Lucretia was still looking over her reports regarding the gang activity in Era when a new urgent one came to her by messenger. The rank of the messenger made her eyes shoot up; why would they have a captain be a runner for something? She’d scramble to get out of her chair and meet the captain halfway; he looked ragged and he seemed to be bleeding profusely from the side of the head but he’d wave off her attempt to touch it.

”C-captain… Commander. Wolfenstein! I bring an urgent missive for you!”

Shaky hands handed her a scroll and the captain had to take a moment to clear his thoughts; he’d motion for her to read it and what she saw made her jaw drop a little bit. There was a monster that had been released in the streets of Crocus. A devilish and brutish thing that towered over the buildings; so far it had smashed up a few buildings. Killed some civilians and injured a group of knights. They had tried to wrangle it; nearly succeeded but it used some kind of ability to blast it’s way free.

Gritting her teeth she’d bellow for her own captains to escort the injured one to the medical wing. Scooping up her spear and ignoring her armor; there was no time to lose. She practically sprinted her way down the stairs and once she got to an open door she’d kick it open. Putting her fingers between her lips she’d let out a shrill whistle that could be heard for miles around. She had a steed that was very willing to traverse the world with her on it and with them being so close to the cities she knew that a dhuilin like that would be a surprise to see galloping to the knights headquarters.

Spotting it galloping towards the building she’d take a few steps off and leap just as her captains came to see what she was doing. Her older captain looked mortified and the younger one had to do a double take as their commanding officer just left like that! On her way down she’d point at the both of them.

”Muster the Lieutenants and the seated knights! Your job is to save the civilians. I’ll Handle the monster!”

As she landed on her mount’s back she’d give it a thankful pat on its side before she’d motion to where she needed to go. The two of them made a beeline towards certain destruction as she left her captains to sort out what to do about the civilian casualties. Hopefully there weren’t many and she’d urge her mount to go faster. She could feel time starting to wear thin for a lot of lives and she’d grip her spear tighter in her hand until she could feel the metal groan.

It wasn’t a matter of what they’d try, it’s a matter of whether they needed to save these people.

Her urgency could be felt by her dhuilin and they’d redouble their efforts. It might have only been a few hours but when she arrived what she saw made her curl her lip in disgust. She could see the havoc by the monster tenfold. It was some kind of huge hybrid of a gorilla, some kind of bird and what she figured to be a lizard. It was spewing a bright beam of destruction from its mouth and had taken out a defensive tower or two.

She wouldn’t risk her mount at this point and would kick off of it. Warding it away from the combat as she rolled to keep her momentum. Sprinting towards the entry. The guards looked wildly around and Lucretia held up her rune knight badge.

”LOWER THE DAMN BRIDGE SO I CAN GO SKEWER THAT APE. DON’T YOU RECOGNIZE A CAPTAIN COMMANDER?”

She let out a commanding bellow and the guards at the gate let the bridge down faster than you could shake a fist and were working on drawing the portcullis up. Lucretia didn’t wait and slid along under it. For a beast of her size she was fast. Faster than you could possibly imagine living a cushy life. She’d continue running seeing the beast take out another building; roaring in anger. She could see some wounds on it and some arrows sticking out of its gnarled hide but it definitely wasn’t something you should just leave be.

As it was it would stand taller than both of her forms combined and that was impressive. She’d inhale and let out a challenging roar to the beast; it seemed startled and then almost made a chuffing like laughing sound. She’d draw her spear arm back and with all her might would hurl it like a rocket at the beast. It had a second before the spear slammed into it’s eye; prompting a roar of pain as Lucretia ran forward. The spear itself launched back into her hand and she’d slam its point into the leg of the beast.

It’d make a sweeping motion with one arm looking to hit her; she’d get a moment to flip up and over it but would have to leave her spear in its leg to do such a motion. Growling, she'd kick the spear through the leg as she landed. Prompting another roar of pain and she could see her spear lost in the rubble of another building.

Tsking to herself she’d kick back a few times. She had a few ideas as to how to handle this beast and it’s wild flailing let her know that it held very little skill. Maybe she could draw on the innate power of her ice magic? She couldn’t do much with it at the moment but if you poured enough of an element in something…

Well maybe that would work? She hadn’t the faintest idea. It’d be a bad idea if she did it and was left wide open. Another sweep of it’s tail caught her in her side and she’d get sent flying through the air. Crashing through a few buildings and landing in a heap of rubble. A few civilians were nearby; looking fearfully as she stood up out of it. Dusting herself off and spitting out some blood.

”Get yourself to somewhere safe; cathedral has some thick walls so you should be fine.”

They’d nod and she’d start walking through the ruins that she had been knocked through. No one had been hurt by that at least; but a lot of property damage was going on. She’d have to get her knights to find appropriate construction workers. Stepping out into the courtyard where the beast was still rampaging she spotted her spear amidst the rubble again. Grinning to herself she’d trot over to it; watching the creature as it bellowed and roared to the sky. Like it was hot shit or something like that. Yanking her spear free she was happy to see that it wasn’t badly damaged. A few more solid hits and maybe it’d be needing a good repair.

She’d eye her quarry as it turned about; nostrils flaring. So this thing also had the capabilities to track it’s targets? That would be problematic. The spear left her hand in another throw but this time the beast slapped the spear out of the air. That earned a snort and lucretia would kick off of the ground catching it mid air and launching it with a spin into the same leg. It had enough force to where that clearly severed the beasts limb and she heard it let out a earth shattering cry of pain.

She’d land on the ground, watching it hop around in pain. The letter said that they would prefer it be taken alive if possible but lucretia wasn’t going to waste time trying to capture a beast that was destroying the city like this. Snarling it’d reach towards her and lucretia would curl a fist before socking the reaching hand directly in the palm. There was a moment where it seemed like the beast was stronger than her but…

When it’s arm convulsed and she heard bones split she knew that it was actually weaker. Or at least not as tough as she was. Smirking she’d grab it’s arm… and heave! Slamming it down into the rubble it had made, if she could minimize the damage she’d probably get less of a reaming from her own superiors but honestly just killing this beast would probably waive that.

She’d note that it was struggling to get up, as though it forgot that she took off it’s leg. She noted the tip of her spear was actually broken off in the opposing leg and let out a sigh. So much for using it to do the same to the other leg. Instead lucretia would spring forward, clasping her hands together and slamming the remaining leg with her fists. She heard bone break and the beast roared, falling back onto the rubble.

Lucretia climbed onto the beast as it started to flail about; trying to hit her but missing often and hitting itself due to the pain. Snarling she’d hurry up to it’s head, one eye was practically gone and the other baleful yellow one started daggers at her. She’d draw her fist back and then slam it into it’s face. The force was enough to slam it down into the ground and she’d rotate off which fist she used to punch the beast.

The cracking of it’s skull eventually gave way to her and she’d slowly stand up. Dusting off her hands and shaking off the blood. The massive monster was easily thirty feet tall and she had just… Punched it to death. There was a good reason she was a captain commander and not a captain or any of the lesser ranks. She was absurdly powerful compared to most and this show against the beast when her own knights arrived led many to find their jaw hitting the floor.

”All right. I want pages and apprentices to sweep the rubble for survivors. Seated knights set up a medical tent… over there. Lieutenants see if you can find out where this thing came from. Captains. You’re with me.”

She’d motion for her two captains to follow her and they quickly stepped into line. She’d take them through the few streets and buildings that were affected. They took note of the strength of the beast and she’d fold her arms as they found where it had started it’s rampage. A home that wasn’t impressive by any means but the alchemical fluids and whatnot that was within let her know that something dastardly was going on.

”I want a team here to collect everything now. Any notes or books they find are to be given to me. We’re going to find out who set loose that beast and what their next step is. I want the both of you to communicate with the other captains in the other divisions. See if anyone has any leads.”

They’d both give her a salute and she’d see them off. Turning and staring at the destruction one person’s decisions led to. She’d look down to the spearhead of the shaka zulu assegai and as it faded into dust she’d smile softly. There were words she could have said; things that would have made for a tearful goodbye but the calling out of her knights drew her attention away from that.

It was a rough cleanup and she was glad that she could have taken out the beast. But she had a few of her knights scour for any traces of her spear. Finding naught but ash and many of them questioned her about it. She’d give a small wave of her hand as the inquiries eventually fell flat. The important part was that the whole of it was gone and the ape was dealt with. As she left the city with her knights she’d look back over her shoulder and a small smile eased onto her face.

”...Till we meet again.”

[2010/2000]