Resonance Days

by TakerFoxx

Falling their mutual demise at each other's hands, Kyoko and Sayaka wake up in a strange world. Now, with Kyoko's soul gem missing and Sayaka's humanity and personality only partially restored, they must band together to survive.

20. Help, Part 5

Help, Part 5

Once upon a time, there was a little girl named Caroline Berenson, and she died when she was twelve years old. That is the story. The rest is merely details.

Consider that for a second. Caroline Berenson. Who was she? Where did she come from? Why did she die? And most importantly, why does she matter?

Well, the truth is that she doesn't. You have never met Caroline before. You probably have never even heard of her. And while it is sad that she died at such as young age, children die all the time. Why should this one be important?

To that question, there is no answer. Because she isn't. Caroline Berenson wasn't anyone of importance. Certainly, she was loved by her mother and father. And yes, she had friends that she played with and was liked by the teachers at school, but so what? The same could be said about millions of other girls. Her case wasn't special.

Would it make a difference if you knew that she had lived on a moderately successful ranch in Texas? Would it change anything if you found out that she did well in Science and Math while struggled with English and History? That she was scared of snakes, that her favorite color was blue, or that she had a pet piglet named Sam I Am that she adored? Of course not. Again, these are only details.

Of course, there is also the detail that one morning, Caroline's father found the remains of Sam I Am near the back porch, the poor thing having been savaged by coyotes. Naturally, this devastated the poor girl, and she refused to see anyone for days. Her parents were of course concerned. They tried to get her to come out, offered to give her a replacement piglet, but all of their attempts were rebuffed. Caroline simply would have none of it.

Then she met a very strange person, one who made her an offer: she was to be granted a single wish, and in return she would be given power and responsibilities.

The next day, Sam I Am was once again nosing around the kitchen like he always had done, to Caroline's parents' absolute befuddlement. However, their daughter was happy again, so they decided that she had taken in a very similar looking piglet and left it at that.

Caroline disappeared less than a week later.

Again, none of this truly matters. Knowing the details to Caroline's story changes nothing. What does it matter that her mother and father drove themselves to ruin trying to find her, that her mother fell into alcoholism and depression while her father became a nervous, twitching wreck unable to accept that his daughter was gone, leading to their eventual separation? They are nothing to anyone, just a couple of hard-luck stories in a world filled with countless tragedies. And as for Caroline? Her friends were sad, but eventually got over it. She had her face on a few Missing Child posters, was mentioned in the local news, but in time she was forgotten, just another face on a milk carton.

Which wasn't to say Caroline's story ended there, though if it had it would have been a mercy. She still doesn't matter. In fact, if those who had known her could see her now, they wouldn't be able to recognize her. She is now a gaunt, pale creature that prowls the shadows of a dark forest, her hair matted and wild, her body caked with dirt and dried blood, and her mind fractured. She isn't the only one either. There are literally hundreds of others like her in that forest, and their stories matter as much as hers does. Which is to say, not at all.

Part of Caroline still remains in that feral, savage creature though. Somewhere deep inside, she knows exactly what has happened to her, and has never stopped screaming.

She knows other things too. She knows that there is something in the forest darker than her and those like her, monsters with green bodies that hunt her kind. They take the girls away into their lair, and when they come back, they are weak and drained of life. The thing that had been Caroline fears and hates these monsters above all other things, but she dares not strike back.

She also knows that there is a place where it isn't so dark that she is drawn to, a place of shelter and warmth. There are others there. People. And for some reason, she does not fear or hate them. Something about them gives her hope.

But then, one day, the monsters left their grey lair and marched like an army of ants toward the safe place. As the thing that had been Caroline watched with her coven sisters, they surrounded the safe place.

And then she had come out. The leader, the one with the wings and the Voice. She had spoken, and the thing that had been Caroline felt sick and confused.

And then the monsters set the safe place on fire.

The thing that had been Caroline watched in despair as her last hope burned. The green monsters attacked it relentlessly with their weapons, destroying it and shooting down the people that lived there as they tried to flee. Then her despair turned into anger, more savage than the bestial rage that constantly drove her and more human than anything she had felt since the day she had died.

Arching her head back, she let out a piercing cry. She didn't know it, but it sounded exactly like the screams Sam I Am had made when the coyotes had torn apart his belly. This cry was echoed by her coven sisters, who raised their voices in protest, audible even over the snarl of the green monsters' weapons. There were no words to it, but the meaning was clear.

Enough.

And then, in another part of the forest, their cry was answered by more voices. Then more. And then more and more and more took up the call, spreading the message.

Caroline didn't matter, she never had. But that didn't mean she had to like it.

…

The wayhouse was burning, and Annabelle Lee and Ticky Nikki were stuck inside.

It was just like Annabelle Lee had told the idiots. As soon as the Protectorate figured out that Lily's voice wasn't going to work, they were just going to shoot up the place. She had been right about everything, and nobody had listened. And now, they had doomed themselves.

Well, they weren't her problem anymore. She was getting out. She figured that if she shot straight up and out, she could clear the battlefield before any of the soldiers figured out what was going on. They wouldn't be expecting any of their targets to fly out, and by the time they put two and two together, she and Nikki would be long gone.

There still was the problem of the anti-air installations though. But fuck it. If she was fast enough, she would land on the other side of the mountains when they shot her down. Then maybe then her hole-ridden body would escape detection long enough to regenerate and haul ass. It wasn't much of a chance, but it was all she had.

"Get on!" she shouted, yanking Nikki close and lowering herself down. Though she was still half-crazed, Nikki understood enough to climb onto her usual position on her sister's back and lock in tight. She squeezed her eyes shut and whimpered.

Annabelle Lee took off through the hallways, skimming close through the ground to avoid the smoke. The walls were splintering and blowing apart around her as rockets and mortar shots smashed into the wayhouse, and people were running everywhere like a flock of headless chickens, but she dodged and weaved her way through the tumult of bodies and debris, searching for some means of escape.

Of course, complicating matters was the fact that, in learning that her voice wasn't going to be controlling anyone, Lily had also figured out that it could still be used as a weapon, and was currently belting her way through an endless parade of showtunes. Before today, Annabelle Lee had heard endless tales of how dangerous this woman was, and had come to fear her. Now she hated her as well. Attempting to dominate their minds was just business. But showtunes? That was just petty cruelty.

Still, Annabelle Lee was accustomed enough to pain to power through the piercing headaches and keep searching for an exit. The smoke, flames, and bodies made seeing where she was going something of a challenge, but she preserved. She just needed some sort of break, some sort of-

There! At the end of a hallways was a window, with a minimum of obstacles between her and it.

Gritting her teeth, Annabelle Lee threw all of her focus on that single point of sunlight and barreled straight for it. It was about seven meters away. Now it was five. Now it was three. Now it was-

The wall the window was attached to exploded, and the force of it flung Annabelle Lee back the way she had come. She bounced painfully over the floor before belly flopping onto a pile of wrecked timbers.

"Ow, ow, ow," she muttered, one arm pushing herself up and the other holding onto her stomach. That had hurt. Shaking her head, she looked around for her sister. "Nikki? Where are you?"

Nikki wasn't far. Annabelle Lee spotted her cowering in a tight ball on the floor, babbling nonsense to herself. Beyond her was something that was actually quite encouraging. The wall had been blown wide open, providing them with their exit.

Annabelle Lee tensed up. She had to do this quick, and she had to do it right. Shoot forward, snatch up Nikki, and gain as much altitude as she could in as short of a time as possible.

She was right about to leave the ground when the whole building shuddered from another heavy hit, and the whole hallway collapsed all around them.

…

So far, Mami and Charlotte's part in the battle had been relatively simple. They were more-or-less on the front lines, a few ranks back, and it was their job to shoot anything that came within range. Only thing was, there wasn't a whole lot of that taking place. The gunships, cannons, and rocket launchers were doing an admirable job of wrecking the place, and the snipers were doing an equally admirable job of taking out anyone that fled the burning stockade. As such, they were left standing in position, watching as others did the work.

That made it worse, in a way. If Mami were fighting, she wouldn't have to watch the violence taking place in front of her eyes. It disturbed her, because though she knew that these people were monsters that deserved far worse than what they were getting, they were still human (well, most of them anyway). She winced as one girl with copper braids and a face full of freckles was dropped by a neat shot to the head as soon as she leapt from an upper story window.

"I don't like this," she said to Charlotte, her voice barely audible over the roar of the weapons.

"What?" Charlotte said.

"I said, I don't-"

A massive fireball belched out of the stockade, and screams rose up. Mami's chest went cold.

"Wow, look at that," said the soldier directly behind her. "Now, ain't that a pretty sight."

Some of the others chuckled, but Mami said nothing. She couldn't wait for this distasteful business to be over so they could get to what they actually signed up for: helping people.

…

While most of the Persephone's Protectorate ranks were facing inward toward the wayhouse, the outermost circle's attention was directly toward the surrounding swamp. Their job was also simple: keep an eye out for any wild girls or nasty beasties that might be attracted by the light and the noise and prevent them from interfering.

Insofar as Private Rollins was concerned, her job was boring. All the fun stuff was taking place behind her back, while she was stuck staring at too many plants looking for crazy people. Like she did every week. Lame.

There were a few of the crazies about though. She could see them skulking about in the trees and through the underbrush, while the scanner coverage picked up several more coming their way. It wasn't a concentrated rush though. None of them dared get close enough to cause problems. More than likely they just wanted to see what all the fuss was about.

Rollins's trigger finger was getting itchy. She really hoped that some of them would get closer

"Hey, check out that one," said Private Ambrose, who was standing next to her left. She pointed at a small little white girl with rabbit ears nosing her way through a patch of clover.

"Heh," said Private Reigns, who was to Rollins's right. "She's a bunny witch. That's cute." Pulling out her sidearm, she knelt down and beckoned to the rabbit girl. "Come on," she said. "Come on, sweetie. Come to Reigns."

The rabbit girl perked her head up, her nose twitching curiously. She started loping her way toward the soldiers. The three of them started snickering.

"My God, she even moves like a bunny," Ambrose said as the rabbit girl came closer. "No wonder she ended up here. It's fate!"

"Yeah, that's right," Reigns cooed as she held out her left hand, her right stealthily bringing her pistol to bear. The rabbit girl was only a few feet away. "Good girl. You're a good girl, yes you-"

There was a gunshot, and the rabbit girl suddenly fell to her side, a smoking hole in her head. Surprised, Ambrose and Reigns both turned to stare at Rollins, who was casually lowering her rifle.

"Dude, what the hell?" Reigns said indignantly. "I was going to pop her!"

"You were too slow," Rollins told her.

"I had dibs!"

"No such thing. You waited too-"

Reigns staggered back. At first, her squadmates thought she had tripped, but then they noticed the silver shaft that was now sticking out of her chest.

"What?" Reigns said, stupefied. She reached up to touch it. "Is that a spear? Where did-"

Then she fell over, a second spear skewering her through the leg. Looking up in shock, Rollins and Ambrose came to realize two things: first, there were a lot more wild girls near them than the scanners had indicated. Second, they were now a lot closer than they had been a minute ago. Their wild eyes glowed eerily from the branches above and the bushes below. What was more, many of them held weapons. Not sharpened sticks or makeshift clubs, but the shining, lethal weapons of a Puella Magi. And finally, they all looked pissed.

Ambrose immediately opened a channel. "This is Ambrose! The covens are attacking! Repeat, the covens are-"

The covens attacked.

…

"Hey!" Kyoko shouted as she slammed her fist against the door. "Open up already!"

No response came from beyond the drab, grey door. Kyoko hit the door harder. "Hello? I said open up!"

Behind her, Sayaka was sitting with a pensive look on her face, her blue eyes frowning as she tried to puzzle through the maze of contradictions in her mind. "I don't get it. Why didn't we notice something was wrong?"

Growling, Kyoko joined her fists together, brought them over her head, and hammered it down. No response, and her hands now hurt. The door was far harder than anything made of plastic had a right to be.

"She said nothing could get in or out, but then that elysian showed up without trouble," Sayaka said, sounding confused.

Kyoko backed up and snapped off a swift side-kick to the door's center. There was a low thud as the bottom of her boot hit plastic, but she didn't leave so much as a dent.

Sayaka's musings continued. "And she said she was going to support us raiding the Withering Lands, but then she went and sold us to the Void Walkers and…" Shaking her head, she turned to Kyoko. "Why in the heck did we go along with it?"

"I don't know!" Kyoko snapped. "Maybe she magicked us or something."

"What, just mind-control someone like that? Is that even possible?"

Kyoko paused. The faces of her father's congregation flashed in her mind, filling his church to capacity. "It's possible. Trust me on this."

"Wow." Sayaka ran her fingers through her shaggy hair. "Um, hey. Crazy thought. You know those leechers Lily was all set on finding?"

"Yeah?"

"Maybe they were-"

"Don't say it," Kyoko growled.

Sayaka gave her a hard look. "But you know what I mean, right?"

"Yeah," Kyoko did, her throat tightening. Pressing her palms against the door, she slumped forward, her face downcast. "Just don't say it."

"Wow. Um, what about Mami and Charlotte?"

Kyoko grimaced, showing her teeth. "Let's concentrate on us right now," she said with some effort. "Specifically this door."

With that, she stomped over to the other end of the room and turned around. Taking a deep breath, she let out a cry of challenge and charged.

Kyoko slammed her shoulder against the door with as much force as she was able. This resulted in a bruised shoulder and an increasingly smug-looking door.

"All right, fuck this," Kyoko said as she gingerly rubbed her shoulder. A quick flash of scarlet energy, and a spear appeared in her hands. Twirling it around, she snapped the point toward the door. "Get back."

"Where?

"I don't know! Go wheel yourself into the corner or something." Backing up again, Kyoko readied for another charge, this time point-first. "I'm going to open up a little sesame."

…

"Oh, let the stormy clouds chase!

Everyone from the place!

C'mon with that rain,

There's a smile on my face!"

Lily had to admit, while it was sort of annoying that she couldn't just talk Demmi and the rest into giving themselves up, she was having the time of her life. It was unprofessional to admit it, yes, but she so rarely had time to just cut loose and enjoy herself that having the opportunity to get a little silly was magnificent. Not only that, it served a strategic purpose as well. Whatever countermeasure the wayhouse was using against her voice was obviously imperfect, and as such, instead of bringing their minds under her control, it was causing them intense pain whenever she spoke.

She could work with that.

"I'm laughing at clouds;

So dark above.

The sun's in my eye;

And I'm ready for love!

I'm just singin' and dancin' in the rain."

There was a crackle, and Janelle's voice said, "Er, cap'n? Not to be a wet blanket, but it ain't raining, and you ain't dancing."

"You do your part and I'll do mine," Lily retorted. "Though while we're on that subject, has there been any sign of your ex yet?"

There was a short pause that Lily found troublesome. Janelle had been with her so long that any sort of hesitation should have been weeded out by now. Still, when she did answer, there wasn't any doubt in her voice.

"No sign of her. I figure she's still in the main building. Demmi's the sort to go down with the ship."

"Figured. What about the vaskergoros?"

"Still hasn't shown up. Maybe the roof fell on her."

Lily shrugged. "Well, keep an eye out. This shouldn't take more than a few more minutes anyway."

"Aye, aye. Janelle out."

Lily patched back into the speakers and was about to launch into a stirring rendition of Matchmaker, Matchmaker, but then the general channel suddenly exploded with cries and shouts.

"…are attacking! Repeat, the covens are-"

"My God, they're everywhere!"

"Watch out, watch out!"

Lily stiffened. This did not sound good. "This is Lily. What the hell is going on?

"This is Private Ambrose!" came the frantic reply. "It's the covens! They're attacking!"

Lily scowled. "Well, stop them! That's literally your job!"

"You don't understand, ma'am! It's not a coven! It's all of them!"

A slow chill swept down Lily's back, and it was a few second seconds before she could answer. "I-I'm sorry, could you repeat that please?"

Then Janelle patched in. "Uh, boss? Switch over to the scanners. You're…you're gonna want to see this."

While she was fairly certain that she didn't, Lily did as her second in command requested. What she saw confirmed that she was right.

"Jesus," she whispered. Then she shouted out, "Gunships, cease fire! About-face! Everyone, turn around! We're under attack! We're under…holy shit, there's thousands of them!"

…

As she watched another fleeing girl's head get blown open, Mami had to turn away. She didn't care anymore if they were leechers. This was just getting repulsive.

"I don't know if I can take much more of this," she muttered to Charlotte. She meant for it to be a private aside, but unfortunately, she was overhead.

"What's wrong, scrub?" said the soldier on other side. "Can't handle a little pest control?"

Mami sucked in a sharp breath. "They are people," she seethed.

The soldier laughed. "Not for long, they won't be!"

Mami might have retorted, but right about then was when the shouting started.

It started behind them and quickly grew in volume. Confused, Mami turned around, but the bodies in her way made it difficult to see what was happening. The scanner in her helmet registered several forms throwing themselves against the armored circle they had created.

"Covens attacking! Covens attacking!" someone shouted over the intercom. "Oh Jesus, they're every-" The rest was cut off by shrill shrieks and vicious snarling.

And then all hell broke loose.

Several naked forms leapt their way into the Protectorate's ranks, hacking and slashing indiscriminately. The first few were shot down without much trouble, but for every one that was dispatched, three more leapt in to replace her.

"Shit," said the soldier next Mami had been arguing with. She tried to take aim at a wild girl that was literally standing on someone's shoulder's while hacking down with a golden axe, but then another came flying over the mass of bodies to slam feet-first into the visor of her helmet, dropping her down on the back of her head. As Mami stared in horror, the wild girl immediately began hammering down on the soldier's armored chest with glittering blue clubs.

"Mami!" Charlotte shouted, jolting Mami out of her stupor. "Get back, get back, get back!"

The two of them retreated back toward the burning stockade, and all around them, the soldiers not desperately trying to defend themselves were doing the same. The circle tightened as the wild girls pressed in from all sides. Above, the gunships had turned around and were firing into the forest, but they barely stemmed the tide.

"This is bad!" she shouted to Charlotte as they opened fire.

"No, you think?" her wife snapped back. "Why are they attacking us? We're here to help them!"

Mami shook her head. "I don't know! This is too organized to be an attack of opportunity, so-"

An earth-shaking roar cut off all conversation. The Tomoes and those around them turned just in time to see the side of the stockade's wall explode outward. A massive shape leapt from the smoke, sailed high into the air, and came down like a meteor in their midst.

The force of the impact knocked Mami off her feet. She quickly flipped onto her back and looked up to see something that nobody in the afterlife wanted to see: a massive vaskergoros towering over her.

The predatory alien glowered down at them with its tiny, black eyes. Each one of her four hands held one end of two golden chains, with a wickedly sharp curving blade attached to each end. Her ears twitched, and she looked up.

Mami followed her gaze. One of the gunships was hovering nearby, shooting everything that did not have armor. The vaskergoros bellowed with rage. She hurled one arm out, sending the blade flying through the air, its chain trailing behind. It slashed across the side of the gunship and hooked on like a grappling hook. Using two hands, the vaskergoros seized the chain and pulled with all of her substantial strength, literally hauling the gunship toward her.

The gunship resisted, its engines pulling it away while its weapons focused on her. However, the vaskergoros wasn't interested in a game of tug-of-war. As the gunship strained to right itself, she leapt up and threw one end of the other chain toward it. The blade impaled itself through the windshield, knocking it silly. The vaskergoros landed on top of the craft with both feet and, ignoring the shouts of the soldiers aboard, released the chains so she could grab the engines with all four arms. As Mami stared with horrified fascination, the vaskergoros tore out the engines with her bare hands.

The gunship dropped like a rock. With a triumphant roar, the vaskergoros jumped off. Landing in a controlled crouched, her bladed chains flashed back into her hand and she rose up, ready to do battle.

Mami had to admit, she was impressed. She had never seen a vaskergoros in action before, and from the look of things, the stories had not been exaggerating. However, she would have vastly preferred that the demonstration not have come from an enemy that had leapt among them with murderous intent.

The vaskergoros caught sight of her still lying on the ground. The alien's lips curled back, exposing sharp teeth the size of her hand, and Mami felt very small.

…

With a groan, Annabelle Lee levered the splintered beam off of her chest. It fell to her side with a loud thud and she slowly sat up.

Between the roof caving in and the smoke, she could barely see anything, though there was just enough to make out hazy shapes. Her first breath immediately set her coughing, so she pulled off her headband and tied it around her mouth. It was an imperfect filter, but it was the best she had.

"Nikki?" she called, struggling to be heard over the sounds of warfare. "Nikki!"

For a heart-rending second, there was no answer. Then out of the darkness came a dazed sounding, "We gonna go other places now, ticky-ticky?"

Feeling a rush of relief, Annabelle Lee said, "Yeah, yeah." She coughed, and said, "Let's go do that right now."

Nikki stumbled her way out of the darkness, and Annabelle Lee grabbed her arm and the two of them moved forward.

It was slow going. The smoke made their eyes water and their breathing labored, and the lighting was inconsistent. Some areas looked like they might provided a way out, but the fires burned too hotly to allow them to approach. Twice they narrowly missed being buried in another cave-in. But they pressed on, moving their way through the rubble and bodies.

As they turned a corner, they came across their first bit of good luck, though it came at the cost of someone else's. A support beam had fallen, and judging by the unmoving arms poking out from under it, someone had been unfortunate enough to be standing right below it. Fortunately, not far from her limp hands was a fallen box of gas masks. Apparently she had been taking them to some of the others when the roof had come down on her.

Well, far be it from Annabelle Lee to let the girl's sacrifice go to waste. She snatched up two of them. "Here," she coughed as she passed one to Ticky Nikki. "Put this on."

Fortunately, their time with the Void Walkers had involved training in all sorts of interesting pieces of equipment, and Nikki still remembered what to do with this one. Annabelle Lee pulled hers on, shook her hair out of the back, and turned it on. The mask molded itself to her face, and the eyepieces lit up, making her surrounding a little less dark. What was more, oxygen rushed into her mouth. It tasted a little stale, but it was free from smoke.

"Better?" she said to her sister. Nikki nodded, and they pressed on.

Annabelle Lee was aware that their path was taking them upward, through holes in the ceiling and occasional stairwell. Just as well. Bursting through the roof would be easier than going through a window, and it made it less likely for them to encounter a rocket heading their way upon exit. Hopefully those things didn't peg them with a heat-seeker or something.

As they emerged onto another floor, Annabelle Lee's spirits revived when she saw a gaping hole in the ceiling, from which poured sunlight. They had made it! Now all they had to do was-

"Ex-excuse me?"

Annabelle Lee let out a very undignified squeak and whirled around. A pair of large, black eyes stared back at her. These eyes were attached to a diminutive form crouching under the smoke, one that clutched a tiny little shadow to its chest.

Aw, crap.

Nervously licking her lips, Polly whispered, "Y-you're leaving?"

Annabelle Lee stared back. Out of all the times for the crazy multi-girl to show up, this was probably the worst. "Uh, yeah. That is definitely a thing that is about to-"

Polly suddenly lunged forward, one hand tightly grabbing Annabelle Lee by the arm while the other continued to hold tightly to Mary-Anne. "Take us with you!" she begged.

"What? No!"

"Annabelly, she's weird and she looks funny," Nikki complained.

"P-please!" Polly stammered out. She coughed and said, "You c-can't let her take us, n-n-not ag-gain!"

To Annabelle Lee's dismay, that damned, creepy doll chose that moment to stir. "We do not wish to inconvenience you," it said in its cheery voice. "But in light of the alternatives, we really must implore you to reconsider. To leave us behind would be to seal our doom."

"Like I care!" Roughly shoving Polly away, Annabelle Lee turned her attention back to the hole in the roof. She was going to have to do this just right, because she wasn't going to get a second chance.

…

Not fair.

Lily stood stock-still, staring stupefied as chaos reigned all around her. This wasn't how it was supposed to happen. They were here to eliminate a pest, nothing more. Show up, mow the place to the ground, take a few select targets captive, and leave. Simple and sweet. No fuss, no muss.

The covens…why were they doing this? Well, okay, so the answer to that was obvious. But how were they doing this? The feral girls were little more than animals, running in their little packs and hunting down prey. They were like wolves, always thinking with their stomachs. If they saw something weaker than themselves, they attacked. If they saw something stronger, they retreated. And they fought amongst themselves all the time. There was no way they should have been capable of organizing like this. It wasn't fair.

One of the wild girls leapt out of the fight close to where she was standing. It landed on all fours and immediately jerked back and forth like a big cat. Catching sight of Lily, its lips curled back to expose sharpened teeth, and drool dribbled down its chin as it snarled.

Lily had worked among wild girls for a long time. And while she knew that mindless rage and hate were their default settings, she got the distinct impression that this one recognized her. Furthermore, its hate for her was kind of personal.

Well, that didn't make any sense. Wild girls didn't have enough intelligence to recognize specific people and hold grudges. That wasn't being bigoted, it was simple fact. Their madness was self-sustaining and any bit of sentience was cut out. And yet, the way this one was staring at her sent shivers down Lily's back.

And then the wild girl stood up.

As Lily stared in disbelief, the wild girl pointed directly at her with one hand, while drawing the other across her own throat, sending a very deliberate message.

Then she started to advance. There was a flash of light, and two curving blades appeared in the wild girl's hands. Letting out a savage cry, she charged at Lily, blades swinging.

Lily's rapier was out of its sheath in less time it takes to think, and with two quick swipes she had deflected the wild girl's initial lunge and punctured her belly. Lily quickly withdrew and slashed out, taking the wild girl's head from her shoulders.

"Boss!"

Lily turned to see Janelle rushing up to her. Following her was one of the remaining gunships, its weapons spraying fire in tight, controlled bursts, taking down one wild girl after another.

Pointing at the gunship, Janelle shouted, "You gotta get out of here!"

Lily blinked. "What?"

"We can handle things here, but you need to leave right now! If they take you…"

Needing no further prompting, Lily nodded and sheathed her blade. "Clean this up as fast as you can," she told Janelle as the soldiers on the gunship helped her aboard. "Once they're all gone, get back to base pronto. I'll put in a call to the Brothel, try to get you some help."

Janelle nodded. "Sounds expensive," she remarked.

"So is losing. Don't lose."

With that, the gunship lifted up, its barrels still mowing down anything that held still enough to be targeted.

…

"Let go!" Annabelle Lee snarled as she pulled her arm away. "You're not coming with us!"

"Please!" Polly begged. "You c-can't leave us here!"

As should be obvious, Annabelle Lee's attempts to leave Polly behind were being met with resistance. She had gotten as far as clearing the hole before being brought down by a flying tackle. Annabelle Lee had wriggled out of her grasp and briefly lamented her lack of legs. Being able to kick the crazy girl in the face would be of great use at that moment.

Unfortunately, she did not, and as such Polly was not dissuaded. "We can't stay here!" she cried, lunging at Annabelle Lee again. "We can't!"

"She's annoying Nikki," Ticky Nikki announced as she climbed up onto Annabelle Lee's shoulders, knives in her hands. "Nikki's gonna stick her."

"Nikki, get back down!" Annabelle Lee snarled in annoyance. She was just about to take off again too. She reached up and pulled Nikki back onto her back.

Unfortunately, in the time it took to do that, Polly was already coming at her again.

"No," Annabelle Lee told her.

Polly froze, her huge eyes crossing to stare at the naked blades now hovering inches from her nose.

"We are leaving now," Annabelle Lee said. "Don't try to grab me again."

Polly swallowed. Her arms shaking, she held up Mary Anne, which said, "I am sorry, but given the choice between impaled by your weapons or put back in that cage, Polly's would much rather take the cuts." There was a short pause, and then it added, "Please. You are her last hope."

Annabelle Lee winced. A sour feeling rose in her belly.

Then Polly's body suddenly began jerking. At first Annabelle Lee thought she was having some sort of crazy-induced seizure, but then she saw the holes being torn through her flesh and the clouds of dark violet smoke puffing out. Mary Anne was shredded to pieces.

Polly fell over, vapor issuing from dozens of wounds, her dark eyes glassy and staring. One of her arms had been chewed off, while the other still clutched protectively around the few tattered remains of her doll.

Nikki let out a shrill shriek. Before Annabelle Lee could stop her, she had leapt off her sister's shoulder and sprinted across the rooftop. She made it about halfway before she too fell and started misting.

Annabelle Lee stared in shock. Then she looked up. One of the Persephone Protectorate's gunships was rising up into the sky, its weapons blazing. By sheer chance Annabelle Lee so happened to have been directly behind a large air-conditioning unit, shielding her from sight. However, Polly had been standing right out in the open. And when she had ran, so had Nikki.

The gunship looked like it was choosing targets at random. Polly had simply been the most exposed at that moment. Annabelle Lee stared at her ravaged body. Less than a minute ago, she had been ready to skewer the girl through the face to get rid of her. But this…

Then she looked at Nikki. She had seen her sister "die" before. These days, it simply didn't have the same impact that it once had. However, in this specific instance, Annabelle Lee felt like taking her sister's murder a little personally.

Then she looked up at the gunship, her violet eyes narrowing. The craft's interior was open to the sky, with its crew hanging on to leather rings on the ceiling. Though they all wore full-body armor, one of them had large, shimmering butterfly wings sprouting from her back. She had to stand with her back to the sky in order to fit, making them rather easy to see.

The craft itself was swiftly gaining altitude. It was now out of range from everyone and everything in the battle below, and nobody had a prayer of catching it.

Well, almost nobody.

Annabelle Lee considered her options. There were not many. In fact, she was now left with even fewer than she had started with.

But another had just opened up. And she was now kind of mad.

"Oh, fuck it. We wouldn't get past that gunship anyway." Annabelle Lee popped her other set of blades. "Time to bag me a fairy."

…

As the gunship rose high above the chaos, Lily felt some of the tension leave. Yes, everything had dissolved into disaster, but at least she had made it out in one piece. Getting killed now would have caused everything to collapse. At least the situation now was salvageable.

She looked down as her soldiers fought off the waves of wild girls and what little resistance the denizens of the wayhouse had left, with that damned vaskergoros doing an admittedly outstanding job tossing Lily's people around like ragdolls. From the look of things, the claim that every coven in the whole goddamned forest getting involved was not hyperbole. They were still pouring in, and she could see more of them charging through the swamp. Still, even with the advantage of numbers and surprise, the tide was slowly turning. Her girls had armor, firepower, and discipline on their side, while the wild girls had no defenses whatsoever. The ones that had led the initial attack had already been put down, and the wall was reestablishing itself. Soon the Protectorate's ranks would once again be impenetrable, and they would mow down those freaks like the vermin they were.

And then Lily got an idea. "Hold up," she told the pilot. "Turn the speakers back on."

The pilot did as she was told without question. "Volume is at full, ma'am," she said.

Lily nodded. Her voice's unique properties had limited effect on the wild girls of Etherdale. So much madness polluted their thought process that the signal was often corrupted. But it did often leave them confused and anxious, which was all she really needed.

Patching into the speakers, Lily opened her mouth to speak, but then the gunship violently jerked, nearly pitching them out.

"What the-" Lily shouted, her voice broadcast over the battlefield. Then the gunship jerked again.

"Something's latched onto our bottom!" the pilot said. She frantically tried to restore order to her control panel, which was now flashing red and screaming bloody murder at her. "Whatever it is, it's cutting right through the outer hull and slashing up the circuitry! Looks like…God, it's targeting the flight systems."

Lily stared. She opened her mouth to ask a question, but then she heard the unmistakable sound of metal slashing through metal.

"And there goes the speakers," the pilot announced.

"Well, get it-Ah!" Lily winced as a horrible screeching sound assaulted her ears. Switching away from the mangled speaker system, she tried again. "Get it off us! Shoot it or something!"

The pilot frowned. "Can't. It's clinging directly to the bottom of the ship, right behind the guns. And it looks like it knows what it's doing too. The repulsors are about to-"

Then she let out a cry as the control panel erupted into sparks and the gunship lurched again, this time tilting dangerously. Growling, Lily pulled out her rapier. Enough of this. She didn't know what it was that was doing all of this, but it was time to peel it off.

Right about then was when a pair of arms wearing brown leather sleeves with very nasty looking blades strapped to the wrists came up from under the gunship to wrap around her leg. Lily got the briefest of glimpses of a thin face covered with a gas mask and wild, violet hair being blown by the wind before her attacker shouted, "Lily, I presume!" and yanked.

Lily tried to hold on, but then her attacked lunged up, severing the leather strap she had been holding onto.

The next thing she knew, she was falling through the air, the burning roof of the wayhouse directly below her as her mystery opponent scrambled up her body, one arm drawn back and blades glinting in the sunlight.

…

The fight against the vaskergoros was not going well.

Mami, Charlotte, and three other soldiers were busy trying to take her down. It should not be a complicated task. After all, they were all wearing armor and carried state-of-the-art firearms while she just had casual clothing and her magical weapons. Plus, she didn't exactly make for a small target. Even with her species' natural toughness, they should have punched her full of holes within seconds.

Unfortunately, the vaskergoros apparently hadn't gotten the memo, as despite their best efforts, she was still fighting. What was more, she was kind of winning.

Mami ducked as the alien swung one of her bladed chains, barely avoiding being bisected. Even through the armor, she could feel it whoosh overhead. Then she was up and running, firing as she went. The vaskergoros stomped the ground, sending Mami off balance. But before she could recover, another wild girl was already in her face and doing her best to remove it.

That was the biggest problem. There were so many of them that every time it looked like she would be able to gain some sort of advantage, another wild girl or two would rush in. And while Mami had no issues fighting with a leecher, she did not want to turn her weapons toward the wild girls. They were victims in every sense of the word. She and Charlotte had opted to stay with the Persephone Protectorate to help these poor people, not shoot them!

But they weren't giving her much of a choice. They were frantic in their attempts to bring the Protectorate down. Mami couldn't understand it. Why here? Why now? Why weren't they attacking the vaskergoros? Surely there had to be some part of them that understood what was going on.

But that didn't seem to be the case. Mami shoved the side of her rifle against the wild girl, pushing her back. Then she lifted her hand, and the wild girl was suddenly encased in yellow ribbons. She really shouldn't be using magic just yet, but the situation was growing desperate.

She turned back to the vaskergoros just in time to see the massive alien wrap her thick fingers around one of the soldiers and hurl her into the air. Mami took aim, but before she could fire, yet another wild girl had thrown herself at Mami's back, seizing her by the head and flipping over her to drive her face-first into the mud. The mad creature clawed at her helmet, snarling and spitting.

This was insanity! They couldn't even retreat in these conditions, much less fight back. The covens had them surrounded and would just keep hammering them until they broke. They couldn't even retreat!

Not for the first time, Mami found herself reconsidering her recent career choice.

With a grunt, she shoved her hands against the muddy ground and pushed up. The wild girl clung to her shoulders like a an infuriated chimpanzee. Mami drew in magic, preparing to immobilize this one just as she had done so with the last.

Then suddenly, the wild girl's weight was gone. Taken off guard, Mami stumbled around to see her assailant lying in the mud, misting red from a line of holes across her shoulder.

Lowering her rifle, Charlotte rushed up to her. "Are you all right?" she said.

Mami nodded, though she didn't take her eyes off of the downed wild girl. She was thin and gawky, with long red hair and tiny fangs. The resemblance to Kyoko was striking.

"Mami?"

Shivering, Mami turned away. "I hate this," she said.

Charlotte glanced at the wild girl she had just shot down. She looked away quickly. "Yeah. Me too."

Unfortunately they didn't have time to reflect on how soiled their hands were becoming, because at that moment, two much more literal pair of hands demanded their attention: specifically, the ones that had come seemingly out of nowhere to pluck them off the ground.

The vaskergoros hoisted them high. Mami kicked and squirmed, trying to get her weapon free, but her arms were pinned to her sides. The vaskergoros glowered at them. A low, bass snarl rumbled from deep inside her chest.

Then suddenly the vaskergoros found herself bound tightly by so many ribbons that she looked like a giant, four-armed, yellow mummy. Stiffening, she let out a very deep and yet still perfectly understandable, "What?"

"Put us down!" Mami shouted, her feet kicking the air.

Charlotte said, "You might want to listen to her. There is no way this ends that's good for you."

"Put us down right now and surrender, and I swear to you I'll personally do everything I can to-"

Alas, Mami's promises of mercy and rehabilitation fell on deaf ears, though in fairness the vaskergoros's were covered in ribbons. With an angry bellow, the vaskergoros ripped herself free from the restraints anchoring her to the ground. Then she turned and hurled both of the Tomoes as hard as she could. Which, as it turned out, was very hard.

Mami and Charlotte screamed as they sailed above the melee, each of them anticipating an unpleasant landing. Their screams redoubled when they saw that their trajectory was taking them over the wall of the stockade and directly toward the leechers' burning headquarters.

…

Lily's helmet sparked and hissed. She winced as arcs of electricity stung her skin. She quickly undid its clasps and pulled it off her head.

Her attackers blades were of excellent quality. They had shattered the visor and tore a ragged gash across the helmet's side. Fortunately, it had been strong enough to keep her from being stabbed in the face, but it had given up its life in the process. Shaking her head, Lily tossed the helmet aside and looked around to get bearings.

The first thing she saw was two more blades rushing towards her eyes.

Acting on instinct, Lily thrust her arm up, catching the blades before they hit their mark. She struck with the other fist, planting it directly in her attacker's solar plexus. There was a pained grunt, and the other woman was sent bouncing away.

Lily finally got a good look at her attacker. She appeared to be physically around sixteen or seventeen, with a painfully thin face that had a rather prominent chin and wild amethyst hair. She wore a brown flight jacket over a white shirt and had on a long, black skirt. The blades were strapped to her wrists and, as far as Lily could tell, she had no legs.

Lily stared. She thought back to her conversations with Kyoko Sakura and the Brothel. After piecing them together, she was able to give her opponent a name.

Well, wasn't that just something?

As was expected, the two of them were on the roof of the burning wayhouse. Lily's rapier was lying nearby. Walking over to retrieve it, she said, "Annabelle Lee, I presume?"

The exiled Void Walker winced. Holding her stomach, she straightened up. "How…how'd you…"

"Know your name?" Lily shrugged. "Kyoko Sakura told me."

Annabelle Lee froze, her mouth open with shock.

Lily smiled. "Yes, she and her friends came through our facility. We sent them off with the Brothel."

Annabelle Lee choked.

"You know the Brothel, correct? The ones that equipped you for your mission?" Lily shrugged. "They're not exactly happy with how you've wrecked their equipment. In fact, they said that if we found you here, they would pay to have you and your friends handed over to them. Now, I'm no genius, but I truly doubt that their intentions are benevolent."

"Stop…talking…" Annabelle Lee growled.

"Oh? And why is that? Does the truth hurt?"

"No…but your voice. Goes right through my head…"

Lily smirked. Ah, the imperfect countermeasure. "Now, I really have to ask: what are you doing here anyway? I would think that someone in your position would be trying to salvage the situation instead of sitting around in a backwater fortress in the middle of a swamp."

Slumping against an air-conditioner, Annabelle Lee grabbed at her head. "No place…to go…" she growled. "And for the love of God, will you shut-"

"But you had the perfect opportunity to flee," Lily pointed out. "This chaos does make for an excellent diversion, after all. Why attack my ship?"

"Shot up…my sister. And another girl…that didn't deserve…" Grunting, Annabelle Lee straightened up. She was still a little wobbly, but managed to hover in place. "Plus, I really don't like leechers."

Lily almost had to laugh. It was refreshing in a way, not having to play the part. "Oh, is that so? Well." She held up the blade of her sword in a fencer's salute. "Too bad."

With that, she lashed out. To her credit, Annabelle Lee managed to deflect the first two swipes. However, a boot to the midsection sent her sprawling again.

Lily slowly advanced. She knew she really ought to be hurrying this along, but she was feeling more than a little annoyed with how things were going and needed to burn off some of her frustration. She would be clear of this if it weren't for Annabelle Lee, and those gunships were expensive, after all.

She raised her sword to strike off the writhing girl's ugly head. But as she took the final step, there was a worrying groan below her. This was followed back a loud crack.

Lily glanced down. But before she could figure out what was happening, the roof collapsed beneath them.

…

"Boss?" Janelle called through the radio. "Boss! Lily, are you there?"

No answer. Janelle was getting frantic. Lily's gunship had been taken down by who-knows-what, and her commander had been silent ever since. What was more, it had fallen while right above the wayhouse, which meant that Lily was probably trapped inside.

Janelle was reasonably certain that Lily had not been killed. Her death would have very specific effects that would be immediately noticeable. However, she could be put into a perilous position that would later result in her death without anyone noticing. Being stuck inside a collapsing building would accomplish that. Or she could have been jumped by one of the madwomen that were currently wreaking havoc on the Persephone Protectorate's ranks. Or taken captive by the wayhouse's defenders. Neither group would have any reservations against emancipating Lily's head from her shoulders.

Janelle changed tactics. "Gunship 2, this is Janelle! Come in!"

"Copy, Janelle," the pilot said without hesitation, though her voice sounded strained.

"Lily's transport has gone down. She's in the wayhouse." Janelle peeked out to scan the battlefield. She spotted the gunship in question busily trying to hold back an especially thick concentration of wild girls, though it seemed to be having limited success. "I need you to-"

A thunderous explosion cut her off, and Janelle winced as a spray of dirt washed over her. She checked to see what had happened, and to her dismay, a ring of fire was now going up in short, random bursts along the clearing's perimeter. Given what had been set up there, it wasn't difficult to figure out what had caused it.

"The mortar cannons," she muttered. "They got the goddamned mortar cannons." Well, on the bright side, the ones responsible for wrecking the cannons probably hadn't enjoyed the immediate results, but it was a small comfort considering how much the loss of equipment was going to cost them.

Sighing, she returned to her conversation. "Gunship 2, are you still there?"

This time, the pilot's voice was a bit more harried. "Yes, ma'am. Though we're meeting heavy resistance. One of them's got some kind of magical bazooka, and it's-Ah!"

Oh no. "Gunship 2! What's going on?"

"It's the vaskergoros, ma'am! She's got us hooked! We can't get loose!"

Janelle checked again. Sure enough, there was her old friend Mundy, who was apparently unsatisfied with having downed one gunship already and was looking to take down a second. She had both of her bladed chains impaled onto the craft's side and was holding it in place while every single wild girl with ranged capabilities blasted at it from below.

Then there was a massive fireball in the sky, and the Persephone Protectorate was down to one gunship.

With a low growl, Janelle said, "All right. That's enough," got up, and started moving toward Mundy in a brisk yet unhurried manner. As she walked, she opened the general channel and called out, "This is Janelle. Lily is trapped in the wayhouse. Repeat: Lily is trapped in the wayhouse. Everyone not fighting for their lives get that fire out now. Gunship 3, you're the only one left. So drop whatever the hell you're doing and get your arses over there now!"

"Copy that," said the remaining pilot.

There was a soldier nearby with a rocket launcher who wasn't doing much beyond provide ineffective support. Janelle went right up to her. "Give me that," she said.

The soldier handed her the heavy weapon without question.

Janelle then turned her attention to Mundy, who was once again making everyone in green look like rank amateurs. Janelle could not fathom why things had gone so long without someone shooting her down yet. It wasn't as if she was hard to hit.

"You want something done right," Janelle said as she readied the rocket launcher. Then she knelt down and aimed it at the vaskergoros's back.

…

Lily swung her arm around, backhanding Annabelle Lee across the face. The exiled Void Walker was thrown into the nearby wall with a pained grunt. Then the leader of the Persephone Protectorate grabbed her by the collar and the hem of her skirt and hurled her down the hallway, sending her tumbling.

All around them, the building was collapsing. There was a bit of cruel irony in that Lily would be trapped in a disaster of her own making. True, even being crushed was nothing more than a minor (if not rather painful) inconvenience, but given how many people Lily currently had under her thrall, she wasn't too keen on risking demise, however temporary. The results could be catastrophic.

Currently, she was having to deal with a rather uppity washout. Annabelle Lee was nowhere near her equal in combat, but given the hazardous terrain, Lily did not want to waste much more time fighting her. She went to her rapier and was disappointed to find it missing. A quick scan located it lying near the hole the cave-in had created, a bit too far for her tastes, so instead she went for her sidearm.

Unfortunately, as quick as she was to draw it and take aim, Annabelle Lee was already gone.

Lily froze, her opal eyes tracking the erratically lit hallway for any sign of movement. The lights were out, but the fires and occasional overhead holes provided enough illumination for her to pick out shapes. She missed her helmet though. For one, it had night-vision. For another, it decreased the chances of getting decapitated.

There, a fleeing shadow! Lily opened fire, the spray briefly lighting up her surroundings. There was a cry of pain and the sound of a body hitting the floor. Unfortunately, it hadn't sounded anything like Annabelle Lee.

Lily briefly decided if she should go forward to investigate, but decided against it. This whole place would be coming down soon. Besides, she would better protect herself while out in the open.

She turned back to where the roof had caved in, but as soon as she had taken her first step, a shadow leapt from the smoke.

Lily whirled around and thrust her arm in the way. She found herself with Annabelle Lee straining against her forearm. With a grunt, she shoved the heel of her boot against the other girl's stomach and shoved her back against the wall. This created some separation, but then her eyes widened when she saw two pairs of blades heading straight toward them, intending to blind.

She moved her head just in time, though a chunk of ear was lost in the process. Wincing, Lily again hurled Annabelle Lee to the ground. This time, she started firing immediately, but the ex-Void Walker was already flying away. She managed to punch a few holes through her skirt, but thanks to Annabelle Lee's lack of legs, it didn't do any good.

Lily growled. Annabelle Lee wasn't trying to fight her. She was trying to delay her. A collapsing building was much more dangerous to Lily than it would be to her. And with literally every direction at her disposal, she stood a fair chance of pulling it off.

Right. Enough of this. "Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah!" Lily shouted as she slowly back up, pistol pointed at the smoke. That damned girl couldn't attack her if she was paralyzed with pain. "Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah!"

A flaming piece of timber came flying out of the haze. Lily immediately shot it to piece, but Annabelle Lee immediately followed. This time however her attack was sloppy and uncoordinated, and Lily managed to plug a couple rounds into her shoulder before she hit. There was a choked cry, but Annabelle Lee pushed through it. She seized Lily's hand and tried to yank her sidearm away. Lily responded by swinging her into the wall again.

Annabelle Lee's grip was loosened, and Lily yanked her pistol out of her grasp and pointed it at her face. Then there was a flash of steel, and Lily found her weapon to be greatly reduced in size.

With an angry curse, she tossed it away and moved to smash Annabelle Lee's face in, but already she was gone again.

Lily pounded the wall in frustration, and her fist went through. The smoke was making her eyes water, and she started coughing.

Then she heard a loud crash. Turning, she saw that something had just smashed through the roof. There was a groan of pain, and shapes moved in the cloud of dust.

"Charlotte, are you all right?" one of them said.

"Gimme a minute," moaned the other.

"I don't think we have one."

"Don't care. Give it to me anyway. I'm good for it."

Lily stared. Mami and Charlotte Tomoe. How they had wound up here, she couldn't guess. Nor did she understand why they had chosen to come through the roof. Or why they had come at all. Who would want to enter this burning death trap, save for someone who, like herself, had been forced here involuntarily? Maybe word had gotten out about her predicament and they had come to save her. Or perhaps the covens were winning, and they had sought out the only shelter that was available.

Nah.

Deciding that it didn't matter, Lily quickly approached them. "You two!" she snapped. "At attention!"

Surprised to see their leader, they nevertheless obeyed, though Charlotte was hunching over and holding her side.

"Can you fight?" Lily asked.

"Fight?" Mami said in bewilderment. "Well-"

"Yes or no question!"

"Yes," Mami said without hesitation.

"Good." Lily nodded toward the smoke. She coughed again and said, "Your old friend Annabelle Lee is here. She's taken up with the leechers, and is actively trying to prevent me from escaping. Hold her off until I'm gone, then make your way out."

"Annabelle Lee?" Charlotte said as she slowly straightened up. There was a distinct tinge of malice in her voice, noticeable even through the pain.

"Yes. Deal with her."

The two Tomoes nodded. "Ma'am," they said in unison.

"Good." Lily studied their shielded faces. Charlotte's helmet looked like it had taken a bit of a beating, but Mami's was still in excellent condition, albeit dusty. "Mami. Give me your helmet. And your sidearm."

Mami immediately undid the clasps and pulled her helmet off. Then she removed her sidearm from her hip and held out both to Lily.

"Thank you." Without another word, Lily against resumed her pace toward the hole she had come in. She kicked her rapier up into her hands and leapt onto the roof. Behind her, she heard Annabelle Lee shout in surprise, only to be drowned out by gunfire.

Lily smiled.

…

Huddled behind the shelter of Kyoko's shield-plates, Kyoko and Oktavia watched expectedly as one of Oktavia's train wheels slowly levitated through the air. It spun in slow, lazy rotations, as if warming up for the attack.

"You sure you've got a handle on this thing?" Kyoko said.

"Yes," Oktavia told her.

"I mean you've only used them twice. So I don't see how you-"

"Kyoko?" Oktavia said, sounding a little irritated.

"Yeah?"

Beads of sweat had formed on the mermaid's forehead. "Shut up before I throw one at your head."

Kyoko shut up. She had taking a nasty bump already when she had tried to cut through the door with her spear. As soon as the tip had penetrated the surface, a wave of kinetic force had lashed out, shattering her spear and sending her flying to crash against the opposite wall. As for the mark her spear had made, it disappeared almost immediately.

After that, it was decided that any attempts to use magic against the door were probably best done from a distance and from behind cover. Hence, train wheels and shield-barriers.

Oktavia waved a hand, and the wheel's rotations started to pick up speed. The spokes moved faster and faster until the whole thing became a softly glowing disk that hummed with potential force just waiting to be unleashed.

Kyoko held her breath and waited. And waited. And waited. The wheel continued to spin.

Then her patience snapped. "Well?" she demanded.

Oktavia huffed. "Right. Okay then."

She let the wheel fly. It struck the door with enough force to derail trains and separate them into their base components.

In a way, that's almost exactly what happened. The bit that came from a train was separated into many components, which then ricocheted all over the room before disappearing. The two girls flinched.

When the opened their eyes, smoke rose from where the shrapnel had hit. The door, however, was still unharmed.

Kyoko looked over to Oktavia, who was staring forlornly at her miserable failure. Then, with a heavy sigh, the blue-haired mermaid glanced over to her friend.

"I think," she said, "we might have a problem."

…

Well, this wasn't fair at all.

Annabelle Lee huddled with her back to the wall as the hallway next to her was gutted by gunfire. She had no idea how Lily had suddenly come across reinforcements, she just knew that she wasn't as surprised as she probably should have been. One did become accustomed to outrageous bad luck after a while.

She figured that they must have also been aboard that gunship that she had brought down. The only other explanation for their presence was that they had forced their way in and climbed all the way to the top floor, which didn't make any sense. The only reason Annabelle Lee could think of for them to have entered the building was that they had heard Lily was in peril and had rushed in to save her, and there was no way they could have gotten all the way up here so quickly.

Then again, she mused, a Puella Magi wouldn't need to start from the bottom up. Many of them could simply leap their way to the roof.

A fresh burst of gunfire reminded her that it really didn't matter how they had gotten here. The point was that they were here, and they were shooting at her.

Annabelle Lee considered her options. The fires had sealed off most of her exits. She supposed she could just cut her way into the open air and come down on them, but supposedly those helmets of theirs had some sort of motion sensor, so sneaking up on them would be something of a challenge.

But then, did she really need to sneak up on them at all? She could snatch up Nikki and take off into the sky before they had figured out that she was gone. Granted, it meant letting Lily go, but oh well. You won some and you lost some.

Then the gunfire ceased, and one of the soldiers said in a very familiar voice, "Give it up, Annabelle Lee! We know you're there!"

Annabelle Lee froze. No way. It couldn't be. That was just too…well, actually she wasn't sure what it was, save that it was really weird.

Then another very familiar voice said, "You can't escape. Make it easier on yourself."

Annabelle Lee took a quick peek around the corner. Two soldiers were there, one with a helmet and one without. Though she only got a brief look, she managed to confirm that the unhelmeted one had blonde hair. Annabelle Lee sighed. Yup, it was them all right. Mami and Charlotte Tomoe, wearing Persephone Protectorate colors and taking Lily's orders. Looks like Lily had been telling the truth about Kyoko Sakura.

Well, wasn't that just ridiculously ironic?

"Aren't you guys a little far from home?" she called back. "I thought you would've taken off by now."

Charlotte Tomoe made a disgusted sound. "Don't give us that crap! The leechers you're working with got us stuck here, and you know it!"

Annabelle Lee choked out a laugh. "Leechers? Us? Leechers! Really?"

"Yes, really! This is low, Annabelle Lee. Even for scum like you. First kidnapping and Compact breaking, now you've taken up with leechers?"

Annabelle Lee kept laughing. Oh, this was just too good. "Yeah, uh, hey. Funny story about that…"

…

"I hope you're proud of yourself."

Panting, Janelle lowered the rocket launcher. Mundy lay unmoving, her green vapors billowing from a massive hole in her back.

Turning, Janelle found herself visor-to-face with Demmi. The Etherdale Wayhouse's leader was covered with soot and mud. She held an appropriated assault rifle in one hand and a handgun in the other. And she looked tired. Very, very tired.

Janelle paused. Then she slowly lowered the rocket launcher. "Demmi," she said. "Good to see you."

"Janelle," Demmi said flatly.

"Been looking for you."

"You too." Demmi looked over to Mundy's still form. "Why, Janelle? Just…why?"

Janelle shrugged. "Orders."

"So you're shooting down your friends because Lily told you to?" Demmi shook her head. "Janelle, I know what Lily's done to you. And I know that you know what Lily's done to you. But I don't believe for a second that she has that much control-"

Then Demmi's body suddenly jerked as it filled with bullets. Her eyes rolled back, and she collapsed.

Lowering her sidearm, Janelle sighed and opened the radio. "This is Janelle. I got Demmi and the vaskergoros here and need them restrained. Oh, and will someone please put out the damned fire already before Lily gets burned to a crisp?"

As the nearby soldiers rushed over to carry out her commands, Janelle looked down at Demmi's body and shook her head. "Take the shot you're given, Demmi. Talking gets you nowhere."

…

"Stop talking," Charlotte Tomoe ordered, sending a fresh burst of gunfire down the corridor.

"I'm serious!" Annabelle Lee snickered. "You guys are working for the leechers, not me! Lily's mind-controlling both of you!"

"I said shut up!"

"Why, scared of the truth? Because it gets better. This place you're shooting up?" Annabelle Lee let out another loud cackle. "It's a wayhouse! You've taken up with leechers, and now you're attacking a fucking wayhouse!"

"Right then," Charlotte Tomoe growled. She started to advance down the hallway. "I've had enough of this."

"Hey, out of curiosity, how many recovering wild girls and workers did you gun down on your way here?" Annabelle Lee called. She was far past caring about her wellbeing now. She just wanted to enjoy her last few moments. "One, two, skip a few, ninety-nine, one hundred? What's next? Bombing a charity drive? Sniping down the newly arrived? Because I'll bet good money you're next in line for that shift!"

"Charlotte," Mami said worriedly. Annabelle Lee had no way of knowing if her words were making any sort of impact. According to Polly, Lily's control by this point was absolute. But then, she felt that Polly might be a little biased when it came to that subject.

"Back me up," Charlotte said gruffly as she came closed, various pieces of rubble crunching under her boots. "I'm taking this snake down for good."

Annabelle Lee had to admire her ability to hold a grudge, even if she wasn't too keen on the fact that that Charlotte Tomoe was also carrying a high-tech assault rifle. She pressed her back to the wall and stayed as still as she could, praying that Charlotte Tomoe didn't think to shoot through the wall.

She did.

The next thing Annabelle Lee knew, she heard the distinctive click of a rifle being cocked, thought, Aw hell, and dove out of the way as the wall was chewed to pieces. She was reasonably confident in her ability to take Charlotte Tomoe down in close combat, but getting in range was going to be something of a problem.

Charlotte Tomoe rushed around the corner and took aim. Annabelle Lee quickly calculated her chances of flying through the gunfire unharmed and came to a depressing conclusion.

Then there was the sound of gunshots: not the rapid bursts of the Persephone Protectorate's rifles, but the small cracks of smaller weapons that only fired one bullet at a time. Tiny impacts pinged off of Charlotte Tomoe's arms, flashing bright sparks. Cursing in surprise, she turned around, only to have the sparks leap off her chest as well, forcing her to retreat back down the hall.

As Annabelle Lee tried to figure out what in the world had just happened, someone emerged from the smoke with two pistols in hand. That someone had long, golden hair; was wearing ugly overalls and a gas mask identical to her own; and, despite her unattractive outfit and the layer of soot she had accumulated, walked with her hips swaying in a coy, sensual manner. That someone looked down at Annabelle Lee and clicked her tongue reprovingly.

"Well now," Nie Blühen Herze said as she shook her head. "Annabelle Lee, Annabelle Lee. How in the world did you get yourself into this situation?"

…

When Lily leapt back onto the wayhouse roof, bits of it were already burning. Still, she could see far enough to confirm that the tide of the battle below had indeed turned.

To her satisfaction, the Persephone Protectorate had managed to rally itself and regain control of the situation. All over the place were incapacitated madwomen, with only the occasional unmoving form dressed in the Protectorate's trademark green armor. Her soldiers were swiftly reforming their wall and already ripping apart the swamp with a constant barrage of gunfire and rockets. The madwomen were dropping by the dozen now. It didn't matter how many covens descended upon the clearing. They would be shot down before they even got close, and the swamp would be bloated with their bodies. From there, the Protectorate could gather up what equipment they could, plow their way back to base, and hunker down and wait until everything had blown over. Eventually, normality would return to the forest, and it would be business as usual, only without the wayhouse causing a disturbance. Granted, removing that wayhouse had proven to be more costly than originally calculated, but such was life. Their losses would be recuperated in no time flat.

For now, Lily had to concentrate on getting out of here. To her displeasure, only one of the gunships was still flying. Given how expensive those things were, losing three in one go was going to be bit of a blow to their credit.

"Janelle, report," she said, walking out of the smoke.

No answer. Frowning, Lily inspected the radio built into her armor. To her dismay, two diagonal slashes had cut across it. Annabelle Lee had gotten in a lucky shot somewhere.

Well, that explained why no one had tried to contact her during the fight. Fortunately, the helmet she had taken from Mami Tomoe had a backup radio. Lily lifted it up to place over her head.

Then her foot went through said roof and she once again found herself tumbling through a shower of dust and debris.

The fall stunned her for a moment, though not a long one. Her armor prevented her from taking any especially dangerous bumps, and she thankfully did not hit her head. It still wasn't pleasant though, and she found herself lying in a dazed heap among chunks of splintered wood.

Shaking her head, Lily slowly sat up, only to wince in pain. Damn it, her wings had been crushed. It wasn't though she could use them anyway, but that didn't mean having them smashed didn't hurt.

Lily coughed. Even with the shadows surrounding her, she could see the helmet nearby, fortunately undamaged. She reached for it.

One of the shadows moved.

"HUNGRY!"

…

As Mami fought against Annabelle Lee's sharpshooter, it occurred to her that she didn't even know the girl's name.

It felt a little odd, as according to Oktavia, these twin girls had been part of Annabelle Lee's team ever since the encounter at Elsa Maria's lighthouse. They had been involved in the kidnapping attempt at Cloudbreak. Mami and Charlotte had been nearly ambushed by them in the zoo, and Mami herself had been forced to personally execute the sharpshooter when she had boarded the Void Walkers' ship. And yet, though their paths kept crossing, she still didn't know who they were.

That bothered her for some weird reason.

She crouched down low below the hole in the roof, magical senses extended, rifle aimed and attention fixed firmly down the rifle's sight. She wished she still had her helmet, as its enhanced vision and motion trackers would really come in handy right now, to say nothing of the air filters. At the moment, she was having to make do with an impromptu enchantment to keep the smoke from bothering her. She hoped the additional magic use wouldn't make too much of a difference in the long run.

The sharpshooter was lurking somewhere in the smoke. Mami had to admit: she was good, perhaps even a better shot than Mami herself. But she only had two pistols and no protection whatsoever. True, she might be in possession of additional abilities, though she had yet to display any.

Her senses flared up, and Mami quickly ducked to the side as shots rang out. She returned fire, peppering the smoke with short, controlled bursts. The shooting from the other side ceased immediately, and Mami heard cursing. She wondered if she had scored a hit, though it sounded more frustrated than pained.

She could hear sounds of pursuit further in as Charlotte went after Annabelle Lee. It was probably a bad idea to split up, especially with the floor as unstable as it was getting. But Lily had given them orders to keep those two busy, and since Annabelle Lee refused to stay put, someone had to go after her. Mami just prayed that Ticky Nikki and the twin with the syringes wasn't lurking nearby.

Suddenly the shooting resumed from a different hallway entirely. One shot tore a burning mark across the back of Mami's neck while three more pinged against her armor. She immediately changed her position and fired.

Look at me, Mother, she thought bitterly as her rifle tore the place up. Stuck in a burning building in a shootout with a criminal. Aren't you proud?

Then, from far off, she heard a stifled cry of pain. Her imaginary heart leapt.

Her radio crackled, and to her relief, Charlotte's voice said, "Mami, can you hear me?"

"I'm here! What happened?"

"I think I got her."

Mami moved to the relative shelter of a large piece of rubble. "Annabelle Lee?"

"Yeah. Let me check…oh."

Suddenly the radio filled with the sound of gunfire, in concert to the real thing, somewhere in the smoke. Mami sucked in a sharp breath.

There was a pause, and then Charlotte said, "Yeah. I got her."

"Are you all right?"

"I'm fine. She missed. I'm, er, bringing her back to you. Stay put."

Mami nodded, and did her best not to think of the implications. Fortunately, the sharpshooter was still there to help her with that.

Shots continued to rain out from the smoke. Mami considered her options. She could wait for Charlotte to get back and they could deal with the sharpshooter together. The would be the smart thing. Or she could just end this now, making Charlotte's path back safer.

It wasn't much of a contest.

Mami rolled out from behind the rubble and charged forward. The incoming shots became more frantic as the surprised sharpshooter panicked at Mami's sudden change in tactics. She kept her face covered by a shield of ribbons and all but barreled into her opponent, who was crouching behind a corner.

The sharpshooter stumbled. She tried to recover, but Mami swept her legs out from under her. Before she could rise, her body was again encased in ribbons, ending the fight right there.

Mami pointed her rifle at the furious sharpshooter's head. "Don't move," she warned.

The sharpshooter wore a gas mask, so her eyes were concealed, but Mami could still feel the venom of the glare. "How would I?" she demanded.

It was a decent point, but Mami wasn't arguing. She motioned with one hand, and the sharpshooter's cocooned body was lifted to Mami's shoulder.

"You can't be serious," the sharpshooter complained. "Oh, just shoot me in the head and get it over with. You've done it before."

Ignoring her, Mami walked back to the uneven circle of light provided by the hole in the roof. Charlotte was already there, likewise carrying Annabelle Lee. The violet-haired Void Walker was not moving.

"Hey," Mami said wearily. "Are you all right?"

Charlotte nodded. "I guess." She tilted her head toward Annabelle Lee. "Got her at least. How about you?"

"Fine," Mami said wearily. "Let's get out of here."

The two of them leapt onto the roof. No sooner had they emerged into the sunlight when they were greeted with a welcome surprise. Overhead, the roar of a gunship's engines filled the air as the deadly craft came down low to hover over the building. Three green-clad soldiers leapt from it to the roof below. Two landed in combat crouches and slowly rose up, rifles at the ready. The third fell through the roof with a crash.

"Yeah," Charlotte sighed as the two other newcomers stared in surprise. "You gotta watch out for that."

As the other two rushed to help their fallen comrade, a fourth came down from above, taking care to land on top of the stairwell hut. She bore a corporal's stars. "What are you two doing here?" she demanded. "Where's Lily."

Charlotte saluted the best she could with Annabelle Lee still over her shoulder. "Got thrown by the vaskergoros. Rough landing. Met Lily here." She jiggled the body on her shoulder. "She told us to keep these two occupied while she made her escape."

The corporal nodded, satisfied with her answer. "More wayhouse defenders?"

"As if!" the sharpshooter said indignantly. Then her complaints became muffled when her encasing of ribbons extended to the lower half of her face, though they did increase in frequency.

"Void Walkers, actually," Mami told the corporal.

This surprised her. "The Void Walkers? The ones we were told to watch out for?"

Mami nodded. "Two of them at least. There's at least two-"

"Corporal, couple of bodies over here!" shouted one of the soldiers. Everyone's attention snapped over to where the soldier was. There was indeed two bodies lying limply on the ground, one of them a dark-haired girl physically in her mid-teens, the other a blonde child.

Mami blinked down at them. She didn't know the older girl, but the other was unmistakable. "Oh, make that three."

"Mmmmfff!" the sharpshooter raged.

The corporal frowned. She waved off the other three to go find Lily, and then asked, "Why hasn't this one been put down?"

"Well," Mami said, standing a little stiffly. "Because she's beaten."

"So?"

The sharpshooter rolled her eyes.

"Uh, Mami? No offense, but I kinda agree," Charlotte said. "I mean, it's pretty much just the same thing as tazing them."

Mami gave her wife a cold look. Even through her helmet, Charlotte's wince was visible.

The corporal sighed. "Well, might as well make use of her. Follow me."

With that, the corporal leapt off the wayhouse and landed in the dirt below. Mami and Charlotte followed, each of them taking two of the prisoners with them. Mami landed in a crouch and stood up, considering it no worse than any of the other great leaps she had taken while in her prime.

They moved away from the fire. Already other soldiers were moving into the stockade to secure the area. Many were working to control the blaze, no doubt in case Lily was still inside. The corporal motioned toward the dirt ground near a wall.

"Put them down and get rid of that gag."

They did so. The sharpshooter immediately spat out a wad of phlegm. "Gah!" she gagged "Out of all the stupid-"

The corporal pointed her rifle at the sharpshooter's head. "You answer direct questions and nothing else. Got it?"

The sharpshooter glowered, but nodded.

"Good. Where is commander Lily?"

"I don't know."

The corporal flipped her rifle around and smashed it into the sharpshooter's face.

"Corporal!" Mami protested.

The corporal ignored her. "Where is commander Lily?" she said again.

The sharpshooter spat out a tooth. "I don't know," she said, more angrily this time. "But I can tell you this much." Her lips lifted in a smirk. "You're not the only guys looking for her. And I really don't think you're going to be the first to find her."

…

"Get off of me, you little freak!" Lily shrieked as she tried to tear the voracious, thrashing bundle from her face. She lurched this way and that, running into walls and tripping over just about everything.

"Hungry!" the little monster continued to snarl as it clawed at her face and bit at her scalp. She could feel its teeth even through her hair. "Hungry!"

Her rapier was gone, and so was her sidearm. And her voice was having absolutely no effect on it, whether compulsory or painful. Grimacing in pain, Lily squeezed one hand into a fist and punched it as hard as she could. It let out a surprised squeak but didn't let go.

Lily punched it again, and again. The third one loosened its grip enough for her to grab it and yank it off her head.

Unfortunately, it wasn't completely stunned, and lunged forward as soon as she got it out of her hair. Lily screamed as she felt sharp little teeth close around her ear.

"Ah!" she cried, and pulled as hard as she could. She got the little monster off, but unfortunately, it took most of her ear with it.

Still screaming, Lily hurled the beast as hard as she could. Then she fell back against the wall, clutching at the ragged remains of her ear. The little monster righted itself quickly and scampered off into the darkness with a throaty chuckle. Lily wished she still had her gun. As soon as she was out of here, she was ordering that the building be collapsed with that piece of trash still in it.

First things were first though. Grimacing, Lily forced herself to push through the pain and straighten up. She looked around. Her frenzied attempts to free herself had taken her out of sight of the hole, though she could still see where it was, thanks to the light streaming down. She just had to that helmet. She just had to get back to the hole, put it on, and get onto the roof. From there, she was jumping off this damned building.

In her dazed state, she almost didn't feet the five needles biting into her neck until they had fully plunged in. Crying out, she tore herself away and whirled around to face whoever was attacking her now.

Then she fell to her knees.

Lily blinked in surprise. Her body had suddenly started to feel very strange, like ice water had been poured directly into her neck. Her head twitched back and forth. Lily tried to bring a hand to where she had been jabbed, but her arm got about halfway before it started shaking uncontrollably.

"Now that," said a silky voice, "felt good."

Lily tried to respond, but as soon as she opened her mouth she ended up heaving. White spots filled her vision, and she fell over onto her side, still choking.

"You must be Lily," said the voice. Lily could just make out someone walking around her, though between the smoke and her blurred vision, she couldn't pick out any specifics. "I've heard a lot about you. You might even say I've taken a lotofyou into me."

To Lily's ravaged ear, the voice sounded distorted and twisted, the tempo changing from high-pitched squeaks to a low, demonic bass every other word. She gasped and tried to push herself up.

"No, don't get up."

A boot came down onto the back of her neck, shoving her face down into the dust. "Nasty stuff, isn't it?" the voice said. "I've all been vomiting it up for the last few days. But seeing how it came from you, I thought it only be fitting that you get a free sample."

"I can't-" Lily managed to gasp out. "I can't. Move."

"Yes, and soon you won't be able to breathe. Ironic, isn't it? You make your living converting other people's soul vapors into drugs, and it turns out that a drug made from your soul is your undoing. How delicious."

Shaking and sweating, Lily stared in terror as a hand made completely from medical syringes came into her view. It drew the tips of its needles across her cheek, gentle as a lover's caress, though her skin burned in its wake. "Of course, the dose you just got was more than five times what these losers have been gulping down. Hear it gave them headaches. No surprises there. Really, everyone around here is so incompetent that you really didn't have to show up at all. A few days, and this place would have imploded in on itself anyway. Now, up you go."

Lily found herself flipped onto her back. She felt someone sit down on her hips, straddling her. Lily tried to speak, tried to scream, tried to do anything, but all that came out was choking gurgles and foam.

"Shhhhh," the voice said, and Lily felt the cold glass and metal of a syringe pressed against her lips. "Don't try to speak. You've done enough of that already."

Then, even with her failing vision, Lily clearly saw the monster hand hovering in front of her face, needles gleaming. Each of the glass syringes that it had for fingers filled with a blood-red liquid. In the dark, it seemed to glow like the fires of Hell.

"Now," the voice purred, "how would you like to sample one of my original vintages?"

…

Janelle stood over Demmi's limp body, staring grimly as her soldiers mopped up. Most were on the front lines, mowing down covens and steadily pushing the circle outward. Others were gathering the fallen wild girls and wayhouse workers in piles. Save for a few important names, there wasn't much effort being made to distinguish the two.

Elsewhere, effort was being made to contain the blaze that was swiftly consuming the wayhouse. Normally they wouldn't have bothered, but as the wayhouse was Lily's last reported location, it was somewhat important that she be safely retrieved before they finished burning it down. Janelle was more than a little worried about her. That last transmission had cut off rather abruptly, and the sounds of screams that had punctuated it had not been at all encouraging.

A copious amount of fire retardant was being doused on the building, but as it was three stories high, the results were less than satisfactory. Janelle had assigned a few of those proficient in enchantments to give them an edge, while a couple more threw ice at the blaze. Overhead, the remaining gunship was hovering over the wayhouse, waiting to pull Lily out the moment she was found.

In many ways, it was quite fortunate that the Persephone Protectorate's chain of command ended with Lily, as this little debacle would not look good on any sort of official report. They had lost three gunships and more than one third of their mortar cannons, to say nothing of the various smaller firearms that had been damaged or destroyed during the fight. Most of the soldiers had taken a pounding, resulting in lots and lots of armor that needed to be patched up, if not scrapped entirely. The costs were going to be high.

But worst of all, Lily was currently missing. Janelle was certain that they would find her, but every second that she was gone churned her stomach. There was no telling what was happening to her at that moment.

Below her, Demmi stirred and moaned. "Wha-what?"

Janelle glanced down at her. "Hello, Demmi."

The head of the Etherdale Wayhouse stared up at her, her cloudy eyes clearing. "What…happened?"

"You lost," Janelle said in a clipped tone. "That's what happened."

Demmi looked at her bound hands as if seeing them for the first time. Crushing realization swept over her face, and she let out a small moan of despair.

Janelle shifted uncomfortably as Demmi started to sob. She considered putting another round through the woman's head. It would probably be a mercy.

Then her radio crackled. "Janelle? This is corporal Moxley."

Janelle turned her attention away from Demmi. "Report."

"We did it. The covens had enough. They're fleeing."

Finally. "About bloody time. What about the cap'n?"

"We're searching the wayhouse now. Looks like there's already some of our people here. Privates Mami and Charlotte Tomoe. They say Lily told them to hold off some of the defenders while she made her escape. No idea where she's gone though."

The Tomoes? What in the blazes were they doing there? "Well, find her then!"

"Acknowledged. We're about to-"

And suddenly it was like a gong had gone off in her head. It was like her mind had been encased by glass windows that someone had just taken a baseball to. It was like she had finally managed reached that persistent itch only to find it was the only part of her body not covered with bug bites. It was like she had been sealed in a tomb only for it to be blown open with dynamite. It was like inhaling after holding her breath for so long that she had forgotten how to breath, like going outside for the first time in years of isolation and feel the sun's rays beat down on her, like walking barefoot on sharp gravel after knowing nothing but softness.

It was like all of these things: painful, horrible, but oh so liberating.

Years of reinforced lies were torn from Janelle's head and she let out a piercing scream. She wasn't the only one. All around her everyone was freaking out. Cries of pain, confusion, and outrage filled the air as soldiers screamed, soldiers wept, soldiers fell writhing to the ground. Many hastily removed their helmets so they could throw up. Others weren't so lucky.

Demmi, of course, noticed. "Janelle?" she said as Janelle fell to her hands and knees. "What's going on? Janelle?"

"She's…she's gone," Janelle choked out. "I can't feel…she's not in my head anymore."

"She?" Demmi inhaled sharply. "Wait, you mean Lily?"

Janelle didn't answer. Despite what had just happened, many of the soldiers were still shooting after the covens, too caught up in the moment or too confused to know that they should stop. "Stand down!" Janelle snapped on all channels. "Stop shooting! Let them go! For God's sake, throw those bloody things away!"

Then she took her helmet off. Her fingers were shaking and clumsy, making the job difficult, but she managed to get the wretched thing off and toss it away. Sitting back on her haunches, she turned to lock gazes with Demmi, who was staring at her with something much like awe.

"It's done, isn't it?" Demmi said. "She's gone."

Janelle licked her lips and swallowed. But before she could answer, there came the sound of breaking glass.

Then something was thrown over the wall of the stockade. It flopped through the air and landed in an untidy heap in the mud.

Janelle stared wordlessly. It was a suit of Persephone Protectorate armor. Specifically, it was Lily's. What was more, it still seemed to have a body inside. There was no mistaking those wings, as mangled as they were.

What it did not have, however, was a head.

…

Mami screamed.

She screamed and screamed and kept screaming. Falling to her knees, she clutched at her head and continued to scream as everyone around her all but collapsed. The corporal. The other soldiers. They all had gone mad. Or perhaps they were sane for the first time in as long as they could remember. It didn't matter. They just knew that it hurt.

Mami, however, didn't notice. She was caught in a private Hell all to her own. Finally, every little thing that had been bothering her was finally making sense. Everything that was out of place that she had picked up on but couldn't full process was now slammed to the forefront of her mind. She now knew what she was doing. She didn't understand why, but she did understand that, for some reason, she had wound up on the wrong side.

Something heavy fell in front of her. Lifting her tear-streaked face, Mami saw Charlotte fall to her hands and knees and started coughing. Charlotte hastily unfastened her helmet and yanked it off. Then she threw up.

Once she was done, she shakily looked up to her wife with horrified eyes. "Mami," she whispered. "What are we…What happened to us?"

Mami didn't have answer, but someone else did.

"What…happened?" The corporal had fallen onto her back when the change had come. Letting out a slightly demented laugh, she slowly sat up and pulled off her own helmet, revealing a pale face and short, black hair. "I'll tell you what happened. She's gone. That's what happened." She laughed again. "She's finally gone. We're free."

Mami and Charlotte stared as the woman laughed and laughed and laughed. Then her laughter turned into crying, which in turn set them off. They held each other, weeping with guilt, fear, and relief.

Then the moment was broken when someone loudly cleared her throat.

Annabelle Lee, Ticky Nikki, and the sharpshooter were all tied up nearby, as was the unnamed girl that had been found near Nikki. All four had since regenerated, and had been sitting silently with the threat of deadly repercussions should they attempt to speak, though the sharpshooter had not stopped smirking.

It was Annabelle Lee that had broken the silence. Mami, Charlotte, the corporal, and any soldier still not in the grips of a total mental and emotional breakdown slowly turned to her.

"So," Annabelle Lee said, her eyes flitting from one distraught face to the next. "Are we cool?"

…

Kyoko sat in the cell's uncomfortable plastic chair, upper body slumped over the table, arms folded around her chin as she glowered at the unconquered door.

In front of the door, Oktavia was still in her wheelchair. She examined the plastic obstacle with all the scrutiny of a paperback detective. Then, with nervous hesitation, she lifted her hand and softly knocked.

Nothing.

"Well," Oktavia said, lowering her hands. "I'm out of ideas."

…

I guess that's that then! Boy, that was a fun chapter to write. A bit more OC POV's than I would have preferred, but I guess that's the consequence of shipping off the main characters before the climax.

Of course, the immediate question would be why did I ship off the main characters before the climax? And the answer is…uh…well, I couldn't think of a good follow up episode that had them still around. But with them in the Brothel's hands, one is now available. So, there's that.

Anyway, there'll be an epilogue chapter followed by this year's Christmas special. After that will be a short intermission chapter and the next episode will start up, which will bring the focus more on the two teams rather than the people they meet. Still, I hope you guys enjoyed it.

Until next time, everyone!