The Flame of the Crimson Rose

Elsie had decided to escape from the group as soon as they made their arrival. She wanted to scout the area, find anything to 'swallow up'. She needed to be on her toes; this was it, the final battle. She'll be getting her revenge at last. Elsie let out a giggle at such a thought, and continued on, careful not to stray too far. She bounced, flipped and skipped her way through, energy coursing through her. Moments later, however, she find herself tiring out.

"Not much to feast on," she noted. She threw back her head to look up at the sky. The weather forecast was stormy clouds, but she realised it wasn't just your ordinary bad weather. This one made a shiver run up her spine.

"But no matter," she grinned, replying to her previous comment, "time to head back..."

Elsie gathered up the last of her own energy and started to sprint back, her short yellow-black dress not hindering her speed in the slightest. Her small stature made for a good runner, and her flexibility allowed her to jump through (and over) any kind of obstacle blocking her path. She made it to the riverside within seconds, her senses alerting her that a great sum of energy gathered there.

By the time she cartwheeled her way to the forming line, Elsie spotted a female a few feet away creating what appeared to be a robot... and without the use of her hands. She saw light threads weaving around her and into the electronics at her feet. Elsie found it so very intriguing to watch what she could do, and came skipping over just as the girl had the pieces that made up the robot drop to the ground as lifeless eletronics once more.

"That's neat," Elsie commented. Her grin widened into an almost too-friendly smile. "Could do a whole lotta damage, that..."

She dropped into a crouch to exmamine the objects that were in use just seconds ago. Elsie picked up one of them - an Ipod, she recalled. Her mother never liked such technology in her home. Said they were makings against nature, and that it was sinful to her line of work. A pang of hurt jolted through Elsie's chest at the memory of her mother, but she made sure to keep that hurt hidden as she smiled.

"Truely exquisite..." she added, before handing back a handful of them.

 

I'd lead my three compatriots closer to the bridge. Some of the other fighters trailed behind us, unsure whether to join or return to the rest of the group. Torch had since extinguished his fire, and we edged closer through the rubble in the streets to observe the approaching army.

"Damn," Turk said. "How many of them do you think there are?"

Henry started rummaging through his backpack, "We stay on the defensive brudah', it won' matter." He hefted a pair of sealed plastic pipes.

"Sum traps wud help us tho'," he threw the pipes almost at random into the rubble around us and bent to retrieve more.

I kept silent through the exchange, I was busy counting the heads of the front line. I couldn't yet see how deep their ranks were, but the sea of bodies filled the width of the bridge to the breaking point. We really were out of our minds trying to oppose these guys.

Then I spied the rest of the leadership clustering around, down a bit on the waterfront. "Crap. Turk, you're in charge."

I turned to the waterfront and began sprinting for the group.

 

"Truely exquisite..."

Cole was still staring wide eyed at the pile of devices that had moments ago been a human sized droid when the girl made her acrobatic approach.

"That IS awesome Addi, freaking awesome!" He looked over towards the new girl and was almost startled by her attractiveness.

"I'm Cole," he nodded to her, "have you seen Will or Candice? It looks like things are going to heat up fast around here. I think we should get a move on."

Looking back to the bridge he could see the forces assembling on both sides. He knew they had to rescue Susanna and the stone soon or else it would be too late. There would be time for proper introductions with the cute new girl later... He hoped.

Slurpy, meanwhile, jumped off of Cole's arm and scurried up Elsie's supple leg and onto her shoulder while making an affectionate buzz that almost sounded like purring.

 

Gray clouds watched the scene from overhead. The air chilled with hatred, the clouds weeping at the scene of future tragedy, it began to snow. As the first flakes began to reach the ground, Candice, Will, and Chalybs arrived at the riverside where the rest of their elite team had gathered. There wasn't time for "Good luck"s and "Stay Safe"s, there was hardly time to breathe. Every minute of time they took, more people died. More Allies, more friends, more family.

"You all know your groups," Candice said as soon as she arrived, "Group one heads to the bridge, that's Chalybs, Caleb, Elsie, and Sarah. Group two causes the main distraction, that's Will, Charles, and Addison. Group Three goes after The King, that's Cole, Victor, Sam, and Me. No let's go. Chalybs?"

Candice motioned to Chalybs who stabbed his sword into the ground, creating a metallic ring that hung in the air for a moment. Upon striking the ground, a sort of makeshift bridge formed entirely of metal rose up from under the water.

"It's time to go." Candice said before rushing across the bridge.

 

"I'm Cole,"

Elsie turned to the male standing by, her smile still in place.

"have you seen Will or Candice? It looks like things are going to heat up fast around here. I think we should get a move on."

As if on cue, Candice, Will and Chalybs arrived on scene before Elsie could reply.

"You all know your groups," Candice said as soon as she arrived, "Group one heads to the bridge, that's Chalybs, Caleb, Elsie, and Sarah. Group two causes the main distraction, that's Will, Charles, and Addison. Group Three goes after The King, that's Cole, Victor, Sam, and Me. No let's go. Chalybs?"

Elsie was bouncing on the balls of her feet, excitement coursed through her. She was itching for the taste of battle.

"Names Elsie," she replied to Cole through the momentary pause. She was quickly distracted though; she felt a sudden rush of energy on one particular point. Energy that rose out of Chalybs as he stood there, thrusting his sword into the earth and made a bridge rise up out of the water. A bridge of metal. Elsie licked her lips.

She wanted some of that energy. She craved for energy like that. But she knew she would have to wait; it was time to head off into war.

Slurpy, meanwhile, jumped off of Cole's arm and scurried up Elsie's supple leg and onto her shoulder while making an affectionate buzz that almost sounded like purring.

Startled, she turned her head and raised her eyebrows. 'Cute' she instantly thought, and her wide toothy grin returned to her face. She'd never seen such a creature before, and was quite sure no one really has either. Probably that was the reason why she loved it - something out of the ordinary. It had it's only little shine of energy around it too. Nice white energy. Elsie then noticed a little line of that shine reach out and away from it's body. She frowned in brief confusion, following the funny line all the way to ... Cole. Her smile returned.

"Why hello there gorgeous one," she used the tip of her fingers to gently pet it. "I do believe that Cole will need you back now, though. Time to pulverise some nasty heads, no?" Elsie wanted to say more, like how she'd love to play with him when all of this was over, but already the mass of people were crossing Chalybs bridge.

 

"Group one heads to the bridge, that's Chalybs, Caleb, Elsie, and Sarah. Group two causes the main distraction, that's Will, Charles, and Addison. Group Three goes after The King, that's Cole, Victor, Sam, and Me. No let's go. Chalybs?"

Sarah watched as the metal bridge rose over the river, water gushing off its sides to rejoin the current below. She both feared and admired Chalybs for his impressive power.

Turning back to the group she saw Elsie petting the centipede like Slurps and let out a chuckle that sounded like the grinding of gears. Cole was obviously embarrassed as he snatched Slurps back a little more abruptly than he meant to. He stuck the creature back on his arm roughly as he apologized to Elsie for its behavior.

"I do believe that Cole will need you back now, though. Time to pulverise some nasty heads, no?"

Sarah chuckled again.

"Good luck Cole, good luck Addison. I hope I see you-" he voice caught as she realized the morbidity of the situation, "I-I'll see you soon. Are you ready Elsie?"

Sarah turned and rolled on her wheels toward the bridge where the others were already headed. She wished she could have had her new friends with her, but she was glad to have the strength of Chalybs, and Elsie on her team. Elsie's slender beauty intimidated her almost as much as Chalybs power, but she knew Elsie was kind and powerful; a good ally.

 

Caleb noticed Addison's robotic creation that had sprung to life, he nodded 'good luck' to Victor before jogging towards the others. Prior to reaching them, however, orders were shouted.

'Chalybs, Sarah, and Elsie. Whos Elsie?' Chaos pondered.

"I hope shes the pretty one," Caleb mused noticing the new girl speaking to Cole and Sarah.

"Time to pulverise some nasty heads, no?"

He announced his arrival with a burst of light pouring from his eyes.

"I do love the violent ones. The apocalypse just keeps on coughing up attractive woman, doesnt it?" Caleb laughed good naturedly.

Flashing a charming smile he took Elsie's hand, and shook it lightly, "You look familiar kiddo. But then again, faces do blur over time. Im Caleb, writer, actor, po- God! Im getting sick of saying that."

He looked around at the others, and then gestured at Sarah's retreating back.

"Eager for blood? Lovely. I think we all deserve some."

He brushed Addisons hair over her ear, and kissed her softly on the forhead. He then clasped Coles arm in a firm grip, "Im sorry I got on your nerves Matey, but uh... Well, I'll be, me at a loss for words? Unthinkable!"

'Quite Child,' Chaos chuckled.

"Well I'd best be off before I get all sentimental. If your Elsie, lets rock. I sure hope Ea shows up."

With that said Caleb spun around, his fist balls of dark matter, and sprinted towards the metal bridge.

"EA!!!!!!!! YOU HEAR ME MOTHER****ER? TIMES UP! CALEB'S BACK! YOU SAY BRAVERY IS A GOOD QUALITY IN A MAN? THEN STOP COWERING! FIGHT ME YOU SONOVABITCH!"

 

A small blush graced her cheeks as Addion recieved the compliments on her robot guy. However, before she could answer she saw Candice coming towards them giving them all orders

"You all know your groups," Candice said as soon as she arrived, "Group one heads to the bridge, that's Chalybs, Caleb, Elsie, and Sarah. Group two causes the main distraction, that's Will, Charles, and Addison. Group Three goes after The King, that's Cole, Victor, Sam, and Me. No let's go. Chalybs?"

Slamming his sword into the ground with a force she could feel reverberating through the ground, Chalybs raised a metal bridge from the depths of the water. Addi couldn't help but marvel at his power along with everyone else. But she was snapped back to the present by voice around her and the movement of people to their various places.

"Good luck Cole, good luck Addison. I hope I see you-" There was a hitch in Sarah's voice, one that Addison felt at the exact same moment as the gravity of everything hit her once more. "I-I'll see you soon. Are you ready Elsie?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'll definately see you soon, don't worry." She shot a brave smile at Sarah as the girl turned away.

A blinding flash of light to the side caught Addi's attention and she turned to see Caleb talking to Elsie.

"Time to pulverise some nasty heads, no?"

"I do love the violent ones. The apocalypse just keeps on coughing up attractive woman, doesnt it?" With a sweet smile and a laugh he shook Elsie's hand. Addi smirked, it was very typical Caleb to try and charm the pretty new girl. "You look familiar kiddo. But then again, faces do blur over time. Im Caleb, writer, actor, po- God! Im getting sick of saying that."

He looked around at them all then came over to Addi and pushed her hair behind her ear before planting a kiss on her forhead. Turning to Cole he grasped his arm.

"Im sorry I got on your nerves Matey, but uh... Well, I'll be, me at a loss for words? Unthinkable!"

"Would you look at that, turns out the impossible is in fact possible!" Addi joked. She tried not to think about what this could mean for all of them in the end, knowing that if she did she would find it too hard to concentrate on what she had to do.

"Well I'd best be off before I get all sentimental. If your Elsie, lets rock. I sure hope Ea shows up."

"Don't do anything stupid! Or at least nothing stupider than normal!" Addi called out to him as he turned away to face the bridge.

"EA!!!!!!!! YOU HEAR ME MOTHER****ER? TIMES UP! CALEB'S BACK! YOU SAY BRAVERY IS A GOOD QUALITY IN A MAN? THEN STOP COWERING! FIGHT ME YOU SONOVABITCH!"

The shout carried across the people and Addi threw up her hands in exasperation.

"I swear, that boy is legitimately suicidal." She spoke to no one in particular, then with a pause, turned to Cole."Well good luck Cole, see-see you later..." With a wave she scooped up the pile of electronics and ran over to Will.

"Ok so tell me where to send them."

 

Elsie was quite surprised when Cole snatched Slurpy back and placed it on his arm. She giggled at his apology and waved it off, suddenly mesmerised by the glow they were emitting. Her eyes widened in hunger. Slurpy's little white shine had morphed in with Cole's, making that much more bright. It was brilliant. She wanted to take some...

Elsie giggled again, but this time at her idiocy; of course she can't take some. This was a war! They all needed their strengths. One slip up and that could be the end of it...

"Good luck Cole, good luck Addison. I hope I see you-" Elsie turned to see Sara in motorcycle(?) form. She stopped giggling and beamed at her, not taking notice of the slight hiccup she made. "I-I'll see you soon. Are you ready Elsie?"

"I was born ready, Sara!" she replied back. Sara was another that radiated a beautiful amount of energy. Elsie knew it was going to be hard to focus on the minor threats if these guys kept up there large quantity of glow. But, Elsie always loved a challenge, and was just about to join her down at the bridge when another male strolled up to them.

"I do love the violent ones. The apocalypse just keeps on coughing up attractive woman, doesnt it?" The male said, replying to her previous words. Elsie didn't notice the last comment he made though; she was too fixated on what this new boy was expelling. A pure white light, but also... an orb of negative energy? This peculiar little darkness lay in the centre of his forehead with black veins reaching out from every part of it. It was so very, very ... fascinating.

Flashing a charming smile he took Elsie's hand, and shook it lightly, "You look familiar kiddo. But then again, faces do blur over time. Im Caleb, writer, actor, po- God! Im getting sick of saying that."

Once his hand found hers, she couldn't help but get a taste of those energy's combined. She only let a little slip become her own, but it was enough for her eyes to flash a white silver of satisfaction.

"Call me Elsie," she breathed out, flashing a huge, toothy, maniacal grin. Once he let go, Elsie stood there for a moment, trying to compose herself quickly before running into battle. Getting lost in such hunger was not a good start. She didn't realise, however, that it took longer than she thought to calm down; the boy named Caleb had already said his goodbyes, addressed her and was running down to meet the oncoming blood and gore head on.

"EA!!!!!!!! YOU HEAR ME MOTHER****ER? TIMES UP! CALEB'S BACK! YOU SAY BRAVERY IS A GOOD QUALITY IN A MAN? THEN STOP COWERING! FIGHT ME YOU SONOVABITCH!"

Boy he's an eager beaver, Elsie thought, and internally agreed with the girl, who she noted was called Addison, when she said, "I swear, that boy is legitimately suicidal."

Elsie then turned to the two remaining. "Break a leg while having fun," was her way of a 'good luck' before following Sara and Caleb, sprinting in delight of what would come next.

 

Caleb stood stock still for a moment waiting for the demigods appearence. When it was clear he wasn't coming, he decided to take his frustrations out on the Order. Caleb allowed a few moments for the grinning Elsie to catch up.

"Your looking delightfully violent, lets see what you can do," Caleb tilted his head, clicking his tongue eyeing the Order.

"First to thirty kills gets, erm, I dunno, bragging rights?" Caleb suggested.

He smiled at Elsie momentarily admiring her vengeful beauty, "Ok Kiddo, thats your nickname now by the way, readysetgo!"

Caleb pelted towards the enemy ranks, carving a meaty swathe to the rearmost men. In armies, the most timid soldiers cower at the back, therefore Caleb had no problems distpatching a cluster of fearful troops.

"5," Caleb shouted diving from a fiery blast.

Black holes were expelled forcefully from his finger tips, consuming the man with flaming fists.

"6," Caleb thrust his arm to the sky, a number of black holes spawned into existing sucking up droves of the Order.

"18, 19- no 21. ****," Caleb grabbed a scarred man, and pressed his machete to his throat.

"How many have i sucked up? Come on, I've got a bet here!"

When the man only stammered a feeble threat Caleb slit his throat and let him drop unceremoniously to the bloody ground.

Caleb spun around, daring another opponent to try his luck against him. A ring of enemies encircled him, just beyond the ring of corpses he had left, yelling threats and challenges. Caleb dodged a block of ice, then absorbed a laser beam into his mouth, before shooting it back out vaporising another unfortunate.

He flexed his machete, before summoning a black hole in front of him, and using its gravitational force, catipulting himself towards the Order. It was the same trick he had used on Chalybs. He speared the tip of his machete, through the heart of an woman, skewering her, and the man behind her. He delved deeper into the centre of the order, slaughtering everyone in his path.

"24,25,2- wait no, Stab, stab, ok 26. CATCH UP ELSIE!"

 

Elsie caught up to Caleb, but did not slow down her speed.

"First to thirty kills gets, erm, I dunno, bragging rights?" Caleb suggested.

She quirked up an eyebrow and grinned at him. Challenges were always welcome.

She watched him pelt toward the enemies and start going in for the kills. She let a laugh escape her lips and joined in. Elsie left Caleb to the other end of the rear and before they knew what was happening, she sucked up all their negative energies, leaving them tired and weary. She could only tire out 5 of them though, before she felt like exploding with so much energy. Using what she stole from them, she created a massive ball of darkness and threw it at five oncoming opponents, sending them skyward, and they fell to their deaths.

'10' she counted, before turning to the next in line. A man, larger than her first bunch, came stampeding toward her like a rhino. The grin never left her face, and it wasn't going to disappear anytime soon.

She splayed out her fingers toward the man and permitted the black glow that emitted from him transfer into beaded threads. It shot out faster than him and twirled around her open fingers before curling into two dark orbs twice the size of a tennis ball. But by this time he was already so close. Elsie giggled, not worrying in the slightest just yet. She flipped over him, using some of the energy left over from the last battle.

The man startled, had reared back, going at her again, but this time he looked more like a pack of rhinos with exhausted eyes. Looked like he was now running on spare batteries after what Elsie did to him. But before he started toward her again, Elsie was already doing a funny dance that made her twirl up into the air and come shooting back toward him, one ball of darkness high above her head. She let out a girly 'BOOM' as she slam dunked the black sphere right onto his crown, forcing him into the ground and most likely with a fatal concussion.

'11'

she turned away and with the last sphere in her other hand, she threw it at the next line. They collided back and were left for Elsie to drain them lifeless. However, having too much dark energy was a very, very bad thing. She followed Caleb deeper into the the order, using that spare energy to take out whoever stood in her way. She continued to flip, jump-over and twirl, dodging attacks that were aimed at her.

Once or twice she would get hit, but she did not worry; whoever managed to do so never lasted a second afterward.

By this time Elsie had already managed to catch up to Caleb and was giggling. She very much enjoyed this game.

"twennnty siiixx," she drawled out in her high pitch voice, sounding like a sadistic little girl cutting off the heads of her dolls. "...twennty seveen~"

She jumped onto Caleb's shoulders without warning and launched forward at the opponent standing in front of him, sending a black needle-shaped energy to skewer him.

She landed on her two feet in a crouch, licked her lips and stood up straight to look at Caleb. Her once cloudy hued eyes were now bright silver; full of energy and life. Having to suck up so much energy was like ecstacy for her, and made her so... hyper.

Elsie grinned a sadistic toothy grin. "Twenty Eight..."

 

Sam stumbled along on watery legs. The medicine was still kicking in, and the fading chemical imbalance left behind a plethora of vestiges. His ears were ringing, his balance askew, he was wracked with headaches, his vision occasionally doubled, everything seemed a few decibels too loud, and his thoughts were hazy.

But they were his thoughts. His own thoughts. And they made sense.

That's what mattered to him.

Nearby, he heard (actually heard, not read out of the air!) Candice giving orders. "You all know your groups. Group one heads to the bridge, that's Chalybs, Caleb, Elsie, and Sarah. Group two causes the main distraction, that's Will, Charles, and Addison. Group Three goes after The King, that's Cole, Victor, Sam, and Me. Now let's go."

After the King? Sam scratched his head. His incarceration into his own mind had prevented him for being privy to many recent events and confused as to those that came before. He remembered vaguely a meeting, occurring right as the hallucinations began, in which the Stone and distractions and breaking into the castle had been discussed, but he couldn't recall what the decided plan had been, and didn't remember even a mention of this King. Still, he knew this wasn't the time for questions. Candice had made it clear that each moment cost lives, and he was not going to delay any further over something as petty as his own confusion. He would have to pick it out as he went along.

Candice rushed across the newly-formed bridge and, gripping his sketchbook tightly, Sam followed.

 

Chalybs​

Chalybs followed the blood thirsty pair of Elsie and Caleb towards the bridge at a slow pace. There wasn't any need to rush. There were plenty of enemy soldiers, it didn't matter if he got there in ten seconds or ten minutes. When Chalybs finally arrived on the scene, he found Elsie and Caleb making their slaughter into a sort of game. This isn't a time for games, he thought to himself. The Doctor ought to be showing up any time now. Chalybs, having been in the upper echelons of The Order, knew how they worked. Knew how they would attack. Ea, being one of the strongest and most blood thirsty, would surely be here. The King would stay at the Building, and they'd have a set of guards guarding it, just in case. That was why they needed the distraction.

For now though, Chalybs needed to focus his thoughts on cutting through the rear of the army. Or rather, he needed to focus on not loosing himself. If he lost himself, he would be just as useful to The Order as The Resistance.

Reaching out to the metal hidden in his limbs and the weapons at his sides and back, Chalybs lept into a dash, quickly catching up to where Elsie and Caleb were fighting.

It wasn't long before Chalybs was drenched in blood. Not long at all in fact. The moment Chalybs reached the rear lines, he had already killed five men in clean, fluid succession. Slice one in half with the claymore, spin and lodge five bullets into the head of another, extend the sword and impale three men. Another five quickly followed, and another and another, hacked down with various weapons, spears, swords, axes; Chalybs was a master at close combat. Any weapon imaginable lay at his finger tips. All he had to do was put it together.

Chalybs extended his sword once again to impale a number of men, extending it over Elsie's and Caleb's head as he approached.

"You two are falling behind," he called as he approached and returned his sword to it's original form, "That's fifty for me, and I only just started."

Will and Candice​

"We don't need you to send them quite yet, Addison. We don't want you wasting energy walking them over there. Better to put them together when we arrive." Will said as he jogged down the street with the rest of groups two and three.

Soon the groups approached the Fenien building. It was a tall, office building, cylindrical in shape. Unlike many of the surrounding buildings, it hadn't been damaged at all. Amidst the ruin of the city, it stood tall and glistening. Like a pillar of light in the darkness of a tattered world, a symbol of hope. Ironic that in truth it was the home of the destroyers of the world.

There were guards visible, but that didn't mean they weren't there, and Will and Candice knew it.

"You remember what to do, right Candice?"

"Of course, Will."

"As soon as my group starts the distraction,"

"My group runs around back and starts heading to the top."

'You gotta stop worrying 'bout her. She can handle herself.' Will thought to himself. He wanted to say more, but, he couldn't. No wasn't the time. Not until the Order was gone.

Without a word more, Will ran towards the building, motioning for his group to follow suit. They'd need a powerful diversion to allow Candice and the others to infiltrate the building, and Will was just the person to do it. He wasn't as flashy as some of the others, but he was far more powerful. Because Will's strength didn't lie in his endurance, his power, or his speed. It rested in his will, and he was dead set on seeing Candice after this was all over. Even if he had to kill himself to do it.

Will gathered his will into his fist, condensing his soul, boosting the attributes of his fist. More speed, more strength, more force, more power. Will needed this to make an impact. To cause a distraction, to allow Candice a way in. This counted.

Will slammed his fist into the side of the building, and an eruption of force came with it. The wall of the building burst outward, concrete flying, steel rods snapping, glass shattering. It was intended to catch attention, and it did. Almost immediately, a force of soldiers rushed out of the building, ready to attack the threat.

Of course, Candice and her group had already vanished from the scene. They were on the other side of the building, preparing to run in under Will's cover. As soon as Sam had drawn his door, they were in.

 

Just a Caleb was about to sever the head from the furious man in front of him, he felt a weight launch off of his shoulders, and the enemy was impaled on a dark spike. Caleb stood stunned, and consulted another member of the order who was similarly shocked.

"Amazing isn't she?" Caleb asked in wonder.

This broke the other fellow out of his reverie, and Caleb slashed his throat open. Flecks of blood spattered Caleb's face, and he absentmindedly realised that for a long time now he did not hate the stuff. Suddenly animalistic screams signified Chalybs effective bloodthristy charge through the Orders troops.

Chalybs brushed past Caleb, "That's fifty for me, and I only just started."

Caleb grinned, "OH ITS ON BUDDY!"

He tugged on Elsies arm, "Truce? Lets not be humiliated by this dude!"

He knuckled her fist then turned to his next advesary. He clicked his finger, and the middle aged woman flinched, fearing Calebs attack. When nothing happened she grinned evilly, "So much for powers kid."

Caleb matched her smile, "Au contrare, dearest, just a swapsy."

The woman disappeared in a puff of energy. Caleb reached out, feeling for the Aether that gathered in everything. Sweeping his arm around in a circle, dozens of the Order burst into similiar clouds of Aether at least a hundred, probably more, were decimated. Many more were now cowering in fear. Caleb felt the Aether draining fast, so a second later he was rocketing skyward on a pillar of earth. When he was a good 100 feet in the air, his voice boomed, "EA! YOUR SOLDIERS ARE BEING SLAUGHTERED! I CALL YOU A COWARD! PROVE ME WRONG!"

Caleb jumped down from the tower, morphing the ground below into a jelly like substance which shot him through the air. He landed in the midst of a cluster of enemy soldiers, wild eyed. He could see their frenzied thoughts pouring from their minds. He shrugged, and kissed his blood stained machete, "Thats why I bought you along Lucy," He chuckled naming the blade.

Fighting desperately through more goons, he reached Elsie and Chalybs.

"Alright guys, seriously, TOP THAT!"

 

Elsie beamed at Caleb's comment right before she dodged a side attack. She back flipped and landed gracefully as usual, but now she was surrounded in a tight circle... until Chalybs noisy appearance broke their focus on her. Elsie brightened at knowing Chalybs was fighting on their side, knowing that his energy had a mixture of Light and Dark and he could've gone down the other path. Down the path of the Order.

"You two are falling behind," he called as he approached and returned his sword to it's original form, "That's fifty for me, and I only just started."

Elsie laughed even though this meant she was doing her best. She stopped when she felt a tug on her arm. Caleb seemed to hav broken into the tight circle around her.

"Truce? Lets not be humiliated by this dude!"

They knuckled fists as an agreement, and Elsie went back to her slaughtering.

She let out a war cry and jumped onto the nearest guys shoulders. The warrior next to him came to sweep his sword at her ankles and Elsie jumped again in the nick of time. Instead of her ankles being severed from her legs, it was the mans head from his neck. A very clean cut, she noted and giggled.

She landed on that same guy, who had just killed his mate, head. Her balance was kept intact miraculously as the guy tried to shake her off. Elsie gathered the energy of the number of men surrounding him, and used it so it was like extra weight for the guy she was standing on. Seconds later his neck broke and he fell to the groun, Elsie tumbling with him. Now she stood in an even tighter circle of furious guys.

She wasn't worried though. She obtained the now dead mans sword and was using it and her flexability skills to her advantage. Elsie went on a killing rampage, going from all kinds of levels; down on the ground to high up in the air. Blood gushed from all directions, and yet Elsie made sure not for any to be spilt on her dress. Her mother had made her this dress just before the terrible disaster happened. She thought it fitting to where it on the day she got her revenge, and yet still she was strongly against anything ruining it. Odd, is she not?

Then, just before she was going in for her 'nth kill, something burst up from the ground a few feet infront of her.

"EA! YOUR SOLDIERS ARE BEING SLAUGHTERED! I CALL YOU A COWARD! PROVE ME WRONG!"

She raised questioning eyebrows at Caleb, but marvelled at his powers. The moment she saw him and his own energy, she knew there was something special about the guy. But she never knew he'd be like this.

Elsie and the oncoming men stopped to stare as Caleb jumped from such a height, then be stunned when he did not fall to his death. He was, however, lost in another part of the crowd, unable to be seen, only heard. Elsie took this moment as an opening while the order around her were still contemplating what they just witnessed.

Elsie drained their energy and used the sword to kill off any life they had left. But consuming so much Dark she felt herself getting lost, power-hungry, and a pull toward insanity. She wanted more kills. She wanted more, even if it was someone she wasn't supposed to harm. She felt herself starting to not care who she managed to murder...

Elsie felt her breathing become shallow, and her sight intensify. The men lunging in to grab her, to slice her, to impale her, were not helping at all either; their own black glows smothering her. She needed to let out the shadows now consuming her. She needed to let go of it.

Feeling so close to exploding, Elsie shot up into the air, inhale a large amount of air and held it. As she hit the ground once more, she exhaled her breath along with one of her high toned 'BOOM's while expelling a great force from her body, knocking all of them over. But it didn't just knock them over, Elsie knew it would have spiked right through theyre armour and bodies, like thousands of tiny needles.

Getting in a quick moment to catch her breath and come back down to almost-sane, Elsie spotted Caleb reaching where Chalybs and herself were.

"Alright guys, seriously, TOP THAT!"

Elsie managed one of her home-made grins. "You do realise, once this is all over, I'm stealing some of that delicious energy," she replied just before a bloody hand reached up and grabbed a handful of her dress, making her slightly stumble back.

Elsie, fearing what she would find, looked down to see dark red against the bright yellow... She started taking in short gasps again. Rage began pouring into every limb in her body and she turned to the man who still had the will to challenge her. He lay on the ground, raising a dagger over his head with the hand he hadn't used to take hold of her dress. And before he could dig it into her flesh, Elsie used what was left of the darkness in her to create a huge mallet.

With all that anger, she smashed it onto his head...

Elsie turned away from the gore and to whoever opposed her next.

"By the way," she added to Caleb, "I'm ready to top it..."

Her eyes sparkled and she licked her lips.

 

"We don't need you to send them quite yet, Addison. We don't want you wasting energy walking them over there. Better to put them together when we arrive."

They ran over to the building, which was in stark contrast with the rest of the city due to it's completely pristine and whole appearance. Once there Will and Candice had a short conversation before Candice took her group around back. Will then motioned for them to follow him towards the building where he stopped and seemed to concentrate instensely on something inside of him for a moment. With a sudden motion Will punched the side of the building and it was like an explosion went off at that point. the wall was obliterated, concrete, bricks, glass, and steel flying and breaking every where. Exactly on cue a group of soldiers rushed out to meet them.

Without hesitating, Addison dropped the pile of electronics, closed her eyes and concentrated. In her fastest time yet, she built up all of the electronics into five humanoid shaped robots, though shorter and thinner than an average human wound be. She found that her mind control of them was divided up into five different little "screens" one for each robot, like a video game. To her delight, she found it took little extra effort to control all of them simultaneously as opposed to just one.

With all of her senses engaged in the robots she sent them into the groups, each one slashing and hacking at the soldiers. Men fell around them as bullets bounced harmlessly off of them, leaving dents and nothing more.

 

It was a crudely drawn door, but it did the trick. Sam didn't have time for anything fancy. Base functionality was all that was required. Of course, it fell inward as soon as he turned the knob - he had neglected to add the hinges - but they were through.

The room on the other side, and the adjacent hall, was empty. Earlier, as they were rushing toward the building, Sam's sketchbook had fallen open and he had noticed a drawing inside he had vaguely remembered drawing during his lapse. Now, with no immediate threat, he took a moment to quickly peruse the book as he ran. It had been completely filled, apparently by himself, but with a level of skill slightly above what he could achieve at the best of sane times. Several guns had been drawn, similar to the one Caleb had given him earlier, wonderfully detailed. There was a sword, drawn in perspective (Sam could never seem to get perspective to work right), that seemed sharp enough to cut the very paper it was on. And there were several other, more innocuous objects that he didn't fully understand why he had drawn: some bricks, a box of raisins, an alarm clock.

But these were stampeded by the abstract doodles that filled the book.

Escherian perspective puzzles, vaguely anthropomorphic objects, bizzare couplings; every scrap of white had been covered with them. Quick sketches of a few lines, detailed and shaded drawings, and everything in between. A foot, sporting a wide grin and pair of legs of its own, sprinted along a hairy snake bent into a mobius strip. An armless man rode an ocean of feathers, using his own tongue as a surfboard. Blood poured out a disembodied heart, quickly collecting into a roaring torrent (that one he quickly skipped over, for obvious reasons). Matches and knives performed a vaudeville act, making unfunny and rather disturbing jokes about how they were going to slowly kill the audience. A broken television set was set upon a pile of pants, out of which arms holding plungers sprouted. A spork was trying to eat itself.

"Hey, you!"

They had been spotted! As they rounded a corner, they practically collided with a patrolling squadron of guards. A squadron who were quickly drawing their weapons.

Sam acted quickly, more on instinct than anything else. Reaching into his book, he grabbed the first weapon-like drawing he felt and yanked it out. What exactly it was is hard to explain. To call it a gun would be an oversimplification. It was like a gun. It had a handle and a trigger and a barrel and all those little parts that Sam ad drawn but didn't fully understand. The principle difference on the business end; the barrel ended in a foot-wide toothy maw. As he pulled the trigger, again more on instinct than out of a conscious desire to kill, the gaping mouth opened and a long, tenticular tongue roped out, lashed around the neck of the nearest guard, and before either he or Sam could react, pulled him back through the toothy orifice. In less than a second, the man was gone without a trace.

Sam looked at the "gun" in confusion and horror. "Am I still...did that really...Did anyone else just see that?"

 

Sarah:

Sarah followed the others across the bridge and toward the rear of the Order forces. Unlike her teammates she didn’t have a bloodlust to drive her forward. Her choice in battle was a conscious one. The Order was bent on destroying everything and everyone she cared about. If the only way to stop them was to cut them down then so be it.

She watched as Caleb and Elsie rushed into battle with Chalybs close behind. Hanging back she provided cover, doing her best to protect them from being flanked in return. A pale figure materialized behind the three raging members of the Resistance. A quick sprint and a swing from her chain dispatched him. She pulled the large spiked gear attached end of her chain form his temple with a jerk.

Looking up she saw the hoards of Order members moving in on them.

‘I’m going to need something with a little more umph,’ she thought to herself scanning her surroundings for a suitable object to golem-ize. She smiled as she spotted an overturned propane truck on the edge of the bridge. ‘I can afford the energy for that for a bit. I hope it still has some fuel left.’

Shedding her motorcycle parts she returned to her human form. She paused a moment to regain some of her strength. Being the motorcycle-golem for so long had been a little draining. Darting toward the truck Sarah reached out to touch it.

A sudden blast threw her out of the way. Without warning she found herself knocked to the ground and pinned down by an Order henchman with four arms. He laughed maniacally in her face breathing rotten breath onto her. As his hands closed around her throat Sarah began to panic. She struggled but could not get free. She saw the blackness spreading from the edges of her vision.

Something brushed her face. Her eyes snapped open and she saw the golden necklace dangling from her assailant’s neck. It touched her again and there was a sudden flash as Sarah disappeared.

The man looked up in momentary confusion and then reached all four hands to his neck and began to struggle violently. Perched on the back of his neck there appeared to be a small golden goblin comprised of tiny metal links. Its long chain tail was looped around the man’s neck and was pulling so tightly that it was drawing blood.

‘I hope it rains tomorrow spiderman,’ Sarah tinkled in his ear as he gasped his last.

The ground shook as Caleb’s tower of earth rose from the ground. She had lost a lot of time and would have to act fast to help out the others. Her minute golden form glittered in the sun as she leapt from the man and onto the derelict fuel truck. There was another flash that was followed quickly by the violent scrapes and screeches of the metal hulk re-organizing itself.

Cole:

"Am I still...did that really...Did anyone else just see that?" Sam looked terrified but Cole was more focused on the remaining Order offensive.

“Get the rest before they can sound an alarm!” he shouted. Darting forward Cole leapt off a pillar and vaulted toward the group. Before landing he threw Slurpy from his arm toward one villain and landed with his own scythe blade buried into another.

He could hear the violent shouting and collisions of the conflict outside the building and hoped that everyone out there was ok. Looking ahead he saw the stairs behind the remaining squad team. Cole sprung back and quickly collected Slurps from the bloodied remains of the first henchman and prepared finish off the rest. Reaching those stairs was the only thing on his mind now.

 

Elsies eye's gleamed with the energy she had been draining from her adversaries. Caleb took a shakey step backwards, before laughing at his anxiety.

"You are a scary person Elsie! And thats a compliment!"

Suddenly Caleb's foot occupied the same space as a large sofa. Well, the sofa was on Caleb's foot. Caleb held his breath, and gritted his teeth together. His face turned a strange blue, before he bellowed "FFFFUUUUUUCCKKKKKK!"

Spittle flew from his mouth during the explosive exclamation, and whimpering he yanked his foot free from the troublesome furniture, and hobbled away from the conflict raging around him.

'That sofa came out of nowhere, and landed right on our foot,' Chaos mused thoughtfully.

Caleb was rubbing his throbbing toe, "You think? OW! JESUS THAT HURT!"

Suddenly a large boot thudded down in front, and Caleb looked up, a most curious man stood before him. He was made entirely of leather. Leather limbs, leather mouth, button eyes.

"I AM FURNITURENATOR! AND I AM YOUR UNDOING!" The stranger boomed.

Caleb cocked an eyebrow, "What?"

"YOUR CONFUSION IS NOT UN WARRANTED! FOR I AM A GOD!"

Caleb struggled to his feet, "Funny, you look like a tosspot."

The Furniturenator inhaled angrily, "AT MY FINGERTIPS I COMMAND THE MIGHT OF FURNITURE! HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCES! KITCHEN UTENSILS! AND ALL OTHER MANNER OF INANIMATE OBJECTS!"

Realistion dawned on Caleb, "Oh! So your the one who dropped a sofa on me."

"YES! AND A CHEAP SAGGY ONE IT WAS TOO! FOR LEATHER RECLINERS ARE FAR TOO GOOD, FOR YOUR WORTHLESS SELF!"

Caleb shrugged, scanning the mind of the strange fellow. His thoughts resembled a Home Depo catalogue, albeit with drastically increased prices. However, the Furniturenators next attack, forced Caleb to act. A lamp had been whisked into existence, and was trying to clobber Caleb over the head. Following it, was a barrage of spatulas, butter knives, bar stools, and other mundane items.

Caleb casually swatted them away with his blade, "Stop it," he said, slightly irritated.

The Furniturenator huffed, most displeased that his creations had been defeated.

"LET US SEE HOW YOU FARE AGAINST... MORE SOFAS!"

Suddenly, chairs and sofas were raining all around, eliciting a series of frantic ducks, dives and dodges from Caleb. He soon came face to leather with the Furniturenator. Calebs machete plunged deep into the Furniturenators belly, piercing through stuffing and springs. The Furniturenator gasped, coughing up wads of cotton.

"THE... FURNITURNATOR... WILL... NEVER DIE!" he gasped.

Caleb sighed, and proved the Furniturenator wrong with a decaptitation. He then threw his arms up in despair.

"I know there is an absolutely brilliant furniture related pun i could say here, but I can't think of the bloody thing!" Caleb groaned.

He then charged back into the fray.

 

From the outside Addi looked completely lifeless besides the fact that she was standing up. Her eyes were shut tightly and her face was completely devoid of emotion. However the scene around her and inside her mind were raging with activity. A huge fight between the guards of the building and her robots was in the midst of complete and utter chaos. From within her mind she suddenly felt a pain. It wasn't like a normal paing however, it wasn't coming from anywhere in her body. It was a pain she felt in her mind from a certain area. She shifted her main focus to that section of her mind and found that one of her robots had been hit a bullet that had actually done damage. So much damage that it's life force was fading, wihich was the strange pain she was feeling. Instantly she let it go, so that it slithered into a small pile of phones and PDAs all of which were badly dented and scratched but otherwise mainly unharmed.

Zooming out she looked at the fight from above. Though her robots were extremely hard to beat due mainly to the fact they couldn't really get hurt or "die" the numbers were starting to overwhelm them. One had already almost fallen and she could see the guards around that one turning on the others. She had to do something. While having multiple robots was helpful, all of them were thin and short and less protected and strong than if they were combined. An idea struck her and at the same time each of the robots fell apart, the electronics falling lifeless to the ground in piles. The soldiers looked at each other confused and unsure of what to do or what had happened. However before they could fully react all of the electronics were sliding towards each other, forming a huge pile again that was taking shape into that of a larger stronger humanoid robot. Addi felt it's strong life force in her mind and smiled internally.

"Beat this."

Reaching out a larger hand it knocked aside the three soldiers immediately next to it, sending all three flying 20 feet away. None of them got back up. Somewhere a soldier fired a gun at the new robot but it bounced harmlessly off it's chest. zoning in on him, Addi had the robot walk over to him. The sound of a bullet hitting metal seemed to wake up the rest of them and suddenly the air was once more filled with the ring of bullets and the shouts of pain as the men nearest to Addi's creation were flung through the air towards empty space where their shouts would instantly die out as they hit the ground.

 

Despite being an Order, the Order of the Flame of the Crimson Rose was in total chaos. The attack force at the bridge was under attack, as was the Fenien building itself. The small groups of soldiers with telepathic like abilities were being over whelmed by the calls for reinforcements and help. Suddenly, everyone was under attack. What ever trick the Resistance had planned, it appeared to be working.

At least, that's how it seemed to the Resistance and the majority of the Order. The higher echelons knew better. Everything was going exactly as planned. All was happening as expected. That's why The King wasn't worried as he watched the battle at the bridge and the skirmish at the bottom of the building. He even knew of the group attempting to infiltrate the building. The plan was far to simple, to predictable. As such, The King had put his knights into place to halt the advancement of the Resistance. It didn't matter if the knights succeeded or not. They needed only to stall the Resistance.

"John, contact the knights. Inform them that it is time for them to move."

The Doctor: Ea​

Finally, the call had come. Finally, I can continue my experiment, he thought to himself. Finally, I can kill again.

Amid the chaos of a war between to opposing forces, each mixing modern weaponry with magic, stood a rather plain man in a white lab coat. He didn't participate in the fighting, he merely watched and waited. Waiting for his time to participate in the war. And now it came. He turned to face the rear of the bridge, where his group had come from, and where a small group of fighters from the other side were making an attack. How foolish, he thought to himself. They're just going to die anyway, why speed up the process?

He smiled to himself at the thought of crushing the survivor of his recent attack. He wasn't supposed to cheat death like that. Mortals weren't supposed to survive divine punishment. He'd have to fix that.

"The Scorpion", he said to himself as he began to walk towards the survivor. A brief flash of light engulfed the doctor, leaving a strange creature that hadn't been seen since the beginning of the world. He towered above the soldiers at his feet, standing what must have been at least twenty feet. Neither skin, scales, fur, or feathers covered his body. Instead, impossibly large plates of chitinous armor that acted more like steel than any organic substance. His body was of a humanoid form, but unlike any human ever seen on earth. His arms ended in massive claws, larger than that of any animal ever scene. A long tail extended from his rear, ending in a stinger that didn't even need poison, so large it's size. Of course, that isn't to say it wasn't filled with poison. This was the scorpion man that even Gilgamesh had been frightened of.

The Doctor rushed towards the survivor, ignoring the traitor and the resistance, ignoring the soldiers he was smashing under foot. What he had killed should have stayed dead. That was the way of the world. No fool was going to undermine his studies by remaining alive even after death.

Susanna​

How long had it been now? How long had it been since she had seen her friends? A few hours? Days? Years? What did it matter? Her family was dead. Nathan was dead. Her friends were going to die. The world was going to die. She was going to die. And she was going to help.

People died everyday, it was there destiny to die. There wasn't any point in helping those that were to die anyway. Better her powers were used to help that which wasn't going to die. The planet would never die. Even when Earth was swallowed up by the sun, the planet would live on. But humans were hurting the earth, slowly killing it like a disease. A disease that she could cure. Killing was an essential part of the healing process after all. You can't cure a disease without killing the bacteria that cause it. You can't seal a wound without disposing of injured cells. You can't cure a cancer without killing the cancer cells.

That was what Alex had taught her. She needed to kill the disease that plagued the planet so that it could lead a happy and healthy life. She was putting her abilities the greatest use they could ever have. After a lifetime of her loved ones dying, she was finally going to make the planet a better place.

Susanna exited the building, finding two strangers and a giant robot fighting the building's guards. John had just communicated the order to begin the curing process. Everyone here was part of the disease, they all needed to be healed. Two soldiers were to assist in the process and then be healed themselves. A tall man with a giant arm, unnaturally large, easily a foot in diameter. The other; lightning zipped up and down the lengths of his arms. He reminded her of Nathan.

Nathan. He was rough, but he had been so kind. He was supposed to protect her, but he had died. And she wasn't able to help him. Despite everything that he had done, he had died like everyone else...

She wasn't going to let the planet die on her too. She was going to save it. She was going to do it for Nathan. For her family. Never again was something that she loved going to die because she couldn't help. Even if it cost her her life and her humanity, she was going to save the planet.

As her assistants rushed to combat the two intruders, Susanna focused her attention on the machine and the soldiers attacking it. Susanna reached out with her will for the planet, asking it to lend her some of it's power so that she could heal it in ways that alone, it could not. Warmth surged through her body as she felt her request answered. Taking a scalpel, Susanna cut a long bloody line along the inside of her arm, but she didn't lose strength from the loss of blood. The planet was helping her body to replenish her blood as fast as she lost it. She swung her arm out at the robot and it's attackers, the disease that needed to be healed. Blood splattered across the backs of the soldiers and an arm of the machine. Screams rose from the throats of the soldiers as they feel to their needs, their spines melting away thanks to Susanna's blood. They were being healed away. They same happened with the machine. Although it's arm didn't fall off, the blood easily burned through half of the arm. This part of the infection was stronger. It would take more healing than the rest.

Aestuo​

The resistance and their beloved leader were heading up towards him, trying to get at The King. But he wasn't going to let them do that. He had worked to hard to pass Chalybs. He was going to show that he could defeat even the resistance leader, the beloved Candice, and pass up even the doc. And then he'd take out The King. This saving the planet crap was a load of nonsense. All the guys here were either nut jobs like the doc or suicidal like The King. Or just plain confused like the new comer. They had the power to take over the world, and they were going to just destroy it. What a waste.

Aestuo decided to pass the time cleaning out his gun as he waited for the others to work their way through the building. Hopefully they wouldn't get themselves killed by doing something stupid like taking the elevator. He wasn't going to work his way up by scraping them up off the bottom of the elevator shaft. It'd be a lot more fun if he got to blow their heads off. Maybe even have them beg for mercy and then blow their heads off. Or rape the girl and then blow their heads off. The possibilities were endless!

 

Admidst the carnage, blood, grunting, snarling, death and magic, CAleb felt the hairs on his neck prick up. Someone was watching him. He lopped the arm off the cursing man before him.

"Kiddo, would you mind finishing the job?" Caleb shoved the agonized soldier towards Elsie.

He then spun around, and a smile spread across his blood smeared features.

"You look different Ea. Haircut?" Caleb dove out of the way of the charging beast. It was monstrously huge. Dozens of men were being trampled underfoot. He lithely sprung back to his feet, his grin still present.

"I don' like being killed by pretentious Gods you know. I find it awfully... irritating," Caleb gestured frantically, "EVERYONE BACK! HE'S MINE!"

No one needed much encouragement, both Order and Resistence alike were fearful of approraching the rampaging god.

'It is time, release me,' Chaos pleaded.

Caleb nodded, 'Alright Chaos. Don't disappoint me..."

He embaced Chaos, and suddenly pain wracked his entire body. Everything considered mundane, and automatic, his heart beat, his breath was disrupted. His breaths came in ragged gasps, but bought no oxygen. His heart pounded endlessly, but pumped no blood. Dark energy flowed through his every cell, no, converted his every cell. His was a conduit for chaos. He was Chaos.

The Caleb/Chaos hybrid had unwittingly collapsed on the ground. Energy burst from his fingertips, sending him rearing him towards the sky. When he had reached the desired elevation, he cackled, his laugh lashed the battlefield, scorching it, and its combatants.

He spotted Ea, and summoned every last vestule of energy in his palm, and send it in a searing wave towards the God. Lightning, water, earth, fire all combiend into a terrifying whirlwind of chaotic energy directed at the God. Caleb had never seen anything like it, never witnessed such power. Even his Aether felt meagre in comparison to the ball of death he had sent hurtling towards Ea.

"Lets see you handle that little God," Caleb and Chaos whispered in unison.

 

"Kiddo, would you mind finishing the job?" Caleb shoved the agonized soldier towards Elsie.

She had just decapitated a man and added it to her bloody collection before she turned to Caleb and caught the soldier before he stumbled over. Holding his armless limb, the wincing man looked up at her. Elsie couldn't resist a grin and she felt fear wrack the mans body before it went limp. Life drained from him, Elsie released the body and let it hit the ground with a thud.

It was then that Ea came stamping about, not caring of who he stepped on. Elsie stood there, in awe and in fear, as she contemplated the godly size of him. 'Large' wouldn't even come near to cutting it! The scorpion-like god was much, much more huge, and much, much more threatening, than 'large'.

But it was not just the height of such a creature that got all of Elsie's focus, it was also the radiating energy blasting from all around him. It was like shadows themselves were clinging onto him, like Ea was a magnet for darkness. It was more than Elsie could ever think possible. Even just witnessing the load made her feel the tug and pull toward explosion and insanity - the feeling she would only experience when obtaining up to five life energies at the same time.

She didn't even notice the lot scamper past her and away from the monstrous beast. However, she did notice something else...

Elsie, who was now taking short gasps of breath, turned to Caleb and found what she sensed she'd find; corruption. The pure light that had once surrounded him was now being engulfed by the black orb that once stood tame around his head. They didn't even stop once all his positive energy was gone; it kept growing and growing. Elsie caught her breath.

As the now Chaos-Caleb shot into the air to challenge Ea, Elsie finally moved her feet. She was surrounded by darkness and therefore was only consuming darkness. She needed out, she needed light. She needed Sara...

Elsie set out to find the only one who expelled pure positive energy and stick by her. She was even killing in a rush to all that still had the will to oppose her, and couldn't care less if her dress now soaked in blood.

Her head throbbed with almost-unbareable pain, and her hands sweat profusely as she tried to keep herself under the insanity bar.

Elsie let out a roar and used the dark energy flowing into her to stab her hand into a man in front of her. At that point she was on the verge of not caring who she killed anymore. She was about to give in...

Until, in the distance, she saw something hunkering around like a robotised truck...

Sara?

 

Sarah

Sarah rose to her feet as a massive giant of steel. Her form was less detailed than usual, she was trying to conserve her energy. But still the humanoid shape belied the graceful femininity that Sarah idolized so highly.

The large fuel tank had tumbled to the ground beside her. She wouldn’t be so foolish as to incorporate something so volatile into herself. Gripping the tank with one hand she swung it in front of her, launching a dozen Order peons into the river.

Slamming the fuel container onto the ground end first she opened the valve and released a torrent of explosive liquid. A quick click from the sparkplug in her finger and the flames were released scorching and charring everything in her path. She swept the flames out in all directions, devouring militants as she advanced toward her three comrades.

From behind the wall of smoke she created she glimpsed the scorpion man as he rose. It must be Ea she summarized having heard of him from previous battles. She watched as he lunged forward crushing his own men beneath him.

‘Sick bastard doesn’t even care about his own men!’ she raged. The Order must be stopped or else all the world would succumb to such irreverence to life.

She was nearly just half as tall as Ea in his current form, but was prepared to charge and take him on just the same. She would have, had it not been for Caleb’s cry and frightening transformation. She watched in surprise as his dark energy ravaged teh battle field. The tremendous devastating orb flew through to the air towards Ea its flare illuminating the battle field.

In the flash Sarah caught sight of a slender figure moving against the crowd and straight at her. The girl was slashing and hacking her way through the ranks of Order minions, with a look of distraught indifference in her glowing eyes.

“Elsie!” Sarah’s metallic voice called out.


Cole

The team inside the building quickly moved ahead as Candice finished off the remaining guards. The flurry of flames around obstructed Coles view of her as she sent the last henchman through a wall.

“Let’s move,” Cole shouted as he followed Candice up the stairs. The stair well was a narrow and dangerous place to fight especially from below.

Cole leaped above Candice and vaulted off the wall. Using his strength, strength and gecko-grip hands he continued to launch himself up the stairwell. Landing behind a group of guards that were rushing down the stairs to meet them he gave a quick slash and sent them sprawling down towards his teammates.

Candice finished off the tumbling men out of the way with the force of her flames and continued up the stairs to meet Cole.

“Nicely, done,” complimented Cole. “Where do we go from here? It’s a long ways to the top of the building. I don’t know how far we can get before the seal us off in here.”


‘Sick bastard doesn’t even care about his own men!’ she raged. The Order must be stopped or else all the world would succumb to such irreverence to life.

She was nearly just half as tall as Ea in his current form, but was prepared to charge and take him on just the same. She would have, had it not been for Caleb’s cry and frightening transformation. She watched in surprise as his dark energy ravaged the battle field. The tremendous devastating orb flew through to the air towards Ea its flare illuminating the scene before her.

In the flash Sarah caught sight of a slender figure moving against the crowd and straight at her. The girl was slashing and hacking her way indifferently through the ranks of Order minions with a look of growing distress in her silvery eyes.

“Elsie!” Sarah’s metallic voice called out.

 

The Doctor​

The scene was beginning to look like it would pan out like a war amongst Gods. A boy, filled with chaotic power. A scientist, holding all the power of the heavens.

Who was going to survive this clash? Chaos? Or the Stars?


The Scorpion-Man swung a massive arm at the chaotic mass of energy, only to find that not even his armor could defend against an attack of that power. The orb simply tore through his arm, leaving nothing but a stump in its wake. Rather than continuing his savage rush, The Scorpion-Man took a second to study his stump of an arm. He couldn't fight against power like that in this form. Maybe if he was up against black holes and Aether as he might have expected, but not against this. A force that resided above Aether. He'd need more than ancient beasts to compete with this. He'd need the power of a God, the greater power of creation. Akasha.

The scorpion disappeared as quickly as it had appeared, replaced with a being of smaller stature, but far greater gravity.This was no beast of legend. This was a God. Once again, The Doctor had taken the form of Ea. The Great One.

Despite standing only half as tall as The Scorpion, Ea was far more imposing. It wasn't his appearance. While he was taller than any man, and rancid brown water ran off his shoulders, no part of his appearance was as intimidating as The Scorpion. What made his presence so powerful was the energy that surged from his body. Raw, unbridled force, Akasha, the energy of creation, leaked from his body in waves.

"Come," The God's voice resounded, carrying more force than any heard in millennia. "Put your power up against my creation. Let's see if you can kill a God. Can you stop my divine experiment?"

The Babylonian gathered Akasha into his hands, condensing it into white hot orbs. The asphalt cracked under foot, straining against the forces raging above it. The Doctor was bringing forces onto Earth that had never before been present at the same time. The Heavens were plotting an assault against Caleb.

"The Scimitar"

"The Great Twins"

"Pabilsag"

"Star of Stars"

One after another, Constellations of an ancient world gathered in the hands of the God. The Scimitar, a giant blade of starlight in his right hand. In his left, two glimmering spears, one bending and the other attaching itself to the first while thinning out, forming a great bow. Next a shaft of starlight, aligning itself parallel the bowstring. Finally, a star setting itself as the arrow head, pulsating and glowing in white fury. Ea had summoned forth the stars to use as his weapons.

Without another word, Ea released his arrow of the stars upon the boy consumed with Chaos. Now, the battle had begun. Chaos against Order. Creation against Destruction. Rebirth against Oblivion. Oblivion against Rebirth. Creation against in Destruction. A boy against a God. A Man against a force of nature.

Candice​

"Don't worry about them sealing us off. This is an office building, not a military base. They don't have steel fire doors or anything of the sort. We just need to work our way to the top. If they do find a way to seal us off, we bust through or Sam can draw a way out for us. That's why I brought him."

Even as she continued up the stairwell, she knew that these guards probably weren't going to be their only trouble. Eventually, they'd come against some of Alex's knights. When that happened, they'd just need to pray that they weren't separated.

"Just remember to stick close. If they get us separated, our deaths are going to become a lot easier."