Eternal Rains (IC) [M] - Closed

[Lushin]

Sheabus slammed hard into the ground with a thud. He still managed to hold onto his katana but he was barely conscious. He slowly sat up and saw the Harpist blown from his feet. For a moment he had the memory of seeing his foster parents' dead bodies. That image stuck in his mind as he was blown back. The image seemed to to morph in his head. It turned to him watching their death and seeing their killer. Instead of it being four men it was one man. Sheabus clearly saw the man, it was the Harpist. This set Sheabus off, he used all the strength the rage inside him gave him and he climb to his feat and glared at the Harpist. Once again he readied his katana for an attack he charge the now knocked down harpist. Letting out a roar one would except from a dragon. He put all his anger, rage, sadness into this attack as he charged forward. Not carring if he lived or died after the attack, all he wanted to do was kill the Harpist. It almost seemed as if he was glowing with rage as he charged forward. He shut off all senses he deemed unimportant, his hearing, his sense of smell, his sense of taste, his sense of tough. All that was working was his eyesight.

[lucas marcone]

Dani watched as the frightened mage sort of blended two spells together because of his furious hand work. A clear force mixed with flames came at him faster than any thing he'd ever seen. He tried to turn and run, but the spell blazed through the support beam and into Dani. The bear was buried under a hefty amount of rubble, and his world went dark. The battle was over for Dani as he lay unconscious underneath the unimaginable weight of the piece of roof that fell on him.

[e_voyager]

s he staff connected with the Rat epyon suddenly found himself in his village. it was a sunny day still fairly early in the morning. his younger bother was pull his arm and sawing something too thing then almost as suddenly the world dissolved ash he was blown from his feet by a shock wave the like of which he could not ever remember feeling before. it was as if a lightning bolt had struck  the ground right nest to him.  had he been lighting he might have died. had he been his directly he would be little more then ash. as it was he was blown into a wreck building. conscious and hurt not that he really felt the pain like the living did but he could tell when he was damage.

As he is considering where or not to move in the rubble he hears a groan. the kind someone in intense pain and on the board of conscious emits.  opening all his eyes he looks around  and there buried close to him under a few pound as rubble he see. and arm.  watching as the rubble shifts some. peering hard his eyes and their golden tint seem to be glowing as he recognized it.. It's the bear he's sure of it. but before he can help him he has to mend himself meant. not to mention any gaping wholes that would give away his stares as undead to those around him. 

working fast but carefully her sets his  bones then  begins to nit them back together.  in cam case like with his ribs he does the bear minimum but for his legs and arms he does a full job. he needed them strong he he was going to dig out the bear. he just hoped the bear live long enough for him to help.

[Tapewolf]

Get out of my mind!!! Cross shrieked mentally as visions of an earlier, happier life swam before his eyes.  Slowly they began to recede and he snapped out of it just in time to see Keaton escape down a sidestreet.  She looked demented.

Cross hesitated for just a split second and then ran after her.  Just as he began to catch up there came the earsplitting sound of an explosion and everything went white.

[e_voyager]

Epyon had just stood checking himself with his lower eyes when he saw a figure running by. It was one of the wolves he thought. the one that started talking to the jackal about the whole adventure then. following his line of sight with his upper eyes he saw that the wolf was chasing the jackals. Sighing he began to  heave and rip  the fallen rubble off of the bear.
He was in bad shape and Eypon could almost smell the life leaking form his with his blood.  this was no time for a rush job but it'd have to be on.  Quickly and painfully he extracts the bullets using fingers and at times one of his sai's. Each time he removes a bullet he mends the blood vessels after the extraction. then with the bleeding stop. He case the bear into a memory damping sleep called a healing trance and hoped that he had enough blood in him for the spell to replenish his blood to work.

With the bleeding stopped the blood would rebuild it's supply with or with out magic. But there was a price for this as either way but this way the bear would wake up hungry. Very hungry. But still the fast patch work would have to do assuming that it held.  Heaving the bear over his should he because to run after the wolf who was chasing the jackal who started this whole affair. 

While he ran Epyon became aware that one of his wing was broker to the point of hanging limply. Ah well he'd have to remember the mimic pain for that later until he had a chance to med it. But for now the trail was growing cold and his magic patch up job on the bear really need a thorough going over to make sure he didn't screw it up in his haste. After all the living normally hated when the dead touched them let alone played doctor with them.

[Tezkat]

The spectral jaguar stopped in his tracks. He closed his eyes and lolled his head, as if lost in the Harpist's enchanting melody.

"Another time, perhaps..."

Then the world lit up with the flash of railgun plasma and a deafening boom. When sense returned, no trace of him remained.

+ + +

It all seemed so real. He was a kid back in Lostport, and she was...

Mom? Mom! No...

Ah... fine lass she was. Would ye be remembering how she squealed when I...

Fang spun about and snarled. Don't say another fucking word, or I'll...

Kill me? The Demon sneered. Ye already did that, lad. 'Fraid it didn't take.

Mocking laughter filled the room. The scene faded to black.

+ + +

"Fucking bastard... I'll kill him... again... and again..."

Edge found him crouched on all fours near the edge of the roof. Fang's illusionary cloak faltered. He was a transparent shadow of a man.

You fell under the Harpist's spell. Don't let Bolt get to you over something like that. Edge draped an arm around his brother and squeezed. Come on. This fight is over.

Fang nodded slowly. His body dissolved in Edge's arms, disintegrating into a fine black mist that swirled around the invisible jaguar. Edge accepted the living essence back into his own body, embracing the renewed strength as two halves became whole once more. Within moments, Fang had completely disappeared from the material world.

[Aisha deCabre]

It made Aisha grin to see the wasp suffering so immensely, and to at least see that the party had come to a moment of usefulness.  But if the arrow had managed to reach her, it was to only to be lost and hit nothing...as magic disintegrated her chitin exoskeleton and flames consumed her wings.  So the panthress hadn't been as big a contribution as she thought she would yet.  At least an adversary was dying; if not from heavy pain within, then heavy pain without.

But that wasn't to be the end of things.  Just as it had been doing when the battle started, a strange music filled the air and started to drown everyone's minds in a sinuous melody that was both captivating and at the same time horrifying beyond all reason...probably because it was so unnatural to hear something above the noise of a massacre.  Illusions were cast about and memories were brought back.  For just a split second, the panthress lay on the dock...dangerously in the open as her mind was gripped and everything was just lost.

In its place stood memories that were happier than what she could imagine now.  Her village before it was seized by the demons who trained and brought out the darkness in her blood.  Laughter, conversation, people coming and going past her family's forge...her father before he was killed in front of their eyes.

Oh shit...SHIT!  Her jaws clenched and claws dug into her scalp to add to the bleeding that had already been going on through the splinters in her skin.  But despite trying to focus on outward distractions...it was as if there were none.  And through the bright flashes going on around her, she had memories of being back in the inferno that turned her life over on its side.

And all she wanted to do now, as then, was RUN!

Her eyes flew open when the memories just halted.  When she was scared, she was angry...and Aisha was really angry.  But there was nobody around to stop.  The insectis was on the ground...the gunmen and mage were in their own ways disfigured...and the one responsible for the noise...where was it...?!

Nowhere.  Aisha couldn't find anyone, and she didn't care anymore, not at that moment.  The chaos, the noise, the fact that she felt vulnerable.  It was too much.  I'm out of here...they can find some other gullible slug to take my place.

Her senses went haywire.  Something else was going to happen, and she wasn't going to be there for it.  To hell with it.  She pulled out what was left of the splinters and disappeared...there was a splash that accompanied it.  She was a jaguar, after all...she could swim without the irrational dislike of it.

And while she was escaping, the scope above the barrier of the waves flashed above her, and a thunderous sound wave shook everything.

Moments later, there was a figure that probably could have been seen dashing from the edge of the docks and into the shadows...wings unfurled as they helped her quickly onto higher spots; to see more routes, and see what the others were taking as well.  Well, I didn't die.  I'll be a gullible slug for a while longer.  But what of them?

[lucas marcone]

Dani was sleeping, not comfortably but it was better than dead. His thoughts still on that moment in the Marco mansion.


Timmy's living quarters was small but warm and wooden. The lights were low and cloth was up against the bottom of the door as Dani and Timmy discussed the business. Both conspirators sitting at a decent sized wood table.
"Your father is making a mess of things." Dani said elbows on the table and fingers tented. "He will not listen to a word I say."

"I know, Dani. If this continues he will tear the family apart. We can't have that." Timmy said leaning forward. "You know what must be done."

"You're cirtin? Do you know how that will destabilize the family? The Don's assassination will not go unnoticed."

"You have no idea how hard this is for me, but it must be done." Timmy shifted to a neutral position. "I can keep things together, but not if the family is full of rats looking to jump ship."


"I have no doubt you can, you've been groomed for this since you were born. O.K. we'll need a moral booster I don't know what quite yet, just leave it to me. Ready your self the time has come for our golden age."

"Take care, old friend." Timmy said putting a hand on Dani's shoulder

"And you." Dani said returning the sentiment.

His world went dark again.

[Stygian]

Perfect! A straight hit and with clearly the desired effect. The woman took a step back on the roof, backing to get out of the way for a clear shot. Now, they would hopefully turn tail, and she could carry that wolf away a bit before she-
   Bright lights overshadowed the figure as he stood over her restrained form, turning his marble-white form into a dark silhouette. All she could see was his grin, and the glint of light off the sharp instrument in his hand. Slowly, he moved it closer to her face, the glimmer of his teeth widening...
   She caught herself, rolling over and grabbing the ceiling just as she was about to fall. Tiles slipping a bit under her pull, she shook her head and tensed as she hung from the side of the roof, trying to shake off the feeling that had come over her. A tingle that made her limbs feel numb and a chill down her spine slowly left her, but she could still almost see the image, like an imprint on her retina. Some form of mind-invasion or trickery, she told herself, or hypnosis. It had to be, even if she somehow couldn't feel it touching her mind. She was resistant to such things, but with enough power...
   A bright flash erupted, reflecting off the walls of the surroundings, and made her blink as she hung. Something had sent a jarringly sharp tremor through the ground from somewhere off, and she could hear the echoes of sound of an explosion. She was suddenly glad that she was out of sight and didn't have that good contact with the ground. But she had to get down. Letting go, she finally slid the last few inches down off the roof and fell the distance back to the cobblestones beneath, before with a comparatively clumsy maneuver she landed and stood up in one movement. She looked around. The wolf was not there. Curses.
   A second or two passed, before she noticed movement, and looked up. Down through the alley intersecting the one she was standing in, she could see someone run by. A wolf. Was that...? After he passed, she hurried over, and looked down the next alley over the corner of the building next to her. It was not the same wolf, but he was following someone. Some girl who had just stopped.
   Against what was probably better sense, only following her intuition, the hooded figure slowly stepped out into the alley behind the two canines.

[SpottedKitty]

If Fal'taq had been in a foul mood just a few minutes earlier, that was nothing compared to the look on his face as he picked himself out of the muddy puddle. Someone was going to die for this: it was just a matter of finding out who, and deciding how.

The mole's bloody musings were interrupted as a thread of sound came through the cacophony of the battlefield. He shouldn't have been able to hear it, but... it was music... and the final puzzle piece fell into place. It's the Harpist, he thought, not quite in a panic but definitely worried. The jackal — Sabanethei owns her, so of course Sabanethei would send the Harpist to retrieve such a valuable piece of stray property! That was the last coherent thought to pass through Fal'taq's mind for several seconds as the music filled it, leaving only...

He remembered laughing. Such an obvious mistake, with such dire consequences. It was only natural for the kind of apprentice who would be attracted to a mage in Fal'taq's line of work to become over-ambitious eventually. Sometimes the apprentice survived, or even won, the ensuing struggle. Not this time, the mole thought, as he watched the shredded remains of the young rat girl tumble to the floor with half a dozen wet thumps. Some people had such amusing reactions when a flail of power removed strips of their clothes, then their pelt, then their flesh...

Fal'taq jolted abruptly back to awareness as a raindrop splashed on his nose. More cold rainwater dripped down the back of his neck. Some sort of mental attack, he thought desperately. I think we are overmatched here: time to retreat. Off to one side, he saw Keaton and Pettersohn run into an alley. That struck him as an excellent idea, so he turned and ran after them. The massive explosion that rocked the dockside behind him as he entered the alley, rattling him from wall to wall like a pea in a cup, only confirmed his choice.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Witt, hiding behind the stack of boxes, and rifling through his pockets, coat, and anything else to hand, looking frantically for anything to use as a longer-distance weapon, paused, freezing in place as the Guitar Hero's tune wiggled in his ear and burrowed into his head.

He stayed there, unmoving, as his mind wandered back through the years of drink - back to the memories that he thought he'd managed to bury. Back to the day he buried his grandchild. Back even further to the day he buried each of his children, and then his wife - each on their own day. And he just kept going, with no change - an entire book, names filling the pages, of people he had buried, then buried again, in drink and wandering. His breath caught in his throat, and his eyes filled with tears for a moment. His fists clenched, his eyes screwed up, and he screamed, silently, in primeval rage for his loss. Then he rolled over, and hammered both fists into the wall, with a cry of rage - which cracked, then partially collapsed.

Broken from his revery, he rolled over, a brick in either hand, and glanced over the boxes to check if anyone was heading in his direction. As he raised his head, he noticed Wilson standing in the middle of the road behind him, and two mage bolts circling the Harpist and zipping towards him.

He dived back behind the boxes, cursed as the bolts blew two of them to splinters, and then swore as Wilson let rip.
"Moth-"
The blast from the gun blew him into the house, across the room inside, and out through a window on the far side.
"-erfu-"
He bounced off the wall of the building beyond, and dropped down onto the fence.
"-OOFuck-"
Then bounced off the top, and landed, with a thump, in the alleyway, face-down at Keaton's feet.
"-er. What the FUCK was that?"

He rolled over, groaned, opened an eye, and gazed upwards, taking in her attitude of flight with relative aplomb.

"I so want that fucking cannon. Shit. Ow. Just not - Ow! - fucking pointing at me. Damn. Ouch."

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Penny was already halfway down the side alley when the Harper's spell reached her. She paused behind her most recent spot of cover, simultaneously frightened and angry at the memories of having to duck home from school in just this same manner. Creature gangs roamed the streets in her old neighborhood and getting home without incident was a daily challenge. One of many reasons why she had worked so hard to get her education and move away. The odd sensation of being watched that had plagued her for the past month increased. The feeling of someone standing just behind her snapped her out of the memory trap just in time to see the jackal pounding down the street. Penny was debating about whether she should follow when a flash followed by a foundation-rattling boom made her decide the crazed cubi had the right idea and gave up stealth to run.

[Tapewolf]

Cross blinked, picked himself up and looked around.  Keaton was there, and some of the others seemed to be following.  "Keaton," he said, shaking her gently.  "Keaton.  Where do we go now?  Where are we heading for?"

He looked about.  "And who do we need most?  If there's anyone we need to go back for I'm thinking Cog... and the she-wolf.  We'll need as many Creatures as we can get if we're going to stand a chance at this..."

"...Keaton?"

[Cogidubnus]

For a moment, it seemed like the crocodile might actually get his wish. Linos, stunned by the massive shockwave left in the wake of Wilson's coilgun, looked at the charging reptile dumbly for a moment - almost as if the blind jaguar was staring past him, or staring at something else entirely. His hands fumbled for his guitar, dropped at his side. Sheebus crossed the distance quickly, rain streaming off the gleaming edge of his Katana.
He tripped, as though he'd stepped into a pothole. An iron grip clenched around his ankle and pulled, throwing the reptile to the mudded cobbles.

Face twisted in a rictus of agony and anger, the mage in green stared at the reptile hatefully, his hand curled into a claw and pointed at the swordsman. An glowing, blue ring around Sheebus's ankle and the mage's hand clearly indicated the white fox's intent, and with his other hand clapped over a bleeding ear, he stood roughly to his feet. His blue eyes narrowed, and his lips drew back over gleaming teeth.
At that exact moment, he was thrown to the street with a high-pitched yelp. Behind him, a badger in riot gear lowered what seemed to be a rifle with a oversized barrel, followed by half a dozen others clothed in the same protective gear, those with clear shields taking up a position in front. Each one was in full riot kit, and taking one down would not be easy for one person alone.
"You! With the sword, stay down!" the badger said, the entire group beginning to run across the street.

The Harpist shook his head, seeming to regain his wits - he grabbed his guitar, his eyes narrowing as he hissed at the oncoming SWAT team. With a fluid speed and grace, he leapt cleanly to his feet, again setting himself in that upright, and yet somehow hunched, balanced position. He gave the reptile beside him a glance as he put claws to string, fingers hovering over the chords.

* * *

"Oh, god..."

Cog ran after the Keaton with what seemed to be almost tears in his eyes, the wolf's hand savagely clasping his shoulder. He seemed to be limping a fair deal as well, with a splotch of blood blooming in a neat spot over his thigh. He followed the Jackal's tracks as swiftly as he could, only pausing once from the sound of multiple booted footsteps coming from the next alley over. His eyes frantic, he redoubled his pace, leaving a nice, lopsided trail in the mud as he followed the succubus.
"Dammit, she said we wouldn't be fighting in the daytime, she said that we wouldn't be fighting anyone she couldn't take care of, she said...dammit, stupid, stupid stupid..."

The wolf rounded the corner, almost running into the back of that trenchcoated canine from before. He took a single limping step back, and shuffling to the side finally caught up with Keaton. He stared at the succubus for a few moments, his face almost apprehensive as he gazed at the clearly terrified Jackal. It was apparent he wasn't used to seeing Keaton in any sort of state of weakness.
His face darkened in anger.

"Dammit! What the hell was that, Keats?" he said, clearly incensed at the succubus. "You said that we had time! You said that he wouldn't dare do anything here! Dammit, you said...you said..."

The figure of his unknown benefactor loomed unnoticed behind the stuttering wolf, Cogidubnus too intent on venting his anger at the succubus in front of him. The pain from his leg and his shoulder only exacerbated his distraction further. If one was intent upon sneaking up on the distraught wolf, doing so would prove no great difficulty at all.

* * *

The sky spun around Deputy Wilson Nortand for a good long while before something large and rather angry looking appeared in the sky overhead. The Deputy squinted for a moment, not quite sure what to make of this new development, before the...thing, cleared it's throat and spoke.
"Get your ass up, Wilson."

Wilson blinked, and finally managed to sit himself up, slowly. There was a decided pain his his right shoulder - in point of fact, he couldn't feel the body part at all, only a vague throbbing that was getting worse by the moment. He squinted at the sudden dizziness in his head, and the shape offered a hand. He recognized the voice as the sheriff's.
"Now, you idiot, not when you feel like it. Up!"

He grasped the hand, and with a bit of effort Deputy Wilson managed to find his feet again. His gun lay beside him, dropped when the recoil had clearly launched him backwards. Wilson took off his hat and scratched his head.
From where the deputy stood, a line of destruction continued all the way into the harbor, passing through fences and offending eves until it found it's way into the docks proper, passing through a group of containers stacked three-thick before managing to find itself embedded into the hull of a tanker ship being pulled into dock.
Under the waterline. Tugs scrambled to run the thing aground before it sank. The entire dock seemed to be in a flurry of activity, like an anthill that had been kicked by a kid with shoes made of DDT.
Wilson held his hat meekly.

He cleared his throat, not quite looking at the Sheriff. "Did...Did I get the guy with the gun, Sheriff?" He asked, his voice tremulous. Boney glanced at him, his face unamused.
"Yes, Wilson. You got him."

An awkward silence developed between the two of them, with Wilson unconciously grinding the dirt with his heel and the Sheriff just a bit too angry to speak. Wilson, in another display of his keen insight and intelligence, spoke again.
"Am...am I fired, sir?"

Boney gave him a nasty look. "You bet your goddam ass, Wilson."

[Lushin]

Sheabus snapped back to reality as he fell. He was still caught up with his anger as he looked back to the mage. He snarled at the mage, but when he was knocked down by the SWAT team member Sheabus tried to move closer to the Harpist. Sheabus looked at the SWAT member that just ordered him to stay down and snarled at them as well. Sheabus looked over at the Harpist and glared at him. He gasped as the Harpist jumped to his feet and looked to begin to play. Sheabus quickly shut his ears up and screamed at the SWAT team.
"DON'T LET HIM PLAY THAT THING!"
With that Sheabus lunged the best he could from being in a prone position at the Harpist looking to crush Linos's leg in his mouth.

[Tapewolf]

"Shut up!"  Cross hissed to Cog, glancing round to face him.  "Recriminations must wait.  They'll still be after us!  Now... who do we need to bring with us?  We need to prioritize.  The succubus and Anton... who else?"

He faltered as he suddenly noticed the figure behind the other wolf.  "Oh my gods..."

[Sunblink]

...Keaton:

Keaton weaved into the alleyway, her heavy boots stampeding over every obstacle and obstruction in her way. A few soda cans littered around an overturned garbage can were trampled and flattened into dented cylinders; some others were kicked haphazardly away. Skidding to a halt, Keaton slumped against the wall, heaving and panting, her hand clamped over her forehead. Despite the somewhat inconsequential distance she had run, she seemed to be completely overwhelmed. Her head was moving too fast, as though it was jumping from thought to thought within a millisecond. The buzzing had made its triumphant return once more, pecking upon her mind like thousands upon thousands of hungry vultures. Before she could turn around to address Cross, who had followed her into the alleyway (this came as some relief to Keaton, as she wasn't too thrilled at the prospect of chasing around her team members), she let out a shriek as hideous white light flooded the alley, a thunderous CRACK erupting into the sky.

The ground seemed to invisibly tremor under Keaton's feet, her boots suddenly losing any and all traction they had on the ground and her body toppling forward, hitting the ground. Pain flared in Keaton's ears, her head, her chest, everywhere, her senses buckling beneath the weight of every new sensation they struggled to register. WHAT'S GOING ON!? Keaton mentally screamed, a question which somehow did not pass through her throat. No, instead she was devoting most of her verbal skills to mindlessly wailing, her body spasming on the ground. Her hands came up to clamp over her ears, her eyes screwed shut, yet she couldn't seem to drown out the white light whitewashing her vision in the darkness of her eyelids. I'm going to die. I'M GOING TO DIE! WHAT'S GOING ON?!

It had to be Hell. It had to be the apocalypse. The Owl. It had to be responsible, somehow. It was punishing her for running away. It -

As the light started to die down, Keaton gradually felt her sight be restored to an imperfect caricature, along with her hearing. The buzzing had filtered out entirely, slipping away along with the light. Keaton blinked at her rakish position on the ground, noticing how uncomfortably she seemed to be sprawled out. Catastrophe was next to her. She had fallen and she had forgotten, somehow. Keaton glanced nervously to the front of the alley, expecting to see the Owl menacing her there.

It wasn't there.

She let out a reverent sigh of relief and shakily pushed herself back to her feet, gathering Catastrophe into her arms and slipping it back in its holster, just as Fal'taq entered the alley. She didn't see Sal, her head still hurt and the hooded figure was obscured in the shadows. "Oh... oh God... what.... what was that?" she whimpered, feeling around her face for any injuries. Fortunately, she seemed to be just fine, whereas she expected for her to be a mutilated, pus-laden mess. The idea of any sort of wound was greatly exaggerated in her delirious mind. Heaving, Keaton glanced around wearily, her world distorted and wavering, cycling rapidly before her vision. "W-Where are the oth -"

Before she could finish that sentence, Witt fell at her feet, looking rather beaten. Keaton let out a shriek and winced graphically. She at first expected for the hedgehog to be dead, but contrary to her expectations he seemed to have endured the impact just fine. Well, as fine as someone like Witt could be. He was still constantly enunciating his dialogue with profanities. Sighing, Keaton reached down and waited for Witt to accept her hand, or climb up on his own. "Glad to see you're alright, at least..." That actually wasn't sarcasm. Someone with Witt's stamina and strength would be very useful in their group - everyone had their services to offer in the party, so she wasn't happy at the idea of any one of her newfound compatriots being slaughtered, especially by the impromptu arrival of a motherfucking SWAT team and what she perceived to be something equivalent to an atomic bomb being dropped.

On the tangent of party members, Keaton suddenly felt horror flash across her features, and she started glancing about the alleyway despite her distorted sight. When Cross started to interrogate her, she seemed to be totally detached from reality. "Where's Cog?" she exclaimed.

Speak of the devil, the gray wolf raced into the alleyway shortly after she had said his name, and he did not look happy. The lupine was firing off a question and an accusation a second, getting far too close and personal for Keaton's comfort, and shouting. At her. After being socked in the stomach, reliving traumatic experiences, seeing her avian antagonist, and going through the apocalypse, Keaton was not in the mood to be pushed around by some drug-addicted little junkie who - who - oh GOD, her head hurt, and she was so ANGRY. She wanted to cry. She wanted to scream and cry, but she didn't. Instead, she lashed out, simultaneous to the moment Cross told Cog to shut up, and slammed her palm to Cog's chest with enough force to push him against the wall. Once he was there, she leaned into his face, a truly malicious snarl affixing her features.

"SHUT UP!" Keaton shrieked, "SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP, you STUPID FUCKING SHIT!"

A stillborn silence gripped the alleyway over Keaton's frenzied breathing. In her rage-driven delirium, Keaton didn't realize the presence of the approaching hooded figure. Her vision was blurring again, blinding her to the sight of Cog's expression. "This is all YOUR fault!" she shouted, although exactly how it was Cog's fault was entirely eluding her. Maybe she would realize it later. All she knew was that it was his fault, because she would never, ever, ever fail this badly, and never draw Izria and the Harpist to her, and it was always Cog's fault. He always screwed up.

"YOUR fault! It's YOUR fault they're here, and it's YOUR fault that - that - " Keaton made a choking noise in the back of her throat. She was on the verge of crying again, but the last thing she wanted was to break down in front of everyone. She reinforced her emotions by tightening her grip on the front of Cog's threadbare shirt. "NOW what are we going to do for transportation, huh?! HOW are we going to reach the Kamei'Sin capital, you little fucker? I don't suppose we're just going to fly," Keaton hissed that last word snidely, "You'd better come up with something, or – or – or - "

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[Stygian]

In response to all this sudden commotion, and most of all the clear instability of the jackal standing at the midst of it all, the coated and cloaked figure could only watch with a growing sense of insecurity. The wolf she had aided was there, and up on his legs faster than she would have expected, but if these were his companions and this was the reaction...
   She took a step back, then swiveled her head inside her hood as she watched them all. In a lame gesture, she raised her hands, palms out, as if trying to say that she meant no harm. Of course, with what she had up her sleeves and her hands being what they were, she was also practically raising her weapons at them, readying for the case that they took her for a hostile. But they didn't know that.

[Tapewolf]

"Quiet!" Snapped Cross urgently, gesturing towards Sal.  He took a hesitant step forwards.  "Um... hello?"

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Witt sighed, stopped breathing profanities momentarily, and reached for the paw Keaton held out to him. He gazed, slightly surprised, at the brick still in his own, and chuckled, then muttered again in pain. "Ow, dammit. I think that's a rib." He tossed the brick, and the one from his other paw, over to the side of the alleyway, brushed the dust off, coughed, and reached for the paw she held out to him, only for a look of horror to cross her face, and her to turn away before he could grab it, lambasting the blood-soaked wolf behind her.

He raised an eyebrow at her, shrugged, and rolled painfully to one side, lurched upright, and started picking bits of fence out of the front of his jacket, dropping them to the littered surface of the alleyway floor. He stretched his shoulders, shook himself gently, winced, felt around on his left side at his ribcage, winced again, shrugged, and muttered a profanity.

As Keaton finished her tirade... "You'd better come up with something, or – or – or - " Witt chipped in with "Or you'll run out of threats. Yes, we get it. Can we get it somewhere else, now, or should we hang around and chat in the cells? After this little doozy of a fight, you can bet that Sheriff Boney will be happy to show us a little 'police brutality' on the way there."

He patted himself down, shaking off yet more brick dust, plaster, and splinters, then glanced back up at the group. "Well? What the fuck are we waiting for? Gods-damned Yule?" He looked past the wolf to the trench-coated wolf behind him, then the cloaked figure behind him. "Oh. More bloody amateurs come to give us a fucking hand. Great." He coughed, hawked up some dusty red phlegm, spat it into the other side of the alleyway, and shrugged. "Say howdy fast, lady. We should be bloody moving al-fucking-ready."

[Aisha deCabre]

"You should learn to be patient, pin-cushion," a thickly-accented voice said amidst the group from the rooftops, apparently having been there for a small while as some people from the group had gathered their nerves and managed to congregate once again in the darkness, hopefully away from the sight of whomever had been shooting at them.

On the edge, the figure whose voice belonged leaped down and landed none too harshly on the ground, though still soft and relatively silent with her feline pads.  As Aisha stepped into sight, one would never see any evidence of her wings, the suppressing bracers back on her wrist...but the scratches and wounds that were given to her from the wooden crates were suddenly all but gone, leaving little in the line of scars...other than toughening her skin, who knew how else the demoness could have utilized her magic in her spare time.  "Nice to see we're mostly in one piece..." she muttered.

Eyes of crimson wandered over the others...especially the jackal and wolf...weary and already tired of being in the middle of things.  Then they settled upon the newcomer, garnering the others' attention.  All the panthress did so far was to lean against one of the walls and cross her arms, watching with a curious expression hidden in one of neutrality.

[Stygian]

Wordlessly, the figure lowered her hands a bit, and relaxed her tense posture. At least visibly; beneath her clothes she was still as hard as a coiled spring. She looked toward the wolf who had spoken first. How she hated moments like this. Most times, it was less of an inconvenience not being able to speak than some people thought, but now...
   Then Witt snapped off his tirade. She made a twitch that was quite hard to see when he made his comment on lending a hand, and both Keaton and Jakob could feel a pang of irritation and anger from her direction, oddly muted somehow. A pair of glinting red dots within her hood, dimmed at the edges and seemingly without pupils unlike Aisha's, moved to look at the hedgehog in all his spiny unagreeability, then shifted to gaze at Cog as she took a slow step forward. She wasn't sure what she was really doing, but if she turned tail and ran they might as well decide to come after her anyhow, for whatever impulsive reason. She had experienced stranger things.

[Cogidubnus]

Sheebus's charge, brave as it was, did not go unnoticed by the badger armed with the Riot Gun. A terse expression passed underneath the SWAT member's helmet before he raised his weapon and fired at the reptile. A buckshot-filled pouch of rather tough fabric sailed for the swordsman's head, impacting into his temple like a iron-gauntleted fist. And indeed, Sheebus felt like a piece of iron had decided to slam into his head, the shot knocking the crocodile to the ground.
"Go! Go!"

Sheebus felt lightheaded, somehow, and the edges of his vision began to go dark. Bodies impacted him, and dully he felt several...somethings, impact before another dull thud struck him in the back of the head.
The last thing he heard was the quick, lilting cadence of guitar-strings.

* * *

To those still gathered on the streets, it was apparent that the cops weren't going to be asking any questions or accepting any explanations. Running, to wherever they came from or wherever they needed to go, seemed to be the most sensible option at that point, if they didn't want to be answering very unfortunate questions.
Paige began to wonder where the rest of the party had wandered off to, and Ty noticed that the powers that be seemed to be operating under some sort of misunderstanding, and that they weren't quite so inclined to listen in any sort of civilized manner, at that point.

* * *

Cog wasn't quite sure what he expected Keaton to do, right then, but he did realize that yelling at the succubus had never done him any good. The thought passed through his head to no real effect - he stared up at the succubus with eyes filled with terror, both of his hands clasped around his neck, trying to get the enraged Succubus to loosen her grip. His mind raced, trying to come up with a way to satisfy her increasingly...insistent demands for transportation. Cog felt himself start to choke, just a bit - how the hell was he supposed to get them off the Island? He wasn't a pilot, it wasn't like he knew anybody had a boat or anything...
I don't suppose we're just going to fly...

Cog's mind stumbled over that phrase, suddenly just a little bit more aware of the pain caused by the shards of glass in his thigh. Pandora had been the one to give him that particular hit - one of her specialties, a cocktail of painkillers and a few other, wonderful ingredients.
She wasn't a chemist, though. Cog would have described her more of a lunatic, except for her exceptional talents at engineering. He made a few hacking noises until Keaton loosened her grip enough for him to speak.

"I...I know somebody! She can get us off the Island!" he said, his yellow, bloodshot eyes wide. He neglected to mention she may not be able to get them off the Island yet. Pandora had been working on her baby for years. "I swear! I can take you to her, she lives just outside of town-"
The sudden sound of the town alarm sirens going off made Cog glance up into the air. His eyes returned to the succubus again, even more fearful than before.
"In...the Junkyard. No-one goes in the Junkyard, except her. She lives right next to it. We can head through that, avoid all this. She'll get us out of here."

Cog hoped that Keaton would buy it, as he wasn't sure himself if Pandora would even agree to take them where they wanted, even if she could. He sucked in a shuddering breath. Unfortunately, the lupine was just a bit too distracted to react to the conversations swirling around him - although he didn't fail to notice the strange figure from before speaking with Witt, and the red-armored panthress reappearing with the rest of them.

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Penny, who had followed the jackal into the alley and who had faded into the shadows of a dumpster when the others had come barreling in, saw the sudden turn of mood when the newcomer appeared. Rightfully paranoid the others seemed to be primed to attack anything that moved. Carefully she took a half step away from her hiding spot, slowly and just barely moving so she came into their awareness slowly and hopefully not triggering any extreme reactions.

[SpottedKitty]

Fal'taq didn't like being at a disadvantage, especially not in a dangerous situation like this. Still a little dizzy from the aftereffects of whatever it was exploding behind them, he could only stand and watch when Keaton rounded on her companion and almost literally sank her fangs into the wolf. The jackal's emotional breakdown fitted in nicely with his future plans, but if she fell completely to pieces too soon... that would be annoying. Something Cogidubnus said caught the mole's attention, though.

"No-one goes in the Junkyard, you say," Fal'taq stepped forward and looked up into the wolf's face, as he caught his breath from Keaton's assault. "I have heard the rumours, as I am sure all of us have. Some rogue Mythos, I am sure, is haunting the place — we can deal with that if need be. How can this woman help us? The place is some distance from the water."

[Tapewolf]

The strange figure didn't reply, but kept her distance.  Cross began to relax - if this was one of Kytharion's little friends like the wasp, they wouldn't be hesitating like that, so he figured it was safe to be distracted, as long as someone kept their eye on her.

He heard the voices of others from the tavern.  That was a relief... some of the ones he took for Creatures had returned.

"First, we need to know where we're headed," he said, glancing at Keaton, and flatly ignoring the 'junkyard' business.  "If it's on the mainland, and if it's somewhere I've been before, we could teleport there in shifts.  If not to our final destination, then somewhere relatively close where we can take the rest by surface transport.  It would certainly throw the Family off the scent," he said, with a smirk.

[Paladin Sheppard]

Paige shifted the debris that had fallen on her after her short flight into a shop front. 'What kind of moron brings a ship killer to a street fight' She raged internally.

Finally clear Paige hurried past the cowering shopkeeper and out the back door, which emptied out into a alleyway.

Spotting Keaton and some of the others further down Paige ran up to them as she sheathed her sword.

[Tezkat]

"Yes, a destination might be nice." The trenchcoated jaguar stepped into view at the alley exit ahead of the group. "But the pincushion does have a point. An alley within spitting distance of the riot police is not the place for discussion."

He glanced behind him into the street. "The coast is still clear this way. For now. What say we split and meet up someplace quiet? Then we could try planning... or at least pack a change of underwear for the international trip. Not all of us bring our travel kits when out drinking."

He wore a smirk that bared one of his fangs, but the look in his eyes suggested that he wasn't playing around.

[Stygian]

Now, they were simply beginning to seem suspicious and strange. What they were saying and how set the figure on edge. She could hear their exact words without problem; it seemed as if they were ignoring the very fact that she were there at all, however incriminating or revealing their words might be. And the wolf who she had saved... just ignored her. She felt her irritation rise again.
   It might have been foolish, but she was already in it now, and so the figure didn't mind her actions much. She simply put her foot down and with decisive steps walked up to the group. Or, more specifically, the wolf. And she neared him in such a manner that he could not miss the glints of red eyes under her hood. Then, when she was right by him, and he was looking at her with shock apparent in his features, she reached out, and with two fingers prodded him hard in his wounded and still bruised and sensitive shoulder, hard enough to push him back off balance.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Witt growled, swore something about "Give me bloody strength", and gazed up at the sky imploringly, before glancing down the alleyway at the riot cops pounding past the open end. He turned back to the spooky figure.

"Lady, I'd explain, but this really isn't the gods-damned time. She," and here he hooked a thumb at the black-backed jackal "is fucked off at Don Sabanethei, and wants us lot to help skinning the bastard. He's obviously aware of this, because that's his bully-boys entertaining the pigs now. Your choices are either come the fuck with us now, or explain to the guys in riot gear - and then the bloody bully-boys - why you're so gods-damned innocent. Talk fast. Either way, we move." He glanced around at the group, quickly counting heads. "Well, we've lost the blasted Saltie, but we've got everyone else. I don't think we're hidden from Sabanethei now, so our only defence is to keep ahead of him. If we want to keep bloody chatting, do it on the way to this blasted junkyard. Let's get the gods-damned lead out and RUN!"

He turned on his heel, and suited words to action, heading for the far end of the end of the alleyway, without waiting for anyone else to follow.