4 Kids and the Spire (DD, Moon, Amon)

Downtown otherwise known as the commerce center of Jump. A place that sees more than a couple hundred people walk through daily. Today would be no different. A young boy sat in front of one of the ice cream shops. The young Hispanic teen would have a strawberry ice cream sundae with sugar cookie crumbs on top. One could call it cold diabetes, Leo would call it a Tuesday snack time.

Leo looked up at one of the monitors on the inside of the ice cream shop. A news story was being shown on the screen. It said something about the Titan's fighting off some guy with bad fashion sense. Leo sighed, since he left B-Team he had been pretty bored. There had been little to no work for him to do after all this time. All he could do was work in his cousin's hotel or hit on women. Both got tiring after so long.

So today, Leo was taking a break. He called a friend to just simply hang out. Hoping to relax a bit before going back to his life of mediocrity. Looking at his phone he looked at the time. His friend was late. Leo took a bite of his sundae. Something told him it would be awhile before his friend arrived.

Nearby in a clothing store, Kiara was sorting through hangers. The clothes she was wearing were very worn at this point. A threadbare crop-top was all she had for her torso, and her shorts had lost most of their feathered adornments. She had used leaves from local plants to compensate but had quickly found them to be inadequate decoration. Tzul missed the ferns and brightly coloured parrots of her home. She had not thought they would be absent. California was too exotic for her.

Coming out of the changing room for a fifth time she divided her selections. An employee who had been helping her stood by, wearing a look of fake glee. She had entertained them for almost an hour, "These four, I think." Kiara stated, as she hung each piece up on a rail to gaze at. Yes, they would do nicely.

"Excellent. If you'd just like to come over to the register."

"The what?"

"The register. You can pay, can't you?" The employee lost her smile.

"Of course." Kiara quelled her doubts and brought back the smile, "But I didn't want to buy them. I'm just here looking for ideas of Californian clothes I could make for myself. Say, do you sell thread here?"

A minute later she was out on the street looking at the closed door in front of her face. Very strange. That lady had done a complete heel turn. One moment very helpful and the next extremely rude. It would remain a mystery. Benighted pulled down her tiki mask - a wicked looking thing carved from wood and then adorned with fern stalks - and marched down the street. She used her staff as a third leg although she did not need to. This was just the proper way of walking with a staff. Kiara decided that it was useless to keep exploring. She would just discover things that were unnecessary. She would ask Steve the doorman when she got home where they sold thread and needles.

Charissa was just sitting on a bench not very far from the clothing store. The demon had made a point to encounter more humans ever since her run in with a certain blonde, so she visited the human world more often than ever. After a fascinating(and slightly painful, when he threw a cross at her) talk with a sign-toting evangelist her day hadn't been very exciting. Maybe it was just luck that she casually ran into celebrities.

Her skin and the area around her started to become cloaked in black mist as she started to teleport home, but she stopped herself when a scent caught her nose. Was that ice cream? The cold was unbearable but the flavor made it worth it... besides, she had wanted to come to the human world much more often, and that also meant she would have to eat a taste for human food... So, the six-foot demon jumped up, following the scent before walking into to the shop and waiting in line. it was funny, humans all looked so different- some tall, some short, darker, lighter, stronger, lither... But they all still had a familiarity about them. Some demons could be brothers and look completely different. She got up to the front of the line after waiting and ordered herself green tea ice cream, paying for it and looking around. She'd have to mark this place to remember it for later. She sat near the boy but tried to maintain a respectful distance, eating her ice cream and playing with her new phone.

Leo continued eating his ice cream as he waited for his friend to arrive. No doubt it wouldn't be for awhile. That person was always late to their get-together so this was nothing new. Usually Leo would have been miffed that his friend hadn't shown up yet. Luckily he was chowing down on his sundae topped with the holy sugar cookies. It would take more than a little lateness to ruin his mood.

It was then Ella arrived. Leo looked at her quizzically before remembering he had sent her a text, yesterday. Since she hadn't responded he assumed that she wasn't going to show today. Not only that she brought him a snack as well. "I'm surprised you showed." Leo said in between spoonfuls of sugar cookie covered ice cream. "I thought you had forgotten about little ol' me."

Leo looked at the cake pop and stared down at it. His eyes began glare at the cake pop. How cake pop appear in front of the glorious sugar cookie sundae. This was blasphemous, Leo was so absorbed in ranting within his head that he didn't notice the temperature around them rising exponentially. It wasn't until he noticed his sundae was more milk then ice cream did he notice something was up.

Looking around he noticed that the huge flat screen on one of the buildings had been blank. That thing was famous for having advertisements 24/7. You were more likely to see lightning strike a cow that farted cash then you were to see it go out on any given day. Not only that he noticed a large red crack on the surface of the screen. "What the hell?" he whispered staring at the screen.

At that moment the screen shattered, an unidentified object flew out and smashed into one of the buildings. Behind it came a humanoid figure. It's entire body was covered in red and blue flames. As it opened its mouth it let out a howling screech. The ground shook under the beings scream, it even knocked over Leo's sundae all over him. Leo looked down at his wet trousers. Rage began to bubble in him as his sundae had been wasted on his pants. Not only that the cake pop had melted as well. Gathering energy into his left hand he fired at the monster in the sky.

The sound of the energy colliding with the monster could be heard. Though the monster was knocked back a few centimeters, it was wholly unaffected. It looked over at Leo, the one who shot it and let out another screech. At the sound of its screech the buildings around it began to be engulfed in flames. Leo looked at Ella. "You might want to get out of here." he said with his hands and eyes glowing with pink energy.

Walking across the street from the ice cream parlour, Kiara's path had been blocked by a mother and her child. The filled they sidewalk and were moving extremely slow. She sighed and reduced her pace. At that moment the ice cream the kid was licking fell off its cone. It splatted onto the ground. The child started to cry and its mother hugged it better. They barged passed Kiara with the intention of buying another one. Tzul stood still, focused on the spilt dessert.

Oh my. This could be one of the gravest portents of them all. Calamity. Should I read it as the sign?

Her track-record with omens hadn't been great. Kiara kind of made them up as she went along, which her father said defeated the point. But before she could dismiss it, pandemonium broke loose. Kiara watched as an intersection became strewn with the debris of two buildings. The terrible being that emerged was unknown to her, yet most were. Her immediate reaction was to crouch down and take a taste of the fallen ice cream.

Yuck! That didn't tell me anything. That was a dumb idea.

One of the bystanders seemed to annoy the new arrival. Quite predictably it fought back, suddenly turning the surrounding buildings into a blast furnace. Kiara pondered. This seemed like one of those cataclysmic things that she dealt with. She could always wait for some police to arrive and ask them if they wanted to call dibs. But, by a stretch of the imagination, they would probably say no.

The building above was spitting cinders down upon her. The smoke was thankfully heading up, as smoke was wont to do. Kiara knew how best to handle this situation. She levitated up into the mess of smoke and headed for another of the buildings. The one the unidentified object smashed into. Maybe if she picked up what it dropped, the hell-demon type thing would calm down and apologise.

There was a first time for everything.

Charissa minded her own business.. Well, best she could manage. She tried to only half listen to the conversation close to her, finishing her ice cream quickly. It was pretty good, all in all, but she didn't feel like it was worth the price... in hell she could probably just have intimidated the price lower. But then again, in hell it would be more soup than ice, wouldn't it... Speaking of, her ice cream was melting almost faster than her hands where melting it with their own heat. She had noticed that she wasn't as cold as she normally was..

She jumped at the sound of crashing, trying to juggle her investigation with her ice cream consumption. The loud screech of the demon was what tore her eyes from the remnants of her waffle cone, however. She started to step outside and looked over to Leo and then the beast after he shot it, and smirked, tossing the last bits of her cone in the trash. Or near the trash, she didn't check to see if she made it. "I think you just made it mad." She said, looking amused.

Leo watched as the flames began to engulf the buildings. The flames flickered as it ate through the building. Leo instantly felt regret for lashing out at the being. Ella's fires didn't put out the flames instead the rush of oxygen made them even greater. The burning creature was far more powerful than Leo could have expected. Worse than that, if he started going all out there was a chance Ella could get hurt. Leo looked over at Ella and sighed. "Cause talking to a fire creature destroying the city always works." he said sarcastically. The creature's body flickered before releasing a huge blast of flames at where Leo and the other two people were standing. Leo raised his hands as a barrier formed around them diverting the fire from frying them. The heat from the fire passed through the barrier. Sweat instantly broke out on Leo's brow. "F*ck, its stuff like this is why I left the B-Team... No one listens."

In the smashed up building, a groaning sound could be heard. Among the rubble was a young woman. She had pale skin and short black hair. Smoke was permeating from her hair as though it had been burnt. Her body was laid across the rubble as she was in and out of consciousness. She wore light blue clothes with glyph moving around her gloves. On her exposed skin cuts and burns could be seen all over her legs and arms. It was obvious that this person had just been through some sort of conflict.

Kiara landed in the building on a crumbling patch of floor. It immediately gave way. She caught herself with levitation before she could reach the fire-line. She coughed at the smoke as she flew back up. Then she cleared it from her immediate vicinity with a wave of astral energy. She sighted the body and a careful walk turned into a run. She skidded to a halt beside the girl. She knew little about healing but she could tell this one's soul was wavering.

"Hello. Can you hear me? You're injured. You shouldn't try to move." Whether she was conscious enough to reply or not, Benighted ran a hand through the girl's smoking hair. It was hot to the touch, she recoiled. Gazing around, she saw nothing else that could have ploughed its way into the building. If this girl had been that cannonball, then she was far tougher than she seemed. Kiara dove into her knapsack and pulled out a small vial of liquid. It was a powerful hallucinogenic.

"Hey. If you can hear me, you should drink this. For the pain." It was a mixture of salvia and extracts from several other plants found predominately at home. Kiara had no more of it. And she used it sparingly. It was powerful stuff. But she wasn't going to take any more risks than necessary moving this body. Mr Fiery Devastation outside might be sad if the mysterious girl was unduly hurt.

Oh. Assuming he didn't do this to her. Yeah. That was probably more likely. Whoops.

Charissa watched with a small chuckle. She couldn't help but feel a little pumped when she saw the fireball come at her, eyes widening out of adrenaline and excitement. Whatever this thing was, she couldn't help but want to fight it.

"Alright.." She said with a small grunt, stretching her arms while the barrier was off. "I'm gonna go in on that ugly thing." She walked behind the counter and swiped a pen. "Um, you three don't have to come along with me, but if you don't I'm probably gonna die." She said that with a grin, writing on her hand and trying to close in on the master. "Hey there.. what are you doing on earth?" She asked the creature, not expecting an answer. But if it was listening it gave her time to jot something down on her left palm.

((OOC: Amon the passed out chick and Kiara is in a completely different area from where leo, ella, charrisa and the creature is, unless charissa can teleport))

Leo could feel the flames burning at his psionic shield. The flames flickering back and forth, this wasn't a normal fire Leo thought. Though for some reason it felt that the heat was, for the most part gone. He saw that Ella must have been using her powers again instead of running away like he told her. It didn't matter though, if they didn't get out of there they'd be burned to cinders sooner or later. The creature didn't respond to the other females words. Rather, it was incapable of doing so it merely flickered and continued its burning onslaught on the barrier. Leo quickly reached out to grab Ella and would reach out for the other chick. Whether or not he got to the both of them the barrier would instantly shatter in a moment. Whomever Leo was able to grab would then become intangible, falling through the ground they would fall through until they reached the sewers.

"F***, Luckily we got away." Leo thought out loud.

The burning figure would roar as his body of flames would flicker in and out before turning towards the direction of where the girl who had been brought with it had been sent to. Reaching the ground it began to slowly make its way towards the destination with a trail of flames behind it.

In the 5th floor of one of the buildings the girl covered in glyphs was drinking whatever the mysterious stranger had handed her. Soon her wounds would begin to heal but it would take a while. The lady seemed slightly more attentive then she had previously. The first thing she did was sit up before saying, "You should leave... now."

Whilst noticing the glyphs Kiara had not sufficient education to begin understanding their significance. Brother Grimm was a glyph user. To Benighted, a tattoo of a flaming skull might well have been just as mystical. She was pondering how to get the girl out. She was also pondering how you summoned one of those ambulances. There was a phone involved and some numbers, but it hadn't occurred to her until now just how difficult guessing those numbers would be. Luckily what promised to be a misguided game of Wrong Number was cut short.

From her kneeling position, Kiara heard the roar of a flamethrower in the city far below. The injured girl must have heard it too for her response was foreboding. Kiara took some heed of the advice of strangers. She rose to her feet with the staff and walked to the hole in the building. She cleared the smoke again with her astral energy. Below was the Infernal Inferno, rampant in his destruction and seemingly unstoppable. Far off the sound of sirens blared. She didn't know if it was police or medics.

"Yes. I should leave." Kiara dropped her staff out of the building. It plummeted and was lost in the carnage below. She needed both her hands free, "But you're coming with me." There was no evidence to suggest that it was after the girl, that was pure speculation, but Kiara felt she was right. She would test the theory.

Even under mild resistance Kiara would heft the girl into her arms. She was no heavyweight lifter, but whilst levitating the job became far easier. And if there were no other complications that prevented this act, she would fly out the building and directly towards the marauding barbeque. She would dangle the bait and see what bit.

Charissa was grabbed with him, falling through the floor and landing on her leg very wrong. "Ow..." She grunted. Her leg was basically the wrong way. She sighed and sat in the sewer, cracking her foot back into place. "It'll heal in a second..."

After she healed(which would be just a few seconds) she looked around. "So, kids.. what are we going to do about that big guy up there? I mean We could hide down here, but I doubt that would be very helpful to anyone but us three..."