The two women jumped in surprise, looking towards the sound that scared them shitless. They sighed, cursed themselves, when they remembered that the others were only climbing up the stairs, now back from storage.

“Two beings with space enlightenment powers and we still jump at the slightest noise…?” Jackie shook her head at herself.

The tall young woman felt the squeeze on her shoulder, causing her to lock eyes at the grown adult before her.

“It’s cool, it’s good,” A-J consoled her. “Because regardless of that stuff, our actual superpower is better than that… Us being smart, scared cowards—”

“’And cowards do surviiiiive…’” River came into the scene, carrying various jugs under her arms, making a gravelly voice.

A-J snorted, as her eyes narrow at the girl. “T-that was uh—one of those car robot movies, right? You had to reference that…?”

“I’m just fucking impressed that you understand her,” Maddie sniffled after, carrying a bag in one of her hands. “It’s nothing but this—and you’re the type to watch what she watches--?”

“Some jobs just suck enough for it,” A-J smirked. “Shitty entertainment’s still entertainment.”

“Careful now,” Maddie then cleared her throat again. “She’s gonna work up the effort to… Think about dreaming about asking you out—”

A chuckle was heard from River, following Tracy having a hearty laugh, as she came up carrying a massive box.

“Wow!” Tracy exclaimed, but with effort. “Wow! I laughed! At a Maddie joke! And it’s an actual joke--!”

“I know, I guess I’m really fucked up,” Maddie sniped.

“But hey, that Battery Acid’s perking you up still, right~?” A-J asked.

“It’s still burning my throat, yeah—”

“So it’s keeping you awake~” A-J chirped with a grin. “Good!”

Jackie doesn’t have siblings, but… Older sister, that’s the vibe she constantly got from this woman. Good-natured, if not allowed to joke at their expense. Constant guidance, despite not really knowing where to go herself. Which makes that help all the more impactful.

“Speaking of flesh burning… Wow, I could’ve phrased that better—” River began.

“I don’t think you could’ve, dear—” Tracy cut in.

River then set the jugs on the floor. “I guess we’re gonna see if ol’ chlorine bleach and/or Ammonia can touch flying bird things.”

A-J rubbed her hands, “Indeed we are—and if it doesn’t, then yeah, we’re fucked-“

“Or!” an incoming Aiko sailed in, having a full bag hanging from her shoulder like a massive purse. “I’ll end up having to reveal some things I have in this bag!”

“Yeah, I was wondering why things were quieter than usual—” A-J quipped. “You do realize that whatever you’re swiping, it’s on my pay, right?”

Aiko only grinned at the woman, “Surely your superiors would be more glad that their super secret siVis agent prevented a Nulgarrt expansion than some choice items suddenly being gone—'everything it takes’, after all!”

Jackie sighed on behalf of A-J, before pointing at Tracy. “So what’s all this?”

“O-oh!” Tracy set the box down in a hurry, opening it and pulling out the folded up clean up suit. “I’ve found these when we raided the clean up area! A bit of a waste now since our outfits are ruined, but hey, if there’s a slogan we subscribe to nowadays, it’s that or ‘it’s already fucked, might as well save the scraps’… oh yeah maybe I should’ve asked if we can use these—I should’ve shown these off first, sorry—"

“You fuckers better be grateful that the job’s not worth the effort to be uppity—” A-J waved her fist in a comical manner. “But yeah… Here’s what’s up…”

The woman came over to lift both of the heavy jugs with ease, only a flash of siVis use shooting down her arms. “We sneak around the park, we find one of the bastards, we don’t make our presence known until we get the best vantage shot, and we nail it hard with these chemicals. If it doesn’t work, we have a fight on our hands. If it does, we chase it down as it unveils the Stew entrance for us. As we get there, all of us or at least someone with the job that can do it, gathers all sorts of weird shit like metal or coins or wood, so we can ruin the Stew after braving whatever fresh hell it is.”

A-J quickly glanced over them all. “Hopefully when I say this, I’m only repeating the obvious to you all… But we’re only using the chemicals on the thing, not where the thing is trying to roost in. There’s a genuine give and take with this, in the end of the day whatever you throw in, it still benefits them… You just gotta overload them with choice to the point it doesn’t help. We’ve seen when only using force bit us in the ass.”

Jackie nodded, and was relieved that the others had the looks of recognition as well. That would only make them not only immune, but turn them into lumbering monsters. Creature of agony unable to be killed. The Abominaticents.

A-J tossed one of the jugs at Jackie, which she barely caught, letting the weight overpower and drag her down, only using siVis on legs, arms and back to cause her to lift back up.

Jackie looked down at her active arms, just to compare with A-J’s usage. Constantly holding the power, as if it’s going to go away at any second—no grace with the pieces, constantly bulging and shuddering against each other. A series of mistakes.

“Sorry, that was my fault—” A-J apologized. “Got complacent, knew you could lift it but—yeah.”

“It’s…” Jackie struggled to say, and it wasn’t the effort to lift up the jug. “It’s not your fault… We should be good at this…”

“You can only get ‘better’ at it, there is no good—” A-J replied.

“Says you,” Maddie sniped, which calmed Jackie. It shows that whatever the sickness is, it’s not dulling her mind like before. “You use it like you breathe. We can’t compete with that, we don’t have the slightest idea how.”

Aiko blew air out flippantly, as her lips vibrated. “Only because she isn’t willing to teach us anything! Then we’d know…! …And uh. Maybe mess that up too—"

“We’re sorry for being deadweight, is what we’re getting at,” River chimed in, being handed the other jug.

“…I can’t believe I’m not the only one saying these things and I’m taking that in—er, yeah,” Tracy followed up. “Especially in light of that injury, we feel bad about not being able to help, but we can’t even help ourselves…”

A-J rubbed the side of her face, looking down. She then took a long, labored sigh.

“1) if you start using me as an example of anything but what not to do? Then you’re already losing, kids. 2) you gotta start somewhere. But the only way you’re ever going to get there is if you fucking start, first. And 3).”

A-J rose her head and crossed her arms.

“All siVis does is reminding us, at the end of the day, is that we've became the winners of Earth by being smart and being cowards. That's how we fight Nulgarrt. Going back to those persistence hunting days--where we hit it as hard as we could and chased it until it died. Suit up, and let’s start with these guys.”