[hr][h1][i][color=DarkSlateBlue]Cassius and Reed Taylor[/color], & [color=aqua]Jennifer Marissa Caspin[/color][/i].[/h1][@Mr Allen J][hr]


"Move it!" A voice called in the rain.

Subsequent gunshots rang out as several more of the creatures set their sights on the Taylors, forcing Cass to alternate between holding them off and loading in more shells from his pocket as he made a retreat.

Snapping a glance over his shoulder as he heard other shots cracking off, he spotted Reed taking a stance beside the car and pitching in with covering fire - reducing one of the creatures to a mass of grey sludge which quickly dissolved in the rainfall, yet there were more where they'd come from and the two would only have so much ammo. Knowing full-well these things would close in too soon if they didn't get a move on, he quickly stuck a hand in his pocket and withdrew his keys, urging him "Quick, take 'em and get it started."

Reed snatched them out of Cass' hand and frantically climbed into the driver's seat, gunning to start the engine with a firm twist. Shifting it into gear, he glanced over the windscreen only to spot Cass pulling back towards the car after firing off one last shell, practically jumping into the passenger seat. The door was barely closed before Reed hit the gas, hoping to place some distance between them and those things as they grew larger and larger in the rear-view mirror. 

Cass popped opened the glove compartment and yanked out a navy-shaded box of shells that'd already been torn open in a hurry and started pushing more of them into the shotgun's magazine tube whilst pocketing the excess shells for later use.

"What the hell were those things, Cass?"

"You tell me. I don't have a clue, just... shit. Just drive, we'll loop around and figure things out once I check the radio out."

Cass inclined forward and reached out with a free hand, fiddling with the various dials and switches on the scanner he kept on the dash. It was always handy, especially in times like this and gave him more information than the regular broadcasts ever would. 

The signal was a little hazy due to the intense storm and the aging hardware that was receiving it, but it was coming through from all over Verthaven - none of it good.

Urgent calls for assistance, reports of multiple casualties as more of those creatures showed up, panicked riots and stampedes - even NEST chatter was spilling into the mix, turning his mind towards Quentin as he wondered where his eldest nephew was in all of this mess and hoped to hell that he was unharmed. 

He [i]had[/i] to be, for both their sakes.

"What's happening?" Reed finally asked, trying to navigate his way through the quieter streets towards as misshapen silhouettes scrambled amidst the rainfall. He'd been loosely paying attention but refused to believe all of it - not until he heard it from Cass' mouth.

"It's worse than anything I've seen or heard of, kid. Won't lie. Shit, I'm not sure what to do - you saw how bad the traffic was on our way out of downtown, it'll be gridlocked. We don't have any real way of getting in touch with the department, but-"

He stopped mid-sentence as he spotted something just about to run across the road. "Shit, slow down!" he shouted, prompting Reed to hit the brakes.

[i]Someone[/i] in the road, it turned out.

[hr]

Everything was going to shit. Jen long realized that this city is one thing after the other - but this was a whole different situation all together. Adrenaline and her healing factor were the two things keeping her running like a rabbit. Every footstep splashed a puddle of water underneath her feet. She had no idea where she was going, but her plan was "anywhere but here". 

She kept running alongside the sidewalk - but one of the creatures, crawling on all fours, with a alien-body and large claws, landed in front of her. It looked up at her, and Jen instinctively took a few steps back, putting her hand up in some attempt to get back. However, the thing lunged at her, and she screamed, jumping to the side. She got some scraps on her arms as as she the ground, but she kept running.

That wound she recieved earlier was all but healed. Only a little bit more to go - but the process of [i]forcing[/i] her body at this rate was always painful. She had little idea if the creature was still behind her, but she had little defense against them. She wasn't Meifeng or the others - she had no offensive superpower or training - she was basically your average sixteen year old girl.

Not percisely thinking too much, Jen ran across the street, hoping to get away from it.

Not too far away, a set of dimmed headlights died down and a silhouette climbed out with something heavy in its hand, before suddenly moving forwards.

"Keep your head down!" A heavy voice shouted as the silhouette closed in.

Jen briefly wondered what the hell was going on, but it felt great knowing that someone was coming to her aid. She knew that she couldn't keep running [i]forever[/i]. Almost immediately, she dove downwards. The Purple Eyed beast was distracted by the newcomer and went for them at high speeds.

Cass stood his ground and shouldered his Ithaca 37, firing off an aimed spread of buckshot at the beast before firmly pumping the handle for another go.

The Purple eyed beast charged into the shot head on. Causing a chunk of it's flesh to immediately turn to liquid. It stopped, shaking. It quickly lunged at the man and forced him to take a dive to avoid getting pounced on, yet it quickly turned on its feet for another strike.

"Don't touch either of them!" Another voice shouted from behind the creature. Reed readied his glock and opened fire, gunning for the bright purple eye which painted a target on its form.

Attention went from Cass to Reed the second the bullet knocked off another chunk of flesh. The beast turned towards Reed. There was a clicking sound coming from it. It quickly lunged through the air at breakneck speeds, and landed on Reed before he could react. It's flesh split, and revealed a mouth of vicious-looking teeth - giving no indication that it had these before - and brought them down on Reed's arm as he scrambled to get a last minute shot.

"Raargh, fuck!" He let out an agonised scream as the teeth punctured through muscle tissue and bone alike, like an industrial vice.

"NO! Get away from him!" Like that, Cass sprung to his feet faster than [i]anyone[/i] had ever seen the old man move before and pointed it downrange towards the creature's central mass, but knowing that there was a chance he could harm his nephew made him hesitate.

All Jen could do was hopelessly stand by as the fight went on. Her breath rate accelerated, and she started biting her fingernails - more of her fingers - until she drew blood. She was frozen. Unsure of what to do. Everything was just so damn crazy. And she was just one girl thrown into the thick of it. But she had to do something. Anything. She didn't want to see this man eaten alive in front of her.

Next to her was a pistol - Reed's pistol, pushed away in the confusion.

Should she even touch it? Jen was so terrified right now that she was worried that she might make the situation [i]worse[/i]. But she had to try her best. She grabbed her guns, and immediately realized that this was much different than the games she played. She didn't even hold it the right way. She aimed it at the beast, and grit her teeth as she thought about pulling the trigger. This was dumb, and impulsive - but she was too rattled right now to realize it. So, she just pulled the trigger, and the tiny explosion propelled the bullet out of the gun. The bullet didn't even come close to the beast - it merely hit a car down the street. And the recoil hurt the [i]hell[/i] out of Jen's wrist. 

But, the Purple-Eyed monster was distracted, and this was enough for Reed to frantically slide out from under its mas and drag himself out of Cass' field of fire - allowing the old man to take aim and fire.

It was the final shot that put an end to the beast. When the last shot hit, it hit one of it's vital organs, and caused it to dissolve into a grey sludge. Dead.

Cass quickly ran over to Reed and took a knee beside him, fear washing over his face as he saw the scope of the injury, "Reed?! C'mon kid, lemme check you out," His eyes darted to the puncture marks in his sleeve, "Dammit, you're... bleeding. I'll get the kit from the car, patch you up." 

Through bated breath and gritted teeth, Reed shrugged off Cass' reassuring hand on his shoulder, "Mmph, don't.. you should know better than that, old man," he muttered, "Shh.. this hurts, it fucking hurts, but I'll live. Ch.." He nodded towards Jen as he drove his good palm into a knee to stand up, hissing "Check on her. [I]Then[/i] we'll fix this."

Secretly, that made Cass proud of the man that his nephew had become.

Jen sighed. "I.... didn't think that'd work out." She spoke to herself as she watched. Jesus, that guy was messed up. She wished that she could have helped him here.

"Ma'am, are you alright? Are you hurt?" Cass finally approached, still carrying the shotgun in one hand whilst the other reached into a pocket to produce his badge. "We're off-duties."

"I... can't say that I am alright - but I haven't been hurt." Jen shrugged. She wondered if they would realize the torn clothes, and blood stains when she was slashed by that beastie. She could shrug it off by saying that it only caught her clothes... oh yeah, the blood. Jen sighed. She looked at the badge, and realized that they were VPD. "That's..." Jen said, trailing off when she tried to think about what to say next. Honestly, in all of this chaos, she's better off sticking with the cops. "Great?" She mentally slapped herself. "Look, is he okay?" She asked, before getting a closer look at him.

[i]He[/i] was that cop that helped against REAPER at the party.

Small world, huh?

"Don't-" Cass glanced back towards his nephew for a moment, before realising his own hesitation, "Don't worry, I'll make sure he's checked out. But.." He wasn't blind to the blood stains on her clothes or where they'd been torn. "Are you sure you're not hurt? Adrenaline doesn't always let you notice it - let's get you checked out just in case. I've got a first aid kit in my car."

"I'm... fine." Jen said, admantantly. This man is most likely the opposite of stupid, if he sees that there's signs that she was injured, but no injury - he could easily put two and two together.

The senior detective arched an eyebrow. "Alright, can't make you get checked out. Though, I know this might be a difficult question, but.. there wasn't anyone else with you?"

"No... I was alone the whole night." Jennifier answered. "My family went out to dinner somewhere in the Priscilla Isle - I forgot...." Then she wondered where the hell they were. She hoped that they were okay. "I don't know what the hell is going on..." She said, grabbing onto her forehead and shaking her whole head.

"Don't worry too much about your family, just focus on staying safe. You can tag along with us if you like, we'll keep you safe." Cass gestured to the car, where Reed seemed to be fiddling with something.

Jen didn't even waste a solid [i]second[/i] before she scrambled towards the car, quickly saying, "Yeah, that'd be great."

"Glad to hear it." Even if it was just one person, Cass knew they were doing something right. Heading back with the girl, he found Reed seated in the passenger seat with the open first aid kit in his lap, having alreadyworked on some self-treatment, although now he seemed more interested in the police scanner at the moment.

"By the way, I'm Detective Cassius Taylor. My co-worker over there's Detective Reed... Taylor."

"[i]Jennifer.[/i]" Jen said, "[i]Jennifer Caspin.[/i] It's nice to meet you...."

"Call me Cass." Cass had almost forgot to mention. Reed acknowledged the two of them with a brief nod, before adding "And yeah, we're rel- hssh" he wound up cutting himself off as he caught his arm on something.

"Hang on," Cass opted to intervene and figured now was a good a time as any to administer first aid. At this stage in his career, he'd done it a dozen times over - yet somehow it was like dealing with an injured child all over again, even if he wasn't supposed to let it get in the way of his duties.

After a few minutes of careful, almost coddling treatment, Cass was ready to put the kit away when something cught their earshot on the scanner.

"...Repeat, all units, we are establishing a relief center at the NEST HQ site on Crystal Shores, all evacuees and injured personell are to be redirected to this location - avoid contact with the creatures if possible..."

Okay. Seems like the smartest place to be when monsters invade the city. Though, Jen wondered how well NEST was handling the situation themselves. But, it's a plan. Better than running around aimlessly. She knew that her family could be there, giving that it's the Priscilla isle. All Jen did was nod, and await the ride there.

"Looks like we've got a plan," Reed finally remarked.