Owner Pose
Jonathan Sims     Despite the fact that Manhattan is mostly abandoned, many of the regular automated systems have not been turned off. As the sun goes down, lights still come on, including the streetlamps that line the pathways of Battery Park. The group that moves through the streets of Manhattan toward Battery Park, therefore, moves under cover of night but not darkness, as quietly as they can. Orders are to not engage the angels until they need to, but the streets leading south have been eeriely empty--they were able to just move down Broadway from the point where they all portaled to, without seeing a single angel.

    What they're looking for is simple enough for those who can see it--a strong source of magic, probably resonating with blue and gold in some way. Whether the angels have found it already or not is anyone's guess. They've all been given earbuds in order to be able to communicate without having to speak too loudly.

    Jonathan Sims has taken point, wearing SHIELD tactical gear and carrying his staff. To those with mystic Sight there's a faint green glimmer about him of extra power, but otherwise he doesn't stand out except for his height. He hesitates only briefly as they reach the intersection of Broadway and State Street, gaze sweeping the edge of the park. <<Keep an eye out. I get the feeling they're here ahead of us, given the lack of patrols.>> Then he leads them on in, under the trees that mark the southern tip of Manhattan.
Sarah Rainmaker Sarah Rainmaker is wearing a long jacket over her. It's just a thick trenchcoat and a hoodie on beneath. Some splashings of dark hued paint have been put on it along with mud. In the dreariness, hopefully it makes it very hard to tell that she's there if one were to look in her direction. She's focused on moving along slowly with the reset of the group and not doing anything too fast. She's had at least a minimal amount of training in stealth. She's flying about five or six inches off the ground to make sure there's no accidental noise from her feet just to be ont he safe side. She's trying to pay attention for any sort of unusual energy disturbances. Her powers only grant her some limited awareness of the weather, but perhaps if there's any sort of unusual magic that interferes with it she might get something. It's useful as some sort of redundancy, perhpas over to those far more talented.
    Her tongue would click over at the comm stud for her earpiece. <<On command I can put up a fog to give us some concealment or make some rain or snow if it would help cover us>> She's not doing it now; just making sure that it's known and can be called for if need be.
Clarice Ferguson     Clarice had been the one to portal them close to their destination - but her tears in reality, surrounded by bright purple energy, are hardly the stealthiest means of infiltration.
    Of course - neither is her vibrantly magenta hued skin and hair, or the electric green, featureless orbs that are her eyes. She stays near the rear of the group, watching for signs of pursuit or threat, a silvery-looking stubby javelin held in one hand, ready for use should the need arise. She wears some of the Brotherhood's body armor - which is a deep, charcoal grey with no identifying marks on it. She hasn't worked with anyone in this group aside from Lydia, and that makes her a bit nervous - but hopefully this Jonathan Sims who Lydia has befriended is at least aware of everyone's capabilities.
Blade Blade moves in shadows as naturally as he breathes, stealth coming instinctively to a man who has spent seven decades hunting creatures with enhanced senses who see in the dark. He wears his usual gear - leather longcoat, body armor, a wide variety of weaopns, silver-edged swords at his back. Despite the dark, he has sunglasses over his eyes, because he can see in the dark just fine too, motherfucker.

He's not exactly a lively conversationalist even on his best of days and you can be damn sure he isn't talking out of turn tonight. He's aware that some of the group tonight might technically be called 'vampires', but he's been assured they're solid citizens and not in need of a quick decapitation on principle.
Sara Pezzini Normally the metal armor of the Witchblade has a metallic sheen, as if attempting to announce his presence to the world. Tonight was different, tonight the armor covering Sara's body was completely matte black, the light hitting it eaten by how dark it was, even the metal wings on her back lack any locations that shine. Stealth mode was something Sara had taught him a long time ago, to ensure that in those situations she needed to not be seen, she wouldn't be.

In spite of all the metal surrounding her, there is also no sound to her movements as she moves with Jon. <"Ready to be eyes in the sky if needed, Sims," she offers over the comm, her tone a little deeper than her usual. "Other wise I got your back.">
Tim Drake     Though Red Robin is not one of the people on this mission that can sense the presence of magic, or holy beings, he has his uses. He's not with the main group that walks along at street level, instead surveying things from up above, concealed in the shadows just past the shattered remains of a window within one of the financial buildings.

    He looks out, past the Charging Bull statue. "<<Either we're slipping in-between patrols or they're overconfident about holding this location. Benefits us in either case.>>"

    In the dark greys and blacks of his armor, it's hard to pick Red Robin out even when he's darting across the gaps between buildings. He's no more than a strange shape against the night sky, cape spread around him like wings.

    So if he's being counted in with Lydia as potentially vampiric, Tim wouldn't exactly be surprised. It plays into the Bat mythos.
Zatanna Zatara Gone are the fishnet stockings and top hat. Instead, Zatanna has replaced them with a version of tactical armor that might have passed in the Renaissance - carbon-steel chain maillot and coif, under a breastplate, that glints with magic glyphs. She has pushed back the coif, and her raven-black hair falls loose to her shoulders. No weapons are visible; she is armed with magic that can shape reality with a word.

What feels like a storm gathers near the end of Manhattan; missing are the roiling grey clouds and thunder. Nevertheless, the feeling of menace is there. The homo mage raises a hand into the air, testing, and mutters under her "!stnerruC. (Currents!)

Over coms, she asks, <"Can we see any churches from the air?>
Lydia Dietrich Lydia wasn't with the group when the ported down to the park. She said that she was going to go first and scout the area to see what she could find, though how she could do that and not be noticed was something to be questioned by those who don't know her.

Soon enough a large crow... no... a raven comes flapping in from the park at a pretty brisque pace. Once she gets to the group the form shifts and changes and the vampiress steps lightly to the ground. She's dressed for night work, opting for black woolen slacks and a black turtleneck sweater. As always, motes of darkness float delicately around her like the inverse of snow.

"Expect resistance," she informs Jon. "They've got several patrols ranging throughout the park." She looks over her shoulder to where they're headed. "They're mostly centered around a spot that's close to the Monument. A bit south of there."
Jonathan Sims     "Close to the Monument, but south of here...?" Jon frowns, glancing to Zatanna for confirmation of her sense of magical currents--after all, if the angels are searching in the wrong place, they can get the jump on finding what they're looking for. "There's no churches in Battery Park," he adds. "I don't think this one is a church. I rather thought it might've been the Urban Farm, but that's not all that close to the Monument." He shakes his head, and leads them on inside, so they can follow Zatanna's sense of the magic.

    As they move into the park, they do indeed begin to encounter patrols, a few lesser angels and occasionally a cherubim. Jon cannot attack the angels directly, and seems to trust the group to take care of those they come across as they press on further.
Sarah Rainmaker Sarah Rainmaker would go along for a few moments, listening to the instructions from Jon and then cocking her head to the side to watch. Her hands would wave up, and she goes to thicken the blanket of snow along the area with a heavy gust of wind blasting in. She goes to give a quick warning along the comm first <<Giving the area some rough weather>> A short term increase in snow and wind is rather normal for the winter in the city. SO hopefully just a little bit blanketing the area will make for some nice concealment for the groups doing takedowns.
Clarice Ferguson     With so many in the group a stealthy lot, Clarice just goes with the assumption that she attracted their attention - or maybe it was the raven flying in and changing shapes.
    Naaaaah.
    As she spots a group of incoming Cherubim flying above them, she speaks quietly into the comms. <<"Cherubim coming, Eastbound on Battery Place. No signs of aggre- nevermind.">>
    The angels start charging up their weapons, and Clarice prepares herself for her favorite trick in her book. As soon as they open fire - a portal appears between the angels and their targets. A second portal appears below and behind the angels, aiming their own weapons fire back on them.
Blade Blade sees the incoming infantry angels and gives a feral grin that might be more similar to the act of showing fang. He draws both of his swords, one in each hand. "'bout time I got to whup some o' that angel ass," he mutters aloud.

He moves with furious precision and alacrity, his own speed matching or exceeding that of these fodder angels. He slices high and low, sending angel heads spinning, slicing through their bodies, lopping off limbs. He's extremely skilled at fighting mobs of enemies - it's part of his usual motif of attacking vampire dens, infestations that usually have upwards of thirty or forty vampires in any given nest. If they bleed, he'll rapidly get spattered, but his gear is treated to let blood run off it enough to leave him nearly pristine when he's finished.

Seeing the incoming cherubim called out by Clarice, he draws an uzi loaded with phosphorous bullets and raises it up, spraying fire on the incoming flyers.
Sara Pezzini Moving with the group into the park, the hostility of the angels quickly becomes evident. Jon may have said he didn't need defending, but the fact that he couldn't engage them at all didn't mean they wouldn't engage him, and there was no way Sara was going to let him just stand there with a target on his back. Cael would absolutely never forgive her for that, and she would never be able to forgive herself either.

What this information translated into was her remaining close to Jon to block attacks aimed at him with the wings of the armor while she used her own range attacks, energy blasts she didn't even know Witchblade could do until he helped her shoot Michael in the face. If he kept moving, she kept with him, only attacking if something got too close to Jon and herself, or if it appeared that someone else needed some ranged back up.
Tim Drake     "<<What's the significance of this location, then? Or is it all arbitrary?>>"

    Though over comms his voice is heavily modulated, it's still obvious in his tone that Red Robin is not much for this whole angel business. A non-believer, maybe. But here's here anyway, and as they enter the park Red Robin appears like a walking shadow at the group's flank. Present, but separate.

    The definitely-not-cursed sword that he's carried with him since his arrival in New York makes an appearance now, sliding silently from the sheath hanging from his utility belt. Red Robin has had enough experience engaging with the Heavenly Host at this point that he's traded out some of the heavier ceramic plating for his more traditionally lighter armor. They can cut through it either way, so he might as well be as light on his feet as possible.

    Unlike Blade, who--judging by his name--is probably a hell of a lot more skilled with a sword, Tim fights like a fencer. Rapid lunges that get him in close to slice and dice followed by quick foot work to get himself back out of range. He's judicious, too, with his selection of targets: funneling some of the patrols towards the group head-on rather than letting the angels manage to circle around and attack from the side, or behind.
Zatanna Zatara Gunfire that wouldn't be out of place in a Star Wars film carooms around the group. At the warning of more incoming, the homo mage slows, concentrating on her hands that she holds apart. A pentangle hovers between them, its golden points revolving: she adds another, each rotating around the same axis. Then, the magician throws it in the air. The pentangles expand then settle around the group like a mobile transparent chain-link fence.

Walking quickly brings her up close to Lydia, "I'm surprised there is something they want here," she observes after the first encounter.

<If I'm reading this right, we should head south and bear to the west. But isn't that the water or the harbor?"> said to the group in general over the SHIELD coms.
Lydia Dietrich Lydia has been doing training. A /lot/ of training in order to keep her discipline when it comes to fighting the angels. Still, her religious upbringing just /screams/ at her that fighting angels is wrong, even though she knows, without a doubt, that this is the right thing that they need to do. People's lives are at stake. Heck. All of reality is at stake. This needs to be done.

When Lydia fights its a combination of physical and ranged. Her supernatural swiftness allows her to meet the lesser angels head on. Black onyx claws forms at her fingertips as she tears through them, and black tentacles spring from her ectoplasm to grasp and smash any cherubim that come anywhere near her. She does all this with a kind of cold determination, eager to prove herself.

"There are six places of power that Michael is searching for," Lydia says, answering Tim, and anybody else who wants to know the significance of the sight. "Activating them will open a door to Gaea. I had a vision GACK!" She stumbles back as one of the Cherubim's energy beams hit her squarely in the chest. Fortunately, her ectoplasmic armor took the brunt of the blow, and the Cherubim gets a face full of tentacle for it's impertinence."

"Like I was saying, I had a vision that told me where these points are," she says, falling back this time so she can talk without interruption. "They're getting close to finding it but they're a little off. I don't know why because it's kind of obvious. It's the fountain."

She looks over her shoulder at Zee. "There's more to it than that, but we need to have a private conversation for it. I'll need your help, and probably Phoebe's too."
Jonathan Sims     <<We're defending /Gaea/,>> Jon says into comms. <<I'll be surprised if at least half the locations aren't parks. I had to go pretty deep into the woods to speak to Her. But... yes, of course, the Bosque Fountain. Have you seen it at night? The jets are lit and they glow golden. Blue and gold, water and light.>> He breaks into a jog, heading that way.

    <<Also, Pezzini, I don't need a bodyguard, get off my back.>> Indeed, Jon's hardly defenseless. As the group moves further into the park, the resistance gets more formidable. The first patrol they meet that has a Power at the head is baffled by Sarah's snow and wind, and Jon waves his staff, forming the snow into an arcing latticed dome that absorbs an energy blast of the Power Cosmic that the angel lobs at them, melting as it does so. Three Principalities, several cherubim, and about a dozen lesser angels converge on the the group.

    Up ahead, around the corner of the Castle Clinton Monument, a larger massing of angels can be seen, but none of them break off toward the group yet. Still, to Zatanna and Jon, there's a huge amount of mystical energy being used off in that direction.
Sarah Rainmaker Sarah Rainmaker would go to keep the snow going up and around them, then going to drop more fog as the fighting went on to cover the group's movement. She would coast along, lifting herself up and over into the air along the wind currents. Going to just try and keep herself four ro five meters up in the air. No sense risking being too far apart or high up and making herself stand out or get sparated from the group. Then as the angels were converging, she would go to call out a warning along the comms <<Multiple threats vectoring in>> Her own hands going to charge up and over with her gauntlets, starting to build up energy to be ready as a backup if the others needed it.
Clarice Ferguson     Clarice grits her teeth for a moment as Lydia takes a hit - but the vampiress shows no signs of slowing - so Clarice remains focused on the battle, trying to handle some of the ranged angels, as others engage the ones that close for melee. She takes a more direct approach this time, however, now that the battle is engaged properly. A portal opens around some of the Cherubim, and then snaps closed again - teleporting their upper halves away. They appear out to sea in a flash of energy, tumbling towards the water below.
    Don't shoot her family.
Blade Blade fends off a few of the lesser angels with his left hand, sword flickering back and forth with silvery, deadly grace, sending them back to heaven with relatively swift dispatch. He's wary of the Powers and Principalities as of yet, continuing to aim uzi fire up at the Cherubim to keep them at bay, at least, although he does shoot one right in his toothless little baby mouth.

"Fuck it. Hey, shitheads! Every time a grenade blows, an angel gets his ass blown off!" he says, pulling the pin on a grenade and tossing one at one of the Principalities.
Sara Pezzini The smaller angels seem to fall at the hands of the others, though Sara keeps her eyes on Jon.

<"No commander in the field is left to their own devices Sim," she states, noting that a couple of hte more powerful angels have made themselves known. "I'd do the same thing for May or Carter.">

She can't really tell the difference between the different types of angels, save some are smaller and others are not, but she can /feel/ the difference. Choosing one of the larger ones, she produces a sword and attempts to attack.
Zatanna Zatara The first perimeter of defense fades as they approach the fountain. Snow clings to Zatanna's hair melting as she strides toward the magic that shifts in blues and yellows, melding into green to her magical senses. Principalities in a triumvirate of power center toward the fountain. The homo mage sorts through mystical associations, thinking baptism with water, holy fonts, and Paul's theology of powers, but nothing immediately comes to mind to stop the Principalities.

The magician throws another dome of DEFENSE around the group. Sparkling pentangles mixed with snow rain in the air between them and the angels.

Atrun-Rae's powerful spell weakening the Angels is still in force giving them a more even chance. Actin on instinct, she selects one of the powers.

An old R&B song comes to Zatanna, "!sniahC !niahC !niahC" she sings with a little oomph and a change of lyrics. sniahC fo evoL (Chains of Love)
Lydia Dietrich Lydia trusts others to deal with the Principalities. She's busy keeping the riff raff off of them, a whirling dervish of claws and tentacles. Truly an eldritch abomination given the form of a small, cute vampire. She doesn't seem all that bothered by the snow, and in fact what fluffy white stuff that lands on her doesn't melt giving her something of a festive appearance as she takes down Angels.

"I have a question," she asks. "Now that we know what they're after, how do we keep them from it for as long as we need to in order to finish our plans?"
Jonathan Sims     <<Once we get there and disrupt whatever they're doing, we have Ferguson bring in reinforcements to hold until the battle proper starts on Saturday. I can't perform my sealing spell until Gaea and Michael have officially commenced the 'game.'>> Jon sounds irritated by that, but it is what it is. He twists his staff, and abruptly the ground behind the Power and the Principalities erupts upward, created a wall of earth that will be able to contain and redirect force at them.

    Force like the grenade Blade's hurled into their midst.

    The shrapnel from the grenade rebounds off the earthen wall and shreds the Principalities, leaving only the Power. As Sara goes into to engage, Zatanna's binding spell snakes up on it, holding it enough to give Sara a better chance to take it out. Even a Power does not really have free will; it's more of an automaton than anything else. It doesn't think to call for backup or struggle with the chains beyond focusing its attention on Sara, but Zatanna's chains keep it from putting up its shield. In a sword fight between a wizard (which is basically what the Powers are) and a paladin, well... the paladin's going to win, if the wizard can't perform somatic components.

    It's really easy for the Witchblade to cut off the Power's head, is the point.

    Jon waves at the group to halt as he peers over beyond, past bushes and trees, to the glowing golden light of the Bosque Fountain about 50 yards away. They can see Thrones, with the rings of eyes, and a six-winged seraphim. Formidable, and dangerous. But they seem focused on something around the fountain.

    <<Alright,>> he murmurs. <<Let's focus on the Seraphim first, then the Thrones. If we can take out the leaders the rest might scatter. Rainmaker, can you start us off with some fog and then a good blast to the whole area? A lightning strike to the water might shake them up. Red Robin, Blade, Pezzini, go on offense. Ferguson, that portal trick was excellent--try it on a Throne or two. Zatanna, keep that shield up and chain them again. Lydia, if you think you can get in there do so, but otherwise help keep the small fry from swarming us.>> He grips his staff. <<I'll make sure nobody gets hurt. Let's go.>>
Sarah Rainmaker She's had a few moments to charge up her gauntlets while the rest of the group is busy keeping the Principalities busy. Then she's moving to hold her hands up in the air, her gauntlets buzzing over with light in them as she would fill the entire area with a thick, blanketing fog to make it almost look like pea soup. Breath going slowly, making crystals within the air. those that were not prepared for it perhaps shivering just a little more from the sensation of intense cold hitting around. Then there was the sensation of ionization within the air. The frizz. The crackling of energy. Sarah Rainmaker's hands would go up and over into the air, her gauntlets going to whine as they would take the charge and the capacitors would kick in. She would gaze at the otherworldly beings around the fountain.
    "What happens when you hit an angel with lightning?"

    "The same thing that happens to everything else."
    KRAKKA-THOOM-BZAPPT as her gauntlets would unleash a blistering array of lightning through the group of angels if it hit! Presuming her bolts would impact, massive charges of electricity would impact them, jumping from one to another in rapid jolts, hopefully making them stagger and spasm as they would all be lit up with energy, overloaded if she was lucky in overpowering them with the energy taken around from her!
    Air sizzling and steam going up as below freezing temperatures would be for just a moment superheated by brutal bolts of electricity, steam erupting over from them!
Clarice Ferguson     "//Which// portal trick?!" Clarice counters with a laugh in her voice. Portal tricks were more or less all she did. Though it's impossible to tell with her featureless eyes - she's rolling them at Sims right now.
    Still, she decides to try her trick again - blinking herself to the edge of the fog so she can have a clean line of sight on the freakish ring of eyes she's been asigned to. She creates a portal large enough to intersect with two of them, and slams the portal closed with a gesture of her hands, trying to teleport the upper-half of the beings several hunred yards out over the water, while watching for any incoming fire, her hand with the javelin still held in it lifted, ready to open another portal to shield herself, or the group.
Sara Pezzini For a single moment there is a pause, Sara has to collect herself. Witchblade wasn't demanding control, that was also something new to deal with in combat, but it was something she really enjoyed. They were actually working together, in spite of his 'hangover'.

Seraphim, that had to be one of those. Her eyes settle on it before she jumps into the air, letting the wings catch her then propels herself toward the one she looked at. Tendrils of metal spring from the gauntlet and wrap new layers of armor around her body as she heads toward the Serphim, less skin exposed though no where near a full covering of her.

In her gauntleted right hand is the intricate bastard sword Witchblade is so fond of, in the left hand a Greek dagger, known as a kopis. Her intent is to focus her attacks the Seraphim, but if needed she would try to aid with any Thrones that might remain. She was assuming that the Thrones will be blinking out... a cool trick she'd like to witness in a less stressful situation some time. Swinging the bastard sword in a arc toward the Seraphim's wings first, she stabs with the kopis upward in an attempt to get it through the ribs.
Zatanna Zatara Fog creeps along the ground at speed, dimming the jets of colored water and obscuring their targets. Finally, power builds, making the air thrum with electricity that translates into a mighty crack. The magician's hair sparks with static electricity.

Taking a solid stance, feet shoulder-width apart, Zatanna forms pentangles that glow golden between her hands. Cast into the air, they blossom into a tranluscent dome that should protect them from the lower-ranked angel, while their force concentrates on the other Angels.

She calls on the earth, casting the spell of chains on all the Thrones , rooting them to the land. "!sniahC !niahC !niahC"
Lydia Dietrich Lydia gives Jon a nod. "On it," she says, engaging the energy. Then the frizz hits her while she's in the middle of combat. Oh, the frizz. The death knell of every woman who has to contend with deeply curly hair. She's close enough to the lightning strike for the static electricity to poof her hair out to massive proportions, showing everybody why it's called a Jewfro.

She leaps onto the back of one of the rank and file angels, wrapping her legs around its waist, and clawing at its face. When a cherubim shoots its energy weapon at her she wrenches the poor mounted angel around to take the brunt of the blow.

Dropping the angel, she reaches out a hand, and a lash of black ectoplasm wraps around the gun to yank it out of the angel's hand, and into hers. She whips the gun around and attempts to fire it back at the cherubim but.... nothing happens. With a roll of the eyes, she tosses the useless weapon over her shoulder and spears the cherubim with an ectoplasmic lance. "So much for /that/ idea," she mutters.
Jonathan Sims     Even the non-magical can see what the angels are doing at the fountain as they approach--there's a ring of interlocking energy shields, glowing with holy light, obscuring the lights of the fountain. It looks like they're trying to build a dome, and it's about halfway done, several Powers and Virtues doing the bulk of the work as the Seraphim directs them. Mystic Sight can see the glowing wellspring of energy coming from the fountain, a geyser.

    The Battery's centuries of meaning, a history of settlement going back to the Lenape, its use as a base from which to defend the island first as a British fort and then commandeered by the ragtag American army during the New York and New Jersey campaign of the American Revolution, its modern history as a park full of memorials and gardens and fountains--it all pours power into this fountain near the southernmost tip of Manhattan.

    It is appropriate, that the first real battle to defend Manhattan from an invading army will happen here, on Saturday. That the defenders will hold off the invaders at The Battery.

    Assuming, of course, that they can win this engagement first.

    The angels are stunned for a moment, giving the mortals (and near-mortals, it's a general term) the drop on the group around the fountain. Zatanna's chains hold the Thrones in place, and Clarice's portal takes two of them out, leaving another four. Red Robin and Blade move among the lower ranks, their swords cutting into the ranks.

    The seraphim's wing is clipped by the Witchblade and it turns to meet Sara's charge, manifesting an aura of holy fire around itself, brilliant and burning hot. Melee combat with the thing will be difficult and painful. It uncovers its eyes, staring right at Sara with a gaze that would kill a normal mortal straight out.

    <<The barrier!>> Jon shouts. <<If we can take that down, they have to start over!>> It's enough to make this entire engagement worthwhile. He points his staff at the barrier, deep green energy pouring from it, straight at the half-formed dome, through an opening created by Lydia's attack on the cherubim.
Sarah Rainmaker Group of angels around the fountain dealt with. Her own powers somewhat wavered over by the sudden exhaustion of power from blasting over at the spread out angels to hopefully slow them down enough for the others to be dealt with. Then she's quickly evaluating the Seraphim that's engaging in close quarters with the Witchblade. The most dangerous adversary ont he field. She's not going to have much luck going to try and add her own energy over to it.. If her electricity is going to be of any use. But the Seraphim..
    Her gauntlets let her fire lightning with extreme accuracy. So hopefully she can arc around it.. Then she would go to call into the comm <<Firing lightning at the Seraphim>> She's hovering now about three meters up in the air to give herself clear line of sight. Her eyes are glowing.
    HEr gauntlets are as well, their insides starting to sear and smoke from the buildup of energy within them. The stench of ionization fills the air from them as they take in a charge.. Then she would go to unleash her full power ove rat the Seraphim! If she could target it so directly, to aim over for the head if at all possible! <<Firing!>> Warning given along the comm. Energy built up and released. She had control of it and accuracy.. But no reason to not be careful.
    Then with her lightning going to blast over, hopefully with her having the room to target the Seraphim.. HEr full power, five million joule blast going for the head of it. Likely just enough to hopefully -blind- it for a moment, ro disorient it to mess up it's fine motor control. At best she might stagger it for a few heartbeats even if she did hit, if her blast could be so accurately targeted, adn teh angel wasn't immune to lightning. Well.. She could at least try and light it up like a Las Vegas Billboard by unleashing five million joules of raw electricity distorting the air at fifty thousand degrees celsius into it!
Clarice Ferguson     "I can't do anything to take down that bar-" Clarice starts, just as the Thrones open fire on their group.
    Ohhhh shit.
    Clarice opens a portal to intercept the blast, but rather than redirecting it at the floating mass of whirling eyes, the portal reaims the energy to strike at the barrier Sims was attacking. Could the angels' own energy unmake their work?
    She has no idea, but she's willing to try. "Shit - holding this portal open is-" She grits her teeth tightly. Her portals have limits - she can only teleport so much mass. Turns out angel blasts have some //heft// to them.
Sara Pezzini As the aura of holy fire explodes to life around the Seraphim, hundreds of metal tendrils expand from the gauntlet to completely seal Sara in armor, including a visor over her face and eyes. Reactionary to the threat, Witchblade made his usual attempt to protect Sara from danger.

Normally fire, magical or other wise, would have no effect on Witchblade, and thus Sara would be protected, but there were two things about this situation that made it different. The first was that it was angelic holy fire, the very type of energy that just a few days ago Witchblade had attempted to contain, had become drunk on, and was still feeling the effects of. The second was that this holy energy was coming from one of the highest ranking angels in the army, and therefore was a great deal more potent and powerful.

Heated metal against her skin, at first a lower temperature but steadily growing hotter. The pain was shocking and new, her skin beginning to blister, but it didn't stop Sara from focusing on the task at hand. The pain made it more imminent, she needed to get this thing down as quickly as possible.

Keeping the Seraphim's attention, she hears Sarah's words, while attempting to hack and stab at the lieutenant. The moment Sarah announces she is firing, and not until that moment, Sara jumps back slightly from the Serphim to let the lightning strike it without risk of getting shocked herself, then she immediately tries to move back in and stab the thing in the chest, hoping it is thrown off by the power of the areal attacker.
Zatanna Zatara Assaulted by heat, hair standing on end from the electricity, head ringing from the thunderclap, Zatanna holds the defenses in place, trembling with the effort.

Yet, more is called for and their fight has barely begun. All of the founders belief in the rightness of their revolution seeped into the soil of the Battery funnels through the opening of the barrier with the force of a volcano. The homo magi calls on the magic of a word to pull the Angel's barrier apart, commanding in a voice that sings above the noise of batlle.

         REDNUSA (ASUNDER!)
Lydia Dietrich Now that most of the riff-raff have been taken care of, Lydia sees that the Seraphim have uncovered their eyes for an attack that would make even Medusa jealous. "No!" she shouts and whips out a hand, attempting to have a black tentacle of ectoplasm wrap around the Seraphim's eyes to block out it's sight before it can do any damage to anybody.
Jonathan Sims     Rainmaker's blast does indeed blind the Seraphim, and the heat of the air turning to plasma around the thing is enough to destroy several lesser angels who'd flocked to their leader's aid. It doesn't really hurt the Seraphim--it /is/ holy fire--but it's disoriented enough that both that and Lydia's ectoplasm are enough to keep the full force of its gaze from hitting Witchblade.

    As it orients itself, the holy fire of its gaze finally ripping through Lydia's ectoplasm, it spots Jon. <<CHAMPION,>> it says, <<WE WILL DESTROY YOU AND YOUR COMPANY. PREPARE YOURSELVES ALL TO MEET ETERNITY.>>

    It's fortunate, maybe, that it took the time to speak to Jon before focusing on Sara again. One hand releases his staff, and he points at Sara, shouting something in Ancient Egyptian. A shield of woven green energy appears before her, redirecting the blast of its gaze at another couple of Thrones. Evidently, the compunction against attacking the angels doesn't extend to /that/ kind of move, and the Thrones explode with enough force to rock the area around the fountain.

    Two left, the ones Clarice is using to direct energy at the barrier. They keep trying to shift where they're firing, but the mutant shifts the portals, frustrating their attempts. A few of the bolts get through, hammering at Zatanna's shield, threatening to take it down.

    Rainmaker and Lydia's blinding and Jon's shield are enough to give Witchblade an opening. The angel is stabbed in the chest, and blood begins to pour from the wound, boiling hot. It's not enough to down the thing yet, but it pulls one pair of wings back over its eyes. It dances back, lobbing bolts of fire at both Sara and Sarah and then conjuring a sword before darting back in to attack Witchblade more directly with a blade of holy flame.

    The dome around the fountain is weakening. Jon's power, the Throne's bolts redirected by Clarice, Zatanna's spell--they all make the interlocking energy shields of the barrier disappear, one by one, reducing the height of the barrier. Jon calls out, <<Lydia, think you can take on a Throne? We need to destroy them!>>
Sarah Rainmaker The no doubt angelic fire blasting towards her has Sarah's eyes wide. Something innate to her when it comes to combat awareness goes to give her just a little bit more alert as she would hit the ground -hard- to tuck and dive, letting it blast past where she had been moments ago! Cushioning her impact over with a quick blast of air underneath her, Sarah would go to rapidly use her air to lift herself back up and over in the air. Mobility was life. And she planned on keeping her's!
    She would snap back at the Seraphim, "Prepare to meet Oblivion instead!" She might not be able to hurt the thing, and it probably wouldn't be blinded or distracted by the same trick twice. But.. She had other ones at her disposal. Her hands would flash up, and she woudl go to try and then do another one. Going to try and pop an air bubble around the head of the Seraphim.. She would rapidly suck all the air out of it if she could and put it in a sealed vacuum. Presuming the trick worked, of course the Seraphim had no real need to breathe. But hopefully the sudden loss of all air and the rapid change of pressure might at least disorient it a bit as the other Sara kept up the attacks! Rpaidly calling along the comm <<Trying to pout it's head in ice!>> Then she would go to just as suddenly if she could try and snap the void-ball about it's head to freeze it! Hopefully turning from vacuum to head encased over in a solid ball of ice going halfway out it's armored shoulders and wings might -really- disorient it some! She couldn't hurt the thing.. But hopefully she could go to try and keep it distracted!
    And maybe with more luck having a wing flash frozen to it's head with seven or eight centimeters of solid ice might throw it off balance. It might be a veteran warrior with imllenia if not more of experience.. But hopefully things to throw it off track would be brutal in a fight against the Witchblade!
Clarice Ferguson     "Com'on, Sims, they're working for us now!" Clarice calls - but the strain of constantly opening and closing portals that carry such a heavy load is clearly starting to stagger her. She's slow reacting as one of them shift - and she has to blink out and reappear elsewhere to avoid the worst of the blast. She lands hard - and sees that the two Thrones have finally wised up and stopped //firing in the same direction. "Shit! Okay, let's kill them!"
    She does take advantage of a blast from one of them one more time - to aim the attack towards the Seraphim. Surely it won't expect that?
Sara Pezzini That was a whole lot of dancing of powers, each one working in tangent with the next to keep Witchblade from being nuked. There's no guarantee the burning gaze of the Seraphim would actually destroy Sara or Witchblade, but there was also no promise that it wouldn't hurt like a mother fricker. The aura was painful enough to be in contact with, the gaze would very likely be more than Sara could take.

The bastard sword stabbed in, a quick twist and then pulled back out as it danced back to launch fire at her. The wings wrap around to block the fire as she also takes a couple of steps back, the precious moment out of aura appreciated but it is short as the lieutenant darts back in with its own sword in hand.

The wings move out of the way just as the Seraphim gets to her, she turns in an attempt to avoid the blade out of habit, fully expecting the weapon to graze off the armor. When it doesn't and instead slices through it and bites into her flesh, the visor served to conceal the utter shock and surprise, as well as the pain.

Shit just got real.

Sara had experienced pain before. She'd been shot, boxing tournaments, street fights... she could fight through it, but that is happened at all not only pisses her off, but sends Witchblade into a rage. He doesn't try to take over, instead he whispers tactics in the moment. With the Seraphim right there, in close against her, she uses the kopis to stab and slice at the Seraphim's eyes, and the bastard sword aimed for another stabbing strike at its chest.
Blade Blade feels that overwhelming heat coming from the bigger angels. He's been letting the others focus on taking down the shields and the big bastards - his firepower isn't quite high level enough to really wallop those on the higher end of the pecking order. And don't think that doesn't piss him off immensely. Next time, he will be bringing heavier firepower for god damn sure. He knows he has a flamethrower back at his lair somewhere. And maybe a full on grenade launcher. Maybe he can hassle Punisher on how to get high end tactical weapons.

But right now there's big fire and a wave of heat and he grabs one of the lesser angels and uses them as a shield, shoving his sword up into their spine from behind and holding them up to take the burn, although a few embers do leave some small burns around his face and neck.

"YOU COWARDLY ANGELIC MOTHERFUCKAS!" he shouts.
Zatanna Zatara Zatanna opens her eyes, closed against the actinic blue of thunderbolts and the heat of the flameblower. She blinks, seeing afterimages, one reality laid atop another magical reality. The Angel's words meant to strike fear fuel the magician's anger. Then, with elemental magic, she beckons boulders dug from the Battery. Larger than the Thrones, they appear in the air and plummet from on high. Childhood memories of a certain coyote curves her lips in a humorless smile.

The homo magis turns to the Seraphim so intent on killing Sara. Its terrible beauty is meant to destroy her world whose beauty it doesn't see. So be it. Between gritted teeth, she orders, "!dnilB" and then with a gesture at is legs and arms, "!enotS" (Blind and Stone)
Lydia Dietrich Lydia curses when her ectoplasm is just blasted apart. She's definitely not going to be taking one of those on one on one. Instead she nods at Jon, and turns her attention to one of the Thrones. It's not even remotely human looking so she has to ponder for a moment with how she's going to approach this.

Crouching, she moves low to attempt to flank it, but it's hard to determine exactly which side of it is it's flank. Instead, one hand lashes out and a black tentacle extends and tries to wrap itself around one of the slowly rotating concentric ring of eyes to try to force an opening to the central ocular orb. If she gets that opening, her other hand will fly out, sending an ectoplasmic lance at it to try to strike the heart... the eye of the angel.
Jonathan Sims     The Thrones die, one of them crushed beneath a boulder and the other stabbed right through the eye by Lydia's ectoplasm. Much of the rest of the field is empty, between Blade and Red Robin and collateral damage from the explosive deaths of Thrones and lightning strikes on the Seraphim. It looks like they might... actually win.

    The barrier around the fountain collapses all at once under the assault from the homo magi and the Thrones. The Powers and Virtues turn as one and flock at the three that brought the barrier down and charge them as one, a baker's dozen of the angels suddenly flying at the trio.

    Rainmaker's attempts to disorient the Seraphim work in the aggregate more than any one attempt on its own. The attempt at creating a mini-vacuum doesn't happen--but ice isn't much fun for a being made of holy fire, even if it melts that ice quickly. Zatanna's spells disorient it more, blurring its vision and making its movements sluggish. All the /changes/ and the unpredictability are enough to keep it off-balance, to give the mortals the edge they need. It's expecting a straight-up sword fight with Witchblade, and /not/ expecting the Gen13 weather controller or the homo magi.

    Sara and the Witchblade, working in concert, drive the Seraphim back and back and back. The blast Clarice sends at it from the Throne singes a wing. It actually glances over its shoulder and edges itself around to back toward the fountain as it loses ground. It's going to lose. It's going to die here, and the only remnants of its contingent are the Powers and Virtues that were building the barrier. But the angels are fighting for a cause--and the barrier isn't in the way any longer.

    Jon reels from the shockwave and the flashes of light, pulling his staff back. As his vision clears, he sees what the Seraphim's doing--and immediately realizes its goal. "SARA!" he screams at the top of his lungs. "SARA, DON'T LET IT DIE IN THE FOUNTAIN!! /KILL IT NOW/!!"
Sara Pezzini Hack, slash, Sara can see what the Seraphim is doing, moving back toward the fountain but she has no idea why. It wasn't until Jon shouted that any realization truly dawned on her.

The fountain... the source of all of this.

No hesitation, no pause, it doesn't matter how much this is going to hurt. She launches herself full body at the Seraphim to tackle it to the ground, even as the wings on the back of the armor unwind into metal tendrils to wrap around the angel. Holding it in place with herself her some what against it still, the aura wasn't getting any less intense but it didn't matter.

<"It's immobile!" she nearly screams, her voice tinged with exhaustion and pain. "Don't worry about hitting me, FINISH IT!">
Sarah Rainmaker Sarah Rainmaker would then go to yell along the comm <<Going to throw it with the wind!>> That's sent to Sara even as Sarah goes to make a quick focus; where the Seraphim is, where the fountain is.. And she's not remotely capable of holding something so powerful in palce. NOt when it can fly, not when it's so heavy, not when it's so durable and masses so much. But what she -can- do is minimize it's ability to move.
    So with the sort of winds she would normally use on herself to try and propel herself through the air at a little under three hundred and fifty kilometers per hour.. Her intent being trying to blast the thing to the point where she can hold it still.. And hopefully keep it in place or throw off it's ability to dodge that Sara can go in for a clean blow on it. Her hands are glowing, even as the fizzles coming from her gauntlets are sparking as so much energy has essentially flared and flash fried the insides of them. She would hunch in pain as she would move to try and blast the Seraphim just enough to hopefully hold it in place for Sara and the others to slaughter. Compressed air waves going to hammer down on it to hopefully help restrain it in place. THen going ot as the others might go in to attack at it to release her blasts to make sure she wouldn't get in their way while they went in.
Lydia Dietrich Lydia looks somewhat surprised that her tactic worked so well, so she turns her attention back to the rest of the fight. It looks like the Seraphim is being taken care of by Sara and the other heavy hitters of the group, which only leaves the dozen or so Power and Virtues.

She engages one of the Powers by sending a lance through it, taking it by surprise. However, before it perishes, it turns, and sends a beam of holy power and light at the vampire. The light is close enough to sunlight to banish the protective armor that Lydia has surrounding herself and rips through her chest and sends her to the ground.

Growling in pain, she scrambles back on her hands and feet, to get away from the melee so she can concentrate on healing the gaping wound that had arced from her stomach to her breast. She has enough blood to heal it but she'll be hungry after the fight.
Blade Blade perhaps does something surprising in that he steps over to try and shield the fallen Lydia. Vamp or no vamp, they're on the same side tonight. Blade pops out a pump shotgun with a pistol grip, full of incendiary rounds, jacking one into the chamber and standing between her and the incoming angelic remainder.

"Ain't none of us dyin' tonight. Just you suckas goin' back home where you belong with a face full o' buckshot."
Clarice Ferguson     "Oh. Uhh... This is bad," Clarice remarks as the Powers and Virtues flock towards her, Sims, and Zatanna. Her eyes flick towards the battle of the armored woman and the Seraphim, but she has her own problems to deal with now. Worried that she's been overplaying her 'redirect fire' hand - she reaches out to touch both Jon and Zatanna declearing, "Time for new scenery." Assuming neither of them evade her grasp, they reappear behind the charge of the angels that had targeted them - giving them a moment to gather their thoughts and attack.
    ...though the surprise of their reposition is ruined a little when she calls out in concern, "Lydia!"
    Oops.
Zatanna Zatara Zatanna flashes out of existence with Clarice's save. Likely, the Angel had a happy moment seeing her disappear. The air splits and the magician flashes back onto the Battery, yelling one word,

             CAIRN!

The Mage steps side and Gaea's elements, the bones of the earth, come tumbling after her in a cataract of zircon, considered among the oldest geological elements of the planet.
Jonathan Sims     The Seraphim is pinned down by the Witchblade, Rainmaker's winds compress it to the ground. The Seraphim struggles, to coat its own fingers with blood, to try to reach them toward the water of the fountain. Will the blood of a dying Seraphim be enough to poison the mystical wellspring against the forces of humanity's defense? Does it need to die in those waters? Would it be enough for the angel's fingers to touch the water of the fountain, glowing golden in the darkness, lapping against the edges of the spiral on the concrete?

    Fortunately for the mortals, that question doesn't get answered.

    The earth explodes at Zatanna's call, zircon stabbing into the Seraphim and causing it to explode in a brilliant blast of energy. Unlike when Michael exploded, this does not revive any of the angels; they remain fallen. The zircon shards down the remaining Powers and Virtues as well, felling the ones that Lydia and Blade didn't kill, leaving not a single angel alive on the battlefield.

    And as for the fountain? There's a dome of shimmering water over it, absorbing the worst of that side of the energy that radiates from the death of the Seraphim, protecting the wellspring of Gaea's energy. Jon, standing with Clarice and Zatanna, leans heavily on his staff, gasping for breath.

    But it's... done. The angels are dead, and the wellspring saved from whatever initial plans they had for it. They've won.
Sarah Rainmaker Sarah Rainmaker would go to flatten down over on the ground. Collapsing over from exhaustion as the gauntlets she wore on her wrists would fizzle and sizzle, the stench of ozone coming from them. Going to barely be able to roll and lean on her knees, Sarah Rainmaker would breathe heavily. Slowly. then going to wave a hand over to surround her head in a ball of oxygen. Sucking it from the air, using it to help herself breathe a little freer. going to pump more oxygen over to let herself wheeze and flood her lungs, giving herself more of a sensation of cohrency as she would breathe easier.
    <<Status report. Who can move and who is hurt?>> She would move to slowly rub a hand over her side, over torn outfit, stomach.. Wherever bruises were. Then her hand would go to channel coldness, applying some ice to her side for a moment as she would rock back an dforth, numbing hte area over while holding it. Her own hair not nearly as frizzy as the others - she was safe! Going to try and get the energy to be able to sit upwards, and to not curl over and just fall flat on the ground. Slowly sucking in breaths, taking big lungfulls of air desperately while looking at the others.
Clarice Ferguson     With the battle over, Clarice hurries to Lydia's side - one arm around around her sister as she tries to survey the damage she could. "Lydia - you're okay? How bad- do you need to go back to the Asteroid?" she asks urgently, looking at the others that surround them.
    If she's supposed to be teleporting in troops to hold this position - she can't leave, not yet. But she can send Lydia somewhere to get what she needed - blood. From a willing donor.
Blade Blade cracks a couple of his neck vertebrae, rolling his head around a little bit, <<I'm fine. Better'n that dead ass angel, anyways.>>

He's a bit disappointed that the angel guns vanish when they die. Seems like the kind of thing he could make good use of. He looks at Lydia as Clarice tends to her. "You know how to take care of her?" he says. He knows a vampire when he sees one. "I know a few bleeders who like to donate. Mostly okay folks, long as you don't mind 'em a little pervy. But beggars can't be choosers when the Thirst is on you."
Sara Pezzini Struggling to keep all the parts of the Seraphim held in place and away from the fountain by using tendrils of metal, her hands and her legs, Sara completely forgot about the one thing she'd experienced with Michael... that when the more powerful angels 'die'... they explode.

As the earth explodes beneath it, for one split second Sara is over joyed that it's over. The Seraphim was dead. Then she is being thrown up by the explosion, the tendrils of metal wrapping back around her as she flies gracelessly through the air. The wings had been used to hold it down, so there was no aiming, no attempting to gain control. There was only soaring through the night air through the air like a metal missile and landing in a massive bush several yards away. She disappeared into it really, large bush.

<"Fuuuuuck,"> she manages to groan, blinking a few times as she lays there. Her brain is screaming 'get up!', but her body is taking just a little longer to respond to that demand. <"I'm al... mostly alright."> She finally answers Sarah, then starts to pick herself up and look herself over. Everything hurt, quite literally every inch of her body. Was she really alright? Yes, the healing would begin and in a few days she'd be fine, but right now... holy hells, she was bleeding, blistered, battered... that was all new.
Zatanna Zatara Without Clarice having taken her out of the murdering angel's path, Zatanna would have likely been another casualty. The set of her shoulders show how drained she is. Magical cataracts of stone pulled across the globe are not comparable to a rabbit out of your hat. She had felt a push at the end when bringing the rock back with her, a hand at her back and a wish for her to accomplish their goal.

Polished the rock that makes the angel's cairn is as beautiful as the sky at sunset, a luminous sapphire streaked with the coming night. What lays heaped over the fallen angel is a dull red rock with flecks of gray. One cheek bleeds from an errant stone.

With a nod, she walks a little distance a way and seats herself, too tired to speak another word.
Lydia Dietrich Lydia groans as Clarice helps her back to her feet. Already the dark red ichor of her blood has stopped flowing and the wound is starting to knit itself back together. "I'll be okay," she tells her sis. "Just... give me a minute and it'll be healed up. I'll just need to feed, here, soon."

She scowls as she picks at the remains of her clothes, "They ruined this sweater though. If this is going to be a trend I might have to buy them in bulk." She looks around and takes stock of the situation. "Well, we're all alive (except for me) so I think we can mark this in the win column. Sara looks pretty hurt, though. She may need a port to a hospital or the medbay."
Jonathan Sims     Leaning on the staff, Jon takes long breaths. <<Good job, everyone. Brilliant, really. An angelic company down, and no deaths on our side. Sara, if this isn't enough to help let us know and we'll get you portaled back to Grand Central.>>

    He walks over toward the fountain and wades right into the water, letting it soak through his boots and the cuffs of his pants. Not all the way to the wellspring itself, but close. He plants the butt of his staff on the concrete and focuses his will, whispers a word.

    The ground in and around the fountain glows, green and golden. There's a whisper of a breeze, carrying the muggy scent of New York summer, and the mortals in the area near the fountain find themselves refreshed and revived, their energy restored. It's not enough to fully heal all their wounds, necessarily, but enough to help people get up and move. For a moment, the plants in the area bloom and grow like summer has returned, but as the magic fades they dwindle back to winter brown.

    With that done, Jon wades back out of the fountain and heads for Lydia and Clarice. He glows a little, for just a moment, green and gold like the energy fading from the ground. "Ferguson, I'll need you to bring in backup. We need to hold the area and prepare defenses for Saturday. Lydia... I'm /more/ than fine now. Gaea's making sure I survive to fulfill my fate." He smiles, if a little sadly, and rolls up a sleeve, offering the vampire his wrist. "Let me help?"
Sarah Rainmaker Sarah Rainmaker would go to slowly, laboriously force herself to stand up. Then going to advance over towards the other Sara, moving to use her winds about herself to help kep herself upright. An easy cheat, that. Going to try and wave a hand over to try and brace herself over against a wall. Breathing heavily and then going to lean against it. "And when they hit it, what then? Either you drive them off barely and they attack again shortly after or they take it. What's your long term plan for thinning them and holding the area?" A flat question from her, but a tired one. And one hse's not expecting a detailed response to at the moment. Tired, exhausted. The magic helping.
    "Because I think they're quite happy to remind us all that we all must die sometime." The energy helping her hold herself upright. Even with the magic, she put out far, far too much energy and her body is fully fatigued. She's not going to be moving from a bed anytime soon.
Clarice Ferguson     Clarice gives her sister a firm, tight squeeze. "I can get you back to the Asteroid," she promise firmly - before glancing at Jon. "...unless you think one serving'd be enough," she adds a bit wryly, smiling at her friend.
    She nods to Jon's words - and with a moment to gather herself, opens a portal to Grand Central Station so the back-up can begin to come through, and set up their defences.
    It helps considerably that her bumps, bruises, and cuts are healer, and her energy greatly restored. That was an exhausting fight.
    "If we need to evac anyone to the station - the door is open."
Sara Pezzini After a moment of collecting and assessing, Sara starts walking back over to the others near the fountain. It's a slow walk, but she's moving so that's good at least. She wasn't expecting the wind to aid her, which causes the wings spring from her back again, stretching wide before folding up out of the way... no threat, just aid.

"I'll be alright," she offers tiredly as she reaches the others, the mask, visor and most of the helmet unwinding back into the armor to reveal her face. Some of the armor follows suit, unwrapping and the tendrils wrap back into the gauntlet, which just reveals the blisters covering her body.

"Witchblade has already started to heal me, it'll just take him some time," she then says, not going into why it was taking time. That was still up to debate between them, but the quick answer they both seemed to think it was... angelic energy, wounds from angelic attacks.

"I think this counts me out on Saturday however," she ends with, a touch ticked about that but it is what it is. There was a first time for all things. She could assess her limitations and strengths without a problem, she had just never actually reached her limits until now. "If something happens, and I am truly needed however, I'll be there no matter what, I just won't be at a hundred percent."
Lydia Dietrich Lydia gives Jon a grateful look. "Thank you," she says and walks up to take the offered arm. She has to control herself from just sinking her fangs in and start sucking. Jon already had a bad enough experience with being fed upon that she doesn't want to make it worse. So she closes her eyes, calms herself, and gently bites through the skin.

It's painful, at first. Having something pierce your skin like that always is. But soon enough it turns to pleasure. Not overwhelming or erotic, though one could see that if she amped it up it could be. It's pleasant and warm, and in a way brings him closer to her as a kind of bond.

It's always hard for Lydia to not get lost in the feeding. Usually she just lets herself go and enjoy it, but she's out in the field and needs to keep herself sharp. Still. There's nothing like the sensation of blood running down your throat, and coursing through your veins revigorating your body.

Soon enough she's taken all she needs, and releases Jon's arm, after licking the punctures closed. "Thank you," she says again, her cheeks now having something of a rosy glow to them. "If you don't need me I'd like to go back to the Asteroid, and change out of what's left of my sweater. I'll see you on Saturday?"
Jonathan Sims     Jon looks to Rainmaker and replies, "I'm working on a spell to seal the energy away temporarily--should be for about a lunar month--and then we've got a plan to seal them permanently. Hopefully once that's done this moves to /our/ offensive phase and we can go after Michael more directly. I suppose we'll see."

    A nod to Pezzini. "Rest," he says. "There'll be a lot more battles coming, and five other sites to find and defend. We've got a chance to set up defenses ahead of the battle this time; in the future we may not be so lucky."

    He stands quite still as Lydia feeds on him, closing his eyes, taking slow breaths. It's not half so terrifying as he worried it might be, and his blood--homo magi amped up by Gaea's blessing--is probably pretty tasty. When she's done, he opens his eyes and smiles. The glow around him has faded away; maybe he'd taken some extra healing, himself, to offer the excess to Lydia? But all he says is, "You're welcome. I'll see you Saturday."

    Then people start moving in and out of the portals, bringing supplies and equipment and people to defend this area until the angels come back for it. Jon stays, for the moment, to oversee the preparations. They have a lot to do, still.