View source for 2020-01-19 - A Game of Cat and Mouse: The Felon, The Stranger, The Civilian, and the Firefly

{{Logsummary|
Title    = A Game of Cat and Mouse: The Felon, the Stranger, The Civilian, and the Firefly
|Summary = A Wanted Man pursued by a militant stranger turns himself in to the Police.  What follows defies explanation.
|Who     = [[Lynx]], [[Rayne]], [[Ami]]
|Date    = Early Evening
|Where   = MCPD, Inside and Out
|Log=

It's early evening and the police station is...  as busy as always.  Some pickpocket is being brought in by regular officers, a couple of old TASK veterans are there talking to some rookies about how weird things got back under the last Director, Captain Cosgrove is pointing out another rookie for being a 'whiney boy'.  And Rayne, the chief, walks down the hallway with a clipboard in hand as she looks over something or another.
 
 
Footsteps slam against the concrete along the street and the one running is panting hard, lungs heaving, sweat pouring down his brow as he hurries onward.  This is no simple person out for exercise, though.  The thick-soled boots, ripped jeans, tank top shirt and leather jacket, and the signature cross-shaped scar taking up half the man's face: this is Johnston "Ironfist" Reynolds, known as JR by his closest friends, and is a man that has been in hiding for a long time.  He has a hefty bounty on him and is greatly wanted by the police with charges ranging from Grand Larceny to Aggravated Sexual Assault.  The bruiser of a gang boss is running scared.  In a panic.  Running so hard for so long that his balance is shot and he nearly eats the road at least twice in one block's worth of distance.  Where could he possibly be going? 
 
The Main Entrance to the Mabase City Police Department's local precinct is nearly bust into by the frantic nature of the man pushing when he should be pulling, zigging when he should be zagging, and undoubtedly causes an uproar of immense levels as he makes it inside and is recognized.  JR crashes to the floor in a partial heap, rough hands going to his head; he cannot believe he's doing this, but what other choice does he have? 
 
"Hurry up and arrest me, damn it!  You have to protect me!"
 
 
Rayne raises an eyebrow as several officers quickly move in.  Even if they didn't recognize him, someone just bursting in behind doors closed to the public is going to get pounced on anyway.  "On alert.  Watch the door, he's being chased.  Rival or bounty hunter, I don't know."  If it's a bounty hunter?  Well, they chased him in here, they collect the bounty.  Simple as that to the chief.  But the man is now in custody.  Rayne walks over and crouches down to put herself closer to the now arrested perp.  "Congratulations, Junior.  You're under arrest.  Why the turn of heart?  Grow a conscience?"  No, it's not a genuine thought to her.  She's being quite sarcastic.  Eyes flicker to the entrance again, however, ready for a possible threat to happen.

 
Sitting in the waiting area near the entrance to the MCPD are several civilians either lodging complaints or looking for some other help they think the police are either equipped or willing to help them with.  One such person, a young woman roughly the age of eighteen, is sitting quietly and fidgeting nervously.  She's come in to report a reckless endangerment crime - against herself.  The other day a young man startled her very thoroughly, and she reacted instinctively, coming an inch away from hurting him with a sudden explosion of ice. Ami isn't certain why her powers are manifesting themselves outside of her transformed state, but by her thinking that makes her a danger - and the police should be informed.  Lawful good. 
 
When someone bursts into the entrance of the department, she hops out of her chair in surprise, and her bright blue eyes go wide, then blink twice.  She doesn't recognize the man, but he's afraid, and she recognizes that.  "A-are you alright?" She starts to ask, before officers converge on the scene, and she steps back to let them work, putting her hands down in front of her and trying to not be in the way, which probably means moving to a different area.  Well, whatever it is, it's probably under control now. 
 
If Chief Rayne has an unhealthy obsession with personnel files, she might know that Ami has written some code for the the anonymous internet tip-sites that sometimes assist the MCPD, but that was independent consultant work, and several years ago, to boot. The woman hasn't exactly kept in touch.


"What?  Why are you keeping me here?  Get me to a protected room!  If I wanted to stay in the open I would have made my way to a god damned supermarket -- DO YOUR JOB!" Johnston does not resist in any way, though with the charges brought upon him over the years he may indeed face quite a rough treatment and it would be completely justified.  "It's not a Tax Collector following me," he says, really stupid slang for a bounty hunter noted, and he dares to lift his head enough to stare back with intense eyes.  This man is terrified. 
 
The faintest flicker of shadow creeps into the station entrance from the outside, although no doors open, while the commotion provides distraction.  All the same, the shadow is exactly that and its movement may be noticed in the corner of the eye fleetingly.  It wavers, like a flame in the wind, only with almost no illumination or definition.  Its presence blends in with natural soft shadows that are found indoors and, for the most part, likely goes fully unnoticed.
 
 
Rayne sighs and shakes her head.  Captain Cosgrove, however, walks over, points JR, and says, "Cut it out," before motioning for the grunts that practically tackled the guy to take him to booking.

"You two, go with them," Rayne says to the pair of the TASK veterans.  She stands up properly and looks over the entrances, not really noticing Ami at all.  No, she doesn't remember the details about setting up that board...  starting up the MCPD was a whirlwind of a nightmare of activity and problems and logistics that she quite simply forgot the names and faces of...  pretty much all of the contractors involved.  She also doesn't notice, however, the strange shadow moving about, either.


"Oh dear..." Ami muses to herself quietly as she watches the exchange between the street tough and the officers. She looks from the man down on the ground, her eyes tracking their way back to the entrance and out into the street, as if she might catch some sign of who's chasing him.  Her eyes aren't particularly sharp, but she furrows her brows a little bit as she almost catches the shadow flickering on the ground.  Almost.  She was looking, but not for anything so subtle.  She was expecting perhaps an assassin or a demon or another gang member.  Yes demon was in the list.  She's had an odd life. 
 
"..." Something's wrong, but she's can't put her finger on it. Instead, she checks on the others that were seated with her, making sure they're alright. An elderly woman looks like she was spooked just like Ami was, and the young lady makes polite conversation with her and tries to distract her and calm her down.  It's not much, but it's something she can do.


Johnston rises to his feet when prompted, at least a head taller than the average person, to be ushered off to where he needs to be to get everything going.  He's fully protected here, right?  He still looks ready to jump out of his skin.  This man is seriously spooked, but compliant.  Begrudgingly compliant. 
 
Ever feel the cold hand of Death brush fingers against the side of your neck?  Get that uncontrollable shiver that some call 'having your grave walked upon'?  Ever go out for a hike only to round a corner and come face to face with an apex predator?  Have you ever attended a party only to have your favorite celebrity star make a guest appearance?  ...ever get the feeling that something is very terribly wrong? 
 
The front entrance opens yet again and another tall figure steps in from off the street, but there is no urgency or rashness to the simple action.  Just like any other person that would enter, yes.  Only, there's something about the presence this one gives off that might immediately show an amount of cause for JR's current state of mind, but that can't be all of the story.  Calmly, arms behind his lower back and hands resting loosely against one another, a man in fancy military-style dress and a cat's face walks in with a scary level of confidence that borders on smugness.  Each footstep is deliberate, his path simple; he has no need to discuss matters with reception.  His amber eyes don't spot the one he's looking for in the entry lobby, so he must be deeper in.  His path passes by Ami so closely that his cape may even brush against her.  Pausing mid-step, this figure turns to look to the young girl with an inquisitive yet commanding gaze.  He clearly is looking for somebody.  Need he have to say the words to ask?  Even a flicker of the eyes would do to give it away.


Rayne has been watching the door, and upon seeing...  someone in a military uniform walk in so calmly after all that?  Yeah, something's up.  Thus, the chief of police herself steps out into the lobby.  She looks around in a nonchalant manner that suggests she's not really so nonchalant.  She then decides there's not really any point to beating around the bush and walks up to about six feet from the cat-man and points over her shoulder with a thumb.  "I take it that was your doing?"


It doesn't take someone very intuitive to put together that the next person to walk into the station might be the one chasing the man from earlier, so Ami isn't exactly taxing herself to come to that conclusion.  When the newcomer enters the building, she tucks her chin in a bit, but meets his gaze solidly when he turns it upon her.  She's not the one he's looking for.  But she also isn't very good at hiding that she saw the one he was looking for, and that she's put two and two together.  It's all over her face. 
 
"Good day." Her tone is polite and unshaken, no quiver of either fear or indignation in it.  She just waits for his gaze to pass her by.  She's not important, after all. And he's here on business that doesn't concern her. But she didn't shy away, for whatever that's worth. Instead, once the new man's gaze passes her by, she'll get a better look at him. There's nothing better to do while waiting, after all.  Except perhaps working on that alternative solve for the Riemann Hypothesis... No, now probably isn't the best time.


Ironfist doesn't get his name through any friendly means.  His right hand is streaked with metal, his knuckles are completely capped, and the rippling bands provide a not-insignificant amount of protect and damage-dealing with anything that gets slugged by it.  Those swirls lattices of epidermal metal extend past the wrist, as well, so that while cuffed there is a constant clatter and scrape of metal.  The drawback to this metal on metal is that it also rubs through any skin above such metal and causes a bit of bleeding.  It is not severe, but could be a little drippy. 
 
Not too far behind the Wanted Man being herded along toward Booking and Processing is a flicker of movement more.  The shadowy phenomenon, like some bizarre glitch in the lighting of reality, simply continues to follow JR.  It is not actively trying to hide, but its very nature of being allows quite the natural camouflage.  The only hint that something about this corner-of-the-eye movement is more than it might (almost) appear is that this shadow, when spotted at the correct angle, has eyes. 
 
The cat person seems to linger his stare for a moment, as if reading the girl like a book, before turning away to face and meet the one that approaches.  "Prompt service.  Good.  I'm here to collect."  It's a very simple thing said, but it's also very contradictory to what Johnston said regarding his pursuer.  Now, Johnston is worth a nice penny for sure.  Perhaps all the commotion is a bit over the top after all.


Rayne raises an eyebrow at the cat-man's reaction.  "You must be new.  Bounties are paid in the bounty office in the courthouse.  If I can get your name and preferably a registration number, I could have this processed in just a few minutes and they'll be able to pay you there."


Certainly, Ami relaxes some when the cat-person says he's here to collect a bounty.  Well, that's simple, then. It's easy to relax when things appear to be going through the proper and orderly channels, and dismiss whatever initial worry gripped her.  Sure, something felt off, but the man seems to be well-behaved enough. She is no longer in a position to observe the shadow, or perhaps she would have a different take on the situation. 
 
When the chief explains that bounties aren't processed in the precinct, however, Ami gets that unsettled feeling in her stomach.  She didn't know that, but a bounty hunter certainly would.  She doesn't tense up, exactly, but she's watching intently.  Maybe too intently - most people would look away or try not to get involved. 


The cat bares a soft smile that is just enough to reveal a sharp tooth.  "You misunderstand me.  I'm not here for money." 
 
"I'm here for the man."  The style of military garb may be foreign, but it's authentic.  Nothing too strange for the types that show up, certainly.  He holds himself with a posture that reflects an amount of importance, true, but not with the rigidity of a seasoned veteran that has worked their way up ranks.  The stranger's form is lanky, yet expressive. 
 
"If you could bring me the man now it would save both of us...time."  One of the catman's hands rests upon his hip as he delivers this-  Well, it's not a request.  A command?  It's not imposing and is cordially delivered save for the emphasis of the last word of that sentence.  His other hand gestures neutrally, "Or, if you are too busy with mundanity, I'll go collect him myself, at the expense of the professional service provided thus far."


Rayne tilts her head, lowering one eyebrow as she looks up at the cat-man.  "I think you misunderstand where you are.  This is Mabase City Police Department.  He was a wanted criminal, and he has done the graceful thing and turned himself in.  In a not-so graceful manner, yes.  But now he is in custody and awaiting a trial.  We are not some barbaric society that we simply let victims or their representatives do whatever they want to a suspect.  We are not the TASK of old that would do such acts as Trial by Combat."  In her mind, there's the image of the prior Director of TASK physically marking the hyena-headed Urus to try to keep him under control.  Rayne refuses to go down such routes.  "We are a society with rules.  I would ask that you try to follow them."


While Rayne may not have the insane HR knowledge to recognize Ami, the blue-haired girl definitely knows the Chief of Police on sight. It might surprise Rayne to know that she has a fair number of admirers amongst the civic and justice-minded residents of Mabase. Or whatever passes for surprise in Rayne's "seen everything twice" kind of world. So when the man makes demands of Rayne, Ami winces, just a bit. 
 
The young lady takes a deep breath, worried that things will not go well, and turns to the elderly woman next to her. She says something quiet, and the woman blinks at her once, before standing to her feet and starting for the door slowly.  Ami offers her an arm, and helps walk her out of the precinct.  Whatever she said, it got the woman moving.  There's probably nothing bad going to happen.  Probably. But if there is, best to minimize civilians in the danger zone.  Unknowingly, she's taking herself further away from the 'poor man' already in custody.


"Ah, I see.  Your refusal and grounds for refusal are noted.  However, I would still prefer you deliver the man to me before long." 
 
Cocking his hips a bit just before pulling his hand from his hip, the cat person's arms cross.  "Still, if you have processes to undergo and you can guarantee his well-being, I would be willing to wait a short while until you could then deliver him to me." 
 
The catman turns to allow his gaze to roam the reception and front area.  He doesn't stare this woman down by any means, but there's simply something that might surface as inclination or glimmer of intuition that anything this person learns is damning and, at present, he's having a very good look around.  So much so that he doesn't even stand still. 
 
He begins to walk away while examining the establishment and the workers present and even wipes a finger over the rim of some furnishings to check for how much dust has accumulated.  "His maintained health is important.  What would happen were he to...'expire'...while in your custody?"  A tap of fingers to his chest emphasizes his next few words, "He has a bad heart, you know.  Stress will do that to you."


Rayne straightens her head again and raises the lowered eyebrow.  "I'm glad you understand.  However, I would also like to know your reason for demanding him to be turned over to you.  As I said.  We do not turn people over to victims or their representatives."  She doesn't believe in the slightest that this sidran (okay, so cat-people in her universe are called sidrans, give her mental explanations a break!) is actually a victim or representative of such.  She wants to know what the hell is going on here now.  "Because, of course, without knowledge of that...  we can't turn him over to you.  Period."  She's also making a mental note to have the guy given a full medical checkup, regardless.


The calm and unworried way this cat-person handwaves away Rayne's suggestions makes Ami nervous, but she's not going to be any help if she's in the way, so she continues walking the old woman out of the lobby and into the city proper.  What she's hearing, though... Most threats are more thinly veiled, but she has heard enough of them to at least suspect that's what this is.  Is the man capable of doing something to the thug that came in earlier? She has a bad feeling. 
 
Once she has the woman outside, she quietly but firmly suggests that it's a good time to take in a frozen yogurt from one of the vendors at the nearby fountain, and then turns back to look at the precinct once she's sure the woman isn't heading anywhere near it.  She pulls a small palmtop computer out of her purse, which looks like fairly old school technology compared to the modern day cell phones and even occasional cyborgs that can be found in Mabase. But it's not really technology at all, or at least not by any modern definition of the term.  Crafted, powered, and accessed by magic, the device can give her a wealth of information when paired with... 
 
The thin-framed spectacles that Ami pulls out of her purse and slips onto her face.  A more subtle-approach to her old magical visor, the glasses still do the same trick, analyzing what she looks at and passing the information to her computer.  She gives the precinct a quick look over from outside, trying to determine any unusual magical influences that might be happening inside.  She's lived here for several years, so the regular magical hustle and bustle expected of the police station is familiar enough that she's hoping she'll be able to spot anything new and unusual.  Besides the talking cat, of course.


"Really, it's not hard to deduce that if I have no interest in his so-called bounty that I instead have a vested interested in /him/.  Under my care, I shall make sure that his presence is removed from the streets.  His needs will be my burden to bear, unless food and board are your specialty and preference.  His meeting me is a matter of FATE, after all.  You would thank me for the service." 
 
While that says very little, it may provide a little context.  It might seem that this Sidran aims to hire the Wanted Man, although that would make wonder to what end.  Rather, the fuzzy man continues to stroll; Rayne can choose to keep up or not, both on foot and in conversation.  It's rude.  There's no two ways about it.  He clearly presents himself as somebody that owns his surroundings. 
 
This cat person, as some observers may note, has the glow of the arcane, but is, at the moment, very much 'unpowered'.  While his personality may be cause for professional annoyance, nothing of his form or his aura is keyed for hostility.  Not right now.  However, there's something else of note.  
 
The shadow that has been completely overlooked thus far has followed Johnston Reynolds to the point that it is now in the same room.  Nothing comes of it.  It's simply there, but in a magical sense it isn't there.  Or nothing is there.  It's not a matter of shadow so much as a matter of...nothing.  And -that- isn't normal.  Wait... 
 
Just outside the precinct, near one of the other entrances, is another such anomaly.  And over there.  And...  It's like a scene out of a Hitchcock-directed film.  There are MANY such small blips of nothingness nearby, all unmoving, all facing the police building, all watching.  All waiting.  But, what are they? 
 
"Now that you know, will you retrieve the man for me now?" 
 
It's an actual question.  A simple question, but something about it would sit unwell with anybody, perception or intuition removed.  While it does not smack of terseness, there is something-  No.  No, actually, it is presented as something nicer than it is.  It /is/ a curt question.  "I wouldn't want to waste more of our time."


It actually takes Ami a moment to notice the blips; they're not normal, but they're also not what she'd expect of magical hostilities of any kind.  Void isn't something she's ever had to key her sensors to notice before.  When she does notice, there's a half-start, a skipped heartbeat, and then when she collates all of the others nothings 'watching' the building, her eyes widen.  She swallows, and tries to determine if any are facing her before making her move back towards the precinct. She doesn't want to appear like she's noticed; she's not a good liar, but she can wear a very good impassive face when she has to.  
 
The girl swallows nervously before heading back in - nothing bad appears to be happening yet.  Maybe it won't ... but she needs to find a way to let the Chief know without tipping her hand.  She leaves the glasses on, keying them so that she can at least spot the spots of nothingness in her vision, even as she puts the palmtop away. She walks back past Lynx, and clears her throat.
 
"Beg your pardon." She glances to Rayne, wishing now that she had done a better job of maintaining contact with the police. "...Chief." She nods to the woman, and then calmly, almost imperceptibly, jerks her head back towards deeper in the station and purses her lips.  She looks serious, and doesn't break eye contact with Rayne for longer than a casual glance.  Hopefully that will be enough, for now.


Rayne lowers that eyebrow again.  "Of course not.  You've not answered my question in the slightest, and are instead being pointlessly cryptic.  Why in the galaxy would I even /consider/ handing him over to you?  Now if you really don't want to waste my time, you'd speak plainly and clearly instead of talking in riddles and question dodging."  She's about to go off on the man even further when the bluenette suddenly makes her presence known.  "Uh...   yes?"  She blinks at the jerk, then looks at the /other/ jerk again to get a serious look at his appearance.  Trying to mentally map the spots and everything.  "I think we're done here," she says suddenly, then turns to walk straight back into the station proper.


The man listens to Rayne's reply fully and clearly, although there's a hint that it may be just a matter of humoring the Chief.  Rather, he nods at her assessment and farewell, as it is.  He turns away, eyes coasting over Ami with the faintest curl of a cruel smile, before turning to leave.  Nothing else is said.  There are no yelled words.  No arguments.  The cat man has his answer.  Door closing behind him, the caped fellow exits to be on his way. 
 
Suddenly and without sound or warning, a blur of shadow streaks through the air to impact JR's face as the Wanted Man sits there amongst other officers in the process of being recorded.  He had only just begun to calm down to a point where he might be able to reveal details as to why he is so panicked out of his mind in this situation despite being quite the badass in every other facet of life.  The shadowy thing has a vague resemblance of a housecat and is about the same size, if a little larger, and has a manifested appearance akin to that of black flame.  It is not fire, however.  Contact with it does not cause immediate harm of any kind.  The flickering forelegs grip the man's face along the jaws and sink what must be claws deep into flesh. 
 
The shock and sudden pain of this attack leave the man yelling.  His arms jerk to react, but they are secured.  His yell is quickly muffled, though, as the creature begins to force its head into the mouth of the man, but there's nothing to grab in resistance!  It's shadowy, but nonphysical, and any attempt to touch it would pass right through.  It, however, seems to be able to interact physically just fine.  The man's jaw dislocates with an audible pop and he rocks in his chair violently from the intrusion.  He needs assistance -right now-, because every half second that passes allows the unnatural creature to crawl deeper into the man's mouth.  The surprise alone might be more than enough time to have the man's throat bulge from it all.


"Ah..." As the sharply dressed cat-man makes his exit, and Rayne heads back in to presumably check on the welfare of her new inmate, Ami finds herself... back in queue.   To file a report on herself. She takes her seat again and folds her hands in her lap unceremoniously.  Still, she glances towards the interior of the station, glasses still on, and tilts her head as she tries to make out what she's seeing; it's not very clear, but one of the shadows? Nothings? Voids? ... is doing something strange.  She fiddles with the side of her glasses for a moment, trying to get a better view.   She'll figure it out in a moment.  Probably.  Seeing through walls isn't what she built this for.


Inside the room, chaos is of course erupting.  The man doing the questioning of course freaks out as the cat-like thing erupts into JR's face.  One of the other rookie cops involved is also freaking out, while the other is just shouting into his radio that 'some shadow thing' is attacking Ironfist.  But there are also two TASK veterans.  One immediately pulls out a pistol and jumps to the side, opening fire on the rear end of the cat-like shape in a way that doesn't put JR's face on an exit-wound potential.  The other, however, pulls out a shock baton of sorts and brings it down on the...  thing after his partner has fired three shots.  Nope, even these two don't want to actually touch that thing.
 
Outside, Rayne's pace picks up at the call and the sound of the three gunshots.  All activity has ended in the reception area at the sound of the gunshots, and most of the station as well.  "Damnit!" shouts Rayne.  "Security, I want the lobby and interrogation rooms analyzed together with timestamps!  I want to know the timing on that attack!"  She's assuming it's going to line up almost perfectly with her rejecting that psycho.  She breaks into an outright run after saying that and quickly makes her way to the processing room to see just what's still going on in there.


It certainly takes one extremely skilled to aim shots at the back-end of a flickering housecat-shaped shadow half-inserted into the oral cavity of a man thrashing about in muffled panic.  This does nothing to calm the man being attacked.  While JR's arms may be secured, his legs kick at the floor and nearby furniture.  If anything is unsecured, including drinks, they may find a tumultuous upset in the process. 
 
It's not that bullets don't affect the /whatever/ it is, but they certainly have little difficulty punching clean through on a path not slowed in the direction so let loose.  Whether the sickeningly-muffled yell from the man being choked is a response to the gunshots or pain induced by damage from the creature is unclear, the shadow certainly flickers before redoubling its assertive insertion.  "Glk!" is the only sound that comes from Ironfist before he can longer make use of his throat at all and the skin on his face begins to go pale. 
 
The stun baton-like weapon has a very different effect.  While it does not find physical resistance or impact, it does find discharge.  Only the most scrutinous eye amidst the chaos could possibly notice a very important detail in this:  It wasn't contact with the flickering darkness that prompts an electric result, but the barest touch against something -within- the darkness of the creature that faintly glows, such as a core or faint ember. 
 
The next few seconds become greatly intense as much as they are strange and unnerving.  The creature, which, while dark, is mostly naught more than a shadow; it, however, notably becomes more opaque at this attack...immediately as the discharge travels through its body and into the man.  At the very least, he stops thrashing about as he becomes dazed and his head rolls back to present the dangerous blackness half-buried. 
 
Ironfist passes out. 
 
Any further attacks made on the creature seem to have much more physical results. 
 
It does not halt its attempt to crawl down the man's throat, but it has been mildly impeded. 
 
Meanwhile, the cat person has left the precinct and is on his way, wherever that may be.  Whatever strange creatures may be about, he does not look toward them or interact with them in any way.  Rather, his path takes him not too far away to where a traveling doner kebab truck is temporarily paused.  He doesn't even get the chance to look over the menu and order something before gunshots are heard coming from the station.  The vendor interjects with expletives and hastily closes the window to find somewhere else marginally safer to sell food and leaves the military official, amongst a couple others, behind.  The others soon disperse, too, leaving the cat guy to frown in thought while staring.  "Did you shoot him?"  He visibly sighs before shaking his head.  "He had better be safe after such a refusal.  I won't tolerate incompetence," he says to nobody else but himself.


"Oh!" Ami is startled by the sounds of gunshots, and she stands from her chair, continuing to fiddle with her glasses.  She finally gets a good reading on the voidling - which is what she will now be calling them unless someone points out it looked like a cat - and furrows her brow.   She can't see much about the unpowered PD officers, but she can see that the swirling aura of fiery magic that usually surrounds Chief Rayne is booking it for the room. 
 
The primary difference between normal people and Ami is that normal people just watch helplessly, and Ami acts.  While she can't do much from out here, she concentrates rather hard, to the point that she almost bursts a few vessels, and attempts to freeze the 'core' of the creature - from rather far away. 
 
Maybe if she was transformed it would actually be possible to consider this a proper attack - maybe. But from this distance and in her civilian form, it's actually a minor miracle that anything happens at all. If the creature is vulnerable to such things, a light layer of frost begins to form on the core - something to further slow it down and perhaps even make it just that little bit more smashable.   It's not a lot, but it's something.  Of course... she COULD transform.  But she doesn't, for some reason.  Presumably it's a good one - a man is in serious danger, even if Rayne is likely about to have it under control.


The cop with the shock baton swings down hard again on the cat-thing, then the other sees that it's now more solid and yells for him to get back.  Another three gunshots ring out, once again he's careful to make sure there's no one on the exit wound.  It's this point where the door flies open to admit the Chief, her left hand already engulfed in the flames of an attack.  Seeing the thing in person, she goes in for a flame-enhanced punch on the cat-thing, a punch with then is then followed up with a swift drawing of one of her swords with her right.  There's a quick step back and she slashes horizontally, trying not to cut off the end that's still outside of him but cut that part in half.  "The hell happened in here?!" she demands.


It's strange, no doubt, as a generally amorphous creature becomes solid enough to interact with.  The bludgeoning swing may present the feeling of smacking a balloon filled with watery oobleck.  There's give where there shouldn't be, but there isn't give when there should be.  This gains a different response despite the shared voltage conducted through its form into JR, though:  the blackness stops trying to enter the man's face and begins to withdraw. 
 
This withdrawal process is much faster than the horrific act of whatever it was trying to do, certainly.  It provides great opportunity for the confident marksman to squeeze off three controlled shots -- perfect training and by the book.  These bullets do not seem to merely fly through the shape.  They...  The rounds enter, cleanly, before exiting with nearly no velocity to simply tumble to the floor.  There are no entrance or exit wounds or -- well, if there are, the thing is too dark to really discern such.  It's not natural, whatever it is.  Its withdrawal from throat and jaws gains more haste, a scramble, as clawed appendages offer no care or caution to the already scarred face of the Wanted Man so passed out and motionless. 
 
During this, outside forces seem to be offering magical assistance.  This thing, whatever it is, is very resilient and unmistakably dangerous.  Its internals face a bit of altering focus.  There /is/ an effect.  To what extent is hard to tell.  For a moment, at the least, it is quite possibly a little bit weaker. 
 
The creature's face finds nothing but darkness within the tight confines of the gastric entrance and is ill prepared to retaliate to the aggression lain upon it.  Battering, piercing, electrifying, and frosting...  A solid and fiery blow is rendered against it in its weakened and damaged state from the leader of the peacekeepers.  It is neither glancing or questionable.  It seriously hurts.  The creature's sight once again fills its glowing eyes to reveal the room, those within it, and the woman nearby swinging a blade. 
 
Rayne is gifted with the horrifying image of the shadow's face welling up into a twisted distortion of a face -- nobody's face in particular -- but of one neither feline nor human.  Its features stretch and wind and wrinkle into a brief yet powerful display of a laugh.  A silent mockery.  Something altogether terrible and gleefully sinister.  Something...wrong. 
 
The cleaving blade passes through it with the feel of any amount of resistance one might expect to find cutting through a block of mud.  The creature fades away into the hint of purple afterimage before drifting away on an absent breeze.  Did it die?  Was it alive?  Did it escape?  Does it matter?  There is no trace of it in the station.  There are no traces of such things anywhere else nearby, either.


Once the voidling situation *seems* to be taken care of, Ami swallows slowly, and then glances around the lobby to make sure no more are around and watching her. Once certain, she lets out a great big breath she was holding and takes her seat again.  She didn't have to help empty the lobby; most people in it were out the moment they heard gunshots.  Noone survives here long without having at least some sense of self preservation. So, now... Ami is one of the only people still in the waiting area.  Technically, she just got promoted to the head of the line. 
 
Yay?
 
After her heart rate and breath return to normal, the young woman with the blue hair pulls out her palmtop and starts making some adjustments.  Ami had been able 'see' these things, but they were the very opposite of easy to track.  That's something that needs fixing.  And so begins the one-handed typing.  It's faster than seems plausible for a portable device, but that kind of thing is possible when you have actual keys instead of capacitive touchscreens.


Rayne looks down at the thing as it silently laughs, glowing eyes and all.  She doesn't look impressed.  Yeah, the other five still awake in the room seem cowed, but to Rayne, it's just an attempt to intimidate.  It's nothing.  The cut complete, the creature gone, she inspects her blade for damage or detritus while one of the TASK officers tries to explain what happened.  The attempted explanation complete, Rayne actually growls before stepping outside the room again, then calls over he shoulder, "Call in a medic for the asshole."  No, still no respect for JR.  She steps through the hallways on her way to her office, proclaiming loudly and angrily, "We have /GOT/ to find a magic analysis expert!" before she slams her office door shut behind her.
 
Meanwhile, at the reception counter that Ami now finds herself at, there's a little old lady that...  doesn't seem to have even noticed the gunshots.  She looks with a bored expression at teenager and with a gravelly voice, says, "What can I do for ya, honey?"


Johnston Reynolds still hasn't woken up. 
 
JR's heart is still. 
 
The medic called in will no doubt announce a state of emergency considering the criminal's state of health and begin administering chest compressions.  It's not good and time is very much of the essence.  Somebody will have to inform the Chief, perhaps, if hospitalization is okayed, for what that entails.  It's pretty grim to have such a Wanted Man that has been in hiding for so long to finally be turned in, if even by his own choice, only to not have a chance to face trial. 
 
Outside, not that far away, the tall figure of that cat person observes with a half-scrunched muzzle what one can make of anything by looking at a building.  It's annoying to not know whether or not the man he sought to bring into his own custody is alive or not; this is an annoyance that he wears like a suit.  Turning away, he instead wanders, hands behind his back, closer to the fountain nearby and slowly walks about it while trailing a few fingertips over its surface. 


"A time therein spent chasing trees"

"To loot them of their fare"

"Might best instead be spent in threes"

"For two beside to share."


"But threes are more than one and so"

"The winds begin to die"

"And no one else will ever know"

"The truth behind the lie."


"You live and long and breathe and mate"

"For what good of the pair"

"When all you need is sharing FATE"

"Such as the olden Fair."


"And spinning round as it may go"

"The Record you espy"

"Needs asking more to visit low"

"Or kiss it all goodbye.


Ami looks up from her palmtop at the old-lady at the counter and blinks for a moment, before closing the device and slipping it away quickly.  She blushes a bit; it's rude to pay attention to a device when someone is trying to talk to you - apparently this bothers her, even if she was doing something quite important. "Ah, yes.  I was here to report--" 
 
It's at about this time that Rayne yells out that the PD needs a magic analysis expert.  This actually causes the girl to cut off her speech and blink twice in rapid succession. "... Er..." So she's the only one who saw? Well, that changes her priorities. She clears her throat, straightens her vest, and tries to look important and authoritative.  It's cute.  So a mixed success, then. 
 
"...To report about the opening for a magic analysis expert? That the Chief was just yelling about?" In her experience, you just don't get such a clear opening very often - you should probably take it.


Rayne steps behind her desk and drops her head to its surface after having dropped into her chair.  The call for permission to hospitalize is requested, and Rayne approves, but demands full time two guards.  She lifts her head up again before calling up the security footage on her computer.
 
The old woman at the counter, whose name tag proclaims her to be 'Doris', blinks slowly.  "Yeah, I heard her yell it too, dearie.  She reported it herself pretty loudly."  No emotion in her voice at all.  Just a sense of boredom.  Some people freak out when the action happens.  Some people rush towards it.  Others...  just shrug and complain later about how it interrupted their work.  "That what you were really here for first?" she asks, clearly not buying that's why Ami initially walked up.  She shrugs, though, and says, "If you got a card, I'll take it for ya.  I'll send her an E-mail, but I'm not so sure she's in her best mind right now."  She did have a sword out still when she walked past.  And was yelling.


The cat person is shown on video as nodding in confirmation to Rayne's refusal before turning, eyeing over Ami who stands nearby, before walking across the reception lobby to the front exit to leave.  Outside footage shows indifference as the stranger quickly veers toward a food truck, and arrives around when the first gunshots went off.  Everybody scatters and he's left staring, nonplussed, while speaking. 
 
Inside, however, at the exact timestamp as the cat person turning to head toward the doner kebab vendor just after leaving the building, an indiscernible dark streak, barely of any definition can be somewhat made out before Ironfist is attacked...by nothing.  The officers react, some TASK members respond promptly and with force including gunfire and a stun device...at nothing.  Ironfist spends this time in a panic, mouth wide open as if yelling, up until the point where that stun-device hits. 
 
There might be a problem with the recording, because that moment causes an error artifact to show up (from any possible angle provided).  The entire section of the recording remotely near JR's face is black.  Not black as in recording something black, but black as in it recorded nothing at all.  Just a blocky blotch of nothingness.  Each attack seems to do nothing to this patch of unrecorded footage, save for one. 
 
The Chief's final blow shows something else.  Just before contact is made, for what would equate to only a couple frames, there is an imprint of some kind that doesn't look right -- it doesn't look the same as it was physically observed, but there's a hint of a ghostly afterimage that smacks of ghost hunter videos catching faces in the reflection of glass windows.  There's a face there...and then there isn't.  Is it a face?  It's /something/, for sure.  Two things even: 
 
It's a mystery. 
 
And, it's also a problem.


Having her (rather poor) bluff called causes Ami to swallow nervously, and also brings one heck of a blush to her cheeks.  So, she's not good at lying.  At all.  "No... It isn't what I came here for, but that will have to wait." You can do this, Ami, just be assertive - this is more important than being polite and proper! Gasp! Perish the thought.
 
"...This is *urgent*.  It's about what just happened." The young lady furrows her brows, and adopts an overly concerned look - which is actually very easy for her as that's one of her default states of being. "And I very much don't think she'd want me to wait until a better time." Actually, in many ways Rayne would probably prefer that, but Ami is thinking of the information's urgency, not how much Rayne would like the stupid to end. 
 
Poor Rayne.


Rayne looks over the footage from all these angles, more or less confirming for her that the cat-man sent the shadow thing at JR.  "...'Disappointed if he dies' my ass," she grumbles.  "I'm going to have to shift the detective work around.  Put Jack on this."  No, she's not going to figure out the mystery.  There's reasons she has detectives, after all...  Rayne has never been one to figure out puzzles and mysteries.  The lack of the thing in the recording...  isn't as important to her.  There's five sets of eyes that can be questioned about what happened in there.
 
Doris just looks at Ami for about five seconds in silence before saying, "Okay, Honey, I'll give her a call."  She fumbles with the phone at her station - a landline model, yes, with many buttons for many extensions.  "Oh, good, you picked up," she says.  "There's a young lady here that says she might have some information about what happened just now.  She's insisting she wants to talk to you as soon as possible."  Rayne's voice can even be heard from where Ami is standing(if not quite intelligible), and Doris is holding the phone a few inches from her ear.  Apparently the Chief is still in a yelling mood.  Doris looks back up to Ami again and says, "Okay, dearie, she said she wants to speak to you, but just try not to piss her off even more, okay?"


Surprising no one, Ami blushes once again. "Thank you.  Should I head in, then?" She gestures to the entrance further into the precinct, where Rayne was yelling just a bit ago. If Doris gives the go ahead, Ami will start walking back there.  No big deal - just heading to be debriefed by the Chief of Police.  It's ok.  She's a reasonable person - the Chief is a reasonable person. Ami has heard rumors that she's MORE reasonable when she's had coffee, and isn't dealing with an assault on the precinct, but how bad could it be?
 
How bad.
 
Could it. 
 
Possibly.
 
Be?
 
You know those moments when celebrity worship, naivete, and starry-eyed idealism are rewarded? This is probably not going to be one of those.


|}}