Hellfire [Open]

[Finch]

    Blue sucked a tense breath between her teeth as her gaze scanned over the undulating concrete jungle below her. The cafe terrace on which she stood wasn't the most well defended position, but she refused to go out blind. The small overhang that extended from the Science Center's cafe wasn't much, but it was better than nothing.

    In the distance, she swore she could see the monolithic building they would be headed to, but there was no way of knowing. It could have been any of the skyscrapers the city housed, back when it needed such things. Her memories of the building's exterior were fuzzy-- Orin's map would have to lead them there.

    With one last glance to the streets below, she turned. The cafe was awfully empty, with its only exit leading into what looked like some sort of chapel. Chairs were arranged in neat rows, with a pallet placed as a stage before them. Still, it was eerily empty here, too.

    The hairs on the back of her neck pricked up from the sheer oddness of it all as she finally trudged her way back to the entrance. There, a mixed huddle of kids was gathered, all bickering with each other on account of their nerves. Orin and Ace stood among it all, and Blue recognized her Boardwalk Kids among the crowd, though there weren't quite as numerous as the Legion.

    She approached the other leaders (was that what they were? they were all just kids, after all), expecting but dreading any comments about her wound. It still throbbed in her side, even more so with the messy stitches now holding it closed. But it wasn't important.

    "They're still out there." She reported to them. "But I can't see the ones on horses. Just their cult."

[Ace]

Ace looked up from the journal he was editing.

"I'd like to think those two are off in the city somewhere, but there's also the chance they were just out of sight." He sighs and puts his journal away. "We can worry about that later though, right now I'd like to ask if we actually have a plan for getting there in one piece, or are we just going in guns blazing?"

[Orin]

    "...Are we sure this is a good idea? Maybe we should wait for nightfall. There'd probably be less of them, at the very least."

    Orin carefully unfolded the map, tracing over the group's route for the umpteenth time. In typical circumstances it wouldn't be an issue getting to the concert hall, but the streets were crawling with members of the Obscured Flame--casualties were going to be inevitable. As selfish as it was, Orin hoped he wouldn't be one of them.

    "I don't have any ideas. There's too many of them for us to just avoid them, so I suppose fighting is a given..."

    He sighed, adjusting his crutches. Despite everything, the Obscured Flame--and his faction--were just kids. The thought of having to pit his subjects against them, most likely to the death, made Orin more uneasy than any other part of the group's plan. They would just have to hope for the best...

[blue]

    Blue ran her tongue over her teeth nervously.

    "We can't take them all out. That'd be impossible, there's just too many of them. It's not a matter of bigger army diplomacy here, it's faster army diplomacy. We need to get there before they can mobilize."

    Even just saying it made her feel like a nerd, like one of those kids in history class who got way too into the military aspect of everything. Memorizing crap about old wars-- that's what life used to be about. Now, they were fighting new ones.

    "That's the idea, at least." She quickly corrected herself. She wasn't a nerd, despite indications as to the contrary. "I don't think we can avoid combat, but if we keep moving, we should only have to deal with the kids in the streets we're going through. 

    That's how most of my people made it through, at least."

[Ace]

Ace nodded. "Yeah, speed's going to be the key here I think."

He glances back to his group for a moment and drums his fingers against his arm in thought.

"I'm wondering if it'll actually be safer for the Legion to stick around the edges of the crowd, sort of like a bubble in a way, so that those less prepared for combat don't get picked off."