Chapter 3 – Street-side brawl
Kim was walking home from her job at a nearby hotel, it had been a long late shift and she was content to simply sink into her music. Her feet carried her home almost without conscious thought, simple treading their familiar path. Suddenly however her feet jolted to stop. She looked up and her mouth dropped; a wild eyed woman with pale skin and a heavy black cloak was pointing a twig at a calm looking man, himself pointing a large sliver gun at the woman, the gun unwavering in his black gloved hand. She heard the man yell "get down" and she instinctively dived to the gutter, covering her head with her hands as all hell broke loose above her.
In the few seconds since the girl had come out of the alleyway Alex had lost the initiative. The witch had drawn her wand and as the moment slowed and Alex heard himself yelling she fired a jet of green light towards his head. He rolled to the right, jumping to his feet with his pistol booming in his hand as the post box behind him exploded into flame. More colorful curses sped from the woman's wand, her fury apparently fueling her magical ability. Alex kept moving, ducking and weaving to avoid the spells. The woman was now swirling her cloak making herself a hard target while screaming obscenities and curses at the top of her lungs. Through a barrage of careful aimed fire Alex was finally beginning to wear her down when a bright tongue of purple flame whipped past Alex towards the innocent girl lying on the floor. Alex fired one bulled directly at the hand of the witch, at the same time flinging a bottle of holy water towards the girl.
The bullet and the holy water hit at the same moment but with very different effects. As the bullet smashed into the back of the witches hand, dragging with it pieces of blood and tissue, the bottle hit the floor by the young girl. As the class cracked the water shot upwards and expeanded into a shimmering shield which took the brunt of the purple flame. The witch was already sprinting down an alley, but as Alex made to follow he heard a low moan from the innocent girl as she attempted to stand. "Ah shit" he muttered under his breath, he had assumed she'd been unconscious and seen nothing. He stepped towards her, and almost in shock she collapsed into his arms. He caught her, already whispering prayers of healing. Satisfied the woman was safe enough to move he hoisted her onto his shoulder and began to walk, calling control and updating them on his progress. "Yes suspect is confirmed as being at that location. Yes, self defence. She's got one unusable hand, with a great big fucking bullet hole, a tracker beacon buried in her shoe (a lucky shot with a small flicked dart) and she has a dead straight scar along her right cheek where one of my bullets grazed her." All in all he had sustained only a small burn/cut on his harm where the purple fire had touched him. He applied a dressing and looked down at the girl in his arms, she looked around 19 and had mercifully slipped back into unconsciousness. Confused as to why his instincts had told him not to report her to control he sat her on the back of his bike and roared of in the direction of his hotel.
Kim awoke with a familiar sense of disorientation. It was only when she fully opened her eyes the feeling became a reality. She had no idea where she was, it looked like a hotel room but not one she recognized. She caught a glimpse of a man sat on a chair in the shadows of the edge of the room and the night's events sped back to her. She remembered the pitched battle in the street. The man in the room carried a large gun, and he had dueled with a woman who appeared to fire color from a stick! "What's your name he asked"
"L…L…Lemon, K..K... Kim Lemon" She stammered. The man laughed "Lemon eh, bet you get a fair bit of stick for that." The smile slid from his face, his tone became serious. "Now Kim, we need to have a talk".