(Yeah, it went well, but I need to write a report by Wednesday to finish this off. I'll be able to reply on Thursday. Thank you for your patience.)

(No problem!)

(I'm back! *T2 theme plays*
Trip over, paper written and submitted, I'm so ready for my two months off! I'll continue where we left off.)

{Antonio shakes his head.}

Antonio: "And on what criterion can you make that judgement? You spared Ben, but not the others? Why does he live while the rest die? What does he have that the rest didn't?"

(Welcome back! :D)

'I think that's pretty obvious,' Armin replied. 'Ben regrets what he did. He's young and idiotic. We all make stupid mistakes when we're kids. The others were older, seasoned followers of Sargon who knew exactly what they were doing.' His expression darkened. 'And as for Hurricane... Well, if you'd seen any of the atrocities he committed, then you'd feel differently about him.'

Antonio: "Well, I wasn't there, so I can't make any judgments. I only hope what you say is true. History is written by the victors, and what they write isn't always true."

Jerry: "And that's why I don't believe you. You know what I think? I think you're another Sargon, just waiting to happen. We should deal with you before you get any ideas."

Armin glanced at Jerry, then back at Antonio. 'I'd rather not have to fight you unless I have to. But I definitely don't need to stand around chatting with you all day. Have you got anything else to say? If not, get lost.'

Antonio: “I’m not going anywhere. Not while you just might execute more innocent people.”

{Dianne tilts her head in thought.}

Dianne: “You’re stalling, aren’t you? There are people looking to escape right now, aren’t there?”

'Innocent people? How stupid are you?' Armin exclaimed in an exasperated tone. He drew his sword and pointed it at Antonio. 'If you really are trying to help Sargon's loyal minions escape, then I've got no choice but to kill you. You're too dangerous to be left alive.'

{Antonio draws his rapier, eyeing the group uncertainly.}

Antonio: “I’m not stupid. I’m the only one willing to see. Those still loyal to Sargon attacked you outright. These want nothing more to do with this fight. Leave them alone.”

Dianne: “We’ll be the judge of that.”
{With a wave of her hand, half of Dianne’s draugrs disperse, searching for the survivors.}

'Don't get the wrong idea,' said Armin, keeping his sword pointed at Antonio in case the other vampire tried something. 'If I meet someone who I think deserves a second chance, like Ben, then I'll give it to them. But trust me, nearly all of Sargon's minions are senseless murderers just like him. And even if they surrender, it doesn't change the fact that they've done horrible things to people in the past.'

Antonio: “And what gives you the right to be judge, jury, and executioner, Armin? What right have any of you? Their army is defeated, their leaders, dead. Those who were still loyal died just now in the skirmish. Let these go.”

'We're not letting any of them go unless we know for sure that they aren't just going to run off and keep killing people,' said Armin simply.

Antonio: “And I’m saying you don’t have the right to do that. I’m certain these people will not hurt anyone. However, I can’t say the same about you lot. They’re leaving, whether you like it or not.”

Armin eyed Antonio for a moment, then turned around to address Jerry and Dianne. 'OK, so what's the plan? You two have been being pretty quiet back there.'

{Jerry, who was still pointing his gun at Antonio, takes a moment to speak.}
Jerry: “...I think we should kill him now. He’s dangerous. And the three of us together should be more than enough.”

Dianne: “I’d rather not fight him unless we absolutely have to. He’s no pushover. Realistically speaking, he can’t actually stop us from finding his group, he’s just here to stall. I say we find that group and ignore Antonio. If he wants to start something, he’ll have to attack first.”

'Yeah, let's do that,' said Armin. 'We can beat him if we have to. Well, see you around, Antonio.' He put his sword over his shoulder and began to walk away.

{Antonio does not sheath his weapon.}
Antonio: "I will do what must be done. If you don't leave them alone, I will stop you. The bloodshed must end somewhere."

Armin paused, but didn't turn around. 'There's three of us - plus the centaurs and Titan - and only one of you. Honestly, I'm not that worried.'

{Antonio does not answer, for he is already gone.}
Dianne: “If he’s smart, he won’t show his face again.”

{Just then, a centaur shows up.}

Centaur: “Dianne, we found them. But, they’re heavily armed. They must have found Sargon’s armory.”

(Aay, want to throw in Carol?)

Armin glanced around. 'Huh, he just disappeared? I'm sure he'll be back. He's not going to just leave us alone after all that complaining.' He then turned to listen to the centaur who had just showed up. 'How many of them are there?'

(Carol the evil necromancer? Sure, I'll throw her in. That'll be fun. >:) I almost forgot she existed.)

(Lol, glad I reminded you.)

Centaur: “About 25. They’re grouped around a collection of scavenged cars. They haven’t left because a collapsed building is in their path. Two young dragon shifters are attempting to clear the way.”

Dianne: “Show me.”

{The centaur turns and begins to lead the group to the survivors.}

'Well, this is going to be fun,' Armin remarked as he followed the rest of the group.

Meanwhile, in the group of former minions, a necromancer was sitting on top of one of the cars, lazily watching the dragonshifters trying to clear the rubble. She had short, pure-white hair, blue eyes, and was wearing an outfit similar to Ana's, but in black and grey colours.

An old, grizzled werewolf scowled at her. 'Useless,' he grumbled. 'You're a magician and you can't even clear some rubble.'

'Maybe not,' said Carol sweetly, 'but if any of Sargon's enemies find us here, then I'm the only one who's going to be able to protect you.'

'I can protect myself!'

'Oh yes, you werewolves did /so/ well at protecting yourselves in that battle at Sovereign City,' she said sarcastically. 'In fact, you did so well that only a handful of you survived it.'

The werewolf subsided into angry muttering and walked off to help the dragonshifters.

{The centaurs lead the group a little ways to the convoy. They consist mostly of younger and older individuals. A few have armed themselves with Sargon's AK-47s from the basement. However, these are clearly fledgling vampires and werewolves, who look absolutely terrified to just be holding these weapons.}

Dianne: "...Well, Armin, what do you think?"

Jerry: "Jeeze, most look barely 20, or not a day over 70. No wonder they didn't want to fight. Well, except for her." (Points at Carol.)

Dianne: "...Who is she?"

...

Werewolf with gun: "C-Carol? W-what if those zombies show up? C-can you really beat them? I-I mean....Y-know, after what happened with Ana..."

Armin surveyed the enemy group, his expression somewhere between unimpressed and amused. 'I've never seen any of Sargon's minions looking so pathetic.' Then, when Dianne pointed out Carol, his expression shifted to worry. 'Hmm, we'd better watch out for that one... Her name's Carol, and she was one of Sargon's most powerful mages, alongside Ana. She knows a few of the same magic spells Ana did, but she also knows a lot of other ones.'

----

Carol smiled. 'Relax. Everything'll be OK. I know a spell that should be effective against the zombies... also, they're called /draugrs,/ not zombies. Get it right.'

- RR

Dianne: “If she fights us, she will die like the rest. Wait, what’s the plan again? We asses if they’re bad somehow? I don’t just send in Titan to step on the cars?”

“Yes, missus...”
{The werewolf grumbles. However, he stops, sniffing the air.}
“Draugrs!” {He yelps like a pup.}
“I can smell them! They’re close!”

'I don't care anymore,' Armin replied. 'I'm sick of trying to negotiate with Sargon's former minions and figure out whether they're worthy of redemption or not. Let's just kill them and get this over with.'

Carol hopped down from the top of the car, rolling up her sleeves. 'Don't worry. As soon as I see the first zombie - I mean draugr - show up, I'll blast them to smithereens.'

{Dianne raises a brow in disbelief.}
Dianne: “...Huh. That’s... a little dark for you. Expected of me, but pretty dark for you. Fine, let’s do it. I’ll have Titan step on the cars, I’ll cut ar

*Around to intercept the dragons when they try to flee, and I’ll have the centaurs charge in the middle. You two just kill who you can.”

Armin shrugged. 'Surprising, isn't it? I /did/ originally want to leave a few of them alive, if they seemed like they deserved the chance... but this has gone on long enough. And talking to Antonio has kinda killed my desire to be nice to any of Sargon's troops. Alright, let's do that.'

Meanwhile, one of the older werewolves was listening closely, trying to hear what Armin and Dianne were saying. 'Hmm... I think I recognise their voices... and their scents, too. I'd be cautious if I were you, Carol. These people aren't pushovers. They killed Lord Sargon, after all.' Carol seemed to be ignoring him.

{Dianne smirks at Armin, then runs off to get into position. After a few minutes, the sky goes dark, as Titan descends upon the group. He crushes two of the cars under his feet, upon landing, nearly stepping on Carol in the process.}

Werewolf: “Holy shet! What the hell is that?”

Carol looked up as Titan descended, and calmly stepped out of his way. 'Oh my, that's a big draugr...' she muttered. 'I'm not sure the spell I was going to use will work on him... But no harm in trying.'

She threw a spell at Titan. It was intended to make the target explode into pieces, but due to Titan's size, it only succeeded in severing his leg (the one that had been bitten by Hurricane earlier). She then cast a magical shield around herself and dived behind one of the cars.

{To say that Titan was surprised would be an understatement. He fell, crushing a few more cars in the process, swearing the entire time.}
Werewolf: "Aaaaahhh! Draugrs! Hurry up and clear that rubble!"

{The nonhumans with guns fire wildly at Titan and the centaurs that followed while the dragons frantically dug at the rubble pile. Jerry fires on the group from a distance, prioritizing the ones with firearms.}

Carol laughed. She clambered on top of one of the cars that hadn't been destroyed yet, and fired the same spell at one of the approaching centaurs. As the centaur was smaller than Titan, its body exploded into fragments upon impact.

'Yes!' Carol punched the air in a victory gesture. 'Take that, zombies!'

One of the less intelligent dragons decided to abandon the rubble pile to pounce on Titan after he fell, trying to hold him down.

Armin had shifted into hawk form and was circling above the fight, waiting for an opportunity to dive down and strike.

{The centaurs shrieked in rage at the loss of their comrade. The remaining centaurs pull the doors off of the vehicles to use as shields and charge at Carol from all sides. Titan becomes enraged at the dragon. Grabbing a hold of the dragon and, using his larger size, he begins to maul the smaller dragon. By the rubble pile, Dianne lunges at the remaining dragon, tearing into him a throwing him around like a rag doll.}

{*In dragon form.}

As the centaurs surrounded her, Carol jumped off the roof of her car, threw herself inside it, and started up the engine. She must have already known that this particular car still worked. Then, grinning like a maniac, she drove straight towards the centaurs in front of her, flinging another draugr-destroying spell at one of them.

The dragon who had attacked Titan was dead within moments, outmatched by the larger hydra. Meanwhile, Armin had shifted to human form and was grappling with another vampire, who was holding a pistol that Armin was trying to wrestle out of his grip.

{The centaur threw its car door into the path of the spell, causing the car door to explode instead. Charging forward, the centaur mounts the hood of the car and puts its hand through the windshield, clawing at Carol. Having killed her target, Dianne now shifts her attention to the fleeing car, breathing a fireball directly in its path. As Armin wrestled with the other vampire, a shot ripped through the hostile vampire, as Jerry nailed him from a distance.}

Carol used a weak Ward spell to deflect the centaur's claws, then destroyed it with another exploding spell, taking advantage of its lack of a shield. As soon as she did this, she noticed Dianne's fireball coming towards her. With a squeal of brakes, she stopped the car and then threw it into reverse, trying to get out of the fireball's way.

The vampire fell, and Armin quickly snatched up his pistol before it hit the ground. Looking around, he saw Jerry some distance away. Armin gave a thumbs-up gesture in thanks, then hurried off to find more enemies.

{Jerry nods at Armin. However, as Armin turned away, Jerry was struck in the back by someone. It was Antonio. Having reappeared, he kept his foot on Jerry’s back and takes his heavy rifle.}

Antonio: “Sorry, senor, but too much blood has been spilled on your account already. Let them go.”

{Dianne’s fireball misses by a few feet. As Carol reverses, the centaurs collide with the car from the rear, breaking the glass and reaching for Carol from behind. Dianne, starting to get angry with how quickly she was losing centaurs, begins bounding right for her.}

Carol leapt out of the car's side door while it was still moving and started to run away. As she spotted Dianne coming towards her, she grinned and raised a hand.

'Keep away from me, unless you want to lose a limb like your stupid pet hydra,' she shouted in warning as she continued to run.

Scanning the battleground for more enemies, Armin happened to glance in Jerry's direction again and noticed Antonio standing over him. //Did he just attack him from behind...?// Quickly shifting into hawk form, he flew up into the air, crossed the battleground and landed in front of the pair. Shifting back to human form, he aimed his pistol at Antonio's face. 'You're pretty stupid, showing up here again.'

{Dianne did not slow. She seems intent on catching up to Carol.}
Dianne: “I’m not so easily marked, wench! I will tear you into pieces for what you did to Titan!”

{Antonio was taking aim at Dianne with the heavy rifle when Armin appeared in front of him. He smiles slightly at the other vampire.}
Antonio: “Am I dumb for doing what I think is right? These are just the young, the old, and the women. I can’t just let you kill them.”
{Antonio starts to lower the rifle, but the swings it around, hitting the pistol out of Armin’s hand. He then takes a step back and draws his rapier, sword in one hand and rifle in the other.}

Carol smiled, but it looked a little strained. She seemed aware that her escape attempt wasn't going to plan. She flung one of her destructive spells over her shoulder at Dianne, and kept running.

Armin hadn't expected Antonio to move so fast. He unsheathed his longsword, warily eyeing the rifle Antonio was holding. 'I'm done arguing with you. It's obvious that neither of us is willing to change our opinion. If you want to stop us, then you're going to have to beat us - single-handedly.'

{Dianne simply sidesteps to avoid the spell. She starts to sprint at Carol, gaining extremely quickly. Antonio keeps Armin at sword’s length.}

Antonio: “It would not be the first time I’ve beaten impossible odds. En garde!”

Recognising that she didn't have a chance, Carol stopped trying to run away. Instead, she simply stood in place and threw repeated destructive spells at Dianne while Dianne charged towards her.

One of the older werewolves across the other side of the battleground looked up. 'Huh. Looks like Carol's about to die,' he mumbled. 'Oh well, I never liked her anyway.'

Armin didn't reply. He slowly circled around Antonio for a moment, then suddenly lunged forwards with a slashing sword blow, aiming to knock the rifle out of Antonio's grip.

{Dianne became a smoke-like mass, allowing the spells to pass through her harmlessly. She re-materialized in human form, as she realized that she was too big of a target as a dragon. At this point, however, she was extremely close. Drawing her sword, she lunges at Carol, looking to cut her down.}

{Antonio skillfully parried Armin's attack, retaliating with a swift slash at his legs. With his rapier, Antonio outranged Armin, and he intended to use that to his advantage.}

Antonio: "Going for the rifle? I'm not intending to shoot /you/ with it. Pay more attention to the sword."

Carol clumsily stepped sideways to avoid the blow. Looking around, she yelled out to a group of werewolves and vampires a fair distance away. 'Hey! You lot are supposed to be on my side! Come and help me!' However, they either ignored her or didn't hear. Muttering a curse, Carol drew a short dagger and lunged at Dianne with it. It was obvious that she wasn't the best at fighting.

Armin quickly stepped back. 'Who /are/ you planning to shoot with it, then?' He started circling around Antonio again, seemingly waiting for the other vampire to make a move first.

{Dianne grabs Carol's knife arm by the wrist, her decay magic eating into Carol's arm. With her sword, Dianne slices Carol's other arm, severing the tendons that control her fingers, rendering her hand useless.}

Dianne: "What was it you said earlier? That you'd make 'short work' of my draugrs? How about now, with both arms crippled and no magic?"

{At that moment, she started to drain Carol's energy.}

{Antonio starts to advance, pointing his sword at Armin.}
Antonio: "Dianne, of course. This is an 'anti-dragon' rifle after all."
{He follows up with a flurry of slashes aimed primarily at Armin's torso and legs.}

Carol looked down in horror as her arm started to decay. She tried to cast her destructive spell again, but it was impossible with so little energy and without the ability to perform hand movements. She looked up at Dianne. 'Go on, then. Kill me, if it makes you so happy,' she said, trying to sound calm.

Armin retreated before Antonio's onslaught of slashes, then swung his sword and clashed their two blades together. Using his heavier sword to push Antonio's rapier out of the way, he darted forwards and attempted to grab the rifle with his free hand.

{Dianne chuckles nastily. She then throws Carol to the floor, at the feet of two centaurs.}
Dianne: "Well, I could, but I think they would much rather do it, given how many of their comrades you destroyed."

{The centaurs grab a hold of Carol, restraining her and holding her up. Dianne has a strange look of hatred in her eyes, the same look she had when she was about to kill the werewolf's girlfriend a few nights ago.}

Dianne: "Tear her arms off. Show the rest of the survivors what happens when they try insurrection."

{Antonio tries to keep the rifle out of reach, but Armin grabs a hold. In response, Antonio swings his sword upward, trying to slash Armin's wrist to force him to let go.}

A few of the enemy non-humans had gathered around Dianne and Carol to observe their fight, keeping a safe distance away. 'What are you doing? What's wrong with you?' Carol hissed. 'Why don't you just kill me now and get it over with, you freak? I hate you!' She continued to rage at Dianne while the centaurs restrained her. 'All we were doing was trying to escape, and you're killing us all without a shred of mercy! You're worse than us!'

As Antonio's blade cut into his wrist, Armin released his hold on the rifle and jumped back, muttering a frustrated curse as he did so. He paused briefly to inspect the wound, which wasn't deep, and then charged at the other vampire with a series of fast, slashing blows, trying to get past his guard and land a hit on him.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Dianne in the distance with her centaurs holding up Carol, but he didn't pay them much attention.

{Dianne turns to look at Carol, a twisted grin on her face.}
Dianne: "Worse? Of course I'm worse. Isn't it obvious? I'm your comeuppance. You all committed an atrocity, and now I'm here to see that you all pay for it. Yes, I'm worse than you. And you /deserve/ me."

{Antonio dodges and parries as many of Armin's blows as he can, but one of his strikes gets through, slicing his rifle arm. He grunts, then leaps back, to put some distance between the two.}
Antonio: "Dianne is a monster. She will slaughter them, Armin. They are but children and old men. Is that what you really want? Their blood on your hands?"

Carol glared at Dianne. 'We all followed Sargon because we thought he could give us a better life. A world where we'd be free of the humans killing us. Maybe we made a mistake in trusting him, but all we wanted was a better life. Is that really so wrong?'

Armin took his eyes off Antonio for a moment, sparing a glance towards Dianne and Carol. He couldn't hear what they were saying from this far away, but he wondered exactly what was going on. 'They willingly served Sargon,' he said, still not looking at Antonio. 'They committed horrific acts to defenceless people under his command. Acts that I watched happen. Look around you. Look at this city - it's lying in ruins and almost everyone who lived here is dead. Because of what /they/ did.'