Chương 38: Bk 1 Ch 35: Hunt

I send us rocketing up into the air, only stopping when we're a good two or three miles up. That'll both keep us from being spotted, and also reduce air resistance a little. Then, I head southwest. I don't push quite as fast as I possibly can, but I definitely break the sound barrier and then some, reaching the coast in barely five minutes. I pause there, pulling out the tracker; I don't want to keep it out as a fly, since it's probably significantly less durable than we are.

We're still too far north, so I fly further south, a bit slower this time, with regular pauses. Once we get close enough, I slow down enough to keep the tracker out. It ends up leading us a few miles back inland. There's a small city that I think might be Coos Bay several miles to the north, but directly below us is almost entirely forested hills, with a few tiny towns scattered around.

Finally, when our GPS coordinates match to within two decimal places, the dashes at the bottom of the screen are replaced by another number. It flickers a few times, then stabilizes to a reading of just over 20, 000 feet. Almost all of that distance is vertical, of course, the only reason why it can pick up the signal from so far away. We'll have to descend to actually nail it down, but that'll also expose us.

"It's somewhere around here," I shout to Anja over the omnipresent wind.

"I'm gonna bring us down fast, get ready."

"Right," she shouts back. I put the tracker away again, then launch us downwards at full speed, reversing course just in time to avoid smashing into the trees. Descending just below the treetops for cover, I pull the tracker back out. It's lost the signal, so I fly in broadening circles for a few minutes until it picks it up again, avoiding the occasional house. Now, the distance reads as 4, 379 feet. It shrinks more as I slowly takes us further south and east, pausing and starting to grow again at 2, 153 feet.

I fly due south, and the number grows slightly; I fly due east instead and it starts shrinking again. This time, it pauses at just a couple hundred feet. I drop us lower, further into the trees, then fly carefully north. When the tracker reads just over fifty feet, the trees break, revealing a house. I land us in the branches of a tall pine tree, and we peer through the needles. It's a big house, old but not poorly maintained.

A similarly sized barn stands nearby, and an area of fenced-off pasture, although there aren't any animals in it. I know right away we've got the right place thanks to the pair of black SUVs parked in the gravel driveway, but nothing else is obviously going on.

"So what now?" asks Anja after a minute.

"We need to get closer, see what's going on inside, but we can't risk being seen ourselves." I consider for a few seconds longer.

"Using the barn for cover is probably our best bet, assuming it's empty." Anja nods. I still take charge of carrying both of us, since her wings will be way too visible. I move us around the edge of the trees until the barn is between us and the house. It's closed, but there aren't any windows, so even if someone is inside, they won't be able to see us. We glide forwards and then up, laying flat as we hover just over the barn's roof.

The barn is slightly taller than the house, so we can safely move up to the edge of the roof and peer over with minimal risk. Most of the windows are open, naturally given the weather. I can just barely hear fragments of conversations and people moving around inside, but no actual words. We still linger there for around five minutes, but no one seems have any interest in looking out the windows.

"Maybe get up on the roof?" suggests Anja after a while.

"Might be able to hear something." I hesitate, then nod.

"Yeah, probably have to." I give the windows one more thorough look to make sure no one's looking back out, then shoot us across the gap as fast as I can, less than a second. We come to a halt a few feet over the center of the roof, and I lower us back down, keeping my ears peeled. There's no outcry, so I don't think we were spotted. I take us on a slow circuit around the edge of the roof, listening for anything interesting.

The faint sound of a TV comes through one window, and possibly someone cooking through another, but nothing especially useful. Then, after another ten minutes or so, I hear a door close. We quickly move over to that side, cautiously peering over the edge. Two guys stand on the back porch, both dressed casually in T-shirts and shorts. One lights up a cigarette, then passes his lighter to the other, who mutters a thank you. They puff silently for a while.

Then, the one on the left says, "Glad we're almost done with this shit, man. Didn't sign up to be a fuckin' babysitter." The other one shrugs.

"Whatever. A job's a job. Least we're not gettin' shot at."

"Be more exciting if we were." A snort.

"No one ever died of boredom."

"You sure about that? I've heard some stories about Firecracker, and-""Man, shut up," hisses the second one.

"... Right, sorry." They both glance around nervously for a couple seconds, but nothing else happens, so they seemingly relax.

"Well, still gonna be glad to get outta here."

"Sure." They're quiet for a minute longer, then start talking about sports until they finish their cigarettes and head back inside.

"... Sounds like Mr. Fletcher's family is actually here, at least," whispers Anja after a minute. I nod thoughtfully.

"You ever heard of anyone named Firecracker?" She shakes her head.

"Don't think so, no." I hmm. At this point, I'm all but certain that no conspiracy inside of ABRA is responsible for this. That leaves the Syndicate, or some other group of black masks. I don't know all of the Syndicate's magicals, but I know most of them, and they don't have anyone named Firecracker. But I still can't think of any sensible reason for some other big gang to intrude on the Syndicate's territory just to target us.

I'm definitely still missing something, and there's only really one way to figure out what it is.

"We need to get inside. Find out where the hostages are and get them out. Think this house has an attic?"

"... Dunno, it might." She pushes herself slightly forwards, so she can peer around the edge of the roof.

"Looks like there's a little vent right under the highest part of the roof, but not an actual window. Could be an attic. What if that's where they're keeping the hostages, though?" I float us higher up, right above the vent Anja noticed. We wait for a couple of minutes.

"If they are, they're being real quiet." She hesitates, then nods.

"Alright. Try it." I summon my spear and slice a hole in the roof right below the peak, carefully floating the removed section out. To my relief, there is in fact an attic inside, dusty and clearly unused. I float us inside, and finally land us.

"Watch your footsteps," I quietly remind Anja. She nods. A trapdoor sits in the floor on one end of the attic. It looks like it probably hasn't been opened in years, and I'm sure it'll make an absolute racket if I try it. Cutting a hole again will be quieter, but first I need to figure out what's below us. We spend another few minutes carefully listening. There's definitely occasional quiet voices coming from somewhere under us, but I'm not sure exactly where.

Then, a break: A toilet flushes, clearly under the left side. I wait another minute, catching the faintest hint of footsteps, then carefully slice another hole. I got it right; the hole reveals a bathroom, dark and unoccupied. I float down, and Anja follows. The door's still cracked a few inches open. I approach carefully, but the open side just faces the end of the hallway.

Careful not to touch the door even slightly, I peer through the crack between the frame on the other side, kneeling down so Anja can look above me. A man is standing just a few feet away, leaning against the opposite wall next to a closed door while looking thoroughly bored. I'm willing to bet a significant amount of money that the hostages are on the other side. Now, how to get them out? Killing him quietly won't be a particular challenge, but keeping the hostages quiet when they see me will be harder.

Maybe the fast approach will be better? Grab them, go out through the wall, worry about explanations after? But there's also the risk that the hostages aren't all together. Before I can make up my mind on anything, someone else comes up the stairs at the far end of the hallway, one of the guys I saw smoking earlier. The presumed guard straightens up and turns.

"Hey, something up?"

"Yeah. Could be trouble. We gotta move."

"Everyone?"

"Everyone."

"Shit. Alright, go head and let 'em know." He jerks his head, and the newcomer opens the door without knocking.

"Yes? Do you need something?" comes a voice from inside.

"Got a potential problem. We're gonna have to relocate. Get yourselves packed up, the boss wants us out the door in no more than ten minutes."

"Excuse me?" A female voice.

"You assured us our part in all this was finished, and the only thing left to do was wait."

"Yeah, well, something changed."

"You're going to need to give us a little more than that," says the man, presumably Mr. Fletcher.

"What sort of problem? Are we in danger?"

"You might be, if you don't get a move on."

"I have delivered you exactly what you've asked for, and I do not appreciate the way I've been treated," says Mr. Fletcher heatedly.

"I was assured me that if I cooperated, this could be the beginning of a profitable partnership. I would appreciate if you stared acting like it."

"Look, man, I don't-" The two guys in the hall are both facing the door, so they don't notice another person coming up the stairs immediately. Like Mr. Johnson said, she's got dark brown hair in pigtails, but now she's wearing a sparkly crimson and violet tutu, the dress flaring out in the shape of a starburst. Her only other clothing is a pair of violet slippers, and a masquerade mask decorated with bright crimson feathers.

Instead of walking, she skips down the hall with her hands behind her back, smiling to herself. The man in the hallway cuts off as soon as he notices her, hastily stepping back, and she brushes past him.

"Uh oh! Are we being a stick in the mud again?" she asks in a singsong voice.

"Don't I keep telling you that sometimes you have to just go with the flow, roll with the punches, live in the moment?" To his credit, Mr. Fletcher doesn't let any intimidation show, at least not in his voice.

"We'll be happy to cooperate with you however you need, if you'll simply tell us what the situation is first." She lets out a long hmmmm.

"Well, okay, if you insist. Actually, I'm sorta curious about something too! See, I just got a call from the big boss lady back in Franklin, and she told me that mean old Chimera flew out of town in a hurry! She wasn't supposed to do that yet, and she definitely wasn't supposed to fly this way. So I thought to myself, maybe she just really wanted to go to the beach all of a sudden, cause how could she possibly have found out where we all are? A real puzzler, isn't it? A real headscratcher!" She pauses."

You wouldn't happen to know anything about how she found out, now would you?"

"What? Of course not!" snaps Mr. Fletcher.

"You think I don't know how destructive fights between your kind are? What would I possibly have to gain from inviting that around myself and my family?" The magical girl (Firecracker, I assume) hmms again.

"Are you sure?" There's a sudden commotion, the woman screaming, and then what sounds like a pair of children screaming, the first noise I've heard them make. Mr. Fletcher shouts something, only to cut off with a loud grunt and a crash.

"Are you super sure? Pinkie-swear sure?" Anja tenses, about to do something. I do some very fast thinking.

"I need to go outside to get a clear shot," I whisper.

"Send your spirits back up to the attic, have them drop down through the ceiling and cover the hostages as soon as I distract her. I'll keep her busy, you get them out."

"Got it. Hurry," she whispers back as more screams and the sounds of desperate pleading come from the other room. I do, jumping back up through the hole in the ceiling, and then the one in the roof. I'll have to time this perfectly. I fly about ten feet from the side of the house, then let myself drop, building up energy in my staff as I fall. As I come level with the window, I take in the scene in an instant. Firecracker stands in the middle of the room. She's got a boy in a one-armed chokehold, maybe nine or ten.

In her other hand, she holds a large sparkler, the tip fizzing with violet and crimson flames just a couple inches from the boy's face. Then she twists, inadvertently letting the boy go as she brings the sparkler up just in time to deflect the beam that lances out from the end of my staff, automatically reacting to the threat before she's even consciously aware of it. My attack meets her weapon with a flash of white light and black unlight, and a burst of crimson and violet sparks.

Before the light even fades, I'm already flinging the boy to the side, hopefully slow enough to avoid hurting him. An instant later, I fling myself straight through the window and into her. I hit her hard enough that something as flimsy as a sparkler should logically be knocked right out of her hand. That doesn't happen, of course. Instead, we both go flying through the open door and crash straight through the opposite wall of the hallway, into another bedroom.

I immediately follow up with more strikes, trying to push the advantage of surprise. Surprised or not, though, she's got a slight edge on me in strength, and deflects every blow. A second, identical sparkler appears in her other hand, and she sweeps both at me, letting out twin fountains of dense sparks. I yank myself backwards to avoid them. Where the sparks land on the floor, the wood simply disintegrates into ash, only the edges lasting long enough to actually start burning.

"Ugh, you!?" she demands rather than immediately counterattacking. I'm happy to let her talk.

"Jeez, you're so annoying! You were supposed to be just some nobody! Then we find out that not only are you already way stronger than those two losers, you've also got friends! Why d'you have to keep making everything complicated?" There's a lot to unpack there, first and foremost that whoever I'm dealing with, they didn't come to Franklin primarily for me. That honestly makes a lot of sense, but I still have no idea what their real goal is or how setting the white masks on me serves it.

Unfortunately, I don't have the luxury of time to think it over right now. For now, I do my best to go fishing.

"It seems we could have both avoided a great deal of trouble if you'd simply approached me directly."

"Oh, no, no, no," says Firecracker, suddenly grinning again and wagging a finger at me.

"You're not getting me to spill the beans that easy! And, speaking of which…" She suddenly snatches a vase off a nearby dresser, letting one of her sparklers vanish, and hurls it at me. I react automatically, dodging without even understanding what the threat is. Only afterwards do I realize she anticipated it, aimed the vase so it would land in the room still holding Mr. Fletcher and his family. Thankfully, Anja has it covered. One of her spirits lungs in from the side, taking the vase on its shield.

The vase explodes like a grenade, a deafening blast strong enough to destroy the spirit, but it already did its job, shielding the hostages from the worst of it. The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

"Ugh!" groans Firecracker again.

"You're both here?" She lets out a dramatic sigh, then brightens and smiles.

"Oh well! I guess the only way to stop the cat from getting out of the bag now is to just kill everyone!" So she's a proper psycho, then. Good; I've got plenty of stress I need to work out on someone anyway. She rushes me, clearly trying to get past me and eliminate the hostages before they can escape to spill their guts. I don't give any ground, instead lunging forwards to meet her.

Magical weapons always play a little fast and loose with physics, but her sparklers are especially egregious; the fountain of sparks they shoot out acts more like a whip, the whole thing connected and capable of applying force. We trade a flurry of blows, and it takes about five seconds for the entire room to become engulfed in flames, at least the parts of it that haven't outright disintegrated already. I hope Anja is hurrying. It takes only the slightest nudge to collapse what's left of the floor under her.

She jumps off the debris in midair, angling forwards, hoping to attack the hostages from below. I dart after her. She snatches a fragment of floor out of the air and flings it at me; I deflect it with a gravity field. It hits the wall behind me instead, once again detonating and blasting a sizeable hole in it. I'm on the wrong side to block her directly now, but the walls of the house delay her for just a moment. I close the distance, striking at her with a series of fast slashes and jabs.

Her fighting style involves a lot of spins and twirls, dancing backwards to try and stay at her preferred range, and incidentally (or intentionally) spraying sparks everywhere. The lower floor catches fire just as quickly as the upper, the wall blocking her disintegrating enough for her to smash through with no resistance at all. We're in the kitchen now. I'm not quite sure exactly where we are in terms of the hostages, but she grabs a pan off the stove and flings it towards the ceiling.

This time, I'm expecting it, and a gravity field catches the improvised bomb before it can hit, sending it right back at her. She shrieks and dives out of the way, although I can't take advantage thanks to the explosion between us a moment later. Instead, I take the opportunity to steal a glance out the nearest window. I see Anja flying away with three of her spirits in tow, each of them carrying someone. Perfect. Time to stop holding back, then.

I unleash my magic fully, and the house turns into a vortex of burning splinters. A couple of the guards didn't run quite fast enough and get caught in it too; they do about as well as you'd expect for normal humans in a flaming blender. Far from looking upset at the fate of her subordinates, Firecracker seems to be giggling. She leaps nimbly from fragment to fragment, still spinning and twirling, fending me off with broad sweeps of sparks.

As she moves, she touches every fragment in reach, imbuing dozens with her magic in seconds. As impressive as my magic is, this is its downside; I have a lot less fine control than a true telepath. I control my vortices as a whole, not as individual pieces, and I can't stop the explosives fragments from bumping into others. The entire thing quickly lights up like… Well, like a string of firecrackers, except many times more destructive. Several detonations are close enough to hurt.

Of course, she's getting pummeled as well, but doesn't seem especially bothered by it, clearly happy to ignore pain if it means she gets to hurt someone else. That's a mistake; she either doesn't know my full capabilities, or hasn't fully thought them through. I fling myself upwards, out of my vortex, then slam the entire thing inwards, collapsing it on her from every direction. No matter how agile she is, that's not something she can dodge.

The many small explosions merge together into a single fireball, flattening whatever bits of the house are still standing. Ah, so that's how they framed me for killing Barracuda and Obsidian. When the smoke clears, Firecracker is still standing, although she's looking quite a bit worse for the wear. Her tutu is shredded, and she's covered in cuts and scorch marks.

"No fair!" she whines, stomping her foot.

"You're the one who's supposed to go boom, not me!" I can't help but scoff.

"This is finished. You can either tell me who you work for yourself, or I can hear it from Mr. Fletcher after you're dead." She puts a finger to her lips in thought.

"Hmmm…. Nope!" Then, she points both sparklers at me. This time, instead of emitting a shower of sparks, they act more like bottle rockets, launching volleys of larger projectiles that travel much further before exploding with red or violet flashes and sharp cracks. Caught by surprise, I don't quite manage to dodge or deflect the barrage perfectly, taking a couple of hits that burn small, painful holes in my skirt and vest.

They're not real bad hits, the individual projectiles aren't all that powerful, but they are hits from her actual weapon, arguably inflicting more meaningful damage than what I did to her. Since she's obviously got the advantage at range, I dart back in, tearing up the ground under her into another vortex for cover. This time, she's more careful with her magic, only creating a few bombs at a time.

She's much more able to navigate my vortex than anyone I've ever fought before, but she's still at a disadvantage; her magic is simply a poor matchup against mine. I manage to land a small slice on her arm, and then another on her back, slowly but surely whittling her down. Then slowly turns into quickly, because Anja abruptly comes plowing through my vortex, forcing Firecracker to twist and block the unexpected attack. That costs her a significantly worse slash from my spear on her thigh.

She compensates by once again rigging everything in reach to explode, guessing that I won't pull the same trick again with Anja now also present. She's right, the moment it takes me to pull both of us out of the vortex enough for her to escape as well. I still send it at her, but she sends another barrage of projectiles at it, causing the entire mass to explode before it reaches her.

There's a brief pause in the battle as me and Anja spread out to flank her, a pair of her spirits surrounding Firecracker from behind. Firecracker glances back and forth, and I detect a hint of nervousness for the first time.

"None of this was personal, y'know," she says.

"You guys were just in the way, that's all. I'm sure you know how it is, right?"

"Are you ready to talk, then?" I ask.

"Ugh, fine, I guess. See, the truth is-" She cuts off, letting loose another barrage at us, then turning and running while we defend, shooting out more sparks to fend off Anja's spirits. It buys her maybe a second, just long enough to reach the trees. Then I'm back on her, forcing her to turn and defend herself. Anja is only a moment behind. This time, I don't even bother with a vortex, the advantage of numbers is already enough.

She lashes out frantically in every direction, trying to drive us back and setting several trees alight. It's no use; trapped between us, she takes another three wounds in quick succession.

"Shit, wait-" This time, she's cut off by two feet of magical steel suddenly emerging from her chest. She chokes, a bit of blood dribbling from her mouth. With a white flash, her shredded tutu vanishes, replaced by a pink miniskirt and a Hello Kitty crop top. She falls to her knees, and Anja pulls her sword out of her back as she slumps forwards.

"Yeah, well, that was personal, bitch."

"Well done," I say, nodding.

"Mr. Fletcher?"

"They're all fine, they're over that way," she says, gesturing.

"I left a spirit with them. We should probably do something about the fire before the whole forest burns down, though."

"I'll handle it. Can you bring them back to where the house was? And take her, too?" I ask, pointing at the body.

"Actually, wait a moment." I kneel down and briefly examine her; she's got a red ribbon around her neck. I snap it and pull out the attached pendant, a large violet and crimson marble. Then, I hold it out to Anja.

"This is yours now." She hesitates for a moment, then nods and takes it.

"Guess I kinda figured that if I'm already a killer anyway, I might as well kill someone who actually fucking deserves it."

"You won't get any argument from me." She lingers a moment longer, then has one of her spirits pick up the body and flies away. I quickly glance around at the fire. A few trees that weren't directly hit by Firecracker's attacks have already caught, so I start there, cutting them so they'll fall inwards. Once I've contained the edges of the fire, I start flinging burning trees back towards the remains of the house, where there's nothing left to burn.

It's awkward, they're too big to fit completely inside my gravity fields, but I manage it without any mishaps. The undergrowth is still burning or smouldering in a lot of places, so I tear a big patch of dirt up, flip it upside down, and bury everything I can see. Once I'm sure the fire isn't going to flare back up again, at least not until the fire department gets here, I pile all the flaming trees littering the clearing into the pit one of my attacks against Firecracker left.

It makes for quite an impressive bonfire, so big that I can easily feel the heat from more than thirty feet away. It's spewing out pretty sizeable embers, probably a risk of starting more fires, so I start dumping dirt on it as well. I don't smother the fire completely, though; the smoke will be useful. Anja returns just as I'm finishing, leading the group of hostages, while one of her spirits herds them forwards from behind. Mr.

Fletcher and his wife look a bit shell-shocked, flinching away from any display of magic. Their daughter, who looks around eleven or twelve, does her best to hide between them. The boy who was threatened by Firecracker, on the other hand, clings desperate to the arm of Anja's spirit. Before I can go to meet them, a shadow is cast over the clearing as a giant eagle flaps its way overhead. It circles once, then comes in for a landing. I nod in satisfaction, appreciating Chimera's punctuality. Then I do a double take.

Elliot is riding behind the eagle's head, and it's just Elliot; he's not transformed. He hops down from the eagle's back, and it dissolves into green light as Chimera resumes her human form. I land a few feet away, but Anja gets there first. She skids to a halt just in front of him, glancing nervously at Chimera. Chimera snorts.

"Oh, go ahead and give him a hug. I'll leave it out of my report." She does.

"Brought him along just in case this turned out to be a trick so you could rescue him, and also in case you had a little oopsie with the hostages. Looks like you managed to get everyone out okay, so thanks for not making my life even harder. Now, can someone please explain to me exactly what the fuck is going on here? And who the hell is she?" she asks, pointing at the body Anja's spirit still has slung over its shoulder.

"Her subordinates called her Firecracker," I reply.

"Firecracker?" demands Chimera sharply.

"You're sure? Describe her weapon."

"A pair of sparklers, red and violet. You know her?"

"Shit. Yeah, I know of her. She's with the Golden Empire Cartel. They don't let her off the chain very often, too unstable. So what in the ever loving fuck is she doing all the way up here?" Mr. Fletcher steps forwards to join us, visibly gathering himself.

"I… believe I can answer some of your questions. They kept me in the dark as much as possible, but I did learn some things. This is the Golden Empire Cartel you're dealing with, yes, and they're here in force. Multiple magicals, and I suspect one of them may be Corona herself."

"Fucking christ," mutters Chimera.

"What else can you tell us?"

"They came to me specifically because they already knew of some relationship between Schwarzschild, Apollo, and Valkyrie. They wanted to know more, and then they wanted to use me as the vehicle to provide that information to ABRA. When I refused, they quickly made it clear that they weren't asking."

"How did they originally find out?" I ask.

"Wouldn't say. But the only thing they knew to start with was that the three of you were training together or something. Based on a few things they let slip, I believe they may have some way of detecting magic, possibly a magical who goes by Peregrine."

"What?" demands Chimera.

"Jesus, this just keeps getting better and better."

"I'm also almost certain the Cartel is operating under some kind of deadline," he says.

"Everything felt a little rushed, a little heavy-handed. I know a time crunch when I see one."" Fuck," says Chimera again, starting to pace back and forth.

"This is a full-on offensive against the Columbia Syndicate, nothing else makes sense. They know Surtr and Lilith could finish off the Grizzlies any day now, and then the window of opportunity will close. They want to take out Huntsman while he's isolated as their opening move, but Huntsman is damn near impossible to pin down. Someone capable of sensing magic might be able to counter him, stop him from escaping. So they…

They show up in town, but whoever they brought in to find Huntsman notices you three beating on each other. That throws a wrench in their plans, the three of you together are too serious of a threat to just ignore, so they decide they need to take you off the board first."

"But we're not the biggest potential threat in Franklin. You are," I continue.

"And you weren't going to leave until the war between the Sun Eaters and Surf 'n Turf had been completely resolved, one way or another. So they came up with a plan to deal with both problems at once."

"... Oh, fuck me," says Chimera, stopping and running a hand over her hair.

"That girl a couple months ago, Harlequin. After she was arrested, she claimed someone paid her to cause a scene in Ashland specifically, but she didn't know who. If there hadn't already been a strike team trailing her, I would've been the closest white mask. That's why the Cartel waited so long to make their move, their first attempt to get me out of Franklin failed, so they had to go back to the drawing board."

"And we just gave them exactly what they wanted," I finish, a cold ball of dread dropping into my stomach. Chimera doesn't respond. Instead, a cellphone appears in her hand, and she immediately hits a button and holds it up to her ear.

"This is Chimera, I-" she breaks off for almost half a minute as she listens to whoever's on the other end.

"Understood. Sit tight, I'm on my way." She hangs up, and the phone vanishes again.

"Well, good news is, I can officially clear you of killing Barracuda and Obsidian, because they're still fucking alive. Bad news is, they've signed up with the Cartel, and their new buddies are currently turning Franklin into a fucking warzone."