Cypher Log - Coming Back

2019/03/02 Cypher Hunter Kelly Maximal 1

Chance Encounter
When last we left our motly collection of hunters and such, Kelly and Maximal had a chance meeting that brought out the beasts in both of them. But they were both on the hunt for a kidnapper who had taken a young girl two days ago. The kidnapper happens to be a century old vampire named Hastings who was already on Kelly's list for getting coal in his stockings on Christmas morning. They tracked him (and the girl) by scent to a building that had been abandoned and was scheduled for demolition in a couple months, making way for more modern types of construction, even in old town.

Kelly had just walked over to the edge of the building to peer down streetwards (where Hunter happened to be.. and where he could see the silhouette of the girl up top if he looked up.) She'd just discovered something and gestured to Maximal to approach her position slowly. Whispering to him she says, "I hear movement inside. There is a broken out window about two floors down." (It's a six story building)

Hunter had been walking along the street on his usual high alert from attacks. It's bad enough some strange people in all black have been after him, but now his ex is out to get him, too. He mentally sighs at that realization. Ex. Another one. People just enter and leave his life like a revolving door.

As Hunter glances up towards the rooftops, he notices Kelly and Maximal leaning over the age and gives them a warning, suspicious look.

The true bane of those secretive street level operatives trying to keep the city safe, citizens getting in the way or being where they're most inconvenient. With several such 'heroes' converging on the suspected location of dastardly deeds the last thing needed is for someone just passing by to suddenly stop, look at the building, and then walk briskly toward it hand rising to knock at the door. But that's what happens.

Maximal's keen eyes scan the building as he listens to Apex give him the low down. He listens too for the movement inside, having a full set of equally acute, animalistic senses.

After spotting the window Apex is talking about, Maximal can't help but feel like eyes are on him.

He glances down, finding Hunter staring up at him.

In this chimeric configuration it would be strange for Hunter to immediately recognize him- looking like a centaurian mix of simian, wolf & lizard.

But he recognizes Hunter from the Witchhunter incident a few weeks ago. A deeply subconscious Ari spurs MAximal on- prompting a curious urge to get Hunter to assist in finding this child too.

So- Maximal does the only thing a 6 limbed chimera plauged by 2 distinct personalities could do- he starts wagging a tail in preparation to bound from the building, so he can greet Hunter! That's probably all that canine in him prompting the tail-waggling greeting.

He's so distracted by Hunter's arrival that he only notices the person at the door as they're knocking.

The movement of the knocker... okay, bad name. Sue me... anyhow, the approach of Aiko gets Kelly's keen hunter's eyes to flicker her way. "What in the...?" she begins. Then the girl knocks on the building's door. There is no answer of course. Nobody is registered at this address. But the movement sounds inside stop all of a sudden. But... then there is a soft, barely audible pitious sound. As if someone else heard the knocking and is begging for help, but is also muffled somehow. Then that too goes quiet.

Kelly just shakes her head. Time to move. She reaches around and starts descending the side of the building. Head down in her climbing almost Spiderman(tm) type movements. She's hustling towards thet open window, but a quiet hustle (Stealth speed).

Hunter's eyebrows raise up as his eyes widen at the strange beast. You'd think the tail wagging would relieve him, but it only makes Hunter more concerned and let his guard down. . o O (What the hell is that thing??)

Aiko waits just a few seconds. The building looks abandoned. Aiko didn't expect an answer to her knock. Then she tries the door. Which won't open. Operating the lock makes no difference. Must be jammed or barred. So she begins to look for a means of access. Maybe an open or broken window. Like the one that a figure creeping head down on the building wall is heading for... What the heck?

Maximal hears Kelly start to move and sudden quieting of the muffled pleas too and his stomach tightens.

He leaps off the building- using all 6 clawed hand/paws and his highly prehensile tail to decend down the side of the building rapidly.

He lands, looking at Hunter but backing towards the building Apex is heading into- where someone just knocked on the door. He gives Hunter a very human nod in the direction of the building too.

"ooooO-Maxi-ooh-Mal... Need help froOOom OooOld Man Wagner..." He says- using the kid's secret name for Hunter, trying to stay just quiet enough for Hunter to hear him as his four legs keep on moving. "...Ooo. Save Human larva. Inside." Trying his best to emulate human speech before he turns and bounds to keep up with Kelly- leaving claw marks as he scrambles across the street with his foremost hands stretched out to the side, claws fully extended as he expects the worst.

Hunter can only tell that there's a supernaturalness around Kelly, but can't place what. She looks really young, too. He leaps back when Maximal hits the ground. When the creature speaks, the first thing Hunter says in a hushed, angry tone is, "Old man?!" That immediately gets Maximal on his bad side, human larva or not.

"That sounds all levels of horrific if they got turned into larva," he mutters to himself sarcastically as he starts to move towars teh building to see how he can help.

Hunter can't be sure but he may hear a raspy, dog-like chortle coming from Maximal after Hunter's initial reaction to his nickname, bequeathed to him by a gaggle of 10 year olds.

With her attention drawn, very much so, by Maximal, to Hunter, Aiko turns to the handsome YOUNG man approaching the building, "Sumimase." she says, thinking - hai. I'm back in Colonial Bay City - "Excuse me. If this building is your secret base you need to know there's a fire hazard inside it. A fault in the wiring of the fuse box. Can you not smell the ozone?"

Hearing the voices below, Kelly tries to tune them out. She is focused. She can't let the guy get away again. She reaches the window and slips inside. Once there, her feet on the ground.. the knife is drawn. She creeps along, following her nose and moving as silently as possible. But.. it's not like Hastings thinks nobody's around. Noise outside has seen to that.

"Secret base?" Hunter asks with a look of confusion. "No, no, I don't have one of those." He has an apartment he still shares with Ivan in the Student Quarter, despite his considerable salary. "I think it may be someone else's secret base, though. It's probably more dangerous than just a wiring issue, so you may want to stay a safe distance," he warns, thinking Aiko just a civilian. He offers a warm smile of reassurance, "Just in case, you know? I'll help check it out." He follows after Maximal, eyes scanning the building to figure out a fast way inside.

Maximal gives Aiko a passing sniff, making sure the smell of Hastings or the young, kidnapped girl doesn't hang on her. He seems pretty satisfied quite quickly- standing up a bit taller and turning his head towards Apex's location just as she slips inside the building.

With their arrival already detected a subconscious Ari unleashes Maximal- letting him bound inside, hopefully to take some attention off of Apex's entrance.

As a bestial rage rolls over him, Maxi forgoes following Apex- instead electing to smash his way through to the young girl. He's not much for planning anyway- always preferring to run off instinct alone.

He scrambles for the closest boarded up window.

Aiko bows, "Ah. Maybe I can be of some slight assistance? I have a few minor talents that have been of help to others in this city during my last stay here." she tells Hunter.

And then Maximal makes his own door through a boarded up window. It's on the first floor and the inside of the place is... actually a lot cleaner than one might expect a boarded up abandoned building to be. Apparently, the current resident doesn't like a dirty home, even if he's squatting. But it's not a horror movie. There are no hordes of creatures charging to defend the base, the master, or whatnot. The scent of the girl and of the creature are stronger in here though. Coming from up the stairs to the right.

Hunter gives Aiko a look over. She doesn't seem afraid of Maximal or the situation. There's something about her. "Sure," he decides. "It may be dangerous. I can't guarantee you'll be safe," he says, though he gets the feeling she could take care of herself. And if not? Well...he just silently volunteered himself to be responsible if anything happens to her.

Inside the building Maximal takes a few deep sniffs, still tracing a path to the youngling above.

He growls at the scent of Hastings which is far stronger in here than outside. An eagerness begins to take hold as predatory instinct is allowed to take the wheel.

Maximal howls out from the bottom floor and moves towards the stairs to the right.

Aiko is not inconsiderate of the risk. If Hunter enters the building she'll follow him. Keeping both eyes open for any electric using security systems or traps.

Hunter uses Maximal's entryway to go inside, leaping through it nimbly. The beast seems to know where to go, and Hunter doesn't even know what's happening.

Aiko senses there -are- some computers and such inside. One is kind of a life support system. Like a hospital setup.

Inside, as described. Neat and clean place. Even has soft lightning that really shouldn't have power. It's very dim lighting, as whomever is living here doesn't need much light really. Aiko could sense what she sensed with her electronic senses. But that is about it. The place is quiet. Dead silent.

Aiko mentions to Hunter, "There is a active life support system in use upstairs from this floor. A number of computers in use at various points of the building."

The beast-man isn't phased by broken particle board but is surprised by the neat, clean interior. He looks around as he moves towards the stairs.

Ari's subconscious mind only keeps Maximal on task, keeping him from lifting his hind-most leg to some of the more maintained features of the premises.

His eyes are borrowed from a panther's design and so have no problem seeing in this limited lighting (nightvision). He doesn't worry about Aiko or Hunter- instead just clamboring ever-closer to the origin of the scent trail. Computers and life support systems mean little to an animal-man on the hunt! One might even question if Maximal could even guess at the functions or purposes of such things.

"How do you know about that?" Hunter asks Aiko quietly. "And that's weird. A life support system?" He hurries after Maximal.

Aiko stops advancing and gets a look of focused concentration on her face. "The life support system is attempting to self destruct. I've delayed it and will try to stop it. But if I cannot the users' life may depend on someone getting up there." she says distractedly.

Hunter takes in that information and gets a bad feeling about everything. "Crap. Do what you can to stop or halt it." He runs faster after Maximal. "Hey animal, Max, look out, there's danger!" he warns as he feels like something bad is about to happen to Max. He hopes he can get there fast enough to intervene or at least warn the creature.

Appearantly, there's enough intelligence in the beast to at least slow his approach a little and turn to regard Hunter a moment. He grits his teeth as he looks back towards the direction fo the scent trail.

He waits for Hunter, and possibly Aiko if she's continuing along with them. As far as Hunter is concerned, he- unlike other people have no reason to distrust him, especially where keeping kids safe is concerned.

Aiko nods to Hunter, "Hai!" she acknowledges, turning to start up the starts toward the life support system which she has, at least for now, managed to stop the self destruct sequence.

Apparently, someone was using a timer. An old analogue thing. The sound of an old wind-up alarm clock rings from the stairwell, and then immediately, the stairs are engulfed in flames. Not just flames. Jelly-like aka Bath-tub Napalm erupts on the stairwell, flooding down the stairs in a wave that -easily- ignites the walls nearest. This... is an inferno in the starting stages.

The sound of the alarm clock startles Ari's subconscious to the surface as the bathtub napalm hits the deck. He leaps backwards. Ari's ascent is only for a moment but its enough to cause half of Maximal to revert (albeit slowly) to a human hybrid of sorts.

His simian features soften and are replaced by features commonly attributed to Ari- like that skinny arm he holds up in front of his face to protect his eyes from the waves of heat suddenly buffetting the room.

Sniffing the air, he finds the trail he was hot on to be too hot (and chemically saturated) to follow any further.

From his butt Maximal lets out a heart-rending whine before his soulful orange eyes begin to look for another way up. He begins backing away from the fire instinctively. His bestial mind knows nothing good comes from the untamed flame.

"Shick. This whole place is going to go up. That's some trap," Hunter growls as he tries to look around. He wishes he had his sword, because then he could crave his way up. "Think you're strong enough to smash through the floor?" Hunter asks as he points up.

Aiko says, "Stand back." She lifts an arm to point at the ceiling and her other hand points to an electrical socket. A arcing spark jumps from the socket to her hand and then a matching arc leaps from her other hand to strike the ceiling.