• "Oi Mary what the hell are you playing at? Wings are delicate you idiot!" Marcella shot out the door at the scuttering away mary trying to refrain from swearing wildly as she was in her mind. Someone to talk to who was like her was currently in a crumpled heap on the floor, unconcious from pain. Marcella had to wonder what it would be like to collapse and faint due to pain, but she wasn't ready to contemplate it further as she heard Randy's voice.
  
  She walked over to the unconcious skylar and bent down next to her, sighing repeatedly as she flared her wings out backwards. "I spose we shoudl move her to a bed or something, somewhere off of a hard floor, and not in the middle of a kitchen" She said to Randy as she watched her entering the room, she could hear her coming in anyway since she could always hear her swearing since it was rather loud.

Law appeared then, kneeling down by Skylar, opposite of Marcella, before gently hoisting her up into his arms. He had a somewhat solemn face at the moment, and how he'd sneaked down so quietly was questionable too, the runes on his armlets were glowing strangely, turning off then glowing again.
Law looked to Marcella and smiled,
"I'll take her to her room, but would you mind looking after her? I'll bring you two some food." He informed Marcella, walking with Skylar at a slow, steady pace, best not to wake her up. He passed Randy, nodding to her and proceeded to Skylar's room, putting the Harpy down on her bed before returning to the kitchen, he'd finish off what the lady had started, after all he'd watched her enough times in the kitchen when he was hungry in his earlier days of being in the sect,
"I think it best to assume the hotpocket is Mary's. And what else is on order?"

Julia jumped at the sound of something crashing over, hiding behind Randy for whatever had fallen even though it was Randy's doing in the first place, after a while she moved tot he kitchen sitting on a chair and watching Law continue Skylar's earlier work.

Rainbow almost melted at Henry's smile, feeling the blush burning in her cheeks. She smiled back through it, though, and waved his thanks and appreciation away with a swish of her hand and spoke in a fairly flirty voice. "Oh, it's no big deal. But if you want to do something, I guess you--"

THUMP!
CRASH!

Rainbow was interrupted by the sound of a body hitting a floor, then that lamp that Sky was always bashing into crashing into something, then Marcella yelling, then Law trudging up the stairs gently with a limp Sky in his arms. Suddenly, her conversation with Henry seemed a little less important. "Oh no!" she cried out, dashing over to the demon as he carried the unconscious harpy to her room with her eyes wide. "Omigad! What happened? Is she okay!?" the teen's hands fluttered all over the place, going from her face, to clawing anxiously at Law's obscenely-muscular arm, to tugging slightly on her face again. Sky was a good friend, someone she could talk to about things a little easier than she could with Randy. Not to mention that she was so sweet and relaxed, and a great cook no less! "She's gonna' be okay, right Law...??" Rainbow asked the demon nervously, wringing her hands.

~

A small, pale girl strode down the darkening streets, ignoring the sounds of druggies and creeps from all around her. Most girls of her size would be terrified, but she wasn't what she seemed. A white fedora topped her head of white hair that shrouded large, red eyes; a white sweater-vest with black diamonds along the bottom rested over a long-sleeved, white blouse with a collar peeking over the vest. A heavily-pleated and slightly poofy white skirt fell to about her knees and swayed with each step, a pair of solid white stockings covered the parts of her legs left uncovered by the skirt. A pair of simple white dress shoes clopped along the cracking asphalt

Beneath the fedora on her head was a pair of white fox ears, and tucked beneath the skirt was a a similarly colored fox tail, a bushy appendage hanging limply that reached to about the middle of her thighs. This girl, who seemed no older than fifteen, had a small grin on her face and a notebook and pen in her hands that swayed front and back as she walked.

Clop, clop, clop!

She continued on her way down the dirty street until reaching her destination: a filthy-looking apartment complex. Glancing over the apartment numbers, she reached the one she had been looking for, and heard quite the ruckus inside. Ahem-ing, she put the pen in her notebook hand andrapped at the door with her small, pale knuckles, then positioned the index finger of her notebook hand on the door-bell, ready to press it if she wasn't answered in an acceptable amount of time.

After that, she'd kick the door down.

The demon was startled at the sudden noise from Skyler's fall and soon found her being taken upstairs by Law. To his relief, it seemed as if she would be fine. As he looked toward Rainbow and Henry he felt suddenly hollow as he saw her blush and heard her speak. What made him feel worse was that he didn't understand this feeling of hopelessness and insecurity. However, his emotions were interrupted as he nearly jumped at the knocks. Rowen's nose then became wrinkled at an unfamiliar and inhuman scent. The demon's wings flared instinctively as he began to head toward the front door.
"I'll get it, Randy!" He called. It was usually the leader who opened the door, but the smell had made him curious. Not only that, but something inside him made him want to get away from the young pair and answering the door seemed like a good distraction. He was sure it had to be a shifter of some sort, maybe a werewolf. Also, he seemed blissfully unaware that answering a door in nothing but rather tight, boxer-like pants was indecent. Whatever was at the door wasn't human, so he didn't bother to grab anything to conceal his physical demonic-traits (or his half-naked body). Rowen's hand cracked slightly as he prepared his claws for good measure, his other gripping the old, rusting door knob before twisting it. The door was pulled open with a reluctant squeak from it's hinges and a small, rather innocent looking teen stood there. Rowen's eyebrow raised,
"And who the hell would you be?" He asked, his tone dripping with something that sounded like a mix between sarcasm and annoyance. He looked down at her with contempt. It had always been easy to say that Rowen didn't like strangers and one on the doorstep wouldn't be helping his mood.

"I would be Ouka, as well as, more importantly, head of the Section Control department. And I'm assuming you to be Mereck Rowen, the problematic light-demon?" the small girl grinned and spoke with a voice dripping with innocence and cuteness as she removed her hat, exposing her ears, and curtsied, eying him up and down, standing in his underwear as he was. She straightened, set her hat back in it's rightful place on her head, flipped her notebook open, and began to scribble a note down, glancing up at Rowen with a semi-flirtatious grin. Slapping the book closed, she leaned up against him and whispered, "The reports never said that you were so.... attractive." With her sharp teeth, the were-fox girl chomped down lightly on the end of her pen and ran a long, pastel-pink nail up his chest. The demon was far taller than her-- her ears would probably grace his shoulder-- and she found that very attractive, along with his pale skin which reminded her of her own complexion. Although she realized that children were out of the question with him, she had never been one to want a child much anyway.

Yes, those thoughts were some of the first to come to mind. Such is the mind of an adolescent female.

{[Erk. Short. DX -Death.-
Oh, and I realize that my timeline was a little out of order in the last post, but oh well! D< Deal with it! > >]}

• Marcella didn't have an accute sense of smell, but she did have an accute sense when it came to anything that was a were of any sorts. A were-fox type no less than anything else. At least it wasn't a werewolf, at least she hoped not as she glanced at the thing currently flirting with Rowen. She was seething, the sight of werecreatures made her blood boil and adrenaline rush but a small looking female were-fox would never make her blood rush through her veins as much as a large, powerful male were-wolf which would have the accutest of senses and the most bitter hatred for her kind. Well, she hoped they would at the very least since the last few she'd come across had.
  
  "What the hell is that?" she sneered across the hallway as she followed Law. "I spose I could look after her for a bit" She said sighing. "She'll be fine Rainbow." Marcella said across law at her. On second thoughts, she'd decided to go and see the creature closer up."One second Law, I'll be up to look after her in a moment." Was this a wise idea? Probably not. Since she probably wasn't even supposed to be in the sect. Her wings where fully flared and glowing slightly as where her eyes as she walked up to Rowens side. At first glimpse of the creature she felt nauseous.
  
  "What exactlyis that?" She reitterated. "Or you" She said directing the question at the werecreature which she was sure was a were-fox type, but she had to be sure. She couldn't be too careful considering.

"Chi chi chi!" Mary sobbed as she rubbed the growing lump on her head. Randy was a good shot with that lamp, it had smacked Mary right between the eyes. "How mean! She's not really dead!" Mary continued her wallow in self pity, ignoring everyone around her and even ignoring the knock at the door.

Mary's head was giving her a big lecture about how she should avoid falling lamps at all times. It throbbed its point repeatedly in her temples and she was sure she had learned her lesson this time. Her mood was foul when Rowen passed her by to answer the door. She made a sound like a puppy's growl when he passed her, but Mary wasnt sure he heard her.

When he opened the door she smelled the sweet scent of a girl combined with the musky scent of a wild dog. He ears twitched reaching out for the tell tale sounds of fur against fabric. Mary leapt to her feet and wiggled under Rowen's arm to interject herself between the two. She patted around in the air till she found the girls head. "LIKE OMG! You're a furry! How Kawaii!" mary squealed Glomping the furry-girl around the waist. "Like what kind are you? Inu-furry? Kitsune-furry? OMG!? You're a cat girl arent you?" Mary was invading the girls personal space, but like a true hardcore fangirl she didnt care.

Rowen looked absolutely horrified as the girl began to scribble down words onto the paper. His mind became suddenly panicked, out of all the times to go answer the door he chose this one. He would have been better off watching the painful display of Rainbow and Henry rather than putting more marks on his record. His eyes widened considerably and his muscles tightened as she ran her claw down his chest and became unbearably close. If she didn't have the ability to put him back on death row he probably would have punted her, even now he was afraid to simply shove her away.
Thankfully, Marcella soon found her way at his side and spoke to the girl even more contemptuously than he had. Later, he would thank her. And almost out of thin air, Mary became a barrier between the two and began to spout off questions to the were-fox. She was an unexpected savior but, beggars couldn't be choosers. Rowen quickly backed away and restrained himself from nearly sprinting down the hallway. He felt suddenly scared, he was sure that she had read the files about him, perhaps it was the mention of his full-name that had first startled him,
"Randy?!" He called, thinking that the woman could help sort things out, "we have a minor problem on our door step!"

Randy had a moment of worrying about Law when she saw the runes on his arm flash, knowing full well what it meant, but was yanked back to the proposition of just keeping the others tied up and gagged until she needed them. It would certainly help the blistering head ache that was forming just under her temples, but, she knew better. She also knew who was at the door before Rowen got it, and was about to tell him to stay the hell away from the door as he opened it, and cursed softly to herself as he did, but then was thrown for a bit of a loop. That was Ouka? Really? She could snap the kid herself, and while Randy was certainly all there and far from fragile even in build, she was hardly... Hearty, herself. But, if having someone who could determine the fate of her and everyone else in the rooms life decide to pick on Rowen, of all of them wasn't enough, Wings decided to get confrontational, and Mary-

Before Rowen had called to her she had been on her way, and got there in about time to grab Mary around the waist with one arm and yanking her back forcefully, away from the head of section control. And then with a less then kind tone turned to Wings and said "And that would be a position that determines if we get anymore funding and can afford real food and get little Timmy his operation," was she being unnecessarily sarcastic? Yeah. Did she care? Not really, no. Besides, with the pointed look she didn't succeed in fighting back aimed at Ouka, it was clear to see that the sarcasm wasn't aimed solely at Wings. She knew she should be nice, though. Little Timmy needed his operation, after all. She turned to Ouka and attempted civility with an apologetic smile, "I didn't have a chance to prep the others on your arrival," she said through a forced smile, "they get easily excited when unexpected visitors show up and start groping people, like a pack of children, or puppies," really problematic puppies.

Henry, meanwhile, just sat back and watched a little baffled the going on-s around him before scooping up Wilmer, stuffing him into his pocket, and slinking off to the kitchen to give Law a hand, not being a terrible cook himself. Well, things tended to blow up around him, but, it was in his job description. He was used to it. The problem was, not a lot of other people were. Even Randy who could set things ablaze at will got really pissed when he made something go kaboom out of no where. In his defence, though, she got really pissed at a lot of things lately. Like Mary just being Mary. If you know someone is going to act a certain way, it seems a lot easier to learn how to run with it then fight them down, but, Henry although clueless with girls knew enough not to cross or question Randy too much. He may be flame retardant, but, better to not push it. He glanced at Law, rolled up his sleeves and said “Alright, so, where’s the fire extinguisher, just so I know?”

• Marcella glared at Randy. She wasn't going to stand there and if she wasn't allowed to be abusive to a semi-sworn-enemy, she wasn't going to stand around for very long.
  
  She sighed loudly before glancing sideways at the creature, which to her looked revolting. To most, it was oozing with a sick sort of cuteness which could only be deemed as put on to distract them. It was certainly distracting, distracting in a I-want-to-rip-your-head-off kind of way. However Marcella was going to have to resist the increasing urge to start a fight. Or else she was going to be in serious trouble.
  
  Basically, unless the were-fox insulted her, she was going to move away and lurk in the shadows for a while. If it offended her in any possible way(or even made a gesture which she didn't like) she was flooring it. Although it didn't look tough, she assumed it couldn't be too weak.
  
  Backing away Marcella kept her eyes on the creature in front of her permanently before slipping off to the bathrooom and slamming herself up against the door. "What the FUCK is one of those doing here?" She hissed to herself in the hopeful lonliness she desired, away from everyone else. She should have gone out the front door, started a fight in a forest far away with a strong creature to take her mind off of things, like she used to years and years ago. But times had changed, she couldn't anymore and she got the feeling it was slightly wrong, if not very as she sat thinking about the were-fox in the doorway and how horrified Rowen had looked by it.
  
  She wondered exactly what power over the people in this house it possessed, she had a feeling about it. yet she didn't like it. She didn't like the idea of a were-craeture having controll, heck, she didn't like the idea of anything having authority over her. As thoughts swirlled around in her head she slowly felt her eyes closing, but resisted the temptation. She was getting sleepier. She hated sleep. As she sat behind the door hoping no one entered, all that she could think of was the old days in comparison. Not the best time for reminiscing really.

Ah, the Zippo. Truly an amazing display of mortal technological prowess. Ransome now owned one of his own, and he flipped it open and closed, watching the flame, as he sipped at his coffee. He did not particularly need the lighter - he had tried smoking when it was big a few hundred years ago, and had not been impressed - but then again a lot of the things Ransome had been buying lately were just novelties that were fun to have.

There was this relatively new thing in this era called "retail therapy"; Ransome had found that he rather enjoyed it. Whenever he was feeling down, he would take a bunch of money from where ever he could get it, and go buy himself something nice. A new suit, a new lighter, some expensive cologne... little things like that. And now, with his newfound position as a sort of figurehead for a gang, Ransome could get money for his therapy whenever he needed it.

He was not quite sure how he felt personally about "Pinstripe" Lou Romano, the leader of the little operation. From the first time Ransome had spoken to him, the man had not exactly struck him as the sharpest knife in the drawer, but if the guy had somehow made the pattern on his suit into an intimidating symbol, then the agacella figured he must have done something right. Still, the amount of money he could get simply by asking Lou never ceased to amaze Ransome.

The agacella swirled the dregs of his coffee around in the bottom of the paper cup, and flicked his Zippo lighter on again as he thought back on the last few weeks. How he had landed himself here and all. Lou's mafia was really not what it could have been, with pressure on all sides from a bunch of other local gangs. Ransome had gone and done them a huge favor by lying to fool them all into thinking that he was some sort of mythical hero attracted to good leaders.

Lou's bunch had eaten up his bullshit like candy. Whatever false legitimacy they gained from having Ransome around seemed to do wonders for the group's morale, though. Their ranks had grown at least a little bit in the last couple weeks, and everyone seemed to be even more enthusiastic about selling drugs and beating the snot out of other guys.

And all Ransome had to do was be there.

Definitely one of his best schemes yet. The agacella poured himself another cup of coffee to celebrate.

He was about to start sipping at the steaming beverage when he heard the sound of someone cocking the hammer of a handgun. With a slight longsuffering sigh, Ransome turned - and found himself staring at the barrel. On the other end of the weapon was a rather portly man whose face and forehead were red with anger all the way to his receding hairline.

"You're that guy of Lou's aren't you?" the man asked in that tone that said he knew the answer was yes. "What do you think you're doing here?"

Ransome felt an icy rush of fear down his spine, but did his best to keep his features smooth. He was almost one hundred percent certain that he was not going to die of old age at this point, but the agacella was not eager to find out how well eating a bullet would go over. Slowly, he closed his fingers around the lighter, to hide it from view. Just keep talking, get the guy to put away the gun....

"Getting some coffee," he replied. "The woman gave me the whole pot. Would you like any?"

The fat man's hand shook a little as he gestured with the gun. "Get up and go outside. You know this block is our space 'cause my friend Tony warned you last week. We don't need Lou's little pet demon shitting up our coffee joint."

"Alright, coming," Ransome said as calmly as he could manage while suppressing the urge to break this guy's nose for calling him a demon. He got to his feet and walked out the coffee shop's side door, followed closely by the fat man with the gun.

The other guy had apparently brought Ransome's cup of coffee with him on the way out; as soon as Ransome turned around after he got outside, the cup hit his chest just below the third button on his white dress shirt, and splashed hot coffee on the agacella's chest before landing on the ground in front of his hooves and getting a bit more brown liquid on the bottom hem of his pant leg.

And that was it. Ransome had been willing to that point to try to negotiate his way into the good graces of Tony's hitman, maybe win him over to his own side just for Lou. But if this guy was going to call him names and throw coffee, well, he needed to be taught a lesson. If there was anything left after that, then maybe he could encourage him to change his loyalties.

As the fat man leveled the gun at Ransome again, the agacella took a deep breath to gather some of his fairy magic into his lungs, then flicked open the lighter as he blew across the little flame. Fueled by the magic, the fire turned a brilliant gold, angling in the direction of the fat man and growing into a rather formidable-looking fireball.

Ransome's fairy-fire couldn't even melt ice cream. But this guy didn't know that. His features went from a slightly-puffy angry red to a rather slack sissy white as he yelled and backed away, dropping the gun in order to shield his face with both hands.

The agacella ran at him and elbowed him in his solid gut, knocking him off balance, then stomped as hard as he could manage on the man's foot with one of his hooves. The fat man would have quite a hard time walking himself home today.

"I'm no demon, I'm a creature of myth and legend sent to aid mister Pinstripe Lou and his bunch," Ransome snarled at the man, eyes wild with his anger. He flicked the lighter open again and leaned closer to the fat man, watching him squirm for a moment in terror and anticipation of another bust of flame, then added, "If Tony doesn't want me, or any of Lou's and my friends on this block, then he can send his own mythical representative down here to take me out."

"Please, alright! Don't kill me! Oh gods, it hurts!" the man blubbered. It was amazing what men turned into when you took away their weapons sometimes.

Taking deep breaths in an effort to calm himself down, Ransome continued to glare at the man as he backed off, closing his lighter and slipping it into his pocket. He leaned down to pick up the fat man's discarded gun. "So long as we have understanding, you're free to go."

"Y-yes, of course. I'll tell Tony!" The man struggled to his feet, gasping in pain as he did so.

Ransome waved dismissively to him with his free hand, then tucked the gun away in the pocket of his jacket. At least he had gotten some retribution for the ruining of his coffee break and the soiling of his shirt. Now he just had to try to remember where the dry cleaners were.

Or maybe he could just buy himself a new shirt. Or two or three. Nice expensive ones. A slight smile tugged at the corner of his mouth at the thought. Once he was at least presentable again, and out of his stained shirt, he could go shopping. Good old retail therapy.

The red bat-manesque phone chose that moment to let out a shrill ring, causing Randy to nearly jump. It was the first time the thing had rung in ages. She had started to suspect it was broken. Seemed it wasn't, and the fact that it was ringing, with Ouka standing right there, was a great sign. She had another theory besides the phone being broken, one that had been gaining more and more grounds when she was away and dealing with the higher ups. They wanted this sect gone. She had thought maybe they just wanted to downsize operations, but, no, they wanted to work on "quality control". Sects would be more uniform. One healer, one phsycic, a mage of each element, an illusionist, and no more then one "non-human" per sect. Considering the head of section control wasn't human herself, she was shocked and a little appaled to hear that. Way to look out for your fellow critter. But, there were some good things to being made up of odds and ends, something, the phone ringing on the wall told her, that a uniform group would have a hard time with.

"'Scuse me," she said to Ouka, not sure if it was safe to move far enough out of range to not yank Mary back by the pig tails at a moments notice, but, figured it was a lesser evil then running the risk of Rowen, who the higher ups seemed to have it in for, to answer. She grabbed the phone, having to jump over the lamp to get to it, and set the lamp right side up as she answered, "Randy," and listened to a minute. "Yeah, sure," was all she said at the end of the conversation, after having jotted something down on her arm from the pen hanging by a fraying peice of twine from the phone. "Alright," she called out to the room once she hung up, "critter went and made themselves too known to humans. Tied to a gang, so we should try not to kill him if possible, aim for a clean arrest or conversion," she said, quoting what she was told. "He's an agacella, if any of you know what that means. Any takers?" she asked, looking across the room and forcing her eye not to stray to Ouka, afraid Mary had already latched back on.

• Marcella had heard the ringing from the bathroom and had been listening. She'd heard of the name, didn't know what it meant, but heard of it.
  "Got no idea what it means, exactly. However, I have a hunch." She said swaying her way down the stairs. It had become quite apparent that she would only ever fly larger distaces. She sneered openly at Ouka, the annoying little fuzzball which she thought deserved to be dead.
  
  "I'll take it if it gets me out of here, I don't need anything to hide myself with, I can hide my wings from pretty much anything but a void. Was I supposed to say that?" She said as she continued her fairly drunken looking swagger towaeds Randy without taking her eyes of Ouka.

Rainbow leaned over the edge of the banister and watched the scene below, nodding to Marcella, as she heard the knock at the door and saw Rowen open it. Ouka, the albino were-fox that was also the head of Section Control, stood in the doorway and began to flirt heavily with Rowen. The human teen was immediately filled with contempt for the smaller being and felt a pang of sympathy for the demon as he backed away in terror, silently thanking Marcella and Mary for freeing him. This small, obviously manipulative girl held too much authority for someone of her stature, in Rainbow's opinion, although she could sense a genuine attraction coming from her. She glared at the girl and as she watched Henry walk past, her negative feelings slipped and she blushed, then pouted slightly to herself while he disappeared into the kitchen. The phone rang and Randy answered it, asking if anyone knew what an 'agacella' was.

"Never heard of 'em!" she chirped as she leaped over the banister and landed smoothly on a couch, then bounced off and stood on the floor, staring around her. She glanced over her shoulder at Henry, then over at Ouka, Rowen, Marcella, and then Randy. "If you want me to come I will. I dunno if I want to go or not," her shoulders moved up around her ears before dropping again in a shrug, emphasizing her answer to Randy's question. "I'd have to go upstairs and change, though," she added, glancing down at her outfit then back to the woman she respected so greatly and ignoring Ouka for the most part. She saw no need to introduce herself to the were-fox-- the latter probably held all of her information, as well as that of her friends, no-- these people were her family-- in her hands, in that stupid notebook. Stupid higher-ups. Ugh.

~

A fairy appeared out of nowhere, or so it seemed to Ouka, and referred to her as an 'it'. To her face, no less! Before she had a chance to respond to the rude fairy-- who she had no information for, a fact that intrigued her; she made sure to make a mental note of that-- she was attacked by a blind human girl, causing her to drop her pen. The girl began feeling her all over[which she wouldn't have minded much, had it been Rowen and not some stupid, human female] and asking ridiculous and nonsensical questions, filled with works that she recognized vaguely as being Japanese. A stupid American fangirl, Ouka supposed, and turned towards the girl. "I'm a were-fox, if you simply must know. I am by no means a filthy feline, and am not a furry either!" Her voice was high and shrill with disgust and irritation at having human hands all over her, as well as having her ears tugged at, not to mention being accused of being something she wasn't and being treated rather shittily by that stupid fairy. She swatted the hands away and was mildly grateful when Randy pulled the obviously disturbed girl off. "Do try to avoid messing with my ears, if you please," she breathed at the girl as she adjusted her hat back over them, then turned to Rowen as he backed away.

"Oh, don't run. I don't bite!" she smiled cutely at him, shrugging after him and smiling sadly, as though she'd been turned down for a date and pretending not to have had her feelings hurt. 'Hard,' she added in her head, with an internal, devious smirk.

Shifting her attention and large, crimson eyes to Randy, she 'ahem!'ed into her hand as she made excuses for her sect. "I see. No matter!" she waved the explanation about not prepping them and them being like puppies away and, crouching down to pick up her pen, she stood and began to scribble something down in her pad again. Before getting the chance to ask about the unregistered members, the phone rang. Politely enough, the human excused herself and answered the phone, then hung up and questioned about who would like to tag along.

"Well, I'll be coming, then!" she smiled adorably, ignoring the rainbow human just as she ignored anyone not directly speaking to her, or anyone she deemed unimportant. This particular human seemed the latter more than the former. With a cute giggle, making her seem less threatening, she added an explanation. "I need to see how your sect works together as a team, so I'm afraid that all of you will need to come. Those who are associated with this particular sect, specifically. Although, of course, others are welcome to come, I suppose." Her smile widened slightly more, and she gazed around the room.

"Oh! But first, I'll be needing to meet everyone on this list and confirm identities. Will that be alright, Miss Louski? Great! Let's get started then," she turned her eyes back on Randy, speaking before the human woman could respond to her question, and answering it herself. Ouka wasn't particularly interested in whether or not she got permission-- she was going to do it anyway, regardless of what Randy had been planning on saying. "Let's see here... 'Law' the Forgotten One, 'Rainbow', Mereck Rowen, Skylar Lorento, and, of course, Randy Louski. All others are to come into this room as well, and are required to give me their information," she added. Her cute smile remained, although it had enlarged and was now forcing her eyes closed in an even cuter face.

Rowen nearly jumped at the comment of 'I don't bite'. If anyone would be doing the biting, it'd be him and he'd be sure to drain the girl of all that she had.
"little....demon," he muttered, skulking toward his leader and putting his mouth near her ear,
"I'm not going," he said in a hushed voice to Randy so that Ouka would not hear him. He was jittery from sitting around and needed excitement, but he would do anything to keep away from the little gremlin at the front door. He reassured himself that if he kept his distance then he would be fine.
'Anything to get away from that little Satan,' he seethed inwardly. There was no way he'd let some little fox ruin his life.
'She's probably an egotistical little brat,' he thought as he began walking down the hall, only to stop as the girl ordered for something that sounded like an interrogation from hell (or so it did in the demon's opinion). Rowen restrained himself from growling as he skulked back toward Randy, feeling safer in her presence.
'If there is a god, he hates me.'

"Oh no no no no no, Mr. Rowen! That simply will not do!" Ouka's sensitive ears twitched under her hat, picking up on Rowen's mumbled speech as he walked away towards Randy, and scribbling something down. "Insulting superiors is very rude, you know!" she tutted and wished for something sweet. Sounds of cooking came from the kitchen, and she started skipping merrily towards it, having not heard what Rowen had said in the human sect leader's ear.

"Hello!" she greeted cheerfully to the two in the kitchen. The meeting of the members could commence after she'd put sweets into her system, she decided, and clasped her hands in front of her in a charming manner. "I'm Ouka. What are you cooking? Would you happen to have any sweets?" as she asked, she sniffed the air in the kitchen for any hint or sign of any kind of sweetener, artificial or no. "I'm simply famished," she added with a dramatic emphasis on the last word, pouting slightly at the two males before her. One, a human with thick glasses, looked to be the nerdiest thing she'd ever seen. The other was a muscular demon, and she scanned him slightly, taking him in with her large, red eyes.

~

Rainbow glared at the smaller girl as she skipped past. This stupid munchkin was given too much power for her own good, or the good of others as was blatantly obvious in this situation, and Rainbow was insistent upon this fact. But she kept these thoughts to her own mind, and maybe would relay them on to Randy later. Maybe. She doubted that the woman didn't already think or know this like she did, and really didn't see the need to stress Randy out any more than she already was. In the teen's mind, it was amazing that the woman hadn't already exploded yet. The stress that always emanated from Randy had nearly doubled since just a few mere weeks ago. Maybe it was all the new people, not to mention the kid. That was something else that sprang to mind. What would Ouka do about the girl? Surely she wouldn't take her away...

That would be simply dreadful for Randy, and Rainbow pushed such dangerous thoughts out of her mind. As the were-fox entered the kitchen and started talking to Henry and Law, she glared darkly. She was talking to Henry! Rainbow couldn't believe it! That stupid little bitch shouldn't dare! But, with a few steadying breaths, Rainbow strode silently upstairs to change into more appropriate clothes for a job, as well as to cool off and try to think just a little more rationally.

Law turned around, going tot he hall to watch and listen tot his newcomer, arms folded, he didn't like the sound of her, coming in here, listing off names then suddenly ordering them around like they'd actually care to listen. When she approached he walked up to her, putting his wash cloth over his shoulder,
"Now look here," Law started, a small spark of energy discharging from him as he approached, eventually towering over the smaller fox girl,
"If I've got my terms correct, you're her to inspect us, not direct us. If we sent one or two people out to take care of a job then it's more than enough. So we'd all go out after on target and what would we do if another crisis occurred while we were out? That's called excessive force and, frankly, plain stupidity." He snuffed down on the fox girl, with enough force to make it seem like a quick burst of wind, he didn't have bad breath thankfully,
"You can wait to see a big job if ever one occurs or you higher ups finally decide to offer us on, the latter of which I find highly unlikely." He turned around, getting back to working on the food,
"So long as you're in our sect, you behave. And I'm also recommending cutting back on any caffeine or sugar intake you may have. You seem to have more than enough in your system as it is..."

The hunt was on. Mary slinked along the floor in search of her prey, like a cheetah stalking a gazell before the chase. Her sensitive fingertips felt the vibrations of the people walking around. She made a mental note to keep track of the harsh staccato of Randy's high strung footbeats. That woman was suprisingly strong and was a beast not to be tangled with.

Mary prowled the kitchen with her rump stuck proudly in the air and her chest hovering meer inches from the ground as she cat-stalked her new "friend".
She could hear the furry's voice peirce the murmur of the rest, she used this as a beacon to lock on target. She sat on her haunches gathering herself preparing to launch, her muscles tensed and she lowered herself in preperation. 3....2...1...NOW!

The highpitched wail of the crazy frog ring from her cell phone interrupted her hunt and let her quarry know danger was behind her. "Dammit! If its not my Melly-Belly I'll gut them and use their intestines in my next hotpocket." She answered the phone and said sweetly. "Homocidal Muffin Supplier's how may I assault your call?"


Meanwhile Melvin hung limpy from the tree in which he was trapped. "Hi honeybunch, do you think you could spare 5 minutes or so and come save me from the rat people." He was bleeding moderately from several dozen barbed arrows that dotted his body. He suspected they were poisoned when he began to lose conciousness. Mel figured it would be best to bring in a competent fighter to save him from the stupidity he had brought on himself.

One of the rat people poked his side with a stick. "Raaaauugghghh!" Mel roared flailing the stick away. They were testing to see if he had passed out yet. The acrid smell of smoke in the air, and the evidence of a spit being set up reassured him that nothing good would come of passing out now.

He thought he heard Mar chirp something about being on her way but the loud roar of pending unconciousness drowned out her words.

Back at HQ Mar snapped her phone off and announced to the room. "Oy! Mel-sama got hisself tied up again. Anyone wanna go on a rescue mission? Meet here in 3 mins peoples." Mary skipped off 14 steps to her apartment and reached 4 inches left of the door. Her hand met the cool polished hilt of her favorite katana. "Hang tight Melly-Belly Magical girl Mary is on her way!" She donned her favorite magical cosplay and returned to Randy's apartment. "Ok peoples who's ready?"

• Marcellas distaste for giving her name was immediately apparent. She huffed before even saying anything at all. "I'm aware you're a were-fox. but calling you an 'it' is more deserving in both my own and my race's opinion." She said with an exceptionally vile tone.
  
  Marcella had listened to law. He was completely correct and although she hadn't been around long she was going to make her opinion loud and clear if asked. She hated being told what to do, especially if it was from something she didn't respect, and couldn't ever. Foul little creature, someone should shoot it. She thought to herself. She even felt like saying it but didn't. She was going to wait for Randy's reply, but she was going to see how far she could push it.
  
  "My name's Marcella. If you wish to know my last name. Ask again." Was it wise to use the tone she was? Obviously not, ws she going to piss off Randy? Highly likely. Being rude to higher ups was always fun. Systems where people with no power but the ability to say 'kill him' and give a pathetic reason for it according to their own warped code, where highly detestable to her. And to think, she used to work in the assassination section and she'd never seen such a disgraceful runt. Luckily probably. Although slight fear hit her at the thought of the were-fox finding her long hidden files, if they hadn't been terminated.
  
  As she finished she'd noted it had walked off. Teling someone that they couldn't display some form of disagreement or whatever, being rude basically, to someone just because they where higher up on the work ladder was an absolute disgrace in her mind. She hated systems and rules, really hated them.

Henry, who was not an actual member of the sect, nor nearly as ego driven as the others, was thrown off by the strong responses this girl was getting. She was just doing her job, right? He rummaged through the drawer and found a bag of mostly empty chocolate chips, about a handful left, and offered them silently to the fox as a sort of peace offering. He could actually read Randy very well, she was one of the only people he could, but, that was because he had known her when she developed most of the dead giveaways most people didn't know to look for. He knew that Randy not slamming the door in her face meant a lot, and keeping this woman was probably important. "I'm Henry, not sure what information you need," he said simply, eyes following Rainbow, distracting him from the current situation as she sulked off. Was she okay? Why was every one so perturbed by this girl?

Randy wanted to just get a large roll of duct tape. She wished Ouka had given a date she'd be showing up. She wasn't ready. Her bags weren't even unpacked, and she didn't have a cover story for Juli yet... Or Melvin, or Mary. And everyone was so oblivious to the power this kid held over them all. She could single handily destroy their entire life, as it was, and yet they all kept sneering and throwing egos around. She glanced at Juli, praying she didn't follow the others lead, and lied through her teeth to Ouka about how she was there. And then Mary declared her own rescue mission. Because that looked wonderful. Her stomach twisted into a knot as Law stood up to Ouka as well, "Alright," she said, lowering her hand from her sinuses, her voice loud enough to be heard then, and knowing that the others would be listening, and went to that forced calm that struck terror into the hearts of those who knew her well enough.

"Ouka, I apologise for the others..." she blanked on a word, she was never very good with tact, "bluntness," she settled for, "but these people are my people, and they've gotten to be that way not because I offer them food and shelter and protection, but because I earned their respect. I did warn in my previous reports that any superiors to show up would have to not be..." she blanked again, she wanted to say pompous jerks, but said "to tread lightly," she then turned to her people, and while physically she was doing a pretty good job of masking the twisting knot in her stomach, she started in on reprimanding them for their behaviour, "and you guys really should know better" her voice had slipped from that forced calm to a more normal edge of annoyance, which meant they were in less shit then Ouka would be if she could do anything about it, "I know it sucks, but, just let her do her job. Henry is not apart of our sect, he's a friend of mine from back in my lab days who I recently found, and he's taken to being around here. He's already completely aware of our world, if you're worried about that. You can find his file along with our history if you don't believe me," she knew it existed, as far as she had been able to find they were the only two people alive still from that lab. They were carefully documented. She hoped that the legitimacy of that story would keep Ouka from digging too deeply into the others she was about to sprout.

She was hoping that the fact that she was the one telling Ouka this without making a big deal about it would send a message to the others, although she shot Wings a nasty look as she started explaining her, "Marcella is someone who recently joined us under protection, and, as I have always done in cases of protection, nothing was filed for safety reasons, as I maintain it could be risky to her well being and ours to release any information just yet," she was lying through her teeth and hoping whatever story she came up with for Mary, Melvin, and Juli were as believable.

"Mary the socially unaware woman who just went that way is dating a void who we've been keeping an eye on for the risk he poses to himself and those around him" she hadn't wanted to tell Ouka he was a void, but, she'd notice pretty quickly, besides, the closer she could stick to the truth, the more likely she would be believed, "Juli, the little girl, is an orphan who the two of them have taken in," she was pretty confident Juli wouldn't call her on her lie right in front of Ouka, and she'd explain things more in detail the others when she wasn't standing right there, which meant that she may have to do it one on one... Bleh.

Right, now that that was taken care of, "Rowen, go with Mary to go save Melvin, Wings, you can go with them or you can stay here to look after Sky, Law, if you can tear your self away from dinner, I'd like for you to come with me since you're much larger and scarier then I am, Rainbow, you're with me too, Ouka, I'd recommend you also come with me," she said, knowing that the were-fox would be shanked with the others, or worse with any luck, but sadly it was known where she was. "Henry, stay here and keep an eye on Sky, I'm sorry Ouka, but food will have to wait," she had walked into the other room and came back with her jacket and guns. She didn't need guns, but, they were a good fall back, and with Melvin around, she had gotten in the habit of it. She handed Rowen one without saying a word and walked out the door without another word, taking for granted that the others would just follow.

Henry called "Good luck!" after her cheerfully.

Gordon frowned, he was always frowning at something and this time it was something out of his control. And he hated when he couldn’t control something, whether directly or indirectly, as in the case of Melvin. The guy somehow blocked every attempt Gordon made at mind reading or manipulation, even on others when he was around. But money solved that problem quickly.

Walking across his office he projected his mind into the others of his employees. An editor was hoping to get lucky that night with one of the secretaries while she was mentally shopping for a new dress. A water-cooler conversation was dwelling on stats of last night’s big game and one fellow was bull shitting out his ears. Nothing was interesting enough to ease drop on or even for him to slip an altered idea in, his employees were depressingly boring. If only things were moving quicker along, sure the rat people were up in arms, but they were easily riled.
He grabbed his coat and took a few of the extraneous items that were in the second drawer of his desk.

He quickly slipped the idea of cancelling all afternoon planned things into his personal secretary’s mind, she was new but he had already claimed a grasp on her thoughts. Stepping out he made a courtesy stop at his secretary’s desk, “Mr. Lemron, It seems that all meetings planed have been canceled. Have a nice day. *and I hope your train derails.*” Gordon smirked at her and made a comment about how nice it was and how he wasn’t going to be taking the train after all and told her to have the rest of the afternoon to herself. He knew the comment would throw her and even without molding her mind he had changed her perception of him.

Gordon stepped out into the setting sun the light positioned perfectly in his eyes; he placed his boulder hat smartly on his head and began down the street. He pulled up his pants and repositioned his belt, his hand passing protectively over the reptile looking skin. He had a few things to look into before he caught a cab; one was getting his suit from the dry cleaners, for a reduced price of course

[And the Dark Hero reveals himself! Seth be his name!]
There was a sudden sound, a loud bang as the roar of gunfire broke wide over the insane gibberish of the rat people, shot after shot and the bodies of the rat men fell one by one, scattering in eventual terror as even those trying to crawl up Melvins body or shoot at him were taken out.
Unfortunately for the certain individual that had just come to save Melvins life, the void that surrounded the technofreak was affecting him. Seth stood strong over this sudden feeling of pain that hit his body, it was familiar from when he was younger, but he'd stood up to it before, no reason he couldn't now.
He continued to rain lead from the specially crafted guns he owned, the rat people suffering wounds that, if sized up to a human body may have seemed like nothing, but their smaller frames easily gave way to shock and being pierced completely, sometimes catching more than one,
"Crawl back to your holes, you frikkin imps..!" Seth growled, stomping down on one and punting another aside, he couldn't even activate his abilities, which was bizarre in itself, but these things seemed just as harmless now, perhaps this Melvin guy really was a Void after all.

[Law]
The demon looked to Randy when ordered, hell,s he'd probably beat him half to death for lashing out on Ouka but frankly he cared very little, he gave no respect to some short, overly hyper and rude fox-girl who came in thinking she could run the show just because she had a higher status.
"Alright, looks like it's up to you to watch the home, labrat, think you can manage it? Just look after Skylar or I'll break your limbs, one per day..." Law tossed the cloth on Henry's head, walking up to and standing by his leader, Randy, head straight and face lacking in emotion.

[Julia]
The girl, in all the commotion, just sat there, confused as to exactly what was going on, her form planted on the seat, though as things went on she eventually kicked off her shoes and crawled up to the end with a pillow placed under her head.
After a while Julia's eyes shut and she curled up a little, falling asleep. She'd sneaked around secretly last night, fixing and toying with whatever she could get her hands on and so had effectively tired herself out for the day.

Rowen looked down at the gun in his hand cautiously before grasping it tightly in his big hand. He had always been rather wary around technology, even simplistic things like the toaster and refrigerator but he had grown indifferent to them (to an extent). The demon simply nodded as Randy directed him to leave with Marry to pull a rescue mission for his 'favorite' little void. What would be better, to go on a mission with the little inspector from hell, or the hyperactive fan girl, her boyfriend, and possible a disgruntled fairy? He couldn't decide, but Randy's decisions were usually best for his well being. Rowen wanted to say something to Randy, but frankly he was kind of frightened. At least he was smart enough to know when Randy was angry, personally he rather have her shouting than talking in the way she was now. His eye suddenly pulsed and he shook it away quickly and cursed mentally, he still couldn't figure out why the curse had been so active as of late and instead of worrying him, it was beginning to cause more irritation than anything. Well, at least he would be getting out for awhile, even if it was with a squealing fanatical fan girl. Rowen snuck away from Randy and tapped Marry on the shoulder apprehensively,
"Shall we go, then?"

• "I'll Come with you. I know I said I'd stay and look after Skylar earlier. But if Henry's alright on his own and if It's alright with Rowen and Mary I'll go with them." Marcella said. She would happily be miles away from the brat with the power.
  
  She grabbed her swords in their sheath. They weren't magical and wouldn't be affected by the void. As well as that, the void didn't make much difference to her, she didn't use illusions frequently and her wings dissapeared. She threw a coat over her back just in case anyway but had the excelled posture of a hunchback and she trudged towards Rowen and Mary.

"Alright! Team Super Special Awesome go!~" Shrieked Mary. She was anxious to get on the move and rescue her precious Melly-Belly. She envisioned herself busting in on the scene sword in hand and her prince Mel tied up over a raging fire. It wasnt hard to imagine, it had happened several times before. She would pose triumphant, hair streaming wildly behind her, eye shadow glittering brightly, and-

Rowen's hesitant tap on Mary's shoulder brought her out of her daydreaming. "What? Ah yes! Lets go get our little nerd-boy eh team?" She led the way to the top of the stairs her pink cane tap-tapping the way. When her cane met with air Mary turned to Rowen, holding out her hand in his direction. "Sugar would you mind helping an old blind maid down the stairs?" Mary was very afraid of traveling down the stairs when Melvin wasnt around. The last time she had traveled down alone she had been in a 6 day coma. If Melvin had been around, she would have died.

Meanwhile, the rat people were hiding in the tunnels chittering angry insults at the new threat. Their dead lay in the circle of null that they dare not cross. Doing so would leave them open to attack, in the null space their losses would be great.

A swarm of fishhooks lashed out from the darkness. They bit deep into the flesh of the dead rat people, flesh and cloth alike ripped under the pressure of being drug out of the circle. When the entire body was free it burst with a wet pop and a swarm of angry rats left the corpse. Drum beats echoed and reverberated among the trees in the abandoned park. The darkness grew, it roiled and twisted and churned outside the circle. Nothing could be seen but the sound of thousands of tiny feet could clearly be heard.

A rain of arrows errupted from the darkness their target was Melvin and the stranger.