~~ The Dark City ~~

[faust]

A minor diversion...

The car was slowly moving down the street, stopping in front of different buildings. It's occupants must be searching for something - or someone. They hadn'd been noticed yet, but Jack didn't feel like pressing their luck...

Jack jiggled the handle on the door. The door rattled promisingly in its frame. Just a simple lock - no deadbolts or anything of that nature. Grabbing the handle from below, Jack pulled up with all his might. A second later, he felt it splinter through the wood, pulling the lock out of its socket. More importantly, it made almost no noise - his hunter skills really were useful in tough situations. Pulling the door open, he motioned for the others to get inside. "Hurry up. And keep your eyes open for any surprises."

 

[Paendragon]

He heard a gasp behind him and looked over his shoulder to see the old woman holding her hands to her head.

"Don't lose it now, old woman," he thought.

"Be careful, John," she whispered. "His past is a cloud, and the clouds are breaking. He is confused, and nervous, both of which are new to him."

John nodded. Great. Confused, nervous, and probably unpredictable as hell.

He waited a minute, and then heard a whisper come from down the hall. He couldn't make out what was said. Time to gamble again.

"Mideon! I'm coming out. I have a gun, but it will be lowered. Don't shoot me, damn you!"

He looked back at the witch. "Cover me lady." He said it to make Mideon think she had a weapon. He was surprised when she nodded, and closed her eyes.

"Whatever," he thought.

He stepped into the hall, his gun pointed at the floor.

 

[Lady Violet]

posted twice.. oops

 

[Lady Violet]

Arden moved as quickly as she could, stepping carefully over the split wood on the ground. Jack closed the door after they were safelt inside. How safe was deffinately a question on Arden's mind. She turned around to look into the restaurant. There were dirty dishes and half eaten food, rotten and spoiling. Dust covered the tables and chairs and foot prints could be seen leading to the back of the restaurant. Someone had been here earlier. Hopefully they wouldn't run into them.

"They's stopped" Jack said. "We have to keep moving."

"The back door is in the kitchen" Arden said, walking towards that direction. All of a sudden, Arden clutched her head and gasped in pain. "Mother" she cried out, falling to her knees.


OOC: crysede, faust, if you want to take a lead role its ok.. ill follow your characters..

 

[Quiet_Cool]

Mideon

I heard her voice this time, coming from down the hall, and wondered if I had the wrong door, or if there were two occupied rooms. Either way, I might have been in some trouble.
The old woman (or so she sounded to me) said something about clouds breaking and someone being confused. I couldn't focus on the words. When i had the spells, there was always a short period of disillusion afterward, where things normally simple blended together to become awkwardly complex.
THe man announced he was coming out, but said he would hold his gun down. The words again didn't sink in. I lay there, half-on-guard, my mind shifting to the girl in the dress.
The door opened and the man stepped out. I raised the 9mm immediately, fully intending to fire. Something stayed my hand, something...foriegn, from inside.
I watched him, holding his gun as if he intended to shoot the carpetting.
"I mean you no harm," the man said, after a moment of silence between them. The words were an attempt at gentle, something that was clearly new to this man, and though his words said no hamr, his hand tightened on the weapon he held.
"Who? What are...you?" I muttered, frustrated at the weakness in my own voice.
Voices came up the staris then, distant yet, probably in the kitchen, and not secretive.
"Does it matter?" He asked.
I thought about this for a moment, and decided that it didn't. I waited still, merely short of words just then.
"You don't know me, and I don't know you," he said, the weapon inching a little higher, though I was certain it was instinctual instead of intentional. This man knew no trust, which made me thinmk he was fairly intelligent. "But neither of us knows the men downstairs, or what they want, or who they'll kill to get it. I can bet you don't want them to shoot you any more than I want them to shoot me, so I propose a short alliance. First we take care of the garbage, then we go from there."
He regained his confidence as he spoke these last words, spoke more like the man he appeared to be. Or perhaps he had had only spoken in such a way to ease my mind. I wondered if I seemed insane to him.
"yoohoo," a voice shouted from downstairs," Anybody home? We just wanted to know if Little Arden can come out and play? C'mon, Honey, come and play with us."
"I got something the bitch can play with," another laughed.
They would kill us, I thought, and one of us couldn't beat them alone.
I lowered my 9mm, then started to get to my feet, feeling more like myself again.
"Okay," I said, "We've got a deal. Now how do you want to do this?"

 

[crysede]

Sasha:
Seeing Arden collapsing, she grabbed a hold of the women before she hit the floor. Arden seemed to be in too much pain to speak, or even support herself. Sasha placed one of Arden's arms across her shoulders, and helped her to stumble to her feet. Luck did not seem to be favoring them anymore: Arden was the only one who knew what was required from the store. But Sasha had not survived by giving up, no matter how the odds were stacked against her.

"Well," she said, looking at Jack inquiringly, "it seems somewhat pointless to return empty handed: as long as we have come this far why don't we continue to the shop? Perhaps lady Arden will have recovered somewhat by then."

She watched his face carefully, she had no idea how he would respond to her suggestion. It was a strange sensation to be around one who could conceal his thoughts from her so easily. She could not help wondering what sort of training one would have to endure to achieve such control.

 

[Paendragon]

John smiled. More like a baring of teeth. He lowered his voice.

"The way I see it, they're here for some fun, so lets give it to them."

Mideon blinked, and nodded. "If they were planning on blowing the place, they could have done it from outside."

Farland nodded, agreeing. "That means they want prisoners, which gives us the advantage. My guess is, they want the old woman too..."

Mideon grinned. "Cheese for the trap?"

Farland grinned back, and turned to look in the bedroom at the witch. "You up for this, lady?"

The witch nodded and smiled keeping her eyes closed.

"I'll wait in here with her. Find a hiding place, and we'll draw them upstairs. Try to wait until they get to the doorway here..."

Mideon nodded. "Crossfire. I'll wait for you to take the first shot before I attack, that way i can stay hidden until the last minute.

"Works for me. Good luck."

Mideon nodded in return, and headed down the hallway.

John turned into the room where the witch sat.

"OK, lady, into the closet."

He helped her toward the closet, and closed the door almost completely, before settling himself behind the dresser. He grabbed a small handheld mirror off the vanity, and propped it against the wall so he could see the door without having to peek around the dresser. He should be completely hidden from view.

He counted off a few more seconds to let Mideon get to his position. Then he looked to the closet, and whispered, "Now."

"Arden, is that you?" the witch called out. "Arden?"

Three men began the slow climb up the stairs.

 

[faust]

"Shit! We don't need this right now!" Jack rushed over to check on Arden. She seemed weak and dazed, but otherwise in good shape. He looked at Sasha. "Hey, do something! Snap her out of it. We don't have any fucking time to waste. I'll go clear the way."

Making his way to the kitchen, Jack unlocked the backdoor and carefully pushed it open. It led into a narrow alley, damp and reeking with the smell of rotting garbage and stale piss. The botany shop was just a few buildings down. The coast was clear. Now, if only they could get that weirdo back to normal...

Hurrying back to where he had left the two women, Jack described the situation. "All's well for now. We can get to the shop easy. ...Let's hope the boy will keep those assholes busy out there. The problem is, I have no knowledge of herbs. It's all pretty much bullshit to me. So unless you know what we're looking for, we're pretty much screwed."

 

[Quiet_Cool]

Mideon

I tucked myself away in the bathroom, leaving the door open and stepping into the bathtub, behind the shower curtain. I waited, holding the two pistols up to my chest and hoping they would pass the door before I was discovered in the hall.
"Arden, is that you?" the old woman's voice sounded down the hall. "Arden?"
I also wondered if the three sets of footprints I heard were all that were coming, and doubted it was the case. This wasn't a bounty crew, it was a clean-up crew, sent to make sure the target was dead, by whatever means was necessary. Meaning they wouldn't be neat, or quiet about thier work, but they meant to complete the job. It also meant that, whoever they were after, tehy felt wasn't much of a threat. Anyone trained could hear them coming and escape, or set them up to take a fall as we intended to do.
All that being true, I still didn't focus on the task at hand entirely. Instead, my mind drifted back to a few seconds before, the conversation with the man over the alliance. He seemed genuine in his wish to eliminate this enemy, which I respected, but I'd responded by saying "Cheese for the trap?" I don't talk like that, at least not to my recollection, yet the words fell off my lips, unabated by anything inside. And I'd grinned! Have I ever done that?
The footsteps were in the hall now, already coming toward the bathrom door, but moving slowly. No doors were opened then, which was good, eventhough the bathroom door was left open. They weren't being thorough, which made me think again that they were from the Brotherhood. Their patrol and demolition crews, who they usually sent to handle such destructive matters, usually weren't so well-trained, not until they were promoted. For a moment, I felt guilty, knowing I'd been in these men's shoes before. I also knew I'd have to kill them. The problem was, a Brotherhood patrol and demolition crew was never only three men. Usually no less than ten and often as many as twenty, which meant we weren't going outside right away or else we'd be shot, if there weren't more inside the house already.
One stopped in the bathroom doorway peering inside. I could hear his breathing, heavy and fairly quick. He was nervous; good and bad news.
A second later, he was moving down the hall further, followed by another set of footsteps. The third had stopped before the door. I was still, wondering if I'd been discovered.

 

[Paendragon]

Hunter becomes the Hunted

The floorboards creaked just outside the doorway.

"Amateurs," John thought. "Keep on coming."

He looked at the reflection in the small hand mirror. He could see the first man peek into the room. Finding no one, the man stepped into the room, followed by another. The first man signalled to the second, than gestured to the closet. The second man stopped by the entry, and leveled his gun at the closet, followed by the first. Neither of the fools covered the rest of the room. Then it hit John. They weren't going to step closer to the closet, they were going to shoot through it!

Farland rolled, bringing his back against the wall, and squeezed off four quick shots, double-tapping each of the enemy before they could react. Their bodies hit the floor simultaneusly.

Joh could hear footsteps running up the hall from the bathroom area, and another pair coming up the stairs.

"Oh fuck," he thought.

 

[Quiet_Cool]

Mideon

I heard the man firing in the room down the hall, four shots, then silence. The man who'd stopped before the bathroom door was running then, past the door, and more men were coming up the steps.
No time to worry about the newcomers. I leapt out of the shower and stepped into the hall, firing one shot into the back of the man's head, watching blood and brainmatter erupt ahead of him and turning to face those coming up the stairway as his body fall like a tree trunk forward. It struck the groun with a heavy thud, but I was concentrating on the steps leading into the hall from the stairs. I pressed my body chest first again the wall, my right side facing the coming enemy, wanting to give them the flattest target I could, and aimed the 9mm in my right hand down the hall toward them. One came into view, gun shotgun held out in front of him. He'd barely noticed me, if he had a all, before he was falling from a shot to the chest. The second came into view, but jumped back at the sound of the first shot.
I'd fucked up. Had I waited, the first probably wouldn't have gotten a shot off before both were in view. Now one was hiding behind the far wall, shouting down for backup.
"Four men down, and the enemy's live," he shouted.
I didn't wait to see how many were coming, but backpedaled away from the wall and down toward the open bedroom door, grabbing the man I'd shot in the head by the collar of his shirt and dragging his body toward the doorway, hoping the man inside would realize who I was and not shoot me.

 

[Paendragon]

Four down........

Mideon pulled the dead man into the room, and John went to check ont the old woman in the closet. She sat, cross-legged with her eyes closed. She seemed calm enough.

"I'm going to have to leave you for a while. Lay down flat, and cover yourself with something. If we all wait up here, we'll be dead in ten minutes."

She didn't reply, just did as he asked. He closed the door, and turned to Mideon, whom merely stared at him, his face expressionless.

"I'm going out," John said, and gestured to the window, "if I can. I'll come in the back behind them."

He didn't wait for a nod from the other man. He was aware he was taking a risk leaving him alone with the woman, but it was either this, or they all die anyway.

He walked to the window, and looked outside. If there was anyone there, he couldn't see them. That didn't mean they weren't there, however.

He slid the window open, and swung himself through it, holstering his 9mm. He swung down, and hung from his hands from the window. He let go and hit the ground, rolling onto his back, just as bullets crashed into the house where he had been hanging.

He sprang to his feet, pulled his gun, and ran toward the other side of the house.

 

[Quiet_Cool]

Mideon

I watched as the man went out the window. Soon after his fingertips disappeared from the window sill, I heard gunfire and, followed by the sound of bullets piercing the house's siding. I wondered if he'd been killed, but didn't bother looking. If he was, he was. It wasn't like the people who had done it would come in through a second story window after me, and as I knelt there, taking whatever items I could find from the corpse on the floor, including a few more 9mm magazines, not to mention the weapon itself, the other men already inside might have been working their way back the hall. The last position I needed to be in when they entered the room was facing out a window, back as a clear target.
I grabbed the dead man's 9mm, knowing it would be loaded, then left mine, missing a few bullets, on the carpeting. I thought of the woman in the closet, then decided it best to leave her. She would be useless in combat i guessed, and she was hidden well-enough where she was.
I hurried to the doorway and peered out. Indeed, two were headed down the hall, shotguns poised to fire should I stick my head out any further. They did see me, however, and took aim at the wall near where I was. I dropped into a sitting position, leaning back into the room some. The wood above my head burst into splinters as the buckshot tore through it. I leaned into the hall, 9mm going first, and squeezed off two quick shots, taking the first one in the leg and the second in the chest.
The first fell sideways, landing on the injured leg and screaming in pain. The second just fell over, then ceased motion altogether.
THe first, unable to use the shotgun from where he lay, fought to free his own 9mm. I walked back in haste, grabbing the dead man in the room and lifting his heavy frame up in front of me.
"Come on, you fucker!" the man in the hall shouted.
I conseded, stepping out in the cover of the dead man's body. He fired twice before he realized it wasn't me he saw first, then I raised the 9mm and shot him in the head.
I held the dead man in place, looking down the hall, waiting for more bullets. I saw a head disappear behind the wall at the end of the hall, near the stairs.
How many can there be? I wondered.
No time to bother thinking it over. I reached down and grabbed the shotgun the injured man had tossed aside and threw it back into the open doorway, then grabbed the man's body (by the arm this time, not wanting too much blood and brain on my hands) and drug him back into the room as well.
I sat and rested then, exhausted from lugging around two bodies, and wondering, Why don't they ever send skinny guys?

 

[crysede]

Sasha:
She arched an eyebrow at Jack, "And just how do you propose I ‘snap her out of it' then, hunter?" She did not bother waiting for answer, Jack appeared to have as little idea of what Arden was ‘in' as she did. "Let's just go to the shop and see if she comes around there. I'll bring her along, but that will mean I cannot use a weapon. Why doesn't one of us go back and get Chris, while the other provides cover from the window: at the moment I think he would be of more use to us here than covering our backs, seeing as we are short handed."

Taking his momentary silence to mean that he was, at least, not wholly against the idea, she found a relatively clean piece of floor to lie Arden down on, then turned back to Jack.

"If you have no objections, then I shall go." She said, taking a step towards the door. It was not that she had any real desire to be outside again, but, given his animosity for Chris, Sasha was uncertain whether both men would survive if Jack went on his own.

 

[Paendragon]

The knife bit into the mans throat, and John cut savagly, nearly to the spine. The man went down without a sound, but not without struggle. Only in the movies did a man die easily by having his throat cut.

John left the man lying there, and picked up the man's weapon. He didn't recognize it at all. It looked similar to an old AK-47, but was much more sleek in appearance, with a silenced muzzle. He checked the clip to make sure it was full, and searched to see what else the man had on him. Finding nothing beside a few smoke grenades, which he took, and walked low toward the same door he had used to enter the house earlier.

Luckily, there were no guards in sight. Mideon must be keeping them busy inside for them to have only left the one man.

He dropped to his stomach, and crawled to the door. He quickly popped the door open and tossed in one of the grenades. He then took cover as the window and wall above him was torn open with gunfire.

He held the rifle out before him through the doorway (keeping everything but his hands behind the wall), and fired blindly into the room, keeping the bullets low. He heard screams, and the gunfire slowly stopped as he emptied his clip, spraying the room completely.

He dropped the rifle, and drew his 9mm. He dug his feet into the dirt, and pushed, sliding his head and gun arm in through the door.

He nearly shook his head at his luck. They were all dead. It looks like they had all dropped to the floor when the grenade went off, and his random shots had taken them all. Unbelievable.

There was no one else in sight. Which meant they were either on the stairs, or on the second floor. They also knew he was down here, by the screams of their comrades.

His only advantage lay in the fact that Mideon was upstairs, and he was downstairs. With the survivors between them.

He crawled on his stomach to the stairs.

OOC: Wow. I'm not used to writing something that's not Fantasy related. I need more practice, I think.

 

[Quiet_Cool]

Mideon

I decided to get moving again when I heard the cluster of gunfire downstairs, followed by an odd silence, then more gunfire and men screaming. I quickly tucked my handguns into my belt, grabbed the shotgun and got up, then peered into the hall. Smoke was coming up the stairs in a sudden black mass.
Grenades, I thought, but not from the enemy. I glanced over at the two bodies on the floor, seeing a few strapped to either man's belt of chest strap. If they had been trying to smoke me out, they would have gotten a hell of a lot closer than they did, probably have dropped the damn thing right through the bedroom door. And it was instead, dropped downstairs somewhere, and the smoke working its way up to the upstairs hall.
I guessed that was my new friend (I'd have to make oa poitn of learning his name), having taken the grenade(s) from one of them and using it against them. Problem was, with the smoke building up in the hall, I was deficient as well, at least with the naked eye.
I dropped onto my chest and peered down the hall, being able to see only a few feet from the floor already, and that not so clearly. I would have seen feet though, at least feet, were they moving toward me.
I crawled over to the dead men and quickly searched their gear, hoping I wouldn't find what I wanted. I didn't, not on them. But I did still have my own infared goggles. That put me at the advantage. I hurried to the closet, peering in at the old woman. When I set eyes upon her, even given the loss of visibility in the room, all I noticed was an old lady, sitting calmly in a closet, hiding. I wondered then, what they wanted with her. What they possibly could want.
"The smoke is harmless as regular smoke, but it is smoke. Cover your head with something to keep the carbon monoxide from building up in your lungs. Hopefully, we'll both be back in a second or two to get you out of here," I explained.
She looked back at me, as though she wanted to trust me, but wasn't sure if she should. Old people, I thought, They're all the same. She nooded then and grabbed a sweater hanging above her head and held it over her nose.
I slipped on the goggles and went back to the door, easing out into the hall and creeping down until I reached the top of the stairs. I stopped, the stairwell still just out of my sight. I moved even slower then, not wanting to make the slightest sound, even of my shoes sliding against the carpetting. Once I could see the stairwell, I saw the two men, accented in red, hands over their eyes, wiping at them, but not moving. One coughed and spat cursory toward the other one.
There was no way for me to know who I was shooting at now, but the man had gone out the window alone, and these men were two together, seeming well-aware of the other's prescence.
I raised the shotgun and fired, taking the first one in the head, sending some of the buckshot into the second's chest. THe first fell backward, tumbling down the stairs and taking the second, who appeared not too seriously harmed, with him. I hurried after them, knowing that the sound of the shot would give away my position. When the two stopped at the bottom of the stairwell, the one still alive pushed the other off of him and reached for his handgun, having lost his shotgun in the fall. I pumped the shotgun and fired again, this time catching him square in the chest. I jumped over the bodies as bullets struck the wall behind me and leaned against the wall, remaining perfectly still and looking in the direction of the gunfire. Four remained against a wall, standing, two of them extending their arms, guns in them no doubt, toward where they'd just fired and the other two poised to shoot along the edge of the wall.
I looked toward where their guns pointed and saw, just beyond the wall they stood against, a man crawling toward the room. On the opposite side of the room I stood in, near what i guessed to be windows but wasn't sure, stood two more men, weapons held up next to their heads, in ready position.
That was all the movement I saw. Otherwise, however, the warm red glow of what I guessed to be recently killed men lay all around, including in the kitchen behind the crawling man. i wondered if any of these bodies was alive, someone waiting for us to show ourselves before admitting he was still capable of firing.
No sense trying to overthink, I knew, it would just add to any doubt I might have, and doubt would sabotage my confidence. In these situations, confidence was everything.
I wondered how much smoke was in the room, and guessed that, near the floor, there was still some visibility, or else the man crawling would have gotten to his feet or left the house. Right then, I had position, but should I wait? To see what the man on the floor, who was apparently my window jumping companion, would do next?


OOC: I usually do Fantasy or Sci-Fi as well, but I believe we're both doing well enough. i think you're posts are very well-done, Paen.

 

[Lady Violet]

Arden

Her head swam as visions of d
ying men and the sound of gunfire filled her mind. She could hear her mother calling her name and Arden didn't know what was going on. She felt sick to her stomach and when she fell she felt Sasha hold her then lying her down in a safe area of the restaurant. She could sense their unease, but she needed to speak with her mother.

"Mother, whats going on."

"Child, have you the herbs?"

"No, I feel sick, are you ok?"

"I won't lie, I'm frightened, but I have protection. After you get the herbs, do not return home."

"I don't understand, why not?"

"Its not safe. Remember the song I taught you as a child?"

"Yes, I remember it"

"Listen to the words, and follow its path. You'll be safe there."

"Mother..."

"Wake now child, I will be with you."

Arden opened her eyes, blinking a couple of times. She saw Jack standing nearby and Sasha heading for the door. She tried to stand up, using a table for balance.

"I'm ok." she whispered, then more loudly "I'm alright."

 

[Lord Kenshin]

Chris stayed crouched, looking up and down the street, ready for some hellish creatures to come from no where. He smiled to himself, thinking it silly to be thinking of such a think, but yet in this town everything seemed possible. He watched the door that the three had just entered, hoping nothing would come up behind him.

 

[faust]

Back in action...

Jack was somewhat relieved to see Arden regain conscoiusness. At least it meant that he would hang around for a while longer... He had been on the verge of taking off. Sure, saving the city was a cute idea, but he'd much rather save his own ass any day.

"Good morning princess, sleep well? Now, if you're done fucking around, we've got some flowers to go pick. The way's clear for now, so let's not push our luck." Jack checked his shotgun once more. He couldn't shake the feeling that they were living on borrowed time... Shit, what had he gotten himself into?!?

 

[Paendragon]

John slid over the floor, toward the stairs, his gun held out before him. Luckily, it was just smoke in the grenades, not tear gas. He could tell before he entered by the controlled fire from those inside. Apparently, they didn't want to risk hurting the old woman with any chemicals.

He had decent visibility close to the floor, enough to see several pairs of legs standing opposite the stairway. Amateurs. One of his first lessons, had been to maintain visibility at all costs. Of course, his second lesson had been training his other senses for those times when he did lose visibility. They must not have had either.

Suddenly, one of the men dropped to the ground not ten feet in front of him. The man had been trying to look toward the staircase, and unfortunately for him, only saw John right before he put a bullet in his head. The others shifted their feet, as if to move, and John ran out of time. He couldn't see their heads, so he shot what he could see. The 9mm jumped in his fist, the silencer allowing only the *clink - clink* on the firing pin to sound through the room (the 'gas-escaping' sound heard in the movies from silenced pistols was nothing more than Hollywood make-believe), and his bullets tore through kneecaps and ankles of the men still standing, leaving them alive, but immobile.

OOC: You're up Quiet_Cool! You're post are well done too. I'm interested to see what'll happen after we kill all of them...

 

[Quiet_Cool]

Mideon

Bodies were dropping, and I could see the man on the floor, firing his weapon, hitting the enemy in the ankles and feet and legs. I took better postion, moving up the stairwell a few steps and dropping the shotgun to grab my two handguns. i took more careful aim, but did so quickly, making sure I had a shot that was likely to kill before taking one.
WIthing a few seconds, the room had become still. They'd heard my shots, unlike those that my new "friend" had fired, but had little time to react before I turned my guns on them.
WHen the room was silent, I looked over to the only figure on the floor I hadn't shot that had been moving when I came down the stairs.
I took aim at it now.
"SPeak to me," I said, "And I may let you live."
I didn't want to speak in such a way to the man who'd helped me survive this, but I also didn't want to run the risk of being polite to an enemy. Kindness was a weakness often taken advantage of in these times.

 

[Paendragon]

John trained his gun on the source of the voice. He wasn't going to be the one to break the truce, but wasn't going to be caught unprepared, either. If Mideon decided he could end the truce by shooting him, he was going to try damned hard to take him with him.

Then he remembered the goggles. Mideon had infrared. They wouldn't be much good in the daylight, but the interior of the house was shadowed enough to make them effective. The bastard could see him! John grinned. If he wasn't unsure what this guys story was, he might just grow to like him...

"It's me," he called out. He couldn't see shit, so he closed his eyes, and listened. "We're still on the same team, right?"

 

[Quiet_Cool]

Mideon

I debated his question, holding m guns still. Then, realizing that there are probably more outside (and if there weren't the gunfire would certainly draw them), then lowered them and replied. "As long as we need to be at least. Are you hurt? If not, then let's move. We can't have much time before more move in."

 

[Paendragon]

John rose to his feet, and holstered his weapon. His shoulder was throbbing, but he had no new injuries.

"I'm ok."

He started walking toward the man's voice.

"Going to go check on the old woman. Then we can get the hell outta here."

He started up the stairs.

 

[Lady Violet]

Arden

Taking the back alley way, the three of them made their way to the botanical shop. As they were nearing the entrance, Arden took out her key and unlocked the door.

"Wait" said Jack, pushing Arden to the side. "Let me go first." Jack pushed open the door, scanning the room with his eyes and the barrel of his gun.

Arden gave Jack a dirty look, but thanked him anyway for his bravery, and how she and Sasha would be totaly lost without him. Her sarcasim did not go unnoticed.

She went quickly to work, gathering small round amber glass jars with powder in them and tall thin ones with liquids of varieing colors. She took some roots of lants, the leaves of others and put them in clear plastic bags, and tossing everything into her backpack. Arden noticed Sasha looking at a particular plant with familiarity.