Since the very first moment she could remember, when she was old enough to recognize that something was wrong with her mother, she'd yearned for a parent like she used to see on TV. A doting mother who tied bows in her hair, or a loving father who would pick her up and spin her while they both laughed.

Ten years by herself on the street, forming fragile bonds with strangers who didn't stick around for one reason or another. In and out of shelters, with dreams in her head of running into the one someday... the perfect family who would see her and welcome her into her arms. She'd hoped, really really hoped, that when Garik had appeared in her life and thrown lavish clothes and toys at her... that that dream had come true. But it didn't take a genius to discover that all the baubles in the world didn't make up for distant dinners and a father who rarely even looked in your direction.

By the time she'd ended up at the Church and found the priest, she'd all but given up on that dream. Set in the belief that this was just what her life was until she was old enough to move out.

And yet...

"I would love nothing more."

The tears came then. Hot on her cheers, over pristine white bandages, and down her chin. She didn't bother trying to stop them, because she knew she would fail. Neither did she try to stop her voice from cracking as she stood a bit shakily, and faced him.

"You're the best father I could have ever asked for!"

Of course she would say yes! That was the easiest question in the world. She would trade all of the fine dresses and stuffed animals in the world for a chance at a family, one that was made from real, honest-to-goodness love. It didn't matter how small.

Eisley rushed him in a surprising burst of speed, trying to be careful not to trip on her way over, and threw her arms around his middle.

There was that long moment of apprehension. The one the made a second stretch into decades as the typically relaxed, and always one hundred percent certain man wondered if he'd overstepped his bounds. There were other ways to make sure young Eisley could attend the church more. Honestly, she was nearly and adult, capable of making that legal decision on her own. He'd just thought that perhaps she might want this as much as he.

Was he wrong?

His eyes opened a little bit wider as she responded, and he felt a smile forming, one wide enough to make his scars hurt. He ignored the pain, though, as it was only affirmation of the joy he felt at her reply. He moved to step forward as he noticed her tears, but she was one step again, flinging herself into a big hug. He smiled, and leaned down to hug her as well. Not the friendly embrace he often gave his followers, and even the flock.... no, this was the loving embrace of a father, hugging his daughter as tight as he could.

After a moment he pulled them apart, and held her at shoulder length. "Thank you, my daughter... I am so happy to have found you, and proud of the young woman you have become... Now... no more tears! There is much that must be done." He wiped her cheek with his thumb as he spoke, turning to the paperwork, and fishing out a pen. 

All she needed to do now was sign on the dotted line.

Eisley would be the first to admit that she was impatient, even though she was trying hard not to be. The paperwork was signed and on its way to be filed.... but it would take time. She was still stuck in Garik's house, surrounded by empty gifts that had been used to try and soothe her into compliance. She laid awake a lot of nights dreaming up what her next room would look like. She could imagine the simple walls of the church, perhaps with some dainty flowered wallpaper. Maybe a few of her favorite drawn pictures-- she was getting a lot better at not simply scrawling like a child! Still had a long way to go through.

There was a phone on her bedside table... a gift she had been given but had never used. When she had been younger a piece of technology like that would have been a tremendous gift to have been given. Sure, charging it would have been a pain, but... maps at the tips of her fingers? Addresses to numerous safe houses and food banks? She'd never had the gall to steal one as it just made her a bigger target for others on the street.

Now having one just felt like surplus. There were games on it she supposed, but electronic games weren't quite as fun as the ones she could puzzle out with her fingers. She didn't have friends to call, wouldn't have been able to communicate with Garik, and didn't much care for pictures of herself.

Eisley turned over in her too-big bed, burrowing deeper into her pillow as she looked at the little brick of metal, plastic, and glass beside her bed.

With Father McCallen, though... maybe she had a reason to take pictures now? To document the start of her new life... a happier life.

The thought made her smile, and for the first time in a long time, she snuggles into sleep without a worry.

~~~

"Could I trouble you for a few minutes to talk about--" Eisley, with another of the faithful by her side, stepped out to block the path of a pedestrian. The man stopped and glanced at them nervously, and then at the flier in her hand as she eagerly held it out to him. "I promise, mister, it won't take very long at all! I'll make sure to keep it short, just for you!"

She smiled prettily and batted her dark eyelashes at him. Her hair was down, a few strands tied back with a bow to keep the locks from swamping her face. She didn't wear makeup unless tinted chapstick counted, but her features were naturally very delicate by nature. The young woman was dressed in a very feminine, conservative white dress with lace embellishments, and cute but comfortable mary jane shoes.

Her companion was taller but slim and unassuming by the looks of him. Thick glasses on his nose and his hair swept back and combed. They looked the part of well-meaning, if annoying, churchgoers.

The man they had stopped was in his mid 20's and was on his way to work. He was early seeing as he was taking his time walking, and technically had a few minutes to spare...

"Ah, what the heck. Sure. I've got a few minutes." Maybe he'd end up with a phone number by the end? Who knew.

Eisley smiled and launched into the prepared script with energy, backed up by her companion to explain the things she still had a hard time with.

Juniper was in a pretty foul mood. Everything hurt, her cheek kept weeping blood when she moved her mouth, and her throat felt bruised, among other things. Couple that with just being super freakin' tried and that left a major rift between her and her usual carefree attitude.

She was heading for a corner store to get a bag of foodstuff. Bread and @#$% to keep them afloat for a bit while she figured things out. There was stolen money in the back pocket of her stolen clothes, which she had picked up upon returning from... wherever they had been.

With a beanie on and the hood of her jacket pulled up, she was more than happy to hide her face in the shadows and just look like a mopey teenage boy for a bit. She didn't feel like explaining to anyone how she had gotten all the wounds and bruises. The few people who'd asked had assumed she was a boy who'd gotten jumped by other boys. She was fine with that. Suited the wounds just fine.

Licking at the small scabbed-over cut on her bottom lip, she moved to skirt around a pedestrian holdup on the sidewalk up ahead. Three people just standing around blocking traffic like no one else existed.

As she approached one of the guys seemed to notice her. His gaze zipped over to her like he was waiting for her to show up, and he stepped away from the other two to block her path.

"Excuse me, sir!" He had thick glasses and some sort of flier in his hands. "Do you have a moment to spare for-"

"No thanks."

He didn't move. She didn't move either. Juniper walked right through him like he wasn't even there, and the reaction that elicited was... hilarious?

"GAH?!" He jumped out of the way like she'd burned him. Juniper turned to look, raised eyebrows hidden by her hat.

The girl who was with him broke off and full-on sprinted at her. "W-wait! Miss-" Juniper's path was blocked a second time, and this time she actually stopped. She wasn't observant enough to notice that the expression on the girl's face had shifted a little.

"Can I ask how you did that? That was so interesting!"

....Oh, god... another Xavier type? She didn't know if she could handle that right now. She wasn't even supposed to be talking to anyone. Just in and out and back to the temporary hideout.

"You can, but I'm not gonna tell you." She was too tired to slip into flirtation, even though that's naturally where she would have gone with this. The girl was pretty, with big expressive eyes.

"You shouldn't be here... Your presence casts a shadow on this holy work. Witchcraft." The last word found its way out with a tone of disgust thick enough to be obvious even through the damaged vocal chords of the priest. "No time to argue now... You are only to intercede if it's absolutely necessary, do you understand?"

Father McCallen's jaw clenched a few more times as he pulled his facemask up, and drew up his hood. The vocal distorter he used kicked on as he blocked out the unwanted addition to his holy work, and got to preparing his cleansing fire.

"And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me." The smell of gasoline, or something similar, filled the alleyway as he filled the bottle with practiced ease. "For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence...."

He tried to ignore the words of the other man in the alley as he finished his preparation, and awaited the signal that their target was nearing the alley, speaking any prayer that came to mind as he did, clutching the cocktail carefully in his hand, ready to light.

"...Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit."

"Much like a man of the cloth, to look such a... gift horse in the mouth." The Ronin had been sent with the promise of a fight; at least his boss had said the diviners had said his presence was necessary at this location, to assist the reverand.

Who was he to argue with the fates, especially if it meant a good scrap. He had a new spell to test, after all. The samurai leaned against the wall, hand resting between the crossed hilts of his swords, looking at the priest as he started babbling bullshit. Dark tinted sunglassed hid him rolling his eyes like a petulant teenager as he fixed his sleeve. He was still wearing his white suite from the meeting he'd been at; not his typical fighting attire, but they'd told him haste was important.

And to think, he was going out of his way just to get such a cold greeting... He sucked at his teeth, heavily considering cold cocking this guy and calling it done. With a sigh, he dropped the notion; the boss wouldn't like it, and thus far he'd followed through on his word to keep Raijin happy with a steady flow of money and battle, as well as access to old spellwork in his native language.

He had a good thing going, why ruin it to put a crazy old cult leader on his ass? "That's creepy, you know." The priest was ignoring him. Oh well. All they could do now was wait.

Azar, who was newly out on bail and not at all happy about it, had more or less gone back to his usual ways the moment he was let out of the jail cell. Women, booze, Money. In that order exactly. He was still sore about his recent defeat and capture, both physically and emotionally. That tall guy had a really solid punch. His jaw still ached with the memory of it.

He was also not super happy about how his carefully cultivated image had been marred. Taken down by three twerps, one of them who he'd been set to bang before the other two bursts in. All of his 'buddies' in the bar had seen it happen. Even if he had managed to burn the place down in the midst of the fight, it still didn't make him look like the cold hard killer he'd set him self up as.

Well, there was always time to fix that, right? Only this time he'd have to do it for real. Get himself a reputation that no one could mar.

He was stalking down a sidewalk in a generally pretty populated part of town, looking for easy people to frighten and rob. Maybe some hot chick to smooth talk. Or, heck, maybe just drag one into a dark corner. What did it matter anymore? His fists clenched in the pockets of his studded skinny jeans, and he ground his teeth together. Man, what a pain! He'd had to get his vengence on those three wannabe heroes in the future, mark his words he'd-

"Huh?" Azar had turned down a little side road that usually had less foot traffic. It was a bit darker in there, even during the day, because of the shadows from the taller buildings. There were two figures ahead... just... waiting? Loitering?

....PFFT! What did he care? He was the baddest mother@#$%er on the block right now! Puffing himself up physically as big as he could get and slapping the meanest, craziest glare on his face he could muster, he stalked toward them with a cocky gait. All the while he was pumping out excessive amounts of oxygen around himself, pumping his blood full of it. Some sith-lord looking b*tch and white suite wearing cool-guy weren't about to-

Hold up, were those swords?

~~

Eisley was picking apart this person before her with those expressive eyes she had, a polite smile fixed on her face. The stranger's face was shadowed, but she could see the telltale signs of bruising and barely healed cuts here and there. It might had disturbed her before she had known that this was a demon in human skin, but... now? Now she was simply curious about the power. Only time would tell what kind of demon it was.

"Oh, sorry. That must have come across as kind of intrusive! I apologize. I've just never seen someone who could walk through someone else like that." She clutched her papers to her chest, "You must be able to do all sorts of neat things with it!"

Juniper faltered and sighed. This girl was definitely giving her X vibes. Cute and doe-eyed and full of curiosity. Juniper just didn't have time for it.

"Look... maybe some other time, okay? I'm kinda in a hurry right now."

"Because of the wounds? How did you get them? Are you on your way to a doctor?"

The phaser flinched back a little and grimaced enough to pull at various wounds. Jesus Christ, the questions. "Er...."

Her patience was drawing thin, though. She shouldn't stay out long or she risked being spotted.

"Really gotta go, okay?" She moved to side-step her, and the girl mimicked the movement. Juniper repeated it; the same result.

With her power still on the fritz and all she was trying not to use it when possible. Apparently, that was more than she'd thought. With the most exaggerated sigh she could muster, she walked right through the girl and was pleased that it went smoothly again. She took off in a jog before she could get roped back into a one-sided conversation again. There was a path up ahead to her right, from what she could see... she'd take that to make sure she lost the two of them.

Behind her, Eisley watched her go. Gradually, she frowned. That one might make an issue if they happened onto the scene. Not for her Father, no. But for the plan. Walking back to her spot on the corner with her partner, she turned to face one of the other canvassers on the road and lifted a hand in a non-verbal signal. That person started walking and lifted a whistle to their lips, blowing three times in long breaths, one after another.

An intruder was coming.

The vulgar Samurai was trying his patience; he was lucky the priest had it in spades. He continued his prayer as he focused on the matter at hand. This demon was known to be punctual, if nothing else; they likey had moments until he passed over the alley. If they were lucky, he would even turn down this way, as he sometimes did. Bad luck with see him across the street, which meant sprinting more out into the open. Bloody Tash was ready, and able to act on all of those scenarios.

A quick, chirping whistle told him that the best case scenario had taken place.

Raijin leaned off the wall as if to move in, but was cut off with a stiff armed gestured from the priest.

The masked and cowled figure stepped forward, speaking as soon as the demon rounded the corner and let out his huh? before bolstering himself as they'd predicted. "Demon, you are steepedin sin, and have spoken untruth, claiming credit for the deeds of the righteous in order to live in greater sin. For this, I, acting through the grace of the lord, will clense thy sin through flame!"

"W- Wha?" He'd been too distracted by Raijin's swords, Azar only had time to widen his eyes before Tash ran his sparking glove across the rough surface placed on his oppsite arm, creating the shower of sparks that lit the molotov cocktail in his hand in the same motion he used to fling it directly into the oxygen manipulator's face. At the same time, three whistles rang out, telling them someone was headed their way.

What followed... wasn't pleasant. Azar was known to increase the oxygen density around himself in order to produce a euphoric, energized effect in himself. It played to his demise feircely, as the oxygen thick air ignited in a flash before the bottle even hit its target, and his face was nearly incinerated as a gout of flames flew from his mouth. Letting out a rasping scream that almost sounded inhuman, the mutant turned and blindly tried to flee from the alleyway, even while covered in feircly burning fire.

Raijin stepped back a bit, whistling as he lowered his glasses to watch the brutal scene play out just outside of the alley.

Tash ignored him, speaking his partin prayer. "Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace."

He turned to head toward his escape route further down the alley.

The shrill whistle was alarming, but a quick glanced showed that it was just some goof across the street jogging toward a crosswalk with a little stopping in hand. Uck. Another X type? Maybe his helpful, kill them with kindness attitude was infecting the city.

... She tried not to dwell on that, or the fact that she hadn't seen or heard from him since she had dropped him into the ground. Didn't even know if he was alive, or-

She pushed the thought away.

... right in time for a large, moving ball of fire to burst out of the alley, she had thought about using and collapse onto the pavement in a heap.

"OHSH-"

She started ripping off her coat, not even thinking of possible consequences later, and jumped on the person. The flames bit at her as she desperately tried to smother him as quickly as possible. The heat was so intense that she tried to phase away important parts of herself, like her whole damn face. She'd deal with the rest of the burns later.

Once she had him not on fire anymore, the charred and blackened coat was discarded and she got a look at him. "Hey, Hang on okay? Just-"

...he didn't have a face.

Juniper had never seen someone so horribly burnt before. She'd smelled it... it was kinda hard to ignore, but she'd never actually looked.

It was horrible. Indescribable in terms of just how graphic whats she was seeing was.

She couldn't tell if he was alive or dead, and honestly, she was a little afraid to touch him. Would it hurt? With how what was left of his skin looked?

She jerked her eyes away hurry, toward where he had come from, and spotted two figures moving away. There was no way they didn't know what happened. Normal people would be running or screaming at the sight of a burning man.

"HEY!"

She flew back onto her feet and briefly thought about charging after them. But... they were already halfway down the alley and she was out by the street. She glanced off to the side at a small, red parked car.

"..."

A moment later the metal body of said car would come flying down that alley in an overhead arch. She'd aimed a little too high when she'd awkwardly thrown it, so it landed with a loud, metallic crunch a handful of feet in front of them and effectively blocked off that exit.

"Which one of you sick @#%&'s murdered that guy?"

Her foul mood from before had tripled at the very least, and losing her coat only made things worse. She knew she shouldn't be doing this... Blue would murder her for her stupidity here... but...

"Actually, screw it, I don't even care. I'm going to kick both of your asses."

Sometimes it was hard to get over her temper.

She started down the alley toward them, reaching up to tear the singed beanie from her head and tossing it angrily off to the side.

He had to admit, he'd never seen a person flash fried before. It was sort of @#$^ed up, wasn't it? This guy did this for fun, huh? Nasty business, but Raijin couldn't say he cared enough to bother to act on his feelings. According to the bosses, they were on the same side.

Still, there was the matter of him being promised a fight... The Ronin frowned as the father turned to leave, and he made to follow, ending only a few paces behind him. That was when a car suddenly landed in front of them, blocking much of the alley. He couldn't make of the expression of the priest, who paused, and turned a mask head toward him, before giving him a short, but slow nod.

Raijin was grinning widely before he knew it. Turning as the woman started talking, he quickly extracted his long blade, yelling back in his booming voice. "OY OY OY, Who do you think you are, walking into someone elses business like you own the place! That's a good way to get in... over your head."

As he spoke, he flicked his blade about, causing lines of light to form in the path of its tip and then disperse as they shaped a rune. A crackling crest appeared before him, and he settled into place. "Not that I mind... I really was hoping for a good fight today!"

The Samurai reached out, and produced his short sword as well, grinning widely.

"Come at me like you are ready to die!"

They paused.

Juniper paused.

One, in a white suit, turned around and started animatedly talking.

She blinked. "...This is an alley? Like, public space. Do your shitty dirty work somewhere private if you don't want people like me being nosey!"

He drew swords and did some weird wiggling air motions with them. Her face screwed up as she tried to make sense of it all, but... eh, didn't really matter.

"That's dumb." She started walking again, only to stop above a round metal sewer cover. With her foot and entirely too much effort, she managed to phase it and get enough force into it that it jumped up like a bounced skateboard with a few flips. She caught it with a hand easily.

"Nobody should just go into a fight ready to die."

Her arm arched back and she flung it at the sword-wielding man like a frisbee, with the same speed as a thrown baseball. She lost her shoes while barreling into a full sprint right behind it. If the metal disk didn't take him out, she was going to have to get hands on about it, and quickly. She really couldn't risk her power shorting out now.

She replied in her own smarmy way, and the Ronin got a good look at his opponent. She was attractive, though boyish, and without the va-va-voom he liked the most. Still, he had to remind himself he was about to kill her. The priest was busy looking for a way around the car and the damage it had done to his apparent escape route, so a least he had her all to himself.

Still, he had to keep near the man, as he was told to protect him, first and foremost. He finished sizing her up, and stated plainly. "You move with confidence... that is good! But you lack any killing intent! That will be the death of you!" She replied to this by nonchalantly kicking a manhole cover into her grip, and flinging it to him like it was nothing.

His eyes widened with thrill as he whipped his crest around to meet it. ZZZZAP! They collided, and the mahole cover bounced off and to the ground. She was powerful! Super strength? A perfect target for his new attack.

Raijin let out a loud, booming laugh as he stabbed a sword into the ground, and quickly removed his white blazer, tossing it to the side and revealing his muscled, thickly tattooed chest. "Yes! This will be a good fight! Come! There is blood to be shed!" He retrieved his weapon, and drew out another crest as she approached.

Electricity? Electric swords? Was he gonna fight with samurai-style bug zappers?

"No thanks, I'll pass. I've lost too much blood already."

He did the wiggle sword thing again and she squinted at him, slowing a bit as she closed in. She didn't want to get hit with his zappy sticks, but with her power glitching like it was she couldn't be sure her usual method of running in head-on would work. SHe'd just try and avoid them for the most part.

He had both of the weapons out and it looked like she had a pretty clean route right into his bubble.

Phasing away everything from the ankles up, she relished in the slight boost in speed it gave her and the weightless sensation- at least she knew it was working for now. She'd run right on in, nothing physical for his swords to hit, and aim to punch him in the nose or something. Might have to get a foot in his knee as leverage due to the height difference.

"Hah! That's the spirit!" She came at him, and he stepped forward away from the priest to counter her, moving his seal into her path the cut her off. Now, she would have to move to either side, and he could take the opportunity to attack her as she did.

Except she didn't. She went right through the barrier. His eyes widened as he jumped to the side just out of her touch range as she went for a punch. "Interesting." He would dance around her blows for a few moments as he tried to figure out what was going on. She'd thrown a car, and a manhole cover. That would imply super strength. But this. This was not super strength. He kept her at range, and went for a quick swipe with his katana to see how she reacted.

If he was right, she wouldn't even bother dodging. She had a way of becoming immaterial, perhaps? He kept his barrier nearby just in case as well. If he was wrong, maybe it would come in handy. He took note of how light she was on her feet as well. It was like she was walking on the moon. Interesting indeed.

"Show me more of you!"

He nimbly kept out of her reach, which pissed her off even more. A swing at her indeed went right through her. She barely even tracked it before deciding it wasn't important. A strike that would have carved half or whole way through her body passed harmlessly through without even slowing own.

And then he had the audacity of demanding to see more of her?

"I am not taking my shirt off just because you abandoned yours."

She ended up on the other side of him for a moment, before chasing after him. As she passed by an old metal drainage pile attached to the brick wall of one building, she reached out to snag it and phased a fairly long section of it right through the straps keeping it bolted on.

If he was gonna play hard to get, she was going to have to lengthen her reach, wasn't she?

"Mine's bigger!" She couldn't help but joke while hefting the long pipe aloft and swinging it down at him. At maximum arch she let its weight come back to it and waited to see what he would do. If this didn't work...