The end of the Conrad [forward timed to 12pm]

[disastering]

[OOC: Party/disaster thread! Make threads for pre-destruction leading into destruction, during the destruction, and post destruction. Timey wimey, etc. Obviously, if you're under the rubble, you're only going to be near a limited number of people]

The city of Chicago had no idea that the Rift preshock that occurred earlier in the week was only an

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[yourwonderings]

It's a curious thing, time.

If Jo had known today was going to be one of those days, she wouldn't have gone on one of her fruitless job hunts--not the job but a job because a restless Joanna Beth is a dangerous thing. She would have arrived earlier (later, would it have really made a difference?) and she would have made sure she had her shot gun with her.

None of these things happen. It's one-thirty when Jo returns to the hotel, to find there isn't any of it left and in its wake, utter chaos. A monster--unlike anything she's ever seen before in size and disfigurement--charges toward her in heavy, thundering steps. It's not a demon. It's not something she can salt and burn

[sinsofskin]

Leona has been itching to kill something all week. Leona has been finding ways to kill things all week.

It hasn't helped.

Half the Organization's leaders have just vanished; Adam has vanished, and Aaron is in Russia, and she's been suppressing minor factions vying for local control until the rest of the true Factions can pull their heads out of their collective asses enough to work out what's happening now. It's enough to drive a girl batty

[yourwonderings]

The beast takes enough blunt hits to the head that it spins in dazed disorientation to turn at its aggressor. It lets out one long, drawn out whine that echoes throughout the street.

The beast's confusion gives Jo plenty of time to drive her fist into his face, bashing its face in.

She's got a mean right hook, Jo Harvelle, and she's not afraid to use it.

The grip around her neck lessens, and Jo drops to the floor in one fell swoop.

Jo picks herself up again, chest heaving. She recognizes the woman immediately, eyes taking in the wings in stunned realization. She doesn't give herself much time to wonder about them.

First thing's first. "Please tell me you brought ammo."

[sinsofskin]

"In my car," Leona growls. "Which is three blocks away. Stupid me, I didn't think I was going to find twelve kinds of carnage on my morning stroll. Must have forgotten I live in Chicago."

Her wings flex, clawing the air reflexively. Honestly, most things she can take care of with the strength in her arms, the claws on her wings, and whatever weapons her enemies happen to be carrying. This is a bit larger scale than the trouble she usually finds on the streets.

[yourwonderings]

Before Jo can answer, a man drops dead beside her after being thrown against the wall with enough force to leave a hole. She hears the crack of bones at the skull and the whimper left in his wake.

Jo kneels down, picking up the gun and the knife he left behind. She tosses the pistol at Leona, considering the fact the furry sonuvabitch is closer to her than it is to Jo.

Jo twirls the knife in anticipation, stalking closer and ready to draw blood. "Doubt we'll be forgettin' any time soon," she says in a near growl of her own.

[sinsofskin]

Leona catches the pistol with the air of one long used to catching weapons which have been thrown at her. She checks the clip, and gives Jo a tight smile.

"Honey, I'm liking you more every time I meet you," she says. "Now, way I see it, there are people to be dug out of this clusterfuck. but no one's doing any digging so long as they've got monsters breathing down their necks."

Which is basically an invitation to an outright killfest.

[yourwonderings]

Jo's been in plenty of killfests before to be fazed by this.

When the going gets tough you bring in your best crew. The way Jo sees it? That's her and this hunter right now. Jo uses her elbow to knock away a furry that attempts to pounce at her. She finishes it with a dropkick and a solid punch to the nose.

"Drinks are on me afterward," she tells Leona in answer. Invitation accepted quite readily.

[sinsofskin]

"We'll make a night of it," Leona agrees.

And then she's charging across the rubble toward a clutch of angries that came through in a group, pausing just long enough to line up two shots and take down one which had peeled away toward a digging team.

Team Huntress, three. Chicago... a hell of a lot more than that.

Leona has no issues with evening the score.

[yourwonderings]

One of the beasties snaps its tentacle around Jo's wrist, inching toward the knife. I don't think so. Jo lifts her leg, kicking it straight in the gut, not giving it a chance to recuperate before she's throwing a rock at it much like Leona did previously.

It staggers, and Jo drives the knife into its chest, twisting it once it's fully plunged in.

"No one touches my knife," Jo lets out in a low voice, moving up to stand beside Leona and survey how many are left, and how many each can take on.

Jo's the kind of gal that not only evens the score, but tips the balance in her favor.

[sinsofskin]

Leona's betting they can take them all. Even as they roar in terrible unison and pincer out to surround them and charge.

She downs one with a quick bullet, and then there are two more on her and at last three swarming Jo. Her wings snap out as she ducks and turns, disembowling one before the third of hers gets its claws in her back and draws blood.

Dark, black blood.

The cut smarts but it's not deep, and another roll has her shoving it off into one of Jo's monsters, bringing up the pistol again.

[yourwonderings]

Jo's eyes widen slightly at the sight of those wings. She's never seen angels in their true form, after all--back where Jo's from your eyes would burn until you'd gone blind completely if you ever did.

This is not an angel, however. Jo doesn't give herself any time to react to the alternative because there are monsters to fight and right now they're on the same side. Self-preservation dictates she file it away for later.

Jo rolls over on the scorching ground to snatch up a ragged piece of wood and metal. When she jumps back to her feet she's simultaneously shoving it into the third monster that clawed at Leona's back. The metal is long enough it also plunges into Jo's monster as well.

Gotta love multitasking.

Jo brings herself back up to her feet, placing herself back-to-back with Leona, feeling that's the smartest position to take to give them a vantage point.

A red-eyed, four-legged creature slinks its way toward them. It looks like a hellhound but not quite. Jo's dealt with enough hellhounds in her day to spot 'em like a

[sinsofskin]

And then there's a wanderer back to back with her, pressed against her wings. Leona's skin is warmer than human but not quite demon-hot; concentrated violence tends to have that effect on her, and having someone else pressed into her just makes it all the sweeter. Her wings flare, a leathery shield ready to guard either one of them or strike to their sides.

"Come on!" Leona howls. A few more monsters circling around the rescue teams look up, weighing this threat to their newly-acquired territory. "We're taking all comers today!"

One, scaled and spined and the size of a doberman, bounds toward her and leaps only to be met with a flash of wing and claw. It falls to the ground, belly opened, and then Leona's back-to-back with Jo again.

"No one is turned away!"

[yourwonderings]

"Got it." They're taking them all and they're leaving no prisoners. Jo's always been prickly about children. When she sees a monster about to charge at a little boy running toward the rescue team, Jo's blood turns to fire.

"Pick on somebody your own size, you prick!" Jo shouts, a rock thrown its way to call its attention. She's picking up whatever she can from the ground at this point, using it to strike and then as always, returning to her former stance against Leona.

A long telephone wire is used as a whip, the scraped metal parts are used as words, and Jo takes the beatings as they come but she doesn't once let up.

Breathing heavily, she half-turns to the side. "How many are left?"

[sinsofskin]

Leona lets out a bloody laugh. "There's a rift, babe," she says. "Don't think we're going to run out anytime soon."

Leona's taking damage, but demonic strength and speed and the sheer blood adrenaline of a Rakshasa seeking kills means she hardly notices. By now her bodyman's caught up and seems to have noticed the game she's playing - he's running interference, herding monsters toward her when she runs out and intercepting them when she's busy.

"Just tell me if you need to take five and get a drink. Could work up an appetite with this dance."

[yourwonderings]

Jo's new to Chicago, but she's a quick learner. She's a hunter, and she's hungry. "I'll let you know," Jo promises, ducking to avoid a claw to the face. When she straightens back her hand encircles the claw, twisting it back on the creature to pierce it through its own skin. "I'm good for now

[sinsofskin]

Leona whoops, tossing aside the pistol once she's expended the last bullet and laying into the monsters coming for them with claws and rebar. There's a bit of a dance, now; they've got to follow a few of the beasts, intercept them, even as several come to them attracted by the noise and struggle and more tumble out of the Rift every minute. A few are falling from the higher parts of the Rift, tumbling down and breaking limbs on the broken concrete; they can dispatch those easily enough and move on