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Owner	Pose
Angela	''So it's right. Someone's gotta die for it. World can't spin right if someone who did something like this still gets to breathe.'' ''Nothing like this is just one guy. Someone lapsed security. Someone let something out. Someone had something made to begin with. People with power did some evil stuff, or they did some neglectful stuff, but you can't put this down to just the triggerman. Not so quick after this big-ass tree shit, that's for sure.'' Red Dwarf gets a status update from The Black Silence after a few days. He's been hard at work thought the guy's reports could be better--he shares information on the sort of things he's been up to, but there isn't a lot of detail as if his title extends to his writing too. He leaves out anything he thinks isn't important and apparently most of this junk is just unimportant to him. First Report: Crazy dead body guy--uninvolved. Fine, was sicko. Second Report: D23 lead, nothing. Third Report: Thumb, seems ignorant. Fourth Report: Index, impossible to question. Fifth Report: V doesn't know. Sixth Report: Trying Middle Next. D12. This is the first time that the Black Silence has given anything close to a heads up to the Watch. Everyone ELSE who has met Olivier gets a message from him: 'The Black Silence is making more of a mess than I can clean up. Can you please check on him?' The Black Silence and Olivier do not mention where exactly the Middle is, but various resources in the City either through Yurodiviye, Trideag, or personal contacts within The City can point to you where the last remnants of the Middle in District 12 have been hiding out--Merelisa's pummeling of the organization has strongly pushed them out of the District and they aren't the sort of group that tends to hold onto their support once they can no longer provide the protection (or 'protection') that is promised. District 12 is still suffering from a complete blackout. Personal generators are still in the process of being distributed throughout the area, but people at this point are either holding up in their homes or have been consumed by The Sweepers or have found some other hidden area to lurk in. There are few civilians among the streets even now--it is still early evening--but aside from people going out to scrounge for supplies, there's few people to ask for any more precise directions. But fortunately, the club is easy to notice because it is one of the only places in this sub-section of The City that still has working lights. A neon sign is flickering dimly across the entranceway towards a warehouse-style dance club calling it the Smooth Moves. A broken chain has been sliced to ribbons in front of the door and it's already partyway open. The rest of the city block has stores with smashed windows through (some people took Love's advice!) and have been broadly looted, or shutters have been pulled down to provide some security even through the night. No new dead bodies today, and the ones from yesterday have been swept away. Despite the lights working--you can see brief flashes of colorful light from underneath the doorway--no music is playing. At all. It's raining moderately, lending to the quiet apocalyptic tone of the District. Dart, former Cinq Agent and Trideag member, has joined Madeleine today to provide some support. Trideag is BUSY right now as its biggest test yet as a functional Association is being challenged by the blackout. She is holding a bright yellow umbrella over Sarracenia's hand. "The scoundrels are certainly somewhere around here..." Dart is saying. "If we hurry perhaps we can assist in questioning...! Milady, be wary, a cornered lion claws most viciously!"
Redshift Operators	Red Dwarf keeps others that are ideologically-alligned (mostly Watch, partially good-types) appraised of things. Olivier handles the rest, but the leader of the Redshift Operators doesn't hesitate to at least be informative to allies. He, himself, has been directing his crew to try to find what they can. But admittedly their own work is deeply inadequate. So when an opportunity comes up, a chance to help directly, the leader is ready to go, and he encourages anyone getting his intel to aid just as much.
Riku Asakura	Riku has been trying to do what he can in the city recently. He hasn't contacted Lilian yet, probably because he's not sure how to approach her and their situation with the fall of L-Corp.  So right now he's mostly running around blindly in the City, aiding people the best he can and then moving on to help the next person.   Right now, he happens to be called in by Red Dwarf, probably through connections shared in the City, and he rushes over to try and see what they need help with.  This gets him right in time to hear Dart warn about a cornered lion.   "What's going on?  I only just got here," he admits.  He's in his normal get-up, jean jacket and tennis shoes, jeans, and an orange shirt with something called Donshine on it.
Audrey Basque	"... oh."     The first sight of the City, and of District 12, causes Audrey to fall silent and uncomfortable in a strikingly obvious way. Angela had said there was a power crisis, and the City wasn't doing well, but...     Audrey is a sheltered noblelady who's only really been outside the Phantom Circle on heavily curated academic trips, and for Concord interviews. This is the first time she sees, outside of photographs, what real living conditions look like. Smashed windows and cracked bricks and potholes in the streets and IS THAT BLOOD?     It is also raining.     But she brought an umbrella (large enough for Petra to huddle under, if she wants), though it wasn't for the rain, it was for the organ (disambiguation) playing monster and splash risk. Apparently.     When they do reach the club, she turns to Petra, resuming a previous train of thought. "Are you... you know. After yesterday? Did you get enough water?" Clearly she'd been fine enough to lead her here, but, the question still begged to be asked.
Madeleine Cadrasteia	It hardly takes a hunter of Madeleine's caliber to track the Black Silence to the Middle's last holdouts in District 12. As a matter of fact, if it weren't for her existing (albeit rather hostile) history with the Middle she'd feel her talents a little wasted here. As it is however she's itching to get inside, if for no other reason than for a possible Dart and Maddie vs Tanya rematch. Despite clear memories of being slammed repeatedly against a wall, she's borderline eager to cross paths with the Big Sister again.     This shows on her face and in her posture - she's gently tapping one foot as the other Trídéag elites gather. Or maybe that's just because she's listening to music. A few notes of rave-club music blare from her earbuds as she pops them out, then hits pause on a pocket music player. "You're my backup? Alright. Let's see what Mr Silence is up to in there. Doesn't look like it's a social call, keep your eyes open."     Madeleine leads the way through the door, taking care not to make too much noise. She winces briefly at the flashing lights inside the Smooth Moves, but moves forward with Dart and the others hopefully close behind.
Nobunaga	Nobunaga currently has no associations with Trideag and has not met Olivier yet. She has, however, developed an interest in matters regarding the City from various radio conversations involving Angela and Petra; particularly that helpful summary of events just the other day.     This has led to a certain warlord appearing in District 12 today; wearing a modest suit with a red tie and a red longcoat worn on her shoulders like a cape. Beside her is a man half-again taller than she is. While Nagayoshi Mori doesn't particularly care about the rain, clad as he is in white and black metal, he holds a black umbrella out over the shorter daimyou.     "So this is what it's like when the power is out for these people?" Nagayoshi's free hand rubs at the front of his helmet near his jaw, "Dark, plenty of fighting. Seems fine to me."     "Fighting is all well and good," Nobunaga's eyes close for a moment, "But maybe not outside your front door, hmm?" She casts a side-eye at the armored figure, "Though of course an idiot like you would enjoy that, too."     "Got it in one!"     "Normal people aren't like you," Nobunaga's gaze shifts forward again. The pair come to a stop near the one building in the area that still has electricity and isn't clearly a residence; the nightclub, Smooth Moves. It's Nagayoshi who presumes to speak up before Nobunaga can formulate anything for the various people also gathering:     "Yo, you need some muscle?" He's already shoving the umbrella towards Nobunaga while his other hand reaches for the nasty spear across his back.
Gaonoir	Rain is little more than a nuisance. A nuisance that can make everything wet but do little towards actually washing away any of the filth. Gaonoir barely even acknowledged it was raining, his extensive training as a scout having honed his senses to be minimally impacted by such things. Erika, not wanting to occupy her hands with excess things, had opted for a darkly colored rain slicker with a hood to pull up over her head. She needed said hands to operate things like communication through her device. "Well, it's something at least," she murmurs after looking over the dissemination of information coming from the Redshift crew. Gaonoir looked back to her from where he had taken a glance around the corner. "Yeah, what about lights?" "This sector is without power, why would there be--" Though Erika pauses as she looks in the direction the canid Digimon indicates, and flashes from a faint neon sign can be seen reflecting off the sides of other buildings damp from the rain. "--No, you're right. That shouldn't be possible with the grid out. Unless someone has some strong generators... but then they shouldn't be hording them to some frivilous freeloading spot." "Right. Something like that. Bet the others are headed that way as well." Gaonoir grams Erika's arm, and the two disappear into the city's darkness as he uses his voidstep abilities to quickly cover the distance. They'll meet up with the Redshifts and any other Watch alignments gathering along the way.
Redshift Operators	The gunman will make small concessions to the Head. Short-range pistols and a sawn-off shotgun loaded with buckshot, for him, and primarily planted bombs for the astronaut ally -- a gesture of "I will mostly follow the spirit of your shitty law just to not draw heat, but I refuse to compromise who I am." He won't hesitate in using them, though. Not here.     Wherever this man is going, this mess he's leaving behind him, the Redshift Operators will follow and support for now. In the darkened streets, they run that crappy little jeep up to a few blocks away from the club, all get out, and start making their way there, through the rain... Their leader gets the feeling that he knows where this is going to go. "Help our pal. Bend the exits, Gi'. Newt, get any ground-floor windows." The giant nods, moving to the more-obvious exits of the club, fire-exits and such. With a giant fist, he wrenches metal elements against the frame, using pure, raw strength to force them to stay shut unless someone bashes them down with LOTS of force. Any un-shuttered windows are rigged with small explosives by his astronaut companion, while shuttered ones are similarly warped closed.     He isn't too subtle. Well, the leader doesn't expect anyone else to be. The Black Silence's entryway is clear, with that sliced door. They focus on making sure exits, any ways that someone could escape from him, are cut off.     "Remember. Let him handle questioning. Legs, arms, stuns. Don't get in his way. Don't hold back. If you get a choice between letting one escape and killing, stick to killing. They won't know the cause. But they'll know names. They'll know who might know. We'll find out whose tech starts neck-up and can do something like this..."     They head into whatever entrance they can find that's opposite the Black Silence's, sealing it shut behind them one way or another, and moving to make sure everyone's handled, dying, or dead -- nothing spared.
Tamamo	Tamamo took the time to dress appropriately, for this occasion, rather than rushing over in a cooking apron. It wasn't much time, but the dress would be familiar to anyone who saw her in L-Corp... which isn't extremely likely to happen, she supposes. The heavy robes of blue and gold are better protection than they look, but the fact that they aren't soaking up the post-apocalyptic street grime can only be due to highly convenient magic... or those incredibly-heeled shoes.     There isn't much more preparation she can make, not having more than a very vague idea of who the 'middle' and 'index' are, even if that information's shared with her. It would have been very convenient for Lilian to arrive with her, but she seemed terribly tired, and more affected by Angelica's death than even Tamamo was, with having seen the remains and spoken to the Black Silence. No, Tamamo will just have to fulfill her obligations 'on her own,' this time. Hopefully, it won't come to pointing the Color in Angela's direction. She's not terribly hopeful of there being an alternative outcome, just yet.     If she did point him toward someone else... No, no, she can't very well do that. Just hypothetically, however...     Lost in thought, twirling a deep red paper umbrella, she's not going to be immediately useful on breach.
Odette Raskins	With the blackout cutting out a whole slew of vital services and leaving far too many people in the City hurt, Odette's got her work cut out for her balancing out what she even needs to pack. Medicine is a given, of course, but what about bandages? Blood packs? She's not certain how much of those she'll need considering the crew she's rolling with today, but packing more poisons and distinctly non-healing chemicals in her bag still feels off. Still, with Red Dwarf sending word to everyone about this and knowing that she's going to be heading into a place frequented by the Middle... "Th... Think anything's going to happen when we get there?" She murmurs into her radio while slinking along, palming her mouthpiece a few times to make sure it's actually close enough to catch her voice without being too obtrusive. "It's bright, it's open... It'd be really hard to miss anything happening, right? So if anything starts up..." "If we hurry perhaps we can assist in questioning...!" "... When everything starts up, we'll have to be fast." Right. She knows whose side she's on here. Odette clears her throat lightly as she does one more check of her gear, making sure her sidearm and sword are strapped firmly around her belt, and then she adjusts the bag strap across her shoulder. "I've got some things that might help with questioning, too. Just need to be careful with the dosage, or they might not be able to say anything useful." The EMT is not nearly brave enough to charge in before the Redshifts do, but she does stick close by. It's hard not to stick close to her heroes, after all, even though she has to try not to gawk too hard or vibrate too much when the giant gets to work on those exits. She follows the operatives inside without wasting time, either, keeping a hand on her bag and already loading several syringes with a convenient cocktail of sleep-inducing drugs. Even though they're in the front, she can still keep an eye on them from behind, playing the part of the concerned bystander waving at stragglers to follow her to safety only to jab them into drowsiness the moment they turn their backs on her.
Petra Soroka	In the intervening days, Petra has been busy with Concord matters primarily, rather than the City. This feels kind of bad to her, because it is-- she would *like* to help more with the problem of Angelica's murder, but the number of obligations that she insists she take care of is higher than the number of hours in the day, given her gradual, careful return to merely twenty-four of them.     So she makes up for that a little bit by hauling a new Concord friend along in Audrey. Sure, Petra's two days of work, if she dedicated them entirely to hunting through the City, would be incredibly effective, but she can pay back the debt by bringing someone on who wouldn't otherwise have helped at all. She's also still cripplingly embarrassed about being tipsy and sad last night, and the City is the place where she best shows off her competency, so it'll help balance out the cracks she can feel forming in her impression to Audrey. Audrey, a person that she first interacted with when getting milk dumped on her head while other people kicked her in the stomach, might mistakenly start believing that Petra is pathetic.     "As far as any of the locals are concerned," Petra says, walking with Audrey through the ruined, damp, and dark streets of District 12 without a second look. "I work in the City. Most of the Elites here you'll see, they're part of the Trideag Association, which is the Fixer association for offworlders, under Lilian's command. I'm not; I was around here before them, and I've got stuff around here that they don't necessarily know about."     Petra is wearing, as seems to be the fashion for women in the City, a plain suit with a high scarf around her neck. She taps a bitten-short fingernail on her phone screen, pulling up a text from Olivier. "The guy we're looking into is the guy whose wife died in that Pianist attack. He's one of the top Fixers in the City, and from what I know about him, he's an assassin. That's all cool though-- the problem is that he's, you know, upset enough about that to get sloppier with his work while looking for info, and the Hana Association would rather not have him going around leaving corpses all over the place, because that'll get him in trouble. Like, I don't even *disagree* with him, really, but it'd suck if his life got ruined because of all this. I mean. More ruined. On account of his wife already being dead."     Petra... just actually knows, already, where the Middle hangs out in District 12. Her mental map of the streets of District 12 post-apocalypse isn't perfect, but with a bit of lip-chewing thought and an eventual 'oh *here*, I know where we are now,' she can get there on her own. Rather than sharing Audrey's umbrella, she made an umbrella out of fluid Silver metal that hovered without her holding it, and now that she's in front of the club, the surface tension of the umbrella dissolves and it disintegrates into invididual metal droplets that slip back into the bottle on her hip. Usually huddling together with another girl under an umbrella would be the exact kind of thing that Petra ends up doing, but.... "Are you... you know. After yesterday? Did you get enough water?"     Petra clears her throat into the back of her hand, covering up the slight blush in her face. "I-I-- that sort of thing doesn't, like, happen to me. You don't need to worry. S-sorry, I... uh... should've known better, myself."     Aside to Audrey and also the rest, "Our goal's to gather information about the attack that happened, sure, but we're also trying to stop too much of a commotion about it. The Middle's *really* into keeping their shit intact, both their property and their people. Try not to break anything unnecessarily or Olivier was wrong to invite you."
Father Berislav	The Black Silence is making more of a mess than I can clean up. Can you please check on him?     In an old hostel tucked away in District 12's backstreets, Father Waters Berislav closes a refrigerator door and wipes sweat from his brow. Having traded a working generator for a broken one, he's just gotten it working and saved the perishable food he and his allies have managed to save and scrape together. Just as he wipes the oil and lubricant from his hands, he's aware of the buzzing of a text message.      An old-model phone with tactile buttons, a monochrome screen and battle scars from any number of scrapes and tumbles displays Olivier's message. It's the only unread message out of the bunch, with several others from Red Dwarf being opened and read. That poor man. I happen to be in the neighborhood, and I've just finished some business elsewhere. I'll keep an eye out. -- Milady, be wary, a cornered lion claws most viciously!      Berislav approaches with a black umbrella to shield himself from the rain. Between that and his cassock, he could be taken as someone trying to claim the color black. "That 'lion' suffered a terrible loss in the midst of what's already a very difficult time for the City. I hate what he's done, but it's important to keep that in mind, as much as it is to remember what any survivors of his attacks are going through, if we want to reach him or them."      After a pause, he extends a hand for a handshake. "I'm Father Waters Berislav, a friend from the Watch." Try not to break anything unnecessarily or Olivier was wrong to invite you.      "Thank you, Petra."      He very much doesn't have the demeanor of a breach squad upon entering. His is calm and approachable, even going so far as to close his umbrella and leave it by the door. With his hands gently clasped, he sticks with Odette in an effort to elevate the helpful, non-threatening presence they both are trying to employ.
Tamamo	Audrey is a sheltered noblelady who's only really been outside the Phantom Circle on heavily curated academic trips...     Petra... walking with Audrey through the ruined, damp, and dark streets of District 12...     Tamamo is startled out of her introspection and dangerous hypotheticals by the sight of a Nova Heliosanctus uniform. That brightens her immediately, despite the grim surroundings, up until she spots the person next to the student. Oh, no. Oh, dear.     "Ms. Soroka... really? It has not been more than a few days since Lilian retracted your invitation to visit, and you have already, somehow, found another of her classmates to..." Her expression speaks clearly to the unspeakable assumptions being made. Every possibility is an affront to all that's good in the world.     Her expression shifts immediately upon focusing on Audrey. Less negative, but... is that pity? It's definitely pity. For what, she doesn't precisely voice. "Oh, but please excuse me. I am known as Tamamo-no-mae, as it happens, and am acquainted with Ms. Soroka. I will not be prying into your relationship, please rest assured."
Sarracenia	Sarracenia is pleasantly surprised when someone ends up holding an umbrella for her. She smiles much of the way to the clumb due entirely to the simple act of kindness and respect. In contrast to the umbrella, Sarra is nearly monochromatic these days. Black eyepatch, silver-grey hair, black Trideag dress with black velvet gloves and black heeled slippers. The only color is her golden crown, the golden trim on the dress, the burgundy metal lotus in her hair, and the dazzling blue of her one visible eye.      'The scoundrels are certainly somewhere around here...If we hurry perhaps we can assist in questioning...! Milady, be wary, a cornered lion claws most viciously!"      Sarra nods (assuming the warning is aimed at her even if it is not). "Thank you for the warning. And thank you again for holding the umbrella for me." she says to Dart as they walk.      Seeing the area still in a blackout has Sarra pondering how she can help get things back up and running or at least temporarily powered. Perhaps some of her airships could come act as generators? The whole 'keep the Multiverse semi-secret' thing doesn't still apply, does it?      Audrey is here, and since they do not seem to be enemies yet Sarra offers a curtsey in greeting to the fellow lady. Tamamo likewise receives a curtsey in greeting. Riku gets a wave when he is spotted, as does Odette, Erika and Gaonoir. Madeleine...well they aren't exactly enemies but they don't seem to be friends either, so she offers merely a nod in greeting.      'Are you... you know. After yesterday? Did you get enough water?'      Sarracenia can't quite help a bit of a smirk at seeing Petra embarrassed. It is something that rarely happens, and is even more rarely visible to Sarracenia when it does. Tamamo adds fuel to the fire with her words, and Sarracenia doesn't quite suppress the haughty 'hmhm~' that escapes her.
Angela	Since Petra is filling people in, Dart doesn't have to! Which is probably for the best. She seems to be a bit of a goober. Dart wishes some of her compatriots were here so she could hold an umbrella over Audrey's head too--she seems like a noble but Dart didn't come prepared with TWO umbrellas. This is tragic. So Dart ends up switching between Sarracenia and Audrey with the umbrella depending on who she is nearest at any point in time or by vibe at any point in time. ''Yo, you need some muscle?'' t"Sure! Though like Miss..." Dart realizes she doesn't know Petra's name. "...As she suggests we should only be haelping with an interrogation today!" Madeleine leads the path in while Red Giant cuts off exit points except for the main entrance and, after they go through the rear entrance which is a tiny little door in the back that is locked (easy challenge rating for Red Giant to just pull the door off, pick the lock, or otherwise bust it in). It's one of those doors that autolocks from the outside once you leave the building that way. Dart elects to take the front entrance with everyone else, fairly confident on sight that the Redshifts can probably handle blocking the back route off once Red Giant eradicates a fire exit escape route. The good news for Tamamo's plan is that The Black Silence doesn't know that Angela exists but he will eventually try to check out the Library if his leads dry up. And he seems inclined to quickly go through them. Odette can follow the Redshifts in through the back entrance too. ''That lion--'' "I meant the Middle." Dart asides to Father Berislav. "Though lion he may be, the Black Silence is going to make those around him cornered not the other way around." The identity of The Black Silence continues to be a bit muddled amongst the citizens of The City. Perhaps it's a shared title or perhaps they just don't know. Naturally, they are inclined to believe someone alive holds it rather than someone recently deceased. "I have heard of you, oh noble Father, that you fight to protect those that slip through the cracks! I look forward to a hearty competition in helping others!" Then she holds an index finger up to her mouth. "But still their tongue, we do not wish to alarm the Middle." She lowers her voice, but it's still pretty hypocritical. FRONT ENTRANCE GROUP The entrance leads straight to a small lobby. A Little Brother is slumped over the counter, throat cut. Little Brothers, to those that do not know the naming scheme of The Middle, are not actually 'Little'--it is a designation indicating the lower rankings of The Middle organization. He is a heavily tattooed man with purple ink) and his head is turned so he is staring off to the side silently. It looks like it couldn't have happened too long ago, but he's already passed from what Petra can tell. There's various spraypainted imagery along the walls here, primarily of angry wolves and big muscular men and women looking like they are about to saiyanpost at each other. Past the lobby is the dance floor. colorful lights flash down from above of a large variety of colors from red and blue to yellow and various greens, shifting about their color schemes periodically. Other than that, it's pitch black. Periodically, the lights pass over the body of another member of the Middle before they become shrouded in darkness. No sign of The Black Silence. But as Madeleine slinks onto the dancefloor, small pools of blood dotting the dancefloor--something strange begins to happen.
Angela	The bright purple tattoos belonging to the fallen Brothers and Sisters of the Middle start dripping away from their body, as if they had simply been painted on. The purple drains from their body, leaving them utterly unadorned as they lay there. The ink starts as a big purple and red puddle before slowly rising up, the blood washing out of the construct as it takes the form of a large purple tiger. And it doesn't leap immediately at Madeleine, rather, it slinks back into the darkness, faintly growling as it looks for the opportunity to pounce. BACK ENTRANCE GROUP The Redshifts, Odette, and whomever else went with them find themselves in a small hallway, completely bland relative to the lobby and dance floor. Probably where they do book-keeping, hold prisoners for questioning, and other backdoor dealings. No sign of the Black Silence here either. Are they moments too late? Hard to say just now. Redshift can find what looks like to be a book-keeper's office, presently empty. No dead bodies either, but the books are scattered everywhere. Looks like someone pored through these books quickly before getting frustrated and throwing them all over the place. This might be useful for someone in The Watch who can use this sort of stuff to find more targets for The Watch, but judging from the frustration involved in tossing these books around, it seems unlikely THe Black Silence found much to go off of. The door across from the bookie's office seems to be a restroom, locked from the inside--and also barred by some objects from the inside. Occassional breathing can be heard behind the door if one listens carefully, but no movement. The hallway continues on past that with two more doors, also closed, and past that it leads back to the Dancefloor where everybody else is.
Petra Soroka	"Thank you, Petra."     "Oh-- Berislav." Despite the fact that Petra was living in the District where Berislav worked for over a year, it feels like it's been forever since Petra's seen him. In some ways, it kind of has. She tries to interrogate her feelings about seeing the priest again, and stumbles over the block of wondering whether he would murder her for directly assisting a corporation higher-up with robbing the City of a psychic utopia and then immediately joining the Concord. So she just nods in greeting. She won't die today!! "It has not been more than a few days since Lilian retracted your invitation to visit, and you have already, somehow, found another of her classmates to..."     Petra takes several seconds to catch on to Tamamo's insinuation, even though she immediately turns her eyes over to give her polite attention. When she does, she flinches in shock, automatically stepping away from Audrey and wrapping her arms around herself like she's keeping them safely straightjacket-pinned away to not pose a threat. "Wh-what? Why?! Why would you even think that?"     "I don't-- like, we *just* met! I'm not *doing* anything! Why is everyone *saying* that just because I made a *friend*?!" Petra's sick-looking wince is probably worse of a result than Tamamo expected to elicit out of her. "Like, can't I have a *day* where you people treat me like a human being? My girlfriend just fucking *died*, give me a *break*!"
Riku Asakura	Petra fills Riku in on what's happening so that Dart doesn't have to!  It's very convenient for all involved, except maybe Petra herself.  This leads to the partial story of the Black Silence, who has lost his wife.  This causes Riku to go from bright-eyed to quiet and sad for the man.  Still, they have to stop him before he ruins his life even more than it might already be.   "Right, I'll follow your lead then..." he says to the others and walks inside when the time comes.  Riku is glad to go inside because he doesn't have an umbrella and has been getting very cold in the rain.   Some words happen between Petra, Audrey, and Tamamo.  He isn't sure what's going on there and instead decides to focus on what's on before him.  However, when Petra asks for a break because of her dead girlfriend he looks at Tamamo with a pained expression as if asking her to lay off Petra.  It might not work, but at least he could try.   Inside, the dead body causes Riku's stomach to turn.  He doesn't throw up or anything, but it does cause him some pain and he tries to push past it and to the floor.  That is until more bodies are found there.  Worse, the ink peeled off of them and formed into a tiger.  This causes Riku to grip the Fusion Riser.   ULTRAMAN ULTRAMAN BELIAL ULTRAMAN GEED PRIMITIVE! Riku is no longer there, and instead, Ultraman Geed is there.  He's set in an aggressive stance, trying to follow the tiger with his eyes.  Then he lashes out, aiming to try and wrestle the tiger with his body, trying to slam it down in a suplex in the middle of the dance floor.
Audrey Basque	Audrey, of course, carefully absorbed the information Petra was feeding her. She was just a bit more concerned about her health! "No, the fault is mine. I suggested you drink. I will, endeavor to remember this is not an act that agrees with you." Filing the information away for later, and all that.     -- isn't that voice familiar?     Audrey turns to face Tamamo, face draining of color (for the third time in three days!) at the sight alone. And then the words! Oh, the words. Color comes back, and it's red and flushed.     "E-Excuse m-- w-we are not! That is, entirely, a coincidence!"     It's Yuuki's fault!! Probably!! "We just-- met. It isn't..." Wow she really can't handle this can she? ESPECIALLY coming from Tamamo. Especially, particularly, pointedly, from Tamamo.     So anyway hopefully stealth was not a concern.     Deep breath. You can do it Audrey.     "My... apologies. About that, Lady Tamamo. I am Audrey Basque, Crown White, and it is my pleasure to make your acquaintance." Upside down smile emoji.     She side-eyes Petra, who is clearly not recovering from the insinuations half as well. Or maybe she's doing better? This might just be how she... copes?     Audrey fidgets. And now there's THINGS happening, about a tiger, and it's really dark inside and she's not sure if she wants to go through that door even though staying in the rain sucks.     AND NOW SOMEONE HAS TRANSFORMED.     Audrey looks at Petra, begging for directions.
Redshift Operators	"It's bright, it's open... It'd be really hard to miss anything happening, right? So if anything starts up..."     "It's bodies. It's people. Some of them might still be alive." The gunman mutters into his radio. "That's where someone can disappear. They can play dead. They can sneak out."     When he gets inside, he's probably scowling under the helmet. "But he's not working the right way." He mutters, as he slings his "This is leadless. Nothing here for him, nothing for us to find him a target. I need industrial IDs, he's going after..." He scowls at bloodstains, old and new. "These dealings. Ugh." He shakes his head... Then freezes.     A soft sound of a human breath.     "Get the other doors and the documents." He cants his head at Berislav and Odette -- though they're free to ignore his request that's clearly meant to try to get them out of the way of his next bit of work. After all, this might be the sole survivor and they *did* want to make a good impression. "I wanna check something. Giant, here. Help me with this." The leader gestures to the bathroom door.     Gravel-like breathing and heavy footsteps slowly approach the restroom door, and the giant grips the handle and pulls. Wood and metal will yield in agonizing slowness as the truly frightening giant just strips the door away and doesn't bother with the barricade. "Don't try running." The growling bass of a voice speaks up. He's soooo reassuring and helpful and clear about how they're here to help.     If the others want to make a good impression, better intercede. For the leader's part, he speaks up. "Alive in there, bud? I got a couple questions of my own here." The leader's voice speaks up. "About tech that starts from the neck up and ends with craters."     Ugh. The medic just checks the other doors of the back of the club, keeping away from the tiger and trying to make sure everywhere is examined. She doesn't expect the Black Silence to not be thorough, but she'd rather be thorough as well and she'd rather avoid surprises. Tigers too, honestly.
Father Berislav	Get the other doors and the documents.     "My thoughts exactly." Berislav's ability to research is only as developed as any other person's. However, unlike a normal person, he has the ability to store personal effects in subspace. He takes some time to gather the scattered books, and *only* the scattered books. There probably won't be time to gather all of them, and even if there were, his storage tends to be rather occupied by the massive and massively expensive war machine it holds.      One by one, they fall into a burning orange void, layered over the air as if the air there were wallpaper peeled briefly back. "If you wouldn't mind checking the other doors, you'll certainly be more subtle than I would at opening them, Odette--" <J-IC-Scene> Petra Soroka says, "Did you fucking people forget what we even *came here to do*?! What's with the fucking *instant tiger manifestation* when we're trying to *reduce* the amount of commotion that's happening?!" <J-IC-Scene> Petra Soroka says, "Either we let the tiger fuck stuff up and blame it for the dead Middle guy, or we kill it before it touches anything."     The priest heaves a sigh as he drops the last of the scattered books into his pocket storage dimension. "What on earth is going on over there?" he quietly asks himself. He certainly won't have time to read all of them here today, but later, when the luxury of time is available, he can pore through them with some qualified friends. There's one last scan of the room for anything that looks like it might be helpful, to the Watch or to honing the Black Silence's approach into something more discriminate.
Madeleine Cadrasteia	Madeleine grimaces at the sight of so many bodies. So much for not making a mess. Sure, more of a mess could hypothetically be made - the building's still standing - but the Middle's going to have it in for anyone they can tie to this incident. She's almost relieved there appears to be no witnesses.     Then, as there too often is with Madeleine, there is a tiger.     <J-IC-Scene> Madeleine Cadrasteia says, "Ah, shit."     "This... happens sometimes," she says to the other elites, as if that's sufficient explanation for a supernatural ink monster. Drawing her spear, she begins to circle the room, carefully stepping over bodies while trying to keep eyes on the tiger. As it slinks back into the darkness she's still able to follow its rough movements with her superior vision, but as a surprising number of elites chime in with an interest in supporting her, she takes a different tack.     Gritting her teeth, she sighs, steps forward into the room, and holds her arms out to her side in a sort of 'are you not entertained' gesture. "Well?" she asks the tiger. "Come and get it." By the end of her taunt the reluctance has faded from her voice, but she makes no further moves toward the creature.     It's a ruse, of course. The agents of her mortal curse, though clever for beasts, are still beasts and she knows she has every tool necessary to survive, even if it'll cost her. When this ink-tiger pounces, it will find not Madeleine's flesh in its jaws but the plastic of a decoy placed just before the end of its leap. The huntress herself stands not ten feet away, beckoning for the creature to attack again. When it does she hops backward out of its reach, then switches directions suddenly - staying out in the open and firmly on the defensive, to keep the creature's attention solely fixed on her. Hopefully this gives one of her allies an opening for a critical blow...
Gaonoir	It's a good thing the Operators made the first breaching move because they're a bit more tactical about it. Gaonoir would of just punched his way through a wall. As is the Digimon and Tamer arrive just on their heels. Not that the hallway is anything of interest. No immeadiate sign of the quarry. On the bright side, there's no one there trying to kill them yet, either. The small office at least holds some interest admist it's disarray. "Whenever they were in here, they weren't very happy when they left," Gaonoir snorts as he crosses his arms. The investigating part of this matter isn't his strong suit. But that's what he has a Tamer for isn't it? "It would seem not." Erika crouchs down and picks up one of the books, turning it over in her hand and then spreading it open to flip through the pages. Just getting a general idea of what they contain. "They were looking for something...." Even it wasn't in the office or it's books, but it's still information. Knowing what the target didn't consider useful can narrow down future searches. She closes that one, and nods to Gaonoir, who huffs a bit and moves to grab a couple as well. Between the two of them and Berislav they can at least gather up a good number of them.
Sarracenia	'Why is everyone *saying* that just because I made a *friend*?!'      Sarra looks like she very much wants to say something, but hmphs softly. "Fine." she says, likely referring to giving Petra a break. "For Cinder."      FRONT ENTRANCE GROUP      As they enter and find the first dead body...Sarra hesitates. As more bodies are revealed by the roving lights, Sarra starts to look ill even though by all accounts the Middle likely deserves such treatment. She already did not like killing, but the week of constantly seeing people killed and being killed has certainly not helped. And these people don't have a Kukuru. Do colors kill so mercilessly? Or maybe Lilian did this, now that she thinks about it. Lilian did say something about 'handling it'.      As the tattoos start to drain and swirl, Sarra reaches instinctively into her purse...then blinks and whines softly as she remember her hammer is still broken. "...can I do that again without the slowed time..?" she murmurs to herself as she pulls out what almost looks like an iron-bound staff. The remains of her hammer. It would probably still hurt to get hit with, but it isn't the destructive force it was.      'Audrey looks at Petra, begging for directions.'      "I think this is unusual even by Multiversal standards." Sarra offers, always happy to poke her nose into Petra's business when not wanted. "But, it is fairly straightforward. We fight it!"      Ultraman leaps to wrestle it, and...instead of joining in the fray Sarra pulls out a Red Mushroom. "Ri-...ah...Ultraman! Take this!" She tosses it, and if taken it will boost Ultraman's natural strength and even his natural size! That should help with wrestling!
Nobunaga	> "Sure! Though miss... ...As she suggests, we should only be helping with an interrogation today!"     Nagayoshi's helmet flips up and into his armor, revealing the bright red hair and intense red eyes and a big stupid shark-toothed grin, "Interrogating, got it!"     Beside him, Nobunaga lets out a sigh, shaking out her umbrella, "And just like that we're roped into things." Wielding the umbrella one-handed, she clocks her retainer on the back of the head, "Don't forget who is who's retainer, idiot!"     Once inside, the taller warrior keeps his spear close though not quite at the ready. The smell of blood has already ignited his instincts. Pausing by the entry counter, Nobunaga uses just the hilt of her sword to nudge the corpse's head slightly, ". . ." She lifts her gaze to the doors to the dance floor and the utter lack of music or voices from there, "'Interrogation'. Hmm~... Are you certain there is anyone here *to* interrogate?"     As she says that, the warlord glances back towards the bulk of the group, pausing when Petra freaks out and Audrey defends herself. There's a moment of hesitation, and then Nobunaga releases her tension with a hearty laugh.     Into the dance floor-- a purple tiger materializes. Nagayoshi is immediately at the ready, his spear held at a sharp downward angle, blade turned skyward. Nobunaga raises a hand towards him, waving him off. > "This... happens sometimes."     Madeleine explains enough. Nobunaga's upraised hand shifts, sweeping forward. Old-style arquebi, a rifle of ancient Japanese make, materialize around her in a spray of red-gold sparks. Appearing at seemingly random orientations at first, when Nobunaga's gesture ends in a point, each gun swivels around suddenly on the tiger itself.     "I am not particularly fond of the pelt, so let's deal with this quickly and get back to what we came here for."     There's a distinct rattle of unmistakable gunfire as the rifles go off, then vanish as quickly as they appeared.
Petra Soroka	"No, the fault is mine. I suggested you drink."     Petra responds dryly, remembering the first time she got a little drunk as an Elite, on the yacht when she and Lilian were only slightly enemies before mortal enemies. "Well, you know, historically it makes me more tolerable, not less. Oopsie-daisy, I guess." <J-IC-Scene> Petra Soroka says, palm over her face, "Cadrasteia. What's with the tiger?" <J-IC-Scene> Madeleine Cadrasteia says, "Call it bad luck. Just... try not to get between it and me, it hates that."     God this fucking sucks. She hates these fucking people with all her heart, most days. If Olivier had just texted *her alone* out of everybody, then Petra could've been ten times as effective *and* not created a tiger in the middle of the dance floor, *and* she wouldn't be having yet another person make fun of her for moving on so quickly from her recently dead girlfriend by, unforgivably, being on friendly terms with a new acquaintance. She misses Lobotomy Corporation. She misses the fucking war, when she could finally just tell people where they'd be useful and they'd actually do it, and nothing else mattered. "Now it's your turn. Surely you should be able to figure it out." <J-IC-Scene> Petra Soroka makes an aggravated noise that grows into a groan. "No. No. We either contain this, or we use it, no matter how much I'd prefer to see you get mauled by a tiger." <J-IC-Scene> Petra Soroka says, "Either we let the tiger fuck stuff up and blame it for the dead Middle guy, or we kill it before it touches anything."     She'll manage. Either that, or she'll kill herself, and she's not doing that *here* even though she thinks it'd be dimly funny to have Audrey see that on her first mission. So, for today, she has to manage, despite how hard other Elites insist on making it.     The fact that the building is full of corpses doesn't even make Petra blink, after all of Angela's memories. She dips her head in Audrey's direction, scanning the ground for a reflective-enough puddle of blood, and then dips down into a squat. She places her palm into the puddle carelessly while chatting tactics to Audrey.     "The goal's to keep it from ruining the rest of the club and potentially killing any survivors. If you have any way of stopping it from getting to any of the exits from this room, or mauling any of the corpses, or just blowing it up, that'd be ideal. I'll..."     Palm stained red, she grabs a charcoal-and-fire sword out of the blood's reflection, standing back up. She sighs, utterly drained by the prospect of this mission from the very start. "I'll be right back. I'd love to say it's not always like this, but I'm sorry. They're always this incompetent."     Petra blinks away and vanishes to appear next to Madeleine, sword upraised to catch the tiger's jaws as they hang open. She shoves it back against the edges of its mouth with the inertia of its own leap, then slides her foot back and twists violently to swing the sword at an angle along the tiger's followthrough, an arc of flame trailing behind the sword. When Geed pins it to the ground, a spike of gleaming morphmetal the thickness of her thigh juts out of the fluid blob cloud spilling out of her pocket, ramming through the tiger once it's held still.
Tamamo	'Why would you even think that?'     'Why is everyone *saying* that just because I made a *friend*?!'     "Everyone is saying... what, precisely?" says Tamamo, as if she hadn't just clearly intended a particular understanding of her words by the revulsion in her eyes alone, but it is now Petra who is merely paranoid.     'My girlfriend just fucking *died*, give me a *break*!'     ...he looks at Tamamo with a pained expression as if asking her to lay off...     For any but a handful of people, that would have worked. As it is, Tamamo looks thoroughly unconvinced. Odd, perhaps, given that she knows Petra is telling the truth. Less odd, perhaps, if someone had the same slices of information about the week-long war as she has.     'E-Excuse m-- w-we are not! That is, entirely, a coincidence!'     "Yes, it is terribly coincidental. The two of you are from nowhere close to the same planet, after all." At least her expression is mostly neutral, in speaking to Audrey. Or, maybe, that's not particularly better, since it reveals nothing at all conclusive about what what she's thinking.     'I am Audrey Basque, Crown White, and it is my pleasure to make your acquaintance.'     "A pleasure, Ms. Basque."     Tamamo thinks about giving some warnings. A year ago, she would have. Now, however... nothing really came of all her efforts. It's more than a little frustrating, that it took a totally unrelated incident, and a great many people dying, for her to get just this one thing she wanted to happen. Maybe she should just be happy with that -- and she is, to an extent. But when she looks at Audrey, genuine pity wells up again, and she says, carefully, "You may come to me if there is anything you require, even if only advice. It is rarely unwise to ask, even if one is only slightly uncertain."     Then, as there too often is with Madeleine, there is a tiger. <J-IC-Scene> Tamamo says, "I see. We should certainly deal with this first, then... unless we happen upon a survivor. I have seen only those beyond our helping, so far."     If the others want to make a good impression, better intercede.     If only Tamamo was at all aware of that happening.     And it doesn't leap immediately at Madeleine, rather, it slinks back into the darkness, faintly growling as it looks for the opportunity to pounce.     "How troublesome. A creature of paper would be easier than one of ink, by far."     Stepping around the dark signs of death and clubbing, "I would gladly trade either for a single witness. Is the Black Silence even here? We may be too late to be of any help to Mr. Olivier's request." And even if they weren't, she's yet to think of any way to redirect the Color to some direction that isn't Angela. Even if she was fine with it -- which she isn't really -- Lilian clearly isn't. She has only the faintest idea of another lead, but it's not one that can be 'followed,' and that's the real issue. Desperate times, perhaps, call for faint hopes.     Oh, right. The tiger stalking them. Rather, stalking one of them. Knowing what she does of curses, that makes Tamamo take it as a little less serious -- from just being personally less dangerous, unless she's quite unlucky. It is very dangerous to one person here, of course, and they can't very well leave it alone if it's not the type that fades at dawn.     If it really is a matter of Madeleine's luck, then that is something she can fix. Tamamo subtly goes about doing so, reaching into that unseen place for the threads of Fate surrounding her immediate future, selecting and reweaving for the critical avoidance of an ambush.
Odette Raskins	OUTSIDE, JUST BEFORE GOING IN Familiar faces arrive, and Odette's eager enough to greet them shortly before joining the back entrance team. Riku's helped out here and in a completely different war unrelated to last week's, so that gets him points! Madeleine's also familiar enough to get a wave, although Odette might still be feeling a little awkward about the manor business. Sarracenia gets a quick wave and a brief staring at just like the last time they met. The eyepatch and palette swap might have a lot to do with that. Odette eventually gives her an 'understanding' nod and "It's okay. I felt like that a few years ago, too." without further elaboration. Tamamo gets a longer stare, partially because of that dress, and partially because of the sharp contrast between this and her previous look just a few days ago. There's also some visible confusion at her comments to Petra, as Odette is very much out of the loop and also clueless in general. Petra's helpful as ever in filling in newcomers to this situation, and Odette actually smiles a bit while waving at her from a distance. If she looks over at the EMT, she'll even get a quick thumbs-up before said EMT gets distracted by Audrey nearby! Audrey's a new face entirely, but her proximity to Petra isn't all that surprising to the EMT. Odette is, however, a little anxious about greeting her right this moment just before a job, though, so she'll have to remember to speak to her later. Maybe over the radio or something. For now, she gives Audrey a quick wave in greeting, and then... BACK ENTRANCE Time to go inside. Odette visibly breathes easier when Berislav's nearby to help her play the part of the non-threatening duo. She even remembers to keep her syringes in her bag so she doesn't tip people off by just walking around with loaded syringes in her hand! "Thanks for the backup, Father Waters. This should make it easier for them to focus on..." She trails off, gesturing at the Redshifts further ahead. "On finding Mister Silence. O-or anyone that might have intel we... Need?" She adds as she moves along that hallway, keeping to the sides and nodding at Red Dwarf without looking once he issues that order. "All these books... Got it, Mister Dwarf." As she ducks into that book-keeper office along with Berislav, Odette snatches up anything else he leaves behind at at random and shoves them right into her bag. Are they useful? Are they not? She didn't actually look at what she grabbed, so she'll find out later! There's doors to keep an eye on, after all, so she heads back out to cover the one to her left  and presses her ear against it. "I'll let you know when it's safe." She stage-whispers at the door, partially out of slight concern for whoever's behind it, partially because she's hedging her bets on being able to get someone to follow her, and partially so Red Giant doesn't have to get his hands dirty. Berislav might notice her looking a little too intently in the direction of the restroom while she's covering that door.
Audrey Basque	Petra's instructions are a very, very welcome update to the situation. Regaining whatever passes as her composure these days, Audrey enters the club, to join the matters of TIGER WRANGLING which seem to be so pressing.     The umbrella snaps shut, and whatever Tamamo said - actually seems to cause Audrey to furrow her brows. "Thank you. I will remember the offer."     She doesn't need pity, least of all from--     Hm. That's not a good crack.     Audrey reaches a hand out, feeling for the room's space. Pearlescent white, flickering strands reach out from her palm, like cracks in a mirror. This is easy. She knows how to do THIS, even if the situation escapes her somewhat.     She tugs on one of the strands, and the entire room suddenly shifts. It's sudden, disorienting, like a spatial layer got pulled back and stretched.     The walls are a good mile away now. Nothing has changed elsewhere in the building, let alone outside, but the room is immense now, placing any valuable furniture or bodies away from the tiger while at it.     ... and weirdly, trying to move towards the exits doesn't seem to do anything either. The room just stretches, to keep its extremities away from people trying to reach them.
Angela	BACK ENTRANCE Gaonoir and Erika can gather up books but they're written in a cipher--a codebreaker will be needed to examine them properly, or at least someone with access to an internet website that can do it for them. Perhaps the Black Silence could read them and found nothing useful for himself or couldn't and got too frustrated to take them with him. Either seems plausible. And Red Dwarf's right. It IS leadless. The Black Silence is running hot, just like Olivier warned the others. While he's doing a great job at clearing out people who prey on others he's not doing a great job of gathering intel at all. Odette can gather books and press her head against a door. She hears...rain from outside it and some cool air coming in. IT probably doesn't lead directly outside--but it's unlocked. If she opens the door she'll find a stairwell leading to a fire escape. Berislav can take another look around too. He doesn't find much else that is of interest to this case but one look in a drawer reveals a small photograph of Shajo from ten years ago, dolled up in purple tattoos and golden chains--still wearing his glasses. A note on the back of the photograph says 'Find him. He can't leave the family while he still has our tats.' ''Red Giant helpfully opens a door!'' This immediately results in high pitched screaming and a scampering towards the back of the bathroom. He can push aside the various trashbins and junk used to pile up against the door with ease. ''Don't try running'' The person behind the door looks to be some kind of male dancer, a bloodsplattered feather boa around his neck, no shirt, and some tight leather pants. There's no purple tattoos on him at all, though there is a mermaid (not the horrifying kind) on his left tattooed on his left arm in completely normal ink. "Don't kill me...!" The dancer begs. "I had nothing to do with it! I don't know anything about it! I just work here!" ''About tech that starts from the neck up and ends with craters.'' "Waa...hhhh..." The man sinks down against the back of the room, covering his face. "Wings... I just fucking work here... It was the only place that still had lighting in the neighborhood... I knew it was too good to be true..." He might know more but he's INCREDIBLY TERRIFIED. Meanwhile, the medic makes her way to the doors at the back. To the left side, Odette's checking that, leaving the medic with the right, which seems to be a storage room--but before the medic can investigate that too keenly, she's bound to smell--a little bit of smoke drifting from nearby from the dance floor. A quick look will show the outline of a wolfheaded individual who has hefted up a DJ table with one hand, and is gripping the doorframe with another. She murmurs to the medic, "Yo. Give me a sec."
Angela	FRONT ENTRANCE Dart stalls upon seeing Audrey's distress. "Milady, there is naught to fear but it may be unpleasant therein even if naught will happen to you." She asides to the noblelady. Nobunaga unleashes the power of GUN. It impacts solidly against the tiger, pushing it back, but the bullets sink partially through the ink before being violently expelled outward--not so violently that it can be used as counter projectiles, but it might give someone a bit of a jump before they tumble to the ground some feet away. The very ink composing this Tiger is empowered--Petra would know that the ink the Middle uses isn't just for normal tattoos, they are some kind of empowerment augmentation that the Middle uses that makes them extra strong and extra tough. Obviously a tiger completely composed of the stuff shouldn't be possible, but this may as a result be a bit of a tougher Tiger than what usually kills Madeleine simply because of the material. The Tiger's attention is certainly on Madeleine, but it's sticking to the darkness in the way, well, a tiger might. Periodically the lights from above reveal the creature for a second or two but by the time it happens again, it's lurking somewhere completely different. Riku realizes that this is actually a problem for him. He can leap for the tiger but by the time he moves on the creature it's gone back into the dark. And he just can't see it otherwise. It MIGHT be easier to follow Madeleine's plan here and jump the creature as it tries to pounce Madeleine. Nobunaga's gun has some advantage in that she doesn't have to close in on the creature to shoot it. Which it promptly tries to do. But SOMEONE is ready for it this time because an entire table is flung like a projectiule right at it, catching it in the side and smashing it far away from Madeleine before it fades into the darkness again. Did Tamamo weaving the fabric of fate around her encourage that to happen? The origin point of whomever threw it is still shrouded in darkness. ...The Tiger makes for one more leap whereupon Petra gets there in time to swipe at it with Fourth Match Flame, cleaving a full limb off the beast--EGO Weaponry rips through it as if the limb wasn't even there. It growls in fury, taking a swipe with a big paw for Petra which may be a chance for the others. EGO weaponry was basically neccessary to work at Lobotomy Corp but outside of it? It might not spell instant victory just by having it, but it seems particularly effective against City technology. As if they were made to be. Which they were. The Tiger's own escape routes are cut off, as it tries to pull away, it is forced to linger in the light longer and longer. Meanwhile, the stretching of the room casts light on the one who is lingering by the doorway leading out from/into the dancefloor as well. A woman is sanding there, wearing the garb of a Middle Big Sister including all the golden chains and the like. Glimpses of her tattoos have revealed them to now be golden but that's a small change compared to what's obvious--On her shoulders is not the head of a human woman, but the head of a black wolf with long hair combed back along the back of her head. Madeleine will recognize the hairstyle as belonging to Tanya, even if the rest is new. In her mouth is an old fashioned pipe, which she is smoking. "...Hey pup." She says to MAdeleine. "If you're here for the Black Silence...'Fraid you just missed him." She blows smoke out from her nostrils. "Kept talking nonsense." She is, notably, holding onto the doorframe to avoid Audrey's magic pulling her away from it--an instinctive gesture, she has no idea how Audrey's doing it or that it IS Audrey doing it.
Riku Asakura	Geed isn't able to grasp onto the tiger as he had planned, the darkness concealing it perfectly.  Worse, the room stretches and causes vertigo causing the Ultraman to be disoriented by the shape of the room no longer being the actual shape of the room.  Once he gets used to it, he changes his plan. "Darn," he says unable to get ahold of the tiger. He waits for the tiger to pounce again, not initially putting himself in front of Madeline's way but the moment it leaps or goes for her, he puts himself in the way and uses his superior strength and size (thanks Sarra) to try and grab onto the massive tiger and drag the strange creature to the ground and pin it.   Once more, try to give everyone else a shot at it so that it'll go down quickly.  He also tries to keep it from going after the human woman that just seems to materialize in the room.  "Please ma'am, stay back, this is a dangerous creature!" he calls out to her, though listens to what she has to say about the Black Silence just left.
Redshift Operators	"Whenever they were in here, they weren't very happy when they left."     "Or when they got here." The leaderly gunman grumbles. "He's in a mental disaster. Having trouble keeping up enough to get his blade to the right necks. Hey!"     He raps his knuckles on the frame, an obnoxious knock-knock. "You hear him give any idea *why* he thought you folks knew about the weirder tech? You know who I'm talking about." The giant fully extracts the door in one dramatic final motion, fully revealing the cross-armed squad leader. "Any crazy stuff he said. Anything he was yelling. Anything that didn't make sense." He steps forward, jabbing an index finger a bit. "You work here. You know *club clients*. What was his mentals like."     "Yo. Give me a sec."     "A mons--...!" Pause. "...Ahem. Far be it for me to interrupt." The ninja medic gently rests a metal hand on her katana, but doesn't draw it. It's just a reasonable posture for a stranger. "We seek... a conclusion to the fury of the Black Silence." She keeps a step back. Is "wolf head" normal around here? That... feels untrue. "A righting of a wrong-set world, that it might spin more truly with a few key breaths now left untaken. But I suspect the Middle is not the ones to draw them -- at best, perhaps know names of those who would know. Do *you* know?"     Caution. But decently conversational. And not stopping the search in the storage area. Of the strange wolfheaded person, that is. Why... does this person have a *wolf head?* The precognitive resists the urge to test what would happen if she asked, and instead focuses on making sure to predict any surge in violence.
Madeleine Cadrasteia	The tiger is missing a limb and caught out in the open - with an advantage secured, now is the time to take the offensive. Madeleine lowers her stance and brings her speak down in front of her, keeping its point between her and the beast. She and the limping tiger circle each other, until Madeleine hears Tanya's voice and nearly drops her guard.     "...Hey pup."     "I told you not to-" then Madeleine glances in Tanya's direction and sees the wolf head. "Woah, your FACE! Since when are you a wolf?"     Ultraman Geed leaps at the tiger for a grapple, and Madeleine feints with her spear to keep its attention on her. Once he has a hold on the beast, she swipes at its face with her spear and then throws her weight behind a downward thrust through its neck. If this is sufficient to dispatch the curse-creature Madeleine turns, leaving her weapon in one hand while she regards Tanya's new look.     "You don't have to tell me that he was here, but it's good to know he's left. But what sort of nonsense, mm? There's like, half a dozen of us and I'm *really* far away from the walls so you'd better tell us. Besides," she adds hastily, "if we catch up to him maybe we can set him on track to do something that doesn't involve flattening the rest of your organization."
Gaonoir	Cracking a cipher isn't hard relatively speaking. One would just need a good database of various codes, patterns and calculations. Erika can likely code a program to do all the heavy work of the matter with her computer skills. But that would take the internet, Watch codebreaker resources, someone who's a little too into conspiracies (in other words Erika herself), and most importantly power to run a computer with both the processing strength and speed to do the job. So while entirely possible, it's not viable in middle of The City's lack of an active and stable power grid. And even if they're not related to The Black Silence's rampage, it could be potential information The Watch can use in their own ventures in The City, so it's still worth gathering up. With books collected to pursuit cracking later, Gaonoir and Erika head back out into the hallway to check on the others. Gaonoir is maybe a little annoyed he's missing a fight, but that fight isn't important to the mission at hand, so it doesn't really matter. "Yeah, his head ain't on straight anymore," Gaonoir agrees with the gunman leader's assessment. "Unstable and obsessed... But that's also gonna make eventual confrontation dangerous." The crew has the questioning in hand, so Gaonoir just stands back to admire their approach. While Erika has her digital tablet out, making some notes for later.
Sarracenia	OUTSIDE, JUST BEFORE GOING IN      Sarra is briefly stared at by Odette yet again. The princess doesn't shy away this time, though. Attention in any form that is not hateful is welcome, and Sarra has had some time to get used to her new look now. She offers a slight smirk as Odette stares, and gives her silvery hair a slight toss.      INSIDE      Sarra is giving Petra a break...so she is very glad that Tamamo is here to give Petra a hard time. And just in general. Sarra has always thought well of Tamamo. Even during the whole 'shot by Lilian' incident, Tamamo remained composed and defended Lilian with dignity.      And it helps that Tamamo does not seem to hate her. Or is very good at hiding it. But, given how she interacts with Petra Sarra is fairly certain she would know if Tamamo hated her.      'Yes, it is terribly coincidental. The two of you are from nowhere close to the same planet, after all.'      "How did you two say you met, again?" Sarra asks, trying to join in without directly giving Petra a hard time.      After throwing the room, Sarra hears two things. 'Blow it up' and 'this might be a bit disorienting'. Usually Sarra would be eager to do the first and not worried about the second, but right now her explosives and her have a bit of thing going on and she is still somewhat unstead from the exhaustion of the war. As such, Sarra hangs on to the nearest fixture for support at the warning.      It is a good thing too, because when the room shifts Sarra yelps softly and almost loses her footing. Then...her eyes widen. "Oh my goodness! Audrey, you did that? Have you met a Captain Ivy Carrow by chance?" she says as she continues to hang on to a table for a few more moments with an awed look on her face.      Once the room stabilizes a bit, Sarra moves to join the fight. The wolf-headed woman will have to wait! Sarra hasn't met Tanya, so her being wolf-headed is only a surprise because being wolf-headed is unusual.      Sarra doesn't swing her broken hammer at the tiger though. Instead...she pulls out some spot removing spray and starts spraying it! It is made of ink, right? Surely that means that spot remover will work on it!
Nobunaga	Bullets aren't as effective as Nobunaga would like; the tiger fails to be pierced by them. Even if it were just a manifestation of ink, the satisfying gloopy result is robbed from her. She puts up a hand and arm defensively over her face, though the shots lack the speed to be that much of a threat on the way back. > "Hey pup. If you're here for the Black Silence... 'fraid you just missed him. Kept talking nonsense."     The warlord recovers her composure quickly, gesturing. Beside her, Nagayoshi lets out a triumphant shout. His helmet snaps up and forward to cover his face as he lunges into the tiger melee with spear in hand. If Maddie's lance doesn't do the job, it's a fair bet the screaming madman with the sharp stick will wrap things up.     "Hooh~?" Nobunaga's posture straightens, taking a moment to adjust her gloves without looking at the Middle associate, "So it seems someone in here managed to avoid becoming a corpse just yet. Good, good." In actuality, she's getting her feet under her after Audrey messed with the room's dimensions and thus her own sense of Real Space. <Tac-Concord> 4 Madeleine Cadrasteia says, "That's Tanya, one of their 'Big Sisters'."     An arquebus rifle materializes; Nobunaga takes it in one hand, resting it over her shoulder as she turns just enough to rest crimson eyes on the wolf-headed woman-- a wolf head that doesn't seem to bother her that much. Behind her, Nagayoshi is already leaping on the tiger spear-first, laughing like a lunatic.     "There really are two ways this could happen, you know. I'd suggest the easy way; tell the lady what she wants to know." Her eyes close, head tilting back as she puts on a rather sinister smile, "The hard way isn't what you probably think it'll be. I am Oda Nobunaga; and I have no use for birds that will not sing."
Petra Soroka	"How did you two say you met, again?"     Petra shoots a withering look over her shoulder at Sarracenia. The urge to say nothing, or shout a stream of insults at how mind-numbingly aggravating Sarracenia's being, or disgorge the scalding-cold resentment and apathy that she can feel building back up in her chest, are all effortfully suppressed.     "... Why? The Concord acceptance dinner a few days ago. What's your issue?"     Petra is momentarily surprised by the effectiveness of her EGO, but she chalks it up to Madeleine's curse actually being completely bitchmade. With the tiger limping and slower, her flickering steps can readjust her position retroactively to be out of reach of its swiping claws, though with it trying to take her down, she doesn't have the space to breathe and retaliate.     Even while being attacked by a curse tiger, Petra spares the time to snap at her allies and scold them directionlessly. "Didn't I tell you to avoid making a mess? Whoever threw that table--"     Tanya appears, but the encoded combat instinct in the EGO weapon keeps Petra's focus sharp, and when the tiger's disabled by Geed a second time, Petra plunges Fourth Match Flame into its flank along with Madeleine. Bubbling ink-steam comes up around the puncture wound made by the flaming sword, and charcoal-fragments of seared tiger spill off it when she withdraws the weapon.     Tanya being some disorienting superposition of very far away and close by makes Petra dizzy to try and keep in her mind, so she takes after Angela's habit again and closes her eyes. Her morphmetal returns floating in a ring around her, brushing up against the tiger so she'll sense if it moves, and lightly touching all the Elites within reach too. <Tac-Concord> 4 Madeleine Cadrasteia says, "That's Tanya, one of their 'Big Sisters'." <Tac-Concord> 4 Audrey Basque says, "Should I eject her?" <Tac-Concord> 4 Petra Soroka says, "God. I forgot the Middle was about that pervert shit." <Tac-Concord> 4 Petra Soroka says, "Would you be able to kick her out of the room if she started to attack? I mean, if the Black Silence is gone already...." <Tac-Concord> 4 Audrey Basque says, "I can eject her if she turns out hostile, yes." <Tac-Concord> 4 Petra Soroka says, "Blessed. I'll count on you if she does."     Petra wonders in the back of her mind if she'd be able to shoot Tanya from here if needed. Maybe she'd need to coordinate some sort of fate-guided 'path' through the expanded room with Audrey to manage it-- the thought makes her actually a little bit excited to figure out how that might be able to work with her, later.     Eyes closed, ink-splattered, blood on her palms and a flaming sword on her back, Petra turns her face towards Tanya. "Do you have an idea where he's going? You and I don't have beef, and if you've got problems with her," Chin motion towards Madeleine, "That doesn't make you my enemy."     The number of 'Sisters' lost here makes Petra think about Argalia and Angelica's corpse again, and the origin of the Black Silence's bloody rampage. She swallows. "... I think there's been a lot of 'family' lost here that didn't need to be. If you know anything about where he went, I'd really appreciate it."
Odette Raskins	Nobody answers Odette, but she does hear something else just as useful: The rain! ""A breeze? But I thought this place only had the front and the... Wait." As she reports in to the group, Odette's suspicions grow only stronger between that and the light draft coming in through the door. She confirms it rather quickly once she pushes the door open, looking up and down at the stairwell a few times to make sure. "This door leads out of here. Plenty of stairs, but I think this one goes outside." With that little tidbit of information packed away, Odette jumps in place slightly when she hears that scream coming from the restroom. She can easily tell it's not Red Giant screaming, but it's still concerning enough that she has to abandon the door in favor of staring at the wolfheaded person inside with that deer-in-the-headlights looks. "Um... M-Missus Dwarf? Let me know if you need a hand. I'll be over there." The EMT whispers to the medic, swallowing down some of her nervousness before finally turning away from the wolfheaded person and instead shuffling over towards the restroom just as Red Giant detaches that restroom door for Red Dwarf. Noticing that clear fear response, she shuffles over to the side of the giant that Red Dwarf isn't standing on, and she grabs... Her entire bag. She turns it a bit to show the terrified dancer that there's a medical symbol and the Company's logo on it, balancing the bottom of the bag with one hand and pointing at it with her other hand. "Hello! Um. D-don't worry, we're not here to hurt you. Actually.. Are you hurt? We can help." The EMT actually manages to smile reassuringly in a wholly natural way for once. Being in such close proximity to the red ops might have a lot to do with that. Knowing that Berislav's there to help with his mental state certainly doesn't hurt her confidence, either, and knowing that she's not in anyone's crosshairs just yet.
Tamamo	...and the entire room suddenly shifts. It's sudden, disorienting, like a spatial layer got pulled back and stretched.     "Oh...?"     Tamamo wasn't given a warning about this happening, but Sarra suggesting Audrey was responsible narrows her attention. "Spatial magic, is it? It is... no, I suppose it is somewhat different from that which is familiar to myself. Are you also able to 'cut' space?"     'If it's not that killing myself on the spot would actually be a fine idea then I don't know if it'd help me feel any better, but shoot.'     She resists commenting, though she does glance Petra's way.     'If you're here for the Black Silence...'Fraid you just missed him.'     Tamamo's discomfited expression at the wolf's head passes, momentarily. "As I feared we would be. I suppose this trip will have been for nothing, if we do not find a trail to follow." Without mentioning any of the several ways her own skills could arrange that, "I do not suppose you would be willing to render aid, in that regard, miss...?"     Happily, Tamamo leaves the matter of finishing off a tiger to others.
Father Berislav	Berislav frowns, peering intently at the picture.     He looks familiar. Where have I seen him before?     The priest turns the photo over and sees the note. Who has he heard of that left the Middle? The date printed on the photo means... <J-IC-Scene> Father Berislav says, "That fellow who used to be with the Middle--the one who got married, recently. What was his name? Shajo?" <J-IC-Scene> Petra Soroka confirms, "Shajo. Why?" <J-IC-Scene> Father Berislav says, "I've just found something here--it looks like there were plans to track him down and punish him for having left."     He pockets the photograph. Whether the Middle is capable of doing that or not, it's best if any identifiable information is taken out of their hands. <J-IC-Scene> Petra Soroka says, "Oh. I think I heard about them trying that before actually." <J-IC-Scene> Father Berislav says, "I don't know how plausible it would be for them to do so now, but it's not unheard of for outfits like this to enforce down when they start to crumble. He might be a target of opportunity. I'm sure he and his loved ones would appreciate some warning, if you happen to have a way of reaching him." <J-IC-Scene> Petra Soroka says, "Yeah, I'll send it along. Works as a fucking apology gift to him, I guess."     Berislav nods. A high pitched scream and the commotion of sudden movement draw his attention. He makes a calm, slow approach, towards Red Giant, who is fine. His palm gently rests on the operative's shoulder as a means of saying 'coming through' without so many words, quietly edging past the much more imposing Watchman.      "You must be very frightened," says Berislav. "I promise it's alright. Isn't that so?" he says, turning his head towards the apparent object of the dancer's fear.      "I'd like you to do something for me," he says to the dancer. "Take a deep breath. Then, I'd like you to let it out, and tell me three things that you see in this room, name three sounds that you hear, and then move three parts of your body."      "Are you hurt?"
Audrey Basque	Is that woman holding onto the doorframe??     Audrey stares. That's. Clever, actually.     She'd never thought about that.     The joys of having no experience.     So she's a... Big Sister? Whatever that means. She's with the Middle! That's probably important. So many things to ask Petra and Angela. A lot of notes to take. She should've brought a notebook.     The others seem to have the tiger handled, but a handle can't hurt. Audrey pulls her hand back, undoing the buttons on her blazer to whip it open. Stars and constellations shine inside, contrasting the white of her blouse with the oddly pitch black night sky interior that lines the blazer.     "If it's here... and there... like this!"     This time the effect is more subdued. Motes of reflective, pearly white light swell but briefly around her, warping the air around her just a bit.     She subjects to tiger to a sudden increase in gravity, two or three fold should do the job without damaging the floor. The effect is localized enough it won't impact the ones fighting it - until they take a swing at it, or if the tiger manages to jump on one of them.     She looks back at Sarracenia, awkwardly responding: "Y-Yes. The dinner. We had to share a ride there." That's absolutely, certainly what it was.     Then to Tamamo: "Not literally, but if you want the room to be smaller, I can adjust that too." Cutting space, though? That sounds destructive. Warping and bending it sounds a lot safer.
Angela	FRONT ENTRANCE Tanya ignores Riku warning her and also Riku, but Riku CAN grapple the tiger which is TRYING to ignore Riku but can't really get out of his grasp thanks to his Sarracenia-empowered-size! Sarracenia tries to spray it and manages to but it doesn't seem to be weak to spot remover. The creature does try to claw her face off but is only able to swing at half a face at best due to Riku's efforts. Nagayashi can spear the beast with his spear well enough--the tattoo ink seems to resist it but he's anime enough to punch into it, though not enough to dispatch it. The tiger can't quite get at HIM though, so that's nice. Nobunaga can threaten Tanya who just glances at her, unrecognizing, and it FEELS like she's being threatened even if she's saying it isn't what she thinks it. Tanya logics it through, "I think you're threatening me, but since you say it's not what I think, I guess that just means you're no threat." She's not hostile, but she's still a JERK. "But I got no reason to hold back. You going after the Black Silence isn't exactly bad for me, though it might be bad for you." The wolf's ink makes itself slippery and it slips from Riku's grasp, leaping for Madeleine once more, but this time Audrey's on top of that--and the creature suddenly seizes in midair and slams down hard into the floor, allowing Petra to get a dig into its flank that seems to severely wound it and take the fight out of it as it collapses back down to the floor, allowing Madeleine to get a coup de grace off of it. The tiger dissipitates shortly after, the ink remaining nothing but a small purple pool. Dart, who was staying near Audrey, whistles. "You are incredible, milady!" She says. She takes a moment to start rifling through the effects of the fallen Middle members, mostly for identification--she's not the type of person to do this just for some cash, but it doesn't seem to be relevant to the current situation but at least a list of the dead can be put out.
Angela	BACK ENTRANCE The dancer would like very much to answer all the questions his interrogators might have but he's having trouble understanding the situation until Red Dwarf steps in to talk to him. He's even scarier than Red Giant to him right now but he is able to put the questions in a way that he can understand. "Okay okay, um, what happened. After Lambent Dragon happened, the Sisters and Brothers here were ordered to retreat, but these ones stuck around. I don't know who they were after, but it's not really unusual for them to be after someone like that! Lambent Dragon took out like half of Tanya's crew, she bitched about it a LOT--and then the fucking Black Silence got the rest. I locked myself in here and hid but I guess he didn't realize I hid or I wasn't who he was after. A locked door wouldn't stop him either... He was talking about something called The Pianist? It's hard to get news from outside here lately, most of my friends are local... But he kept demanding and the Middle was like 'we don't know what you're talking about'. And that made him real mad. When he got to the Big Sister, she told him to go ahead and run her through and he did. But by then I was locked in the bathroom. I didn't hear much after that. It's like he lost his mind but he never raised his voice." Odette arriving calms the man down considerably. He has some cuts and bruises, though none of it is major. Still, it's someone Odette can help and Odette can help prevent infection with some early care here. The dancer mumbles a, "Thanks Miss. Are you Syndicate or Fixer?" The dancer breathes in and breathes out as instructed. He blinks twice and recognition enters his eyes. "H-hey...aren't you with the Yurodiviye?" A flicker of hope returns to his eyes. Tanya, who seems to have healed up from that encounter--on closer insepction there seems to be a slice through her shirt that is nearly impossible to see--doesn't seem inclined to attack White Dwarf right now. She's not going to attack anyone unless they A) Insult her to the point that only violence can suffice as an answer or B) they attack her first. The wolf-headed woman seems to approve of White Dwarf being both ready to use her katana and not actually drawing it in a panic. ''We seek a conclusion to the fury of the Black Silence.'' The Wolf blows smoke out from her pipe as a replacement for a sigh. "Right now, that man's treating the whole City as his enemy. He's not going to stop with us. Doubt he's gonna even stop with the people responsible, if he ever finds them. Feels like someone who's been screwed by The City in more than one way and now he wants revenge."The Middle--far as I know--doens't know anything about it. We'd fuckin' tell him if we knew. We weren't stupid enough to mess with the Black Silence. Most people wouldn't be. I don't know nothing 'bout the Pianist, but...ansi+purple,") She's not even gonna comment on the Wolf Head, it seems, until Madeleine speaks about the obvious. "Tch. Dunno, lost track of time while bleeding out. Couldn't have been that long." She says. "Yeah, I can tell you where he's going. He said where he was headed next. Figured I'd be too dead to spill it, I guess."
Angela	She gives a small nod to Tamamo, indicating her willingness to at least give them all a tip. The rage she had at Madeleine seems to be gone, in fact. The anger in general. She's shown some irritation, but even that was pretty mild so far. Her eyes squint at Tamamo as if she's curious about something, though the eyes are focused on her ears and tails so at first it seems like the usual City reaction but it seems to be giving her an extra moment of pause than the others. "He said he was sure the Director of Trideag knew something about went down so he's headed after her next. Normally I doubt he'd pick a fight with the one who beat The Red Mist but if he doesn't get what he wants to hear. And who knows what kinda mess he'd make in the meantime. If you hurry now you might catch up to him." And with that she seems intent on walking towards the door leading into the fire escape, having shared what she knows. "Madeleine, as you see I don't got a gang anymore so you don't have to worry about me going after you anymore. Might fight if we cross paths, but the hunt's over. I got some thinking to do." Though she stalls again at Petra's words and looks back to her. Looking at her. "...Looks kind of like a Liu sword but never seen one stay ignited like that. ... You seem like you would've been a good Sister. I don't know anything else, we were totally blindsided but--" She raises her hand like she's going to chuck it at Petra, reconsiders due to her seeming a lot farther away than she thought she'd be, and then just slides the card into the storage room's doorframe. With that done, she starts making her way back to the fire escape. Which IS blocked off, but she doesn't know that!
Riku Asakura	With the tiger handled for now, Riku turns back to normal.  The Geed form burned off with a white light-like flame.  He turns towards the wolf-faced woman and listens to her speak.  Tanya seems to have lost a lot tonight, and it causes Riku to frown.  His heart bleeds for her and her loss, and he isn't sure what to say.   He listens about the Black Silence and him going after the leader of Trideag itself.  "Wait, wouldn't that be Lilian?  We have to warn and help her," Riku says, putting aside all of his complicated feelings about the woman and immediately turning to leave.  They have to catch up to the Black Silence to stop this rampage! However, he pauses before Tanya leaves and he speaks up.  "I'm sorry for your loss..." he says but it seems to be all he can say.  The words just don't come.  Enemies, rivals, allies... it doesn't matter right now, she lost something important to her.  The lives of her gang, to which might have been family.   It's a lot to swallow.
Nobunaga	> ". . .I guess that just means you're no threat."     Nobunaga laughs. A full, hearty belly laugh that shakes her Japanese-average frame starting from the shoulders. It takes her a bit to recover from that one, though laughing doesn't prevent her from hearing what Tanya has to say about the Black Silence or his next target. She presumes that's what caused this whole mess, anyway.     Eyes closed, she tilts her head aside and wipes at laugh-tears with the gloved thumb of her free hand.     "You know what? Maybe that's the case."     No objections, no leaky need to be seen as a menace. Anyone familiar with the Demon King's history probably realizes just how this plays into how she operates. Shoulders lifting in a shrug, she dismisses the rifle she had been holding, bringing her hands up to either side, "It can't be helped!"     The wolf-headed woman leaves. Nobunaga's posture shifts, one hand resting on her hip, "'Trideag'. I heard that name before. I'd meant to visit eventually, anyway. Might as well move that up, then." Tilting her head back, she barks, "Mori!"     The huge man in offwhite armor lurches out of the melee, covered in-- it's unclear if that's blood or ink in the lighting, and even less clear if it's his or not. He wrenches his spear from the tiger and disengages with a swift series of backstep-hops, planting the spear's haft on the floor while he uses his free hand to push his helmet covering back, "I think we got this handled, boss."     "We'll be sticking with this lot for now," Nobunaga states evenly, her eyes wandering from where Tanya left to the others; passing over Riku and Petra and Audrey to Madeleine who, at least, was the lead on the questions that got them useful information, "And I suggest we move out before the trail goes cold."
Audrey Basque	Since the tiger is handled - and Tanya does not SEEM to be hostile anymore, and Tamamo needs access to the bodies, Audrey looks about the room, taking a stap back and then grasping at... something?     It's the same kind of pearly white, glowing, spreading crack, but it's more like it's mending and pulling itself back. The room suddenly snaps back to its proper size, in a way that's just as disorienting as the stretch if you're not grounded and expecting it.     Mercifully, the bodies are exactly where they should be, and not disturbed. The smashed table is... a bit everywhere, now, but it's not disruptive. That, isn't her fault.     Audrey bows politely to Dart, in response to the praise. "It was nothing, really. My allies did the heavy lifting, I merely guarded the door." Not untrue.     A slight tilt of her head. The director of Trideag? Isn't that...     Hm.     She decides to just stay back by Dart and watch the proceedings, to take in the information.
Madeleine Cadrasteia	"Madeleine, as you see I don't got a gang anymore so you don't have to worry about me going after you anymore. Might fight if we cross paths, but the hunt's over. I got some thinking to do."     "Hey, as long as that means Rita's safe from you lot too," Madeleine says with a tired shrug. She picks up her spear from the tiger puddle and slips it onto her back. "You know when enough's enough. I can respect that. Let's both hope that new nose of yours leads you in the right direction, eh?"     As Tanya makes for the fire escape, Madeleine takes a deep breath and pulls out her radio. "Gonna let HQ know what's headed their way," she says before stepping aside to do exactly that. Even if she *could* catch up to the Black Silence en route, better to be safe than to let anyone at headquarters get hurt on her account. People live there, and are relying on it as a safe haven during the blackouts.
Father Berislav	H-hey...aren't you with the Yurodiviye?      "With them? No, but we're good friends and we want the same things," says Berislav. "I know a place with warm beds you can stay, no questions asked, payment appreciated but not at all asked-for. We don't have much in the way of power, as I'm sure you can guess. But, what we do have, we have to share."      He continues talking, while procuring a pen and a single piece of printer paper. "Why don't you take some time to rest and get your bearings?" He folds the paper into quadrants, turning to use the wall as a surface to write with. "My friends here surely have more questions they'd like to ask, but I'll go ahead and give you the address now..." It's the address to the Faded Print. Berislav turns and holds it out with a small smile.      "It's not far from here, and the people in that neighborhood are good people. Times have been hard for us, too, but I think in difficult times it's best if we draw close and support each other, don't you?"
Tamamo	Tamamo considers whether Petra snapping at Sarracenia is due to the nature of Sarracenia, of the question, or of Petra. One of these is more suspicious than the others.     'He said he was sure the Director of Trideag knew something about went down so he's headed after her next.'     'And I suggest we move out before the trail goes cold.'     "It is true, we have little time. I will be quick, then."     The room suddenly snaps back to its proper size...     Tamamo was expecting it, this time, though that doesn't fully immunize her to the effect. Since she'd already grounded herself, it only take her a moment extra to go over to one of the corpses. "Ah, thank you. Terribly thankful am I, as well, that this will not require touch with my own hands."     It does require touching the threads. She'd done this with The Pianist, trying to find a source for his newfound power. Here, she's searching from the slain (big) Little Brother to his killer, whom she already knows to be the Black Silence. She isn't expecting much out of it, and doesn't have any reason to doubt Tanya, but it might let her know if anything in particular is happening in the Black Silence's immediate future -- meetings with the unexpected, for example.     She really is just taking a quick peek into the future. The thread of one killed carelessly does not produce as strong a thread as would be found otherwise.
Sarracenia	For just a moment as Nagayoshi attacks, Sarra wonders aloud, "...is that how I look when I attack with my hammer...?" then eeps softly and looks around to see if anyone heard her.      '... Why? The Concord acceptance dinner a few days ago. What's your issue?'      'Y-Yes. The dinner. We had to share a ride there.'      "I have not an issue at all~" Sarra says, then considers Audrey. "Hmm. Well, if you say so, dear." she says, though seems suspicious of that stutter. An soft, annoyed 'mmph' escapes Sarra a moment later. Saying dear makes her sound old, she realizes. She makes a note not to say dear anymore.      'If it's not that killing myself on the spot would actually be a fine idea then I don't know if it'd help me feel any better, but shoot.'      Sarra also glances at Petra. For two reasons. One is she gave Petra reasons to live not a week ago. The other is...as far as Sarra is concerned Petra killing herself might be a fine idea. But, Sarra is resolved not to tell people to kill themselves.      Spot remover doesn't work on ink tigers?! Sarra huffs! "I may have to change stain fighters! This brand guarantees removal of ink stains!" she says before...half her face is slashed. Sarra yelps and staggers back, her eyepatch going flying as clawmarks are left in the tiger's wake. The princess quickly takes out a green mushroom and closes up those clawmarks most of the way, just leaving red lines along her face. The uncovered eye...seems fine really other than a slight discoloring of the iris. Still, Sarra collects the fallen eyepatch once the tiger is down and puts it back on.      'He said he was sure the Director of Trideag knew something about went down so he's headed after her next.'      Sarra's eyes widen. She isn't worried about Lilian because...well as far as Sarra can tell Lilian is actually just unbeatable. They didn't even really beat her in the war. They just outmaneuvered her after getting beaten over and over.      Buuuut...Lilian factually having to solve a problem that Sarracenia created is unacceptable to the princess. "He cannot do that! We must stop him!" Sarra exclaims.      'Madeleine, as you see I don't got a gang anymore so you don't have to worry about me going after you anymore. Might fight if we cross paths, but the hunt's over. I got some thinking to do.'      Sarra gives Tanya a look. It is not a look of pity, just one of consideration. Sarra has feelings about the Middle. They were bad enough that someone Sarra considers...or at least considered...a true hero was willing to wipe them out. Seeing one of them apparently mourning the loss of their 'family' brings a different perspective. At least that means no more fighting for now.      'Gonna let HQ know what's headed their way,'      ...HQ!!! Sarra is -actually- scared now! Are innocent people she's been trying to help going to get killed now?! Sarra starts to freak out just a bit, her breathing bordering on hyperventilating. "No no no! Th-that cannot happen!" she exclaims desperately, then rushes for the door heedless of the rain. "I am supposed to be...helping! A sh-shining star of hope!!" If there is no reason to stop, Sarra will be out the door rushing down the shortest route to Trideag!
Gaonoir	Erika takes notes of what the dancer says. Then nods in agreement with the Father's approach. "Someplace a little less... stressful to talk, yeah. That's a great idea." Gaonoir is lurking in the background as he tends to do when there's not a necessity for him to do his style of talking. Which is usually with his fists rather than words. Words seem to be working fine right now when others are using them.
Odette Raskins	Odette gets to work treating the dancer's wounds while he answers Red Dwarf's questions, thankful that it's a simple-enough seeming patch job. Disinfectant spray makes it fairly quick work, too, but she makes sure to add some bandages as both lingering coverage and for that bit of extra comfort against incidental scratches making those cuts feel any worse than they already are. "Hm? Oh. Fixer. Grade seven." She answers the man with a confident little puff of air from her nose, finishing up that initial tending with some bandages for the bruises. "It's a good thing you hid, then. It's.. Um." She holds back another nervous swallow when he mentions the Black Silence just outright stabbing 'Big Sister'. "I haven't seen him around, if that helps. And there's..." Wait. She probably shouldn't tell him about the door leading outside, or at least not without Red Giant giving her the go ahead to start letting anyone out. ".. There's still some weird things going on downstairs. Just stay here for now until we come back, okay? We'll let you know when the coast is clear." She does feel a twinge of guilt at not revealing the exit, but... Well, he's working here. He's got to know it's already there, right? She can't feel that bad about it, if she just gives herself that kind of reasoning to justify it. Besides, Berislav's giving him an address to go to for further help later. "The Father's right. We're all in this together, so sit tight and... You'll be okay. Okay?" No, she still feels kind of crummy after that.
Petra Soroka	"Right now, that man's treating the whole City as his enemy."     "... Yeah," Petra breathes, sympathetically. Being at war with the entire world is a state she understands, if not for the same reasons exactly. This wreckage left in his wake was painted with that kind of sweeping recklessness and shaking anger, and it's hard to imagine that the Black Silence is thinking about living long past getting his revenge. She gets it. She's not even sure if she'd have the heart to insist that he needs to take a gentler path or keep living his life afterwards, even though she'd at least try. Really, she just wants to give him a hand. "He said where he was headed next. Figured I'd be too dead to spill it, I guess."     "... Too dead?" Petra tilts her head, then opens her eyes again to study Tanya. "You don't even seem that hurt. What happened?" "... You seem like you would've been a good Sister."     "Well..." Petra thinks about something Angela texted her a long time ago, before they actually were, practically, sisters. She shakes her sword to the side, and the flames gutter out. "... I try." "I don't know anything else, we were totally blindsided but--"     When the room crumples back to size, Petra, who was relying on the tactile sense of her morphmetal while her eyes are closed, gets severely dizzy for another minute. She takes an unsteady step over the long boundary that Audrey had stretched out before, and seems relieved when her foot lands on the ground properly. Another step, and she slips the business card out of the doorframe and into her pocket, looking over to where Tanya's back disappeared into the rest of the bloodsoaked building.     "The Black Silence... I'll need to focus on finding what caused the Pianist now that I'm free. Maybe Argalia has a lead... he has to be just as torn up about this, but hopefully he's being productive in a way that doesn't involve butchering everyone he comes across." "He said he was sure the Director of Trideag knew something about went down so he's headed after her next."     "--Wait! Lilian!" Belatedly, that line processes as a threat rather than just the simple fact that the Black Silence should talk to the most important person in the Sector for help. Petra's eyes widen and she wheels around, shooting a look across everyone else to see if someone's already developed a plan to get people to Lilian's assistance, but no one's urgently on the move. So instead, she flicks open her compact mirror and presses her thumb into the center, causing it to crack a tiny bit.     The outrush of psychic energy causes pearlescent glasslike cracks to splinter reality in a shadowed corner of the room under the stairs, adjacently reminiscent of Audrey's magic. The reality-fracture explodes 'outwards' with an intangible shockwave of psychic disturbance that feels like having the world lose and regain color-beyond-sight between blinks. In its place is a hole punched in the world, a two-dimensional purple-black swirling void like Xion's Corridors of Darkness, and Petra immediately grips the sides of the portal and hurls herself in, vanishing and leaving everyone behind.
Redshift Operators	"I don't know nothing 'bout the Pianist, but..."     "It would seem the same of all in this City." The ninja winces with her frustration, slightly loosening the grip on her blade. "Though I have no yearning to turn that to combat. Where he goes next, I certainly must follow, for his sake at least. His world can hardly be set right if it ends or is thrown into such chaos that it can't recover. Where is his next target?" Not that this information isn't getting to everyone else, in one way or another.     "We'll let you know when the coast is clear."     The gunman signals the giant with one hand. They stare motionlessly at each other for a moment, before the squad leader sighs and says, "It means-- It means it's fine, prep for us heading out, make sure it's clear." His tone is a little exasperated.     "Mmm." The gravel-voiced giant heads through the door to the room, scraping the top of the frame. Looks like Odette's in the clear to get him out.     The squad leader rubs his temples. "This sucks. I can't figure a way to find his target before he finds a dead-end. He's not just running hot, he's burning himself down. Hearing from White that there's practically the whole City struggling with him at this point. You know what? I get it. Worried about where this is going though. Doesn't feel like it's towards the right world."     "Get the hell out of here. I'll chat with you later if I gotta." He makes a few gestures at the worker. "We'd better go catch up with him. I'd better go find *something*."     When he wanders into the room with wolf-woman who the team medic had handled so gracefully, he practically falls backwards back out of the doorframe, yelping, "Shit!! Fuck!! Dogs are real?!" That'll be his first stage.     The second, after the nature of the wound is recognized and a story is extracted about when the assault happened, will be to send a message, even a one-way unread one, to the Black Silence. To let him know something important:     "I think it's happening more."
Petra Soroka	<Tac-Concord> 4 Audrey Basque says, "Petra! I don't know how to get back!"     Another portal appears behind Audrey, and Petra's arm reaches out of the inky darkness to yank her into the Corridors of Darkness too. <Tac-Concord> 4 Audrey Basque also asks: "Where are you even going?" She seems to know better than to ask how at this point.     The place that Audrey is pulled by the back of her uniform into is a seemingly infinite void, suspended in the darkness only on a wavy semisolid river of deeper-black that clings and flows with each step. The backdrop is all painted in the colors of un-light, shades of prismatic black instead of white, with the path forwards only visible against it by the stardust glitter that faintly twinkles around their feet.     "Um--" Petra points down-path, though the end of it isn't visible, and she's obviously anxious to just start running down it. "To Lilian! She's the Director of Trideag, so the Black Silence is after her, and she's wounded and he's one of the most dangerous Fixers in the City, at least according to the info I've heard. This'll get us there faster. So come on!"
Angela	"Fie, you only blocked the door, but I've never seen a door blocked quite so elegantly!" Dart declares. This seems to be kind of her personality here. Tamamo can check the strings of the deceased. The killer certainly seems to be moving towards the Trideag building though the distance quickly snaps that link shut. He isn't too far ahead, but he's probably got about an hour's headstart and he seems to be the kind of guy who moves fast. The dancer will take the address and nod numbly to Berislav. He's been around the Watch long enough to say, "The name's Emmanuelle." He says. "Emmanuelle the Daring but...aha...that's just for dancing." He manages a weak-willed wink at the Father. He seems quite eager to get out of the bathroom, actually, and the moment he's given an opportunity, he gets the hell outta there and quickly too. But rest assured, he'll make his way to the address provided. The Black Silence is going after Trideag, he's definitely not going there! Tanya can't say much else but, "Good luck," To the ninja medic with a katana. She doesn't dislike her at all. She cocks her head at Red Dwarf. Dogs are very real in The City and if Red Dwarf keeps going to the City he's going to see all sorts of people turning into dogs! That is like the most popular form of Distortion in all of project moon! AND a popular abnormality! Project Moon really loves dogs or really hates them depending on why they're putting so many dog people out there, but don't ask this GM about that! "We'll talk about it over drinks." Tanya tells Petra, of how she survived the wound. She doesn't want to linger around this many Fixers without any backup. Of course Tanya's version of 'Sister' is very different from Tanya's though, really, maybe less so than their rankification of the term may imply. Tanya waves a hand at Riku without looking back. She doesn't LOOK that beat up about it, but judging from her reaction to Petra's empathy, it must have meant SOMETHING. Maybe it hasn't hit yet? It could be anything. It could just be that she has the head of a wolf now and that makes her tougher to read. She doesn't comment on leaving Rita alone but she doesn't comment on still going after her either. She snorts at Madeleine's quip about her face. The HEAT she had for Madeleine certainly seems gone now. Calling HQ to give them a headsup that an assassin is coming their way is probably a good idea since the last thing wants to be with regards to assassins is completely ignorant of their approach. The last heard of Tanya is when she tries to leave through the fire escape, finds it locked, and then punches all that stuff out of the way, sending an enormous clatter of metal tumbling to the ground. She isn't seen again. When Petra vanishes, Dart seems alarmed! And when Petra kidnaps Audrey, she's double alarmed. And Trideag might be under attack soon? She's triple alarmed! "We must abscond from this place immediately, lest the Black Silence do here what he has done to our friends--!" She's going to rush over too. And since all the Miladys in the area seem to be heading in that direction, well, that's just going to work out great for sure. ''I think it's happening more.'' There is a long moment. Enough that it might seem like the Black Silence might not respond. But Red Dwarf does get something. 'Trideag next. Lilian was fighting monsters in that video. She was fighting someone who was supposed to be dead.' 'Middle wasn't helpful.' That seems to be the level of regard he has for them. His pursuit is singleminded. And right now that isn't a good thing.
Audrey Basque	Audrey looks absolutely deflated for a moment. Now she'd have to find her way back or something. It's not the end of the world but, comfort zones and all that. She'd had to deal with so much information in three days already that navigation is a bit daunting at the moment.     And then she's pulled into a portal from behind with a surprised yelp.     That's certainly one way to make an exit.     And now she's stunned by where they are.     "... is this place safe?" Is her first immediate question, because it feels extraordinarily wrong. Especially to her senses.     ... then she gets an answer.     "Oh. Oh we are... going to see..."     Deep breath.     So, this place is terrible, but not as bad as where they're going.     "Miss Rook."     Okay well right now she doesn't have a choice, now does she. It's not like she could just... could she, actually?     She looks down at her open blazer.     That's dim, but not... pitch black.     Creepy, but that means maybe.     "Well... alright then. Lead the way."
Gaonoir	"We will escort him," Gaonoir pipes up when the dancer is instructed to follow Berislav's advice. "Erika is probably eager to get to work on those books." Erika ahms softly... but can't really disagree with that assessment. "I don't think there is much else for us to find here at this point."
Odette Raskins	With Red Giant moving out of the doorway, Odette takes that as a sign that she now has clearance to let the worker go! Eventually. She looks up at the giant as he scrapes on by, taking a deep breath to keep herself composed before turning back to Emmanuelle. "It sounds like things have calmed down, too, so..." He has Berislav's directions now, and Odette doesn't hear any more gunshots or tiger noises. The most animal-related thing she hears is shouting about dogs, but nothing about purple tigers anymore. "Should be... Clear now. Um. Stay safe, okay?  We'll talk to you later." Odette really does mean later, too, since she's still got plenty of work to do. There's a whole building to sweep and who knows how many wounded to tend to, not withstanding how many of her own allies might need that medical care first. Once she finds out where the Black Silence is actually going... She'll probably wish she was still on vacation.