Summary:Koa finds himself in trouble Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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Koa Turner is no stranger to investigating people who would really rather not you investigate them. Secret societies and reclusive sorcerers are like that all the time - so are celebrities though from what he hears that is slightly a different ball game. He's not even any real stranger to investigating people who will actively try to stop you from investigating them. So while he is aware that he needs to be careful, he's not really worried. He's done this before.
These are very much not his thoughts as he stands in line at a food truck not far from his house as the evening sets. What's on his mind is what to get that will survive walking home. He eventually elects for some schwarma, boxed with some nice flatbread to go with it and begins the five block walk home.
It is at this point that there arrives an important distinction between investigating HYDRA and investigating a mystical secret society. Mystical secret societies don't often use mundane resources. In many cases they lack the relevant influence and sometimes they just don't think of it. HYDRA, however, will absolutely just hire someone to shoot you.
Which is what happens.
The screech of tires alerts Koa that something is wrong and he looks up just in time to see a van slew to a halt and the door fly open to reveal masked gunmen. It's only a sudden dive to an alley that allows him to escape a fatal case of lead poisoning but just like that… he's pinned down.
Keiko is not anywhere near Koa's place when this happens. She had just put Elena to bed and was reading to her. More correctly, she was massacring the words and Elena was correcting her when the black band shot through with silvery pink lines had stung her and stung her badly.
Organising for someone to sit with Elena, she called Onyxia and took the air on the back of the harpy eagle. Finding Koa had proved to be a lot easier than she expected thanks to their bond - and not thanks to it - which is why there's a shriek in the air as Onyxia dives with Keiko still on her back.
By this point Koa has worked his way further down the alley and hopped up onto a roof with a phase jump. He's still pinned though. There are gunmen now on three rooftops and a group in the alley working it's way around to a fire escape. Koa is more mobile than they anticipated but he is also outnumbered and while he CAN transform he can't actually get a solid bead on them enough to fix a location for attack.
Onyxia's scream draws attention and a couple of the gunmen let loose on Keiko as she pounces down at them with automatic weapons fire. It's odd that there isn't a police response here by now. It's been near ten minutes. There should be officers on scene. Not that she has time to worry about that while being shot at.
Keiko lived for such a long in the rough end of New York, she doesn't think twice about the delay in police response. Even less so as the bullets fly at her and Onyxia. "Dive." She tells the spirit bird, urging it onwards. As she nears the roof, Onyxia banks just as Keiko tumbles from her back onto the rooftop.
That should draw more fire, but for how long? Onyxia screams again, coming at one of the gunmen with her claws out. It's a horrifying sight.
Koa should have breathing space now to get a bead on one of the gunmen, hopefully - and he might have words for Keiko as it's clear she intends to go hand to hand with a shooter.
Keiko finds herself with a gunman in her face. She slaps the rifle away from him but he draws pistol and knife as two of his compatriots move in from behind. These are well trained fighters she can tell by the way they're moving. Out of the corner of her eye she can see the blur of Koa's movement again and then a terrifying roar that comes from him. He grabs a rifle from one of his opponents and literally breaks it over another one's head. That probably didn't do wonders from the target, being hit hard enough to snap machined steel.
Off to her right and across the street someone takes aim at her with a MUCH higher powered sniper weapon.
The fighting style Keiko uses, relies on her mobility and taking advantage of her size. Small and quick - never staying still long enough for someone to get a solid hit in. Fighting against guns is different though, particularly snipers. Normally she wouldn't have seen the sniper, but this time she does.
Taking her collapsed quarterstaff from the strap on her back, Keiko extends it as she calls out to Onyxia "Ataque" and points in the snipers direction. The harpy-eagle screams again, rises higher into the air and dives - talons extended - right at the sniper who's about to pull the trigger.
The quarterstaff swings at the knife held by the first shooter, allowing the peruvian to touch the tattoo of the demonic wolf on her arm.
A few seconds later, Bella appears behind the other two, growling as she leaps at one. If the Wolf can, she'll 'bounce' off that one and onto the second.
"Koa!?" A question more than a statement of concern. Is he alright? Not that Keiko would ask it like that.
The sniper abandons his rifle at the last moment in favor of drawing a sidearm and shooting in a rapid, almost panicked fashion as the harpy dives on him with knife-like talons outstretched. Keiko and Bella tear through the ones within staff-reach but then begin to take fire from another rooftop. Directed, accurate fire. Still that's a third of the attackers down.
Another shot rings out, this time from an uncertain location but very loud and Koa lets out a pained yell as he's hit by something big. He momentarily disappears from Keiko's sight and she feels a spike of pain.
Shooting the spirit Harpy isn't nice. Even if the shooter misses most of them, just one could be fatal.
The birds talons rake down his face and catch in his shirt, dragging him off the roof - just as a bullet pierces Onyxia's heart. As the bird dissipates to smoke, the shooter is released. Over the street and at height. They might need to scrape what's left off the pavement.
Keiko grunts in pain as Onyxia's wound transfers to her. Blood blossoms through her shirt over her heart. Now, she's mad.
An anger that gets stronger when the pain spikes through her connection to Koa - he's so not alright - and her skin morphs to obsidian scales, as large leathery bat wings appear at her back.
"Shoot all like…" she growls, launching into the air, leaving Bella to finish off what's left here. "… you won't survive …"
The shooter on the roof now has an angry little demon bearing down on him. One that bullets don't seem to worry too much.
As Keiko closes in on the last gunman something strikes her between the wings. Something big. Something from a big long rifle that is firing from a great distance off. At about that time Koa blurs in and buries razor sharp claws in the gunman's back. He's got blood all over him. Some of it is very likely his own. His eyes are narrow and there's little thought behind him. The instinctive, predatory part of him is in charge and she feels as he drains the surrounding area of ambient magic. A lot of houseplants and insects probably just died.
There's a long, long pause but no more shots come from the distant sniper after the last one at Keiko.
Whatever it is, strikes Keiko hard and penetrates the armour that is her skin. She pitches forward, raking claws down the face of the gunman in front of her before she drops to the ground. The pain is excruciating - not that she utters a sound.
"Koa …" she wheezes when the man-shark-wolf appears … eyes going wide when the magic drains. "Bella … return." The spirit will just avoid being consumed by the other WAND agent. With the magic draining though, Keiko's wings and armours start to disappear.
"One more shooter …" He's not shooting anymore, but he's out there.
"I know." Koa reaches down, still transformed, and roughly hauls Keiko up to her feet. There is no further gunfire however and Koa grunts. Keiko can see now that he's cut in several places, likely as a result of wounds transferring from his human form to this one. He looks - and feels - angry.
"Can you move?" They've got to get off this roof before something else happens. Still no sound of sirens. Even in his present state that is presenting to Koa as 'off'. There SHOULD be sirens with that much gunfire.
Koa's handling her, injured as she is, is enough to make Keiko emote a little. There's blood covering the front of her shirt and she feels like she's been run over by a truck. "I think the bullet is still in my back." It probably isn't but it feels like it.
"I can move. I'll call Onyxia. Don't eat her." Being personable just isn't possible for her at the moment. "To your place or the Tri?" Is his place even safe? "No police. That's bad." Something is definitely wrong.
"Hospital. I'll meet you there." Koa growls. He'll contact the Tri when he changes back but right now she needs medical attention and that isn't possible at his house. They're both going to cause a stir walking into an ER covered in blood. And the police will be called as is the case with all gunshot wounds.
But it's better than getting shot again.
"Good work." Because right now he can't say thank you either. "Now get going. I'll be right behind."
"Don't be stupid." Keiko growls back, not expecting a thank you. "Get on the bloody bird and we'll go. I'm not leaving you alone. The Darkchilde wouldn't like it." Would she? Probably. But Keiko isn't below invoking her name to get Koa to be reasonable.
Yes, they are going to cause a stir but that can't be helped.
She'll leave though and head to the hospital - then check in to make sure that Elena is ok.
Koa isn't entirely sure that he won't eat the bird but he's also not in a frame of mind to argue. Keiko needs medical attention and she needs it now. So he gets on the bird and growls. "Fine. But if I have to take a bite out of her before turning back it's your fault."
He won't. He's already beginning to get himself back under control. But it's going to be a short, tense flight to the hospital.
And honestly, it won't be much better when they're there.