“Harpy! There's something over there.” you warned.

“What kind of ‘something'?” Shaggy asked.

Harpy turned her head in the direction you were pointing, and squinted.

“Fighting.” she said, before swinging around to fly towards it without elaborating any further.

Her shadow passed over Deadhead along the way, and the roided-out rumbler stopped to gaze up at her.

“Wait! Where are we going now?” he asked, leaping onto a nearby rooftop in a single bound.

You watched him struggle to catch up, but lucky for him, your target wasn't terribly far. And as soon as you got close enough, you found yourself feeling both relieved and intrigued.

This person wasn't your grandmother. But…who–or what were they?

A lone, masked warrior flitted around the battlefield, expertly dispatching any and all undead that dared oppose her. The cloak she wore was adorned with bronze, upside down crosses, all of them hanging from chains made of a similar material. Her mannequin mask was plain and dull, not bearing any sort of opulent decoration, only having openings for her eyes and nose, and a wreath of white flowers lining her hood. Some had been stained by black ichor from the undead, and a few of her crosses appeared to have been torn off sometime during the fighting.

A pair of silvery swords flashed amidst the chaos, standing out more than even the radiant glow of her life energy. She swung them so fast and with such elegance that you could've swore they left shimmering trails through the air in their wake.

From the looks of things, she had already slain scores of undead, and wasn’t showing any signs of slowing down. You were beginning to wonder whether you were needed at all, when Shaggy pointed out a herd of undead centaur stampeding towards her.

“Harpy, drop me!” you demanded.

“Hold on, now! We're too high up!” Shaggy protested.

“Too high up for you, maybe.” you said, patting Harpy’s leg.

And before Shaggy could say anything in reply, the giant bird woman released you from her grasp. The dog called out after you, but you ignored him, rolled up a ball of sap, and flung it at the raised arm of a marble statue erected in the middle of the plaza. Attached to that ball was a strand of sap, directly connecting the palm of your hand to the statue's own hand.

When you were at an appropriate height, you swung from the sap strand, in a very similar fashion to the way you witnessed Ben do it.

“I could have done that…” Mercy remarked, sounding a little pouty as she did.

“I know, but I need you for something else.” you said, swinging in a tight arc around the statue, until you were close enough to the ground to land beside the masked warrior.

She immediately whirled around to face you, her dual katanas at the ready. Her tension eased a bit when she was able to get a better look at you.

“Hey. Thought you could use some help.” you tried, gesturing at the giant harpy and shaggy black dog flying overhead.

(Cont.)