Gothic Christmas (IC)

[alderwitch]

As Jack took the front way in, Phantom decided that dropping down through the ceiling would be an elegant solution to visiting a little Christmas mayhem. Lithe legs encased in black leather were visable before the folds of her cloak caught up to her descent.

Phantom landed on the table filled with ill gotten gains in the center of the room, her cloak dripping off the edges. Fully intangible, it was the same tactic she'd chosen at the mobsters party as any bullets fired at her would create a far more deadly crossfire to the criminals than any would prove to be of use on her ghostly body.

"Its a ghost," one of the more hopped up addicts stuttered after his switchblade swished harmlessly through her lower body along with is hand.

"Haven't you heard of the ghost of Christmas yet to be?" Phantom inquired with mocking curiosity, "I see a future spent in a cozy one room cell. How does three to five sound?"

[Avenger Assembled]

In some ways the subsequent battle was more than a little unfair. There was really nothing the thugs in the crackhouse could do against Avenger's speed, stealth, and vampiric nature. Bullets whizzed past his head as he tore through the assembled thugs, delaying only to make sure to extinguish the burning crack pipes with the unconscious bodies of the drug dealers he'd beaten; fists struck him harmlessly as he tossed strong men around like so many bowling pins. Similarly, downstairs Phantom's arcane blasts easily overmatched the thugs below, bullets passing straight through her cloak as she blasted them through walls and one right out the boarded-up window nearby.

But on the other hand, Jack mused seconds later as he stood amid a groaning, battered pile of gang-bangers and hoodlums, fights with criminals shouldn't be fair. The goal was to hit them fast, hit them hard, and that was exactly what the two of them had done. He bypassed the broken stairs easily on the way down to Phantom, who'd just completed her own bit of crime-fighting carnage downstairs.

"Think we'd better start taking these boys..." Jack trailed off, shooting a glance at Taylor, as the distinct sound of crying came from beneath their feet. "The basement!"

[alderwitch]

Phantom had been surveying the human wreckage, straightening as she checked the steady pulse on one quite unconcious large fellow as Avenger appeared in the looming doorway. She'd had just enough of a moment to appreciate his physique in the new costume before they both heard the thready crying through the floorboards.

"I hear it," she affirmed. In a move so smooth that it looked practiced, Phantom stepped in behind Avenger, sliding her hands in around his waist. It tied up both her hands for the following teleport but it meant that he'd have an unimpeded shot at any threat that was waiting below stairs. It was unlikely that anything in here would be that potent a threat but teleporting blind was always dangerous that way.

[Avenger Assembled]

Avenger and Phantom reappeared together in the darkened basement, the stillness of night no particular obstacle as they looked around the place and took in the scene before them. The crying and whining they'd heard had come from no human throats. In one corner of the filthy basement, stretched out on a stained, wadded-up box, was a pitbull bitch and a squirming mass of what was evidently her puppies. She'd been the one whining, an eerie, sad cry in the basement full of yelps. "Oh, God," spat Avenger, kneeling down from a reputable distance. Animals tended not to like him much. "Look at the marks on her neck. Looks like a bait dog. And those guys are the next generation."

[alderwitch]

"Hrmmm," Phantom made the displeased noise low in her throat. Reaching up, she unfastened the cloak around her throat and then began stripping off the thick leather gloves, "Why don't you see if there's anything like food or water in this place and I'll see if she can be approached."

The fact that she expected to be bit a few times was clear as she rolled her sleeve back, exposing one smooth pale arm. It was a pity that regeneration didn't mean she didn't feel the actual injury, but Phantom was hopeful that her intangibility would keep the teeth from setting into her flesh. If that wasn't the case, she'd rather not have the pit bull getting mouthfulls of the costume as well. Any damage to her arm would heal fast enough and it wasn't like she could catch anything.

She began to trace out an arcane pattern with her fingertips before she thought to explain to Avenger, "This is going to sound really strange."

As she finished the pattern, the whines and yips changed to clearly understandable if still oddly pitched cries for help. Not every world Phantom visited spoke one of the many languages she knew. Sometimes, something extra was required. Dropping the echo from her voice, Phantom crouched down, "Its alright. We'll get you some food and water, and someplace safe."

[Avenger Assembled]

The dog looked up at Phantom with a look of terrible grief and fatigue on her face. This close, Taylor could easily make out the many, many injuries she'd suffered over the years; the missing ear, the discolored eye, and the many, many bite marks along her flank, face, and back. In a voice without words, it begged Taylor not to let the two-legs take her young ones. She'd given up so many to the fights after being taken from them herself, and knew they faced a terrible future there as either toys for the alpha dogs or a terrible training as killers themselves. All the other dogs that had once been in the basement were gone; even her mate, good for only stud after his last fight had seen his eyes taken from him. She didn't know where.

[alderwitch]

"No, no more of that. I promise." Phantom murmured quietly, crouching down to run light fingers over the animals. It was only a cursory examination, Phantom lacked the medical skills to make a real examination but she was satisfied the dogs were in no urgent danger. In a low soft tone, Taylor explained quietly that there would be no more of such things. The 'two-legs' hand been punished for their crimes. That they were mad things, unusual and despised by their own kind.

When Avenger returned with what little there was available, Phantom backed away before turning to face him. She began to roll her sleeve down slowly, and pull her glove back on, "They need a vet and a rehabilitator. The pups are too young to have been trained, but she'll have trouble finding a home. She's not crazed, fortunately, just reasonabally mistrustful."

[Avenger Assembled]

"This is a little beyond me," admitted Jack, dropping Avenger's voice so he didn't keep unnerving the mama dog and her pups. From the animal's body language, Taylor could see she knew a predator when she saw it. "I guess you could teleport them to the humane society? The nearest shelter's over in the Theatre District, but at least it'd be something." He didn't really understand the urge to save animals like this, but he thought Taylor probably would. "This is completely illegal in Freedom City, so we can take those things upstairs up for more than just drugs."

[alderwitch]

"My flakey sister-in-law is pretty into the rescue movement, actually. I'll take the dogs to her emergency vet." Taylor said, reaching for her cloak and swishing it around her shoulders. Considering how large the extended Chun family was, and how dedicated to the medical community most of its members were, it wasn't exactly a surpise. "They'll have good contacts for getting them into a program. Should only take me a few moments while you wrap up the muggers upstairs for their trip."

Taylor ran a gloved hand down his arm, pausing to squeeze his broad hand before heading over to kneel down by the box once more so the folds of her cloak fell around it. It'd be easiest just to shift the box rather than taking each dog and within what she could carry in a single hop. She flashed him a bright smile. There was no way she'd rather spend the holiday. "Time me."

[Avenger Assembled]

"On it," said Jack with a hard smile, leaning against the wall as Phantom and the dogs disappeared. Man's inhumanity to man never failed to surprise him, but it was always disturbing to see what man could do to his fellows. Jack wasn't much for philosophy, but it was hard to not to be a little meditative under such circumstances around the holiday.

Meanwhile, the veterinary assistant at the emergency vet was reading a magazine when Taylor and the dogs teleported into an empty lobby. When the spiky-haired woman in animal scrubs looked up, she gave a startled exclamation at the sight of the cloaked heroine and dogs. "Ack! What...are you here?"