Baltimore, Wednesday Evening

[rebelseekspizza]

The sun hadn't quite sunk beyond the horizon, but by the time Fandom's team of scouts arrived, twilight had set on Baltimore. At first, everything seemed normal, people going about their lives, restaurants filling up and workers returning to their homes.

But the closer they came to city center, the... quieter it got.

And quieter.

And... where had everyone gone? All the curtains were shut. No one was out on the street. What was going on here?

The quiet made smaller noises more audible. And this sound, like feet skittering across the ground, followed by the thunk of something landing on a dumpster-- it was quite obvious.

Take a right to follow it, and find yourself in an alleyway. A wooden fence puts a sudden end to the alley, and in front of it sits a dumpster.

With a footprint on it.

	Kanan's brow creased as he rounded the corner into the alleyway, taking in the sight of the empty alleyway, the dumpster, the fence. Had something launched itself off of the dumpster and then up and over, then? He stole a moment to glance back at the others. "If anyone needs a boost, I can give it," he offered. "Looks like this is a dead end otherwise."
	"I want a look over the fence and in that dumpster before anyone goes launching the fuck over it," Jack said. Quietly, even. Unless the dumpster was locked. She couldn't see from where she was standing. Because her first instinct had been to follow the noise, run with a jump to the dumpster and a vault over the fence. Jack was self-aware enough to know that usually her first instinct was a lethal one. If she landed in some sort of neck-deep shit on the other side, she'd be real hard put to not use lethal force. This was supposed to be a scout mission. She moved forward to take a look.
	Except Keyleth, who had been with the group, was suddenly no longer standing there, and a black cat with green eyes was already scurrying up and over the fence. Seemed her habitual nervousness combined with the little confidence boost she'd gotten from her recent adventure in Nina's world had made her act on the impulse to just . . . go for it.
	Tip noticed the missing Keyleth a split second before the cat was up and over, and thanks to their class together, could make a reasonable guess as to what had happened. "Keyleth!" Bill, having come to the same conclusion, zipped up over the fence after the cat, leaving a trail of tiny bubbles in his wake. Tip huffed. "Bill!" Right, well. If her classmate and pet robot-bee were both going, she definitely wasn't staying behind. She put a hand to the hilt of her sword to make sure it was still securely strapped to her back, then scrambled her way up the fence. Sorry, Jack. This was what happened when you worked with teenagers.
	"Aaand there they go," Kanan drawled, shaking his head, smiling apologetically at Jack, and then running and jumping the fence, clearing it with a somersault at the top and landing with ease on the other side. What? He wasn't letting the students have all the fun run into this without someone watching their backs.
	"Let me just point out," Jack yelled after them, "That when I'm the voice of reason, your group's pretty well fucked!" Nevertheless, she took two running steps and launched herself onto the dumpster. Not over the wall, Kanan, but where she could see what was over there and provide covering fire if necessary. She glowered and told herself this would not be an opportune time to shoot Kanan in the ass with a stunner. Even if he had told her to ambush him for the next stunner test.
	Anakin watched four people race over the fence and rolled his eyes. "Force forbid we actually think for a moment before racing off," he muttered to those still left behind. "Let's see what we can learn here, hmm?"
	"It's an alley," Eric pointed out, leaning against a probably gross wall. "I call dibs on not looking inside the dumpster."
	The young vampire who had hurled himself over the fence but moments before they got there-- didn't stop running. Anyone who had glimpsed or jumped over the fence would see his retreating back as he raced his way onto the empty street ahead. They would also notice the otherworldly blue of his eyes as he glanced over his shoulder, panicked.
	"What is it with glowing blue eyes?" Jack wondered, "Isn't it supposed to be rim to rim black for the sum of all evil? Haven't these little shits even read the manual? Glowy blue eyes, anyone? We're sure this isn't one of our residents gone rogue, right?" There were at least two people on the island with blue glowy eyes. She watched it go. It wasn't causing problems and so far that made it not her problem. "Question is, is the little bugger running from us or ..?" Looking over her shoulder, she called, "It's clear, the little buddy's booking it."
	Ghanima sighed, and with a blur she moved from her spot down on the street to up next to Jack. "I resemble that remark," she said absently, eyes narrowed. "--and he's not mine." "I think he needs to answer your question. Let's go encourage his cooperation."
	"We don't gotta go to him," Jack said with a small grimace. She had line of sight on him. "Little buddy's gonna come back to us," she said before anyone could run after him. Jack reached out, a motion like she was grabbing a naughty toddler by the back of their Osh Kosh B'gosh overalls and hauling them out of trouble. Pull, unless there was anything unusual about the little buddy, would haul him up into the air and send him floating back to the group.

All that noise that had been absent from Baltimore before? It's back now, but it's not the normal sounds of life. People are snarling, yelling. Cars sit on the streets, unmoving.

All the curtains are still shut.

There have to be at least a hundred people at this intersection, looking dazed and angry. They haven't noticed you yet.

Pay close attention, and you'll notice the few walking between the throng of feral humans who still keep their chin up. Whose expressions are sharp, whose smiles are hungry.

" " "

	"They're sick," Kanan breathed, eyes widening a little at the sight of the gathered crowd. So many people this way, so very few actually seeming really aware of... much of anything at all. There was anger. There wasn't much there besides. "Something's clouding their minds." He raised his blaster, and switched it to its stun setting. This situation did not fill him with great feelings.
	Jack watched and reset her own blaster. She watched the crowd. She zeroed in on the predators. Tried to watch their interactions with the rest of the crowd. Brushed Kanan's shoulder with hers and murmured, "You see 'em? Not all of 'em are sick. Some of 'em are mean." A short nod up at the windows, "Blinds all closed. That's weird. What don't they want anyone to see?" Considered it. "I want a look in one of those places. And.." She glanced at the crowd, "wouldn't mind some higher ground."
	"Is it what these guys don't want people to see," Kanan mused, "or what those people are afraid of seeing?" He wasn't so certain he wanted an answer to that, himself. But ne nodded a little all the same. "We get you to a roof, you can take a better view from there and snipe off any of these guys who get too close to--" He knew better than to say 'the kids,' especially while standing in front of said kids, "doing anybody any real damage."
	"Human nature being what it is," Jack said, "It wouldn't be every window if it was the latter. There'd be a few people peeking at least." She shook her head, "Didn't bring a sniper rifle. Handgun won't do much good at that range. Biotics would but.. " But everything she had was pretty much on the 'lethal' side of the spectrum. Except her shield and she didn't need to be on a rooftop to do that. "Fire escape, maybe. That'd give me a platform over head-height." She looked around, trying to spot one.
	"Should've brought a blaster rifle," Kanan muttered under his breath, glancing around before pointing toward a low windowsill sitting below an apartment balcony. "Think you can make use of that?"
	Jack eyed it speculatively and nodded, "If you can get me to the balcony, I can see if the window's open. Take a look inside, see what's what." She threw him a grin. "You want to make a loop with your hands or do it the other way?"
	Kanan glanced toward the crowd, frowning as a few of the feral... people... started to notice their presence. "Run and jump," he said. "I'll give you a boost." While keeping his blaster aimed at the crowd.
	Jack took three steps back so she'd have it timed right, then did as told. She busted into a sprint and took a leap. Throwing herself into the air and aiming for the balcony, trusting Kanan to throw her the rest of the way without a second thought.
	Kanan didn't miss a beat. All in one fluid motion he threw his arms forward after her, reaching into the Force and giving her a hard shove upwards, giving her the extra oomph she was going to need in order to land it before spinning on his heel and training his blaster on the crowd again.
	Jack caught the railing and smoothly vaulted onto the balcony. Turning cat-quick to cover the group from above. "Ah shit. We got shufflers incoming. Kanan, back up a little. I'm going to throw a cryo grenade at the ground. It'll ice it up and anything hits the patch is gonna lose traction, maybe catch a quick case of frostbite." She'd normally throw it into the crowd. She didn't know how vulnerable these.. people? They were still people, right?.. were to cold. Jack didn't really care if they died. But Kanan would care. Kanan would fucking feel it, Skywalker might too. Thinking about this shit gave her a headache. She reached into a pocket and pulled out a cryo grenade, popping it in her palm.
	Kanan nodded and backed away from the crowd with a few brisk steps that were just the more impressive side of human average, loathe to back too far away from the students too quickly, just in case. "Can you see this whole mess from up there?"
	Jack armed the grenade, counted down in her head and threw it at the ground closest to the curious shufflers. It detonated on impact and a ring of super-cooled vapor spread across the road and up the walls a little on either side. "Yeah," she said, looking over the crowd, "There doesn't seem to be any stragglers coming in from anywhere, just the mob. Most of 'em haven't noticed us. I'm not sure we want to head toward them much further. Here we got a kill corridor if we need one." Beat. "Bad phrasing, but you know what I mean. Most of 'em just look fucked up stoned, but the mean mofos could use a good punching. Their smirky asshole faces look very punchable to me." Jack looked down at him, "Wanna do some four second skeet? I pull, you shoot? See what happens when the smirkers are down and snoozing?"
	"Focus those pulls on anything that gets too close for comfort, if you can," Kanan called back. One of the ferals looked his way and flat-out charged at him. "At least until we've gotten our group into a position where we've got the luxury of being able to pick and choose."
	"They start running this way, hell with that, I'll hit the alley with Shockwave and go bowling for whatever these assholes are," Jack noted. She kept an eye on the one running charging them, almost clinically noting what happened when it hit the ice. The look on its face changed to surprise as it skidded and flailed and careened itself right into a wall. Kept her gun trained on the others. "It'd really be better to let these shitheads come to us until we got a plan that's better than 'I dunno, knock 'em out'."
	"And getting some high ground on them really couldn't hurt," Kanan replied, watching the feral skid off-course, no small amount of bemusement on his face. Hell, it was like it hadn't had the faintest clue what ice even was. He fell back another few feet.
	"So? Get your well-toned butt up here," she said, "Unless you're going to go bait them?" She watched the feral skid on the ice and shuddered. "Kanan, they move like Husks. What the fuck is wrong with them?" Didn't like it. Not one bit.
	"I'm going to stay within blaster range of the students if I can," Kanan called back, because... damn it. Because he had to cover their getaway if they needed it, okay? He fired a volley of stunning shots and a few more of the feral... things. People. Something. "They're clouded with anger," Kanan replied. "Hunger. They're hungry." He didn't like it, either. But didn't have a better answer than that.
	Jack shuddered again. "That don't exactly make 'em sound less like Husks, Kanan," she noted. She wasn't letting him have all the fun. Her range was worse due to firing down as well as forward but that didn't matter quite so much when her aim was as good as it was. "Are you good or is there a chance these shitheads are going to give you a headache?" Are you sure you should leave your mind open to ravening vampires, Kanan?
	"Um," Tip said, eyeing the crowd warily, her hand going to the hilt of her sword again. These folks were giving her some serious Gorg vibes. "How clouded, exactly?" Because their group wasn't the most inconspicuous.
	"They're angry," Kanan replied. "They're really angry." He glanced toward Tip, frowning a little. He didn't like this. It was settling in his guts like ice cold rocks, like something bigger looming behind what was right there, trying to swallow them up. "Beyond that, I don't know what they are."
	"Great," Tip said. "I bet their native language is based on punching, too." The Gorg left quite an impression, yes. One of the nearby angry people was starting to swing in their direction. Tip backed up half a step. "And it looks like someone's about to come say 'hi'."
	Kanan's blaster was up and he was firing a warning shot at the ground at the angry person's feet in a heartbeat, holding his ground. It did nothing. The person didn't even seem to notice, snarling at them and picking up speed. "Oh, I don't like that."
	Yeah, Tip didn't like that one bit. "Are they -- are they people?" she asked. Because defending yourself with a sword could get bloody really quick. And if they were people who could be fixed. . . .
	Kanan grit his teeth, aimed his blaster at the person's torso, and fired. Their attacker howled, convulsed, and then dropped like a rock. "I have no idea," he breathed, "but until we know for sure, it might be for the best to go for non-lethal damage to see if whatever the hell this is can be reversed." He glanced at Tip sidelong. "Can you go for non-lethal with that?"
	"Um," Tip said. She was really wishing she'd brought her practice sword. "Probably." That answer should fill everyone with confidence, yes.
	Kanan chewed the inside of his cheek for a moment. And then held his blaster out to her. "It's set to stun," he said. "It'll put them down for a few minutes, at least. Get to cover."
	Tip bristled faintly, then took the blaster after a moment of silently glaring at it. She turned to follow his other suggestion -- only to find that several more of the angry maybe-people had noticed them and started approaching. She fired a couple shots, already retreating. The shots went wild, missing the attackers entirely, and she tossed the blaster back to Kanan. "Yeah, at least I know how to use the sword!" She might accidentally kill someone, but it at least wouldn't be someone on her own team.
	Kanan caught the blaster, swore softly under his breath, and then fired off four shots in succession, dropping several of the attackers in the process. "Okay, then stay close," he replied, starting in the direction she'd turned to head. "If I turn the power output down so you're not taking people's arms off outright, would you feel better having my lightsaber in hand?" There was a very small list of people he would even make that offer to. Especially in a moment like this.
	Tip knew that, and she appreciated it. And she loved using the lightsaber. Still, she shook her head, shifting her grip on her sword so that any swing would lead with the flat of the blade. "We gotta take the training wheels off sometime, sensei." Admittedly "falling off" this bike would probably lead to someone getting at least horribly maimed. But still.
	"This is a hell of a time to do it," Kanan replied, some little part of him twisting up inside at the thought, at the worry that he hadn't trained her well enough. That he was just a Padawan himself, and what business did he have teaching anybody how to wield a sword in life or death situations like-- He headed that thought off at the pass, swallowed it down and fired off another volley at more incoming... whatever the hell they were. She wasn't wrong. "Okay. You watch my back, I'll watch yours. Let's get the hell out of here."
	Tip nodded and swung around to stand at Kanan's back, sword up and ready. "Are any of the buildings clear?" she asked. "Or are these guys all crowded around inside as well as out?"
	Kanan breathed out a slow breath, blaster up and aimed, one hand raised in case he needed to shove through the Force to buy them some more time. "Head for the building Jack took off to," he called. "She can give us cover fire. Better to stay together, get high ground, we can fend them off and call for aerial pickup if there's no back way out."
	That wasn't actually quite an answer to her question, but she supposed Kanan wouldn't be sending her into a building that was full of these guys. So she set about clearing a path in the direction Kanan indicated, ducking and dodging and whacking people aside with the flat of her blade. This was all creepy as hell and definitely a life-threatening situation, but she couldn't deny that part of her was thoroughly enjoying it.
	And Kanan was going to be right there at her back, firing shot after shot at the nasties that were incoming. Another handful veered in their direction, and he threw forward his hand, shoving them away to get some more distance. "How are you doing back there?" As if he couldn't tell. He'd felt that same thrill of enjoyment back during the war, had thrown himself into the thick of it with a grin on his face, lightsaber at ready. Space, he'd been such a stupid kid.
	Or, you know, he'd been full of adrenaline and finally given reign to make use of the skills he'd been practicing for years in a real-world situation. Anyway, Tip could freak out about what she was doing right now later. At the moment, enjoying herself was helping keep her right in the sword-fighting zone. "Nobody's lost an arm yet!" she called back. She was rather proud of that.
	"I'm pretty sure that means I have to graduate you now," Kanan replied, while his heart beat out a tattoo in his ears and he worked on not worrying. He fired off another volley of stun shots. Another three ferals screeched and fell. There were too damn many. He'd run out of ammunition before they ran out of people to shoot at.
	Tip would point out that this was another point in favor of not using guns, but not until much later, when all this was over, and she'd eventually stopped the inevitable shaking that was going to follow. She pressed forward, swiping left and right, managing to knock a few ferals down, but mostly just clearing them back. She managed to open a clear path the door to the building Kanan had indicated and ran for it, really, really hoping it wasn't locked.
	Kanan fired a few more shots as he turned and ran with her, continuing to fire blaster bolts behind him, barely looking where he was firing (he didn't exactly need to), and hoping much the same, really. Not that he couldn't get a door open if it was, granted.
	Tip turned and aimed her shoulder at the door by the door jam, like she'd seen done on TV. And bounced back off. Yeah, she probably should have seen that coming. (Holy crap, that hurt!)
	Kanan, meanwhile, hissed between his teeth a little. Had she even tried the handle before doing that? He was a half-step behind her, joining her just a moment later and giving her a wry grin before taking said handle in hand and pulling the door open. "After you."
	Tip tossed her head back and walked in with supreme dignity. Holding her aching shoulder as she went. (Her fingers were tingling. That probably wasn't a great sign, was it.)
	They smelled off, too, in addition to every weird, wrong, worrisome vibe that Keyleth would have picked up from them even in her usual half-elven form. She kept to the shadows near the rest of the group, but one of the more alert beings caught her attention, and she padded over to paw at Kanan's ankle, all of her fur standing on end and her ears laid back flat as she growled, still staring straight at that one. Hard to communicate much in this form, but she'd be willing to make that tradeoff for the heightened senses and mobility.
	"Yeah," Kanan murmured, blaster up even as he crouched down so that he didn't have to raise his voice even the faintest bit to be heard by feline ears. "Yeah, I see. If you want a better view, there's room on my shoulder." Added bonus, it was much easier to just flat-out bolt with a student in tow if the need arose provided she was already right there.
	Sorry about the kitty claws, Kanan! Because there went Keyleth, not quite able to leap all the way up to his shoulder in a single attempt, so she had to scramble a bit up his arm first. And kneading on his shoulder a bit by way of apology after she finally managed to get a decent perch. Another little growl as she looked over the crowd. From what her feline senses were telling her, there wasn't much here that wasn't either feral or more intelligently predatory. Needless to say, that wasn't good.
	Kanan didn't seem to mind the claws so much. They really had nothing on blaster bolts, anyway. "Dig in there if you need," he said, standing up mostly straight again, though he kept his knees slightly bent, ready to launch himself out of the way of something incoming if need be. "I might need to run, and you'll want a good grip for that." He looked out over the crowd and hissed between his teeth at what he was seeing. "Hell," he muttered. "I never thought I'd miss the B1s."
	Keyleth's ears weren't laid back flat any more -- they were turning from side to side, constantly searching out every possible bit of noise that might signal trouble. Her fur was still partially on end, though, and she kept growling. The sense of wrongness was almost overwhelming in this form; Kanan might be able to pick up on that from her.
	It was difficult to miss, really. Kanan's feet were practically moving of their own accord; one sliding back, then the other, trying to put a little bit more distance between them and the army - it was nothing less than an army - of aggressive wrong. "I've got this," he was murmuring, voice still low, just loud enough for a cat on his shoulder to hear. Hopefully not loud enough for whatever those people had become. "Nothing's getting close to us. They'd have an interesting time catching us." Well. The ambling ferals would, anyway. He still didn't know what to make of the alert ones.
	The cat leaped down off his shoulder, and a moment later Keyleth was standing there again, gripping her staff in both hands and looking a little scared, but determined. "I'll be more help this way," she said in a low voice. "Now that we already have a pretty good idea of what's going on, oh, those poor people."
	Kanan frowned a little, but nodded. "Keep as much distance as you can," he replied. "I don't know what's up with them, exactly, but just because the sick ones aren't smart like those others doesn't mean they're any less dangerous, at least from sheer number."
	"I can help slow them down," Keyleth said, "or heal people a little bit, if it comes to that. I've got a few tricks up my sleeve, more than I do when I'm in animal form." She sighed. "Whatever I can do to keep the sick ones in check without -- I don't know, I'd rather not kill any of them if we don't have to. Maybe there's a way to fix this?" Not that she was anywhere near able to pull off a Greater Restoration spell, much less the number of times she'd have to cast it to help all of these people.
	"Slowing them down and keeping our people standing should be priority," Kanan agreed. "We don't want any casualties if these people can be healed. Which means we're going to have to figure out what the hell is wrong with them in the first place." A feral came charging at them, howling, teeth bared. Kanan reached into the Force and shoved back against her, sending her sprawling toward the crowd again. "I get the feeling they're not going to make it easy."
	"Not even a little bit," Keyleth agreed, conjuring a gust of wind to shove another feral back five feet or so. "Let me see if I can -- oh, hey!" There was a large pile of dirt at one corner of the intersection, part of some bit of construction or infrastructure improvement or something like that. With a quick gesture and a few words muttered in Sylvan, Keyleth scooped up the whole pile of dirt and moved it in between the crowd and their group. Another gesture, a few more words, and the dirt was a patch of thick, sticky mud that ought to slow down anyone who tried to come through it toward them.
	Kanan blinked at the mud, and then at Keyleth, and then grinned faintly, that grin going a little wider the moment the first feral started to slog through, slowed down to roughly half its original lope. "Huh, I'm going to have to remember that one," Kanan mused. Not that he could cast druidic spells or anything, but luring stormtroopers through a messy slog could be a good way to lose an unwanted tail, someday.
	Those expressions looked very familiar. Eric narrowed his eyes, then took a deeper breath. "I'm going to talk to one of the smarter-looking ones." Talk, kidnap off the street...po-tay-to, po-tah-to.
	Maryanne was having the time of her life. With a grin so big, her incisors sometimes flashed in what little light there was, she surveilled the chaos. Until her eyes fell on Eric. They narrowed.
	Eric gave her a quick smile in reply, flashing his own fangs. "What's the occasion?" he asked.
	"This is our territory," Maryanne said sharply. "We've got no problem with you."
	"I have a live and let live, only un-dead, policy myself," Eric said. "This has been cleared through the locals sheriff, of course?" ...not all vampires have your hierarchy, Eric.
	"A what?" Maryanne said, frowning at him. "There were only humans here when we came in."
	Eric made a tsk-ing sound with his tongue. "You didn't really think you're the only vampires around, did you?"
	"There was no one else here," Maryanne said firmly. "You're visiting. Mind your manners."
	Eric glared at her, fangs flashing again. "I don't get told to 'mind my manners,' whelp."
	Maryanne hissed at him in reply, her face curling up into a snarl as she flashed her fangs right back at him.
	Eric moved, lightning fast, to twist her head. Two thousand year old vampires had no patience for upstarts.
	The vampire hissed and snarled and-- Crack. Her head spun in an unnatural direction, freezing her expression in a permanent state of shock.
	"Children," Eric huffed, rolling his eyes and letting the body fall. "Idiot children."
	There wasn't anything about this that Rosa particularly liked, though parts of it were oddly familiar for a person who'd never really had a whole lot of dealing with vampires before. But there was at least one thing she could take care of right away, and that was finding a place with a bit more cover, slipping closer to the shadows, closer to the building, without taking her eyes off the crowd. This had the feeling of something that could go horribly wrong at the slightest provocation, so she made sure to pick out those faces and mark them immediately. And then spared a few moments to map out escape routes or better ground. Back to the crowd, taking note of the marks made a second ago. And then to the team, for any silent signals, any indication of trouble among them, and then just holding her breath, being ready, waiting out for the right moment, the right chance. She hated the waiting, but at least it'd give her a second to catch her breath before everything got messy. Who knew? Maybe it wouldn't.
	Anakin slid in to her right, eyes focusing on the crowd before them. "So this is incredibly creepy for Baltimore," he murmured, "but how do you think it could affect us?"
	Rosa sucked in a breath, sparing a glance toward Skywalker for a moment but not wanting to keep her eyes off the crowd for too long. "Us here now?" she asked. "Or the island as a whole? Because I think we got a taste of that second one yesterday. Right now, though, as long as no one does anything stupid, we could be fine. Most of them don't even seem to notice us," yet, "but....there's a few... "I suggest how about none of us do anything stupid right now," she concluded. "What are you getting?" She had no delusions about how she was probably just about the only Standard Issue Normal Person on this team right now , no matter how much she made up for it in Bad-Assery.
	"I'm getting the impression that the chances of none of us doing anything stupid is low," he replied a little dryly. "And I'm getting a bad feeling from the mob. They're almost zombie-like. The right catalyst and they'll swarm." He frowned, concentrating. "I can't determine if it's some kind of hive mind with the smarter looking ones."
	""Even if it is,"" Rosa said, ""I doubt it'd even take that much to set it all off..."" Her eyes drifted up for a moment, considering the buildings. ""If I could get to some higher ground, I could pick off some with a few good headshots."" If that would even do anything. ""See what happens then. I'd just be worried about....crowd control, after that."
	"I can get you up high," Anakin said. "Let's aim at a smart-looking one. If hurting one of them releases the mob from their stupor, all the better. If they swarm...I'm trained in crowd control." Or mind-whammies. Or actual whammies, if it came to it.
	Rosa considered the offer for a moment, considered the wall of the building they were next to, then reached behind herself a moment to extract a grappling hook (because what kind of woman doesn't have a grappling hook?) from her belt. "Just give me a boost," she said, "and watch my back. I think from up there I could easy get..." Her eyes narrowed a moment at the crowd, picking out her marks. "Three of them in succcession. Might buy some time with confusion if it's not just one, you know?" Plus, it was way cooler.
	"Good call," Anakin said, threading his fingers together for a foot hold. "Do you have your phone to take pictures? Might be good to have some evidence for how they react, just in case." Anakin had been on Fandom for a very long time. He had no faith in weirdness happening at this time of year not affecting them eventually.
	Rosa nodded, taking a step back to get a good spin on her hook before sending it flying, giving it a few testing tugs once it was snagged to make sure it held. "Take a few shots," she said, "and then a few shots." The faintest suggestion of a smirk surfaced. "Easy enough." And with that boost, she made fairly quick work of scaling the side of the building as quickly and quietly as she could, taking a moment to peer over the edge of the roof to make sure it was clear before letting herself up completely. A moment longer, just to make sure, and she made her way over to the edge to peer down, confirm her projections, settling in to take aim. Mapping out the shots first, since she actually had the luxury to do so. Phone on the ready... And then shoot. One, two, three. As clean and efficient and fast as she'd anticipated, because she hadn't earned those marksman honors for nothing, lowered her gun, and started the recording on her phone to scan the results.
	One. The black-haired vampire moved fast, a blur giving way to empty air. The bullet buried itself in a wall. Two. A twist of the blonde vampire's body. Hair moved, but nothing else. With a loud crack, the bullet pierced the pavement. Three. The brunet had always been the runt of the litter. He moved his head out of the way, but he wasn't fast enough: the bullet skimmed along the skin of his arm before it smashed into a lamppost with a loud noise. The ferals screamed.
	"Shit," said Rosa, as her brain caught up with what her eyes had seen, making her feel like catching the aftermath on her phone was all pretty pointless, and her eyes narrowed. She let it record some more, just in case, trying to plan out her next move, especially if the shots soon inspired the ferals to do more than just scream. She glanced to the side; maybe head over to the next building, and fast, if any of the smarter-looking ones managed to pinpoint the direction of the shots.
	The black-haired one was already looking up, her eyes narrowing as she scanned the rooftops. Was there movement, anywhere? Who dared take that shot?
	It had certainly gotten someone's attention, at any rate, and so now Rosa had to decide what exactly to do with that attention now that she had it. Another shot was out of the question; if they'd managed to dodge when they weren't expecting it, another shot would just be wasting ammo. She swept her eyes over the area one more time, a plan forming, not a great plan, but not a terrible one, either. She slowly backed away from the edge of the building and then made a dash for the next one, picking up enough speed to make easy work of the narrow alley between them. Either the black-haired one would take notice and do something about it, or...she wouldn't. Rosa would find out which in a moment, she supposed, putting away her gun for now, reaching for her knives.
	Anakin's eyes had gone wide as well: those were almost Jedi-level reflexes they were working against. He took a few steps out but still remained mostly in shadow, serving as protector if the ferals' reaction looked like they were going to strand Rosa up on the roof.
	Yeah. Yeah, that was movement. The black-haired vampire narrowed her eyes. And... took off, following along the side of the building. A group of ferals pulled away from the rest and followed right behind her.
	"Rosa, incoming," Anakin called, though he was sure she'd already noticed.
	Ghanima's own expression was incredibly critical as she surveyed the crowd, a cold, calculating set to her expression. "They're not there," she murmured, her voice still Ghanima, but with an echo of multitudes behind it. "Were we to give them the test of humanity, they would fail." She blinked, and it was just Ghani looking out from behind her eyes again. "Worry about the ones that seem human. They're more dangerous."
	""Got it."" Miguel nodded. ""I'll wrap up as many of the duds as I can."" He swung out over the crowd and shot webbing out, cocooning the feral-looking ones.
	The noise of the intersection tapers off a bit if you take this left turn, and then that right one. In fact, this one-way street looks empty. ... and then you hear feet touching down on the street. ""Well, well. Fresh meat."
	"That is possibly the most cliche 'villain' lines I have heard in my life, and I have a hobby of overthrowing despots and murdering would-be political enemies," Ghanima quipped, turning towards the sound of the voice. Her smile, however, was sharper than her knives. "What do you think, Miguel, did she just attempt to bite off more than she can chew?"
	"I think I've heard costumed guys with stupid wings with better lines," Miguel said. "Not impressed." He leaned against the nearest building on the other side, staying out of the way of Ghanima's knives and giving himself room enough to move.
	"My lines won't matter much to you in a few minutes," said the vampire. Her eyes were a cool, unnatural blue all of their own. There was a knife in her hand, too, but she looked as if she didn't believe it would be necessary to use it. "We didn't intend for you to come find us here, but that doesn't matter. You'll be ours regardless."
	Ghanima didn't wait for her to finish. She was a blur by 'regardless,' closing the distance between herself and the vampire, only to come back into focus for the knife in her right hand to swipe at the vampire's face while her left hand drew her crysknife, going for her gut. She doubted this thing would bleed, she'd have to cut herself before returning the crysknife to its sheathe, but she could worry about that later. Killing it took priority.
	A split second after Ghanima, Miguel moved on his own, so fast he still appeared where he had been until he was behind the vampire, grabbing her around the neck and chest, digging in his talons to hold her still for the knives.
	Lucille screamed as pain pierced her stomach and her chest. Blood spilled out, though it was black, not red. Her knife hit the ground with a loud clang. She tore herself out of Miguel's grasp, eyes flicking from blue to a vivid, sickly yellow. "Bastards," she snarled, lunging for Ghanima's face with sharp nails.

[[ open to continue in the comments! much love to all of our strike teamers. ]]

Comments

[atreideslioness]

Ghanima dodged to the side just slightly enough that the vampire's nails whispered past her face, close enough to brush her hair. "I'm not sure why you think the circumstances of my parentage has anything to do with my willingness to kill you," she mused, expression never changing as she shoved the blade in farther, harder, before yanking it up. "But if it makes you feel better, yes, you're correct, I am a bastard."

She then ripped the crysknife to the side, carving towards the heart before pulling it free, skipping backwards a few steps to look for a new angle of attack. "I hope the knowledge that you're correct brings you solace in your final moments."

[what_the_shock]

"And I'm not," Miguel added because he didn't know he was. "But I'll still kill you if I have to."

He webbed the vampire's feet to the ground, then slashed for her neck.

[vampires_in_bde]

"How dare yo--"

Lucille made a choking noise as more blood spilled from her neck. The original wounds in her gut were closing, but Ghanima was doing too much damage for her system to handle all at once.

Until she pulled away, and now those sharp nails were diving for Miguel's chest.

[atreideslioness]

Oh Lucille. Never, ever, turn your back on a Fremen. Especially not one who already had your blood on her blades.

Ghanima darted forward, dropping the knife in her right hand to reach out and grab for the vampire's hair, aiming to yank her head back and drive her crysknife into her throat. It was not the best angle to try and sever her head from her neck completely, but Ghanima was going to try anyway.

It was a move she knew intimately, after all. And she was very, very good at it.

[what_the_shock]

Miguel, meanwhile, was just going to step back and let her. Maybe make sure that vampire didn't get away just in case, but he wasn't getting in Ghanima's way.

Hey, he was on a team with Sabretooth. He knew when to get out of the way.

[vampires_in_bde]

Lucille snarled and screamed, clawing back at Ghanima for every second that ticked by until, suddenly, she just... stopped. First her body went limp, black blood spilling all over her throat.

Her skin started to flake, drifting away with the wind-- along with the rest of her.

The noise outside the alley stopped abruptly.

[atreideslioness]

Ghanima endured the clawing, never flinching as she continued to cut. She only lowered her crysknife and stepped back once the body began dissolving to ash.

"Are you injured?" she asked Miguel with concern, ignoring the gouges the vampire had inflicted on her arms and face. They would begin to heal soon enough, once she could take a dose of melange.

[what_the_shock]

Miguel made a face at the dissolving body, not that anyone could probably tell under his mask.

"Not me; what about you?" He gestured at the slices she'd taken. "Should we get you some bandages? Maybe make sure they don't get infected? Shock knows what might be on her nails."

[atreideslioness]

"They sting," Ghanima admitted, making a face. "If we can find somewhere that I can rinse them clean, that would be nice."

She looked around, frowning slightly. "Do you hear that?"

[what_the_shock]

"I hear a lot of things," Miguel said. "Which one do you mean?"

He headed back toward the opening of the alley warily.