Black Creek

"Either way, I could use some commitment." Christian asked of Lennie, she was arguably his favorite Optio in the Legion, though not necessarily the most effective. It was great to have a team player though, and maybe pay her back for picking up all of his slack, recently.

"I just don't know if it's it a good idea. Corinne will have to take care of things again. Plus, I know you were going to see Rowan and Liam every now and then. I just don't want you to fall out of your new routine. You've been doing good, great, actually." Her typical care-free attitude was placed with concern. She knew whatever the full story was, she hadn't gotten it.

"I know you like having the chance to prove yourself. But some of that mettle comes from out there. In Camp Jupiter it's all controlled. We test you all on what we know. Outside of the borders, we can test you on what we don't know." Christian finished. It left Lennie with a look only a mother would give to her child. The kind that begged for further explanation. "I talked to Corinne. She thinks it's a good idea to put some other Optios to the test. Liam Davenport woke up just yesterday, so if there's any time to give the family their space, it's now." It was too bad Lennie didn't know about the painkillers. But, now that he was passed them, he wasn't about to dig up that part of his past again.

"Okay, Christian. I'm in." Lennie flashed a smile. "Any thoughts about who else you want coming with us?" She asked, her tone conveyed curiosity. Christian could tell she had some ideas.

"How do you feel about diplomacy to other Cohorts?" Christian asked.

-----

That was the beginning of Christian's first trip out of Camp Jupiter since getting clean. He'd heard the rumors, only from certain people. When he addressed it at the Centurion meeting, it didn't get payed a lot of attention. The town of Black Creek, was the name he'd heard most often. He'd heard it was possibly a safe haven for demigods and other creatures. Majority of Centurions voted it wasn't a priority for Camp Jupiter, and decided no large force should be sent. Christian decided to take it into his own hands, he had to know if people were out there.

Google had been no help, and it took several maps for him to find it. It was a pain to search an entire map of the United States multiple times, then, he'd found it. Black Creek, a town in the middle of nowhere in Utah. If there was anywhere demigods would hide, it was there. He'd invited Lennie first, and then the two others he'd decided he wanted on his team. Evelyn Walker, she was an excellent medic, and Christian had a suspicion that she wasn't even aware of what she was capable of. He was hopeful to help her unlock some of that. Then, Sophia Virgo. It was hard to get a read on her, but Christian lately had began to wonder how she felt about her position. He knew what it was like to feel overshadowed. Perhaps she felt that way about Carter Virgo, her brother.

The group had driven the whole way, though Christian had insisted they stop a quarter-mile out. They'd been on narrow straight dirt roads for at least an hour now, surrounded by trees. The sort of place that would be unnerving at night. Christian opened his door and stepped out, as did Lennie. He looked up at the sky, and then back to the others.

"Demigods or not, let's just hope this thing's settled fast. We only have a few hours of sunlight left." Christian stated. He wasn't typically the kind of person to be spooked by the dark. But, given the presence of multiple demigods, and the vibe the area was given, he didn't want them to be caught in a bad situation. "Sophia, you wanna take point?" He asked.

Sophia wasn't one to mess around. She had been at the meeting where the fifth cohort centurion had brought up the rumored Black Creek demigod safe haven. The rest of the centurions, including Carter and Rowan had brushed it aside. Not that they weren't wrong, Black Creek was barely a rumor. But Sophia had also just spent a fair amount of time with Christian, while he helped her and her brother on a quest to destroy a sword that was basically eating her brother's brain, more than he'd like to admit. She figured if Christian felt that this Black Creek place was a thing to reckon with, then it had to be. Besides there's nothing wrong with just checking it out, even if it ended up not being a thing at least they put to rest a few silly, and unnecessary rumors and fantasies, and their cohorts could focus on things that were actually real, like training.

That being said, Sophia had no problem making her way up to Christian to tell him, that if he got enough proof for a quest, that she'd be in on helping him out. She also hadn't been surprised to find that he did in fact find enough proof for the Senate to issue a quest. Which like Sophia promised she would, was the first to volunteer.

-----

"So what exactly is this?" Evie asked. She was standing outside her cabin, talking with Sophia, the girl who saved her and Walter from the Casino. Evie was amazed by the fourteen year old, she acted way older than most her age, and Evie had been exceptionally surprised to find out she was also a Centurion.

"Its Black Creek. Its supposedly a place that's like a safe haven for demigods. We're gonna go investigate it." Sophia explained, again.

"Yeah, but like why me?" The daughter of Apollo asked.

"Your Centurions want to see how well you'd do on a mission. Apparently you've been excelling at everything, and from what I've seen, they aren't wrong. It should be pretty simple for your first one. You in or not?" Sophia asked the girl.

"Yeah, I'll come." Evie said, after a few minutes of thinking. "When we leaving?"

"Now. Go get your stuff."

"Now?!" Evie asked, deciding that a little bit of a warning would've been nice. She hurried back into her cabin to gather her things.

-----------

Sophia yawned, at some point while they were driving, she had fallen asleep. She was woken up when the car pulled off to the side of the road, and was turned off. She climbed her way out of the car, and immediately felt odd. She glanced at the others, who also seemed just as unnerved as her. The tiredness that she felt automatically left her, and was replaced by adrenaline. "Yeah, sure." She said, eyeing the small trail that was in front of them. "Ok... single final, Christian you in the back, Lennie behind me, and Evie, you're behind Lennie. All good with that?" She asked, but didn't really wait for an answer as she made her way through the trail head, glad that she had a flashlight, and that she remembered to put her knife in her back pocket. She really felt like she'd need it.

Christian was a sucker for passing around power when he had it. Contingent on his trust towards his party, of course, but he almost never left camp with people he didn't trust. His bond with Evelyn was limited, but her experience and demeanor was enough to convince Christian that great things were in her future. The legacy had learned to respect Sophia during their quest, and despite her age, she was not the Centurion you wanted to mess with. Then of course, he'd known Lennie for so long. He was happy with his group.

When Sophia had made the call to line up, Lennie had glanced at Christian quickly, who offered a grin in return. Lennie hadn't ever worked with Sophia Virgo before, but from the expression on her Centurion's face, she was sure they were in good hands. "Yes, ma'am." She declared. The group lined up and began their walk. It wasn't going to be long at all, but Lennie didn't want to get caught in the dark.

Christian felt a pull to talk to Evelyn, and catch up with her. But he felt given the circumstances, all eyes peeled was an important factor. Christian glanced to his right, and noticed shadows moving in the distance. "Movement behind the treeline." He declared, but he kept walking. On the off-chance something was stalking them, they would have a much better advantage fighting on the dirt road over the shrub.

Sophia wasn't sure if she accidently upset the other girl or not, by being too assertive and demanding everyone follow what she said. She had never been one for making friends, or real social skills for that matter, and some things usually went right over her head. But right now she couldn't worry about that, because it was dark out, and even with the flashlight it was hard to walk along the narrow path without tripping over her own two feet while having to also pay attention to the surrounding area of trees. Though she could make out a slight opening ahead of them, they'd be off the trail soon enough. She continued to walk as she shined her flashlight into the direction of which Christian was pointing out to have movement. He wasn't wrong, there was movement, but every time she shined the flashlight at the slight rustling of trees and bushes, all the movement stopped.

"Yeah, lets just hurry up and find that town.... ok?" Evelyn said, awkwardly and kind of creeped out. What had she gotten herself into?!

Sophia sighed, maybe it was just an animal... of course this thought, didn't stop her from picking up her pace a bit, and moving the group a little faster down the path, just in case it wasn't just an animal.

Christian could tell Evelyn was on edge, and he understood why. Military experience or not, being a demigod and being a soldier were two entirely different nightmares. Being a Roman often meant you were both. They quickened their pace, but Christian still wanted to reassure the daughter of Apollo. By the time he opened his mouth,

"We're close." Lennie spoke reassuringly, as though she directly stole the words from Christian. She glanced back to Evelyn for a split second to give her a reassuring smile. For a girl who could be so very deadly, Christian wondered how she acted sweeter than honey and sugar combined.

It was only moments after that the town came into view. A sizeable clearing in the treeline was where the settlement had existed. He saw several buildings, but not a plentiful amount. He saw 6 small log cabins and a larger building made of bricks. There was no border, or even any signs suggesting the town was there. The buildings were spread out, they'd have to get closer. Then, Christian realized.

There was a chunk missing out of the top of the brick building, as though it had been hit with a wrecking ball. There was no sound, and besides buildings, zero signs of life. "Sophia." Christian signaled towards the center building, with a chunk missing from the top. "That isn't from faulty building." Why hadn't they just built walls?

Evie nodded her head, and gave a small nod. She had lived through a lot of stuff, especially as a navy nurse during WWII, but being a soldier was a lot more different than being a nurse and the whole Demigod thing was definitely more on the soldier side of things, even if she was just a healer.

Sophia shined her flashlight around the clearing... There were six log cabins, that looked like they were shabbily built to begin with, or at least had been built with cheap supplies. The only building that seemed like it might have been nice at some point was the two-story brick building that stood in the center. However it was missing half of its roof and a section of its wall, and Christian was right, it wasn't faulty building. "No, its not." She agreed.

Sophia moved forward a bit. It was obvious that whoever had been living here had taken the time to create the clearing, there were tree stumps along the edges of the clearing. She shined her flashlight along the border of the clearing, looking for any possible sign of a border.

"What are you looking for?" Evie finally asked.

Sophia ignored the girls question, and started walking along the border while shining the flashlight on the outskirts. "There." She finally stopped and glanced over at Christian as she crouched down by a tree stump, where there were parts of roman words written on it. "Its the leftovers of a magical border. Kind of like the one that the Greeks use, but not as strong." She explained, mostly for Evelyn. "Its a safety spell, but its not one that should've been used for this large of an area. Its one that's mostly used for emergency situations." She added to the explanation. "One thing for sure though, someone knew what they were doing... on some level at least." She mumbled to herself.

The group had lessened their line, a perimeter was likely better than being grouped up anyway. Christian chimed in with his first leadership opinion. "Don't leave the sight of the others. The last thing we want is to get separated." Christian stated, to nobody in particular. "The sun's going down soon, we shouldn't be here without it." Christian spoke quietly, he didn't like the way this place made him feel. It was almost like you could tell something horrible had happened here.

Lennie nodded to Christian. Her expression wasn't glum, however, but determined. She lifted her shirt slightly, gripping the handle to her hatchet she'd had hidden behind her belt. Christian rolled his eyes slightly. She loved that thing like it was a family heirloom. The again, it was certainly bigger than the folding knife in Christian's pocket. They had more weapons in the car, but neither of the two wanted to leave the town and then come back afterwards.

Lennie's head snapped towards what sounded like a twig breaking. There was a being not far from them, slowly rising. It looked to be a torn-up humanoid with entirely black skin, almost like it was charred. But the sound that came from its mouth was enough to tell, this thing belonged in Pluto. Christian's hand dug for his knife, and he didn't waste a moment before prying the unfolded knife into the skull of the ghoul-like creature. It promptly turned to dust, but Christian only had a moment to turn to his friends before the same sound sounded again. From multiple directions.

They blended in with the ground perfectly, it disturbed Christian a great deal. Lennie hacked at one close by. Slowly, a few dozen began to rise from where they came, maybe more. Lennie looked to Evelyn and Sophia. "What's your call, ma'am?" Lennie asked.

In a split second, Christian tried to close the gap between him and his friends, when suddenly, cold fingers gripped his wrist. He expected to see a ghoul, but it wasn't, it was a man. He hardly had any time to register him before the man pulled him behind the building and slammed him against the wall.

Sophia hadn't wandered more than a few feet away from the initial group when she had found the remains of the magic border. However, the entire situation was weirding her out in general, so once she confirmed what she was looking at she quickly stood up and started walking the few feet back to the group. It was at that point that Sophia realized they were no longer alone, and grabbing her knife from her belt she ran the last few feet, catching a glimpse of the enemy as she did so...

Evie's head snapped to the left at the sound of twigs breaking. She pulled her bow and an arrow off her back, ready for a fight. The monster was nasty looking, and if she hadn't had the experience she had, she'd probably would've puked at the sight of it. She watched as Christian turned it into dust, but more were starting to rise from the ground. She shot a few arrows, piercing some of them in the head and watching as they turned to dust, never letting them get close to her. She kept a few from sneaking up on Sophia and the rest also.

"Kill them! Stay closer together, and watch each others backs, form a loose circle formation!" She ordered her answer, almost automatically. She stabbed one of the ghouls in the back, before pulling Evie to the side, since she figured the girl didn't actually know what a circle formation was yet. She had to give the casino girl some props though, she was turning out to be pretty handy in a fight.

Sophia stabbed down into the chest of another ghoul, and as it turned to dust she saw Christian being slammed into a wall by a..... human? That couldn't be good, she motioned for Evie to move over more, before she started running toward them. However, a hand grabbed her ankle and pulled her onto the ground. She gasped in surprise having not expected it. She turned, so her face wasn't in the dirt anymore, and kicked at the ghoul attached to her foot. "Ow! Damnit! Let go!" She yelled at the ghoul, as she kicked it once more in the face, it managed to grab her other leg though, and seemed to be trying to pull her into the ground.

Christian got his first glance at the man as he felt the structure painfully connect with his backside. The structure clearly wasn't the sturdiest, but that was a whole different concern. Christian couldn't get a read on him, he was somewhat tall, but a filthy person. Dirt caked him and his clothing, he'd appeared to not have shaved or cut or wash his hair for months. Beyond his ridged appearance, his expression was full of hatred and defiance. Of course, Christian didn't have time to take it in. The man's hand hooked the Centurion, mercilessly, in the face.

Lennie didn't panic, she was good at keeping her cool and positive attitude in stressful situations. Her mother always said "most of the battle is in your own head." Lennie swung her axe at the head of another ghoul, before it erupted into dust. What the hell were these things? Lennie turned her head back, to see Sophia caught by one of them. She took the leap and rushed over, promptly hacking her axe at the midsection of the ghoul, with great strength, the whole butt of the hatchet's blade entered.

But the ghoul persisted. He was still well and alive. Lennie frowned, that wasn't a good sign. She heaved her hatchet out once more, and stuck at the hand pulling Sophia under. She severed the arm, freeing the Centurion, and the ghoul let an unholy screech out.

Legacies of Mercury weren't often known for their fighting skills. Despite his Centurion training, Christian was not getting a grip on this fight. He was stunned from the punch, and the man grabbed him. Christian's knife fell to the ground, and he fought to resist the grip on his. He backed his body up, slamming into the wall of the cabin, so that the stranger's body would hit first. Gods, he wanted to yell so may curses to this man.

Sophia was not a calm person, collected maybe, but not calm. She sometimes has a hard time of controlling her powers, since they were controlled by her emotions... And right now, she was angry. Angry at the stupid ghoul hands that were still stuck on her ankle, even after Lennie had literally disarmed the damned thing... Once she had parried the hands off her, she stood up, grabbing her knife from the ground, from where it had fallen. She hadn't realized it till then but the ghoul had managed to drag her almost fifteen feet from where it had originally grabbed her. "Thanks, Lennie." She told the other girl, before turning to another ghoul that had started sneaking up on them. She was about to put her knife through its head, when an arrow did it for her.

Evie notched a tenth arrow, and shot it into the head of a ghoul, she was starting to run low on arrows and would eventually have to switch to the sword that was strapped to her hip. She shot another arrow towards a ghoul that was sneaking up on Lennie and Sophia, and watched as it turned to dust as it lodged itself into the head.

"Anybody got any ideas?" Sophia asked, she had none at the moment, as she was slowly trying to make her way over to help Christian, but ghouls seemed to be popping right out of the ground every time she thought she had killed the last one. Oh.... Wait.... That's cause they were popping out of the ground....

"I got no ideas..." Evie said, reaching for another arrow, but finding that she had finally run out. She slung the bow over her should and pulled the sword out of her belt. The sword was not her best weapon, but it would have to do for now.

Christian threw an elbow back during the struggle, and then another. It was seriously working some grip off of him, and was some of the only offense he'd managed to get in during the fight. Then, Christian's senses came back to him. Only a few feet from him was one of the hideous monsters. Christian kept his composure, but he wasn't a happy camper. He threw another elbow back at the man, and he felt his grip free. Sadly, Christian wasn't in a position to run with an obstacle in front of him. He gripped the being by its shoulders and violently threw it at the man and wall.

The man dodged quickly, leaving a painful dud against the wall, loud enough that it might have caused phantom pains for Christian if he wasn't busy. The being wasn't getting up, it was rare to kill a monster without precious metals, but based on how weak it was, Christian was hopeful that it would burst into dust soon. He didn't get anytime to think about that, when the man found Christian's knife, and made a charge for Christian.

At the sound of a poof of dust behind her, Lennie gave a grateful nod to the archer, Evelyn. "They're not unlimited. Just keep on them." Lennie insisted, her tone was serious, but not dark. She turned to another small group of the monsters. With the work of her hatchet, she was able to swiftly lock the axe into the head of one before it erupted into golden dust. She swiftly dispatched the third one. The herd was thinning. She engaged the third, but before she got close, she stopped.

It was at that moment, a sharp gasp came from Lennie. She looked down, she hadn't registered what had happened in her head until the sight was clear. Even though she felt no pain in the moment, her body failed to cooperate when she saw a blade through her body. She gave a look to Sophia before she collapsed to the ground, one pleading for forgiveness. She hadn't meant to let the team down.

And just keep on them, Evelyn and Sophia did. Lennie was right, the ghouls weren't unlimited, there were a lot more than when the first showed up, but the numbers of ghouls had finally stopped growing. They also weren't hard to kill, so long as you didn't let them grab you first, they had a string grip. In fact, Sophia's ankles were still throbbing from where the ghoul had grabbed at her. The ghouls were like zombies, but like not, cause they turned to dust when you killed them.

Sophia stabbed yet another ghoul as it ran towards her. She felt something tug on her hair, that had been pulled up in a ponytail. She spun around on her heel, and stabbed the offending ghoul who dare touch her amazing hair. It was at this moment though, that she heard a faint gasp come from right behind her. Sophia turned around again, just in time to watch as Lennie fell to the ground with a stab wound. Sophia herself gasped, not having expected it. She attempted to run towards the girl, but yet another ghoul jumped in front of her before she could reach her fallen teammate.

"Evelyn! Over here!" Evie heard Sophia yell, as she sliced down a particularly gross looking ghoul. She looked over to find Sophia fending off the last few ghouls from getting to Lennie, who was on the ground. She immediately ran over.

Being a daughter of Mars had many downsides but it also had some pretty cool perks, or at least that's what Sophia thought. This was one of those moments where she was very proud of her War Rage powers given to her by her father. Once Evie had reached them, and she saw that Evie knew what to do towards healing the wound, Sophia let herself go crazy. She sliced and stabbed at the last few ghouls, turning them to dust in seconds.

Christian was able to step back in time to dodge the first attempt of a slash, then the man came at him again. Christian put all of his focus in grabbing the man's arm. He was grateful he'd come so far; he'd never have survived something like this if he grew up the way he thought he would. The two struggled for control of the knife, their legs stopped being a part of the fight, as they both inched closer and closer to the knife. What would win the fight.

A ghoul approached, and both heads snapped up. But Christian wasn't going to be the one caught of guard this time. With good reflex, Christian threw an elbow into the face of the man, which gave Christian the flinch he needed to shake the man off of him, finally.

All Lennie could do was watch. Her breathing was slow, and difficult to manage. She eventually worked up the courage to grip the blade, and try to force it out of her. But she couldn't manage it. She felt so disappointed in herself for not noticing the ghoul. She'd excelled in combat training thousands of times. How could this happen?

All of Christian's internal dialogue told him not to help the man, but he neglected the rational part of his brain. Christian lunged his knife into the skull of the ghoul, apparently hard enough that his knife was now lodged into the wooden cabin. Before Christian could take another action, he felt a very sharp point at the back of his neck. He knew better than to move towards or away from it.

The man adjusted his knife to be in the front of Christian's throat, ready whenever he felt it was necessary. The situation angered Christian, as his captor looked at his friends. It was at that moment, Christian finally felt shaken as his eyes layed on Lennie. The man spoke up, "Both of you are going to step away from the girl, right now."

Evie had managed to pull the sword out of Lennie's stomach, and had managed to use her powers to get control of the bleeding. However, if Evie moved her hands away even an inch, if she even stopped using her powers before the bleeding stopped completely, Lennie would probably bleed out...

Sophia, finally seeing colors that weren't the red of her Rage Power, watched as the last ghoul dropped to the ground. Only a few minutes had passed, and the only people left in the clearing were her, Lennie, Evie, and Christian who was still fighting that man with a knife. Sophia looked over at the two rolling on the ground trying to each reach for the knife on the ground, and since it seemed like Christian was about to have the upper hand, she opted to run over to help Evie and Lennie instead. "How's it looking?" She asked, it was too dark for her to see the damage that had been done to Lennie.

"Not good. But I've seen worse, and I have it under control." Evie answered the girl.

"Need any help?" Sophia asked, she had minor healing powers, due to being a legacy of Volturnus, but they weren't much.

"Nope, just kee-" Evie started to say, but was cut off. Both her and Sophia jerked their heads to look behind them. Sophia stood up, standing in front of Lennie and Evelyn. Sophia couldn't make that type of decision, to stop saving Lennie in order to keep Christian alive, that had to be up to those two....

Evie looked between Lennie and the man with the knife... she could let go, but she didn't know how long Lennie would have to go without the blood being stopped. She looked again over to the man holding Christian, there were so many outcomes to this situation...

In that moment, a knife to his throat didn't mean anything to the Centurion. Christian's mind had been plagued ever since the moment he'd ditched those painkillers after freeing Carter. His mind had kept positive, despite the battle ahead. He had many people in his life who cared for him. Corinne, Rowan, Roz, his entire Cohort, and despite the many others after, one stood out from the others in a special way. Lindsey Hoass, the very sun of Christian's inner circle.

There was no one Christian looked at more as the future of New Rome than Lennie. Since the day she'd arrived at Camp Jupiter, she'd done nothing but give smiles and warmth to the people around her, and although each lecture of the benevolence of the world was stained with cliche, it was Lennie who always put her foot forward to console people. It was always Lennie who put the team first. She'd saved him, and now he couldn't save her.

The feeling in his stomach was unlike any other. Worse than when Rowan told him she didn't want to talk to him anymore. Worse than when his mother shot him. Worse than when he found out his sister was dead. Christian wasn't crying, but tears gently had flooded his eyes. He felt exhausted, ever weary moment finally caught up to him in that moment. He wanted to collapse on the hard ground. He wanted all of it to just finally be over.

But as his stare still stayed locked on the bleeding girl, he knew there was work to be done. He couldn't let her die.

"Sophia. Lennie's the future. I asked her to come with me, if she dies here-" Christian began to make his plea, but was cut of by a sharp knick of pain in his neck.

"Shut. Up." The man impatiently said, he'd knicked Christian's neck with his own knife. "You assholes couldn't just leave this place alone. You had to come here and take it from us." He angrily spat out at the duo.

Evelyn looked from Lennie and Evelyn to Christian one more time. She bit her lip, as she looked back to Christian. "Evie, do not listen to the man." She said, she forced her lip to stop quivering as she held back tears.

"Sophia are you sure?"

"Shut up, and keep healing her." Sophia ordered, she kept her eyes locked on the man holding the knife on Christian's neck. She hated doing this. Evie nodded, and pushed more of her healing powers into Lennie's wound, trying to ignore what was going on behind her.

Sophia didn't know Christian that well. The first time the two centurion's had talked to each other, was when he was recruited to help her break the curse on her brother. She knew his feelings about families like her, but had helped anyway. He had even defended her against Carter a few times, when the curse made him treat her like crap. He hadn't had to do that, but did anyway, and Sophia thought that made him a pretty damn good centurion, and person in general.

"Who said anything about taking this land? That's not why we're here!" She yelled at the man, maybe she could talk this out.

Christian couldn't see the look in the man's face, but he could tell how fierce it was. Silence filled the air, and the man gave Sophia a look, as if he didn't even need to explain his reasoning. He looked at Sophia like she was clueless, but Christian was still trying to get a grip on the situation.

There was a moment of relief. Not enough to breathe yet, seeing Lennie's body look so lifeless wasn't a good sign, but Evelyn followed orders. He felt good knowing Lennie's chances were very good. The three of them were safe, but Christian didn't like the dark hues that were now invading without the sun. He wasn't helping them get anywhere by being a hostage. Gods only knew what else would show up for them. The standstill wasn't good.

"Proud of you." Christian muttered out to Sophia. They weren't close, not at all. But Christian admired the girl. It took serious strength to make the call of life and death. Christian had had to do it before, and it tore him up at the time. Sophia was so young. He hated that she had to do this.

"One more word and I will gut you." His voice was unforgiving, and his eyes glanced at Sophia one more time. He wasn't sure if she'd be able to tell, but he wasn't going to be a prisoner. That just wasn't his forte.

"Rowan would be too." He was louder this time, and spoke with defiance. There was only gonna be one shot to get this right, and Christian wasn't betting on it. He didn't want Sophia to feel the guilt that someone would feel. Christian was guessing that Rowan would be pretty pissed off at him if he died.

He had to wait for that wrist to move. That damn wrist. Waiting for the right moment also wasn't Christian's forte. He'd quit painkillers far too late. Kissed Rowan far too early. Went to kill that first monster before he checked his surroundings. He figured now was the time to get one right. He felt the knife pressure leave his neck, and in that instant, Christian's reflexes came to life.

His left hand raised from his waist, up to his neck. He knew he wouldn't be able to grab the man's wrist in time, and without Vicodin, what was coming next was going to suck. Christian's left hand collided heavily with the knife, it carved straight through the palm of Christian's hand. It was a feeling unlike anything he'd felt before, it felt like he was literally lit on fire, all concentrated into one area. Christian had his pugio under his shirt, but he couldn't concentrate even a little to get it. Every ounce of reachable effort was keeping the knife from his neck, even though it was already in his hand.

Evelyn kept her hands on Lennie's stab wound. The bleeding had stopped, and now all that was left was to heal the internal damage, which Evie wasn't even sure if she would have enough energy to do so. She had never had to heal such a serious wound before, and she was afraid that she wouldn't be able to soon. She gave a quick glance over to Sophia, who was still facing down the man holding a knife to Christian's neck. This was a bad situation all around... She brought her focus back to her patient, and continued the healing process.

Sophia wasn't really sure what to think, she kind of figured Christian had something in mind, or else he wouldn't be purposely talking louder when he was told to shut up. Sophia was slowly takes steps closer to the two, she already had her own knife in her hand. She watched as the man turned his back on her, to stab his knife at Christian. That was a big mistake on his part.

Sophia darted forward, she grabbed the man by the back of the shirt and pulled him off Christian and onto the ground. The man hadn't been expecting her to attack, so Sophia almost easily got the man facedown on the ground. The next thing she did was a bit harder, cause she was so small. Sophia had to keep her knee in the man's back, while she held his head down with one hand, and held her knife up to his throat with her other hand. "Make one move, and i'll slit your throat." She hissed, "Guys, did we pack rope, or like handcuffs?!" She then asked, looking up to the rest of the group.

The will to press on was hard to find. Every single fraction of the two seconds was a whole moment where Christian had to find additional motivation. To press his hand into the knife, each tiny movement sending absolute waves of agony through him. Nonetheless, he managed to fight through those moments. At the end of them, the man was on the floor now, a young girl now held him in the shoes Christian could get in. Christian gripped the knife with his right hand. He knew how bad it would hurt, but he yanked it out. He wanted to toss it, never look at it again, but he know how dangerous leaving Imperial gold was. He tucked it back away.

Despite the pain, agony, and emotional turmoil, all Christian could do was smile in the moment. It was a wide smile, his teeth showing, he looked as though his high school crush had just said yes to going to the prom with him. He gave a grateful glance, to both of the heroes. Sophia had saved him. Evelyn had saved Lennie.

Blood was utterly gushing out of his hand, but he didn't care. He used his right hand, the untouched one, to reach into his back pocket. "I don't leave home without 'em." Christian flashed his cuffs.

"You're gonna love it back home." Christian mocked to the man. Using the one hand, he took his time to cuffs his wrists together. "Try and run, you won't get far. You'll wish you hadn't." Christian promised him.

"F*** you." He said, his face buried in the dirt. There was no spirit, no energy. It was a hollow comeback.

Sophia watched Christian put the handcuffs on the man. Once they were on, she removed her knife from the mans throat, and sat up, but didn't remove her knee from the mans back, fearful that he might try and escape. Though she kind of doubted that he would. "Do you want me to heal your hand?" She asked. It was gushing blood, and judging by their current situation, he was gonna be the one driving them back to camp. Lennie was injured, Evie was probably gonna pass out soon from using to much of her powers, plus she probably never drove a car built after the 1930s anyway, and Sophia wasn't technically old enough to have a license yet.

"Ok... Done... Well mostly, it's not fatal anymore, just a flesh wound now..." Evie finally said, she leaned back, exhausted. She glanced behind her, to find that they had already gotten the upper hand, and Sophia was currently sitting on their new prisoner.

Christian took just a single moment to himself, to gather his state. Sophia had the man, which means it was time to rethink his priorities. "You probably should..." Christian drifted off. "But, I don't want to risk it. We have gauze back at the car. If something else goes wrong, we might need your healing later." He approached Lennie, she wasn't awake, and it sent chills down his spine. He placed his right hand on her neck, looking for a pulse. Feeling the pulse made him feel relieved.

"Thank you." Christian said, in a wholesome tone to Evelyn. "I told you that you were gonna do great things." Christian bent his knees down to Lennie, carrying her back was going to be a feat and a half, especially having to use one arm and one hand. He looped his wounded hand over her legs so his cut wasn't in contact with her body. "We should get back. Sun's gone."

"Hmm no problem..." Evelyn said, her voice clearly showing how wiped out she was. She stood up on shaky legs, and looked over to Sophia. The small girl was holding the man down, almost easily. "Yep, great things...." She mumbled, almost mockingly. She smirked as she helped Sophia pull their prisoner to his feet. "What are we gonna do with him?" She asked.

"Take him back to New Rome. The senate will probably want to interrogate him..." Sophia said, as she pushed the man forward a bit roughly, to get him to walk. "Looks like the Senates gonna owe you an apology, Christian..." She added, thinking that the Senate hadn't been in complete agreement with their mission. "KEEP WALKING!" Sophia had to push the guy again, as she and Evie led the way out of the clearing and back to the car.

"The senate will get their turn." Christian was sure the senate wasn't a big fan of him and his unorthodox style. Cutting his people of Cohort 5 more slack than other Centurions would, and allowing them to be much more expressive than the typical Roman teaching. "But, you know them, they wouldn't admit they were wrong if we saved a billion lives in coming here." He joked. The walk back to the car was short, even shorter than the walk from the car to Black Creek. Once they got there, Christian placed Lennie in the back seat of the car, and buckled her in. Her unmoving body still left Christian feeling like he'd disappointed everyone who believed in him.

Christian began wrapping the gauze around his hand, it definitely didn't feel better, but it was at least consistent. "Hey." Christian asked for Sophia's attention. He continued to bandage the wound; it wasn't too bad. "I don't really know if Carter drives, if he's ever taken you out to test drive, or maybe your mom? I know you have a big family." Christian said, with maybe just a speck of envy in his voice. He finished nursing his wound, at the very least, the blood wasn't leaking anymore. Though, his arm was still covered in the blood from before the bandaging. He flashed the keys to Sophia.

"If you haven't, we're gonna be on deserted back roads for a while. Now could be a good chance to start." He offered.

"The Senate is full of big screw ups anyways." Sophia told him, she thoroughly believed it also. Of course she didn't mind of some of the people who made up the Senate. Liam Davenport was usually trustworthy enough.... She was partially convinced that the man didn't even want to be there to begin with, or he was just so much of a genius that the Senate bored him.  

Evelyn opened the back of the car, as Sophia held the man still. "You know, I kind of feel like keeping him in the trunk isn't a good idea." She admitted, as she handed the keys to Sophia, and climbed into the back seat next to Lennie, she saw Christian's face. "Don't worry, she's just asleep..." She told him, then promptly pulled her own seat belt on, and fell asleep herself.

"Where else are we gonna keep him? Lennie's injured, and I don't want him near her." Sophia said, locking people in trunks of cars, wasn't really a thing the "good guys" were supposed to do, but where else would they put him? The roof? Sophia finished handcuffing his feet together, and then pushed him into the trunk. She finished locking their prisoner in the trunk, and used her knife to poke the smallest possible air holes into the top. She figured the Senate would understand why their car had holes in it, not like their cars haven't gone through worse...

Once she was done, she joined Christian up front. "Yo." She answered, then listened to his offered. When he was done, she laughed. "Technically, I do know how to drive... Nobody really taught me, I just kind of decided to drive my moms car to school one day... But I would love to learn officially." As much as Sophia would love to say she knew how to drive, she actually didn't know that much. She knew red meant stop, and green meant go... And most people would have to be from Europe to not know what side of the street to drive on... but everything else she was clueless about. Plus it wasn't hard navigating New Rome... She probably should learn how to drive officially.

"Sophia Virgo's a badass, huh?" Christian coyly teased. Her story reminded him of himself when he was young. He'd been a Centurion for so long now that he'd forgotten what it was like to have the freedom of childhood, even if so much of his Centurion duties were served during his childhood. Christian opened up the passenger door of the car and took his seat.

"The trunk was the right call." Christian admitted after a short moment of silence. His voice had dimmed, and he let go of the matter of pain in his left hand in the moment. Sophia was young, and constantly in harm's way despite her brother being a Centurion too. "Sometimes the wrong thing can be the right thing. A Roman life can mean more than anything. That's what this was, a matter of life and death. Put the key in the ignition and turn it."

"You'll be in charge of that choice one day." Christian had waited to hear the sound of the engine rev before speaking. To hear it was a blessing, it meant their next destination was home. "The choice of who lives and who dies, that's just something every Centurion sees at least once." The advice had been given to him once, by his old Centurion, Roz, who was now Praetor. Having seen it himself recently, maybe it was useful for the younger Centurion to hear now.