"You have got to be kidding me." Rene groaned.

Michael rocked back on his heels, relaxed. "Miss me Sparky?"

She stood their gaping. There were no words for the crap going on right now. Michael came strolling through the wreckage of fire and ash, whistling like he was skipping through freakin' daisies! What was wrong with this boy! Well, besides the usual. Rene gritted her teeth grabbing at her head. Great, all this nonsense was starting to give her a migraine. Ignore it. Focus on the important stuff. Lowering her hands, Rene purposefully walked past him to crouch where Cassie and Danny were lying on the ground. She reached out a shaking hand to check Cassie's pulse. A steady, low thrum of life vibrated under her fingertips making her smile. She moved to Danny and did the same. His heart beat steadily with far more vigor than Cassie's. She sighed simply rolling back to plop on the ground. Rene crossed her legs before resting her elbows on her knees and her head in her hands. She looked up expectantly at the two males who had been observing the mini physical.

A light breeze stirred through the air causing ash to rise and flurry. Rene reached down and gently scooped up a handle full of it only to watch it be stolen away by the wind.

"Care to explain?" Rene muttered repeating the action.

Michael cleared his throat, shifting his feet and posture into one of dramatic poise. Rene rolled her eyes waiting when Declan coughed. She shifted her attention to Declan, who was obviously uncomfortable, to see him sort of tugging and patting at his clothing. Her head cocked in confusion. He decided now was the best time to be self-conscious about his fashion sense. He met her eyes and jerked his head in Michael's direction while copying the action. She shrugged, was he making fun of Michael's clothes now?

"You got something to say Stick?" Michael inquired. "Just spit it out already."

Declan twitched at the stick comment then growled. "I was trying to point out your clothes are on fire."

Michael gazed down at himself and the small crackles of heat eating away at his apparel. "Would you look at that?" He started chuckling while reaching for the flames to put out with his bare hands. Declan and Rene watched in wide-eyed shock as he patted them out like petting a dog or cat. Finished, Michael raised his head with a lazy grin. "Should have said something sooner that could have gotten really awkward." He winked at Rene.

"Another friend of yours?" Declan grumbled striding over to, the now blushing, Rene and deliberately created a division in the group.

"I don't know about friend." Rene had begun forming a small mound of ash during the exchange. Her hands were eager to be busy and draw away from her swirling thoughts. "I am aware of his existence."

A gasp came from Michael. "After everything I've done for you? I'm really hurt Sparky."

An ash cloud puffed and floated through the air as Rene clapped her hands clean. She stood up and continued brushing ash off herself. Declan was on edge eyeing up Michael as though he'd try and stab him or something. She supposed she understood. For probably the first time in his life, Declan was outnumbered. He was out of his comfort zone surrounded by crazies and chaos. Normal was no longer the majority. The unusual were the norm and the usual were different. Yet Rene herself never felt more at ease, even with the amount of pressure her head was bounding at her trying to process the mess. Michael on his part wasn't making the situation any better as he had taken to resting his hands behind his head and re-picked up his tune.

"What are you whistling?" Rene questioned as she kicked at the ash swiping her way back towards Karo.

"Don't cha wish your girlfriend was hot like me? Don't cha wish your girlfriend was a freak like me?" He sang out of key.

Declan glared at him. "That sounded nothing like that."

"It's called taking creative liberties, Stick."

"Why do you keep calling me that?" Declan growled, face twitching. He had to have a lot of wrinkles with the way he was holding all his anger and frustration in his facial muscles.

Michael smiled dropping his hands and walking up to Declan. He managed to get right in his face despite Declan's height advantage. "Simple because even though we just met I could tell right away you got a stick stuck right up your..."

"That's enough." Rene responded trailing a hand down Karo who snorted in agreement. "You two want to have a testosterone match find somewhere else to do it. I'm not dealing with a measuring contest especially not when you're both acting like idiots."

Nothing but silence greeted her outburst. She kept herself still on Karo.

"Fine." Declan said slight annoyance in his voice. Michael took a step back with a nod of his head. Declan then proceeded to stick out his hand. "Toleration until this is all over with, agreed?"

Michael laughed before grasping his hand and shaking it roughly even adding a clap on Declan's back for good measure. "Yes, of course we can always compare later."

Rene rolled her eyes while Declan froze stunned as Michael continued shaking his limp arm. "Are the crude sexual innuendos really necessary?"

"Come on Rene, you started it. Besides, we're all adults here. Would you prefer I just say it?"

Declan ripped his hand out of Michael's grasp with a glare. He shrugged with a grin. Immature did not even begin to cover that boy. Rene rested her forehead on Karo feeling the sleek scales cool her burning face. The sharp edges a physical grounding presence gently lining her skin not to break it.

Now what?

There are more enemies left to face. This is not over yet, young one. Kai whispered encouragingly.

I know. She leaned back letting her eyes travel the blackened ground. She stopped on Cassie and Danny's still bodies. I can't leave them here.

Muscles shifted beneath her hands the scales lightly scrapping as Karo pulled away. He slid through the air and ash towards them. Reaching out with his enormous claws, he carefully picked up the dead weight. His wings unfurled gallantly and heaved him high into the air overhead. Karo soared away over the fence a black mass in the sky. Rene stood quiet watching the sky with a hand shielding her eyes from the sun. It was too bright and happy for such a day. They were going to war against an unknown king. How could the sun be so brilliantly shining? Where was the rain and whipping wind to echo the horrors that played out below it? Instead there was a yellow ball glaring down with its invisible smile, taunting. Rene was almost surprised flowers didn't start popping out of the ashy remains to sing a song with a day so cheery.

"Is he coming back, because he was definitely our ace in the hole." Michael drawled as he stared off into the distant. Rene made a face at him. "What?"

"Why aren't you, I don't know, freaking out or anything?"

"Because he's a crazy fool." Declan grumbled.

Michael smirked spinning into a bow surrounded in gray by the plume he created. "Chemically imbalanced, but thank you." Rene snorted to which he winked. "Now to answer your question, I'm not freaking out as you so elegantly put it, because this isn't exactly my first time dealing with the weird and whacky."

"What does that even mean?" She sighed crossing her arms over her chest.

"That I've been to the freak show before."

"Cut the crap Sunshine, or I'll snuff you out myself."

"My aren't we extra icy today." He shook his head disappointingly. "And here I was thinking you had finally thawed out."

Rene locked eyes with him. He still had that stupid smirk plastered on his face. It was disarming and playful compared to the person who made it. Yes, Michael was those things but that was just the surface. He was unpredictable and sly with an extreme handle on the power of words. Michael had an aurora of street smarts beyond the facts that he randomly spouted. He knew more than he told and enjoyed toying with that information. Dangling it front of others to pull it away and playing the act of the fool, he was a prankster there was no doubt. Like a fairy tricking humans by playing at a friend in order to better pull the strings. He was handsome and charming, smart and alluring. He was a strong opponent. In a way he was everything Rene was afraid of and afraid to want. It was only fun if they could keep up.

The ground buckled and ash blasted into Rene face coating her body. Karo had returned with a solid thud of a landing. He had totally done that on purpose. She licked the grit and grime off her teeth, spitting it out with disgust. She really needed a shower after all this crap.

"They safe?"

"They are out of the line of fire, for now that will have to do." Karo rumbled back.

Rene shifted nervously before nodding to show her compliance with the compromise. Besides, the faster they wrapped all this up the faster they could get the two of them medical help. Hopefully, Danny would wake up from the drug induced unconsciousness and keep an eye on Cassie who was worse off. They just needed to hold on a bit longer. Rene was going to end this hell. She looked over at a mischievous faced Michael and a stoic, determined Declan. She jerked her head towards the asylum before striding for it not waiting to see if they followed.

"Yeah Team Awesome, let's kick some ass!" Michael shouted punching the air.

"This is serious." Declan growled catching up to Rene and falling in step automatically.

"I am being serious." Michael answered solemnly before a slight smirk quirked in again. "Prince Charming, the knight in shining armor, a dragon, and their lesser the jester are here to save the damsels in distress."

"Which does that make you?"

"What did I say before?" Rene sighed annoyed as she kept her eyes darting between the ground and the asylum. The sea of guards' bodies was danced around by the group in their efforts to reach the building. "Or do I have to have Karo roast you a little to get you two to behave?"

Michael laughed. "You can try Firecracker, but I'm fire proof doll."

It was a prod. He was baiting her to question him again about what happened earlier. She ignored the bait. It wasn't like they exactly had the time to discuss plus he'd just end up aggravating her more than likely. She had to save that rage for some other unfortunate souls.

"We should find Lora." Declan muttered deep in thought. "She is a good fighter and strategist. Also this whole rebellion thing was sort of her plan, minus the dragon."

Rene nodded. "Any ideas where she could be?"

"I suppose it mostly depends on what exactly they believe to be her part in all of this. For all we know she could have been captured."

The trio and dragon came to the entrance and halted. The three of them as one looked up to gaze at the imposing figure of the asylum, a little piece of hell on Earth that they were all wishing to take down for various reasons. An insane task, a mad quest but one they were determined to accomplish nonetheless. Hopeful they would also come out in one piece on the other side. Rene hummed lowering her eyes. She picked up the tune of Michael's whistling going up to the front door. A solid side kick sent the doors ricocheting on their hinges in loud whining squeaks of protest. The shuttering doors revealed guards with guns raised waiting for them inside.

"Well I don't know about you, but that was the easiest game of hide and seek I've ever played." Michael mused.

Rene smiled. "In that case let's play tag, who wants to be it first?"

Declan loaded his gun carefully. "Strictly logically speaking, I volunteer the dragon."

Rene turned to Karo cocking her head at him inquiringly. Karo pulled back his mouth to reveal those razor sharp teeth in a chilling grin. With no warning, he barreled through the doors leaving them swinging wildly. Screams and gun fire could be heard gaining and diminishing with each open and shut of the doors. Brief spurts of the war could be seen revealing chaos. Michael sighed leaning against the outer wall almost despondently. Declan continued fidgeting with his pistol checking the safety and counting, recounting his bullets. Rene took the time to pull the destroyed guard-style bun out of her rat's nest of a hair. She leaned over hanging the blonde locks upside down and shaking it out. Running her finger through it a couple times, she semi-succeeded in making it manageable and pulled it back into a regular ponytail. She tightened it while straightening up feeling more like herself and ready to go. As she finished, the doors finally slowed to a complete shut blocking them from the inner world that was the asylum. Well, that should have been long enough.

"Ladies first." Rene announced pushing her way into the building with the two near on her heels.

The fray was far worse than could be observed through the swinging doors. People moaned and groaned in pain on the ground. It was more like freeze tag, or maybe red rover, with the way people were being put out of commission. Black painted the cement walls giving color to the blank mind-numbing slates of white. Rene started picking her way down the hall. A guard desperately reached out latching onto to her ankle. Rene flinched jerking to try and shake them off. Declan crouched down prying their hand off forcefully but kindly. He gave the guard a pointed look to which they shrunk away from. Declan got up and took the lead, gun at the ready. Rene followed with Michael in the rear. Declan must feel horrible about all of this. These people were some of his own. He had worked alongside of them, talked and laughed with them. Yet, he was willing to stand against them for what he believed was an injustice. Rene resolved to keep the causalities from here on out minimal if only for his sake. Her heart clenched knowing she had made that same promise to Lora that no one would die because of her. Guess promises were worthless as most things that spouted from a human's mouth. Who knew how high the body count was at this point, because while she was pretty certain she hadn't killed anyone directly all of this was her fault. Then there was Karo... Still for Declan, for Lora she'd try to keep that promise. She knew how blood could force cracks into even the toughest armor. It never washed out whether it was someone else or one's own instead it permanently painted the darkness corners of their mind.

The trail of destruction was a clear path for them to follow. Karo had clearly been holding back in the charge. It was obvious he had focused on speed instead of complete eradication of the enemy in order to keep pressing forward. Even so, there such a high level of destruction that left no doubt the black dragon had been the cause of this. They jogged up two flights of stairs and found themselves lead straight into the cafeteria. They had yet to see any residents. It was an uneasy thought. With any luck, the reason was because they were all still in lock-down. More unpleasant thoughts crept uninvited in the back of her mind about where they could be if they were unlucky. Rene glanced around the large room. Besides upturned tables, the cafeteria was in rather good condition. No guards littered its floor, no signs of fire, no bullet casings scattered about. Something was definitely up.

"Marco!"

"No just me." A melodic female voice sang.

Beautiful dark skin shone even in the harsh florescent lights as Scarlet stepped out from behind the food counter. Rene frowned taking a step back at the unexpected guest. Of all the people to be playing the game, she hadn't been expecting her.

"Naughty Scarlet," another feminine voice rippled from behind them vibrating with the shutting of the cafeteria doors. "Trying to steal all the fun and glory for yourself."

Why did life hate her so much?

"Hi Kristy, see you missed that little campfire earlier. It's too bad. We had to roast marshmallows without you." Rene hummed.

Both exits were blocked, one by Scarlet and one by Kristy. Kristy was a set of walking teeth embodying her soul animal, the big bad wolf. Clutched tightly in her hand was a large butcher knife and to round out the look several smaller knives were strapped over her chest. Scarlet though was unarmed. She was their best way through. Rene took a step forward ready to tackle the perky pain when Michael grabbed her arm. She turned to look at him annoyed. To her surprise, he was shaking visibly. Rene followed his gaze to where it was locked on Scarlet. What in the world?

"Plan?" Declan questioned his aim solid on Kristy guarding their back.

"You two take care of Kristy and get out of here. Scarlet is mine." Michael practically growled.

Rene's eyes widened a bit in fear. She had never seen Michael so angry and serious. "Michael." She whispered.

"Better listen to him Rene dear." Scarlet laughed examining her fingernails absentmindedly like she wasn't about to have a potentially fatal face off. "There is far more going on here than you know." She dropped her hand with a sneer. "You're out of your league."

Kristy cackled from her side in agreement. Rene's anger spiked making her want to punch Scarlet in the face or maybe take a chair to the goddess-like face. Nothing was nailed down here, well not anymore after Karo's remodeling. She was forced back though by Michael, who then placed himself between the two.

"For once in your life, can you not do something stupid?" Michael said quietly meeting her eyes intensely.

Rene snorted with a smile. "Define stupid." She glanced over at Kristy. The girl was bouncing eagerly on her feet stroking the knife lovingly. Damn. She couldn't leave Declan to deal with that. "Fine, shout when you get yourself into trouble and I'll come rescue your distressed damsel-self."

Michael laughed that joyous carefree laugh of all things. "Whatever you say Firecracker." He stepped away to meet Scarlet head on. Her back left colder from his absence. He was still there though guarding it, just from a distant she reminded herself.

To the front lines, Rene joined Declan against Kristy. Declan was a pretty good shot and from all that counting earlier she noticed that he had a decent amount of ammo left. She shouldn't be worried. Kristy was outnumbered and outgunned. So why did her stomach flip and churn? Perhaps it was the mad reflection in Kristy's eyes. Maybe, it was Rene's blood still crusted in the girl's hair from where she had whipped the knife. Then again, it could have been the multiple wounds that covered Kristy's normally flawless appearance and yet she was going like they never happened. Whatever, the reason Rene had a sinking feeling deep in the pit of her stomach. Her mind whispered words of warning and darkness that she would not win this fight, not this time.

You are right, young one. Kai confirmed her fears. Something is different about Kristy. Both her and her companion are off...

You just described me as well as everyone else here.

It's not in that way. They seem almost to be...un-human.

Rene shuddered at the statement throwing a quick look over her shoulder to see Scarlet and Michael circling. They appeared to be talking quietly to one another and not in a friendly chat way. Returning her attention to Kristy, they needed to be quick then about this. Rene nodded at Declan, who with only slight hesitation shot a round straight into Kristy's forehead.

At first nothing happened. Rene wondered briefly if he had missed. Then a red dot appeared in the spot like a little pimple until it slowly overflowed streaming down Kristy's face. Rene sickened at the sight. She hadn't realized he would go for the kill shot. She was thinking more along the lines of maiming a limb. Kristy swayed back into the shut doors and slid down them leaving a bloody trail. The bullet was embedded into the door where Kristy's head had been. Unpleasant but done. Declan was pale and shaking beside her the weight of what he had done sinking in. Rene reached out a hesitant hand unsure what to do when a maniacal giggle stopped her. Her blood chilled.

"That hurt." Kristy continued giggling as she stood up. "You're going to have to die for that."

Blood dripped continuously onto the floor from the hole in Kristy's head. What in the hell was this girl? When Rene compared her to a witch or demon, she had been totally fooling but now. This was not the same girl she verbal sparred with on a day to day basis. She was completely unhinged and unfeeling, in more ways than one. Kristy staggered forward knife at the ready. Declan beside her made a strangled sob. The gun bobbed uncontrollably in his hands. His brain unable to comprehend what was coming at him enough to defend.

"Kristy, what the hell happened to you?" Rene shouted trying to stall her.

"What happened to me?" Kristy laughed licking some of the blood from her lips. Declan gagged besides her. "He gifted me. He made me special."

The knife hissed through the air as Kristy swiped. Rene shoved Declan to the ground out of the way and did a rather painful back-bend to avoid it herself. Righting herself a bit dizzily, Rene moved to punch her. Kristy caught her arm and spun Rene to send her flying across the room. Spots swarmed her vision as Rene got up. Across the hall, Michael and Scarlet had started their fight. It was a furry of color. Fire danced through the air darting repeatedly at Scarlet's lithe form. Scarlet was holding some sort of fans which she twirled with and threw at Michael. Could this day get any madder? Seriously, could she get like 5 minutes of peace for processing this shit?

"We're not done." Kristy stepped on her back.

Pain blasted her senses as unconsciousness threatened to overwhelm her. She had too many bruises and had lost too much blood to be able to withstand even this. She sobbed. What had happened to the girl who said she'd never be a victim again? Where was the heroine who was going to save her friends, the residents, and even herself by burning the asylum to the ground? She was nothing more than a pathetic bug being squashed under the boot of Kristy. Karo wasn't here to save her. Cassie and Danny were knocked out, God knows where, unable to have her back. Michael was fighting his own battle against Scarlet with freakin' fire and Declan was presumably too dazed from everything to even process. She was alone. Once again she was trapped under the thumb of this psycho, but this time there were no options. No last minute crazy plan to get away. Kristy's shoe dug deeper and deeper into the soft tissue. She didn't want to die...

She didn't want to die. Creeping black and warming blood flooded all of her being. She didn't want to die. Numb, she was becoming so numb. She didn't want to die. Her heart slugged to a slowing stop. Silence, one...two...three...

THERE WAS NO WAY IN HELL THIS WAS WHERE SHE'D DIE!

A flash of cold raced through her veins practically steaming as it met the rising anger.

"What the..." Kristy shrieked getting off her back.

Rene rolled over to see the foot that had had her pinned down now encased in ice. Rene reached back to find her shoulder exposed and freezing to the touch. She carefully traced nimble fingertips over the area when suddenly they caught on something. On impulse, she grabbed it. Pulling away, Rene revealed in her hand one of the twin swords, full sized, glowing an icy blue. Maybe, she could handle just a little more crazy.