"Baylor!" Ferry tumbled back into Team Chaos HQ with Paris in tow, both of them looking panicked.
Something must have been up. Ferry hadn't used Twin's real name since they started the whole villain team.
"What is it? Where's Corrosion?" Twin remained calm as he asked them. Ferry had probably dropped Silverman off with the Angel before coming here. They were back so soon, so their task must have been easier than he anticipated.
Oh how wrong could a person be?
"Corrosion's dead," Ferry said breathlessly. "And we pissed off someone we shouldn't have messed with."
As she went through the situation, incoherent as she was, Twin's chest grew tighter and tighter.
Arx Nubibus. Crash.
Now that Ferry was talking about it, did he feel like the city was tilting slightly to the side?
No. No, no, no.
Then again, this would destroy the military. He'd get what he wanted. He just had to find a way to make sure he and Elisa survived. And probably Paris and Cold Snap too.
"Can you teleport to the surface?" Twin asked slowly. It was a horrible idea. He was well aware that a catastrophe down there had forced their ancestors to move into Arx Nubibus. No one had any idea what it was like down there anymore.
But if worse came to worst, it might be their only shot at survival. He'd bet everything on it if it came down to it.
"Maybe?" Elisa said, glancing at Paris. "Depends how many I have to take. And I'd probably have to make several jumps since I have no idea what it's like down there. There'd be a lot of falling. You up for that?"
"Better uncertain survival than certain death," Twin said. The two of them glanced at Paris.
"No way," he said. "I'm not running. I..." His voice trailed off, and Twin just shrugged.
To each their own. It'd be fine if only he and Elisa escaped.
They would not die here.
Bruce hurried towards the next spot the military had directed his squad. There had been a pretty bad Miracle there until Barrier Maiden had locked the culprit up, and several people had been reported as being on the brink of death. When they finally got there, though, despite evidence of several injuries, no one was seriously hurt. Instead, a woman in orange and black was sitting just inside an alley, catching her breath.
The medical staff immediately started checking pulses, especially for those who had bloodstains on the ground under them. Bruce, however, moved towards the strange masked woman.
"Who are you?" he asked gently. "Are you okay?"
She looked startled and backed away from him skittishly, but did respond.
"Itera. I'm with Solstice. And I'm fine. Just a bit tired."
"Bruce, they're all fine," one of the nurses called. "Did we get the wrong address?"
"Oh. That. Uh, no," Itera said slowly, taking another step back. "I, uh, I helped them."
"You have a healing Miracle?" Bruce asked.
"Sort of? I can rewind time. Doing so many injuries at once was exhausting, but as long as they're not dead and all the pieces are there I can put them mostly back together." Itera took another step back.
"You can?" the nurse asked, grinning. "That's amazing! You should join with our squad."
Itera glanced around furtively, then shook her head.
"I'm kind of a fugitive? I was hoping nobody would find me."
"You were with the Phalanx," Officer Hansen, the military officer escorting them, said suspiciously.
"Was. The Phalanx was dissolved when Paris went too far. Now we're trying to fix things," Itera said insistently. "I won't let you capture me, but I can't stand by and let all these people die either. Boss's orders."
Officer Hansen stepped forward, a hard glare in his eyes. Bruce waved him back, though.
"Why don't we have Itera join up with our squad until the crisis is over? There's no doubting her ability, and we can't be picky about our allies right now. You can try to take her into custody after that. Right now, though, I think we need to prioritize saving as many people as we can."
Itera looked at him warily, then nodded.
"I'll join up with you if you promise nobody will arrest me until after we're done. And if you break your word, I'm sure someone will come after me."
She carefully stepped forward, her eyes never leaving the military officer's face. Finally he sighed.
"I give in. We've got bigger problems. Cold Snap just caused a ruckus a couple blocks over. We should handle that first. Come on."
With a nod, she followed them, running through the streets until they found the place that was covered in ice. According to the officer, Lightning, Rose, and an unknown individual had taken down Cold Snap before Lightning and the strange man had suddenly vanished. Rose was still at the scene with a woman who called herself the Alchemist, doing what he could to help.
Bruce quickly found someone he could help, so he knelt down and activated his Miracle. Itera moved for the most severely injured ones, one of whom a woman in a lab coat - presumably the Alchemist - was standing over, pouring some kind of bright red liquid down his throat.
"Come on," she murmured. "Please work."
Itera moved to the one next to him and set to work, rewinding her injuries until almost none were left. She then moved to the next one, as the Alchemist started asking her about herself. Itera responded in the same wary way she'd spoken to Bruce and the others, but the Alchemist seemed to only be more intrigued.
Bruce was impressed at how few casualties there were, and when he saw Rose using vines to move a few people, he realized why. Miracles really came in all kinds of helpful forms, didn't they?
"Hey, Alchemist, Rose," he said, slowly healing a severe ice burn on someone's leg. "Why don't you join up with our squad for the rest of the day?"
Sure, the fighting might almost be over, but there would be a lot of cleanup, especially with regard to treatment of injuries. Even if Rose didn't specifically have a Miracle that would be useful for treating them, he could at least act as a reliable bodyguard.
"Are you crazy Bruce?" Officer Hansen asked with a sigh. "First a former member of the Phalanx, then people in league with that crazy Legion? You know I'm going to get in trouble for not arresting them on sight, right?"
"I'd rather think of the people who might die without their help," Bruce said, taking a swig of water. "There's only so much we can do on our own. If they have Miracles that can help, I'm willing to gamble on them."
Hansen rolled his eyes. "Fine. But if I get in trouble, I'm taking you down with me."
"Of course. I'll get excellent lawyers for both of us," Bruce replied with a grin. After all, while his wife Rebecca wouldn't represent them, she had connections. "Now where to next?"
