tabitha pryce is a cougar. (savaged) wrote in blurred_lines, @ 2008-12-05 21:20:00 |
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Entry tags: | ! [1979-12] december, ! npc, alana fenwick, alastor gumboil, elle abercrombie, georgina smythe, kate proudfoot, tabitha pryce, ted tonks |
Who: Tabitha Pryce, Alastor Gumboil, Elle Abercrombie, Ted Tonks, Georgina Smythe, Kate Proudfoot, Alana Fenwick, & two NPC!werewolves.
What: Alastor leads Tabitha and two werewolves right into a trap.
When: 5 December 1979, around 10:00 PM.
Where: From a werewolf camp on the Welsh border, to the old Potter house in Godric's Hallow.
Status: Complete.
Rating: PG-13 for a little violence.
ARRIVING AT GODRIC'S HOLLOW (Tabitha, Alastor, NPC!Werewolf 1 & 2) Tabitha clutched Al's wand close to her as she approached his tent; she was still hesitant to let the werewolf use it, but if he proved himself tonight, she just might be able to trust him fully yet. She had taken every precautionary measure she could think of to ensure the safety of Fenrir's pack and the secrets of the Death Eaters while Alastor was here, and with the proposal of a chance to find and kill Lily Evans -- one of the three who put Fenrir and other Death Eaters into Azkaban -- Tabitha couldn't turn it down. If he was telling the truth, well... she would make sure that he was rewarded. And if Bellatrix was right, if they would free those in Azkaban, then she would make sure Fenrir knew of the revenge they had carried out for him. Once Lily Potter was dead, there would only be one more left to track down; although the difficulty would start at finding the third person's name. But she wasn't going to think about that right now. Tabitha approached Al's tent, pulling back the flap without asking to be invited inside, and she bent down just enough to look into the tent. "Time to come out of your cave," she said, smiling cheerily at him before withdrawing back outside to wait. Al felt more confident today than he had almost since he'd gotten here. He'd contacted Elle, and while their plans were mostly in place, he knew that she knew to be prepared for quick changes. He certainly didn't trust Tabitha to follow explicit instructions. But tonight was the night, and he was lounging idly in his tent, waiting for Tabitha to come get him. After all... it was her call. Or so he wanted her to believe. He was laying back, using his coat as a pillow and flipping through through his journal. No quill in sight - he was merely passing time by reading. His wand was tucked into his coat pocket, out of the way as it had been since he'd "joined" them. He certainly looked a bit more comfortable here. It was cold, but he'd bothered to leave his arms bare, almost showing off the scars she and her husband had left on him, mingled with his own from the last two months. He wasn't exactly expecting a knock, and he only looked mildly interested when she stuck her head into his tent. With a nod, Al snapped his journal shut and climbed out after her, pulling his coat on. He could feel his wand in his pocket, but it was well hidden. "Are you ready, then?" he asked, simply. Once Al was outside, Tabitha waved over two other werewolves to join them. She wasn't about to risk going on this alone with Alastor, but she knew she wouldn't have to bring many from the pack with her. Lily Potter and her friends seemed like a close group, so bringing along a couple others would certainly help their odds if she happened to have company. They'd be ready, and they would kill them all. "Not yet," she replied. "I want to know what we're going to expect when we get there. You said they have wards up on their house? How long will it take to get them down? Are they going to notice you doing it?" he asked. Al only spared the other two a glance before turning his attention back to Tabitha. "They shouldn't notice me taking them down, no," he explained. "I know they have a lot surrounding the actual house. Once we get to the door, we should be fine. I don't think any of you should go ahead of me, though, for the sake of safety and stealth," he gave a more pointed look to their "companions" before going on. "I can see where some of the wards are with magic, but if you set something off, then they're going to know and it'll be a bit of a mess trying to get in after that." Tabitha narrowed her eyes, but she nodded with reluctant agreement. She held up Alastor's wand in front of her body, pausing a moment as if she might reconsider this plan altogether, but then finally extended her arm towards him, offering the wizard his wand back. "Alright. Take us there, then. Bring them first and then come back for me." In her eyes, the other werewolves they were bringing were expendable; they could go before her and lay low to examine the surroundings before she arrived. And if Alastor didn't come back for her, well -- it would be all too clear what needed to be done. "No one touch Lily Potter. She is mine." But if there are others there; if Lily Potter's husband was there... Tabitha would see to it that Alastor killed tonight. He would taste blood before sunrise, and realise what a gift of raw power he had been given, one he has been so thoughtlessly resisting. Al nodded and took "his" wand back. He'd done enough practising with this one to at least be able to pull off routine things, and with a nod, he took the two werewolves to Godric's Hollow with a loud pop! They reappeared just on the edge of the forest and Al glanced over their surroundings. He could see the house from here. A few lights on, just as James had promised. And even now, he could see many of the wards that had been laid down. Nothing particularly dangerous, just in case Al accidentally set them off. Most of them would be noise-makers. And he'd made sure to set one of them off to justify the house being empty when they got there. Or at least... mostly empty. "Don't move," he instructed the two werewolves. "Look if you like, but don't set anything off or this will be over before we even start." Al made sure he had their agreement before he apparated off again, reappearing just where he'd been standing a moment ago. The whole process took perhaps ninety seconds. And Al held his hand out to Tabitha, palm up. "Here we go, then." Once again, Tabitha had to prepare herself for the apparation, taking a deep breath before placing her hand in Alastor's. Honestly, she wished wizards had a better way to transport themselves quickly in a way that didn't make her feel sick. She felt the pull as Alastor apparated them, feeling her body tugged away from the camp; at least the journey was short, and it only took her a few seconds to recover once they arrived in Godric's Hollow. She looked at the two werewolves that had been brought here before her, then out at the house in the distance. "Lead the way," she said, looking to Alastor, ready to follow him. Al had "automatically" put the wand in his pocket while Tabitha recovered from the apparation - and when he pulled a wand back out, it was his. They were of similar size, and it was dark... and he somehow doubted that any of his angry psycho counterparts would be terribly focused on his wand when the promise of blood was presented to them. Al took the invitation and started forward, muttering spells every now and again to check for wards and dispel them when they came up. There was the odd flash of light - which Al had anticipated with his conversation with James. But he froze accordingly, putting a hand out to stop Tabby and friends movement while he "listened". It didn't take long to get most of the way across the yard. But he paused, turning to Tabitha and then silently pointing out a few of the tiger traps he knew where there. A silent warning look shot at the three of them warned them to be careful. Tabitha didn't need the hand gesture to get her to stop; she paused as soon as she noticed the flash of light. "What the fuck was that light?" she hissed at Alastor. "Wouldn't they have seen that?" Well. She supposed it wouldn't matter too much; four werewolves against two or three wizards? Tabitha felt the odds were in their favour, so long as their prey didn't see the flash of light and decide to escape instead of stay to defend their home. "Is all the magic down yet?" A pause while Al once again listened. "I don't hear anything," he muttered in response, an attempt to keep her from being too agitated. But the light should have been signal enough to the waiting Taskforce inside. At her question, Al gave a flick of his wand to check for any more (not that he had to; he knew they were all down) and then nodded. "Yeah, here we go. Just don't step in the fucking tiger traps." With that, he quickened his pace and moved swiftly but silently up the porch and then with a quick wave of his wand, blew the door off it's hinges. Elle was pressed against the wall next to the window, and watched carefully in the darkness, searching for some sign of Al and the others stalking across the yard. The other members of the Werewolf Taskforce, her friends and colleagues, were all placed strategically around the room and the first floor as they had planned ahead of time. They had been here for awhile, going over every aspect of this - it was an arrest, it was not a kill. Elle preferred it that way. She wanted the bitch to suffer in Azkaban. The flash of light illuminated the intruders for a moment and Elle held up her hand in a motion of readiness for her team, "Four," she whispered to Kate, who was the closest Taskforce member to her, "we've got four. Our agent is at the head." She gestured for Kate to relay the message, and then moved quickly and quietly to press herself against the door. She looked to make sure the other agents were ready and gave them a nod. Her wand was out and at the ready. They needed to let the creatures get into the house, Elle would seal the door behind them, and then they would bring them in. Al, being a wizard, would be allowed to "get away." But the others... including that horrible Pryce woman... they were coming with them. EXECUTING THE TRAP (Alastor, Elle, Gina, Ted, Alana, Kate, Tabitha, NPC!Werewolf 1 & 2) - Alastor vs Elle Al moved into the room and then, for appearances sake, growled, "Fuck!" He turned his wand on Elle, and it might have been frightening if it weren't for the fact that he looked positively cheery for a moment, flashing a genuinely 'good-to-see-you' smile and wink at her before throwing a few mis-aimed stunners at her. Elle ducked the stunners and checked behind her to make sure Al didn't inadvertently hit a someone else or a mirror in his effort not to hit her. She threw up a shield charm and tossed a couple of stunners of her own, one far too high and the other to the left of him. She advanced on him, a slight smirk on her face at her amusement of the situation. She glanced around to make sure the other members of the taskforce were doing all right. When she saw that all the werewolves were inside, occupied with fighting, she turned and sealed the front door shut. No one was getting out unless she said so. Except Al, who had to return to the pack. She was having a hard time thinking of harmless dueling spells to use, given the past few fights she had been a part of was against people who were trying to kill her. You don't play nice with those people. So instead she decided to let him send the next spell; wand at the ready and a feigned look of disgust on her face. Al too, kept half an eye on the other battles going on around them. It seemed as if things were mostly going according to plan. Sort of. Enough that he could turn back to Elle anyway. With a flick of his wand, he muttered "Rictusempra," being more careful about his aim this time. He couldn't really help it, as a smirk played at the corners of his lips. It wasn't his fault he loved hearing her laugh. She was paying attention to Gina, Ted, and Tabitha Pryce and didn't actually think Al was going to hit her with anything, so the spell hit her in the shoulder. She looked down at it in confusion for a moment and then burst into a fit of giggles. What the...? She looked at him through her laughter and shook her head in almost contempt. This was not helping! She needed to make sure that... oh god her sides hurt from the laughter. She cast Finite Incantatem and glared at him, but not without some sort of good nature. She took more careful aim and cast tarantellegra at him with a smirk. Two could play at this game! It took all his self-control to not positively grin as she glared at him. But he was just was surprised when his legs were suddenly tap dancing. "Fucking---" he swore and quickly muttered the counter curse. All right, enough of this. Just in case someone noticed or something. Al idly sent a disarming spell whizzing past her head, once again glancing to the side to make sure everything else was all right. Elle followed suit and shouted, "Expelliarmus!" just for good measure. The other werewolves needed to hear it. Of course, they weren't in the kind of situation to notice that the spell was shot nowhere near where Al actually was. She knew they would need to rough him up a bit; he couldn't return to the pack unscathed. But she wasn't exactly keen on it. She gave a glance around to make sure no one needed her help and then advanced on Al. She gave him an apologetic look and gave a small catchstep before she did a roundhouse kick, attempting to hit him in the shoulder. It was normally something she'd use to aim for the face... but she couldn't bring herself to do that. Al knew what was coming and braced himself, letting the kick catch him in the shoulder and backwards several feet. He fell against a chair and a lamp, sending it crashing to the ground - all right and maybe it was sort of on purpose. He sent a stinging hex in her general direction, aiming more at the floor at her feet than at Elle herself. She did her best not to wince when he fell into the furniture, and she jumped (more dramatically than she really needed to) away from the stinging hex that nearly hit her feet. She came up on him again and reared her hand back to punch him, but she hesitated. She couldn't do this. She couldn't punch her fiance in the face. Yes, this was her job, but did it really need to require her to rough him up? Instead she shifted her weight and cast a few spells to rip his coat in strategic places. At least it would look like he'd had a horrible fight. Al had flinched away when he realised she was about to punch him. Oh, the trust he put in her. But when the blow didn't come, he looked back at her, idly quirking a brow. "I like this coat," he muttered, momentarily looking vaguely put off until he pushed her away and sent a jelly-fingers curse slightly out of her general direction. "Well, maybe you shouldn't have worn your favorite coat," she said with a smirk, and tossed a stinging hex nowhere near him, "you think?" She winced though when she looked him over; he didn't look nearly as bad as he should having fought an Auror. She pursed her lips and mouthed, "I'm sorry" before casting a well-aimed conjunctivitus curse at his face. It was merely instinct to throw up a shield charm when sparks were flying at his face, effectively protecting him. "Hey, I could be a coward. I'll say I ran," he muttered. A moment of pause where he flicked a slashing hex a foot left of her head. "Just stun me." "If I stun you," she said as she dodged the hex, "then there's no reason why I wouldn't bring you in for attacking the Potter house!" She cast furnunculus at his left leg and then heard the crash of glass as Tabitha went flying out. "Shit! Gina!" All thoughts of the fake fight with Al went out the window with the Pryce woman. If they lost her, then this was all for nothing. Elle went running toward the window, hot on Ted's heels. - Tabitha vs Gina & Ted There was no time for Tabitha to pay attention to the fact that Alastor was fighting back against the wizards in here, but it did not go completely unnoticed; however, there were more pressing matters at hand. The werewolf quickly looked around her surroundings, but she did not recognise anyone; except for one girl with red hair. Red hair. Was this her? Could this be Lily Evans? It didn't matter. They had to kill them all, regardless, but Tabitha made this woman her target. Without the ability to use magic, Tabitha lunged at the red-haired woman, hands outstretched and snarling. There was no need to instruct the other two werewolves further; they would know what to do. Ted was, admittedly, a bit nervous about this whole outing. The entire way here, he'd been muttering spells and things to himself, almost to the point of distraction. He was standing near Gina when he heard the sound of somebody coming at them and turned. His wand was in his grasp but he barely even thought to use it just yet-- even after all these years in the wizarding world, Ted often forgot about his own magical powers. It simply wasn't second nature. "Gina, watch out!" he yelled, moving to step between her and the werewolf-- all he saw was a redheaded woman flying at them-- was that Pryce? He grunted at the impact of her body hitting his as he lost his balance and fell back. While Gina was more than aware that the time had come where having a separate subset of the Ministry responsible for bringing in the dark aligned werewolves had come, she had yet to figure out why precisely Ted and Alana had been chosen to be part of the Werewolf Task Force. She wasn't one to question Elle's leadership decisions in this, but it simply didn't make sense to her why they would throw two wizards who typically had desk jobs into what was sure to be a battle situation. They were both magically competent, Gina was sure (or else they wouldn't've been chosen) but she was still somewhat wary. They had enough trouble with the vigilantes attempting to get in the way of the DMLE, and it made her a bit nervous as to how exactly two desk clerks would end up handling themselves in a high stress situation. Gina knew enough about Lily Potter from the Ministry files to know that the woman Pryce was after was a fellow redhead, and was almost somewhat satisfied when Tabitha dove towards her. She could handle the crazy bint, Gina was sure of it. Though her wand out and ready to reciprocate an attack on the werewolf, however, Ted jumped between the two of them and went crashing to the ground. And while Gina could appreciate Ted's chivalry to a point, there was something about diving in front of an enraged werewolf that seemed akin to jumping in the way of an oncoming train. There was no time to think about that, though, and Gina almost immediately had her wand retrained on the woman, casting a blasting hex to get her away from Ted, followed by a binding spell. As Tabitha landed on the man that had jumped in front of her, she snarled and dug her claws into Ted in frustration. She hadn't missed the name he had called out; so it wasn't Lily Potter. Then where was she? Maybe they were elsewhere inside the house. But who were these people? She raked her claws down Ted's chest, digging into his flesh before she swiftly bent down, sinking her teeth deeply into his shoulder until she could taste his blood through his clothing. She wasn't able to do much damage, though, as she was suddenly hit with a blasting spell on her side, and Tabitha tried to keep a hold on the man's body with her claws, but when she saw Gina send another spell her way, she released him. Diving behind the coffee table, she was just able to dodge the spell as it went past her. Tabitha gripped the edge of the wooden table, noting that it wasn't too heavy, and she flipped it up, flinging it toward the witch who had knocked her off of Ted. Ted cried out as he felt the teeth at his shoulder and he made to swing with his free hand, missing as the second spell sent her back. He'd been scratched before, of course, and injured in various ways, but this was one that he'd never experienced. At least she was in human form, he supposed, but he didn't have much time to think about that as he scrambled back to his feet. His shoulder hurt, so he moved his wand to his other hand, grasping it tightly. He saw the table flip up and had enough sense to put up a shield charm between them just in time. "Did you just flip a table at me?" Gina scoffed, a slight laugh to her voice as the full impact of the crash missed her thanks to Ted's shield spell. She glanced quickly towards the man to make sure he wasn't gravely injured (thankfully he wasn't) before pointing her wand back to Pryce, casting tarantellegra at the woman. A split second later, not checking to see whether the tapdancing jinx had hit or not, Gina cast glacius at the ground under where Tabitha was standing. She knew the woman had been a muggle before she was a werewolf, and thus couldn't possibly attack them magically, and it would be a lot harder for Mrs. Pryce to get any traction to pounce at them while attempting to tap-dance on ice. Tabitha neglected to dignify Gina with a reply, starting to lunge at the woman again, but she stumbled as soon as the tap-dancing jinx hit her, feet beginning to move on their own. She wasn't on her feet for very long, however, and she slipped and fell face down as soon as the slippery ice formed underneath her. It was difficult to regain her footing on the ice, and she had to use the sofa to pull herself back up, climbing onto the cushions to stand on a surface that had a little more traction. Towering above them now, the werewolf tried to close the distance between herself and Ted, jumping off the couch and throwing her body at the man to try and pin him. This time, she was going for his throat. Ted was almost amused as he watched Tabby fall over, and he quickly cast another shield charm in case she tried to throw something again. He looked up as she stood, and took half a step back, willing himself not to turn and run away. He had just enough time to stutter something out- "Agua-avis!" before trying to step aside. A splash of water emerged from his wand and then a bunch of very soggy birds came flying out in her direction. It appeared that Pryce had decided to make Ted her new target, which (while not a good thing, of course) decidedly made things simpler for Gina. She could continue to attempt to trap the woman while she was distracted, and Ted seemed to be able to take care of himself. She would need to remember to applaud him on his spellwork later. Spinning around the couch to put some distance between herself and Tabitha, Gina pointed her wand at the sofa and propelled it back into where Pryce was standing. If it didn't knock into her, it would at least put another obstacle between the werewolf and Ted. She followed that with a Stunner, knowing that as soon as they were able to get her to stop moving, finally capturing the woman would follow very very easily. Although annoying, the birds didn't do much damage other than getting in Tabitha's way. She swatted at them, hitting them aside, trying to get them out of her way so she could just get on with this. These people were just starting to annoy her now. They weren't even really trying to fight; honestly, ice and birds? What was this, child's play? The sofa nearly hit her straight on; she stumbled backwards to get out of the way, falling back (and luckily causing the stunning spell to go right over her head, hitting the wall). One of her feet became trapped between the sofa and the wall, bruised but not badly injured, and she quickly got herself free, standing back up. "If you want to fight me," she snarled angrily, "then FIGHT ME!" To Tabitha, the redheaded woman seemed to be the more powerful of the two, and so once again she turned her attention back on Gina. She swiped at her with her claws, going for the woman's face. Gina managed to pull back far enough in time to just narrowly miss getting swiped in the face by Tabitha's claws. Kicking her foot up and out, she slammed her heeled shoe into the werewolf's stomach, hoping to knock her off balance. The move wound up taking the opposite effect, as Tabitha grabbed hard onto Gina's foot and twisted. She cried out as she heard something snap, pain searing through her ankle as she tumbled to the ground. Glaring furiously at the werewolf, she yelled out "REDUCTO", hoping to blast her away before Pryce was able to pounce. It was no wonder that Ted never did try to become a Hitwizard or an Auror. His mind raced, trying to think of some spell that might have any sort of effect. He hesitated for the briefest of moments and jumped slightly in surprise as he heard the snap of- well, it sounded almost like a bone breaking, but he couldn't be sure- and raised his wand, calling out "Confringo-" sending the blasting curse in Pryce's direction and hoping it was at least effective enough to distract her for a few moments. Tabitha doubled over when Gina kicked her in the stomach, gasping, but she quickly grabbed onto the woman's ankle, holding on tightly as she then twisted her foot, grinning at the woman when she heard the snapping of bone. She stumbled back a little as she recovered from the kick, but not quickly enough; Gina's spell hit her straight on and, due to either pure luck or fantastic timing, Ted's spell hit here a mere second after. The combination of the spells was enough to send Tabitha flying back, smashing right into a window and through the glass. She landed on the window frame on her back, with cuts and scratches littering her upper body from the glass. Tabitha slid the rest of the way out the window, landing on the ground in a very ungraceful manner. There were still several shards of glass embedded in her skin, and she pulled out a particularly large piece out of her arm, wincing from the pain. She knew they wouldn't just let her walk away, so she quickly got to her feet again, stumbling a few steps before she tried to run away from the house in an attempt to escape. Walden -- she needed to contact him somehow. She needed to get him here to help. Tabitha knew she had her journal on her, but she couldn't stop to write in it now -- and would he even get the message in time? Gina knew that there wasn't time for her to worry about her ankle. They were so close to capturing Pryce, and she didn't want a bloody ankle injury to stand in the way of the Werewolf Taskforce capturing her. Rolling across the floor to the window that she'd just witnessed Tabitha disappear out of, Gina pulled herself up to the window frame and climbed out slowly, waving for Ted to follow her. She stayed leaned up against the wall of the house, trying to remember where the pits the Potters had dug out of the ground were located while she balanced on her uninjured foot. Not wanting Pryce to escape the yard, she cast a spell on the trees along the perimeter so that the branches would fling her backwards should she attempt to pass by. "It'll be much easier if you just come along quietly!" Gina yelled out to her, knowing that her words were sure to be ignored, and followed up by shooting several stunner spells at the werewolf instead. Ted watched as Pryce went flying back into the window, and he was right behind Gina in climbing out the window. Pausing a moment, he pointed his wand to his shoulder and muttered a soft spell to bandage it- at least temporarily until he was able to get home. It still hurt, but at least he wouldn't have to worry too much about blood loss or whatnot. Straightening, he was quickly near Gina again, doing his best to keep up. She seemed to take care of the wards around the yard, and he kept his eyes on the werewolf, sending a stunner of his own in her direction before moving toward her. The werewolf ignored Gina's taunts, continuing to try and make her escape; she was faster than them, she could outrun them... but as she neared the trees, a charmed branch swung out to hit her. "Fuck!" Tabitha cursed in surprise, ducking quickly beneath the branch, narrowly missing her head. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the spells coming toward her, and she tripped over her feet to avoid getting hit by them; unfortunately, she ran closer to the trees. A thick branch struck her in the side, throwing her back out into the lawn again, and Tabitha staggered back up to her feet, gasping in pain as she clutched at her side. Another spell, another dodge... but in her haste, she had forgotten to keep an eye out for the tiger traps, and the ground beneath her foot gave in. Tabitha fell into the pit, landing hard on her back, leaving her dazed. Gina gave up on trying to jump on one foot over to where Tabitha had fallen, finally crying out "Accio tree branch," pointing her wand and bringing a narrow stick that'd been laying a few metres away closer to use as a makeshift walking stick. She hobbled over to the tiger trap that the werewolf had plummeted into, deciding that she had to hand it to the Potters. Ridiculous as it might have seemed to most people, digging those pits in their lawn had come out extraordinarily handy. Glancing down into the hole with a satisfied smirk on her face, Gina officially informed the woman that, "Tabitha Pryce, you are under arrest by the authority of the Ministry of Magic." Not bothering to wait for what was sure to be a very colourful and angry verbal protest, Gina cast a Stunner at her, knocking the woman unconscious, followed by a binding spell. And then a second, just to be safe. - NPC!Werewolf #1 vs Kate A tall, burly male werewolf turned his attention to Kate; his size did not make him fast, but he was strong, as could be deducted by his muscular frame and broad shoulders. His growl rumbled in his chest as he advanced on her, wondering why there seemed to be only small little girls here; he didn't think this fight would last very long, not against four strong werewolves. He grinned widely and clenched his hand into a fist, aiming a solid punch at Kate while he reached out to grip her shoulder to keep her from falling back should his fist make contact. Adrenaline was mostly an excellent thing, as were hundreds of duelling and sparring sessions with Elle and both were about to come in very useful for Kate. As the werewolf advanced on her, she knew she needed to anticipate him being strong and being fast, and she really didn't want to get caught by him. She ducked, shooting a shielding charm at him as she did so, and coming back to the side. He was strong, but he didn't appear to be magical, and she needed to use that magic to her advantage to make certain he didn'tget the upper hand and she didn't end up beaten, injured, bitten, or worse. With an aggravated growl, the large werewolf was pushed back by the shield charm, and he whirled around to face Kate after she moved out of the way. Damn, she was fast; but no matter. She was still much smaller than he was, and the werewolf had every intention of crushing every bone in her body when he was done with her. He grabbed a lamp off a nearby small table, yanking the chord out of the wall as he pulled it, and he threw the lamp with all his strength at Kate, aiming for her head. Kate moved as quickly as she could, but even with that, the lamp grazed the side of her head, throwing her off balance and to help give herself a moment to recover, she shot a second protego, at the werewolf. It took her only a second to recover her bearings, and she raised her wand and spat out, "Incarcerous!" The ropes from her spell did their work well, binding around the werewolf's body, even as he struggled to fight them off. A few of them snapped from his strength, but he couldn't get all of them; with just one arm still free, he attempted to lunge at Katie, tripping over the ropes around his legs and falling forward -- he grabbed for her with his free hand, snarling, trying to bring her down with him. He could still bite, he could still tear at her with his claws; he wasn't quite down fighting yet, and if she was going to capture him, he wanted to do some damage first. Kate did struggle backwards, and she felt a sting at her right arm, but she knew it couldn't be any worse than the deep scars already on that side of her body. She quickly raised her wand to send a levicorpus at the werewolf. It would be quite difficult for him to scratch her dangling from the air and with nothing to put his feet on. And as she scooted away from him so that he could not reach her with his arms and his legs she followed up on the first charm with a second Incarcerous, to bind, hopefully, even more tightly than the first one had and reinforce the already existing ropes. And as she scrambled to her feet, far enough away that she could not be reached, her final charm was a Stupefy. The bastard was not going to have a chance to move to harm her, or anyone else. - NPC!Werewolf #2 vs Alana Alana swallowed, heart thrumming against her chest. This was it, it was what she had been waiting for, longing for. It was a piece of the action, a real taste of battle. The adrenaline rush - the one Sirius had talked about - was unfamiliar but welcome, and she curled her fingers around her wand as Al entered, followed by an unkempt woman (she could only imagine this was Pryce,) and two men. A shorter, more agile werewolf streamed in behind the larger one, and surveyed the room quickly before he saw the pretty little brunette without someone to fight. Well, don't want to leave her out of the fun. He jumped toward her with his arms extended so he could grab her around the throat. He didn't even flinch when the door slammed shut and sealed behind him. All he wanted was the pretty brunette struggling under his grasp. Alana ducked and threw herself quickly out of the way of the man. She wasn't used to this - this instant action without time for real thought, only instinct, and she wasn't at all sure if she liked it - there was no time to think about it. Backing quickly away and raising her wand, Alana scrambled for a spell. "Stupefy!" The wolf ran into a table instead of his intended victim. But no matter. He grinned savagely at her and started forward again, half of the table he'd smashed in hand. He used it to block the spell, even as it splintered between his fingers. Advancing again, the werewolf lunged at her, claws extended as he grabbed for her arm. Alana yelped in surprise and fear as the werewolf caught her by the wrist before she could get far enough away to be out of range, and she stumbled backward toward him before regaining her balance and turning to fire another spell, this one spelling ropes into the air and (she hoped) around the werewolf. The werewolf's claws dug into her skin, feeling the blood ooze around his fingers. He almost dug his other hand into her, ready to tear her wide open, but the speed of her spell made him drop her in surprise. He managed to stay clear of most of them, one only wrapped around his arm. The wolf licked his bloody fingers and grinned messily. "Oh, silly girl. Don't you know you can't put a leash on a monster?" He snarled and lunged again, teeth bared. She hissed in pain and withdrew quickly as he released her, staggering back across the room, keeping her wand raised and ready. She fought the urge to clutch at her wounded arm and instead let it drip warm blood as she shouted, again, "Stupefy! Incarcerous!" He leapt out of the way of the first spell, stopping in his attempts to catch her to avoid that damn magic. Her second spell caught him square in the chest though, and as the ropes tightened around his torso, he gave a howl of anger and frustration. The wolf fell to the ground, struggling against the ropes that so effectively held him. "Come over here, little girl," he spat. "Scared of a little wolf?" He laughed and licked at his teeth, daring her to inch closer. A little revolted, Alana instead backed away, wand held before her and, though she would not admit it, shaking slightly. Unwilling to allow even the chance of him escaping, she cast a full body bind on the wolf and stood catching her breath, forgetting momentarily about everyone else and even about her arm as she relished her victory. THE AFTERMATH (Alastor, Elle, Alana, Kate, Ted, Gina) Al glanced over the scene, looking at the three wolves they'd managed to capture. He gave a nod of his head, the smallest of smiles and then gave a more careful look at the Taskforce. Alana first, because she was the youngest... and all right, she was in the Order, but Elle couldn't know that. He eyed her wrist with a frown. "All right, Fenwick?" he asked, stepping over the body-bound werewolf to get a look at the wound. Alana looked up sharply, startled out of gazing at the werewolves. "Eh? Oh- it's fine, I think-" She raised her arm, and winced as the numbing effects of adrenaline wore off. "Just dug his claws into me." She regarded the injury with a face scrunched with pain and, truly, some curiosity, and plucked her sleeve away from it. Alastor frowned and only inspected the claw marks for a moment before muttering "Ferula" and watching the bandages wrap around her wrist. Still looking rather unhappy, he looked apologetically at her. "That's going to scar." "It's fine. I knew I might get hurt," she replied quietly, looking up at him and giving him a small smile. "Thanks." He gave a nod, but didn't look any more happy about it. "Well, before you do anything else, "including running to the rest of the Order (he hoped he conveyed that properly with a look) "Get that looked at by someone who knows what they're doing. Merlin knows I'm rubbish at healing." "I will, don't worry," she reassured him, frowning a little at the patches of blood already staining the bandage. She knew that werewolf wounds didn't heal quite as well as normal wounds, and this one seemed to be no exception. She looked up at him again, after copying his spell to put another layer of bandages on. "Smile a little," she said quietly, noticing his upset. "We captured Tabitha Pryce." He watched her add more bandages and sighed. Part of the job. That had been his excuse a few months ago, too. At her request though, he glanced over his shoulder at the trio they'd caught and finally cracked a bit of a smile when he turned back to Alana. "Yeah, I guess we did, didn't we?" "Aye, we did." And she was smiling too, though after a moment of looking at him she recognised in his appearance some amount of weariness. "You'll take care of yourself, I hope. Be careful and all that - I mean I know you have been, but-" She stuffed her hands in her pockets, looking away awkwardly. "Just let me know if you need anything." Al blinked at her, unsure of how to respond right away. Finally, he just nodded and gave more a more genuine smile. "Yeah. I will." He started to turn away to make sure Ted was all right, but then turned back. "Actually. Could use a hug, I think." A smirk played across his face, real amusement twinkling just for a second. Alana took half a moment to determine whether or not he was serious, then decided she didn't honestly care. With a small grin that bordered on shy, she stepped forward and wrapped her arms (one gently) around him and squeezed, hoping to impart some warmth, at least of the emotional variety (though, she supposed he could use the physical warmth too, considering he slept in a tent). "There," she said, out of the need to say something. He smiled and wrapped his arms around her middle. He vaguely thought about giving her one of Desmond's rib-cracking hugs... but thought better of it. It was funny when they'd been kids... and hadn't just tied down three werewolves. So instead, he squeezed gently, glad she was safe (mostly) and (relatively) unharmed. She'd lost a brother too, after all. "There," he repeated with a more genuine smile. Ted ambled back to Al and Alana a few moments later, smiling faintly. "Didn't do too badly, did we?" he asked. He touched his wand to his shoulder and muttered another charm to bandage it up a bit more properly. "Are you two doing alright? Alana- are you hurt any?" Even now, he couldn't help but worry for her-- for all of the others, really. His shoulder was a little sore, but he'd let Andie take a look at it when he got home. She should be able to help. Al flashed half a smile at Ted. "Yeah, I we did all right, I think." But even that disappeared as he frowned at his shoulder, glaring daggers at the prone figures of their captured werewolves. He wished they'd managed to get through this without anyone getting injured, as unrealistic as that was. "Doing just fine," he answered after a beat. "You could probably take care of Alana better than me, though." Al motioned toward her arm. "Nice work, Gina!" Elle grinned out the window at her comrade, a feeling of exhilaration flowing over her, "Great work!" Elle couldn't help how excited she was. They'd done it. They'd done it. No, she didn't have the other Pryce, but the heinous bitch was theirs. Elle turned to see Al and Alana hug and quirked a brow. She didn't even know they knew each other. She strode up and crossed her arms over her chest with a feigned look of disappointment, "Alastor Gumboil, if I had known you were going to be a coward and not let me beat you," she couldn't hold the façade for long and broke into a smile, "Come here. You did it. We did it." At the sound of her voice, a far more genuine smile crossed his face. He needed no more encouragement. Al gathered Elle into his arms and squeezed tightly before pressing a kiss to her lips. Damn if he cared if the Taskforce knew. Most of them did anyway. "Yeah. And without a solid figurehead? That whole damn camp might just disintegrate." He paused, tilting his head. "Well, here's to hoping, anyway. And if not...well. We'll get there, yeah?" Elle didn't even hesitate when he kissed her. Damn if they knew. Kate knew anyway. And Mill knew, so it wasn't as though she had kept it from their superior. She held herself to him even when he pulled away, and tangled her hands in his hair. She had missed him. Missed his touch, his lips, his mere presence. Hell, he was her fiance and she'd not spent any time with him since it had happened, "We'll get there. I'm so proud of you." She leaned up and kissed him again, still unable to wipe the smile from her face. Normally she wasn't one to celebrate in an Auror victory, but this was huge. Tabitha Pryce. And her force had brought her in - of course, not without Alastor's amazing help. She broke the kiss and looked at the team with a smile, "I'm so proud you guys. Now let's get this place cleaned up a bit and get these bastards down the the DMLE. Good work. The Minister is going to be pleased." She looked over the room and then back at Al, "I suppose you should get back. They won't believe it if you're gone too long... and we've still got another Pryce to apprehend." Al held her close to him, loathe to part again. But she was right - there was still work to do. So he pressed one more (rather lingering) kiss to her lips and flashed an adoring smile. Yes, there was no doubt about it. This was the woman he was spending the rest of his life with. He turned to the rest of the Taskforce and nodded. "Great work. This wouldn't have happened without you all. Get stitched up, go home, get some rest, have a drink. Tonight's a good night." With that, Al squeezed Elle's hand before letting go, and then disappeared with a pop. Kate was giving Elle a ridiculous knowing smile as Al finished his kiss, and when he disappeared she stepped up to her friends side. She could go home, get some rest, and she would need to attend to the minor scratches she'd gotten - they were werewolf scratches after all, and although they were shallow, they would still need to be treated properly - but she wanted to make certain Elle was all right before she left. Possibly even to take her friend back with her, so that the two of them could spend the evening together, relishing their success, and with Elle hopefully not worrying about Alastor. "You all right?" She asked Elle softly. Elle gave Kate a forced smile and nodded; she was, absolutely, worried about Al. He was returning to the pack without their temporary leader. It was not going to go well. She just hoped his slight roughing up would make them think he'd fought too. She looked at the rest of the force and then at Kate. She saw the scratches and frowned, "All right. Let's get these bastards to the Ministry, and every single one of you needs to go see the Healers on staff." She looked at Kate with a knowing smile; her friend could be quite stubborn, "And I mean all of you. Rufus has an extra Healer on staff for us." "All right," Kate agreed easily, mostly because she wanted Elle to agree just as easily when she demanded that her friend come over as soon as they had wrapped things up at the office. "I think that probably is a good idea, even though a bit of salve and a wound binding charm and they'll be fine." She put her wand away, and looked at her friend and then gave a smile to the rest of the team. "Let's get back." Gina had not said much since hobbling back inside the Potter house, keeping her wand out and trained on the unconscious werewolves on the ground, wanting to be absolutely certain that they weren't going to pop back up, escape, and make all of this forfeit. "I'll transport one of them back if someone can get the other too," she offered, waving her wand briskly over her swollen ankle, attempting at least to keep the pain resonating from it to a minimum. "Ted, you need to get to a healer asap or that's going to scar." "So do you," Ted replied. "I'll head there as soon as we've got these guys where they're supposed to be." He'd had worse, all things considered. He kept his wand in his hand and glanced to Gina's ankle, half wondering if there was anything he could do for her that she wasn't able to do for herself. She seemed alright, so far as that sort of thing went and he looked back to the werewolves. "I can take one of them, too." Elle nodded to Kate, "Kate and I will get Pryce. Everyone meet at the DMLE; we'll process and get patched up and start preliminary paperwork. Preliminary because you all deserve to go home and get some rest. You've earned it." |