Wolf Case 1 - Blood Money

[Hiraeth]

This case is only for the owners of the Wolf Cafe, or those whom they employ. Speak to Final Boss or Unicorn to participate.

Case Number: 0044192
Subject: Armed robbers

The file is obviously a police file that has been heavily annotated by someone with very neat handwriting, to give people that could see spirits an advantage in solving the case. It detailed each of the three hits made by the armed robbers in great detail, and it is obvious that they’re taking on additional levels of risk with each attack, robbing larger and larger businesses:


First Hit:
Location – Petrol Station just outside town
Date – Two weeks earlier
Victims – Four

This was the first robbery that the police became aware of. While it is likely that the robbers worked several jobs before this one, this is the first where they used force against their victims, and the first where anyone died.

From what the forensic team pieced together, the robbers entered the petrol station some time after midnight. After entering into an altercation with the owner, where he refused to hand over his takings, they shot him. His wife tried to flee the scene and they shot her too. The third victim was a woman who had been filling her car up outside, and the final victim was a homeless man who lived on the street nearby.

It is unlikely that any of the victims remain to be questioned, as due to how long ago it happened, it is likely that one of them became a hollow, and consumed the other victims. That is not to say that you should discount this attack altogether, as there may be some evidence remaining that the police missed.



Second Hit:
Location – Akoyagai Jewellery Store in the outskirts of town.
Date – A week earlier
Victims – Four

This hit should have had no victims. They entered the store at midnight, when it was closed, however they did not realise they had triggered the security system, and when four security guards arrived to apprehend them, they shot all four. One of the guards may have gotten a shot in before he died, as blood was found at the scene that didn’t belong to any of the guards. It is highly likely that it belonged to the robbers, however there were no matches in the database, indicating that these people, whoever they are, have no criminal record.

This is probably the location that will yield the most information on the identities of the armed robbers. As they didn’t expect to be caught, they may perhaps have removed any disguises before the guards came onto the scene, so perhaps one of them got a clear look at the robbers before they were shot.



Third Hit:
Location – The Sakura Bank and Credit Union, located in the commercial district of the town
Date – Two days earlier
Victims – Six

This is by far the most ambitious of the three hits that we know about. They entered the bank as the doors opened, from brief amount of security footage obtained, we know that they took two of the customers as hostages. They killed the two security guards to prove they were serious, then took out the security cameras. What is believed to have happened then, is that they forced one of the tellers to give them as much money as they could carry.

They then left, taking the hostages with them, and no one else would have died, except the teller panicked and pressed the security alarm. Hearing the arrival of police cars, the two robbers realized what had happened and shot the two tellers that were working, to ensure they got the right one. They somehow managed to leave just before the police arrived on the scene. The bodies of the two hostages, a man and a woman, were found dumped outside town. The robbers had dumped their balaclavas while leaving the bank, they were found by police in a trash can but again there was no DNA match.

If you can track down the spirits of the two dead hostages, then you’ll probably have cracked the case. Since they didn’t have balaclavas while leaving, it is highly likely that the victims got clear looks at their faces. That said, while the bodies were found outside town, the hostages may have been killed in any number of locations and then their bodies dumped, so tracking down their spirits may be difficult.

Be careful with this hit, as it was so recent there may be quite a large police presence at the location, and they will not take kindly to you snooping around. If you can’t get onto the site find Officer Ogawa, then say you were sent by ‘our mutual European friend’, and that should get you inside.


That is all the information I can provide you, my friends. Please tread carefully and try not to alert the police as to what you are doing. I will warn you now that I will send Stern to watch your progress when I can spare him, however I hope that this will not affect your work.

Best of luck,
Philippe

[Unicorn]

Okay, kicking off this thread. FB or Hiraeth, if you want me to edit anything at all, just PM. :D

query: is this petrol station still operating? or closed down?

...

According to Gabe's directions, the first location was in a small petrol station outside the city perimeters. Alex pulled up at a kiosk on the pretext of filling up her gas tank.

Well, she needed a parking lot and a good reason to peek around. Getting some petrol was as good a time as any. She looked around.

[Hiraeth]

[OOC: Finally!]

The petrol station that the robbers had hit first was located on the outskirts of town. Getting to it required a slight detour from the main road, which was probably why it was chosen, so there would only be a small chance that someone would catch them in the act.

The place was lit by cheap security lighting, and the one sad camera that passed as surveillance equipment hadn't been replaced after the robbery. As far as living beings were concerned, Alex and Gabriel had the place to themselves, they would be able to investigate thoroughly without being interrupted.

The store had been boarded shut after the forensic team had removed the bodies and the clean up team had mopped up all the blood. It was a pretty shoddy job, the boards were already loosening on one of the windows. If they were pulled a little further down, a small person could probably fit through to get inside and take a look around.

[Final Boss]

"Looks like we're free to investigate without much interference."

The deserted petrol station was poorly shut down, the boarded windows and doorways could easily be removed. Gabriel walked up to a particular window who's job was drastically worse than the others, the loose boards made this the easiest accessible entry point.

Gabriel grunted as he pulled off a board, small amounts of dust flew into his face. Gabriel tossed the removed board aside and peeked through the viewpoint and into the store, searching for any souls that stayed behind.

[Unicorn]

Alex watched Gabe peer into the new gap in the window. "Anything in there?"

"There's a surveillance camera up there. Might have a tape still around or something. Want me to go in and check?"

Alex circled the immediate perimeter (ie. petrol station external area) slowly

"No-one around in the external area." Alex reported. By no-one, she meant no humans or human spirits.

[Final Boss]

"Yeah, checking for a tape is a good idea."

Gabriel removed more boards and created an opening large enough to allow Alex and him to enter the store.

"I couldn't see anyone from out here, so lets have a closer look."

Gabriel stepped in through the window, before disappearing in the darkness of the store, he motioned for Alex to follow him.

"I'll look for any souls still left behind in the store, you should go check out the security tapes, maybe some clues were left behind in some of 'em."

With that Gabriel began to look through the aisles of snacks and drinks that the store had to offer.

[Unicorn]

Alex stepped (climbed?) through the window after Gabe. The entire store was dark. She made a little glowing ball of spiritron particles in her hand, and used it to light her way around. Security cameras... should be behind the cashier.

Why hello there. Alex found the security system and wiring.

[Hiraeth]

She would find that the security system had already been thoroughly inspected by police. In fact every piece of possible evidence in the whole place had been taken away in plastic bags to be catalogued and stored at the police station, sadly it hadn't told them anything.

Perhaps the quincy should have been a little curious about why there were no human souls in a place where four people had died. From amongst the trees outside the perimeter something had watched them moving around and waited for them to enter the store before stepping into the glow of the security lights.

With a bound it launched itself up to the roof of the store, landing with a quiet thump. It's yellow eyes watched the spot where the living creatures had entered the store. The boards had been removed now, but the window itself wasn't large, they'd only be able to leave one at a time, and in the moment they were perched on the window sill they would be vulnerable. It was quite a useful trap that the police had unwittingly proved for the creature.

It settled down to wait. The smell of the humans was tantalisng, like nothing it had smelled before. It couldn't wait for the chance to sink its teeth into their soft flesh, but it knew better than to follow them into a store, a trap was a trap, regardless of who was in it.

As they hadn't sensed it earlier, the only clue to its presence was the thump it had made landing on the roof.

[Unicorn]

Alex finished checking over the security camera system. No tape or CD, and the system was the sort that recorded over its memory space every two days. It had been 14 days since the murder, so there was no use hot-wiring it.

She closed the cover with a 'click' and 'thump'. Then frowned suddenly. Electronic covers didn't go 'thump'. The hairs on the back of her neck rose as she looked around with her mental eyes.

Still maintaining the little glowing ball of spiritron energy, Alex silently made her way to Gabe and made eye contact with him.

"Did you hear something?" She mouthed.

[Final Boss]

Gabriel just shrugged his shoulders, his face completely clueless.

Gabriel had already searched through all the aisles and discovered no spirits left behind, either a Shinigami sent them to Soul Society or a hollow had devoured them.

He went towards Alex and whispered, "No souls in the aisles, maybe we should check for the final victim. Some homeless guy who died at a nearby street or something."

Gabriel made his way back to the opened window and slowly jumped up and climbed through the opening.

[Unicorn]

She eyed Gabriel's expression. He didn't hear it. She might be imagining things. Or not. Gabe whispered about checking for a homeless person's spirit and then proceeded to climb out of the window.

Alex watched him carefully, standing with her side facing the window. She would not relax until she checked the roof and verified what caused the 'thump'.

[Hiraeth]

The creature struck while Gabriel was still half out the window, lauching itself through the air and opening its jaws to latch onto his arm.

Instinct told it that it would have a better chance if it separated the two morsels, so keeping its grip on his arm it bounded back up onto the roof and into the forest towards the hills.

In just a few leaps it managed to put enough distance between itself and the petrol station that the other human would take a few minutes to catch up, at least.

It landed in a clearing in the woods, dropping its prize on the ground and preparing to consume it.

[Unicorn]

As much as Alex was expecting things to go wrong, she didn't expect something to drag Gabe out through the window. Swift, very swift. She swore. In the time that it took for her to summon Blue and fire, it was disappearing from view. The arrow missed by a mile.

Alex took a running leap and dived out of the window, landing in a controlled roll before flashstepping after it.

Even after she had seen the thing, it was really hard to sense it. Alex tracked its erratic movements by following Gabe's reiatsu, and summoned White.

[Final Boss]

Gabriel rolled away, creating some distance between the hollow and himself, and pulled out Dawn from it's holster. He glanced at his left arm, it was significantly damaged and would not be of any use to him.

"Alright hollow, come and get your just deserts."

He took a quick look at his surroundings before shooting a barrage of bullets at the hollow before him.

[Unicorn]

Gabe stopped moving, and he was still alive. So the hollow must have paused to do something. Gabe probably injured it somehow.

Dawn's power flared. Probably just turned into reality. Alex grinned and kept flashstepping.

Close, almost there now. Where are you, ***?

[Hiraeth]

The hollow was fast. Even though he'd fired at almost point blank range, it dodged most of Gabriel's bullets. It seemed to realise that a head-on attack would be useless, and launched itself up into the air again. Landing in a tree, it waited, unmoving, until Gabriel's back was turned.

Then, with a scream, it launched itself at him and prepared to rake its claws across his back.

[Unicorn]

Alex heard the thing scream and saw it leap off the tree... directly at Gabe.

She didn't even finish skidding to a halt before swinging Blue up and firing a couple of arrows at it.

"OI *** *** *** ***!" Alex yelled, trying to distract it from Gabe who was lying down.

[Hiraeth]

Its claws had barely glanced off Gabriel's back when it found itself under assault again. It spun, taking an arrow in its shoulder. It froze for a second, yellow eyes evaluating the girl, and Alex finally got a good look at it.

It was smaller than most hollows, but its legs, all six of them, were incredibly long. It looked like a cross between a cockroach and a frog, with a pair of antennae drooping over the top of its grinning mask.

The second passed, and its legs snapped into motion, sending it once again into the trees.

[Unicorn]

@ Hiraeth - Blue crossbow = binding threads to paralyse.

...

Alex stared at a gross spider-looking hollow for half a moment before it disappeared, and got the random urge to spray pesticide at it. At least she managed to land a hit... the binding threads were starting to crawl over its shoulder. More importantly, she could now properly track it.

Letting the hollow run for now, she turned her attention to Gabe.

"Ya okay?"

[Final Boss]

"Yeah, I should be fine."

Gabriel slowly forced himself to stand, trying to ignore the pain in his left arm. He glanced around for any sign of the hollow.

"Ya shot it with the paralyzing arrows right? If so you should be able to track it, I'll follow you."

Gabriel prepared himself and kept Dawn at the ready.

[Hiraeth]

The hollow wasn't stupid. A strange sensation had begun to spread down its right front leg. It could feel the responses of that limb becoming slower as it seized up. Somehow it knew that it couldn't let the problem spread. It reached its left front leg up and closed its claws around the limb at the top of the shoulder. With a sickening tear its now stiff leg came free, releasing a fountain of blood. It tossed the now useless limb down into the clearing and jumped to another tree, realising they'd shoot where they thought the leg had been dropped from. It now knew to avoid the blue lights.

The blood dripping from the shoulder began to slow as the wound healed over. Soon it would be ready to attack again.

[Unicorn]

Alex eyed Gabe a little doubtfully, but he said he was okay and was now standing.

"If ya want to bind that arm, let me know." Alex muttered, then turned around to try and locate the hollow. "Its somewhere nearby. Lets go."

Alex walked off into the undergrowth, both crossbows at the ready. She tried to concentrate on both the hollow's power signature (reiatsu isn't the correct word) and her binding threads.

[Final Boss]

"Yeah yeah, I'll be fine. I don't need two hands to shoot Dawn."

Gabriel knew she was only worried about him, but he couldn't help but feel a little insulted that Alex was worrying over something like this. Maybe it was his pride? Nonetheless Gabriel appreciated Alex's concern, he was thankful to have her as a partner.

Gabriel followed behind Alex completely on guard this time, he wouldn't allow the hollow another chance at a sneak attack.

[Hiraeth]

The hollow could feel the strange sensation that was beginning to spread from its wound. Removing the arm had helped it slightly, but it knew it wouldn't hold the advantage for much longer. If only these two new humans hadn't interfered, it could have finished the job it had intended to do.

Suddenly it sensed something, a flicker of energy back at the petrol station. It recognised that energy. It opened its mouth in a scream and, abandoning all pretence of stealth, charged in the direction it had come.

It was leaping over the heads of its pursuers before they had even realised that it was coming. It could sense the energy much more clearly now, and it hadn't vanished yet. If it could outrun its pursuers it could still get there, could still feast on that energy. It found itself unable to focus on anything else.

[Unicorn]

Alex heard the hollow scream and had just enough time to sense it leaping before firing Blue straight upwards. It missed and the hollow sailed overhead and skittered jerkily away from them.

Alex flashstepped after it, grimly satisfied that it was hurt and trackable, and trusting Gabe to follow. She planned to catch it alive just to pull each leg off the body.

It wasn't moving as swiftly as before, but Alex still had to put some effort into catching up with it. The undergrowth and the creature's jerky movements made it hard to get a clear shot and Alex didn't want to waste energy.

[Final Boss]

The shrill scream of the hollow rang in Gabriel's ears, he just managed to get a glimpse of the hollow soaring through the air. He shot two bullets after it before he disappeared in a flash, pursuing the hollow.

Why is the hollow running away? Is it after something else?

He momentarily saw the hollow leaping through the woods, the trees provided ample cover and prevented Gabriel from obtaining a clean shot. Then again he wouldn't need a clean shot. Gabriel focused more energy into Dawn allowing him to access one of it's primary functions, homing properties.

Gabriel fired four bullets which locked on to the fleeing hollow. He targeted it's legs in hopes of crippling it's movements and allowing them to capture and question it.

[Hiraeth]

The creature felt bullets tear into both its back legs. Its right side was now almost entirely useless, with one limb missing and another trailing behind it. It put most of its weight on its left front legs, limping dramaticaly.

With the last of its energy it burst from the trees towards the unsuspecting spirit that now stood in the middle of the petrol station. Frightened eyes turned towards it, and the spirit barely had time to hurl itself out of the way before the hollow slammed into the ground where it had been standing.

The spirit stood shakily, as the hollow lay on the ground screaming in agony. Its shattered body offered it little support, but the yellow eyes still stared at its target, jaws snapping at the air, too far away to take hold of anything.

Alex and Gabriel reached the scene, in time to see the spirit start to walk towards the hollow. It was clear that it was a woman, quite tall with long brown hair, tied into a neat ponytail. She was dressed nicely, as though she'd been coming home from the office when she'd been killed. She was whispering to the hollow, and as she got closer they realised she was apologising to it.

[Unicorn]

The hollow pounced on a human spirit in the deserted petrol station. Luckily the girl moved aside, the hollow missed and was now lying hissing on the ground.

Alex skidded to a halt and watched with a mixture of suspicion and concern, crossbows still blazing in her hands. Why was the lady talking to it? Gabe came up alongside her.

"Hi." Alex greeted the human spirit.

[Final Boss]

Gabriel was focused mainly on the hollow, making sure it wasn't going anywhere. Only until he heard a female voice did his gaze shift from the injured hollow to a female spirit, she was obviously the reason for the hollow's sudden withdrawal and most likely the target.

Gabriel quickly approached the spirit, moving around Alex to get closer. As he past Alex he patted her shoulder and whispered into her ear, "I'll take care of the female here, you can go ahead and question the hollow. Hopefully we can get some info from it."

Once he was near enough he lightly pulled the woman away from the hollow. Gabriel put his hands on her shoulders and looked her directly in the eyes. Soon after he began to try to comfort her.

"It's okay now, your fine."

He had no clue why she was apologizing to the hollow, but he intended to find out. Once he felt that she was more relaxed and safe he began to question her about the case.

"Hey, I'm Gabriel I'm here to investigate a robbery. I'm gonna need your full cooperation and some answers to my questions. First of all I would like to know the name of a pretty lady and if she has any general knowledge of what happened here."

[Unicorn]

Gabe seemed well enough with a female around, albeit a spirit. She nodded at his whispered suggestion and turned her attention to the hollow.

She crouched down next to it, just out of bite range, and made a glowing ball of spiritron particles next to its face.

"Behave and I'll unbind you and give some food. Don't behave and you have 3 other legs I can shoot out."

"Why were you around this petrol station? Its been deserted for ages. Were you from here?"

[Hiraeth]

The woman turned frightened eyes on Gabriel.

"Who are you? Why can you touch me?"

She started shaking.

"All I know is that one minute I was alive, the next I'm staring down at my body. There was this chain going from my chest, and then there were people everywhere, but they couldn't see me. They took everything away, even my body, left us all here. Now the others are... gone... and he's all that's left."

She finished, turning to point at the hollow. Seeing Alex threatening it she paled "No! Don't hurt him! It's not his fault, he can't help it!"


The hollow had watched as the living female approached with the glowing ball in her hand. It made a coughing sound as she made her threats, which might have been laughter.

"One leg left. Broke others."

It turned its yellow eyes on the female spirit that for some reason was trying to protect it.

"Her. Kill her. Tear skin from bones. Make her scream."

As if to punctuate the last statement it let out a roar and wriggled its body, trying to get closer to its intended victim. It would have been funny if it wasn't so pathetic.

[Unicorn]

Alex listened to the female spirit talk, and tried to recall the case file. The hollow roared and tried to lunge. Alex placed a booted foot against a paralysed leg to keep it down.

"Do ya mind? Am tryin' to think here."

Alex turned her attention towards the female spirit.

"Why isn't it his fault? Do you know who he was before he turned into this?"

[Hiraeth]

The spirit cringed at the harsh look the woman gave her "He was... He was the owner. There were four of us. Me, the homeless man, the owner and his wife."

The hollow roared again and struggled harder, though it knew it was futile. The female spirit swallowed and continued.

"We all had chains." She pointed to the one still hanging from her chest "His was, it was all tied up, into the building, he couldn't move. We told him to stop, that he'd hurt himself, but he kept pulling until eventually it, it came out."

The hollow had stopped trying to break loose and seemed to be listening to the woman's story.

"He vanished, we didn't know what had happened, but then he came back. As this thing." Her voice had grown very quiet "His wife, he killed her first. She didn't even have time to scream, he just jumped at her an-"

She was interrupted by a roar from the hollow, which was suddenly enraged "LIES! YOU KILLED HER! YOU!"

The woman was shaking again "I'm sorry, I didn't mean- I'm sorry!"

[Unicorn]

Alex frowned whilst watching the interaction. She was a little suspicious why the female spirit kept on apologising to the hollow, and why the hollow was so angry at the lady, but kept her mouth shut and waited for Gabe to ask questions.

[Final Boss]

Okay so something obviously happened here.

Gabriel faced the girl, "Why are you apologizing to this hollow? Did you do anything wrong?"

[Hiraeth]

The woman spun back around "This is between me and him. Why should I tell you anything? You still haven't answered my questions! Tell me who you are and why you can see and touch us or I'm not telling you a thing!"

She crossed her arms in front of her in determination, although the effect was ruined by the fact that she was still shaking a little.

[Final Boss]

"Okay, like I said my name is Gabriel. I can interact with spirits, like you, because I'm spiritually aware."

Gabriel looked at the shaking girl, "Now can you please tell me why you were apologizing to this hollow? Also I'm gonna need to ask you if you saw the faces of the ones who killed you? This is really important."

[Hiraeth]

The girl didn't unfold her arms "You'll forgive me if I don't just automatically put my faith in people that turn up out of the blue. The last time it happened I got shot you know."

"So why should I trust you Mister Gabriel?"

[Final Boss]

Hmm I guess this girl has a point.

"Well I guess there's no way to make you trust me. This information is really important and will be used to prevent more innocent people like you from getting killed. The robbers responsible for your death are still on the loose and no living people got a good look at them."

Gabriel sighed, "The only people we can hope to get information from are the victims of their attacks, souls like you. So if you don't want any more people to get killed please tell me all you know."

Gabriel looked at the woman and hoped that this would be enough to persuade her.

[Unicorn]

Alex nodded quietly at Gabe's last statement, still keeping a booted foot on one of the Hollow's legs even though it didn't seem to be agitated anymore.

[Hiraeth]

[OOC: My exams are finished now, sorry for the massive interruption to the plot]

"Stop more people from getting killed? What are you talking about?" The woman looked genuinely confused "You can't mean that there has been another robbery? And you said attacks, so this wasn't the only one that's happened. Oh my god. I can't believe it, they lied to me."

She slumped down to the ground "They said, he said, that it would just be this one time, and if I helped them then no one would get hurt. They made me drive them here. Then they made me go in the store with them. They gave me a gun. I didn't know they had guns! Where did they get them from?"

Her eyes flicked up to Gabriel as though he could answer her questions, but then they turned back to the ground and continued.

"Then they asked him for money." She waved a hand at the silent hollow "And he said no. Then his wife came in, and they, they shot her. Just like that. Bang! And she was dead. There was a great big hole in the side of her head that I could see the wall through."

She put her hands on the ground to steady herself, then forced herself to continue, as though if she stopped she wouldn't be able to get the rest of the story out.

"Then they shot him, and dragged me outside. I asked them what they were doing, but they told me to shut up and drive them. I refused, said they should call an ambulance or the police or something. Then everything went strange and it hurts to remember."

She turned again to the hollow "Please, it wasn't my fault. They're good boys, I'm sure they didn't mean for it to happen, it was an accident, that's what it was. I'm sorry! I wish I could do something to fix this."

[Final Boss]

Gabriel listened carefully, taking in all the information given. This women seemed to have taken a part in the robbery, even if it was only minor. She gave a detailed description of what had happened here and looked like she had some connection with these boys.

"Yes, they lied to you. More killings have happened in other locations, but with your help my partner and I will end it all."

"Now, what do you know about these people? We need a physical description, a name, anything about them will help us greatly."

[OOC: No problem at all, patience is a virtue. :D]

[Hiraeth]

"End it all... What do you mean by that?"

She stepped back "What do you mean end it all?"

The hollow began laughing again "They're going to kill them. Fire the stinging blue lights at them."

She began backing away slowly "No! They're good boys, I'm sure there's a good explanation for what they've done."

[Unicorn]

"Means we're gonna to end their killing spree. Police thinks they're gonna kill in the next few days. The sooner ya can tell us how they look like, the better. So we can ask those nice good boys why they needed to kill people instead of just takin' money."

Alex offered the Hollow the little glowing ball of spiritron energy. "Eat?"

"How did ya meet them anyway?" Alex addressed the girl again.

[Hiraeth]

"Eat you." The hollow muttered petulantly. This was intended as a promise of retribution for its current situation, but due to the hollow's limited vocabulary this meaning was lost somewhere in those two syllables.

The girl's eyes widened "Killing spree? I don't- They would never. Who are you anyway? Before, no one could see me, now there are two of you? I don't understand this at all! And what happened to the owner? Why has he turned into that thing?"

[Unicorn]

"Owner died angry. Ya prolly know why." Alex smirked, then continued talking. "He'd have turned into this hungry spirit given time, but pulling out the chain just rushed things along."

"In case ya weren't hearing earlier, me an' Gabe are spiritually-aware. We investigate murders that have no living witnesses. The police called us cos' they could not catch the killers, and are pretty certain they're gonna kill again."

"Your good nice boys probably made several angry spirits out there, and may make more pretty soon. Angry spirits make hungry spirits. So if ya don't mind, stop twittering and tell us what we wanna know."

Alex peered closer at the injured hollow and moved the spiritron particles closer to its mouth.

"Ya tried to eat this girl. Not that I blame ya, would be rather annoyed too if some chick helped others to rob my store."

"So Mister. Wanna help us stop those killers before they make more people unhappy? Ya remember how many of them and what do they look like?"

[Final Boss]

Gabriel sighed, this woman was so frightened and confused that it seemed like she wouldn't reveal any vital information regarding this case. Gabriel waited for Alex to finish explaining the situation to the panicked woman, he hoped that this would finally calm her down.

"These 'good' boys need to be stopped. We don't plan on killing them, we just need to detain them and send them to the police. Now can ya give us any info on these boys?"

[Hiraeth]

The girl shook her head "I'm sorry, I truly am, but I can't help you catch them. I owe them, they helped me out a long time ago, and even though one of them killed me, I still owe them."

She turned suddenly and began to run, before suddenly vanishing into the air.

The hollow made the coughing noise again. "She come back when you gone. Then she walk and cry. Then I try to catch, but she run. Next time catch." It turned its head up to focus one yellow eye on Alex "Make deal. I tell about men. You let me eat girl."

[OOC- Sorry about the wait, I've been sorting some stuff out, but for the next 3 weeks I should be on regularly.]

[Unicorn]

Alex watched the female spirit wimp out on her, then turned her attention to the Hollow's suggestion. Normally she won't consider negotiating with Hollows, but she would not deny that he had a valid score to settle with the girl.

"Deal, but only eat the girl." Alex agreed. "You attack anyone else and I won't be so gentle next time."

"So what do you know about those 'good boys'?"

[Hiraeth]

If it was possible the Hollow's grin widened. "After I kill girl I find you, you end me or I kill you."

"Two men. One tall, other normal height. Normal one older, could tell from voice. Tall one called him 'brother'. Wearing black, covering faces but could still see hair. Was dark. Tall one followed normal one's orders."

It seemed to think for a moment "Normal one shot me and girl. Tall one shot others."

"All I could tell. Now I free, to heal then hunt?"

[Unicorn]

Alex returned the grin, a predatory one that bared her teeth.

"Glad to be on ya lunch list. Keep things fun for the next few days, huh?"

She listened to the information. Either they were real brothers, or really good friends. Pfft.

"Yeah, ya good ta go. Cept' for the binds. Hang on."

Alex summoned Blue again, and pressed part of it on the Hollow. The threads re-absorbed into the crossbow. Alex pulled the crossbow away leaving a tiny thread still stuck onto its shoulder - a tracking device, sort of. The Hollow could complain but hey, she never agreed not to keep an eye on it.

"Okay. Happy hunting."

Alex turned to Gabe. "We're goin' back ta the Cafe instead of campin' out."

[Hiraeth]

The hollow rolled each of its shoulders experimentally. It only had five legs now, two of which were broken, but it would manage.

It turned to look at Alex "Will see you."

With a strange noise it began to fade, heading back to Hueco Mundo to gather its strength and prepare for another attack on the girl.

[Final Boss]

Gabriel nodded in agreement at Alex's suggestion, heading back to the cafe would allow them more time to rest and sort out information they received. There was also the fact that the next location would require them to pass by the cafe, stopping by for a while wouldn't hurt.

"Yeah, let's head back."

They sped back towards the cafe on Dragon, their black Harley motorbike. On their way Gabriel processed the newly obtained information in his head.

The description given by the hollow was pretty basic, but anything helps. We now know that two boys are involved in this, whether they are working with others is unknown, and have a basic idea of how they look like.

They arrived at The Wolf sooner than he expected, Alex drove pretty fast, and brought down the shield. They proceeded to enter the cafe.

[Unicorn]

Alex found the jewelry store pretty easily, but had to turn the corner to find a proper parking lot for Dragon.

Once that was done, she slowly strolled down the pathway whilst looking around with both mental and physical eyes.

[Final Boss]

Gabriel got off Dragon and followed Alex. He scanned the area, primarily keeping an eye out for Hollows. He didn't want to repeat the attack he received at the last location.

As they headed towards the jewelry store Gabriel did not notice any wandering spirits or vicious Hollows. He hoped they would be more successful here than at the petrol station.

[Hiraeth]

Four pairs of eyes turned to the door with interest as Alex and Gabriel approached. They belonged to four spirits, spread around the jewelry store.

As the door swung open, it triggered the jingle of a bell, and three more pairs of eyes joined the first four. These belonged to two young women behind the counter, and a security guard standing by the door. It had been a week since the attack, and as soon as the bodies had been removed, and the stock replaced, the store has been re-opened, with significant improvements in security and the hiring of a security guard to keep an eye on the premises at all times.

Coming during the day, the two investigators would have to deal with the living employees of the shop, as well as the dead.

One of the women smiled warmly at these new 'customers' "Welcome to Akoyagai Jewelry, how can we help you? Perhaps something for your girlfriend?" From the knowing way she glanced at both of them it was clear that she thought they were a couple.

EDIT: Sorry for taking so long guys.

[Unicorn]

"Hello." Alex nodded politely at the greeting, and elbowed Gabe to indicate that he could take care of things.

She looked around the store, pretending interest at the merchandise. What Alex was really doing was counting the number of spirits, to see if any one was missing and why. They were all there.

Alex strolled towards one spirit, making eye contact. To an observer, she was simply walking towards a display case.

[Hiraeth]

The spirit she'd chosen was a tall man with dark brown hair and similarly coloured eyes. He was quite thin, with sharp features and a thin mouth. He didn't look happy, and he ignored the woman walking towards him, choosing instead to stare balefully at one of the other spirits.

[Final Boss]

Gabriel gave a nod of acknowledgment to the store owners, "Yeah, I'll just take a look around..."

He walked through the store, looking at each spirit as he passed by, content with questioning one of the nearby spirits, he walked towards it. As he walked he pretended to look at the jewelry on display.

[Hiraeth]

The spirit Gabriel had chosen was older than the others, with a few streaks of grey in his hair, and a scruffy moustache. He was short, and slightly overweight. He was also too busy glaring at one of the other security guards to pay any attention to this new customer.

The one living security guard in the place was keeping a close eye on both of the visitors, so if they started communicating to the spirits, they'd have to do it in a way that didn't draw too much attention to themselves.

[Unicorn]

ooc: Hiraeth, I am assuming that both spirits are glaring at the same 3rd spirit?

...

Alex followed the brown-haired spirit's glare towards another spirit.

She watched Gabe approach another spirit and followed his glare too.

"Why are they all staring at him like that?" She thought, then turned to acknowledge the salesgirls with another nod.

"Just browsin'."

[Final Boss]

As Gabriel approached the spirit he pretended that his mobile phone had vibrated.

"Oh excuse me, this is a really important call. Keep looking at the jewelry and tell me if you see anything nice."

Gabriel knew Alex understood what he really wanted, for her to distract the guard and salespeople. He placed the phone near his ear and began speaking.

"Hey, how are ya? I need to speak with you about the recent events."

Gabriel tried to keep his voice as low as possible, while still loud enough for the spirit to hear him. He tried to make it sound as if he was speaking to a co-worker about some special business.

[Unicorn]

Alex eyed Gabe, then approached the sales counter with a large grin.

"He's distracted now, so I need your help." Alex whispered loudly to both salesgirls, waving them over to her. She knew that most, if not all of the security guard's attention would be on her suspiciously scruffy appearance and movements towards the salesgirls.

"Stupid man just quarreled with his girlfriend, not me by the way. Today is her birthday. He wants ta get her somethin' nice ta make up for it, but men being men, he has no *** clue. Told him I had no *** clue either, but he won't listen."

Alex turned a grouchy expression on the salesgirls whilst shaking her own chunky silver jewelry.

"So he promised me dinner if I helped him out. If ya help me out, I promise ya a sale."

She pulled out a gold credit card and placed it on the counter.

"He's very, very sorry." Alex hinted with a predatory grin. "So watcha got?"

[Hiraeth]

The older spirit ignored Gabe, obviously not realising that the man was addressing him. The tall, young one, that Alex had initiall approached, glanced over at him "Is he talking to you?"

The older spirit shook his head "He's just on the phone. When did everyone get mobile phones anyway?"

The spirit that the two men were staring at fidgeted nervously under their gaze "Sounded to me like he was talking to you."

They ignored him, and he went back to fidgeting nervously, running hands through his sandy blonde hair. He was obviously the youngest of the four dead men, he looked to be in his early twenties, where the old man was at least fifty, and the tall thin man was in his thirties.

The fourth member of the group had ignored the other three and wandered over behind Alex, where he unsubtly tried to stare down her top, obviously thinking she couldn't see him. The shop assistants were oblivious to him, as one of them pulled out a number of pieces from the counter "Well do you know if she prefers gold or silver, or if she has a favourite stone. Actually since it's her birthday perhaps something with rubies on it? Those are the birthstones for July."

[Unicorn]

It was really hard continue being pleasant and focused on the salesgirl whilst forcing herself not to kill the pervert spirit in front of her.

"She likes platinum. Ya got any with rubies?" Alex responded, then curled her arm out and upwards to rake a hand through her short hair. Her hand brushed through the pervert and binding threads began to form where she'd touched the spirit.

"****ing woman threw hot gravy on his arm, yet he's feeling sorry."

Alex took the opportunity to glare directly at the spirit, then returned her gaze towards the salesgirls. An observer would simply think Alex was glaring at the wall in temporary frustration.

"See them bandages? Whaddaya think? B**** should be buying him stuff instead, huh?"

[Final Boss]

Err maybe I need to be more direct when talking to them?

Gabriel's gaze shifted from the other two spirits to the young, blonde one. He was obviously nervous about something, maybe he knew something? Gabriel began to walk towards this spirit.

"Arghh I'm losing connection hold on. Can you hear me now? Good."

Gabriel was now in front of the fidgeting spirit, this time he gave the spirit a little nudge with his foot and stared directly at him. Gabriel effectively blocked the blonde spirit from the other spirits' gaze from where he stood.

"Hey, can you tell me about what happened?"

Gabriel wasted no words on, he was straightforward and went to the point as fast as possible. Hopefully this spirit would cooperate.

[Hiraeth]

The blonde spirit stared at Gabe, and ran a hand through his messy hair "You're talkin' to me." He sounded a little shocked "If y'are talkin' to me, an' I'm not jus' imaginin' it, then say what I look like into the phone."

"What's going on?" The older spirit had overheard "You know no one can hear us, so stop fooling yourself you idiot. You don't have time to worry about whether he can hear you or not."

"But he touched my foot! An' I felt it!"

The older spirit snorted "You lied to us enough when you were alive, now you're wasting your afterlife with more lies?"

On the other side of the room, the allegedly pervy spirit was feeling unnerved. He'd definitely felt something when the woman had put her hand through him, and then she'd looked directly at him. A strange sensation began to grow in his shoulder as the binding threads began to take hold. He stepped back from her and rubbed his shoulder, but the tingling feeling didn't abate. "Guys she's done something to me."

When there was no answer from the other side of the room, he turned to see the confrontation taking place. Hearing the end of the conversation he rolled his eyes "For God's sake Gramps, just leave him be. As if a kid like that would be the kind of man that your wife would go for."

The older man spun around "What's that supposed to mean?"

Pervert shrugged "Only that she's got worse taste in partners than you do. She wasn't screwing little Blondie, she was screwing Skinny here." He thumbed a hand at the tall spirit, who looked at the ground shamefully as 'Gramps' spun around to stare at him with shocked eyes "You! But why didn't you tell me honestly? Why did you let me blame the kid?"

When 'Skinny' didn't answer he glanced back at 'Pervert' who shrugged again "Eh, you lot arguing was the only thing keeping me entertained here, for an afterlife this sure sucks." He glanced back at Alex "Well it did until Miss Anarcho-Punk here jabbed me in the shoulder. I think Blondie's right, they can see us, and touch us, and apparently make our shoulder's go numb, ain't that right darlin'?" The last comment was addressed to Alex.


The shop assistants were oblivious to the whole thing, other than Alex's colourful language and fake story about abusive girlfriends. One of them had actually blushed at the first curse that the woman in the leather jacket uttered. The other seemed mostly un-phased by the situation "Well I'm sure they'll sort it out." Was her response to the whole conversation. She glanced at the glass cabinet in front of her and frowned "Hmm, platinum with rubies, will you excuse me for one moment?"

She disappeared into the back of the shop and after a few minutes emerged with a package wrapped in brown paper "I probably shouldn't show you this purely considering how much it costs, but if he really wants her to forgive him, and money is no object, then this piece will make sure that she'll never feel angry towards him again, let alone throw things at him." She unwrapped a dainty platinum bracelet, set with rubies arrayed around tiny diamonds, like flowers. "What do you think?"

[Unicorn]

Half of Alex's attention was on the complaining spirits, and the other half was on the shop assistants.

She waited until one shop assistant disappeared into the back storeroom, then pretended to stretch by rolling her head around and shrugging her shoulders. Alex took the opportunity to glare directly at the bound spirit and mutter 'oh yeah'.

The other shop assistant brought out the piece of overpriced assembled stones, and Alex whistled, leaning down to look at it but keeping her hands strictly by her sides.

"Ya right. Pretty. She'd like it, but I wanna leave some money in tha' card for hospital bills, ya understand? Ya got anything cheaper, maybe? Or even plain platinum?"

[Final Boss]

Gabriel sighed, for the sake of at least engaging in conversation with the spirit he did as requested.

"Well.. your blond."

He was disappointed at the result, that's all he could come up with? Blond? Hopefully that little bit of information would be enough to convince him that he was indeed capable of seeing and touching the spirits. If not maybe a kick would do.

[Hiraeth]

The shop assistant sighed at her reaction "Oh well it was worth a try. I don't suppose I'll ever sell this thing. Just give me a moment and I'll put it back in the safe."

She vanished out the back. At that point the other girl turned to Alex and hurriedly whispered "Is it true? Can you really see the men walking around in here?"

The 'pervert' spirit's eyes widened "Wait you can see us too? Why didn't you say anything?"

She shot him a glare "I was hoping you'd leave if I ignored you, but I think that perhaps if this woman can make you tingly then she can get rid of you."

...............

The young blond spirit nodded, "Okay, that's good enough fer me. So you can see me. What can we do for ya?"

The old spirit lunged forward and grabbed his shoulder "Not so fast. How do we know we can trust these two?"

The blonde man shrugged him off "Ya got any better ideas? We're dead, s'far as I can tell, and since there aren't any other dead people around here, I'm thinking we're supposed to be heading somewhere else. Maybe this guy knows where it is." He scowled "Because I sure don't want to stay here with you lot for the rest of my afterlife."

[Unicorn]

Alex raised an eyebrow at the young salesgirl's rushed whisper, then grinned slowly.

"Yup to both." She replied, then extended one of the binding threads into her hand.

"Frankly we were wonderin' what happened here. Killers still on tha loose and no living witnesses about to say what happened." Alex jerked the thread like a leash, to emphasis the 'living witness' phrase.

"Ain't it bad for tha' business? Them killers could return, ya know?"

[Hiraeth]

The girl rolled her eyes "Ain't that the truth. Still, I'm well paid to be here, and I think they figured that since the armed robbers originally hit the place at night if they broke in again they'd do it after we'd all left."

The perverted spirit frowned "As you can see, there were no live witnesses because we all got shot. Honestly it was probably the kid's fault, he was new and went in before we were ready, alerted them to our presence, they just gunned us down where we stood." He shivered "Don't really like thinking about it. Makes me feel queasy. It was just the way they did it, the look in their eyes."

[Final Boss]

Gabriel was relieved to see that he had convinced the spirit he could see him, hopefully he would have the same amount of luck when it came to questioning him.

"Yes, unfortunately you're dead. But today is your lucky day, fill me in on some information about the robbery that occurred here and I'll tell ya where you spirits need to be and how to get there."

He kept his voice down, loud enough to be heard by the nearby spirits, to prevent the cashier and bodyguard from listening in. He glanced back at Alex, she was still occupied with keeping the cashiers busy and was doing a great job at it. He redirected his attention back to the blond spirit and awaited his response.

[Hiraeth]

The blonde shook his head "Nah, see it don't work like that. First, you're going to tell us what's goin' on, then you're goin' ta tell us where to go, and you're goin' ta help us get there."

The other spirits glanced up at this, even the guy on Alex's leash. The blonde looked at each of them and they nodded, coming to an agreement.

The old man grinned "Then since you're so interested in the robbery, we'll tell you what they were saying before the kid got us all killed."

The blonde spirit yelped and began to explain himself, but the old man raised a hand "It don't matter, wasn't your fault that you got assigned to that case on your first day. How were we supposed to know they were crazies?"

[Final Boss]

Damn...

Gabriel looked at the blond spirit then at the rest, it seemed they were all behind this idea and didn't look like they could be convinced otherwise.

"Well you see, while you sit around clueless in this jewelry shop two things can happen. One, you can wait around for a hungry monster to come in, tear you to bits, and then consume your soul and end your existence then and there. Two, you will become said monster and live a pitiful existence as a mindless monster that only knows hunger."

Gabriel sighed, this was more trouble than he had expected. He didn't plan on educating a class of spirits on Shinigami, Hollows, and Soul Society.

"Now the way I see it, why make you suffer through all of that? What I propose is, I tell you where you need to go, you inform me of the robbery, and then I'll help you get there. This way you won't go and leave me with no information at all, sound agreeable?"

[Hiraeth]

The blonde spirit's eyes narrowed "So basically you're tellin' me that we're all goin' ta turn into monsters, yet there's still somewhere ya can tell us to go? Something don't add up here, you're not telling the whole story."

The shop assistant leant over to talk to Alex, trying to give the illusion that they were discussing jewelry to distract the security guard who was now giving Gabe a weird look. The pervert spirit was listening intently to what she had to say, and when she'd finished he glanced back at Gabe "She says, what about the people in black? The ones that can walk on air, with the big swords, who are they and what do they do?"


[OOC: Sorry FB, not letting you off the hook that easily :p]

[Unicorn]

*waves forlorn hoof* guys I got a full-time job!! :cry

...

"Juz wanna stop them, is all." Alex responded, then eyed the pervert. "Keep talkin', description helps in finding them."

She soon noticed that the entire group was interested to talk to Gabe, who was no drawing unwanted attention to himself. Jeesh, did she have to do everything?

"'Scuse me." Alex interrupted, then leaned over to pick up two random sets of jewelry. That audacious move, done so soon after the robbery, now had the security guard's attention firmly on her. Alex wandered towards the guard, dangling the dainty glittering pieces from her fingers.

"Hey. Need ya opinion." She stopped too close to him, and offered a large grin. "If ya girlfriend tossed hot gravy on ya arm yesterday, which jewelry would you get for her birthday today?"

[Hiraeth]

The enormous man suddenly found himself reduced to beauty consultant. Eyebrows furrowed, giving him the appearance of a slightly confused bear. He pointed a finger at one of the pieces, then moved it to the other, then back. The process was repeated several times until he was finally pointing at the first piece again "Dat one."

[Final Boss]

"Okay, time for Lesson 2 on The Afterlife. But first, why is this guy giving me strange looks? I'm not very comfortable with that."

Gabriel still held his cell phone at his ear and walked a little further away from the security guard. Luckily Alex grabbed the guy's attention before anything could happen.

"Whew, when guys give me weird looks like that it's not a good thing. Anyways, yes you'll change into vicious monsters but there is a place to go where that won't happen. The thing is somebody has to send you there. That's where the people in black come in, they are the people who send you to the special place."

He stopped briefly to let the spirits take in the information and to take a quick breath.

"Those guys in black can be either your best buddy or your worst enemy. If you do become a monster than those guys will use those scary swords and cut you up to tiny little pieces. But if your still in the condition you guys are in now then they'll send you on your happy, little way to Soul Society. I would take the second option if I were you."

"With that you're all ready to graduate from my class and give me all the information I need about the robbery."

[Hiraeth]

The blonde guy shook his head "So ya're saying that we just hang around here until we either get turned inta monsters or get sent to this 'Soul Society' by the guys in black? Nope, not happening. Since you're here, and you can see us and them, and probably the monsters, then can't you go find one of the people in the black to come and send us on our way?"

He folded his arms "Because I sure as hell ain't going to go looking for them knowin' there are monsters out there waiting to eat me."

EDIT: FYI, I do have a shinigami nearby ready.

[Unicorn]

Alex watched the other man in faint amusement as he almost sweated with the effort to think.

"Dat one."

Alex made a great show of looking at the dainty piece of overpriced glitter in frowning confusion. "Why ya'd be so nice after getting hot gravy down ya arm?"

[Final Boss]

This was definitely not what Gabriel wanted, getting Shinigami to come and send these souls to Soul Society. He hated even looking at a Shinigami, why would he go out and look for one?

"Uhh I can't just go out and get one for you, they come to you. I suppose I could draw it's attention over here, but you're going to have to give me all the information you know before he gets here, for various reasons. Do we have a deal?"

[OOC: Whew, I thought I was going to have to search the city for one.]

[Hiraeth]

The security guard shrugged his massive shoulders "So she not be doin' it again?"

He stared at Alex, "Why you askin' me anyway? Go talk to the women."


The blonde man shook his head "I'm not goin' to tell ya everythin' I know so you can just leave as soon as you've got the information ya need. I'll tell ya some of what they said, but to get the whole story ya'll have to bring us a black-robed person."

He glanced at the other men in the room, then back to Gabriel "They kept talking about fruit."

[Unicorn]

"So she not be doin' it again?"
He stared at Alex, "Why you askin' me anyway? Go talk to the women."

"Have been talkin' with tha' gals." Alex responded. "Need a guy's neutral opinion."

She held up a dainty glittery thing. "So you reckon this one's the go? Hmm. Might have ta smoke on that fer a while and consult the ol' bank account."

Alex wandered back to the salesgirl, placed both jewelry items back on the counter and picked up her credit card. "Yer friend reckons that one's good. Gonna have a smoke and check tha' bank account first. Be back soon, yea?"

Turning around, Alex tugged on the binding string sharply whilst casually signaling to Gabe that she was stepping out of the shop with one of the spirits.

Out on the street, Alex lit a cigarette and eyed the spirit's expression with a predatory smile. She started strolling down the street with him, presumably to look for a bank. "Black-robes don't have **** business with us. Ya **** want one of them so **** bad, ya gonna help find 'em. Yelling for help might work."

[Hiraeth]

The salesgirl nodded, as Alex left, the slightly older one re-emerged and looked disappointed at not getting a sale. She perked right back up again when the other one explained the situation though.

The spirit let himself be pulled along by the shoulder. "I love a woman who'll lead me around on a leash, especially when she wears lots of leather. Why couldn't we have met while I was alive?"

He saw her expression and rolled his eyes "Here goes- HELP! HELP ME! HEEEEEEEEEEELP!"

He glanced at Alex as he paused for breath, then continued "HELP! HEEEE-"

"Okay okay I heard you the first time!" A black robed figure landed, conveniently, on the ground in front of them. She glared up at the pair of them, tugging on one of the blonde pigtails that hung down the sides of her face.

"You're way noisy for a dead guy, I thought you were being attacked by a hollow, so I ran all the way over here only to find that in fact you're-" She seemed to notice the binding string "Er, actually, what is going on here?"

[Final Boss]

"Fruit? Okay..."

Gabriel received Alex's signal and he watched as she took one of the spirits out of the shop. Soon he sensed the presence of a Shinigami, now that the Shinigami was here hopefully the blond spirit would happily tell him the rest of the information.

Man... a Shinigami arrived. There's nothing else I can do, hopefully he'll just send the spirits and be on his way.

"So we have a black robed guy outside, I've done all that you've asked now can you tell me what else you know?"

[Hiraeth]

The blonde guy sighed realising that he'd probably pushed his luck far enough, the guy looked like he'd run out of patience. He sighed and leaned back against the window frame behind him "As I said, we could hear them over the surveillance system, and they kept talking about fruit. Not apples or bananas, it was a weird type of fruit, but I can't remember what the name was."

He glanced at the old guy, who shrugged "Started with a funny letter, that's all I remember."

"Quince." The skinny man looked up "They kept talking about quinces. It was really weird."

The blonde man nodded "Yeah quince, that was it. And they kept on and on about it, the guy in charge kept telling the other one to keep looking for it. Actually while they were looking, they were over there at the display case with the crucifixes in it. They were about to head out the back to the safes, but that was when we joined them and, well, ya can guess what happened then."

[Unicorn]

"Okay okay I heard you the first time!" A black robed figure landed, conveniently, on the ground in front of them. She glared up at the pair of them, tugging on one of the blonde pigtails that hung down the sides of her face.

"You're way noisy for a dead guy, I thought you were being attacked by a hollow, so I ran all the way over here only to find that in fact you're-" She seemed to notice the binding string "Er, actually, what is going on here?"

Alex looked down at the girl with the hippie braids and blew a smoke ring at her. "Yo." She didn't like them prissy uniformed officious spirits, but could tolerate their presence a little better than Gabe. Which meant she was out here and he was still in the shop.

"We're trackin' some live killers fer tha' human police. Been talkin' to a buncha dead witnesses" Alex jerked on the binding string. "Him included. Won't give us information 'til we guarantee them goin' ta where ya guys come from."

"So could ya wait around fer a bit, 'til they tell all?"

[Hiraeth]

"Oh, so you're not actually in trouble." The girl looked sheepish "See I was kinda taking care of some business when I heard you shouting and-" A roar split the morning air and the girl winced "Speak of the devil, so if this isn't, ah, urgent, I should probably head off so my business doesn't, you know, smell you, and decide you'll make a better lunch than me. Because I'd feel kinda guilty if you got eaten."

She turned and prepared to jump back into the air, when the security guard spirit stopped her "Hang on, why don't ya just stand your ground and fight the thing."

The shinigami girl looked sheepish again "Ah, well, the thing is, I'm not really a fighter, more of a researcher to tell the truth, and this guy's an old veteran, he'd eat me for breakfast, literally. Annoying thing is that wherever I go in this town he'll eventually find me. I think he's gotten a taste for shinigami and just tracks them down wherever he can find them, because I know a bunch of other people who've had the same problem when they've come to visit."

There was another roar, closer this time, and the girl jumped, then began pulling her pigtail again "I really should get going."

[Unicorn]

So this was the prissy officious type of wimp. Alex sighed and blew another smoke ring.

"I wanna trade. I take care of Hollow fer ya. Ya hang around and send 'em off. Deal?"

[Hiraeth]

The girl frowned "No deal, you'd be killed. This guy is old and real nasty, and you're unarmed, I could never forgive myself if you got killed because of me. The best idea is probably for me to keep running, since at least while he's hunting me, the old bastard isn't eating anyone else."

She shook her head in disgust "Honestly, I've reported the situation to the people upstairs so many times, but do any of them ever listen to the great unranked? No, no they do not."

[Unicorn]

Alex thought over the situation for a bit, sensing things out. Interfere and do a bit of charity work? Don't interfere and lose the black officious types. hmmm.

"I am armed. Ya jus' can't see it." She mumbled reluctantly, lessening the suppression on her powers. If the hippie was worth her uniform, she would recognise what Alex really was.

"I can handle him. An' seriously, its worth tha' information ta catch their killers. So deal?"

[Hiraeth]

The girl's eyes widened as she sensed Alex's true abilities "Oh, so that's how it is. Well then I wouldn't expect you to take no for an answer, especially from me. I don't really like this, you'll give him more of a run for his money than I could, but I doubt you can actually beat him." She frowned "Look I'll be as quick as I can, please don't try to take him head on, and stay out of range of both ends, head and tail. Just fire some arrows at him and keep him pissed off and distracted."

She waved a hand at the still restrained dead security guard "Why don't you release this guy and he can show me the way back to the others, Miss, er, sorry I didn't catch your name."

[Final Boss]

This isn't really helping the case...

"So they were talking about fruit, more specifically quinces? They were talking about a fruit the whole time they were robbing a jewelry store?"

Gabriel thought for a moment, something just didn't add up. He went on to the next bit of information he had received, they were searching through the crucifixes. Now why would they be specifically looking at the crucifixes?

"Okay, I was informed that in this robbery the criminals may have decided against wearing a mask. If so did you manage to get a good look at them?"

[Unicorn]

The girl's eyes widened as she sensed Alex's true abilities "Oh, so that's how it is. Well then I wouldn't expect you to take no for an answer, especially from me. I don't really like this, you'll give him more of a run for his money than I could, but I doubt you can actually beat him." She frowned "Look I'll be as quick as I can, please don't try to take him head on, and stay out of range of both ends, head and tail. Just fire some arrows at him and keep him pissed off and distracted."

She waved a hand at the still restrained dead security guard "Why don't you release this guy and he can show me the way back to the others, Miss, er, sorry I didn't catch your name."

"Alex." Alex replied. "And you are...?"

She lit another cigarette and thought over the conversation carefully. "Sure he can lead ya back. Be careful, he looks down gals tops. My partner's in there, he don't like your kind. So 'scuse the attitude, huh?

"Another thing. Why only distract him? Can't I kill that thing?"

[Hiraeth]

Outside the store:

The spirit looked offended "Only when I don't think they can see me!"

The shinigami girl glanced at him "Don't worry I'll keep an eye on him."

"You can try and kill the big guy I guess, but I'm not sure if you'll have much luck. He's-"

Another roar came again, from much closer, and it sounded almost as though it was coming from underground. The shinigami jumped, and reached out to grab the thread of energy from Alex "And that's our cue to leave. Do your best, please don't get killed."

She ran off towards the shop with the spirit leading the way. Just before she vanished around the corner she stuck her head back out "Oh, and my name's Kiku, pleased to meet you!"


Inside the store the conversation was still in the realms of the bizarre "Yeah talking about fruit, staring at crucifixes. They already had a heap of stuff in their bags at that point, so I guess they just had one particular item in mind to finish off with. It must have been pretty important, because they stayed much longer looking for it than they should've."

"As for them not wearing masks, well I don't think they were, but it was dark and I couldn't really see very well."

The other spirits were nodding in agreement, when suddenly a blonde head poked through the wall "Hiya! I'm guessing by the number of dead guys around i've come to the right place." She turned to Gabriel "By your weird reiatsu and grumpy face I'm guessing you're Alex's partner, well don't mind me I'll just wait here until you're ready for me to bury them so I can go and distract the ginormous hollow from Alex."

She hopped through the wall, dragging the other spirit behind her, and sat down on the counter, next to the salesgirl who could actually see spirits, who glanced at her nervously.


Outside: The ground beneaths Alex's feet rumbled ominously and then the road began to bulge and crack. The creature that erupted from below the street was huge, making the six legged hollow that Alex had fought the night before look like nothing more than a cockroach. It was built like a crocodile, with a long snout and tail and a squat body and legs, but it could move a lot faster than one, as Alex discovered as it lunged towards her.

[OOC: FB, the file said 'may have decided against wearing masks']

[Unicorn]

Alex was forced to flashstep away from the unexpected attack, then leapt upwards into mid-air to try and draw the thing away from the normal city pedestrians.

Both crossbows blazed into her hands, and Alex turned to look where the reptile disappeared to.

[Final Boss]

Gabriel was a little disappointed to know that none of the spirits caught a good look at any of the robbers, it didn't help knowing that so far the only information he got out of this was fruits and crucifixes. He was about to continue questioning when a Shinigami popped her head through the wall.

Oh great and here's the Shinigami. Hmm she's a female but she looks too young for me... actually Shinigami are supposed to be like hundreds of years old. Forget it! I'm not interested in Shinigami...

The Shinigami mentioned a Hollow and that Alex was fighting with it, he decided on making this quick. He was tired of dealing with these spirits, not to mention he really wanted to get away from the Shinigami. Gabriel redirected his attention back to the blond spirit, trying his best to ignore the presence of the Shinigami.

"Alright, tell me more about these robbers; height, gender, and anything that you think might be useful. How about weapons, they did use ordinary guns right?"

[OOC: Ahh my mistake, edited my previous post.]

[Hiraeth]

The blonde spirit shook his head "Just two guys, one taller than the other, he looked a little younger, say early twenties, and the other was probably late twenties. Both had dark hair and the same lookin' features so I guess they were brothers. As for their weapons..." He trailed off

The spirit with the thread hanging from his shoulder continued the story "They looked normal enough, both of them had a gun and the bullets seemed normal enough, but a second before they started shooting there was this weird moment when the taller, younger, one held his arm up, like he was holding something. It freaked Blondie right out."

The blonde spirit flushed "I thought he was holdin' a weapon, that was why I charged in, I thought he was gonna start shootin'. Then the other guy grabbed his arm, and said somethin', sounded like 'don't waste it' and they pulled the real guns on us."

He shrugged his shoulders, "Don't think I can be much more help than that."

The shinigami girl's eyes had widened in interest "Ooh weapons that not everyone can see, sounds pretty familiar don'tcha think?" She leant her elbows on her knees and rested her chin on her hands as she waited for Gabriel's response.


Outside once the girl had shot at it, the hollow sunk back below the road. Terrified pedestrians were running from the scene, and in seconds the street was deserted, save for the quincy girl and the hollow. Most hollows didn't live long enough to develop names and specific personalities, but as Kiku had pointed out this guy was old, and nasty. His name was Magar, although his victims usually didn't live long enough to find that out.

He decided to test his opponent, sliding through the sewer system, his main form of transportation, until he was directly beneath her. Then he launched his body out from under the street, he opened his jaws wide, aiming to grab Alex's leg and drag her back to the ground.

[Unicorn]

There was just a half-second of warning when the road ripped apart directly under her and the giant crocodile leaped straight for her, jaws open wide. Alex thought she could see right through his internal digestive system.

She stuck her arms straight down and fired both crossbows right into the gaping maw before flashstepping aside just in time. She felt some teeth graze across her calf, but didn't have time to check the damage.

The crocodile favoured ambushes from underground, so she should stay in high places. Alex stepped in mid-air, running for the nearest power-line tower.

[Hiraeth]

Magar's jaws snapped shut with a pop, barely scraping the leg of the woman he was chasing. He swallowed the blasts that she shot at him without hesitation, absorbing their energy. As gravity began to affect him he flipped his body down and dove through the street, more like a fish than a lizard at that moment.

Her reiatsu was like a beacon, drawing him on. His hunger made him powerless to resist its pull. He followed her through the sewer system, waiting for her to stop so he could strike again.

[Unicorn]

It **** swallowed the **** arrows!

Alex alighted almost-delicately atop a telephone pole, and crouched low to avoid losing her balance. Skin it and make a jacket. And boots. And perhaps a wallet and belt. For both of us.

Entertaining happy thoughts of a new jacket, Alex tried to track the overgrown reptile's movements. She was wary now - not many things could just simply shrug off Blue's effect.

[Final Boss]

Gabriel was deep in thought processing all the information he had received and piecing them all together when suddenly his concentration was shattered by the mere voice of the Shinigami.

"Yes, I heard the spirit Shinigami..."

There was a hint of annoyance in his voice he turned his grumpy face towards the Shinigami that was seated on the desk.

"So you have any more ideas you want to share or are ya going to be quiet and let me think?"

[Hiraeth]

Magar lifted his head, cracking through the street directly in front of where Alex was hiding. He was obviously intending for her to see him, confirmed by the roar that he gave when he saw his intended dinner.

He pulled his whole body out after himself and lumbered towards her, he didn't cower or sneak, but looked her right in the eyes and stomped his way towards her, growling deep in his throat.


Kiku, the shinigami girl, cocked her head to one side "Wow you really don't like shinigami do you? Now that you mention it though, I do have another idea, you should hurry this up before your partner gets eaten. And also if they're using spiritual weapons, you could probably track them by the specific reiatsu signal when they used them."

She tugged a pigtail thoughtfully "Well you could somewhere else, but in this town it'd be like trying to follow one ant in an anthill, at first it'd be easy to keep track of them, but unless you grabbed it quick, you'd just end up staring at a bunch of ants that all looked the same. So I guess my answer to your question is - yes I have more ideas, but they're not very helpful. Please continue."

[Final Boss]

Gabriel clenched his fist, "Now what makes you think that?"

He breathed out slowly, trying to alleviate some of his stress. He listened to the rest of her suggestions and then heard her say to disregard it all. He bit his lip and looked down towards the ground. She was right about one thing though, he had to finish things up in here quick. He believed in his partner's fighting ability but he couldn't just leave her to fight the hollow alone.

Arghh! I can't stand this anymore!

"Okay I'm done here. Send these spirits to Souls Society, I'm going out to help my partner."

He rushed out the door, he wanted to get away from the Shinigami as soon as he could. Once outside he sighed and looked around trying to pinpoint Alex's location.

[Hiraeth]

Kiku blinked as he left "And he wonders why I think he doesn't like me." She shook her head in exasperation and started fishing around in her sleeve for something. The four spirits watched curiously until with a shout of glee she pulled out a tanto. "Okay boys are you ready to move on?"

They all made general noises of agreement and she nodded "Okay, sit still, this'll all be over in a second."

With that she proceeded to bury the four spirits, sending them on their way to Soul Society. Then, with a cheerful wave at the spiritually aware shop assistant, she headed towards where the Quincy and Undertaker reiatsu was coming from. She arrived on the scene the same time as Gabe did, and was treated to the view of the giant lizard-like hollow stomping down the road towards Alex.

She paled "Oh no, this is bad, very very bad. Alex, get out of there!" The last part she yelled, her voice cutting through the growling coming from Magar's throat.

The giant hollow registered that his original target was nearby, but he'd already made up his mind that he'd eat this one first. She smelled too good to resist.

He found himself within range. With one last growl his jaws sprang open, and something shot out and wrapped itself around Alex's legs. It was his tongue. It began receding back into his mouth, draggin the Quincy down from her place of sanctuary.

[Final Boss]

Gabriel arrived just in time to see a colossal hollow attempting to consume his partner whole. He sensed another presence and immediately recognized it from before. He turned with a scowl on his face, his ability to sense and identify reiatsu proved to be accurate when he looked towards the Shinigami but right now he had other things to worry about.

Gabriel leaped high into the sky and aimed a well placed shot at the hollow's tongue in hopes of either forcing it to let go of his partner's leg or severing it completely from it's vicious jaws.

[Unicorn]

Perched high atop the telephone pole, Alex watched the overgrown lizard brazenly stalk towards her. Hmmm, didn't it know she had the height advantage?

Alex growled back at it and steadied White. It can eat my arrows. But can it handle an arrow somewhere else? Alex eyed it, looking for a nice vulnerable spot to shoot at.

She saw the faintest flicker of colour too late, and was unceremoniously yanked off her perch. Alex didn't waste breath on cursing; she twisted in mid-air to see and deal with what just happened.

Another view of its gaping jaw. A streak of colour from its mouth to her ankle.
Alex bared her teeth in a snarl, feeling highly insulted that she was being treated like an edible insect.

She used her free leg to push off on a parcel of reiatsu whilst using the tongue to swing around to the side and avoid its jaws. Alex was about to fire Blue at the tongue when she felt Gabe's familiar presence. Dawn's bullets hummed towards the tongue seemingly in slow-motion, and Alex kept her crossbows at the ready in case the bullets missed.

[Hiraeth]

Magar felt a stinging sensation hit his tongue. The appendage was covered in thick skin, and it was mostly just an irritation. His eyes flicked to the side to try and see his new opponent, he could sense the being's reiatsu and wasn't impressed. He ignored the stinging sensation and turned back to his meal, dragging Alex towards his jaws.


Nearby, Kiku bit her lip as Gabriel fired a volley of bullets at the monster. She knew from experience that ranged attacks were useless against it, but perhaps with a big enough blast it could be distracted enough for it to let go of Alex.

Her hands began twisting in intricate movements as she prepared the only kidou she really knew, number 63 - raikōhō, "Sanzai suru, kemono no kotsu! Sentou, kōshō, kōtetsu no sharing. Ugokeba kaze, tomareba sora. Yariutsu neiro ga kōjō ni michiru!"


Magar's eyes flicked down to his orginal target as she sent a wave of yellow energy at him. He was buffetted by it, but his armor proved too strong, and it did him little damage. His grip remained as tight on Alex as it had ever been, and now he could see that Kiku was panting with exhaustion. If his skull wasn't already fixed in that position, he'd have started smiling.

[Unicorn]

ooc: Alex is going to take the following action. Tell me if you want me to edit anything.

...

Alex's eyebrows furrowed. Dawn's bullets had hit the tongue but the beast had brushed it aside. The shinigami's spell made it shift a little, but that was it.

The gaping jaw was much nearer now, and its large teeth were massive. Alex snarled, then kicked upwards and towards the reptile. The tongue's pressure went slack... obviously the beast didn't usually expect its victims to rush towards it.

Her chest landed on its nose, and her lower body dangled over the upper jaw. Alex scrabbled, then dug her arms elbow-deep into its nostrils just to hang on. Her free-dangling legs delivered a vicious double-kick onto one tooth.

[Hiraeth]

Magar howled, in rage more than pain, as his tooth cracked. Didn't prey know how to behave?

Unfortunately for Alex, although she'd managed to wound his pride a little, she was now in a much more dangerous situation. His tongue snapped back, taking up the slack, and pulling her further into his gaping mouth. Although she was hanging on tight, his nostrils weren't meant to be handholds, and the mucous inside made them slippery. Slowly she felt herself losing her grip.

Magar was focused on his current meal, almost too focused to notice the dark shape above his right eye until it was too late. Kiku had launched herself into the air, and was now raising her zanpaktou into the air ready to strike. She stabbed it into his eye with a sickening pop. Magar screamed and began to thrash around in pain.

Kiku held on with grim determination and turned her head towards Alex "If he lets go, you get out of here straight away. Don't hang around and help me, I'll be fine."

Without waiting for an answer she turned back to where her blade was even now slipping from the creature's eye socket. She pushed against the creature, trying to get the tiny sword in as deep as possible, then she took a deep breath "Shudder Kazan Kaminari!"

The weapon turned red and its handle suddenly seemed to erupt from the wound. What the others couldn't see was that the blade itself had transformed into that of an axe, and was now lodged deep in Magar's skull.

This alone disrupted the lizard's concentration, his screaming took on a new tone, and his thrashing became even more urgent. In his confusion he lost his grip on Alex, and sent her flying out of his mouth in a particular violent convulsion.

Then suddenly he noticed that not only was there a cutting pain inside his head, but also a burning one, the shinigami was melting him from the inside out. The only thing he could think of was how to dislodge her, in his panic he retreated back to the safety of the sewers, dragging Kiku with him.



[EDIT: Don't worry, both characters will come back later, just wanted to clarify. I mean if you want to be all brave you can follow them, or you can get on with your mission, whatever you want.]

[Unicorn]

Alex had planned, after kicking a tooth out, to summon her crossbows and fire them deep into the reptile's lungs.

Suddenly, too many things happened to force her to abandon that plan; her grip slipping, another sharp jerk on her ankle, ear-shattering screaming, and being violently shaken around like a dog toy.

Oh, and that black-clad hippie who just stuck a small knife in the reptile's eye. The violent shaking and screaming increased in intensity. Thanks, ****. Can't wait til I'm off this thing, huh?

The pointed end of a large tooth, that was currently digging into her lower belly, slid a couple more inches towards her chest. Alex breathed a curse and tried to think of another handhold on the beast. Thinking was really hard in this situation. Binding threads?

Suddenly, the violent shaking stopped and the tooth was no longer biting into her stomach. What... Alex twisted slightly in mid-air and saw the ground rushing up at her really fast. She twisted even more and instinctively curled up, trying her best not to land on her spine or skull.

[Final Boss]

Gabriel saw Alex plummeting down towards the ground at a dangerous speed, he focused reiatsu at his feet and rocketed himself towards Alex. Just before she could hit the ground Gabriel appeared under her cushioning her fall and lessening the impact. Alex hit Gabriel hard, the force was enough to briefly knock the air out of him.

He was about to check Alex for any injuries but his attention was grabbed by the screams of the large hollow, the Shinigami had lodged her blade into the eye of the beast and in desperation the hollow retreated back into the sewers dragging the Shinigami with it.

"Bahh, good riddance."

He looked back at Alex and looked for any wounds, he wasn't very experienced so all he could identify were numerous scrapes and bruises.

"Are you alright Alex?"

[Unicorn]

Alex fully expected to hit the ground with a crunch. Apparently the ground here was less solid than everywhere else. Alex blinked dazedly up at a familiar face.

"Yeah thanks." Alex mumbled then closed her eyes. "Gimme a few." She waited for her headache and stomach to somewhat settle before trying to get up.

Her arms and chest ached, predictably. What Alex didn't expect was her left leg collapsing under her with a wave of agony. She swore, and experimentally tried to curl her leg. It didn't work.

"**** **** dislocated it. I **** want its **** pelt." Alex snarled, panting slightly from the pain.

[Final Boss]

Gabriel was not very skilled in the medical area and was a little hesitant on offering to fix it there on the spot.

"Uhh i could try to repair the dislocation here and now if ya want."

He examined Alex's leg and tried to think of where to start.

[Unicorn]

"Uhh i could try to repair the dislocation here and now if ya want.".

From her position lying on the ground, Alex turned a narrowed stare on Gabe. She was not about to let Gabe practice repairing dislocations on her in the middle of the street.

"We done with the **** spirits?"

"Go back to cafe, sort me out. Ya can drive, yea?" She dug around in her jacket, then found a little hidden pocket and pulled out the Harley's keys.

Alex tossed the keys to Gabe, then noticed his expression. "Its just a *** few minutes. I'll **** behave."

She summoned Blue and shot it directly at her left hip. The binding threads began to paralyse the surrounding area, holding the bones and flesh firmly in place.

[Final Boss]

"Yeah, finally all finished up with those annoying spirits."

A grin formed on Gabriel's face as he caught the keys, he could not even recall the last time Alex had let him drive.

"Okay then lets go."

He helped Alex get up and get settled in on Dragon. He took the driver's seat and started the engine.

"Better hold on tight, I might be a little rusty."

With that he sped forwards making dangerously sharp turns and barely avoiding pedestrians. Even with his lack of driving skills he still managed to make it back to the cafe all in one piece.

[Unicorn]

The cab arrived at the corner of The Sakura Bank and Credit Union. Alex paid the driver and got out carefully.

There were several police officers still swarming around the general premises. Alex looked around, trying to sense if there were any nearby spirits.

[Hiraeth]

She was not disappointed. There were four spirits easily sensed inside of the place, however they would not be easy to reach. Although the robbery had been three days earlier, there were still several police officers around the building. These men knew their presence was mostly useless, the chance that the criminals would strike again was slim to none, and the forensics team had finished up the day before. They were mostly there to keep an eye on the place while workmen were fixing up the damage that had been done.

Still there were enough of them that the Wolf team wouldn't be able to slip in unnoticed, it looked like they were going to have to enlist the aid of the mysterious Officer Ogawa.

[Final Boss]

Gabriel stepped out of the cab and took a good look at the scene. Cops were scattered around the building and getting past them without being noticed would certainly be difficult.

"So Alex, I guess we should start by looking for this Ogawa."

He looked at the cops around in hopes of spotting someone... different. Hopefully Ogawa would have a description of both Alex and Gabriel and would approach them.

[Hiraeth]

His hopes were misplaced. The police ignored him, obviously he would have to talk to one of them. A large, particularly ugly officer was standing nearby scowling in their general direction as though daring them to go anywhere near the front door.

[OOC: What you think I'm gonna spoon feed you now? As if :p]

[Unicorn]

No-one was taking fingerprints or photographing anything. Which means they finished checking the place up, hmm.

Alex glanced from the ugly police office to Gabriel, then sighed. It was really too much to hope that Gabe would voluntarily go speak to such a person.

So she sauntered confidently up to the annoyed-looking officer.

"Yo. We got called here to see Officer Ogawa."

[Hiraeth]

Tall, dark and grumpy looked her over, and was obviously unimpressed. Finally he grunted and turned away "I'll go find her for you."

He headed inside the building and returned a moment later with a dark haired woman in a suit. She regarded them from behind a pair of dark glasses "Can I help you?"

[Unicorn]

Alex eyed the newcomer, then offered a gruff smile.

"Officer Ogawa? Yo. I'm Alex and there's my partner Gabriel. And his new sidekick."

"We know a mutual European friend, yea? He sent us to help this case out."

[Hiraeth]

Ogawa glanced at the officer who had fetched her "You can go now, I'll be fine." He did as ordered.

Then she pulled off her sunglasses, revealing that she was actually an attractive woman in her mid twenties "Yeah that's me, and as for the European, I'm not sure 'friend' is the right word. Still he hasn't failed me yet, so I'll just accept that you're on the level. You'd better follow me."

She lifted up the yellow tape and indicated for them to go under it.

[Final Boss]

As Officer Ogawa removed her sunglasses Gabriel's eyes widened with shock. He assumed that Ogawa would be a male and it was a pleasant surprise to see otherwise.

"Well hello beautiful, my name is Gabriel and I am honored to help you with this case."

Gabriel continued to eye Ogawa, she was definitely older than 16 and was very attractive. He dug into his pocket and pulled out a business card for The Wolf.

"If you're ever off duty then maybe you can stop by and... get to know each other better."

OOC: Dang and here I was hoping for the spoon feeding. :p

[Unicorn]

Alex carefully dropped into a slight crouch to get under the police tape. Her leg still ached, but nothing she couldn't handle. Once on the other side, she straightened and looked around curiously.

"Officer, ya got any rules we're ta follow?"

[Hiraeth]

Ogawa rolled her eyes at Gabriel "Save it Romeo, I work with a bunch of big, hairy, manly, men who practically leak testosterone out of their pores, and as one of the few women under the age of forty in this department, I've heard every pick up line in your book, and a few other that'd probably make you blush."

She paused at Alex's shrewd question, perhaps she'd underestimated the European's hirelings after all. "Not really, anything of importance has been taken away to the lab already, so you shouldn't be able to do much damage. Just try and look like you're meant to be here. I told my boss I'm expecting a team of top forensic psychologists to get a profile on these bastards, but that this crack team is a little excentric. If he even begins to suspect that I've allowed civilians onto this crimescene I'm going to be out on my ass before you can say 'disciplinary hearing', because, you know, there won't be one. So just look around, do your thing, and try not to piss off any of the other officers."

Although Ally was following silently behind them she hadn't escaped Ogawa's notice "You know, for future reference, you'd attract less attention without the kid."

Approaching the front of the building there was no outward sign that anything had happened. Inside though it was a different story. Although a significant portion of the damage had been repaired, it was plain to see that some kind of altercation had occurred here. There were still bullet holes in the walls, not to mention four very bewhildered looking spirits standing around staring at the walls, and each other.

Two were obviously the female tellers, and the others were the two male security guards.

[Unicorn]

Alex nodded at the Officer's advice. "Gotcha. We're not civilians and and we don't annoy."

"You know, for future reference, you'd attract less attention without the kid."

"Gabe says she c'n handle, so don't worry huh?"

She looked around the room, noting the bullet holes and the spirits. "Officer, ya gonna stay an' watch? Just wonderin', its okay either way."

Alex sent Officer Ogawa a significant look. "Cos' we gonna try some talkin' here. With tha' victims."

[Hiraeth]

"Gabe says she c'n handle, so don't worry huh?"


"Well she's your kid, so I guess you would know." Ogawa muttered, almost under her breath.

She looked around the room, noting the bullet holes and the spirits. "Officer, ya gonna stay an' watch? Just wonderin', its okay either way."

Alex sent Officer Ogawa a significant look. "Cos' we gonna try some talkin' here. With tha' victims.""Hey now, why would you tell me something like that?!" Ogawa put her hands up as though to stop Alex from talking "More than I need to know. I just give the Frog a call, he sends some of you lot in and the murders, or the rapes, or the arson stop, and that's all I need to know."

She shuddered "I do not need to or want to know about you talking to the dead. I'm going to go over and stand by the door to watch for unwanted spectators, and when you leave I'm not going to ask where you're going or how you know where to go, understand?"

.........................................

All this talk of talking to the dead had caught the attention of the spirits who began to draw closer to the Wolf team. None of them seemed to want to say anything, obviously having been embarrassed by trying to talk to the living before.

The younger teller exchanged an unreadable glance with a security guard who looked to be a similar age, both being in their early thirties, in fact he looked of a similar everything to the girl, same green eyes and brown hair, same nose, same quirk to their mouth, you could tell from their appearance that they were related.

The second teller was significantly older, middle aged, with a face that over the years had developed its share of lines. They were laugh lines though, and overall she looked like someone who should be baking cakes, not hanging around dead in a bank.

The final member of the group was another security guard, built like a tank, with cropped hair and a glare that could probably even have made Alex quake in her boots a little, when he was alive that was, at this point she definitely had the upper hand.

[DarkPulsar]

Ally kept a straight face, though she was certainly annoyed at being called a kid, not to mention that she was being severely underestimated. But now wasn't the time to be upset or obnoxious about it. There was work to be done, murders to be halted, lives to be saved. She could be annoying later.


She observed the glance that the younger teller gave to the security guard, and it's significance wasn't lost on her. Odds are it meant that the younger of the tellers was the brains of the operation around here. She filed the information away for later, deciding it wasn't her place to speak quite yet. Being both the newest and the youngest of the trio of detectives, she decided that she'd let Alex or Gabe take charge, and she would do as she's told. Being well versed in psychology was something that Ally hadn't made known quite yet. She wanted to take a few moments to observe the spirits and their reactions before she asked any questions, as knowing where to start was half the battle.

[Final Boss]

Ah well, it was worth a try...

Gabriel left Ogawa to her business and looked at the spirits that began to crowd around them. His initial thought was to leave questioning the gruff security guard and male teller to either Alex or Ally, now which female would he start with? He decided on the second, older teller.

He walked over to her, pretending to be examining the area, and gave her a tap on the shoulder. He waited to see how the spirit would react to being touched, hopefully she wouldn't panic too much. His approach didn't seem to attract too much attention from the police, just what he wanted.

[DarkPulsar]

Ally looked at the remaining spirits, slightly scared of the larger, more gruff security guard, so she decided she'd question the sibling pair, after Gabe had taken the second teller. The other guard seemed more like a job for Alex anyhow.


She strode over to the younger female teller and bowed politely, deciding the direct approach was best. "Hello, my name is Ally," she said softly. "The three of us here are...special investigators, brought in for cases like these. We can see you and communicate with you, and we're trying to find out what really happened here. We'd like to put an end to it so that nobody else gets killed," she explained, pointedly avoiding asking any questions just yet. She'd made her purpose known, but didn't want to press the woman too quickly.

[Unicorn]

Alex looked around at her companions heading towards various spirits. As she predicted, no-one wanted to go near the bodybuilder type. She sighed mentally and headed towards the last spirit.

"Yo soldier." Alex greeted with a salute, stopping at a respectfully decent distance away from the man.

"Am hired ta hunt tha **** that killed ya all. **** already killed two groups before ya group. Word on tha' street says they gonna kill their fourth group pretty soon."

"So would really 'ppreciate any information ya got about them ****."

[Hiraeth]

He walked over to her, pretending to be examining the area, and gave her a tap on the shoulder. He waited to see how the spirit would react to being touched, hopefully she wouldn't panic too much. His approach didn't seem to attract too much attention from the police, just what he wanted.

She turned around and flicked him in the forehead "How rude! Weren't you ever taught to respect your elders? What are you doing poking old ladies for anyway?" Despite her frown her eyes twinkled mischievously, she was obviously just having some fun with Gabe.

She strode over to the younger female teller and bowed politely, deciding the direct approach was best. "Hello, my name is Ally," she said softly. "The three of us here are...special investigators, brought in for cases like these. We can see you and communicate with you, and we're trying to find out what really happened here. We'd like to put an end to it so that nobody else gets killed,"

The woman blinked, slightly overwhelmed by the barrage of questions. "Oh. Hi, I'm Kazuko, and this is my brother Hisao." The young guard nodded and the girl continued. "We work here, well we used to, before we got killed. I was supposed to be finishing up soon too." She sighed "Guess that's the least of my worries right now. As for what happened, the police already worked that out, well mostly, it was a pretty quiet afternoon, I was waiting to finish my shift, so I could meet my fiance for dinner. He came to work to surprise me and brought me flowers. It was just the sweetest thing." Her eyes had misted a little "I told him to wait for me outside, but he said he'd just stay here, so I let him, and started packing up."

Her voice caught and Hisao took over "The