A knock on the door jolted Maeve from her bed. Three sequenced knocks, not a single sign of impatience. It bolted into her ears and scared her awake, breathing heavily and jumping upwards on her bed like she had a disastrous nightmare. She hastily looked at the door, still catching her breath. Confused, she groggily hobbled to the door.

"Who is it?" She disguised her voice again.

"Outer Tribunal, ma'am."

Intrigue and shock erupted from her face, waking her from her morning slump with a surprising and frightful interference. Putting on the hooded cloak to hide the crystal and coat, she opened the door a crack, peeping with only her unique set of eyes. A tall, fashioned judge stood outside her door, staring back at her; his buzz-cut hair and chiseled face showcased a dominant figure, but Maeve paid all attention to the sidearm on his hip, blatantly taking a quick glance that the judge knew well of.

"There was a situation last night, ma'am, some conflict in the tavern near here, and some other… incidents…" How did he find out about it? She thought Judges, at least now, wouldn't care about petty thievery, they have bigger fish to fry now. "May I come in, ma'am?"

She had to let him in, or possibly risk her life. Judges had full jurisdiction to uphold their code, be it ethical or not. Walking right past Maeve, the judge walked in and cautiously observed the practically untouched bedroom besides the bed.

"Bar fight last night got a little heated, so we're looking for other less biased witnesses," he loosened his posture, continuing to look around. "Two dead. By the time we got here, we had unexpected backup in the form of a tigron, a real tigron, from all the way past the enchanted for-"

The strange particle-laced dagger on the nightstand was all the information the judge needed as he effortlessly unholstered his sidearm right at the little girl at the doorway. Frightened, Maeve flew her hands in the air in panic, consequently losing her hood, revealing a magical long coat, dirty pink locks, and a halted, fearful expression. The Judge, wide-eyed at the absurdly unhinged amount of crystal tech at play, faced her. With everything in her coat, Maeve turned and bolted out the door behind her as two shots numbed her ears, and constant ringing temporarily deafened her, failing to hear the cries from the Judge: "Heavy unauthorized use of high-tier crystal technology, requesting immediate backup! Possible Resistance!"

Flinging down the once peaceful hallway Maeve ill-heard the innkeeper's sarcastic "leaving so soon?" as she glanced behind her shoulder to witness the Judge give chase. His image faded away; however, as she slammed out the inn's entrance and ran across the street, three more distinguishing pursuers busted out the door together, the other two presumably exiting The Rusty Sparrow's battle-ridden tavern. The figure on the left was the same Judge, and another, more dedicated Judge, holding two magnum handguns, occupied the center space with a collected expression. The figure on the right, however, she did not have time to make out as he acrobatically hurled his enormous dadao sword at lightning speeds, clanging straight into the concrete wall in front of her as she rounded a corner into an alleyway. Her speed with the coat on has since increased with the crystal in it, she started calling it her "prowl" state, given the noises the coat emits. The sword almost would have diced her in half had it made its mark; its metal reflecting the sun into her eyes as she ran away from it down an awkward alleyway stocked with boxes. Each violent bound provoked more and more thought as to the people hunting her down now. Whatever it was, it did not feel human at all, being so exuberant distinct from his fellow pursuers. She turned around and focused on the walls ahead of her and the small pipes she could fit on top of to scale the building near her and find some solace once again. The first jump didn't seem possible in a single bound, but she recalled the "double jump" she accomplished during the heist. She pretended once more to "jump" again after leaping once towards the pipe, but before she could, she noticed the bounces of a mysterious metal device gaining on her. Sure enough, a bladed chakram bounced off the walls of the alleyway, headed right for her to stab her in the back! Instinctively, she imagined herself on the ground after the first leap, and Maeve bounded against the air once more, scaling the pipes and escaping her pursuers, feeling safe yet again among the morning breeze in the rooftops of the Trade District.

. . .

"Are you alright, Andy?" The officer said to his partner, magnums in hand. "What in the blue bastille was that?"

"A little girl, Lex," Andy chuckled. "It seems I missed."

The officer in the middle checked his left to witness the unexpected backup from last night. A foot taller than him, the tigron wasn't really on his side; he knew for sure. He's definitely looking for something here.

"Anything we don't know about Tiberius?" Lex raised an eyebrow at his temporary ally.

The anthropomorphic tiger sniffed the air. "I am not the only tigron in this kingdom," he took a long, exaggerated whiff once more. "I guess I have a lot more business here than I thought. Adieu, gentlemen."

"Wait, you're telling us that girl was a tigron?" Andy pointed at the alleyway she departed to, but not before Tiberius was long gone from their sight, darting off in a leap so large and outlandish that the Judges figured it so distracting as to not mind him at all. He headed towards the alleyway in what seemed to be his minor, investigative chase as to where the girl may have gone.

"Any unique traits she have?" Lex's piked British accent always bemused Andy. "What did you see in your brief encounter?"

"Her...um…" Andy was still shattered by the absurd departure of Tiberius. "Her eyes, Lex. That looked like... cat's eyes, you know?"

"Incredible agility, too," Lex muttered, starting to laugh. "Busy day today, huh?"

Andy shrugged. "No sleep for justice, I swear it's like I'm cursed."