D.E.M.O.N.S: Getting Summoned Weekly isn't so Bad Chapter 2122 Fresh Breath

Kat ---

Furen used charades to indicate that they should come back later and from what Kat could glean from those motions the main reason is because it was too hard to explain what they were looking for without being able to talk. It was also probably better that she got some healing sooner rather then later, so with that all in mind the group got back to moving. Lily wrapped Tanisha back up who just grinned, apparently quite happy with it.

At least, that was before they realised that to backtrack properly, they’d need to fly up. Kat lifted Furen while Bruce, Chisel and Tanisha were pulled up after Lily had flown up into the ceiling as well. *

Kat nodded and continued to talk back and forth with Lily about her magic and the variation little inconsistencies that could pop up with it when she was using it. All the while, Kat was using her perfect memory to essentially just ’rewind’ things. It was a bit of a weird feeling to slowly play her memories backwards to match the path they were taking to them but it was working out for now.

They weren’t attacked even once on their way back and Kat hoped that meant that the monster was completely dealt with. They still couldn’t be completely certain but it was a major step in the right direction and helped Kat feel better about leaving things for tomorrow. It would mean that either, it would all still be fine, or they might catch the monster sneaking out when it thought it was safe.

Swinging by the greenhouse was easy. Everyone was still knocked out and Bruce seemed to be especially happy to see them, even like that. Kat picked up a pair so she had one over each shoulder with Lily grabbing the rest. From there, they made their way upstairs... only for Bruce to realise a problem. "Our suits! They’ve been wrecked!"

Kat nodded slowly, "Oh... yeah ok that’s not good..."

"Lily has an idea," Kat announced.

"Why does that fill me with dread?" asked Bruce. In response, Kat swiftly informed him of the full details. "Yeah that sounds... horrific."

"I’m pretty sure it will be a comfortable ride for everyone," Kat said. Bruce gave her a weird look but decided not to comment on it. Perhaps worried he’d stick his foot in his mouth again.

Furen didn’t argue and Chisel couldn’t say anything so regardless of what Bruce actually thought, it wasn’t long before the shadow ball was in use. It was a good thing they’d noticed the issue early though, as before they’d managed to get to the base of the stairs they could see the faintest wisps of poison. It was a tight squeeze moving everyone up the stairs, but Lily had managed to separate everyone into layers to make it so it wasn’t too bad. Especially when they knew it was saving them from the poison even at the start.

Pushing the fountain aside was a bit awkward with the shadows in front of her, but Kat managed it. Once outside, Lily focused on shaping the ball into a proper ball while Kat ensured the fountain was back in place. From there, it was a pretty straight shot back out of the poison.

When they reached the edge, Kat gave Lily the heads up. Right as they crossed the line, the inside of the ball went from a nice place to sit, to a trap. Even if it wasn’t likely they’d try to escape, there was no reason to get sloppy. As Lily unwound the shadows to clean air, she split up the group. Bruce, Furen, Tanisha, and Chisel were all bound separately, while the unconscious lot were dumped in a pile with a light wrapping of shadows to keep them in place.

Steel heard them arrive and walked out of the alchemist tent to see them. "Ah, good. I see you’ve got some trespassers for me..."

"Technically, it was declared state of emergency," countered Bruce. "It could be argued we were searching for individuals inside a dangerous area of the city,"

"It was also considered to be a quarantine zone, so your argument doesn’t hold in this case," countered Steel. Bruce just shrugged as if to say ’had to try’.

"Why is he missing his legs?" Steel asked after glancing at Chisel.

"Lily cut them off after he tried to kill me while we were working together on something," Kat explained. "I still have the legs,"

Steel ran a hand down his face helmet, "Right that... well we can get to that later. Appoline and the other two alchemists have been working on potions and we’ve started to store them in spatially expanded crates to keep from overfilling the tent. Is there anything I need to know immediately?"

"These guys weren’t the ones adding more poison, or at least, there’s no evidence for that. They were hired to find something inside. Bruce is the only one who was meant to know, but Furen here seems to think she overheard them. The problem is that her throat was damaged so she can’t talk properly at the moment either. She’s volunteered to help out after some healing, though I don’t really know what that means in more practical terms," explained Kat.

Steel nodded, "Hmmm... might be best to hand her off to Appoline. In fact, probably best to keep her with you lot if you don’t mind watching over her for the night. Appoline will probably be pleased to have someone with a similar injury to her own that needs healing and I doubt Furen will refuse free top quality healing from one of the better alchemists around."

Furen nodded along. Kat wasn’t sure she’d jump at the chance to be healed with experimental potions by a poison specialist... but she supposed that when said specialist was also trying to heal her own scars and was known as one of the best alchemists in the city that changed things. Maybe. *