OOC: Takes place during the big AU plot and totally backdated to then.

The final showdown was something to behold, but in all the motion and movement, two of the women became separated from the rest, the sound of heavy boots on the ground after them as they found a corner to hide in.

Neither Jennifer or Kris were particularly physically strong, and Jennifer's mind was still trying to recover from having used her powers, so the trembles were wracking her body and she needed as much support as any injured person.

"Stop!" Tobias shouted, his weapon drawn and raised as he chased them, shooting two electric bullets after the women. Against his other leg rested his pistol that fired brass stakes with a silver tip, effective on the human and were enemies they had. He flicked his wrist to recharge his gun and pulled the other. "Submit and be purged or I will shoot!"

He was one of the best marksmen in this unit. Not the best, but one of them.

( Run! )

( Suffering )

Before this report/request. This is referred to in Cian's reply there.

Night time was best for patrolling the grid they'd established in this city called Chicago, the dark disguising the uniforms a little. But the light of day meant there were more people around, the sunlight giving confirmation that at least a person wasn't a vampire in the undead's attempt to disguise their true evil.

Cian though was more on the lookout for were creatures. They were not phased by the sun, and the fullness of the moon in this world meant that any of this kind would be feeling the undeniable tug of the devil that lived within to be given its freedom, something he knew from first hand experience, and would fight till his dying breath.

He checked his stride as he came to the corner of the street he'd been walking down, head turning slowly as he scanned the shopfronts and the people passing him by. His nose twitched at the scent of a were that the warm breeze carried to his nostrils, his eyes narrowing as he attempted to find the demon-ridden body but too many other things interfering to the point of frustration. A young girl passed by, bumping into him and muttering something about him being clumsy, was covered in a weird jacket, slit down the back to give freedom to... a pair of wings? His eyes widened as none who she passed, let alone knocked into gave her more than a scowl or a second look, as if she was... allowed?

His fingers itched, clenching and unclenching as he longed to pull out his weapon and use it to eradicate her, remove another unclean one from this plagued world. But he recalled the stern warning from their commander, that they should do nothing to bring unwarranted attention to themselves until they had established a clear line of communication with the authorities, or completed their mission, whichever came first. And their mission was to find and exterminate the fugitives who had managed to claw their way out of their allotted fates and attempt to bring their scourge to this, godforsaken world. He started to follow the winged girl down the street, but when she disappeared around a corner he stopped again, jaw clenching as he decided that to follow her would only give him more frustration. When he glanced to the storefront he'd paused outside of he did a small double take, his eyes widening as they tried to make sure of what it was he was seeing.

( "Tobias?" )

[OOC Note: Takes place before Kris' rescue]

Okay, so either Toby was going insane or he was actually seeing a certain psychotic vampire from his past appearing outside his house on a bi-nightly basis.

The first night she had been out there, Wolf barked at the window until he realised who it was and whimpered, bolting up the stairs - where he wasn't allowed and he knew it - nearly tripping Alec over to seek refuge in Toby's room.

Toby had gone downstairs to see what it was that had spooked his dog, locked all the windows and doors, shut all the curtains and gone upstairs, letting Wolf sleep curled up at the bottom of his bed.

The same thing happened two nights later, and two nights after that.

( Blonde Hyena )

( New Cologne )

( Stalker )

The knock knock on the front door of Alec's house was shaky, stuttered as if she wasn't entirely sure she should be knocking. Jenny was stood outside Alec's front door, looking up at it. Lights were on inside, so there were at least people awake. It was getting late, but it wasn't unacceptably late. She hoped he wouldn't mind even it if was.

Inside she could sense minds, two animal, warm and comforting and more, people, she guessed Alec and his housemate, Toby. The houses around them were giving off noise too, conversations that filled her up. Her eyes burned, stinging from the wind and from the tears that were just waiting to fall.

It hadn't taken her long to realise that she needed someone. The house had been empty and she was still afraid.

She knocked again, a little stronger this time and the door was pulled open by someone she didn't recognise, his glasses sat on the end of his nose and he looked at her the way someone might look at a randomly tearful stranger standing on his doorstep. It was a very 'what the fuck?' look, which was what Toby was thinking.

( Can Alec come to the door? )

( Sleeping Over )

Nathan was out on one late evening, having pulled himself from the isolation he'd lost himself in for a while, it was a necessity at times given the dreams and the endless hours of one's eternal life. Sometimes you just needed to escape and forget the world and all its inhabitants existed.

Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world this was the last place that Nathan thought he would find Toby, but it would certainly seem like the man frequented these places when he wanted to scrape the barrel. That reminded the vampire of somebody else whom he scared off with the display of his true fangs.

Whatever happened to the dear neurotic, miserable Rebecca?

"Don't you know that stuff'll kill you," Nathan drawled as he picked up a nearly empty glass of brown liquid. He dipped his head and took a sniff of it, determining it was scotch, before he finished it off, catching a wayward droplet in the corner of his mouth with the edge of his thumb.

( All is Not Right )

( Questions and Answers )

( Scratching an Itch )

( Pick Up )

By the time Kris was missing for five days, Hayden's truck tires were almost bald from circling the neighborhood. The same old streets, the same places, over and over, until he looked like some kind of lurking sexual predator. He had a spiral notebook on his truck seat, a chewed pencil marking a place between the pages. He kept track of who he called, who he talked to, where he looked, and when. He jotted down ideas and scratched them out. He tore out newspaper articles about George Robinson. Being meticulous didn't get him answers, but it helped Hayden keep track of his racing thoughts.

He kept coming back to Aspire. He had this idea that he'd run into one of her Slayers at the gym, or somebody else Kris knew that he didn't. Hounding her neighbors just turned up loose ends. He wanted to avoid going to her family and upsetting them, unless he knew for sure it was time.

The truck brakes complained when Hayden pulled up to the curb and shifted into park. It was dark out, but he saw a figure huddled near the doors, like he was waiting on the gym to open. Keeping an eye on the guy, he picked up his notes and climbed out of the truck, giving the door a heavy slam. The weather was miserable, clammy and cold, like walking through a low-hanging cloud. Mist beaded on his hoody and short beard as he jogged up the steps and lifted a hand in greeting.

"Hey, man." Hayden pushed the hood off his hair and squinted in the bad light. His jeans were old and a little tan at the bottom, like clay stains from the construction sites had never washed out. "Can I talk to you for a second?"

( Talking to Toby )

( Kris Would Never Bludgeon! Wait... )

An hour after hearing the little bleep on his computer, Toby was still at a loss as to how to reply to the email message he had received from Kathleen. What did one say to something like that?

Okay, maybe he deserved a bit of an ass kicking for not getting into contact, but he had never claimed to be a super awesome friend, he was very shit at communicating when it wasn't in his face. It wasn't that he had forgotten about Kathleen, and he had wondered where she was, it was just that with his coffee shop being in the works and he was supervising that a lot, getting his hands in with the painting and everything, and now Kris disappearing, staying in contact with people wasn't something that had jumped straight to the forefront of his mind.

He nudged the coffee table with his foot. Wolf whined pitifully from where he was sat at Toby's side, his head on his master's lap. One hand scratched absently behind Wolf's ears, the other was petting Spacey who had finally decided that she loved him enough to notice when something was wrong and she had curled up on his stomach as he was slouched in the couch.

He wanted to be angry. He should have been angry at the comment Kathleen made about his wife. She had no right, she didn't even- He had never really spoken about her but he always thought it had been clear how much he loved her. Instead he was just reeling, hurt from the comments and entirely unsure how to deal with what had just happened.

( Not Tears, Dust )

( Strictly Not Allowed )

( Workaholic )

It was half ten and Toby was sat on the steps of Kris' gym. It was a nice day, for a change, and he was a little early for their lesson but he hadn't thought it would be a problem, Kris was usually there and since the whole place was still being renovated he would have figured she would have been there too.

After about half an hour, and there was no sign of Kris. Toby started to worry. She was never late, not to anything. Ever. Not as far as he knew and not when business was concerned, anyway.

He pulled his phone out of the pocket of his jacket and knocked his heel against the step a couple down from the one he was sitting on. His thumb found Kris' number in his contact and he tapped it with a long finger, lifting the phone to his ear.

( No Answer )

To: Java Man
From: Super Alec

Am bored. Very bored. What're you up to besides pursuing your business venture? I'm supposed to be catching a couple zzz's given that it's my first break in what has been an 11 hour long shift of weird behaviour and crazy people. Thing is, I can't sleep, so I'm bugging you instead. Text me back.

After she'd spent the better part of her evening answering questions and ignoring the looks from the neighbourhood Kris had finally retired into the mess that was now her gym, thankful for the fact she could start cleaning up as the police had taken their 'prints'. She had very little faith that anything conclusive would come of this whole investigation, she'd never had much luck with the authority before.

She breathed out slowly as she took a long look around herself, trying to figure out where in the hell to begin first. Kris shrugged out of her jacket and tossed it over the nearby counter, figuring the broken glass was as good a place as any to start.

It was amazing how quickly time flew when you were picking up the pieces of your life.

It was gone 8 in the morning by the time Kris had put some semblance of order back into the gym itself. She could see the floor, which was a good start. Her walls would need a repaint given the fact somebody had gone to town with a can of black spray paint in some indecipherable language which she was thought was English, but she was sure she would need some kind of PhD to read it.

( Slipped Her Notice )

( A Few Ugly Truths )

( Make Do )

Knock knock

Toby stood outside Alec's room with a hand on the doorknob, almost pressing his ear against the door but not quite. That might be a little bit creepy. Not that lurking in the hallway outside his housemate's door wasn't creepy, but still.

Since Alec's return from the hospital, Toby had barely seen him. They had bumped into each other in the kitchen but Alec had always disappeared off before Toby could get anything other than 'hi' out of his mouth and to be honest he was a little terrified that he was going to open the door and Alec would be unconscious on the bed or something. Or in the bed.

Or dead.

That wouldn't be good! Toby had freaked himself out on more than one occasion with that thought crossing his mind, sending him into some what of a panic.

( Can I come in? )

( Superhero )

(ooc: This scene takes place before the portal event and before this)

The elevator doors slowly parted open when they reached the twelfth floor of the Streeterville Center. Kathleen stepped out of the elevator with a medium cardboard box with U-haul written on the side in red lettering. Most of her things had been kept in small moving container that was kept at some storage facility at the naval training base in North Chicago which had been loaded way back in August. The military kept it for her until she found more permanent housing in the Chicago area, but never did she imagine she would find a place in the middle of Chicago.

She did not have a lot of possessions. She sold her share of the furniture to her formal roommate in Maryland. Most of her things were in boxes; except for the large flat screen HDTV which she won in a raffle a few years ago. That might have been the biggest thing they had to haul up and required the both of them to carry together.This was an easy move. The apartment was already partially furnished with a bed and furniture in the living room.

She turned her head back to see if Toby followed. “You’re not tired are you?”

Toby was behind her, carrying a couple of boxes in his arms. He peeked at her over the top as he followed her and shook his head. "No, not yet. My arms are hurting a little but that's because they've become lazy and unaccustomed to carrying things." He chuckled, his feet making a soft padding sound against the floor even though he was wearing heavy boots. He approved. No loud sounds were always good. Made for easier living conditions.

( Chicken Scratch )

( Alcohol and Starbucks )

( Gotta call a guy about some coffee )

The building was empty at the moment, the downstairs vacant and Toby was just trying to work out ways to fill it. It wasn't too far from the studio that Kris now owned (though that hadn't been intentional), and in Toby's opinion, the area was in definite need of some kind of coffee shop.

Of course, that meant that he needed to try and make this place look like he could serve customers in it. It would mean a lot of work; redecorating and turning the kitchen into somewhere where food could be prepared. He needed a bench and some kind of display cabinet and he needed lots of tables and chairs. And shelves. Maybe paintings.

He checked his watch as he unlocked the door to the building and pushed it open with a creak. He'd bought the whole thing with the intention of maybe hiring out the rooms upstairs - once they'd been renovated, of course - to anyone that wanted them or needed somewhere to stay.

( A Business Discussion )

The Cajun was already studying the front window, wondering how the light would strike the floor once it started to turn warm again. The anticipation was stronger now, and he had to admit he was looking forward to this. Having already put his best foot forward, all he had to do now was come through on the work, which was practically the easy part.

Yeah, Toby was right. This was going to be awesome.

"I'll take it."

It was a fairly sized building. It had been a big cafe at one point, so it had an equipped kitchen, but the business had gone bust, they had shut up shop and the building had been sold off. No one occupied it and Toby wanted it.

If he was going to start his own business, there was no time like the present. He had been around looking at buildings for a while and there was only so much of sitting at Alec's bedside he could do before he started to worry about the amount of time he spent around the man.

This was the only one that he had visited more than once. Even though it was dusty and a little run down, it just needed some TLC. It was in a good location and it wasn't too far from Kris' studio either so he could drag her kicking and screaming to make sure she ate at least one decent meal that she hadn't had to make herself.

...Wait, that meant he actually had to serve real food instead of just cakes and drinks. Maybe he'd branch out into sandwiches.

( Logistics and Dust )