RP HEX ~final witching hour~

Reyn

Reyn

Sleepyhead
Staff member


HEX
~final witching hour~
It was the first time this particular group of Familiars had been assigned to the same coven, to the dismay of the Tower. Jobs like this, whilst routine, required a lot more co-ordination than you'd think- though, they were assured, as long as the Coven could cast a Circle, things should be smooth sailing from there. This mess didn't seem too large, anyway. A small patch of the Nightmare, infesting a little town somewhere in northern USA- their mission today was more preventative than anything else. Don't let it grow, don't let it spread: kill it, and kill it quickly.

"Alright, ladies- you know the brief."
Said the Strike Director; a stout, masculine woman with a permanent scowl and equally permanent sunglasses,
"Let's try to get this done quick, yeah? You should be getting to position right about now."


She was standing behind her desk in the control room, apparently refusing to sit down until she was listened to. To the Familiars, she was a crackling voice coming through their cockpit. MORGANA, their internal AI, had directed each Witch to a specific point around the Nightmare's perimiter. Once the final Witch was in place, a Circle could be cast- and the writhing mass of madness before them would settle into shape.
 




"All right, here we go!" The worst thing about haunting Nightmares was having to be in the right place at the right time. For a Coven with people behind them to get them there - and giant mechs, don't ever forget the giant mechs - it was more just a matter of getting assigned there and assuming someone else would take care of the fine details.

For someone like Sabine Surekis, it was a matter of being terminally online enough that she could catch those rumors as soon as something got reported, and hope that it was close enough to where she was that she could get there before it was all over. This particular report had flashed up in one of those little bitty nowhere towns, probably reported by someone who'd noticed something out in the fields. It'd have already gotten called in, of course, but most of these things got posted somewhere as well, just to let other people in the area know to stay away from there for a bit.

Or, if those other people were Sabine, that it was time to pack up her gear and start heading up that way. It was only a few hours north of where she was, and that was easy enough on a bike. Packing gear took almost no time at all, because she kept everything ready just in case one of these calls came in, but she did double check her battery levels and make sure all her connections worked. After that - well, after that, it was a few hours of open road, switching her cameras on when she was about ten minutes out.

"You. Guys. Guess what? We're doing it again, heck yeah! I'm about ten minutes out from Woodford right now; the Nightmare reports went up a few hours ago. Can't see any Witch activity yet, but I'll get IDs on them for you as we all arrive so you can follow along at home and get those cross-references going on the message boards. Drive up was nice and easy, and there's no one on the road, so I'm live for questions for the next five minutes and then I'll be switching over to full streaming mode so that you can get in on all the action! Just gotta hope it's another big one like that one last summer, right? That one was a riot! Let's see - kitt-3-cat wants to know if anyone has any idea what Witches we'll be seeing here today. Can't say for sure! We're not super close to any particular jurisdiction, so it could be anyone. Could even be a chance to see some of the new ones we all know they've been working on, might get a sneak peek if we're lucky-"

Sabine let her voice carry her idly, listing off some of the statistics that she'd memorized for times like this. It was important to keep talking, because people wanted the voiceover. The reactions were just as important as the view and all that. For her, though - for her it was all about the view. It seemed to take forever before she could see anything, but it wasn't even long enough for her to run out of easy stats to prattle on about or little questions to ask. She cut the questions off as she got closer, letting the drone cameras pan in on the Nightmare zone and inching closer, closer-

"That is so wild. Horrifying every time, isn't it? Kinda makes your blood run cold. Anyway! Who wants to see me poke it with a stick?"

 
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"In position."

Terse as always, Faith's voice carried over the comms as bluntly as she could manage, the Familiar more than eager to not have to talk any more than necessary. Really, if it were up to her, she would have cut comms completely, so that she could focus, but these were supposed to be team missions. Their coven, as tenuous a link they shared, were supposed to work together to put this Nightmare down, quickly and efficiently.

That was probably why they sent her, really. Efficiency. To her knowledge, and by her opinion, no one worked harder at this. She gave it everything in training, in simulations, in mock combat scenarios, everything.

It was weird, though, being synced with Brigid. For starters, the scale of everything was off. She was crouched near but not directly beside the Nightmare, just far enough away to be able to react if it started moving towards her but not so far that once the fighting started, she wouldn't be on top of it. The buildings were small, though she knew she would actually be able to fit inside them, if not for the Witch.

Soon, she found herself mumbling under her breath, only hardly aware of it through her senses being routed through the Witch. What was taking so long? This was supposed to be quick- who were they waiting on?
 
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It takes Meena a moment to find the intercom button; it’s half-covered by one of many sticky notes. She really should get rid of the notes, but she likes the reminder that there were people in this thing before, and there will be people after. It’s almost comforting.

She relocates the note and presses the button. “Present! And in position.”

Her smile is audible, but she refrains from laughing at her own joke, releasing the button before the Director gets snippity. You’d think one of them would grow a sense of humor, but it seems rare in this line of business. Ah, well. Meena can have enough good humor for the lot of them.

There’s a steady beeping from the upper rightmost monitor, and Meena directs her attention there. Ah, looks like it’s almost time. She wipes her palms on her pants and reaffirms her grip on the mech’s controls. “Ready, Athena?”

The mech doesn’t respond, of course, but she gives one of the monitors a pat anyways.

 
“Oh my gosh, that thing is, like, so big.” Lyn chattered. Others might disagree, and certainly the coven’s head was a part of that number, but it seemed to Lyn that now was really the perfect time for chattering. If you weren’t doing it when the big horrible monster was just a swirling mass of terribleness, then when should you be doing it? Never? That seemed like such a lame way to live just bottling up everything until you went and popped! That was so not Lyn Hope’s way of doing things.

Aphrodite, for her part, moved into position before the aforementioned big mass of hatred and unknowable horror. They were right up front, Lyn and Aphrodite, because Aphrodite totally had to be up front where everyone could see her.

“Totes in position.” Lyn announced over the coms. “And ready to kick this off, whenevs.” It seemed like they had a sizable group for this fight, so it seemed like they were taking a little longer to get in place.
 
“Ready to fu-. Ready to go.” Janis cut herself off, trying to appear at least somewhat professional. Familiars tended to get a lot of leeway, but swearing on comms directly to the Strike Director was a little bit much. She couldn’t have even used the excuse of being distracted by combat. As it was, she had plenty to distract her. She’d properly wired into Medusa and was still trying to process all the sensations.

The weirdest by far was that of feeling her own hair twist and coil, moving on its own and tugging slightly at her scalp. She could see them moving in her peripheral vision. She’d named them all, of course, not that anyone but Meena needed to know. Her tail flicked restlessly behind her and gods that was something else that needed adjustment. She was used to having only one lower appendage, but this was completely different. There was no absence like with her leg, just the completeness of the tail.

Moving quickly, Janis opened a second communication channel and switched over to it.

“Good luck, sweetie.” she said quickly, leaving the line open for a response before switching back to the main channel. Janis cracked her knuckles, and Medusa ghosted her, metal joints creaking as she prepared to strike. As soon as the Circle was established, Janis was gonna fuck this Nightmare up.
 
In Position.

The sky was dark, last vestiges of the sun tracing across it through gaps in the clouds. The scent of smoke - of fire - hung in the air, too distant to feel the heat, too close to ignore. Around her, her Coven stood, ready, waiting.

"Parvati."

"Ready."

"Oshun."

"Here."

"Echo."

"Yes."

"Idun."

"We've got this."

"It's a big one, isn't it? They're saying it's a big one."

"We've handled big ones before, Sari."

"I know, but - they don't usually say it like that. Not like -"

"Nat's right. We're ready. Worrying about it's only going to trip us up."

Natalya leaned forward. Instinctively, Echo leaned forward as well. She didn't even feel her hands on the controls, didn't even see the edges of the cockpit. They were together. Tandem. A dance. In ballet, partners had to act as one. It was a play of momentum, a back and forth, and if one partner broke pattern with the other, it all fell apart. This was just ballet. No different.

No rehearsal, and the stakes were a bit higher, but -

Her and Echo were just partners. They were the same. If she went airborne, she would catch herself. If she fell, she would pick herself up. Blades glinted, catching the glow, shimmering through the air. She wouldn't let -

"Don't worry, Sari. I've got your back."

It was a different day. A different place. For a second, it was jarring - she wasn't a part of Echo, she was inside her. She could see the panels in front of her. Feel the seat beneath her. It faded as she regained her focus, but it was enough to leave her disoriented, confused. She was - with the new team. This was a lower stakes mission. Testing the water. Had she - was the intercom on, when she spoke? She didn't remember pressing the button, but she never did. It just happened when she talked. It was ingrained.

"Hello, everyone. It's an honor to fight alongside you. Let's make short work of this Nightmare, hm?"
 
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Media was in full swing, despite everything. Had the public really turned on HEX so much that they were sending out a film crew to a routine cleanse like this? Although, Seren supposed, there wasn't much that could ever be called routine about their job. It made sense that there was an audience, even for shit like this- fanatics, and the like. She had run into a few of them herself, even. Fucking losers. I mean, what was the appeal?

Ceridwen's cockpit was tiny, compared to most other Witches. It had to be- as the only part which couldn't transform (as the familiar would be turned to paste if it could), it had to be small enough so as not to get in the way of all the other moving parts. This would've made it uncomfortable to pilot, were it not for Integration gradually nudging her senses away from her body. That was why Seren appreciated it. If she could focus on the residual discomfort, then it meant she wasn't being fully absorbed by the fucking thing- it could ground her, if she needed, but she couldn't let it slip out of her mind. That was her theory, anyway. She really hoped it was right.

Her team was in place. The two lovebirds, and Lyn, and Lin, with Brigid, and someone else. Unfamiliar. Her name was Natalya, from what Seren had gathered, and this wasn't the first Coven she had been part of. Quite why someone of her standing was doing something like this was beyond her--it made her nervous, even--but she didn't have time to think about that.

"In position." She said, "Awaiting signal."


"Prepare to engage."

The Circle was cast- bright, shimmering light that filled the area before them, seeping into the darkness and pushing it away, like sunlight breaking through shadows on the wall. The Nightmare solidified.

As the shadow receded, the dregs it left began to take form- bipedal amphibian creatures, their skin coated in the tar-like remains of the Nightmare that birthed them, and their teeth sharp and faintly luminescent. Salamanders, these were called. Dangerous in large numbers, as agile as they are volatile, but nothing compared to what was rising up from the middle.

It seemed purely reptilian at first. A wyvern, coiling its tail around an old warehouse, spreading its wings as soon as they were formed. It wasn't until the head formed that the Coven would know what it was that they were fighting. Feathers sprouted from the murk, skin stretched and hung loose beneath its skull, its jaw bent forwards like a single, curved fang.

Then, its voice echoing through the Circle, the Nightmare crowed.

"Well, then."
The Strike Director frowned,
"Looks like you girls have got yourselves a Cockatrice."
 
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After what felt like an eternity, the Circle was finally deployed. Lin had seen it thousands, tens of thousands of times in training scenarios and simulated combat encounters, but seeing it for real... Already, her adrenaline was starting to run. She was getting her chance, to prove herself, to show why she was meant to be here.

The shimmering haze of the Circle enveloped the Nightmare, and it began to shrink, forced to coalesce into a physical shape, rather than a formless cloud. Brigid picked herself up from the kneeling position at Faith's command, now crouched and ready to move, ready to attack. Then, a pang of disappointment, as she registered the Salamanders, one of the simplest forms it could take- easy to deal with, especially with as many Witches as had been deployed.

But something else was rising. Obviously, to a degree, she did care what it was. That sort of information was crucial to killing one of these things, knowing it's capabilities, it's weaknesses, but part of her? It didn't care at all. Lin Faith had come here to take care of business, to burn this thing to the ground.

Finally.

Her voice came across comms. "Engaging." Then, movement, as Brigid responded to her request, her command. The Witch lurched forward, moving quickly towards the Cockatrice and it's surrounding Salamanders.
 
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