[hr][i][h1][color=dodgerblue]Lihua Zhao[/color][/h1][/i][hr][hider=Drake - Fancy (Instrumental)][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVgrJjAMFOA[/youtube][/hider][hr]
[i][u]Greencrest Height, White Coast.[/u][/i]


After a long day working at the Academy, Lihua finally found herself going home. Somewhat exhausted from working - but it was worth it.

Lihua saw herself as a mentor whose prime has long passed. Experience of fifty years contained into one woman. She smiled. She knew it was time to pass that experience to the next generation, and step down. Which was why she left NEST. For good. There was a light drizzle of rain as Lihua got out of her SUV, and she reached inside and grabbed her umbrella. She unfurled the umbrella as she looked over her shoulder. Cars passed by slowly, and she was reminded of a time in her life where she was... a [i]Tyrant.[/i] Someone who never thought that she would ever end up here. Everything she's done.

Either way, Lihua took casual steps towards the front door of her house, and managed to walk up the stairs as the rain began to pick up. She made it to the front door as she managed to reach into her purse, and put her keys into the lock, and opened the doors wide. Her arrival didn't go unnoticed, as the babysitter - a brown-haired girl with matching brown eyes, wearing a casual T-shirt with a band logo on it, and jeans - was sitting on the sofa with Lijuan. Watching some cartoons.

"Mommy!" Lijuan loudly announced as she was about to hop off the sofa.

"I see everything's in working order, Karen," Lihua stated as she nodded her head.

"Yeah... I made sure that Lijuan didn't eat a lot like you asked," Karen answered as she nodded her head, and walked over to Lihua. "She's been washed, and everything."

"Good, good..." Lihua kindly said, she reached inside her purse, and then handed Karen a few twenty dollar bills. "Thank you for helping for tonight, Karen."

"As always," Karen said as she shook Lihua's hand, and stepped out into the rain.

Letting out a sigh, Lihua flopped down on the sofa right next to Lijuan, and looked at the TV.

"So, where were we?"

[hr]

A few hours of watching TV later, and Lihua had blissfully fallen asleep. She was loudly snoring, with her head back. Not that it particularly bothered Lijuan, who had continued watching TV like it was nothing. Though, she had to go to the bathroom, so she merely slid off the couch, and began walking.

The activity brought Lihua back to consciousness, and she stretched her arms as she looked off to the side and noticed that Lijuan wasn't there... Her inner paranoia told her to go look for her. Just to make sure that everything was okay. Lihua got up off the sofa, and stretched with her arm above her head, and tilted her neck off to the side.

"Lijuan?" Lihua called out as she took a few steps forward. Where did that girl run off to? She didn't realize where Lijuan had just gone to the bathroom-

There was a window breaking in a room that wasn't too far away. That made every sense in Lihua's head flare. It could have been Lijuan, but why would she break a window? She took a few steps back, and dug through her purse until she found a secret compartment that held her revolver. A Smith & Wesson 686. A powerful revolver for a woman who can't afford to screw around.

Sighing, Lihua went to investigate. She walked through her house, and slowly opened the door to the room where she heard the noise. Keeping her gun prepped, Lihua pulled the doorknob, and then pushed the door open. She took a step back as she let the door open itself. She was quickly exposed to a dark room. Lihua saw that the offending window; a shattered mess with shards of broken glass all over the carpet. Huh?

Did someone just break a window? Good grief... was it a member of the Pure, or some other idiot harassing her? Still, she wasn't going to let her guard down that easily. She still had a loaded weapon in her hand, and that reminded her of exactly what kind of world she's living in. One inhale, and Lihua silently pumped herself up as she walked into the room, and cleared the left side of the room. Taking a step in, and Lihua switched the lights on.

With the light blanketing the room, Lihua managed to give herself a better look at what was going on. [i]After[/i] she had cleared the other side of the room for hostiles. She quickly walked over to the broken glass, and knelt down. The first thing she noticed that nothing was thrown through the window. Which flared up even more suspicion inside of her. However, those sharp eyes of eyes noticed a bit of... blood.

The woman barely realized that something was creeping up behind her. A black figure that turned invisible to first dodge her gaze. Even as she got up, the intruder lunged at her, and then wrapped it's arms around her, before taking a bite out of her shoulder region - [i]dangerously[/i] close to her neck.

A loud screech of pain escaped Lihua's lips as she was literally being eaten alive. The gun dropped as she desperately tried to come up with a way out of this. Lihua focused on the windowsil (to the best of her ability of course), her control over other forms of masonry, or man-made stones, was flimsy at best... but, the one thing she was good at was simple...

She quickly extended her hand, and then called a piece of the windowsil, which was made of brick, off and flying towards her at high speed. Lihua quickly ducked down and let the rock fly over her and hit her target so hard that it made it fly right off of her. A surprisingly human cry of pain escaped her attacker's lips as Lihua quickly lunged at her revolver.

With a swift hand, she grabbed the pistol and spun around, and cut loose. Lihua fired off one shot that rendered her deaf for a second, and hit the creature dead in the center. Lihua pulled the trigger again and another shot escaped and hit the bastard right in the shoulder. Which sent it stumbling back, and quickly leaped out the window as Lihua fired off another shot.

Everything happened so fast that Lihua had no idea what the hell was going on - she was going off pure instinct - nor did she get a good look at whatever was after her.

All she did know was that her shoulder was bleeding badly... Lijuan. All Lihua could think about was Lijuan. She was praying that whatever the hell attacked here didn't get to Lijuan. Her heart was racing as the blood was leaking from her wound.

"Lijuan!" Lihua called at the very top of her lungs. When she got no response, she tightly clutched her shoulder, before she stepped outside the door... and the very first thing she saw was a terrified Lijuan.

"Mo-mommy?" Lijuan asked, taking note of Lihua's injured. "W-what's wrong?"

"Lijuan, don't look." Lihua tried her best to cover her shoulder. "I need you to get my phone quick." She ordered, and Lijuan quickly ran to the living room, and came back with her cellphone. Lihua quickly went through her contacts and sent a text to Meifeng,

[pre]I've been attacked by some sort of bestial-class Metahuman. I managed to fight it off, I need you to send someone to my house now.[/pre]

That was before Lihua put the phone to her ear, and tried to call 911.





[hr][i][h1][color=red]Meifeng Zhao[/color], [color=Springgreen]Cindy Keagan[/color]. [color=dc143c]Maxine Diaz[/color], [color=fff200]Alice Barrett[/color], & [color=cornflowerblue]Shizuka Takashiro[/color].[/h1][/i][hr]
[i][u]RAVEN/DOVE Joint Headquarters, White Coast.[/u][/i]


While Meifeng was lying around in Cindy's office, bored out of her mind as the latter did cases with Marianela, her cellphone buzzed for a moment. Meifeng didn't know who in particular would be texting her other than Lihua, and lo-and-behold, it was Lihua. Unlocking her cellphone with a swipe, she read the text and...

"Oh shit." Meifeng exclaimed as she got up. "Shit, shit, shit... My Mom got attacked by a meta right in her own God damn home."

"Wait, really?" Cindy asked. "I... hope she's okay - might have to swing by there."

"She said it was a bestial type... I'm going to go there now." Meifeng said as she quickly made it to the door.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait!" Cindy quickly said the very second Meifeng started moving, and managed to stop her. Taking in a moment to sigh. "There's been a strange number of attacks throughout Baybridge lately... metas have been eaten alive." Cindy started off her explaination. "The people who [i]have[/i] survived said that it was a bestial type behind it..."

"So you're suggesting...?" Meifeng asked.

"Yes." Cindy said with a nod of her head. "If you're going to go, bring some of the RAVENS along with you to investigate."

"Got it." Meifeng regretfully said... she didn't want other people getting involved with the Zhaos, but Cindy would bite her head off if she did this alone. "Wait, you're not coming?" Meifeng asked, honestly surprised that Cindy didn't volunteer.

"Sorry, but I gotta sort out Kei's case..." Cindy regretfully said. "I wish I could come help, but this is a RAVEN matter."

"Alright," Meifeng nodded her head, before she left the room. First thing she thought about was who she was going to bring along. First person that came to mind was Shizuka... if she can get his aloof ass on board. He was a good agent, even though his social skills were lackluster. Then there was Quentin, if he was available, since he was a trusted friend of hers.

Other person was Maxine, one of the Agents that helped with the riots. Cindy didn't speak too highly of her... but Meifeng wouldn't let that bother her decision that much. Alice was also another agent.

Which means it's settled, she has her team.

... She just had to get them all on board.

[hr]

Max had already been in the lounge, taking a well deserved break after having managed to complete (aka shove onto someone else) the majority of the paperwork. She was trying to keep herself focused where she sat, slouched back, on one of the couches. It had been a non stop shit storm of drama. She hadn't had a chance to go back home; even though she hadn't helped with the market incident she'd had a lot of paperwork fill in about the riot. She just wanted to [i]sleep[/i].

Meifeng did manage to haul Shizuka's lazy ass over to the lounge; still in his hoodie and jeans, he had been doodling the dragon tattoo in his office when he received a message from her. As he dragged himself to the gathering place, he went over the events that had happened so far in his mind: the thief, the riot, and the market incident. It was easy to dump the paperwork for the thief to someone else (because it was so [i]retarded[/i] that he couldn't be bothered to waste his time over it), speeding through the essay for shooting a kid girl at the riot (it wasn't a lethal shot, anyway; and [i]canister[/i]? What canister?), and the thawed victims from the market incident were already left to DOVE for following up.

[i]And here comes another one.[/i] Of all people, from Zhao Lihua.

He let out a yawn. He had been working non-stop for the past few days, so much so that he hadn't visited his aunt and brother ever since he last saw them at the party. Judging from all the dramas popping up around the city lately, he would have to acumulate his vacation leave for next year [i]again[/i].

"Hey Max," he greeted the brownie junior when he spotted her upon entering the lounge. "You've been called here too?"

Max looked up from where she sat, half asleep, waving slightly to Shizuka. "Yeah, I was... Though I was in here before I was called in. Meant I didn't have to put any effort into getting here." She sat up slightly straighter as she spoke, trying to force herself to wake up. She'd probably dunk her head in some water before they left. "I can't believe something else is happening today."

"Oh yeah," Shizuka snorted sarcastically, sitting down beside her. "Something has to happen every single day to keep our life oh-so-[i]exciting[/i]." He rolled his eyes.

"Gotta make sure we earn our keep by keeping busy," Max responded with a sigh. It was almost as if all the criminals in Baybridge had worked out a specific date to commit crimes. "It's making me wish for the old days of just paperwork." The old days being just a day ago. 

Shizuka turned to stare at Max, amused. "Why would someone still wish for paperwork when we're going to get [i]double[/i] of that after all this is over?"

"Hah, true, I didn't think about that." Max was going to blame any stupid things she said at the moment on saving her brain power for later, when she'd undoubtedly need it. "I'll rephrase - I miss the days of [i]less[/i] paperwork."

"So do I - though right now I really need a break away from work to catch up with my family," Shizuka said as he got up and walked towards the vending machine, his hand slipping into his pocket for some change. "Coffee?" he asked her while he was inserting the coins into the machine.

"At this rate your break is going to be delayed for [i]years[/i]," Max responded, exaggerating a bit. "Hopefully after all this shit is sorted you'll get to do that. And yes please - coffee is exactly what I need." It would be embarassing to fall asleep when they arrived at the scene.

Shizuka passed her the coffee when he sat back down on the couch. "We're early again, as usual. The rest are sure taking their time..." So far he was getting along well with Max - not just partnering up to get rid of their piling paperwork, but also how easily he was able to strike up a casual conversation with her when they always arrived early to the meeting place. He took a sip of his coffee and let out a satisfied sigh. "If they're still not showing up by the time I finish this, I think I'm going to doze off here."

Max quite happily took the coffee, beginning to drink it slowly. "That seems to be the case, or they'll probably have to go through the hassle of waking us both up. And that'll just waste more time." Precious time when she could be in bed. Though, at least she was getting along with Shizuka just fine - if not it might've been awkward considering they always seemed to be the first ones there. "I think the last one to arrive should have to do most of the paperwork related to this."

Alice was the second to last to arrive, only a moment before Meifeng. Her transfer was still throwing up all sorts of strange forms and pieces of paperwork she could not remember filling out the first time she had joined RAVEN. That and adding the paperwork she had to complete thanks to dropping two gas canisters in the crowd, and a metahuman in the ocean. She'd only just slid the last stack of forms into the out tray before she vanished with a faint pop, reappearing in the break room, in a corner behind the vending machine. It was a tight squeeze, and she quickly moved her being from the cramped space to an empty one she could see in the room. She shared a quick nod with Shizuka and Max, before turning to the door with perfect timing.

"Hey, whaddup," Meifeng asked as she stepped into the room. Heh. They were probably tired of everything that's been piling up in the city. Just another day for a RAVEN. She grinned. "Good, ya'll are all here," Meifeng started off. "At the request of our good friend Cindy...." Meifeng scratched the back of her head. "There's a case that I need some help with - if ya'll aren't busy... personally, I'd love to do this one on my own, but I don't get her started."

"Hi," Shizuka looked up and greeted Meifeng back lazily - by then he had already down half of his coffee. He wasn't surprised not to see Cindy with her; DOVE was probably in a lot more shit compared to RAVEN, with them having to keep the rising anti-Metahuman tension among the people in check on top of everything that had happened so far. He was more amused about Meifeng asking for their assistance on her mother's behalf.

Good friend Cindy. Right. "I'm not specifically assigned to any case at the moment, so I'm about as free as I can get," Max shrugged slightly. "So, what exactly is the case?"

It was embarassing to even admit that she needs help - even though she's perfectly capable of handling this herself - but she could pass it off as Cindy making her do it. "My... mother got attacked by a Metahuman in her home, Cindy thinks it's one of the many serial killers runnin' 'round this part." She scratched the back of her head. "So, we're gonna go investigate, and hope to find a lead as to who this bastard is."

Shizuka glanced between the three girls in the room - it was sure an odd group gathered to do an investigation (especially when one of them obviously had more brawn than brain). He drained the rest of his coffee and stood up. "Let's all go to the crime scene then; we can talk more about the case on the way." He turned and began to walk out of the lounge, throwing the empty can into a bin as he passed by the door.

[hr][i][u]Greencrest Height, White Coast.[/u][/i]

After Meifeng had gathered everyone, she managed to cram everyone into one uncomfortable RAVEN vehicle! Once again, they got into an argument about what song they should play on the radio (sans Shizuka, who had mentally shut the music out of his ears as much as their dumb argument, treating them as background noises). The vehicle came to a stop in front of the Zhao household in Greencrest Heights, and as expected, the police and other paramedics arrived long before they got there. At least Meifeng was reassured that Lihua had received medical attention.

Naturally, she was the first to get out of the vehicle, and she started scrolling in towards the household with her assault rifle slung over her shoulder. Armed with taser rounds, of course. Her [i]live[/i] rounds were hanging around her belt just in case she receives permission to use them. Though... a part of Meifeng wanted to shoot the bastard dead for what he did to Lihua. Those murderous thoughts were pushed to the back of her head as she kept moving.

Showing her badge to a police officer, Meifeng and the rest of the RAVENS got a free entryway in as they stepped inside. The first thing they caught sight was was the EMTs tending to Lihua's shoulder injuries as her shirt was taken off, and they were wrapping bandages around it.

"Hey," Meifeng started off as she walked over to Lihua. "I'm glad to see that you're okay - I knew that age wouldn't slow you down that much."

Lihua replied with a sardonic look. "I'm still not at my prime."

"If we're going to stop that freakazoid, we're going to need to know what happened." Meifeng asked as she shifted her weight.

Preparing herself to recite what happened, Lihua sighed. "I'll be brief... It started out when I woke up, and went to look for Lijuan. I heard a window breaking in the guest bedroom, and went to go investigate. Afterwards, some... thing jumped on my back and tried to... eat me alive." She groaned. "I fought it off, and managed to get three shots off on it, but it got away through the window..."

"... And what does it look like?" Meifeng asked, raising an eyebrow. "Just so we, you know, actually know who we're gunning for."

"I..." Lihua trailed off. "I, unfortunately, couldn't get a good look at it in the darkness. But... the creature was short, I think I saw female features, and the thing I noticed the most was her... dreadlocks. Massive hair that went down to her feet. I don't know."

"Okay... should be easy to find." Meifeng shrugged. "Alright, boys, we need to find clues to track he... she... whatever."

Alice raised an eyebrow. "Clues... right... 'fraid I haven't got my magnifying glass, anyone got a deerhunter to wear here?"

Shizuka only gave Meifeng a look; he knew it's better to just keep his mouth shut and let her lead the way than to question her for saying something that was [i]redundant[/i].

"It'd make the most sense to start from where it attacked?" Max commented, though it was quite an obvious statement.

"To the guest room!" Meifeng triumptantly shouted... getting odd looks from her fellow RAVENS. Before she fake-coughed, and walked over to the guest room. Just like Lihua said, there was a [i]lot[/i] of blood. Leading right out the window... all the way out into the street. Meifeng stuck her head out the window.

"Looks like Lihua gave us a convenient trail, eh?" Meifeng asked her fellow RAVENS. "What do you make of this?"

Alice critically viewed the blood congealing on the windowsill. "It's long gone, I know I'm stating the obvious here, but we aren't going to catch it. Looking at the trail isn't going to tell us much, I doubt it would lead us back to wherever it calls home."

"Well," Meifeng thought they'd be able to follow it. A surprising amount of intelligence showed up in Meifeng when she stated, "I would suggest that we check up with hospitals... but, I'll be honest here, if it can take three shots and still run off... I doubt it's going to be in any hospital to lick its wounds."

Alice scratched the back of her head after looking about the room for a moment, "I'mma find forensics, they probably beat us here, and walked the scene, can't imagine them letting us in if they hadn't. They'll know more than we could by ourselves."

"...As Alice has said," Shizuka finally spoke up in a bored tone agreeing with the blonde agent, his eyes studying the mess in the guest room without much enthusiasm. So much for expecting Meifeng to lead them in an investigation that she clearly didn't know how. "Other than Lihua's rough description of the culprit, we should get whatever clues the forensics team have gathered to put the two and two together, so as to come up with a clearer picture of the whole scenario before we can properly start working on the identity of our mysterious attacker." He shrugged.

"Yeah, let's do that." Meifeng said as the group split off towards the forensics operation. To be honest, she didn't like dealing with the normal police due to the increasing bias growing against RAVEN. However, Meifeng wasn't in the mood to go back and fourth with them, instead opting to get the job done so there's one threat to society in cuffs.

They approached the forensics team, who were stationed in the living room. A group of BPD officers that were kind enough to get there and scan the scene of the crime for all the delicious evidence!

"Hey," Meifeng said as she walked up, and put her hands on her hips. "We believe this attack is being done by a Metahuman, so we're gonna have to ask for the evidence you've gathered."

"Alright," the officer said. He pointed towards the various collection of forensics they've gathered. A variety of paper bags, ziplocs, and other containers. All for them to gather. "Be careful with it." He said before he walked off.

Rolling her eyes, Meifeng said to her fellow RAVENS right before the guy left their earshot, "Hey guys, do you want to play catch with all this valuable evidence?" That was responded with another eye-rolling, this time from Shizuka.

Alice poked through the samples, but didn't pretend to really understand what it was in front of her. She recognised most of the labels, but her understanding did not extend to what exactly these things were telling them.

The evidence included lots of blood samples! Because they have no shortage on that. When the bastard ran out the window, it also cut itself so there was cloth and skin samples. Both will be helpful... once they get to the lab. There are also some saliva samples in Lihua's wounds, along with the brick Lihua hit it with, and the shells they've gathered. There was only one thing...

"...Okay, all of this is useless short term." Meifeng noted, and shook her head. She let out a sigh, after she realized she wouldn't be any closer to solving this damn mystery. She sighed, and put her hands on her hips. "Might as well head back to headquarters..."

"Right," Shizuka muttered with muted frustration, pretty much giving up on following Meifeng's lead. "And before that I'll get the photographs the forensics have taken at the scene - we'll also [i]need[/i] those on top of the evidence bag." He was about to turn and leave when the earpiece buzzed.

"This is Agent Green Bird speaking," Cindy spoke through the comms of all the RAVENS. "We've got a problem..."

"Oh God damn it - what is it this time?" Meifeng asked.

"...Someone else got eaten in Greencrest. Not that far away from you."

"Jesus... you think..?"

Alice glanced towards the window. Could they have caught the thing in the act? Or even before it could claim another victim? Her expression hardened, hiding her concerns behind a stoney visage that betrayed her worry even more.

For a moment, Meifeng went off the comms as she growled, "For fuck sake!" She let out a sigh, and irritatedly said, "Okay, where is it?"

"7300 Park Avenue." Cindy stated. "Same MO as the others, Metahuman, just relaxing in their house when our S-K broke in and ate him alive."

"Shit..." Meifeng groaned... Though, something didn't seem all that right here. What serial killer would attack two people in the same night, not that far away from each other? There might be a little bit more to this. She looked at her group of people.

"Alright, boys and gals, let's go."

Alice's voice sounded far away, "Should have followed the trail..."

If the victim wasn't that far away then maybe they could have done something if they'd caught up. At least they could have tried. Her job was to protect people and she had dismissed the chance she'd had to maybe catch up, to at least start tracking down whatever monster was doing this. Now someone else was dead. She realised she'd been staring at the window for a moment without responding, she was abruptly snapped back to the room.

"You're right, let's get out of here. Maybe it will have left a trail at the next place..."