Two on Twenty (Closed/Invite)

[Madison]

November 10th, 2013

Enver had lost his god-forsaken mind. Madison was sure of it. She knew he was pissed off, frustrated, wanting to lash out at someone, anyone, because she assumed that's how they all felt. They being the members of Fifth Column. For weeks now they had been working hard against the Crow and its bounty list. She had put out over a hundred electronic emitters alone. When she wasn't building the blasted things, she was looking for items to build it and shutting down CrowNet systems that she found within the building security systems of the places she burglarized, and when she wasn't doing that, she was having Brick and Dame (her wraith) help her hunt down Crow Eyes so she could come in and destroy them.

But while it seemed like others were chomping at the bit to engage directly with Tytonidae, Madison seemed to be the only one keeping relatively calm other than Zen. She knew they were out-gunned and out-matched by the likes of Tytonidae and was sure that direct engagement would lead them all to death. She was persistent in her vocalizations that they needed to be covert, to do things from behind the scenes because they would all be useless to their cause dead. Zen though, wasn't doing much at all it seemed other than sitting at his ritual table. He didn't interact with the members of Fifth even though he was now acting leader since Killian had died for his bounty.

Members of Fifth Column were dropping dead in quick succession and yet Zen had said nothing to any of them about what they should do beyond what he had told them when Killian was first killed. Hours after Killian was pronounced dead, CharlotteC had been killed, presumably for being a member of Fifth Column, being Killian's childe and helping cripple bounties. That same night, another woman named Charlotte had fallen to the hands of Tytonidae. The only reason Madison could see for it was that the woman had gotten lippy on the CrowNet forum. A few nights later they killed Cherry Worthington. That really rankled Madison's nerves. Cherry hadn't been a member of Fifth Column for months, hadn't had a bounty and there was no reason to kill her except for her past transgressions, none of which Madison was aware that she did anymore. Cherry was a nice girl, a bit hyper-active for Madison's tastes but she had come to Madison's aid a few times in the past when she had needed someone to look out for her. Two nights later Lofyn, Alexandrea and Luffy were all dead. The first two were more than likely because of the affiliations with Fifth Column. Lofyn may have had a bounty, it wouldn't have surprised Madison if she did. Alexandrea's death angered her though. Alexandrea was the closest thing that Madison had to a sister. The only person that she even felt she could actually call her friend without having to doubt the motivations behind the friendship. Alex hadn't deserved to die. The slimy bastards had probably caught her in the quarantine zone. Despite Madison's pleas to her friend to keep herself safe, Alexandrea had insisted on hunting ferals each and every night to help lower the alert. She didn't know why Luffy had died but she intended on finding out. Madison was more worried about what was playing out on the CrowNet though than finding out why Luffy had died.

Enver had lost his god-forsaken mind. Madison sat at her seat besides the crafting bench, the electromagnetic emitter in her gloved hands forgotten as she refreshed the image of the public CrowNet in her mind to watch the discussions play out on two different threads. Enver in a fit, had just challenged any member of Tytonidae to a duel and it seemed that two of them had taken him up on it. Seeing him deny Zodiac by saying that someone had already gotten to him first, Madison stopped her constant refreshing of the CrowNet and zeroed in her telepathic attentions onto Enver. Reading his memories she could see that the duel hadn't started yet which meant she had time to find him. She didn't bother to use her powers to spy on the area he was in or to try and triangulate his position. Madison had a good idea of where the duel would take place. Both Enver's theater and Tytonidae's weird tree-house were in the district of Cherrydale. Well the Eyrie was just on the outskirts of Cherrydale in the wilderness but it was close enough. More than likely the duel would take place close to both of their homes.

It would only be a matter of time before the duel started and Madison wanted to know where it was going down and what was happening. She summoned her wraith, Dame, to her and instructed the entity to go search the district of Cherrydale until she found them or until Madison told her to search elsewhere. Dame didn't say anything, just faded from view and disappeared. Madison didn't know what she was going to do once they found Enver and she knew that he would be humiliated and pissed the hell off if she tried to stop it or interfere. As an afterthought, the telepath spoke into Dame's mind, letting the wraith know where Brick was hidden so that he could text Madison the location if Dame found it and then to go back to the duel to watch what went down. While the wraith couldn't respond to her, Madison knew her wraith would comply with her orders.

The minutes that followed seemed to drag on endlessly. Every thirty seconds or so, Madison was reading Enver's memories over and over again. After the fourth or fifth time, she read that Every had wounded him. The duel had begun and there was still no word yet from her wraith. Growling under her breath, Madison sent Dame another telepathic message, "Hurry! They've started! Find them NOW!"

The impatient and frustrated voice of her master filtered into Dame's mind while she was on the back of the transit going from Bullwood to Cherrydale. If the wraith had a physical face to grimace with, she would have. It hadn't been long now since Madison had summoned her from the depths of the shadow realm, a few weeks at most, binding Dame to the telepathic vampire. While she wasn't too impressed with being the forced servant of a vampire that was a fledgling in her eyes, she didn't mind Madison as a person and was grateful to be back in the real world in any form but oh how the world had changed. When Madison wasn't having her work with Brick to place emitters or find Crow Eyes, her fledgling master allowed her to roam free under the strict rule that she wasn't to steal energy from vampires that she came across. Dame had followed the instructions to the letter, not wanting to be sent back to the shadow realm.

When the transit halted to a stop at the Cherrydale station, Dame floated past the people on it and out of the door. As soon as she made her way to the edge of the platform she stared off into a clearing to the east. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. Even though it was late at night, there they were. Enver and Every were duking it out in the field right next to the transit station. As fast as she could float, Dame hurried to the spot where Madison had told her Brick was hiding. Once she found him, she shimmered into view to catch his attention, "Text Madison. Tell her that I've found Enver and a dark-haired woman fighting just past Cherrydale station in the field to the north and east of it. Be quick about it!"

Catching the shimmer out of the corner of his eye, Brick looked at Dame and ran a hand over his buzzed red hair. Truth be told, the wraith still creeped him out a bit and he hadn't wanted to work with her at first. But after that first night together when the wraith had been able to slip inside of apartments before he broke in to let him know if there was anyone home and what kind of security systems they had in place, he was grateful for the help. It saved him a whole hell of a lot of time. Before he could respond to Dame and ask what was going on, the wraith disappeared from sight. Sighing he pulled out the phone that Madison had bought for him and brought up the text messaging service. Typing out the information that Dame had given him, he sent it to Madison and then went back to what he'd been doing.

Madison had her phone in her hands but wasn't paying attention to it. She was alternating between Enver's and Every's minds, calculating the number of hits each had taken since the duel started. Now and then again, she checked on their blood levels to see what kind of damage had been sustained. The more hits each took and the lower their blood dropped, the more anxious she became. When her phone finally vibrated in her hand, letting her know that a text message had come in, Madison almost dropped it. Looking down at it, she swiped her thumb across the screen and read the text.

"Enver's fighting some chick in the field near the Cherrydale Station. Wtf is going on?

Madison didn't respond to Brick. She could do that later. Shoving the phone in her pocket, she went back to reading the fight unfold in Enver and Every's minds. Someone would be dying soon. It was only a matter of time. But she could no longer sit still as she read their minds. She couldn't just sit there and do nothing while Enver bled. Madison moved back to the crafting bench and pulled out her rifle to make sure it held a full magazine. Once satisfied that it was ready to go if needed, she walked to the fade portal that would take her to Bullwood Station. Whichever way the fight went, she wanted to be there when it ended. Either to collect a victorious but wounded Enver or to try and finish off what he had started.

After leaving Brick behind, Dame did as Madison had instructed and hurried back to the location of the duel. When she arrived back on the scene, Enver and Every were still going at it. Both of them injured and bleeding. She floated her way into the fray, trying to get a closer look at the wounds they had sustained but they were moving too fast for her to keep up and see. Feeling defeated that she could do nothing more than watch since Madison had forbade her to sap the energy she could from vampires, Dame moved to the edge of the field where she found another wraith. She didn't know who this wraith was and she didn't care. It was just nice to see someone else who could do nothing to stop or interfere with the fight that was happening.

The transit was only a minute or two from Cherrydale when Madison read in Enver's mind that he had lost. Curses flew from her mouth as she jumped up from her seat to pace the small area by the door. She didn't give a rat's *** about the few people on board that were staring at her, mumbling to themselves or each other as they looked at her with concern. Not a damn thing mattered at that point in time. The only thing she cared about was getting to Cherrydale before Every had a chance to make it back to the Eyrie. This was the end of her covert efforts. It was here and now that Madison decided that to work beneath the public eye wasn't enough. People were dying. People she deemed as innocent were dying and she wasn't going to stand for it any longer.

As the transit slowed to a stop, Madison reached into her knee-length overcoat and put her hand on the butt of her gun, ready to pull it out as soon as she needed to. The doors opened before her and the blonde stepped out onto the platform. It took a second for her eyes to find the blood-stained field where the duel had taken place. There was no sign of Enver, his body turned to ash and lost to the wind. But there, a distance away from her was Every. Madison rushed to the edge of the platform and jumped down to the grass beside it. Pulling her rifle out as she ran across the field, she got within range of the woman before she stopped and took aim. Her finger pulled the trigger and she watched through the scope for the bullet to hit its mark. It was hard to see in the darkness of night but Madison saw the effects of the bullet boring into Every's leg, causing more of the shadow's black blood to leave her body. Madison debated taking another shot but her proximity to the Eyrie made her hesitate. If she stayed too long, the whole of Tytonidae would probably be on her in seconds and she wouldn't stand a chance against the entire group. Pulling out her tome quickly, Madison read the words from the pages and felt the world around her dissipate as she was brought back home to the Den.

[Madison]

It wasn't long after she returned home to the Den and set herself up on the floor of the Depot that Tytonidae made it known that they knew what she had done. First it came in the form of some kind of ritual against her. She barely caught a glimpse of the demi-fae before it forced its will upon her and whispered to her a name. All of a sudden Madison grew extremely upset. If she could cry, she would have but she knew that it was because of Micah. Bringing her knees to her chest, Madison hugged herself as she mentally fought against the feelings that plagued her. Even though she felt like absolute crap, she couldn't let them get the upper hand and know they had affected her. Focusing in on Micah, she screamed sarcastically in his mind.

"Oh no! OH MY GOD IT HURTS SO BAD!"

She wailed and moaned in his head for a moment before she abruptly stopped, hoping they'd fall for her sarcastic tone that hid the misery she was truly feeling. Seconds later Micah's voice filtered into her mind, telling her that she had no honor and they would be seeing her soon. Starting in almost as soon as he had ended was Velveteen's voice in her mind, insulting her and quickly following it up by blocking her powers. But Madison wasn't one to be deterred by a mind block. Getting up off the floor she moved over to the computer and bumped Reilly out of the way so she could log on. She couldn't remember the last time she had touched a physical computer but she still remembered how to use one. Pulling up her email account on the CrowNet, Madison typed out a message to Velveteen and hit send. Email messages went back and forth between the pair, Velveteen attempting to insult her and Madison poking fun at her pathetic attempts.

Eventually Velveteen stopped responding and the distraction was gone. Logging off the computer, Madison let Reilly have his spot back. She slunk back to her spot on the floor of the Depot and sat back down. Her knees came back to her chest and once more she wrapped her arms around them before settling her chin down on top. Periwinkle blue eyes roamed every corner of the Depot, watching the few members of the d'Artois that were there, looking at the floor and how one of the boards was offset in its placement and caused a gap between it and another. She stayed there, huddled on the floor contemplating her life for hours. Counting the lines in the wood to distract herself from the misery that she felt. After a time the feeling dissipated and the mind block wore off. Feeling a bit disgusted with herself and allowing that stupid ritual to command her emotions for the time, Madison went on to do what she had originally planned for the rest of the night and spent the next hour figuring out who was who in the list of Tytonidae members that she knew of before moving on to other matters.

[Madison]

--The following transcript was a live chat roleplay--

Madison: Focusing in on Luffy, Madison used her telepathic powers to open up a connection between their minds, "Luffy? You may not know me, but my name is Madison. I know you're in the shadow realm but you'll be able to speak to me just by thinking. Do you understand?"

Luffy: He opened his eyes and looked around. "I have more voices in my head? You have reached the skull cave of Luffy we're not home right now as we're going back to meditating. But how can I help you?"

Madison: She smiled, at least they hadn't broken his spirit. "I've read in your memories that Tytonidae were the ones that killed you. You have no association with 5th Column and as far as I'm aware, haven't taken part in cripplings. Did you have a bounty when you died?"

Luffy: He scratched his chin "Nope, got rid of that soon as it popped up. only mussed up on one feeding. It's probably because I was a reporter and all that."

Madison: "When did it pop up?"

Luffy: "After someone spotted me trying to feed...two days ago. I really shoud have someone check on the otters"

Madison: "And you got rid of it that day? Had nothing left that wasn't visible on the list? I can send a message to someone about the otters if you'd like."

Luffy: "It was gone within five minutes of getting it. Serenity of Wafa would probably be the best choices for it. Maybe Odin. Hope people don't get too sad about my beard not being there."

Madison: "I think I know how to contact Serenity, I'm sure I can find her number somewhere. What other reasons could Tytonidae have had for coming after you?"

Luffy: "They're dicks? And did I dream that Abelle was one of them?"

Madison: "No, no you didn't."

Luffy: "Well **** my life, there goes my career in as a celebrity newspaper man."

Madison: "I'm sorry Luffy. Is there anything else I can do for you? Send other messages?"

Luffy: "eeer, if you see Ivy, make sure she's hiding, aand not at my place...it's trapped to **** now."

Madison: "By you or someone else?"

Luffy: "Both. I had company over who needed protecting for a night"
Luffy: "Oh hey i have my Tee shirts...but...They broke Eric...maybe you can let Serenity know so she can collect him too?"

Madison: "Oh, uhm sure. So check on the otters and collect Eric, yes?"

Luffy: "Yeah, I think that's it. Seren's gonna wanna dig around my brain juices, but I doubt it'll be hard for her to find me there. I promised she could."

Madison: "Thank you Luffy, I'm sorry you are where you are but if I'm unlucky, I'll be joining you soon."

Luffy: "it's quiet here I don't mind it. I do mind a certain person attacking, but...well it is what it is. I'll just start my own business."

Madison: "I wish you luck with that. Perhaps when you're topside again, we can meet in person."

Luffy: "Perhaps, specially if you wind up in the dead lands as well. you'll need new clothing when you get out."

Madison: "That is true, I had forgotten about that. Will someone have clothing for you when you return?"
 
Luffy: "I am the Otter King. I need no clothing."

Madison: Madison blinked a few times, "Are you a shifter?"

Luffy: "I think that's what they call it. I can turn into an otter"

Madison: "Ah, that makes more sense then. I haven't been able to figure out that ability yet."

Luffy: "it's great. I even have my own rock now. it's purple."

Madison: "Like your own rock to lay on or to beat mussels on? That's what otters eat right? Mussels?"

Luffy: "they do, but Otters will often times have a favorite little rock they've found. They even have a special pouch to keep it."
Luffy: "I think I may just do my talioring gig as an Otter. Cause screw them."

Madison: "You're tailoring gig?"

Luffy: "I was going to open my own tailoring shop with Seren's help, but then I wound needing to run the paper entirely."

Madison: "I can't sew to save my own life."

Luffy: "I learned...in prison."

Madison: "What were you in prison for, if I may ask?"

Luffy: "I beat a drug dealer to death with a brick."

Madison: "What did he do to you?"

Luffy: "Sold drugs to the neighborhood kids, and my gang and I took offense to that."

Madison: "I would too. That was a rule we didn't cross in my neighborhood as well."

Luffy: "sorry bout that spaced out for a second there

Madison: "It's alright. I can leave you be, I'm keeping watch for Tytonidae at the moment."

Luffy: "aaah, well tell Velveteen she smells like urine and should probably change more frequently with her bladder problem.

Conversation posted with permission by Luffy's player.

[Madison]

November 11th, 2013

Rising the next evening as the sun fully set into the horizon, Madison used the facilities available to her at the Den to shower and change. She believed herself to be relatively safe within the confines of the d'Artois family building, even though Doc was a member of Tytonidae. In the last hour before the sun rose the night before, she had debated leaving the building to go to one of the apartments she owned. The blonde knew though that neither apartment would afford her the type of security that the family building would. If Doc summoned members of Tytonidae in or teleported her out for them to hit, Madison was sure there would be repercussions from the family line. The fact that she had woken up where she'd fallen asleep and not in the Shadow Realm meant one of two things. Either Doc didn't know yet what had happened the night before or he wasn't going to do anything to Madison while she was in the Den. Only time would tell.

Freshly showered, she took her usual spot at the crafting bench. But tonight she didn't put on her gloves and she didn't start pulling out materials to build anything. Instead she sat back in her chair and closed her eyes. Her mind reached out, into the unseen world invisible to everyone including her. A window opened within her head, one that she could see without opening her eyes. Madison pulled forth the images she wanted to. Using her mind as her own personal internet browser she stared at the Crow's bounty list. Taking in all the names and the prices on their heads. She already knew that it was going to be damn near impossible to get to any of them while they resided within the protection of the Eyrie. But she couldn't take the defensive and wait for them to come to her. Madison knew her best options were to catch them out in the open, when they weren't expecting her. The likelihood of that though wasn't very good. She didn't know their habits well enough to know when they hunted or where their hunting grounds were. All she could do at the moment, while she waited for opportunity to present itself, was go about her business like she had been which was like killing two birds with one stone. For the last few weeks, she'd been approaching bounty offenders, offering them a means to an end through crippling them and pissing off the members of Tytonidae in the process. There was no reason to stop now.

Disconnecting herself from the internet within her mind, Madison had picked a name off the list. A childe of Ivy that the Crow named as Ashurin. She focused on her disowned sibling's creation, searching for a sense of where Ashurin was. What came back to her was a feeling of familiarity, of a place where Madison had spent a lot of time when she had returned from the Shadow Realm. The feeling she got whenever she was within the gates of the quarantine zone. It didn't tell her which building it was, so again Madison pushed her mind outward and focused in on Ashurin again but from a different direction. A vision filled her mind's eye. Blood-stained tiles, bodies of the reanimated dead, and bits of medical equipment. The deserted asylum. Opening her eyes, Madison frowned. Any bounty offender resting or hunting in the quarantine zone would be easy pickings for the likes of Tytonidae. She needed to move quickly if she had any hopes of saving the offender from death.

Grabbing her gun, the blonde telepath made sure it was loaded before she slipped the strap over her head and across her chest. Casting a glance at the members of her familial bloodline, she took note of who was there and who wasn't as she moved towards the fade portal that would take her to the deserted bar in the quarantine zone. Stepping through the shimmering visage that was the fade portal, Madison felt the familiar pull as she was transported from the safety of the Den to the dilapidated building of the deserted bar. A zombie shuffled towards her and calmly, Madison raised her gun to her shoulder and put a bullet in its brain. Decayed bits of flesh, pieces of skull and brain matter splattered through the air and onto the floor as the zombie crumpled down. It didn't phase Madison at all. She simply stepped over the corpse and exited the building.

Walking out of the doorway to the deserted asylum, Madison made her way into the street. She side-stepped as a male breezed past her. A male that gave her pause in her step, causing her to turn around and stare after him to make sure she had seen who she thought she saw. Her periwinkle blue eyes narrowed as she stared at Micah's back. This was not good. Not good at all. He hadn't seemed to take notice of her though and quickly Madison turned back around and started to run towards the deserted asylum. If Tytonidae was in the quarantine zone, she may have already been too late.

Racing in through the doorway to the asylum, Madison paused and gave a look around. She spotted a familiar face, a friendly one. That of her childe, Adrian. He didn't seem to be paying much attention to her so she moved on, searching for Ashurin. Through every room of the asylum she searched and turned up nothing. Frustration welled up inside her as she let out an angry cry and kicked a broken down gurney. She had been too late. With a sigh, Madison made her way back to the entrance. Just as she was about to exit, a woman entered. Again she moved out of the way for someone and started to go out the door when she stopped and did another double take. The other woman seemed to need to do same. Velveteen. Before Madison could get her weapon up, Velveteen had hers in her hand. The dark-haired and silver-eyed woman shot at her and Madison ducked out of the way as fast as she could. The bullet nailed the wall behind her and she quickly straightened and fired in return.

Madison's shot rang true and buried itself in Velveteen's throat. There was no time to stick around though. Seeing both Micah and Velveteen within moments of each other meant that there were probably more of them on the way. Racing out of the deserted asylum door, Madison ran out into the street and found herself face to face with yet another member of Tytonidae. She didn't stop, didn't think, just shot Gareth as she ran by. His blood painted the asphalt behind her as she booked it to the sewer grate. Gripping the grate, she wrenched it open as quickly as she could. Jumping down into the darkness she ran towards the training room sewer entrance, pulling out her tome as she ran. She wasn't taking any chances. Ducking around a corner, Madison used the light of her cellphone to read off the words she was slowly beginning to memorize.

[Madison]

--The following transcript was a live chat roleplay--

Madison: Upon her return to the Den, Madison checked herself over after the run-in with Velveteen. Other than a bit a torn clothing, there wasn't a single mark on her body that hadn't already been there. Her mind raced to put together the pieces and even though she had been there looking for the bounty offender, the idea that it might be the same reason Tytonidae was there never crossed her mind. The first thing she thought of instead were her childer, especially Adrian as he was the newest and she had seen him on her way out of the deserted asylum. She was sure that they were after her cousin and childe in attempts to hurt her and draw her out. It was working.

Barely a minute had passed that she was on the Depot floor when she ran to the fade portal that would take her back to the deserted bar. Once inside the bar, she raced out its dilapidated doors, down the street and back to the deserted asylum. When she entered the asylum, she panicked. Madison could see three known members of Tytonidae that were in too close of approximation to where Adrian stood. Without thinking, the blonde telepath rushed into the middle of the group and teleported her newly turned childe out of their reach. She didn't even think about where she sent him, just forced him to the first place that came to mind. Some random street in Coastside.

Shan: Shan finally made it to the stop of the stairs, sweating up a storm. She was out of energy, feeling rather drained but not quite out of the fight just yet. She wiped her brow and leaned against the wall, taking another deep breath to steady herself though it did little to help her not feel so tired, she shook her head to try to clear it and pushed off the wall. Looking around, she looked to her phone that was in her other hand, glancing at the text letting her know where she needed to go. More so just reaffirming the location to her, she slowly trudged around the corner and up along the side of the next room with her hand along the wall. "Damn tired." She muttered, shaking her head and clenching her jaw.

She was angry at herself for being so tired while Ty was on the hunt. She had been told to make sure to conserve her energy for the hunts that were sure to come in the following nights, the opportunity to finally unload the gun she called anguish out on some real targets. She grumbled lowly under her breath as she finally spotted the group of Tytonidae that were there for blood. She wasn’t even sure if they were there for blood, or bounty, but either way she didn’t care. Her orders were to shoot, and she had been handed a picture then texted with the directions. She didn’t see any one who looked like the picture though, and she furrowed her brows, pulling her gun from the waistband in her pants at her lower back as she cocked it and checked it to make sure it was loaded.

Madison: As soon as Adrian was gone from sight, Madison ran from the members of Tytonidae that were near her. A tall dark-haired man that she recognized but didn't know his name and a woman who was quite a bit shorter than she was with long strawberry blonde hair that she also recognized but didn't know her name. Madison ducked into the south-western room of the deserted asylum, giving herself the time she needed to pull out her weapon and make sure it was loaded as she did so. There in the room, all by herself was the other member of Tytonidae that she had spotted previously. She didn't know this one's name either but she knew that this one was a childe of Velveteen. The woman equaled in height to Madison but was practically her polar opposite with stark-black hair in comparison to Madison's blonde. Shan's back was to her and Madison brought up her rifle but didn't shoot. Regardless of what Micah and Velveteen thought of her, the telepath did have a twisted sense of honor and she preferred not to shoot an enemy in the back if she could help it. With her rifle at the ready and her pale cornflower blue eyes trained down the scope aimed at Shan's head, Madison cleared her throat.

Shan: Shan looked over her gun. It was perfect, the way it was in quality - Velveteen had not given her anything short of perfection the night she had gotten back from the shadows. Her tired mind slipped to the thoughts of the Shadow Realm, the place she had frequented for two years since she had been turned. It had been dark, devoid of color and nearly objects, her own ethereal being seemingly floating through the plane of existence that she had been forced into time and time again. She closed her eyes and shook her head, moving to wipe at her forehead with the back of her hand that held her gun that was ready to be fired at any moment. She hadn’t even heard Madison enter the same room she was in, and when the woman had cleared her throat, Shan jumped visibly as she was ripped from her thoughts. Red eyes snapped open as she spun around quickly, though she hadn’t raised her gun instinctively like she normally would - her mind still lingering on thoughts of darkness. She had an odd smirk on her lips, one of content (or as much as she could have felt) that turned the corners of her mouth up as she made direct eye contact with Madison. Madison... ****! And with that she moved to duck, trying to beat the bullet that she knew would be hurling towards her in milliseconds.

Madison: The woman jumped at the sound of Madison's throat clearing. As soon as Shan turned around and Madison saw the odd red coloring of her eyes her finger pulled the trigger. The gun kicked back into her shoulder as the sound of it firing echoed off the walls. Shan's red orbs made eye contact with Madison's pale blue ones for the slightest of moments before the other woman tried to dodge the bullet. But Madison had reacted in just the right amount of time for her bullet to hit home. It may not have been the home that Madison intended, right in Shan's pretty little head but right into her throat which was close enough. Seeing the blood spray from Shan's throat, Madison didn't give the woman time to gather her bearings and aim the weapon she had in her hands. Turning away, Madison tucked tail and ran out of the room, back towards the entrance. Since they were in the deserted asylum, she could only hope that the other members of Tytonidae chalked up the sound of a gun firing as someone taking out one of the many other undead creatures that roamed the halls and not an attack against one of their own.

Shan: Everything went into slow motion the moment she heard the loud pop ring in her ears and saw Madison's gun ripple against the woman's shoulder. She didn’t even blink, watching the muzzle of the woman’s gorgeous rifle flash and the bullet leave it, her hyper perception instinctively kicking in as she moved slowly to the side and turned her head towards the wall she had moments before had her hand against to steady her tired body. Tired. She was so tired. It didn’t help. Nothing helped, as those red hues watched that bullet travel at astounding speeds till she couldn’t see it anymore, it ripping into her skin at her throat and instantly causing crimson blood red to spray from the wound at her throat. She hit her knee and yelled out, then putting a hand out to catch herself from falling face first to the floor before she looked up and narrowed her hues on the woman that was already slipping just as silently out of the room that Shan was in as she had entered. "Motherfucking *****!" She yelled out, her voice echoing in the small room she had eloquently cornered herself in for Madison, unbeknownst to her. She growled and slammed her fist against the ground, her blood pouring into a beautiful work of art all over the linoleum flooring of the asylum. She wouldn’t let Madison get one up on her again. Couldn’t. She put her hand to the wound and moved to stand up, moving to put her gun away to pull out her cell phone and alert those in her faction that Madison was running around armed and dangerous.

Madison: Careening out of the south-western room and around the corner towards the entrance as fast as she could, Madison was forced to an abrupt stop as she found Lionsheart and Abelle Broussard still standing around. Knowing that the magazine in her gun had been full before she shot at Shan, there was no hesitation as Madison brought her rifle back up. With haphazard aim she shot Lionsheart at point-blank range. The sight of crimson vitae out of the corner of her eye was her only signal that she had hit her mark somewhere. It didn't matter where she had hit him as she quickly readjusted her direction to take a shot at Abelle. Pulling the trigger for a third time in the matter of minutes, the bullet whizzed out of the muzzle of her gun and flew through the air straight into Abelle's chest where her heart would be. But there was no time to stand around and admire her aim, there was only time to get the hell out of dodge before they started to retaliate. She knew that at least six of them were in the immediate area and those numbers didn't add up well for her in her mind.

Shan: Shan typed the text with as much clarity as possible, blood pouring down her throat and into her hand, she started moving out of the room even more slowly now before tucking her phone into her back pocket. The woman had caught her at one of her bad moments, a moment where she had left herself weak and vulnerable. She yelled out again, though it wasn’t a clear word par say, it was more just a battle cry of frustration as she pulled her gun back out of her pocket. She knew Madison was still in the area, but for how long? She blinked and moved towards the others she had seen just before the attack, and in that she saw two of them - Abelle and Lions. Both shot. She shook her head and looked around, gun raised as she swung it from right to left to canvass the room.

No Madison in sight, she finally let her gun fall to her side before she tucked it safely back into her waistband behind her back, giving a nod to Lions and Abelle before pulling her tome out of her back pocket that Micah had given her after her initiation into the bounty hunter faction. "Should tome home, take care of your wounds guys." She suggested though her words were rather gargled as the wound at her throat prevented them from being heard more clearly. She shook her head slowly and read off the words on the tome, teleporting back to the Eyrie before making her way into the elevator and heading to the second floor of the treefort. "Goddamit." She gurgled again, leaning incredibly tiredly into the side of the elevator.

Posted with consent from Shan's player.

[Madison]

November 12th, 2013

Madison woke up in the Den. The memories of the night before still lingering in her mind. To start with, she tested out her powers and found that she could connect to the internet with her mind. The night previous, Zenn and Nemesis had wasted their time, double mind-blocking her several times. At most she'd gone a few hours without her powers. Not that she had needed them at the time. The Den had everything she needed and some stuff she didn't. It was just a matter of getting cleaned up and going to bed.

Seeing that her powers were once again intact, the telepath started the night off by grabbing a notebook and sitting down at the crafting bench. Pulling a pen from her bag, she bit the cap and pulled the pen free of its embrace. Chewing on the bit of plastic in her mouth absent-mindedly, Madison began writing down the names of all the members of Tytonidae that she knew of. After the names she wrote down descriptions of the rest. When she had a list of roughly seventeen to twenty people, she pulled out her phone and called several of her contacts in hopes to place names to the few descriptions she had. Eventually each and every description had a name and she was able to get a few extra names that she hadn't had before. Going through each and every name, Madison used her powers to gather any information that she could on them. Jotting down notes next to each one about what powers they had, what they were good at, what they didn't seem to be good at, and overall getting a feel for how strong each one of them was as a vampire. When she had gone through the whole list, she ripped that page out from the notebook and organized them weakest to strongest in her opinion. It wasn't the best plan she had ever had but seeing that it was her and Brick versus all of them, picking off the weakest ones first didn't seem so horrible as it may have been to her otherwise.

Looking at the three at the top of the list, Madison began focusing her mental prowess and energies on each of them in turn, hoping for a glimmer of recognition in the places where they were. Two of the three she couldn't seem to get a read on. Either they were extremely well hidden, using a power of their own to obscure her vision or they weren't within the city limits. But the third, the third was in a place that she recognized. Madison hadn't been inside the Necropolis in a while but after Lancaster and Pi had remodeled the place and then it had been remodeled back to its original state after their business had moved, Madison had gone to take a look at the difference and what a drastic difference there was. Recognizing that the Necropolis was where Zenn was, Madison started getting ready to go.

Knowing that she was going to a public and probably crowded place, the telepath made sure she wore nothing that would distinguish her. In fact she threw on her outfit that she normally wore when she went on breaking and entering sprees. All black from her head to her feet. Black shirt, black jeans, black shoes, a black trenchcoat that slightly hid the rifle that she carried and lastly a black ski mask pulled over her head to hide her face from being seen by patrons of the club and any security they may have. Surely some vampires may be able to recognize her aura but she wasn’t particularly worried about that.

All set to go, Madison used the fade portal that would take her to the Bullwood transit station and from there she took the transit from Bullwood to Gullsborough. Sure she got a few odd looks but it was winter after all. Getting off the transit at Gullsborough, she moved quickly along alleyways instead of taking the streets. When she finally got around to the front entrance of the Necropolis, she readied her weapon before entering the establishment. As she burst through the front doors, a cold wind blasting into the warm and thriving club, a few people near the door stared at her with eyes wide. But the sounds of people shouting over the music that throbbed within room all faded to the background as she spotted her target. Unfortunately Zenn wasn’t facing her but she could tell it was him. Knowing that time wasn’t on her side, Madison brought her weapon up to her shoulder and took aim. It took less than a few seconds for her to take aim and for her finger to pull the trigger. The rifle gave a kick that was barely noticed. The only thing that she cared about was hitting her target which she did. Right in his back.

The deed was done and Madison debated for a split second about engaging Zenn further but people in the club were now in a panic. People were screaming and running, ducking under tables in fear that this was some sort of mass shooting that normally plagued their neighboring country to the south. She knew though that it wouldn’t be long until the cops showed up, or even worse for her, Tytonidae. Spinning on her heel, Madison tucked her rifle back under her trenchcoat and bolted for the door. Once back outside in the brisk wind, she ran around the building and tucked herself behind a dumpster. Giving herself the time she needed to pull out her homebound tome, Madison opened the small brown book in her hands and whispered the words that would take her back to the Den.