The rumbles returned as the first drizzles of the large storm brewed once more. The stars and the crescent moon were still visible though the clouds were beginning to roll in over the horizon.

Sera was nervous.

There is just something about walking into what you know is going to be a fight that feels so different.

They had battled against Crownley and the Internal Bureau, had fought a demon for God's sakes, and so Sera had no real doubts about their ability to take the fight. What troubled her was the idea that they might be evenly matched and how the casualties would reflect that.

Thoughts spun in her head of all of the different ways that the members could die based on the field reports that had gathered. Who would die first and how she could prevent it spun around until it was just a panicked buzz nearly devoid of thought.

"Sera?" Hound asked with an inquisitive look. He placed a hand on her shoulder.

Looking up at him, Hound had the concerned eyes of a parent worried for her safety.

"I am fine, Hound. Just nerves. The sooner this is over, the better," Sera replied with as much bravado as she could muster.

She was not the only one feeling trepidation. Laena was flicking her pocket knife open and shut, Quinn's hand had been on his gun since they had left the house, and Anjelica had been smoking like a chimney the whole walk. Something about that felt like a connection to Sera, like she was a part of the greater whole feeling the same emotion.

Passing through the abandoned part of the Barrows and back towards the riverfront, they began making their way towards the ominous grey box in the distance.

The River Brave had taken on the rain upstream and was rushing and lapping up the banks with splashes and smacking water. Sera wondered for a moment what it would be like to be beneath its current before refocusing herself on the task at hand.

Arriving at the big double doors to the laboratory, everyone paused for a moment.

They knew what they were here for and so all of them drew their weapons with sweaty palms.

"I will see all of you back here in just a bit," Laena said pointedly.

She nodded before walking back down the wooden path to watch their exit.

Anjelica cleared her throat as she flicked off a cigarette and immediately lit another.

"Stick to the plan. Hound and I are the tip of the spear and we will pace the aggression. Sera stays just behind us to provide support and protect Quinn. Mnemina and Bert hold our flanks. Everyone ready?"

Naught but the sound of the gathering storm answered.

With nothing left to say, Hound took a deep inhale before kicking open the doors of the laboratory.

The first thing they saw was the bright, almost blinding light from inside the main foyer as they entered. When the initial blindness dulled, the group found themselves in a room much brighter than the one Sera remembered as both the candlesticks and candelabra had been lit. Their light reflected off of the freshly polished floors which Sera now saw had multicolored tiles throughout. All of this comprised a wide open atrium upon whose floor sat a beautiful tiled fresco of Mount Lilliheim with its red flowing rivers.

The sound of applause emerged from the stairs as across the room was Gabriel. Flanked by his children he stood a few steps up the stairs in a position of control rather than fear.

Umbra had forsaken her veil and now the extremity of her condition was on full display. Organs quaked and vessels pumped as her translucency belied every small mechanization of her body. Wearing tight fitting pants down to the knee and a crudely cropped shirt, her body was adorned most prominently with belts crisscrossing her body filled with needles, daggers, caltrops and throwing stars.

Sol had removed his shirt, showing his tattoos of birds of prey which marked his chest in brilliant white and stark black. Rippling muscle and a well trimmed beard belied his self-infatuation while his obsidian war staff told of his intentions.

On the veranda behind them was Amelia wielding a long bronze rifle. She had one boot hiked up onto the base of the railing and leaned over with a maddened smile. Hanging about her was a mockery of a doctor's coat stained with dark patches and round blotches.

Gabriel clapped one last time.

"Congratulations! You have arrived in front of me, weapons drawn. It is an epic confrontation worthy of days of yore. I suppose this is the point at which your plan ends?"

"There was a lot more fighting in our plan. I guess you Internal Bureau people like a bit of banter though?" Anjelica fired back.

"Mostly Crownley," Gabriel said with venom. "At least he used to."

From behind them came a yell from Laena. They all turned to see Lucian's vibrant blue hair for but a moment before the doors slammed with the resounding thud of a board dropping across them.

"What did you do to him?" Anjelica called up to them.

The double doors to the laboratory shook as something pushed up against them. The lock and chain which had been replaced on the metal doors since Sera's visit flexed against the force and rattled.

"He received justice for his betrayal to the Church."

"More like his betrayal of you?" Anjelica snarled

Amelia laughed. "Oh I missed you Angel!"

Knowing they were in a trap, the party pressed their backs together to tighten their formation.

"What is our plan Anjelica?" Sera hissed .

"Ah, the little Fostaine mouse," Gabriel cooed upon hearing her voice. "I was hoping that you would be here. The last one of your kind had already bled half to death by the time I saw her. That would make you her daughter? Or maybe sister? I read the course for her interrogation and when a person still sticks to their story after a certain level of suffering, you believe them. She protected you all the way to the end and it seems to have certainly been worth it. Here you are, strong and youthful. Using the Everburn for war like you were Lillith herself. Very impressive!"

"I hope you still think so once I get done shoving my flaming sword up your ass you filthy child murderer," Sera snapped back.

"I told you she was feisty," Amelia simpered.

"You will find the rest of us are as well," Anjelica said coldly as she took a step forward.

Things began to move quickly then.

"How does it feel to serve a sadist?" Anjelica quipped.

"I feel nothing at all," Sol retorted.

Sol spun his warstaff with a few long strides to meet with Anjelica's blade as its point stretched towards his neck.

Umbra cackled as she watched the start of the fight.

"Does that mean that I get to play with —" Umbra was cut off.

"ME!" Hound growled as he took a swing at her with claws outstretched.

Her mad cackling began as she dodged while rolling backwards up the stairs.

Gabriel turned to start walking further up as the melee erupted around him.

Steeling herself, Sera began to run across the atrium trying to weave between the conflict. Her blade ignited as she charged the clergyman in an effort to end the fight before things got worse.

What she was not expecting was Sol jamming his staff into the ground to trip her. This sent her tumbling forwards onto her hands and knees. Before she could stand, Umbra did a cartwheel to land in front of her and reared back to kick directly to her face.

Sera's world filled with starlight as she tumbled backwards, rolling several times from the force.

"Sera!" Anjelica yelled. As she looked over, Sol wrapped his arm around hers and a searing flame pulsed where their skin touched.

Hound spun around at the sound of Anjelica's screaming searing his ears. Umbra took advantage of this to jump onto his shoulders and begin raining stabs down onto his head.

Mnemina grabbed hold of Sera and pulled her to a seated position.

"Be stilll. There are more clots in that battle than any since the Unification," Mnemina explained. "Best to stay out of it. They are Empyreans like Anjelica. If anyone can kill them, it is my fledges."

Sera felt a wave of disbelief as a roar echoed through the room.

"LOOK HIGH ANGEL!"

At that moment, Hound roared and reared back snagging hold of Umbra. Rolling forwards, he repositioned himself through the motion to toss Umbra several feet above him.

A shot rang out striking Umbra and sending her into a spiral.

Anjelica's scorched arm, shaking involuntarily from the pain, held aloft one of her smoking pistols.

Sol roared and spun his staff around to create a vortex of fire. He then whipped it into a column of inferno that bore down on Anjelica.

Anjelica's raven eye shone with the flame's light as her eyepatch had been discarded. She did not react to the flames, but instead was placing a cigarette into her mouth.

Just before the flames struck, Hound spun around her and covered her body with his.

The rumble of the flame ended and Hound's back was left a charred flakey mess. He gasped in pain but still turned to face Sol as his now burned shirt fell away revealing his own impressive physique. Chunks of skin flaked off as new growth whipped across his ribs like vines.

"You remember that scaly winged thing we saw down at the mouth?" Anjelica asked Hound.

Turning around with a focused, angry stare that only pain can provide, Hound responded.

"Yeah. She is similar to Crownley so should we play to our strengths?"

"Of course," Anjelica shot back.

Hound's roar echoed once more as he tossed himself at Sol.

The man was skilled, whipping his huge staff around as if it was as light as a feather and peppering Hound with blows that would send other men reeling to the floor. Not even the jets of flame seemed to perturb Hound who seemed a rabid animal on the hunt. Whenever his ligaments could actuate he was swinging them towards Sol, a flimsy broken body with deadly intent.

Inch by inch, Hound began to close the distance until it was all that Sol could do to defend.

Desperation crossed Sol's face and he saw the moment for a killing blow. Swinging his war staff with both hands, he struck Hound's forehead with the flared head.

A sickening crunch filled the air as the top half of Hound's head snapped back and away from his mandible. His speed never slowed however as this moment was what he had been trying to bait. Instead of dodging the blow, Hound had held a hand back behind his head to catch whatever remained afterwards.

In that split second, Hound had passed Sol's guard and he used his hand to fling the remnants of his upper fangs into Sol's shoulder as his lower mandible bit down. With his anatomy in roughly the right his jaw muscles quickly whipped together reasserting his bite.

In a spraying arc of crimson, Hound ripped a chunk of Sol's trapezius from his body.

For just a moment, Sol's otherwise placid face showed worry as he collapsed the side of Hound's knee and shoved him away to gain space.

Where Sol stepped back, several needles hit the ground dangerously close to his foot.

Behind him, Anjelica's eye was fixed onto Umbra.

Using the shadows created by the columns and staircase, Umbra was throwing her implements of violence into them where they reemerged, moving faster than before.

Anjelica was simply dodging as the foresight from her power though nauseating gave her an advantage in this small space.

"You will have to do better than that. Fighting is a two way street!" Anjelica quipped.

Moving towards one of the shadows where she knew Umbra's spectral hand would appear to retrieve some daggers, Anjelica stabbed the blade down into the shadow.

With some pride, she looked over to see Umbra yelling in pain as she retreated a now bleeding hand from the shadow. As her hand exited, Anjelica's rapier blade snapped off where it met the ground.

"Interesting," Anjelica said while examining the blade.

Injured, Umbra clutched their arm and retreated beside their brother at the base of the stairs.

Anjelica and Hound immediately collapsed on them, not allowing a moment of rest. The injured party began to be forcibly pushed up the stairway.

Umbra and Sol were pushed closer together as they coalesced towards their master's side of the staircase which gave Hound an opportunity he had been trained not to miss.

His clawed arm shot over and sank deep into Sol's arm, yanking him across the staircase and into crashing him against the railing. Umbra immediately moved to assist but Anjelica's rapier stabbed through her calf.

Umbra jerked back her leg as Sol burst up to stand with great speed. Using that momentum he sent Hound back a step with a sharp thrust of the heavy bellend of his war staff.

Umbra fell forward before catching herself on Sol's back grabbing on.

Sol then swung his staff in a wide arc as he stepped back. The staff engulfed itself in flame and sent a blazing trail across the steps, barring their path to Gabriel lest they wanted to jump through the blaze to get to him.

At that point, Sol whipped his staff around and created a line of flame cutting off the right hallway from the rest of the staircase.

Hound attempted to bound over but was quickly stymied by the war staff which sent him tumbling backwards.

"The time for chess is over," Gabriel called out in the echoing room. "This bout was entertaining but you bore me. Amelia —"

A gunshot rang out from the bottom of the stairs as Quinn's golden pistol fired.

There was a moment's pause as even Gabriel was shocked at the sudden intrusion.

From the shadow emanating from the back of Sol's head, a translucent shoulder was visible with a bullet now embedded deeply inside it. Past the skin was an almost jelly-like appearance of Umbra's destroyed shoulder. They howled and retreated.

Sera looked over to see the wicked doctor who had begun to cackle with her rifle drawn. She was aiming but not at the group. Tracing her sightline Sera understood the intention of Gabriel's order and her heart went cold.

"Up the stairs now!" Sera called out as she tried to rise to her feet.

Quinn grabbed her arm to help when the deafening roar of the rifle rang out in the confined space.

The group, trusting in Sera's word, managed to make it a few steps up before the sound of splintering metal was heard.

With a well placed shot, Amelia had split both the lock and some portion of the chain off of the heavy metal doors leading to the cage room.

"Kill them all and we can have a nice walk outside for some fresh air, dear ones!" Amelia yelled.

What was left of the chains were torn asunder as from Amelia's hall of horrors emerged her menagerie. There were forms that one would recognize as cats or dogs but only in the loosest sense of the term as their bodies were both pocked with unseemly growths and disjointedly exaggerated proportions.Worse yet, behind those animalistic things were the remnants of Amelia's siphoning program wailing the incoherent gibberish of the drugged as they emerged in a zombified fervor. Limbs that were too long, jutting canines that formed malicious teeth, and mangey patches of fur all pocked them like a mark of the Betrayer.

Something more than pain and confusion was on their faces. Now there was a purpose.

Now they had been given that elixir which had long been lost to them. They clung to hope, not knowing it had abandoned them long ago.