The Reckoning

[Gifted]

Joan leveled her gun at her old friend's face. She reincarnates, she'll be fine, you need to get out of here. She scolded herself. but it was hard when she could no longer feel fear staring into her friends face. There was only pity there now. "I'm sorry I couldn't save you then." Joan told her, ignoring what she actually said.

[Raven]

"You can't save anyone," Katrina hissed.

[Gifted]

She shook her head. “I can’t help you now, either. I'm just not ready, yet. But I've done this before. I will come back for you Katrina. I promise." She raised her gun and fired two shots at Katrina's head.

[Raven]

Crucifix shattered like glass, as Ryan ran around the corner. "Joan!"

[Gifted]

Joan looked back at Ryan racing around the corner. That had been too close. Another few seconds and he would have seen...
She nodded to the mess Crucifix had left. "Got her in the head. She's out for a bit." Joan told him in a flat, reserved tone that didn't contain nearly as much fear or anger as it probably should have. "Thanks so much for that backup I asked for." She scolded him, but her sarcasm wasn’t as biting as it ought to be. She should have been freaking out that Ryan nearly got her killed. But her mind wasn’t even on that anymore.

[Raven]

Ryan panted. "I'm sorry, we were too far away," he said. "Let's stick together and get back to base."

[Gifted]

"Yeah, sure." Joan nodded and started heading back that way. Should she tell them the base was compromised? Make them move? But how would she tell them that? Anyway, Katrina had been gone more than enough time to mount an attack on the base if she so chose, hadn't she? Surely the fact that no one had yet broke into the place meant part of her, in there somewhere, was still fighting to protect them. But even if that were true, that didn't actually mean moving was a bad idea. Who knew when and if Katrina's willpower would break down...

[Raven]

"Are you okay?" Ryan asked, concerned at the lack of yelling.

[Gifted]

"Hm? Oh, yeah. Yeah, I'm fine." Joan nodded.

[Raven]

"What happened? You seem spooked."

[Gifted]

Was it really that obvious? Well, at least it wouldn't be any trouble getting them to move. "I...think we might have to move bases." She said. "Crucifix said something weird. It sounded like she knew where we were."

[Raven]

"What?? Why wouldn't they have attacked if they knew where we were? How would they find us?"

[Gifted]

"I don't know!" Joan snapped. She hated lying to Ryan but there's no way she could let him know what was going on. Crucifix was right about one thing; he wouldn't be able to keep going. He didn't understand epics like she did.

[Raven]

Ryan sighed. "Alright, we'll have to start scouting then." He spoke into the mobile. "Iris, you out?"

[Gifted]

"Yes, sorry, where are they?" Iris' voice answered.
"I dealt with Crucifix for the time being." Joan answered. "We need to switch bases."