Capetown, Texas

Everything seemed to blur together for a bit. The speech had barely registered in his brain as he had tried to struggle with the near crippling amounts of worry and dread he was feeling. He knew the statistics, he did the research. Hundreds always died in Abhorrent attacks. sound became distant as he glanced around him. How many people would die? Who would fall first? who would be forced to suffer agonizing pain from radiation poisoning or being torn apart by bloodthirsty plants? The idea of even attempting to fight a living disaster seemed impossible. He couldn't be the only one thinking it.
Alex was pulled from his thoughts when the drones had swarmed around strapping themselves onto every capes wrist. Easier to identify the bodies when all is said and done I guess. He frowned. why was he thinking like this? wasn't there a chance they could drive tangle back with their numbers? There were dozens of heavy hitters here. a small smile had been starting to form on his face as he tried to grasp at the idea.

The universe decided it was time for its sick joke to play out however. A loud churning of concrete and metal had blasted from behind. That's when all hell broke loose.

He didn't remember when he had started running. Maybe it was when that damn plant reared its ugly head, or when someone had boomed out for everyone to scatter. It didn't mater now. Alex was tearing his way through the crowds, street and sidewalk cracking under his heavy steps as he ran full tilt with one destination in mind. There was no fighting that thing. The stream of names his bracelet continued to rattle off reinforced this fact in his mind. What could he even do? his barriers would shatter like glass against that genocidal plant, and his body would die within seconds of being meters away from tangles main body.

Alex only slowed down after almost running straight into a building. Windbreak Down So many already. Devilmask Down. He had to keep moving he had to- he stopped. Another cap nearby was desperately trying to defend another man on the ground bleeding heavily from what was left of his right arm and leg. A couple of Tangles plant minions were trying to get to her now, the frost blasting from her hands just barely keeping the writhing garden horrors away. Alex clenched his fists and swallowed hard. He couldn't just leave her or the man to their fate. looking around quickly, he realized there were at least a half a dozen other caps around him. He had to choke back bile at their mangled forms. Why? Why do so many have to die? how can anybody expect a bunch of low level caps to even survive any of this for more then a second? The league always does most of the work anyway.
Throwing his hands outward. Two aqua colored spheres enveloped the man and woman. Alex then yanked back his hands, causing the two to fly towards him like a pair of giant yo-yo's. The bubbles reached him in less then two seconds before popping. Alex turned his head to the woman and pointed to the man, His eyes now glowing the same light blue as his barriers behind the lenses of his makeshift knight helmet. " Get him to a healer NOW! he might be able to be saved. I'll cover you!" Alex turned his head and threw his arms back up again, generating a wall between the three of them just before the plant minions had time to rush in and attack. the wall gained some thickness after the plants had started to form cracks in it from their wild thrashing. The sound of footsteps quickly moving away was the only indication that the woman and the man had left. Alex didn't risk looking away to check and just hoped the man might make it.

As the minions were about to try going around Alex's wall, he shaped it to encircle the two and quickly seal the things in a bubble. Not wasting anymore time, He mentally pushed with all he had and flung the sphere several blocks down before letting it pop. Would rather not get into hand to hand with any of those. Best to just pluck and trow like they are a bunch of weeds. very deadly weeds. Satisfied with his plan of . . . attack, Alex began sprinting off again. Making sure now to try his best to either pull people out of danger or fling any minions he came across. A chime from his pocket caught his attention. Who was trying to contact him in all of this?! Then it hit him like a freight train. Dean, had to be. Skidding to a halt and pulling out his phone, a glance at the now somewhat cracked screen made his blood run cold.

"DUDE IM STUCK IN MY WORK BUILDING AND DONT KNOW WHAT TO DO THOSE THINGS ARE EVERYWHERE I CANT FIND ANYONE AND DONT WANT THEM TO FIND ME PLEASE SEND HELP"

That was one of several messages that Alex had somehow missed from Dean. all asking if he was ok or if he could find a way to get him some help. Aqua energy formed a disc next to Alex as he hopped on. flying would be faster. there was no time to loose if he wanted to get there before he was found. the sound of Tangle's rampage in the other direction gave Alex a grain of hope. he sped off through the air as fast as he could mentally push himself. pretty sure that there would be a massive headache and a nose bleed happening in a few minutes from the strain. Damnit why am i so slow?!? All the while he continued to hear a somewhat steady pass of cap named being rattled off to him by the wristband. He gave it a quick glance and scowled. For some reason it was starting to make him angry, like they needed a way to track the bodies. The thought drove him forward though, he wasn't going to let himself or Dean become a statistic. " We. Are. Not. Cannon fodder." Alex huff in frustration before continuing on. There was time to be angry later, Tangle was being fought, the other caps were become somewhat more coordinated as the moments passed. Alex had only one thing on his mind though. His friend needed to be rescued.

Capetown, TX. 09/20/2017, 10:45 AM. 73°F,
Partly Cloudy. Arc 4: Abberance.

---

After the blinding light-show died down, Chrysopoeia watched as Sähkö held her pose for a second, then two. The side of her body faced Tangle, her body and feet pointing at a perpendicular angle to his direction. Her arm outstretched towards the Abhorrent, and her head followed down her arm, gazing at the beast. Then, she slowly turned her head to look at her teammates. Her mouth formed a small 'o' shape, her jaw loose, her eyebrows were knit forward, and tears were in her eyes.
..... She was surprised? That didn't seem right to Chrysopoeia. She couldn't have been so cocky in her power that she thought she could do damage to the Abhorrent that other, stronger, capes couldn't.
..... Ah, then it clicked for him. She was surprised at her own immense power. She'd probably never discharged that much energy in her life. Sähkö never flexed her powers. She was afraid of hurting others.
..... Then her knees buckled, and she fell slightly, before re-straightening her legs, trying to catch her balance. The use of her power must've weakened her. Adrenaline is the only reason she hasn't fainted.
..... Then, suddenly, a cold chill went over Chrysopoeia as a tingle ran up his spine. He turned to face Tangle, and realized the Abhorrent had turned its head to face... them. It was 'staring', though it had no eyes, at Sähkö. The fight had only been going on for a few minutes, but Chrysopoeia knew that when Tangle faced someone like that, it meant lasers.
..... "Seraph!" he barked immediately, and dinner-plate-sized portals began to open up in a wall, between them and Tangle. The portals were all a hair from touching each other, but they were circular. This created a pattern of diamond-shaped holes, openings between the portals. Seraphim had control over the shapes of her portals, why'd she do that? It must've been a split second error, because the portals began quickly turning into hexagons, one by one. Not quick enough though, and their world turned white for the second time in a single minute.
..... ...and they were still alive when the whiteness faded, though in pain. The air around them had heated to as hot as an oven, and several diamond-shaped patches on each of them were burned, badly. Smoldering clothes, and blistered skin. Still, the portals had drastically reduced the surface area of the beam, saving them from a worse fate.
..... Then, bright white searing light flashed again, but this time, instead of at them, Tangle drew a line in the building, bisecting it. Whilst they stood on it's roof. Chrysopoeia felt the concrete roof below them buckle and crack as the building destabilized. If the building came crashing down, they might not survive the rubble. Chrysopoeia touched one of the scales on his suit, and touched the building below him, transmuting the entire building into a giant building-sculpted block of steel. The building stopped rumbling.
..... "Man, Tangle was not happy you did that, Jaz." Chrysopoeia joked. No one laughed. In fact, he heard Sähkö suck in a breath, a gasp.
..... "Guys..." She weakly said, and lifted her arm, pointing.
..... Chrysopoeia looked up and his stomach dropped. Like a rattle snake, Tangle had lifted part of his tail high into the sky.
..... "Sandstorm, dome-shield, now! Chrys, go get Sähkö." Seraphim ordered, and Chrysopoeia immediately dashed five feet away to where Sähkö was barely able to keep herself standing. He picked her up, princess-style, and began dashing back to the small dome-shaped tomb of sand Sandstorm had erected. It was a common tactic of The Congenial's. Sandstorm would create a dome-shaped shield over them, and Chrysopoeia would transmute it into something stronger, like steel or titanium.
..... Then in a split second, Chrysopoeia noticed something terrifying. Tangle's tail was dropping, already. And fast.
..... Sandstorm's dome wasn't big enough for them to even stand in yet. Much less, for all four of them to fit into. Sandstorm and Seraphim were already standing in it. They could fit if they ducked down. "Guys, duck!" he screamed, and curled Sähkö into the fetal position and ungracefully threw her into the dome, falling to his knees as he did. Then, he touched the dome of swirling liquid sand, and it became titanium.

"Chrysopoeia down."

---

---

Capetown, TX. 09/20/2017, 10:47 AM. 73°F,
Partly Cloudy. Arc 4: Abberance.

---

"Chrysopoeia down."
..... No. Sähkö denied, in her head.
..... There's no way.
..... And yet, in the darkness, she could only feel Seraphim and Sandstorm's costumes. And by 'feel', she didn't mean with her hands. She was laying on top of them. The metal of the dome was dented at the top and pushed flat against her chest, pinning her, and underneath her Ray and Mark lay in rather uncomfortable positions, as they were sitting of crouching before she was thrown ontop of them.
..... And they were stuck. Pinned inside the dome, unable to move. Unable to destroy the dome without hurting themselves. The floor beneath them was solid steel, and the dome was solid elemental titanium. Both at least two feet thick.
..... They were trapped.

The woman thanked Devon for the warning and made an attempt at pronouncing his cape name, he never minded it too much if they screwed up his name and it wasn't even that bad. She introduced herself as Hush while he took a moment to look around the others gathered there. An odd assortment of people to say the least, but that wasn't uncommon for any grouping of capes to turn into.

Hush then formulated her plan for a search and rescue operation. She seemed to have a good head on her shoulders, Protection for those doing the rescuing, an extraction point to bring the evacuees to and even a gtfo option just in case they attracted Tangles attention or he wandered into their direction. They'd be able to operate much closer to Tangles zones of control than most other rescue crews would dare or even be able to.

The masked man was the first to give his opinion of the plan, fully understanding the nature of this battle as one of attrition. He then suggested to make contact with more capes to get more rescue teams and some recon/communications going. It sounded like a valid idea, but unless they were lucky enough to find more capes capable of providing the same gtfo capabilities any of the other teams would be in significantly more danger and he wasn't too fond of that idea. Having a contingency plan to evacuate the rescues and the triage people to a safer location when things get too hot there however was a near necessity and he doubted the fact that whomever was there would have the capabilities to get all the injured out of there and to a safer location on moments notice.

"Until we find more capes capable of warping a group of people out of Tangle's path I think we should put the idea of splitting up into multiple groups on ice, or they should should stay much further from the damn thing. I wouldn't feel comfortable asking people to take that big of a risk, greater good or not. But I agree we should try to recruit any other capes we come across." He said while keeping an ear and an eye on the interactions eldritch cape and the little girl had.

Moments later both of them pitch in on the conversation, the little girl explaining her curious powers and her willingness to act as a shield for the others. While he would have easily accepted such a statement from someone who looked like they could take an artillery barrage and ask for seconds with a smile, hearing those words shyly come from the mouth of a little girl it just felt so very wrong.

Then the eldritch ink artisan pitched in humbly mentioning that he'd be good for heavy muscle or as a mount and not that much more. It seemed he thought too lightly of his own capabilities in this situation, honestly if he helped evacuating injured people before carrying them out of harms way presumably then he'd already be more useful than half of the HLA capes stationed at Capetown. Devon turned to Wendigo. "HLA gave me special piercing ammo designed to have the most armor piercing capability in a single bullet imaginable, all I could do with it was put a teeny tiny hole in Tangle's outer layers of armor. Doubt he even realized they were there before it regenerated. If you've helped injured people evacuate, you've already been much more useful than I can hope to be. I'm just a human sized battle tank that can fire a couple special effects, if I ever move into the metal decaying zone of tangle for more than a few seconds any and all worth of me as a cape just vanishes into thin air."

Nobody plummeted head first towards the ground at five hundred feet. She didn't let out a sound. Her body was limp, her arms flailing in the wind at her sides. To the untrained eye she appeared a falling corpse. Through her squinting eyes, she could see the blinding light of the sun reflecting on the skyscraper's glassy exterior and a sliver of blue.

"Dr. Mosquito down. Black Frost down. Vipera down."

Her bracelet rattled off monotonously, fighting to be heard over the rush of air in her ears. The wind was inviting her.

"Incognito down. Atomic Angel down."

She shut her eyes and sighed. Thirty more feet to go until she actually was a corpse. Always time for a game of chicken before the end times, as they never say.

Nobody vanished less than a meter from the ground. It looked like she'd smacked the bottom so fast she'd been obliterated into nothing. The wave of wind that spread from her landing certainly felt like it. Then, a hard, direct gust blew through the chaos from where she fell, knocking all in its path either towards or out of danger. Nobody frankly didn't notice or care. She didn't even pay the carnage any attention. She was just a breeze.

When Vic changed, the lines that defined her became blurry. Sometimes, they felt non-existent. She was was part of everything, her molecules intermingling with the atmosphere. Where did she end? It was a sensation she couldn't try to describe to someone without seeming like some massive stoner, and it wasn't one she could do justice with words anyway. Sometimes she wondered if she could stretch her consciousness out. Make the atmosphere of this world a part of her, not just becoming a part of it. It was in this form she truly was Nobody. In this form, she whooshed through the battlegrounds to Tangle.

A vine smashed down before her, wiping out - whatever, Nobody didn't look. She just rushed through the rising vine, feeling herself part around it. Finally, she reached her destination, and came to a halt.

Nobody wasn't afraid to look danger in the eye. That's what she was here to prove. Unfortunately, she literally couldn't, given that this time danger didn't have any. She hovered before Tangle's maw, staring at its otherwise featureless face. She could feel the radiation here, sense it. It couldn't harm her, but the air was sick with it. She watched the fight close-up, attacks not managing to pierce it or the damage immediately regenerating. It was hard to believe what she was seeing was real, even with all the crazy shit that went down in Capetown on the daily.

"..."

... It was awesome.

And, being here. In the open. As one of the many capes here. The many that Tangle was just killing indiscriminately, without vendetta or personal investment... mindless...

"It's not as bad, old man." She thought. Triumph swelled in her. She glared Tangle down in spirit. "You're not enough, Tangle. Not even you."

She turned from her impulsive decision to get a closer look, about to fly back over the battle, when Tangle... breathed.

In.

Hard.

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhh..." Nobody thought as she was sucked back, too stunned for a second to think of wrenching herself away. A second in which Tangle already chomped down, trapping her in complete darkness.

"... Shit."

The sensation of crawling panic wasn't fading...

Jericho stared around at the assembled group for a little longer, nodding politely at Freischutz for his... Reassuring sort of words. His attention shifted to Hush- (though he didn't know that was their names) and his crocodile-rumble-voice leaped into the air once more. "My name is Wendigo... Though most of you know that. I have a secondary name of Ghoul. You can also call me Jericho. I'll answer to all of them," And up came the arm with the bracelet-band, "I think we can ping and communicate using these... Dunno if they have a like, range on them... Hm."

The arm was lowered, and Jericho stood minutely taller, stretching his third arm outward and upward as the massive paw-mit of the appendage swirled with ink and then shot off into the air. It took the form of a finch, though the feathers were a brilliantly colored blue and white-gray. It rose, and rose, and rose up into the air, flapping its wings with an otherwise unnecessary fervency. A cord, maybe as thick as an expo marker, stretched from where the orifice for digestive waste would have normally been for a bird, down to Jericho's still upheld arm. From it, he regained his bird's eye view of the battlefield, just in time to witness Tangle retaliate towards... Someone?

The monstrous plant shifted its body, turned away from Legend- poor bastard wasn't even denting it -And instead focusing on a relatively familiar building. A laser blasted away at the rooftop of the parking garage, blinding the finch for a moment before the retinas were repaired from below. A rolling pulse of ink ran through the cord and into the flying bird, Jericho grunting unhappily as he 'wasted' what negligible mass was needed to repair the eyes of the finch. Another pulse of ink was sent not even moments later as another laser bisected the building. The eyes came back into focus once again, with Jericho muttering "Like a shitty fuckin' camera..." on the ground below. The parking garage was all of a sudden shiny, bright metallic gray, and tilted at an incredibly incorrect angle. Tangle's tail was in the air, and before Jericho's (really the finch's eyes) a small dome of metal formed and then was impacted with violent force. He watched as the tail came away, left a scarlet... smear... and the words: "Chrysopoeia down." echoed tonelessly from the bracelet around his other arm.

The panic coils in the heart...

His voice, quick and panicked, rumbled out to the others whilst a secondary mouth forms half way up his forearm, two conversations carrying at once. The first rapidly telling the others that "Tangle just blasted a building with his lasers... We should move behind him. We're about... Two, two-and-a-half streets away from him." While the second whispered hurriedly into the open air. "Open a line to Sähkö!" before pausing and waiting, hurriedly speaking as the band notified him that the 'Connection Established.' "Hey. Are you okay? Chrys- Your- Your friend's name just came off the bracelet," He waited a heartbeat... "Grunt if you're not okay?"

A tiny, nearly inaudible grunt echoed from the bracelet in response.

"Grunt if you're trapped in that dome...?" A short moment paused, and Jericho's heart squeezed with worry and fear before- "Help. Trapped. Hurry? Probably not a lot of air." -leapt forth from the bracelet. "I'll... I- uh- I'll see what I can do! Hold on." His head rose some, the finch continuing to flit and flutter about high above them giving him the view of the battle he needed. And then, his body shifted forward, haltingly moving past the group- Even with the girl on his head- before pausing and turning back towards them. "Well... We- We gotta- Fuck- We have to go help other people too. Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck. Hush you can- You can make portals right? Fuck me. Um." He paused, twitching as the sound of rustling ... Matter, made its way into his eardrums. A quiet gasp of 'God... Fuck you.' left Jericho's lips, before he reached out and began moving as an almost spider shaped plant-mass crawled up and over the rooftop of a nearby building. He tilted his head up towards the creature, before jolting and pausing as a silent beam of light seared through the middle of the creation.

A bright, cobalt blue butterfly fluttered by his face as the girl holding onto his antlers stared the charred 'corpse' down. The mass fell, and one of Jericho’s arms reached out and laid flat on a limb of the plant-monster, ink spreading out over the entirety of it before ‘melting’ and seeping down through the matter. A soft sigh echoed from the changer, as over a period of at most, maybe thirteen seconds, the plant limb was absorbed up into his body as extra, usable mass. “Okay… Okay. Let’s go save some people, and after I’ve gotten some away, Hush, I’ll need you to teleport me to Jas- Sähkö. Please…”

He didn’t wait for an answer, pausing and thinking for a moment before he lifted the arm with the band and murmured into it. “Um… Ping nearby incapacitated capes, please?” He shifted forms as he waited, listening as the band went silent for a moment before listing off several names of capes within (what Jericho didn’t know) a good 90 foot radius around him. His hind legs changed as it kept listing names, and even as the sound of a quiet, chiming ‘viung vieng’ made itself audible from down the alleyway they were gathered in.

They now had a direction, and as Jericho began moving towards the sound, he felt-

Stress. Boiling under the surface. Useless futile fear.

Ten to fifteen minutes had past by. The sound of broken glass, cracking concrete and and groaning metal filled Alex's ears constantly. Only periodically being being cut through by shouts and screams. of civilians or capes? He honestly couldn't tell anymore. The city seemed to be half in ruins now from the "reclaimer's" rampage. Now and again a stray plant minion would try and leap at him as he flew past. said plants were always met with a sudden wall of telekinetic force to whatever could be considered a face. He could barely recognize some of the streets as he flew past. He was nearly a block away from Dean's workplace now. The fact that it had taken so long was infuriating. Took long enough. God I hope he was able to keep his head down. The only shred of good news he had been getting was the stream of texts from Dean showing that he was ok.

Help is on the way just hang in there please! >

< Jesus dude are you ok? The city sounds like it's a out to fall apart!

I'm fine, just try to hold out, I'll explain later trust me >

< In all of this??! Dude you'll get yourself killed!

I said trust me. I'll be ok. >

< Bro are you saying what I think you are????

No time. Block away. See you soon. >

The building was looking worse for ware but somehow in one piece for the time being. the thought of relief never crossed Alex's mind as he looked down and saw what had to be close to at least a dozen of Tangle's creeps scouring the place. Pulling apart brick and stone and breaking down anything that seemed man made to make way for the coming growth brought on by the abhorrent that spawned them. He Scowled. Why and how were there even so many in this spot? Didn't really matter now, he had other priorities in mind. "Time to do some gardening, then grab Dean and get him out of here. sounds easy enough" He released the barrier disc he had been riding on and dropped straight down onto the street with a load crack of the asphalt, gaining the attention of the shambling creatures. What had looked like a dozen quickly became more daunting as he soon realized that each one was considerably larger then himself. Gulping hard and cracking his neck, he waved tauntingly. Well? come and get me!

As if on cue, the minions scrambled together and surged towards the lone teen. Alex quickly flexed his powers and formed a thick dome around himself. With his defenses raised, he threw his arms out towards the minions charging him and sent walls of flying psychic energy to slam into them. While some were able to evade the walls easier then Alex though, he was able to snag a few. Any that happened to slam into one of his walls were quickly bubbled and flicked into the air a couple of stories and held in place as they flailed. He would release them before any actually broke his barriers.
With things more in his favor and a lot more wiggle room to work with, Alex made one of his solid bubbles in his hand and considered it for a moment. Blunt force against plants is probably not going to get me anywhere quickly, so maybe... He focused on the bubble and mentally flattened it out into a more convex shape, making the edges into as fine a wedge as possible before giving it a nice spin. Hope this works, or its back to chucking. He launched the spinning disc that had gotten to close to his liking. Alex's hopes were answered as the disc bit into plant fiber and shredded further into it. "Ok, now this is going to be fun. A wide grin spread across his face as he made a few more of these sharp discs and eyed the other minions. The dome and bubbles all popped before Alex rushed in.

The last minion not sliced to shreds tried one last time to do any sort of damage to Alex before getting cut vertically in half, both halves being flung apart afterwards. Glad that's over with. A quick scan of the area confirmed the lack of any other mobile or moving plants. Might need to be careful with this one in the future. he made a small sharp disc in his palm before dispelling it. He looked back to the building and ran over to its side. The front didn't look too bad sure, but from the side it was made apparent that a good portion of the building had collapsed. as panic set in, Alex rushed over and began chucking pieces of rubble away.

DEAN! WHERE ARE YOU?!

The sound of shifting and scuffling could be heard not too far away. "Alex? That you?" A hushed voice called out. Yep, that was him. Alive and hopefully well. Jogging over to where the voice came from, sure enough, Alex found his best friend crawling out of the rubble. most likely having had tried his best to hide and wait for help.
Alex pulled off his helmet and got a better look at him. Dean's left arm was not in the best of conditions at all, and he looked to be limping. Dean looked at Alex with a form of awe on his face. "Fucking hell man, why didn't you say you were a cape? I mean i know why you didn't say anything I'm not stupid but come on bro you could have at least said something did I mention myarmreallyfuckinghurtsrightnowOUCHFUCK!! Alex Rushed over and gave his friend some support. Realizing that Dean's arm was broken in more then one place. "I was gonna tell you eventually man, now suck it up for a little bit longer. I'm gonna get you out of here. Dean gritted his teeth and nodded.
Alex looked down at his wristband and decided now was as good a time as ever to try calling for someone. He lifted the arm with the band and spoke clearly into it. "This is Aegis trying to get Quickfoot, I got a wounded civilian that needs to get to safety and have medial treatment done right away! There was a pause before the band sprung to life. "Copy that Aegis, i'm pinging you now and am on my way, good to hear your still breathing out there. Alex smiled a bit, having worked with Quickfoot in the same neighborhood harassing splatterblood's crew, he knew he could trust the speedster.
A few minutes passed, Dean asking questions about Alex's powers and life as a cape as a distraction from the pain before the sound of rushing air heralded the arrival of Quickfoot. Alex didn't miss a beat and scooped up his friend and handed him over. "keep him safe, I . . . I gotta get back out there. Don"t worry. I'm not planing on dying." He slipped his battered helmet back on and nodded to Quickfoot and gave Dean a thumbs up. "Ill be holding you too that man. No way i could tell your gramp's you went and got done in by some stupid overgrown plant."
Alex snorted and turned around, waving behind himself. He knew he would have a lot of explaining to do once Dean was a lot more lucid and you know, not in severe shock and pain.
A new barrier platform formed under his feet and sent him off towards the sounds of the Tangle fight, hoping he wouldn’t be too late to lend a hand to any stragglers trying to get away from the fight. If he couldn’t help fight at least he could do some extraction.

---

It felt like it took less time to get back to the front then it had trying to save Dean. He caught glimpses of Tangle as he made it into the main "danger zone" It was worse then he had imagined. Ruts, plants and rubble everywhere. If he looked to hard he could make out the corpses. He shook his head sadly and moved on, trying to stay away from the open and keep himself from drawing any sort of attention from the Tangle fight. Lifting his band, he called out to anyone still around. "This is Aegis calling out. Anyone need a hand out there?

Devon looked on as Wendigo introduced himself and quickly thereafter made great use of his powers to create a reconnaissance bird high in the sky. It seemed he localised Tangle pretty quickly with it, but from his reaction after another name was called out by the bracelet it seemed he had seen something quite distressing. Perhaps related to the massive impact he had heard just a moment earlier. He held a separate conversation with the bracelet as he informed the rest of the group of Tangles position, 2.5 streets away. Given the shape of the city blocks around this part, ignoring the alleyways, that meant Tangle was about 500-600 feet out plenty of room for them to maneuver in.

Devon hadn’t quite followed the secondary conversation, but he clearly heard a voice saying ”Help. Trapped. Hurry? Probably not a lot of air.” coming from the bracelet. It seemed someone Wendigo knew was trapped in some sort of sticky situation. For a moment he looked at the panicked demeanor of the eldritch horror trying to figure out what to do while Devon decided on a game plan. It seemed he had his priorities lopsided quite a bit, deciding to help those nearby before the ones in a critical situation, oxygen deprivation can kill quite quickly.

Devon walked up to Wendigo, attempting to block his path. “Change of plans, we’re going to have to split up.” He said aimed at the group as a whole, he paused for a second before addressing Wendigo directly. “You said you could carry me as a mount, how about you make some room for me and we go save your friend.” He then looked at the girl nestled behind the antlers. The girl stared back but said nothing. ”I really don’t like the idea of it, but if we are going to go somewhere out where Tangle can reach we might need to rely on that power of yours. Would you mind helping us out?”

The situation rapidly went through a few transitions, the battlefield and priorities quickly adapting as it all unfolded. Hush had formulated a general blanket plan to help out endangered capes, but as soon as an actual emergency came up, that seemed to go out the window. At first, she’d been planning on using the intel about Tangle to inform their next movements, maybe even make use of the vision provided by Wendigo’s… Um… ‘Pet’ to locate the injured. What she hadn’t expected was the personal distress on behalf of the large ink creature, and the fact that the source seemed to be at the top of a large building. Capes that survived that laser blast? Something about a dome? Immediately, the giant thing seemed to be panicking, and that wasn’t going to do any of them any good. With how he was acting, even if she hadn’t intended to make a move to assist those individuals, she doubted he would’ve listened to her.

Thankfully, she didn’t have to make any such call, Freischütz stepping in to take the leadership position and direct them. It was hard to imagine they were all still in a lot of danger themselves, and although she’d initially been concerned about taking the smaller child with them, the fact that she had managed to fry one of those plant monsters that had approached with such ease revealed that she certainly wasn’t helpless. Grimacing inside her mask as she watched Wendigo do his thing and devour the monster that’d interrupted their huddle, Hush decided there’d been enough talk for the moment. If they were splitting up, now was the time to get to it.

“So, two teams for now. You three will move to help out Sah-heh-kuh, while we’ll see about finding other incapacitated in the area. I can only make portals one way, so you’ll need to call me or find your own way to rendezvous with us once you’ve saved them.” Hush elaborated some more on her abilities, taking a moment to shut her eyes as she summoned up her blade. Given the height of Jericho, she needed to make the portal a bit larger than normal, so she had to lengthen the sword to accommodate - Not something she was used to doing, but easy enough. Fixing her sight on the edge of the roof, Hush made one clean vertical slash, and the shimmering portal opened, the exit faintly visible from where they were and leading straight onto the roof. Standing just to the side of it, Hush nodded for them to move when they were ready.

”If you need anything, call and we’ll do what we can.” Hush lifted her arm that held the band, examining it. Hopefully using it was as easy as Wendigo made it out to be. ”Open channel to the nearest four capes. Track position and vitals.” The device was silent a moment, then made a faint ding sound. Hopefully that meant it was working, and she’d connected their group of five for now.

Maxwell had quietly listened as everything unfolded, but a small grin started under his mask as the ‘new’ plan was adopted. Loud clicking sounds were heard as Maxwell pulled back the slides of his now cocked pistols. ”Looks like I’ll be your cover fire. Are loud noises a problem for a cape with a name like yours?” He asked jokingly. The devices on their wrists were alerted as someone’s voice came through, sounded like a young guy, going by ‘Aegis’. The Shape looked back to Hush for a second to see what her thoughts were, then held the device up to his mask.

”Aegis is it? We could use a hand or two I think. We’re in a kind of side street right now, little ways off from Tangle. Whereabouts are you now?”

Listening in as her temporary partner followed through on his earlier plan to recruit more capes, Tess politely waited for him to finish addressing Aegis before voicing herself. “Perhaps we can use these bracelets to move towards one another.” She briefly commented, before deciding to address the man about his earlier query. “Sound isn’t an issue, but if we’re going to work together, it would help if I knew what to call you.”

Maxwell chuckled slightly, realizing he hadn’t properly addressed himself to Hush, or the others. ”Ahh… Interesting point. Well, let’s keep it simple, stick with something a few others have called me. The Shape. Or just Shape if you prefer. That may roll off the tongue more easily.” There was a small smile on his face as he thought the matter over. ”Terribly vague I know. But I suppose that’s not rare for capes.” Everything he spoke was in a soft, disarming tone, very much in contrast to their situation.

It didn’t take long for Alex to respond to Whoever it was responded. He was just glad there were still people around. ” I shouldn’t be too far away now, give it take a few blocks. If you are able to head down a few blocks to the west of Tangle’s location by the large bank I’ll be able to touch down there.” He made sure his suit and helmet were still secure and sped off. He would get there in a few minutes long as he was careful about not getting spotted by Tangle or any minions.

Listening to Aegis’s response, Hush nodded, looking to Shape. “Alright, let’s make our way west and help whoever we find along the way.” As Wendigo and his entourage made his way through her portal, Hush shut her eyes, clearing her mind and letting the portal dissipate. It was time to move.

”I’ll- Yeah I- We’ll- Yeah. Yeah.” Rumbled the looming form of Jericho, his head dipping down as he nodded gratefully at Hush. His attention returned to Freischutz, his form shifting as he heaved a curious sigh. The spine of his form lengthened, rapidly rising from the gorilla slope-backed posture, to a more horizontal horse-like length and shape. The hips rose to the same height as the shoulders, as the legs became as equally thick as the forearms, with hooves instead of claws. A series of erect spines arose on the haunches, looking similar to hand-holds made of tautly pulled skin over smooth, hook shaped bones. Though the hooks were blunted at the tips, one might have otherwise thought them menacing. “Um… Just, climb on up. I’ll make a… Handle-horn-thing for you to hold on to…?”

Devon took a moment both to admire the abstract artwork in front of him and to figure out where he could sit in the least inconvenient manner for both rider and… Mount? He decided the best place would somewhere in the middle, not too far back to throw either off balance nor close enough to the head to be in striking range of the antlers, should he decide to unexpectedly turn his head. He turned to the remaining two of the group as they were about to rendezvous with their now third member. ”We’ll keep an eye out for Tangle’s position and call you through the bracelet should he move your way. Stay safe out there.”

After Devon’s speech, Wendigo waited for a while longer, staying somewhat eerily silent as he watched the rest of the conversations before he turned and moved onward. His head ducked down once more, bringing Mara and his crown of antlers towards the midway of the portal. He felt… Odd, some deep part in the back of his mind, crawled and squirmed uncomfortably. He played it off however, blinking repeatedly and slowly turning his head to and fro before narrowing his eyes on the- dented quite badly- dome of some shiny metal. His hooves clicked oddly on the surface of the building below, and as Jericho turned his attention downward, he noticed that the rooftop was metal. From edge to edge, it was pure metal.

Once again, another mouth opened upon his forelimb, and his voice whispered into the band. “Hey. Sahko. We’re here outside your uh… Dome. Where are y’all…?”

There was a pause, before they received a hushed, quickly spoken response that could essentially be paraphrased into: ‘Pressed against the metal, two under me, be careful.

Alex quickly learned that the bank was not going to work. Why? Well the fact that it was overgrown and nearly swarming with those walking weeds kind of made it impossible in terms of a secure locations. ”Ooookay then, plan B, meet the other capes half way.” Alex stopped his platform and lifted the bracelet, getting back to the capes he contacted before. “So don’t go too close to the bank. Place is turning into the garden party from hell. I’m just gonna come your way. If you see a guy on a blue floating disk that would be me.” Alex then sped back off and flew a little higher for a better vantage point to try and spot the supposed group of capes.

The sight of a woman standing by a portal some creature had just gone through was hard to miss. though the sounds of the Tangle fight felt a little too close for comfort. Alex made his way down towards her, making sure to fly down in front of them so he wouldn’t startle anybody. His boots hit the ground with a loud thud. ” Sup, Aegis. What’s the plan?” He was hoping someone here had a better grasp of what to do then he did.

Maxwell gave a slight nod to Aegis, the newcomer. ”Pleased to meet you in person. I’m The Shape, and this is Hush.” He said as he pointed to himself and the girl. ”And the plan at this point is to save as many lives as we can. Move street by street finding any incapacitated capes or civilians, and I suppose teleport them to a safer location?” The Shape looked over to Hush to direct his question.

“Essentially. One of my friends should be helping to set up a temporary medical centre for the injured. If we can collect a group and protect them, I should be able to help move us large distances and get them out of this battlefield.” Hush explained, looking over to Aegis. “Do you have any abilities to help with rescue? Shape will be providing me cover as I move about.” Beginning the process of heading down the street to the nearest signal, noting the large amount of rubble and the odd smattering of Tangle’s minions roaming about. Likely there were a few survivors buried under the rubble… Maybe she could cut some smaller pieces of the concrete away for them to move?

Alex nodded as Hush and the Shape gave him the rundown. Securing and rescuing sounded like the ideal plan, who knows how many people were stuck this close to the abhorrent still. When asked if he had any abilities that could help he held up his gloved hands and produced an aqua barrier bubble between them. ” I’m pretty sure it’s a form of telekinesis, but I make and shape barriers. Don’t know the limit on my range but as long as I can see something I can interact with it. Also just learned I can cut with these things a little bit ago.” He then proceeded to pick up a fairly large chunk of rubble nearby and shattered it against his body with a grunt. ” I’m also kind of durable, so I won’t need much cover. I can focus on bubbling people and keeping them out of danger, moving aside cars and debris. Long as I can see you or know where you are I can add extra cover.” Alex wrung his hands a tad nervously. Looking between Hush, the Shape, and then back at himself. He felt a bit inadequate with his very homemade suit. It really wasn’t the time to worry about presentation but he felt a bit out of place for a moment.

Maxwell made some space between himself, Hush and Aegis, and the nearby signals that indicated where the survivors were. Now Tangle’s minions were the only things in his way. ”Alright, I’ll leave you two to do what you do best. I’ll play host for our unwanted guests for now.” The Shape raised his hands in the direction of the minions, a pistol in each, but he didn’t pull the triggers. Instead, he simply stood there, quite still, as some of the minions began to move closer. Before too long though, several of the creatures began to spasm frantically, flailing about for a moment as other minions began to take notice of their comrades’ odd behaviour. The ones not spasming started to move closer to inspect the situation, but as soon as they neared them, the spasming minions began to attack those that were not. A vicious battle broke out between Tangle’s minions, with chunks of plant matter getting thrown around the area in a gory massacre. The Shape lowered his arms, but still held his pistols at the ready as he watched the fight unfold. ”Let me know when you’re both ready to move. I have this under control for now.”

Nobody was in the mouth of the beast. She had scrolled through forums before discussing the many theories on what this beast truly was and where it came from, and from a quick scan through her memories of them, she figured she was currently inside one of the following three: a government conspiracy, an alien, or a God.

Pretty metal.

If she had a heart to speak of right now, it would be going as fast as a jackhammer. It was dark, but she could sense the walls, where they ended. From what she could tell, the thing didn't have lungs. Just a shit ton of radioactivity and no way out. And while it wasn't hurting her now, she knew that the heat in here wouldn't be healthy for her other form. Now, it was harder to feel fear without the adrenaline in your brain, your veins. The chemical reactions needed to make your skin prickle and body twitch. But some fears transcended biology.

Dark.

Trapped.

Enclosed.

Alone.

Alone.

I'm alone.

Down in Tangle's throat, she heard it. A deep gurgling, inhuman noise starting to build. A crack of light pierced the cavern, and Nobody burst out of the creature accompanied by an agonizing shriek. She didn't know how long she'd been down here. Could've been anywhere between twenty seconds to a minute or, like, an hour. She rushed up and all the noises that had been dulled by Tangle's thick hide were back, all the screams and shouting and sound effects torn from the pages of a comic book. Further, further - she was a reverse comet, reaching into the rapidly cooling atmosphere until she felt it affect her. Then she plummeted, spiraling to the ground in a frenzied motion.

Thwack.

Nobody returned to human form as her breeze skidded against ground, and she tumbled suit. She hit her hips and her shoulders against steel, struggling to regain footing, just managing to roll into a stand right before the edge of the rooftop. Everything human hit her at once. The adrenaline, the blunt she'd taken in before. The throbbing of her eardrums. Pain. She turned on shaking legs to stare up at the titan that had served as her prison for... probably nowhere near as long as it felt like, and shot her fists up over her head.

"WHOOOOOOO!!!"

She screamed. A victory cry turned growl as she doubled over. Her bracelet was back to rattling off names apathetically, and she was back to looking at the chaos through human eyes. Those bloodshot eyes blurred as her breaths came ragged and thin, and she looked to who she had tumbled right past to the other side of the roof. A big black... thing, some little white thing riding it, someone... yeah, that was a human, a dome, and a... red blur with... white shards scattered about it, rocks in a red sea.

“Vic— Er, Nobody! H-Hey!” Came the abrupt shout from the mass of black and pale grey flesh and fur, shoulders and mood lifting as the comforting sight of a ... more familiar face and voice appeared. He was surprised, a bit stupefied, at the fact that she was even here at all, but it helped.

A secondary form rippled out from the changer, a massive pulse of ink lurching out from one of the burly forelimbs of the current form he was taking. A humanoid shape splattered to the steel floor below, quickly becoming solid black, before simply solid and flesh colored. It rose, wriggled it’s limbs, before taking on a startlingly bare rendition of Jericho’s usual human shape. He was... modest in the way a Ken doll would have been, though tattoos of multiple different swirls and fractals and other shapes painted across the exposed skin in record time, leading to a cord of bone and meat that connected back to the monstrous wendigo form behind him.

“H-Hey! Um... Hey, Vi— Nobody, sorry, minds a fuckin’ mess- Um- Got people trapped in the dome, there, um-“

"Stop."

The adrenaline clouding Nobody's mind didn't betray how deadly still her body was. Even the wind around her dropped, the whistle of it coming over the rooftop ceased. Eyes tinged with red stared Jericho down. Slowly, she reached into her back pocket, and brought out a half crumpled cigarette. She held it out expectantly towards him, watching flint and a steel striker bubble to the surface of his flesh. Good, he scarred her chest and now he could help in scarring her lungs, too.

"Wendy," she said in a low voice after letting loose a thin stream of smoke from her mask's nostrils. "I don't like people who don't know how to use their mouths."

She didn't blink. Somehow, it was a little hard to breathe in this pocket where the breeze had halted.

"I don't like it when they don't know how to please me with it." She stepped towards him. "I don't like it, when they put things in it that don't belong..." Her voice was rising in anger now. She took another step towards the unfortunate abomination, this time, raising her cigarette butt uncomfortably close to his eyes. "And I don't like it when they don't know when to stop running it!"

Her chest shuddered with rage as she glared him down. She turned from him, strolling back to the edge of the building. "Look, I've already been eaten once today. So I'm getting out of here, because the second most likely candidate to eat me again is you. Get back to being a hero, and I hope you're better with kids than you are with identities, asshole."

She took one last long drag from the cigarette and jumped, eager to discard this human heart again. The moment she was gone, the breeze returned.

While Devon was in the process of dismounting Jericho another cape came tumbling by, apparently an acquaintance of Jericho. He hadn't bothered listening in on the conversation, picking up just a piece here and there not enough to form anything coherent, but the lady seemed to be quite distressed. Though with an abhorrent and it's minions running amok that likely would be the default disposition, though this seemed to be something more personal given the tone.

While this conversation was happening in the background Devon had walked to the dome and done a quick run around making significant effort to ignore the human tomato exhibition. It was an odd site to be sure, aside from a sizable dent and signs of it being pushed into the surface below it was a completely smooth metal dome on a slanted metal lifesize statue of a parking garage. He brought the bracelet to his face and spoke into it. "Display cape biosign within 60 feet on visor, lock to closest three signals. Connect communications with cape Sähkö through helmet radio." Moments later a brightly colored blob appeared on his visor, the mess of canned human trapped under the dome.

He walked a few steps away from the dome while grabbing the rifle from his back. "I will be creating a few air holes in the dome, avoid moving as much as possible or you might be grazed by one of my bullets." He spoke through the radio while laying down on the metal surface. He had no idea how thick the dome was, but by the shape of the blob they were pretty much pressed against the dome in most places, he'd have to fire within a hair's breadth from the signature. The sniper rifle still had the abhorrent piercing ammo loaded so no matter the kind of metal as long as it wasn't tinker made he would be able to pierce it. He placed his shot, squeezed the trigger and without delay the bullet started carving a path through the dome. He aimed for another few places hoping the extra holes would increase the airflow inside the dome. When the magazine ran dry of the special ammo he got up and slung the weapon onto his back once more.

Given the degree of difficulty the bullets had with carving their way through the material trying to carve a man sized hole through the dome would be a very difficult task, fortunately with the way it was pressed into the surface below it seemed whatever material it was the parking garage was of a softer kind. Devon looked around for a stairwell and once he had found it he made a dash for it as he yelled to Jericho and Sähkö at the same time. "Jericho I'm relying on you to keep an eye on tangle and his minions, I'll be one floor below here. I should be able to carve out a hole from below the dome."

Once in place on the floor below he grabbed his revolver. While it would be faster to use the assault rifle the bullets simply wouldn't home in a tight enough curve for the job. With pinpoint precision he began carving a crater into the roof with a slightly smaller radius than the dome. Once again he had to leave just enough distance between the blob he saw on screen and the path of the bullets, too little and the material would curl up or the bullet would even break through, almost certainly wounding whomever were below. Too much and the material would retain enough strength to keep the three trapped under the dome.

Jericho's heart fell to a shutter-stop for a moment, the words biting at his mind nearly as much as the heat from the makeshift lighter did. He stared blankly as Vic left, holding the eeriest silence in his mind when she departed. He went to call back, confusion holding his thoughts in place before he stopped, and tried, to force himself to focus on what was actually important. His back turned to the wind, and Jericho nodded in silence as a response to Devon, walking his humanoid shape to the edge of the parking garage roof as his 'Wendigo' form rippled and began extending a thick garden hose-like rope of bone towards the back of the humanoid.
The panic had seized hold.
The stress built, held his stupid heart in a vice grip.
He had screwed it all up again.



Jericho's gaze fell beyond the edge of the roof, watching blankly as a small group, maybe three or five individual masses, of matter persons ran by in the alley-street below. Behind them, chased a larger group of plant 'minions', some of which were simply amalgamations of vines and roots strung together into pseudopods that propelled churning masses of thorns and alien-intelligence. Others looked like shrubbery tried to take the shape of something animalistic and mobile, one even looked like a horse flipped front-to-end and scuttled with an almost insectile sort of fluidity. They were beautifully horrific, in an odd plant-like manner. There were eight of the minions, eight too many.

The meat The capes obviously weren't expecting a rescue, evidentially made obvious by the way the woman falling behind shrieked when a fleshy 'net' of bone and muscle fell on the leading minion. The plant creature was forced to the ground, encapsulated by a mass of meat that immediately began yanking itself in multiple directions, twisting and turning whilst contacting and pulling at 'limb' and center mass. The net rose up abruptly, swirling up into the sky as it brought the plant along for the ride, thrashing and flailing in silence as it was. Underneath the arms of the 'net' were maws that alternated between chewing with a fervor matched only by hyenas cracking open bone, to holding with the grip of a crocodile-locking its jaw tighter than a pit-bull could ever wish for.
Atop the roof, the child riding upon the Wendigo form was treated to the sight of random chunks and bulges of pulsating ink swirling back towards the main body, building surprisingly slow into a putty mound of solid black blankness behind one hind leg. The mass shifted, constantly swirling as it sloshed it's way to the same edge of the roof before throwing itself over like the once humanoid form had before.

A dog-sized maw plummeted from the edge of the parking garage roof, impacting with another plant minion as row upon row of teeth sawed their way into plant 'flesh'. Connected to the maw was another length of bone, as wide around as a garden hose. Ink pulsed around the 'lips' of the gigantic mouth as a quartet of tendrils rapidly grew and extended outward, wrapping around the mass of matter in the hold of an uncountable amount of hooked teeth.
Without warning, the 'Wendigo' form of Jericho pulsed once with ink, before an arm came up and gently took hold of the riding Mara to set her down. The moment her feet touched the ground, the form turned, barreled over the edge of the roof and landed upon yet another plant-minion, snapping and breaking bone that healed within mere half seconds. An arm as thick around as an apes, and swirling with ink as it grew in length, slammed into yet another plant beast. The foe skittered to the side, wrapping a trio of pseudopods around the offending furry limb before abruptly trying to escape. In the palm of the huge mitt, another mouth formed, gnashing and chewing for a moment before a thick, ropy tongue lashed out and wrapped around a pseudopod in return for the former grapple.

Mass was added to the conglomeration of Jericho, cold efficiency taking note of the capes down the alley who- in small part due to the shrieking woman rushing forward and abruptly shoulder-checking another unoccupied plant- went from retreat to relentless aggression. With their aid, the group of plants were decimated in short procedure... Though one of the cape group succumbed to a whipping limb that impacted with a noise like a roll of bubble-wrap popping all at once. Another fell as one particularly vengeful plant wrapped the entirety of a 'limb' around her torso and proceeded to violently thrash her about, the whiplash was enough to end it her from there.
The moments after the skirmish finished, between the remaining two capes panting and tending to their own wounds and Jericho's relentless consumption of what unmoving plant matter there was left, the 'ink-artisan' pulsed back up towards the rooftop, bringing all the chewing forms back up as the Wendigo form melted away and became an amorphous mass that oozed and pulled its way back up.

He spent the rest of his time waiting for Jasmin to be freed assaulting any plant minion group that dared come too close, ravishing or disabling and then consuming with a ferocity that would've been sickening on genuine flesh and blood. It still wasn't enough to distract him wholeheartedly from the nearly overwhelming sensation of anxiety and sadness that Vic had managed to instill.

The new group of three consisting of The Shape, Aegis and Hush were quick to move out. Hush could provide transport and a forward offense, Aegis would provide a strong defence and protection for the people they found, while The Shape could provide support, covering fire and direction. At least, that was what Hush had intended, but watching the strange display Shape made with his powers made Hush curious just what he was capable of. Regardless, it was a relief that those powers were on their side; but she internally grimaced at the prospect of how it would feel to have those powers turned on her. After all, she had no idea how he was controlling them, and the idea of losing control of her own body… Well, that brought back a flood of memories that she really didn’t need distracting her right now.

Subconsciously, a hand went to her neck as she ran, feeling the scar there and reminding herself of the event that triggered her powers. That day with Victoria… Was she still out there, alive and hurting people? She’d vanished the day of the incident, and no one had managed to find her since. Was she a villain now? It would make sense, especially if she was living off the grid… Could she be at something like this? If Tess saw her again… Could she work with someone like that? Darting forward and slicing clean through a plant monster, Tess kept moving, even as her thoughts were clouded and distracted. No. There was no way someone like THAT would help fight off an abhorrent. Victoria was sick. Sadistic. A different kind of monster that revelled in the suffering of others.

Closing in on a nearby signal, Tess stopped, looking to the pile of rubble where once a building had stood. There was a reading coming from inside, meaning whoever was alive was likely buried in this mess. They had to get them out. “Shape, hold those things off as best you can. Aegis, can you help me clear this stuff?” Moving up, Tess knew she wasn’t strong enough to lift all this stone and concrete, so hopefully Aegis had a quick way to do so. In fact, maybe… “Aegis, you said you need to be able to see to make a barrier, right? If I can cut you an opening, could you expand the field and use that to push all the rubble out of the way?”

As she waited for his response, Hush darted to the side, avoiding a stray tendril that reached for her. Pivoting on her leg, she made a clean vertical slice through the creature, sending more disgusting plant juice scattering to the pavement. Gross. Even though Shape was powerful and could hold off a number of creatures, they still had to do some degree of looking after themselves. With the threat temporarily cleared, she continued. “If you can hold it all up for a moment, I can try to warp in and back out with whoever’s in there. I just need enough space to make my portal.”

Hush was quick to take charge and that didn’t bother Alex in the slightest. He was used to it when working with other solo capes before so he defaulted to his normal role. Defend, contain, and suppress. Only going on the offensive if it was called for. After The Shape displayed a somewhat concerning control over the plant monsters, forcing them into their short lived frenzy. The makeshift knight felt like there was less need to provide cover for the man. A quick thrust of his hand generated a few random walls for Shape to stick behind. A brief moment of eye contact and a nod was all Alex needed to know that it was sufficient for the gunner.

Aegis would restrain some plants as he followed after Hush, either to crush or fling the thing himself, or give an opening for Hush or Shape. One plant seized him by the wrist with a vine like tendril. When it failed to cause any noticeable pressure and just barely drag him towards its main body, Aegis couldn’t help sighing with some relief. The plants couldn’t hurt him much at all it seemed. But he wouldn’t push his luck. A crude blue sword formed in his other hand as he hacked off the vine and bubbled the minion. Without thinking much on it, the bubble thickened and quickly compressed as much as it could, crushing the plant as it flailed helplessly. It was flung away moments later. The realization of how easy it was for him to crush something that was definitely stronger than the average human didn’t sit well in his stomach. He gave Hush a thumbs up when she had stopped to see if he was ok. The two kept moving. It was easier for him, focusing on helping how he could. Kept his mind from drifting to his grandparents, Dean, or any of his other friends. Was Vic even ok in all of this? Focus, right.

He snapped out of his own head when the two came in front of what remained of a building. He checked his band along with Hush. A signal, so someone was still stuck in this mess? There was a good chance whoever it was needed medical attention. He nodded at Hush’s plan. ”Yeah, I have no idea what the inside of this looks like. Give me any sort of opening in there and I can fortify it and make more space, my constructs can take the weight easy. I’ve . . . had a building fall on me and friend of mine once.It will hold.” He raised his hands up in a ready stance, a sky blue energy glowing behind the lenses of his helmet before a thick, glassy dome formed around him. ”This should give you a safe place to warp back to when you grab them. Also will keep anything from sneaking up. I’m ready when you are.” That felt like it took a second too long. It might have been the adrenaline mixed with the fear of being so close to the Tangle fight. The Abhorrent’s roars still heard over the crumbling city.

A quick look back showed that Shape was following behind them, daggers in hand this time as he carved through two of Tangle’s minions that had attempted to tackle him. Maxwell was starting to feel the physical strain, but needed to conserve ammo as much as possible. Couldn’t run back to the base for the time being, so his only alternative would be a gun store in the town, and at any rate, he had no idea how long this battle could go on for.

The Shape was now up beside Aegis, giving him another nod of approval. ”Nice work so far, both of you.” Maxwell said as he took a quick survey of the area around, taking note of more of the minions in the area. ”I’ll keep working on the minions for now, but it’s sounding like we need to work quickly. Impossible to guess when and where Tangle could move next, but we need to be ready to leave in an instant.” Maxwell charged forward once more towards the writhing plant creatures around them, directing his hands towards several groups of them and sending them into crazed frenzies once again. Aegis put up a few walls for Maxwell to work around, perfect for some of the stragglers that hadn’t been affected by his power yet. He grabbed one, pinned it up to Aegis’ wall, and began stabbing through what seemed like a neck until he severed what seemed like a head. All the while he contemplated what might be going through Hush and Aegis’ heads. He’d noticed more than a few times that the girl was looking in his direction since he started using his powers. Perhaps there’s something about it that’s familiar to her? Or perhaps it’s off put her. Either way, he noted it for now and decided he would keep it in mind for later, assuming there was a later.

Clearing her mind and increasing the intensity of the lightblade in her hand, it began to glow far brighter as she made her way up onto the rubble. Taking it into both hands, she moved to thrust it downward, feeling a slight resistance that immediately gave way to the intense heat that her weapon produced; a white hot glow around the area where the weapon pierced the rubble, along with bits of melted rock dribbling out. ”Shape, I’m counting on you to watch Tangle. I’ll only have a few seconds to get us all out of here if it does come this way, so don’t hesitate the moment you notice anything strange.” Dragging her sword roughly through the rock, somewhat like a heated cutter, Hush pulled back, taking a quick glance to get stock of the area for more of Tangle’s plant monsters before making her way back towards Aegis. ”Aegis, you’re up. If you need light to see in that hole, I can probably do something.”

Getting into a stance where she was ready to create a portal, she nodded to Aegis to indicate she was ready to match his timing.

Shaking his head, Aegis lifted his arms and concentrated. He had a good enough view inside now to get a general idea of how much space he had to work with. He focused and soft aqua colored light started to fill the inside of the rubble pile. Sheets and panels formed on what was left of any ceiling, thick pillars and braces thumped downwards and reduced the weight further. He lifted his hands gradually, causing the debris to shift and slide.

Alex was sure it would hold, but he didn’t want to push Murphy’s law more than he had to. ”Alright it’s up and holding. Go now!” He felt an irritation was forming in his head a moment later. A glance in The Shape’s direction showed one of his walls starting to crack as Shape took cover momentarily. A moment’s focus repaired the wall. He mentally kicked himself a bit for not practicing holding multiple constructs up more often. A push of his will caused all his constructs to thicken a few inches. ”Gotta hurry and stay mobile. I'd prefer not being a sitting duck for too long.”

Maxwell took a small step back as he noticed the cracks in the Aegis’s energy wall. They were only there a few moments before Aegis patched them up and called out. Still, it was a worrying sign for them, these walls not being indestructible. He took a look around the area once more, seeing that Tangle’s minions were fairly spread out, with a few small battles taking place between the ones he was controlling, and the ones he wasn’t. The Shape didn’t know how well Hush’s powers would work, but decided not to chance it.

”I’m going to make a clearing for us. Aegis, focus your walls there. Hush, focus on getting a portal set up in the clearing.” He moved quickly to a spot where the rubble was less dense on the ground, in the shadow of a few apartment complexes. Maxwell’s pistols were out once again as he took a few shots at some of the more distant minions, and used his powers to cobble together a few groups he could control. He sent his groups to the opposite side of Aegis’s barriers where they could be an obstacle to the uncontrolled minions, while The Shape himself took shots around the edges of the barriers at whatever targets he could hit.

Maxwell took a quick glance back to see how Aegis and Hush were handling things. For now he had a clear area for them to work in.

Once the rubble was up high enough, Hush was scanning the area and debris for any sign of the injured individual, but it was still very dusty in that mess. She'd need to get closer. Estimating the distance based on the signal ping, she made a quick slash, forming the blue portal and stepping through, appearing deeper into the area. Between the glow of her light sword and her new proximity, she was able to make out the silhouette of a hero, his body beaten down and battered. Moving up, she quickly did a check for pulse, relieved to have something, as well as the faint sign he was breathing. His bruising and bleeding was pretty bad, but the main thing she had to hope was there was no spinal damage - they didn't have time to keep him still.

Heaving him over her shoulder, she made another slash in the air and pulled him through, reappearing next to Shape through another shimmering blue hole in the air. "He seems stable… If he wasn't, I doubt we would've gotten to him in time… Aegis, you can let it drop, but slowly. We don't need a dust cloud." Glancing about the area, Hush wondered if they could hold this position long enough to fetch more people, or if she should just take whoever she finds immediately to the triage point. It would waste time on the continuous trips, but was far safer. She decided to check in with her two teammates before making a decision. "Do you think you can hold this position for very long, or should we just keep moving?"

Aegis followed The Shape’s idea and started to fortify the space he had been clearing out. Erecting angled walls a bit over a foot in thickness. A walled off circle had been made with openings that would bottleneck any groups trying to rush in. Satisfied, Aegis had already started to lower his barriers holding the rubble once he noticed Hush came out with the now rescued cape. Though the comment in regards to a potential dust cloud made him be a little bit more careful not to drop everything at once. A quick glance towards Shape answered the immediate question if he was ok. He seemed to be in his element.

Aegis looked back to Hush and jerked a thumb towards the new fortification as his own dome that had been around him dropped. ”If we want to stick around any longer we should stay in there. I can hold it up, but I still think we work fast.” He quickly through out an arm in a wide sweeping motion. A rectangular curved sheet flew out and scooped up three minions that had tried charging in at them. The creatures were thrown against a wrecked building in the same motion. ”I can't say how long Shape and I can keep this up, but we’ll manage.”
A cluster of azure orbs and geometric shapes formed in mid-air and orbited Alex. His body was tense as he quickly made his way towards the fortification, firing off a barrier like a telekinetic bullet to give the Shape some extra support.

The Shape gave a wave to Hush and Aegis, indicating them to move to the area he was currently covering. ”We can hold here long enough to take a few more survivors and leave in one go.” There was a rumbling that shook the area as a nearby building started to come down. ”We have to work quick. Tangle could head this way, or another one of these buildings could come down on us. I’d give us five minutes maybe.” A blast of energy flew by and crashed into a group of minions, ripping some apart, and sending others flying. Maxwell gave a thumbs up to Aegis before getting back to shooting down more of the minions.

Hush and Aegis quickly reached The Shape, laying the survivor in the middle of the clearing, the safest distance away from the minions. ”Where’s the next one?” Maxwell called out to his teammates as he beat away a stray minion with his pistol grip. When he finally got it a few feet away, he raised the pistol and put three rounds through its head, dropping it instantly.