V2C23: The Colossus Falls

AN: Friendly reminder that the next chapter is in TEN days from now. That is not next Friday. That is the Monday after, to commemorate the one-year anniversary of Team Rookie.

(Perspective: Kassidy)

It was pretty easy to tell the exact moment that the train hit the bedrock underneath Vale. The front wall in front of them gave an unholy screech, inches and inches of Dust-infused steel shearing apart as it failed to withstand the forces in play. Weiss' created shell of ice flew forward, carrying them with it, as it suddenly broke free from the floor, before it too shattered. With nothing else holding them together, the four girls of Team Rookie tumbled forward in a mass of limbs and grunts and curses. Kassidy tried to reach an arm out, maybe grab something to halt her forward progress, but Yang wouldn't let her. Her girlfriend continued to hold on tight, using herself as a literal human shield to protect Kassidy from harm. Eventually, however, the world decided to stop rapidly altering which way was up and which was down. Kassidy finally slipped from Yang's grip, skidding a couple final feet before coming to a rest. She waited for her head to stop spinning before blinking a few times and shakily trying to get to her feet.

The first thing she saw was sunlight. Sunlight was bad, wasn't it? Her eyes fully snapped open and alertness finally bullied through her nausea-induced haze at the realization that sunlight meant that they were in Vale proper. That wasn't a bad thing on its own, but with so many Grimm right behind them… damnit, she could already hear their growls and roars. She spun on the spot, ignoring the stars dancing in her vision, and found her three teammates rolling on the concrete and groaning, all of them evidently knocked out and fighting for consciousness. She still had a minute on her own, before they got themselves together. Well, not exactly on her own. Kassidy found where her earpiece had rolled out onto the ground, put it back in place, and tapped it on. "Bob? Talk to me, man, what's our status?"

"O…ne mo-MENt," a garbled voice replied. A garbled voice that wasn't Bob's. She nearly panicked before her companion spoke again, his voice returned to normal. "Apologies for the delay. My chassis was breached; I needed to initiate emergency protocols and offload several of my subroutines onto the RemNet itself. Usage of specialty modules will be unavailable, I'm afraid, and my power source was damaged. T-minus 43 minutes until power failure."

Kassidy spat a curse; this situation couldn't be worse if she'd tried. She was on the tired side from grappling with Torchwick, who she severely hoped got munched on at some point, assuming he wasn't already dead. Her teammates were out for the count temporarily, and both Weiss and Ruby looked like they'd seen better days after their fights. Yang was still the freshest out of the four of them, and she'd taken the brunt of the force from the crash. They couldn't hold off a Grimm attack alone. They needed help, and they needed it now. "Get me a line to Professor Ozpin. Now."

Bob gave his confirmation, and it took only a couple rings to get the headmaster on the phone. "Miss Smith," he began.

"No time, so listen fast," she barked. "Our mission to Mountain Glenn was a failure, and we need help cleaning shit up. White Fang rammed a train into… okay, looks like we're in the Square Plaza. They breached the Kingdom's defenses, and they spent a whole lot of effort getting Grimm to follow them here."

A few voices could be heard gasping and cursing, but someone beat Ozpin to speaking. "Miss Smith, this is General Ironwood. Please confirm: the Kingdom's defenses are breached?"

"Confirmed," she said. Her teammates started clambering to their feet around her, and Kassidy helped them up while she kept talking. "The breach is in the Square Plaza. Grimm were following us. ETA: "

Kassidy had to stop and dive for cover as the ground exploded up from under them, as a black snake head burst forth and widened the existing hole. She half carried, half dragged Weiss a few feet as Beowolves and Ursai started to crawl out of the ruined concrete. "ETA: right fucking now," Kassidy continued. "I repeat: Grimm have entered the plaza."

"Understood," Ironwood said, and for once it sounded like he was doing something useful. His voice sounded more and more faded, but it looked like he was barking orders to his own forces.

"Miss Smith, this is Ozpin again," the headmaster said. "What's your status, over?"

"Beat up, tired, and low on ammunition," Kassidy replied. "White Fang didn't make it easy on us to get this far."

"Professor Ozpin!" Ruby yelled, having finally helped Kassidy gather the rest of the team together. Of course, this left the now fully conscious team in the middle of the plaza, completely surrounded by an ever-increasing horde of Grimm. "We need help, there's Grimm everywhere, and –"

"I hear you, Miss Rose," Ozpin cut off. "General Ironwood's already begun moving his forces to your location, but it could be a few minutes."

"Buy me a bit of time?" Kassidy asked her teammates. When three curt nods were the answer she got, she pressed again on her earpiece. "We don't have a few minutes! Bob, system report."

"Systems operating at 51% capacity. Current speed estimated at 1.6 exaflops. External module use unavailable," her AI reported.

Ozpin expressed his confusion over the line, but Kassidy ignored it. "Gonna have to be good enough. Ozpin, what kind of electronic resources do I have? Robots? Mechs? Ships?"

After a moment's delay, the headmaster explained, "Vale has a few peacekeeping units nearby. Not enough to keep the Grimm at bay, but perhaps enough to help you hold the line until James' forces can arrive."

"Good enough," Kassidy said. Diverting her attention again, she quickly ordered, "Bob, Emergency Code One. Keyword: iconoclasm. Take command of all robotic forces you can access, and start evacuating civilians. See if you can't get Atlas' crap in second gear and hurry them up."

"Belay that order," Ironwood said, suddenly involving himself in that conversation. "Bob, something's in our computers and overworking our systems; you can fix that bottleneck and get our troops moving."

"Kassidy?" her computer prompted.

Kassidy spat and shook her head for the list of options she wish she had. Still, this was better than nothing. "Make it happen."

Suddenly, every single screen that was in eyesight flashed green. From every single device that had a speaker, a voice said, "Keyword accepted; Code One protocols in effect. Orders accepted and acted on." After a few moments, Ironwood confirmed that Bob's work was cutting through the interference; the current signs were pointing to a DDoS attack of some kind, but her computer was able to relieve the congestion and reroute Atlesian traffic to get the ball rolling.

"What's the word, K?" Yang asked as Kassidy put the finishing touches on Bob's orders and returned her focus to the area surrounding them.

"Not good," Kassidy said, shaking her head. "Someone's hitting Atlas' computers. Bob's fixing it, but his case got damaged and he's working on half speed. Help's gonna take a while to get here."

"We've got a bigger problem," Ruby said, and as the tide of Grimm growled and pushed forward, they continued to herd the four Huntresses closer together. The situation was looking more and more hopeless.

"I," Kassidy began, but her voice wavered and she had to cut herself off for a moment. Seriously, this was where she died? As demon food, after surviving a murder train, several hundred terrorists, and roughly two dozen walking tanks? She swallowed and managed to say, "I just wanted to say… it's been an honor, these past few months. Getting to know you guys, fighting together, working together. It's… it's been an honor."

"Don't say shit like that, K," Yang urged. "We aren't down for the count yet. Even if this is a rather… Grimm situation." The random pun got Kassidy to bark out a surprised laugh – and make Ruby and Weiss groan – but Yang suddenly changed the mood again by saying, "I love you, K."

Kassidy took a deep breath. "I love you too, Firecracker. No dying without permission, got it?"

Yang chuckled and slammed her fists into each other, chambering a round into each of Ember Celica's gauntlets in the process. "Heh, yeah. Same goes for you, though."

"Everyone push north," Ruby said, getting everyone's attention. "We can break through whenever these guys try to rush us. Get to the north, we can get out of this mob there. Weiss, Yang, dig in and try to keep as much attention as you can. I'll get to the roof and provide cover fire. Kass, split off and get to the streets. There's tens of thousands of people that live and work near here; we need to give them a chance. They're counting on us, on you."

The Taijitu above them screamed, and the Grimm that surrounded took that as the signal to attack. Ruby and Yang charged first, the former carving large swaths of Grimm asunder and herding them into a nice, close huddle together for Yang to blast apart with her gauntlets' high-explosive shells.

Kassidy and Weiss were instantly sprinting through the sudden gap in the Grimm's ranks. Baton and Myrtenaster flashed out to the sides, further thinning the Grimm's numbers and buying time for their respective partners to arrive. Before long, all four of them were at an outdoor café that had been evacuated before they arrived. Kassidy looked over her shoulder to see Ruby use a recoil boost to jump up to the roof of the couple-story building, while Weiss was setting up Glyphs and Yang was busy… rearranging the scenery. Screams filled the air, reminding Kassidy that she still had a job to do. She allowed herself time to take a deep breath, to center herself. Most of her instincts were screaming at her to run, to get to the rooftops and make her away out of the city while she still had a chance. Indeed, that probably would've been the smart decision, and this time last year, she wouldn't have hesitated to make that choice.

Times were different now, though. Instead of running away, she slammed home a magazine of regular ammunition into Rogue. Her grapple bracer fired a line that snagged a Beowolf's arm; she managed to drag it off balance before it could break the barricaded door of another shop down the road, and her pistol thundered as she immediately emptied its magazine and cleared out the Beowolves in the area. She sprinted across the street and smashed the picture windows with the butt of her sword. "Get moving, people!" she yelled to the several dozen occupants. "Get moving to the north; my team's gonna try and keep the Grimm here, and we've got more on the way from Beacon!"

By ones and twos, the store's inhabitants started filtering out. Her pistol found some exercise as she worked through three more magazines keeping the Grimm away. By the time she'd burned through the third, a small, delicate hand tugged on her half-skirt, prompting her to divert her attention. The source of the distraction was a little girl, about seven, with a rip in her dress and a goofy smile. "Thank you, Miss Huntress!"

Her parents were right behind her as the last people out, and the man pulled out a revolver and helped her gun down a group of Creeps that had found interest in them. When they'd fallen, the father put a calloused hand on her shoulder and said with a shaky voice, "Thank you, miss. Thank Oum you came. I… we owe you –"

"You owe me nothing," Kassidy insisted. "Just doing my job. Now, let's get moving. No telling how many other people are out there." With more tear-filled expressions of gratitude, the family left, and Kassidy dashed off down the street. Anywhere the Grimm converged and was likely to house people, there was almost certain to be civilians. Seconds, minutes stretched out to seem like hours as she dashed up and down the street. It was late Tuesday morning, now, and there had been a still-shocking number of people out in the busiest part of the city; hundreds, possibly thousands, of people had been caught out when the train breached the Kingdoms' defenses. Often, it felt like she was rescuing the whole damn city herself.

Then, it came to the final building on this street before it split off into a T-junction. An Ursa Major had collapsed the front of the building, trapping the people inside with no way of getting out. Kassidy sighed, and loaded the last magazine for her pistol that she had. Sprinting out from behind a planter across the street, she pushed herself in order to shoot two Beowolves, before Baton flashed out to behead one Creep and slit the throat of another. The Ursa Major took notice of her, and barreled into a charge that made her roll out of the way. Her sword scratched its flank but couldn't bite deeply, and two shots were wasted as they bounced off its bone plates.

This was bad. She faced one of these a few months ago, and was utterly unable to kill it; she was forced to cut its hamstrings and run the hell away. Now, granted, that was with a knife and a pistol far smaller than her current one, but it didn't change the fact that even with her new tools, she'd be hard pressed to win this fight, and she was running on fumes at this point, too. Still, there were about twenty people whose lives depended on her ability to kill this thing. Kassidy drew in a deep breath, and stood her ground when it charged again.

A pair of blades on chains whipped around its legs and brought its charge to a premature end, while the sound of shotguns going off heralded a grey boot slamming into the Major's skull, crumpling it like wet tissue paper. Mercury landed moments later, crossing his arms and wearing a smug smirk. Emerald scoffed at the action, recollected the chain blade whip… things into her pistols, and suddenly seemed to notice Kassidy. "Oh, hey, Kass! Looked like you could use a hand."

Kassidy couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief, and nodded. "I've got a bunch of people trapped under here. Give me a bit of help?"

Mercury nodded, adding, "Sure. What are friends for, after all?" Between the three of them, they managed to clear enough rubble out to allow the people trapped inside the building to escape.

By the time the last person had clambered out of the ruined store, Kassidy finally let her aching arms drop the concrete slab she and Mercury had been holding up. She was about to go take off for the purpose of finding more people to save, or Grimm to kill, but before she'd managed to get past a light jog she found what must've been happening while she was busy with this latest building: instead of Grimm, the streets were filled with Atlesian Knights and Huntsmen. She shared a look with Mercury and Emerald, and when they shrugged she tapped on her earpiece. "Kassidy to team, what's the situation?"

"Kass!" Ruby cried over their communications, nearly making Kassidy's ear bleed. "Oh, thank Oum you're okay, we've been trying to reach you ever since you took off down the street!"

"Is something wrong?" Kassidy hurriedly asked. "Yang, Weiss, are you guys all –"

"Relax, K, we're fine," Yang said, her voice pure bliss over the comms. "Come on… come on back to the square. Professor Goodwitch just sealed the breach. We… we won, K. We won."

The words made Kassidy come to a screeching halt. The sharp intake of breath she gave was enough to make Mercury and Emerald stop as well and shoot her weird looks. Kassidy didn't care, though. "We… won?" The words tasted weird in her mouth. "But the Grimm! And there's still so many people out there!"

"At ease, Miss Smith," came a new voice, causing the three teens to jump and turn around. General Ironwood continued his stride up, flanked by a quartet of AK-200's. "My machines are dealing with the remaining Grimm as we speak, and much of the square has already been rescued and evacuated. I understand we have you to thank for much of that, actually." While his honor guard continued past them to engage the remaining Grimm, Ironwood stopped next to them, and actually put a hand on Kassidy's shoulder. "Perhaps… perhaps I was wrong about you. You did well today, Kassidy. Why don't you meet up with the rest of your team in the center of the square? We'll take care of things from here."

When Kassidy, for lack of any better ideas, turned to the two people next to her, Emerald said, "You did good, Kass. Don't worry, we've got this."

Nodding in acceptance, Kassidy trudged back to the location of the breach, the past hour and a half crashing down hard as her adrenaline fell through. All along the way, she got a front-row seat to robots chasing down and exterminating monsters left and right, Huntsmen and Huntresses tackling the bigger monsters and helping people, civilians looking dirty and tired, a couple bloody, but all alive and thankful. A few pointed at her… but instead of jeering, or trying to get her killed, they applauded. A couple blew kisses, most shouted their joy and gratitude, and they all gave her their thanks. Her. "Is this a dream?" Kassidy muttered to herself.

"Nope," her favorite voice said, and it wasn't until Yang had wrapped her in a hug and she subconsciously reciprocated that she realized that she'd made it to the Square Plaza and met up with her team. They both sagged against each other, using one another to support their weights, and Yang mumbled, "We did it, K. We saved Vale."

"I still can't really believe it," Kassidy replied. "It just doesn't… it just doesn't seem real."

Ruby spoke up from her side. "It's real, Kass. So, how does it feel to be on the winning side?"

"She'll actually have a real good day by the time things are through with," Weiss offhandedly remarked. This prompted some confused questions from the rest of team, encouraging her to explain, "Well, I managed to get in touch with Doctor Narud. From what I heard, it sounds like he finally finished that serum to fix your soul and give you an Aura. He'll probably be busy for the next few hours, but we should be able to pick it up this evening."

Kassidy barked out a soft laugh. "Alright, now this definitely doesn't feel real." Still, as everyone crowded around – JNPR first, then teams Coffee, Carmine, Sun… Yang couldn't decide whether to growl or laugh when Ruby tackle-hugged Sun into a concrete planter. Goodwitch, Port, Oobleck, even Zwei. Everyone regrouped at the Square Plaza, presumably for new orders, and Kassidy was this close to breaking out in one of the biggest smiles ever.

Yang took notice. "I thought you'd be happy about this, K. We won, we beat the Grimm, we beat Torchwick, we beat the White Fang… from what I heard, there somehow aren't even any casualties."

"I want to be," Kassidy muttered. "I don't know, I guess I'm just kinda waiting for the other shoe to dro –"

Whenever she suddenly cut off and her eyes widened, Ruby asked, "Kass? What's wrong?"

"Anyone else feel that?" When a chorus of negatives were her reply, Kassidy scowled and thought her paranoia was acting up again. But then it happened again – the ground trembled slightly, so slightly that she probably would've missed it if she hadn't been looking for it. "Something's coming."

RWKY definitely attracted a bit of attention when they all simultaneously drew their weapons and started backing up, keeping their backs to the wall of one of the few buildings to escape ruination. One of the foreign students that Kassidy didn't recognize asked, "You guys daft? We won. What's got your panties all in a bunch?"

Instead of answering the slight, Yang replied, "If K says something is wrong, then something's wrong."

Kassidy felt the tremor again, but more than that, she heard it. They all did. She wheeled around, and in slow motion saw the store they were backed up against explode outwards. A Deathstalker came screaming out of the building, waving its claws angrily, and its carapace broken in half a dozen different places. But as soon as it emerged, its eyes focused on one thing, and its tail went shooting forward. Kassidy's heart, stomach, everything dropped when she saw who it was going for.

Yang.

She didn't have time to think. She didn't have time to draw her weapons, or talk with people, or anything. All she could do is beg her body to work with her once more, and take off in a dead sprint. She reached her girlfriend, who was only just now whirling around with wide eyes. Kassidy didn't dare slow down. Instead, she shoulder-tackled Yang, trying to knock them both out of the way. Yang went tumbling, falling out of the way of the golden stinger.

When Kassidy's stomach erupted in pain, she knew that the other shoe had dropped.

She felt herself get lifted off the ground, and it was now that she got a good luck at the precise situation. A black tail connected Kassidy to the Deathstalker, leading to the golden stinger impaled in her torso, which she could feel pumping its venom into her. All of its baleful red eyes locked onto her, and it screeched again. Her sword and pistol had tumbled out of their sheaths in the ordeal, leaving her completely defenseless. Deciding to throw caution to the wind, Kassidy figured the way to make the best out of the situation was giving it a cocky smirk and flipping it the bird. The tail contracted, reeling her in to try and bring her to its pincers.

It never got the chance. After all, it did make the completely moronic decision of basically pulling a Kool-Aid Man stunt right in front of twenty-odd Huntsmen and Huntresses, and every single one of them joined in making sure the Deathstalker could only quickly regret its decision. Kassidy slid off the stinger as the corpse went limp, falling the last five feet to the ground. "Ow," she wheezed.

"K!" Yang screamed, sliding on her knees right next to her. "Oh my Oum oh my Oum oh my Oum, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I should've paid attention, I should've… oh my Oum. Please don't die, please! I just got back, I just got you back, don't die, please!"

"Wow, you can be really dramatic when you want to be," Kassidy snarked. "Be a dear and help a girl up?"

Yang had ripped off her mangled cuirass at this point, and had pulled up the bottom half of Kassidy's shirt to reveal her stomach, colored less like skin and more like a collage of reds and purplish-black goop. "But," Yang sobbed, "You got poisoned, you… look at that!"

Kassidy put a hand on Yang's arm, finally getting her to halt the hysterics long enough to look at her. "Project Colossus, remember?" When Yang's eyes widened in understanding, Kassidy added, "One of the many benefits of being a freak of nature is complete immunity to poison."

"Even Grimm poison?" Yang asked, obviously still not calming down yet. Pointing down to her stomach as if that would prove her point, she added, "It's still spreading."

"Give me a break, woman," Kassidy stated with a roll of her eyes. "Even someone as awesome as I am needs time to work. Just watch, it'll go down any second now."

After five seconds, the Grimm poison had continued to spread.

"Any second now," Kassidy urged.

She was starting to get slightly concerned when it felt like something punched her in the face. Her head snapped back, and nausea suddenly found its grip in her psyche. "Alright, maybe something's up. Bob?"

"I can't use my medical module, but my best guess involves the fact that Deathstalker venom, in addition to being hilariously poisonous, has a pH of -2.3, greater than concentrated hydrochloric acid. Chances are, it's literally dissolving your immune system before it can neutralize the poison. Your biochemical defenses are still working, just… probably not quickly enough." After everyone had two seconds to let that information sink in, her computer suddenly added, "I advise remaining in a reclined position, and lowering your breathing and heartrate to minimize how quickly the poison can spread through your body."

"We're past that," Yang choked through tears. "Ruby, get Doctor Narud! Now!" Her girlfriend frantically pressed on her stomach, trying to do something – anything – to slow or stop the poison. Kassidy barely felt it. Wherever the poison spread, it felt like her nerves stopped working. Contrary to her imagined sensations of how being melted by acid would burn like nothing else, the venom was ice cold as it continued its relentless march. Suddenly, Yang cried, "It's slowing down! It's just… fuck, it's already everywhere. Fuck, fuck, fuck! Hang on, K!" Suddenly breaking down into tears, Yang sobbed, "You can't die on me, K. You can't. Don't leave me, please. I don't… I don't want to be left again."

"I'll… I'll do my best… Firecracker," Kassidy managed to get out. She was getting more and more tired, now, like sleep would be the sweetest thing ever. But she knew that if she went to sleep now, she'd never wake up. Still, if this was the end… "How about a kiss? For good luck?"

Yang dove down instantly, forceful and needy. Kassidy felt like the woman she loved was trying to suck her soul out through her mouth – not that she didn't try the same. The possibility was becoming more and more a probability that this would be the last thing she did. They won. They stopped the terrorists, stopped the Grimm, and saved Vale. Fuck yeah, she should get a chance to celebrate before she died.

"Out of my way! Move!"

The crowd parted instantly, and Yang's lips separated from hers as she sprung up and looked towards the source of the noise. Doctor Narud was on his knees next to Kassidy's prone form in an instant, and his hand found her forehead as he undoubtedly used his Semblance to hurry along a diagnosis.

"Her body… her body's fought the poison. I think it's been neutralized now," Narud exhaled, letting loose a sigh. Yang choked out a smile, but it died a painful death when she realized that it wasn't a sigh of relief. "The damage has been done. She wouldn't… She can't survive the journey to the nearest hospital." Several people gasped around her, and Narud's eyes shone with tears as they met her own. "I'm sorry, Miss Smith. There's nothing I can do. Maybe if you had an Aura –"

"Wait, an Aura?" Kassidy blinked and tried to fight through the increasingly muddled though processes to recognize the voice. It kinda sounded like Weiss'. Her eyes felt heavy again; she forced her eyes open. Who knows how many times she'd be able to do that. As many times as I have to. Like hell I'm dying here. "Didn't you say that you finished the serum? That you –"

"That's it!" Narud cried out, digging through his bag. "Please tell me I – there!"

"Hurry, doc," Yang urged. "She's fading on us. C'mon, K, please, stay with us! With me!"

Kassidy blinked again, trying to fight an increasingly uphill battle. She saw Narud's and Yang's lips moving, could see them talking, but suddenly couldn't hear the words. Something pinched her arm – or was she imagining that? She was getting tired, so tired. Surely falling asleep couldn't be that bad, could it? Sleep cures everything.

Her eyes were forced wide open when Yang's Aura erupted around her, and crimson eyes looked into her – no, through her. A gauntleted hand was placed on her shoulder. Kassidy couldn't help but be riveted by the scene. Yang was covered in flames, a veritable inferno rising up from her. The woman she loved tried to speak, but broke down in tears. Kassidy couldn't understand. Was she trying to do something? Yang tried a second time, but broke down even quicker. Kassidy's eyes started closing of their own accord now. She tried to fight. Yang was fighting for her; she couldn't give up, not now. She didn't want to leave! Not yet! Things had just started to go so right for her! She'd found love! She needed to…

Everything Kassidy thought of, everything she tried, fled away from her. In their place was Yang's voice. Where she could hear absolutely nothing earlier, now her girlfriend's voice – terse and strained, yet somehow at the same time confident and sure – was everything she could hear.

"For it is through perseverance that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become paragons of strength and might to stand against all. Infinite in potential and unbound by fear, I release your soul, and by my hand… unleash thee."

Where it felt like her blood had been replaced by ice water, Kassidy instinctually screamed as liquid fire flowed through her. The cold she used to enjoy, that was moments away from cradling her to a deep sleep, fled away as pure heat and fire and energy replaced it. She felt… Kassidy felt incredible. Like she could take on anything. And then, that fled away too. Washed away like the waves breaking on the beach. One by one, bit by bit, everything faded away. Kassidy wasn't in pain. She wasn't upset. She wasn't doing or feeling anything.

She was.

And then, she slept.

AN 2: Alright, so, there's a bunch and a half I want to write about, but it'd be more appropriate to save it for the next chapter's Author's Note. So I will. Expect a long AN next chapter.

Coming up next: The end of Volume II.

Right after these reviewer responses.

EWR115: I'm getting there, I'm getting there. There's only so much space I have to write in, and the 1911… honestly wouldn't have made much of an impact, to the point of I'd need to shoehorn it in to so much as mention it. Here's to hoping Torchdick got what was coming to him.

AgentDraakis: Yeah, I've definitely had those. I've also had those D&D sessions where the Rogue also happened to be an off-tank because he never not rolled a max roll on his hit dice whenever he levelled up. That was a rogue. Not necessarily mine. I like to think I've done a halfway decent job with Blake myself, but here's to hoping I can keep doing that. Torchdick dying? I hope so. I guess we'll find out here in about ten days or so.

FloriteFlower: Do not worry, I do not have it in for redheads everywhere. Just redheads at most places.