Nika went out last, shutting the gate behind her. She watched the Hound start to sniff around, starting to move farther and farther away from the gate. The Hound paused before turning and going off to the side towards the fence enclosing the base. There she paused, staring at one spot that had fallen in darkness, a low growl building in her throat.

Nika approached cautiously, drawing her sword and moving towards the spot cautiously. Something lashed out at her foot, and she quickly swiped it off, severing it from the main being. The thing reared up from the ground, taller than they were. They could only tell that much because it blotted out everything around it.

Dawn saw the thing and couldn't help but start trembling. It was exactly what she had seen in her vision, and it still terrified her. Gripping her bow tighter, she forced herself to focus. She couldn't afford to fall apart now. Pulling an arrow from her quiver, she tried to make the mental transition into battle.

Jason already had an arrow drawn and ready. He wasn't sure if he should shoot the thing, though. He wasn't sure his arrow wouldn't just go right through.

Nika grimaced and threw one of her daggers at it. It hit something like flesh, which squirmed away from the dagger and left the weapon on the ground. But the flesh didn't reform around the wound, leaving a little hole.

Satisfied that she could hurt it, Nika started attacking, keeping herself lower to the ground in case the others tried to fire arrows at it. Or knives, she mentally ammended as Seth threw a knife into the thing.

Jason waited until he had a clear shot before taking it. His arrow was a little off the mark, but he had expected that. He wasn't a perfect archer at the moment. Reaching back, he went for another arrow when a second came from behind him and exploded on impact. He half-turned and saw Dawn already knocking another arrow, and he recognized the distinctive red fletching as another explosive arrow. He shifted his hand a bit and found one of his sonic arrows. Drawing it back, he let it fly. The air wavered around the arrow, and when it hit, it created a miniature sonic-boom similar to the explosive arrow from before.

Dawn shot another incendiary arrow, glad her brother caught her train of thought. Regular arrows probably wouldn't do much damage, so she tried to be as destructive as possible.

The thing warped around the arrows, leaving more holes, bigger than the ones the daggers had left. It swung a tentacle-like apendage at Nika, knocking her over for a moment before she sliced off the apendage. With a hissing shriek, it retreated, shrinking down before vanishing.

Nika got up and brushed herself off, wincing a bit as she bent over to do a damage assessment. While it hadn't broken any ribs, she would definitely bruise. Oh well. Better her than the others.

"You two okay?" Seth asked, looking at the other two. He hadn't noticed Nika's wince, and he was more concerned about Dawn anyway.

Dawn waved off the question and checked the string on her bow as a distraction, making sure it wasn't fraying.

"I'm okay," she replied. She couldn't completely keep the waver out of her voice, and she wasn't going to admit that she had been terrified.

Jason ignored the question and went over to Nika.

"Hold still," he said. Gently, he probed her ribs a bit, checking to make sure they weren't broken. "That was a pretty hard hit," he commented.

Seth nodded and went to go pick up his knives, letting out his breath slowly. That had been nerve-wracking, to say the least. He didn't look at the Hound as it started sniffing around again.

"I've had worse," Nika said, wincing and smacking at her hands. "It's just bruising. I'll be fine." She shot him a quick smile to make up for her attitude.

"Thanks for not hitting me, by the way."

Dawn didn't put her bow away just yet. Her nerves were shot, and she was just this side of paranoid. She didn't want to be caught blind, not with that thing wandering around.

"Well, nothing is broken," Jason replied. "That's definitely a good thing. But for now, if you find you need it, Dawn and I both keep ambrosia in our bags, just in case." Holding out a hand, he helped Nika up.

Seth decided to stay close to Dawn, just in case, and kept looking around. The Hound just sat and waited, supremely unconcerned.

Nika took his hand after a moment and got to her feet. "I think I'm okay. We'd better save it for later, in case someone really needs it." She looked over at the Hound. "I think we're okay for the moment. We can take a second to rest and calm down."

Out of both nerves and habit, Dawn checked the sky, trying to determine the time. The eastern horizon was just barely beginning to lighten, so she figured it was probably close to four or five in the morning.

"Sunrise in a few hours," she murmured.

"Alright," Jason said to Nika as he helped her up. He heard what Dawn said and glanced towards the horizon. Like his sister, he would feel a bit more at ease once he could feel the sun on his skin.

"I say we hunker down for a few hours," Nika said, glancing around. "Find somewhere to rest for a while. The Hound will require some time to find the Void again, so we may as well get some rest."

"That sounds practical," Seth agreed after a moment.

Dawn nodded. They would all feel better after some rest, even if they didn't actually sleep.

"We should get away from here," Jason said after a moment. "Never know what might trip over us, so close to a gate to the Underworld."

Nika snorted. "Not to mention an active naval base. We can head into town for a bit and see if we can find somewhere to rest there."

Seth nodded and led the way back towards the hole in the fence, the Hound following behind the group at a languid pace.

Dawn followed them, trying not to think about the Hellhound behind her. She was still a little jumpy, so she forced herself to calm down a little bit. She noticed that Jason kept glancing at the eastern horizon, and she knew why. They were both waiting for the sun to rise.

Nika just started walking, looking for the nearest hotel. They usually had someone there all night long, and she wanted to let the others have somewhere to rest. They needed it.

Jason tagged along with Nika, keeping an eye on her. Even if he wasn't a healer, he could still tell when someone had taken a bad hit, and Nika had. Not that he would say to her face that he didn't quite trust her when she said she was fine.

Dawn walked with them quietly, habitually glancing around to make sure they weren't being followed or anything. She wasn't going to fully relax until this whole thing was over and she had her powers back.

Nika stopped at the first motel she saw, getting a double-room for them. She took the key and led the way down to the room, letting everyone else in first before locking the door behind them.

"We can stay here for a while," she said, taking a seat on the couch in the small living room. The Hound laid down beside the couch, letting out a huff of breath.

Seth nodded and investigated the two bedrooms and bathrooms. "So what now?"

"We rest for a bit and then try again."

Dawn sat down on one of the beds and started to methodically go through her things, checking everything. She paused in the middle of counting her arrows, and swore softly.

"What?" Jason asked.

"Nothing fucking works," Dawn said. "First my lyre, now my quiver... Oh, we're going to have words next time I see our father..."

"What are you talking about?" Jason asked, a bit baffled. Dawn gestured to her arrows.

"I'm missing two. They didn't regenerate like they should have."

Nika snorted. "You had words with him the first time you saw him," she said mildly, resting back against the couch gingerly. "Sit down, the lot of you."

Seth rolled his eyes but sat down in one of the chairs, relaxing.

Dawn threw a pillow at Nika. It scraped at her temper a little when the pillow missed.

"Time was that would have hit you," she muttered.

"Well, we'll just need to be more careful in how many arrows we use," Jason said calmly. He knew his sister was unreasonable when it came to their father. "At least, until this whole mess is over, or until we can convince him to give us more arrows."

Nika took the pillow and used it for her head, letting out a content sigh. "We can worry about that later," she said, her eyes still closed. "Seriously. Sit down and rest. You don't do any good pacing or whatever."

"Says she who hasn't held still until now."

"But now I am, aren't I?" Nika said mildly. "I am going to take a nap. If none of you are going to take one of those beds, I'm going to take one. Wake me if the world's ending." She hauled herself to her feet with some reluctance, going into one of the two bedrooms, flopping down face-first onto the bed.

Dawn let Nika take one of the beds, moving over to the window instead. It wasn't quite an east-facing window, but it was better than nothing. Jason sat down in one of the chairs and worked on taking care of his weapons. He noticed that his own arrows weren't regenerating, like Dawn had said.

Nika fell asleep quickly, getting the rest while she could. Seth stayed awake, looking out the windows or checking his weapons again. This whole situation made him rather nervous.

Dawn relaxed marginally once she felt the sun on her face, even though it was through the window. Curling up in one corner of the couch, she fell into a light doze, still too tense to actually sleep.

Jason saw his sister relax enough to doze off.

"Sunrise," he murmured. He didn't go over to the window to check. He didn't need to.

Seth chuckled quietly and settled down there. He didn't move until the Hellhound did, sitting up with its ears perked up. It sniffed a couple times before going over to the door, waiting for them.