A hastily crafted structure, JFB Bolling, Washington, DC

The lack of communication was driving Katie crazy. It wasn't that she was worried per se; she had faith in Drew's ability to survive, but she was nervous. Even before she knew him, he had been accomplishing impossible tasks. It was just that she was so used to being able to check in on people. When he had left to find a healer for Sarah it had been worse, being alone with Sarah's unconscious body and her thoughts. However, when she saw the manastorm move in, she knew he wasn't going to be able to get back that night.

Here at least there were other people and she had responsibilities to keep her mind off of the danger. Between keeping everyone calm and building the structure, the first few hours had been easy enough to deal with. Now that it had calmed down, it was harder. She sat near the entrance listening to JP, Trey, and Brady arguing about if Batman was a real superhero or not. She idly wondered why they were arguing about fake superheroes when they were essentially the real thing now.

JP's skill with his guns had become evident over the last few hours. She wasn't sure what had changed, but half an hour after Drew's group left they started to get attacked. First, it had been waves of the rabbit-like creatures Drew called bashers, which had been easy enough for JP to take out. Without fear of running out of ammunition, they had been training most of their people on how to properly fire a gun at them. Min Sun and Jholie had both been surprisingly good, most of the other civilians were only okay, while the soldiers and sailors were all okay or better. After the bashers came the waves of squirrels and birds.

For the most part, they were scavengers, just there to eat the bodies of the bashers, but JP had people practice shooting them and making a list of the easiest ways to injure them. Mostly they were all vulnerable to bullets, although some definitely needed JP's special bullets to deter them. The turtle had been the worst, almost fifteen feet tall, the thing had nearly drained their bullet supply dry. Katie had put up a wall after it was dead while JP refilled all magazines.

After that they had created firing slits throughout the structure; Katie had gotten the idea from the arrow slits on old castles. However, she had made these ones horizontal instead of vertical. They had split them around the entire structure allowing them full view of the approach paths to their little safe haven.

Most everyone had turned in for the night when the storm hit. Katie watched the strangely colored light show. It was made evidently clear why no one went outside during a manastorm though. The hundred or so bodies they had killed disappeared almost immediately. They just sort of dissolved into nothing. Some of the bigger creatures left behind skeletons, or in the turtle's case, a shell. But that was about all that remained of the critters that had been attacking them for hours.

Katie really hoped Drew and the team were safe underground for the spectacle. The storm itself was fantastic; the clouds were every color of the rainbow and seemed to glow with an inner luminosity. Katie felt like she should sleep--she knew that there was little chance of the rescue party returning before sunrise. Not knowing what was happening was driving her crazy. The three men had apparently decided that being Super Rich was a superpower, so Batman did qualify and had moved on. Katie slipped away from her storm watching position and sat down on the picnic table next to Brady.

Brady had received the shatter shot xatherite, giving him the ability to turn every bullet he fired into a spread weapon. It had been highly effective against the birds that had attacked the compound.

"Hey, guys, how you all holding up?" She asked, noticing the tiredness on all of their faces, although JP definitely had it the worst. Without Drew's energize and refreshing rain they were all actually having to sleep and rest, and the mana drain was telling on JP, who was doing the lion's share of the work. They had sent two of their combatants to bed, although Katie could tell they were tossing and turning more than they were sleeping.

"I think we can all say we're tired," JP said looking at the group and talking for them. Everyone was dreading what happened when the storm died down and the nocturnal creatures started attacking. Trey had already disguised all of the arrow slits behind his illusions. They weren't as high a quality as Robbi's, but they did have the advantage of only being visible in one direction, meaning they could still see outside with them on.

"Yeah, I know. Storm looks like it is about to pass us, so we should know how good this setup will be for the evening soon." All three men nodded their heads.

"Wish Drew was back already," JP said after a few moments of silence.

"They'll be back at dawn, just like they said they would be," Katie answered immediately. The plan was to have them back before the storm hit if possible, but at dawn otherwise.

"Yeah. Hey, you two, why don't you take a fifteen? Katie and I will keep watch until the storm ends." JP said, dismissing his two subordinates.

With a nod, the two men got up and headed further back into the shelter. JP watched them go and when they were far enough away sat down next to Katie. "So, I know we haven't talked much about this stuff but...after Drew's incident I got a notification that I had leveled up. You know anything about that?"

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Katie nodded her head slowly, "Yeah, the three of us that survived all leveled up when we managed to get out of the HQ building."

"I kind of figured you three would know more than the rest of us. Anything you can tell me about it?"

Katie bit her lower lip as she considered her words, Drew had said that he was beginning to trust the two cops before he left. "We don't know much, just that there is some sort of larger conflict going on between humanity and a bunch of aliens. They needed soldiers, and Earth has provided them with a bunch of good ones."

"You mean Drew."

"Yeah, Drew. He was inducted into a knightly order and made an officer."

"Well, I guess my knighting isn't that big of a deal then."

"Wait, you were knighted too?" Katie asked, her voice had a tinge of desperation in it.

"Yeah, when I leveled up it said I was inducted into the Order of the Fang. But I was only promoted to the rank of Scout Corporal."

"Corporal? Weird, the rest of us all got naval rankings."

"Yeah, it came with some neat interface upgrades. I can select four people under my command and see through their eyes for a few seconds."

"Wait, are you saying that you can see what’s happening down there? Who are the four people under your command?" Katie reached out and grabbed JP's elbow, squeezing it tighter than she realized in her excitement.

"You, Sarah, Robbi, and Daryl. I figured Drew was a higher level than me or something. Anyway, I've been keeping track of them. They’re all still alive and doing fine, although Daryl got banged up a bit, Sarah healed him up. They just killed a bunch of trolls and rescued a lot of kids, and they're about to attack the main group of Trolls."

"Shit," Sarah said releasing JP's elbow. She wasn't sure if this was better or not, knowing that they were mostly safe. "Tell me what's happening."

JP nodded and closed his eyes, focusing on someone else's senses. "They're just about to enter a passageway. Drew is going through first."

Of course. Of course he was going in first, that stupid man always put himself in the middle of danger without trusting anyone to keep up. Just like when he had fought Chakri. Katie clenched her hands together.

"The rest are into the room. It's a massive pit with hundreds of humans and trolls digging out some sort of building. Drew just did his teleport thing, no idea where he went. The trolls are..." JP trailed off, his jaw dropping. "They're killing the captives!"

Dimly Katie realized that the mana storm had ended the multicolored clouds having passed out of sight. "Robbi and Trista are killing as many as they can but the trolls are just killing all the prisoners they can find. There are a bunch of trolls on the building. They look...smaller, children maybe? Women?"

Katie was watching JP who still held his eyes closed when the blue light lit up the DIA building. Blanketing the world in its glow as a pillar of brilliance encircled the building. It was gone in an instant, leaving her blinded by its brilliance. When it was over she realized JP had stopped talking and was clutching his own eyes as they had been hurt.

"Someone get Bill," Katie shouted as she turned to the man beside her, "JP, are you alright?" She said putting a hand on his shoulder, there were no obvious wounds. Had that been some sort of attack by the trolls? Everyone in the shelter was stirring, they all looked nervous and Katie knew she was going to have put everyone at ease.

"I'm fine, that was just super bright," JP said, his eyes still clenched shut.

"Bill!" The old chief was there in a second, and without being asked, gave the police officer a hug. Activating his healing xatherite. JP looked to be in much less pain and opened his eyes.

"I'm okay. Thanks, Bill."

"What is going on?" Bill asked and everyone around Katie looked to her for answers. She wished Drew or Sarah were here. Sarah had really grown into a leader over the past week, and everyone respected Drew enough to believe anything he said.

"It's fine, just a last-ditch attack by the trolls. Drew has managed to rescue a lot of people already and they'll be back here by dawn. I want everyone ready to respond to any attacks immediately, get to your spots and keep your eyes peeled. I don't want any surprises. Call out if you need bigger guns and we'll get JP or Brady to come help you."

Everyone seemed eager to have something to do and they all spread out to their respective arrow slits. Watching as the night came alive, hundreds of insects and other creepy crawlies exploding into the night air. The light must have attracted every bug within a mile. Centipedes the size of cars crawled across the field, striking out at fireflies that exploded in gouts of flame. Crickets the size of baby strollers jumped around, their legs slicing ants in half. Ants in turn swarmed other creatures, killing them with sheer numbers.

It was like the light had driven all of them into a mad frenzy. Katie immediately began creating more walls, thick enough to handle the incidental damage of bugs crashing into them. The entire compound remained as silent as possible; no one wanted to draw the attention of the bugs to them. Katie quickly sealed off the viewports. And everyone huddled near the central trees that had been grown for the fortification. Waiting for the chaos they could hear even through the thick concrete walls to dissipate.

Suddenly there was a scream as the ground burst out from under a survivor. JP was there in an instant, his guns flashing with magical fire, killing the mole that had dug in through the floor. The body was quickly shoved aside as another tried to push its way up. JP's firing never slowed and that one died even as Katie summoned a wall to block off the entrance.

"Everyone get as high up as you can, I'll wall off the ground," Katie shouted as she began making walls at as steep an angle as she could, creating a lattice of walls all along the ground to provide more cover from any other burrowing beasts. Jholie had climbed the tree and was using her xatherite to confuse any creature that made its way through the floor, while their other combatants killed the stunned moles, ants, and cockroaches. The night had just begun and it was already a nightmare come true.