Weaker Apart

"The problem is you, Raina. When you die, this rebellion ends." - John to Raina over the comm

Today finds the heroes working together to run missions and help the people of the city, wanting to forget John for the moment. This involves dealing with the supernatural invasion and defeating a base of sky raiders. As they're heading to their next lead, Grim suddenly has an idea and flies off. The group decides to take care of some errands in hopes of Grim rejoining them before the next mission. However a burst of static startles them and Raina immediately demands a roll call.

"Count off.. Raina!"
"Rusty"
"Jack"

They quickly determine that the burst of static was Grim who now cannot be raised on the comm. Remember that he mentioned that he was heading to the midnighter club, the 3 head there. A fast search fails to turn up Grim. At the same time, they realize that Grim may not have ever made it to the place. They head back out and split up to search the city for him. Raina eventually picks up his scent but can't place it. Jack and Rusty are quick to join her.

As they try to determine where Grim is, John comes out of no where and lands on Jack, severely injuring him. Recovering fast and furious, Raina leaps to tackle John off Jack, but is forced to avoid Griff's blade swipe and gets cut in the process. The ensuing fight is messy and painful. Raina deals out some blows to John but is forced to break off to go take out the sniper who is focusing on Jack.

Raina is forced to shift her form almost every minute to continually heal new wounds. In the end Raina let Final Slash and the sniper Antoine go, but fought nearly to the death with Griff. She manages to knock out the swordsman through almost pure luck and slashes his leg muscles to incapacitate him before leaping out the window of the store they had gone through to check on her friends.

Adrenaline was blocking much of the pain she should be feeling. She finds that Jack is gone, but determines that he was mediported out. She can find no sign of Rusty but does find Grim naked, wounded, and unconscious on the nearby stairs. His body is covered in some sort of black tar. Weary and not really caring what is on him, she activates his mediport to send him back to the base.

She also finds a healing Bladeless nearby and teleports back to the base with him. Exhausted, Raina asks Bladeless to help her get to medbay to see to Jack and Grim. Her adrenaline is rapidly wearing off and her body is starting to hand her the bill for the last fight. She hears Kalius sign in and immediately orders him to come to the base immediately. Forcing herself to keep going, Raina goes out to the hallway to meet him. She tells him that Grim was hurt again and about the fight. Kalius immediately goes to check on Grim himself while Raina leans against the wall, trying not to collapse as her pain grows.

Bladeless offers to help her back to the medbay and leaves soon afterwards. Raina ignores Grim and Kalius for the most part, focused on getting to the chair next to Jack's bed and collapsing into it. She quickly falls asleep and eventually slips to the floor, curling up there. While she sleeps, Grim recovers through a combination of his own magic and the gift she gave him the day before. He and Kalius talk before Grim gets dressed and works to heal the near mortal wounds on Jack.

Paul Wolfe shows up and tells them about a news story being circulated labeling them as villains, but assures them that it will be retracted within the hour by his military contacts. Kalius goes to move Raina onto a bed, but she shrieks in pain when he shifts her and he leaves her where she is. However, the movements have woken her up, Jack has also stirred.

Raina, still prone, manages a weak greeting to Wolfe who then leaves, saying he's going to go pay John a visit. Grim and Kalius try to talk him out of it, but Raina tells them that Wolfe is only risking his own life by choice. Raina manages to stand through sheer will and eventually Grim and Kalius leave as well to go find Rusty.

Raina and Jack manage a short conversation as Raina eases herself onto the bed and they both fall into a healing sleep. Sometime later, they wake and decide to move to check out the newly redone living areas. Raina's bones, overworked through the multiple shifts during the last fight, make moving extremely painful for her. They talk for a short time about further plans and come up with the idea for Grim to create links for himself to them so he can send them power without needing to be physically touching him. Raina is quick to offer her brooch as her item for the ritual, but warns that the brooch is already magicked.

Unable to take the pain anymore, Raina retires to a newly made bedroom with Jack and falls asleep with her equally weary love.