Saria did it right, she lured them out of screaming range. That was important, because they were trying to reduce witnesses. This was a hostage rescue, in his mind. The FBI training dictated that.

Marco didn't take the shot, though he had a weapon out, his pistol.

But that was where Morgen came into play; she had a long-range rifle. Aim-assist was a matter of network-enabled trajectory calculations that were constantly updated, with a reticle overlaid on his vision along with all the other data. Single shot, flechettes and he put three right into the stomach of the vampire; the idea wasn't to kill Mullen. Killing had to be done with a lot more firepower or some drastic action like removing a head. Stakes through the heart would neutralize long enough to allow for that, but eventually they'd come back up pissed. The followup was on the girl, a tranq from Marco's pistol.

This took the blood supply out. Marco was already springing forward on the power of nano-augmented muscle. That blood hit with a horrid, viscous splash onto the walkway and much of the vamp's power went with it. A vamp in this position would still be able to fight and deal with a human, but they'd heal quickly and become very hungry. Traditional hunters, not augmented, would not have very long to capitalize on this situation and the typical move was to stake.

Mullen was expecting that and was already turning himself sideways and trying to cover that vulnerability, snarling. He wasn't expecting augmentation. He wasn't expecting a fair fight. He wasn't expecting a very unfair fight with so much stacked against him, including his own expectations. The Eternal were too used to the ease of their victories. They were used to the same old.

Marco wasn't following the pattern. He wasn't aiming for his heart with a stake. Instead of trying to pry the vamper's hand off the girl's, he used finger-nail blades to sever the tendons and force a bloody release. The next move was to put his palm out and fire a blast from the other arm, the one with the shotgun, right into Mullen's torso to keep him healing. He wasn't taking chances here. Adrenaline was spiking and not all of it was synthetic combat drugs tailored to further heighten response times and the fight-or-flight.

He was extensively augmented for the purpose. Ripped to shreds, they had to put all that stuff into him, but he was making it count now. There was a whole strike team out there, but he didn't use them. They were already setting up for the next move.

Instead, he forced Mullen down in a struggle. The Eternal were strong, and the simulations he'd trained on against them reflected that, but he was still stronger. It didn't take long to get Mullen pinned to the ground or to put a foot through his sternum, with a blade extended that piled through the Eternal and into the concrete below. He began pounding the Eternal methodically with his pistol, made of alloys strong enough to take it. Relentless, precisely metered blows with the butt. Usually, the skin would bounce back a mortal's blow with a laugh. That happened when he fought for his fiance and her family. That didn't happen this time -- instead, it was blow after blow, pulping the flesh, but caught short of killing. Once the struggle stopped, Marco used a signal to reactivate Mullen's phone and text the other two. Asshole was lying, he had a phone.

"Help me bind him. ETA in two. They are moving fast." They had to keep Mullen alive; vampires in a coven could sometimes sense each other's life force and other things. It was entirely possible that Anna and Giorgio were aware that Richard was still alive but healing. That would be consistent with a traditional hunter attack. They'd come to help him tear apart the mortals that had the temerity to raise a hand to the Eternal. The retribution was often bloody and exaggerated, a display of superiority. It was no time to make them think that anything was different here, just another weak attempt by the prey to upset the natural order.

Also, bad tactical decision, he didn't want to just snuff Richard Mullen with no fanfare. There was no poetry in that. He wanted his revenge, so did everyone else in the hunt-kill team. The Vigil picked those that had lost, and they wanted to inflict the loss back.

The reports kept rolling in as the rest of the hunt-kill team updated with reports, Kramer handling all the network intel, the drone surveillance net and infiltrated systems. They had a damned good idea what was going on all over town. 

Anna and Giorgio, on their way. Sheriff and Deputies too. The clock was ticking.

[@vanq]