Session 2: The Hunt

Harper watches Yiva for a split second, taking her cue from the other girl's actions.

She doesn't hesitate.

Harper steps forward and raises one hand, pointing it toward the group of larger men. Her fingers spread slightly as she focuses, her expression tightening with concentration.

For a brief moment, nothing happens.
Then the air erupts.
A powerful gust of wind suddenly tears through the space between Harper and the men. It comes from seemingly nowhere, slamming into the group.

Ethan reacts the instant the red disk hits the ground.

The appearance of the portal is enough to make his instincts scream, but there is no time to think about what it is or where it leads. Elizabeth is already moving, one hand securing her violin and case as she takes that single step toward the glowing disk.

Ethan lunges.

His hand shoots out, aiming to catch her by the arm or the back of the oversized hoodie before she can disappear completely. His boots scrape against the alley pavement as he throws his weight forward, trying to close the last few feet between them.

"Elizabeth!" he barks, his voice sharp with urgency. "Wait!"

He isn’t trying to hurt her. The grab is instinctive—a desperate attempt to stop her from vanishing into an unknown portal with a group of armed thugs now entering the alley.

If he can get hold of her, Ethan will pull her back from the edge of the disk rather than simply dragging her toward himself, careful not to interfere with the violin or its case.

But if his fingers close on nothing but fabric—or worse, if the portal begins to take her despite his grip—Ethan immediately braces himself, refusing to let go without knowing exactly what the strange red disk is capable of.

Deone draws his wooden sword and whispers to himself"Ok, you can do this" before charging forward and slashing downwards at one of the goons

The sudden disappearance leaves Ethan’s hands grasping at empty air.

He barely has time to register the flash of red before his attention is drawn downward by the faint tink of something striking the cobblestones.

Glasses?

Ethan’s eyes flick briefly toward the remaining four thugs. The fight is still very much alive, but Harper’s blast has changed the odds dramatically. Eight down. Four left.

He moves.

Keeping his body low and his attention divided between the surviving attackers and the ground at his feet, Ethan crouches just long enough to scoop up what remains of Elizabeth’s glasses. The wire frame is twisted badly, one lens completely shattered, the other little more than a cracked fragment.

He pauses for the briefest moment.

Prescription?

That detail tells him more than he likes.

Elizabeth hadn’t simply lost some cheap sunglasses. These were something she needed.

Ethan carefully gathers the larger pieces, then notices a small fragment of the darkened lens glinting between the wet stones. He pinches it up as well, taking care not to cut himself, and slips both the broken frame and fragment carefully into separate pockets.

Not discarded.

Not forgotten.

Evidence, perhaps. A clue. Or simply something Elizabeth might desperately need if they find her again.

Only then does Ethan straighten, turning his full attention back toward the four remaining men.

His expression hardens.

"Eight down," he mutters, setting his stance. "Four to go."

The chase for Elizabeth would have to wait.

For the moment, the alley still had a fight to finish.

"And stay out!" Ronan calls after them, but has no desire to chase them down. He looks around for anything that could be used for a rope or similar to secure the downed thugs before they wake up.

I'm going to follow them, perhaps we will get more information on them Yiva looks towards the rooftops and mutters Góðr askr, Yggdrasill, leið mig yfir A thick branch suddenly appears that grabs Yiva and she appears on a rooftop, overlooking the alley, and seems to jaunt from rooftop to rooftop following them.

Yiva forgetting she has a cellphone, returns to the group to relay her findings.

Ronan argues that they should question the thugs before contacting the authorities. "We are teenagers, as soon as we bring them in we'll get a pat on the head. Told how good we are and then be sidelined. We should get answers we need before the proper heroes take over."

Ethan having pocketed the glasses looks up on time to see Yiva vanish off after the scampering thugs. He then walks over and unceremoniously drags the unconscious remaining bodies into a pile. "You probably are right Ronan. I am sure if I hang one upside down by their foot, it would not take long for one to talk." A small smile touches his lips as he imagines the scene.

Examining the tattoos on the unconscious men, Deone remarks "So these guys are N-neo Nazis? Wow America sure is crazy, i-i-i just thought they were Manga concepts."