Rex's face didn't change one bit. That was his default reaction to most things. In this case, he was watching an adult...woman...pretend she was wearing some kind of Native American headdress or something. He had followed the signals well enough to understand he had to stop and then two people would do...something. Then came the Indian thing.

Rex nodded despite having no idea what Hunter was trying to communicate and instead just followed his lead.

Hunter was far better prepped for this kind of situation. It was a good thing Rex was several seconds behind Hunter or he would've been hit with the flashbang too. Hunter didn't play around. Rex respected that.

Then Rex was in the room as well and he barely had time to take in the scene before his sword went slashing across the back of humanoid crocodile. The monstrosity dissolved into light and goop before the remains all vanished. The firefighter only had a brief moment to acknowledge the fact. It was an entity made of magic. Just like the jackal-headed men from the museum. That made this a lot easier.

There were nearly half a dozen more such creatures in the room. Clearly they'd been responsible for the ransacking that was taking place here. Dexterity was obviously not a concern, just brute force. One of them was already on the floor and letting out a low, guttural groan as the shotgun had crippled it. It seemed as though Hunter had this under control, at least for the moment. The sorceress could always summon more, though. She had to be stopped first.

Rex locked eyes on her about the same time she saw him from across the room. Hunter had distracted the crocodile men, but it looked like the sorceress was trying to recover from the flashbang. Perfect.

Rex charged across the room at her.

The shotgun barked as Ranger moved along one wall of the room. She was focusing on clearing the way for Rex but had to occasionally rotate back to drop a hostile in front of herself. Instead of scarabs or jackals, the sorceress had summoned crocodile men. Either way, the flashbang had been a slight distraction. Mostly for the sorceress herself.

The crocodiles were tough. The shotgun could do devastating damage to the creatures, but some took two to three salvos before they gave up the metaphorical ghost. Ranger was focused on them, but did notice that Rex had made it into the room. She quickly dropped a crocodile that had made its way into her path before turning back and clearing the way for Rex.

All the attention drawn to herself and those who had stayed in Rex’s way dropped, Ranger now had to act on the defensive. She had almost reached the far corner she was working toward, but stopped and back tracked. She needed to move back toward the door. Lead the crocodile men away from Rex and the sorceress. ”C’mon, y’ gator wannabes. I know y’r mad y’ got all them teeth an’ no toothbrush. I can solve that f’r y’... Manually.” Ranger dropped a magazine and quickly worked to lock in a new one.

The world narrowed for Rex as he ran. It wasn't an outrageously large room, but there was ample room for storage and studying. Hunter was easily taking up half of it with his assault of the crocodile men, Rex figured. Rex splashed through a couple of puddles and sodden papers and he chewed up the distance between him and the sorceress.

He was a mere couple yards away when her head snapped up and she stared straight at him. She shouted a word that didn't sound like a word to him and she flicked a wrist at the wall behind Hunter. Blue hieroglyphics suddenly flared on the wall and a ten foot section of wall vanished with a blaze of blue lights, only to reappear in front of Rex.

"Madre de Dios!" Rex shouted as he slashed at the wall with his sword...and nothing happened. The wall wasn't magical. It wasn't supported, either, and it was falling toward him.

"Arrrgh!" Rex roared and lashed out with his gloved hand. As soon as the leather made contact with the painted drywall, the stored magic in the glove activated and converted to kinetic energy which exploded into the wall. Rex's fist smashed a hole the size of a trash can lid through the wall and the wall started shattering into fragments.

It wasn't enough.

The wall still collapsed on Rex, but inside of crushing him completely, it merely bludgeoned him into the waterlogged floor, underneath rubble and dust.

"Gahh!" he yelled as his body lit up in pain. He immediately started choking on dust and trying to see if he could move. Rubble started shifting as he tried sitting up, but then a woman's voice filtered down to his ears. "Enough, it is over," the voice said.

Rex frowned even as he twisted his neck to find the source of the voice. The woman was crouched a few feet away, a glowing gem held in her hands. It was pulsing in time with each word she said. Then Rex realized she was speaking Spanish.

"You have failed," she continued. "Surrender. Submit. Cease. It matters not. I have what I need. My king will return. Your doom is inevitable."

She held up a cross-like item made of some gold-colored metal with elaborate designs etched into it. The top of the cross was rounded and had another jewel inside it, this one bright blue. Rex recognized it as an ankh.

"Witch!" he shot back in Spanish, coughing on the dust in his lungs. "Your plans will be undone! Your machinations brought to ruin! You--" He broke off coughing and tried sitting up, to little avail. His right arm, the one he'd punched the wall with, was in agony. It had been the first struck by the wall and was resistant to movement. The pain was agonizing and Rex tasted blood in his mouth.

"Enjoy the time you have left," she said with a dark smile, "for your world will soon be remade."

Then she spoke a word that was neither Spanish, English, or any language Rex was familiar with and she vanished in a flash of azure light.

Mag change done, Ranger resumed unleashing hate on the crocheads. They were surging toward her. Ranger’s feet kept moving, movement was key. Ranger was moving toward the door when suddenly the wall was gone. There was more room to maneuver in but disappearing walls was not a good sign. Especially when they happen to have been moved closer to Rex.

Ranger clicked over the selector on her shotgun and it went from semi auto to full auto. She worked the trigger to fire in two to three shot bursts at the crocodile men. She could see the wall falling toward Rex and was attempting to burn a hole through the targets straight to assist Rex.

Meanwhile, Rex was working to rescue his own self. The man was exploding section of the wall. A good start, but not a complete solution. It still came down on the man.

The sorceress was right over Rex. Ranger was desperately trying to get to Rex but the crocodile men were surging to block her off. For ever one she put down, another took its place. The space was too small for her to make use for her speed and go around or over.

The mag went empty and Ranger had to ditch the shotgun for her pistol. The sorceress was right over Rex and they were talking. Ranger couldn’t make it out over the sound of her gunfire and the crocodiles.

Ranger got a moment, one single moment where the shot was clear. She immediately pivoted and fired a double tap directly at the sorceress’s dome piece. In that instant there was a flash of azure light.

Bullets struck the far wall and the crocodile men broke apart. The magic animating them leaving.

With a stumble, weight shifting weirdly as Ranger changed direction to travel directly toward Rex instead of her slightly roundabout approach she had been on, looking for an angle. ”Y’alright?” Ranger asked, sliding in next to Rex and lifting on the wall section. She didn’t have her usual level of strength and she could feel her power pushing against something inside itself. Like it was trying to find the groove it needed to enhance her strength. ”Where’d she go?”

Rex began uttering a scripture but the woman vanished all too soon. The words died on his lips and instead he tried straining against the rubble. Hunter was suddenly there, helping shift parts of the wall. Rex figured that meant the crocodile men were dealt with.

Rex ground his teeth as he tried sitting up. He was mostly successful. His head and chest had been mostly spared, thanks to the hole he'd blown in the wall, but fragments covered his stomach and legs.

"Don't know," he said in a strained tone as he worked with Hunter to shove a large chunk off his chest. This wall wasn't solid brick, but it had an exterior of bricks. Mainly of them were still bound together by mortar and the insulating layers of the wall. He considered a spell to help but...all he could think of was growing another burning bush and that was liable to burn him before it did anything. He didn't want to risk striking anything else with his glove. Even if he had the power, he didn't know what effect that would have on him being trapped underneath stuff.

"I think..." he huffed tightly, "I can pull my legs out if you...can lift this section," Rex said, tapping on a large chunk that was laying across most of his legs.

"Don't....worry about...hurting me," he added. He spat more blood. "I can...heal."

Rex answered Ranger as he worked to free himself. Ranger shifted her hands and kept trying to lift the wall. It was odd, like she was working with the strength she had fifteen years—subjective time—ago. Rex gave instructions on which section to lift.

”Got it.” Ranger said before she started lifting on it. It didn’t want to move.

Rex told Ranger to not worry about hurting him. Ranger stepped back from the wall and quickly looked around the room.

”I got this.” Ranger said as she shot across the room and grabbed some rock. It had writing carved into one face but was rounded across the top and the back. Ranger slid it next to the wall section and unslung her shotgun. ”Time f’r some redneck engineerin’.” Ranger said with a grin.

Shotgun freed from the sling, she dropped the magazine and made sure the chamber was clear. Then she produced her tomahawk and pushed the handle into the barrel of the shotgun. It went in a little and got stuck. Ranger flipped the weapon around and slammed it into the ground a few times until the handle had gone up the barrel and wedged itself in real good. The most redneck of cheater pipes. ”Have gun, will travel.” Ranger said as she slid the tomahawk end of her improvised lift-a-majig under the edge of the wall and used the stone as a fulcrum. She then shoved on the butt of the shotgun.

This time, the wall could move a little. Ranger was basically laying across the thing to get it to take weight off the wall. ”G-go.” Ranger said through gritted teeth

Rex stilled himself and focused on his breathing as Hunter started fidgeting with equipment and the rubble. The firefighter was not unaccustomed to these types of scenarios, although he was usually in Hunter's position during them. He knew this was going to hurt.

Rex nodded once as Hunter moved into position and began jacking the wall.

The firefighter started pulling himself back.

"Yaaarrrggh!" he cried through strained as his legs and right knee screamed in pain. He move them a few inches and he was already panting. The witch had prepared well for him. By the grace of God she hadn't decided to finish him off.

Rex kept scooting backward in laboriously slow movements. Tears were beginning to stream from his eyes. His left leg was twisted funny and his jeans were ripped in several places.

Then he was clear but the pain was magnified. "Madre de Dios," Rex breathed and he just fell back against the ground before coughing again and hacking up more blood. "Can you...check...my leg?" he gasped. "Might be...broken. Set...it?"

Ranger strained but held the wall up until Rex was clear. She then dropped it and leaned on the improvised jack breathing hard. It was a good thing Rex crawled out when he did as Ranger could see a bend had started in the barrel. Steel is tough, but the barrel of the shotgun was only so thick.

Rex was breathing hard and Ranger could tell the man was in excruciating pain. He asked Ranger to check his leg. Ranger nodded and dropped to her knees next to Rex’s leg. There was blood and the material was ripped up. Worse yet, the leg itself looked both turned and bent wrong.

”I gotcha. Lay back, think comfortin’ thoughts.” Ranger said as she opened a pouch on her vest and produced a pair of trauma shears. She cut the leg off the jeans like she was manking a half a pair of Daisy Dukes and then bisected the section she’d removed. Laying it open she could see the leg. It was not pretty..

”Y’ got a few cuts, nothin’ too deep.” Ranger gently palpated the leg, along both sides of the leg from the hip down to the ankle. ”Femur is okay, no breaks… Patella’s okay—No… Y’ got a tear, it shouldn’ move like that. An’ y’ tibia is broken in two places. Fibula might be sprained. Cain’ tell.” Ranger got up and looked around. ”I’ll call f’r help an’ get y’r leg stabalized. Either y’ heal it with y’r Jesus magic ‘r y’r in f’r a long medical run.”

The house might not have anything perfect for the job, but it shouldn’t be hard to find something to use as a splint and bandages. Ranger left the room and head for the master closet. 

Rex continued focusing on his breathing as he allowed Hunter to work. It was strange being on the receiving end of this kind of activity - this was the sort of task he was trained for as an EMT. His lips moved in soundless prayers as he thanked God and all the saints that Hunter knew at least the rudiments of triage and first aid. It meant Rex could conserve more of his strength for the spellcasting.

Healing Ebb had already taken so much out of him and Rex bit back a curse with how amateurly he'd gone about the spell. He'd forced the healing power into the man, like using a firehouse to put out a birthday cake. If he had been more focused, more patient, he could've conserved some of his power by making the healing less instantaneous...

Rex frowned and coughed. No, he couldn't think like that. What's done was done. He'd tired himself out but he'd still chosen to strike the wall with the powered up glove. If he hadn't, the wall might've completely crushed him or done more than bang him up and mangle a leg.

He breathed out and closed his eyes, laying back just as Hunter had said. As Rex waited for the mutant to return, his mind drifted.

Could his magic heal this? Rex wasn't sure. It was entirely different than the methods used by Hercules and William, and the few other mystics Rex knew with proclivities for healing magic had extremely different slants to it. He'd realized that every single mystic seemed to practice a unique-to-them form of magic - Hercules wasn't just an extreme outlier.

Nevertheless, if his leg was beyond the scope of his magic, Rex could find some peace in that, for he believed it was not beyond the scope of his god's power.

"Yea, thought I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me...." he whispered, waiting for Hunter to return.

The roof they were in was useless. It had a lot of stuff but it was more of the artifact or display variety. Ranger shot out of the room, catching hold of a wall to pivot and spin herself down a hall. She checked one door, a bathroom. She checked another, a bedroom. Moving across the bedroom, Ranger made her way to the closet. As she passed a vanity her hand shot out and grabbed something that she stowed in a pocket.

Clothes ripped as Ranger found clothes of natural fibers like cotton and converted them to strips of cloth. Once she had a good bundle she shoved things around in the closet. She needed something to use to improvise a way to keep the leg immobile. There! She snagged some items off the wall, a quick stop in the bathroom medicine cabinet, and made her way back to Rex.

”This’ll hurt, an’ I don’ have any painkillers… so—uh… Embrace the suck.” Ranger said as she dropped a spear she had found and snapped in two onto the ground and opened a bottle of rubbing alcohol. ”Maybe… bit on this.” Ranger gave Rex a strip of fiber to wad up before she dumped it all over Rex’s leg. Then she reached into a pocket and produced a hair scrunchy ”Where did… nevermind.” Ranger pulled her hair back and put it in a ponytail to keep it out of her face as she worked.

From there, Ranger worked to wrap and tie off cloth around Rex’s leg like bandages. Nothing was so deep she felt a tourniquet was necessary, but she produced one and cranked it on tight as high up on Rex’s thigh as she could get it. Finally she lay the pieces of broken ancient spear on either side of Rex’s leg and used longer strips of cloth to fix them in place. ”Ever done a three-legged race? ‘Cause that’s how y’r gettin’ outta here.” Ranger said as she gave slight tugs to various places on the cloth. Checking her work before she took a stance over Rex to help pull him to his foot. Singular. ”I’ll pull, y’ just focus on keepin’ that leg from hittin’ anythin’. Hope y’ don’ skip leg day, time f’r an assisted one-leg squat.” Ranger held out her hands and made a ‘gimme’ gesture with each hand reaching for Rex’s

Rex did not scream as parts of a spear were used as a splint and his legs was bound in them. He had accepted the wad of fiber like a makeshift gag however. He grunted several times and one hissed in pain, but he locked most of it away behind a rictus-like grimace. A professional side of him could appreciate Hunter's work. The man had done this before, it seemed. He didn't appear to hesitate, even when working with nonstandard materials.

It was a relief working with other professionals.

His head was pounding and his vision was blurry and his balance wasn't great. He was in so much pain, but that, ironically, almost made things easier. For with Rex, suffering just naturally made him petition his Heavenly Father.

He spat out the wad of mystery cloth and grunted, "One...sec," and then he laid his hands on his leg. His right arm didn't want to move well, so Rex dragged it over with his left hand and closed his eyes so the room didn't spin. Shock. Shock was starting to set in. He didn't have much time.

As before, he began to quote from Acts and he he reached out with his mind to that place of power from which he drew forth fire, light, and healing power, and he bound it up in the word of God before pulling it into his body.

A pleasant warmth spread through his entire body, taking away the slight chill he'd not realized he'd had due to his water-logged clothes. More importantly, the pain started to shrink away in many parts of his body.

Unlike with Ebb, Rex held back the power, allowing it to trickle through him slowly but surely. He didn't have the energy to repeat the earlier quick healing. He didn't need to either. They'd failed to stop the sorceress, but the other combatants were neutralized. The mission was over.

Rex stayed like that for a solid minute, flowing into prayers once the verse ended, to keep the spell going. Scrapes and bruises faded away as the power flowed through his whole body and giving his natural recovery process the energy to work overtime. His right arm was functional again though, although it still felt like a wall had fallen on it. Only then did he finally accept Hunter's help in standing.

It was difficult. It was awkward. It caused Rex to grunt and grind his teeth almost constantly. He spoke many oaths in Latin, Spanish, and English, calling on the names of many Saints and prophets. He finally was on his feet, although all of his weight was on his "good" foot. He hadn't healed his leg nearly enough to use, but he estimated he'd saved himself about a week or so of recovery. Enough that he could try to move around.

"You know," Rex said, pain still evident in his voice but no longer causing him to stop after each word, "the last time I was in a three-legged race, I had to stop a man who turned into a thundercloud from destroying a park and all the people in it." He paused for a moment.

"I hate races."

Before letting Range help him to his feet, Rex worked his Jesus magic on himself. A little light, a little scripture, a little waiting, and Rex was ready to stand on one foot. He accepted Ranger’s help.

Ranger did most of the work as promised, but working with an oddly proportioned body made it harder. She was used to being a bit closer in height to the person she was helping up. Based on the multilingual speech Rex was giving it was no walk in the park for him either. When Ranger got Rex up, Rex stood on his good leg. In this case good meant not bound up by a broken antique spear and someones ripped out dress shirts and a blouse.

”Y’ sure y’ didn’ hit y’r head?” Ranger asked jokingly, ”No racin’ then. We’ll walk out nice an’ slow t’gether.” Ranger took a position under Rex’s arm to lift weight off the injured side and act as that leg for them. ”Got a preference on where y’ll want t’ heal up; hospital, y’r place, the Mansion… Holiday Inn Express. I can get a ride arranged when we get out t’ the Fordasaurus. ‘R I can drive if y’ don’ want t’ wait.”

Rex started ambling along with Hunter, grunting each time he had to place weight on his not-quite-mangled leg. "Hospital," he said. "Gotta make sure the bone is...nnngh...set right before healing anymore." Another step and flash of pain. "Don't wanna heal wrong."

The rubble was something of a task for Rex to maneuver around, but as they got to the door, Rex stopped to look around. "The witch said she got what she needed," Rex said. "Some kind of ankh or Egyptian cross with a blue jewel in the circle part." He started moving again.

"Said her king was coming back and....nnnggh...gonna remake world," Rex managed to groan out. His vision was getting a little blurry. "Gotta figure out what she took and why. Who lives here?"

Ranger nodded, ”Hospital it is then.” Ranger was no stranger to getting doctors to set things before a healer patched her up. Normally it was Jude copying Doc Prof’s power, and the doctors had more to do with morphine made the wait easier.

The trip out of the room and to the stairs was not difficult, but it was not easy. Debris had to be navigated around and the floor was still wet. Ranger could feel everytime Rex’s foot hit something and sent a shot of pain up. As they walked, Rex started a debrief.

”Dr. Goldstein, Chairman of the Egyptology Department at NYU.” Ranger said, remembering the details routed to her. She had more information on the professor in the Fordasaurus. Ripping out the radio stack and replacing it with a digital system with a large touchscreen had been useful. Ranger would need to thank Gerhart for insisting on it. ”The professor probably still has some babysitters in blue. I’ll pay ‘im a visit after we get y’ t’ some cutters.”

”Okay. Here’s the hard part. Down the stairs. I’ll step down first. Swing y’r leg over an lean hard on me. Use the railin’ t’ keep stable on the other side.” Ranger said before taking the first step down.

Rex grunted, but not just because he'd had to take another step. It was a grunt of acknowledgement. "Egyptology," he said. "Guess that makes sense." It also seemed that Hunter was far better informed on the situation than Rex had been. Then again, the oracle from the Veil had just given Rex an address, said there was some "magical weirdness about to happen" and then sent him on his way.

Which was usually all the information he had before leaping into situations. It usually wasn't much of an issue. His sword could generally sort out any enemy enchantments and his fire and shield spells could handle the rest. Throwing mutants into the mix, though? That was still new to him. He just wasn't as effective against them.

Rex grunted in acknowledgement again and leaned on the railing as Hunter suggested and began the painstaking task of going down.

The slowness of their pace gave him lots of time to take in the room. It looked like a hurricane had been through there. Everything that wasn't bolted down had been thrown around the room and everything was soaking, including the unconscious siblings in wetsuits. They were both breathing at least.

"I'll see what I can find out from my neck of the woods," Rex said at the bottom of the stairs. "What's the point of having a magical library if you can't find some information on magic?"

It looked like they both had their assignments. "Keep in touch," Rex said as he pulled a business card out of a pouch on his belt. The card was only slightly damp and it was plain white. The only thing on the card was Rex's name and phone number in a standard size-12 font in the center. No frills, no thrills, nothing else. Just the important things.