thebastion | [185 and 186] The miles are getting longer, it seems, the closer I get to you [OPEN]

[Rin keeps quiet (she's still irritated enough with Colin that she doesn't feel like talking) but finding the place does perk her up a little. She can't scan like him so she'll just be keeping an ear out for noises that might otherwise go unheard.]

Well, you know. If you're sitting on a Hellmouth, you really have to have stricter building codes.

[She thinks as she picks her way across the street, stepping over a downed telephone pole. It's been months since the chaos surrounding her traumatic death, but...]

There might also be ugly eyeless people in robes. Oh, and if you see anyone you know is dead, don't talk to them. That's just evil incarnate.

"Everything you meet is trying to kill you", I assume?

[For as unpleasant as that sounds, it really does make things simpler. Colin's quite happy to have very little in the lines of rules of engagement holding him back.]

[Rin lets out a scoff at that, but an amused one.]

Sounds like every day here. I think we can handle it.

Yes. At least there shouldn't be any bunnies.

[Reaching the front of the shop, she peers cautiously through the windows, trying to spot movement. When she doesn't see anything, she goes to try the door--]

Oh, for the love of God, I left this place locked?

A locked door will deter a large percentage of thieves.

Do you have a key, or will I have to pick the lock?

[Colin looks at Anya curiously, and he gives a pleased little smirk.]

[Rin was about to say something about not needing to worry about that here, but between what happened to Nathaniel's room and the fact that every place recently shown up on the Skyway had some how all it's remaining "loot" pillaged, she was beginning to doubt the truth of that statement.]

I could break a window, but that might be noisy.

You know it only deters the thieves who come to a magic shop for candles and crystal balls.

[Anya looks at the windows mournfully. They already have some pretty nasty cracks in them, but then you have broken glass everywhere and she'd hate to do that both to her shop and to her feet.]

...hey, that's right! I may not be Miss Willow I-almost-destroyed-the-world Rosenberg, but I think I can handle one little deadbolt. Let me see if I remember this.

[Her lips move as she tries to recall; vengeance demons don't really have to bother with locks, but she may or may not have robbed a bank once. She comes out with a string of Latin and then stares at the door expectantly. There's a click.]

Perfect. In we go.

A large percentage of thieves is generally the sort who commit crimes of opportunity. A dedicated or determined thief, on the other hand...

[Colin shrugs, smirks, and shakes his head.]

Anyway, it's a moot point now, it seems. Nicely done.

[You'll pardon him if he's going to scan the shop before stepping inside. Besides, he has no intention of being on point here.]

[Rin waited behind Colin, moving in only when he did. Two steps in to the building she was hit with a lingering scent of...

Something.

Something she couldn't identify. But it sure did make her sneeze.]

Ugh... [sniffle] somethin' came through here. Can't tell how long ago it was.

[That must put Anya on point then. For the moment. You guys just remember your instructions.

She glances at Rin and then takes another look around the shop. She doesn't see anything in the shop's main area... But the door to the back room is ajar, and she side-eyes the door to the basement as she makes her way to her beloved cash register.]

I hope it isn't something living in my basement. I've had good sex in that basement.

I will refrain from comment.

[Now that they're inside, it's a chance to survey the salvage. At least, that's what he thought. He's eyeing the back room, and then the basement.]

Thrice cursed vampires don't have body heat, so... if there's anything still in here, it's going to be harder for me to detect them.

And I figure we've probably made enough noise that anything here knows we're here...

[Rin pauses long enough to give Anya a "can you not?" look, but she refrains from saying it aloud. It'll probably be ignored anyway.]

Definitely stronger that way. [Another sniff, and then she groans, putting hand up to her nose.] It's actually pretty gross. Worse than a ghoul!

[Anya misinterprets the look. Saying it out loud might have been better] Well, I've had good sex most everywhere else in the shop, too.

...and once with a vampire, but not the hideous kind. None of them have body heat as far as I know.

[She pauses by the cash register, giving it a pat that could best be described as loving. Then she looks towards the basement door again and lets out a sigh.]

We should probably deal with it first. Some of my best stock is down there.

Part of the problem of being undead. Only a small selection of them have any heat at all. Usually a result of fire being involved in their creation.

[He gives the basement another look, and he frowns slightly. Close quarters, likely dark. Not good territory to go hunting in. Less opportunity for Rin to get all firey, too.]

Let's take a look, then. Best to get that out of the way.

[He steps over to the basement door, scanning all the while, even if he knows he'll have trouble pinning anything down that's undead.]

Seriously... the sooner the better, this thing is givin' me a headache just smellin' it.

[Damn sensitive demons senses.

Though at least they knew it was there at all, thanks to her. Especially with Colin's equipment being unable to scan for undead.]

At least vampire dust doesn't have much of a smell. That's the one plus-side to vampire-slaying: easy clean-up.

[Anya draws her sword now and joins Colin in front of the door. She pulls it open, hurriedly back-stepping in case it's somehow waiting right there-- but it isn't. Apparently it's at least smart enough to wait for them to come to it. And it is awfully dark down there. Not likely the electricity is working either.

...but at least it isn't a bunny.]

Speaking of fire, I hope you're ready with that.

[And with that she's starting carefully down the steps with her sword held in front of her.]

Hold it.

[Colin reaches out to put a stilling hand on Anya's shoulder]

Do you mind a little damage to the place? We can do a better entrance than that. Just a little something that doesn't have us walking into a meat grinder.

[He gestures to the floor, then pantomimes a flat surface. Next, gestures his fist crashing to the floor, and splitting the flat surface. He wants to get through to them that breaching the floor would be safer, without warning any creature down there what's coming. But doing so silently is not an easy task.]

[It's also messy and risks injury if not done right, Colin.

Not that they weren't risking injury just by being there.

To Anya's comment, Rin nods and thumbs Kurikara out of it's scabbard, not taking the entire blade out but moving it enough that the blue-flame horns appear on her head, and a wash of heat comes from her body.

Whatever your plan is, Anya, she's ready.]

[Anya looks rather affronted at this suggestion, especially with Colin's silent demonstration. He wants to inflict more damage on her store? Not to mention all the stock down there they might break. Her own plan may not be more involved than "the pointy end goes into the vampire," but she shakes her head in disagreement and tries to shrug off his hand.

Of course, being even one step into the basement has made her vulnerable. The ubervamp below has grown impatient waiting for its prey, and before she can press forward, it leaps up to grab her ankle through the riser and pulls.

She screams, but she has enough presence of mind to try to brace herself with her other foot, and turns the blade of her sword down to stab at it.

And she thought "From beneath you it devours" was meant to be figurative.]

And that is what I was trying to avoid. Go in low, Rin, and pick your target! I'll back you up!

[Colin's already leaping into the basement, bypassing the stairs entirely and bouncing off the wall to land on the basement level. High gravity training makes acrobatics like that somewhat easier.]

[Unfortunately, when it comes to combat, he relies on his scanner to feed him targeting information. That scanner is unreliable when it comes to the undead, and it's going to take visual scanning for it to work well for him. That's going to take some time. So if he wants this fight to go smoothly, it's time to give Rin openings. And that means pissing off the vampire to get it off of Anya.]

Yoo-hoo, Mister Leech! You're not gonna get a meal that easily!

[As if to emphasize it, he lifts his head to bare his neck, and he rubs his palm along his jugular in a blatant taunt. Meanwhile, he's drawing his pistol in his other hand.]

[Well shit. That escalated quickly.

Rin actually jumps when Anya is grabbed if only because it happens so damn suddenly that she wasn't fully prepared for it.]

Hang on, Anya!

[She follows suit after Colin, dropping to the basement floor after a running jump has her landing with a slight skid across the floor, kicking up wisps of blue flames her he wake.

She wheels around after that, yanking Kurikara from it's scabbard and igniting her power full force, ears growing long and the tuft of her tail gaining the same flames as the ones on her head.

Keeping her body low to the ground, she lets out a growl, charging at the undead creature with the intent of swiping at it's legs with her flaming blade.]

[It's not exactly a spacious basement; a cluttered table occupies a lot of the floor space in the middle of the room, and all four walls are crammed with shelves. The fight is going to be cramped.

It's questionable whether the vampire understands anything of Colin's words, but it can recognize the taunt of a bared neck. It releases Anya, its claws slicing the skin of her leg, and turns towards him with a snarl. It isn't stupid enough to charge him blindly with Rin leapong down, though. It waits for Rin to charge and then leaps up onto the table to avoid the fiery blade, and from a low crouch it swipes for whichever one of them it can reach with its claws.

Meanwhile, Anya carefully pulls her leg back up through the risers and takes a moment to recover herself while the other two have it distracted.]

[Okay, he seems to have pissed off the vampire now, which is what he was going for, but now what? A pistol won't do anything against this thing until he can put the barrel right in its mouth...]

[On the other hand, it did just make the issue of targeting less pressing. The cramped quarters of this fight were working against them, but fortunately, it was working against ALL of them. A plan quickly started forming in Colin's head, just as the vampire clawed at them.]

[Colin raised his arm to block, and he yelled in irritation and pain as the vampire's claws tore through his arm. But, to Colin's fortune, and probably the vampire's confusion, it was not a deep wound. Colin's skin and muscles were woven with synthetic microfibers, and trying to cut through them was akin to trying to cut through body armor. Not impossible, especially not for a super-strong vampire... but a lot more difficult.]

Rin, get ready! It's going up!

[Colin's hands shot out... to the table the vampire was standing on. He might normally give it a taunt before doing something like this, but he didn't want it to have a chance to get out of range again. Instead, he simply put all of his augmented strength into lifting the table and hurling it up towards the ceiling. It wouldn't do much more than daze a vampire, but a daze is all they'd need to turn the tide.]

Shit--!

[Rin lets out a startled, angry and slightly pained shriek as her attack goes directly under her target. She barely has enough time to right herself in a way that sends her rolling beneath the table and out the other side, enduring a scratch from what didn't hit Colin as well as a good bump on her shoulder from the sudden unplanned roll.

She's back up on the other side in a second, though, blood snaking down from her upper arm but otherwise fine.

Fine and without another opening for attack, up until the point where Colin calls out to her.]

Ready!

[And then the table and the vampire went up to the ceiling, probably striking it hard enough to crack it given the force Colin gave it. But stunning it was about all that was good for after all.

Stunning was what Rin needed, though, and she uses the small space to her advantage with that. Launching herself up, she kicks off the stairwell railing and practically throws herself at the vampire, lashing out with blade and fire before it has the chance to fall back down.

The blue flames cut a swath through it, and she can feel the blade of Kurikara at the very least connect and cut, though how much damage she actually did remains to be seen.

Mostly because there really is only so much room in there, and she can't stay up forever. Her landing is far less graceful than her leap, and she comes crashing down in to a stack of boxes. Luckily the flames don't do much more than gently singe a few corners given that her full power had been expended at the vampire, but the stack does a good job of burying her.

Oops.]

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