Welcome to Gaia! ::

((Well, don't expect me to post tonight. Whatever you post, wait for me a little bit, 'least 'till tomorrow, plox? biggrin If you can't, that's cool; Venom, just stop Fyrin from falling behind, and have Paul see Siber and stop to talk to him to see what happened, then go after Fyrin again. If you guys move on really fast.))

Paul came to a huffing halt, breathing very hard. He bent over, resting with his hands on his bent knees, until he finally decided to just collapse backwards into a sitting position. The one he'd been chasing had escaped, but... gee, did it matter that much? By the time it was over, it appeared to Paul the children were out. Hopefully they were, because as he watched, the van swerved, slammed into a light post, and burst into flames. However, he had seen the people inside ditch before the van had done so; they were still on the run, but Paul didn't want to chase them. They moved untiringly; they moved faster than it seemed a human ought to be able to move. That might be explained by the bare, sun-bleached bones exposed on the one's chest, but... still, if that was what they were, Paul really had no desire to pursue. He was tired.

Catching his breath, Paul looked around. "Siber!" he shouted, trying to find out what had happened to him. "Joe?! Anyone?!" he asked, collapsing onto his back, still breathing hard.

"Smirnoff von Smarmypants! Telephone cleaner!" Paul cried rapidly, leaping to his feet and drawing the pistol on his hip. There was no one there. Then he stopped. What was the point in lying? If he could simply speak to him, then... but he had to at least fudge his name for the time being, just in case."Matthew Nielson. At the moment, I'm a Warlock Hunter, but if you want to know what I was, I was a programmer. Working at a shooting range," he added. "Who the crap are you?"

"I was pursuing the van because magical entities of unusual power were participating in conflict. I was curious. Fighting broke out, and friendlies of mine were attacked, therefore I engaged. Thanks, Athena," Paul added. Demonic biomancer? That explained the boils. And the bone. But not the dragonfly. Then again, the dragonfly was Siber's.

((OHHH man, this is getting really good.))

Marco glanced around at his group. "We'll see you when you return to the Council," he murmured quietly, then clapped. This activated a one-way return spell, pulling him and his men back to wherever they had emerged from.

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Joe felt his defenses being penetrated, but before he could do anything about it, he felt an immense wave of heat. It made him want to laugh.
"HELLOOOOOO?" he boomed in an echoing voice. "I'm made of FIRE! Come on, think this one through!" He looked around for his attacker, but he could see no obvious target.
Joe was the last to leave the van, stepping calmly out of the back just seconds before it met its end. Taking a deep breath, Joe sent out a magical pulse; in his current state, he could see even the most minor signs of magic for at least a square mile. He locked on to the attacker's signature almost instantly. He called Wind again and it jumped to obey him in his new form.
He launched himself in Sam's direction, flying at insane velocities. He would be on them in a few seconds if they didn't do something.

((Whaddabout Paul?))

Joe narrowly avoided being blown to pieces as he dove past a Dumpster. Glancing up, he saw that he was still being tracked by the Sage. Joe couldn't see a way to turn off his current state of power; he doubted he would if he could, anyways.
He turned down an alley that cut off the Sage's line of sight. Joe continued running anyways, just to be safe.