<span style="font-style: italic">This is starting to look bad.</span>Hortence reloaded her Smitty’s with something more explosive, she might be able to trip the wanker.<span style="font-style: italic">Sure… high end explosives reduced to bleedin' tripwire supplements. </span><br/><span style="font-style: italic">There are still quite a few civilians hiding in these buildings, but if they weren’t smart enough to flee properly that’s their own damn fault… Couldn’t spare the men if I wanted.</span><br/>Ducking out of her cover she looked at the hulking demon creature that was wrecking havoc. It stood at least 10 foot high and 6 feet across the shoulders; real ugly and real dumb looking. It would be like an ogre if it wasn’t black, with huge leathery wings and well, on fire. One other important difference was in it’s eyes, in spite of it’s mouth and flat face making it look like a stupid bulldog, it’s eyes showed it’s true intelligence. This was no beastly brute; this was a meticulously intelligent force of destruction.<br/>As the beast took a quick unbalanced step towards her, she fired expertly towards where it’s foot would land “WIRE!” she called out to the two men hiding in the buildings around it.<br/>The demon smirked as it saw it’s enemy’s plan unfold around it, just as it was about to step down it instead jumped with it’s other leg, sending it upwards enough to unfold it’s wings and launch towards Hortence. “well fuck me sideways…”.<br/>Hortence dodged quickly backwards, out of the way of the two ton of monster, smashing the ground she was on a moment ago.<span style="font-style: italic">Distance sounds good about now… let’s hope this thing fucking works.</span>She activated the valve at her hip which burst out in a smokescreen of steam. Then, under the cover of smoke she activated the cloaker attached to her arm which was “plugged” into her ring. She disappeared within the smokescreen, practically invisible with her new cloaking device actually working.<br/>As she was about to find cover and rethink her strategy she heard a bursting sound from the demon, and then saw a solid 1½ ft radius pillar of fire shoot from it’s maw towards the one end of her smokescreen. The line of fire moved towards her and she didn’t have anywhere left to dodge. She was hit and send flying by the force of the demonic breath. She tumbled backwards, pain burning from her hip. She was alright but a lot of her tech must have been fried, she couldn’t take another hit like that.<br/>The demon smirked looking towards it’s exposed and defeated pray<span style="font-weight: bold"> “so much for the strength of the paladins”</span>it mocked as it started walking slowly towards her. It’s belly lighting up with the promise of another incoming pillar of flame.<br/>Hortence fired her gun at the face of the creature but it didn’t even seem to phase it. It stopped ten feet in front of her, snarling down towards her as it prepared to execute her. It then cried out in pain as it was struck in the back by a huge sword. It turned to retaliate, but before it could, it was gripped at the neck and the force of its own turn accelerated to assist its assailant in smashing it face first into the nearby wall.<br/>Rafaela stepped back and then swung her sword like a bat to a ball, smashing the demonic creature through the wall, the sound of its body clearing at least another on the way was made sweeter by the sound of its whines as it did.<br/>The large knightly woman reached a hand down to Hortence “looked like you could use a hand” she smiled at her with that stupid smug face of hers.<br/>“What are you doing here!? I had this under control!” Hortence got up by her own power, looking over her injuries and finding an adrenaline pin to ram into herself, she didn’t have time to be in pain.<br/>Rafaela simply arched an eyebrow at the, clearly unimpressed by Hortence’s reaction “You are welcome”.<br/>Hortence clenches her fists as she looks at the large woman in front of her. She gives a very clear sigh, then looks towards the hole where the demon was “… IF you insist on helping then take care of Scaley while I take care of the portal! It’s still open, so finish up here and then come after me, might need to throw you in front of something bigger!”<br/>Hortence rushes towards the portal, running over the design of the thing as she runs. She tried blowing it up before when she was close to it, but it didn’t work. She was going to have to shut it off the mechanical way, however that was… she’d never seen anything quite like it, but she knew she could figure it out! She had to.