Makita

"All right! This is nuts! We need cover, now!"

And she really wants to kick Cait's ass for abandoning them without making sure they had cover, first.

"Get up against this building, and look for any entrance!"

She half shoves Allie between herself and Alex, and simply takes the rifle from him. She checks to make sure it's loaded and nods in satisfaction before making sure the safety is on, but it is otherwise ready to be fired. It's been decades since she'd been shown how, and he didn't really have practical knowledge, but it was the best they had. She hands it back to Alex, pointing to the safety switch.

"Flip that, point and pull the trigger."

And pray. She keeps trudging through deep snow and biting wind, toward what she thinks is a hole in the wall of the building they're closest to.

"Allie, how are you doing? You're not getting frostbite, are you?"

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Abandon? She is advancing to the mess, so still between them and the danger. To stop it from getting closer to them. Now, if they want to get in trouble instead of moving for cover, and draw attention to themselves by firing, ah well.

Cait expected the three normals to have enough sense to duck and hide while she kept the bad guys busy. If a next time comes, she will be sure to tell people, with all the letters, stay back while I keep the bad guys busy. Since just 'stay back' means 'I will abandon you', it seems.

Ah well, right now she has pressing concerns; like quickly reaching a position where she can take a look at the fight before joining.

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"Yes, ma'am," Alex says with a bit of humor and a bit of awe. There are men who might get all macho and huffy with being told how to use a gun by a woman. Till now, Alex might have thought he was one of them. But he's not. All he can think is that the woman he loves is as level headed and take-charge and good to have around as anyone ever gets.

He holds the gun as best he can and follows Raps' lead, and helps yo keep Allie close to them both.

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She hadn't been prepared to be moved suddenly with force, and the lost hand, which kiltered her off balance a few steps between the two of them. But she managed to steady herself, eyes following the gun and their words, distracted as she looked after the fading figure of Cait in the falling snow.

"No. I'm cold but there's nothing wrong with my body," Allie said shaking her head and the big fuzzy hat on top of it. She stopped, searching around inside herself after she said it, but it was still true.

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She doesn't realize she's kind of taken charge. She just sees that they are exposed out here,and there is gunfire, and other unpleasant things headed their way, unless Cait drew them off with her sudden move.

"Good. Let's get out of this wind, and figure out what we do, now!"

She trudges along with them, going slow now that they don't have Cait clearing the way for them, until she comes to a crumbling wall that is impossibly holding up at least part of a tall building. Not the safest, but any port in a storm will do for now.

"Let's take cover in here for a while! Try to stay out of the wind, and away from any open spaces!"

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Alex follows Rapuznel's lead. He's practically on top of her and Allie when the wind tries very hard to pull him away. Letting the rifle dangle for a second on shoulder strap, He grabs the wall and pulls himself closer again, even as the wind shifts.

So does the gun, and he grabs it again, steadying it and himself. He now manages to stay flush with the wall, and makes it to the hidey hole.

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Allie was crouched in between them, eyes still on the snow storm and the spot where the one person, who'd been in agreement with her for most of the last hour, had vanished into a world of white.

She looked up, "What are we going to do from here?"

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"Good question. I don't know if Cait's coming back or not, so we wait here for a few minutes to find out. If the gunfire moves away from us, we can start moving again. If not, we stay put and pray we're not spotted. With any luck, Cait will let the others know we're here, and we won't get left behind when the fighting is over."

She looks at Alex, worry in her eyes. She doesn't think he's got enough clothes on to protect him from this cold, based on the fact that her nose feels like it had icicles hanging from it, and her eyelashes are piled with snow.

"How are you doing, sweetheart? You look frozen to the bone."

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"I've been better," he says as he fights a shiver. "Why couldn't the part grab Rachel too? We could use s good fire." He tries to smile valiantly. "I am never complaining about Gotham again." Really.

"How are you doing?" He says this to both of them.

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"Just cold," Allie said, with no real feeling in her tone one way or the other about it, to his question. She glanced over at Rapunzel wondering about the other side of the coin for her answer, but she didn't ask it.

She wondered where Johnny was and whether his premonition would come true today.

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Rapunzel is more worried about Allie than she's letting on, but reminds herself that the little girl is more of an adult than most adults she knows, at times.

"I'll be all right once we meet up with the others and figh-find our way out of here."

She pulls off her gloves and rubs her hands together to generate some heat, and presses them to Allie's cheeks to help alleviate the cold.

"Hang in there, honey. We're going just fine."

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And suddenly, the storm disappears. One moment the wind howls and the snow flurries, and the next there is a moment of eerie silence.

It would be almost peaceful except for the sound of explosions and gunfire which continues. With the storm gone, the group huddled in the building in the ruins can see three figures.

Cait stands between them and the other two, throwing massive chunks of rubble to keep the fighting from getting any closer. The flickering blue light around one of the more distant figures marks her a sorceress.

Makita is the other figure, her oversized coat flapping behind her as she pounds after the witch, slowly gaining.

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[OOC: New posting order... not really.

Alex
Allie
Rapunzel
Caitlin
NPC
Makita

Get to it!]

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Alex sees the spectacle. In some way, there is a stark beauty to it all. The whites and the grays and browns, the strange blue glow, and Kita, looking almost like she has a cape. He could almost smile.

"Look! It's Cait and Kita. Maybe help's coming." Maybe.

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Allie was looking beyond the two running toward them, toward the bright colors and flying energies. There is something alien and familiar in the touch of it through the air, the ground, which caused her to shiver and look up at Knox's voice.

"We still have to walk through the shadow."

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Rapunzel mentally takes back every nasty thought she'd had in her head when Cait had disappeared.

"Thank God."

She looks down at Allie and shivers at her words, and tells herself not to think of the shadow of the valley of death, and the rest of the Lord's Prayer.

"At least they know we're here, and won't go back without us. I should go out and show them where we're hiding."

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There is still work to be done; no going back until the fight ends.

So, before Makita gets too close, Cait throws a barrage of smaller debri, aiming for effect, trying to push the sorceress into full defensive; make the woman have to concentrate in not getting hit, force her into a decision between which threat is more dangerous.

Cait hopes the sorceress will pick the very tall redhead.

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There was no way for Cait to know, but the shift to smaller more numerous projectiles was a tactical error. The sorceress' shields aren't designed to handle massive objects, but the smaller debris simply comes to a stop as red light flares about a meter away from the sorceress.

But the other part of Cait's plan is a success. Now that she's not distracted, and Makita's no longer shooting, the sorceress decides that Cait is the bigger threat, and she changes direction to move toward her. A glowing blue gun begins to shimmer toward solidity in her hands.

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As the witch switches direction, Makita re-draws her pistols and opens fire again. While any bullets that miss the witch will have a chance of hitting Cait, Makita knows that they won't actually do damage.

Of course there's no way for her to know that there are less bulletproof people in that direction too.

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There is a whistle. And Alex feels something oddly warm. He looks down, and sees a tear in his left pantleg.

It takes a second for the searing pain to reach his brain, and mouth.

He howls, and curses.

The bullet travels another dozen feet, having only grazed him.

But the snow isn't quite so white now.

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Allie looked a little guilty, but she heard herself cry out his name. Seeing this the second time, the real time, didn't make it any easier.

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"Alex!"

His name is torn from her throat, even as another few shots whiz past their hiding spot, one close enough to sever a few strands of her hair near her ear.

"Allie get down on the ground!"

She throws her own body down between the two, torn between shielding Allie, and going to Alex.

Alex wins, but only for as long as it takes for her to grab hold of his coat and pull as hard as she can from that position. She doesn't even realize that tears are falling from her eyes or that she is muttering, "No,no,no,no,no,no,no..." repeatedly.

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And there we have a demonstration on how lousy a shield the human body can be.

Most people would call for Makita to stop shooting. Cait does not. Instead, he rusn to the right, away from the others, to draw the Sorceress and Makita's line of fire. The tall redhead looks over her shoulder, timing her next action for when the sorceress seems ready and about to attack her...

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