Francis liked to consider himself a somewhat reasonable man. He'd probably made a lot of questionable choices in the last few years since coming to Earth Bet but… Well, they were in a tough spot and tough choices had to be made. He was just picking the lesser evil where he could. With the world falling down around him and his friends, he did what needed to be done to keep them alive. Keep them together. Even if it meant uniting them against him.

What made him slide into possibly unreasonable territory, however, were matter that involved his girlfriend, Noelle. She was, arguably, all he really had left. Coming to Earth Bet had changed them all irrevocably, damaged them irreparably, Noelle more so than the others, yet she was still the only real piece of happiness he could carve out for himself. Despite how bad things could get, no matter how changed Noelle was, she was truly the only ray of light he had.

So it made him more than a little upset to come to check on her only to find that Coil's base was under new management and he was only just now finding out. Several days, at least, where Noelle had been alone and scared and no one had come to see her. No one but his team had known she was even there. He could only imagine how she must feel about it all. That made his anger burn bright, allowing him and his team to cause one hell of a racket as they made their way to where Noelle should be.

"I'm not sure this is the way to go about this, Trickster," Marissa said.

"And what would you suggest, calmly asking the men with guns what the hell is going on?" He asked sarcastically as Genesis dashed to the front in the form of an armor clad knight.

"You're the one who made the situation hostile!" She argued back. "Have you considered asking questions would have been faster?"

Francis didn't answer her, instead swapping places with one of the mercenaries and grabbing the other from behind. He pulled the mans side arm and fired at the one he'd switched with before shooting the one he was holding in the leg.

"We're finding Noelle and making sure she's safe," He finally answered.

"And I'd be happy to help you if you'd be so kind as to explain why you're attacking my base," A voice said from the end of the hall.

Francis snapped around to look at the new voice only to go still.

"Wraith," He said slowly. Of all the people he thought could have done it, he never considered the new kids on the block would be the ones to take out Coil. "I… I wasn't expecting you."

She didn't immediately say anything, instead she regarded the area around them and the hall they'd just come from. Her eyes were cold and focused as she looked at the downed men, the sharp mandible-like carving on the bottom half of her mask gave a feeling he imagined most prey felt when they were caught by a mantis.

"I don't think it matters what you were expecting," She said slowly as her eyes trailed to his own. "What matters is what you've done. So, answer my question: Why were you attacking my base?"

Francis shivered. He was older than her, she shouldn't be talking to him like this but… But age didn't matter in the Cape world. She was stronger than him by an impossibly large gap. Fighting would be pointless and if he did and she killed him…

He almost shook his head. No way was he leaving Noelle alone to deal with any of the Espada. They wouldn't understand.

"I'm waiting," Wraith snapped, the most emotion in her voice since she showed up, "And you're trying my patience." The end of the sentence was much more calm but much more menacing.

"We were turned away at the entrance despite Coil having given express orders to give us free passage," He explained.

"And you thought it would be a good idea to respond by brute forcing your way in," She finished. It wasn't a question.

"I—,"

"Save it, Trickster. If it was really so important, tell me what it is so I can get you out of my hair."

As she finished speaking a portal opened in the wall. As if his silent prayers that things not get worse were specifically turned on him, Sacrosanct stepped through, adjusting her hair. The look in her eyes showed more annoyed apathy than the restrained anger Wraith was showing. It boiled him inside that she'd look at them like they were insects, but he supposed that's what they were from their point of view. She snapped her fingers, likely for show, and the wounded men were perfectly fine, if not getting up.

"Trickster, Travelers," Sacrosanct acknowledged before turning to Wraith. "What's the issue?"

"They apparently had a deal with Coil and decided to brute force their way inside when they found he was apparently no longer in charge," Wraith explained. "He was about to tell my why he would do such a thing when you showed up."

"Well?" Sacrosanct asked.

"We… We had a deal with Coil," Trickster said. "He was taking care of my girlfriend and her… her illness. When I found he wasn't the one running the show anymore, I panicked. I need to see her. To make sure she's okay!"

"Trickster…" Marissa put a hand on his shoulder. He couldn't quite tell if she was trying to comfort him or tell him to calm down, but he needed to do the latter. The Espada were the last people in the world he wanted to shout out. Especially after he'd caused enough trouble with them.

"Despite what everyone seems to think, we aren't monsters, Trickster," Sacrosanct said. "If it's something I can help with I'd be willing to." Hope rose in him at those words. If there was anyone who could fix Noelle, it would definitely be Sacrosanct. Then, she brought that hope crashing down. "Though I'm not sure if I'd do so out of the kindness of my heart after you've pulled something like this," She gestured lazily to the men lying on the ground.

"What… What would you want?" Marissa asked.

"Let's check on the girl first."

Francis nodded. Of course payment would depend on how difficult the job was. That's how it usually worked with Capes, not that he liked that things were so open. It made him more anxious than Oliver, and he looked like he was in the middle of a panic attack. The hushed whispers from Sacrosanct and Wraith didn't help, either.

The two were talking as they made their way down the remaining sets of stairs to the basement of the facility and he could only hope that whatever they were saying would have a positive outcome for him. As they entered the basement he glanced back at the girls and noticed the shaken look in Wraith's eye. He managed to catch a tiny bit of what they were saying. A mumbled "—worse down here" told him Wraith at least had an idea that someone was down here, but hadn't come before now.

"What the hell is this?" Sacrosanct asked as they reached the door to Noelle's chamber. It didn't take much to notice how different the area was from the rest. The hallways was wider here. Bigger. The ceiling was higher than normal and there weren't that many doors. In the middle of the hall was one large metal door with a shaded window next to it. An observation window, though he hated calling it that. The wall on that side was heavily reinforced. Not that it could stop Noelle if she really wanted to get out but… Well, it gave everyone else peace of mind.

"This is where my girl is being held while Coil was trying to figure out how to help her," Francis said. "She's… She's a little on the bigger side so we needed the extra space."

"Stop sugar coating it, Trickster," Marissa said, "It's not going to help anything."

"What's wrong with her?" Wraith asked. Her voice sounded shaken and she was holding on to Sacrosanct's arm now.

"It's…" Oliver spoke up for the first time, drawing attention to himself and nearly folding from it. "I-It's better that… that you see," He said.

The Espada stepped to the observation window as Francis turned the shader off. They stared for a moment, not quite sure what they were supposed to be looking at.

The inside of the room was dark. Nearly pitch black save for the light filtering through the small window he'd just opened. It took his eyes a minute to adjust and he spotted her just as The Espada did, judging by their reactions. Noelle sat on her ruined bed, head down and hair shadowing her face. The tentacles and misshapen flesh of her lower half writhed in the darkness, only offering a glimpse of the true horror she'd become.

"Noelle," He said into the speaker on the outside of the room. Her head snapped up and she started moving towards the window, though she didn't speak. Her movement gave a better view of exactly how badly things were. If Sacrosanct and Wraith were anymore horrified they didn't show it beyond their general lack of movement. They didn't even jump when she pressed her hands against the glass.

"Francis?" She asked lowly. Her hair was out of her face now. She looked haunted, her eyes hollow and sunken.

"It's me, sweetie," He said gently.

"Who… Who are these two? Where's Coil?" Her voice was slightly frantic, a tick of worry that spoke of desperation that could get out of hand very fast. And he had no idea how to placate her.

"Coil sent us," Sacrosanct answered. "He thinks we might be able to help you."

"You can?!" She asked, hope evident in her voice.

"Possibly," Sacrosanct said. "Can you tell me what's wrong with you?"

"It's… My power," Noelle started. "It… It causes problems. Makes me… I eat things I shouldn't and I can… I can copy people." She didn't sound too sure of herself, a result of fighting her body. He was just glad they hadn't come down during one of her episodes or when she felt hungry.

"And how did you Trigger?" Wraith asked.

"I… I didn't. There was a vile, I think. I drank some and…" She didn't finish. Her hands balled into fists against the glass.

"Babe?" Francis asked.

She didn't reply, instead something closer to a primal groan came out.

"You should leave," Oliver said quickly. "I can calm her down."

No one argued. The group quickly made their way back up the stairs and Sacrosanct and Wraith were tense.

"What the fuck?!" Sacrosanct asked.

"There's… There's so much wrong with her," Wraith said. "You knew, didn't you?" She accused. "That she's a cannibal. You had to know. You know she's unstable. She's not…" She shook her head, refusing to elaborate.

"How many people did you feed her?!" Sacrosanct nearly shouted, her fist shattering the wall next to her.

"W-We didn't feed people to her she just…" Francis started.

"She goes into a rage, loses herself to her powers, and goes on a rampage. She's not conscious when it happens. I felt it. She was slipping into some sort of dream or hallucination. It's literally her power stealing her body," Wraith explained.

"Fuck… Fuck!" Sacrosanct shouted. "I'm not…" She paused to take a deep breath and ran her hands through her hair. "I wasn't ready for today," She sighed.

"Neither was I," Wraith agreed.

"Can you help her?" Francis cut in. "I… We'd really like to have her back to normal."

"I don't know," Sacrosanct answered after a long silence. "I could try something, but I'm not sure if my powers can fix something like that. We'd need at least Nihilus to help."

"The kinder thing to do is kill her," Wraith said.

"We're not—!" Francis stopped, Luke holding him back from making a mistake.

"Her power makes her unstable. She literally loses track of reality and fantasy when she goes into her rampages. She's caught between a never ending cycle of hating what she's become, rage, and an insatiable hunger. It's a known fact powers fuck with peoples heads but her? It took a copy of the DSM-5 and said "Let's see how many of these we can fit in here". It's twisting and amplifying her emotions, trying to get her to break and give in nearly every waking moment. Even if we manage to fix her body, there's no guarantee that ever goes away. She'd still go into a rage and kill dozens of people at a time, she'd still be massively strong, she'd just be human sized. There's only so much help we can give and—," Wraith stopped as Sacrosanct put a hand on her shoulder.

"Go cool off. Check on the other thing, okay?" She said softly.

Wraith took a deep breath and held it for a moment before sighing.

"Right. Yeah," She said before taking off.

"You're not seriously considering killing her, are you?" Marissa asked.

"No," Sacrosanct said. "Not immediately. We have things we can try and we're going to try them." She seemed to consider her next words carefully before speaking again. "If it turns out we can't at least fix her body, I agree that a mercy killing is the kinder thing to do. Making her live like that, with her powers forcing her into being the closest thing to an Endbringer aside from Crawler, is not a kindness. It's not helping her or you or your team. Just… remember that she's in pain too."

That wasn't reassuring in the slightest. In fact, the words made him mad. That they could consider such a thing at all made him ready to fight again and—.

"Your best is all we can ask," Marissa said.

"I hope it doesn't come to that. I really, really don't," She said, voice low and colored with emotion. "I'll tell the man you can come and go as you please as long as you stay out of our business. It's important that you keep her calm until I'm able to figure something out." She turned to leave when Francis stopped her.

"What would we owe you for this?" He asked.

She turned, mostly looking over her shoulder at him, and shook her head.

"There's not a thing I can think of that would make this even," She said before turning. She was gone a second later.

"Fuck!" He shouted, punching the wall Sacrosanct had already shattered. "How can they just—, they don't know what it's like! Who are they to think they get to decide if Noelle lives or not?!"

"Francis—,"

"And what the fuck was that, huh Mars?! You agree with her?!"

"No! But—,"

"But what?" Francis asked.

"But she's right that Noelle is in pain too," Luke said. "Making her live like a monster is only turning her into one. There's going to be a point where she draws the attention of the heroes. What do you expect to happen after that? We can't do this forever, Francis. There'll be a breaking point and I have a feeling it will be soon."

Francis looked at Luke with something between contempt and betrayal, but bit his tongue.

"And you, Jess?" He asked instead.

The knight just shook her head, whether she was agreeing with the others or refusing the answer didn't matter, it made him grit his teeth and ball his fists.

"Fuck you guys," He said, pushing past Luke. "I won't let it get to that point," He said as he stepped back down the stairs.