Jin Long's Story

Sinai Peninsula

Under the sweltering sun, there was a silent breeze that passed through dusty roads that weren't quite so busy - The streets were mostly inactive in this part of the city and there was little to be heard this time of day, save for the sound of wheels against the road, light clouds of dust trailing behind a total of three trucks. While innocuous at first glance, these particular trucks were in fact armored, on their way to transport arms, munitions, and most importantly, mages. On standby, waiting to intercept this convoy were but only two mercenaries, each highly recognized for their skills - while fearsome in their own right, when they worked together they were a near unstoppable force that some called 'the Army of Two.' One of those mercenaries was in position high up inside of an abandoned building, peering down the horizon through her scope as she watched the trucks get closer and closer. She spoke through her headset to tell her partner that the convoy was incoming. "Heads up, I've got 'em in my sights," Valerie said. "They'll be here in a few minutes." She angled her rifle toward the oncoming trucks, watching them closely as they began driving up...

The second half of 'the Army of Two' was already in position to receive the convoy, having took cover in a nearby building that had, at once, a door. This was no longer the case, and it's from the large hole that he was waiting for the plan to begin. "Acknowledged. Standing by." he said into his mic, before rechecking his weapon for the last time. More than a handful of people have persished simply due to having some malfunction with their weapon, but that's not really how Chance wanted to go out. The sound of dust being kicked up, as well as the heavy tires from the convoy had grown just a little bit louder by the time he was absolutely sure the weapon would shoot. Now, he just needed to point at and pull the trigger. "Waiting for the first shot."

Valerie smiled to herself, putting her finger lightly on the trigger as she followed the windshield of the first truck through her scope. As it neared Chance's location, she opened fire - the resulting crack from her sniper was amplified severely by her tempering, even causing the windows in adjacent rooms to shatter from the shockwave generated by the shot. The bullet traveled at supersonic speeds, hitting both the driver of the first truck and the man that was in the passenger seat beside him. The truck spun for a few moments before stopping at a diagonal angle that blocked the narrow road, forcing the two trucks behind it to slow down. "Direct hit," Valerie said, readjusting her sights. "Driver down." The trucks were silent for a second, maybe two seconds before some people began leaving one of the trucks on the opposite side, out of Valerie's sight range. "I'll cover you. Is anybody leaving the trucks?"

Despite having heard it on more than one occasion, the thunderous crack from his partner's rifle never seemed to be anything but obnoxious. Chance resisted the very heavy urge to rub his ear and instead poked out of his cover to spray a few of the men attempting to vacate the truck right about the time Valerie had verbally confirmed to him that she'd sent the driver to hell. The bullets fired from his assault rifle fatally hit two of the men, and from what he saw, injured another man's arm. "About eight men exited from the back, two confirmed casualties, and one is going to have a hard time with a hole in his arm." he replied, immediately ducking behind some of the building to avoid the retalition by the men, who seemed competent enough to maintain their calm and assess dangers right away.

Valerie had already seen the building behind the truck so she was already aware of where all the cover spots would be. It'd be difficult for them to move anywhere else, really, at least not with her on their tail. She peered down the scope and angled her weapon, despite nobody being in her sights. "Sorry," she muttered, "but cover's not going to work against me." She fired again and the second thunderous blast came through, the massive round punching right through both sides of the first truck and ramming into an unlucky mage that had been taking temporary cover behind it, splattering him against the floor. She briefly glanced over the other trucks and settled on the second one, punching another hole through it. It probably didn't hit anybody, but the force generated by her tempering would often leave behind massive holes in whatever they struck, usually allowing enough room for something like, say, a grenade. "Second truck," she said. "If you're in a good position, crack it when you can."

With only three of the ten men from the first truck left, the suppressing fire on Chance was bearable. Perhaps the men had resigned themselves to the fact that it wasn't possible for their mid-range assault rifles to even come close to out-trading the sniper, as they'd focused their aggression on him. This was, of course, both to be expected and planned. Even if they kept Chance behind cover all day, Valerie would eventually kill them, one by one until they'd all bitten the dust. But... well, that wasn't all that fun for Chance, now was it? The American bad-ass (self-proclaimed) decided to return some fire of his own. Sticking his gun over the cover he had taken, he fired blindly at the men, not knowing if he managed to hit one or not, but nonetheless, the sound of gunfire lessened on their half, meaning that it worked. Retrieving his trusty sidearm and a frag grenade, he finally made use of his abilities as a Temperer. With speed noticeably fast than a normal man, he dashed over the wall and immediately opened fire towards the three men that had previously had him supressed, taking note that one of them dropped a mag - an indication he was reloading. So there was but two threats. Unfortunately for one, he was an NPC so he made the mistake of peeking over his cover at the wrong time and a bullet promptly flew through his skull. He was killed, obviously. Chance had been moving forwards allthewhile, and by the time the second man popped out to fire, more or less the same thing happened with little distance between the two. Another dead. Chance moved his pistol onto the third and final man and attempted to execute him just the same, but instead of a bang, he got a click. He might've been having too much fun. "Shit." Chance muttered, dropping his weapon. Ammo didn't really matter by now. Close range was his domain, and the soldier before him was but a human with no magical abilities.The soldier receieved a heavy kick, pushing him back towards a small bit of rubble. In that time, Chance threw his grenade in the handy-dandy hole Valerie had made him aftering pulling the pin. An explosion followed by an unecessarily heavy punch that broke the man's neck were the last things the man saw or head.

The third truck was more decisive than the last, having witnessed that both hiding behind cover and hiding inside the truck were awful ideas - the back of the truck opened up and mages leaped out all at once, brandishing their powers. One had the idea to go around and get a shot in at Chance from behind, but Valerie brained him before he even had a chance to reach for his gun. Suddenly, a bright beam of energy glowed in one of the other mage's hands and Valerie realized she was being targeted. She rolled out of the way as a higher powered beam blasted the area she'd been at moments before. She smashed the ground with her tempered fist and it blasted open, immediately bringing her down to the level below it. She hoped that Chance could at least buy a little time while she relocated, using her brute, tempered strength to blow through some of the decaying walls. "I'm taking heat, buy me some time!"

Having a moment of bad-assery to himself was nice, but so was having a loaded weapon. Immediately after he had 'cracked' the truck and killed the man, he was forced to take more cover as the last truck had gotten fairly bold. He was unable to stop the Bolter from targeting Valerie, and judging on how Valerie mentioned taking heat, the man was pretty accurate with his magic. "Alrighty, I'll handle it." With the click of his mag locking into place and the use of his powers, he darted swiftly to another bit of rubble as, instead of retreating, he neared the bigger group of men. It only took a moment for them to start firing both magic and bullets at him. [i]Hopefully this'll buy her enough time[i] he thought. Because honestly, if he was taking fire for no reason, it would be pretty silly. Oh hey, wait. He still had one grenade, did he not? Why yes, yes he did. Retrieving his final explosive, he fired blindly from his cover once or twice, then risked losing his hand as he pulled the pin once more before tossing it over towards them. As it bounced once, then rolled towards their feet, some made a scramble for their lives and a few simply stared in shock, particularly the mage, who was closest to it. A bang and a small cloud of dust rose into the air as it detonated. It left about five of the ten men. Chance, despite his long years in the thick of combat, had to use all of his strength to resist the urge to say, "Boom goes the dynamite".

The convoy mages and troops seemed to busy as Valerie seemed to be able to move freely for the time being without drawing any more fire. She was much closer to ground level than she was before, aligning herself closer along where the road was. She opened up a window and put her rifle through, watching the chaos that ensued through her scope. Everyone was moving pretty quickly and she didn't want to risk hitting Chance for the moment so tried to focus on ones that were more out in the open. She didn't want to reveal her new position just yet so she decided she might as well go all in with her first shot. "Feeling lucky, Chance?" she said through her mic. "If you can setup a domino, do it now!"

"Okay, okay. Someone's feeling a bit show-offy today." Partially glad to see she'd already found a better position, and also fairly upset he was probably going to get shot in the process, Chance sighed into his mic. "You know how to take the opening. Stacking the dominos" so saying, Chance prepared himself by focusing entirely on the magic he'd spent his life working with. He could say for certain it'd do a lot more than just hurt like a bitch had he not been a higher level mage in the Tempering field. At this moment, not only was he faster and stronger than a normal human, he was also able to perceive things quicker and was much more durable as well. He grabbed a piece of rubble off the ground before tossing it over the cover he was currently in. The men panicked and looked down at what they thought was a grenade. This gave him just enough time to dart from his cover one final time and close the distance between he and the first man. A rather powerful hook stumbled the man, but Chance did not follow up on him. Instead, he rushed the other men, making sure to be between at least two of them at any time so that they wouldn't just open fire. If the men further off did, they'd more than likely hit their allies. So, naturally, they drew closer to overwhelm him, all while fallng into another trap. With a bang, the nearest man pulled the trigger and shot Chance in the gut, which really friggin hurt. Next time Chance and Valerie met, she was buying him a drink. He clenched his teeth as he engaged in close-ranged combat, parrying a few rifles that were used as melee weapons and then, finally, when they'd lined up in more or less a perfect line (Given the situation, it was pretty perfect), he rolled out of the way, the men in a perfect position to be dropped, assuming Valerie took the shot.

Valerie took a slow, deep breath and exhaled, her finger steady on the trigger as she took in everything through her scope. She is never more concentrated than when she is preparing for a domino shot, watching the position of each individual extremely closely. With any luck, the longest that they would be setup would be no longer than half a second, maybe even less. It was that half second frame that she needed to fire through, an incredibly specialized move she'd practiced with Chance time and time again to perfection. Even still, it was an extremely nerve wracking procedure that would likely entail dire consequences on failure. Of course, Valerie was a master sniper and failure simply was not an option, so when those five mages lined up for that brief, split-second, she squeezed the trigger. With the amount of focus going into that shot, it was like the ground around her shook, the air vibrating from the giant shockwave that was produced. The heavy round blasted forward and struck all five of the mages in a single line, blowing out parts of their skeletons and internal organs with the pure force of the shot. The recoil knocked her back, but she was mostly okay other than suffering a few minor bruises. The barrel of her sniper was shattered so she would have to get that repaired or replaced before the next mission. "That's a hit, we're done," she said to Chance though her mic. "Good work."

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Vertigo

".....That was the most elaborate way I've ever won myself a drink, if I do say so myself." Chance took a sip from the beer he had just purchased, or rather, Valerie had. He had to wait much too long for it, but once it hit his lips, all of that did not matter. He could say for certain that this was one of the things he enjoyed most. Kicking back, enjoying a few beers, and of course, talking with the only other person who he had worked with more than once. Things were pretty chill in his book at the moment.

"Ah, I remember," Valerie giggled, her face a little red as she took another sip. "It took forever for us to get that down because you never trusted me with it. I keep telling you, I'm...I'm a great a shot! That's nothing, I do that kind of thing erryday." She leaned over a little, feeling more lax than she's been in a while. Although she did enjoy drinking very much, she was kind of a lightweight, though this kind of thing was normal for her. She took another swig. "It's been a while since we've done that, though, I don't quite imagine that it'll be happening again anytime soon. Not that you'd want to, anyway."

"Yeah... well, it's not something I like doing because I can't really block something akin to a tank round with my abilities. Forgive me for being a bit nervous when we were trying to get that down." Chance took another sip, seemingly unaffected as of now. "It really does not feel that great to be shot, contrary to popular belief. In fact, just thinking about that particular shot makes my gut hurt. That was point-blank, you know? Left the biggest fucking bruise. But..." once more, he took a drink, this one was much bigger, however. "...was definitely worth it. Free beers are the best beers."

"You're just..." Valerie hiccuped once and coughed a few times, putting her bottom up again to take another drink. "Ah...You're just, you're a big baby, you know that? Nothing to worry about, just do everything I tell you and it'll be a-ok. And besides, picking them off one at a time would probably have been a bad idea when you were surrounded by those - hic! - those mages. They were pretty high level, ya know? We got each others' backs, everything's jake, right?"

"Yeah, yeah...." again, another sip was taken as he idly glanced around the bar. It seemed to be fairly popular, the sound of other people conversating was quite loud. "Anyway, you ever going to stop being a lightweight? Is that like your first beer? Been this way forever. Oh well."

"First? Pffft, no way, this is like my...my twenty...third?" Valerie mumbled. It was her first drink. "Anyway!" She brought a large, rectangular case next to her and hugged it tightly. "You, my friend, and I are gonna be doing some pew pews! Tomorrow? I think? It'll be great, we'll invite all our friends! I kind of need some money so...yeah..." Her arms lost strength and she face-planted into the table, fast-asleep. "It'll...be...great..."

New Cairo | Pulse
9 PM

"Of course I'm fine dad, I'm your daughter, remember?" Katia said in Ukranian. She was turned around in her stool, her back leaning against the bar behind her. Katia's shift ended an hour ago, but all it meant was that she now sat on the other side of the bar while the guy who tended the bar that night served her. Abasi, his name was. A level four conjurer and Egyptian native. Broad shoulders, trimmed beard, bald head, and a stern countenance, Abasi painted an intimidating figure but anyone who knew the man knew his looks lied. He was the temperate sort, bordering on the sweet side if someone managed to earn his friendship. He was all the way down the bar serving the other patrons while Katia continued to talk to her father on her cellphone.

"I don't see how you're worried about me, I called to check on you! You sure you're fine? ... Mhm... Yes sir... Of course dad. Just... Be careful, okay? Stay safe... Love you too dad." With that, she killed the phone call with an electronic beep, and slipped the cellphone in her pocket. She turned in her stool to meet the eyes of Abasi pouring a deep amber liquid in her empty lowball glass. "Don't see how you drink rum without ice," He said with a teasing smile. Without breaking eye contact, Katia picked the glass up and pressed it to her lips, taking a drink. "Like that," She said dryly, revealing a close lipped smile of her own. The little joke sent him into a chuckling fit, and Katia took the moment to take a cigarette from the pack on the bar, and light up. Beside her glass was an ashtray holding a graveyard of broken butts.

When the chuckling ceased, Abasi waited for her to exhale smoke before speaking again. "That was your father, yes? How is your old man doing?" He asked, genuine curiosity playing across his toughened face. "Old," Katia replied before elaborating. "About as well as an old bear can. His age hasn't caught up to him yet and if he has his way about it, it never will. Tough bastard, was more worried about me," She said, though there was a fondness to her tone despite her words. "Of course he was, that's because you're his cub," Abasi said, chuckling his way back to another patron. Katia, however, didn't find it as funny, and stared at him as brought the glass back to her lips.

She never got to take another drink before the whole wall that held the door in place exploded inward. The force of debris threw her into the floorboards, but she didn't linger there long finding her way to all fours. The eyes in her head were no longer hers, instead belonging to that of a species of bird of prey. She needn't such eyesight, however, as the culprit was easily enough seen. A monstrous dog loped through the hole where the door was, easily taking up most of the space in the front room. "Abasi, the office, now!" She demanded. While she yelled out the order, her body began to shift. Muscle groups morphed and her skeletal structure changed into something, as irony would have it, feline. She still retained her human appearance barring the eyes of a bird.

As the dog lunged, so did she though in the opposite direction. Propelling herself backward with the heels of her palm, she was no longer there when the dog landed. Thinking quickly Katia knew she had to lead the dog out of the bar, there was still people left alive within, and there wasn't enough room for her to maneuver about. Running on all fours like an animal, Katia vaulted from the floor, to the bar top, and then to back behind the bar, where she ran the length under cover until she made it to the end and slipped out of the hole in the wall. She nimbly pivoted at the opposite end of the street and faced the monster. Now instead of fingers, Katia wore talons and a pair of sharp fangs erupted from her mouth.

If this thing wanted a fight, then it'd get one.

A table burst apart in a shower of splinters as Dietrich's maw slammed shut. The canine beast swung its head around the bar and four of the lightless eyes atop its head oriented on the shifting Katia. The remaining three stayed on the pile of timber that was once a table. Dietrich tilted his head curiously. Globules of spittled spat and hissed as they ate into the floorboards. This new form granted a sort of caustic saliva, apparently. Now that could be fun.

The cat-thing that was Katia postured threateningly at the end of the street. Had Dietrich been in a more sound state of mind, he would have recognized the bait for what it was. Even in his current iteration though, Dietrich felt more like a megalithic predator with more resources, power, and energy to devote to survival. All he had to do was play evenly with his prey and he would win by sheer natural advantage alone. With a casual disregard for the severity of the situation, the canine-thing whipped up a limp body from the ground and caught it between his fangs. The resulting gore-strewn ooze and crunching noises emanating from Dietrich's mouth sent the rest of the conscious patrons into a full-blown panic. Finished with his grisly repast, Dietrich made a lazy turn to face Katia.

Floorboards and stone were sent flying upward with the force of Dietrich's explosive leap. The beast came with tremendous force, intending to crush Katia under the weight of its leading paws and grind her into the ground.

Once more the creature would find his prey elsewhere. When Katia saw the monster crouch for another leap, her talons had already dug into the ground in preparation for her next move. As soon as he lifted up into the air, she turned and propelled herself out of immediate danger, though she wouldn't stay there for long. She still had what the beast did not: A mind. Despite his size, she had an agility advantage and she intended to use it. Digging a handful of talons into the ground, she pivoted one-eighty degrees and faced the beast again. But this time she didn't wait for him act first. This time she reacted and rushed forward herself. Aiming to slip underneath the dog's body, she raised her talons and tried to claw at his underbelly as she ran under him.

An ear-piercing howl split the air as Katia's talons parted the soft flesh of Dietrich's stomach. The beast staggered several steps to the side as it fought maintain its balance. Ropy strands of intestines and other viscera spilled out onto the street. No. This was not the end, the Dietrich-thing thought dully. With a defiant growl, several things happened at once. The creature sucked its organs back up through the hole in its underside. From the gash a small forest of worm-like tendrils sprouted, each writhing and seeking. The last thing to occur was Dietrich opening his mouth as if to howl once more; seven arm-thick tentacles shot out towards Katia with the intent of piercing, ripping, and grabbing the Morph.

Katia found herself backing away on all fours from the creature as it... Regenerated of sorts. It's guts were replaced by squirming tendrils and when it opened its maw to howl, tentacles erupted from its throat instead. "What... The hell?" she asked as she turned to run. Though proud, she was not so above retreat. Maybe she could find a Raptora patrol to aid her. She never made it far, however, as she felt one of the tentacles wrap around her ankles. She was on her belly in one moment, and slashing at the tentacle with her talons the next. However, more joined with the first, grabbing both her hands, and one even puncturing her shoulder. It was her turn to howl. Her mouth parted and she let loose a wailing yowl. Despite the pain, she against fought the tentacles the muscles under her skin rippling and talons shifting into something, anything that could help.

"So I'm assuming the bar is still in good shape? No huge, destructive bar fights hopefully?" Said an audible voice from Jin's phone. "Yeah, surprisingly everything is still in shape. I'm glad that we won't have to replace almost every piece of furniture in the bar again. That was a huge pain the ass". Jin was half way through her shift at Vertigo, well not exactly her shift. She was filling in for the very person that she was talking to on the phone. "Would you mind explaining to me again why I'm filling in for you again? Ryuuko has personally called Jin and asked for her to fill in, because she had supposed 'business' to take care of and couldn't work her shift today. "Because you're not a complete asshole?". Jin let out a sigh "Yeah, I'm sure that's the reason...". She hung up. By then it was time for her break. "Brent, do you mind covering for me, I'm going on my break" She stated as she headed out the bar. "Sure, no problem".

It wasn't too late in the evening. At first, she had no specific place to go in mind until she heard an ear piercing howl. Upon hearing this she activated her weapons. She fired at the ground, using the recoil to launch herself into the air and up to higher ground. Instantly, she noticed someone struggling in the grasp of tentacles and the sources of those tentacles......a giant dog. It surely wasn't a believable sight to say the least, though that was almost completely ignored. She reloaded her weapons and leaped, fist aimed at the beast's face.

With his prey finally within reach, Dietrich almost snapped completely when a golden-haired woman came streaking out of the night sky like a comet. Unable to react due to a mixture of shock and anger, the creature merely jerked as the exotic weapon locked barrels and released its explosive payload directly into his skull. The resulting explosion bisected the ten-foot long head in a messy burst of power. All of the tentacles assaulting Katia fell limp as their base was destroyed in a small, bloody blast. Inwardly Dietrich flinched. He was dead. His head was rent in twain and some mage was elbow-deep in his esophagus. Twin panels of flesh warped and studded with fangs appeared at each side of Jin in the blink of an eye, and snapped shut even more quickly than they had formed. The new mutation appeared to be a butcher's macabre parody of a venus fly trap, and Jin was the fly. Dietrich was confused, but happy enough to be alive. With new prey in his mouth, he leapt toward Katia and began raking at her once more with protrusions on his underside.

The ground slammed hard into her back as the tentacles that held her wrists and ankles fell dead. A grunt punctuated the impact as she spent the next moments frantically ripping the dead tendrils off of her limps, finally coming to the one that had pierced her shoulder. Through grit teeth and a grunt of pain, she ripped it free splashing drops of scarlet along the front of her shirt. Looking back to where the monster had been, Katia saw another had entered the fray-- and she couldn't help but feel thankful for the golden haired stranger. However, the monster began to shift again, just like when she had injured it. It's head turned into a twisted version of a clamp. The eyes of a bird in Katia's head widened as she watched the transformation and she could only wonder at what they were dealing with before it pressed it's attack.

It leapt forward again, but this time Katia was in no position to mount an escape. It fell upon her, it's spines and tendrils ripping at her. Katia wailed in pain as it scratched and clawed at her, drawing even more blood from her body. The pain soon morphed into something else, something more... Feral. Anger and rage bled into the wail morphing it into a howl of that of an enraged creature. Muscle groups altered and coiled, bones popped as they reorganized and reconstructed themselves. The talons on her hand morphed into massive paws and her legs bunched up with the advent of new muscle. She used the paws to swat at the monster above her and used her legs to propel her backward along the ground. She caught enough ground to flip herself back to her feet and revealed the damage.

Blood ran freely from numerous cuts and gashes along her body, her shirt and pants were stained in crimson. However she didn't simply stand, still her body continued to morph. Her shoes tore themselves apart to make room for the claws she now had for toes, spines sprouted and ran the length of both arms, the nails in her paws elongated until they too resembled talons, and a pair of horns arose from above both eye sockets. "It dies now!" She furiously demanded before leaping forward with the new muscles in her legs. As she came down she vigorously tore at where it's neck had been previously, trying to aid her new ally.

Marcus folded his arms over his chest, watching the scene intently as a newcomer joined the fight, turning it into a brawl of three. The dog was strange, to say the least, and it certainly wasn’t a pushover – the massive creature seemed to be pulling trick after trick from under its sleeve, fighting two mages at once – and he could tell that all three of them were highly capable. As he observed, he considered a variety of simple scenarios for why this was happening in the first place. Was it a morpher that stayed in animal form for too long or a summoned creature? A direct attack, perhaps on orders? Controlled by someone else? Whatever the thing was, it was at least level two and it was out for blood. Attempting to get a read on it, the thing’s mind was certainly not clear, but he was able to determine that it was in fact a morpher rather than a summon.

An…interesting sample, to say the least, Marcus thought, keeping a close eye on the movements of all three combatants. What does it want? He searched through its current mental state, searching for some kind of drive behind its attack, but all he could find was madness, an animalistic rage that had, for the most part, lost its sense of reason. As fascinating as this is, I have no use for a mindless beast , he concluded shortly. Using his ability from a relatively safe distance from the skirmish, he used his power to attempt to conjure multiple images of the other two mages inside the beast’s mind, disorienting it by making it seem as though they were in many locations at once. While his technical skill with his ability would allow him to move the projected images as he pleased to pull off something akin to a well orchestrated attack from all angles, that would only matter if it got through, and he half-expected that it wouldn’t. After all, higher level mages tended to be resistant to telepathic hallucinations. But it seemed worth a shot, as there was only minimal risk to himself by doing it as far as he was concerned.

The group traveled quickly and quietly. Making sure to keep to the shadows so as not to draw attention to themselves. It had been a while since Dyte had done something of this sort, well aside from underground fighting. With Ron leading them it wouldn’t be too difficult to find this morpher. Looking out behind her Dyte checked to see if Daniel was keeping up. Thinking about it further she realized that there wasn’t much reason for her to worry about him, at least not at the moment. He’s used to moving around at night but so am I, just not here. Suddenly a howl pierced the air making Dyte cringe. Pausing she looked around in hopes of another howl to help pinpoint the location of said howl. Sadly they did not receive one but that only made Dyte all the happier. “I like a challenge.” she mumbled quietly to herself. Resuming her pace from before Dyte focused her attention for the sounds of a scuffle but it was incredibly quiet in the Pulse District. It did help isolate sounds and as they continued to walk other noises began to rise in volume until she thought she heard someone yell. With a smirk Dyte knew she found the fight.

Picking up her pace she didn’t wait for the others to catch up or to even acknowledge what she was about to do. Disregarding the original plan of staying hidden Dyte ran into the middle of the street turning a corner to come across the most atrocious sight. “What in god’s name is that!” The beast before them was a grotesque looking thing. Dyte faltered in her step at the taste of barf at the back of her throat. Oh come now I’ve seen worse and “And what is that! Another morpher?” Dyte stopped in her tracks seeing some creature that looked vaguely feminine tear at the throat of the creature.

Glancing over her shoulder she looked for Ron. “So which is the crazy morpher Ron?” The moment he pointed it out to her a savage grin founds its way on her lips and with something of a laugh Dyte rushed into the fray. Making sure to be aware of the things happening around her Dyte managed to get close but knew better than to get too close when two animals were fighting. “Let’s see what this guy can handle.” Bringing her hand up in the shape of what a person would assume to be a gun Dyte closed one eye to focus and a ray of energy shot out. The green haired woman continued to shoots blasts of energy at the creature making sure not to hit the one tearing at its throat. Each shot was of varying strength their main purpose was to see how tough the creature was.

Dietrich staggered under the sheer ferocity of Katia's assault. Writhing appendages on his underside were torn away leaving weltering stumps of bloody tissue. Before he could put some distance between them to charge again, Dietrich was surrounded by dozens of prey-creatures. Then ten, then six, and then the number jumped up to twenty-four. Unknown to Dietrich, Marcus's psychic assault was wreaking havoc on his enhanced senses. A pair of erratic heartbeats became a reverberating roar of twenty to the beast's sensetive ears. That was not even counting the actual visions suddenly surrounding him. A pair of sinuous arm-like limbs exploded from Dietrich's shoulders accompanied by rushing viscous material. Each arm was at least twenty feet long and wasted not time in beginning their quest to destroy each and every illusory assailant within reach. The result was little more than a whirlwind of bladed limbs flailing about.

So focused was Dietrich on the group that he failed to notice the bestial Katia's leap. A horrendous retching sound accompanied the impact as Jin was vomitted forth along with several sets of chewed limbs and bile. Dietrich bucked and snapped as Katia began tearing into his throat with reckless abandon. Both newly sprouted arms immediately whipped around to savage Katia's back. Or they would have had Dietrich not stumbled under a barrage of beams flying from the Bolter, Dyte. This was not the end. If he could survive decapitation, he would definitely survive some angry cat women and a bunch of bolt-spitting freaks.

This time the transformation was even more violent, as if that were possible. Seven more arms and legs each terminating in a chitinous claw tore through Dietrich's skin as the epidermis itself hardened around these new appendages to form an osseous exoskeleton. Both sides of the split maw divided yet again for a total of four toothy jaws snapping about. Barbed feelers made their way out ef each and every wound on Dietrich's body. In mere seconds, Dietrich was an unrecognizable mass of flailing limbs and teeth and...he was getting bigger.

The stench of decomposing flesh was apparent were Jin now was. If she wasn't in her current situation she would probably throw up, but first she would have to figure her way out of the current predicament. What exactly happened was a blur. One moment she was burying her fist into the skull of the monster, the next she was trapped in what seemed to be its mouth after a terrifying transformation. Saying that her current position was unpleasant would truly be an understatement, as she was now covered in a thick layer of saliva. She could feel the movement of the monster, probably now trying to attack the one who Jin was trying to assist as it already had trapped Jin. It made it painfully hard to stay in one place, and that was only doubled as her ally began to tear at the monster. She would aid her, if Jin she herself wasn't still dumbfounded about what had just occurred. Even more force began to shake the monster, and Jin was suddenly vomited forth into the open. She could see clearly now that more people had joined the fight.

The horrid smell of decomposing flesh was even stronger now that Jin was almost completely covered from head to toe in bile, little bits of flesh, and stuff of the like. The smell was almost unavoidable, so she didn't try to prevent herself from smelling it. Jin reloaded her gauntlets with the remaining shells. When she finished, she noticed that the monster had begun to transform once again, this time it became more disfigured and distorted than the last time. "Just what the hell is this thing!?". It was beginning to seem like the monster was undefeatable. Each time that it seemed like they finally had it cornored, it suddenly transforms again. As of right now, there was almost no visible way of killing this thing off.

"Now." the first explosions rang out across the broadview. Dietrick stumbled this way and that as fiery blasts blossomed across his heavily mutated hide. Limbs of varying density and appearance were sent flying across the street, blown free of the beast's flesh. For each limb lost, three more grew to replace it. Still the barrage continued on. Raptora vehicles cut off each side of the street a hundred feet from the rogue Morph with suppression teams ready to open fire as soon as it approached. Heavy-munitions squads leaned out over rooftops to hammer the creature with explosive shells. Commissioner Faeen tapped the comm in her helmet to issue the next set of orders.

Lances of superheated light joined the rockets bombarding Dietrich. The pain was maddening. The strain of his many mutations made the external sources pleasant in comparison. On some level, Dietrich realized if he stopped adding parts to his mass one of the rounds would hit something vital and kill him. So he stacked more and more mutations. Heads, teeth, claws, legs, joints that served no obvious purpose other than to make himself larger. The end result was a nightmarish amalgam of bleeding flesh and parts over three stories tall.

Dietrich went ridgid. Completely still, the Morph began dissolving. Flecks of skin began glowing and flaking off. Muscle and bone soon followed. Dietrich was completely gone in less than ten seconds. The only legacy of his existance was a few severely wounded mages in the middle of the street.

---

The next few hours were a blur. The Raptora solicited police reports from Katia, Jin, Dyte, and several other eyewitnesses. Silence Agreements soon followed. Witnesses were not to repeat what they supposedly saw or heard that night under penalty of legal action.

Katia and Jin in particular were placed under Raptora surveillance. For their "protection" of course.

In her office, Netonefa Teedifilyn grinned as she looked over the compiled footage of the incident. "I think we may have our window..."

---

3 Days Later
New Cairo | Red Sand
10 AM

For a moment, he felt guilty. Baliq's opponent staggered under the first lash of water, lost his feet after the second, and was basically pressed into the dirt as Baliq maintained a high-pressure stream of water directly on top of the poor sod. A low beep signalled his victory at the same time a checkered referee raised a blue flag towards Baliq.

"Point, Nirmas. Set and match!"

The professor of Arcane Studies took his time showering and getting cleaned up. It was his day off, after all. Six matches of magic dueling was enough to get his blood pumping for the morning. Now, he thought, would be a good time to get some actual errands done. The likelihood of that happening was slim. Baliq smirked to himself as he exited the Red Sand arena and jumped the tram to the Old Markets. Saturdays were notoriously bad for trying to get anything productive done. For him, at least.