"True dat," Shabazz said. "I need a mind purge, after that."
"You might need a little more than that," Carlos said with a half-grin, worry just starting to take root in his gut, now that immediate danger had passed. Nervous chuckles passed around the male team members.
"Yeah, well," Shabazz said, running a palm over his locks. "A white bath, a strong purge, I'll be good in the morning."
"What happened?" Marlene asked, no nonsense in her tone as she crossed her arms over her chest.
"Baby, later, we can - "
"Oh, hell no," Marlene said, swiftly walking up to Shabazz and standing in front of him.
"Everything. I wanna know what bit every one of you guys."
"Mar ain't said a mumblin' word." Damali argued and moved to stand in the center of the group. "We're glad you're back - you went, you conquered, and God bless your dumb asses, you came home." She wiped her brow in a theatrical display. "But now that you're home, the fun begins - like, trying to keep a retaliatory threat from nuking this resort. Purging everything out of your systems, and - "
"We're black-boxed at the Ausar level," Carlos countered, lifting his chin, indignant.
"Really?" Damali said, stalking him in a circle, causing him to turn with her. "That means it was so bad and so ill-timed that the Neteru Council of Kings had to give us the ultimate protection - something we've never had to have before, just so we can live somewhere to fight another day." When Carlos opened his mouth to speak, she held up her hand. "Never before."
"We had to send a message, D!" Carlos folded his arms.
"What if you guys couldn't get out of there and your energy dipped, huh?"
"Adam came for us on a fly-ass white war steed, toting a megadeath crossbow, crown tipped to the side, 'cause brother was hard ridin' and ready to die with us, aw'ight - my brother had our backs .. . him, Hannibal, Akhen - "
"The white horse ... oh shit!" Damali bent over and covered her mouth. The room went still.
"Baby ..." Carlos said after a minute. "What's up with the white horse?"
"Try Revelations, verses one and two - the first seal is broken, the big war is on, my brother, and y'all were AWOL on a black-ops mission ... no communication, us having mild coronaries ... yeah, did I mention that's why we had the Covenant on the phone -
after Inez's vision?" Marlene folded her arms.
Damali stood up slowly as male jaws went slack, and placed her hands on her hips. "You kicked off the Armageddon, Carlos Rivera ... Oh ... my ... God. And, do you know whose wife you are jacking with? Oh ... my ... God. And do you understand that part of this whole Armageddon thing is linked to the - "
"Oh my God..." Carlos closed his eyes and began to pace, raking his hair.
"Yeah," Damali said flatly. "Me and the girlz," she pressed on sarcastically, making little quote marks around the words "the girlz" with her fingers in the air, "have been discussing this the whole time y'all were gone. But did ya think to ask us about it... ? Oh, noooo ..
.'cause you guys got a fight rush that made your dicks hard and you rolled out of here
insane!"
"That's ain't fair, D," Carlos muttered. "And you know it." Damali swept away from Carlos, walking a hot path back and forth. Marjorie picked up where she left off.
"I want to know everything that bit anyone, especially what bit my son." Marjorie folded her arms over her chest.
"That's right, Jack Rider," Tara said, her gaze deadly as she held her body tight with a hug.
"A vamp snatch, three-sixty sight. Uh-uh. You're nicked and nicked bad."
"But that happened before we even started the brawl, baby . .." Rider opened his arms.
"Oh, for the love of Pete, Would you tell the lady?"
"Yeah, T," Carlos said, trying to deflect the argument "He was on it way before the first clip emptied."
"Oh, I feel so much better knowing that just the vamp energy in there could open up his old wounds," Tara spat, her eyes narrowing.