The hunter, the wood prince and a rival

Cebra stands up and dusts himself off as Rai opens the garage inside door. It's a well organized area like the rest of Cebra's property, of course a machine would have everything orderly. "Hey, welcome back home." Something that still felt odd to say but not a negative. Cebra lays down his tools as the levitating ones also fall gently back into their various drawers and boxes. He walks over to meet Rai and leans down to get a good look at her potted plant. "Huh, seems to be growing just fine. Not quite a bud yet but well on its way. " He takes his gloves off and tossed them on the nearby counter top "I um..." Cebra scratches the back of his head in a manner showing discomfort with his thoughts. "I noticed the markings on your body, no doubt from that... 'intriguing' armour you wear. Dont you wish you could be more comfortable?"

Cebra wants to show her a screen but remembers her eyes "I want to make you a more functional suit of armour, there's no reason you need to suffer that archaic design, also doesn't help against modern weaponry."

Cebra picks up instantly that Aria is training Rai, his initial worry of having Aria still lingered in the back of his mind. On the other hand perhaps having someone like Rai for a friend would temper her more violent tendencies. Aria had been pestering Cebra to train for over a month now, he had to wonder if this was another ploy. He also knew Aria was a special little weirdo that had a kink for fighting, now he wondered if she was moving in on Rai. "A punching bag, that's what you hit. I guess I never asked if you could fight hand to hand, just assumed you could after you ripped out my kidneys that one time... Hold on, who is 'they'?"

Rai makes a small pout as Cebra points out her fresh sprout was not, in fact, in bloom. She couldn’t be entirely sad, it was still alive and hadn’t fallen over yet so she could wait a bit longer for buds. She sets the pot down by the door, careful not to set it down too hard and crack the clay.

She tilts her head in confusion as Cebra explains what he’s been up to as she looks down at herself. “I have marks?” She asks, glancing to her shoulder where her pauldron usually sits, seeming to not even see the dark trailings of the straps. “Eh, I don’t know what I look like. Do they look bad?” Rai didn’t know anything about what humans looked like, and never had she thought to think of how she must look. For all she knew she wasn’t even close to looking human.

“Comfort was never really at the forefront of our armorer’s mind. Armor is made for us as an afterthought. I would not mind a bit less constriction and rubbing against the skin. I’m afraid its something I’ve grown so used to I never noticed. I had never taken it off for long until we fought the giant plant.” A reavers whole life was spent in his or her armor. Taking it off meant she would be unprepared for monster attacks, thus doffing her armor was very frowned upon.

“Thank you, I have never worn any other set of armor. Change is frightening. But also intriguing and necessary.” She hops back onto one of Cebra’s counters sitting to be completely eye-level with Cebra. She couldn’t help but give a light giggle at him assuming she could throw a punch from their first encounter. “I am trained to fight armed. It was assumed I’d never be disarmed. I have never had to fight with no weapon and simply slicing the demons in half tends to work just fine up until this point.” She gives a light roll of her shoulders in a gentle shrug. Rai didn’t understand why Aria honed in on her inability to fight unarmed, but if Aria thought she needed to learn it, she would.

“Ah. I think Aria said you might be mad about who ‘they’ are’” Rai suddenly looks sheepish not necessarily wanting to divulge exactly what Aria had talked her into doing. “On an unrelated note. What does it mean when someone calls you a ‘wee las’.” She asks, doing her best Erum impression. Sadly dutch and reaver accents do not mesh well and she ended up sounding like a slightly deeper tone of her normal heavy accent.

"'Wee lass'?" Cebra repeats to himself quizzically. "So wait no what was that first part?... Rai." Cebra steps closer to the counter until he is intimately close with her and cocks an eyebrow. "Who has Aria introduced you to?" A tone more heavy on the base as he says each word very clearly, behind it all a cheeky smirk. Cebra already had an inkling for hot skittish and evasive she could be, unfortunately for Rai Cebra's line of self employment gave him a detectives mindset. "Just what was it that happened with you girls tonight? This is the third time you two have gone on your little adventures with each other and I have nary a clue what's been up." He leans in near her placing his hands on either side of the table she's on "You haven't been doing anything... Bad? Have you?"

Just then the tea kettle in the kitchen starts to boil sending out a strong whistle of steam. It was a little past eleven at night and the weather was calming to a cool night breeze. It was coming up to harvest time and the leaves were turning gold, crimson and brown. The moon was perfectly visible and lit the land below in an unearthly blue glow with no mechanical lights around to deny. It was easy to see outside of the glass door to the backyard as the tree leaves made waves and a hypnotic rustling.

Rai just blinks for a moment, trying to figure out how to word what she wanted to say properly. Not necessarily registering how close Cebra was to her as once he moved a certain distance away, she wasn’t really capable of telling what was background and what was him anymore. She could feel him close but she’d assumed he was off to the side a bit more rather than right in front of her.

She loses her nerve, and looks away.. Or at least she thinks she was turned the opposite direction. Instead she ends up accidentally ramming a spiraled horn right into the bridge of Cebra’s nose at full force.

“Shit! Sorry. If you get too close I can’t see you very well. I kind of… see through you?” The reaver waves her hands in front of her, just trying to explain how that worked without it sounding creepy. “Your soul is very dim and static, without definite lines. So if you get close...” She trails off realizing she was about to lead herself in a circle and that her accent was getting thicker.

“Aria swears up and down we’ve done nothing bad so I believe no.”

There's an audible cracking sound as Rai's horn smashes Cebra's nose and a gush of blood splatters across the ground. Cebra stumbles back and catches himself on a workbench letting out a surprised grunt. It's not like he had his internal armour in place so she just struck his bone. "HOLY FUCKING JOE! Rrrrgh! Oof that was bad." Almost instantly his nose readjusts itself back into place, the blood that had sprayed out on the ground gathered and congealed in a way. It crawled back onto Cebra and into his pores. In a matter of seconds the minor wound fixed itself "You... you hit like a bull, woman. I'll remember to be careful about that." Cebra knew Aria had a way of being diplomatic with the truth or straight up lying to get her way, not that he was entirely different. He was fairly certain that she wouldn't go so far as to make Rai do anything too bad... Maybe.

"Well then, why don't you join me for a cup of tea, it's a pretty nice night out. Just out of view of the large glass door was the glow of a fire pit, the wind whipped the flames periodically making the fire beckon with it's dancing light. Cebra offered his hand to help Rai down, not an excuse to take her hand in the slightest. "So I trust you're familiar with tea." He says as he finishes making two cups and adding milk. "Ok so you don't have to tell me who you're hanging around with, I shouldn't have tried to get it out of you like that. Your friends in this world are your business." He hands her a cup and opens the door outside.

Rai covers her horns with her hands, as if concerned she’d hit him again by mistake if he got close again.She couldn’t help but feel at least a little bad for that. But in her own defense, she really couldn’t see exactly where he was to NOT hit him. She then slowly perked as Cebra writhes. “Who’s Joe?” She asks as he straightens, assuring her he wasn’t hurt too bad from his fast recovery.

Elven ears perk forward as Cebra offers his hand, which she hesitates for milliseconds shorter than she had previously on taking it and hopping down. Her hands, still cool to the touch and lacked the softness of living flesh. “I’ve never had tea. I tried to make it once, but putting any leaf you find in water apparently isn’t it. Random bush leaf tea is not great.” Rai admits with only a slight bit of shame.

Only when Cebra admit he really didn’t expect her to come of with an answer for him did she perk back up again and give him a confused stare, as if trying to process what he’d said for any kind of translation trouble. “I don’t?” She asks as she takes the cup. “I have business?” She asks, as she takes her seat in one of Cebra’s porch chairs. Seemed even when relaxing she remained rigid with minimal extra movements.

Cebra tries not to laugh as he stumbles a bit spilling hot tea on his hand "Mmf! Oh hot." He takes the seat beside her with a grunt. "It's really fascinating how you can survive so well if you're just consuming random plants, some curious biology I suppose." He took a sip as he looked out to the barn "It just means that you are in charge of your own affairs, no one has the right to force you to say anything. Oooo boy you have a lot to learn, but how to teach someone they are free?... Almost sounds like a philosophical dilemma hm?" Cebra ends with a smile and a little chuckle.

There's a sudden rustling from the bushes by the porch, something is moving around in there.

Cebra hears the noise immediately as his eyes shift subtly towards it , he doesn't make any sudden moves and remains quiet. He wonders if it's that same family of skunks that's been trying to dig into the garden area. Hopping up onto the porch comes a little black cat with bright yellow eyes. Cebra looks over to it and has a look of recognition "Ugh Morty, you little bum. Come here you dumb little rat muncher." Cebra turns toward it and the cat takes its leisurely time walking over to him before climbing up on his lap. It stares up at him expectantly as their kind usually do and gives a light meow. "If it weren't for the fact you catch so many vermin I'd toss your butt out of here, hope your folks aren't up this late lookin for you." Cebra looks at Rai as he starts petting the rather friendly feline "They have pets in Dis, Rai?"

Morty walks around on Cebra's lap for a bit before walking over to Rai and sniffing at her hand trying to get her scent, it rubs its head against her arm and purrs.

"Poisons don't really bother my kind. No living systems left to kill I suppose." Rai shrugs taking a sip of her tea. It was interesting to her, a weird mix of bland and herbal at the same time. It tasted like an apothecary smelt. "I still wouldn't consider myself in charge of my own life. It's hard to explain." She rolls her shoulders forward in an oddly relaxed manner that seemed out of place for her usual stony posture.

She did however straighten back up as the cat rustles around in the bushes. Rai couldn't help but reach a hand down to stroke the soft fur. She lets a hand rest on Morty's head before reaching down to pull Morty into her lap. "Dis doesn't really have pets that have names. They have dogs to herd sheep and cats to eat mice but keeping a dog or cat alive is so hard they often choose not to name them." A soft smile crossed Rai's face as if she were a small child with their first cat. Her fingers brushed along Morty's spine gently. "I have to admit, I did often volunteer to take storeroom guarding stations just to enjoy the young cats. They liked my skirts."

"They make such a strange noise." Rai mentions, referring to Morty's purring. She then does her best to mimic, however it did not sound feline at all, instead more reptilian. Like an alligator or something. "I don't think that was it." She groans as Morty looks at her as if she'd just insulted his great ancestors.

"I... I can sympathize. In a way I dont have ownership of my own bod... Life. I imagine your still trying to find somewhere to fit in... I haven't heard you mention wanting to go home once, but I don't blame you."

Cebra listens to Rai make that ungodly noise with unease, he'd known some mutants to make sounds like that. His brow furrows as he looks out to the dying flame as it's beaten by the wind.

Time passed and night blew away as the chill and dew brushed grass shone in the morning light. Cebra had no need of rest as of yet, his body could easily endure days without rest to the point he would forget to take breaks. He was alone at the moment at the moment using the leaf blower to clear the front lawn. Heading towards Gratten Hills roared the sound of powerful engines, the calm country roads were violently blasted with the fierce growling of motorcycles. They tore down the road heading right into town and past Cebra's farm. Cebra raised his head a moment to take notice of the riders, they certainly seemed to bear the biker look with all the leather. Cebra had to wonder if this would be trouble, some of them looked to be either meta or higher functioning mutants.

Cebra takes out his phone and gives Elma the town Sheriff a call. "Hey, kind of early ain't it?" Elma answers clearly having been woken up. Cebra can see it's only five in the morning "Yeah just a heads up. Some bikers just tore the road up heading into town, I don't know if they're trouble but couldn't hurt to keep an eye on them." "Cebra..." she lets out a brief sigh "Are they armed or something?" Cebra takes a second reviewing his memory thoroughly "I can't confirm that, but definitely some mutant or meta boys in the crowd." Her voice perks up immediately when he mentions that these bikers might have empowered people in their group "Right... Ok, thanks for the heads up. I can count on you if things get sticky right?" Cebra pauses a moment and considers that Rai could probably handle this, might even help ingratiate her to the police force.

"I'll be around, but Rai will be more readily available than I am right now." Elma is silent on the line when Cebra says that for a few seconds. "Cebra are you sure about this girl? She's a bit... Well." "Yes? What?" With a discomfort in her voice "She's kinda out there, I don't mean to disrespect her or you but she's uncomfortable. I put up with a lot of you people with your strange abilities but she's like from another world." Cebra smirks. "I mean we'll take her help no doubt but like... Nevermind nevermind I'll gladly take the help thank you." Cebra can't help but chuckle "Yes she's certainly something else, but just remember she has helped before right?" "Right." Cebra finishes up the call and gets back to work.

Rai had been having a great morning! Punching the big heavy bag, getting fussed at by a giant wolf for her stance and getting Aria hugs. Was a pretty good morning over all, it seems like she was getting better at punching the big bag of sand at least judging by the decreasing amount of exasperation in Erum’s voice.

Currently she’d decided to take the scenic route home, however, each hoof pace stopping short before the next as she paced Grimmorah alongside the road. Seeing no conflict, the undead warhorse’s head hung low as he took up a smooth yet swaying walk between pacing and walking. One hand gently held the reins as the other was currently examining a wild flower shed plucked off the ground. She thought it was kind of cute as it looked like a small ball of fluff with jagged leaves. She thought it was so interesting and they were everywhere! Little did she know she just had a common dandelion.

She’d just trounded the turn into town as Grimmorah perked up at the sight of people. His head raises to his usually prancing posture as his aggression seems to roar back to life at the sight of others. Rai adjusts, following her horse’s line of sight. It was normal for him to perk up at people, but if there was one thing that was sure to catch Grimmorah’s attention, it was any inkling of violence.

Rai could recognize police cars by now, however she’d never seen a motorcycle before. She lets Grimmorah have his head as he attempts to pick up the pace in their direction. There seemed to be several cop cars and a few of those strange two-wheeled things and several men hanging around. Rai may not be good at reading a room, but she could read her horse and if he was acting as if there was a fight, she trusted him. Sliding from the saddle as Grimmorah turns to sulfuric dust and approaches, fingers caressing the handles of the scythes on her belt.

“Things alright?” She asks no one in particular, still not entirely sure of the ins and outs of the situation.

The two officers turned to see Rai coming, as she asked her question one of the officers put their hand up in a stopping motion. Miss you cannot be here right no... Wait you're that." Cutting whatever she was going to say short is the sound of a bone curdling scream of pain. As he was moving in to arrest one of the motorcyclists for holding some illegal substance in pill form another came and stabbed him from behind. The partner turns around immediately and draws her gun "DROP YOUR WEAPON!" she screams harshly, to which the response is some get on their bikes and flee in the direction of Bullshacks. The rest that stay draw weapons, some of them are regular humans but others seem to be mutants. The officer takes aim at one bulky looking male looking like his flesh is woven with stone, the small caliber rounds bounce off the thug as he starts his charge. One starts pulling out parts of his own skeleton, he throws one at Rai being off by only the slightest of margins.  The bone hits a car behind Rai and with its sharp jagged edge slices the car in two nearly.

For now the attention is on Rai and the female officer who has taken cover around the corner of a shed, the officer that was stabbed lays on the ground bleeding out and may go into shock.

On the phone again, while Cebra's working away on some design schematics in the garage is Aria. "I thought I would come by and drop it off, she forgot it when she was changing her clothes I guess... So about her wearing your shirts." Cebra rolled his eyes "She's taken the liberty of wearing my clothing with or without my knowledge... Frankly it's hard to tell with her, she wears them right in front of me but acts like it's all just fine." Aria snort laughs a bit "And you don't tell her becaaaauuuuse?" Cebra hesitates a moment, it's not like it's any real secret to Aria. "Listen, she's a real nice gal. I'm just trying to make her feel comfortable. Is there something wrong with that?" Aria's playful teasing tone came out as she prodded Cebra "She's got a cute butt right? Not too much on the tits but girl got thickness. Oh and that sweet lil face, I'd destroy that chick hmhmhm." Cebra was silent for a moment as he buried his head between his thighs in exasperation. "Could you please no" "DUDE! I'm kidding hehehehehe! You know I'm not that horrible maybe. I know you have a thing for this chick, seriously I hope you can make something work with her."

"Right, yeah thank you. Oh by the by she's not here right now, didn't make it home yet. There's some possible trouble in town, might be nothing. I asked Elma to get Rai to help with any trouble, might have met her out in town somewhere." Aria's face grew a concerned look "Uh oh." "Uh oh? What do you mean 'uh oh'?" Aria let out a sigh "Seems that there's been a lot of gang power shifting lately, some of the Dynasty gang has been pushing into small towns and such , easier to hide operations maybe? But they first test out how easy it is to do business before moving in, they're also known to be a little violent." Cebra thought about it for a second as he sat up straight and moved some equipment out of his way "Big deal, Rai can handle some thugs with some guns." Aria made a sound like a creaking door of uncertainty "Eeehhhhhhh but they kinda have mutants in their ranks." Cebra changed his tone quickly now with a clear seriousness. "Ok, let's get to work then."

Cebra opened a weapons cabinet in the garage and took out a highly advanced looking rifle, beside the rifle were packs of ammo stacked in three individual columns. He took a few packs from one stack and loaded his rifle, he then reached for a chunk of scrap metal. The metal molded around his face and formed a featureless mask hiding his identity. He wore a long all weather coat with his black hoodie to hide more of his features.

"I'm who-" Rai hadn’t expected the sudden turn of events herself, but it seemed Grimmorah’s intuition was right. The smell of human blood burned her senses drawing a harsh and airy hiss. Spaded tail whipping around behind her like an angry cat. She steps past the wounded officer, moving to try to stop the charge before it met him.

She didn’t have a lot of time to think this through, there was a man hurling projectiles that damn near sliced her into pieces before she could move and a tank of a man bull rushing her. She draws both scythe, hurling one past the rushing stone man, staking itself harmlessly into the pavement alongside the bikers and the other about ten feet to the left. With her escape and counter secured, sure she was unarmed, but no better time to implement new skills right?

Her ears slick back as the ghostly woman stares into impending doom with nothing but rage. The general feeling of malice and dread exuding off Rai was the equivalent of an angry wraith screaming ‘leave’. It was enough to make a weak man run and a strong man waiver. She dips her horned head down, one foot sweeping in front of the other, a light sway a few feet to the right in order to put the rushing tank in the line of fire. She was acting as if she was about to hit the bag like Erum told her to, however her fists weren’t as raised in a defensive manner, more relaxed like a matador facing down a rushing bull. She pulls in a light breath as the behemoth approaches and lets him have it as he sets foot in range. Suddenly sending her fist thundering forward with a splintering force, straight into his right arm as he’d used it to try to bowl her over.

On a normal person this would be enough to send the whole limb clattering off his body, however she was unfamiliar with the armor and instead left him with enough force to shatter it. Was her punch perfect? Not at all, far from it in fact. Rai had rotated her hips the right way and put weight into her punch, however she’d bent her wrist too much, sacrificing the strength that would have likely left the opponent maimed beyond repair through his armor. She didn’t have time to assess before there’d be another bone thrown in her direction. Instead a glimmering green outline of smoke shines for a moment as she blinks on her previously thrown scythe, putting her in the dashing distance of the bone man.

These were still humans, sure they were hurting people, however the idea of killing them hurt her mind. They weren’t demons, nor were they aiding a demon, therefore it was not acceptable to kill. Her scythes glimmer a bright blue color, silvered blades turning to a more opaque. She notices his soul quivering away from the oppressive energy they gave off as she leaps on him, Scythe poised to seemingly cleave through his body in one swipe, however rather than spilling his guts, it passes harmlessly through. She’d just slammed his soul with energy, a non-lethal alternative than cleaving flesh from bone, however much easier to recover from. She’d never hit a human with it before, but she’d heard a reaver’s attack to the soul wouldn’t kill a man… only leave him violently ill as his body struggled to keep itself firmly attached to his body.
There wasn’t a lot she could do about the biker’s fire should they choose to take it, however she dips her scythe down, threatening to push further with another low and breathy bellow.

The boulder of a man or mutant was sent airborne by Rai's punch with enough impact to sound like a grenade going off. He skipped like the stone he was off the ground and into one of their bikes destroying it completely and taking him out of the fight with a shattered arm and KO. The bikers seeing what Rai can do seem far more put off than one would think, more of them begin to run as if they hadn't expected someone with super powers to be here defending the town. But the trouble is far from over yet, they don't retreat out of town but follow their other friends bac to Bullshacks. Meanwhile the female officer starts giving first aid to her partner as the immediate area clears out, she calls on her radio for help and an ambulance. There's a lot of radio chatter happening from her car as well, it seems the entire police station is out dealing with these would be invaders.

Cebra enters the town parking his truck on the side of the road hidden by some brush and trees. He passes by the fire department as he sprints down the street with cybernetics modifying his speed and strength immensely.  He skids to a stop as some of the trucks leave in a hurry and jumps on the side of one to the surprise of the driver.  "Where are we heading Roger?" Cebra asks with familiarity and authority. The crew cut middle aged man with a stone jaw and blue eyes answered like one would their boss or captain "Cain Marshall brewery, sheriffs office should beat us there. These fuckin bikers, we shouldn't even be going near the place if they're still around. They're hold up in there robbin the place and now it's a fire fight around that powder keg." Cebra nods and takes a few seconds to consider a plan given the layout of the brewery "... I can handle some thugs without letting the place burn down, we've been here before Roger, everyone just works as they are supposed to right?" Cebra's voice is dramatically different than normal, he's very precise and saying every word clearly and calmly.

When they arrive near the brewery the sound of gunfire can already be heard, Cebra tells them to stop where they are as he begins to infiltrate the hold up gang  members. The front approach is where the main skirmish is happening, he skirts the tree line to the sides moving low and out of any lines of sight or lighting. There are look outs positioned on every side of the structure in barricaded positions. Cebra looks around for a way to access a higher position, he doesn't want to just leap as coming down would be very noisy. He can see a strong oak tree that reaches up high enough for him to make it to an open window. Quick and stealthy he climbs the tree with no effort and slinks onto a ledge opening the window a bit more and peeking inside. By his count there are ten members of the gang here; three inside, three in the front fighting with the police and four guarding each side. A rather light force but perhaps stretched thin in numbers.

Cebra sneaks in and crouch walks along a steel platform, he can see that the gangsters are holding some of the janitorial staff that stayed late. His first task is to deal with the guards on the other sides to provide an escape, he quietly and quickly moves to the doorway that leads to the back way out so he can sneak up on the guards. A woman with hair like moss and skin pocked with mushrooms and other fungus leans against a wall smoking a cigarette and holding a machine pistol. She's made an outward facing barricade of crates and barrels for cover, she seems to be grumbling and cursing about the the town not just giving them what they want. Cebra appears from the ill lit hall behind her, to which she senses nothing at all. With the smallest burst of light from behind her body falls limp to the ground, but still clearly with a heartbeat and breathing intact. He takes her body and places her in one of the crates and binds her hands with molded metal from the barrels.

It's nothing for Cebra to do the same to the three other guards as well as disarm them, quietly immobilizing them and hiding them away incase other guards happened upon them and sounded the alarm. The three guards inside were tricky to deal with. Cebra lured one away with a simple sound bait by tossing a rock into a hallway. One quick sleeper hold later that is another guard dealt with. When Cebra saw one of the guards get close to a large steel hatch to a vat he snuck to a terminal and used his powers to activate the hatch, it rapidly flung open and smashed the human in the chest sending them flying and taking the wind from them. The other guard ran over to see what happened to their friend, they were rewarded with a bolt of energy to the face from the side that sent them immediately to the floor stunned.  Cebra ran over to the gang member that was smashed in the chest to assess their injuries, a cracked rib or two and bruising but they would survive.

Clearing the ones outside was he easiest part as they were already distracted by being engaged with the police. Cebra stepped out of the front door to flank them and in a matter of two seconds  stunned each of them with a bolt from his rifle. Cebra waved his hand to the officers and it appeared as though they knew who he was, one of the officers approaches Cebra "Showed up promptly I see hey buddy? So how many inside? What about the hostages?" "The hostages are fine but they fled out to the woods, they should still be out there so you might have to look for them. I did not have the time to make sure they didn't just run." The cop looks a little dismayed but satisfied ultimately "Right we'll get on that, what about the gangsters?" "All boxed up and ready for you, they're in the crates by the back entrances. Still breathing." With that Cebra wasted no more time and was off to Bullshacks where he figured the leader of this gang might be heading.

Rai snorts, shaking her hand. The skin was undisturbed but she had what was akin to bruised knuckles. At least she’d done enough to put the assault down on both ends. One clutching his shattered and splintered arm, the other retching and vomiting on the ground as his soul desperately clung back to his body.She glances back to the officer who’d been stabbed, the silvery pool under his dulling body. The man’s partner was working on him, and she had an urge to stop and attempt to do something about it, but she couldn’t think about what she’d do. She was essentially useless at giving aid to the dying and she knew it, if anything she’d make it worse. All she could do was make those who hurt this man pay for it.

She pulls the glass figurine from her pocket, letting it slip from her fingers into a pile of shimmering ash as it shattered into a fine dust. From the smouldering cloud the hellish squeal of her stallion cracks through the sky like a shrill thunder. He forms from the smoke, hooves beating from the promise of violence. “Eventually I’m going to learn how much I should listen to you.” She mutters as she throws her leg over her saddle, settling into her seat.

Choosing to block out the scent of human blood she urges him forward down the path the bikers took. She squeezes in her heels enough to keep herself in their rear view mirror, but still at an obvious lope. This was not as fast as Grimmorah was capable off. She was intent on running them out of town, only to realize they weren’t escaping the city, just falling back to what looked like a bar. This must be bullshacks.

Sliding off the horse just after her targets ran inside she takes her sword and whip with her. She had no idea what she’d face and she’d figured it’d be better to be armed to the teeth than nothing, even if she didn’t draw any weapon. Rai just lumbers in the doors, a few minutes behind the bikers as if she didn’t care she was walking into a human wasp nest.

“You people need to go. This place is not for you.” She announces, her thick accent heavily pronounced as the pressure in the room drops. Rai’s movements never swaying as she paces so smoothly she almost appears to be floating. She passes an idle radio on her way to the bar, which immediately cuts to static as she passes, the mounting dread only increasing the longer she is in the bar. Everything in a human’s mind should be screaming at them that something wasn’t right. To run, hide, anything they could do in their nature to escape whatever dreadful creature had decided to enter their home. “There are other cities. Go there instead.”

The bar is abandoned of its normal patrons, naturally frightened off by the invading biker gang. The only remnant of any townsfolk are the few bartenders being held essentially hostage to keep serving drinks. The entirety of the bar turns to face Rai going silent, a few mumble to each other taken back by her weird feeling that spread through the crowd. That silence was eventually broken by one deep hissing laugh that came from far in the back. "Who the fuck is this yappy little bitch? You the one giving my boys a hard time eh?" He strides up to Rai but still keeps a safe distance out of reach, he's a large monitor lizard looking mutant clad in biker leather and denim. His jaws are lined with razor sharp teeth and at his side is a considerable sized knife and a .357 magnum.

After the lieutenant shows little fear the others start to get bold as well, chuckling and hurling insults at Rai. "All we wanted to do was supply a much needed demand in this shithole little town, make a little profit and help out some people in need. But of course one of you fucking supers has got to be here doin your hero shit whatever. But you know what, we ain't goin nowhere. This town needs to show a little more respect to the Dynasty, but I think you should be the first one to learn. EH BOYS!" He says turning to the gathered crowd. It's quite noticeable that many of the gang members are armed as they close in around the Reaver, mutant and human alike. They were still a little too nervous to just up and attack the Reaver head on, they circled her and harassed her still talking but not one coming within striking range.

When their leader managed to sneak through the crowd and get behind her he must have gotten brave enough, he grabbed a stool and lifted it up coming at the back of Rai's head. The chair whooshed and... stopped? It just stopped, well the entire mutant man was frozen still with a stunned look on his face. Standing in the doorway was Aria with her pupils constricted in the way that showed her powers at work. She held Cebra's stolen shirt in her hand and a wary look on her face, she was focused on Rai but kept everyone else on her psychic radar. "Hey Rai! You forgot your shirt, thought I'd pop by to drop it off. Having a little party without me huh?" She releases the Lizard man and he drops the stool and backs away as Aria approaches Rai. "WHO THE FUCK IS THIS NOW!?" Aria side glances him but ultimately ignores him to talk to Rai "So I guess since 'he' isn't around we have to clean these assholes out of here huh? How about a little contest yeah?" Aria uses her powers and grabs a beer chugging it in seconds. "Whoever takes down the most of these creeps has to pay the next time we go out yeah?"

It seems the gang and indeed their leader might have taken offense to being pushed aside and ignored like they were. They dont wait for Rai to respond as a few of the thugs move in with their weapons and swing at the two girls. Not all of the gang seems to be participating, the smaller males and the most of the girls seem to be keeping far to the back and cheering their friends on.

Rai gives a short huff realizing these people were not about to clear out in her say so. This was more like the treatment she was used to from Dis, however she steels her nerves to back away from a human threat. These people were not welcome here and she stands a bit straighter.

“You will leave or you will bleed. Those who wish to keep their teeth should leave now.” He voice still with no inflection of anything. No excitement, nor fear.

Only Aria’s voice led her to finally feel the threat behind her. “Oh. Hey. No, no Cebra.” Rai shrugs as if she didn’t just threaten a room full of bikers within an inch of their lives. “I will compete if you like.” She smiles as the gang begins to close in. She assesses the surroundings before drawing both scythes, but rather than cleaving a man in two she tossed one into the wood of the ceiling and another into an opposite wall. Meanwhile she clutches Grimmorah’s glass figurine in her fingers.

She steps forward as she lets the figurine fall to the ground and the stench of hellfire and brimstone fills the bar. Glass shattering along the feet of the bikers the hellish image of a stallion resting, hooves pawing and glass teeth gnashing cruely against bare bone jaws as the deadly steed manifests, but only partially and fades away into smoke and haze to get the men off Rai’s back.

Meanwhile, she had lept forward, pouncing onto a biker like a wild cat on some poor animal, fist driving down into the crown of his head and knocking him back into one of his knife wielding compatriots. A barstool comes flying on her direction only for her to catch it and hurl it right back clocking a guy in the head and sending him crumbling into a few more. A brave man decides to take a swing at her just as her outline begins to fade green and she blinks to the scythe staked into the rafters, crouching on the wooden handle as she selects who to leap on. She leaps taking her scythe with her and sending the shaft cracking into a huge stone man’s face, taking the nose clean off like the Sphinx.

“I count three so far.” Rai counts as she selects her next target and pouncing back into the crowd. Choosing to pick off the most aggressive first, but ending up catching a knife beneath her left armpit and tearing a decent sized gash across her collar bone. She hisses in pain and lashes out, catching him along the side of his face with clawed hand. Although considered vestigial, a reavers class could still sheer through human flesh with ease. The man reels back having lost an eye but managing to wound the reaver. Shaking her hand she cringes as her darker-than-human colored blood drips down her arm and between her fingers in a steady stream. Tilting her head she comes to the conclusion she can keep fighting just to be a bit more aware of who she jumps on.