Breaking the Fan Part 2; The Fight

 Kallaway here.

The fight had already begun by the time we arrived. We parked the bus a distance away from the action and filed out.

Kraken, the White Comet, and the AMU were firing at each other. But there was another group there that I wasn't expecting. And they had a moose with them.

"Seems like Trias has joined the party," Daniel said. "This might make teleporting a bit tricky for me..."

"How will this effect the plan?" Tony asked.

"Not at all," Daniel said. "Our targets remain the same. Bring down the White Comet and Kraken, and provide support for the AMU and Trias."

"What if Trias and the AMU come to blows?" I asked.

"Cross our fingers and hope that doesn't happen," Daniel replied. "If it does, either stay out of it or break it up."

"What's our first move?" I asked.

"First," Daniel said, aiming his finger gun at the sky, "We let 'em know we're here."

And with that, he fired a lightning bolt directly into the sky.

That got a lot of peoples attention, but more than a few were too preoccupied with the fight to notice. Those that did notice were either confused by our ragtag little group, or showed signs of terrified recognition at a few of our members.

"Let's go!" Daniel said, teleporting directly up to a Kraken agent, who was conveniently far away from the moose, and freezing his skull solid.

We charged in after that, joining the conflict. A lot happened. I can't recall all of it, and I'm couldn't see much of what the others were doing, but we made it out of it okay by the end of that first struggle. The White Comet forces seemed to bail at some point, but Kraken decided to be all stubborn and shit, and stuck around until we brought them all down. The fighting drew to a close after that, as we all pulled ourselves together from all the chaos.

"Is that it?" I asked.

"Not by a long shot," the Biker said. "Those weren't all of Kraken's forces. They're bound to pop up again at some point."

"So, battle's won, but war... not yet," I said. "Perfect..."

There wasn't much time to rest after that. Not long after, I sensed a powerful eldritch energy approaching. Soon after, a flock of birds emerged from the forest. The air around them was crackling with energy.

"The Convocation?" I asked.

"Yep," Tony confirmed.

The birds were joined by two more Fears, a woman made of wood, moving like a puppet on strings, and a large black dog. Didn't take too many braincells to realize who they were.

Not long after, someone emerged from within the AMU's forces. An old man. And as he moved, I slowly became aware that he had an eldritch aura of his own, which was gradually growing, as if he'd been keeping it suppressed this entire time, and was finally drawing it out.

He exchanged some words with some of the AMU members, before removing his dark glasses, revealing his disturbing lack of eyes, confirming his identity. The Blind Man. A Fear.

All of the AMU's Martyrs kneeled before him. All but one. My cousin, Professor Ben Malkator, stood a distance away, looking distracted.

The Blind Man gestured for the Martyr's to rise, saying something else to them, before turning to the other Fears. The Black Dog grew to a larger size, snarling. Then two more Fears showed up. A young boy, who seemed to freeze everything around him, confronted the Black Dog. I noticed Jane, who was a short distance away bandaging Kimiko's arm, visibly flinched when he appeared.

And then that cunt Valravn showed up and started attacking the Wooden Girl. Daniel growled angrily, but managed to restrain himself from going after her. Then Ben appeared at my shoulder.

"So, obviously, things are about to go to shit," he said. "But, I need to borrow David and Damien. We're needed elsewhere."

Daniel nodded.

"I can handle myself without them for a while," he said. "Don't take too long."

"No promises," Ben said.

He turned to face the Biker.

"Damien," he said.

"Benjamin," the Biker replied.

he tension between them was palpable...

"I hear Daniel brought Sylvia back," Ben said.

"Yeah," the Biker said. "And no, I'm not anywhere near forgiving you."

"Understandable," Ben replied.

"But...," the Biker said, averting his gaze, which was admittedly kind of pointless, as he was still wearing a blindfold. "I'm not tempted to kill you where you stand. So, that's something."

"Good to hear," Ben said. "And... I am sorry..."

"Shut up," the Biker said. "Now, where we headed?"

Give me a minute," Ben said, taking both of our shoulders. "You're gonna love tis.

And then, the world around us began to slowly fade away, as a new location began to fade into reality to replace it.

"A little slow, yes, but energy efficient and completely painless," Ben said. "I call it 'Fading'. Suck it, Prius."

He released our shoulders after we finished fading into the new location, somewhere at the edge of the city.

"And the best part?" Ben added. "The moose can't do jack shit to stop it."

"Neat," I said. "Won't be too useful in battle, though."

"I can use the God's Way if I absolutely have to," Ben said. "But Fading's better if there's enough time for it."

"So, what's the deal?" I asked.

"Yeah," the Biker asked. "Why are you taking us away from all the real action?"

"Oh, don't worry," Ben said. "There'll be plenty of action. You see, while the others are dealing with the forest itself, we'll be dealing with Dawson."

"The shadow punk?" the Biker asked. "Alright."

"What about Tyler?" I asked.

Ben shook his head.

"I can't foresee everything," he said. "But I believe Tyler will be going off on his own."

Exactly what I was afraid of...

"As for who Dawson does have with him," Ben said. "He's got two human followers, as well as at least one Dying Man shard. And... a Mana user..."

"That's the same weird magic power you use, right?" I asked.

"That's right," Ben said. "We need to be on guard."

He stretched out a hand, and a Japanese short sword appeared in it. The sheath seemed to have been sliced in two at some point, and glued back together.

"Let's get this show on the road," Ben said.

Breaking the Fan Part 1; Setting Out

Before we left, we all took care of some personal stuff.

Elie decided his place was the classroom, not the battlefield. He chose to stay behind with the rest of the AMU students, to help support them. He'll be looking after the Biker's sister as well. As for Jane and Kimiko, they both signed on with the AMU's forces, as a medic and fighter, respectively.

Tony arranged our transportation. One of his former clients was a teacher at a school, and managed to procure him a fucking school bus. I don't know what exactly he did for her, but apparently a lot of students would have died without his actions. He brushed it off, saying he was just doing his job.

Terrence and I made a couple modifications to it. I gave it its own mobile hotspot with some damn good range, as there are bloggers among us. And Terrence... did something to the engine. I'm not sure what exactly, but he promised me it won't explode...

I had a talk with Kai as well.

"You gonna be ready for this?" I asked.

"I think so," Kai replied. "So, what's the plan, exactly?"

I chuckled.

"The hell makes you think I've got one of those?" I asked.

Kai seemed a little shocked at that answer. I let out another soft laugh, before taking on my serious position. Legs at shoulder width, both hands planted on my cane in front of me. I closed my eyes for a second, taking a deep breathe as I did, and exhaled as I opened them again, making eye contact.

"The AMU has their own plan," I said. "We go in providing them support. Malkator is on their side. I may not trust them entirely, but I trust him. He leaked the time and place to me because he trusts me back. Furthermore, he can predict future events, at least to some degree. He knows we need to be there. So we'll be there."

Kai nodded.

"This is war," I went on. "You can't plan for war. Not easily, anyway. You need to take what you know about every side involved, and make the best of it. I know the AMU pretty well. They're the lesser of each evil, as far as I can see. They're the ones out to stop the forest for good, and they have the best odds of succeeding, so we back them up. And if they fail..."

I drew the sword from my cane out a couple inches, gazing at the Newborn infused steel.

"We go with my backup plan," I said. "And hope it works..."

I re-sheathed the blade, and continued.

"As for the enemy, we've got the White Comet, Kraken, and the Green Men," I said. "Kraken is well equipped, and has a few Demi-Gods in their ranks, but has proven to be incompetent. We exploit the incompetent part as best we can. We don't know much about White Comet, but they're human as far as we know. We have a bunch of Demi-Gods with us, giving us an edge. And if we're wrong, and they end up being stronger than we expect, we adapt to it. If either of those forces get in our way, we take them out quickly. As for the Green Men..."

"Those are the weird plant monsters from the forest, right?" Kai asked. "They're gonna be a bigger threat, aren't they?"

I nodded.

"They're strong, fast, and instinctive," I said. "At least, that's what I've gathered from everyone else who've encountered them. If we come across any of them, focus on staying alive first, and getting them dead second."

"Okay," Kai said.

At that time, my phone started ringing. Agent Touckshriek. Perfect...

"'scuse me," I said. "I'd better take this."

I answered the call.

"Hello, Rachel," I said.

"What?" She asked, taken aback. "When did you...?"

"Tony," I answered bluntly.

I heard her sigh from the other end.

"Of course...," she replied. "So... are you seriously going to go through with this?"

"Of course," I said.

"I see," she said, a little nervously. "Did you receive the package?"

"Armed and ready to go," I said.

"Good," she replied. "Do me a favor."

"What would that be?" I asked.

"Don't get yourself killed," she said.

"No promises," I said. "But I'll try."

She stayed silent for a minute, before telling me to give them hell. Then she hung up.

"What was that about?" Kai asked.

"Every good backup plan deserves a backup plan of its own," I said, vaguely. "Anyway, Kallaway tells me your training is going well."

"Yeah," Kai said. "Even Tony thinks I've made a lot of progress."

"Good," I said.

Then without warning, I teleported behind him and tripped him with the hook of my cane. He fell properly, rolling into a crouch and turning back to me as my cane came down on him, colliding with his bracer, which he had already brought up to defend himself. He drew the bokken Tony gave him and swung up, but I had already teleported again, back to his other side. I put all my weight on my good leg, gripped my cane in both hands, and swung at him from the side. He spun around, planted his weight firmly, and deflected the attack. I brought the cane down one last time, clashing with his bokken. But this time, I put some weight on my bad leg, while triggering my red form as I did. As the pain rippled through my leg, a surge of strength went through my body, adding to the force of my blow. Kai was able to hold the full force of my attack back with his own weapon, and stood his ground. I smiled a bit, and relaxed my stance.

"Excellent," I said, backing off.

I turned away, and got my thoughts in order. I had been meaning to bring something up for a while now, but hadn't been sure how to go about it.

"You know," I said, glancing over my shoulder. "I recently had an internship open up..."

"Huh?" Kai asked.

"Just something to think about...," I said. "Anyway..."

I stepped away, picking up the crutch I had been using as a temporary replacement for my cane.

"You or Royce should hold onto this," I said. "Just ion case somebody gets hurt enough to need it."

"Good idea," Kai said, taking it from me. "Always good to have a backup plan, right?"

"Right," I confirmed.

Not long after that, we met up with the others. Kallaway was getting off the phone with someone I couldn't identify, Lance was prepping some weapons, the Biker and Phantasm were enchanging judging looks at each other, Sera was having a chat with Royce and Paris, and Tony as his crew were loading up some things onto the bus.

"We don't have much time," I said. "Everyone get things sorted, then we gotta move."

I went to talk to Kallaway, while everyone else stated wrapping up their preparations. I think I saw Lance approach Kai about something. I don't know.

"Sup?" Kallaway asked me.

"Oh, you know," I said. "Pre-war stress. Was that someone important?"

"Dyson," Kallaway said. "Trying to get some advice from him. Not much luck. Ben's being cryptic as all hell too."

"Makes sense," I said. "When you know things about the future, who have be careful what you tell to who."

"I know," he said. "Speaking of... I've tried looking into the future a bit. I can't make a lot of sense of it... but I saw Tyler. And... you."

"What did you see?" I asked.

"You were fighting," he said. "And you were both..."

He was scared. I could see it in his face.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"You were both... actively trying to kill each other," Kallaway said. "It was as though... you'd given up on him."

I rested a hand on Kallaway's shoulder.

"I haven't," I said. "And I won't. I'm going to bring him back."

"And what if that changes?" Kallaway asked.

"You can't believe everything the visions show you," I said. "Sometimes you just have to believe things will work out."

He sighed.

"I trust you," he said. "I really do. But I'm still worried."

"It'll be fine," I said. "Besides. When you know something about the future, that gives you the opportunity to change it."

"I hope you're right," he said.

Yeah, I thought to myself. I hope so too...

"Let's get going, all right," I said. "We'll pull this off, somehow."

Kallaway nodded.

And with that, we got going.

Tyler... I'm coming for you. I will get through to you. Somehow...

The Doctor's Army

 Daniel returned earlier, with Justin and the Bloody Biker with him. I gave a nervous glance at the Biker before addressing Daniel.

"I don't see the Demi God Hunter anywhere," I noted.

"He prefers it that way," Daniel replied. "I'ma head inside and grab my spare labcoat."

"Does that one also have mustards stains?" I asked.

"Shut up," he informed me, and went inside.

Justin finished up attaching his scythe arm and followed him in, leaving me alone with the biker. He approached me, with a sadistic smile on his face. I stood my ground.

"Heya, buddy," He said. "How's that cheek of yours doing?"

"Fine," I said. "No thanks to you."

He chuckled at that, and grabbed my shoulder with one hand.

"You should be proud of it," he said. Then, he leaned in closer, right up to my ear, squeezing tightly, and added "I leave worse wounds on those who fail to impress me."

I tried not to shudder. Tried...

He released his grip and turned to his solid steel bike, raising a hand toward . And the bike just... melted. It became a stream of floating liquid metal, that slowly reformed itself into a length of chain, which wove toward him, wrapping around him several times, like a pageant shash. He then turned around, and entered the base. I let out a breath I didn't realize I had been holding, and entered as well.

Seraph, Phantasm, Paris, Royce and Kai were standing around in the room, observing the Biker quietly as he took the place in. He turned and briefly addressed Phantasm.

"Been a while," he said.

"Traitor," Phantasm replied in a stiff voice.

"Knob head," the biker replied.

"Sellout," Phantasm retorted.

"Tosser," the Biker said.

Their conversation ended there. So, I guess they're acquainted. Also, weird hearing those particular insults in an American accent...

"Where's everyone else at?" I asked.

"Justin went to join Tony and his crew in the main lab," Seraph informed me. "Daniel's in his room, getting some stuff."

There were a couple minutes where little was said or done. Then Daniel walked back in. He had a new labcoat on (which also had a noticeable mustard stain that he'll be mad at me for mentioning" and had something odd slung over one shoulder. He was also dragging the large sword he had crafted using the Empty City's power behind him, its runes glowing a bright periwinkle from HELLFIRE's presence.

He paused for a moment, leaned the sword against a table, and tossed me the thing over his shoulder. I examined it. It was some kind of upper body armor, made of some kind of metal plating in the front, with the back made of chainmail, with a couple slits around the shoulder blades. There was a button attached to a battery pack at the back of the neckline.

"Throw that on under your robes," he told me.

I did as he instructed, removing the Scion robes I got from Dyson. The armor fit me perfectly, as if it were tailor made for me, and the slits in the back were positioned perfectly so I could sprout my wings through them. I put my robes back on over it.

"So, I appreciate the extra defense, but what's with the button?" I asked.

"Give it a try," he said.

I hesitantly did so, and felt a sudden tingle go along my spine. Daniel grabbed the sword, and vanished. I suddenly felt a great deal of weight dragging me down from behind, and I made an instinctive effort to remain upright and regained balance, adjusting to the new weight. My right arm went up, gripping the hilt of the giant weapon that was now magnetically clinging to my back.

"What the Final Fantasy fuck?" I asked.

"Like I said," Daniel said. "I didn't make that sword for me."

With some effort, I tugged the sword off my back and took a stance with it. It was heavier than the Jian I used to wield. This one required both hands to even lift. But something about its large size and weight felt... right. Like this was the type of weapon I was meant to wield.

"Thanks," I said. "Like... seriously."

He clapped me on the shoulder.

"Douitashimashite," he replied.

I racked my brain for a bit. I had heard exchanges between him and Kimiko, so I might be able to figure that one out.

"That's... 'your welcome'?" I asked.

"Obviously," he replied, approaching Phantasm. "So, you must be Phantasm."

"I am," Phantasm muttered.

Daniel cleared his throat and pulled himself to full height, gripping his cane confidently in front of him.

"Your outfit is stupid," he said. "Seriously, how many dark, brooding figures with hoods concealing their features do we really need in this team?"

With that, Phantasm unleashed that weird aura of fear he has. Everyone there buckled to varying degrees from it, but Daniel...

He tensed up for maybe half a second before pulling himself together and grinning up at the offended specter.

"I've been face to face with the Brute," Daniel said. "I handled it's rage quite well. I can handle your fear."

And suddenly, everyone collapse, pain spreading through our bodies. The Biker and I managed to remain mostly upright, but Seraph, who was used to dodging attacks, and Royce and Kai, who hadn't built up the same pain tolerance as me, were barely on their knees. I caught another sound above us, that I couldn't quite identify.

Daniel simply switched to red mode, embracing the pain and drawing from it.

"Yeah, nice try," Daniel said. "But it'll take more than that."

The aura of pain ended, and a set of hidden claws concealed inside of Phantasms sleeves extended, depositing a pair of folding pistols in his hands, before retreating. The guns unfolded.

I'm not going to call what happened next a fight. Because I know Daniel too well at this point. He's a lot of things. Dangerous. Kind of an asshole. Cocky, stubborn, and with enough power to back it all up.

But he is, first and foremost, a scientist.

This was an experiment.

Phantasm began shooting at Daniel, who held up the red power, and teleported around, dodging the gunshots at a bit of a distance, while silently counting each shot fired. It wasn't until the 24th shot that he intentionally allowed himself to be hit. The bullet struck his chest. While the red power impeeded the impact of the bullet enough to avoid any real damage, he dropped to his knees for a few seconds, overwhelmed by shear terror.

Terror which lasted just long enough for Phantasm to discard his spent clips. Then he shook the fear off, rose to his feet, cane planted firmly, and announced "Excellent! I quite like the data I've collected."

Phantasm paused while reaching for his extra clips.

"What?" he asked.

Daniel clear his throat.

"The aura that this man uses to inflict feelings onto others isn't limited to emotional feelings, but physical ones as well," he said. "Furthermore, he is able to compress that aura into his bullets to achieve an amplified effect in whoever he shoots. Correct?"

Phantasm reloaded his guns, a frown on his face.

"You were sizing me up...," he said.

"And I've concluded that you might actually be useful," Daniel replied. "But, I'm not done expe-"

Before Daniel could finish his sentence, the Demi God Hunter dropped from the rafters above him,  armed with his glaive, and sung directly down at him. Daniel, hearing the sudden movement above him, teleported elsewhere. The Hunter, braced himself for the fall, pulling back on his attack, so as to avoid slamming his weapon against the solid ground that Daniel has just occupied.

The first thing the Hunter did after that was charge at me. I tried to fight back with my new sword, but he effortlessly disarmed me, slammed the staff part of his glaive into my throat, and then tripped me, and slammed some rigid part of his body into my solar plexus.

I didn't see what happened to the Biker, but I heard him exclaim "Bloody Hell! Not again!" Followed by a loud thump. I managed to raise my head enough to see Seraph engage him and disarm his glaive, only for him to dodge her attacks and hit a couple nerve, causing her to keel over.

He drew his side weapon, which looked like a metal pipe with a sword hilt and turned to Phantasm. Phantasm unleashed his fear aura, which the Hunter simply shrugged off. The Hunter closed in, dodging a couple bullets as he did. Phantasm unleashed his pain aura again, causing everyone to collapse even further, but the Hunter only shuddered briefly before continuing his attack.

He closed the distance, and swung the pipe upward, making contact with Phantasms jaw. The clang the pipe made was way louder than was reasonably possible, ringing in the ears of everyone in the room. Phantasm went down to his knees, clutching his skull with both hands, and crying out in pain.

The Hunter simply stood still for a moment, as if waiting. This gave Kai, who was further from the shockwave of noise, to regain his composure. Then, in a bold move, he picked up the bokken from the floor behind him, and charged at the Hunter. The Hunter caught the wooden blad in a gloved hand and turned to face Kai.

"Settle down, child," he said calmly. "I have no qualms with ordinary humans. It's these empowered monsters that I aim to-"

There was a sudden change in the air. The Hunter tossed Kai out of the way of an incoming force, and barely dodged it himself. What was less a bullet, and more a concentrated spear of rage and destruction, flew past his, scorching the chest of his outfit, and striking the wall behind them, exploding in a sphere that left a giant hold, removing a large circle of the wall, as well as some of the floor and ceiling.

The Hunter, regaining his composure, turned back to face Phantasm, who had gone through a sudden wardrobe change. His black clothing had been replaced by jet black armor plates, and his hooded cloak was made entirely out of blackened chainmail. And his gun... His guns were fucking massive. I didn't understand how he could hold them in one hand, let alone have one casually lifted directly towards the Hunter's skull, without any sign of struggling against the weight.

"My power, as an Emissary, is defined as 'Escalation'," Phantasm calmly explained. "I have a number of forms I can escalate between, each with an Emissary power of its own."

The Hunter stood his ground, defiantly gripping his weapon. He had a hand hovering near one of his pockets, ready to draw something else out of it.

"My default form possesses a power known as 'Aura'," Phantasm explained. "The good doctor already summed up how it works. This form, my second, possesses the power titles 'Destroyer'."

His finger hovered over the trigger, as he turned his head to face the Hunter's.

"How curious are you to learn the full meaning behind that title?"

Before anything else could happed, Daniel teleported between them.

"That enough!" he demanded, slamming his cane firmly on the floor.

Phantasm and the Hunter slowly eased up, with Phantasm eventually reverting to his previous form. I looked around at everyone else. Kai was okay, Seraph was recovering from the nerve attacks, and the Biker was recovering from a slit throat, which explained what I had missed happening to him. Apparently he's immortal or some shit...

"That was an excellent demonstration," Daniel said, before turning to Seraph. "You good?"

"No warning?" she asked.

"Wouldn't be a surprise attack otherwise," he said. "Even I didn't know when exactly he was planning to drop in."

"Of fucking course," Seraph scoffed.

"I am sorry," Daniel said. "But I needed to give a proper test to make sure everyone's ready for this, and he agreed to avoid killing any of us. And you all passed the test quite well."

"Seriously?" the Hunter asked. "They went down like-"

"Soldiers," Daniel interrupted. "They got caught off guard. They fought. They did their best. They lost. A defeat more than common amongst people going into battle. Everyone here is ready for the upcoming war."

"Even the kid?" the Hunter asked, gesturing to Kai.

Daniel laughed hard at that.

"Are you kidding me?" Daniel asked. "That 'kid' had the shear balls to stand up to you after you kicked the asses of every superpowered being in the room."

Kai blushed, and backed away a little bit. Daniel averted his gaze, staring off at nothing in particular.

"I'm down an intern," he mention. "Just... anyway..."

He straightened up.

"There's a war coming, and I don't know when our what's going to happen. But i'm confident that the group we've gathered together can make a difference."

There was some chattering amongst ourselves for a couple minutes, before Elie nervously opened the front door.

"Uh, hey... have things calmed down?" He asked. "I heard a bunch of battle noises, and a wall's gone..."

"S'all good," Daniel said. "Come on in."

Elie entered, with Jane and Kimiko in tow.

"Sup?" Daniel asked.

"We have a problem," Elie stated. "My blueprints were... um... stolen."

"Again?" Daniel asked.

"Not the Extractor blueprints, this time," Elie said. "I um... I don't want you to be mad about this, but..."

Daniel turned to Elie scowling.

"Have you been working on an Enhancer!?" he demanded.

"No!" Elie said. "... wasn't building one, but I was studying your own work on it, and trying to brainstorm ideas to possiblycreate a safer version of it."

Daniel glared furiously, before forcing himself to calm down.

"So, what you're saying is, someone has the knowledge to potentially supercharge Demi-Gods without risk of blowing them up along with everything in the area?" he asked.

"Yes," Elie said. "And... I know who has it..."

Daniel's expression shifted between curious, then angry, and then depress, as a realization hit him. He didn't need Elie to tell him. He could guess.

"Tyler...," he muttered.

Before Elie could respond, Daniel's phone rang. He answered it swiftly.

"Hello?" he asked. "Oh, Professor."

"Ben?" I asked.

Daniel nodded once before continuing.

"What?" he asked. "When and where? Okay. Yeah, gotcha. We'll be there, armed and ready."

He paused for a moment.

"What do mean, my lab?" he asked, before his eyes widened, and he vanished, dropping his phone to the floor. I swiped it up, speaking into it.

"Ben? I asked. "What's going-"

"Follow him," Ben replied quickly. "Bring Sera. Wake up the detective and the medic first."

He then hung up. I turned to Seraph.

"We need to get to the lab," I said.

She nodded, turned to the others, and demanded "Nobody kill each other till we get back!"

We both rushed to the lab to find all of Solar Progeny unconscious on the floor.

Daniel stood before a shadowy vortex on the wall, that was slowly closing into nothingness. I remembered Ben's words, and ran to Tony's side.

"Seraph, take care of-" I said.

"Ciel first," Seraph interrupted. "I know, we need her up first to help fix all the wounds and stuff. Ain't my first shit show, dude."

I gave Tony a gentle shake.

"Hey, buddy?" I asked. "You good?"

"Tony's eyes fluttered awake.

"I'm sorry," He said. "Dawson and Tyler... a couple others... Caught us off-guard. Couldn't stop them..."

"What did they take?" Daniel asked. His words were colder than I was expecting from him.

Tony coughed a little bit. Seraph had gotten Ciel up, and the two of them were now assisting Justin and Terrence.

"Samples," Tony gasped quietly.

Daniel rushed to where his samples were kept. I patted Tony on the shoulder briefly before going to join him.

"All the samples are here, right?" I asked, running my gaze across them.

"The samples themselves are, but..." He said, opening up a drawer on the desk bellow them. I saw all of the Cells he had Extracted energy into. "No..." he muttered.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Red Cap," he muttered. "Azoth. Vision. Valravn. Convocation. All missing. And... Brute..."

"Oh no," I muttered.

"Those energies are all incredibly unstable," Daniel said. "The Brute's most of all. There's no telling what kind of damage they can do with all of that..."

"We need to stop then," I said.

Daniel thought for a moment, then shook his head.

"One thing at a time," he said. "Malkator told me the time and place to attack the forest. And it's soon. Our team is ready. We need to act on that for now. And I'm sure... positive that Dawson and his cohorts will clash with us along the way. When we do, we'll take care of them. And Tyler..."

He took a deep breathe, held it for a few seconds, and let it all out.

"I'll get through to him," he said. "Somehow. I'm going to get my intern back."

I gave him a pat on the back.

"I know you will," I said.

I turned back to Tony and approached him.

"You okay?" I asked.

"More or less," he said.

"What can you tell me?" I asked.

"Dawson phased them all in with his shadow magic," Tony said. "We fought. We lost. They took some of the samples. Daniel showed up just before I lost consciousness. He saw them. Then they left."

"This is like the ambush from before," I said. "But they timed it wrong. He had gotten back when they still expected him to be gone."

Tony shook his head.

"No," he said. "They timed it perfectly. They wanted this. They wanted Daniel to catch them, right as they were leaving. They wanted him to see them. So that they could rub their victory in his face."

"None of that matters," Daniel snapped. "Ciel!"

Ciel snapped up at attention. Justin and Terrence were conscious, but still out of it.

"Wounds!" Daniel barked. "Treatment. Now!"

Ciel nodded and whipped out her medical kit. Daniel turned his back and headed out to where the others were. I gave a last look at Tony, who Seraph was patching up, before I followed.

Daniel faced everyone, and addressed them.

"We have a lot of problems," he said. "One of which includes a man empowered by Nightlanders and my former intern, who's got a shapeshifting tree in place of his right arm. But we'll deal with them when we cross them. For now, our focus is on the forest, and the beings being corrupted by it. They're the reason I called in an expert on dealing with metahumans."

"I don't trust Demi Gods," the Hunter said. "That includes the lot of you. But at the very least, you all aren't feral. Which is something I can't say about these Green Men. They're savage, and that makes them more of a threat. They need to be stopped, along with this damned forest, before they spread further and do more harm. That's the only reason I'm siding with any of you."

Daniel nodded.

"Go get some rest," he said. "Build up your strength. We don't have much time left. We need to be ready to attack when we need to. Sleeping bags are in that room. Sorry I can't give better accommodations, but I'm on a budget, here.

Everyone left to get their sleeping situation sorted out. I stuck around.

"You okay?" I asked.

Daniel thought for a few seconds.

"You know how shit hit the fan back in Seattle?" he asked.

"We titled 3 posts after it, so yeah," I said.

"I think something much grosser is about to hit something spinning a lot faster," he said. He sighed, and followed up with "Are we ready for this?"

"Fuck no, we aren't," I said. "But back in Seattle, I saw part of you I didn't think existed. You did the right thing. You pushed yourself beyond your breaking point to save as many people as possible."

"Only because you were there to nudge me the right way," he said. "I would have just bailed if you weren't there."

"We were in it together back there," I said. "And we're in it together again."

I gave his arm a gentle punch.

"We've got this," I said confidently.

He hesitated, before clicking the switch on his cane, drawing the concealed sword out a couple inches. He examined it thoughtfully, before smiling to himself, and re-sheathing it.

"Yeah," he said. "We do. Now, let's go check up on Tony and the others."

"Yeah," I agreed, stretching a bit and letting out a tired yawn. "And after that, let's get some of that 'rest' you were talking about earlier."

Evil Task Force of Doom

 There were some preparations I needed to make before meeting with the Biker. Specifically, I needed to have something constructed for me by an Oathbreaker. I'm certainly not proud about doing business with him, but there are plenty of necessary evils in this world. And if I wanted to get the biker on my side, this was one of them.

I was able to get in touch with the Biker and arrange a meeting with him. Justin and I arrived outside Ozzy's, where the meeting would take place, and waited. The item I had commissioned from that Oathbreaker was lain out on the ground, covered with a sheet.

"Is it weird that you've had that thing for 3 days, and I'm still creeped out by it?" Justin asked.

"I'd find it concerning if you weren't," I replied.

We waited in silence for about a quarter hour, before a solid steel bike pulled up before us. The Bloody Biker dismounted it and approached me.

"So, you wanted my help?" he asked.

"That's right," I said. "I'm building a team to do something about the forest."

"How much are you offering?" he asked.

"I'm afraid I can't offer you any money," I informed him.

"Then why the hell are you wasting my time?" he asked.

"I have something more valuable to offer you," I said, gesturing to the covered object next to me. The Biker raised an eyebrow.

"Is that so?" he asked, flicking out his tongue for a moment. "Let's see it then."

I nodded, and tore the sheet away, revealing the figure beneath it.

Before us lay the lifeless figure of a young girl, around 10 years old. She was dressed in a plain white gown, had eerily pale skin, and shoulder length white hair. Justin was visibly disturbed.

The Biker flicked his tongue out briefly, and took a moment to process what was before him. Slowly, a look of recognition crossed over his features.

"Sylvia?" he muttered to himself.

A second later, his blade was at my throat, and he snarled at me.

"What is this!?" he demanded.

"I commissioned it to look as similar to her as possible," I said.

"You think you can buy my loyalty with some cheap doll made in my sister's image!?" he snarled. I could feel his sword pressing closer against my skin.

"It's not a doll, and it sure as hell wasn't cheap," I informed him. "It's a homunculus."

I felt his rip on the sword loosen a bit, and he gave me a confused look.

"A homunculus?" he asked.

"An artificial body," I explained. "There's only one man in the world, Dr. Luigi Helthead, who has any skill in their construction. Partially mechanical, but mostly organic. It will age naturally once activated. Right now, all it's missing..."

I raised hand, as black mist began swirling around my fingers.

"Is a soul," I finished.

I teleported to the other side of him while he processed that, and knelt down over the homunculus, and hovered my hand over its face.

"It's time to wake up, Sylvia," I said, and the black mist flowed into the lifeless body. "It's time to meet your brother."

The homunculus shuddered suddenly, as its eyes snapped open. Color slowly came to its skin, and its white hair turned a a light brunette. its eyes, initially pale, shifted to a bright blue.

Sylvia Monroe blinks slowly a few times, adjusting to her new body. She sat up, and looked around a bit, before her eyes fell on the Biker.

"Damien?" she asked. "Is it really you?"

He hesitated for a while, before slowly removing his blindfold, getting a look at her with his real eyes.

"Syl...," he said, before his expression turned serious. "Favorite color?"

"Magenta," she replied.

"Favorite animal?"

"Turtles."

"Favorite food?"

"Waffles!" she replied ecstatically. "With extra syrup, and-"

"Strawberries," the Biker finished for her. "It really is you.."

He dropped to his knees, at a loss for words, it seemed. Sylvia stepped forward and ruffled his hair, smiling.

"You've changed a lot," she said. "I remember you being the little sibling."

He smiled a little, for just a second, before his expression turned dark.

"I'm not who I used to be," he said. "I'm not the little kid you used to know. Everything started changing after you died. I..."

He looked her in the eyes, looking serious. The pentagrams burned into his eyes glowed fiercely.

"I hurt people," he said. "I kill them. And I enjoy every moment of it."

"I know," she said.

He gazed back at her, confusion spreading over his face.

"You do?" he asked.

"Doctor Ferris told me everything," she said.

"Yeah, she's been living inside my head for a while," I said. "HELLFIRE's found it really awkward, seeing as he was partially responsible for her death."

"The Dying Man shard?" the Biker asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yep," I said.

The Biker considered that for a moment.

"That explains a lot," he said. "I'll have to have words with Ben..."

Sylvia ruffled his hair again.

"You're still my baby brother," she told him. "But you need to stop hurting people."

"That's gonna be difficult," I said. "We've got a war on our hands. In war, people get hurt. People hurt each other. He's particularly good at that. Which is why I need his help."

The Biker straightened up.

"Right," he said. "That."

He thought for a minute, before turning to me.

"You've named your price," he said. "And quite frankly..."

He waved a hand dramatically.

"It beats out Kraken," he said. "Fuck those guys, the cheap bastards."

He offered me a hand.

"I want in," he said.

I shook his hand.

"Glad to have you on board," I replied.

"So," came another, familiar voice. The newcomer sounded a lot like Karl from Law of Talos, only older, and a bit more sinister, if you can imagine that.

A man was standing on the roof of Ozzy's shop, looking down at us. He was dressed in a heavy looking hooded longcoat, hood up and concealing his face. He was armed with a long glaive, and what appeared to be a steel pipe attached to a sword hilt sheathed at his side.

The Demi God hunter.

I'll be honest, I don't actually know this guy's name, so let's call him... Lance.

"I've got you selling an experimental virus to a known Oathbreaker in exchange for a custom made homunculus," Lance said. "Collaborating with a violent mercenary with an ever growing list of kills, and..."

He glanced at Sylvia.

"Literal necromancy," he finished. "You just keep giving me reasons to kill you."

Okay, I didn't want everyone there knowing what I had to give Helthead in exchange for the creepy little robot girl, but I guess it's out there now...

In my defense, I also gave a sample to the SMSC and Trias (got to see the moose again, that was fun) so a vaccine/cure should be out there before Helthead can actually do any harm with it.

Anyway, putting aside the aforementioned necessary evil, let's get back to the encounter...

Lance jumped down from the roof. He seemed to be wearing some kind of specially designed shoes, because not only did they absorb the impact of the fall, but they seemed to redistribute the energy from it, propelling him forwards. He attacked me with his glaive.

Now, I'm really not joking about him being a professional Demi God hunter. He goes up against super powered people regularly. And that takes a great deal of skill, equipment, and training. This guy's good.

The best I could do was evade his attacks, occasionally steeping into the God's Way to gain some distance. I tried throwing a fireball at him, only for it to glance uselessly off of his evidently fireproof coat. I tried to hit him with an ice attack, only for him to counter with a miniature wrist mounted flame thrower. Where did he even get one of those?

Then  he tossed a handful of what appeared to be marbles at me. A few of them missed me, but most of them hit my labcoat and clung to it. Then they all started flashing red and beeping loudly.

Sticky bombs.

Shit.

I could see him smirking beneath his hood as he muttered "Checkmate."

I sighed.

"And I really liked this labcoat..." I said.

And then I did something I rarely do. I stepped into the God's Way...

And left my labcoat behind...

You see, I don't have to bring my clothing with me when I teleport. I only bring what I want to bring. Usually bringing my clothes along is a subconscious effort. But I can still leave things behind if I want to.

I reappeared behind Lance as my coat fell to the ground. Several small explosions tore the thing to shreds. Such a sad sight...

I drew my brand new sword cane, made partially of Newborn steel, and held it up to Lance's neck.

"That was my favorite coat," I growled.

"It was mustard stained," Lance pointed out.

"It was ONE stain!" I said. "Why do people keep drawing attention to it?"

Lance lowered his glaive.

"Do you really want to stop the forest?"he asked me.

"Yes," I said.

He considered things for a minute before speaking again.

"Fine then," he said. "Temporary truce."

I lowered my blade, and returned it to it's cane-sheath. He turned to me.

"Until the forest is dealt with, you have my assistance," he said. "But not my allegiance."

"Fair enough," I said.

He then turned from me, closed the distance between himself and the Biker in a couple seconds, and cleaved through both of the Biker's legs with a single swing of his glaive, causing the Biker to fall to the ground, yelping in pain.

"As for you," Lance said. "You've had that coming since our last meeting, you cunt."

"Whoa!" Justin snapped, gesturing to Sylvia. "There's a fucking kid present! Watch your shitty mouth!"

Lance let out a grunt, and turned his back to us all. The Biker begrudgingly began reattaching his legs, because apparently that's a thing he can do.

"Geez," Justin said, approaching me. "What's his deal?"

"A Demi God killed his little brother," I aid. "Or so I've heard. He's had it out for us ever since."

"Damn...," Justin said.

So yeah. That's how that all played out. We've got some new, sort of allies. Time to regroup with the others, and get a good look at this Phantasm character.

Phantasm

 Kai decided to go through with the training. It hasn't been very long, but he's doing all right. We've been doing unarmed sparring daily, and he's shown noticeable improvement. I don't know how well he's gonna handle himself in a real fight, but I think he's getting there. Tony was there with us today, watching. We decided to take a break, and went over to talk to him.

"How's he looking?" I asked.

"His footwork could use some improvement," he noted. "You oughta teach him how to half-moon properly. He should also do more warm up exercises. Strengthen his rotator muscles. As for you, your unarmed fighting style relies a bit too heavily on elbow strikes and jamming tactics. You should incorporate more reach into it."

I rolled my eyes. Of course he's overly critical.

"You got any other advice for the kid?" I asked.

Tony raised three fingers, and addressed Kai directly.

"There's three things you should always do if you wanna stay alive," he said. "Think rationally. Speak softly. And most importantly..."

He tossed his bokken into Kais arms, surprising him.

"Carry a big stick," Tony finished.

"What about you?" I asked. "Don't you need a big stick too?"

"I got a better one," Tony replied.

He produced, from the table beside him, an actual set of sheathed kodachis. He held one of them up and drew it out a few inches, exposing its bright, silver blade.

"Wow," Kai muttered.

"A real sword, huh?" I asked. "I thought your whole schtick was sparing your opponents or something."

"I prefer non-lethal options, yes," he said. "Mostly legal, and easier for getting information afterwards. However, if war is on the horizon, it might pay to have a lethal option on hand. Besides..."

He returned the blade to its sheath, gripped the hilt with both hands, and demonstrated a proper kendo stance.

"I don't have to draw the blade out," he finished.

I was about to mention that he had a point, but something caught my attention before I could say anything. During my last phone call with Daniel, he said that I should try training my senses, so that I could notice Eldritch energy before getting slapped in the face with it. I've been practicing with Spider Wolfie, which is difficult, because her energy is pretty weak. I have been able to sense it, though, so I seem to have improved somewhat.

I turned my attention to the corner of the room, where I had sensed a presence appear suddenly. Abdalin was standing there, watching us.

Tony followed my gaze, and grabbed his other kodachi, preparing himself.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"I'm here at my bosses request," Abdalin said. "He has elected to remain personally out of the coming conflict. However, he is allowing, and in some cases, encouraging, his Emissaries in this world to confront the forest as they see fit."

I felt another presence manifest besides Abdalin before it became visible. What I saw was a little weird to describe. It was a literal fucking ghost. He was about my size, dressed in long robes that became more transparent towards the ends, and he wore a mask, bearing an eye bound in chains, and the letter A. His hair was down to his waste, and completely lacked color. And I don't mean it was black, or white, or whatever you associate with lacking color. I mean the very concept of color ended where his hair began. It was really weird to look at.

"They're doing a bang up job of that, ain't they?" the ghost said to Abdalin. He sounded a lot like Daniel only less matter-of-fact and sciency and more... goofy and eccentric.

"Even in death, you remain irritating," Abdalin sighed.

"Oh please," the ghost said coyly. "We both know your boss would get lonely without me."

The ghost turned his attention to me.

"Hya, kiddo," he said. "Heard you broke my old sword."

It suddenly clicked with me who this guy was. If the Proto-Godslayer was his sword, then that would make him...

"You're-" I managed to get out, before Tony spoke up.

"Marshal Wayne Smith," Tony said. "Better known as the Ace of Chaos. Time traveler, discoverer of Chaos Mana, and the Game Master's arch-rival. The man who cheated death enough times to win the Goddess of Destiny's heart. Blew yourself up trying to kill a Dying Man shard. Silvermit survived that incident, by the way."

The ghost remained silent for a moment, before turning back to Abdalin and saying "I like this weirdo."

Holy shit, I was talking to the ghost of my ancestor.

"Um... wow," I muttered. "Hi. Um... sorry about... the sword..."

"S'all good," Marshall replied. "I have a better one somewhere. I just have know idea about its current location."

"Why are you two here?" Tony demanded.

"Oh, I like spying on people with my ghost powers," Marshall said. "'Specially my Descendants."

"Wait, so how long have you been watching me?" I asked.

"Long enough to know you've got chemistry with that cute Japanese girl you're always hanging out with," he said. "Fun fact; her dad was borderline immortal before he died."

"Um... okay...," I said, feeling somewhat violated.

"As for me," Abdalin said. "I've come to talk business. As I mentioned earlier, my boss is encouraging certain Emissaries to counteract the forest. He has also learned that your acquaintance, Dr. Ferris, is aspiring to build a small army of Demi-Gods to combat the forest directly."

Tony shot me a look that I think was some kind of warning, while Marshall cocked his head to the side.

"Yeah, he is," I said. "What about it?"

"My boss is offering the service of one Emissary in particular to contribute to your cause," Abdalin said.

"So you're offering our army an additional soldier?" I asked.

"Precisely," Abdalin said.

"Which one?" Marshall asked, sounding a lot less silly all of a sudden.

Abdalin remained slent for a few seconds, seemingly preparing himself for what was about to unfold. Then he spoke a single name.

"Phantasm."

Marshall immediately flipped from cooky magical goofball to absolutely terrifying. The lights flickered, and Kai took cover behind me as the ghost raised his now distorted-by-Eldritch-power voice.

"HELL NO!" he bellowed directly in Abdalin's face. "How much of my Descendant's blood is on that monster's hands!?"

Abdalin, remaining stone faced and calm, shot back "How much of our Emissaries' blood is on yours?"

"Not nearly enough," Marshall retorted, in a menacing hiss.

Abdalin scofffed.

"Like it or not, you don't get a say in the matter," he said. "You aren't even alive to stop any of this. Phantasm is already on his way."

With that, I noticed yet another source of power approaching us. I turned towards the door, and everybody followed my gaze. In walked a man clad in loose fitting black clothing, along with a hooded robe obscuring most of his features.

"You!" Marshall hissed angrily.

"Hello, Chaos," the cloaked man said. "How are the wife and kids?"

I couldn't see his face, but I could hear, and even feel the smirk in his voice.

Silverlight flaired from Marshall's body, as if his anger was physically flaring up.

"If I had a physical body-!" Marshal growled.

"I would strike it down," the cloaked man interrupted.

Marshall remained silent for a while, but everyone in the room could still feel the rage he was giving off. Then he relaxed his ghost body a bit, placed one arm behind his back, and raised the other hand to move his mask slightly, enough to expose one eye, which was glowing a bright, pinkish-purple.

"I've got my eye on you," he muttered, as his body slowly faded away. "You miserable cunt..."

Marshall vanished completely, but I could still feel his power, and even more, his wrath. He really hated this guy...

"Pleasant as always," the cloaked man said, approaching me. "David Kallaway. My name is Phantasm. I will be working together with you an the Doctor."

"Fine then," I replied. "But don't go trying anything funny."

"Very well," the man said, turning to Tony. "You there. Get me some whiskey. Something strong."

"You're not in charge-," Tony began to retort, but something shifted in the atmosphere of the room.

A shiver of fear ran down my spine, Kai fell to his knees, terrified, Tony almost fell over as well, and even Abdalin seemed to flinch a bit. Phantasm had done something, and I'm not sure what, but everyone there was suddenly shaking in fear.

"Now," Phantasm said.

The sense of fear lifted, and Tony hesitatingly left the room to fulfill this guys request.

"You are truly a sadist," Abdalin said.

"Naturally," Phantasm said, taking a seat.

"I'll leave you to it," Abdalin said, before vanishing.

So, Phantasm's with us now. I don't know quite what to make of this guy. What I do know, is that judging by Marshall's reaction to him, this man is responsible for the deaths of several Descendant's. Several of my family members.

Every instinct I have is telling me not to trust this guy. And, like Tony advised, I think I should follow those instincts.

The Florida Story

 The story I'm about to tell took place several year ago. My Extractor wasn't complete yet, I still had two functional legs, and Justin still had two functional arms. Tony was still getting his detective business off the ground, and making contacts in the Runner community who he could exchange information with, and help get the word out about his services.

He had picked up a rumor about an instance of the Manufactured Newborn in a small town in Florida. He asked me for a favor, in exchange for a Convocation feather he had manage to procure for me. So, I went to speak to the newly appointed Professor Malkator. I knew right off the bat that he was an oddball, and the staff pretty much just left him to his own devices. I didn't learn about him being the Descendant of a Goddess and a sorcerer until later.

But, I trusted the guy, so I asked him about methods of sealing a dangerous sample of Eldritch power. To my surprise, he knew I'd ask, and had one prepared. He handed me a mason jar engraved with a large number of symbols. He explained that the symbols drew in power from nearby Fears, and used that power to fuel their intended purpose. In this case, the symbols were meant to contain Eldritch forces.

He handed me the jar, along with a wakizashi. The weapon's sheath had been cut through at some point, and crudely gorilla glued back together. He told me its name was burner, it would listen to me if I commanded it to burn, and before handing it to me, he whispered to it to go along with me for now, and said he'd need it back when I was done.

He told me I would need them both.

As I couldn't teleport yet, Justin drove his bike up to the AMU, and we took a road trip to Florida from there. Took a hot minute, and my teachers weren't too happy about me taking time off from my classes without giving them an explanation, but I was doing pretty good in class, so they let it slide.

So, we got to the place we needed to be before the Newborn could grow too much. Unfortunately for us, we weren't the only ones after it. A group of sword wielding men, who I'm now realizing were probably Kraken, attacked us over it. A fight broke out.

Justin wielding an actual fucking scythe back then. And he was good with it. He used a reverse grip (for some reason) and train frequently with it, to the point he was referred to as the Reaper. I drew the wakizashi Malkator had giving me, and to my surprise, it really did burst into flames when I told it to burn.

This was before I got into the habit of describing all the details of the absurd fights I get into, so I'll give you all the cliff notes. We managed to drive/scare them off, but not before one of them sliced clean through Justin's forearm. We got him to the hospital, and he was taken care of. While he was recovering, I managed to track down the Newborn and contain it, before returning to visit him in the hospital.

He stayed silent for a few day, seemingly processing what had just happened, and how it would affect the rest of his life. I honestly felt really bad. I felt I was somewhat responsible for this. Eventually we actually spoke about it. He said he'd be fine. Eventually. He had spent a brief period of time with a death cult, who tried to teach him that his life belonged to their god, and that dying for it was the highest honor.

He obviously doesn't feel that way him self, but he's willing to make small sacrifices if it's for the people he cares about. He was sure he'd be able to get over his arm. In the end, we had succeeded, and secured the Newborn before it could become a problem.

But, as he told me, the biggest thing that was bugging him was that he wouldn't be able to use a scythe anymore, as it required both hands. Which caused me to remember that we had passed a local blacksmith/weapon maker. So, I paid him a visit, and requested a special commission.

A kusarigama is a Japanese weapon consisting of a Kama, a type of miniature scythe, attached to a chain with a weight on the other end. I asked the weapon maker if he could make something like that, but with some kind of clip in place of the weight.

He threw exactly that together in the space of five minutes using items he already had on hand. He gave me a discount, for giving him such a unique request, and told me to come see him again if I had any other ideas he could try out.

I brought the weapon to Justin once he was released, clipped one end of it to his pant's belt loop, and handed him the handle of the Kama. He was ecstatic to receive it, and immediately gave it a test throw at some nearby garbage.

Turns out, he had terrible aim. He missed completely and got the blade lodged in a tree trunk. But that didn't stop him. He had a cool new scythe he could use one handed, and he was determined to get good at using it. And, after a shit ton of practice, he's gotten pretty good and handling it at both melee and long-range. Still uses a reverse grip up close, though.

I told you this story for a few reasons. Explaining how I got the Baby, how Justin lost his arm and got his trademark weapon, and revealing how I became acquainted with Harry Osbourne. No, not that Harry Osbourne, though I do suspect his parent's were comic junkies. No, this Harry Osbourne, who I affectionately call Ozzy, is the weapon maker from this story.

I've done a lot of business with him over the years since, as has Solar Progeny. He made my old sword cane, he carved Tony's signature bokken from the sturdiest wood he could get his hands on, and, most recently, he made Justin's prosthetic scythe hand. The guy's a damn good smith, and loves making unique weapons, even giving me discounts when I come with him with interesting requests.

He also knows all about the Fears. Servant's and runners alike often come to him, asking for tools to hunt and/or defend themselves with. He doesn't pick sides in the struggle, but he does have a few favorite customers. And guess who that list includes.

Justin gave me some support as we walked into his shop, and he greeted us enthusiastically.

"Danny! Justin!" he said. "How you dude's doing?"

"Still missing a couple limbs between us," Just said, chuckling. "You?"

"Still got all mine," Ozzy replied. "What are you boys needing today?"

"A few things, actually," I said. "First off, I'm in need of a new cane."

"I'll hook you up," he said. "Any special requests?"

I produced the Baby from my coat and placed in on the counter between us. He raised an eyebrow.

"The Baby?" he asked. "You want me to work that into it?"

"If you can," I said.

"Don't you go underestimating me," he warned, examine the Baby up close. "Yeah, I should be able to do something with this. Just give me some time."

"There's another matter I need to discuss," I said. "Sera informed me that the situation regarding the forest is likely to escalate into all out war."

"I've heard," he replied.

"This forest is a serious threat," I said. "Not only that, but a supernatural threat. And there's no telling how many Fears are going to take part in the conflict."

"So how can I help?" he asked.

"A supernatural threat requires supernatural countermeasures," I said. "I need an army of Demi-Gods."

"Sorry," he replied. "I do business with literally two other Demi-God's, and I don't have their contact info."

"But you do do business with a Demi-God hunter," I reminded him.

He raised a brow.

"That guy?" he asked. "How many times has he tried you kill you?"

"Thrice," I said. "He gets closer every time, but I keep enough of my powers secret that I can catch him off guard in the end. I admire his skill. He's clever. researches all his targets and arms himself accordingly. Apparently the SMSC recruited him to bring HELLFIRE in. HELLFIRE says he wields a crazy fire proof spear. Sounds like something you would make."

"It's a glave composed of a heat resistant tungsten alloy," Ozzy growled in annoyance. IF there's one thing he can't stand, it's weapon illiteracy.

"If he respects me as well, he might be willing to hear me out," I said. "I've provided him plenty of challenges in the past."

"I'll send him a text, see if he'll be down to meet up," Ozzy said. "Anyone else in mind?"

"A mercenary," I said. "He's currently employed by Kraken, but I think I have a way of beating whatever price their paying him."

"You aren't seriously think of recruiting the Bloody fucking Biker, are you?" Justin asked. "After what happened with Kallaway, do you really think that's a good idea?"

"He considers Kallaway a rival now," I said. "If there's a chance for a potential rematch, he might be willing. We just need to work out payment. And for that, I need to meet with the Archangel. Know anyone who can help with that?"

Ozzy looked over my shoulder, as the doors behind me opened.

"You know that one phrase?" Ozzy asked. "Speak of the Devil..."

"And he shall appear," came Rillek's voice from behind me.

I turned, to see him there, carrying a damaged machete/ Justin tensed up at his presence.

"Justin," he said. "Daniel. I'm assuming I fit into the conversation you've been having somehow."

"Rillek," I said. "I didn't know you did business here."

"Machetes are a rather satisfying weapon," he said. "But they can only take so much."

"Because you always get the cheap shit," Ozzy said. "I could make you a much more durable one, you know."

"I'm on a budget, Osbourne," Rillek replied, going to browse some of the weapons Ozzy had on display. "So, why is my sudden presence so convenient?"

"I need to see you boss," I said. "The big man."

"Unlikely," Rillek said. "He won't come at might call. I've only ever met him a couple times."

He turned to face me.

"Why don't you kill me where I stand?" he asked. "That may draw his attention."

"Yeah, not doing that," I said. "You must know some way to set up a meeting."

"I'm afraid not," Rillek said. "I guess you could cross your fingers and hope he magically shows-"

"ENOUGH!"

The lights flickered, and black mist began curling over the floor. Ozzy let out a soft "Not again" and Rillek hurriedly picked a weapon and went to check out, realizing what was about to happen.

A second later, I was face to face with my Grandfather. Fucking Archangel, pulling that shit...

The Archangel is the afterlife. A walking version of it. He/it claims the souls of anyone who dies, and it's not pleasant. Additionally, it can take the form of anyone it's claimed. And it was choosing to face me in the form of my grandfather. Jackass.

"Archie," I said, shoving down all the emotions. IT was time to talk business.

"Doctor," the Angel replied. "You've attained my power, by tearing the clothes I gave to Malkator. Dick move on your part."

"Says the guy wearing my grandfather as a Halloween costume," I replied. "I need to asked something of you."

"Cutting to the chase?" it asked. "Good. I have little time to waste."

I gave them my demands.

"I see," it said. "And what do you offer in return?"

I raised a hand, and a sphere of black mist formed in my palm.

"I offer the soul of Dobroslav Abreu," I said.

The Angel cocked its head to the side.

"Oh?" I asked. "Didn't realize I was missing that one. Very well then. A soul for a soul."

He raised a hand, and dark mist gathered around it.

"So we have a deal?" it asked.

"As long as you're giving me the soul I asked for," I said.

It nodded, and we clasped out misty hands together, exchanging the souls we held.

Now, the power I gained from the Archangel allows me to absorb dead people's souls, much like the Archangel does. I had secretly picked up Abreu's soul when I arrived on the scene of the Tyler incident. Can explain my thought process. I just showed up, felt a soul that hadn't been claimed yet, and snatched it up, then turned my attention to the event unfolding. No one seemed to notice at the time, but I figured I could use his soul as a bargaining chip if I ever had to do business with the Archangel. In hindsight, it might have turned out better if I had given the situation my immediate attention...

Anyway, I completed my business with the Angel, who silently departed. Rillek left afterwards, mumbling about how overwhelming his bosses presence is. Justin came out of hiding behind a weapon rack, and Ozzy took a few seconds to relax himself.

"Hate when those thing's show up," he said. "Their just so... screwy and weirs and wrong."

"Yeah," Justin said. "You got that right."

"Sorry about that," I said. "I was hoping to arrange a meeting elsewhere. I wasn't expecting the Angel himself to just... show up, in the middle of your store."

"It's fine," Ozzy said, picking up the Baby. "You guys just mke yourselves at home for now. I've got work to do..."

"Sure thing," I said. "So, how much will-"

"Ah-ah-ah!" He snapped, wagging a finger at me. "None of that!"

He examined the Baby, with a look of excitement in his eyes.

"I have a chance to work with Newborn steel," he said. "That's payment enough!"

Okay, he gives discounts often, but free? I'll fucking take it.

So, we're working on getting a bunch of Demi-Gods and people who can hold their own against them. Hopefully, that'll be enough to deal with whatever's on the horizon.

Cliff

 Kallaway here.

So, a few days ago, Kai and I went with the rest of Solar Progeny and Seraph to see off Daniel and Justin, who were leaving on Justin's motorcycle. He has another prosthetic he exclusively uses to grip the handlebar. They were departing from a nearby parking garage, which was about a third or fourth of the way full of empty vehicles spaced out around the place. Ciel, for some unknown reason, had brought along what appeared to be a very large, covered portrait.

"What exactly is that?" I asked

"The Mona Lisa, Fuck off," She replied, leaning it against Tony's parked VW van.

"Yeah, I'll just pretend that's normal," Daniel said, stretching. He was dressed in a biker jacket to match Justin, which was a weird look to see him in, given his usual labcoat getup. He tossed his crutch over to me and slipped on a helmet.

"You gonna be okay without this?" I asked.

"I can still limp." he replied. "Besides, I got Justin with me for support."

"Daniel and I go way back," Justin said, resting his hand on the edge of his prosthetic. "He was there for me when I lost this. I won't let him down."

"Okay," I said. "If your sure."

"I am," he nodded.

Seraph let out a yawn and glanced at her watch.

"Oh, hey, I gotta bail for a minute," she said. "Tony?"

He handed Tony a small compact mirror, which he opened up and turned toward her. She touched the glass with one of her fingers, then turned to give us one last wink, mouthing good luck. Then the mirror started glowing and she was sucked into it like some kind of portal.

"What in the-" I started.

"Oh, she does that sometimes," Daniel said. "Not for long distance, though. Mama doesn't like her visiting for too long. Not on the best of terms right now..."

"You should probably be heading off now," Tony said, snapping the mirror closed. "Ozzy's expecting you."

"Right," Daniel said, taking his seat behind Justin. "I'll see you all later. Oh, and Kai?"

"Y-yes?" Kai asked.

Daniel hesitated for a bit, seeming to be unsure how to put whatever was on his mind into words, before saying "Actually, it can wait. See ya."

Justin revved up his bike, and they set off. Tony started muttering something I couldn't quite make out under his breath. Kai turned to me.

"Are we gonna be alright with them gone?" he asked.

"Of course!" I said. "You still got me, right?"

"Yeah," Ciel said, in what I'm assuming is own of her lower snark settings. "You only suffered two humiliating defeats since you two met."

"I'm gonna stop this bickering before it begins," Terrence said, putting a hand on my shoulder before I could retort (though, to be honest, I did have anything good ready). "We need to focus."

Focus? On what...

I turned to Tony, who was still muttering to himself. I tried listening in, and I realized he wasn't just muttering. He was counting.

Counting down.

"Four... three... two... one."

And... nothing happened. Tony seemed confused for a couple second, but then some guy with a golf club jumped out from behind a card, swinging it down at Tony's head. Tony just calmly raised his bokken, which I hadn't even noticed him holding, and blocked the attack.

"Oh, I was off a bit," he said with a smirk, producing a pistol in his free hand and shooting what seemed to be a tranquilizer dart into the guy's chest. The man collapsed, and then several more people, armed with various weapons, from knives to guns to tennis rackets. I think onw guy had a rolled up newspaper... for... some reason... They came through the main entrances, dropped down from the floor above us, or came out of hiding from behind the various cars. About thirty total. I think.

"You knew there would be an ambush!" I snapped, turning to Tony.

He kept his smirk up, rested his bokken on his shoulder, and fired his tranq pistol twice, bringing down a couple more of the men.

"I was counting on it," he confirmed, before getting serious and looking over his shoulder at the others. "You know your roles! Get to it!"

"Um, I don't know mine!" I pointed out. "You didn't run any of this by me!"

"Didn't need to," he replied. "You're instinctive. Wait for Sera, then act."

As if on cue, Seraph jumped out of a rearview mirror on one of the cars, surprising two of the men, who she quickly disarmed. She then darted around them, hitting some of their joints hard, before retreating into another rearview mirror.

Tony and I both rushed toward them, quickly knocking them out. I didn't bother drawing my sword. Being blindsided, disarmed, and disabled so suddenly, these guys weren't a threat. No need to break out the big guns.

As we did that, Terrence retreated a few feet with Kai, and snapped his fingers, somehow causing  ring of fire to pop up around the two of them, wide enough that the flames weren't a risk to them but would be for anyone trying to get close. I lost sight of Ciel, but she must have been doing something useful on the sidelines.

Tony had planned this. He knew we'd be ambushed once Daniel was out of the picture. And he had damn near pinpointed it to the exact second. He had picked this place and rigged it specifically to protect Kai and have plenty of mirrors for Seraph to teleport through. He knew the enemy well enough to stay two steps ahead of them and plan accordingly, to counter their ambush.

I realized something very important in that moment.

This man terrifies me.

The fight continued in the same way. Seraph jumped in and out of mirrors, disarming our opponent's, and hitting them fast and fluidly, crippling them enough for Tony and I to land the finishing blows. Her movements were swift, fluid, and precise. The closest this any of those guys came to landing a blow was a couple scrapes on her arms, and a single tear on her jeans, exposing a bit of skin that had a weird green glint to it. I'm pretty damn sure I witnessed her bite a guy at some point, leaving him nauseas. I have some many questions about this woman, but I can confirm that Daniel was speaking the truth.

She is unapologetically badass.

Terrence provided some cover during the fight, throwing smoke bombs and flash bangs to throw our opponent's off. Some of those assholes seemed to have some kind of illusion based abilities, as I my vision began blurring slightly, and I started seeing doubles of them. Tony didn't seem too effected by this. He knew the enemy, and he was observant. He could tell what was real. I, on the other hand, had to tap into my vision to see through the illusions.

It took a while, but we managed to KO all of those pricks. I relaxed a little, letting out a sigh.

"Is it over?" I asked.

"Don't count on it," Tony said, remaining tense.

I heard a sudden smashing sound, and turned to look at one of the nearby cars. I wasn't sure what had made the noise at first, but I heard it again a second later from another car, at which point I noticed a bunch of shattered glass on the floor below it. The sound popped up again and again, each time leaving more glass lying around.

Someone was somehow systematically destroying all of the mirrors on the cars. Limiting Seraph's ability to move around. After a great deal of mirror smashing later, I heard Kai cry out. We turned to the rind of fire, which was beginning to die down. Terrence was sprawled out on the ground, clutching his shoulder, and a large man was standing behind Kai, holding him in a hammerlock.

Tony quickly reloaded his tranq pistol, and took aim at the man's face. The man responded by lifting Kai up, as a human shield.

"Do you really think you can aim tha- AGH!"

He was cut off by a dart embedding itself directly into his exposed eye, and he stumbled back a bit, dropping Kai. Terrence scrambled back up, pulling Kai behind him and pulling out a switchblade in a reverse grip.

"Yes," Tony said calmly. "I do. Cliff, I presume?"

The man tugged the dart out, turned to Terrence, and said "I'll deal with you in a moment."

He then calmly stepped through the dying flames, standing a few feet from us.

"Correct," he said, drawing a club from his belt.

"Thought so," Tony mused. "I'm curious how you resisted my tranquilizer, but I have some other questions to ask first."

"It's possible, although difficult, to produce a vaccine for the tranquilizer you use the most," Cliff replied. "We were able to produce enough for myself. Also, from the information I've gathered, you tranquilizer weakens under heat. Firing it through a ring of fire was a bad idea."

"Well, I guess this is useless then," Tony aid, tossing his pistol aside.

But he didn't seem intimidated at all. He kept that air of smugness that I'm all too familiar with. Daniel has that same look on his face whenever he sees something as an actual challenge.

"I'm going to put this simply," Cliff said. "I'm taking the boy. Any of you who try to stop me will will die."

"You promise?" Tony asked.

"I guarantee," Cliff stated. "I've been playing this game a lot longer than you, kid."

"Maybe so," Tony said. "But I drew a better hand."

"Don't get cocky, brat!" Cliff hissed, glaring darkly at Tony.

Tony chuckled.

"Kallaway," Tony said, shooting me a glance.

"Yeah?" I replied, returning his look.

He took a battle stance, gripping his bokken with both hands.

"Act!" he commanded.

I drew my sword and we both charged.

"You've chosen death, then," Cliff growled, raising his club.

The fight began. With Cliff guy is big, strong, and has clearly had military training. He knows his shit when it comes to combat.

So do we. I don't know if Tony's had any real training, but he's smart enough to land his blows carefully, and avoid getting hit. And I've train in martial arts, have practiced swordplay quite a bit (Arigatou, Ren-sensei), and as Tony felt the need to point out, I'm instinctive. I adapt pretty quickly. Can't explain it, but it seems to help out sometimes.

So we fought. It wasn't easy, but we managed to wear him down a bit, and get between him and the now completely dead ring of fire. He wasn't down for the count yet, but he was hurt. Some cuts on his leg, bruises on own arm, which was sagging slightly, and his damaged eye was beginning to swell up.

He suddenly closed his eyes, and whispered something. Immediately afterwards, he collapsed, crying out in agony. I stpped back, alarmed, but Tony didn't react with shock, but rather concern.

"Oh dear," he muttered.

"What's happening?" I asked.

"You're not gonna like it," Tony said.

Cliff began transforming. It was... nightmarish. He was clearly in pain the whole time, as his bones, muscles and skin stretched and shifted. He grew to.. I wanna say ten feet tall? Around that size. Bones formed in his back and stretched out to form wings, and feathers and fur began sprouting from his flesh. His face stretched forward, into a canine jaw, as his teeth rearranged themselves, becoming more wolf-like. When his eyes finally opened, they looked... like a weird cross between canine and avian.

"Well, that's disturbing," Tony said, gazing upon the bird/wolf/man thing rising up before us.

"Were you planning for this too?" I asked.

"I wasn't hoping for it, but I did expect it," Tony said. "On guard."

The thing went straight for Tony, apparently acknowledging him as the bigger threat. I charged forward and swung my sword at it's throat, but it swiped at my first. My sword was knocked out of my hand, and, do to the damage it had suffered already, snapped in half, clattering to the floor.

My sword. My ancestor' sword... The Proto-Godslayer was not only damaged, but was now completely broken.

While that thought ran through my head, Tony produced another pistol from his coat, and fired three darts into the beast's chest. It took me a couple seconds to pull myself together enough to question him on that.

"He said he's vaccinated, didn't he?" I asked.

"This is a different batch," Tony replied. "Stronger."

Sure enough, the beast was backing up, seeming to be pretty dizzy from whatever Tony had just hit him with.

"Ciel, you're up," Tony said. "David, Terrence, drive him back."

Ciel suddenly dropped from the floor above, carrying the covered up portrait, taking care not to let it get damaged., while Terrence rushed forward, picking up the hilt end of my broken sword. Ciel swiftly ripped the cover off the portrait, and stood it upright, yelling "Let's do this, Sera!"

I then became aware that it wasn't a portrait at all, but rather a very large standing mirror. I was wrong before. Tony didn't think two steps ahead. It was at least a dozen.

Tony and Terrence charged forward, Tony with his bokken, and Terrence with my broken sword, and I took a second to bring out by wings and gauntlet before following suit. We all landed a couple blows, but the beast managed to force us all back a couple feet with a swipe of it's arm. It then inhaled deeply, and I suddenly felt something wrong building up in his throat. I've been around Eldritch power before, but I think this is the first time I've actually felt it.

I charged forward, putting myself between Tony, Terrence, and the beast. as it let out a howl charged with Eldritch power that would have likely knocked them off their feet. I braced myself, and lifted my gauntlet, catching all of that power and restraining it. As I did, Tony and Terrence both rushed forward, Tony hitting it in the temple, and Terrence slashing at one of its calves.

I concentrated hard, and sent all that power I was holding right back at it, sending it flying toward the mirror. As it did, Seraph emerged from the mirror, spreading her arms and opening her mouth wide. Her canines extended into fangs, and she caught the beast in a full-Nelson, sinking her fangs into its throat. The beast became even more daze, and she pulled it with her into the mirror. However, she only pulled it in halfway, so the beasts back, wings, and elbows were trap in whatever mirror realm she had been making use of.

Tony opened up the compact mirror from earlier, and Seraph emerged from it, panting. Slowly, and gruesomely, Cliff returned to normal, still partially trapped in the mirror.

"I'm afraid we're on the clock here," Tony spoke confidently "It' only a matter of time before Mama notices you're stepping on her garden.". 

Cliff blearily looked up at us.

"First question," Tony said. "Perhaps the most important. Where the fuck if Kareena."

Cliff let out a chuckle.

"You'll see her soon," he said. "If you keep involved in this conflict, your paths are bound to cross, should you both live long enough."

"About as helpful as I was expecting you to be in this state," Tony said. "Take a deep breathe, and confirm that see's okay."

Cliff took a deep breath, then said "She's growing stronger. Her strength hasn't killed her. Yet."

"I see," Tony said. "How can we reach her?"

"Fuck you," Cliff said, seeming to slump a bit.

"Damn," Tony said. "Tranqs might get you before Mama does."

Tony looked aside for a moment.

"He said if I get involved in the conflict, we'll find her. I'm already involved, so that's a guarantee. We'll find her, but it won't be pretty when we do. So, the best questions t ask before he completely passes out would be about his boss."

Tony turned back to Cliff and smacked him across his face.

"Focus!" Tony said. "Tell me about Valravn! What's her deal!? Why is she just now cropping up!? What's her plan!?"

Cliff, seeming to be a bit more awake after the slap, looked up at Tony and smirked.

"The Doctor thinks he's so fuckin' smart, huh?" He said. "He compares her power to the birds and the angel, but she's better than them both. All the good shit, none of the bad."

He broke out into a laughing fit, clearly messed up from whatever Tony and Seraph hit him with.

"Focus!" Tony demanded, slapping him again. "What is she planning, and where the hell is Kareena!?"

At this point, Cliff seemed to sober up. He looked Tony directly in the eye.

"Her plan is spontaneous," he said. "She makes decisions as she goes, and her loyalties shift as she wills. As for Kareena... She's been ordered to-"

Suddenly, a long, serpentine tail emerged from the mirror, entangling Cliff.

"What is this!?" Cliff demanded.

"Uh oh," Seraph said. "Mama's pissed..."

Cliff was suddenly dragged screaming into the mirror world.

"Is he...?" I started.

"I wouldn't get my hopes up," Tony replied. "We just confirmed that we don't know what side Valravn's on, and I've been unable to dig up data on what side Mama's on, so their's a chance she might end up sparing him."

"Seriously, who the fuck is Mama?" I asked.

"A total bitch you don't wanna get involved with," Seraph replied.

"More importantly, his allusions to an upcoming conflict enforce a suspicion that's been on my mind for a while now," Tony said. "I've been keeping up with several other blogs, and I think... or rather, I fear... there's a war on the horizon."

"Wha!?" I asked. "Are you for real?"

"Yeas," He replied. "Seraph, inform Daniel. Terrence, craft the worst shit you can think of. Holding back may not be a option. Ciel, concoct what evet you think might be useful. And you."

He turned his attention to Kai.

"You carry a dangerous item the enemies want," he said. "If you wanna say safe, you'll either need to continue to rely on others for defense, or learn to defend yourself. Which is why KAllaway here will gladly volunteer as your sensei."

"What, what?" I asked.

"Up to you kid," Tony said. "I have to go. I have a lot of research and plans to deal with."

So... um... yeah. That whole mes just happened.

I'm not ready to train someone right now, and I'm not sure if Kai is ready, or even wants to be trained for combat. Either way, I'm going to keep him safe.

Either way... we've got a potential war on our hands.

And I hope I'm ready for it...

Regrouping and Recovering

I'm doing better now. My wounds still hurt, but it's nothing I can't get back up from. I'm pretty upset about my hair though. My braid is uncomfortable short now. And I need a new cane. The crutch I have right now just isn't doing it for me.

But's that's all cosmetic stuff. Back there, when I lost it at Valravn, I must have scared the hell out of those kids. I haven't really been able to face them since.

When those tentacles come out... I'm not really myself. Or rather, I am myself, but only the worst parts.

I had a good chat with Kallaway earlier about all this.

"Well, here's what I think," Kallaway said after a minute of thinking to himself. "You messed up. You lost control, let those insults get to you, and lashed out, scaring everyone there. And now you feel bad about it."

"That just about sums it up," I said.

Kallaway smiled calmly and tilted his head.

"You're human," he said.

"I sure don't feel that way," I replied.

"You fucked up," he said. "You lost your cool, and now you feel bad about it. You're human. So, what are you gonna do about it?"

I looked down at the crutch laying across my lap and thought about that.

"I'm gonna get back up, and keep making progress," I said. "I'll need to improve this thing, though..."

"No," Kallaway said, seeming to tell where my thoughts were going. "You are not turning that think into a rifle."

I looked back at him spitefully.

"Try and fucking stop me," I said.

"Anyway, as for Kai, he's gonna been fine," he said. "He's been through a lot. Seeing your nightmare tentacles won't keep him down. Plus, when I said you scared everyone there, I meant it. You mopped the floor with two Fears, who both bailed with their tails between their legs. People are gonna have to think twice before trying anything with you again. Where else could they be safer?"

"Me and safety don't exactly play nicely together," I said, smirking. "I do have a dangerous reputation behind me."

"You can say that twice," came another voice, entering the room.

Tony walked into the room, a bokken resting on his shoulder. Kallaway, who still wasn't well acquainted with the detective yet, immediately drew his sword, prepared for a fight, but I motioned for him to calm down.

"Put that thing away," I warned him.  "Make a move on Tony, and you'll find yourself unconscious on the floor with 2 broken collar bones and filled with enough tranquilizer to down a cow."

"More like a raging bull," Tony corrected me. "You must be David Kallaway."

Kallaway lowered his sword, but didn't sheath it.

"Tony Helioson," Kallaway replied. "What brings you here?"

"Business," Tony said, producing a large manila folder from his coat. "I figured you'd like some of the data I've collected on Valravn and her forces."

"I thought you dropped Kai's case," Kallaway said.

Tony smirked coyly at him.

"Oh, is that what you think?" he said.

I couldn't hold back my laughter after hearing that.

"What?" Kallaway asked confused.

"Oh, you smug prick," I laughed. "Pulling this shit again, huh?"

"I'm confused," Kallaway said. "What's going on?"

"I didn't really drop the case," Tony explained. "I simply told Kai that I was, knowing that he would mention as much on his blog, convincing those reading it, Valravn's forces included, that I was no longer involved."

"In reality, he was just distancing himself from things in order to gain a strategic advantage," I added. "He's done this before."

Tony handed me his folder before producing another, flipping through the pages.

"I've been looking into both the forest and your intern on the side," he said. "I haven't been able to learn much, but I can confirm that Tyler and Dawson have been in contact."

"Damn it," I snarled. "I was worried about that."

"The Nightlander's seem to be acting against the spread of the forest," Tony said. "I think Dawson might be the one who got Tyler started on catching those seeds on their way down, to slow the spread and add to Tyler's power."

"But that still doesn't mean the Nightlander's or Dawson are on humanities side," I said. "I don't like any of this."

"As for the hypothesis you proposed in your previous post, I have to agree," he said. "Forging a weapon from whatever metal we can extract from the Baby is worth attempting. Which is why I'm really here."

"Oh?" I asked.

Tony stroked the back of his head for a moment.

"A certain somebody needed a ride," he said.

As soon as he said that, a woman strode in as if she owned the place walking up to us. She was tall, had an athletic physique, and was dress in a turtle-neck shirt with a leather jacket over it, along with a miniskirt and black stockings. She had long, jet-black hair tied into a ponytail.

"For the love of god, could you have taken any longer setting up my dramatic entrance?" she asked. "You just had to rambling on like a fucking nerd, huh?"

She walked up to Kallaway and jovially rapped him on the chest with her knuckles.

"You you must be the tough guy whose been looking after my idiot, huh?" she asked. "Nice to meet you! Cool scar. We'll have Ciel look at it."

She turned to me next.

"Everyone else is unloading Terrence car," she said. "We're gonna be crashing with you for a bit. Cool? Cool."

This everyone, is Sera Philips. Strong. Beautiful. Confident. Unapologetically badass (And that's coming from me).

God, I've missed her...

"You must be... Sera?" Kallaway asked.

"Please," she said. "Call me Seraph."

Justin walked in a moment later, and his eyes quickly fell on some unopened cans of beer I had lying on a table.

"Oh! Beer!" he exclaimed, before drawing his kusarigama, giving it a bit of a spin, and tossing it. It stabbed into one of the cans, causing it to spray beer everywhere. He then tugged the chain, pulling the can into his hand, and he lifted it above his head, allowing the beer leaking from the can to trickle down into his open mouth.

"Your aim's improving," I noted.

"Wish we could say the same for his table manners," Ciel said, as she strode in. 

She immediately marched up to Kallaway, grabbed him by the chin, and jabbed a syringe into his cheek, right below his scar.

"Ow!" Kallaway exclaimed. "What the hell was that?"

"Don't ask questions you don't want the answer to," She replied, pushing the plunger down and examining the wound. "Daniel did a half-decent job with your stitched. It should heal up into a handsome looking battle scar. Don't get anything in the wound, and be careful what you wash your face with."

She came to me next, went behind me, and forced me to bend over, as she ripped my labcoat off.

"Your turn," she said.

"I'm fine!" I snapped.

"I'll be the judge of that," she said, examining my stitches. "Okay, who the fuck is responsible for this mess!?"

"Elie stitched me up in the back," I said.

"Well, he did a shit job of it!" she snapped, producing several jars of ointments and syringes full of liquids. She opened up one of the jars and rubbed something incredible cold onto the wound.

"What exactly is that?"  asked.

"Something that should help with the infection," she told me.

"Infection!?" I replied, shocked.

"Yes," she replied, jabbing a syringe into me. "Next time, have a professional stitch you up. Okay, now let's see that leg."

She tore the gauze away from my leg and examined the stitches there.

"Not as bad here," she noted. "I take it you did these ones yourself?"

"Once I was conscious, yes," I said.

She began treated that one with ointments as Terrence walked in with some suitcases.

"Where should I put these?" he asked.

"Who gives a shit?" Ciel replied, sticking a needling into my leg. "These should heal up okay, but the ones on your back are gonna leave some gross looking scars."

"Terrific," I said, turning my attention back to Sera. "I suppose we've got a lot to catch up on.

"That can wait 'til later," she said, producing a mason jar from her pocket. "You were needing this, right?"

She handed it over to me, and as she did, Ciel finished up, stretched a bit, and clapped Kallaway on the chest.

"I'm gonna steal your futon," she told him as she left the room.

"Why my futon?" Kallaway asked.

"Why not your futon?" She called back, snarkily.

"Your friends are intense," Kallaway told me. 

"Don't forget," I pointed out. "You're one of them now, too."

He smirked at that.

"So, that's it, huh?" he asked.

The Baby. A piece of the Newborn I had Extracted power from, contained inside a jar engraved with runes meant to contain its power... and keep other powers out. It used to be a USB card, but had assimilated several small gears, screws, and what seemed to be the carcass of some kind of rodent, that was not looking very good after all these years. I 'm that the runes could also seemingly contain the smell...

"There should be enough metal in here to make something out of," I said. "We'll need a professional, though. Hey Justin!"

"Yeah?" He asked, looking up from his second beer, which he had opened normally this time.

"You got your bike?" I asked.

"Naturally," he said.

"How do you feel about taking a field trip to visit Ozzy?" I asked.

"Sounds good," he said. "I take it this was his work?"

He turned to show off his right arm, which was now equipped with a prosthetic forearm tipped with a mantis-like scythe blade.

"Cost me a bit, but he was happy to take up the commission," I confirmed.

"Well, that works out perfectly," he said. "I'd like to thank the mad bastard in person. We set out tomorrow?"

"Sure thing," I said. "The rest of you can hold down the-"

"Yes, we can," Sera said. "we'll keep your kids safe, don't worry."

"Good to know," I said. "It's nice to have the gang together again."

So yeah. We've got some stuff to take care of. I'll keep you posted.