hair and dark eyes. She was pretty. And finally someone who asked questions she knew the answer to. She stared right into the woman’s eyes as she answered. “No.” The people here were confusing. They used too many words for the situation. At home, Vivian and Arthur had used to talk a lot to, and she would listen.

Another woman took a position in front of them, blocking Ava’s view of the rest of the battle. Ava merely stood there, staring at the woman, nearly hopeful someone would tell her what to do. A minute later, they were on the move again, Ava in the middle of the small crowd of people. They moved fast, and Ava felt how the constant bursts of speed were proving to be not ‘calming’; she was panting lightly by the time the group stopped again.

More chaos erupted, Avalon a beacon of tranquility in the shouting crowd of men and women. Someone pushed by her, a nudge meant for someone a lot stronger and larger then her. Ava was slow to react, as she had never been pushed aside before; she was meant to be the centre of an operation, spouting out information as the people around her worked.

Arms stretched out, she managed to stay on her feet, be it only barely. There was more shouting in front, questions she had no answers to, orders she didn’t know how to follow. So unlike the low voices of command centers she was used to. And with nothing on her hands, no one standing next to her telling her what to do or asking questions she had answers to, the whole situation was less then ‘calming’.

Fransisco had the awnser to that last question. "Demons like to eat us." he snarled and stormed forward towards one of the big demons. He started shouting holy furry at it only to have to dodge out of the way at the last second before a claw slamed the graoned near him. "That didn't work." he muttered to himself angerly.

Joseph fired his lugar at the face of one of the beasts causing it to cover itself with it's hand as he moved towards one of the two triangle shapped ships sitting about the floor by inches.

He approached the nearest as the group fought back against the giant demons and even killed a few, he reached a pad on the side, typed out his code and the side opened up and extended a set of stairs. "In you go!" He anounced holstering his pistol at his right hip then reaching to the large pouch on his left hip. kneeled down opened the pack and withing thirty seconds had his miniature 9mm gatling gun assembled, slapped in the end of the chain of ammo that led from a seperate part of the pouch, rehung the bag on his side, looked up at the beast, smiked and using both hands began a feirce onslaught on the nearest while creating time for the others to get into the ship.

Erika looked over at the man firing the gatling gun next to what looked like a triangle.

"Great, my weapons a cube and I'm riding in a triangular pyramid, any more geometric shapes involved in this?"

She decided it would be best to just start running and ask questions later.

"Throw that bomb away already, I believe our ride is waiting."

She started sprinting over towards the boat, she turned to take a pic of one of the snappers to add to her bestiary. Then she focused all her attention towards the boat. Getting around the man and his chaingun she plopped herself in a seat in the boat and looked out the boat waiting for the others to get in.

Alison didn't pause to celebrate her kill. It was no big deal; she could make a shot like that anyday. Now, she was trying to focus her crosshairs on another victim. The other Snappers weren't directly in her line of fire; they were at awkward angles, making it difficult for her to hit their eyes or mouths as she had done with the first. So she waited, scanning the scene through her scope, hoping another opportunity would present itself.

Alison ignored the discussion between the woman with the RPG and the demolitions man. It didn't concern her. She had no means of launching a bomb across the room, so she paid them no heed. At elast not until the woman launched a rocket at one of the Snappers. That magic cube of hers had proven to be faulty once before, so Alison didn't like the idea of being near it when it went off. The thing could explode and kill them all. The battlefield is no place to test your useless junk, she thought, but kept her opinions to herself.

Fortunately, the German managed to get through to one of the subs and beconed them all to climb inside. Good. I don't have to waste time and energy taking down the rest of these things, she thought as she watched the Snappers lumber about seeking prey. "Done," she said to the demolitions man. She had agreed to cover him, so it was only fair that she acknowledge that she would no longer be doing so.

And with that final word, she ran for the sub, full sprint. The German was there, spraying out bullets with a mini gatling to keep the Snappers at bay. Such a waste. Alison paused on the stairs of the sub and took aim at the nearest Snapper. With one shot, she hit it in the back of the kneecap, dropping the creature to the ground and severly crippling its already slow movement. She had done with one bullet what was he was trying to do with a hundred. Hopefully, he would take the hint.

Alison entered the sub and took a seat across from the chick with the cube. With her rifle lying across her lap, she waited patiently for the others to come so they can begin the real mission.

Mack's fellow Scot made a couple suggestions; the second of which looked promising. The priest seemed to take things a little more literally than perhaps he should have. It was almost a little comical watching the holy Father approach the demon like Moses, shouting Spanish rebukes to it. It paid little heed, and instead struck out with its claw, missing him by inches. No dice there.

The woman with the variable-cube-everything-gun had metamorphed it into a bazooka and took one down. She advised Mack on tactics as she went past. Meanwhile, the man in charge was ushering them to an escape boat, covering their fire with a gatling.

The girl covering him took the hint and moved off toward the sub. Time to go. Mack muttered a few curses under his breath and took the Cube Lady's advice. He pulled a few wires and shoved the now-dormant bomb back into his pack. Taking it up along with his rifle, he clambered into the escape boat.

* * *

Akane knew she was of no use here. She emptied her clip once to no avail, then reloaded and holstered the weapon. Drawing a blade, she stepped closer to the child and the highland woman.

The child seemed confused; not quite knowing what to do. Still, there was no fear in her. She simply looked about, wide eyed and curious. But she didn't cringe or try to hide, or anything.

Akane knelt next to her, meeting her eyes evenly.

"We have to get onto the boat." She said, gesturing to the escape craft.

"Will you come with me?"

"We have to get onto the boat." She said, gesturing to the escape craft. "Will you come with me?"

‘Will’. A phrase similar to ‘want’, where something was offered and she had the option to accept or deny. Avalon looked at the escape rafts, then turned back. “Yes.” Perhaps the ‘boat’ would be more ‘calming’.

The escape raft was not designed for people Ava’s size, then again, nothing ever was. With some effort, she managed to hoist herself into the seat. The butterflies settled on the ceiling nearby. She had not been ordered to put them away yet.

Swinging her legs upwards and letting them fall back to the metal frame of the benches, Ava stared at nothing in particular.

It was definitely time to go. Meav glanced at the German as he unleashed hell on the demons, presumably to create a diversion. She wondered if it was hard for him to leave his ship behind; he had been adamant that it would hold after all. Well, there was nothing they could do about it now.

After unleashing one final round from her rifle, Meav swung the gun onto her back and prepared to dash to the escape boat. She turned round to check on the child first, though, but she was already running with the Japanese woman. Good.

Meav closed the gap between herself and the rafts in a few strides, pulling herself up into the craft with relative ease. Sitting down, she flipped the safety on on her rifle so she wouldn't inadvertantly shoot any of her companions where the demons had failed.

Glancing briefly round at those already in the craft, no one appeared to be hurt. But she had her duty as a doctor and they might be concealing wounds.

"Anyone injured?"

"Ok, ve vill move on now." Joseph announced walking confidently forward. "Everyone ve just need to fight our vay to the dock and then I'll load you onto the escape ship."

Alice followed Joseph as he moved forward, ducking demons and electrocuting those that stood in her way. When they reached the door it was broken and dented. Joseph and two of his guards raced through the door with guns raised and Alice held back as she heard gun fire. She moved as the rest of the group pushed forwards, her legs beginning to feel like jelly from the exertion her bolt caused.

"Snappers." He growled walking swiftly back into the room. "Follow me." He ordered.


The room burst into chaos, cover fire was given by several woman and one of the priests began to create an explosive. Alice pushed her way through the group and picked out a target. This sort of demon she could take on hand to hand. She was pleased with the concept as it was she was using up to much energy. As she moved in the snapper lashed out, in it’s slow movement it attempted to knock her off her feet, Alice was slow herself, but not as slow as the demon. She moved out of it’s way and swung in from the side her fist slamming into a leg. The shell plating cracked but it wouldn’t be enough for her to use her brute power to kill the beast. She need to get onto it’s head, she moved behind the beast and using it’s slow movements to her advantage boosted herself onto it’s back. As she reached it’s neck she bare hugged it’s heavy frame and pushed herself up. She swung herself around and raised her cull sleave. Her fist clenched she slammed her arm through the beasts eye and then allowed a boost of energy to surge through her. Electricity surged through the beasts head and she rode it down to the ground as it fell.

She rolled away from the beast when it had fallen and dashed the rest of the way to the sub. She eyed the members of the party who had already made it into the sub before sitting. Alice stared at the floor not sure what to make of her companions

They piled into the craft and took seats; the number of which approximately matched the number of passengers. Mack found himself sitting next to the Cube Lady, his backpack now at his feet, and his gun across his lap. He watched as the last few climbed into the escape craft.

It was then that he really took notice for the first time of all the guards who had been killed. Brutally. Blood was splashed all over the deck; pieces of unrecognizable body parts lay about; and the snappers who lived still ground flesh and bone between their teeth. Horrible waste of lives...

God rest their souls...

"Anyone injured?"

Mack gave a slow nod, not taking his eyes from the gruesome scene outside.

"Aye..." He said, nodding his head toward the mayhem.

* * *

Akane took a seat and followed the bearded man's gaze outside to where the Snappers were still feasting. The Catholic Scot seemed forlorn and struck by sadness over these deaths. Akane herself knew that these men had gained the epitome of honor. They had stayed true in battle, and had sacrificed their own lives so that these could escape. They were good deaths, all of them. There was no reason to mourn.

Akane did not speak at the woman's inquiry, but looked around to survey her new allies...if allies they should prove to be. It was a very diverse group, and Akane realized that only the threat of battle, something greater than themselves, would allow them to put aside all their differences.

But, Akane had been wrong many times. She held a hope that perhaps she was wrong here, as well.