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With a focused strike, Anu hammers the knife home, striking precisely the spot he was aiming for and pierces the gangster's heart with steel .
The gangster reflexively squeezes off a few more shots that hit the side of his van before coughing up a gobbet of blood. He slumps to the ground, releasing his grip on the firearm as darkness overtakes him. The last pulses of heartbeat spray streamers of crimson fluid out from the gaping hole in his chest, creating a grotesque display of death on the sidewalk where he lays.
As Jon and Hank approach along the far side of the street, they reflexively jump at the sound of more gunfire but then realize that the shots are hitting the opposite side of the van. Nearing the scene of the crash, they see Anu standing over the crumpled corpse of the gangster, bloody knife in hand. The corpse sputters a few more jets of blood onto the sidewalk as Anu turns to notice their approach.
Garabina's radio squaks to life and relays the message that two units are en route. Almost simultaneously, the distant sounds of police sirens can be heard. It would still take a minute or two to reach the location, however.
Suddenly, a massive gout of flames erupts from the museum entrance, though there is no tell-tale explosion. Horrified screams follow a moment later and one of the thugs runs screaming out into the street, his entire body covered in roiling flames. He falls to the ground, rolling madly but the flames consume him utterly, seemingly unextinguishable.
"They went into the Museum!" Anu yells at them, kneeling down to search the man for his wallet, valuables, other weapons, etc. Anu keeps his hands away from the man's gun so as not to spook the gun wielding men coming up the street.
Kneels quickly after seeing flames erupt from the museum,
"You bring a knife to a gunfight? My kinda man, we should talk later. Do you need his weapon?" Holsters his pistol, and grabs the automatic without waiting for an answer."Any extra clips?" Checks the clip in the weapon.
Anu's hand shifts on the wallet, trying not to leave finger-prints...
To Jon he says "Two extra clips here." pointing.
He sets the knife down beside the corpse, wiping his hand on the body's pants before slowly standing up from the corpse.
As the small group kneels over the corpse, they hear the rear door of the museum open up . Exiting hastily, they see a striking young woman in a black dress carrying a large black tote bag.
The woman makes eye contact with Anu for an instant, her face betraying an expression of extreme surprise, perhaps at seeing him covered in blood. She immediately begins running in the opposite direction.
Anu ducks back down and quickly wipes his knife clean on the corpse's pants as well. Glancing back over at Jon Simon...
"Its probably time to g....oh s+!*!" he says, seeing Dahlia and noticing her bag.
"After her! She arranged it to steal from the exhibit! That bi^$h!"
Anu starts running immediately after her, aiming to climb the fence.
Anu climbs over the fence with adept skill, landing solidly on his feet in the alleyway and sprints off after the woman. He gains on her quickly, but she rounds the corner to the right just a few seconds ahead of him. As he follows pursuit, he notices that her lead has grown considerably in the moment she was out of sight. Her high-heel shoes lay discarded on the side of the street and she sprints barefoot down the street.
She glances over her shoulder, and flashes him an almost playful smile, her dark hair trailing behind her.
Anu watches the flaming man...his eyes distant. Looking back at Jon he says,
"You're not police are you?"
Still crouching next the body, pocketing the extra clips"Private Security. How about you?"
Anu ducks back down and quickly wipes his knife clean on the corpse's pants as well. Glancing back over at Jon Simon...
"Its probably time to g....oh s@~&!" he says, seeing Dahlia and noticing her bag.
"After her! She arranged it to steal from the exhibit! That bi^$h!"
Anu starts running immediately after her, aiming to climb the fence.
Follows Anu at a dead run, "Time to leave, Hank."
"Miami-Dade Police, Freeze Motherf***ers!"
Turns and fires a couple of warning shots into the air. NOT in the direction of the cop, towards the museum. Yells "Private Security, go to the Museum, now!"
Lacking a proper holster to stash the SMG, Jon encounters some difficulty scaling the chain link fence. While he has fully put the van between himself and the police officer for the moment, he watches Anu reach the end of the alleyway before he even manages to struggle his way over the gate.
Garabina hears the shots echo out as the man cries out his affiliation with security. She thought it highly unusual that private security would be armed with submachine guns, but the shots are clearly directed AWAY from her.
Persistant, Anu continues his pursuit of the woman in black. She quickly rounds yet another corner, seeming to dart back into another dark alleyway. Sprinting hard to make up the distance, Anu rounds the same corner a bit short of breath, his pulse pounding in his ears. Just a few feet into the alleyway, leaning against a dumpster, was the overstuffed tote bag. Dahlia was nowhere to be seen.
As Anu glimpses inside the bag, he sees several pieces of jewelry that had been on display in the museum as well as an ornamental dagger, still tarnished from centuries beneath the ocean.
In an instant, though, the darkness around him almost seems to animate. He feels a sudden pinch on his neck followed by an extreme sense of soothing calm. He feels the press of lips at the side of his chin and a chill shoot up his spine.
As her hair cascades down around his face, Anu feels blissfully faint and slowly fades from consciousness. His last image is one of Dahlia's crimson-stained lips blowing him a kiss as she stands, picking up her bag and walking further into the alleyway.
After that, darkness...
Hank encounters greater difficulty than Jon in surmounting the chain-link fence. By the time he manages to heft himself over, Anu is long gone and Jon is rounding the corner. Hank lands clumsily, spending a moment to recover as he watches the policewoman run towards the front of the building. More machinegun fire clatters out into the night from within. The police sirens seem to be getting closer.
A moment later, Jon races up to the alleyway where Anu had gone. He finds him lying on his back, apparently unconscious. His face seems pale and his skin is slightly cool to the touch, though he is clearly still breathing, if a bit shallow. He does not appear to be injured, however. There is also no sign of the woman in black. After examining him, Jon hears Hank's noisy approach, the young man short of breath.
Garabina rounds the front of the building, hearing shots ring out from within. Though her shoulder was still sore from the altercation with the man at the apartment complex, she steeled herself to glimpse the inside. The entire glass entryway had been shattered by gunfire, numerous pieces of safety glass scattered all over the front steps like diamonds. The reception area was peppered with bulletholes and a security guard lay dead in a slowly-expanding pool of his own blood. Smoke poured out from a room off to the right, the doorway scorched black. Further down the hall, Garabina could see the blackened, smouldering corpse of some unindentifiable person. What sort of weapon could do such a thing? What was going on here? As she pondered this, she heard hushed whispers from within the scorched room. Someone, possibly multiple people, were still within the auditorium.
Aidrian looks at Gabriel like he might be nuts, but doesn't mind, then points down at his bare feet, "I ain't gonna get far like this. Little too much busted glass for me right now. Hold up while I grab some shoes."
[ooc]Wow. You guys did a lot of posting today. I have a friend in town and tomorrow we are going to the beach and to see the Pixies. Then we'll be out of town Fri - late Sun. Fates can pose Adrian as needed, or I don't mind too much if Kiioro includes Adrian in his posts tagging along with him once he has some shoes."
begins searching for the tote bag.[/i]
You find no indication of the tote bag or the woman. You do, however, find a few small drops of fresh blood on the ground near Anu's unconscious body. A cursory inspection reveals no injuries on his body, however, so you conclude the blood must belong to someone else.
Seeing no response to my attempts to wake him up, pick up Anu and sling him over my shoulder. Sling the SMG over my other shoulder under my jacket.
Coughing in response to the smoke and lowering her head a little in a vain attempt to keep her head out of it, Garabina headed to the doors of the auditorium, putting her ear up against it to see what she could hear while keeping an eye on what's going on around her.
Inside, Garabina could hear a voice tinged with malice as well as the sound of another person struggling, perhaps being strangled.
"Tell me... who sent you..." the malicious voice spoke forcefully, clearly exerting some kind of effort.
The other person gasped and choked, muttering something she could not hear.
Garabina is completely unprepared for the sight she bursts in on. Standing near the auditorium stage was a middle-aged man dressed in a very expensive business suit. She recognized him as Julio Ferrano, a local celebrity and the host of tonight's auction. His hand was outstretched in a murderous claw, reaching out towards one of the ganger thugs from the street positioned towards the back of the room. The room was littered with bodies that had been burnt beyond recognition or riddled with bullets. At least twenty by the look of things.
The ganger was held aloft by an invisible force, floating fully six feet off the ground and grasping at his throat as though unseen ropes sought to hang him in the air. The air throughout the room felt practically alive with energy, causing the officer's hair to begin standing on end of it's own volition. Garabina's outburst had distracted Julio, however, and the thug promptly fell from the air with an audible thud. Julio's face twisted in a look of annoyance and he lowered his hand at his side.
"I'm terribly sorry officer, but I haven't the time for a statement at the moment," the man flashed a charismatic smile. "Goodnight."
Garabina immediately crumpled to the floor, her consciousness evaporating almost instantly. Her last image is that of the plush red carpet rising up to meet her face.
Time passed, though she had no idea how much of it. When she picked herself up off the floor, both Julio and the thug were gone. Backup had still not arrived, however, but the sirens grew increasingly close.
As Garabina heads out the front entrance of the museum, she spies the two men from the street carrying the man who had attacked the machinegunner on the other side of the building. It was unclear if the man was unconscious or dead, but the group turned to notice her as she made her way down the front steps.
Hustling down from the east road where the van incident had occurred, Aido and Gabriel round the corner just in time to see the same thing... and the approaching police cruisers far at the end of the road. The still-smoking corpse of the ganger that had been immolated lies in the intersection nearest them, his weapon melted and warped by incomprehensible temperatures.
"Officer, this man needs medical attention immediately!" Turning with Anu still slung over his shoulder."We really don't have time to wait, I can meet you at the hospital if you would like to talk there, but we need to go now! Do you really want to have this man's death on your heart and mind?" Holding hands out empty in a gesture of sincerity, using my arm to hold Anu in place.