Casey had known it was too much to hope for a quiet discovery of the thugs' base.
The ground shook at the sudden shifts in gravity, Faye blurring over the uneven surface before suddenly regaining double the downward force to smash a man's face into the dirt.
Ma whirled around two men closing in on her, hands glowing with magic seconds before twin palm-thrusts sent both attackers flying.
"Fairy Magic: Fairy Ray!"
The fine golden dust started to glow, shooting after the panicking men that had tried to corner Ally against one of the nearby trees.
"A-Archive Magic: Force Shield!"
Massive golden screens pulled together around Bee in a half-dome, deflecting punches and kicks.
A chain wrapped around one man's throat, yanking him back and into a wide arc that smacked down his fellows before releasing.
Kim spared them a glare before returning to her other opponents, seals forming to release more hooked chains.
"Fire Magic: Fire Bullet!"
"Earth Magic: Iron Rock Wall!"
The spells exploded against each other, debris obscuring every line of sight as Casey leapt in after her opponent.
"Fire Magic: Prominence Whip!"
With a crackle and the crack of a whip, the dust was blown away from the force of impact, revealing exactly what had happened.
The poor idiot twitched in his new crater, completely unresponsive, and Casey dusted her hands off, giving him one last glare.
"Dumbass."
Turning away as the last thug had his teeth punched in, she smiled, disheveled from the relatively short battle.
"Is that everybody?"
"Yup." Ma replied, lifting up the most semi-conscious of the men as Faye pinned the rest with roughly five times the normal gravity.
"Would you prefer the honor?" Kim wondered, eyeing him as if to determine the most painful ways to make him talk without getting blood on her clothes.
Casey took in his trembling form silently, eyes almost molten as her hands curled into fists, and Ma sent a concerned look.
"Maybe you should let Kim take this one?"
Blinking away her dark thoughts, the redhead smiled sheepishly, fingers interlocking behind her neck.
"Yeah, you're probably right." She conceded, gaze sweeping over the three younger girls Faye was enthusiastically tutoring on the best way to securely hogtie a man. "Wouldn't want to get carried away."
Kim cut a glance her way, all silent understanding, before returning her attention to the almost sobbing thug in Ma's grip.
"You should be relieved." The black-haired teenager noted, monotone. "I will at least make this quick."
Miniscule seals formed over her fingertips, the steel hooks of her Chain Magic peeking through-
A great rumble made the sky quake overhead, steely clouds rolling in like ocean waves, darkening the world into twilight as they swirled and sparked.
Bee squeaked at the sudden shift, shrinking into herself, and Faye straightened up, silver eyes wide.
"Whoa…"
"What's going on?" Ally fretted, clutching the fabric of her brown leather vest and soft shirt over her racing heart as she looked to Casey, Kim and Ma.
Bringing the forgotten screen to full size as it buzzed, violet eyes widened at the almost frantic pace of the code as it raced past, the lines almost seeming to shift around each other-
The sky split open with a thunder-crack, a great swirling maw, and the reverberation of it sent the girls sprawling.
Dazed by the unexpected blow, Casey groaned as she levered herself upright, blinking as lights overhead blurred across her vision.
Orange, blue, red, purple, green, silver, gold, pink…
Shaking dirt and grass from her hair, Ma rolled onto one side, a glance ensuring the thug was fully unconscious now before standing.
"What…?"
Sitting up, Bee took a deep breath to focus her fogging thoughts, gaze focusing on the Archive screen that still refused to leave.
The code…
"Th-That's not…" She breathed, sitting up and touching the edges with trembling fingers. "I-It can't…"
Kim jerked back as the lights flared, star-bright, spinning around each other in an ever-constricting circle.
Ally made no move to rise further than her knees, eyes wide, as the lights grew bigger and brighter and-
"Get down!" Faye shouted, magic flaring to shove the group down as the falling comets of light hit atmosphere and smashed into the ground in bone-rumbling explosions of dirt and uprooted grass.
Coughing to clear her shell-shocked lungs, Casey shot upright, loose clumps of dirt falling off her shoulders as she tried to fan the dust away for some clear air.
"Holy fuck…"
A soft orange glow seeped up from the ground at her feet, catching her attention like siren's song.
Something deep in her heart was unfurling at the sight, like a flower slowly blooming at the sun's touch, and she reached forward…
Fire swarmed through Casey's veins as her fingertips brushed metal, surprisingly pleasant, and she jerked the object close to her hammering heart with a gasp.
The device was moonlight-pale, a dark screen taking up most of the face and framed by faint blue lines that surrounded two buttons only a few shades darker, a small antennae pressing against her clenched fingers.
It was like her soul was opened, not raw but empty, so very empty, magic bubbling up under skin and crying out for something-
Hazy eyes turned to see that the feeling was not exclusive to just her; Ma was trembling, both hands clasped around her own device, and Kim stared down at the blank screen, pupils dilated and breathing a touch heavy.
The others were not much better, as if something had reached inside and opened something unknown…
It was Bee, surprisingly, that found her voice.
"I-It was the Archive."
All attention turned to her, meeting wide purple eyes.
"Wh-Whatever these a-are…They're from the Archive."
The words echoed in Casey's mind, eliciting an old ache she could not remember ever feeling before.
They're from the Archive…
The open place inside her practically sang, as if sensing something, and Casey looked up with the others to realize neither the storm or that gaping hole had dissipated.
"Shit."
Columns of light hit the upturned earth in a soundless explosion of color, a rainbow of harmless warmth over skin as every stray end connected, electricity under her skin and the vague sense of another heartbeat in her ears…
Vision swimming back into focus, Casey blinked up at a pair of red eyes and a toothy grin, nonplussed.
"Hi! I'm Koromon, and we're partners!"
A beat of silence followed as she stared at the strange little creature, then stared at the suddenly-absolutely-normal sky, then back again.
"…Fuck."