Pain reverberates through Crusade as she runs down the hard pavement. She's trailing behind the rest of the group, but she has to keep pushing forward. Jackass, at the head of the group, reaches the front gate of the STRANGE Academy and tries to pull it open. The heavy, black metal doors are locked and he shakes them in frustration. He backs up a little and she loses sight of him as a big bull appears. Dickwad rams the gate and they buckle with a squealing groan. The bull backs up and charges with a bellow, running right through the gates as they fly open. Dickwad keeps galloping up the walk towards the building.
The big brick school looms ahead of them, its lit-up windows illuminating in the dark. A trio of kids stand at the top of the steps arranging tables in a blockade. As she runs through the ruined gate, the kids spot the bull charging towards them and scream. They drop the furniture in their hands and head inside, the heavy wooden door slamming behind them. Dickwad charges up the stairs and slams into the stacked tables, smashing them to smithereens as it disappears. Her eyes find Jackass again as he sprints up the stairs two at a time, Glade right behind him.
Crusade speaks into her comm. "Guys, wait a second! We need to figure out a plan!"
Neither of them respond, though. Jackass runs up to the door and tries to wrench it open, but it must be locked from the other side. Glade, in his massive trunk, lumbers up behind him and grabs both of the handles. He pulls, the branches creaking and groaning for a moment, before the doors burst open with a loud crack. The two hurry inside before she even gets to the foot of the stairs. Luckily, Lamplighter and Corona are right behind them.
"Lamplighter, Did Corona tell you the plan?"
"Yeah, we'll do our best to get the kids out of the way safely."
Crusade climbs the stairs, her lungs burning. Screams and shouts of panic stream through the door. She puts her armor up and creates a staff in her right hand as she reaches the top of the steps. Hurrying through the cracked doors, she tries to get a grip on what's happening.
The entry hall of the school is vaulted with stairs leading to a second level where she knows leads to the kids' dorms. Straight ahead of them is a long hall that branches off into the teaching spaces. But it's completely unrecognizable from the first time she was here. There's furniture and bags of sand all over, creating areas of cover. There are half a dozen kids in this area, four on the main floor and two up on the balcony with Dr. Samuels.
The principal leans over the railing shouting directions at the kids. "Defend the school! They're trying to take over the city!"
Jackass is already on his way up the stairs to the second level, metal boomerangs in hand. "Samuels, you bastard! They're goddam kids! They trusted you!" As he launches himself over the railing, Samuels lays eyes on him and runs in the opposite direction. He climbs over the railing and drops himself down before sprinting down the hall, tweed jacket flapping behind him. Jackass sprints after him, pushing his way through the two kids in his way, and jumps down. As Samuels turns somewhere and disappears from view, he shouts. "He's going to the auditorium!"
A girl chases after Jackass down the hall, arms full of stuff. Is that Fidget? Crusade goes to follow them, but a tall, beefy kid steps out from behind one of the barricades. He takes a bite out of the sandwiches in each hand and charges her. He's faster than he looks and she doesn't manage to dodge in time. He breaks her armor with a shoulder ram and keeps plowing past her. She gets pushed to the side but manages to keep her feet as he barrels towards Glade in his trunk.
Corona heads up to the second level, speeding towards the kids. As she approaches one of them, an older kid probably about 17, does a flip, his leg arcing in a chop kick motion. The space where his foot sliced through the air is different, dark. Corona doesn't see it in time and flies into it, disappearing from sight. Crusade blinks and looks around, trying to find her. She spots a figure as it appears down the hall and starts flying back towards them.
Lamplighter, still on the ground floor, has his focus divided. One hand shines a light on a kid who has spikes growing out of his shoulders and forearms while the other is pointed at some kind of mechanical suit. They're both slowed down as they run towards him.
Crusade looks around but doesn't see Glade. He was right here a second ago. She turns back towards the entrance to see the big trunk shoved up against the door frame getting punched by the beefy kid. The trunk suddenly shifts and the big tree envelops the kid as it turns inside out. The branches and vines that make up the minion wrap around him as he struggles. Glade practically falls out of the back as it lays on top of the kid like a blanket and hobbles away on his one good leg, back pressed to the wall. Crusade hurries over to him as he slides down onto the floor shaking his head.
"I can't do this anymore. I can't. I can't do this."
Crusade kneels down in front of him, hands on his shoulders. "What's going on?"
Her partner just keeps shaking his head, his voice cracking. "These are kids, Anna! I'm not going to fight them! I shouldn't b-b-be here? What am I even d-doing here?!" He drops his head into his hands and his breathing is too fast.
Her grip on his shoulders tightens as she sighs. "I know this is insane. But Po'boy's is in trouble. He followed Samuels and he's not thinking straight. He needs us right now."
"He can handle himself. I can't…I can't d-d-do this."
She presses her lips into a thin line. "If we don't talk some sense into him, he's going to do something he'll regret."
Glade scoffs as he lifts his head. "You mean like what you did? Like what I did? I b-beat a man to d-d-death."
She shakes her head. "You stopped Reaper from killing me the only way you could. That doesn't make you a bad person." She hands her head a little. "I'm sorry I dragged you into all of this. I never wanted…I never meant for you to…." Tears cloud her vision as guilt permeates every inch of her. She did this to him. This is all her fault. "I…I understand if you want to leave after all of this, but I can't do this by myself. I need my partner. I need you to help me save him. Please." He looks away, past her, at the kids trying to drive Corona and Lamplighter out of the school. "I'm not asking you to fight them. Lamplighter and Corona will get them out of here safely."
Glade looks back at her, the sound of a big sniffle coming out from behind his mask. He doesn't say anything, just pulls out a handful of seeds from his pouch. He holds them in his hand, his thumb rubbing up against one of them as a little leaf pops out of the orb. In seconds there are dryads spilling out of his palm and crawling all over him. She releases him and stands, taking a step back, as they grow and weave, creating a new vine around him.
She puts out a hand and the big tree grabs it. She pulls him to his feet and he towers over her. Blinking back the last of her tears, she nods. "Let's go get him."
Turning back, she puts her armor back up. Lamplighter and Corona are following the kids down the hall as they shout to each other to fall back. At the end of the hall, they all turn, heading in opposite direction that Samuels and Jackass went. Crusade and Glade take off in the same direction, hurrying after their teammate. She looks back and forth as they run down the hall, trying to figure out where the auditorium is.
Glade points to a small sign pointing off to the left. "This way!" They turn off the main hall down a narrower hall with lower ceilings. "Has there been any sign of Incarnate?"
She shakes her head as they go. "No, but if he's here then he's probably with Samuels."
"What if he's not?"
Crusade shakes her head. She can't even think about that right now. If he's not here, they're out of leads. "Let's just get to Jackass. We can worry about him later."
As they run down the corridor, she looks around; something's off. They've been running down this hall for way too long. They're passing windows like they're moving, but it doesn't look like they're actually getting any closer. She stops, Glade stumbling to a halt next to her, and looks back the way they came. She takes a few steps back, not moving any closer to the main hallway.
Glade looks back and forth. "Fidget."
She nods as she peers around the hallway. She can't see any sort of device. They need to get out of this, how the hell do they break out of this? She points down the corridor and looks at her partner. "When I say so, run that way as fast as you can." He nods and positions himself. She faces the hall again. "Ready? Go!" She sprints as fast as she can. The walls around her stretch and twist as she runs in place until she jolts forward, stumbling as she takes a few steps toward the hallway. Fidget's traps have gotten much more sophisticated. That wasn't just little robots or a spring trap; that looked like reality manipulation. And there was no trigger that they could see.
Looking back at Glade, he waves her on. "Come on! Watch out for more traps." With the trap disabled, they actually make it to the door. She hurries forward into the alcove the door is set into. As she grabs the door handle, he shouts. "Wait, don't!"
She doesn't hear him until her hand is already firmly wrapped around the metal handle. As all four of her fingers make contact she hears a click. She starts turning to look back at Glade to see the wall of the alcove push out towards her. She brings her hand up and puts up a barrier, but the wall slams her and the barrier up against the other wall. The wall keeps pushing and it takes all of her strength just to keep it from squashing her like a bug. She cries out, her arms radiating pain through her whole body. "Glade!" She tries to push back against the wall, grunting in effort, but it doesn't budge an inch.
"I'm trying! Just hang on!"
Crusade's arms start to shake with effort and her armor flickers out. "I can't hold this much longer!"
She can hear him hitting something and cursing. After a few seconds, his viny arms latch onto the edge and he starts grunting in effort. "I need you to push your barrier out on three! One, two, three!" Crusade pushes the wall out as hard as she can as Glade yanks the wall. All at once, the wall recedes back to its original position and she groans in relief as the pressure in her arms disappears. She slumps to the floor and pulls her arms against her chest. His vine's branchy arm loops around her back. "Are you ok?"
Gritting her teeth, she nods. She's not ok, though. She's been pushing herself past her limits and this just made everything ten times worse. She winces as the branch around her back starts to pull her up, helping her to her feet. She leans on it as she gets her feet back under her. On her feet again, she rolls out her wrists. Her arms are still usable, she just really wishes she had one of Desperado's stamina darts right about now.
Her teammate's bloody and broken body flashes before her eyes and she clenches them shut. She can't stop now; she has to see this through.
Opening her eyes again, Crusade looks up at her partner. "Come on, we've wasted enough time already."
Glade nods as his arm pulls away from her. She puts her armor back up as he pulls the doors to the auditorium open. The gigantic room is dark, the only illumination coming from the safety lights at the edge of the stairs. Crusade squints into the darkness, trying to see anything other than the walkway immediately in front of them.
"Samuels! Come out you coward!"
She turns towards the voice to see the shape of a person on the stage. As her eyes adapt to the dark, she can see Jackass pace back and forth, arms out, fists clenched. As she follows the stairs down towards the front, a spotlight turns on and illuminates her teammate on the stage.
He raises his arm to block the light as a growl tears from his throat, echoing in the space. "Samuels!"
She turns towards the back of the auditorium to try and spot the source of the light up on the balcony, but it turns back off, plunging them all back into darkness. Her eyes are having a really hard time adjusting with the lights going on and off. She should just focus on what she can see. Making her way down the stairs, she turns back to her friend. "Jackass! Just…hold on, ok? Don't do something you'll regret."
He doesn't respond, just keeps pacing. The light turns on and he stops, eyes squinted against the light as he hurries towards the front edge of the stage. The spotlight turns off again and he lets out a frustrated shout. Again, the light turns back on. But this time, there's a figure behind him. A man in an impeccably tailored red suit, black hair slicked neatly back, with a sinister smirk on his face.
Incarnate.