Two guards stepped out before Priyanka, Tsuki, and Xander. They had simple green shirts and baggy pants, with spears pointed towards the trio, and Xander stepped back. Priyanka attempted to dash past them, getting hit with the side of one of their spears.

Tsuki knew what she had to do next. She ran over to Priyanka, now being picked up by one of the guards. The other guard thrusted their spear towards her, and Tsuki grabbed the tip of it in her left hand just as it was in front of her face. After a deep breath, she pulled the spear out of the guards grip. The guard lurched forward as the spear was ripped out of his hand, leading to Xander running up and kicking him in the stomach. When the guard let out an audible moan and keeled over, Xander stomped on his head and hoped it merely knocked him out.

Tsuki detached the spear from the mass of sticky white goop secreting out of her hands and threw to the end of the room where the bow was being held. Priyanka got up and boosted the other guard into the wall, knocking them out cold.

“The other guards on probably on damage control, we need to act quickly.”

As the trio approached the bow covered in thick vines, Priyanka took another grenade out of her bag.

“Hopefully this kills them.” She whispered to herself, placing one down at the base of the vines away from the weapon itself. She stepped back, and the explosion was heard. The vines looked like they had less life in them, with their grip on the bow waning as it tipped over. She quickly boosted towards them and snapped the bow away from the platform it was resting on.

Finally, it was in her hands. What looked to be fine crafted wood of dark green with ornamental curves, all attached to what looked to be a thin string. It was light, so she could run with it.

“We got the bow, let’s go!”

“Yeah, sure!” Tsuki nodded, wincing in pain as she did. She looked at her hand, and a lot of blood was pouring out. In order to make the gluey substance her ability gave her, she essentially had to melt a layer of her skin to achieve enough power to stick a guy to a wall, which is what she was prepared for. As she ran down the stairs, she was greeted by three people. An obnoxious looking man holding a spear, a short more reserved man holding a large axe, and a single girl among them decked in brass gauntlets with exposed fingertips.

“Let the bow go, criminal scum!” Luca announced, thrusting his spear forwards with one hand. Priyanka took one deep breath and jumped down the stairs, boosting past the three of them in one motion and running towards the exit. When Luca turned around, he swung his spear across. Priyanka managed to let another boost out to gain some solid distance behind them and ran towards the exit.

Luca ran after her, leaving Xander and Tsuki facing off against the other two. Xander just made a mad dash towards the two, hoping to get out unscathed. Gavin put all the weight in his body into a swing of his axe, which came out extremely slow and clumsy. It clashed off the wall in front of Xander and awkwardly fell to the floor. Xander ran past him easily, trying not to vomit from the intensity of the whole ordeal. Tsuki approached them with one of the guards spears. When Caoimhe ran over to her, she swung the spear downwards and she effortlessly caught it. Tsuki quickly let the spear go and ran behind her. When Caoimhe turned around, Tsuki pulled the spear on the sticky trail she attached to the weapon, sending the end of it flying into the back of Caoimhe’s head. She stumbled over, allowing Tsuki to run past her and to the exit with Xander.

On Cassandra’s airship, she placed Roxanne down on the couch of the ship carefully.

“Okay, does your leg hurt?”

“I’ll survive. Just fight the other guys.”

Cassandra nodded and took her axe out of the box that held it. It felt easier to hold, like it was binding itself to her. No whispering from it, however.

“Yo, Julian!” She yelled out. “You ready?”

Julian walked out of the ship with the bear corpse behind him, it’s eyes glowing with white energy.

“You bet.” Julian sighed. There was slight hesitation, but it was clear he was ready for whatever happened next.

The two of them ran out of the ship and back towards where the weapon was being held. The bear’s arms were dangling slightly, and Julian cursed slightly once he noticed.

“I’ll need more bugs.” He mumbled.

Once they went towards the Torthai, they saw the girl holding the bow in front of her. She was the same girl who invaded the miracle group before, with two new people in tow.

“We need to be quick.” Priyanka sighed.

Julian sent the bear after her. This cursed bear, Priyanka thought. She drew the bow with as much strength as she could muster, and some vines grew from the wood into an arrow. She shot it forward.

Direct hit on the bear. Once the arrow hit, Vines started springing from it until they entangled the bears body, forcing it onto the ground. The vines started tightening up, until the arms of the bear snapped off. Cassandra ran to Priyanka, who dashed backwards to better aim a shot. It felt lighter to pull the string back, like the weapon itself was adjusting to her. She let the weapon fire, and Cassandra put the axe in front of her. The arrow clashed against her the axe, and Cassandra had to push forward in one heavy motion if she even wanted to deflect it. She managed to do so, sending the arrow shooting upwards with a single mighty upheaval. She continued to run towards the girl, who tried dashing again. Cassandra swung the axe directly in front of Priyanka, and a bolt of electricity began traveling towards her. Priyanka tried deflecting with the bow, but the bolt hit her directly in the chest, and she was still forced to drop it.

Cassandra once again started to run, trying to swing her axe full force into Priyanka.

‘Don’t hurt them.’

A whisper was heard. Or less heard, and more beamed into Cassandra’s head. ‘don’t hurt them.’ She planted her feet into the ground, ready for the swing. But just before she could, she felt an electric shock come out of the axe and into her hands, and quickly flowing into the rest of her. Electricity surged through her body for a brief second and forced her to the floor. Priyanka aimed towards her, shooting an arrow towards her neck. The vines grew out and grasped the back of her neck, forcing her to the ground. She tried getting her hand underneath the vines, but they expanded whenever she tried. Julian tried pulling the vines in a desperate attempt to get them off her, but she just coughed and heaved whenever that happened, and the vines weren’t coming off.

Priyanka just ran, and Tsuki and Xander followed. Julian tried frantically grabbing one of them and ended up pulling the hood of Xander’s hoodie.

“What are you trying to do?” Julian screamed.

“What’s…what’s with your eye?” Xander asked, looking more confused than afraid.

“What about my eye?” Julian screamed.

“No, it’s just…”

Xander didn’t bother explaining further, instead opting to kick Julian in the legs in an attempt to undo his grip. Julian’s grasp weakened for a few seconds, and Xander managed to scurry away and get back on his feet.

“Where did they go?”

Luca and Caoimhe ran to the scene, with Gavin following a few seconds later, out of breath.

“They went that way!” Julian yelled. “Luca, go get them! Caoimhe, help Cassandra!”

Caoimhe looked towards Cassandra, now unconscious on the ground. She placed a hand on the vines, and they slowly wilted away until Cassandra was freed. She was unconscious but breathing. Julian checked her heartbeat. It was slightly irregular, but she was likely going to survive.

Gavin ran back to the group, panting, and then collapsed onto the ground.

“Their airship got away.” He said in between gasps for air. “We lost the bow.”

“We…lost?” Julian said to himself.

“Regrettably, yes.” Luca sighed, appearing behind them. “This is a…tragic turn of events.”