He didn't want to turn his back on his own sister to go chasing after Iris, but Gladio had a point: Reina had magic, ten years of combat experience—which hadn't actually happened, but whatever, she was using it anyway—and the Ring of the Lucii. Iris was fifteen and had two Crownsguards protecting her while the city was going to shit. One of them needed help more.

It would take an hour on foot. But the Regalia was just begging to be put to use again, so they did. The drive was a little less pleasant than their too-short road trip across Lucis.

"Don't stop for anything, Iggy," Gladio said.

"I shall do my best."

Prompto stood up in his seat and took shots at the MTs and daemons they passed. Gladio had a little less range, but Ignis' driving brought them close enough to take off a few mechanical limbs here and there. Damn things were creepy as hell. Worse than the daemons. At least he expected the daemons to be inhuman, but these things… weren't there people inside?

More than once, Ignis was forced to take a detour when the road was blocked. Gladio tried Iris' phone more than once without getting anything but he still refused to give it up. Noct understood. They all had family in tight places. No one knew where Clarus was and Ignis hadn't seen his uncle since they had left for the crystal. Apparently Noct's family was taking on General Glauca. Not exactly the safest place to be, but where was, right now?

The Regalia skidded to a halt outside Gladio's house. Gladio was out over the door before the wheels stopped turning and Noct followed after. The faster they got Iris somewhere safe the faster they could get back and help Rei.

The door was hanging off the hinges. Not a great first sign, to be honest.

Gladio put his back to the wall and crept inside, trying to keep a low profile. Noctis ducked in after him with Prompto following and Ignis picking up the rear. Inside was a mess: furniture overturned, upholstery sliced with claw marks, doors bashed open. They followed the trail of destruction up the stairs; Noctis held his breath and chose where to put his feet. It was hard to find a spot that didn't crunch of creak or wobble when the ceiling was on the ground. What the fuck had come through here?

The radio that Gladio had borrowed—on a permanent basis—from one of the Crownsguards was alive with cross chatter; he had the volume on high enough to hear, but too low to be obtrusive. It echoed in the silent house. Gladio reached down and flicked it off entirely.

But the radio chatter didn't disappear.

"What's that?" Prompto flattened against a wall and looked in the direction of the sound. It was too dark to see anything—all the lights were off—but the distinctive sound of voices crackling over a radio was coming from down the hall.

"The radio of one of the lieutenants, I imagine," Ignis said.

Gladio silenced them with a sharp motion. They crept toward the sound.

Around the corner, they found it—an earpiece radio like the ones Cor and some of the other Crownsguard officers wore. No one was around it. Not even a body. Well. That was almost a good sign. Ignis picked it up and they kept moving.

The trailled to Iris' door. Outside was a pile of MTs—lifeless. The door itself was shut, but there was a giant hole in the top half and a few smaller ones around it—like someone had been firing bullets through the opening.

Gladio pushed Noct against the wall before he could step in front.

"Iris?" Gladio called.

For a second Noct thought no one was there. But maybe it just took that long to register.

"Gladdy?" Iris' voice came from inside.

In the hall, the four of them breathed a collective sigh of relief.

"Yeah," Gladio said. "We're coming in, alright?"

He pushed the door open—it took all of his bulk to shove aside the desk propped up against the other side of it. Inside, Iris' room was as much of a mess than the rest of the house. Maybe more of a mess. The wide window that opened over the back gardens was shattered inward and glass was strewn across the floor. Iris' bed was pushed up to rest on one side, creating a barrier between the window and wall, and in the corner, sheltered by two walls and the bed, Iris and Monica sat, both holding Crownsguard-issue guns. Dustin lay nearby, one side of his head all bloody. He wasn't moving; Noct couldn't tell if he was breathing.

"Gladdy!" Iris leapt to her feet and into Gladio's arms.

Ignis went to Dustin and, after a moment, announced that he was still alive—barely. They managed to scrounge up something for Noct to make a potion out of and at least got him stable. It looked like whatever had hit him upside the head had also shattered his radio. No wonder they hadn't responded.

Everyone had questions they wanted answered, but it wasn't too hard to agree this wasn't a great place to do that. They left together; Gladio and Ignis managed to carry Dustin down and put him in the Regalia. It was going to be a hell of a fit trying to get seven people in the car. Four was enough.

They ended up not needing to.

"Uh, guys—we got company!" Prompto drew their eyes upward.

Great. More MTs. Just what they needed.

"Quickly! Into the car." Specs was great at giving instructions and then not following them. He did that now.

The MTs dropped in rank and file. Of course Ignis was standing in just the right spot to be cut off from the car by that. He backed up as line after line of MTs fell, grabbing Iris around the waist and pulling her back before they landed on her head.

Astrals. There must have been fifty of them! And—aw hell—that wasn't all.

A giant metal container dropped beside them. One side fell open and more of that black mist from before poured out of it—right before a giant fucking tentacle.

Noctis gritted his teeth and swung for the nearest MT, cutting through it in one strike. A bullet from Prompto caught one in the chest, but it kept moving until Monica shot at it as well. Gladio cut clean through one from top to bottom, turning it into metal pulp on the pavement. But it didn't seem to matter how many they cut down. More kept coming. And Noct sure didn't like the look of those tentacles.

"Go!" Ignis shouted. "We will meet you among the other Crownsguards in the square."

"No way!" Gladio took out another MT as he yelled. "I'm not leaving Iris alone, again."

"I swear I will keep her safe." Ignis was already backing away with Iris behind him. "We will cut through the alley and avoid the bulk of the fighting."

He was right. They were never going to fight through all these MTs between them. Shit.

Noct yanked the door to the driver's seat open. "Don't you dare die on me, Specs!"

"I will do my absolute best, Your Highness."

"Gladio, get in." Noct dropped into the driver's seat and turned the key. Prompto and Monica fired off shots over his head.

"I'm not leaving her," Gladio growled.

"I said get in the car." Noct turned to look at him. "And that's an order."