9:38 pm

Anna sits in front of Leopold's laptop, frustratedly typing phrase after phrase into the search bar. Triple Six ghost. Triple Six shadow. Triple Six assassin. San Domenico villains invisible. Triple Six telekinetic. Nothing is giving her any clues as to who, or even what, killed that officer on TV. She knows she saw a shadow pass across his neck, but there was nothing in the frame that would have caused it. With a groan, she lays her arms on the table and rests her head on them, damp hair draping on the table.

"Told ya you weren't gonna find nothin'."

She raises her head a few inches, just enough to send a half-hearted glare at Dakota, before laying it back down. It's not like she had anything better to do while they wait for Watchdog to call back. If there's another member of the villain team there, she would prefer to have some info on them instead of running in blind.

It's been about an hour since they decided on their action plan. Po'boy left about an hour ago to go get ready for his infiltration into Wardens Australis with Sentry. Leopold wasn't too far behind him, figuring if he can get in and out of Sinclair's house without being detected, he can always come back them up. So, after a shower to get rid of all the lingering sand from the beach, she's been trying to find ways to pass the time instead of just checking her phone every 30 seconds.

Every hour that ticks by is another person dead. At this point, the Tripe Six have already killed four of their captives. In 22 minutes, they'll kill another. Every time she looks at the clock Anna gets sick to her stomach. Logically she knows that Watchdog is their best bet for finding this place, and he needs time to operate. But logic isn't really winning out right now.

Peeking up and across the table at her Texan teammate, Dakota looks utterly relaxed. Her feet are up on the table next to her Stetson, hand linked behind her head as she lounges in the tipped-back chair. The tinker usually needs to fill every moment with productivity, so this is weirding Anna out a little bit.

"Aren't you anxious or anything?"

Dakota shrugs. "Sure am, which is why I'm sittin' here instead of working on bullets; can't focus when I feel pecked by a hundred chickens. We just gotta wait."

Pecked by a hundred chickens? Can't imagine that would feel good.

Anna's phone buzzes on the table and she jumps to grab it. It's Watchdog, finally. She hits accept. "Did you find them?"

"I think so. There's a building in the heart of Old Towne that's surrounded by Rite's blood creatures. Hasn't been anyone in or out that I can see."

Anna looks up at Dakota and nods. The tinker stands and hurries to her room to grab her gear. "Send us the address."

"Ok, Lamplighter and Cannis will meet you there."

She hesitates a moment. "Are you sure he's up for this? We'll take all the help we can get. I just want to make sure Lamplighter isn't rushing to get back into the field too soon."

There's a beat of silence before Lamplighter's voice comes through. "Yeah, Crusade, you're on speaker. Don't worry about me, I can handle my shit."

Anna's face heats up a little. So much for telling people when they're on speakerphone. "I know you can, we're just about to go rescue some police officers. If one of them links you to what happened at the community center you could be painting a target on your back."

There's a faint grumble over the phone. "Yeah, yeah, I get your point. How about this? You and Desperado go in, secure the cops while Cannis and I clean up Rite's little blood monsters, keep them away from civilians, and make sure no one gets away."

"Good plan. We're on our way. Keep us updated." She hangs up the phone and stands, grabbing her armored leather jacket off the back of the chair. As she pulls it on, Dakota emerges from the hall, settling her visor over one eye. "Watchdog's sending us the address, let's get going. I'll take the back."

Dakota nods and heads to the front entrance, hat in hand. Anna jogs to the back entrance and slips out into the night air. With a boost from the barriers under her feet, Anna launches herself over the fence and lands softly on the other side. She edges along the wooden wall, trying to keep out of the street light, and quickly crosses to the idling car. Dakota is already in the driver's seat, so she climbs in the passenger side.

As soon as the door is shut, the car lurches forward as her teammate speeds down the street. Her phone finally buzzes with a text from Watchdog and she puts the address into her map. She forwards the message to Leopold, just in case he gets done early. Anna grabs the handle above the door as the car screeches around a corner. "Would you slow down a little? You're going to get us pulled over."

Dakota shakes her head, speeding the car up even more. "We got 16 minutes."

Anna looks down at the clock; it's 9:44. According to the map, they're 12 minutes away. If they're very lucky, they may be able to interrupt the next execution. She looks back up at Dakota and nods, buckling her seatbelt.

By some miracle, they make it to the area in one piece, weaving in and out of traffic at break-neck speeds. Dakota jerks the car to the side of the road about two blocks away from the address Watchdog sent them. The two women jump out of the car, Desperado jamming her hat on her head, Crusade activating her armor, and start running down the street.

As they pass the first intersection, an angry squeal pulls their attention. A gang of small bloody demons, in the middle of ransacking a store, stop and turn towards them. One of them points and screeches and the pack sprints at them, flailing their little arms and brandishing broken pieces of wood or metal.

Desperado pulls out her pistol and shoots two shots into the gaggle. The bullets scatter and hit about a dozen of the creepy creatures. After a moment, they start to shrivel and crumble into flakes of dried blood as they run, disintegrating into nothing. With an excited whoop she shoots twice more, eliminating the rest of the creatures. "Well ain't that the berries!" She turns towards Crusade, eyes crinkled in a smile. "They work!"

Crusade smiles briefly. Good thing too, they're going to need them. She turns back towards their destination. "No time to celebrate, we gotta keep moving." Desperado's face steels once more and the pair take off down the street again, running as fast as they can.

Before they even get halfway down the next block, Crusade hears a loud grunting and squelchy sound behind them. She glances over her shoulder to see a huge, bloody monster running surprisingly quickly towards them. Unlike the tiny, knee-height minions in the gang, this thing is over 6 ft tall and very round. It's closing in on them fast. Damn it, they don't have time to deal with this!

Desperado starts to pull out her guns as a dark figure darts out of the alley and punches the blob of blood, a flaming green fist burning into the dark liquid. The creature roars and stumbles to the side as Phantom throws another ghostly punch at it. He turns his head towards them, green eyes glowing in the dark, and waves. "You go! I've got this one!" Focusing his attention back on the bloody creature, he lets his fists fly.

Desperado, securing her revolvers again, looks at Crusade as they run. "Is that…?"

She smirks and nods. "That's Phantom. Never knew where his neighborhood was, guess this is it."

"Kids got more balls than most, I'll give him that."

Hopefully, he finds Lamplighter and his buddy Cannis when they get here; they'll be safer in a group. But she can't spare the time to try and get them connected, they've reached their destination.

Crusade and Desperado come to a stop outside a small, three-story brick building with tiny windows. There are lights on on all the floors and a few blood demons come toddling out of a door on the side. This must be it. She looks at her watch. 9:57. They don't have the time to search the whole building, let alone try and be sneaky about it. They'll just have to go in quick and try to interrupt whoever is here. Definitely Rite, who knows who else.

She waves Desperado towards the open side door. "We've gotta find them quick, we've only got 3 minutes."

Desperado nods. "I'll take the first floor, you take the second. Give me a holler if you find anything. If we don't find nothin', then we know where to go."

"Sounds good." They hurry through the open door, which leads to a stairwell. As soon as they cross the threshold, a sweet, putrid, metallic scent fills Crusade's nostrils. She brings a hand to her nose to try and stifle it, but it's already filling her senses. There's blood on the floor and walls, apparently from where Rites minions made their way down the stairs. Desperado tightens the bandana around her nose and mouth before gesturing to the door ahead of them "See you soon." She pulls out her six shooters and, with a deep breath, bursts through the door on the first floor.

Crusade starts to climb the stairs, but they're slick with dark blood, making her feet slip. She uses her wind walk to avoid them, running up and then launching over the railing to save some time. Her legs ache already, the effort from surfing earlier catching up with her. Good thing this building isn't taller. She gets to the landing and pushes through the door to the second floor.

Desperado's voice speaks in her ear as she looks around the large, empty space. "Crusade, I got nothin' here but those creepy little blood critters. I'm blockin' off the entrance and comin' your way."

There are a few doors off the area she's in, but so far nothing. She hurries to the first door and opens it; the room is empty. The second and third yield the same. Looks like this place has been empty for a long time. If the Triple Six and the captured officers were here, she would have found something by now. She speaks into her comm. "Nothing here either, they must be on the third floor." Leaving the door open, she jogs back to the stairwell where Desperado stands in the doorway, pistols in hand.

The gunsmith lifts her chin, eyes flicking toward the third floor. "Think they know we're here?"

Crusade shrugs as she forms a longsword in each hand. "I don't think so. If they did, we would have seen someone by now." She just hopes it isn't because they're in the wrong place altogether. "You ready?"

Desperado nods, pulling the hammer back on her guns. "Let's do it."

The two hurry up the final set of stairs as quietly as they can. As they approach the landing, they hear a shrill, sing-song voice on the other side of the door. "It's tiiiiiime! Brujaaaa, it's your turn. So exciting!"

Crusade's eyes widen. Shit, that's right! Glamour mentioned a woman named Bruja that had joined at the same time as Rite. She completely forgot about her with all the stuff with Sinclair and Corona going on at the same time. Maybe she's responsible for the shadow? Either way, they've got to get in there now. She glances at Desperado and nods. The tinker returns the gesture and Crusade kicks the door, making it fly open.

The third floor is a similar layout to the second; a large hall that turns to the left with a few doors off of it. This time, though, they can hear movement and voices coming from a larger area around the corner. This level is a lot brighter too; the lights along the walls have had their shades taken off.

A new voice speaks, deeper and smoother than Rites. "Did you hear that? Somebody's here!"

Desperado runs across the hall, pressing her back to the wall and scooting towards the corner. After a deep breath, Crusade runs down the hall swords raised. She turns the corner, only to have a bright light shine in her eyes, making her squint. She can see two women; Rite with a deranged smirk on her face and dried blood caking one arm, and the other must be Bruja. Bruja is dressed exactly how her name would suggest. Her long, flowy black dress has a cinched waist and draped sleeves. Long black hair hangs in her pale face, which sports heavy black makeup. Her face and other bits of skin showing have black runes everywhere. She carries a large, old book open in one arm.

The smell that hit them in the stairwell is ten times worse here. Now that her eyes are adjusting a little to the light, she can see that the floors are all but covered in blood, some areas fresher than others. There are splashes of dark red liquid covering the walls, even a few on the ceiling. Her stomach heaves with the rancid smell penetrating her nose. The furniture in the room casts deep, crisscrossing shadows from the bright lights. There are a couple of open doors on the far side of the room, but she can't tell where the officers are being held from here.

There's no way they'll listen, but she at least has to try and reason with them. Crusade raises one blunted sword towards the women. "Release the officers to me and no one has to get hurt."

Rite cackles as she jumps off of the table she was perched on and faces her. "Aw look! The wannabe hero is back. You really shouldn't have come here." She pulls out a dagger, coated in dried blood, and carves it along her uninjured arm. A fresh stream of blood runs down her arm a little bit before it starts flowing into the air and forming a humanoid creature.

Crusade sprints forward before Rite can finish forming her minion, launching herself over a stack of boxes on the floor. As she lands, feet steady beneath her, she lurches forward and falls to the ground. Rite's shrill laugh fills her ears as she tries to stand. Something is keeping her down, though, like there's a rope tied around her shoulders. Shimming to her hand and knees she shoves herself up. Whatever was holding her breaks and she flies up, her arms flailing to try and steady herself.

Rite's fully formed creature rushes towards her and starts swinging. Still on her knees Crusade throws herself to the right, barely dodging the bright red figure's attack. She rolls and climbs to her feet, forming a sword in each hand again. The creature is relentless, though, and is already on her. It hits her twice, leaving bloody smears on her armor. She can't waste time with the creature, though. She knows her swords don't do much to it, Desperado can handle it. Better to go after its creator; if she knocks her out maybe her minions will cease to exist.

Crusade ducks under another attempted punch and runs past the lumbering blob towards Rite. The blood-encrusted woman backs up a few steps, but she doesn't have much room to retreat. Crusade raises a sword to hit her, but her arm is pulled back as she tries to swing. She tries to jerk her arm forward again but she can't. Rite's face morphs from apprehension to a satisfied smirk, her lips curling. Crusade tries to attack with her other arm, but it gets yanked back too. What the fuck is happening? Why can't she move?

From her right, Crusade registers Bruja's voice muttering in Spanish. She glances over to see the witchy woman talking under her breath while she holds up her free hand like she's pulling strings, almost like a marionette. As Bruja draws her hand up both of Crusade's arms are drawn back, pulling her up off her feet. She tries to pull her wrists free, but she can't. Where the hell is Desperado?!

Crusade grunts, her shoulders already in pain. "Desperado, I need some help!" But there's no response, just pained cries from her teammate. There's someone else here attacking her. She tries to look over her shoulder to see what's going on, but she can't see anything around the corner.

Her attention is pulled back as Rite's bloody minion runs over to her, dangling in the air, and starts punching her. Luckily it's not getting through her armor. With a sour look on her face Rite saunters over to Bruja and stands behind her, placing one arm around her neck and rubbing her nose on Bruja's ear, eyes locked on Crusade. "Come on, Corazón, let's get rid of that stupid armor. I want to play with her. We can't let Umbridge have all the fun."

Bruja doesn't say anything, just looks at Crusade. There's apprehension in her eyes, almost. Rite's grip on her tightens and a smile appears on her face. "With pleasure, mi Vida." She bends her fingers at odd angles and draws her hands apart.

The pressure on Crusade's wrists increases and her fingertips start to tingle with numbness as the pain in her shoulders and elbows spikes, making her cry out. If she doesn't do something soon, her joints aren't going to stay in place for long. Invisible ropes bite into her skin, trickles of blood running down her wrists.

Rite giggles and the blood floats along the contours of her armor and out of the holes in her helmet towards the red, blobby creature attacking her. It grows bigger and stronger with every drop. With a grunt, it swings a massive fist and shatters her armor. The next hit connects with her ribs, knocking the air from her lungs. Struggling to draw a deep breath, she hears Desperado call her name, pain etched in every syllable. She needs to get out of this, now.

Squeezing her eyes shut, Crusade clenches every muscle she has, trying to pull her arms back in towards her chest. She pulls and pulls and pulls, Rit's cackle echoing in her ears, until she finally feels her elbow bend the slightest bit as the bindings cut deeper into her wrists. The Spanish chanting gets louder and more desperate. She's doing something, but the resistance she's managing doesn't seem to be enough to break the hold. Maybe she needs to break it all at once. Crusade takes a deep breath and, with a tearing scream, wrenches her arms in as hard as she can.

The pressure on her wrists disappears and Crusade drops to the floor, legs unsteady beneath her. Her arms and back and core muscles are all screaming in protest, but she can't stop now. Ducking under a swing from the bloody behemoth, she turns and runs back to the hall where Desperado is. She feels a slight drag, like something is trying to pull her back again, but she keeps pushing forward and uses her wind walk to bank around the corner.

Out of Bruja's line of sight, she slams her back against the wall, out of breath and disoriented. She looks around and spots her teammate pressed up against the wall in the corner grasping one arm. Crusade hurries over to her, putting her armor back up, and crouches down. "You ok? What happened?"

Desperado looks up at her with panic in her eyes. She has scratches on her cheek, like something with big claws attacked her, and there's blood seeping through her duster. "I'm gettin' all cut up, but there's no one here. I saw something move out of the corner of my eye, but I can't get a bead on it."

Crusade glances around, but they're the only ones there. That shadow on the video must not have been Bruja after all. Rite mentioned the name Umbridge, must be another member of the group. She huffs. "I can't do anything to Rite and her creatures, but you can. I can deal with…whatever's here. Watch out for Bruja, though. She nearly pulled my arms out of their sockets." Desperado nods and shifts to stand, grimacing in pain. Crusade grabs her elbows and helps lift her to her feet.

Something dark flits at the corner of Crusade's vision. Desperado's eyes suddenly bulge before she clenches them shut with a grunt. She grabs her leg, blood seeping into the tan fabric. Crusade looks around, trying to catch a glimpse of whatever is attacking them, but there's nothing there. She nudges Desperado. "Go! I'll deal with this."

Her teammate shoves her revolvers into her reloader, pushes a button, and pulls them back out as she slowly jogs to the bend in the hallway, a grin on her face. "Let's dance, Rite."

Crusade reaches out with her barriers to create a sword in each hand and looks around. Aside from the boxes and other junk randomly laying around, there's nothing here. And nothing is really big enough for a person to hide behind. Unless Umbridge is small. She walks up to the nearest box and kicks it towards the wall, then swipes a bookshelf on its side with one sword. She makes her way down the hall, haphazardly moving everything in the middle of the floor.

As she goes to shove a desk about halfway down the hall, something black scurries across the floor. She turns to follow its movement, but it's gone. Following where she thinks it went, she crosses back towards the stairwell. Another figure, she can't even tell if it's the same as the one on the floor, speeds by on the wall and disappears again as it crosses a shadow. Crusade stops, looking around confused. Where the hell is this thing?

Pain lances through her as something slices into her right shoulder and drags down her back, making her cry out in surprise and pain. Before she can even move, something stabs her in the left leg, making her knee buckle. She can feel the warm wet blood seeping into her clothes, but her bright blue armor is intact. Something is hitting her through her armor somehow. This isn't good.

Crusade tries to keep her breathing steady despite the throbbing pain. She pushes herself back to her feet and backs up, limping. Her eyes dart this way and that, trying to find whatever is doing this. If she can find it, maybe she has a chance of actually stopping it. Whoever, whatever this is…it's like it's everywhere and nowhere all at once.

A movement catches her eye and she turns towards it. A shadow on the wall grows from the floor, forming the rough shape of a person. As the figure grows four sets of arms, each with long pointy fingers, unfurl. The creature grows until the shadow almost reaches the ceiling. Crusade looks around, but there's nothing there to cast a shadow. The shadow is what's been attacking them. This must be Umbridge.

Crusade lurches forward and swings her sword at the shadow. The weapon hits the wall and breaks the drywall. Umbridge seemingly looks down at her sword wedged in the wall and his shoulders shake like he's laughing. Shit, that's not doing anything. His spindly fingers flex and he raises all eight arms. Crusade isn't quite sure how he's hurting her when she can't hurt him, but she's not going to stick around for the end result. She throws herself to the side, away from his creepy shadow, and rolls onto her injured shoulder. Pain radiates down her arm and through her torso. She grunts and grabs at her shoulder, interrupting the momentum of her roll so she stalls on her stomach. With a deep breath, she slowly starts climbing to her feet, but Umbridge is faster than her.

Before she even notices his form move, Umbridge slices into her back twice leaving crisscrossing slashes. There's no force behind the hit, but she falls back to the floor regardless. After a few steadying breaths, Crusade gets her hands back underneath her, a low growl erupting from her. She has to find something…some way to affect him. They have to get to those cops and stop these psychos. There has to be something….

She gets to her feet, swaying a little with pain overwhelming her senses. She shakes her head, clearing some of the haze, and makes a sword in one hand. She probably couldn't manage more than that right now and still keep her armor up. Not that it's doing her a lot of good.

Crusade looks around trying to find where Umbridge has gone. He's hiding. She chuckles a little. "Big bad shadow needs to hide. No wonder no one knows you exist. You're just a coward, aren't you?" She glances around, but still nothing. "Can't hold a candle to the big boys. Hell…even the new chicks are scarier than you. Personally, I don't see why Incarnate keeps you around. Useless."

A low rumble fills her ears like the building is shaking, and Umbridge climbs out of the shadows on the floor. His gangly hands tremble and he darts towards her. Crusade backs up as quickly as she can, trying to avoid his shadowy form. She stumbles over a box on the ground and her arm swings, sword hitting the wall. It breaks a light on the wall and Umbridge flits to the side quickly, moving into the brighter light. Wait a second, what was that?

Crusade looks around to find another light just to her other side. She drops her sword and creates a new one in the other hand and smashes it into the light bulb. Umbridge skitters away again, retreating into the light.

She smirks. Looks like the shadow needs light to exist. Got you, you tricky son of a bitch.