Spectrum Act 2, Chapter 7: The Tower, part 2.

Yes, I'm not dead

Act 2, Chapter 7: The Tower, Part 2

It's been an hour and a half since Morgan and the rest of her team arrived at Silverton, they assumed the largest skyscraper in the city was the most likely place that they were going to hold the promotion exam. They've been walking along the widest street in the city hoping it could cut a direct route to the building. Though the widest street led to a highway on-ramp that circled the city, along with giving them an elevated view of the city skyline.

“How long is this damn road?” Morgan muttered to herself, the big claymore she carried around strapped to her favorite place, the center of the back, the hilt hanging over the shoulder in her scabbard, a leather band wrapping around to her front to latch it into place at three points so it didn't sway when she broke out into a run. Erika was just holding the hilt of her battle-axe over her shoulder, yawning softly as she tried to shake the sleep off. They've been walking for an hour, but she was still tired. “I'd say we're halfway there, though admittedly I'm not sure we can make the deadline if we keep strolling like this.” Erika commented, Robin patted her shoulder and smiled. “Well how about we try breaking into a run for a while? It wouldn't hurt our progress.” She offered, Erika smiling a little at that. “I like the way you think.” Erika commented at the suggestion, waving her hand and shouting to Morgan who was about 15 feet in the lead.

“Permission for awesome footrace, Morgan?” Erika said, pumping a fist as she slid the axe into a holster on her back. “Am I your mom? Just race if you really want to.” Morgan brushed off the request, Erika gesturing to both Florence and Robin to follow her. “Winner buys dinner!” She shouts to the two of them, Robin quietly breaking into a run with her brother as they all passed by Morgan and sprinted down the road, quickly making a couple hundred foot gap between them and Morgan. Morgan sighed a bit, breaking into a run for herself as they started to head into the distance.

It was only then she realized her three friends stopped in their tracks, weapons in their hands and in a lower stance, almost as they were preparing for something. “So much for the race, huh?” Morgan mentioned as Florence pointed to the reason why they had to stop. “Bad news.” He briefly stated, as a huge pack of Riftfallen were prowling the highway roads. It was a pack of dog like creatures, the black consuming their bodies with piercing red eyes.

“Think we can take them?” Erika asked, preparing her axe to smash some heads, Morgan walked in front of Erika, placing an arm in front of her to get her to stop. “Sienna had to be a jackass and dull our weapons, We might as well be fighting with rocks.” Morgan commented, they slowly sheathed their blades, watching as they continued to approach. “So what now?” Robin asked Morgan, Morgan quickly making a hand gesture and running across the road, leaping over the rail and landing on the road below. Robin leaped down with her gracefully, but Florence smashed into a couple of empty trashcans sitting on the side of the road, making a loud banging noise.

“Oh crap.” He muttered, climbing out of the pile of stacked metal trashcans, dusting himself off as Erika leaped down. “Should we run?” Morgan asked, hearing the growling noises coming from very nearby. “Sure seems like it...” Erika replied, when suddenly nearly a hundred Riftfallen began to leap over the railing in large amounts, making the 20 foot drop down like it was nothing. Growling and breaking into a chase for the four. Morgan smacked Erika on the back to signal all of them to run, breaking into the fastest sprint their legs would allow as the monster sized pack began to chase them down the street. “Aren't dogs faster than people!?” Florence shouted, taking a sharp left along the road only to be quickly followed along with the rest of his team. “Yeah, and we only have so much stamina!” Robin replied.
Morgan thought to herself, if the dogs were faster and might possibly have more stamina than they do, there was no way they could beat them in a pure sprint. “Florence, you run the fastest out of us! See if you can break up the pack!” She shouted to him, he nodded and began to split from the group. “Wait a second!” Robin shouted, quickly running over to go beside him. “I'm not doing to let him run headfirst into something without me helping!” She mentioned, Morgan just groaned as they split off to run down another street, and like clockwork, a fairly decent sized chunk of the back broke off to chase them.

“And what about us?” Erika asked, Morgan looked around, finding one of the many city apartment facilities, the very same they build when they were starting to run out of ground space to build more roads. “Erika, get behind me!” Morgan said, gesturing them to run closer to her. She ran up, grabbing Morgan's shoulder, bending down and running even faster, smashing her shoulder into the door, causing it to launch into splinters and sending both Erika and Morgan tight into a wall, as they stumbled and crashed on each other with a hard thud. Morgan felt a dull throbbing in her shoulder, splinters stuck in her face and arm were deep enough to draw blood.Erika groaned, standing back up and dusting herself off, Morgan panted, standing back up as she felt a pain surge through the left shoulder she used to smash through the door.

Morgan pressed her arms against the floor to lift herself up, when suddenly a stinging pain ran up her left arm as she realized she couldn't use it to push herself up. She gritted her teeth, pushing herself into her knees to stand up, as the somewhat healthier redhead turned to face the door, only when she realized that the Riftfallen were still chasing them. “OHGOD!” Erika shouted as the Riftfallen pack narrowed together pushing their way into the door, Morgan ducked one that leapt at her throat as Erika backed away to smash her leg into another one, trying to push themselves across to climb up the stairs. Morgan followed closely behind as she grasped her shoulder. as the Riftfallen slammed into each corner from their sheer momentum when they charged up the stairs ,each one struggling for space as they mindlessly chased the two girls. They dashed up the stairs, eventually Morgan recovering her breath from the door smash.

As they reached the top of the stairs, the corners turning into a short hallway leading up to the roof. Erika charged, leaping up into the air and smashing her leg into the locked door with a massive Pulse blast emanating from her leg.. Knocking it off of it's hinges and spinning top over bottom onto the ground with a metallic rattle. Erika and Morgan stopped to look around the area. This place was a pretty big residential zone, stores and necessities interspersed with a couple of apartment complexes. The closest one was a couple of stories shorter, but across the street. Erika gestured Morgan to follow her to the left, breaking out into a dash.

They both dashed to the ledge of the roof, pushing with all of their might to jump across the 30 foot gap between streets. Erika landed using her hands for extra stability, but Morgan tumbled against the contrete, rolling a couple of feet as she clenched her shoulder and began to thash in pain. The wolves growled and barked, while being a Riftfallen enhanced their physical capabilties, there was no way they could leap that far. They were both safe. Morgan sat up, scooting back using her legs to press against the wall and prop herself up. “Erika, help.” She said with a desperate voice, Erika leaning down as Morgan used one arm to unzip the front of her top, revealing her tanktop and yanking it down to her shoulder.

“What's wrong with it?” She asked, reaching up and gripping onto a couple of splinters stuck in her skin and slowly pulling them out. “I can't move my left arm.” Morgan replied, groaning in pain and wincing a bit, the removed splinters causing her shoulder to bleed. Erika calmly inspected the shoulder, when she realized it looked different from her right shoulder. “I think it's out of socket...” She replied, grabbing onto it and feeling it, it didn't feel like it was where it should be. “Do you want me to call for help, or do you want to have me put it back in socket?” She asked, Morgan looking at her with a furrowed brow. “I'm not passing this opportunity, Do you know how to put it back into socket?” Morgan asked her, Erika straightened Morgans arm, pulling it to the side and holding it in both arms. “Nope.” She mentioned briefly, Morgan feeling a chill of concern as she's going to have a complete novice mess with her shoulder, potentially even worsening the injury.

“Will this hurt?” Morgan asked, Erika grabbing one hand onto her shoulder. “Hell yeah it will.” She replied, pulling onto Morgans arm. The sharp pains making Morgan break out into a scream. The pigeons roosting along the railings flew away out of fear, Erika pulling her arm harder and harder, Morgan even felt herself tear up as she winced in pain, when suddenly she heard a pop, pushing her arm back into it's socket. Erika let go as Morgan clutched her left arm into her other hand, holding it closer and doubling over. “Holy shit...” She groaned, slowly standing up and shaking her hair, some more chips of wood coming loose.

“Why didn't you use pulse to go through that door?” Erika asked Morgan, confused by her actions. “Uhh... I forgot to.” Morgan replied, Erika just calmly shook her head. “So you broke your shoulder because you forgot.” Erika stated incredulously, Morgan lightly flipping her the middle finger with her good arm. “Catch your breath, I'm going to check on Robin and Florence.” Erika replied, Morgan sitting up and onto the railing as Erika checked her armlet, holding the button to signal for the radio.
“Robin, Florence, you guys alright?” She said, an echo of her voice coming from Morgan's own armband, but they were met with about 15 seconds of silence.

“Maybe they haven't evaded them, yet.” She said to herself, Morgan continued to pull the splinters from her skin, causing her to draw some blood and wince. “Maybe they're both dead.” Morgan replied, causing Erika to just kind of stare at her with a confused look on her face. “What would make you think that...?” She asked Morgan, who just leaned back against the roof's ledge, before getting up and dusting off her clothes, looking across the street to the other roof, the wolves slowly filing out as they lost interest.

“It's just a possibility, part of the job.” Morgan attempted to justify herself, slowly walking up to the ledge of the next roof on the street. “Yeah, but I'd rather not think like that.” She responded to Morgan, bending down to see the rooftops of the next couple of buildings were a similar height. They both used pulse, leaping across to the next one. “We might need to stay to rooftops for a while, at least until we lose sight of the wolves.” Morgan explained, Erika nodding a bit as they began to travel, each leap just with enough momentum to make it along the rooftops. Occasionally a building would be too high to leap, and they would be forced to scale along the side of it to actually get to the rooftop. After about 15 minutes, they stopped to take a break.

“Hey, Erika... Can I ask you something?” Morgan said, pacing the top of a former mom and pop shop, Erika dug into her bag and pulled out a small bag of candy she brought with her just in case she felt like she needed it. “Go ahead.” She said, popping a piece of chocolate into her mouth. “I've known you for a while now, and we've hung out nearly every day, but there's been one thing that's bothering me.” Morgan continued, sitting beside her and leaning her weight onto the wall. “Why are you in Spectrum? Your parents are so far away, and yet you moved all the way here to risk your life?” Morgan asked her, Erika took a bit to finish her chocolate.

“Well.. To be honest, I joined because of how boring my life is.” Erika answered, standing up and finishing the chocolate, tossing the bag over the side of the building and slid her backpack over her shoulder. Morgan started to stretch her shoulder out as she let Erika explain herself. “My parents are fishers, and I lived in a cold place where all people do is get drunk. A Spectrum is going to open there at one point, but well.. that's a ways off.” She continued, leaning against the wall and looking up at the tower in the distance. “My parents didn't want me to join Spectrum, they said I should focus on getting a career, or even become a fisherman just like them. They talked me down for nearly the entire year I considered. It drove me insane.” Erika continued, Morgan pulling the last of the splinters out of her face.

“So is this just so you can get a thrill? Don't you regret joining this on a whim like that?” Morgan asked Erika as she stood on the ledge of the two story shop, leaping off the side and rolling on her shoulder to quickly recover, Morgan going after her as she landed beside her, walking their way along the road now that the coast was clear. “I guess it was for the thrill, and I haven't regretted it yet.” She said, putting her hands in her pockets and walking with Morgan along the sidewalk. “It's not like I'm not taking this seriously, but who am I outside of Spectrum...? A boring redhead with a boring life, I want my own story.” She continued, Morgan somewhat glaring down at her as they split apart to walk around a tree.

“Yeah, but is an interesting story with ten pages more interesting than a more boring one that has the potential to eventually become a great story?” Morgan asked, Erika sighing some as she walked a little faster to break away from Morgan. “That's my decision, not yours. Don't try to guilt me out of this nearly 10 months into it.” Erika reprimanded with some annoyance, Morgan jogged to face her again, though this time a bit antagonistic. “Well excuse the hell out of me.” Morgan replied, kicking a nearby rock out of the way as Erika stopped, Morgan walking a couple of steps past her before stopping as well.

“At least I'm open about my decisions, unlike you.” Erika scolded, Morgan furrowing her brow as she leaned in, clearly offended. “What the hell does that mean?” Morgan asked out of confusion, Erika turning around and pointing her finger at Morgan out of accusation. “You barely talk to any of us anymore, Morgan. And yet you act like you're the leader, you got a red cell phone in your bag that you always hurriedly stuff back into your bag whenever someone walks into the room, and yet you won't explain what it's for!” She yelled, Morgan felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up, she didn't know Erika knew about that. “...Maybe I just bought a new phone? Why isn't that an option for you? You have to act all paranoid about it instead.” Morgan tried to play it off as nothing, but Erika continued to persist. “You -HAVE- a cell phone, it's black and it has a skull sticker attached to it. You NEVER use the new phone, and ever since then, you've been acting dodgy.” Erika exclaimed, Morgan frowned a bit and shook her head.

“You don't know when something ain't your business, Erika.” Morgan said, breaking off into a faster walk to get away from her, Erika sighing some as she heard a sound come from her armlet. “This is Robin, anyone nearby?” She stated, Erika quickly lifting the armlet to her mouth so she could reply. “Yeah, I'm here, Robin... What's the status of you and Florence?” She asked, a short pause was heard as she continued to walk. “We're both alright, I managed to lose them in a drainage ditch, we'll be heading to that one skyscraper in the distance. So please do not wait for us.” She stared, Erika nodding and activating one last time. “Carry on, then.” Erika said before closing the radio broadcast, looking up to only realize Morgan left her behind.

“Oh damn it...” She muttered to herself, grabbing her axe and slinging it back over her shoulder as she headed to the tower for the beginning of the exam. Meanwhile, Robin and Florence were running up the side of the concrete drainage ditch, leaping over the side and back onto the road.
“How much more time do you think we have, Florence?” Robin asked, Florence checking the time and walking through a grassy lawn to get back to the road that his sister was walking along. “I think like... about an hour.” He said, Robin looking up at the skyline with a squint to see how far away it was. It was no longer a spire in the distance, she had to pull her neck back to look at the top of it, signaling that it must be near. “I think we'll be fine.” Robin replied, gently reaching up and placing a hand onto his shoulder as they walked.

“Hey Robin...” Florence asked, looking over to her sister. “Yes?” He looked at the floor, taking a deep breath before looking up at her. “Do you remember a year ago?” He asked, Robin being put on the spot, raising her brow a bit from being perplexed. “Of course I do, why do you ask?” Robin wondered aloud, Florence turning up to look at her. “Well... about a year ago was when Donovan proposed to you, you remember?” The shaggy golden haired teen asked, Robin looked at the floor, softly sighing some as she walked off the curb to be slightly farther away. “Yeah... Donovan had a pretty elaborate and expensive wedding set up.” She mentioned, her fiance, Donovon Borough, the future head of the Borough family. They were to be wed to combine the houses together to help pay off the massive war debt of the estate.

“Yeah... But you walked out on the day of the wedding,” Florence mentioned, Robin rubbing her shoulder awkwardly from the tinge of uncomfortable. “Well... I left because you joined Spectrum, honestly.” She replied, she didn't want to lie. Florence frowned some, looking away. “I'm sorry, I didn't know.” He mentioned, Robin sighed a bit and patted him on the shoulder. “Look Florence, it's okay... While Donovan was a nice guy, I just wanted to join to look after you. Family comes first.” She said with a smile, Florence grabbed her hand and lightly pulled it off his shoulder. “But it's not okay, you ruined Donovan's life to look after me... Don't you trust me enough to do this by myself?” He asked her, Robin just froze in place, Florence slowly walking past her before gesturing her to follow him.

Spectrum #18: Fear, Part 2

So 'Fear' is going to be 3-5 chapters long... Woops.

Chapter 18: Fear, Part 2

The doors to the helicopter as it arrived to it's destination. It was hovering just above the height of most of the buildings around the mall which would make it about 50 feet in the air. One of them was coiling up rope, latching it to a tie on near the floor and tossing it out the side, watching it unravel and just touch the ground. The other one was looking at the 8 students currently inside with him as he explained. “Those are what you should tell the citizens when you see them. Please try to keep them calm and rational so we don't cause any issues. Understood?” He asked, teams Solstice and Equinox both nodding their head in comprehension as he lowered the fourth rope to the ground. He stood up and got out of the way, pointing for each one to go one at a time.

“Go! Go! Go!” He shouted, As Erika, Morgan, Robin and Florence all grabbed onto one of the ropes and started to slide down them, out of the helicopter and onto the pavement below. Next to that helicopter, a second one with team KLP were descending at roughly the same time. They grabbed their weapons in hand and ran to the front doors of the massive mall facility and it's stone tile painted style and walls of glass panes, some shattered or cracked. Inside the helicopter, Team Solstice were currently hesitating.

“Uhh..” Lily stammered, trying to stall a bit as Caleb quickly wrapped the rope around one wrist and dove out of the helicopter with a gusto. “Awww yeah!” He shouted, his voice slowly fading out from under the rotor wash. Jonah sighed, lifting the rope in one hand and looking at it. “Well this isn't going to be fun.” He muttered, slowly getting on his knees and falling out of the chopper while grabbing the rope firmly. “OH GOD!!!” He shouted as he panicked, but he knew as soon as he would let go he would just be a splatter on the pavement, so he held on for his life as the friction through his fingers made it quite damn hot to hold the rope, hot enough that he let go about 5 feet from the ground and landed flat on his back.

“I'm scared, Maria..” Lily admitted, watching Caleb laugh at Jonah quietly as he tried to get up and dust himself off. Maria lightly punched him on the shoulder. “I don't know about you, but jumping out of a helicopter is probably going to be the least fucking crazy thing we're going to do today, might as well not be afraid about it.” Maria commented, Leaping out of the helicopter gripping the rope, she was wearing black gloves which took the brunt of the fiction, landing on her hands and knees at the last second as she let go.

“Great...” Lily sighed, Closing her eyes and leaping out of the helicopter gingerly. “AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” She shouted, but she was holding so tight she nearly slid down inches at a time, totaling about 3 minutes of sliding down a 50 foot rope with her eyes closed. She got off and looked around, her hands shaking as she realized Maria had her face right into her palms. “That was... Shameful.” Maria groaned with a muffled face, Lily sighing and walking past her out of embarrassment to the front door of the mall. “Sorry..” She squeaked, Maria sighing and walking up to the front door of the mall as Rodney looked at them sternly as they assembled in a rough group.

“Me and my team are going in, We will be sending people this way for you guys to evacuate... To make this quick, each separate into groups of two and quickly get them to the safe houses” He explained, nodding their head in response. And without reply, team KLP kick the door open and run in, Maria noticed that inside the door was pretty much full of rift fallen of various kinds that need to be wiped out before they could even get the civilians out of the huge mall. Maria turned back to her team and watched them as they quietly waited, after a while. People began to funnel out and group up near them as they tried to keep them calm enough to listen.

First was Jonah and Caleb, who took about 8 people before leaving. Next was Morgan and Erika, taking another 9 people with them as well. Robin and Florence left together which finally left Maria and Lily to get their own group of people. Eventually, about 6 people funneled in. Lily walked up to a man in his thirties and looked at him with a concerned look on her face. “Is that everyone?” She asked him simply, he looked back at the window and looked through the door. “I didn't see anyone else behind me.” He replied flatly.

Lily frowned and looked back at Maria, who currently had her hands on her hips as she observed the small group of men and women. “Should we keep waiting?” She asked, Maria looked at the floor with a frown as she quietly thought it over. “Honestly, we should just take who we have.” Maria answered, Lily frowning a little bit. “Well... okay.” She replied, but a woman in her 40's came up to grab Maria on the shoulder. “W-wait!” She shouted, Maria looking up at her and lightly grabbing her hand to pull it off her shoulder.

“My son! He ran off with my husband and promised him that they would get it out... Have you two seen a child along with a man in a black shirt, a beard and slicked back hair?” She asked, her voice shaky in the panic she was currently in. Lily shook her head to that as well. “I don't remember any little boys coming out of the mall...” She replied, The mother looking at the floor upset as she looked at the two Spectrum members, tears beginning to roll down her eyes.

Maria looked at the floor before reaching up to place a hand onto the woman's shoulder, looking her in the eyes with her red ones. “I'm going in to get him.” She answered abruptly, The woman looking up with a tearful smile of hope. Lily walked up to her and turned Maria toward her. “Wait! But I need you to come with me.. What if I'm under attack by a big pack of riftfallen?” She asked out of concern, But Maria slightly smiled at her, which was a very strange thing to see.

“You'll be fine, just don't do anything stupid. I'm gonna get that boy and his dad, it will only take a minute.” She answered, Lily nodding lightly as Maria tried to reassure her. “Just... Be careful, okay?” Lily asked, and Maria lightly poked her on the forehead. “When haven't I been careful?” Maria asked confidentially, before Lily quickly came up with some answered. “Well there was that one time yo-” Maria covered her mouth with one hand, frowning at her. “Nevermind.” She took back her previous statement once evidence came up to the contrary, as Lily quickly took a step away and signaled the 6 or so people to begin following her.

The woman shouted at Maria before she left. “They were on the second floor at an electronics store, last time I saw them! The boy's name is Sam!” She detailed, Maria turning back to the door and taking a deep breath as they left, Maria turned to the doors of the huge mall and lightly pushed them open. The mall was pretty huge and white on the inside. It had 3 layers of walkways stacked atop each other connected by currently non operating escalators.

Littering the floor in front of Maria was corpses of Riftfallen on the floor which was slowly turning into piles of ash, the black blood contrasting with the white and blue floor tiles. Having that much blood in one place gave off a pungent smell of rotting compost or something about as unpleasant. She looked up along the walkways and noticed that on the third floor, they were fighting some kind of huge scorpion creature. She could hear the sound of metal striking bone and the crackling rush of fire and electricity resonating through the massive open area. She quickly ran past the pile of corpses littering the floor and hopped over the small piece of plastic blocking one of the escalators from use. Once she got to the top, she began to scan the area, checking each store to see if there was an electronics shop. Unfortunately, there seemed to be more than one. This required her to search each one at a time.
Maria approached the first one quietly, gripping one of the blades strapped to her back as she pressed herself against a corner, leaning around the corner to find some blood stains on the ground along with knocked over headsets and cell phones from looters in a bustle to grab what they can before they leave. She ducked her head and quickly slipped into the store, using the aisles as covers as she looked around for the small boy she's supposed to look for. But the limited floor space of the mall made it so by the third aisle she found, she would have quickly ran out do space.

She sighed a mixture of relief and worry as she didn't have to get into a fight just yet, but still had to extend the search for the kid and his father in a pretty dangerous situation when every second counts. She quickly ran to the next store, only to realize that not only the cage was down on the front of the store, to not let anyone in. Ontop of that, 4 Riftfallen were preying over a body. It was pretty much mangled beyond recognition, it was actually pretty damn gross for Maria to see, even if she was desensitized to quite a bit of violence and gore. She dipped behind a guardrail protecting people from falling from the second floor and inspected the scene more thoroughly, hoping the fact she's indoors won't blow her scent downwind.

She couldn't recognize the man, but behind the gate was a small boy, hugging his own knees and crying while tucked underneath a desk. He had a blue and white shirt with his favorite superhero on it, short brown hair and a cut under one of his cheeks. The monsters seem to be mutated forms of large felines, possibly escaped from a zoo or a magic show that might have been in town when the invasion stuck. They had a jet black carapace coating their body, glowing red eyes and long saber like teeth with ridges nearly similar to some kind of serrated butchers knife. They were big too, each one looked nearly twice her size.

Maria quietly drew her blades, focusing the pulse into her legs, she lunged with a massive force into the fray of monsters, plunging both swords into one of their skulls before it realized what happened to kill it instantly in a massive geyser of black colored blood, Before launching in the air with a back flip to get away as the other three snapped their heads up at her nearly unnaturally when they get her attention. One sprung at her, claws out as it tried to slash at her. This caused Maria to flinch instinctively in shock and roll away. Maria tumbled off to one side, accidentally crashing into a potted plant and breaking it, coating herself in dirt.

She dusted herself off and grumbled before being forced on the back foot by the other two attacking her. One landed an attack that she blocked with her Pulse, while quickly dodging the other fast enough to slash at it, lobbing it's hand off in one clean shot. The tiger monster stumbled on it's severed leg as Maria spun one of her blades to jab it into the base of his neck like an ice pick to kill it as well.

She snapped back around to notice that they were on each side of her, when suddenly the one behind her sprouted jet black tendril like appendages, wrapping around her ankles and digging in deep enough to cut her if she wasn't wearing the specialized armor. But she still had her legs pinned down as they both pounced to bite her throat. She panicked and quickly dropped to her stomach, both flying over her, the one with the tendrils around her leg managed to leap OVER THE GUARDRAIL and send Maria plummeting down with him.

Before hitting the ground, she sliced the tendrils from her legs before smashing flat on her back from the 10 foot drop. It wasn't enough to badly injure her, but it still is never nice to fall off anything 10 feet height. She tried to catch her breath, but from her peripheral, the tiger attacked her once again. She panicked and quickly latched her hand on her blade, which conveniently enough was close enough to reach.

She rolled out of the way so it'd miss, but when it turned to swipe at her, she rolled to her feet and leaped on-top of it. It sprouted more tendrils, wrapping around her torso and forcing her close to it, as spikes began to spurt from it's shoulder blades, one of which slices Maria's face.
Maria growled and reached up to swiftly slice it's throat, then screamed to slice it again, again and again until she was only cutting bone.

The thrashing began to weaken until it collapsed, the tendrils slowly released her. She stood up, ran over to grab her other sword and make it back to the stairs, where the other tiger was watching her from the top of it. “Come get me...” Maria goaded it, knowing that it didn't even have the mental capacity to speak. It bared his teeth and leaped at her, Maria responding by leaping with equal force, cutting his head off with a quick spin and ducking it's own attack as she landed on the escalator... incorrectly.

She then proceeded to fall down every step of the escalator, bashing her head firmly against the metal and plastic railing used to normally block it off when it's closed. This caused a ringing all the way to Maria's teeth as her vision began to lose focus. “FUCK!” She groaned in pain, punching a wall as she stumbled back to her feet, panting softly as she climbed back up the escalator to get back where she was before.

She got back to the corpse of the man, now currently unoccupied by anyone trying to eat it. She frowned and turned to the closed gate, reaching up to grab the metal bars and speak loudly and clearly. “Sam?” She asked, with no response from the kid. “Hey! Sam!” She shouted instead, trying to get his attention. “I AM RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU, BRAT, JUST SAY IF YOU'RE SAM ALREADY!” She shouted at him, but the kid sniffled and curled up tighter into a ball as her yelling made him upset.

Gale commented on her shoulder for a quick remark. “Not good with kids I see, eh Maria?” Maria glared up at him with frustration. “Let's see you do better.” She complained, he just chirped indignantly at her. “I can't! I'm technically not real!” Maria sighed and shook her head. “Look, I'll try. If it doesn't work, I'll let you speak for me.” She answered, knowing that Gale could technically possess her at will even when usually he opts not to. “And you trust me enough to do that?” He asked inquisitively.

Maria sighed and nodded some, he dissipated as Maria sifted down to bend her legs, both hands grabbing lower on the bars. “Come out, I have candy!” She shouted at the kid, the kid sniffling and shouting back at her. “Strangers who give people candy are weird!” He cried back at her. Maria groaning and planting her face right in her palm. “Look, if you come with me, I won't punch you in the face.” She offered the preposition, which once again failed when he replied. “That doesn't sound helpful at all!” Maria stood back up and turned around. “Uhh... I suck with kids, okay?” She admitted quietly.

Gale responded briefly. “I promise this will be quick.” He answered, as Maria felt her body lose control, almost like she became paralyzed in her own mind. Her eyes began to brightly glow red as she turned around, looking down at the boy and speaking with a much quieter, friendly sounding voice. “I'm from Spectrum. Your mother told me to come find you, where's your dad?” He added, The kid wiping his eyes using his sleeves as he looked up at the odd glowing eyed girl.

“H-he closed the gate with me inside... And then the monsters got him... He's on the floor behind you.” He answered, Gale looking back at the mangled mess on the floor and frowning as he turned to face the boy again. “I'm really sorry, Sam.” He admitted, knowing about how loss feels. “Your mom is okay, Do you want to come see her?” He asked, The kid crawling out from under the desk and nodding his head. “Are the monsters gone?” He questioned Gale, as he stood up and looked at the corpses of the tigers.
They were slowly fading into ash on the ground, and he smiled and looked up at Sam to speak reassuringly. “Yeah.. It's safe, but we need to make haste or it'll not be safe again. Please open the gate?” Gale inquired, Sam pulled a key from his pockets and walked up to the gate and held it in front of it. “Uhh... You promise you won't punch me or give me weird candy?” He worried, Gale giving a gentle smile only he could muster even if it was plastered on Maria's bitter face. “Of course not.” He replied, the child opening the gate and climbing underneath it as Gale released control of Maria. The smile suddenly becoming Maria's sullen frown.

“Uhh... Let's get going, kid.” She said, standing up and gesturing him to follow her. He quietly followed her as she quietly helped him climb back over the broken escalators gates and head down them, slowly approaching the mall as the sounds of weapons clanging and growling could be heard in the background.

“I miss my dad...” The kid sniffled, Maria looking down at him as she put her hands in the pockets of her cargo pants, looking at the floor solemnly. “We all miss our parents when they go.” The kid looked up at her with a frown, punching her in the side of her abdomen. “Don't talk like you know! I saw him die in front of me!” He said frustrated at her, She didn't react, instead just staring quietly at him. “Kid, you and I are more alike than you think.” She answered without going into much detail. She got to the front door of the mall, pushing it open and waiting for the kid to walk though.

“And what's that supposed to mean?” He asked, confused as what she meant by her comparison. Maria just kept walking at a brief pace to get to the shelter as fast as she could without losing this kid by running away from him. “My parents are dead... A lot of parents are dead because of this. You better be lucky you still have your mother.” Maria lectured, the kid looking at the pavement as they began to head down the road Lily was going down earlier.

“Well.. How did you fight off those big tigers by yourself without getting hurt if my dad couldn't?” He asked her, trying to let go of his anger he had because no one showed up fast enough to save his dad. “I trained for this, members of Spectrum get tools so they can protect people.” She answered, but the kid just look puzzled at her. “Why Spectrum members? Why can't everyone be able to train to protect themselves?” He asked, but Maria just shrugged her shoulders.

“Apparently people used to... something went wrong. I kind of never sweat those details since they don't affect me.” She replied, but the kid punched her in the side again. “You shouldn't say that! If you work for the good guys, maybe you should think about things!” He tried to present an argument to her, though he was sound... he was also only 10 years old. “I guess, but we don't really know either way.” Maria replied, not entirely sure if she could even present an answer worth any value since well... She hated politics with a passion and citizen rights is a completely different study than stabbing monsters in the face.

Suddenly, the transmitter on Maria's arm began to ring. She held it in front of her mouth and pressed the button. On the other line was Lily, sounding somewhat distressed even if the audio was slightly distorted sounding. “Maria, you there?” Lily asked, Maria quickly replying by tapping a button to turn on the microphone built into it. “Yeah, I got the kid.” She added to her reply, Lily sighing of relief just a bit as she continued the situation report. “That's fantastic.” She replied, before clearing her throat a bit to tell Maria the real reason why she's signaling her.

“I've told the group to move on ahead to the shelter since they're close enough, but it seems we've encountered a big problem...” She mentioned, Maria inquisitively raising a brow.
“And that means...?” Maria asked, unsure and a bit concerned as to what she was trying to say. “There's a massive robbery taking place at a factory we were passing, not just the typical looter... These guys are wearing black robes and are all wearing masks.” She explained, Maria looked even more puzzled, glancing over to the kid who was watching her very curiously as they spoke. “So? Let the police or SWAT handle criminals, we're here for Riftfallen.” Maria replied, Lily sighing out of frustration. “I can't, They're attacking any civilians who have happened to witness them. I managed to slip the people from the mall by quietly enough... But as a Spectrum member I can't just sit by and watch innocent people get robbed on such a grand scale.” Lily explained to Maria to try and get her to see her point.

“And? Send in backup if it concerns you so much...” Maria shrugged off her complaints once again, as Lily made a squeakish growl noise. “You ARE my back up, YOU DULLARD! Everyone else is occupied and you're the closest to me, please come here and help me!” Lily protested, Maria sighing a bit and looking down at the kid once again. “I'll be there as soon as possible.” She answered, matter of fact-like.

“Thank you.” Lily said before Maria turned her own microphone off. “So what does that mean?” The boy asked Maria, she turned to face Sam as she began to walk off at a brisker speed. “We're going to be in for a long night.” Maria replied, taking off to go help Lily as soon as possible.“It's 3 PM.” He corrected her quickly, Maria looking at him incredulously as he said that.

“Shut up, Sam.”