[Vahn]

Looks at the buildings that has been damaged by the explosions.  "I wish I did, for now I'm making sure I can help anyone in need.  Start to head to any signs of survivors trying to get out of the destruction before looking back at Camille.  "Stay safe, Camille.  If you find anything, please let me know.  I want to find the bastards that did this.

[arcus_gray]

Gray had been off to visit Sapphire who lived in the second building that had been hit. Unfortunately once he arrived and let himself in he realised Sapphire had gone out. That's what i get for making a surprise visit. No one to visit. As he turned to leave he heard and felt an explosion. Turning and looking out the window he saw a destroyed building. "WHAT THE HELL!" turning on his heel Gray went to dash downstairs to help and was halfway out of the room when the bomb in his own building went off. He was propelled straight into the ceiling by the blast that must have come from a lower floor and he eventually found himself sprawled out on the floor. "oooooowwwwwww" Gray hauled himself to his feet and dashed out into the hallways as they begun to crumble. "crap. ways down will have been wrecked." Gray was aware he was going to have to wait for rescue but bet there were some people in the building that couldn't.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________

Meanwhile Cerulean had been in the area too. on his way to one of his favorite bars when the bombs went off a little bit away from him. As he ran towards the buildings to help he heard gunshots ringing out. There are enough people around to help the survivors. Let's ensure the culprit is caught. Cerulean turned and went to chase the source of the shots and saw a man hopping across buildings. Without thinking Cerulean ran straight at the wall and leaped at it. He then created a clone in front of him which he placed his foot into the hands of and was then propelled up to the roof by it. As he reached the roof he actually recognized the man he saw. The Butcher. An Atlesian man who killed innocent people and was acquitted of his charges thanks to the Atlesian military. Now Cerulean really wanted to catch the man and begun giving chase using his aura clone leg up to throw him across the rooftops in pursuit.

[Janus Rogo]

The fleeing man growled at the sound of furious revolver shots. He glanced back, then flipped around. There was a harsh crack as one of the rounds flew by his head, indicating that the idiot was dialing his shots in. It was enough of a distraction that he almost botched his landing. If he couldn't focus, he couldn't maintain the proper thrust vectors for full flight, unfortunately, so he now found himself hitting a rooftop, then bouncing up, bunny-hopping to the next one. The kid maintained pursuit, but given his semblance and the years he had on him, Janus was putting some distance between the two. He hit a rooftop and rolled sideways, watching a brick chimney disintegrate under heavy revolver fire.

What the hell had he gotten himself into? This was supposed to be a simple job. Take out a couple of White Fang spies and sympathizers, break up their cell with minimal interference. He'd seen the intel that had been gathered on them, it was valid. It looked valid.... It probably wasn't valid at all. This was more than just some simple hit. No one made that kind of drastic error in explosion size, no one remotely competent. Maybe back when he'd been at school, when one of his old teammates had skipped over a 0 in their work, blasting a hole in the side of the dormitory, but adults? Running some kind of an organization? "Not fuckin' likely....", he growled to himself, shooting up into the air again.

There was more movement out of the corner of his eye, as yet another Huntsman joined the chase. This one looked to be about the same age as Fionn, but a bit more in control of his mental faculties for now. A pair of swords, a cloning semblance. Odd looking melee weapons, but nothing with range on it. This one wouldn't be able to keep pace, wouldn't be able to disrupt him from afar, and wouldn't be able to hold out in combat. Just had to make it a bit further. Head for the separation point in the districts. If he could hit the commercial areas, he could easily lose them in the labyrinth of warehouses, supply docks, and interconnected storage tunnels. He could hit the freeway, snag a car and be on his way. Hell, he could aim for the busy areas of the city and sidle into a crowd.

No, there wasn't any trouble, yet, just a minor delay was all. He glanced down at the Tyrant. The monstrous rifle seemed to growl at him, hungering for combat. The .338 rounds packed enough of a punch to concern even him. The 20mm, however, were the real beasts, capable of punching through most forms of a armor, cover, or defense, those'd discourage any pursuit. There was a second, when he glanced down, where the weapon seemed to... Grow teeth? A brief moment and it was gone, barely registering to Janus as he ricocheted off another rooftop, turning back to the two pursuers.

"You know, this isn't how partners should behave, kid!", he called out, loud enough for both of them to hear.

[NotSurprised]

Fenix had been casually walking around Vale, keeping an eye out for the many shops of Vale. He had been looking for a new everyday suit now, but he hadn’t been making any money lately, so he can’t exactly afford one as of now. However, that doesn’t mean he’s not making a list of what he wanted to buy and the location to get them from within Vale. With that in mind, Fenix has a bright smile on his visage, and nothing could ruin that at all as he walks down the streets he is on.

He had heard a faint noise, and thought nothing of it. However, when his gaze passed over the area it came from, Fenix saw smoke rising in that direction. With a worried frown, Fenix quickly sped over to the area as fast as he could to see what’s happening. As he moved closer and closer to the area, the sounds of chaos started to grow louder and louder around him. Spying two people, one leaving the other, he quickly sped up to the figure that was left behind.

As he grew closer, he had a clearer look of the figure, Fenix took in the appearance of the girl as he quickly closed the distance so that they can talk over the chaos. With a quick glance to see if she was injured or not, Fenix quickly assessed the situation out loud, ”Are you hurt? What happened here? Do you need assistance?” Fenix quickly glanced over her crutch, which is what he presumed to be a weapon, before taking out his brass knuckle and fitting it on. With a frown and a bit of distaste, His thoughts about the figure that left the girl behind swirling in his head, Fenix mutters to himself, ”At least make sure people you come across are safe…”

[arcus_gray]

Cerulean pretty quickly figured out there was no way he was going to keep pace with his target but that didn't mean he was going to let the bastard get away. Not with this. As he jumped over another rooftop another Cerulean appeared in the air right in front of Janus and went for a dropkick aiming to plant both feet square in his face and hopefully send him back down onto the rooftop the real Cerulean was running towards.

[Swordslinger]

Watching Vahn go off, Camille could only sputter out a completely unexpected, "Seriously?" Before leaning back on her sword for support, who just runs off like that without even tending to an injured person? Before Camille even had a chance to curse Vahn's name, another person appeared. Thankfully though, this one seemed a tab it more sane then the others.

"Thank you." Camille said, "I was caught in the explosion's radius, I think I might have a few bone fractures, but I can support myself with Aura, if necessary."

[Uncouth T-Rex]

Spoiler: ShowHide

Apologies for the massive post, I'll be doing smaller chunks now that I have everyone in. Also language warning for Cherry and behavior warning for Jack.

Cherry Chainsaw was bored out of her fucking mind. Cobalt had been going on for hours and hours now about court dates and laws and cops and other shit she could care less about. Even worse, they were at a coffee shop, and the music was light and sounded like a kitten farted. While he might fit in with his ugly cheap black suit and stupid simpering face, she stood out like a burning portal to Hell in a kindergarten. Starting with her clunky combat boots, her bare tattooed legs led all the way up to a short, ruffled crimson skirt, which gave way to her exposed midriff despite the chill. A small, sleeveless leather vest of the same color was the only thing on her torso. She'd kept her hair up in pigtails today, and the outfit was completed by mesh gloves and a spiked collar around her neck. People were staring. Of course, she wanted them to.

The explosion and a bunch of screaming, running people outside livened things up.

She was outside before Cobalt could say a word. Fuck. That was the faunus neighborhood. Double fuck.

"Absolutely not. You are not getting involved. Too risky. Liability, you know." Cobalt said, running a hand through his hair as he walked up next to her. A moment later he was on his ass with a bloody nose and she was off like a shot, effortlessly cutting through the crowd either by agility or simply not caring if she had to bowl people out of the way. Fuck, gotta go faster...her blood caught fire with her semblance and she began eating up the distance with titanic leaps, shortly arriving on the scene. Cobalt had struggled to his feet by then, grumbled something about pressing charges, and walked off with a dour expression. Of course, he wouldn't sue his meal ticket...

Everyone was screaming, people were running everywhere, there was smoke, fire...okay this was almost exactly like a Grimm Omen concert. Her ears and eyes swept the rubble, straining to find some sign of anyone who needed help. There, the building still standing, just barely...top floor, kids with a fucking dog, seriously...growling, she ran over, leaped high, and clawed her way right up the side of the damn thing until she got to the window. "Hold the fuck on, kids!" she howled, stuffing them under one arm, and flipped off the wall. She landed hard, her aura shuddering from the impact, but the kids were okay. She shoved them off towards some EMTs and hopped right back into the thick of things, her language saltier than the seven seas. Hot damn was she pissed as fuck...

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Jack Pettibone was out enjoying a walk with Ember Autumn, and the pair of them leaned close and whispered to one another, looking to all the world like a couple of old friends sharing a joke. Actually they were hinting heavily at what they planned to do to one another later that night, but were discreet enough not to be overheard even by inquiring ears. Going nowhere intentionally, they had been roaming around Vale for a few hours now, popping into shops that interested them, and grabbing a drink or snack as the need and opportunity coincided. It was a pleasant outing for the both of them, made more so by the promise of what was to come. And then the rising sexual tension was shattered by an explosion only a few blocks away.

As the mob of fleeing people closed in on them, Jack shoved her into an alleyway, kissed her hard, and told her to get home safe and that he'd catch up later. Ember returned the favor, they copped their respective feels, and Jack dashed off in the direction of the blast, his pulse racing from all sorts of adrenaline. Ember just smiled to herself and sauntered homeward, adjusting her skintight black dress so that it fell back into place as she went.

"Alright, time for some heroics." he said to himself with a grin, after a few blinks and some acrobatics brought him to the edge of the unfolding carnage. His shirt was only an easily flammable piece of loose cloth, better lose it...With it wadded safely into the pocket of his cargo shorts, Jack spied a few people trying to make their away to safety in the ruins of the collapsed building, and dashed over to help them. Nimbly picking his way among the rubble, he hefted a pregnant woman off the ground, winked at her to let her know she was alright now, and blinked her over to a stretcher and some grateful first responders. Wash, rinse, repeat, until he needed a breather. Women and kids first, make sure the gathering throng could get excellent action shots of you saving lives, and presto, perfect publicity!

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Marlon Murk was out and about trying to find where he was supposed to deliver the buckler shield he'd just forged. It had already been an hour and the address just wasn't making sense to him. He could have sworn he'd already covered this area, and every time he stopped for directions people told him something different. What in blazes was he supposed to do? Cushy had shown him how to use Mapsearch on his scroll, but even that was coming up with a fat wad of nothing.

And then in a split second he had much bigger things to worry about.

He heard the thunder before the shockwave hit. A smaller man might have been knocked off of his feet. Marlon just staggered. Quickly making sure the people who had fallen down around him were okay, he stared off in the direction the blast had come from, and the chaos he saw a few blocks over made his blood run cold. Wasting no time in a clear crisis, he barreled forward, choosing the quickest path through the crowd of fleeing, terrified bystanders, and put his scroll to his ear as he made a call.

"Howdy Uncle, it's me! Somewheres in downtown Vale a couple of buildin's just went up in flames and it sounds like some sort of bomb went off! It looks somethin' awful, ya better get over here right quick! Wait, what do ya mean ya can't? Mistral? Two hours ago? Hellfire!" he roared. Looks like he was going this one alone. Well, maybe not alone. Greenwood was already there, along with Loosebritches and Miss Chainsaw. Not waiting for any introduction, he charged past the police and firemen who tried to stop him and shouldered down the door of the building which was still standing. Once inside, the smoke nearly overwhelmed him, but he kept his head. This wasn't his first fire, no sir. Holding his shirt to his mouth, he listened carefully for any sounds of distress. There, by the stairs. The deer faunus with the chewed up leg, there was no way she was walkin' out.

"Easy does it, miss, I got ya!" he called, rushing over and gently gathering her into his arms. A few strides had him back out in the sunlight and headed right for the paramedics. No time for grievin' yet, that comes after, Just right back into the fire until it's done. He didn't even wait for a thank you, just turned and sprinted back inside.

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Cheri Chanson had been on her way to shop for something sexy that Vi could wear, maybe a nice dress to show off her figure, or maybe just something that was just showy for once. Either way it was supposed to be a surprise. It was also a good excuse to spend some time with Mr. Galahad and Dr. Holliday, something that was rare enough now that she was at Beacon. The three of them had stopped at a little cafe near a faunus neighborhood she'd done a benefit at a year or so ago, and were enjoying some coffee and pastries as they made light conversation. That was, until what Mr. Galahad instantly recognized as bombs went off.

"Well, time to do our jobs." he said, his expression grim, and he and the doctor got up to go. They'd made it a few steps before realizing that Miss Chanson hadn't moved and was looking more than a little angry. "Miss Chanson, you're a huntress in training now. I have no right to make you sit this one out. Today we work together." he explained, almost smiling with the pride behind the words. Almost. This was a disaster, actually grinning would be unseemly. Dr. Holliday nodded in agreement, and she rose, taking the lead as they all went off together.

On the way over, Mr. Galahad noticed something the others didn't, and motioned for them to go on. "I'll handle this. Besides, if I'm right, this is my fight. Doctor, you're going to be needed by the looks of things. Do what you were born to do. Miss Chanson, get people out as best you can and listen the the paramedics. I'll catch up later." he growled, pulling out a pair of binoculars. The Butcher. That bastard! "Doctor..go! I'll be fine!" Bill, please...no need to watch over me, just do your job...

Cheri did as she was told, trying not to panic at the sight before her. Sure, she'd fought Grimm now, but this was something else entirely. Dr. Holliday was already rushing over and explaining who he was, and was quickly directed to the nearest batch of wounded, where he swiftly went to work doing what he was best at. She, however, started picking her way through the rubble and listening for people trapped underneath it. If she could hear over the sound of her own heart thudding through her chest, that is...

Mr. Galahad was certain...the man Cerulean Steel was trying to stop on the rooftops was the Butcher. Janus Rogo. One of the many, many reasons he'd left the Atlesian military behind and shook its dust from his boots. Behind his sunglasses, his eyes narrowed. And here you are, up to your usual atrocities...well, this time, there will be no brass to save you, you coward! Even as he made the positive ID, he was moving, calling Slepnir to himself on his scroll. Unlocking his briefcase, he slapped it to his chest and let Righteousness envelop him as he ran, its shield sprouting on his left arm. With his free hand he stowed his scroll and kept Justice and Purity compact and at his side. Another moment had Slepnir pulling up alongside him as he hopped into the seat and took manual control.

He gunned the engine and made for his target at full throttle, weaving in and out of the street as necessary to avoid bystanders and other obstacles. The entire time he kept an eye on the escaping murderer's progress, rapidly getting into range as he followed along. Up ahead he saw the best chance he was going to have to halt the chase. Racing along at full speed down an alleyway, he drove the armored motorcycle right up a sheet metal ramp and into the air, giving the engine everything he could. For a split second he was airborne parallel to the man as Steel went to kick him in the head. Making the most of an opening, he extended Justice and put his aura behind the throw, hurling the lance right at Rogo's legs. The moment that was done he kicked off of Slepnir and pushed it toward a rooftop where its armor would dull the force of the crash landing, empowering the jump with aura as well.

If all went well he should crash into the Butcher shield first with Purity fully extended and ready for a slash to the man's vitals, right after his lance and Steel's feet halted his forward momentum.

[Janus Rogo]

Momentum is a funny thing. Somewhere, in a deep recess of Janus' mind, that thought was present.

He'd found himself set on a path, some years ago. Right now, it was like everything had channeled him here. He'd tried to move out of the excessive killing in Atlas. Maybe something smaller, take out little pockets of White Fang here, burn out a pocket of Grimm, or tear down a Bandit clan. Whatever, moving in that direction would've been better. Collateral would happen. Death would come. It was the way of things.

But even before that? His upbringing. His training. His service to Atlas. It had pushed him in a direction, towards senseless destruction. Towards a reality where he'd be little more than a tool for someone else's needs and desires. Now it had taken years and years and miles and miles. A path of fire and corpses lay behind and in front of him. He wouldn't be able to turn from that path. Not quickly, not easily. Momentum, you see.

All this ran through somewhere in the back of Janus' mind. It'd likely join the nightmares. The teeth.

The forefront of his mind was a different place. He caught the sound of the cycle accelerating, the sheet metal rebounding. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see something thrown from an encroaching form. Another aggressor, shielded and armored. The pursuer dropped a clone in front of him, which immediately charged him to attack. So the clone could hurt him in all likelihood, but how? Aura based? Physical blow?

One was on an approach from the side, the other from the front, aiming to intersect him, with two threats at his back. For most, in midair, this would be a problem. Their momentum would see to it they'd take at least one hit.

Janus triggered his semblance and shot straight downward into a space between a block of shops. The lance passed over his head. His foes were too far behind him to stop him, or in midair with no way of changing their velocity. If they didn't collide, they'd still need to land and redirect, or close the distance. If they collided, he'd get some knowledge of one pursuers capability, most likely. His boots hit the ground, upending a trashcan, and he took off down the alley.

Momentum is a funny thing.

[Siuwa]

Catalina was wandering nearby purchasing ammo when that huge explosion flashed into his eyes some distance away. The light. The shockwave. The rubble. A second later his mind recovered and the next thing he knew is a man being attacked from all sides and manners, but still escaped leaving a much closer metal clang while rushing into the alley where Catalina is just close enough to draw his hammer and try to block him in his path.
Wait, what the hell am I doing? Who care exactly who he is, the civilians in the building matters the most. Now I can only wait for his reaction for my next step...

[Janus Rogo]

The reaction was near instantaneous. His eyes narrowed at the First Year student, then the Butcher seemed to vanish. As good as he was, as much training as he'd had, he didn't need his semblance to seem impossibly fast. He shot upward, ricocheted off the wall, and disappeared into the crowded streets, working as he went. His rifle split apart, forming the gauntlets, which he hooked into his belt. The hoodie was cast aside, revealing a simple, clean cut, button down shirt beneath it. One hand reached into his pocket, came back out, and ran through his hair. The gel in it slicked his hair back, colored it red, and held in place. On a quick glance, he looked to be someone completely different. He ducked his head and let his aura fade. Even if his pursuers caught up to him, they'd be hard pressed to pick him out of the crowd, and even less likely to get the streams of people to stop.

Somewhat a moot point, anyways. He'd get back to his place, break everything down, and lay low for a while. Maybe head to Mistral for a bit, try and stay with his old friends from before his breakdown, or maybe head back to Atlas, collect on some debts. Possibly even Vacuo. Lot of space to lay low in out there. The first thing, though, was going to be to get paid.

The last thing? Payback. Someone played him. Someone played him well. They'd have to get theirs, for that.

He glanced over at a young woman in the crowd and smiled politely.

Somewhere behind him, hundreds of civilians lay dead or dying, while dozens of rescuers, EMTs, students, and full fledged Huntsmen tried their best to save them.

Somewhere behind him one young Huntsman was in some very similar shoes to the ones he'd been in years ago. Hopefully his words would at least absorb some of that pain.

Somewhere behind him were the corpses of hundreds, buried outside of the light. Laid low in a shadow, cast by himself. A shadow filled with teeth and nothing else.

Somewhere behind him- right behind him his gauntlets clacked together as he walked. He could swear they'd been laughing.

[Uncouth T-Rex]

Spoiler: ShowHide

This is assuming Atlas had record of Rogo's semblance, if that's not the case I shall edit. Let me know.

Damn! He'd given the Butcher too much time to react, that cursed semblance of his...enough complaining, the time for grousing was anything but now.

Narrowly avoiding getting kicked by Steel, he saw Justice embed itself solidly into a nearby roof, and twisted himself round to watch as his target began a mad dash down the alleyway. Making a hasty decision, he went to sling his shield at the back of the man's neck, only to halt as he went up and over a Beacon student in Miss Chanson's year so quickly that he would risk braining the near-useless bystander if he threw. Perfect.

After managing to land safely on the roof Justice was stuck in, he tore it out and hopped down, collapsing it and Purity as he went. Righteousness began folding back in on itself as he ran, as fast as his legs and aural enhanced speed could carry him, until it was back in suitcase form and his weapons were safely inside. He'd have to collect Slepnir later, there was no time for that now. Moving nimbly around the still bewildered student and now back in his usual suit and sunglasses, he took an educated guess on which direction the mercenary would have taken and followed that route, bringing him back out into the agitated hustle and bustle of Vale.

He matched pace with the sea of people and became just another businessman in the crowd, talking on his scroll. Except instead of rambling on about stocks and bonds and financing, he was speaking with the Police, relating everything he'd just seen, while keeping an eye out for the Butcher. Lemmy was also listening on the line, taking down the critical information and readying it to be passed on to Red and Dutch, along with the rest of the Chanson Security Force. Those two especially would be helpful in finding the man later, their skills in dealing with less than legal elements of society were about to earn them their keep yet again.

There. The hoodie was gone, the quick dye-job was excellent, but that was the monster's face. I have you now, you bastard...once a mass murderer, always a mass murderer. The police might say something different, the jury might decide something more palatable to the legal system, but Mr. Galahad harbored few doubts as to who was responsible for this atrocity. Damn! Vanished into the crowd! His anger and frustration hidden, he searched the area as best he could without drawing attention to himself or his manner, and came up short. This wasn't the first quarry he'd lost, and it wouldn't be the last. Training took over from passion, and he kept his bearing. He caught up with them all, sooner or later.

You had better hope to whatever gods you pray to, Janus Rogo, you had better hope with all your black heart that I don't catch up to you outside the Kingdoms, where Law does not reign. You'd better beg on your knees that I don't find you out in the wilderness some dark night. Because if I do, so help me, you'll get the same treatment as any other mad dog.

[Siuwa]

Eh... It was either his semblance or that he was really outskilled, but he's gone already. Well then,'Who is he?' He approached his pursuer, trying to get an idea of whats going on.

[arcus_gray]

After his quarry shot downwards into an alley Cerulean leaped from the building and landed in the Alley just in time to watch the man disappear from it somewhere he wouldn't be able to follow. "Damn. Looks like the Butcher of Hollow Bay gets away unscathed again." With a sigh Cerulean begun making his way towards where the blast had been. As he passed the student standing in the road he made a quick comment as he passed. "Someone you shouldn't concern yourself with kid. Just get out of here with everyone else and let those who can be of use deal with this mess." and with that he went into the crowd and started moving against the flow. This was going to be a major pain in the ass but he needed to try and help out anyone in the buildings.
_____________________________

Gray dashed through the collapsing building at a higher pace than was probably safe keeping his faunas ears high and alert listening for any sounds of someone who had survived the blast. At this point he had seen so many that hadn't that he'd stopped looking. Who the hell would do something like this. If it weren't for my aura I'd be just another one of these corpses. Why did all of these people have to die? As these thoughts entered his mind Gray felt tears welling up in his eyes half from emotions and half from smoke. Gray closed his eyes tightly to help get the tears out of them and as a result didn't realize the obviously damaged floor he was about to run onto. The floor collapsed beneath him and he found himself face to face with the blank stare of some poor girl around his age with long Auburn hair who clearly hadn't survived the blast. He recoiled from the corpse in panic until he reached a wall and he found himself staring at the unnaturally contorted form in front of him. The girl had clearly been some sort of bird faunas as there were wings sprouting from her form. One of which was bent the wrong way to reach the ground. Due to the twist Gray assumed she had been flung against the wall and her neck had broken on impact. He simply stared for a moment before his stillness was interrupted by his horror causing him to lean over and wretch onto the floor.

[Siuwa]

'That is, I should have been dead. Phew.' That being heard, he will have to go try to rescue people.
Moving onto the sound source, he made a small no... that isn't audible to even himself upon the discovery of the shock in front of him but recovered quickly and used his semblance to excavate the concrete(or whatever this building is made of). Ten or so larger debris later he sat-fell in fatigue and checked for their life signals after a brief rest. 'This one's dead, this one's weak but he and she is easily alive...' He entered a tranquil fury in spite of all this. I swear one of them must be the perpetrators of this. He is so going to get a beating.

[Uncouth T-Rex]

Spoiler: ShowHide

Language warning for Cherry

Jack was just starting to glisten with sweat when he overheard one of the victims bawl about their baby still being inside. Well, no time for a breather now. As the most vulture-like of the reporters zeroed in on the distraught woman, a slightly overweight cat faunus near-drowning in her own tears, Jack beat them to the punch. Yanking his shirt from his pocket, he calmly wiped away her tears as the cameras swung his way yet again. He was careful not to face them as if he were putting on a show, and gave all his attention to the woman he was now holding the shoulders of.

"Miss..." women loved being called that, it made them feel young even if they weren't...,"You said your baby was still trapped inside? I promise you I can get up there, what apartment are they in?"

"4B! Oh, she's only three, I'd just come out to get the mail, she's all by herself! Hurry! Gods save her, hurry!"

"Miss, just tell me her name, and I'll have her back in a minute." he went on, his voice rock-steady and honeyed.

"Chysanthemum, just call her Chrissy, she's a cat like me..." the woman burbled, calming as Jack put every effort into soothing her.

"Hang tight, I've got this!" he cried, giving her a thumbs up and a winning smile over his shoulder at her. He dashed over to a ladder truck that was positioning itself to better combat the blaze, and blinked his way to the edge of the ladder. Perching at its rising edge, he leaped from it just as the fireman started bringing the hose up from below, cannonballing himself through a window and letting his aura deal with the glass. Once inside he was almost overwhelmed by the choking heat, not to mention the smoke, and he wound up tearing his shirt to make an impromptu mask. 4B, 4B, 4B...where the hell is it...Well, there was a 4 on the door, the blast must have knocked the B loose. He kicked the door in and rushed forward, only to find...a dead bird girl and a puking Dogmeat. Fighting the urge to sympathy hurl, he decided to get his attention.

"Yo Saggio! Fancy meeting you here! Say, before we get out of here, I've got a kid to find. Think your ears can hear someone call back to us over this roar?" he shouted, trying to make himself heard over the din of the flames and the sirens outside.


Cherry wasn't thinking terribly clearly right about now. The smoke was getting to her, her semblance was getting to her, the fact that someone had probably set off an explosion in a faunus neighborhood was getting to her...she was a mess, and she looked it. Her ponytails had long since torn loose from their bindings, and her hair was everywhere. The skirt was torn in a dozen places, her mesh gloves were all but tatters, and everywhere she was covered in soot and grime. And still she powered her way up the side of the building, again and again, while that big Murk guy took care of the bottom floor. Actually, he wasn't running in anymore. She spied him lumbering over toward Cheri, that bitch, who was waving and jumping up and down about something. Wait, she was waving at her! Fucking what? Not now you silly cunt! There were...oh...she was trying to get Marlon to lift something. Oh fuck.

"Fucking shitballs." she hissed, and pushed off the wall, leaping as far as she could towards them just as Jack Fuckholebone smashed through the window she'd been hanging near.


Marlon wasn't tired by any means. No sir. He plugged on like a juggernaut, smashing in doors or through barriers where necessary, using his aura shielding to become a living battering ram. In some cases he locked it and allowed firemen to carry people out as he formed a human brace or shield, whatever they needed to do their jobs. When he came back into the light for about the tenth time, he was barely recognizable from all the ash and soot. Well, if you'd never seen him at work in his forge, that is. He wiped his brow and saw Cheri hollerin' at him, no, for him, to come on over. Taking a wild gander at what she might be needing, he jogged off, ready to put his brawn to use all over again.

One thing was for sure, he hadn't exactly expected to see this much death in Vale. Home was one thing, but Vale...Vale was like a paradise by comparison. And yet here he was, in paradise, surrounded by blood and fire. Hell...Shaking the thought off, he reached Cheri, and waited for an explanation.


Her ears straining, Cheri searched among the rubble as Jack and the paramedics worked. Every so often she glanced up and saw Dr. Holliday at a different stretcher, his suit coat cast off and his sleeves rolled up high, away from his bloodstained forearms. He was working quickly, and his shirt was soaked through with sweat. She was barely keeping it together herself with what little blood she was seeing...how in the world could he even stand it? Her stomach flip-flopped a little, and she almost missed the sound of shifting rubble beneath her feet. She paused. That wasn't just shifting rubble. It was a steady, frantic scratching. She crouched down, placing an ear to the slab of concrete beneath her. Someone was trying to dig!

"Hey! Can you hear me!?" she called, as loud as she could. The scratching intensified, and what to anyone else might have been only muffled screams came through as distinct, though still dampened voices. Two kids. An adult. Maybe a fourth, it was too weak to tell. "Just hold on, we're going to get you out!"

Where was someone who could lift this giant thing? Man, to be able to use aura right now...She strained for a second, as foolish as it was, and got nowhere. She tried digging around it a little, and had her aura fixing some scraped up hands for her abortive efforts. Wait, there was Marlon! And Cherry! They were strong! She began jumping up and down, shouting for them to come over. Marlon got there first, and listened to her explanation before starting to heft, his muscles bulging with the effort. Cherry arrived in a near crash-landing, looking worse for wear, silently flipped her off, and let her semblance do the talking. With her help, they had the slab up in no time at all. Cherry actually held the whole thing up as Marlon carried out the badly crushed father, the fourth voice Cheri had had trouble hearing, and Cheri got the wife and kids moving, doing everything in her power not to simultaneously cry and vomit at the sight of the mutilated man. They would have all died down in that partially collapsed basement, the wife said.

She couldn't handle it. She really couldn't. But she kept searching, through the tears, and after she'd been sick behind an ambulance. Marlon held her hair while he took a breather, and rubbed her back. Gods, this was all so horrible...how was he just standing there, as strong as ever...