"Oh my god. The designs all work just fine. I'll have to test them more thoroughly and type them up an' find the right person for them an'—"

Assistant raced around for paper for the first time, seeming to decide that pointing was no longer enough. It wrote GENIUS in block caps.

Mrs Eceer's grin became more smug. "You're welcome."

"This really is splendid," Boris said. "What else is in this toolkit?"

"Yes, you can return to the rejects another time," Mrs Eceer added.

Tanya continued over Olena's very loud groan. "Just got the Crowd Control an' Spiritual Bandages left." She turned to Boris and Olena. "I've been workin' on the emotion surpressin' idea and the stealth too, but neither of those are simple enough or feel safe enough to hand out on a large scale."

Boris furrowed his brows, and Tanya suspected he was also imagining people running amok with high-level emotion suppressants or completely invisible.

Assistant shivered.

"Sounds like a wise call," Boris said.

"Crowd Control? Spiritual Bandages?" Olena pressed.

"I won't show ya the first in here," Tanya snorted, picturing it. "It's like a spike trap thing. You set it off and it looks a bit like one of those, um, police car tire holey things."

"A spike strip?" Mrs Eceer said.

Tanya clicked her fingers. "Exactly." She turned to show the wire coiled along her leg. "But yeah, when a monster steps in, it grows much bigger. Not tested it yet but the description says it'll work an' think it could be useful, either to trap 'em or to make 'em pause goin' towards you if they're smart enough."

"Like when you escape out of kebab shop with Ishita and Fahad," Olena marvelled.

"Or that mini boss and horde you all told me about," Boris said.

"Or when you came to help me in my apartment," Mrs Eceer added.

They sure are in groups a lot, huh? Assistant wrote.

"That is understatement," Olena added.

"Although I think it might be an our area thing actually," Tanya added. She ushered for Olena to pass her the cannon and pulled up a section of the Restricted Question she'd asked in her first big fight with Mrs Eceer.

• • •

In the present time in your geographic location, you have the largest number of Uktrikne Hjokrtis, modifying your common weaknesses as follows:

Force 83%

Organic Matter 73%

Slicing/Slashing 70%

These numbers do not account for future waves of invaders.

Analysing risk posed to you…

Analysing…Analysing…

Due to your lack of area effects, I have deemed Swarms and Mini-Bosses to be the greatest threat level to you. Both classifications utilise large groups of simultaneously invading creatures to target prey and/ or may have Abilities for tracking or increased perception.

• • •

Mrs Eceer scratched her chin as she read. She spoke before Tanya was halfway down. "Uktrikne Hjokrtis. They must be the hound-like ones. They're certainly the ones I've seen the most around here."

"I concur," Boris said.

"Same," Added Olena.

"Anyway," Tanya checked her mental list for what was next. She was disrupted by the feeling of buzzing on her wrist. She looked down at the map and saw a group of new dots appearing. It reminded her of an overzealous massager, like the industrial-sized one her mum had always wanted her to use on her back. The sensation would go all the way up Tanya's arm until she had to take a break from the feeling spreading deeper inside.

Tanya shivered. The others crowded round, all staring down at Tanya's arm.

"Are those monsters?" Boris asked cautiously.

"Can we kill them?" Olena said, at the same time, with a beaming smile.

Mrs Eceer was already grabbing her jacket and a golf club she'd fitted with a blade at the end that Tanya hadn't seen before. "If my wards are down, I need to know why." She turned to look at them over her shoulder, and between the determination in her eyes and the way the light hit them, it looked like lightning.

"I—I dunno," Tanya eventually mustered, tearing her eyes away from it and grabbing her leather jacket. "Whatever it is, we should go."

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Tanya's footfalls quickened as she hit the pavement. Her eyes darted between the shadows off in the distance and Ishita's flat.

"Should we get Ishita for backup?" Tanya asked.

"Send Assistant," came Mrs Eceer's terse reply.

With a wiggle, Assistant crawled off Tanya's other non-dominant arm. She was holding the map up still, watching the slowly moving dots—there were three so far. That was enough for Assistant, who wordlessly leapt upwards, floating towards Ishita's upstairs window.

Tanya glanced for a moment before turning back, speeding up to catch up with the others.

"If they are in a group, they're mine! I have new gravity surge!" Olena exclaimed, laughing manically and shifting a module up an inch, then back again, like loading a gun.

"No, we watch them first. I need to work out how they got through," Mrs Eceer stated.

"Awwww," Olena replied.

Then Mrs Eceer stopped dead. The others stopped too, looking between her and down the street. Tanya held a hand up to shield her eyes from the glare.

What can she see? What is it?

The figures became clearer—bipedal.

Fuck they look human, are they more intelligent? Should I summon everything now or wait—

They were human. As the figures grew closer and their reaching shadows neared the group, Tanya could make out their features.

On the right was a burly man with tanned skin, a skin fade, and a ring in one ear. The man on the left was leaner, with deep-set set sketchy eyes that studied them and a pasty white hand always hovering over his pocket. Most of Tanya's attention, however, was on the woman in the middle. Her faded green mohawk contrasted with her deep brown skin, the long plait at the back swinging from side to side with each step.

"Those are either normal people or monsters have reached new level of creepy," Olena said, deadpan.

Tanya's smile came, then vanished as the tetchy left guy drew a gun. Olena held up her cannon in retaliation.

The Mohawk girl pushed him, and they argued back and forth. Tanya couldn't hear what she was saying. He shoved her out of the way, and she crossed her arms.

"One step closer and I'll shoot." the tetchy guy yelled.

Olena slotted a module onto her cannon, swapping out her new one for a typical bullet. "Fuck about and find out," she spat back.

"Olena, I believe we are trying to de-escalate, not—" Boris began.

"THE FUCK DID YOU JUST SAY TO ME!" He roared back. His frail body trembled from the force of the breath.

"We mean you no harm," Mrs Eceer said, holding her palms to face them.

"Say that to your guard dog," said the burly man. It had a hint of humour in it. His voice was deep and rumbling with a local accent. His hand was poised over a blade on his belt, but he didn't draw it.

"What did you call me?!" Olena yelled.

The Mohawk woman let out a sigh and rubbed her temples. "Can we please not start something here?" she said, her voice tight with frustration. Then, louder: "We're just passing through."

Her accent caught Tanya off guard. It sounded American.

The lady grabbed the smaller man's arm again and muttered, "You're gonna get yourself—and all of us—killed, you idiot."

What do I even say…

"Leave," Tanya settled on. "Either back the way you came or put down your gun an' you can pass through."

"Thank you," Mohawk woman called. She turned to the tetchy man and said pointedly, "That was really polite of her, wasn't it, Pete?"

He was still holding up the gun, but he looked less sure now, seeming to be comparing his gun to Olena's cannon.

Olena noticed and grinned, adding an extra couple of modules on the end. Tanya doubted they even worked well together; she was just proving a point.

Tanya stifled a laugh at how ludicrous this all was.

Pete lowered the gun. Olena lowered the cannon.

"We'll walk through, if that's alright with you," Mohawk girl said.

"But any funny business and we'll—" Pete started.

"Just stop," said the burly man, which shut Pete up immediately. He turned to the group. "Thank you for your hospitality."

"Hmph," replied Olena.

Tanya nudged her on the way past. "It was a joke, eh? He didn't mean it."

She just got a second "Hmph."

Tanya wrapped around behind them, holding up her hands when Pete started his crazy eyes of concern again. He calmed down, but still occasionally shot her suspicious glances.

Pete stayed close to the larger guy, stepping in time with his longer footsteps. Tanya wasn't sure if he was powerful or if Pete was just using him as a meat shield in case Olena pointed the cannon at him again.

Mrs Eceer led the way, Boris and Olena on each side, and Tanya at the back.

This is like some real strange escort mission.

After a few paces, Mohawk woman lagged behind to get into step with Tanya.

"I'm really sorry about Pete. He's a bit jumpy since all of—you know."

"Yeah, innit. It's not like we got prepped for the apocalypse with a goodie bag of tools and a good therapist's phone number."

She laughed, loud and genuine. "I just knew I was gonna like you. I'm Marcy." She held out a hand.

Tanya paused for a second, trying to process.

"Oh, you not a toucher? That's fine. Everyone over here's like 'Marcy, we don't do casual handshakes here' and 'Marcy, we don't start conversations on public transport here'."

Tanya laughed and held out a hand back. "No, no, I just didn't see it comin'. I'm Tanya."

Marcy smiled and shook.

"I bet you found out that second one the hard way—chats on the tube."

"Oh, you bet I did. I walked right up to this nice gentleman to ask how he was doing, and he looked at me like I'd grown three heads. Then I sat down, and the lady next to me gave me a dirty look. I actually checked to make sure I didn't smell weird after work or something."

Ahead, the others were walking in silence. Mrs Eceer was keeping a firm eye on Pete, who in turn was keeping an eye on Olena. Olena glared back. Boris split off from the group to check on Fifi through the window before returning to the entourage.

"Sweaty job?" Tanya asked. Now she was more comfortable, and she looked at Marcy properly. Marcy's ears were filled with piercings, the ones in her lobes so long they trailed over the stiff fabric of her denim jumpsuit as she turned to talk. The front pocket was covered with various badges and patches, everything from old bands to feminist quotes and kids' cartoons. 'I'm no damsel in distress, I'm a dragon in a dress' caught Tanya's eye.

"Well, yes and no. I'm a Foley artist, so it isn't exactly intense, but those rooms sure do get hot."

"Do you miss it?" Tanya asked

Marcy just blinked at her. "Miss it? I still do it."

Tanya stopped, so Marcy did too, grinning.

It took a moment to fully set in.

"You're shittin' me."

Pete noticed and also stopped, and suddenly the entire group of them were all stopped in the middle of the street.

'What going on? Why we stop?" Olena asked.

"Marcy just said her Class is Foley Artist!" Tanya called back, still in awe.

"Facsinating," Mrs Eceer said, walking over.

Pete clenched his fists. "You idiot! Keeping our Classes hidden is our best advantage," he hissed.

The burly man held up a hand. "We can talk 'bout this later." He turned to Marcy. "But he's right, ya know?"

"Foley? What is Foley?" Olena chorused, looking around.

"It's the sound stuff they add in movies," Tanya explained absent-mindedly. She turned back to Marcy, "That is so fuckin' cool. How does that even work? You were deemed Worthy for doing sound effects? Do they make sound magic or some cool shit?"

Marcy laughed again. "Kinda. I used it as a distraction, and yeah, it's kinda like sound magic."

"Wicked."

Marcy looked her up and down. "Go on then, what do you have. I bet yours is just as cool."

Tanya suddenly felt awkward, scratching the back of her neck and chuckling. "Tattoo Summoner."

Marcy's mouth dropped open. "I—you—I—" She bounced up and down on her toes. "I really hope you take trades, because I need a tattoo summon right now."

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