Night's Omen

 There was a sharp rap on the infirmary door. The tired, but somehow very alert and awake-appearing, Frost guild leader, was certainly earning his keep tonight. It had almost wound down - dawn was approaching, and the last of Midnight's attacks had ceased. He appeared as the door swung open, blue eyes cast down on the very obvious brother of his that lay in the infirmary bed, an IV drip thrust in his arm as he dozed in and out of sleep. His vampire friend had certainly put himself to good use just as he said he would - without Victor, the infirmaries were short-staffed, and while another Diamond had come to help, this time a Smoke healer (thank fucking god), it still hadn't been enough hands. Jared was surprisingly well-controlled, probably from not ripping Ryan's head off for the better part of a year, and had been helping where he could.

"Shane," Gunnar greeted. He peeled the latex gloves off his hand and threw them in the medical waste bin, then wiped a bead of sweat off of his forehead. He nodded to the vampire, who held up a juice box for him while simultaneously playing thumb war with one of the pre-teen children who was waiting while they patched up her mother.

"Ah, you got me!" Jared exclaimed. "You're a cheater!"

"I'm not a cheater!" she whispered, clapping her hand over her mouth.

Jared glanced up at Christian, then nodded. "Alright kiddo, playtime's over. Go find your dad. You remember the way? Good, go. Don't stop 'til you find him," he said, watching as she skirted through the maze of beds and out the door past Christian's legs. At Christian's questioning glance, he shrugged his shoulders and offered no response; Christian, to his credit, didn't demand one.

"Certainly a much bigger help then that one has been," Gunnar said, smiling, though a little pained, as he flicked his gaze at Ryan.

"Yeah... he's a drinker," Christian said, a heavy sigh all he could do to explain the situation.

"I told you I could be useful," Jared said, standing up and pointing at Christian. He, too, wove through the maze of beds, but this time to go and punch Ryan in the arm to wake him up. "Don't let princess Aurora fool you, this faggot has been knocked out since Gunnar 'took his drunk away' about four hours ago," he said. "Wake up, faggot!" he snapped, leaning down into Ryan's ear.

Ryan sat up, rubbing his eyes. "I'm up, I'm up!" he shouted. It took him a second to come back into reality, and then he just propped himself up on the pillows. "Oh.. s'up bro. Is it over? Did you win?"

"You're related?" Gunnar asked, giving the juice box a final squeeze.

"Unfortunately. Come on, Ryan. Eva and Andrea are leaving for the airport. Come say goodbye, you won't be seeing them again for a while."

True to Ryan's form, he bitched and moaned the entire way down the hall, Gunnar actually speeding up to walk alongside Christian and give him a better idea of where they stood with the injured/displaced for the moment. So far, the hundred-plus rooms that the guildhouse boasted were actually coming in handy, and it sounded like they had room to spare. Not only that, but aside from the few very bad injuries, Frost seemed to sustain the least.

Behind them, whatever Jared had said to Ryan, it seemed to straighten Ryan up quite a bit. Christian didn't hear any of it, but Gunnar, with his keen hearing, did, and he definitely heard Jared remind his friend that some people did not have families that loved them, and that he'd better get with the fucking program.

They all said their goodbyes to the SUV as Eva and Andrea lagged, trying not to leave. Andrea got out and hugged Ryan, then commented on how much he smelled, to which he told her she smelled, which made her laugh through her tearful goodbye. Axel, Heidi and Russell had come outside by that point; Heidi to smoke a cigarette, Axel to smack it out of her mouth, and then Russell to scream girlishly as Axel then flicked the boy in the ear, hard, for letting his daughter smoke ("have you ever tried NOT telling her to do something?"). It was all running smoothly, and just as Christian turned on his heel and raised his hand to pat Axel on the back... it happened.

The explosion was loud, and hot. The concussion from the blast knocked everyone outside to their backs, though Jared was up first, with Gunnar right after him. Nobody could hear anything. Nobody could see anything. There was just darkness, and heat, and a loud ringing noise that flooded their ears for what seemed like hours, when in reality, it had only been a lapsed time of about ten seconds, maybe even less. But that was enough; that was all it took.

The first thing Gunnar and Jared could really hear (over the ringing, that was), was Christian and Ryan - screaming. Jared just turned and grabbed the blonde hunter by the shoulder as hard as he could, then thrust him at Christian, to stop him from rushing into the flaming SUV that was now not moving in the mouth of the driveway. Axel may not have been able to hear, but he understood, and had to hold Christian back with all his might as the man fought tooth and nail to break free and go after their bodies before they burned to death.

Jared and Gunnar went, but only because they could both heal, and even then, they knew it was in vain. There had been enough explosives in the SUV to make sure that nobody would have gotten out of it. From the guildhouse, Thomas, Firuza and Audrey emerged, only for Audrey to spin on her heel and shield her son from coming out any further. She was yelling something down the halls, for them to get help, but it was all lost under the screaming and the ringing. Thomas had his own job, to hold down Ryan, who was surprisingly strong for someone who had just spent the last six hours drunker than piss and snoozing in the infirmary on a good buzz the Smoke had given him, and the wolf could only wryly wonder why the kid had found it now to show a burst of strength when all this time he'd been totally useless.

Gunnar had turned back and was yelling something at Firuza, and those who saw were left to assume that the Diamonds had worked together under much more dire conditions such as these, who, with a raise of her hands, was trying to direct the fire off of the SUV to give them room to work. The amount that she had to raise in such a small amount of time, especially after so little sleep and so much work done already on the field (she'd been out and about before she'd come back to the guildhouse, only just arrived ten minutes before), brought her to her knees, and she had to let go before she lost control and the flames consumed the two men trying to get into the vehicle.

"Gunnar!" she screamed. "Get back! It's no use! I can't hold on!"

The last thing she saw was the dirt come face-up at her as her power expended herself, and the vampire and the Smoke leap back towards her as the flames completely consumed the vehicle for a second time.

Everyone in Diamond knew that Frost's esteemed leader, one Christian Shane, had a younger brother who was as useless as he was capable.  It was among the facts that had been mentioned when they all stood, sat and otherwise made themselves comfortable around that huge table and chose who would be going into guilds as plants and who would be standing by as either back-up for them or unrelated problems.  Everything of note regarding leaders, trainers and even some of the more active or troublesome members had been discussed, and so Gunnar thought that he was prepared for these people.  He'd, obviously, been wrong.

What had thrown him off the hardest hadn't been anyone at the guilds, but Azhure, who'd taken his Energizer Bunny reputation and used him up way early in the evening.  After recovering as well as he was going to, he'd gotten back to work at Onyx, then moved to Crimson to put Batten (the leader, not the missing surgeon, though if they found that man alive, Gunnar figured he'd be meeting him not long afterwards) back together, tend to their wounded and finally to Frost.  It seemed ironic to him at first that Frost had the fewest serious injuries for him to deal with, but then someone had pointed out that it was because the Frost kids were going at it hard enough that some hadn't come back.  That sounded more like their style, so as unpleasant as it was, it wasn't surprising.

He was wearing thin by the time he hit Frost, hoping that dawn would bring a lull during which he could take a nap, but he was still plenty sharp and he had help in the form of the absolute last expected person possible.  Ryan Shane had been a problem that evening, and so Gunnar had healed him and put him down to sober up, which had left Ryan's vampire friend.  Diamond was aware of Jared Bastian because of his relation to Ryan Shane, and everything they knew about him said that he was a loser, a criminal and dangerous.  He was the bad influence that was taking Ryan even further down the rabbit hole, but here he was, diving away from the wall by Ryan's side when someone was brought in screaming and flailing about, helping Gunnar (who had a split second to figure out if Jared was trying to attack or help, and thankfully guessed right) to hold the hunter down long enough to do his job.  From that point on, the vampire was essentially Gunnar's right hand man and did the bitchwork for the healer, surprisingly without complaining. 

Jared was a surprise all around, to be honest.  He kept his cool during bad situations with hunters who were bleeding (vampire, and a young one?) and upset, and who didn't want to deal with two strangers instead of their usual doctors, and then there were the ones who knew who Jared was and really didn't want anything to do with him helping them.  Jared and Ryan didn't have a good reputation, but Ryan got some slack because his last name was Shane.  Jared didn't.  Gunnar watched the guy snap back replies and still help them without seeming to take much of it to heart, play with displaced children who had been healed or brought in with injured parents, and generally keep shit together when Gunnar was swamped in other areas.  He had no formal training, but he seemed quite capable of dealing with minor injuries without help, and the few pointers Gunnar had offered were integrated into what he was doing immediately.  All around, Jared was the second biggest surprise of Gunnar's evening, and a good one to somewhat balance out Azhure.

Even knowing that Ryan was nothing like his brother hadn't prepared Gunnar for meeting them both and seeing them interact, mostly because it was such a huge difference, but maybe there was hope.  If Jared had been such a huge surprise, maybe Ryan had hidden depths, though Gunnar wasn't counting on it being tonight.  Jared's ability to get Ryan on board with the family situation as they walked out to send Christian's wife and daughter to safety didn't escape the Smoke's attention, either, and it was filed away for later.  He wasn't sure if Jared would appreciate what he was going to do, but it was an opportunity and the kid deserved it. 

The healer sat back during the goodbyes, having filled Christian in on the state of his guild from the infirmary's point of view, and he'd taken to watching the other people around him.  He recognized Axel both because he was a trainer who'd shown up in their briefing and because he'd come in for some serious burns and cuts after a run-in with Bacchus that had taken out Leo Battaglia.  His friend and sometimes partner had been killed in the blast, but so had countless cult members, and Axel had escaped with a pretty core group of ISIS as a result.  Those were people that the guilds hadn't wanted as part of the Bacchae, so Leo's sacrifice wasn't for nothing, but it was still sobering news.  The trainer was handling it surprisingly well, but that was predominantly because they didn't have time for grieving or anything of the like at that point.  Until things slowed down, they had to keep moving.  Gunnar had put him back in the field by healing him instead of putting him to bed, and here he was with his daughter and a young man that had to be close to Heidi.

Obviously, Axel didn't approve of Russell, but that was because very few boys could be good enough for his daughter (hunters were too reckless and a threat to her safety, and civilians were too soft and a threat to her safety) and Russell sure as hell didn't seem like he should be a good candidate.  Sure, he had a sense of humor and was usually a good guy with enough confidence to not be a problem, but all Axel saw was fidgets and nerves.  That was because Axel was fucking terrifying and they'd been surrounded by people getting killed and guns all night, but hey, Axel didn't have to consider any of that.  He'd just taken the fact that Russell was terrified and run with it, which was actually what he was doing right before Christian patted him on the back and they turned to go inside, right before the explosion.

Naturally, being knocked to the ground by yet another bomb that evening didn't feel great, but this was the second one that Heidi had been present for, so that was actually his first concern.  Jared was already on his feet as Axel was pushing past more blood, disorientation and lack of any ability to hear, but the blonde hunter was searching out his daughter up until Jared yanked him around hard enough that he almost thought the kid would yank his shoulder out of socket (it was easy to forget that Jared could have packed a punch if he wanted to) and thrust him at Christian.  He understood immediately, especially since the guild leader's rush towards the flaming vehicle had been cut off merely by Jared putting Axel in his space.  It was up to the trainer to hold him back from there, which was a lot harder than he'd thought.  Made sense why Jared threw Axel in there, since he was the only one present that could take Christian's abuse and still hold him. 

That he was also trying to scream over the ringing in all of their ears for Heidi to stop fucking fighting with Russell and get her ass into the guildhouse wasn't helping, but Russell was trying to get past her towards the car even after the other Diamond and Thomas had busted out.  Axel trusted Gunnar to get to them if there was a chance they could be saved (he didn't think there was) and Jared was a vampire, so let him get burned up if someone had to.  What Axel hadn't been banking on was whatever the woman who'd been introduced as Firuza was doing was suddenly failing, and that it caused the sudden flaring of the flames that made Gunnar back off and Jared scream. 

Russell chose that moment of surprise out of everyone to break away from Heidi and run forward just a steps.  Axel shouted to him and saw him throw his hands up in the direction of the car almost like he'd slammed against a solid wall, push-up position, and then thrust both hands out in front of him with what looked like some serious oomph.  Axel could have ignored it and avoided the suckerpunch from the struggling man he was holding if the flames hadn't washed away like a hurricane wind had hit them and Russell hadn't dropped like a sack of rocks, but that's how it happened and so when Christian nailed him in the side of the head, he wavered and the guild boss pushed past him for a few seconds.  He recovered quickly, spinning around to yank Christian back, but damn it, what the fuck was going on?

With his hearing returning, he could hear Thomas shouting at someone to stop fucking around, but he wouldn't risk dividing his attention again.

 Ryan couldn't process what he'd just seen. He was sober, he knew. He felt fine, actually - he felt better then fine, he felt awesome. Whatever the Smoke had done, healed him or let him rest, he felt like he'd just slept on a magical bed made of rejuvenation and energy. He didn't realize that the healer had literally healed him, as in fixed all of the damage he'd been doing with his drinking and recreational drug use for the time being, which meant Ryan actually was in control of his own body and mind for the first time in a long time. It was such an unfamiliar sensation to him that he felt almost light on his feet - and even if he had grumbled about having to get up, because he knew it'd mean he'd get sucked into having to do something sooner or later, Jared's harsh little reminder that not everyone had it so good brought him back down to planet Earth.

And after he'd given Eva a kiss (an actual kiss) on the cheek and Andrea the 'best hug ever' (her words, from a girl not used to Ryan being more than a drunk bump on a log, even though in her youth she always favoured him playing video games with her and whatever else the best), he walked back with Christian towards the front steps where everyone had started making their way outside. And then -

Eva and Andrea were just gone. They just suddenly ceased to exist. Their lives had been snuffed out violently in one split-second, one terrible explosion. And Ryan was powerless to stop it.

While Jared raced at the fire like it might do some good, Ryan tried to go after him, unwilling to let his best friend be the only one helping. He was stopped short with a sudden weight in front of him, and his eyes, frozen wide and frantic, came to focus on Thomas. Thomas, who only shook his head, as if to warn Ryan not to fight him. On the ground next to them, Christian fought wildly to get away from Axel, but to no avail. He could feel something wet on his face (he was crying, and he didn't even realize it) and hear something dull in his ears (he was also screaming), but it was all drown out by the ringing - and then Thomas shouting over him to stop, that they were gone, and not to risk his own life when there was nothing he could do that the vampire and the Smoke weren't already trying. He tried anyways, and ended up on his own ass as Thomas wrestled him down to the ground. He stopped before Christian did, coming to his knees in the dirt, clutching at Thomas and sobbing into the man's shoulder as the wolf just let him react.

Heidi had gone wild, too - in fact, everyone had, in their own way. Hers was for a different reason, though - Russell had tried to run off the porch into the fire with the two supernatural creatures. She was screaming for him to stop, grabbing both his arms and locking them at the elbows as she tried to hurt him to stop him from taking off, but Russell finally stomped down on her foot and caused her to jump back into Audrey, who was still in front of the door, screaming orders at the people beyond the threshold. She took a few paces to go after him, and then she just stalled out, watching in awe as he mimed the fire away. And then he dropped.

She screamed his name (everyone was screaming, weren't they?), but he didn't hear her (and she didn't hear herself, since everyone was also pretty much temporarily deaf at the moment), and dove down into the dirt after him. She checked his pulse, afraid he'd had a heart attack or something, and was relieved to find that he was unconscious. As Gunnar came back from the now-smoldering SUV, knowing there was nothing he could do, she flagged him down quickly to help her get Russell up and inside. By the time the flames were out, Ryan was just on his knees crying, being "comforted" by Thomas (who was eager to hand him off to Jared, if only because he wasn't as familiar with the lesser Shane than the vampire was), and Christian was in a very clear state of shock. He'd hit Axel, then when he realized that there was nothing he could do, he'd broken his hand punching the brick of the wall on the outside of the guildhouse where they all were.

Heidi assured her father she was fine, helping Gunnar with Russell, and nodded back at Christian, indicating that her dad was more needed there for the moment. She was eager to get Russell inside before he got brain damage or something, but as far as she saw, Ryan was content to sit in the dirt and just let go of himself, and his friend didn't seem to be in a hurry to make him get up. It was Christian, who, after the initial panicked reaction, just walled himself up, not talking, not pacing, not anything, that worried her, and she knew Axel would be more well-equipped to deal with it then any of the other people at the moment.

Nobody seemed able to properly process what they'd just seen except for the Diamonds, and one was down fairly quickly; anyone who was on the move was thinking just about moving and getting through the situation, and anyone who was thinking about the full gravity of what was happening were freaking out.  Gunnar managed to take Firuza's warning and get away from the vehicle far enough that, though he got somewhat scorched, he didn't get burned.  Jared didn't, so when it flared up suddenly, he screamed and had to jump out, but Gunnar was impressed to see that once he'd landed on his ass in the dirt with serious burns and the guy Axel's daughter had been fighting to hold back pulled his stunt, somehow whooshing the fire out and dropping into the dirt, Jared was pushing himself back up to get into the car again.  Gunnar did the same, but they'd both known that it was too late.  Without the fire, it was plain as day, and the Diamond would have bet his life that the two women had died instantly, but he'd had to try. 

He and Jared abandoned the car, both looking their own versions of pissed, exhausted and upset that there wasn't anything to be done, and while Jared took over for Thomas in dealing with Ryan (who had flipped out and was obviously winding down, but still a wreck) while his burns slowly healed, Gunnar was flagged over to the young man that seemed to have put out the fire.  A quick check had the healer pretty certain that he wasn't hurt and had just overdone it, so he called Thomas over to carry the boy while he lifted Firuza up off the ground.  It was up to Axel to deal with Christian, a task that nobody wanted.

Gunnar just hoped that Christian was a little more himself by the time Axel brought him around to have his hand fixed. 

The Diamond seemed to have taken charge of most of the situation, gesturing people inside and getting some to the infirmary so that he could continue throwing energy that he probably sorely needed himself at them, and Axel left his daughter to go in with them, ignored the lesser Shane and his vampire friend as the former cried and dealt with it in a healthy manner and the latter put a sooty, burned hand on the guy's shoulder, and put all of his attention on Christian.  Was he actually better-equipped to deal with this than anyone else present?  Nope.  The fact of the matter was that nobody other than him, the vampire and Gunnar could take a hit from Christian if the man lashed out, and Christian didn't know the other two well enough to give a shit about hurting them.  There was also the fact that Axel, despite being Christian's friend and steadfast ally since before the man had taken charge of the guild, didn't mind telling him where to shove it when the situation called for it.  That the guild was Axel's if Christian couldn't pull it together may have also factored in there, but the older blonde hadn't yet fully considered that, and didn't want to. 

He had faith in Christian.

"Shane, let's get inside.  Your hand is a wreck," he started, walking towards the man carefully and attempting to take hold of him to take him in, but he was watching his leader very closely in case of a blow; his head was throbbing where Christian's last serious punch had landed.  Frankly, he'd prefer it if Shane would lash out, scream, do whatever he had to do, as long as it got him reacting.  It was this quiet numbness that was worrisome.  At least Ryan was crying, because it was something.  Not dealing wasn't an option.

 If Christian heard Axel, it didn't seem like it - at least, not at first. He just continued to stand there, staring off into nothing, and then after what seemed like several minutes, he just looked at him and nodded. He didn't say anything, only nodded, and lead the way inside. He found Gunnar, who was checking over Firuza and Russell to make sure that neither of them had some aneurism while attempting to hold back the flames (or in Russell's case, so much more), but when he saw Christian, he straightened up and held his hands out, directing him to give him the injured appendage to be fixed.  He had half a mind to leave it, if only because the pain would be real, and if Christian was like any other guild leader he'd ever known, suffering physical pain was often a good substitute for the mental anguish that would come. It would surely hit him, of course, but maybe later would be better than sooner. Either way, he healed his hand with minimal effort - it was a simple break, luckily.

Christian wiggled his fingers, nodding his thanks with a grunt, and then found the closest chair and sat down in it. He didn't want to be swarmed, and he was thankful for Thomas and Audrey shooing everyone from the immediate area for the time being. He didn't have anything to say to anyone, not really - what could he say? He was quiet for a while, looking through his phone in silence, and then finally he looked at Thomas with focus in his blue eyes.

"What's the status on the retrieval of Derek?"

It went unsaid that Derek was essentially one of the only living relatives he had left that was attached to the guilds. Melody would take this incredibly hard, he knew, and he didn't even feel like finding her. He'd break the news to them both when Derek arrived, whenever that would be. It'd be easier, if that were the word for it.

Nope, this wasn't at all healthy, but there was only so much that Axel could do.  He got Christian moving, which was a step in the right direction, and then it'd be up to Remi and Christian himself to carry him through the inevitable grief.  It had to be dealt with eventually, and Axel could only imagine as he silently followed the guild leader to the infirmary what it would be like to lose Heidi.  Seeing her there with Russell only drove the point home harder, and he clenched his jaw a little tighter.  Too many losses.

Content to take a position nearby for the time being, he caught Thomas' eye when the wolf glanced up over Christian's question, but Axel was no more in the know on that one than Christian was.  Everyone had been running ragged all night, so being on top of everything was essentially impossible for any one person.  Thomas knew about the Derek situation because Kimber had gone with Darling and Santos to make the trade, and they all knew it.  "Sounds like there was a delay, but he's en route now.  Last estimate's about 20 minutes."

What he didn't say was that the 'delay' seemed to involve Midnight's bosses insisting that Darling stay behind for whatever fucking reason and a dozen other clusterfucks that Kimber had briefly touched on without much in the way of details.  It was fine, because he wasn't sure he wanted details.  He was tired and had spent too much time in the field playing clean-up that night after getting Audrey and her kid to the guildhouse.  Audrey herself had gone with him for quite a few of his runs that evening, so she had to be just as tired as he was (especially being only human herself), but they were both still up and running.  All of the higher hunters were, and it seemed to be an unspoken thing that they would all keep going until they couldn't, take turns resting, and then go again.  There were too many of them missing and still out there.

 Patryk had apparated sometime during the commotion, though further inside the guild hall, with Adam Valerius in tow. The duo had rushed out to retrieve Anna, who despite being Adam's step-sister, was every bit as much family to him as Aurora was. He'd wrongly assumed that she'd been out of town for the week, only to receive a text from her asking if he'd seen Aurora at about five in the morning - Anna had waited up for her to watch a movie, but Aurora had never arrived.

Of course, at the moment, Adam had no idea that Aurora and Chase were currently in the company of Raphael Aristos, who was making them suffer far beyond the scope of what Christian was going through right then. If he had known, he would have pushed for Patryk to go after them; Patryk may have been less than a hundred, but he was ferocious. Adam wondered who his sire was plenty of times, but nobody ever spoke about it - it was like some sort of secret. What Adam did know was that Patryk was related to Christian's wife, which sort of made him family to the guild leader, and that was kind of funny.

Except, when they arrived with Anna and confirmation from one of the lower level hunters that Aurora was with Crimson upper-levels, Patryk's relief for his friend turned into a brick in his stomach as they were directed through the hall. Patryk could smell fire, burnt metal, and worst of all, fileted flesh - and there were whispers around him, but they were too cluttered among the current ado for him to really tell what was going on.

"Stay here," Patryk said to Anna absently, his hand sliding off of her shoulder in a familiar sort of fashion that Adam didn't miss but also failed to comment on.

"I'm going to take her to my apartment and get her set up, then see if I can't find a place for her behind a desk," Adam informed his friend. He glanced at Anna. "Do you think you can put your psych classes to good use and do some grief counseling or something?"

Patryk hesitated. "Are you good with children?" he asked the blonde, who was otherwise stunned to be told she was being put to work.

"I - well, I mean, I don't specialize with children, but I'm sure I can keep some occupied." She paused, her brow furrowing. "Are there really so many displaced families now?" she asked softly.

"Yeah," Adam said, his voice low. "Come on, I'll show you the way. They'll probably be in the play area, so if you can get them together and read them a story, that might keep them in check. I have a copy of the Hobbit in my room," he told her - Patryk listened to their voices grow more faint as they left his side and delved towards the living quarters.

Patryk watched them go for only a second, long enough to see them vanish behind ten or twelve low level hunters rushing down the hall, and then turned on his heel and headed for Christian's office. He wasn't guaranteed to be there, but it was a start. He caught a glimpse of a decent crowd in the infirmary, though, and stopped short, backing up a few paces - when he looked in, he spotted the group, and entered.

"I'm back with Adam Valerius," he said, nodding in greeting to Axel. His ice blue eyes passed over Firuza for a moment, watching as the woman drew her knees up to her chest and said something quietly to a blonde Witch at her side. Patryk didn't recognize either of them, and his facial expression certainly said as much. "What happened?" he asked, glancing at Christian, who just shook his head.

"Twenty minutes it is, then," Shane said, seemingly glossing over Patryk's question. Finally, he looked at the hunter. "Derek probably got run through the ringer in Midnight. Darling and Santos swapped a lackey of theirs for him, though, so it looks like he's set to be back here shortly."

"Lackey?" Patryk echoed. He'd been chasing down family members all night, so he'd missed all of it.

"A blue tiger tried to take out Batten, but he didn't get very far. They arranged to swap him for the boy, since apparently the Maltese is a fan favourite in that shithole," the woman he didn't know said. She gave Patryk a quick once-over that he didn't miss, then nodded. "How many were you able to save?"

"All," Patryk said absently, watching Christian as he answered Firuza. "I was able to move fast enough, and I'm good about passengers. Had a close call with Adam's sister, but that was due to her having two family members in two different guilds. Otherwise..." he trailed off, shrugging.

Christian nodded, listening to the hunter speak. "Well, at least your objectives went favourably," he said. He didn't look like he planned to say anything about Eva and Andrea, at least, not right then. It was probably better if he waited; Patryk would have been devestated. He wouldn't have fallen apart like Ryan had, but then again, you have to remember that except for Evangela, Andrea and Derek, he's the only Uncia that exists, and they're the last surviving members of his bloodline - and Patryk is an introspective, alone-in-the-world sort of guy, so it will upset him when he eventually does find out.

Christian finally pushed off of the cot and stood up, gesturing to Gunnar. "Patryk Verona, Gunnar Arissen and Firuza Ghassemi - Diamond loaned them out to us so that we didn't drown tonight. They're at Onyx and Crimson to, so if you go to another guild tonight, don't be surprised. Speaking of which, where do you need hunters, specifically? Patryk is more than capable, as am I. I can't stay here all night and manage this, that's what you're here for," he told Firuza bluntly.  "What's the point of being qualified to run a guild if you never get the chance?"

Gunnar had enough going on, let's be real, that he didn't need Russell, Christian and Jared (who was a vampire and healing by the time Ryan calmed down some and came in with him, but was doing so slowly) coming in hurt, but he wouldn't leave them.  He got Firuza up and running again, took care of the men, and then got himself another fucking energy drink.  He was switching it up between juice, water and anything that would keep him rolling, but the inevitable crash was going to be rough.  When things finally calmed down a bit, he was going to take it voluntarily to get it out of the way.  That did not work with any plans someone might have for him running any guilds.  Actually, it directly contradicted it, since after his nap, he had to run to the other guilds to take care of whoever came in after he'd left.

He leaned against a counter and watched everyone talk, Patryk appearing and trading information with Christian while simultaneously making it clear that he wasn't into having Gunnar and Firuza there.  That was fine, since Verona had no reason to trust people that he didn't know, but it was short-lived; Christian introduced the two of them, making it clear to whoever in the room didn't know about Diamond that they were indeed real and that the badasses who had walked in and taken care of shit were that.  Gunnar was too tired to care whether this was good or bad, but he hoped Noelani was prepared for their guild to no longer just be rumored to exist.

At the guild leader's question and suggestion about going into the field and them running the guild, the healer looked plainly at Firuza.  "That's all you.  You got a nap and I still have two guilds to check on," he pointed out.  He had faith in her abilities to handle it if he stepped out, had faith in all of his fellow guild members (though he wondered about Taro sometimes), but he wasn't sure if she wanted Christian Shane in the field at this point.  He was inclined to think that a hunter who'd just lost his family shouldn't be out there, but considering their losses that night, that was a lot of them.  You couldn't pull them all.

Speaking of naps, Axel seemed to step up where that was concerned, more willing than Christian to acknowledge the fact that there were people who had been running up to 24 hours.  "We need to establish a sleep schedule now that the attacks have calmed down, or people are going to make mistakes," he offered, well aware that they had to keep people in the field trying to find survivors and that the guilds had to keep running with all of the refugees who needed places to sleep and food to eat, but that there were hunters that had to stop eventually. 

"Audrey," he prompted, and she looked up, tired, but alert.  That was good enough.  "There are trainees and low-levels who wore out earlier, make sure they're up and relieving the threes and up around the guild.  Get someone to work on organizing a hot breakfast--"

"Uh, actually?" Russell cut in, and Axel turned his hard blue eyes on his daughter's boyfriend (he didn't think the boy was quite as useless anymore, but now he was cautious because he didn't understand what he did); the boy faltered slightly, but pressed on.  "I can do that, the breakfast thing.  Give me who you can, someone who knows your kitchen set-up would be awesome, and I'll get it going."

Audrey looked from Russell to Axel, one brow quirked up almost like she wanted to ask, but Axel didn't let her.  "That's fine.  Thomas, I need you to get a handle on who's been in the field too long.  If they can keep going a bit longer, let them, but once Russell has food going, get our hunters in for it and some rest in some kind of schedule.  Work with Loic to get in touch with them, if you have to."

As for Axel?  He was sticking with Christian.

All of the basic talk went in one ear and out the other; Christian merely nodded, appearing to agree with everything anyone suggested. "Yeah, that's fine," he said, whenever someone glanced his way, which they didn't - not often, anyways. He looked at Axel after everyone seemed to have a plan, taking a breath. He didn't want to ask him to go back out when he had already suffered the loss of Leo, especially when it meant that he'd gotten his own family here to safety. Christian wasn't planning on doing anything that wasn't entirely dangerous when he went out into the field.

"You guys have this handled, it seems. I'm going to go get ready," he said abruptly. He stood and walked out of the room, headed to his office. He went into the locker by the closet and began pulling out his personal items - kevlar vest, various guns, and other sundries he liked to have with him. He paused when he looked over at his desk, blue eyes falling onto a family photo. He paused for a few seconds, then with a blink, it seemed like he just pushed it back. He looked up at the doorway, where Axel no doubt stood, arms folded, saying nothing, but watching with those cold eyes.

"I'm going," he said sharply, as though he expected Axel to give him a speech.

After putting out instructions, Firuza agreeing to manage the guild in Christian's place, Gunnar no doubt volunteering for some much needed sleep (he'd been going at it pretty hard every damn time Axel saw him) and some semblance of order coming into place with plans made, Axel wasn't lingering in the infirmary for chitchat, and they all knew it.  He trailed after Christian, still armed to the teeth himself partially because he'd been in constant motion all night, and partially because his daughter's life could be on the line and he'd lost his damn partner and a very good friend that night.  He was already ready to go.

He also wasn't letting Christian go without him, tired or not. 

"I'm not arguing," he responded simply to Christian's statement, not moving from where he was leaning against the doorway, arms folded over his chest, simply watching.  Axel was very easily recognizable from his cold, pale coloring, lean build and the fact that the emotion in his eyes usually matched the coloring, but tonight it was true more than ever.  Cold was about all he had left.

No, he wasn't going to argue sense into his friend, not when he knew it would be wasted breath.  Heidi was safe, Russell was making himself useful, Firuza would care for the guild in Axel's place while Christian was emotionally compromised and unwilling, and now Axel's attention was needed on his friend.  He'd already lost one, and he wasn't losing this one.  "But I'm joining you."