Time: Evening - Present Day
Location: Smithy’s Grocery Store, Las VegasThe sun had finally set. Freaks came crawling out from their protective shadows of the day, to claim what little territory they had left to call their own. Territory that humanity, the Hounds of Humanity, had taken back. Captain Dahl slowly, methodically strapped her black armour. She stared herself down in the mirror wearing a smirk. It took no time to follow up on the anonymous tip, the Las Vegas Police Department had been scrambling for days now to contain the chaos but it inspired some officers to be apart of the greater good. They passed the tip along to the Hounds of Humanity, with kind regards. She fixed her long, glossy black hair into a tight bun not missing a strand. Lips painted a deep crimson red, and sharp black eyeliner lined along her bright green eyes.
They had set up shop in an abandoned apartment building on the edge of town, easily purchasing the land and it’s building. The lobby had been hollowed out as their base of operations, Captain Dahl had her own quarters sectioned off by screens. Off to her right, her weapons were neatly laid out ready pack up. A semi automatic assault rifle, pistol, iron cross necklace and several clips of blessed silver bullets, alongside normal bullets. Her equipment was standard for everyone in her unit, save for the speciality anti-magic weaponry.
The filth of magic polluted the city, Fey had a run of the underground while witches reigned, working closely with the undead mobster Barron. Crime went hand in hand, it was no wonder some of the authorities wanted to cooperate with them. They were doing the work modern law forbade to do. If this had been a different century they would have been
obligated by the law to do exactly what they were doing.
She packed all her gear in the appropriate places, easy reach and even dispersal of weight.
Metahumans and magic were holding humanity back. Alone they attracted bigger and more dangerous problems racking up casualties by the thousands in a single encounter. They lost the right to their lives when their actions costed others.
The ideology suited Captain Dahl just fine, zealous in her mission but not a zealot. Where there was work to do and cash to follow, she was more than happy to parrot those words back at them. As the Captain she was rewarded special tools, training and knowledge but most importantly she was gifted Sight. Their mysteries were stripped away.
This was easy pickings. The tip had described where this meeting would take place, a grocery store was easy as it got to block exits and trap them inside. It was only a matter of pushing them straight into a corner, dragging out the most powerful to prop up on the stake to burn.
As a last thought she grabbed her matches.
---
Her platoon leaders surrounded her in the back of a concealed van, led by a people carrier with other men and women. They would be leading the first wave into the grocery store. Behind her in two jeeps were those who would secure the perimeter.
The grocery store was completely dark, void of all movement from what they could see at the front of the shop. Armoured, they quickly and quietly dispersed to cover the exits. Captain Dahl was the last to exit the van, her eyes stared into the grocery store. Those who covered the exits reinforced the doors with traps, jury rigging the door knobs with electricity then pushing heavy dumpsters in front of them. They trained their sights on it waiting for the attack to begin. Two to guard each exit. Captain Dahl signaled for eight to enter first to sweep them out and kill as many as they could without resorting to special weapons. Reports filtered in noting some of the vehicles in the parking lot, particularly a lemon and large beat up van parked side by side.
“Torch ‘em. Don’t want them sneaking off in one of their own vehicles.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Her platoon leaders were various specialists in magic lore and had participated in burning Pixy Stix. They were equipped, like her, with the means to rip through their magical defenses. The tip made a point of a powerful witch being there with unknown amount of allies. The first reports to come in from the first wave, was the amount of bodies littered everywhere, the darkness and broken glass.
That gave her a little pause, then a quick order to proceed. They’d easily use this to their advantage.
Inside the grocery store quietly eight Hounds of Humanity, pairs of two approached the group from different angles. Training their rifles forward, careful of their steps and breathing. All eyes and attention were drawn inwards. Taking cover behind grocery shelves, hiding behind stacks of fruit. Short confirmation of who they saw passed between the small teams. They were able to identify witches, three wolves, three large targets two seemed to look human if not freakishly tall. The metal, silver gleaming golem. Finally, the young woman difficult to tell of any association hung on the edges much like the two human giants. They tagged her as a witch, to be safe. The visible faeries littered around the golem in particular, while the golem was holding one of the wolves in its large hands. Descriptions of the targets were communicated while they waited, watching.
Captain Dahl, relayed the information back to the exit teams telling them to increase defenses.
“Remove the witches first, then the wolves and finally the giants. Take the magic out of the equation as fast as possible, don’t let them utter a single spell. Smoke ‘em out, two teams on the witches, the other two on the wolves.”
Captain Dahl paused before finishing her order, “Give them a good scare while you’re at it. Make them panic.”
“Copy that, Captain.” A Hound crouching behind a hill of apples. Over the radios the same Hound told the other pairs to ready their smoke bombs, then added a wickedly creative idea to the plan. The other teams confirmed and at a countdown of three smoke bomb canisters rolled into the enemy’s midst. Plumes of white smoke surrounded the group, only a second passed when screams erupted around them as the Hounds took aim at the sleeping grocery shoppers. Waking them from the sleeping spell with pain.
Cautiously, they moved forward.
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