Eve raised an eyebrow looking around at all the guns pointed at them. Her hands rested firmly on two knives inside her trench coat. Usually she threw the coat off but that would get her riddled with holes. She licked her lips, breathing a bit heavy, ready for the upcoming blood bath. “So who is going to move in first? Unless you just want to stand around with your guns pointed like a group of statues.”

Lyric rolled her eyes and flicked her wrist disappearing. The weapons around cocked in unison but something was off since it was going in slow motion. Lyric turned to see Valentina using her time manipulation ability. A soft giggled escaped her lips and it would have been awesome for Alexandria to be there to see how well they were working together. She looked around to see if there was a leader directing the group. It didn’t matter since Eve was most likely going to start throwing knives all over the place.

It was time for Isa to show off something she had been working on. She brings down the zipper of her suit to right under her chest. The breathing followed deep in and out. Flames start to appear all over the top half of her body. Everyone turned to look at her as she placed her hands together in front of her nose. The breathing intensified and the flames rose and fell in sync. Her eyes shot open. “Everyone duck!” Her arms extended and fire shot out of her palms as she spun around once the pillars of fire cut into the enemy. Flames, blood, and screams echoed all around them.

The guards around them were cut down by almost half but more came in from all sides. Tyra looked down the scope of her rifle just in time to see the flames. It was amazing how far Isa progressed in such a short time. The issue was now Tyra could see where the guard’s had been hiding. She scans the building looking for anything that could help out the crew. “Hmmmmm no wonder I couldn’t see them. The building has that damn energy field, one of the few things I can’t see through.” A hearty chuckle escaped her lips as she flexed her trigger finger.

Eve jumped up throwing her coat to the side throwing two knives taking out the nearest guards to her. At first she didn’t enjoy killing while having Valentina stop time. However after a while watching her kills in slow motion become very enjoyable. Maybe next time she could ask Valentina to slow her a bit so there is more of a challenge.

Lyric moved through the guards not finding the one she was looking for. It was fun to take out lower ranking guards but the officers always put up more of a fight. Of course the only one who could see her coming was Tyra so no matter who her opponent was if she didn’t give them a chance it would be over in a split second. Lyric stopped short when she saw the building that the guards were coming out of. There were guards all over suiting up. She also spotted the generator. Now she understood why Tyra didn’t see anything. There was an energy field around the building. That would be her move before Valentina brought time back to normal speed.

She made her way over to the generator looking it over for a moment. Once she disabled it the guards would be on her quickly. Lyric was going to try and do this as quietly as possible. Hopefully Tyra could see a way to take out the building once she could see everything around it when the shield lost power. After examining the generator for a few minutes she found a button to turn it off. Lyric moved as far away as she could using her rapier to turn the generator off.

Tyra kept her position ready to shoot if anyone needed help. Of course with Valentina slowing time no one was in need of help at the moment. She turned her attention back to the building right when the shield went off. She could see the generator along with some fuel not far from it. A hearty chuckle escaped her lips as she flexed her trigger finger. “Putting fuel out in the open like that is a very bad move.” She made sure Lyric was out of range and squeezed off a single shot.

The full canister was punctured and everything went quiet for a split second. The explosion that followed rocked the entire area the city was sitting on. Flames, debris, and smoke shot into the air grabbing everyone's attention including Valentina who broke her concentration to bring time back to a normal speed. Scorched body parts among other things rained down around everyone. The remaining guards just stood there in shock trying to process what just happened.

Lyric was blown back a few feet even though she was a good distance away from the building. She stood up dusting herself off, retrieving her rapier from the ground nearby. There was now a crater where the building used to be and if it wasn’t for the fire blood would be everywhere. Instead it was charred body parts and other equipment. “Well it seems Tyra was able to take care of that issue.” She walked back to the rest of the group to see how many guards were left standing.

Alexandria and Veronica finished moving the lap to a room closer to the exit. The only thing that was left to move was Claire’s computer. She was almost finished downloading files and was going to purge the system afterwards. There was no way this stuff needed to see the light of day ever again. Claire was about to initiate the purge when a huge rumbling shook the facility again. Claire was knocked from her chair banging her head against the desk. Thankfully she wasn’t knocked out or severely injured.

Veronica appeared at the doorway of the lab a few minutes later. “Claire, are you alright in there?” She walked inside going to where Claire had fallen, extending a hand to help her up.

Claire accepted the hand and pulled herself up. She let go of Veronica and steady herself with the computer desk. She sat down in her chair and finished the commands to initiate the purge. Once that was finished she loaded up the rest of her things into a box and walked out of the room.

They both walked back to the room near the entrance to find Alexandria there with the rest of the ability users. No one seemed to be hurt but one or two of the ability users were on edge from all the excitement. It was time for Alexandria and Veronica to join the others in the city since something huge just happened. Alexandria was done playing this game of what and see. No matter what, she and Veronica were going up in that elevator to the city.

“Alright you all can stay down here. There is no reason to go to the surface just yet. Once everything is clear up there I will come back down to check on y’all.” Alexandria was glad no one was hurt and it was time to figure out what exactly was going on in the city above. She figured one of her crew was causing major trouble but there was no telling who it was. Everyone Alexandria had recruited could make a huge mess all on their own.

“I will remain here as well just to keep an eye on everyone. There is no telling what will happen if I walk up there with you, not as a prisoner.” Claire knew these women and it was the best choice no matter what anyone else thought. She had downloaded all the information they needed and had supplies to do whatever lab work was required for quite a long time.

Alexandria wrinkled her nose. “Even if you wanted to come up with us I wouldn’t allow it. You are correct about not knowing what they will do to you. If you could make sure everything gets moved to these two rooms. I want to be able to divide everything after this is all over.” Alexandria wasn’t trying to be rude but Claire had a way about her that could ease your mind or drive you nuts. Alexandria was feeling the ladder at the moment. She motioned for Veronica to follow as she made her way to the elevator.

Claire rolled her eyes, turning to Veronica. “I have no issues doing any of that. How do you feel about actually joining this woman? She may be more unhinged than any ability user I have ever encountered.” She knew Veronica was set in her choice but that wasn’t going to stop her from voicing her uneasiness with the whole situation.

Veronica patted Claire on the back as she walked forward a bit. She stopped just for a moment. “No need to worry. She may be unhinged but her plans will become reality if I have anything to do with it.” Veronica started walking again to join Alexandria at the elevator.

Claire let out an exasperated sigh shaking her head with a small smirk on her face. She may not fully trust in Alexandria just yet but she did have faith in Veronica which was enough to keep her on board at least for now.

Alexandria pressed the button for the elevator only having to wait a few minutes before the doors opened. There was nothing or noone inside which was odd since Alexandria could clearly see an elevator lock button on the control panel. They both walked inside and Alexandria pressed the bottom to go up, closing her eyes as the doors closed and they ascended to the surface.

There was silence for a moment which Veronica broke. “What do you think is going on up there to cause so much rumbling to the facility?” She couldn’t stand still so doing her exercises was the next best thing. Small punches and kicks flew around the small space as she jumped around in her area of the elevator.

“Either someone blew something up or the cannon fire has started back up again. It doesn’t really matter as long as the crew are taking out the remaining guards in the city. I want to finish this before the day is done.” Alexandria folded her arms and leaned against the back of the elevator. She was very relaxed for someone who was basically declaring war on the current superpower of the world. Of course after what she has accomplished so far her confidence was through the roof which could backfire at any time.

Veronica stopped jumping for a moment to really look at Alexandria. She was someone who had gone through so much and was still able to keep it together in a highly stressful situation. “I respect and admire your demeanor. It is one of the reasons I decided to follow you out of this place. Killing all the guards is just a bonus.” She started to jump around again punching and kicking the air.

Alexandria cracked her next letting out a sigh of relief. “It is good to know I can have that kind of impact on someone as powerful as you. Once this is all said and down we should sit down with the rest of the crew and discuss the future. That will be an interesting conversation.” She flashed a small smile as the elevator stopped and the doors began to open.

Veronica moved to the doorway to act as a shield just in case they were met with machine gun fire again. There was also the threat of rockets or flamethrowers. They have tried to kill her with so many different things it is unreal how she is still alive.

The doors opened to reveal smoke, debris, and a strong scent of blood. Alexandria moved around Veronica to look at the state of the city. A whole building was not a smoldering crater and there were charred body parts, mangled equipment, and blood all over the place. However it didn’t look as though it was over yet. Alexandria spotted her crew surrounded by a group of guards. She unsheathed her scythe blade moving forward with purpose. Veronica was at her side with the same intensity and rage she had in the facility.

It was on this day the crew became complete and a name started to drift on the wind, water, and land to every corner of the world. The Crimson Judgment was a group to be feared and respected.