Chris moved up to the crowd and flipped over top of them, coming down in the middle of what looked like seven or eight wounded or dead individuals spread out on the lawn. He stood up from his landing crouch, facing a young female student who was being held in the viselike grip of a Helbourne demon. The demon grinned at him like it was waiting for him. A soft thrum told him that Omega’s drones had caught up with him. He tucked that piece of information away as he let his combat persona study the situation. The Helbourne was holding the girl with one claw-like hand clutching her trachea so tightly that he wondered if she could even breathe.

Using the girl as a shield, it was mostly hidden behind her, probably still vulnerable to precision projectile or laser fire from the drones, but was equally likely to rip out her throat if it was hit.

“Greetings, fallen one. My leader sends her regards…” it hissed, eyes flickering out over the dead and wounded bodies lying around them on the ground. That’s as far as it got, as Chris saw Holly suddenly materialize out of the crowd behind the demon, run up behind it, grabbing the hand covering the girl’s throat and expertly breaking it free. The hostage fell away, clutching her throat as Holly proceeded to snap the Helbourne’s arm in five places. And that’s as far as she got as Chris, or rather Grim, moved right up to the demon and pulled it free from the body, throwing up to be caught by Kirby, the God Raptor.

“Omega!” he yelled.

“Already on it, Chris. EMTs and other first responders will arrive in the next fifty seconds.”

Sirens sounding from at least three directions confirmed the AI’s words, but as the rest of both squads of his team converged on the site, he got them busy trying to help the wounded.

The demon had used only hands and feet, yet the damage was devastating. Many of the wounded had broken limbs and bruised or shattered ribs, and the two dead boys had partially caved-in skulls. Several other kids were hovering close to death but were stabilized by immediate application of small amounts of his own blood, which every team member carried in a vial on their persons at all times.

“Omega, where’s the other one?” Chris asked as he stepped back, satisfied that no one else was going to die in the next few minutes.

“I am tracking it now. It immediately stole a car and is headed in the general direction of the city’s water treatment plant.”