Realistic or Modern Astra Angels: Virago

[Kanyayon]

In Ancient Times
When all the continents were Pangaea and all tribes were one, the world was infested by an alien malevolence from beyond the sky, and it was called Antithesis for it sought to undo Creation and to that end, twisted all things in its wake into grotesque monstrosities. An order of priestesses, wise in astral magic, were the only force that could stand against the Antithesis. After centuries of grim struggle, a final battle was fought which saw the Antithesis sealed and the priestesses then froze the site and caused the earth to move so that it splintered from the rest of the land. But victory had come too late and the Pangaean civilisation fell into ruin.


Now
Millennia of glacial shearing and the melting of Antarctic ice began to undo the ancient priestesses' seal, allowing the Antithesis to seep back into the world. In response, the Astral-Dimensional Research Laboratory devised a technological weapon system powered by the same mystical source that once provided for the priestesses' magic. They recruited brave women and turned them into warriors who could summon magical armour from the very aether: a new order of astral planar magicians for a new age. However the early years were fraught with financial and publicity troubles and to continue the program, the Lab agreed to a sale to TNW, a multinational media conglomerate. Thus, these warriors were dubbed Astra Angels and their battles were chronicled as reality TV. The Astra Angels went from being just guardians of Earth to a multi-billion dollar franchise, spanning multiple spin-offs in TNW's many channels and services, and inspiring an ever swelling catalog of merchandise.


Tools of the Trade
The priestess of Pangaea drew their power from the sky and all the celestial bodies, and they revered it as a repository for all knowledge past, present, and future. The astrological records they left behind indicated that they saw a different sky from what we see today: They saw familiar stars in different positions, as well as stars that no longer exist. Likewise, the legendary figures they conjured for their stars were almost unlike that of astrological traditions today. It is these Pangaean legends that the Lab coaxed from the Astral Plane, and crystalised them into Star Disks: gems of otherworldly composition depicting the astrological power they represent.

To harness the power of a Star Disk, an Astra Angel requires the use of the Astralectrix: a stylish bracer in which the Star Disk is inserted into so that transformation may initiate. Astralectrices possess communication technology that utilise raw astral energy in place of electromagnetic waves, ensuring that their connection could never be disrupted by the Antithesis.

While any female soul can use an Astralectrix and a Star Disk, the stars have their preferences of characteristics and only a rare few could master a particular Star Disk's powers.

Of course, live crew too bear much risk when operating in an area of Antithesis activity. To protect them, they are outfitted with an Astracaptum, a device similar to an Astralectrix which harness an internal astral energy battery instead of a Star Disk. This also ensures they will always be feeding to the studio.


Welcome to Team Virago
Each Star Disk forged by the Lab brings another warrior to the battle against the Antithesis, and another property for TNW to profit on. The Astra Angel roster have expanded since their inception, with Angels operating as multiple teams throughout the globe, and each team the stars of their own shows.

This is the story of Team Virago, the dysfunctional cast of Astra Angels: Virago.

 

[Kanyayon]

"Me now! Me now!" Another one of the sorority girls clamoured as soon as Maria was finished with her anecdote. This one was a little more aggressive than the rest of her sisters had been, practically bursting onto Maria's face. "So, like, you know how the other Angels always look the same but Siren got the costume change after you all got bang up," Every word out of the girl's mouth stank of alcohol. Maria leaned back so far she felt she could slip between the iron bars, but the girl kept closing the inches between them. "Yeah, how does that work?"

"You mean how did we get new armour?" Her voice strained through her trying not to breathe.

"Yeah!"

"It wasn't actually new," She slid off the bench and took the center of the cell, the better to be heard and perhaps shielded by a captive audience. "They didn't take our Star Disks, just our Astralectrices. And they gave them back to us in clearly labelled cases too. Probably had to add or modify something, I don't know. I didn't make the thing, I just use it."

"Oh, can we see your Star Disk?" Asked one of the slightly more sober girls of that group.

"I keep telling you all," Maria shook her head, "They confiscated it when they took me in!"

It seemed to be a slow night for the station. No one else in the cell except herself and what must be the entire house of whichever sorority those girls belonged to. She didn't wear a watch and there wasn't a clock anywhere she could see, but she knew she has been locked up for hours, though probably not as many as she would guess. All that time she could have slept off if only her cellmates haven't boozed away their sense of personal space and prodded her with questions non-stop.

Would they even remember any of this in the morning?

"Have you ever fucked with--" Just then, steel screeched on steel as the door at the end of corridor opened. Chimes accompany the thuds of boots upon concrete, drawing close.

"Hey Arachne," the officer said began unlocking the cell, "Looks like someone came through for you."

"Thank you!" For saving her from having to hear the rest of that question. She could not leave that holding cell soon enough.

At the front desk, a cardboard box was already waiting for her as well as a South Asian lady who looked oddly disheveled and haggard despite her immaculately ironed blazer and pencil skirt.

"I'm Samantha," she shook Maria's hand in-firmly, "I'll be managing you from here on. Don't take this the wrong way but I'd be bailing you out in the morning if there weren't a Critical Manifestation The rest of the team are on their way now." She then grabbed the box turned on her heels, "Let's go."

"Wait," Maria jumped in Samantha's way, "Let me check my stuff first."

"The important things are in here," Samantha sidesteps her, "You can come back later if there's anything missing."

The officer at the desk, having seen the entire exchange, and may too have been at the receiving end of Samantha's insisting demeanour, shot her a shrug.

She sucked on the sore on her busted lip and sighed.

First, running into a creep at the bar. Then, getting locked up for hours with those girls. And just to put an exclamation mark on it all, a Critical Manifestation at 3 AM. Her long night had just gotten even longer.

A silver executive Buick was parked out front. While she literally had known her new manager for all of two minutes, it already felt like such a Samantha move. She took the back and gave the box a rummage. By 'important things', Samantha clearly meant her Astralectrix and Spider Star Disk and she was right that they were in there. To Maria though, the important things were her wallet and her phone and her keys and her weed-infused chewing gum. Those were all there too.

She weighed the Astralectrix in her hand, wishing it had been misfiled or pocketed by some fanboy cop who wanted a souvenir, anything as long as it had went missing. They'd have no choice but to give her a replacement.

Such beautifully designed devices they are though, the better to merchandise them. A sleek gunmetal body with electrum-like inlays arranged in a style that was best described as cyber-art deco, depicting a stylised starburst emanating from a socket where the Star Disk was to be slotted in.

She clamped the bracelet on her left wrist and laid across the seats, hoping to catch a power nap before they get to the site. Did she get any winks in at all? She did not know. All she remembered before being aware that the car had come to a stop was that she was trying for quite a while to fucking relax.

The scene around an Antithesis presence always resembled a cross between a military blockade and an outdoor film set: Concrete barricades cordoning off the infected zone with soldiers keeping civilians away and watchtowers waiting for Critical Manifestation; a satellite of lights and cameras poised to capture the action from behind that first line of defense, all supervised by a mobile TV studio.

Antithesis activity always begin with an area becoming plagued by anomalous phenomena. If it could be said that a seed was planted, the Antithesis then germinates for a random length of time, finally culminating in the spawning of monster un-beings: Critical Manifestation.

When she was a teenager and the Astra Angels were new and few, authorities all over the world experimented with a Scorched Earth policy to prevent Critical Manifestation. Those efforts were always futile for even air was matter and thus could be exploited by the Antithesis. There was even an astronomically expensive project which would attempt to create a vacuum thereafter and the world learned what happened when there was nothing for the Antithesis to corrupt: A battle won in the Antithesis' favour; a wound in space-time that could never be reclaimed. After that, it became clear that the Astra Angels were the only tenable option against such a threat.

Maria strode over to the barricades. A soldier was about to stop her but backed down upon eyeing her Astralectrix. The ground of battle was to be in this section of a city park, where the trees in the site had warped into prowling, arthropodal forms, swimming through the soil and grass as a legion of hisses issued from each maw of gnarled thorn-teeth. The soldiers could do nothing else to hold them back: introducing materiel into the zone may just mutate the monsters further. The concrete, both of the barricades and the park's paths, will not hold them off either.

Cameras are already rolling.

 

[TrashRabbit]

Flying in from florida had left her jet lagged, un-briefed and staying in a rather chintzy motel. But that was alright, Xoana was no stranger to travel fatigue or rough living- what got her goat was when he astracaptum made a tremendous squeal like a siren or the beginning of a bad weather and a set of coordinates were relayed. She hadn't been briefed yet. She didn't even know who the Antithesis disaster coordinator was for this region or which girls she'd be with. It shouldn't make too much of a difference but it did- TNW marketed the astracaptum to the public like interchangeable camera men and to a point they were but they also were critical for relaying communications between the girls and the TNW managers and military at their backs. And most importantly between each other. Astracaptum could be an asset if only the angels involved let her be.

So up she got up, dressed and pulled on her boots- sent a text to her sister that she was about to film- and made her way there by foot. The park in question was not far, the motel would probably be part of the evacuation zone once it was announced. Though lately they'd been evacuating less and less- and eventually something unfortunate would happen again and they'd go back to more cautious Evac zones. She'd been doing this long enough to know that's how all the policies worked. She didn't slow her pace as she came up on the barricades, and the men in fatigues still putting the defenses up. She was a tall imposing amazon of a woman, with unbrushed long dark hair, a leather jacket and a sour look, but the antithesis disaster corp man didn't recognize here, how could her? And he tried to stop her, "M-miss?!" In response she activated her Astracaptum- The Disaster corps men only ever remembered the angels.

Astracaptum manifested in what Xoana liked to think of as a reverse dying ember, the sleek utilitarian modern warfare ready body armor twinkling into existence in a measured wave across her body. It was not so flashy as what a star disk would do, but as she twirled the massive camera up to her shoulder the man did well to let her through. The camera was large enough to need a boom and she could flip it around like a play thing, The strength that came with the astracaptum was nothing next to the angels but the astracaptum was based on the development of mass market soldier armor and it still showed. And she was thankful for it. As a special trick she could even float it in mid air for a few moments- a party trick but for sure one not every astracaptum could pull.

She got into a good position, on the awning of a coffee shop facing the park and it's creatures, turned on her camera and started getting footage of the hellish tree crabs below.

 

[Nellancholy]

Delphi soared through the air at the apex of a graceful,superhuman leap,her dress trailing in the air behind her. An expression of clear,almost serene resolve tinged her face. Even more than most other Angels,Ess seemed very much a different person when in Delphi's form. Something like that couldn't be attributed to mere adrenaline or endorphins.

As she descended,she gained speed,streaking down like a shooting star. A spark of light surged forth as she smashed lance-first into one of the beasts formed of wood and vine. Mangled by the impact,it let out a shrill screech before bursting into nothingness. She spun,her massive,weighty weapon shearing off a few more tendrils of another.

Just then,a cry rang out. A child,unable to get to a safe distance from the park,had fallen over in the path of one of the beasts. It lifted a barbed tendril to strike down...

In a flash,Delphi dashed over,her lance opening with a sharp shrrnk to form into a shield. Planting her feet,she swung the large metal umbrella towards the undulating appendages,deflecting the blows which would reduce any ordinary human into a stain on the pavement.

Turning to the screaming child,she flashed a smile. "Do not be afraid,dear child...your guardian angel has arrived." Seeing a brief opening in the barrage of attacks,she flicked her wrist,closing up her shield. With her free hand,she scooped the child up,and with a beat of her wings she soared back to safety,depositing them amongst the civilians watching from behind the barrier,and in clear view of the cameras.

"My dears..." Delphi gave a little nod and a suave smile. "...fear not. It would pain me to no end to see any of you come to harm." With another gust,she leapt into the air again,returning to the fray.

 

[theunderwolf]

Sigg's Boots hit the ground as her armor formed around her, bodysuit forming around her, she hit the ground and her fist locked into her armored exo-skeleton. The producers had complained about the skeleton, but as she pointed out, she could keep wearing the skintight battlesuit with the exo skeleton or just go into full plate armor. She wasn't surprised at the result. The nice thing about the main demographic being 13 year old boys was that teens were easy to manipulate. "Call down..." She said as she walked up to the barricade, "Fortification." She extended both her hands and a lattice of white light surrounded the flimsy concrete barricades, turning them into tall reinforced structures that could bounce most of the Manifestations off them, while still having enough slits that people could stick guns or cameras through. She really hoped no one would be stupid enough to go beyond them, but of course, she had read the briefing. She found Xoana above the deployment, perched like an amazonian dove on an awning. Luckily Siggs had gotten all of her "Not again"s out of her system and could stay composed. Her slight annoyance was interrupted by the rather flashy entrance of Delphi, who landed on her barricades, delivered a catchphrase and flew off again. Siggs looked back, good reaction from the crowd, Delphi was going to be popular. All the better, less attention on her meant she could use scarier guns. Deciding to commit to this, she braced against the ground and jumped, boosters launching her after Delphi and into a pack of the tree like beasts. "Time to make like a lumberjack..." SIggs muttered then out loud, "Delthi, watch behind you, Calldown: Ordinance." Instantly Siggs felt better as her massive machine gun formed above her left shoulder and began to cut into the massive beasts, and left them open to her many times enhanced fists. She had to admit, Punching trees to pieces was a little fun.

 

[Graystone713]

It was surprising how many people would watch a dangerous thing like a critical manifestation in person. It was more surprising that anyone would’ve been so close to an area displaying clear phenomena that they got caught behind the lines. Still, it made one woman less obvious. A normal woman, seemingly. She was glad the lance-bearer had saved that child, it meant that she wouldn’t have to: instead, she could focus on her own target: the silver Buick. She pulled up her bandanna and spun the star disk, a cloud of blackened dust kicking up briefly to conceal her as she changed.
“You don’t hear me coming yet... Do you?”
The dark clothes and bone-white skin of the Pale Rider became apparent, her eyes softly glowing as she walked away from the edge of the roof, headed to the opposite side as she reached for something on her belt. She snapped open Big Iron, and dropped a few bullets into his cylinder. A full load of five would be enough. She raised her binoculars and aimed down the sights...
“Make my day...”
A shot rang out, hard to distinguish from the barrage of bullets the soldier Astra let loose. A bullet flying towards the tire of a silver executive vehicle. The Pale Rider jumped from the roof, and started running through the alleys. She wasn’t sure who she was after yet. But she was hot on their heels.

 

[Kanyayon]

The Spider Disk, as all Star Disks, was not made of terrestrial crystals but if one were to give it a cosmetic analog it could be described as a black phantom quartz containing a red carnelian spider on a scolecite orb-web. Maria considered the trinket, then the battle, and back again.

"What are you waiting for, Arachne!" Samantha's voice blared from her Astralectrix, a shifting green-blue light on the device pulsing with every word from her. "Get in there already!"

"Nah, looks like Delphi and Valkyrie already got this." Maria haven't met them yet, neither personally nor through one of the yearly crossover specials since Team Siren was never in any of them. She knew Delphi and Valkyrie and every Angel outside Team Siren the same way everyone else does: Pop culture.

She heard Samantha grumble a growl, "Just do your-- Ah!" At her gasp, Maria looked back to find Samantha still by the car, a regular phone in one hand and an Astral Communicator in the other. The car looked a bit tilted too. She watched Samantha check the tires on the lowered side and then turned to her with an expression of shock and apprehension. "Oh god," the Communicator barely picked up her exclamation, "She's here!"

Maria's heart felt like it skipped a beat. Everyone who worked on the Astra Angels franchise have been warned of the enigmatic Pale Rider, least of all the Angels themselves, even though there has never been an Angel casualty. In an instant, her hang-ups were forgotten and she ran to Samantha. A droning chime played when she opened the disk socket on the Astralectrix. She slot in the Star Disk and yelled, "Astralize," before locking it in and triggering the transformation. The Star Disk glowed and spun and from it an aurora in Spider's colours burst forth to envelope Maria's form, and when the cloud of light dissipated she was clad in her (literally) trademark armour.

Her steps now that of the Spider, Arachne closed the distance, grabbed Samantha and carried her a few feet from the car all in one leap.

 

[Nellancholy]

"Shieldmaiden!" Delphi flashed a smile at Valkyrie as she dashed back into the devastated park. "It soothes my roiling heart to see your arrival. Let us clean up this driftwood,yes?"

On Sigyn's instruction,she leapt into the air,allowing the stream of gunfire to pass under her,mowing down the lumbering tree beasts like so much tall grass. The weight of Delphi's weapon gave her a disadvantage in close quarters,but her speed enabled her to focus on hit and run attacks,like a jousting knight...or a fighter plane strafing with its guns.

Her right eye flashed,revealing to her one of the Antithesis buried in the ground like some malevolent root vegetable,waiting to ambush whoever might bring the fight in that direction.

"Your ruse has failed,fiend..." Turning a loop in the air,Delphi used the momentum to carry her down at top speed again,slamming into the ground to impale the creature's core through the soil.

With a dying screech,the creature swung. Reacting a split second too late,a mass of wood crashed into Delphi,hurling her backfirst into a wall that crumbled slightly from the impact. She definitely felt that,though it'd take more than that to do any lasting damage.

Glancing over to her adoring audience,she forced herself to give a little bow to suggest "I am unscathed,ladies."

 

[TrashRabbit]

Xoana spotted Delphi early, before she landed her hit, and was able to line up the camera expertly on her flashy entrance. She was not a fan of the archaic dialog and wondered who they paired her with- knowing the cast's theme was odd balls.She anticipated some one edgy and loud to foil her. She zoomed the camera out, and panned the park, to give the audience at home a sense of scale- as she looked for the other Angels to arrive.

Sig's arrival spooked her; coming from behind and high- She swung the camera to catch her boots and the boosters and let out a laugh. An unprofessional slip. An addition to the footage they'll cut out but which those following the streams will obsesses with. She knew Sigg of course. Counted her as one of the few Astra Angels she'd call a friend. Kept her action figure in her suitcase along with the two captumastra she lugged around. Sigg had saved her life once by throwing her out a second story building window in Yemen, before TNW had hired her and she had still run around war zones with a camera and a bullet proof vest.

Her prospects for enjoying her self on this assignment just increased tenfold. She kept the camera trained on the action and focused with a smile.

 

[theunearthlyfool]

Wendelin was nervous.
It wasn’t that the reality of what Astra Angels do- what the Antithesis brings- was lost on her. She kept stressing this to friends and family who had reacted with everything from excitement to outright fear on learning about her new “job”. But she had never followed the Angels, never really paid attention. Everyone knew who they were, but a realization that she hadn’t taken this seriously until now was dawning. She’d auditioned partially as a joke, thinking she could play along with the drama until she figured out what her next move in life would be.
Now she was fidgeting in the backseat of the nicest car she’d ever been in, dragged out of bed in the middle of the night and rushed off to some park in the middle of town. The reason: Critical Manifestation. The time had come for Wendelin to step up to the front line, and mostly she just felt like puking.
She tried to listen as Andi, assistant to Team Virago’s ever-busy manager Samantha, rattled off a rundown of what could be expected during one’s first battle against the forces of evil. Despite promises from several producers that the Scribe was potentially one of the most powerful Star Discs, she was the first Astra assigned it in modern times. So far from the beautiful silver bracelet all Wendelin had summoned was a magic pen-sword (kind of rad, if she’d had more than a week’s worth of swordplay training), and a small tome with the same constellation design as her Star Disc on its cover.
Andi’s chattering was interrupted by an incoming call. She tapped the Bluetooth stuck in her ear forcefully, not waiting for greetings before snapping, “What? We’re almost there!”
A beat: Andi’s shoulders fell. “Are you kidding me? Everyone else is already on the field?” she repeated, looking meaningfully at Wendelin.
The new Astra turned her attention out the window guiltily. She was one of the only members of the newly-minted Team Virago with no prior Angel experience. From the little time she’d had with the others, she also seemed to be the only one that hadn’t taken to it like a fish in water.
“Oh, my God. Well, tell her we’ll be there in nanoseconds!” she punched the button again. When Wendelin glanced back over she was surprised that Andi looked more tired than angry. “You should be ready to Astralize the second you jump out of the car.”
Chewing on her lip, Wendelin nodded. She could already see the night sky lit up in the distance and was sure a camera was probably already rolling, waiting for the tardy Angel to appear on the scene.
True to Andi’s word, minutes later the sedan came to a screeching halt outside the magically fortified park. As she scrambled out of the car Wendelin heard the frazzled PA report: “Astra Witch, on the scene.”
Something had told her, the first time the book manifested in her hands, it was called Grimoire. Wendelin had heard the word previously in fantasy books she liked to read, and when somebody found the definition as “a manual of magic or witchcraft used by witches and sorcerers”, her title had been chosen. She didn’t feel much like a witch: in fact, even with the help of TNW’s most learned experts on the Pangaean legends she’d only translated two spells so far.
They made eye contact as a camera team darted away from the wall and focused in on them. Andi nodded and Wendelin took off running, transforming just before passing through the barricade. She really hoped, for all their sakes, she didn’t look as scared as she felt.

 

[Sophos]

There was a loud roar as Astra Luna zoomed past the growing crowd on a motorcycle, already armored up and ready to fight. She dramatically slid to a stop right before hitting the soldiers, and leapt from the back of the bike over their heads and past the barricade. Her sword manifested in her hand as she landed, just in time to pierce through one of the monstrous trees, and she turned to slash through the reaching claw-like branches of a second.
Her fancy moves masked Cameron's trepidation, as this was her first time fighting the Antithesis' creatures. Prior to today her experience was years of learning and teaching fencing, followed by maybe two weeks of "practical" swordplay classes arranged by the producers. Still, there were people to protect and cute girls to impress, she couldn't let her anxiety show!

 

[TrashRabbit]

Xoana had not been briefed. Or she would have known that two girl would be debuting and she could have requested a staggered entrance with confirmed entry points, for fairness and her sanity. But the cards laid were they;d been played- Astra Luna had come in hot, going straight for the action and attracting her camera quick. She'd missed the motorcycle entrance- and if she ever found out about she'd be miffed. She zoomed in, and gave the debutante the screen time that could her navigate the parts of her career more treacherous than the monster killing. But the whole park was a flurry of activity so she floated the camera in the air besides her, as if it was positioned on an invisible boom or tripod and trained the picture on a panorama of the park. And then she looked for the fifth Angel. Teams of three, sure. Teams of Four? Never. She saw the trans formative flash in the alley below-

She rubbed her hands and blew on them, and then drawing them back so her hands were wide clapped them together so hard it stung even with the armored gloved. It was very much like opening an invisible jar- but she pulled the second camera into being. She steadied it on her shoulder and jumped from her high position and dented the roof of a car as she landed, getting a dynamic close up of Wendelin running towards the scene of the manifestation. Xoana, to her credit, also waved.

 

[Nellancholy]

The growl of the motorcycle shook the air as Astra Luna blasted past the barricades. That sound would be enough to shake Ess,but Delphi held firm.

They were already making good progress on cleaning up the Manifestation,but more hands on deck were welcome,considering how the trees were showing considerable intelligence in falling back and consolidating their ranks.

Seeing Astra Witch running tentatively into battle,Delphi's right eye glowed again,sizing her up. Opening her shield,Delphi moved to cover her. Wouldn't do to have her taken out by falling rocks or other debris in front of the camera,before even getting into range to attack.

"Fair lady,I welcome you joining our ranks. Now then,sorceress,still your heart. I shall protect you without fail as you prepare your invocations."

 

[Graystone713]

Damn it, of course the girl in the pretty dress wasn't totally spaced out. An Astra Angel wasn't supposed to die today, but the fool thought she could be a hero... Damn fool. Four bullets rang out. None of them would hit, but they weren't supposed to. They ricocheted off of the pavement, sending up a spray of asphalt between the angel and the battle in the park. One was aimed to pass dangerously close to the Angel's face, not quite close enough to come anywhere near her hair, but close enough that she'd hear it whizz.

The Pale rider, for her part, dumped out five brass cases in the street, and ran down an alley... She was banking on a lot, here. If she'd guessed wrong, she'd be certain to fail in one way or another. Would she try to take her boss from the battle, or try to rely on her team to protect her? Would she run into one battle to avoid the other? Would the Angel actually dare to CHASE the Pale Rider? The rider could only guess what her opponent would do, and pray she was right. She hadn't steered herself wrong yet. Not yet.

 

[Kanyayon]

The shots were coming from street level, and the last one was too close for comfort. Maria knew she had to get Samantha to cover immediately. Four years of being Arachne has given her an instinct for higher ground and she leapt and ran up the sides of the nearest building. There were no high-rises this side of the park but being four floors off the street should be adequate. "Stay down," she told Samantha while she wove her a vest of spider silk thick enough to stop a point-blank shotgun blast, though the Pale Rider's handgun could be more powerful for all she knew.

"Hey girls," she spoke into the Astralectrix, "Arachne here. Guess who crashed the set and tried gunning for our team manager. I've got her secure now so I'm gonna get the Pale Rider's attention. If any of you aren't already in the zone, it'd make me feel better if someone could come pick her up. If not, just keep doing your thing, I got this."

The glibness was just as much to give her teammates confidence in her as it was to steel herself. As cunning as the Antithesis sometimes was, at least its purpose was clear. The Pale Rider was an unknown quantity in this regard and it'd be difficult to fight her with the focus as such. She wove herself a pair of shields and then dived back onto the street, heading for the alley where that last shot seemed to have came from.

Meanwhile within the cordon, the shattered pieces of wood that once constituted a tree monster began swarming towards their remaining brethren to be absorbed. As one fell, its death served to strengthen the rest.

 

[theunearthlyfool]

Wendelin jumped as the shield popped open above her, another Angel appearing by her side.
"Oh, wow! Thanks," she replied, her shock turning into excitement. "That's really cool." Wendelin grinned at her teammate.
She focused on the scene. The Angels had greatly reduced the number of abominations in the park. But she worried about the evil soup of hissing things still lurking in the center. "What do we do?" she muttered, half to herself and half to the parasol Angel- Delphi, if she remembered right.
Wendelin's face grew warm with embarrassment at her indecision. The others had leapt in without a thought. "How do we fix this? How do we make it right again?"
Out of the corner of her eye she saw a camera-person (one of the cool armored ones) looking directly at her. She waved.
"Oh, whoops." She assumed the wave was an indication to take action, and gave a shaky thumbs-up back.
"Time to make a decision, I guess. Grimoire?" Even though she'd been holding it, Wendelin called out her spellbook's name. It fluttered in her hands in response, flipping open to a random page. She took a deep breath, tuning out even the message coming from her Astralectrix.
Astra Witch shouted a spell in a language not heard on this Earth in centuries on centuries. Her voice rang out clearly through the containment zone as from the Grimoire's pages a flame-like radiance rocketed toward one of the most submerged beasts.
Wendelin's face lit up with the hit, but she kept watching. If it worked how she intended, the dying wails of the former tree would dissipate and leave a healed patch of grass in the midst of the chaos.
But she was distracted when the spellbook's pages ruffled again. "What-?"
A flash of light, and a wave of magic burst away from Wendelin like ripples on still water. Astra Delphi and every other being within a dozen feet disappeared, as if they had become invisible.
"Oh my stars, what?!"

 

[Nellancholy]

Delphi felt a strange sensation wash over her,as though her skin was being (mostly painlessly) scoured away. As her muscles lightened,it took all she had to keep her feet planted and her arms firm to hold her shield in place. She blinked once again,her glowing yellow eye the only part of her still visible.

Astra Witch's impressive power had blasted away one of the abominations and sealed the ground like she intended,but also led to this...troublesome new development. Delphi's eye made out the forms of the production crew and a couple of civilians who had been caught in the unexpected wave of magic as well.

Still transparent,she took a few steps forward to shield the others as well. Better not to let them run off in a panic while invisible and need her to scan for them later.

"Everyone,fall in behind me! Listen to the sound of my voice and keep it ahead of you! Sorceress,do not falter! Continue your efforts and restore us once this battle is done!"

"But will she know how to restore us? " The question danced in the back of her head,but she wouldn't voice out anything like that in a million years.

 

[Graystone713]

The spider was stone cold, and pretty damn smart for an angel. But the Rider saw her yapping and started to fiddle with a dial on her Astralectrix...
“-doing your thing. I got this.”
There. Her words, her team’s frequency. They’d lock her out after this, just this one trick. But the Pale Rider wouldn’t need to pull it more than once.

“You sure about that, Spider-girl? I don’t like to give more’n one warning, and this is number two. Stay out of my way unless you wanna be a notch on my iron.”

She said, calling on the wind and the earth to make her a sandstorm. Before that magical mishap in the park, she would’ve just covered the road. Now, with the damn monsters turning invisible, the rider hoped nobody would realize just how badly she wanted these idiots to live, and had the sandstorm stretch out in every direction, the biting wind roughly outlining those that vanished from sight, and hopefully giving the Pale Rider the cover she needed to run.

She just had to run straight ahead. The building the producer was on top of was straight ahead. Running inside fast enough to get to the producer lady without them realizing it would be tough. Running straight past the spider would be tougher. But she had little choice. So she ran, pistol in hand, knowing that without lead in her chambers she wouldn’t kill anyone. Just knock ‘em flat.

 

[Kanyayon]

Arachne nearly jumped when the Rider's voice came through. It sounded so close that she first thought the Rider had materialised at her side, before realising that she was speaking through the Astralectrix. Should be a simple enough trick with the technical know-how, but the effect was definitely creepy especially in the heat of the moment.

As the sand blew in, she wove a mask over her mouth and nose. Clearly her plan to be chased now had to flip over to her as the chaser. It was difficult to make anything out of the visual and aural noise but by sheer circumstance, her opponent ran close enough for her to notice movement in the sand. The wind was too strong to throw web over, so instead she had to throw herself into a full body tackle at the Rider.