forum •Apotheosis of Abnormality• [one/one]

Started July 27, 2022 by @Dayzed business

tune

Very little ever got to the sphinx. She had lived many lives over many centuries, seen many wars and horrors beyond the comprehension of the average human - very few things surprised her anymore.
And yet Hebe found herself bothered by the information she had been given only hours before. It wasn’t surprising, not in the least bit - humans were infamous for their violence and cruelties - but Hebe knew what the consequences would be for such a drastic action.
Fear always brewed fear. And hatred led to genocide and riots.
This time would be no different.

Hebe’s fingers tightened around the mug of tea, mostly there to provide comfort more than anything functional at this point.
She didn’t mind. She had plenty of the herb in her gardens, what was one wasted cup in the face of comfort?

“Relax, my dear, they have always been this way. I have never not seen them go more than a few decades before they pick another group to hate. It is the way of their people.” He spoke softly from the bar stool across from Hebe, His warm and kind eyes softened by the drink in His hand.
She had yet to get His name and had taken to simply calling him, well, Him. And yet He had become a comfortable friend. Gods were secretive fellows, she assumed. It wouldn't be productive to ask which of the pantheons He served anyways - she got the strange feeling that He served none of them, a sort of new god ruled and associated with no one. Perhaps He had no name.
“I am worried over my customer base. The more panicked people who visit me the greater the risk of being found.” She replied, glancing over His handsome features for a moment. Sometimes she swore she recognized Him, that in of itself a clue to his heritage, if gods could have heritage.
“I see.” He said simply. Hebe knew He wasn’t convinced. Oh well.
A comfortable silence fell between the two for a moment, one in which Hebe took the first sip of her tea and sighed.

Just as she was about to speak, the cafe’s door swung open harshly, hitting the stopper with a concerning crack.
Hebe glared at the intruder, tilting her head up coldly. The intruder stared back, tired and panicked. The god at the bar glanced over the new figure, humming lightly in thought.
“Marcus. We are closed. I’m afraid I’ve also told your hot-headed friend he has limited aid from me. I cannot help you. I ask that you leave.” She huffed, standing immediately to her full very tall height and scowling.
Marcus looked awful. his hair was more unruly than usual, his face swollen and red from the tears that still stained his cheeks, and his clothes ruffled and singed. It was obvious he had tried to pull himself together and appear presentable before entering. Unfortunately it only managed to make him look more pathetic in Hebe’s opinion.
He was admittedly a tragic character - it was unfortunate he was so stupid and caused many of his own tragedies. Hebe hoped he could wise up eventually. She had definitely been pushing him towards it.

Marcus dipped his head down, squeezing his eyes shut and muttering a quiet apology.
“I need information, I know you know what is happening.” He pleaded, keeping his head frustratingly low so she could not look into his eyes.

“Your newfound ‘friend’ understands what is to come, the one you match,” The god spoke up, gesturing to the still-healing piercing. “It’s not a pleasant thing, though I suppose you already know that. Your aggressors are planning something rather horrible. I understand you mortals have limited knowledge but isn’t it rather cruel to hold those different than you so low that they are dispensable when fear feels like the only tactic to keep them in line?” He tutted his tongue, downing the rest of the golden liquid in his glass.
Hebe turned to glare at Him, but He only shrugged. “It is not in my nature to let someone like him remain in the dark. He must have some lead if he is to have a chance at survival.” He glanced at a thankful, yet confused, Marcus and scoffed “Do not thank me yet, you still have a long road ahead. Now, I’m sure you’re curious about that friend of yours. Go, seek what he knows.” He waved the ginger away with a grin.
Marcus only nodded, his eyes slightly glazed over as he turned sharply on his heel and walked out of the door. It closed behind him with a click, signaling that the lock had turned on its own.
Hebe narrowed her eyes at Him, glancing out at a now confused Marcus. Her suspicions were confirmed when He chuckled to Himself and leaned across the bar counter to pick another liquor to pour into his glass.
“Kid has a lot of issues, but you don’t need to deal with that at the moment. Now sit, drink some more with me, I have more information to give to you on the matters you’ve inquired of me.”

---

Outside, Marcus shook off the remaining fog from his mind, feeling a little more than lost and a lot cheated.
That hadn’t gone the way he had thought - which at this point was both a good and a bad thing.
He had some information, though it was frustratingly useless. Of course he knew A.C.E. treated those they took horribly, what did that have to do with anything?! Was A.C.E. planning on transferring more to their hellish laboratories? That wasn’t anything new though he supposed it could be enough to satiate Marx? They hadn’t attacked a transport vehicle in a hot second.

Though… Hebe’s company had also told Marcus to consider Jake, something Marcus really was on the fence about.
Jake seemed… not so bad all in all. But he was still technically the enemy. And it seemed… dangerous to ask Jake for information, no matter how fucked Marcus would be without it.
He pulled his phone out, staring at its cracked screen for a moment before he groaned and wandered back out into the streets.

It would take Marcus four blocks before he sent a single anxious message to Jake:

”Can we meet up? I have a favor to ask…”

(Small side note, I changed Arisitde's wife's name from Stella to Sienna (lotta world building in the past few weeks) and Merlin to Matvei- also "Aster" is just a nickname now, her official name is Astrid :))

Jake walked down the hallways of the building, blood smeared around his nose area in an attempt to clean the constant dripping of blood before he reached a bathroom. Some of the blood dried on his hand as he passed the bathroom which he should have gone into to get cleaned up- but he was heading somewhere else right now.
He didn't have it in him.
He didn't have it in him to kill those five people, especially when he knew who they were. Having met two of them when they were only kids, the whole of Apotheosis also having been young at the time. Jake knew the other three too, but they had been older at the time- the three adults never having gotten along with A.C.E. or even Apotheosis when they were small.
So where was he heading now? To his sister of course.
What for? For motivation.
Whenever Jake felt he might back down from something he had been ordered to do, she was the one he ran to, even though there was nothing she could do. Astrid was a huge motivator and the biggest reason Jake did what he did. He had made a promise to both his mother and sister that he would do what it took to keep her safe.

Astrid had been six when the accident with his father had happened, having found out about Sienna's infidelity and absolutely destroying everything around him in the process. Everyone had gotten caught in the crossfire between Matvei and Sienna's affair, Darius, Jake, and Astrid being Aristide's punching bag, Darius and Jake for a year or two longer until he had cooled down. Darius had taken the brunt of the abuse, growing to resent Jake and Astrid because he was the "oldest" and was expected to take everything for them.
That night when Aristide had come home, no one had suspected a thing, Darius had been Jake's current age, sixteen, and had been in for a hell of a beating, having known about Sienna's affair but covering for their mother. Darius loved Sienna with all his heart, so of course he had. Next had been Jake who had been questioned at age eleven, then Astrid, who was six. She hadn't been questioned but Aristide had tried to kill her that night, Darius getting between them when Astrid had been knocked unconscious at that point, the amount of blood everywhere being enough to make Jake throw up.

If Jake hadn't called the police as quickly as he had, he was sure Aristide would have killed both Astrid and Darius, with him being next in line for that death sentence.

Jake held up his wrist to the door's scanner, it registering him as someone who was allowed to go in, a small beep! sounded out as the light turned from red to green.

He took in a deep breath as he pushed the door open and closed it behind him, standing by the door for far too long as if caught in a trance.
Once he shook his thoughts away he stepped forward, going to the side of the hospital bed Astrid was in, shadows cast on her fair freckled skin. Most of the lights in that room were never on, the light source being two lamps that dimly lit the place. Before he sat down, Jake checked the bags of fluid, and then her chart for any updates. Sometimes there were small notes written down.

"Brain activity has increased since the last time we gave Astrid a dose of the trial drug."

Aristide having signed off so they could basically use her as a lab rat for their "trial drugs" that were technically safe to use on humans, but Jake hated it. Even if it was something that could help Aster, he hated it.

After reading through the sheets upon sheets of Astrid's reports, something he did every time he came in, almost like a ritual at this point, he sat down. He practically had everything memorized, how much of which drugs they gave her, which had been complete failures, which were the ones currently being tested, and her overall health which had plummeted a few times over the years.

Astrid had grown a lot while bedridden, her black hair long. Jake was basically the one in charge of Aster even if Aristide was the "father". Jake being the main thing in between his sister and his father- if not for him, she wouldn't be alive. Sure, it was a shitty way of keeping someone alive but Jake clung to that small bit of hope that she would wake up one day. I mean, as much as he hated the drug trials, someday, hopefully, they would work.

"I'm hangin' in there…." Jake took Astrid's hand, squeezing it a bit. "So you hang in there too. Don't flatline on me again" He spoke softly. Silence filled the room as Jake pulled himself together, not wanting to cry. There were too many cameras around.

"Mom's probably not coming back. Aristide made that very clear. But she's still our mother, she's probably just scared of him, don't hold it against her" He said, the memory of how cruel Aristide had broken the news to him still fresh in his memory. Letters. His stupid hope and writing letters which he thought were being sent out to his mother.
A small sound of disbelief left him, sounding almost like a sad laugh. Even now without the letters he refused to believe Aristide had pulled that elaborate of a plan to keep Jake together. Like he cared.
Well. He supposed they had served their purpose.

Jake sat there for another moment longer in silence. Nowadays it felt like he had nothing good to say. He never had in the past, but he had taken the small scraps of happiness he had gotten from his friends to share with Astrid. He didn't want to share depressing news with her in case there was a chance she was hearing him.
Right when he was about to say something else, a chime came from his phone. Jake ignored it as usual. He always ignored phone calls and messages when he was with Aster, but with everything going on, that didn't last long, the anxiety that it was in relation to the execution being enough to make him take his phone out.
Jake scowled as he furiously dug into his pocket and looked over the message. His blood ran cold at seeing who it was from.

A favor? This clearly had to be a trap.

Gas station by Yarborough's, be there in ten

Yarborough's was a small family-run ice cream place. He constantly went there with Rae, both of them seeking out new places to eat at, discovering that Yarborough's pretty much topped at other fast food chains in the area. The ice cream place was on the outskirts of the city but even though it was a bit far away, it was worth it.
For this occasion, however, it was more than worth it. Jake did not want to get caught making this stupid move. He had already pulled enough of those to last him a lifetime.
It seemed like Jake never learned his lesson, but there was an idea brewing in his head, maybe Marcus could help stop this. It was a big maybe, but Jake would do anything it took to attempt to put a stop to this. I mean- he had to try….right ? It was what Jen would do, and so that was what he would do too.

The quick reply back made Marcus pause. He hadn’t actually expected the other to answer him, in full honesty. He was sort of grasping at straws despite the guidance he had just received.
Marcus checked the maps on his phone, squinting at the distance. He could make that in ten minutes, easy.
He shoved his phone back in his pocket before turning to slip silently into the alleyways, where the gentle glow of his runes lit his path and warded off the beings leaning in the shadows.

The alleys provided a much quicker route for those brave enough to traverse them. You had to make sure you knew where you were going, or else you might run into the unfortunate circumstance of getting mugged or jumped or much worse by the desperate enough human.
The Abnormalities knew that those humans were the least of their concerns - there were much worse things creeping between the buildings that wouldn’t hesitate to feed on the unfortunate passerby.

Most of them had learned early on, however, that Marcus wasn’t something edible. He smelled of lighter fluid and the smoke off matches, not a very welcoming smell for creatures of the night.
They were certain, however, that he would burn like a hot ember if eaten and continue to eat away at their very being out of pure spite.
There was a spark there they saw that Marcus didn’t.
That same spark kept his runes lit brightly as he snuck around corners and glanced out at empty streets to read their names.

The moment he reached the building he pulled his phone out to check the time. He was a little disappointed by how long it had taken him to get here but he had managed to do it in time.
That’s all that mattered, right?
He hoped so.
The buzz in his bones kept getting worse the more he thought about it.

He took a small breath as he moved to lean against the side of the building, cringing as he caught sight of himself in the reflection of a window. He looked awful.
Marcus fluffed his hair out a little, trying to make it look less messy and a little less singed.

Jake had already been there before Marcus ever had, having a slight head start on him due to his chosen vehicle of transport.
Technically Jake and the other members of Apotheosis were too young to drive, but they had been practicing for years prior- it seemed as if A.C.E. didn't really care if they got hurt in an accident, wanting them- no, needing them to know how to get around quickly if they should call for it.
They all had special permits in case anyone stopped them, though, by that point, most knew who they were, being a big deal in law enforcement fields. The two sometimes worked hand in hand in some cases.
Jake had parked his motorcycle in front of the gas station's convenience store. The place looked to be pretty empty all things considered, though, that didn't come as a surprise to Jake, knowing that at this hour of the evening, almost everyone had gone home from a long day at work.

That's right. A.C.E. wanted to do the executions at this hour- when everyone was too exhausted to fight back, or at least, that's what A.C.E. thought. They wanted everyone at their weakest, most vulnerable, and this was perfect- ideal.

The handle on one of the store's freezers was suddenly yanked open, Jake's eyes scanning the different types of items they had before picking out the first small bag he saw- it was a packaged bag of mixed berries.
He brought it up to the counter along with yet another can of caffeine. And very sugary energy drink. The taste was a little off than your regular soda cans, but Jake enjoyed it all the same.
Once paid for, he took both things and headed out of the small store, turning around and almost instantly throwing the bag of berries at the wall as hard as he could. He walked over to the bag and assessed the damage. Okay. Good. It hadn't torn, but at least now the berries inside weren't stuck together anymore.
Jake placed the bag to his face, hissing a little at the cool sensation over that side where he had gotten clocked twice by Aristide. It was very tender and hot to the touch, with some swelling starting to become visible, but nothing too drastic yet.

Once he had that pressed to his face he took his phone out to text Marcus, not seeing the guy around.
Are you close?
Came his message to which he heard a phone notification go off towards the side of the building, Jake wasted no time in making his way around the corner only to see Marcus standing there. He seemed to visibly relax at that, even though this situation was not one he should be relaxing in.

Jake watched as the guy tried to fix his hair, a smile brought to his lips at the scene in front of him despite not being able to fully, the side of his cheek too sore to allow for more than what was necessary.

"You look tempting as always, even when you're covered in blood, your hair looks fine," Jake said, the first words out of his mouth being another shot at flirting, though, the slanted smile on his face was soon wiped off, now turning a bit more serious.

"What do you want? I'm busy you know" Jake said, trying to play off the fact that he hadn't been desperate to arrive, coming a minute or two earlier than he had told Marcus to meet him. If one put two and two together, Jake really shouldn't be there and technically it was quite impossible for him to be, meaning that this really had to be an emergency if he was taking time out of his working hours to meet with an Abnormality of all people.
His voice, however, didn't hold the usual edge to it when addressing Abnormalities while working. It was very casual and maybe even soft this time around, but still, there were undertones of anxiety hidden in his voice- something that could be hard to miss.

Marcus had been reaching for his phone to check the message when Jake spoke. The witch nearly jumped out of his skin, his hand jumping to his hip for a moment until his brain clicked into place.
“Oh… it’s you.” he reached up one last time to fix a stray strand, looking over Jake for a moment before he smiled nervously.
“You don’t look so bad yourself. Good to know I’m not the only one having a shit night.” He hummed, his shoulders relaxing a little. Marcus leaned back against the wall, squeezing his eyes shut and sighing as he finally let his sore body rest.

He tilted his head slightly at Jake’s tone, opening one eye to give him a once over. They both were having not so great nights it seemed. Whatever was making Jake anxious, however, made Marcus much more worried.
He had yet to see the other actually nervous about something that didn’t have to do with Marcus.
“Listen, we fucked up.” He started slowly, rubbing his face and scowling when he smeared the dried blood on his face.
“A.C.E. is doing something big enough to scare the Sphinx - which is extremely worrying - and Marx seems to think I can somehow figure out what that thing is.” He paused for a moment, looking unnerved as if he had just realized something. He stole another glance at Jake before sinking to the ground with a groan.
“Fuck me…” he huffed, leaning his head back. “Let’s hope he doesn’t know my contact within A.C.E. is you or we’re both fucked.”
Marcus fell silent for a moment, his anxiety growing. The runes along his arms glowed faintly, and the spots his fingertips touched his own skin smoked as if he were burning wood.
“Do- do you know what’s going on?” He asked finally, his voice quiet and scared. “I need to know but I can’t tell you why I do. I just do and Hebe wouldn’t help me and I have literally no other place to go.”

Jake scoffed at Marcus' words, rolling his eyes.
"Oh, I'm sure I look wonderful," He said shaking his head, knowing that was the farthest thing from the truth. He probably looked like a hot mess at the moment, his hair out of place and his face starting to bruise a little. Whatever. It's not like he hadn't had worse before. This was nothing, he decided, trying to block the pain out that told him otherwise, but his efforts failing.
He moved to walk closer to Marcus as the other pressed their back against the wall, looking exhausted. It was something he knew well. There really was no resting given their positions on opposite sides.

At the “Listen, we fucked up.” part Jake paused. He listened to Marcus' predicament with an icy coldness in his eyes that said everything, his entire demeanor changing in an instant. As much as Jake wanted to be warm and inviting and even help Marcus out, he felt, that if he did not act the part of an A.C.E. official, Marcus would get too close, start to get too comfortable with him- maybe even start to ask him about what it was he did and if he could know more things about the organization.
Jake wanted Marcus to get comfortable with him, he wanted to spend time with the idiot who humored him that day, but there was a huge part of him that didn't want Marcus to get carried away and expect that Jake would be there every time he wanted to know something from behind A.C.E.'s closed doors.

He needed to be careful about presenting himself in a way where Marcus thought he could trust him. Because he couldn't. Or well, shouldn't.

There was a look on his face that told Marcus to tread carefully in what he said and asked of him, the name Marx, which was casually thrown into the conversation, seeming to jolt Jake back to reality, looking more serious now as Marcus finished his mini-rant.
Jake watched as Marcus slid down the wall, his expression remaining serious but his eyes looking softer now, a subtle frown etched between his eyebrows as if feeling for the guy.

Even though Marcus hadn't asked the direct question he wanted to, Jake already knew what it was going to be, given what he had already told him just now, but Jake didn't say anything. He knew better than to say something that probably wasn't what Marcus was looking for and give something away that he really shouldn't. He had to be sure before he said anything.
"Or what?" Jake challenged. "Your boyfriend will fillet me?" An annoyed smile tugged at the edge of his lips, his eyes narrowed. He knew exactly what Marcus was getting at, but for some reason, it really seemed to spark something inside him. Something like a bit of anger, or maybe it was jealousy. He couldn't tell, but the emotion was ugly and enough to draw out the coldness in his voice.
"Maybe he'll fillet you afterward too once he's done with me" Jake scoffed again, this time, it sounding mean-spirited and meaning to pull a reaction from Marcus- maybe an undignified or angry look.
He half expected the guy to say something cruel back towards him.

The silence that filled the air afterward did nothing to unnerve Jake. Yes he also had a few things to say and being difficult to talk with wouldn't get him anywhere but he refused to speak again, waiting for Marcus to say his piece. Why he had called him.

And finally, when Marcus spoke again, asking the dreaded question, Jake was quiet, now staring at him. He knew what his answer would be, he didn't have to think about it twice, it would be a firm "no" at first. But even if his answer was a firm no, there was something in Jake that made him curious as to why Marcus would even ask him of all people. Jake knew Marx was a terrifying individual and Marcus was probably madly in love with the guy to the point where he would carry out his every wish- but, why come to him? Why not try others? Why not tell his boyfriend that he hadn't found anything? What was he so afraid of? They were dating so Marx should be more than understanding, giving his lover some leniency.
"I do know what's going on." Jake answered but said nothing more. There was something inside of Jake that was holding onto the information, not wanting to pass it on to anyone else because once he did, he wouldn't be able to take it back.

Jake swallowed harshly at Marcus asking him of all people for help. It made his heart ache that it had gotten to this point, that Marcus was so terrified he would come to the enemy as a last-ditch effort.
And yet…..

"You need to know," Jake said flatly, emphasizing the "need" part. "And I can't know why" Jake continued, as if mocking Marcus. "That sounds like a great deal," Jake said, his voice sounding like steel, watching as Marcus looked frightened. Of what? He didn't know. Maybe of Jake, but he didn't seem so frightened when they had spent the day together. He wondered what changed.
"I give you information on what A.C.E. is doing, you run off and tell the leader of the one group we have been trying to catch this entire time, someone who poses a huge threat to us and probably everyone else around them, and what? I expect nothing to happen if I give you this information? Do you realize what you're asking me to do?" He said firmly, it sounding like Jake wasn't going to tell Marcus anything. But Jake was testing the waters. How far would Marcus go?

Jake was only bluffing of course, he would tell Marcus, not because he wanted to help him- or well, he did, just couldn't given any other scenario, but it was more so because it would indirectly help Jake right now. Still, he wanted to know what Marcus' game plan was. The guy didn't seriously think Jake would just…give the information out for free right? What would he give him in return? Intel on the gang? Would Marcus really backstab them like that? He didn't think so. He had to make sure that if he did tell Marcus what was going on and if he ever asked anything of Marcus it would be the truth and not some bullshit lie.
What would stop him from taking the information now and fucking Jake over later? That was the biggest thing Jake was caught up on. He made mistake after mistake, but now, there was hesitance. He wouldn't do or say anything else until he made sure it wouldn't hurt the people around him.

Marcus cracked a small smile at the response, shrugging. “What can I say? I like a mess.” He joked, more so to try and lighten the mood.
His sad tone didn’t make it very convincing.

Nor did the sudden shift in mood as Marcus began to speak. He ignored the cold look Jake gave him, shuddering in the cold air and hugging himself slightly.
Marcus wasn’t going to take Jake’s reaction personally. He was asking for a lot, something that could get them both killed - or worse - in an instant. He didn’t need to see the silent warning on the others face to know that it was there, silently reminding him of his position.
As much as he wanted to be friendly with Jake - not that he’d ever admit to that, mind you - it wasn’t something they could do in their current positions.

Jake’s cold words solidified the reminder of that in Marcus’s mind. His own expression grew annoyed, a snarl tugging at the edges of his mouth.
“Shut the fuck up.” He growled, his tone and mood suddenly shifting to something the other hadn’t seen from him before, something dark and frustrated.
Jake got his reaction. But it seemed to have made Marcus draw considerably more back into himself, his expression hardening.
Tonight he wasn’t going to take any shit about Marx. The topic was sore enough at the moment.
“Filleting would be the best case scenario for me. He’s not kind enough to kill me.” Marcus spat in return, forcing the familiar burn in his throat and eyes down.

He settled a bit into the silence, but that frustration and anger never left his body.
He risked only one glance at Jake, taking in his expression with a growing anxiety.
There was a sort of helplessness that flashed across his expression when Jake admitted to knowing what was going on.
It left just as quickly, one could argue it hadn’t happened at all.

“Do you think I’d be here if I didn’t understand what it was? Do I look like someone who thinks they have a choice in who he’s asking? Does it look like I’d be able to do anything with the information you give me?” He asked, his voice low as he stared at the ground in front of him like it had personally harmed him.
“What do you want from me, then?” He asked, suddenly snapping his attention to Jake, his eyes narrowing.
“Name the price for it. What do you want from me for this? Secrets of the gang in return? We’re grasping at straws anyways so why the fuck not?! Take what you want, it won’t be useful to me in a couple of hours.” He ran his fingers across the now-active runes on his arms where smoke had started to swirl more vividly, a dark gray in color.

There was a faint blush on Jake's face at the comment, but he looked away, playing it off like it had nothing to do with him.

At the reaction, however, it was and wasn't something he had been expecting. He didn't expect Marcus to sound so hurt? Was that the right word? No. Not hurt, but something along those lines, a mixture of convoluted emotions, negative emotions, more than he thought would come out.
Jake was silent at Marcus' next words, it shut him up, not knowing what to say to that and the expression on the other's face that he had seen on some of his friends time and time again. It was one that gave the impression that one would cry out of anger or frustration but was attempting extremely hard to shove it down.
Jake clenched his jaw, feeling like an asshole for saying those words, but he had meant it. He had full-heartedly meant it even though now, he regretted it. It was usually like that with him.

"I don't know." Came Jake's words, his voice still holding that air of coldness. "I don't know anything about you, so I don't know. You can look like one thing, but be the complete opposite. You don't ever truly know someone, not really" Jake said, his words sounding forced- because they were. His last sentence however seemed harsh, like he knew that from personal experience.

Marcus asking Jake what he wanted seemed to put a stop to him. Jake's initial thought had been information on the gang- maybe something he could pass onto A.C.E. but that wasn't exactly something he would do- no matter how much of a threat Marx's gang posed. He would never give A.C.E. information like that willingly. Maybe it was more of something he wanted to know to be prepared, to keep him and Apotheosis prepared, knowing that they had brushes with death far too many times. They were only sixteen but the amount of times they had come face to face with death was not something that could tallied anymore. It kept multiplying by the day and it would be impossible to keep track of.

He watched Marcus' eyes narrow as he spoke, the runes on his arms giving away the frustration that was brewing inside of him.
Although it was alarming to be next to Marcus as he seemed to spiral a little, knowing how volatile his magic could be, Jake could not be calmer in this situation, which that in itself was also very unsettling. He looked like someone who had a death wish, or maybe just someone who didn't let on how anxiety-inducing this really was. Having the chilling bravery of someone who wasn't human.

Jake had a question in his mind, it was going to be "Do you know what Marx has planned next? If anything at all?" But instead, what came out of his mouth was:
"Why are you so afraid?" His face still had that same neutrality, yet somehow seemed more serious, it being a mirror of his father's expression when he spoke to Jake, except there were undertones of worry in his.

"I want to know what you're so scared of." He repeated. "I know you're not afraid of me because if you were you wouldn't get so close. You don't seem afraid of much, especially not Apotheosis or even A.C.E.- certainly not death either." He took a step forward despite the smoke that rose off the other. He didn't know why he was attempting to get closer to someone who could lash out and hurt him, but there was a deep desire within Jake to reach out even if he didn't know how to comfort others, even if he got burned.
"So what has you here nearly losing your mind?"
He couldn't stand the thought of someone facing everything alone. Maybe it was for selfish reasons, knowing that Marcus' pain felt similar to his and he wished someone would do the same for him. Save him. Because although Jake had Apotheosis that didn't change anything. It didn't change his deep-set loneliness and how there was no escape for him. For any of them.

There was no saving him but Jake wanted to believe that there was. There had to be, he couldn't keep doing this his entire life. He wouldn't make it.
If saving others was something he could do despite it adding to his struggles and pain- it would be worth it. In his eyes anyways. Maybe it wasn't worth it, but Jake still had his empathy intact even though Aristide had tried to torture it out of him again and again as a kid- even now.

Jake had a vague idea of what was bothering Marcus, all the signs of a cornered animal being there, but he couldn't say for sure even though Marcus' comment about Marx not being kind enough to kill him resounded in his skull.

There was a small, twisted satisfaction within Marcus’s stomach at Jake’s silence. Everyone had all of these expectations of what Marx’s right hand man was, and they all assumed they could pick at it to get a reaction out of him.
It annoyed the fuck out of him.

“I already know that.” Marcus replied coldly, his eyes narrowing once again. “I don’t know you either.”

Marcus watched Jake struggle with his thoughts for a moment, the runes on his arms slowly dimming once more though their smoke never stopped - like the coals of a dying fire, still dangerous and hot but appearing docile and controlled.

“I already told you I can’t-” Marcus cut himself off, reminding himself what was on the line. He had asked what Jake wanted, he had done this to himself.
He shifted nervously, falling uncharacteristically silent for once.

“Marx. I’m scared of Marx.” he started, his voice so quiet it was hardly even a whisper. “There’s a place under the gang house you only get to see if you cross Marx. He keeps this… thing down there - we call him Em - who is the reason why no one ever finds the victims of our gang. There are no bodies to find, Em eats them.”
Marcus risked a glance up at Jake, looking over how tense the other had become. He shook his arms out, trying his best to extinguish his magic to avoid another violate outburst.
“Marx has taken to using Em as persuasion for those he questions. Or as a punishment for those who cross him. More recently, it’s been his favorite place to keep his favorite little toy when he acts out.” Marcus snarled out that last part, taking in a deep breath to avoid the flare up of actual fire brewing in his throat.
“The more information I take back to him, the less amount of time he’ll keep me there. So there. Turns out Marx’s favorite isn’t all too keen to be treated the way he is, I’m sure you’ve heard the rumors about me.” He huffed as he brought his knees up to his chin and huffed them.
“Is that all you want? Want me to spill all of my relationship troubles?” He grumbled, his words stuck on a biting edge.

The silence after Jake had stopped talking made him shift slightly on his feet, while the previous silences that filled the air hadn't fazed him much, Marcus being stuck in thought made Jake only slightly nervous. Maybe it hadn't been a good idea. Maybe he should have gone with asking Marcus about Marx's plans.

"You know what, you don'-" Jake was cut off once Marcus finally spoke again. He swallowed harshly at that. To think that people in the gang would be scared of their leader- sure, they were a gang, and not everything was as cute as thinking of them as one big happy family, but Jake had no experience with gangs and the like. Wynn's words still stuck in his head.

"I did manage to find people I like much more than the ones I used to have to deal with."

But then again, he had never said he loved it or even preferred it. Maybe some part of that sentence was true but it was clear now that Wynn mostly said it to keep the negative from overpowering the positive.
Jake didn't seem like it but he hung onto every word he was told, especially those of strangers. He was an avid writer and questioned life a lot, and no matter how embarrassing his notebooks sounded when they were read out loud he would keep writing till the universe told him his time was up.
Pretty much everything that had happened in his life up until now was written down in those books and he found solace in the pages when there was no one there to hear him out. He had written a few suicide notes in his life, and they were all there on those pages too. Everything from fun vacations, which were rare, with his family (Apotheosis) to the things that kept him second-guessing himself were written down.

When Marcus looked up at Jake there was a look akin to worry there, his brows furrowed in a near frown.
"So I was right." Jake said firmly. "He really doesn't love you." He said, recalling his small outburst from the other day, not that it seemed like an outburst to anyone but Jake knew when something really triggered him, no matter the emotions he was going through. He was very good at telling apart what he was feeling, but there were times when he would also blank out on knowing how he felt, it was a lot of contradictions. But well, he was one.
Once Marcus finished speaking, Jake had a question in mind, but he already knew the answer to it, so it never left his thoughts. Why are you still with him then?
Jake stepped forward and crouched down to Marcus' level, taking the frozen package off his face for a second, noting how the guy had made himself into a small ball, Jake now trying to catch his eyes.

However, instead of making a snide comment about his relationship with Marx or about wanting more- Jake definitely wanted more, but not in the way Marcus was implying, he took in a deep breath, like the thought of Marcus being in that situation was a lot to take in.

"No. You don't have to tell me anymore….but, if you ever need somewhere to go…" He trailed off, carefully thinking if he should say the next part. "I'm always available." He said at last. "You can't stay at Apotheosis' apartment, it's full of surveillance cameras now, and my family's home is the last place you'd want to be at, but…I can help arrange a place for you to stay, just if you ever need it." He said softly, wanting to give Marcus a comforting touch, I mean, he was right there in front of him in arm's reach, but instead, Jake stood back up and sat beside him.

"And I know you can handle yourself" Jake waved him off before Marcus even thought of saying the obvious. "But it's there. For emergencies- when there's nowhere else to go" He said, looking straight ahead at a car that was pulling up to one of the gas pumps.
It was finally then that he cracked open the energy drink, but instead of taking a sip, he sat there holding it in his hand, as if trying to find the courage to say what he needed to say.

"We're doing a public execution in less than three hours," Jake said casually like it wasn't the singular most horrifying thing that would take place that day. Like he wasn't the one who had been elected to carry it out.
"My fath- Aristide, is currently transporting five Abnormalities to an unknown location. It'll be aired on a specific channel, their deaths." Jake brought the can up to his lips and took a sip. "Their information will be put on screen along with them and their crimes- which are none mind you," Jake said. "But they'll be painted as criminals- terrorists. You think Marx would do something about it if you told him?" He asked.
Jake knew better than to ask for Marx's help through Marcus, but it was his last option- and best bet.
"If I told you the address, would he stop it? It doesn't matter if he attempts to kill everyone there, but would he rescue them?"

Jake knew how this sounded. It sounded just as equally desperate as Marcus was, but throughout the entire time he spoke, he didn't look at Marcus once. He felt a lot of things at that moment that almost made him sick, but he was an Abnormality hunter, he had to act the part. So he drank his sugary drink, hoping it would help. It really didn't.

Marcus flinched.
He didn’t need anyone to tell him that Marx didn’t truly hold love for him, hell Wynn never went one day without reminding Marcus of that fact. And yet for some reason the words cut deeper coming from Jake’s tongue. With Wynn it was easy to brush everything off as playful banter but Jake didn’t cut back on his harsh words.
“I don’t want to believe that.” He muttered quietly, staring hard at his feet as if they had personally offended him. “Sometimes it feels like he does.”
Marcus tried even harder to avoid Jake’s eyes as the other crouched in front of him. He eventually gave into the gray stare, feeling much more panicked and vulnerable when Jake didn’t snicker at him or poke fun at the situation.

The witch hated vulnerability.
He hated having to confront the feelings bubbling up in his throat. He hated seeing the pity other’s gave him when he told them about his situation. He hated showing people what was really going on.
And so as Jake brought up his offer Marcus bristled, his brain immediately jumping to: ”I’m not doing that. I don’t need it or your help.” He opened his mouth to say as much and was met instead with Jake calling him out.
His shoulders relaxed immediately, the angry, bristling feeling in his chest replaced by something warmer, softer. He didn’t much like the new feeling, it was strangely uncomfortable. But he let it fill his chest anyways, looking over Jake curiously for a moment.
“Emergencies. Alright. I’ll take what I can get.” He mused lightly, turning his eyes back to the ground and reaching up to idly play with his piercing. “As long as the payment for it isn’t another piercing.” He joked lightly, not actually minding another trip with Jake.

The witch took little comfort in the silence that followed, waiting and listening for Jake to say what it was he wanted to say. For some reason the air felt more heavy than usual, it made the hairs on the back of his neck raise.
Marcus’s neck snapped up to look at Jake the moment A.C.E.’s plan was revealed.
“Execution!?” He nearly screeched, something terrified and angry escaping his chest. He slipped his hand over his mouth to silence the reaction, though his eyes burned with confusion and anger.
He knew A.C.E. was full of cowards but this was taking it way too far.
Did they think this would stop things?! Put some semblance of fear into the Abnormalities across the nation?!
All this would do would be to cause mass panic.
“No crimes…” he echoed, the runes across his body suddenly lighting up again, their light more intense. A few even burned their way into his shirt - the smoke smelling strangely sweet. Curiously, the heat did nothing more than provide a slight warmth for Jake. Marcus wasn’t looking to harm him.

“You want me to ask Marx to stop this?” The witch asked, reading a little between the lines. He paused for a moment to think it over, panic clouding his mind. How could he ask such a thing of Marx at the moment? If he showed desperation Marx was sure to use it as some kind of punishment for the witch - a sick and twisted way to show that Marcus only got what he wanted if he didn’t do anything against Marx.
Not to mention the timing of it. If he told Marx about it on such short notice would the gang leader even do anything about it? Was Marx willing to sacrifice everything for a few innocent Abnormalities?
More than likely Marx will want A.C.E. to fuck up this badly.

“I don’t know if he’ll do anything, but I can try to get him to do something.” Marcus anxiously tapped his fingers on his arms, chewing on his lip for a moment as the air around him grew steadily more hot from the amount of magic he was subconsciously burning.
“He’ll want the outrage. I know he will. But maybe if I convince him that us showing up to call A.C.E. out on using innocent Abnormalities will cause outrage enough…” he paused for a moment, glancing over at Jake.
“He’ll try and kill anyone from A.C.E., including those who work for him. You might end up in the line of fire.” Marcus was sure Jake already knew this, but he was curious about what the other was going to do about it.

Jake gave Marcus a curious look as the other stared at his own feet, Jake's eyes naturally trailing over to the energy drink can again.

"It does, doesn't it?" He commented, the quote sounding too honest coming from Jake, yet too dismissing at the same time. Almost like he couldn't bring himself to dwell on it for too long.
The truth was, Jake felt the same. Logically, he knew Aristide didn't love him, not like he had in the beginning. Still, the praises here and there made the thought that maybe Aristide had a heart resurface. There were moments when Aristide was incredibly soft towards Jake, which confused the hell out of him, but he welcomed the affection nonetheless. It was stupid, he knew. But Jake couldn't push that away. Not when he wanted it.

He smiled and rolled his eyes at Marcus' comment about the piercings.
"Don't worry, I won't make you do anything else" Jake's smile dropped into something a little more tired but didn't say anything else. His eyes seemed distant now too, more so than what was normal for him.

Jake cringed a little at Marcus' outburst, immediately swallowing harshly afterward. He listened to Marcus' few words, looking at the guy from the corner of his eyes and the way his runes lit up. Jake could feel the warmth and while it didn't exactly scream danger in the way where if his heat was actively scorching him, it did alarm Jake some.
Jake had no problems dying, but he couldn't die yet. Not here.
Still. He didn't move away. If Marcus wanted to do some real damage, he would have already. And if he was saving it? Well. There was no getting out of it either, not while he was already this close.

"When you put it like that…" Jake groaned, tilting his head back so it hit the wall slightly. "It's fucked isn't it?" He asked, but surprisingly, Marcus was willing to work with him, still trying to formulate a plan.
There was a small bit of hope that this would work, that small bit of hope as big as his mother coming back to be involved in his life again. Jake had been preparing himself since Aristide had given him the news, that five people would die today. Deep in his heart, he would never be ready, but not once had he stopped repeating "It's over. They're gone, now you live with it. Their blood is on your hands. Nothing you can do about it."
If there was a chance they could be saved, good, but if not…it was just another thing he would have to cope with. He would have all the time in the world to think it all over when it was done, but he couldn't afford to think about it before anything even started. Turning into a complete mess before he had to do something as "important" as this would only fuck him and everyone around him over.
Jake listened to Marcus' makeshift plan on the spot. It obviously would need more work but it was a start.
When Marcus glanced over at him, Jake turned slightly to look at him. He looked very unwell at this moment, not because of Marcus' words but because he had started to think about the lives that were on the line. Even though he told himself he wouldn't think about it, his brain wouldn't stop trying to force the images of their faces into his head. Every single memory he shared with the three of the five who were being put up for basically the death penalty was trying to tell him not to go through with this because, at the end of the day, he did have a choice, even if he hurt those around him. He did.
But he didn't.
Not really.
"Good." Was all Jake said, a slight burning hatred in his eyes, yet it seemed very watered down by something that told the other this would be his tipping point, a gloss in his eyes that looked like the beginning of Jake's downfall. He turned away, his eyes now looking back up at the sky, like he had been doing previously.

If Jake went through with this, and Aristide knew this too, Jake would never be able to come back from it. And untimely that was the goal. Blurring the line between enemy and ally. Only to leave orders, commands for Jake to go off of. What was wrong or right? It didn't matter. It wouldn't after this.

Just do your job. It was all anyone in A.C.E. had ever wanted. Their own guard dog at their beck and call. They already had Apotheosis, but they never fully had Jake. Anyone with a pair of eyes and a brain could see and understand that.
"What I want is irrelevant anyway" Jake muttered, taking in a slow deep breath. "I don't think I'll die but if I do, I would like to think that my friends will keep the one thing I love the most safe. I hope they do…" His voice seemed to turn into a whisper near the end. It was all Jake could do. Hope.
Apotheosis was his family but for some reason, there was doubt there that they would help Aster, or even go to the lengths he would for her. Jake was convinced no one would be able to protect her like he would. No one would take on an army or set the world on fire for her. No one.

The witch only nodded along. He didn’t need much on the matter, just enough to confirm his delusions for the time being.
The small moments of love were enough. Marcus had decided that a long time ago. He deserved the little he received. Love was to be worked for. It was conditional. It always had been.

“Mm, that’s reassuring.” The smile Marcus gave back to Jake didn’t last long. He had picked up on Jake’s distance, and let his own brain start to drift into the comfort of a fuzzy disassociation.

For a moment, at least. Just until Jake’s voice brought him back out of it.
Fucked was to put it lightly…
Marcus could hardly see any part of this plan going right. But he wouldn’t admit that. That would make it a truth in his mind and he didn’t want that to be his main focus.
Ignorance was best.
Because if he ignored it for now, he would be surprised by what Marx decided to do later. Or less distressed by what the gang leader decided to not do.

The witch didn’t speak after Jake’s response. He understood it plenty, don’t get him wrong about that, but he didn’t quite have a response ready. He had mentioned the line of fire purely to… warn Jake? That didn’t sound right. Let Jake know there was that aspect to look out for? Perhaps.
He nodded instead to let the other know he understood, turning his gaze down to his fingers when Jake’s went skyward.

Marcus shifted slightly so he could pull his lighter out of his pocket, flicking it open and lighting it in one smooth motion. The flame immediately jumped from the wick to the witch’s open hand, where it curled around his fingertips for a moment before settling there - like a strange animal welcoming the touch.
The moment Marcus closed his Zippo and slid it back into his pocket, the flame went from calm and steady to wild and flickering. Marcus didn’t seem to mind it, twisting the flame between his fingers.
It was the best way he knew to calm the magic broiling in his gut. He wished his abilities weren’t as emotionally driven as they were. He needed more control over something as versatile as the fire frequencies could be.

“I’m sure they would…” he murmured after his shoulders finally relaxed and the dull glowing on his arms faded once more. The warmth never left, however, still slightly there as if Marcus was holding onto some sort of comfort.
“Your friends, I’m sure they’d take care of things. They all seemed… close.” He didn’t look up, keeping his eyes trained on the small flame he played with.

At the moment, it felt a lot like just two kids sitting side by side against your run-of-the-mill gas station, the sun setting and casting them into a mix of darkness and warm tones, the only thing bringing them any sort of comfort was the fire in Marcus' palm.

Jake didn't say much as his eyes panned down from the sky to the fire that raged slightly when the lighter was closed.
They hadn't been there for long but the sun seemed to be setting so much faster than it normally would- or at least, it felt that way, especially with the small gusts of wind that brought the cold with it. There were a lot of things Jake hated in this world and the coldness was one of them, so it was no surprise when he subtly tried to get closer to Marcus, the warmth that came off of him was something he wanted, or maybe needed.

Marcus' words were nice and it brought something to him, maybe hope? It didn't feel quite like hope, maybe just a nice facade of comfort. His friends were all close- every single one of them, but strangely he felt detached from the others, no matter how close they seemed.
"Thank you…" Jake said softly, messing with the can in his hand.
There was another beat of silence. Even though there were so many unspoken words that needed to be said, they opted for the calm they were briefly given. They both knew this didn't come often so it was almost like breaths were held when they did find it. When would it be ripped away?
Soon. In fact, right now.
"I have to get going." Came Jake's words. "Is there anything I can get you? The gas station doesn't have much, but maybe you'd like something from it regardless?" He questioned.
"It's the very least I can do" He turned back to face Marcus, looking him over. Jake wanted one last good look before he had to go back to pretending that they didn't know each other. Or well, maybe it wasn't so much as pretending as he thought it was.

He reached over to Marcus, his hand stopping midway for a second before he continued, he brushed Marcus' curls to the side to expose the piercing they had got together.
"You're strong, you'll get through this too," He said, thinking to earlier and Marcus' words and expression.
Jake pulled away after having said that, now getting up and dusting off the back of his jeans, it was time to go back to the shitshow that was his life.

Marcus allowed Jake to lean closer, it was starting to grow cold after all. And… it was nice. He liked when his fire was seen as comfort rather than destruction.

He nodded gently in return, glad he could offer Jake some nice words. He didn’t much feel like making any more enemies…
Not now.

Marcus’s shoulders fell slightly, and his flame flickered as if the wind had blown it close to out. He stared at Jake for a moment before glancing at the gas station.
“I don’t… you don’t have to buy me something. I’ll be fine, I don’t expect anything in return.” Truth was, he didn’t think he could stomach anything at the moment. He didn’t want to be feeling sick when he returned with the news, in case things went badly.

Marcus flinched when Jake lifted his hand, but the pause was enough for him to realize what was happening. He froze regardless, letting Jake touch him. The words didn’t sink into his head until Jake had pulled away and was already standing up.
“Oh. Well…” he moved to stand, reaching into his pocket to pull out his lighter. The moment he opened it the flame jumped to return to it, where it stayed until he closed it and held it tight in his hand.
“Thank you?” He mumbled, shifting on his feet and trying hard to ignore the heat in his face. He hadn’t expected such a gentle touch so randomly from Jake.
“I… good luck.”

(Shall we do a skip?)

(yesyes i'll start us off)

You're strong, you'll get through this too. You're strong, you'll get through this too.
It was an incessant thought, one that he forced himself to repeat so he couldn't think of anything else.
"You're strong, you'll get through this too.." He muttered to himself as he shoved his trembling hands into his pockets, now standing in front of the giant doors of the armored military trucks.

As soon as they opened and Jake saw the five figures sitting there, the thick metal cuffs on their wrists, and other extreme measures taken that decorated their bodies, he narrowed his eyes.

The first person to step out of the vehicle was a five foot six teenager about Jake's age. She had short messy brown hair that stopped above her shoulders and brilliant blue eyes that were ruined by the fact that there was no shine to them. There was a permanent dark redness under her eyes like she had been crying but also never got more than two hours of sleep a day. Loxely was dressed in a simple band t-shirt and long skirt. She had fingerless gloves on as mostly a fashion statement, a choker, two necklaces, a few bracelets, and chunky ankle boot-like sneakers.

Loxely stood in front of Jake, her expression was unreadable as she stared into his eyes, her eyes saying everything she wanted him to know. "I hope you're ready for what comes after this." Jake stared back as no words were exchanged, his eyes looking over the familiar faint freckles on her face. His expression was cold and hard on the outside. Inside? He was fighting to keep himself together. He hadn't seen her in years.
Loxely's lips parted to finally speak but was grabbed aggressively by one of the military men who held her arm in a death grip, leading her away. She turned to look back at Jake who didn't do the same. He didn't give her any more attention than was needed.

Next was Loxely's brother, Elijah. His eyes brightened at the sight of Jake. He was two years younger than Loxely, only fourteen. If Jake remembered correctly, he was the type of person to cry over a dead gecko found out in the wild. He loved conspiracy theories and unsolved mysteries. Elijah always found a way to turn a bad conversation into laughter.
However, at this moment, Elijah seemed pretty confused as to what was going on, only happy to see a familiar face that wasn't his sister's. He had short fluffy brown hair, also in a mess, and brown eyes, one a lighter honey color and the other a darker chocolate color.

"You didn't forget us" Was his first words and Jake gritted his teeth but nothing changed on his face.
Elijah had more to say but was ushered away. He didn't resist, however, only seemed saddened by the fact they weren't giving them enough time with faces they hadn't seen in such a long time. They had mostly been kept in isolation.

Kaveri was next to be taken out and not by her own means, but by force. There was an enraged look on her face as she did everything in her power to inconvenience the people handling her. She yelled in a foreign language as they tried "calming" her by holding her down and putting their weight on her. Kaveri also had short brown hair but it was significantly darker than Loxely's. Her eyes were a very light hazel color, almost mostly green, and her skin tone was a dark warm color. Tears pooled in her eyes and spilled as she drew in harsh breaths, knowing they would not get off of her if she didn't calm down.
That was Jake's last straw. He immediately removed himself from the situation before he saw the rest.

"What did we do?!" Came a pained cry that sounded like the very essence of the soul had been put into it, loud sobs echoed inside the building- a harsh reminder of what he was going to be the cause of.

---

Jake wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, his tremors seeming to have gotten worse.
"Are you always going to cry and throw up over stupid petty shit?" Came Darius' voice as he approached Jake.

Jake had stepped outside into the cool air to catch his breath, the large warehouse behind him looming menacingly. A.C.E. had decided to make things a bit more remote this time around.
However, despite this being a secluded place on the outskirts of the city, the security here was strong. They had brought their best fighters, excluding Apotheosis, in case anything went wrong. A.C.E. took no chances, no matter how small.
To make matters worse, they had brought untested technology on-site, almost as if wishing someone would.

"I don't need to be talking to you right now," Jake said as he moved to get away from Darius, but like most days, there was never a second of rest.
Darius walked alongside him, getting in front of him to keep him from going any further, and before Jake knew it a blade was drawn on him but that didn't seem to faze him much all things considered. Darius also knew this.
"Back up. We're going to have a conversation." Darius threatened. It, however, didn't sound much like a threat but more so a suggestion. It was not. And the slight change in his tone told Jake everything he needed to know. It was in his best interest to listen.
"This isn't because I want to, Aristide wants me to give you a few words of encouragement. He thought you'd need it."

Jake searched Darius' face for any indication that it was a lie but found none. His watery eyes darted past Darius to the vehicles where the doors to the trucks were currently being shut, everyone had been unloaded.
He looked back at Darius.
"What could you possibly say to make this any better?"

Vance and Camilla gave each other a concerned glance as they set the night’s preparations onto the counter.
The television was set to a specific channel and Marx guarded the remote with a fierceness that made the gang nervous. It didn’t help that Marcus looked near-hysteric on the ground next to the gang leader, staring intently at the screen as it played some dramatic Abnormality television series.
Everyone could tell he wasn’t actually watching the story. Marcus was waiting for something. And it was putting the entire house on edge after the way he had burst into the place and ran directly to Marx.
Whatever Marcus had told Marx had set the chimera off into an excited fit of preparation.

Vance leaned over to Camilla, nudging her gently. “Let’s hope we don’t get arrested over something stupid again.” He joked, grinning widely.
Wynn gave the two a warning glance as he came up next to them, placing a large gun on the counter.
“Don’t. This isn’t going to be something small. Marcus came back smelling like that Sphinx. Whatever it is, it’s enough to make her nervous too.” He murmured, glancing at Marx to make sure he wasn’t listening in.
Wynn wouldn’t let anyone else know that he had also smelled Apotheosis on Marcus. He could only hope that Marx hadn’t noticed the smell.

Vance huffed in annoyance, his eyes finding the ginger curls of the witch and narrowing. “Why the hell does he get to do all the fun stuff? I’m bored of watching trades.”
“It was a punishment. Marx is upset with him.” Camilla added, snickering. Wynn gave her another annoyed glance, turning away as she and Vance continued to poke fun at the situation.

This wasn’t going to be good. Wynn had overheard Marcus begging Marx for something. Marcus hardly ever begged unless he was fearing for his life… or someone else’s.
Whatever it was, Marx wasn’t planning on truly stopping it either. He was being far too slack with everyone. Usually the chimera was yelling at people to move faster, to get their asses out there before the opportunity left.
It didn’t bode well.

Wynn glanced to Marcus, noting the brand new bruises just now forming on his arms and peeking above the collar of his tank top.
The siren wished more than anything that he could tear Marx’s throat out and let the bastard bleed out for what he had done. What kind of lover treated their other half so badly?!
But Wynn was no one compared to the chimera. He wouldn’t be able to hold his own against something with fire and venom potent enough to kill a dragon.

For now all Wynn could do was wait. And maybe put his trust in whoever Marcus had met up with.

Wynn had the sneaking suspicion he knew exactly who it was and he hated that he was putting his trust in someone so… infuriating.

"As the majority of you all know, there was an incident a few weeks ago regarding a government building. It seems this has become a frequent pattern and while we have done everything in our power to keep things under control with several warnings issued, there has been a refusal to stop…." Aristide spoke, his gaze directly glued to the camera in front of him. There was a lot more being said, but Jake was trying his hardest to block out the rest of what his father had to say on the matter.
Instead, he focused his attention on what tool he would be selecting for the executions. His hand ran over the coolness of the instruments that were all laid out in front of him, the feeling familiar.

You're a bad guy, you know that?

Jake turned over the hatchet he had picked up in his hand. It had a razor-sharp edge, the blade itself having the texture of a saw.

Make it as messy as possible.

His body had stopped shaking in the past hour and he wasn't sure if he was all there, but somewhere in the back of his mind, his conscience was screaming at him that he had a choice, that he didn't have to do this. However, Jake was ignoring it.
Like most things.

But I guess you love it. You're good at that, aren't you?

Jake gripped the weapon loosely as it hung by his side, still looking over his choices. It felt a lot like he was getting ready to slaughter cattle and the thought made him lightheaded, now gripping the edge of the table to try and steady himself.

No choice here. Put on a show. Like you always do.

In the background, Aristide could still be heard talking as the information of everyone who was to be killed was announced.
"It's almost time, you have everything you need?" Darius stepped beside him, eyeing Jake, who turned to him.

"Yeah, I got it." Jake brushed past Darius out to where they were filming, now standing by the sidelines and waiting for Aristide to finish talking.
Waiting for his cue.
"… Remember. A lot of deaths could have been prevented. All it would have taken was information. Action. Everyone's lack of willingness to give anything on the whereabouts of a very infamous gang, to step forward, has caused this. New rules will be put in place and anyone who refuses to follow them will face the same fate as these five. If there's anyone to blame, it is every single person that knows something and didn't say anything. You can thank those people, your very own, for causing this." With that, Aristide took a step back and made his way off the screen.

Loxely was up first, shoved front and center.
That was Jake's cue and when it came time for him to walk forward, there was no hesitation. He stopped behind her.

Elijah was further to the back, waiting with the others and surrounded by a whole military crew. He was hyperventilating at this point. His face was a mess of snot and tears. He had been filled in, no words sugar-coated.
We made you, therefore, we own you, therefore we are allowed to take your lives when we see fit. It was something that was said a lot from both A.C.E. and Nexus.
Nexus, however, thought themselves gods as they played with the lives of others. That organization was akin to an abusive parent and went to lengths no one thought anyone was capable of. They were solely responsible for what Loxely had become, along with the others. They had been human before, but not after Nexus had gotten ahold of them. And now? This was just another excuse to get rid of faulty products while doubling as a way to keep others in line. Two birds with one stone.

Loxely felt his presence even before he had come onto the scene altogether. She was very aware of everyone around her and the auras they gave off. She could feel the heartbreak and distress rolling off of her brother. There was a growing panic inside of him that threatened to snap at any moment. She knew it would happen as soon Jake lifted his weapon.
She wouldn't lie. She hadn't been the best sister to her younger brother. She didn't listen to him, in fact, brushed him off more than half the time. She hadn't been there. Not even when she had. She never consoled Elijah when he came back trembling and crying. She didn't share anything with him, even when he did. She hadn't even told him once that she loved him.

"Do you have anything to say? Final words?" Jake asked, his voice harsh and raspy, yet there was a hidden tenderness there and maybe even a small moment of trying to stall. Even if it was by a few seconds, anything counted, Jake knew that.

Loxely didn't know what it was. Maybe it was the fact that everything was starting to sink in. The situation feeling very real.
She hadn't paid attention to the one thing that mattered the entire time. She hadn't given him the time of day and yet there he was in the back, a type of desperation that was smothering him. Elijah's emotions overpowered the rest, even those by his side that knew what was coming. And he wasn't even in hysterics because he was about to die either. It was because she was about to.
It was at this moment that she wanted to console him.

Don't cry for me. I'll be okay. You'll be okay too. We'll be okay together somewhere far far away after this, I promise. There'll be rest and I'll have the entire time in the world to tell you how much I love you. We'll even wonder why we were scared in the first place.

However, among Elijah's volatile emotions, there was something else too, something that was easy to miss. Something that stood out from the entire sea of people who gave off negative emotions and yet at the same time buried by it. A mix of bloodlust, sadism, pride, rage, anxiety….but…
Amidst them, was a diminishing flame of hope. It got lower and lower until it started to flicker out and as soon as Loxely had realized where it was coming from, it went out, and Jake's hand grabbed her hair, pulled her back, and then something cold was touching her exposed neck before pain shot through her entire body.

Loxely was something akin to a harpy, she wasn't quite one but was in the family of the species they had classified as Tytonidae. If anything, she was a very watered-down version of a bird whose original purpose had been to be sent overseas for war to test how well she did in extreme environments. There was a lot about her that only Nexus knew but wouldn't say. They wrote her off as an Abnormality, but anyone in that category knew that Loxely was anything but. She was something else, but then again, it was a good thing no one was here to be able to tell.

Every eye in the room was fixated on the tv as the broadcast started. Vance’s expression had gone from something playful and teasing, to something angry, frustrated. He didn’t understand what was happening but Marcus’s now intense distress was enough to let him know that something bad was about to happen. And as the man on the screen spoke of what was to become of those who disobeyed, Vance’s gut twisted. Camellia looked to be in the exact same place, her face twisted in a mix of anger and horror.

“What are they doing?! What aren’t you telling us, Marx?” Vance suddenly demanded, turning to look at the gang leader. Marx was in the middle of ignoring a hysteric Marcus, who was whispering in his ear with a desperate look on his face. Marx merely grinned wickedly at Vance’s question, grabbing Marcus by the front of his shirt and dragging him over to the couch.

“Wait! Please! Marx just listen to me!” Marcus screeched, digging his heels into the ground and struggling against the chimera. All eyes suddenly turned onto Marcus and his desperate attempts to break free of Marx. The mood shifted instantly to something uneasy. Marcus never went against Marx. Something was wrong.

“Watch.” Marx demanded, forcefully throwing Marcus to the ground in front of the couch before he took a seat on it, yanking Marcus closer by his hair. The word sent a shiver throughout the room, and Marx’s insistent glare at the tv persuaded the whole room to turn towards the program. All save for Marcus, who continued to fight against his lover with a desperation only matched by an animal that knew it was about to die.

Marx growled lowly, grabbing the witch by the back of his neck and forcefully pinning him to the ground face-first. “Marx please! They’re going to die! You’re just going to let them die!? I thought we were supposed to be stopping this!” Marcus screeched, struggling against Marx’s strong hand even has his hands were wrestled behind his back and tied roughly by a rope Marx pulled from his pocket. “This is going to just make them think they’re right! We can’t-“ Marx suddenly slammed his heavy boot into Marcus’s back, knocking the wind from the witch immediately and effectively shutting him up.

“I said watch. Do not disobey me. I am already disappointed in you, Light.” Marx growled into the witch’s ear, forcefully yanking him back to a sitting position and grabbing his face roughly, forcing Marcus to stare at the screen.

The moment Loxely appeared on the tv, the entire gang house fell unnaturally silent save for Marcus’s desperate attempts to still free himself. Vance turned between Marx and the tv, his eyes widening as the realization of what was about to happen dawned on him.

“What the fuck are you doing?!” He growled at Marx. The chimera glared at Vance, making him shut his mouth immediately and the color to drain from his face.

“This is needed. Imagine the outrage caused by such inhumane actions, how many Abnormalities will be appalled by how their so called protectors harm them. A.C.E. will be exposed for who they truly are, and we will gain traction within the community. They’ll finally realize that our fight is one worth aiding.” Marx’s grin grew more as the blade was lifted to Loxely’s neck.

“Violence begets violence, after all. A.C.E. is signing their death certificate with this blood.” The leader cackled, his grip tightening on Marcus’s face. “We’ll step in right before they finish off the last two, they’re broadcasting this live. Once we are on screen, I will let all Abnormalities watching know that they may find safety within our walls if they chose to fight against the evil that plagues us all. Be prepared for a harsh fight. They have those dogs of theirs chained up nearby, and it appears the most feral of them is the executioner tonight.”

“You fucker! These are lives! You’re letting them die!” Marcus suddenly yelled. He cried out as Marx’s sharp claws dug into his skin, drawing blood. Marx’s anger radiated off of him, nearly suffocating the entire room.

“I think that’s quite enough from you, darling. You will join me in telling the world about us, because I need you there with me by my side when I look the world in its eye and tell them of A.C.E.’s sins. You know I love you dearly, which is why I can’t understand why you oppose me so much in this. Life is a heavy price, which is why A.C.E. must waste a few for us to call out the importance of it. This is a sacrifice well worth it, Marcy. I’m disappointed you do not see that.” He cooed, his grip tightening and his claws digging deeper into the thin skin of Marcus’s face.

“Fucker! That’s not a good enough gamble!” Marcus spat. The witch struggled against the pain, trying desperately to pull away. Marx’s expression darkened as he sighed deeply. He brought Marcus up to his level, growling before he sunk his teeth deep into the witch’s shoulder. Marcus screamed out in pain, shaking as the small amount of venom Marx had just sent into his system began its immediate work to light every vein Marcus had within him on fire.

“Fine. I see you’ve forgotten what truly comes first. I’ll be sure to reteach you once this is all over. Just remember that you chose to return to the basement, Marcy. I never wanted to put you there.” The chimera cooed, biting his own lip and leaning down to kiss Marcus, forcing him to take the antidote - the chimera’s own blood. The witch’s screaming died down to whimpering, his entire body aching even as he could feel his strength returning and the venom vanishing in an instant.

Marx glanced up at the eyes on him, snarling to show off his sharp teeth. “I said WATCH you fuckers. Look at what A.C.E is doing and understand that they won’t stop at these five if we do not stop them.” He roared, making the entire room suddenly snap back to the tv. “We leave right after this one dies. Be ready, we will need to move fast.”

The gang remained silent, only a few silently closing their eyes to avoid the visual of what was about to happen. Wynn included.

There was a moment where ringing seemed to be the only thing Jake could hear. It was loud and disorienting as he pressed hard against Loxely’s throat, yet in one swift fluid motion, the saw-like weapon followed through almost effortlessly, like Jake had done this a thousand times over, his hand practiced in the act.

Practiced to be an executioner.

And just like Loxely predicted, chaos erupted behind Jake, the military personnel keeping the others in check finding it hard to control Elijah who had lost it.
Elijah was mostly a special case- he was where the scientists had tested their boundaries, mismatching different pieces together to create something new- something that could almost be classified as a Frankenstein, yet strangely intact with minimal flaws- or well, on the outside anyway.

While those experiments were contained the same way Abnormalities were, there was something slightly more unpredictable about them. The scientists who had made them into what they were, were never a hundred percent sure what they would get and if they would develop something more along the line that they were unhappy with, they got put down. Because some pieces weren't meant to go together, it created something new and completely different than what they had seen before- a troubling and very dangerous creature, even for those at A.C.E. It was the reason they were monitored closely for more than half of their life, starting when they were just little kids. If they developed something they couldn't control, they got executed, like what was happening now.

After Jake had followed through, he felt the weight of Loxely lighten as her body slumped forward onto the floor, Jake's hand still gripping her hair, her head dangling from it.
Loxely's wings, like a trigger, had sprouted from her back, now spread open on the ground. There was a sickening choking sound as she still, although her head severed from her body, tried to gasp for air. Her body also seemed to be alive on the floor, however, slowly losing its movement as the blood poured out in what seemed to be gallons.
The moment Jake had completely sliced through, blood had sprayed everywhere, getting on his clothes, hands, and even some of it splattering onto his face. He jerked the weapon in a half-circular motion beside him after he had finished, the blood on the tool painting the ground with a nearly identical shape he had swung in, although not flawlessly.

He very casually threw Loxely's head next to her body as if not giving it a second thought, his eyes taking on a different look now, like something bordering on unhinged and unpleasantly dark- something uncaring and utterly cold.

By the sidelines Darius had his arms crossed, shifting on his feet, feeling the atmosphere and its discomfort. Aristide had a faint proud smile on his face as he watched, his hand on the gun by his side as Elijah's distress grew and grew.

Then, there was a snapping point.
But neither Darius nor Aristide made a move to stop Elijah as his mouth on one side of his face split impossibly open, a large, nearly two-foot-long insect praying mantis mandible sprouting from it, slicing one of the military men's head clean off his body.

Jake heard the commotion and reluctantly turned to look back at Elijah, giving him a calm look of bloodlust, as if to say "come get me".

That seemed to push Elijah over the edge as he let out the loudest pain-filled cry Jake had ever heard, the sound slightly broken and distorted, his voice sounding different than to a human- like some sort of creature that was in unbearable agony. It echoed off the walls and some of the men dropped their weapons to cover their ears, the piercing cry enough to shatter eardrums.

Even so, Jake could feel nothing inside of him. No sympathy for Elijah. No remorse, no pain, no attachment. There wasn't anything there at the moment except for a chilling calmness about him that not a lot of people would be able to keep in this situation.

The other three beside Elijah seemed to be frozen in place as they stared at Jake with wide eyes. Almost as if they couldn't believe Jake had actually gone through with it. A slight shake had started on Kaveri's body, and suddenly realizing the weight of what was about to happen, her anger had vanished in an instant. Theodosia was still in shock, now looking like she wasn't all there and Noah had his teeth gritted with a terrified look on his face.

Jake watched Elijah fight the other men as Theodosia was pushed forward. Her legs gave out from under her as she started to cry and beg to not do this to her. One of the men grabbed her by her Jade braids which were a mismatch of a lighter brown and beige white in contrast to her dark skin tone.

Marx hummed in thought as he watched the body drop, not fazed by the blood or the wings or even by the sounds those in the house with him were making. A few of the gang members had left to empty their only slightly tipsy stomachs. Others sad in uncomfortable silence, their expressions both horrified and sick as they watched the body continue to twitch.
The chaos that erupted on the other side of the screen went ignored as Marx stood, yanking Marcus up with him and forcing the still-dazed witch to follow him to the counter.
Marcus didn’t seem to be fully there anymore, his eyes distant even as he was handed a gun and a few lighters that felt cheap compared to his own. He stared at his hands for a long time, trying to process everything that was going on. He felt helpless, alone.
Jake had just…
Marx was going to…
ACE was…
It was too much to focus on.

“They’re showing off that lap dog of theirs. He’s quite good at his job, though they try to hide what he’s capable of. The monster shows his fangs and they fear him until it’s useful.” Marx sneered, his lips curling into a wicked grin as he glanced at the tv to look over Jake.
After a bit he turned back to look over the gang, snickering lightly. His eyes lingered on Marcus for a moment, a knowing glint flashing dangerously behind them. Marx wasn’t stupid. He had smelled Jake on Marcus a few times. The chimera wasn’t quite sure if the witch had encountered Jake in a friendly manner or in combat. But the lack of wounds on Marcus and the fact that Jake was not critically injured enough suspicion and anger to Marx’s mind first.
“The rest of you, get up. We’re going now.” He waved to the door, not even watching as his array of Abnormalities scrambled to grab guns and weapons and all sorts of mystery potions and items.

Wynn stood staring at the screen, his eyes alight with pure fury as he watched Jake. He had known exactly what kind of person Jake was but it didn’t make this any less infuriating. Wynn had hoped Jake’s short amount of time with Marcus would have made the guy more open to Abnormalities.
Wynn should have known that was a bullshit fantasy. Jake was devoid of emotion and feeling as far as the siren could tell.
It was Vance who finally moved him by turning the tv set off, a pained look on his face.
“Let’s go… we can stop it.” He told the siren, giving him a weak nod before he shoved a knife into Wynn’s hand and walked out the door.

Jake stared directly into the camera filming the massacre that had just taken place, his eyes distant as he tried to wrap his head around the fact that he had just killed four people for everyone to see.

I didn't want to do this. Why didn't you help me? His voice echoed back at him from the back of his mind.

Blood dripped from his weapon, his eyes fluttering as he tried to snap out of the dazed state he seemed to be in but to no avail.

Don't look down. But Jake didn't heed the warning, looking down to the pool of blood around his heavy boots, the bodies lying still on the ground. What was his purpose? Was this it? To allow people to control him and make him do things?
They didn't make you do anything. And the thought made his blood run cold. They didn't make you do anything.

Jake's breathing picked up. He needed to leave. Somewhere private. He turned to look back at Aristide and Darius, his eyes wide as if he was terrified of his own actions, like he didn't know what to do with himself.
Aristide had raised Jake for sixteen years, and pretty soon it would be seventeen years. He knew when Jake was at his limit and this was one of those moments, but he didn't step in to help. For a while now, Aristide had protected Jake, granted, in his own twisted way, but he had protected him. He had talked with the heads of A.C.E. to ease off Jake when he looked to be at his breaking point, making the point that if Jake was too far gone, everything they had worked for would be lost with him. They needed him lucid and on a leash, but more than anything, he needed to understand reason. He needed to be on their side.

The weight of your actions, do you know them? The voice inside of Jake's mind taunted.

Soon enough, Elijah was being brought forward. The last one. Although Jake could feel the stillness in his heart, not a hint of emotion to it, Jake knew he had to do this despite the uncertain expression on his face. Not because it was demanded of him or because there was a threat over his head but as a kindness. How could anyone live with themselves after watching their friends and family get slaughtered? The rest of Elijah's life would be consumed by hate and anger and grief- that was if he didn't lose his mind first. Jake couldn't just leave it unfinished even if he had the option to spare Loxely's little brother.

They hadn't sedated Elijah, hadn't given him any drugs to calm down, or even hurt him to get him to stop. No, he had been brought up next to Jake as he thrashed, his face drenched with tears and snot. He was yelling, maybe something at Jake, at the people who held onto him, or at the world, but Jake couldn't hear it. Maybe it was better that way.
"Let me help you…" Were the words that came out of Jake's mouth in an almost near whisper, not quite sure why he had spoken in the first place. No one would have heard it, but Elijah had and at that moment he froze. He took in a deep pain-filled breath before he slowly turned to Jake, a look of disbelief on his face.

Jake considered it a kindness. Putting someone out of their misery. They would be better off-… or perhaps that was just a wish he had for himself. However, it would seem Elijah didn't see it that way.
"Help me…?" Came Elijah's raspy voice before his eyes widened with fury. "HELP ME?!" He screamed before the anger inside him relit, now jerking away from the tight grip the three soldiers had him under, the supposedly Abnormality proof cuffs slowly twisting and snapping as Elijah's strength forced them to separate.

It was at that moment that Jake wondered if the next few seconds would finally be the universe offering him a way out of what could only be considered hell for him. He watched as one side of Elijah's face split once more, the insect-like mandible shooting out of his widened mouth with a sickening crack as it expanded and aimed for Jake's head without a second of hesitation.

Marcus seemed distant, Wynn noted as the gang slowly took their places around the area Apotheosis had claimed for their execution. The witch absentmindedly played with the lid of his lighter, letting it click shut rather loudly each time. He stared out at where the sounds of victims wailing and screaming could be heard, his mouth curling into a slight grimace.
The sparks that strayed too close to his arms burst into thin lines of flame, curling a little too close to his skin to be comfortable. Wynn knew the flames were thinly veiled rage, a rough attempt to quell the rising and uncontrollable nature of the witch’s power.
Wynn swallowed hard, only slightly worried about the end results of such emotion. Marcus was giving off some very scary vibes…

The whole group could feel it. Marcus’s frequencies could be felt from miles away; the intense burn making many shift uncomfortably as it settled into their chests, igniting a strange temper to match the intensity of the flames.
Marcus was a hair trigger away from burning everything around him down, and his magic expressed that.

Marx’s haunches raised in excitement as he padded over to stand next to Marcus, slowly lowering himself into a pouncing position.
“Be ready, do not hold back. Not for anyone.” Marx growled, eyeing Marcus suspiciously for a moment. “The last abnormality must live for this to work. Do not disappoint me.” He told the witch before turning to look at the rest of the gang. “That goes for the rest of you as well. Keep the last one alive, even if you have to risk your own life for it. Now, Marcus,” The chimera waved his paw, all three of his heads grinning and baring sharp, unnatural teeth.

Marcus took in a deep breath, lifting his lighter and flicking it on. The flame there immediately ignited, turning quickly into a raging wall of fire that Marcus easily wrestled into his control.
His first target became one of the military trucks separating them from Nexus, his flames burning white as they easily carved through the metal, allowing for Marx to jump onto the burning remains and offer a true Cheshire grin to the Nexus members there. The edges of his halter top began to smolder as a result, thin tendrils of smoke curling towards the sky.
A fiery ward followed after him, its tendrils cutting Elijah off from Jake - and consequently Marx from the rest of the group.

Marcus appeared beside the ruined truck, his eyes and runes lit up as brightly as his fire. The tattooed runes visible looked as if they hadn’t had enough time to heal - the ones along his arms looked as if they were blistering.
The witch gave Jake a single glance but it was enough to betray his emotions: anger, hatred, hurt… and confusion.
He had been half tempted to just let Elijah kill Jake. But a small voice reminded Marcus of the way Jake had sounded just hours before.

“Never took you for a coward, Aristide.” Marx crooned, all three heads tilting in a sick curiosity as he evaluated the blood and gore before him. “And innocents too?” Marx tutted his tongue, stalking down the hood of the truck - ignoring the way the metal groaned in protest as Marcus’s fire ravaged the rest of it. “What will the world think when they realize you’ve killed civilians of all people?” Marx’s tail raised, prepped to strike with the venomous barb.
“And the propaganda! I’m quite impressed! You painted these children to be war criminals! It’s a shame their actual list of crimes is so minimal compared to what you claim them to be. I really don’t think “disruption of the peace” is a crime punishable by death.” The chimera laid himself down, Cheshire grin growing. “You were quite convincing, though, and I’m sure that took a lot of work so you’ll have to forgive my little group for spilling the truth.”

The radar in one of the trucks started to sound a faint alarm that only Ezekiel and those around him could hear. It caught the attention of Vincent who was also there, a frown now on his face. Hadn't A.C.E. said this was a secret location that no one knew about? So how was it that their Abnormality radar was picking up nonhuman entities? Hell, even if it was a fluke, there was no way they could have possibly stumbled upon the site by mere coincidence.

Ezekiel looked over at Vince, slight fear in his eyes as he tried to figure out what exactly the device had picked up. He seemed to pale when he saw the number of entities surrounding them. This wasn't a fluke. It was an ambush.
It took a moment longer for Ezekiel to snap out of it, his hands moving to press a few buttons on the monitor to try and shut the system down. He had slightly altered the system code that was meant for automatic nuclear missile launches to something that would help with detecting others, even humans, but because its main components were still intact, it was trying hard to do something to get rid of the threat. There was nothing to use against the Abnormalities, however. The only weapons dangerous enough to take them out were placed in the soldier's hands. The heavier machinery reserved for full-on war- should that ever occur.

"I'll go check it out" Came Vincent's deep harsh voice, as if annoyed that the alarm was still going haywire.

Once he was out in the open, his back facing the military vehicle, he took one look at the scene of Elijah lunging at Jake and instantly moved into action to try and help control the kid who seemed all too volatile at the moment, however, it didn't last long before a loud Boom! deafened him, the vehicle he had just stepped out of near exploding when the fire split the truck in half, the gasoline adding fuel to the fire as it raged high.
Vince turned back in time only to see Marx pounce onto the remains of the demolished truck, the pieces crushing under his weight. It was then, that Vince's blood ran cold, his heart nearly stopping as he came to a horrifying realization. Ezekiel had still been in that truck.

But like in wars that Vince knew all too well, there wasn't time to stand around with a spaced-out look on his face. There was no time to mourn either or their loss would be greater. Every second counted. Vince easily slipped the sniper rifle off his back, the latch coming undone in an instant as his body switched to survival mode, his senses becoming sharper at the feeling that overtook his body. He was useless at this angle. His hand-to-hand combat skills were the only thing to his name at the moment- that was until soldiers started to shout behind him. And when Vince finally made out what they were saying he slammed his body onto the floor, covering his head as some of the other trucks around the site began to target the large beast sitting on the truck, the only tank-like vehicle brought onto the site used against the biggest threat there- Marx.
It wasn't long before the soldiers followed, taking aim at the chimera and making an effort to keep him at bay. Vince did his best to crawl to safety, however, he didn't stay there long as he ran off to find higher ground.

Elijah's mandible had been so close- so close-! A loud cry left him in despair of not being able to avenge his sister mixed with the inability to control the pain of his loss. His emotions were currently running rampant and ultimately helping him ignore the physcial pain of having his mandible sliced off by Marcus' searing white fire. Blood leaked from his now severed limb, making Elijah nearly heave at the sight of it and unable to retract it, but his eyes never strayed far from Jake's figure- still hellbent on killing the teenager who had once been their friend. Lexi trusted you. She loved you. Was all he could think of at the moment as Marcus came into view. The betrayal ran deep and stung to all hell, making him feel like he would buckle from the weight of it all.

There was a large scratch-like wound on the right side of Jake's face now as Elijah's mandible had managed to scrape him a little too deeply- his extra "limb" changing direction when Marcus had interfered, the wound a lot more shallow than what it should have been had Elijah succeeded, though, his aim had not been at Jake's face, but his neck.

Jake's attention was fully on Elijah for a second longer before he realized what had happened, his wide eyes nearly snapping in Marcus' direction. He seemed to freeze in place, his breathing heightened as blood dripped down his face. And as he faced Marcus it was clear how deep Elijah had cut, the wound starting by his right ear and trailing off when it got close to his nose, not fully cutting across.
Knowing that others had seen the sight of him standing over the bodies with the soles of his boots surrounded by an ungodly amount of blood made Jake feel sick. This wasn't the way he wanted to appear to anyone. He wasn't a killer. He wasn't a killer. He was good. He was good. He could be good-!

Amidst the chaos, Aristide had been watching Jake as Elijah went at him, his eyes cold and never moving to help his son. Aristide was a huge believer that if Jake was good enough, he wouldn't die here. If his will was weak, he was better off dead.
However, when Marcus came into the picture, his eyes narrowed, a dangerous glare on his face as the red-headed boy approached Jake. Why was he helping Jake? Did Jake know him? He wasn't immediately trying to kill him and that was a reg flag in Aristide's eyes.
Jake, although, a bit away from his father and the other things happening, had caught onto that look Aristide was giving him. And all he could feel at that moment was pure fear and dread as the thought of what would happen if Aristide found out about Marcus ate through his stomach.

So, without thinking twice about it, Jake unholstered the gun by his side and shot at Marcus- his aim was usually dead accurate so it was no surprise when Jake missed by mere centimeters. His miss having been intentional. If he could get Marcus to back up and leave he wouldn't have to fight him- his eyes panned over to Elijah who seemed to be having a bit of trouble standing now- and deal with Lexi's younger brother either. The two at once would surely overwhelm him.
However, Jake knew Marcus wouldn't scare easy. There was a reason they were who they were- and found themselves in positions high enough to take each other out. So, keeping that in mind, Jake drew his switchblade, snapping it open.

"Leave" Jake hissed, a touch of resentment in his tone aimed at Marcus. He knew it wasn't fair. It wasn't fair to blame Marcus for not arriving sooner- he knew from the beginning that there was more than half a chance that they wouldn't be able to save everyone- or anyone for that matter. That he would have to get his hands dirty. But he hadn't been expecting to hope so much that Marcus would save the day. He hadn't ever stooped so low to trust someone to help him that way- not since he had been a kid. And now he was paying the price for it. Paying the price for hoping. Just like his father had said he would.
What was more, though, was his own anger for allowing himself hope. He had been stupid enough to fall for it and he could feel it in his blood- how it boiled from making that one mistake. But just as he was angry, he felt hurt and betrayed. It wasn't fair. But Jake couldn't help but blame someone, and right now, that someone was Marcus.

Aristide had seen the delayed reaction to Jake's movements, and he wasn't blind to the fact that Jake had only reacted that way after his gaze had found him. But just as he was about to make his way over, the anger settling in the air around him, a familiar voice caught his attention. He swung around, unholstering his gun so fast and aiming it at Marx that the action itself seemed lethal.

His expression seemed strained as his eyes landed on the animal- no. Abomination in front of him, a clear expression of disgust written on his face as he spoke.
"Innocents?" Aristide nearly laughed. "There's nothing innocent about any of you. Do you realize how much blood you have on your hands? Or have you stopped counting how many you've killed? Did you ever even start?" Aristide spoke, a dangerous yet calculated bite to his tone.
"Childen?! Civilians?!" Aristide nearly growled, the anger rising inside of him but holding it together so it didn't lash out at him. "Is that what you're calling yourselves? And "disruption of the peace"? Is that all you think you've done? Do you think that a simple disruption in one of our facilities was enough to come to this conclusion? This was a long time coming, and every single one of you has reaped what you've sown."
The last sentence out of Marx's mouth, however, did seem to give Aristide a pang of realization. The cameras were never turned off- unless they had thought of doing that, but in this situation your first reaction was to run. Or join the fight. Your thoughts wouldn't have been on the main task at hand.

Aristide's hand rested on the gun by his waist, a howdah pistol by his side- specifically, the ones hunters used to catch game, a clear indication that Aristide didn't think much of the Abnormalities. His grip tightened on the trigger pointed at Marx, almost to the point of firing before one of the trucks slammed into the beast, the other military men joining Aristide's side.
Aristide's gun had four barrels, and it was big enough to hold large caliber bullets that were lethal to anyone if they weren't given medical attention right away. His bullets were special to only him in the sense that Aristide himself had designed them- wanting to make sure they were built for doing the most damage possible before the other additions were put into it, the large silver bullets a clear indication that they had the same effect as the ones Jake test ran on the night of the slaughter responsible by this same group.

He fired.

And his other hand soon followed the outline of the other gun by his waist, ripping it from its satchel to fire another round at Marx.
Aristide snapped the barrel open to the first one in one swift movement, the casing of the bullets falling to the ground as he did so. The only downside of his weapon of choice was the reload. It took longer to put fresh bullets in- bullets that he only had so many of.

For a very brief moment, a pang of guilt crossed Marcus’s face as Elijah reeled back, the blood from his wound making the witch’s heart ache. He hadn’t meant to hurt the kid.
But as fast as it had appeared it was gone, Marcus shoving really any emotion other than disgust and anger down. He didn’t need any doubts. He needed to focus on the task at hand.
Thought it was really fucking hard to when Jake looked so… upset at his appearance. He wanted so desperately to scream and apologize for being late, to explain his side and show Jake the new cuts and bruises and make him understand why he couldn’t be here sooner.

All of that vanished in an instant as Jake’s bullet flew past him.
Marcus hardly flinched, his whole body going stiff while he processed what had just happened. The wall of fire he had managed to conjure flickered a little, betraying the turbulent emotions that followed his understanding.

His eyes flickered to the switchblade in Jake’s hand and then down to the blood pooled around his shoes. His fire crackled, growing hotter for a split second.
When his eyes refocused on Jake, there was an anger behind them so deep it couldn’t have all been just for him.
“I can’t.” Marcus finally hissed back, his eyes flickering nervously over at Marx. Jake had to understand that it wasn’t his fault. Marcus wasn’t at fault. He tried so desperately to get here early. He really did. But Marx, the bastard, needed to make a point.
Didn’t Jake see the bruises? Didn’t he notice the new burn across Marcus’s throat shaped oddly like a hand? Why was he looking at Marcus like that? Like it was his fault these people were dead!?
His arms began to shake, and the wall’s intensity slowly ticked up as his anxiety grew.

It was Wynn who noticed first. The siren slipped over next to Marcus, teeth and scales glittering in the white light. They took one look between Marcus and Jake and rattled their spines in anger.
“He’s not worth it Light,” Wynn hissed, flaring out the clipped frills around his face. The damage done to them was now more obvious in the harsh light. It looked like someone had taken a pair of scissors to them, the edges jagged like poorly cut fabric.
Had Wynn not been stunted by having been refused his siren natures, those would have grown back each time they tore. But ACE altered him. And he hated them for it.

Marcus’s arms began to shake - whether that was out of anger or because the runes on his arms were slowly starting to char again wasnt clear. He gestured to the raging Elijah, looking to Wynn.
“Get him out of here. We have to help at least one…” His words were almost a plea, and Wynn understood immediately.
The siren nodded, pulling his own weapons out and waiting for Marcus to make a small gap in the wall of fire to run through to the other side, immediately trying to get Elijah’s attention.
“Hey! Follow me, kid.” He rattled his spines again, this time as a distraction. “You want to kill these guys too, right?”
Wynn flinched slightly when Marx’s booming laughter filled the air, glancing over to see the chimera grinning wickedly at Aristide. Wynn’s face twisted for a moment before he refocused on Elijah.

Marx stared down the barrel of Aristide’s gun, daring the man to shoot. He knew he would, of course, but the thrill of it was always Marx’s favorite part.
And he was safely tucked away behind a wall of fire as well, for now at least. The few bullets that did make it through weren’t worrying him. The chimera could take a few bullets before they began to slow him down.

The three heads of Marx all roared with laughter, the different sounds blurring together for just a moment. “My my, what harsh words. Am I to remind you of what your kind has done? Even just to other humans you have killed millions.” Aristides next point made Marx tilt his main head, a dangerous gleam in his eyes. “How many did that child kill? The one you had your lap dog execute first? What was her crime? And the boy over there now, he’s hardly the picture of a normal Abnormality. How old was he when you opened him up to alter him? My records and sources tell me they followed your rules quite well and you picked them apart for minor petty charges.” A slow and steady billow of smoke had started to spring from Marx’s jaws as he spoke, sparks flickering into the air.
“You’ve been too cruel to forces you believe you have control over. What do you think will happen now you’ve executed us live? How many Abnormalities will turn their teeth to your neck? You’ve written your death sentence, Aristide~!” Marx opened his mouth to ignite the fires there, and howled in anger instead when he was interrupted by a truck slamming into him.
He rolled back onto his feet, widening his stance before moving to avoid the gunfire Aristide had now unleashed.
The first to feel his wrath was the truck he had been hit with, its front now slightly bloody from the gash it had left in his side.
Marx clawed at its tires and breathed fire at the windows purely out of show.
The chimera lifted one of his heads and roared, a new look of delighted mania reflected in his eyes.

From around the place came an assortment of Abnormalities, many new faces of varying types. A few more human than others and a greater more animalistic.
Among them was Camilla, mid-transformation as she ripped at her human skin and threw it on the ground to reveal thick, mangy fur. The more human skin she lost the less human her eyes became, slowly filling with animal instinct; Anais was at her side, though the demon looked a little different than before. Where once were rocky ridges along her arms and shoulders were now long, thin spikes. Her disfigured face had been replaced with something somewhere between human and wolf, rows of sharp, angular teeth sprouting between lips so scarred they were hardly useful. From between her teeth flowed the black ichor that was her blood, dripping onto the ground with a hiss as it ate away what it could. The drip never stopped, flowing steadily as if she had no control over it.
Her legs and arms had turned more animal as well, and her strange horns spiderwebbed into the sky in random jagged patterns. At some point she had sprouted a tail, its end hooked in a sharp point and the rest covered in the sharp glass armor she had made herself. This was closer to her true form - not that she could access it fully anymore. A.C.E. had severed something inside of her that bound the demon to her magic.; Van had joined too at some point, in his larger, truer form as well. His grayish fur was just as matted as Camilla’s, and one of the tusks that stuck out of his bottom jaw had been broken in half. He snarled at the closest officers, snapping his teeth at a few stray bullets.

From across the battle field, Marcus’s blood ran cold at the roar, the fiery wall between Elijah and Jake dropping immediately so Marcus could instead turn to Marx and add a second layer to his defenses, the ward flying up to try and stop the bullets being fired at the chimera.
The witch seemed suddenly panicked, the anxiety in his chest snapping finally into a full blown attack.
He glanced back at Jake a few times, a scowl slowly forming on his face as he tried to redirect his emotions to something he could control.
“Touch me and I’ll burn your fingers so badly you won’t be able to pick up another weapon again.” Marcus spat, though the threat sounded childish even to him.

Jake watched as Marcus stood before him, crumbling before him. Or so it seemed as Marcus' wall of fire flickered with uncertainty.
Once his gun had gone off and Marcus' eyes burned with a dangerous fire behind them, Jake gritted his teeth.

Thing was. He had. He had seen the new wounds, the marks that littered across his body, and he didn't know what made him angrier. The state of everything and how he had no choice or the thought that Marcus had paid the price for the things he had done. For the things A.C.E. had done. Well. Same difference.

The anxiety seemed to grow inside of Marcus as the seconds carried on and Jake took note of it.

Despite the fact that Jake knew he would have to do something. That he would have to stop Marcus. That he would have to try. His own mind seemed to be tearing at the seams with the thought of it all. Hurt him? Don't you love him? But the question his mind produced seemed to confuse Jake. Love him? That wasn't quite right, was it? They had only hung out a couple of times and the only person he loved and lived for was Astrid, his little sister. Anyone else he met along the way was collateral damage.

Collateral damage? You mean like Ezekiel?

Jake had seen the truck go up in flames, crushed to nothing. Even while dealing with Elijah, the explosion from the truck had been too great to ignore, and he knew. The sick feeling in his stomach let him know that what he thought was right.

But he stood there, waiting. Waiting for Wynn and Marcus to stop talking. Waiting for the moment that Elijah would be taken away. Waiting for something to give inside of him. He knew it would come, and when it did, he was afraid there would be no more time to give Marcus.

Elijah at this point had seen the distant look in Jake's eyes and how willingly he was keeping himself in control with Marcus around. Elijah knew Jake since he had been a kid, and in no point in time had he known Jake as someone who didn't do what he had to. He never hesitated. So why was he now?

But then a siren-like abnormality was approaching him and speaking words in a language he could only understand at the moment amid his seething rage. Jake might have hesitated, but Elijah didn't. He knew if he stayed, he'd be killed, and these people were giving him an out. He nodded, the action stuttered as it made his head ache and spin slightly from the loss of blood and the deafening war going on around them.

As Elijah left with Wynn, Jake swayed slightly, eyes dangerously trailing Elijah's figure as if he were debating to go after him and kill him even if Marcus' fire burned him.

Every time Marx roared with laughter or made any grand type of gesture, the battlefield on A.C.E.'s side seemed to freeze for a brief moment. It wasn't so much so to the point where everything stopped, but it was noticeable enough that the soldiers around tensed and grew increasingly unconfident in their aim, hesitating and wondering if fighting back would do anything against these creatures.

"War has always been the nature of every living thing from the beginning of time- even for animals such as yourself" Aristide spat. "The only difference here now is that the animals think they have a chance against humanity"

The next words from Marx drew a glare from Aristide- a rare sight even for him. But he didn't reply. He didn't give in to Marx's taunting. He wouldn't say anymore, it was classified information regardless, and it wasn't his job to engage in pointless chatter either. Where Loxley and the rest were concerned, it wasn't his place to say, even if he agreed that their deaths were justified.

While Marx's form had nearly everyone concentrating their forces on him, there were a number of others who avoided him entirely- mostly the rookies who had next to no experience on a battlefield. The smoke and fire that emitted from the chimera enough to make anyone think twice.

"You animals turning on us is nothing new" Aristide spoke as he took the chance to reload his guns once Marx had gotten hit. "And if you think we won't be ready for you all, you are very sorely mistaken." He spoke as he snapped the gun back in place, pointing it once more at Marx to fire. He adjusted his aim, noticing how erratic Marx's movements were as he dodged the bullets the first time.

There was no doubt that abnormalities like Marx should not allowed to roam free- for this exact reason. And if Aristide made it out of this battlefield alive he would make it a point to bring it up during a meeting. They needed to be stopped, and he wasn't sure why they hadn't all been sealed underground from the very beginning to keep them away from the population. It was clear that they could not be controlled and would wipe out the whole human race with one minor inconvenience.

For now, it didn't matter, and the only goal was to stop the here and now. So with that in mind, Aristide pulled his heavy black trench coat off, letting it fall to the ground as he rolled the sleeves of his shirt up to elbows in a quick and practiced manner, not taking long to join his comrades in rushing Marx. Anyone would have seen that as a death wish- suicide. But for people like Aristide who had years of experience and knew what they were doing, it was nothing. If they were to die, it would be nothing new, and their jobs would have been completed.

---

Once the wall of fire dropped, Marcus turning his back to Jake to aid Marx, it snapped. Whatever Jake had been trying to keep at bay, gave.
Maybe it was the fact that Marcus was looking at someone else who wasn't him, protecting the person who hurt him, or maybe the years of neglect and abuse all came to a head at this very moment. Either way, it mixed and made something ugly that Jake wasn't quite sure he wanted to stop even if he had the chance to.

Jake heard the threat spat at him, but whether he would heed the warning was something else. He didn't.

Because in one swift, almost inhuman move, he was gunning for Marcus, his sprint looking oddly quick for someone who called themselves a human. And before he knew it, he was knocking Marcus to the ground. What was it? In an attempt to get him to dissipate his ward protecting Marx? Or because something in his blood wanted to- needed to hurt him?

Jake hadn't felt such intense hatred for someone in his life aside from his father, and even that hatred had turned smaller and frightened over time. He wasn't even sure he could fully hate Aristide to such a degree with the same burning emotion as he felt now. Why he hated Marcus so much was beyond him. His mind tried to justify it- make sense of it by telling him he was a part of the problem that had dragged Jake into this. Even from the moment he was born, Marcus' kind had been the reason he was conceived and tortured, made into a weapon to use against them.
If this was Arisitde's goal from the beginning, to make Jake hate the abnormalities as much as he did, it was working and Jake was wholly unaware.

And it didn't stop. Jake would regret it to the end of his days for as long as he lived but in his blind rage and confusion, he spun the switchblade in his hand as he held Marcus pinned to the ground for that moment and dug it into his skin, ripping the blade up his arm to break the tattooed runes there. It seemed that although Jake was in the mood to hurt someone, he was still wired to turn that homicidal feeling into an intention A.C.E. could use to their own benefit. It showed in how even though Jake hadn't thought about it, his first instinct was to stop Marcus' abilities from being used further.

Wynn seemed very relieved that Elijah had agreed so easily. The siren clicked his spines once more, gesturing for Elijah to come with him. He had to work fast, as Wynn wasn’t willing to just abandon Marcus to the fight without him. The witch had a knack for getting himself into too much trouble…
“Quickly, there’s someone just outside who will take you to a safe place. They’ll heal you up.” Wynn promised, gesturing towards the white van that was the gang’s getaway vehicle. Or well… Marx’s getaway.

Marx seemed to be growing increasingly more amused by Aristide’s words. Even after he was hit, the chimera cackled again, spitting a glob of blood and fire onto the ground.
“How often does humanity win against nature?” Marx simply asked, moving to stalk around Aristide, dodging the bullets he could.
“You may be ready for us, but when even the dragons of the mountains and the elementals of the air turn on you, you’ll find yourselves with more loss than gain, Aristide.
One of the bullets managed to graze Marx’s side as he grew a little too cocky, ripping the skin there with ease. The chimera growled in anger, one head turning to look at the damage done while the others roared and lept forwards with the goal of maiming Aristide as much as they could.

Marcus had noticed far too late that Jake was rushing him. He only had enough time to brace for the impact, hissing in pain as his head hit the ground hard.
The dizziness that followed made it hard for Marcus to figure out what was happening. He struggled against Jake’s pin, panic welling up in his stomach when he realized Jake had his switchblade out. He gasped, kicking his legs to try and stop what was about to happen.

The second the runes were carved into, whatever spell Marcus had currently going broke. A few of the wards dropped immediately, making Marx howl in anger. Somehow that sound terrified the witch more than Jake’s knife currently digging into his arm.
The light glow from the runes stuttered before they suddenly grew brighter as the magic turned back on Marcus, burning into his flesh.
He cried out in pain, writhing under Jake with a desperation that rivaled a dying animal, managing to free an arm. He lit a fire in his hand, and grabbed Jake’s arm with it to try and get him off of him.

His eyes burned and as Marcus blinked, he found they were filled with tears. Whether they were because of the physical pain or because of the emotional wound Jake had just inflicted, he didn’t know. He felt betrayed. And utterly stupid. He had let himself grow comfortable with Jake and look where that had gotten him.
He had watched Jake kill Abnormalities whose only crime had been existing. He had thought Jake was different. The other hadn’t been afraid of his fire, hadn’t ever looked at him with disgust or fear when he idly used his fire.
He thought maybe Jake was secretly on his side. But now Marcus was starting to wonder if it was all a ploy.

And so the witch sobbed as he tried to kick Jake off of him, putting as much emotion as he could into his magic. It listened to his emotions more than it did his head - which was usually an issue but now, feeling hurt and wanting to lash out, it worked to his advantage. The only ward he had up left burned hotter, making even the Abnormalities near it skitter away to safety.
“You did all of this on purpose didn’t you?! You knew if we sabotaged things they’d do this… you made it my fault those people just died! I really thought you weren’t like them.” Marcus sobbed, his grip tightening on Jake, his new intention not to kick the other off, but hold him there and burn his handprint into Jake’s arm, as a reminder of what he’d done to the witch. Even if Marcus died here, he wanted Jake to know how he had hurt. So what if that was a very Marx thing to do? Marcus was angry.
The blood dripping down his arm from Jake’s knife began to boil, further damaging his skin but it seemed Marcus no longer cared about it. He didn’t need his runes for his innate sense of fire. The wards, yes, they needed the outside help to exist, but the fire in his breath and hands? He could draw from his soul and rip the heat out of his body to get the fire he needed.
He risked burning his very being into non-existence doing so, but at least that meant he’d drag Jake to hell with him.
Maybe his fire burned hot enough there wouldn’t be anything left to drag to hell. Maybe they’d just stop existing entirely, burned to nothing but ash.
“I risked my life for you, you asshole! And now if A.C.E. doesn’t kill me, Marx just might. Do you have any idea what he’ll do to me after this?! The last time I stepped out of line, he left me down there with the ghoul for three weeks! He’s threatening to leave my wounds open for the bot flies to eat.” And I’m fucking scared! He wanted to scream, to maybe take Jake’s switchblade and slit his own throat with it so he wouldn’t have to face the consequences of tonight.

Elijah nodded at Wynn as he gestured to the white van. He didn't know who Wynn was, but right now, despite Marx and Marcus' intervention, Wynn was seen as a savior of some sort. He was the only one calm enough in this situation, who could think clearly to help him as the two main members of the abnormality gang raged with anger behind them.
Before Elijah escaped into the van, he turned back one last time to see if Jake would be killed, but all he saw was something that made his eyes grow wide, a sharp gasp leaving him before everything grew obscure with the amount of magic and fire Marcus was putting out.

As Marx rushed Aristide, a wide near demonic smile took over Aristide's features, like a madman who had gotten exactly what he wanted.

What they hadn't told anyone, not even Apotheosis, was that the silver bullet was only the beginning of things. The concoction that nullified their abilities was in the process of permanently altering abnormalities altogether without the need to even touch them. Soon, they would get rid of abnormalities, slowly but surely, and Blake would be the key to it all.

As a demonstration of what they had achieved, Aristide allowed Marx to get as dangerously close as he could to him, inches away before something activated. It wasn't instant, but once the device was switched on, it radiated outwards like a pulse, affecting anyone in rage who was an abnormality- momentarily disabling them.

However, as it all happened, Aristide didn't hesitate once as he advanced toward Marx, his gun firing again. And again. And again. And again.
The way he reloaded his heavy gun became quicker somehow the more he had to replace the bullets in a short time. Despite the scalding temperature to the tip of the metal that grew, and the knowledge that he needed to slow down, Aristide didn't. The soldiers by his side dealt heavy damage to those who seemed most vulnerable, picking off the weakest and killing them without a second thought. But Aristide's eyes were on his prize. Marx.

He wondered how his heads would look mounted on a wall.

---

The moment Marcus thrashed to try to stop what was happening, was the moment Jake put his full weight on Marcus, nearly crushing him to the ground to still him as he tore through his flesh.

However, Marcus' cry was enough to make Jake hesitate as he dragged the blade, his action stuttered as if he couldn't quite put in enough force to follow through. And the only thing that snapped him out of his bloodlust was Marcus' searing hot fire that was soon branding into his skin.

As the realization hit him and his mind came back to him, Jake's inside froze over, as if having been possessed with demonic intention. It was only then that Jake was desperately trying to remove his bloodied knife from Marcus' arm, an action so full of regret, that it was as if there was a chance he could physically take everything back.

He couldn't.

And the action of trying to remove himself from Marcus was a mix of Jake panicking from his actions and then jerking back to get away from the pain Marcus was causing him which drew a pained whine from his throat that he nearly choked on. However, his actions to get away didn't follow through and the only thing it caused was for Marcus' hand to shift slightly against his arm. If Marcus' fire hadn't left some type of damage, his grip alone sure would have, holding on so tightly to him as if his life depended on it.

One moment Jake was holding Marcus down, and then the next he was trying to get away. Marcus seemed to change his mind as well, trying to shove Jake off at first, but now refusing to let go.
Jake hissed as Marcus' hand seemed to grow impossibly tighter to keep him there and burn his mistake deeper into his skin. In his attempt to withdraw from Marcus, he had let Marcus go, but somewhere between the hot and cold actions, changing minds at the last minute, Marcus had turned around so he was now face to face with Jake.

And he saw it.

He saw the tears that streamed down Marcus' face. The hurt that was written all over. The betrayal laced with desperation. Hell, he felt his soul in how hot he burned, and how determined he was to take them both out of existence entirely. He was so close to Marcus, the closest he had been yet, and it was utter hell.

The heat burning into his skin was nothing compared to the way his chest felt. It twisted in agony as it begged for Jake to rip it out. His heart. It was begging him. Because how could he do this? How could he do this and still attempt to be the person he was before? He couldn't go back. Not after this.
And with every word that came out of Marcus' mouth- every expression that shifted on his face- every emotion that grew palpable, it cut deeper than any knife ever could.

Like them. He could feel the dread wash over him with those words alone.

He hadn't- he wanted to start. In his head, he wanted to tell Marcus how their first time destroying the A.C.E. building hadn't been intentional- it hadn't been to sabotage anything. He had really thought to do them harm, he had thought to let Marcus destroy things as some sort of payback to those who hurt him and his friends, and in return, he was fully prepared to take the punishment of it all when he was caught.
But it hadn't panned out like that and Jake had been too stupid to think that the consequences would have landed on anyone else but him. And it weighed on his heart. Heavily. Because in the end, his own hands had dealt the final blow. He could make any type of excuse he wanted, but he had done it, whether a threat was over his head or not.

And now, the heartbroken and terrified look on Marcus' face as he yelled at him and cried and shook from the emotion, drew all the breath out of him. Wasn't this the opposite of what he had wanted? Didn't he want to spare others pain? The same pain he had been dealt? So why was he now betraying that? What had he seen in Marcus? A friend? Or something more? Maybe something less? Was it the enemy he saw in him now? Why was he hurting Marcus? Because he was in pain? What a bullshit excuse.

He decided it didn't matter. It didn't matter why he had done it or what he had wanted, he needed to stop Marcus right now from burning himself out with the amount of emotion and magic his fire was consuming.

Jake didn't care if Marcus extinguished his life and left nothing of him, but he couldn't bear the thought that he would take his own life because of him too. How was he supposed to fix this? Was there any fixing it? He didn't know what to do. He didn't know what to do-! He wished someone would help him, even now, but there was no one. And he only had himself.

Well you dug yourself into this hole. Take yourself out. Was the only thing he could hear echo in the back of his mind.

So he did the next best thing he thought would help release him from Marcus' grip.

The burned part of his flesh was numb now, the sensation completely gone. And now, around Marcus' hand which was still holding firmly onto him, was the beginning of the charred flesh that was slowly spreading. And it was painful. But even with all that, he wrapped an arm around Marcus' body, threading his fingers through the back of his hair as he pulled him in close.

Jake had never been an affectionate person, not to this extent. Not towards anyone.

He had a strained look on his face as every shift of Marcus' hand on his skin brought a blinding white-hot pain that bordered on unbearable. Still. He didn't stop, just like he hadn't stopped before to keep himself from harming Marcus.

There were a lot of things Jake wanted to say, but no time for any of them. He didn't know how to convey to Marcus that he hadn't meant it, none of it. He didn't blame him. It wasn't his fault. And he'd help him even if it killed him. He'd even tell him everything he had done had been intentional if it helped ease the pain he felt just a little. Helped him get away-
But the only thing that came out of his mouth was:
"I know, I'm sorry…- please, let me go" Before he forcefully pressed his lips to Marcus', holding onto him tighter in hopes that even if Marcus did push him away, he'd have a few more seconds to burn the memory of his lips and taste into his mind. He didn't need for it to be pretty. He didn't need to look like the good guy trying to save the day, he just needed for Marcus to stop. He'd take the blame. He had done everything. He'd fix things. He'd do it. He had to.

His words had been incredibly soft for someone who had the intention of killing not even a minute ago. And while the kiss was a bit rough at first, the way he held Marcus wasn't. He cradled him even though Marcus was hurting him. It looked like Jake wanted to shield Marcus from everything, even himself, with the way he brought him so close.

Jake didn't know what he was doing at this point, but his lips were on Marcus' and all he could think of was finally. This wasn't how he pictured their first kiss going, but Marcus seemed to be full of surprises with the way he brought out the worst in Jake- and yet, the best.

Wynn glanced back at the gasp, cringing at the fire. He was going to have to soak in the bath after this to get his scales back to the hydration they needed.
Though some part of him was panicked, wondering what was causing the witch so much emotion that he had to make it a point to burn everything around.

Marx seemed to realize his mistake too late. He snarled as the device went off, feeling his fire burn out instantly. It brought white hot anger that blinded him as he locked onto that stupid gun of Aristides.
He would rip this man’s hands off and feed them to that stupid siren friend of Marcus’s.
As the chimera readied to pounce, still trying to avoid the bullets as best he could, Anais suddenly slammed into his side, trying to remove him from the gunfire.
Marx hissed in anger, swiping at her. All he managed to do was end up with a bloodied paw steaming from that strange blood of hers.
She gave him a warning look, turning to Aristide with a growl.
“Don’t get killed.” She gurgled to her leader, tilting her head. “Too many emotions… taste bitter.” She huffed, spitting a glob of her blood towards Aristide as she circled the area, low on her feet to avoid the rain of gunfire Aristide was sending.
She was lucky her own magic was inherent. She couldn’t curse with whatever the hell Aristide had done, but her blood was always acidic and in this form it flowed freely forever. She never could stop it, even with healing spells to try and fix what made it pour from her throat.

Marcus was too upset to notice the shift in Jake’s mind. Once he freed his fire, letting it burn as hot as it wanted, it consumed him until he couldn’t tell what was Marcus and what was fire.
It had always been like this. If he wasn’t careful, Marcus could easily be led away by emotion and it would drown him in the frequencies he tried so hard to suppress.

Jake’s expression as they were now face-to-face made Marcus’s anger burn hotter. Jake didn’t get to look so conflicted. It was Jake’s fault this was happening. He had picked this fate for himself.
But before Marcus could grab Jake’s face and burn that stupid emotion from it, he was being pulled into Jake. That action alone dulled the anger and pain into confusion, making Marcus pause as Jake’s fingers tangled into his hair.
And then came the words. Jake had asked so… gently, a complete 180 from what he had been like seconds earlier. Marcus couldn’t help but to comply. The fire in his hand burned out, but he didn’t remove his grip, only loosened before he was being pulled into a kiss that both excited him and filled his chest with dread.
The fire around them burned down to something more tamed, and the heat that once threatened to incinerate Marcus and Jake and anyone stupid enough to come close finally reduced to something more friendly - despite the storm that boiled in Marcus’ chest.

This was another ploy. It had to be. Why else would Jake be playing with his emotions like this? One minute he was trying to carve into Marcus’s arm and the next he was holding him like he was the only thing in the world Jake couldn’t risk.
It hurt. The way everything seemed to flip back and forth between them. It hurt more than his fire did.
His first instinct was to lean more into it, to let himself be held finally in a way that wasn’t violent, to believe that Jake wasn’t the monster he had proven himself to be time and time again. The next was to thrash even more and push Jake away, to sink his knife so deep into the other’s chest Marcus was certain he wouldn’t hurt again.
He let Jake kiss him instead, frozen in place by confusion and want.

And then reality caught up with his brain and Marcus panicked. He pushed against Jake’s shoulders to get him to break the kiss, his eyes wide. They filled with tears again as he wracked his brain for an explanation for… any of this.
“You-! Why?!” He gasped, risking a look to make sure Marx hadn’t seen. The chimera seemed busy dodging bullets but the thought of being caught sent panic through the witch’s veins.
“I can’t- we can’t do this.” Marcus was in hysterics again, but Jake had successfully snuffed out the fire that threatened to consume the witch. Now all that was left were raw emotions that made Marcus want to tear his chest out.

“You asshole! I don’t trust you anymore. You pull me close just to stab me in the back, one kiss isn’t going to make me believe you won’t hurt me. I can’t play your games anymore…” The witch pushed weakly against Jake, squeezing his eyes shut to try and hide the shame of sobbing.
He wanted to trust Jake. He really did. The other’s apology had felt so… real. But every time Marcus tried to believe it, his mind would replay how Jake had murdered so carelessly, and Marcus couldn’t make himself think of Jake as someone who could be soft. All he could see was the blood pooling at Jake’s feet.
“I wish I could bring myself to kill you for what you did…” he muttered bitterly, opening his eyes to glare up at Jake. “I don’t know what you did to me, but I don’t like it. I want to hate you so badly. You and your stupid kiss.”

There was a faint rumbling in the distance that got closer with every ticking second.

Among the chaos of what would be written down in the history books as the pre-instrumental war, the rest of Apotheosis had been called- at last. And their arrival into the conflict was nothing short of a grand entrance.

The first on the scene was Rae, her battered yet powerful motorcycle letting her advance further ahead of the military vehicles that dragged behind her. Usually, while mostly identified to be a tail gunner, she wasn't supposed to be this far up ahead. She took the backend in fights that happened, covering her comrades from behind and making sure nothing caught them by surprise- but this time, she was at the front. And that only gave away the gravity of the situation they found themselves in. If Rae was the first to show up to any conflict, someone had severely fucked up.

Darius, having engaged in the beginning of combat with Vance, glanced over at the small vehicle approaching, and while he was usually one to throw Apotheosis to the wolves any chance he got, the smallest bit of relief washed over him.

Rae's teeth were gritted as she tried to force the engine on her motorcycle to go impossibly faster- it couldn't, but with the way her hands gripped the handles in a near-death grip- it almost felt like she could.

Soon, her right hand released the handle, and as she reached behind her, a brown and gold lever action shotgun was now in view, having unlatched it from the rear end of her motorcycle. Her first target was Anais as she seemed to be overpowering Aristide with the help of Marx. While Rae had felt the device on Aristide's person go off, not limited to just the abnormalities, the strength comparison of abnormalities vs humans was still higher even as their abilities were suppressed. Which came as no surprise to anyone.

So as she shot in Anais' direction to give Aristide more room, Rae jerked her motorcycle in a near-snapping action. Her vehicle came so close to throwing her off that it showed in the way the metal on the sides scrapped against the concrete floor of the warehouse, sparks flying as she allowed the engine underneath her to fly off in the direction it had been going, all the while the thick motorcycle glove on her hand dragged along the asphalt as she smoothly released her hold on the bike in a practiced motion. And in three seconds flat she was on her feet, and joining the fight, not minding how her fingerless gloves tore at the palm or how the skin on the tips of her fingers had been lightly shredded.

Rae's wide rage-filled eyes said everything anyone needed to know, she was royally pissed.

Pissed in how they could force Jake into something like this. Pissed at how they had even thought of killing off five innocent kids. Pissed at how it always seemed to come down to war between both sides. Pissed at all the bloodshed and how lives meant nothing on both sides. Just so incredibly pissed at the state of the world as a whole.

Had Rae been in any other situation she would have been full-on crying from the insurmountable rage that shook her body.

---

Jake let out a shaky relieved breath against Marcus' lips when he put out his fire. A trembling had started up in his hand from the damaged nerves that ran down his arm. The tears that had pooled in his eyes now falling freely as he took in ragged breaths. He allowed Marcus to push against him to break the kiss but still seemed to not want to let go of his hold around the other.

Arguably, it seemed as if Jake was taking the pain like someone who had been through worse. He had. However, while his specialty was to be an executioner and torturer, his same profession was usually flipped against him to teach him a lesson. Lessons he seemed to never learn. This time, however, he had; 'don't piss off the witch that could level entire cities'.

That same thought would be further burned into his bones even after the fact when he was healing. He didn't know it yet, but the powerful frequencies that Marcus had put out would leave his body aching for weeks.

Jake watched Marcus' reaction wax and wane, the strained look on his face still there as the witch panicked and demanded to know why he had done what he had done. But the way Marcus was looking back at Marx made a heavy prickly sensation jab around his heart. Jealousy had never been something Jake found he felt a lot, it was usually one or another negative emotion but this feeling? It was new. Then again, he had never been in love before.

He froze at his thoughts. In love? Had he fucking lost it? If anyone could hear his thoughts at this moment, they would laugh at him. Jake wasn't known to fall in love no matter what so then why…

But his actions against Marcus spoke volumes- the way his trembling hand had grabbed Marcus' face and forced him to stop looking at Marx so Jake could have his attention. And then Jake's grip was tightening with every word Marcus spoke. He wanted to answer Marcus, but even if he could attempt to explain what was going on inside of him, the squeezing of his heart and the bitterness wouldn't let him. It felt a lot like he had run out of oxygen and was struggling to breathe.

And then Jake was crying, teeth gritted.

Jake never cried. It was a rarity to see him crumble in any other way that wasn't rage-filled or when he was in physical pain, or out of fear. However, this time there was something different about it- the way his eyes shook with sadness and want and a different kind of pain. An emotional pain that made his lips tremble and brought his eyebrows together in confusion. The way his gaze had shifted from Marcus' eyes and how his hand reluctantly let him go. The way his face twisted into something that threatened to let his emotions go and ruin him, giving off an air of innocence that only someone who hadn't experienced love before could have.

"Anymore?" Jake asked weakly. Had Marcus trusted him? He hadn't thought so- he had only thought Marcus was doing what he needed to do, just like everyone else. But Marcus admitting that he couldn't bring himself to hate him despite everything he had done made his heart feel like it was slowly cracking inside of his chest. Marcus should hate him even if it made Jake's heart flutter for a moment- to know he didn't. He supposed the pain that poured over his heart was enough of a punishment- that, and the way his hand trembled.
And although Marcus' words were sharp and hate-filled, Jake knew what he meant to say: 'I feel something for you'. Never in his life had he had someone feel anything towards him that wasn't contempt in one way or another. Sure, Marcus hated him, that was undeniable, but alongside it was something that countered the hate, something that was different than the way his friends felt about him or a stranger might feel about him. Jake didn't dare call it love.

But then with that confession and the way more of Marcus' tears fell that made Jake tempted to brush them from his face, he pushed Marcus away without another word- frantically swiping at his own eyes with a confusion that rivaled someone who had been isolated their entire lives. There was both fear and heartache that could be seen right through his actions. It looked a lot like he didn't know what to do. Like he was scared of what Marcus' love or even his love for Marcus would entail for them both- like he was scared of admitting to himself that the way he felt towards Marcus was anything other than just wanting a one-night stand with him.

It would be the only time Jake let his walls down with so many around- in the middle of a small-scale war. Because soon Jake was finding his voice. And although it was broken and raspy and shaky, it got his point across.

"No..- we can't-" Jake choked out his agreement, now trying to pull up the walls Marcus had taken down. He found that he couldn't easily force himself to be cruel while face-to-face with Marcus and that thought made anxiety rip through him. He couldn't bottle his emotions nearly fast enough to stop what he said next, like something had scrambled Jake's brain, because although he had pulled away, all it took was one glance in Marx's direction before he was speaking again. His eyes quickly shifting from Marx to Marcus.
"We can't but I-…." a desperation trailed his words. "…fuck- I think I-… I think I might've made a mistake- all I can think of is how you need to make it out-" alive. It was a half-baked confession of love, the only way he knew how to say 'I care about you' without actually saying it- or actually saying the dreaded four-letter word. But Jake didn't get to finish his stuttered words before something was shooting across him at lightning speeds, the target being Marcus.
Had Jake's body not moved when he had, the small vial would have shot Marcus and emptied its contents inside the witch, turning his insides into a near-liquid substance- like most spiders did to consume their meals. But it was a miracle the way his body had snapped into action so quickly to shove Marcus down. It seemed to stun Jake, unsure of how he had done it with only a split second's notice.

Blake stepped out from among the smoke, teeth pulling the safety cap off of the syringe in her right hand, her left clutching the skull of a ghoul who had nearly all the flesh burned off to expose the white bone underneath. Bits of the rotting flesh still hung off that hadn't entirely been burned away but it seemed Blake couldn't care less as her hand held firmly onto the skull, fingers threaded through the eyesocket, gripping the upper jaw as she held the head upside down- blood dripped down from the decapitated abnormality.

Jake could feel the dread wash over him as he saw her approaching, his eyes wide as he couldn't seem to take his eyes off of the head that if looked closely enough, bits of the brain spilled out like mush. Blake called it a brain blender- the toxin she had created to get the "slushie" effect of someone's internal organs. It was in bad taste, but everyone knew Blake hadn't meant it as a joke which made it all the worse. Either way, her timing couldn't have been more atrocious and Jake found himself blocking Marcus from Blake's view.

While Blake had a heart, it wasn't towards anyone who wasn't Apotheosis. She was known as someone who disassembled abnormalities and put them back…. wrong. Or at the very least, didn't put them back entirely right. They still had to function, of course, but with each passing day, Blake was encouraged to push the limits of what she could get away with. Ethics had never been a concern.

She stopped at a distance, close enough that Jake could make out her dead black eyes but far away enough that if need be, it would be easy to shoot her.

Blake had pulled her pitch-black hair up into a lazy and extremely messy ponytail, wisps falling to frame some of her face- perhaps coming slightly undone from engaging in combat.
She wasn't fully decked out in the clothes she normally liked to wear, instead, sporting a short flowy black dress with spaghetti straps and a long-sleeved white turtle neck shirt underneath that was mostly all lace to compliment the bottom of the black dress that also had lace around the hem. The long sleeves draped over her hands slightly. She would have looked stunning had it not been for the blood staining her white blouse and the unsmiling expression she always wore. Her heavy combat boots anything but elegant like the rest of her.

"I need that one" she spoke, referring to Marcus and Jake could feel his insides freeze over, his heart sinking so low he felt he might throw up.

"I-I've got it-" he lied, panickingly looking back at Marcus from the corner of his eyes.

Blake's eyes landed on the burn mark on Jake's arm, something like hunger behind her gaze as she realized Marcus had been the one to scar Jake. But Blake wasn't stupid. She could see the emotion right through Jake's eyes and how his stance at the moment was that of a cornered animal protecting something valuable to them.

"You can hate me all you want, but it's time for you guys to leave." Jake's voice had snapped back into the harsh commanding voice he always had while in an active fight- the tears now dried to his face which painted him in an exhausted light. His words had been directed at Marcus despite his back being to him.
Marcus could backstab him right now, and in a quite literal manner too. The witch had said he couldn't trust Jake anymore, but Jake was putting his full trust in Marcus to not kill him right then and there.

"Tell your fuckass boyfriend that if he doesn't get you all out now there won't be a next time for any of you" he hissed, eyes trained on Blake and the way she walked in an unpredictable nature. One moment she was taking a few calculated steps forward, then the next moving to circle them before she pushed her luck in approaching further to close the gap between her and Jake- risking to engage in combat with another Apotheosis member. Which Jake would, and Blake knew it all too well.