[IC] Paranormal Activities [SporkoBug and Calle]

[Loksfjoer]

On the other side of the door was a tall, black-haired man with a briefcase in his hand. He only briefly looked at Duncan as he stepped forward. "Mike is here," he stated. It wasn't a question and he didn't wait for an invitation to come inside. "And he asked me to come."
He walked passed Duncan and went straight to the living room.

Benjamin took the notebook and nodded. "We'll do our best," he promised and he looked up when he heard footsteps. "You're fast."
"I was still in town," Mitch replied, his eyes settling on Freya. "The one who is injured?" he asked as he walked to her. "There is no hospital in the area that you can trust for delicate situations like this, but I can patch her up enough to keep her alive for now." He nodded with his head and Benjamin moved aside so Mitch could inspect the wound.

"We want to break into a guarded place filled with armed agents to rescue Steph, Gaia, and Freya's son," Mike said.

"You'll die if you attempt that alone," Mitch stated as he opened the briefcase and got some stitching material from it. "Freya, I won't remove the bullet because that will cause too much bleeding. I will just close the wound and then you can find a place for a proper surgery to remove it. Are you allergic to local anaesthesia?"

---

Rudrig received the message and let out a sigh in relief. Maybe Rose had changed, but she was still Rose and he didn't want her to die. He left the building with a backpack on his back and walked to a motorcycle. The orders were to abandon the base, he wasn't sure why Mr Johnson had given the order, but he must have evidence the safety of the location was compromised.

Stuart likewise packed his things. He was external and hadn't come with much, so he decided to help the agents who were putting the materials in the library in boxes. There was no code red, so the evacuation wasn't high priority.

Agents Morrison and Barrow stocked up on what they needed for the night; they had their few personal belongings already and only needed a base to provide them with weapons. Ethan was with them, likewise preparing for a night of hunting.
"Those beasts were taken away," Barrow told the others. "They're taking them to that place where we dropped off several vampires to test weapons on."
Morrison nodded; he knew where that was. Ethan didn't and he asked.
"We'll take you there once," Morrison promised. "Tonight we kill; we take no prisoners. There have been too many deaths in this city and we'll let them know we won't allow that."

---

Lily almost squealed in delight when she heard the spider-girl was on her way and she waited in the drop-off zone with the agent who had delivered the first two beasts.
The agent glared at the jab that he had lost her and hadn't successfully delivered her.
"Aren't you beautiful," Lily cooed as she eyed Rose. "We'll have so much fun." She gestured to some agents to pick her up.
"Be careful with her," she told them as the agents grabbed her and pulled her to the cage that was waiting for her.

[SporkoBug]

Duncan stared at the male before he spoke and stepped aside to let him in. He moved to close the door and pressed his head against the door as he closed his eyes.
"Harry please..." He uttered to mainly himself, "Be safe. Come back to me." He pulled away as he breathed in slowly, trying to pull himself together before he headed back into the lounge to lean against the doorframe.

Dante watched Mitch carefully, the tips of his teal hair flickering red for a second as the young Shifter observed the newcomer.
"They won't be alone." He said as he replied to Mitch's comment, even if it wasn't towards him. "They'll have the help of Duncan, Axel, Lydral and myself."

Freya looked up to Mitch as he stepped to her, flinching a little as the boys both leaned away from her.
"I... Don't think so." She said as she listened to his words, "Once I get to the open ocean I'll be able to get it removed properly, closing the wound will work enough." She continued with a weak smile, "Thank you."

---

Krys stared down Steph with a serious look on her face.
"Then, in that case." Krys started. "We'll starve you." Steph raised her eyebrow, "You're obviously a succubus, which means you'll need love to survive. And we had intel of you having a human under your control so without your preferred food source, you'll starve." She pulled out a timer from her pocket and clicked it before moving to hang it on a small hook on the outside of Stephs' room.
"Hopefully you had your fill before we took you." Krys said as she walked off slowly.

Rose struggled at being dragged to a cage, feeling her legs being twisted back. She let out a yell and a groan as she was moved. She wasn't listening to Lilys' words before she was thrown rather hard into her cage.
She hit the wall and slid to the ground before she flexed her legs out slowly, moving to tap her legs against the glass almost instinctively.
She breathed in slowly and closed her eyes, pulling her knees to her chest. "I just have to show them I'm not trouble." She said to herself, moving to lean her forehead against her knees. "Do this for Rudrig. For Freya."

Krys walked past the large glass tank as she headed towards the employees area. A shadowy figure followed from behind a few of the plants growing at the bottom before moving to double back to the middle of the tank again.
A frilled fin slowly stuck up out of the plants as the creature continued to swim in a circle.

[Loksfjoer]

Mitch did not return the smile, nor did he give any indication he even cared for her gratitude. He opened some sterile packages and put them close to him. After putting on some sterile gloves he injected some local anaesthesia and glanced at the clock.
"I don't know any of them," he stated curtly as he looked at Dante, after which he shifted his gaze towards Benjamin and Mike. "Nor am I interested in breaking out demons from an official facility."
"But you could," Benjamin said.
"Given time to prepare, yes." Mitch poked the needle in the edge around the wound and when he saw Freya didn't respond he began sewing the wound. "I would be a lousy assassin if I couldn't get into places where my targets hide."

---

Lily looked at Rose and put a hand on her chest. "Ohh, she needs a moment to adjust. We'll come back to her later." She beckoned her assistant. "Let's see if the other two darlings are awake yet."

The first cage she reached was the one where Steph was. She only looked at the timer for a moment before she turned to Steph. "Hello darling. Out of professional curiosity: when were you going to feast on that handsome boy you bewitched. Benjamin, right? I read the file and I saw his picture. What a catch."

[SporkoBug]

Freya kept her vision away from Mitch as he did his work, moving to look at Benjamin and glanced to Mike a little bit.
"I wouldn't think they'd do anything bad the first couple of days so you should have a couple days to plan." She mentioned with a tilt of her head, "Sam has been there for years and last I heard they're only keeping him to observe rather than to test."
Duncan was gently tapping his foot on the ground as he listened, as much as he was worried about the others captured, his main focus was on Harriet.
"Harriet would be able to make this entire mission so much easier." He mumbled under his breath before Dante furrowed his brow before he looked towards Benjamin.

"Do you two need to do anything in the next couple of days?" He asked, "I'm sure I can get the boys to take some time off to help us. We can gather a relatively good army, I can even contact my father to help out." He frowned as he looked at the boys, "Do you have a safe place to stay?"

---

Rose listened as the footsteps moved away from her cell, she lifted her head up and watched Lily and her assistant move away before she felt her mandibles on the edges of her mouth twitch as she tried to stop herself panicking. She curled closer to herself and her legs started to spin a small sink cacoon for herself to hide in to try and relax.

Steph had sat down on the bench in her cell and looked up towards Lily with a bit of a sneer.
"I didn't 'bewitch' anyone, Benjamin is my boyfriend." She kept herself relaxed and calm-headed, she didn't need to explode and show she was dangerous. "I never 'fed' off him, let alone feast. We've kissed only a handful of times."
She looked down towards the floor again, closing her eyes with a small breath. "I don't even know if you guys can 'starve' me, I don't even know if I 'feed' the same as any Succubus."

Gaia moved to fan her wings back in and gave a large yawn with a rumbled growl underneath, moving to curl up on the ground with a small purr as she fell asleep again.

[Loksfjoer]

"We have to meet Ethan at dawn," Mike said.
"And I have a breakfast appointment," Benjamin added, after which glanced to Mike. "You can come along."

Benjamin was about to say they didn't have a place to stay when Mitch answered the second question before he could.
"They will stay with me."
"Mitch, you really-" Mike began.
"Did it sound like a question?" Mitch snapped. "You two are staying with me." He finished up the stitching. "Done. Keep it still; the stitches will tear with a wrong move and I don't want to do this again. Use an arm sling."

"I suppose..." Mike began after a sideway glance at Mitch. "We should discuss what we're going to do now. It's one thing to leave an agency that is skilled in tracking down dangerous creatures, but to break into one of their facilities. I mean, I can spy without them seeing me."
"And I can do nothing special at all," Benjamin added. "I have had no training with weapons, espionage, IT. I've got strong legs and that is all I can offer."

Mitch pinched the bridge of his nose as he heard Mike and Benjamin talk about what they could contribute to the mission. He had broken into high-security places before, he knew exactly how to avoid detection. Those two would most likely be caught and overtaken by armed guards in less than five minutes.

---

"We'll find out, won't we?" Lily replied cheerfully. "You will get normal, human food. But not the other sustenance Succibi generally need." She smiled broadly. "It's not starving in the human sense that will happen. Succibi, as far as we know, need the energy that comes from strong emotions, love in particular. Sex is actually an energy boost for your kind, whereas for humans it takes a lot of energy to do so. Men have died from exhaustion when having sex with Succubi, and they couldn't turn the Succubus down." She observed Steph, taking in her horns, her boobs, her bodyshape and her tail. "If my predictions are correct, you will get weaker without that extra energy regardless of how much you eat, and one day you won't have the energy to keep your body going and you die. That is what previous research suggested."

[SporkoBug]

"You can take my car." Duncan added, "Just tell him where you need to go and he'll find the fasted route." He said with a bit of a nod. He looked towards Mitch carefully as he instructed them that they would be staying with him before he looked back to Benjamin.
"What breakfast appointment have you got?" He asked with a tilt of his head, he hoped it wasn't a mission.

Freya nodded at Mitch telling her to stay still, before he mentioned that the boys were staying with him.
She hesitated, would they take her to the sea tonight? Or would she have to stay with them as well? She was confused and unsure if she wanted to ask about it at all.

---

Steph rolled her eyes when she explained about Succubi and Sex, at the mention of not having enough energy to keep going one day she looked up to Lily while she stayed sitting.
"Good." She said coldly, "It beats living in this shitty world."
She moved to spun around on the bench, moving to face the wall and closed her eyes.
I'm sorry Benjamin. She thought to herself, This is for the best, I was a danger to you; I hope you can forgive me.

Gaia slowly woke up as she felt an itch on her body, she moved to slam her side onto the glass of the cage as she wanted to get rid of the itch. She felt her scales itch, she knew what this meant. It meant she was about to shed, which was usually not a fun time for her, but for her to be stuck in a place like this... Well, it was going to be hell for whoever had to deal with her.
She moved to gnaw at her arms and her clothes, slipping her shirt off as she moved to try and nip at the highest point of her arms.
Her scales started to flake away at the top but it would be a long while until the shedding would be over.

[Loksfjoer]

"You think I walked here?" Mitch stated coldly, not in the least inclined to take the offer of using Duncan's car. "My car will do."
He didn't know these people and he wasn't about to trust them or their cars.

"I'm not sure," Benjamin said to Duncan. "I got the invitation after Steph had some trouble with angels. I think it's just to talk."
With all going on, the breakfast appointment was the least of his worries. He looked from Mitch to Duncan and the others. "I think this is important, but we can come back here afterwards to plan what we're going to do next." He glanced to Freya. "What will you do? You were planning on going somewhere with the jeep."

---

Lily walked away with her assistant following her closely. When she received a text message she checked it; it was an update about Gaia. She decided to watch the footage of what was happening later, now she wanted to go back to the spider-girl. Maybe she was feeling a little better now. The Succubus was boring at this stage - even turned her back at them!

When she stood on front of the cage of the spider-girl again she examined the cocoon she had made. "Rose, did you make that?" she asked. "Have you woven more things? You only turned recently into this beautiful creature, didn't you?"

[SporkoBug]

Duncan was mildly offended by Mitchs words, he wasn't offering it to him, he was offering it to the boys. He decided to stay quiet on the matter, as he went to open his mouth Dante gave him a slam with his elbow.
"Don't." Dante telepathically told Duncan who only nodded once in response.
Duncan nodded at Benjamins' words, "Just give me a message when you're heading over." He stated, "I'm... probably going to be here for the next few days. As much as I want to hunt down where Harriet is." He said with a bit of a sigh.

Freya lifted her head and jumped when Benjamin spoke to her.
"I..." She started, she didn't have much of a plan other than to head off to the Sea to find the rest of her family.
"I was going to head to the sea, there's a cove where I grew up. I was originally going to take Rose with me; I know she would have loved it. I was going to see if any of my siblings were still around and try to get their help on getting Sam back."

---

Steph stared at the back of her cell, she felt the tears sting at her eyes. She wanted to escape, she wanted to run away. She wanted anything but this... She even started to contemplate death.
Starving would be a long way to go, but that's fine. As long as she didn't give this shithole any information about anything about her. She wasn't a normal succubus, something was off.

She hesitated as she looked down at the edges of the bench, it was mildly sharp. Steph lifted her hand and gently brushed it against the edge, of course it wasn't sharp enough to completely cut her arm just like that, but with a bit of effort and time....

Rose was mumbling to herself about how she was sorry to Rudrig and Freya. She didn't hear the footsteps as Lily stood in front of her cell again but her words cut into her thoughts. She poked her head out of the Cocoon slightly, moving to rub the tears from her eyes as she looked at what she had made.

She nodded once at the first question, "I...I think so." She started before she shook her head. "I've woven before but not... not like this." She continued as she cleared her throat, "I've been weaving things as a human since I was a kid... I used to do it in order to raise money for the Orphanage. As for weaving Webs... I think this is the first... Maybe second time? I've only been like this for... a day? I'm... not too sure."

Gaia rumbled angrily, moving to slam herself into whatever she could.
Now that the Drugs had finally wore off her brain, she lifted her head up and closed her eyes. She breathed in and accidentally opened the channel between herself and Ethan.
This time, she didn't send words; she sent the feeling of the itchiness of her skin for a mere minute before it cut off as she slammed into the cell wall again.

Scales slowly scattered across her cell, glistening like metallic gems.
The papers that Mr. Johnson had gotten mentioned about the strength of her scales, how they were used for arrow tips and other weapon and armoury practice while they had her restrained.
It also mentioned how much food she needed daily to survive properly, mentioning that she is omnivorous; and will eat almost everything, even if the meat isn't clean to eat. But it did warn against feeding her citrus as it didn't work well with her stomach, causing bursts of flame-burps.

[Loksfjoer]

"Do you think she needs help?" Mike asked. Not that he could help someone as powerful as Harriet, but seeing Duncan worried about her made him worried too. Especially because Harriet was powerful. Anything that was a threat to her would a threat to others too.
Things had gotten downhill fast; he hadn't expected the agency would turn against Steph and Gaia like that. He sighed and rubbed his face. How long before they would consider him a threat?

Benjamin nodded and looked at the gathered guys. "Can anyone get her to the sea?" he asked them. He'd rather not drive himself, as he had early appointments and he didn't really like to drive long distances.
And he had other things to do; they needed to get Steph out of that place and that would require planning. At least they had Freya's notebook and the location of the facility. That was a start.

Mitch stood in a corner of the room, observing everything. He had thrown away the things he had used for stitches and now he listened to the others. To think he had only gotten involved because someone had wanted to murder Steph and he was appointed to assist the murder. That guy was dead, killed by Steph, but he had stayed in town waiting for the next mission. And now this happened.

---

Ethan noticed something, that feeling when Gaia had sounded in his mind, but this time it was more of a feeling. He rubbed his own skin. Out of all the things she could let him know, she let him know she was itchy? Now he felt itchy too. He pulled up his shoulders and shuddered.
The link disappeared as sudden as it had appeared, but it felt good to feel his own skin again.

---

"It's lovely webbing," Lily stated, smiling broadly. "I'm going to take a quick picture of it, okay?"
She took her phone to snap some pictures without waiting for the answer. Unlike Stuart who would wait for approval before doing that.

Every cell had a security camera and anything noteworthy was either directly send to Lily, or went through her assistant.
The assistant tapped Lily's back. "Gaia is shedding," she read from her screen and she turned the tablet so Lily could see the footage.
"Send in some people with brooms to collect those scales."
The assistant typed in the order and then opened the second message that appeared, clicking on the link of the footage. "We can't really see what Steph is doing, but the observer expresses worry," she reported.
Lily watched the footage and sighed. "Okay. I'm so sorry, Rose. I have to leave, but I will return soon." She gestured with her head so her assistant would follow her and hasted back to Steph's cage.

"Steph, dear, what are you doing in there?" she asked when she reached it.

[SporkoBug]

Duncan went to speak before Dante cut in, "Harriet should be fine." He said with a serious nod, "She's stubborn and Duncan is just worrying. She's bet people that could make your view of the world twist a lot." He continued before he sighed and dropped his head to look at his hands.
At the mention of driving Freya away to the sea, Duncan raised his hand slightly. "If you aren't taking my car, I can take her." He said with a small nod. Freya looked to Duncan before looking back to Benjamin and Mike to see what they'd say.

---

Gaia pulled herself away from the wall momentarily as someone moved towards the cell, holding something in their hands that she couldn't make out properly.
She bared her teeth angrily and let out a low rumble, her eyes watching the figure moving to the door to grab the scales. Gaia moved to let out a louder roar, shaking all of the glasses in the entire facility.

The figure froze up at the roar and hesitated, before they moved to press a button on their belt. A collar dropped down from a hatch in the ceiling and it hooked around her neck, needles digging into her neck and flooding her body with the same drugs as earlier.
Gaia felt her brain go fuzzy and she suddenly collapsed onto the ground and stared off into space.

---

Rose listened to Lily, she didn't respond at the mention of taking a photo, she moved to flinch at the flash from the phone and moved to lowered herself into the cocoon more.

Steph stared off at the back wall with narrowed eyes, she didn't respond to Lily as she asked what was happening.
She moved to pull her hand away from the side of the seat and momentarily looked towards her wrist; her skin was a shade on the red side, but not damaged yet.
She moved her hands to her horn again, trying to see if there was at least a scar to pick at from her cutting at them.
She let out a small sigh as moved to chew at her nails, moving to spit them onto the floor with a glare out of the corner of her eye towards Lily.

[Loksfjoer]

"Good, we aren't taking your car," Mitch said to Duncan. "I told you they are staying with me tonight, so they will ride with me. You can take her to the ocean."

"I'm getting the feeling we don't have much of an option here," Benjamin said with an amused sound in his voice.
"You think?" Mike replied, grinning in response to Mitch's glare. "You were never going to tell us about your profession if Benjamin hadn't been dating your last target, right?"

Mitch shrugged and nodded; that was true. He never had any intention to tell Mike or his friends. Stumbling across Benjamin during that mission had been unforeseen, but he didn't regret it. He eyes the guys in this room, all people he didn't know, related in some way to this Harriet person he only knew from stories. He gritted his teeth. How he hated to not know things; he would have a stern talk with his friends later on to be filled in on all the details.

---

Lily watched Steph as she crossed her arms, examining her behaviour for a moment. "You know, Rose is pleasant to talk to, she already feels at home, made herself a nice little cocoon and everything. And I want you to feel at ease too. What do I need to do to make you feel at home here? Do you want me to get Benjamin for you?" Her voice sounded sweet, and the smile seemed genuine, but there was a glistening in her eyes that was hard to place. "One word and I will let someone pick him up," she promised.

[SporkoBug]

Duncan didn't give Mitch a response as he spoke about not taking his car. He looked to Benjamin quietly, "Have you still got the agency phone?" He asked with a frown, "I have some spares if you don't want to be tracked by the boss."
Dante stayed quiet, he stared at the table as he felt some energy through the air. Was it Harriet? Or was it someone else...?

---

The ground near the Agency's base rumbled slightly, the clouds had darkened around the area. The ground cracked around the grassy areas away from the base, the sound of thunder echoed from the mountains.

---

"I don't want anything." Steph replied sharply, "Leave Benjamin alone."
She glanced towards Lily with narrowed eyes and an almost poisonous glare.
"If you want me to feel at home, treat me like an actual fucking human." She rumbled angrily before she moved back to face the wall. "Leave me alone."

[Loksfjoer]

"Why would the boss want to track me?" Benjamin asked. "I've got nothing to fear from him; I didn't break any rules, I'm human with a very uninteresting ability, and as far as he knows I'm still an agent. Which, until I resign, I still am. I think he would be suspicious if he couldn't reach me, so I'll keep it on me for now."

---

The field agents and analists who had remained at the building - some with the order to stay behind to defend the base against a tread and some deliberately not told there had been an evacutation - noticed the thunder and the rumble. The light in mr Johnson's office was on and a silhouette could be seen through the window.

A few agents stationed on the roofs looked around and held their rifles ready.

---

"A change of room then, perhaps," Lily said, nodding gently. "One more suited to your needs. With your own bathroom and a television set. This is really just a temporary room, darling. A mandatoru quarantine for everyone who will stay here for a while. If you will allow us to take some blood for testing, I will make sure you will be the first appointed a room in this facility. And you will get room service too."

[SporkoBug]

Duncan pursed his lips at Benjamins' words.
"I guess that is a better logic than mine." He said as he straightened himself up, "My reasoning was because you were close to Steph in terms of relationship." He continued, breathing in and out slowly with a sigh. "But if you think you're safe with having that phone, I won't make you get rid of it, but will you take another phone so I can keep in touch with you? I would rather not have my proper number in the phone of the agency.

Dante straightened up as he felt footsteps from the kitchen, he readied himself as his eyes moved away from Freya and Mike before they scanned over towards the doorway to the kitchen. His entire posture changing to defensive, he looked over to the doorway as the footsteps echoed through the room beside them now.

Freya was slowly falling asleep against Mike, Gills now slowly appearing on her neck before she gave a bit of a shiver. She inched a bit closer to the human male for his bodyheat, not paying attention to anything around her at the moment. The adrenaline had faded, and now she was very sleepy.

---

Shadows danced around the clouds, two shadows specifically. As if two figures fighting, each time they struck more thunder echoed around loudly. The ground quakes a bit more, cracks deep in the fields in front of the base seemed to crack.
The clouds darkened, slowly twisting from a softer grey to a sea storm dark grey.

---

"I don't care." Steph replied to the mention of room service, "I know you won't treat me like a proper person no matter what sort of room I'm in. If you want blood samples, fucking go right ahead. Good luck figuring out what's wrong with me." She let out a loud huff as she continued to face the wall.

Krys returned as she heard Steph continuing to talk to Lily. She walked back over and stood beside Lily without a word at first.
"Whats' wrong with you is that you're a man killing beast." Krys said with a sneer. Steph breathed in, focusing on holding back all of her anger as she span herself around to face Krys, moving to stand up and walk to the glass to stare towards Krys with flames in her eyes.
"Why won't you get it through your thick fucking skull Krystal." She started with venom through her words, "I did not kill Stephan, I am Stephan you dumb bitch. You saw the transformation over the course of three days, you saw the scales, the wings and everything."
The hair on Krys' neck prickled up slowly, she stared Steph down before she narrowed her eyes.
"Lily," She started, not looking away from Steph as she spoke, "Don't move her into a room. She doesn't fucking deserve it." She turned and walked away slowly, grumbling to herself as she did so.

---

Carl opened his eyes at the sound of footsteps, Jase was snoring softly beside him as he slipped up and pulled out his small hand knife.
He stepped towards the door as he grabbed the handle to the door as the footsteps stopped at their door.
"Is this the place?" A deep males voice echoed from the other side of the door.
"Aye, tis' the place that she mentioned." Another Males voice echoed before they reached for the handle as well, pulling it open.
Carl lunged towards the two men, one rather skinny while the other was largely built. The larger male grabbed Carl by the brim of his shirt as he darted at them, pulling him away slowly as he lifted him off the floor.

"Aye don't remember Angels' bein' so feisty." The skinner male said with a small laugh, stepping through the doorway and looked over the room, spotting Jase asleep on the bed. "Ah! Thy Timberfae!" He said as he stepped towards the bed.
"STAY THE FUCK AWAY FROM HIM." Carl called out as the bigger male carried him inside, moving to wriggle through the grip, unable to escape.
"Calm down Angel." The Bigger man said, "We're not here to hurt you."
"Nay, the opposite!" The lankier one said, turning around to grin almost evilly towards Carl. "We're here to help you. I, am Envy, but please call me The Jackal." Envy grinned as he took off his hat, revealing his canine-like head and four eyes. "Pride, put the poor boy down will you?"

Pride let Carl go and he stepped back from him as he lifted his knife up again. "And you?" Carl asked shakily, he had never thought he'd meet any higher demon, but the Sins??
"As my brother said, I am Pride. I just go by Pride." He said with a small laugh, "Isn't this cute though! Sharing the same bed? Could you two be to-"
Jase lifted his head slowly and looked towards Carl almost instinctively before looking towards Pride and Envy and froze up. "C....Carl." He squeaked, "T...These aren't from the... a..agency are they?"

[Loksfjoer]

Benjamin shrugged. "Everyone seems to think I'm a victim of the succubus, charmed by her evil magic. I don't think they will hunt me down because of her." He took a moment to consider the offer. "I don't mind to have another phone, one I can reach you with. That would be sensible."
He really did his best not to worry about Steph, but he failed miserably. While he wanted to go after her with the information Freya had given him, he knew that was unwise. They needed a plan first, but that was for the next day.

Mitch noticed how Dante straightened up and he repositioned his hands slowly, barely noticeable, as he too turned his attention to the doorway. If there was one thing he had learned, it was to react to what was happening around them, and the defensive posture of Dante made it him suspicious of what else was here.

Mike noticed how Freya inched closer to him and although it made him slightly uncomfortable - there was only one woman he had ever been physically close with - he did put an arm around her. "Guys," he said, "I think she really needs to get to the ocean, she's getting gills."

---

Lily clicked her tongue in disapproval as Krys walked away. "What an awful person she is," she commented. "I don't like her. Darling, make sure Steph is assigned some guards," she said to her assistant. "I don't want that woman to hurt Steph."
After the order was given - and faithfully executed on the tablet by the assistant - Lily turned her attention back on Steph. "I never said something is wrong with you, you are beautiful. The company thinks you are dangerous, that's why you are in a cage now, obligatory safety measures, but I will get you out of here as soon as I can. I promise."

---

The remaining agents at the base watched the figures fight; even the more hardened field agents were uneasy about the power they saw displayed in front of them. They started contemplating to retreat to a more secure location. The bunker in the field, perhaps.
The team-leader gave the order to split up; some were to take shelter in the bunker under the grass on the east side and position themselves at the gunports, others had to hide in the sniper locations around the base. He gave the order to evacuate the building itself; that was just a pile of bricks after all, easily replaced. Agent lives were not.

[SporkoBug]

Duncan frowned at Benjamins words before he went to speak, before Dante suddenly stood up as he faced the kitchen, he could see that Mitch was standing ready as well.
"Who's there?" Duncan finally called out, Dante giving a glare down to his companion.
"Relax boys." A males voice came from the kitchen, "You're the ones who called me, remember?" A figure stepped into the doorway, around the same height as Duncan.

The deep blue hair glistened in the light from the lounge, their deep orange eyes watched the room slowly as their pupils flexed; their pale skin freckled in multiple places.
"Oh. Lydral." Duncan said as Dante stayed standing, "You can relax, it's your half brother."
Dante didn't move, he watched his half-brother, knowing he wasn't trustworthy like the other three.

Duncan's head turned to face Mike as he called out about Freya, "Hold on, We'll get her into the tub, she's too tired to give directions. I'll have to take her tomorrow." He started as he stood up and stepped around Dante and stepped towards Duncan. He moved to scoop Freya up from Mike before he looked to Mike. "Would you be able to open the doors for me?" He asked with an embarrassed smile.

---

Stephs face deepened a couple shades of red as she was defended and called beautiful. She cleared her throat and moved to rubbed the back of her neck with a weak smile.
"Honestly it's probably my fault that Krys is so... hostile." She said slowly, "We've... got history, not the best history either."
She relaxed her shoulders, Lily didn't seem like she wanted to hurt her; at least... not currently.
"I'm... Not dangerous, I think..." She started, "I don't even know how to charm someone...."

---

The clouds crackled before one of the figures lunged at the other one.
The clouds broke and a figure was shot down to the field below in a crash, their body slamming into the ground with a rumble and some cracks.
The figure was face down in their crater, smoke flooding off of them.

The stormclouds rumbled like laughter, maniac, angry crackling laughter.

[Loksfjoer]

Mitch eyed the new arrival and then glanced around to see how the newcomer was welcomed. While Duncan seemed to have no issues with this man, the half-brother was still on guard. Reason enough for him to stay on guard too. This person obviously not being human was another good reason; until he knew the capabilities of Lydral he would not let him get close.

Mike was observing Lydral when Duncan spoke to him. "Oh, right," he said as he got up. "I'll open the doors. Just tell me which ones to open."
He had no idea where the bathroom was, but with the direction of Duncan he was able to help Freya get to the bathroom.

---

"Oh honey," Lily said as she shook her head. "Don't take the blame, Krys was mean to you. Come, I will open this cage one the guards are here as I don't carry the key, and I'll show you where you can sleep. And with the guards Krys won't be able to hurt you."
"Ma'am," the assistant began, but she was silenced by a tut-tut from Lily.

---

The remaining agents observed what happened, astonished, afraid. None had ever witnessed such power before. And the maniac laughter was bone-chilling.
An e-mail with an update about the situation was sent as they continued to observe what was going on with weapons ready.

[SporkoBug]

Duncan gave a smile towards Mike as he said he'd help, "Of course, it's not too far away." He said as he headed towards the hallway with Freya in his arms, making sure not to get her head hit.
As soon as they were out of the room Duncan gave a small frown, "You don't think they'll try and catch Harriet, do you?" He asked as he looked back to Mike, "You never had any studies of any other offworld species right?"

---

Dante glanced towards Benjamin, "Benjamin, this is Lydral. Harriet's brother, one of the three triplets." He said, there was annoyance in his voice before he looked back towards his half-sibling. "Where's Axel?"
"Relax, shifter." Lydral said with a dismissive wave of his hand, he stepped over to the couch and sat down on it, kicking his feet up against the coffee table as if he owned the place. "Axe is busy with 'human stuff'." He said, motioning with air quotes.

Dante didn't say anything before Lydral moved to sit upwards as he felt the stare from his brother. "Oh calm down, I didn't do anything this time." Lydral said with a huff, Dante only narrowing his eyes at the new male. Lydral waved his hand almost dismissively towards his Shifter sibling before he looked over Benjamin and looked to Mitch with a raised eyebrow.
"Hangin' with the humans again Dant'?" He said almost insultingly.

---

Steph watched Lily carefully, listening to her words with a bit of a head tilt. Was.. Lily being kind to her? Why was she being nice to her?
"The guards won't manhandle me will they?" She asked as she stepped towards the door, looking over the guards with a tilt of her head. "I'll make sure I won't do anything dangerous, or... bad?" She mentioned, almost in a confused tone. She wanted to say what they wanted to hear so she wouldn't be hurt or yelled at.
She glanced towards the other two cells quietly.

Gaia rumbled as she started to wake up that the tranquilizer had started to wear off. The guards had come in and gotten her fallen scales from the floor. She pulled herself up off the ground and looked around slowly, still groggy about where she was and looked up to the ceiling and noticed the light fixture, moving to coil her tail around it to hang upside down.
Her wings fanned out and touched either end of the cage as she felt the light fixture crack as it was breaking under her own weight. Gaia suddenly slammed into the ground as her tail slowly fell over her head with the light fixture bouncing off the ground in front of her.

Rose opened her eyes after a moment, lifting her extra legs slowly over the silk and looked around to what she had made. Was Lily right? Was this beautifully woven?
She went to walk to the walls to look out before she winced and almost collapsed in hunger, her body aching after doing so much weaving.
"Augh!" She squeaked and sat on the floor, her four arms and her extra limbs wrapped over her stomach.

---

The clouds seemed to slowly disperse after the laughing slowly echoed off in the distance. There was now smoke smoldering from the crater.
Whatever, or, whoever, was in the crater was still alive and moved their hands to try and pull themselves up from the ground with a soft cough.
Smoke still billowed off their body, as their flesh tried to heal over the burning on their body, but whatever flooded through their body continued to burn their growing skin.

---

A Cherry red stretched limo stopped out the back of one of the tallest building within the city, which at the bottom seemed to be a fancy looking casino.
Pride pushed one of the doors open and allowed Carl and Jase out before the Jackal and himself followed afterwards.
"Where... are we?" Jase asked, tilting his head. Carl looked to the building with a small frown.
"I've heard of this place, only in legends. I wasn't expecting it to be here." The Angel mumbled with a small huff.

The Jackal grinned as he stood beside Jase, moving to wrap an arm around his shoulders. "Welcome." He started, "To the Seven Sins Casino!"

[Loksfjoer]

"If they are planning to capture Harriet," Mike answered, as he walked toward the bathroom, "I haven't heard about those plans. The only thing I had to study were demons and all I heard is that Harriet is considered an ally." He paused as he opened a door for Duncan. "But..." he continued, "I did hear someone say the plan was set in motion. There is an ulterior motive for bringing them to the facility, but I don't know what it is." He had a thoughtful expression on his face as he turned to Duncan. "They had made a plan for capturing Gaia and Steph before today, but that was kept for the moment they proved they were dangerous, and that hasn't happened yet. Neither Steph nor Gaia had made any casualties and that would have been point the plan of their capture would have been set in motion. I don't know why they were captured now, I was just informed it had started."

---

Benjamin listened to the introduction and nodded a greeting to Lydral, and continued to listen as Dante and Lydral talked amongst themselves. He noticed Mitch moving closer to him, but his eyes were glued on Lydral. It seemed Mitch didn't trust this situation, but he didn't understand why; Lydral didn't seem hostile, although he was a bit condescending towards humans.

"What brings you here, Lydral?" he asked. Duncan and two of people related to Harriet were here. Maybe a coincidence, but that didn't seem likely.
Something was wrong with Harriet; she had seemed so unlike herself. Unless that was her true form and the gentle behaviour had been a disguise. It was hard to assess as he didn't know her that long.

---

"I would never allow anyone to manhandle someone here," Lily said, looking at the guards, who quickly nodded. She took the tablet from her assistant and tapped a few times on it. "You will be perfectly safe here, honey," she said without looking up from it. "And I have the perfect room for you. You will love it." She handed the tablet back to her assistant and smiled at Steph. "Of course if guards are attacked they have the right to defend themselves, so as long as you behave, they will behave."

She looked to the other cages. "Gaia, dear, you heard that? I have a perfect place for you as well, lots of room."

When she heard Rose she craned her neck to look at her. "Rose, darling, what's wrong?"

---

"G, Are you getting this on camera?" the leader asked in the radio.
"Yes sir, all our security camera's are still operational and the live-feed is established."
"We've never seen anything like this, not even the demons we battled showed this kind of power. Send word to Jay that he'll stand by to evacuate the nearby cities in case they will go there. It looks like they will remain here for the time being."

The figure in mr Johnsson's office could be seen in through the window. Although the curtains were closed, the light was on and his shadow was cast on the fabric.

[SporkoBug]

Duncan furrowed his brow as Mike explained things to him.
"Right, okay." He started, he didn't say anything else as he entered the bathroom and moved to flick the light on with his shoulder. As the light flickered on almost in sequence.

The bathroom was surprisingly large compared to what others were, there was a shower on one side and another a large bath almost the length of the room.
Duncan moved and gently placed Freya on the ground against the bath as he moved to lean over and started the taps. "I'm guessing she would prefer colder water." He said to himself before he turned back to Mike. "I worry that Harriet might have shown that she is dangerous." He said with a frown on his face, "She was fighting Daz and... I don't know if she's mentally okay with her friends being taken."

---

Lydral looked away from Dante and looked to Benjamin with an almost sly grin.
"Dunc called me." He started, "Well, he called Axel but I overheard."
"Eavesdropper." Dante almost hissed before Lydral moved his hand to flip his half-brother off.
"He's worried about my triplet sister. I'm here to help." Lydral said as he leaned forward with a bigger grin. "Although, listening to what you're planning, now that sounds fun."

---

Steph blinked and looked towards the guards as the doors opened and she moved to follow them slowly. Her horns glistened a soft blue as she looked around and watched Lily tap on a tablet. "Oh." She said with a weak smile, "That... sounds nice!" She said with a bigger smile. She glanced towards Gaia's cage. "Will Gaia and I be able to communicate?" She asked as she paused in front of the cage with Gaia.

Gaia shook her head as Lily's words barely hit her head. She lifted her body from the ground and stretched out with a large yawn. She looked towards Steph and tilted her head slightly, moving to step towards her and slammed her head into the cage to try and headbutt Steph happily.
"Can't... Cocoon." She rumbled almost disappointedly as she pulled her head away from the glass and shook her head angrily as her brain slowly came back to normal. "Steph." She said as she looked to the demonwoman carefully.

Rose looked up to Lily with a wince. "I..." She started before she moved to curl up a bit more, "I think I'm hungry."

---

The figure in the crater slowly moved to stand up from the place they slammed into. They let out a hallowed groan, the voice indistinguishable as they moved to step out of the crater and into the grass. Their entire body burnt and smoldering, a large black wound through their chest.
"Hhhhhhhh.." They groaned, stepping forward before they collapsed onto their hands and knees as the energy flooded away from their body as the burns through their body started to slow and heal properly.