Welcome to Gaia! ::

Vauxite hadn’t waited to hear Libethenite’s response before turning on his heel and running back toward the convenience store where he’d last seen his sister. He just had to trust that the other lieutenant would finish draining the guy they’d caught and not get in the way. This plan had been his idea from the beginning, and he had no intention of putting Libethenite in any more danger than he already had.

“You’re one of those terrorists, aren’t you?” Vauxite rounded the corner just to hear the man snarl, “I’ll go from zero to hero if I put a bullet through your head…”

The rest of the man's words fell on deaf ears when Markeb came into view.

She was backed against the wall, tears streaking down her face, both hands raised helplessly as the second target stood barely an arm’s length away with a gun pressed against the side of her head.

Every single one of Vauxite’s thoughts narrowed to the weapon.

He knew he couldn’t strike the man, not with the barrel already against Markeb’s head. One wrong movement and the trigger would be pulled. Knocking his arm aside carried its own risk; the gun could discharge and send a bullet somewhere he couldn’t control.

It left him with only one other option; to get Markeb out of the way.

Vauxite lunged, shoving his sister sideways along the wall just as the trigger was pulled.

The gunshot erupted between them.

Markeb hit the ground harder than he’d ever meant to hurt her, but he hadn’t the time to make sure she was ok while the man still stood. Pain lanced down his arm, sharp enough to register in his mind but not enough to slow him down. He barely acknowledged it before his hand closed around the man’s wrist, locking the gun arm into place.

Vauxite’s other hand came up, and he drove the heel of the palm into the back of the man’s elbow.

Something cracked.

The moment he released the man’s wrist, his arm went limp, hanging at a very wrong angle. The man’s scream tore through the alley as the gun he held clattered against the pavement. While clutching the broken limb, he stumbled backwards over the fallen pallets

Vauxite immediately put himself between the man and his sister, who was alive though unconscious on the ground behind him. His own injured arm hanging slightly lower than the other as he was becoming more acutely aware to where he’d been shot.

However, he didn’t spare a glance toward the wound and instead kept his attention on the last remaining target.

From outside the alleyway, he heard the RV’s engine roar to life before the vehicle peeled out of the parking lot, leaving behind the furniture that had been set up outside. At least he wouldn’t have to worry about the more burly-looking man showing up with the shotgun to help his not-quite-friend out of a lethal situation.

Although he might scold the other lieutenant later, Vauxite could sense Libethentite’s aura approaching from the direction he’d come.

Not even a couple of minutes ago, he’d hoped his compatriot would stay out of the way. Now, with his sister behind him and an injured man scrambling on the pavement at his feet, Vauxite could be more grateful to have backup so close by.

Vauxite could feel his chest tighten with each breath as the adrenaline slowly ebbed despite not being out of trouble quite yet.

With his good hand, he pressed his palm against the wound just below his collarbone. A sharp, hissing breath escaped him, followed by a low grunt as pain radiated through his chest and down his left arm.

“If you’re going to give it to your General, or whoever, put it in your subspace. Otherwise, just toss it on the ground somewhere. Unless you can wake her, I need you to help pick Markeb up and get her back to where you met up with us.”

He could feel the long fingers of unconsciousness reaching for him, settling heavily across his shoulders. Vauxite fought against it the only way he knew how… by pressing harder against the wound and letting the pain drag him back each time he felt his awareness beginning to slip.

“I think she can help us escape through the mirror.” Markeb had never taken him through one before but then again, he’d never asked. “If not, we… I may need to reach out to Rakovanite. Or someone to get us further away.”

Despite his pained expression, he leveled a steady gaze on Libethenite. “I’m sorry I got you mixed into this…”

Sounds like she just fainted…

Vauxite didn’t want to consider the possibility that he’d shoved his sister hard enough for her to hit her head. He’d deal with that possibility once they were somewhere safe.

“Just be ready to reach out to your contact if Rakovanite or Diesel aren’t available.”

He reluctantly removed his hand from the wound long enough to reach into his supspace pocket for his tablet. The sudden loss of pressure sent another warm trickle down his chest. He moved to the adjacent alley wall, away from the rough stucco texture of the 7-Eleven, and grimaced as he lowered himself to the ground

While not ideal, at least sitting would keep him from having to fight his balance while he worked to send a message.

The tablet rested across his lap while he tried to type with his injured arm, keeping the other pressed firmly against the wound. His fingers weren’t as steady as he’d have liked, and he had to pause more than once when another wave of pain made the letters blur.

Vauxite glanced over to Libethenite, who was still holding his sister.

“Come on,” he muttered under his breath, forcing his attention back to the screen.



He couldn’t be bothered with the typos or proper punctuation. More information about their situation would probably have been helpful, but Vauxite wasn’t sure he’d still be conscious by the time General replied.

"He... he had a gun." Stammered Liebthenite even as he backed up a step or two from the Youma that appeared. "We were fine till he had a gun."
"Th....the starseed is my fault, I panicked." He admitted. "He didn't want Vaux in trouble; he did want him at the hospital.

They were in so much trouble.
"If you can get them out of here, I can meet you at the hospital." He said desperately. She needs to be checked for a concussion, but he got shot, and none of us can teleport, and it's my fault. I'll let my General know, I promise."

Devour, at least, seemed to realize the snappish comment was directed at her; she was to take on the burdensome chore of cleaning up after these three baaabiiies, who could barely even look after themselves with all of their powers combined! And her General was frustrated at how immediately enamored she was with the starseed they'd thrown away like trash, instead of setting right to the task he'd summoned her for- but that wasn't fair! He couldn't be mad at her. Devour had not caused this.

And it would be directly contradictory to her very nature if she were to ignore such a precious, delicious treasure right before her very eyes in favor of some filthy, grimy civilian body- some chore. Her cheeks puffed, and spidery fingers crawled up Rakovanite's shoulders as she leaned over him, red eyes boring daggers into Vauxite from over the General's head while her many, many legs clicked and clattered on the ground, the only mode of communication she had to impress on her companion that he should be mad at them. They did this. Not her. She was innocent-

Rakovanite impatiently shrugged out from underneath her claws, waving her away with a curt gesture and an equally curt, "Please, take care of it," to send the Youma on her way.

Literally any of their concerns about who he was offended at or for what specific reason were so, so low on his list of priorities that they were barely worth addressing. ...Barely.

He looked to the other Lieutenant, the one he didn't know. Rakovanite wouldn't draw any assumptions about how long he'd been recruited or who his General was, and he had to imagine there was a certain degree of heightened emotions from the experience they had just had, making him stammery and jittery. The General's tone was neutral, level as he said, "The situation is inconvenient, but not nearly as troublesome as you make it out to be. ...It is not generally frowned upon to take a starseed, unless it is something you have a strict aversion to." Though Rakovanite would never understand such an aversion, particularly when the starseed came from someone threatening them. Someone a distinct detriment to their city. Destiny City would be better off with one less gungho gun-wielder shooting up anyone who looked funny at them.

"No one is in trouble. Nothing has happened that cannot be fixed." His head canted just a touch. "I had imagined you would all want to go to the hospital, but if you prefer to join them later, that is your choice, and I have no reason to dissuade you."

By the time he was focused back on Vauxite, his expression had slid back into a bland, if not mildly miffed mask. "As always, I can only blame you." Rakovanite didn't know a single thing about the other Lieutenant and had no control over Markeb to begin with. Whether fair or not, he would default to assuming Vauxite was at fault, which was maybe callous of him. But Rakovanite had asked repeatedly by this point to have Vauxite as an ally to him- not a hindrance.

"You should probably try not to curse at someone you are seeking a favor from," he muttered. But these were literally all such minor offenses that Rakovanite would do well to remind himself that there was nothing worth being offended over.

None of them were dead or mutilated beyond repair. Devour could be rid of the body where no civilian would ever stumble across it. That there was a crime scene about to be discovered by law enforcement was annoying, but with the scope of the Negaverse's power over the city, even this was mildly inconvenient at worst. No one was in trouble. Nothing had happened that couldn't be fixed.

It was just that whole 'dragging people into dangerous situations with no forethought' thing that Vauxite was so good at. And Rakovanite had thought they'd moved past that from the last incident with Markeb (and here she was again this time too).

Silly him.

"Come on," Rakovanite sighed softly, wedging himself in between Markeb and Zaidyn so that he could lift the other man up into his arms, hopefully without jostling his injury too much. "We still should be as far away as reasonably possible by the time the police arrive. Whoever is going with me, take hold. And be prepared to power down immediately."

Zaidyn wasn’t surprised by Rakovanite’s assessment. If anything, he’d expected it long before he’d made the call asking him to come here, and whatever the limitations he’d been working with, the consequences of this evening still rested squarely on his shoulders.

He gave his general a flat look at the comment about cursing at someone he needed a favor from, but otherwise offered no argument since he felt too tired to bother.

For a brief moment, his attention shifted toward Devour, catching the way those red eyes remained fixated on him. Zaidyn’s expression twisted into a faint sneer in return. If the youma was contemplating whether he might be its next meal after all the trouble he’d caused it, it was welcome to keep wondering.

Then Rakovanite stepped between him and Markeb only to lift him off the ground effortlessly.

Zaidyn stiffened.

Being carried… like this, of all things… did absolutely nothing for what remained of his dignity. There was something deeply unmanly about being hauled around in his General’s arms like an injured princess, but he lacked the strength to protest without making the situation any worse.

Though his expression remained impassive, there was a subtle tightening around his eyes. Whatever walls he had up before this evening, they had just gotten considerably higher and more fortified against anyone attempting to get past them.

“Fine,” was all he offered in response.

Meanwhile, Markeb gave Libethenite a slow nod as his words finally seemed to register. “Right… Hospital.”

She glanced down at herself, then toward her brother, remembering his last instruction to use her magic on herself. But the scrapes across her back were minor inconveniences compared to the pounding in her head or ringing in her ears that made everything still seem slightly off-balance even with Libby there to keep her from falling over.

It took a second, but she powered down as well, her uniform fading into ordinary street clothes.

“I’m ready.”

"Thank you, sir," Libethenite said with a nervously sketched bow, unsure what else to do, but made more difficult by his arms around Markeb.

The teleportation had left him disoriented and a little nauseated, and he supposed he'd have to get used to it if he could ever make Captain. He couldn't imagine how much it must take to teleport three people as well. He felt an amazing surge of gratitude that Vauxite had called in his General, and that they had responded so quickly.

"I ... you might have saved a life, never mind our butts, sir." He glanced at Vauxite with a worried look. He had no idea just how fast you could bleed out from such a wound, but certainly it would have gone much more poorly had they been forced to leave on foot. Especially if Vaux had passed out or they were unable to find any mirrors.

"Sorry, uh... V. I'm sorry you got um, shot. I'm glad you're both still alive."

"Such is my obligation," Nataniel answered in a quiet murmur. And even if the situation was an unfortunate one, replying to their summons was still probably the best use he could make of his time.

It was at least beneficial to be aware of what Vauxite got up to unsupervised...

And though nothing about the situation was good, it did satisfy him that there were some attempts at garnering connections being made.

...Somewhat.

...V. In place of a name. Did they not know each other's identities? Given how the man Nataniel was unfamiliar with clutched to Jenna, Nat had assumed they were moderately familiar with each other? Though he knew so little about the circumstances leading up to where they were now that it was practically all assumption, and therefore could all be wrong. Nataniel have a quizzical head-cant in Jenna's direction, a silent question. If they weren't friends before, they were on track to be now.

But maybe it wasn't his business, and there was no reason for him to pry at this specifically. Jenna dismissed him, and Natniel had already mentally acknowledged that there was no point in him loitering around.

He would hear more of it later, he was sure. Nataniel gave a little nod, "As you wish," and slipped back out the way they had come.