Ripcord

[Kimber Smith]

 Kimber got to the guild later than she wanted to. She'd practically had to shut Xavier's car door on him, because he was pretty adamant that he'd take her to Crimson himself. Erik had shown up just before they'd started to fight, which was good, because witnessing the two of them argue was painful. She'd managed to find her shoulder holster, and had donned that over her rather revealing white tanktop. She didn't need any sort of jacket, not where she was going. People expected guild members to be armed at work, after all.

"This is a clusterfuck," Kimber said, looking over at Erik. She'd barely acknowledged he and his sister on the way there, lost in thought about what she was going to do. She had a job to fulfill, true enough, but she gave enough of a shit about Xavier to try and avoid him during that fulfillment. Would he really do the same? She didn't feel guilt for doubting him, but it made her stomach feel raw. She excused herself to the bathroom as soon as they'd gotten inside and vomited up something akin to pesto sauce. She didn't know what it was - bile, maybe? It was from her nerves. She didn't like admitting she was scared, but this was a good time to at least admit it to herself and get it out of the way.

As she came back into the main room, she saw most of the guild members that were upper level had assembled and jobs were being doled out. Crimson's job was to target Midnight operatives and knock them out. Onyx was running interference on the people needing shelter, while Frost was targeting potential hot spots. Crimson had the worst job of all - they were going after Midnight's extermination squad. Photos of every individual, complete with agendas and possible targets were scattered all over a long stretch of corkboard. Kimber paused as she listened to Stavros and Shannon addressing the assembly. She didn't quite hear what they were saying, because she saw a series of four black and white photos of Xavier - she could see them as clear as day, even from the back of the room.

"What the fuck?" she said, her voice shrill but only soft because she was so surprised.

"Kimber, don't," Erik warned. He reached out to grab her arm, but his partner had already began cutting through the row of people standing, literally shoving them to the side like they were just paper dolls. She grabbed the pictures of Xavier and yanked them off of the board, aware that Stavros had stopped talking and was staring at her with one of his more dangerous Looks.

"This one is off limits," she snapped, eyes flitting from Stavros to the group, as though to assure she had her attention. She spoke slowly and deliberately. She held the photos up and ripped them in half, then ripped them again and again. She opened her hands and let about twenty small shreds of the photos flutter to the ground.

"I hadn't realized that you'd been put in a position to make that decision, Kimber," Stavros said, his voice threatening volume but still as smooth as it ever was. He never yelled, and when he did - well, you listened.

"Yeah? Mr. Glock promoted me. Want to take it up with him?" she asked, tilting her head. Yeah, she was treading on ass-kicking ground right there, but she'd already drawn her weapon.

"If you're going to pull it, you'd damn well be ready to use it, girl," he warned her. Shannon made a small noise of protest, trying to grab Stavros by the shoulder, but he shrugged her off so hard that she stumbled. Stay out of it, he said very plainly. He was no wolf, but he didn't need his alpha status tested all the same.

Just then, a voice from the back called out. "Hey guys... did I miss something?" And everyone turned to see Connor, barely able to stand, his arm around Sitara for support.

[Connor Batten]

Arriving at the guildhouse, Connor would have been thrilled if the night could have been over at that point.  After the situation at his house and then his parents', he was more than willing to avoid being shot at or beaten on again until he'd had time to stop bleeding a little, but he did have a reputation to uphold.  He was well-known for taking some serious damage whenever the shit hit the fan, and since when did he ever disappoint?  He would be thanking his lucky stars for the bond with Katya before the night was over, if he wasn't already.  Actually, he was going to be giving thanks in just a few short minutes.

He was moving far too fast when he hit the road the guildhouse was on and only slowed down when he was close enough that he could see the front door and the lights of the building.  Even then, he didn't slow down much.  He was already bloodied and sore, so the faster he could make the door and relative safety of the building, the happier he was.  Having a massive blue tiger hit him from the side and send both him and the bike sprawling wasn't cool with him, and then even after he stopped rolling and laid on his face in the dirt for a moment, he had to just stare at the animal as it flicked its equally blue tail around behind it and stalked forward.  Somehow, he couldn't even be surprised when the creature's form swept from blue and feline to that of a man that was stalking towards him with that same look like he was going to tear the guild leader apart.  Connor believed it.

"Blue," he murmured, letting his head rest against the dirt on the side of the road for a moment while he took stock of himself.  He hurt, there was definitely road rash and other, deeper pains, but he'd live.  Maybe a concussion, since he could feel the heat of the blood on his head, but he couldn't really determine where just yet.  He was just a pile of red-hot pain, laying on hard rocks and soft dirt a good 15 feet away from his motorcycle.  This was why he hadn't gotten one when he was a normal mortal, because he knew someone was going to knock him off of it.  He was figuring he must already be messed up if he was seeing blue tigers, but hey, he was going to shoot the hell out of anything jumping him, whether it was blue or not.

"Yes, blue.  You're Batten?  I expected you to be...larger," the man said in a clipped accent, drawing a knife out of a sheathe at his hip.  

Seriously?  A knife?  Did he expect Connor to sit still for that?  "Yeah, I get that a lot," he offered, pushing his arms beneath him so that he could make an attempt at getting up off the ground, which hurt more than he wanted to show at first.  That was for the first second, and then it occurred to him that playing more hurt than he was would be a good idea.  Nobody outside his family and Katya's family knew that he was her bloodbond, so how could Midnight know?  As far as they were concerned, he was just a human, and a small one at that.  He could use that.  "So, blue.  Like cookie monster.  Did you watch Sesame Street when you were a kid?"

The man-who-was-a-blue-tiger hesitated, giving him an odd look as he watched Crimson's leader take his feet shakily, also pulling a knife.  "No, I didn't.  You realize I'm here to kill you, yes?"

"Yep, you're the third attempt tonight and I'm almost home-free.  I'm raiding my uncle's supply of pain meds as soon as I get inside," Connor responded, surprisingly pleasantly.  The Midnighter kept watching him, almost like he was unsure what to make of the small man who was so obviously not afraid, and Connor spent that moment sending the strongest mental jabs he knew how to make at Katya and in Chase's general direction.  He was hoping to draw Katya's help, or give Chase a sudden vision, whichever suited him better.  He didn't know that both worked, because the tiger man nodded and rushed him.

Connor actually fell.  He didn't bother trying to dodge, attack or make any fancy moves.  He just dropped like a rock, hitting the dirt again and swinging his foot around to kick at the tiger man's feet.  He hit them, felt the man's near-stumble at the tangled limbs, and Connor just slammed that knife into the closest piece of flesh he could reach while he had a moment of distraction.  The catman didn't fall, catching himself with the reflexes that Connor would expect of anyone with feline blood, even after that knife pierced his thigh.  He'd jerked, pulling the knife out of the hunter's grasp, and he seemed smart enough not to pull it out until he knew the extent of the injury.  By then, Connor was pushing himself back into a squat, one of his guns in hand.

"Go home to your master, cookie monster, and we can be done.  I figure there aren't many blue tigers running around, so I'd hate to make your kind extinct tonight," Connor hissed.  There were broken ribs here, and he'd jammed them when he dropped.

"You get credit for balls, Batten, but I am going to kill you.  I can't go home empty-handed on two cases tonight," the tiger man shot right back, causing Connor to blink for a second.

"Two?"

Yeah, because the man was going to answer, right?  Those sharp eyes narrowed on his target, and the tiger man was moving again, this time disappearing into the trees on the side of the road.  Connor figured it was probably stupid, but he shoved himself up to his feet and used that upward and forward momentum to throw himself into an all-out run for the front doors.  He heard movement behind him, just the smallest sound, and he twisted around and simply fired at the first thing that moved.  It was still a man behind him, taking the bullet to the shoulder instead of the chest and giving out a pained yell that sounded a little too much like a roar for Connor's preference.  He got the feeling he was pissing the guy off, which wasn't really good for him.  It meant that the man didn't hesitate over the gunshot all that much, leaping at the guild leader and smashing him into the ground again.  When Connor hit, there was nothing about his yell that sounded at all like a roar, but he could at least say that he was proud of himself for shoving hard enough to keep the tiger man from stabbing him in the heart with that knife.  It hit the pavement beside his chest, kept moving with the force, and did a little more than nick his side, but it wasn't a kill shot and Connor swung his elbow up in the same movement to crack the other man in the jaw.  He fired again, but the shot went wild while the tiger man tore his knife up again.

Connor was gashed again in that movement, taking the cut on his arm because he was trying to push the heavier man off of him with one arm and fighting with the grip his attacker had on his wrist so that he could get another shot in with the gun.  

"You're too strong for a human," the tiger man growled out, actually struggling against Connor's limbs, and that was fine with Connor.  He went with an old trick, having distracted his attacker enough with the rest to leave his legs forgotten.  He swung his knee up as hard and fast as he could, nailing the tiger man in the back with it and causing him to roll forward and off of the hunter.  Connor immediately after rolled onto his stomach and jumped up, pretending that he couldn't smell his own blood on the air.  That meant the tiger could really smell it.  

"Fuck this.  Shoot me if you can, hunter," the man snapped, rubbing at the blood at his mouth from Connor's elbow (which was throbbing, by the way), and throwing the knife in the smaller man's direction.  By some miracle, Connor twisted to the side and avoided being stabbed in the throat, but he had a blue tiger in his face a second later.

There was probably a snappy response somewhere in his head, but it definitely wasn't the time.  Connor was good about ribbing his opponents while they tried to kill him, but a tiger was a different story.  He hauled ass toward the guildhouse again, remembering the one time he'd gotten close to a tiger this nasty, and it had been Erik.  Erik was a hell of a lot bigger (Connor was thinking primeval big, personally) and seriously scary, but there was something incredibly alarming about this blue tiger, and Connor didn't like it.  The first pass the tiger made at him, Connor tried to shove his gun down its throat, so it was understandable that it didn't kill him in that shot, but one swipe of those frying pan sized paws knocked his left leg right out from under him and turned the entire limb into a ball of hot, rushing fire.  That had been claws, and the muscles utterly failed him immediately after.  He was on the ground again, and though he still had the gun, the tiger was stalking towards him.  When he fired, it dodged to the side, watching him carefully.

Ladies, this would be an awesome time, he silently prayed, laying in a slowly growing pool of his own blood.  He didn't think he was going to bleed out in the next few minutes, not from that wound, but it wasn't like it mattered.  That blue tiger was a few seconds away from eating him.  At least Midnight had smartened up and sent someone worth their paycheck after him this time.

The shot that rang through the cool night air caused Connor to flinch, mostly because he didn't expect it.  The tiger did more than flinch, yelling and shooting off to the side again, shedding the larger feline form in the same movement.  It didn't really matter, since the gunman already had the tiger man in their sights, firing a few more times in rapid succession until the man hit the ground and didn't get back up.  Connor could still see movement, but it was small struggles instead of threatening motions.  That had been a lot of bullets.

"Oh, God, tell me it's you, Sitara," Connor breathed from his spot on the ground, trying to get up and feeling his leg give out before he even made it.  He wasn't walking in on his own like this.

"I'll give you one better, Connor," he heard a smooth voice return, and the relieved smile that hit his face at that accompanied the arrival of Chase on the scene.  "You look like shit."

"Thanks, Chase, you look awesome," he responded, and he meant it as much as she had.  It was great to see her.  "Sitara?"

"Waiting to make sure the tiger stayed down.  She should be on her way."

"You both saw that, right?  He's blue?"

"Yes, he's blue," Chase agreed, glancing at at the immobile man.  Connor didn't know what the hell a blue tiger was, but Chase probably did and he'd guarantee that Katya would.  

"Great.  Since we're all on the same page, let's get inside.  If Cookie Monster is still alive over there, we need to take him in.

Between Sitara and Chase, the three of them reached the doors without incident, just in time for Tanya and Katya to arrive.  Connor offered the two of them one of his best 'I-just-got-my-shit-destroyed' smiles, and didn't object when Chase asked Tanya to join her, leaving him with Katya and Sitara.  He figured they were all set by then, since they had a crazy cat on hand and a cat lady to keep him under control, but Katya immediately objected to being near the tiger man, something Connor had never seen happen before.  Sitara jumped the situation before he had a chance to, prompting Katya to deal with the tiger, and Connor was okay with that.  

By the time they reached the assembly of hunters and trainers, Chase had returned to them, leaving Tanya in wait for when she was needed.  Connor trusted her judgment.  

It hurt his pride, but walking without Sitara's help was just too damn difficult at this point in time, and it took too long.  After Chase's insistence that they deal with Kimber before she got wind of what had happened to the tiger man, Sitara was unwilling to wait as long as was necessary for her best friend and guild leader to mosey on into the meeting.  Since they showed up to find Kimber with a gun drawn and staring Stavros down, Connor couldn't argue with her feelings on the matter.  

"Hey guys...did I miss something?" he called out, unsurprised when everyone in the room who hadn't noticed him entering turned to look.  Yeah, he looked like shit and he knew it, but he'd survived.  Chase had given him a vague idea what was going on while they walked.

He nodded to Shannon, then flicked his eyes back to Stavros and Kimber.  "Shannon, you have lead for the rest of the assembly, you know what you and Stav were planning.  Stavros, I need you to go to Katya, and don't do anything until I get there.  Kimber, let's chat in my office," he instructed, honestly hoping for a few minutes of healing before the shit hit the fan again.  Katya was with the cat-man, for obvious reasons, though Connor had been surprised that she both recognized and wasn't so certain of the tiger's response to her.  As far as Connor could see, the man was too badly damaged to do anything other than take comfort in her presence, but she made it clear that the last time they'd met up, 'X' had freaked out.  Connor wanted Stavros there with her in case it happened again, and he nodded to Chase a moment later; she'd be going with Stavros and Katya.  Sitara was staying with him and Kimber.  

He waited until they made it to his office and Sitara helped him sit down, automatically taking up a place standing by his side as though she were a tiny little bodyguard.  He glanced up at her for an instant before smirking some, then took in Kimber where she'd hesitated.  "Have a seat and tell me about the guy in the picture.  Chase knew you were going to go up there and try to get Stavros to throw down, so what's so important about the mystery man that you pissed Stav off over it?"

Yeah, he was subtle, but he'd almost died a few times already.  He figured the time for subtle was done.

[Kimber Smith]

 Unphased, Kimber holstered her weapon, giving Stavros a look that plainly said that she'd have liked to have seen him try her. She then turned her back on him and walked with a lazy pace towards the rest of the people, who were no doubt stunned. "Watch out, Erik, the cat lady is in the house," Kimber snapped as she strode by him, and she didn't do anything to lower her voice. She normally didn't have a problem with Katya, but right now she had a problem with anyone who would try and fuck up what she and Xavier had, and that bitch was at the top of the list for the moment. She shouldered past two blondes in the back, one of which she knew to be a trainee.

"Uh, excuse you," she snapped.

Kimber turned around and opened her mouth, the tone of her voice probably as hood as she got. "Man, sit the fuck down 'fore I slap your ass," she retorted. The girl sat, and Kimber set her jaw before she turned back towards the hall. She wasn't earning any points or making any friends, and right now, she didn't care. She didn't give a shit usually, but right now she didn't feel like making nice when there was a giant bull's eye on Xavier.

As she came into Connor's office, she damn well didn't sit, but instead went to lean on the back of the chair with her elbows, tilting her posture to arch her back a little. She straightened her legs out as far as they would go, stretching her calf muscles. May as well get that done while she was being interrogated. "Well, if she saw that then she can fill the blanks in for you, can't she?" she asked, her brows perked. She didn't really feel the need to explain her relationship with Xavier to anyone, and she wasn't feeling particularly like having show and tell at the moment. When he met her with a stare that said that he wasn't going to give up so easily, she rolled her eyes. "He's my version of Capri, except less mental, and right now he's in a shitload of trouble, so if you don't mind, I need to go do that."

She wasn't about to tell him that Xavier was a Maltese tiger. God only knew who actually had an idea of their mystic properties. They were the rarest of the Mistari, and ones that had magic ability that none of the others did - even the Therrayans had little to no text. She couldn't trust Connor not to open his mouth - and to be fair, she'd expect him to, but not because he was a gossip. It was more because it was useful information to the guilds, to the Therrayans - hell, even to other shapeshifters. But that information was not Kimber's to tell, so fuck him.

Kimber didn't say it, but it was very plainly obvious that if something happened to him, she'd take Thomas and Xander and they'd go do some bad, bad things. And if they wouldn't go with her, she'd do it herself, but suffice to say, she'd fucking kill someone's family if the situation presented itself and she felt like it might make her feel better. Kimber didn't discriminate.

[Katya]

Honestly, Katya did not want to be a part of this. At all. When she'd gotten the call, she was sitting with Anya on her lap while she, Tanya and Sasha had an early lunch in their country home in rural France. They were roughly 7 or 8 hours ahead of New York, not that it mattered, but it was already a lovely spring afternoon there, while the city seemed to be worse for wear. As she dabbed the corner of her mouth with her napkin, she flicked her eyes up to Sasha.

"I need to take Tanyushka with me," she said in perfectly formed Russian.

Sasha rolled her eyes. "What for? I'm going to be bored," she whined. When Katya held Anya out to her, Sasha held her hands up. "Oh, no," she snarled. "I am not your babysitter."

"But why do I need to go?" the youngest asked, unable to hide her concern. She'd only just left! She'd gone to see Capricia and then she'd come back. She was looking forward to relaxing.

Katya shrugged. She finally forced Sasha to take the baby, and scratched the tip of her nose with the side of her index finger, her blue eyes dancing from Tanya to Sasha. "Don't know. Something about animal control. Come on, let's go now," she said. She motioned with her fingers for Tanya to move, and then waved to Sasha. "Don't set the house on fire," she warned. Then, she and the other 'twin' were gone, leaving Sasha and the baby alone in the airy breakfast nook.

When they arrived, Tanya had immediately been lead away by Chase, because Chase insisted that her presence would be integral in a few moments. Katya, meanwhile, greeted Sitara and Connor outside. Her breath frosted in the air around her, and it was sort of funny to know that she was breathing, but it went unnoticed. "What do you need? Oh, god," she hissed, seeing the body in the snow. It was him. She backed away instantly, holding her finger up to Connor.

"I can't be near this man," she protested. "He'll go berserk! He reacts incredibly bad to my power; it would be like torturing him!"

"I don't think we have time to debate this," Sitara warned. "I filled him full of holes because he rushed the guild house. We don't know why, but we're going to find out very shortly," she added. She hadn't felt bad, per se, for shooting him, but at the same time, it was odd as to why ONE of Midnight's contracted killers would be there, and not hundreds. Didn't make sense.

Katya picked him up after she realized how heavily he was bleeding, and took him into the infirmary as quickly as she could move. She was careful to avoid the crowds gathering in various areas, and set him down on one of the beds, trying to find a rag to sop up some of the blood. His clothing was black - sensible. He must have known he'd get dirty.

[Connor Batten]

No, Connor wasn't playing around with Kimber on the issue of this discussion, and he had the grace not to scoff at her when she called Capri mental.  After the blue bastard tried to eat him, and obviously worked for Midnight, she was going to give him shit?

"Kimber, Midnight is on the attack.  I was hit three times between going back to get some things from home and getting here, the last time by your Cookie Monster.  I'm sitting in a puddle of blood right now because my leg is still bleeding, and my uncle the surgeon is still missing in action.  I need a little more than 'he's my version of capri, only less mental', because he's looking pretty damn mental from my point of view," he told her, voice surprisingly calm for all that.  So, he had the grace not to yell, but he still said it.  Sue him.

"You're right, though, he's in a shitload of trouble," he continued, sighing and rubbing a bloodied hand through his hair.  There was so much blood on him by this point that it just didn't matter if he rubbed it all through his hair.  He'd taken a hell of a beating, and the night wasn't even over.  "I need to know what side you're on here, Kimber.  I don't like doubting my people, and I will work with your needs, but we need some kind of meeting in the middle here.  Your boyfriend came really close to splattering me across the pavement permanently, so I'm not in any huge rush to help him out.  He said that he couldn't go home empty-handed on two cases tonight, does that mean anything to you?"

As far as Connor could tell, it sounded like someone else had escaped the tiger man that night, and he wanted to know who.  Given his own experiences, he was expecting that someone to be lying in a pool of blood somewhere.  If so, they needed to find them and help.

[Kimber Smith]

Kimber straightened back up, uncharacteristically looking more frazzled than she usually did. She tipped her head back and ran her fingers through her long brown hair, and then plopped down in the chair, sitting so that her legs were spread. She doubled over for a second, groaning. "Fuck!" she exploded, sitting back up so suddenly that it made the chair tip back and fall with a thump. "Fuck, fuck, fuck!" she hissed. She looked like someone who wanted answers and didn't have any, and she didn't fucking like it one bit.

"As far as I knew, he had shit going on halfway across the city. I don't know why he was here, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say they've got good ideas about where all of us are at any given point in time right now, and I don't know how. All I know is, when I left his apartment with Erik and his sister tonight, I told him not to come anywhere near the guild. He was going to bring me here himself and leave, but I said 'No, that's a bad idea', and I thought we'd left it at that." She heaved a sigh, shaking her head and looking at the wall to her right.

She looked back at Connor. "He followed us, I guess, because he didn't want us to get sacked on the way in. I didn't know he was going to try and pick a fight with you. Best I can figure, he knew it would cause enough of a distraction not to get any suspicion on him. I don't think he anticipated being held here, but if that's the case, he can't do anymore damage, and it's a good enough excuse for him to drop off the grid for a few hours. I don't know, Connor, I really don't." She didn't make any effort to apologize on Xavier's behalf, because it wasn't her fucking job to do that. "At least he's here, where I can babysit his ass," she added with a scowl. "Can't do any more than he's already done, but I will tell you this, if I don't get in there and see him, he's going to go buck wild. You think you've seen the brunt of it, and I assure you, you haven't. Whether that means anything to you or not, fine, whatever, but I need to go see him, now. You put Katya on detail with him, and that was the fucking stupidest idea I think you've ever had, short of gluing your phone back together. He hates her, and she makes his inner cat go all crazy, which isn't going to help calm him down any. At least, I don't think it is. I can guess by Sitara's presence she got him pretty good," she added with a wry smile.

She stood back up. "If that's everything, I need to go." And it was odd that her choice of words wasn't 'I want to go' or 'I should go' - no, when it came to Xavier, it was 'need'. It was stupidly obvious that she was greatly effected by what was going on. "I'll stay out of everyone's way, but I need to be with him right now until I can get this sorted out. If you don't want to clear me for it, that's fine, and I'll collect my cat and we'll walk out the door and we won't bother you any more." This time she did speak for him, because she was in twice as much trouble because of his little stunt.

"Let me be perfectly clear when I say that I can't control what he does, I can only try to be the thing in between that buffers his impact. If they hadn't had his fucking pictures and information on parade, I'd have been outside because I'd have known he was here and that shit wouldn't have happened at all." She paused. "The other target was me, Connor, and that shit just ain't gonna happen. He'll pick the fight with anyone else, but it won't be with me. If Midnight doesn't know about us, then all they know is that he had me and he lost me. I didn't talk to him after we parted ways, so I don't know."

[Xavier Rush]

He'd been stupid and arrogant, taking on a guild leader with no back-up in the area, but seeing the man had completely put his concerns to rest.  Of course, he was thinking shortly into the fight that he'd gotten bad information, especially when the hunter got up from that bike wreck.  That alone should have made the human an easy target, but Batten got up and fought afterwards, and fought well.  The skill wasn't a surprise at all, not given the small man's position in Crimson, but the strength was.  This man wasn't human.  Xavier knew Batten wasn't a shapeshifter from his scent alone, and he was human enough that it was clear he wasn't a vampire.  Witch blood didn't transfer to former humans (other than triste, but there was no doubt in Xavier's mind that Batten wasn't a triste), so that didn't leave many options.  Either he'd bonded a damn good elemental somehow, or he was bonded to something else.  A vampire?

It was something, whether Xavier could pin it down or not, and it wasn't a nice surprise.

Even so, he gained the upper hand over the guild leader, and he had every intention of killing the man.  Batten had fought well, but he was the weaker and Xavier was going to be using the man's death as an excuse for not getting Kimber, warn her that there was a hit that was actively being handed out (if he didn't get her, Ember was definitely going to try), and return to Midnight so that he could appeal to Verity for Kimber's freedom and life.  After everything that he'd been and done, he thought he deserved that one freebie, even if it meant that he was drafted back into full employment again.  He'd do that for her.

It was odd, realizing that he cared enough about a person that he'd go back to Midnight full-time again.  He'd never hated it, not with the way he'd been raised into it, but he'd grown more independent over time.  The more freedom he was allowed, the more he'd wanted, until he could actually pass in normal society on a regular basis.  When he'd first been allowed out, that hadn't been the case, and there was certainly a chance that his social skills would suffer if he was back to being Verity's attack cat.  He'd taken the chance to get out when it was offered because he wasn't so sure he'd ever get the offer again.  If he went back, he didn't really think he'd be released again, especially with all that was happening.

That was if he went back.  All of his concerns about Midnight seemed unnecessary when the bullets started raining on him, and even shifting back to his human form, smaller and easier to miss, helped him at all.  It was a sniper, and not a shitty one.  What amazed him most was that there was no kill shot, though.

He heard voices nearby, women and the guild leader, but he couldn't drag himself up enough to do anything; even if he couldn't attack, he wanted to get away so that he could heal up.  He needed to escape before someone walked over and took the chance to kill him, but when someone approached, it was even worse than all that.  It was her.

Even before she reached him, he could feel the warmth of her presence approaching him, and he still couldn't pick himself up to get away.  He didn't want to succumb to her power, didn't want to adore her and be hers.  He'd been a possession for so long, he wasn't going to be that for someone else ever again, but Katya's very presence demanded it of him.  He was hers, and all he had to do was let her have him.  Before, he'd fought, and even after he'd shifted, he'd been strong enough that he'd fought it that long.  Tonight, he didn't think he could fight it.

In fact, he tried to tell her 'no', anything to keep her from touching him, but she either didn't hear or didn't care.  A second later, she picked him up and her power washed over and around him like he'd been dropped into an ocean of it.  He gasped, eyes golden and wild, but he must have passed out a moment later because the next thing he remembered was a white ceiling.  He could still feel her presence and her touch, soothing and pressing at him, wanting and calling him, almost like it needed him to agree before it could truly weave itself into his being.  It was far enough in already due to his weakness that he didn't see the point, but with each new wave of Katya's power as she tried to stop his bleeding, he felt his resolve weakening further.  There wasn't the physical battle from before, no freaking out or shifting, just a quiet, slow loss on his part.  He'd have preferred to lay there and bleed.

"Why are you doing this?"

[Katya]

 Katya was thanking Theron that Xavier wasn't going apeshit while she tended to his wounds. He was healing on his own, and she used her power to keep him calm so that his body could mend more efficiently, but that didn't mean fuck all where he was concerned, and she knew it. As far as he felt, and she could tell, he'd rather have been left out on the frozen earth to bleed out. Katya wouldn't let that happen, though. Knowing that someone cared for this beast was enough for her to do whatever it took to see that he could heal, if nothing more than had the situation been reversed, she'd have hoped someone would do the same for her. Of course, with her two siblings close by and a sire who practically had his own line, she didn't have too much to worry about there. As she got a fresh, wet cloth and continued soaking up the blood and working bandages, she heard him talking. What he said made her roll her eyes, a reaction she couldn't entirely help.

"Believe me, I'd rather be anywhere else, but you're pretty bad off. Can't you just lay there and be calm? she demanded, a brow perked as she secured the gauze with some surgical tape. "Honestly, I'm only using my ability to make sure you maintain a level of sedation so that you can heal. I'm not trying to control you, and I'm certainly not going to attack you. Furthermore, I am all that stands between you and the rest of a very, very angry wasp's nest right now, so if you could just...?" she trailed off, hoping he got the hint. Basically, shut up woman, get on my horse.

She glanced up as her younger sister came into the room. "Where's Kimber?" she asked. She felt Xavier's blood pressure go up, and put her hand on his arm, giving him a small squeeze. "Shush," she murmured.

Tanya shrugged a little, tossing back her long brown hair and trailing her finger across a silvery cold table used for medical instruments. "In Connor's office. I think she's in trouble," she said, clicking her tongue a little in dismay. She glanced back up to Xavier, who had squirmed so he could see her. "Is that her cat?" she asked, mildly interested. She approached him, putting her hands on the railing of the bed to get a better look.

"Hm. Isn't her partner a cat, also?" she asked, an amused look on her youthful features. "Makes about as much sense as Marius and you," she offered with a laugh.

"You shush, too," Katya said, having little in the way of patience for her sister. Marius was a touchy subject. Katya, as a rule, didn't involve herself with people, and since Marius was her only fledgling, it made her a little wary of the growing closeness between them. In the scheme of things, he was her best option - she certainly could never be with a cat, no more than could Tatyana a wolf or Aleksandra a snake. It would be a lie.

"There," she said, giving Xavier a light pat on the cheek. "You're wrapped. The bullets either went through or pushed themselves out as you began to heal, so there's nothing for me to dig out. Seems you're quite resistant to damage, even though it probably doesn't feel like it. The good thing is that I don't need to anesthetize you - my power does it for me. Just accept it, and we can move on. I could load you up with tranquilizers, but I doubt very much you'd like the after-affects they have."

She glanced up as the door opened again, and swore that if it wasn't Connor or Kimber she'd throw one of those trays at whoever was going to muck this up worse than it already was.

[Connor Batten]

Well, at least Kimber was talking.  Connor glanced up at Sitara beside him as Kimber explained what she knew about the situation, and it made sense, so he didn't interrupt.  He waited until she'd said her piece, giving her that opportunity while he leaned back in his chair and just tried to soak up the chance at resting that he had.  The only time he really considered interrupting had been when she mentioned his phone, and even Sitara smiled over that.  The little sniper beside him also inclined her head when Kimber mentioned her, though Connor wasn't sure if it was apology, acknowledgment or thanks for the respect, but it might have been some mix of the above that he wasn't paying enough attention to pick out.  It didn't much matter.

"At least this is a start.  Listen, I'm not going to try to keep you from him, so if we're in agreement, I'm not letting him leave here.  He's not allowed to be armed, he stays put and he heals.  I'll make sure that he's left alone as long as he doesn't try anything," he offered.  He had way too many things to worry about, so he wasn't going to let these two just waltz out the doors if there was an alternative.  Kimber was one of his, so he'd support her as much as he could, and Xavier was dangerous.  Sending him back to his people was a bad idea.

What he didn't understand was the mention of Katya.  He'd never heard of a cat that didn't agree with her, but she'd objected, as well.  What could cause that in her?  Every cat he'd ever seen turned into a pile of cuddly goo as soon as she showed up, and everyone was suggesting that the big blue monster freaked out.  Why?  "The phone was a good idea," he threw in, reaching in with his least damaged arm to drag the battered thing out of his pocket.  The duct tape was torn here and there, but it still seemed to be operable.  He was going to have to get a new one soon, but if he did, he had the feeling it'd be one after the other.  Keeping this one was okay for the time being.  "So, I'm hoping this isn't a horrible one, either.  Sitara did get him good and I don't think he's in any shape to be freaking out, but we'll get over there as soon as we're done here to make sure that Katya is offering comfort instead of making him crazy, okay?

"I'll clear you to be in there with him as long as you agree to go in unarmed.  He's dangerous enough without putting a gun in his hand.  Oh, and stop pissing Stavros off, or it's going to take more than me telling him to chill to keep him off your ass.  Deal?" he asked, smiling at the bit about Stav.  Personally, the trainer didn't scare him, even though he knew the man was a badass.  He'd deal with him, and keep him away from Xavier unless the blue bastard went aggro again.  

[Kimber Smith]

 "Oh, no, I'm fine with him being right where he is. They can't get him here, and nobody else is stupid enough to try," she said, and she hoped it was true. She headed for the door, turning her head to them. "Thanks for not shooting him in the head. I guess it's kind of obvious he belonged to someone," she said with another wry smile. "I'll stay clear of Stav, but I doubt he'll forget this any time soon." The door closed behind her, and then opened again suddenly.

"Also, it's a stupid idea."

And she was running down the hall. She sprinted to the infirmary, but she had to cut through the main room to do it the fastest. She watched as Erik watched her go by, holding his hands up in a "WTF" sort of gesture. She literally threw her hand down at him as if to say she'd explain later, and by the time she'd reached the medical area, she felt like she was about to combust from all of the unnecessary excitement and drama. She opened the door, and felt suddenly as though she'd been hit with a warm wave of what-the-fuck.

Tanya was staring at her in an interested way, and Kimber just... stopped her rush. Sure, she could see Xavier in the background, but Tanya was what she was focusing on. It made her stomach twist in a painful way as her inner wolf begged to be let out so she could receive praise and belly rubbing, and that was not okay with Kimber, not one bit. She gripped the door so hard that she slid down to her backside, knees folding up as they drew to her chest.

"Oh, what the fuck," she breathed. She ground her teeth together in a loud and uncomfortable manner, obviously pushing back against Tanya's rather natural aura, for the vampire wasn't DOING anything, and suddenly Xavier's complaints had become quite clear. Fucking vampires and their stupid fucking powers.

"Xavier?" she said, her voice weak. She felt like she would puke, just from the downward pressure of Tanya's aura bearing on her lupine soul.

[Xavier Rush]

Katya didn't understand, he got that finally, but it didn't help his situation any.  She didn't know what her power did, what it was trying to do, and he frankly didn't know how other cats could deal with it.  Her power made them hers for as long as she was there, and if he'd known Darren, he'd have known that her power made a cat hers for forever.  Darren, even when Katya wasn't around, would openly admit that he adored her.  He thought she was beautiful and amazing, and he wouldn't pretend otherwise.  He didn't even try.

Xavier wasn't that kind of cat, wasn't the sort to accept belonging to her like that because honestly?  He didn't really think he had that level of love inside of him.  He didn't know how to adore someone and the closest he got was to Verity.  He loved her as much as he could love anyone, having been with her since he could really remember, and then there was Kimber, who he would make stupid decisions for and risk his life, but this was different.  This was overwhelming, it was blind adoration, and it was not part of him.

It was seeping into him, though.  With his weakness and his inability to fight the natural aura of power that spilled out from her, especially with the skin contact this entire time, it was like drowning.  It was also like drowning in that the deeper he fell, the more desperate for air he became until his body finally gave into the instinct to breathe.  He held back until Kimber's sudden explosion into the room, and then his concentration broke and his eyes went wide, then heavy-lidded with the sudden wave of calm that very nearly put him under.  His earlier complaints felt more distant even than Kimber's weak call of his name, and though his eyes turned slowly in her direction, there was a glaze to them that was unlike him.

He would have preferred the after-effects of actual sedatives to this.

[Sitara Rashana]

Sitara had remained silent as Kimber and Connor discussed the cat, keeping her two cents out of the mix and merely inclining her head when Kimber had said that her presence likely indicated that Xavier was down for awhile.  On a personal level, Sitara had chosen not to plug Xavier in the head for a number of reasons; because he was behaving irrationally for an obviously cold, calculating hunter (which meant he had to have a reason and likely belonged to someone), and because he was a blue tiger (which she knew without a doubt was rare).  On a professional level, she knew that she should have blown his head up like a watermelon and she wanted an armed guard in his room to make sure that she didn't regret not doing it.  Because the two opinions differed, she was content keeping her mouth shut and letting Connor do his job while she did hers (she'd always been good at taking up a position behind him and simply supporting even his most asinine moves).

Once Kimber had taken her leave, Sitara stepped up and glanced down at Connor, obviously worried over his condition and the state of affairs the guilds were currently in.  "Connor?"

"We have a lot of work to do, but I'm worried about Kimber with that cat.  Follow her, make sure nothing crazy goes down, and as long as everything is calm, I'll meet you in the assembly area," he instructed.

"Are you sure you can walk on your own?" she asked, one delicate eyebrow perking up with the question.  Frankly, she doubted it.

"I keep a set of crutches and a cane in here just for such occasions," he offered with a grin, glancing up at her like he wasn't bleeding all over the place.

"You'll go to the infirmary yourself soon?"

"Of course.  Go, I'll see you in a few."

With a nod, she swept out of the room, headed after Kimber at what was fortunately a pretty quick pace for her small frame.  She'd slipped through the crowd in the assembly room in Kimber's wake, eyes focused entirely on her goal even as she heard an attempt or two at snagging her attention, and she hit the infirmary just a short moment or so after Kimber.  Even so, the door had a weight pressed against it that required Sitara to push at it to open it (not locked, which was odd), and the confusion over that was cleared up as soon as she'd made enough space to slip her petite frame into the room; Kimber was sitting on the floor against the door, staring up at Tanya like the vampire was causing her some kind of internal pain.  Given what had already been said about Xavier and Katya, knowing that Kimber was a wolf and that Tanya's power was with that brand of animal, it didn't take a rocket scientist to know what was happening.

"Tanya, I think it would be best if you found some distance," the little Indian woman suggested, dropping to one knee beside Kimber and staring up at the vampire that was watching the situation with such interest.  She saw the woman exchange a glance with her sister, as though uncertain if it was safe, and Sitara continued, "Katya seems to have the situation under control."

There was another look, this time including Xavier (who looked strangely like someone had dosed him with the 'good shit'), and Tanya finally nodded.  "Just a thought, Katyusha, and I'll be here."

She took her leave immediately, and Sitara released a long sigh of relief.  That was one problem solved surprisingly easily.  "Kimber?  Are you okay?"

[Katya]

Katya frowned as Sitara sent Tanya away. She glanced sidelong at Xavier, wondering if he'd be okay physically without her. A quick scan of his thoughts told her that he'd be better off, and she followed after her brunette counterpart. "Right behind you, sister," she said. She crossed the room in but a few long strides, and closed the door softly behind her.

Once outside and walking down the hall, Katya glanced at her phone with her bright blue eyes, looking rather annoyed. "You know, in the midst of all of this, I had assumed that I'd be more.. necessary somewhere," she observed. She heard a ringing sound that wasn't coming from her own phone, and glanced at her sister. "Is that you?"

She knew that Tanya spoke often to a member of the NYPD SWAT unit, a man named Nikolai - who did not lack for name quality, she thought with a grin - and she wondered for a moment if he was calling her. It suddenly dawned on her that she had heard nothing about the police department, and weren't two of the people involved in this police? Katherine and Gabriel, yes? Had the police department even been warned?

"I think that is you," she said, pausing so Tanya could dig her phone out of her bag.

[Kimber Smith]

No, Kimber was clearly not okay. She was huddled against the wall, trying to decide if she were going to rip the woman's face off or bow before her feet. Sitara had done her a big favour by telling the girl to GTFO, and she was glad Katya decided to go with her.

"Thank fuck," she finally breathed, still rooted to the floor. She'd be there for a few more minutes, at least. Her legs were shaking so badly her knees were knocking together, so she had to adjust the way she was positioned, folding her limbs down until she was Indian-style on the ground. She leaned forward to center herself, taking a few deep breaths of the stale infirmary air.

She looked up after a few more seconds, watching Sitara watch her. If the woman was amused, she did a good job of remaining professionally neutral throughout the entire ordeal, which was good. Kimber wasn't particularly in the mood to be taunted. She'd already pulled a gun on Stavros Arun, and that was something people only did once.

"So, how's your day?" she finally asked. She straightened her legs out, and then rolled to her side, pushing herself off of the ground with her hands. It was the laziest, most cat-like thing that anyone in the history of standing up had ever done, and Kimber didn't care. She was worn out. No sleep, too much commotion, random vampire power abuse... She wanted to go back to bed and pretend this wasn't happening.

"Shit, where's Erik?" she piped in the middle of whatever Sitara was saying. Yeah, way to keep up, Kimber.

[Sitara Rashana]

Sitara nodded her thanks when the two vampire ladies took their leave, truly sorry to have to send them off because she did like them both, but with Kimber reacting like this, Tanya's presence obviously wasn't helping matters.  Since Xavier seemed well-sedated, she couldn't really argue with Katya if she'd have wanted to stay, but Tanya was just upsetting the situation by being in the same room, so if they both had to go elsewhere, that was fine.  

Kimber seemed to instantly feel better once Tanya had left, and Sitara smiled a little just to see that it had worked (one crisis averted), though it looked like it was going to take a few minutes until the huntress felt entirely herself.  Being human, Sitara didn't really understand the way shifters felt that sort of power, but she'd seen Kimber's style of reaction now and Darren's; the difference was pretty extreme and made her worry who else might react badly.  From the sound of things, the blue tiger that she'd pumped full of holes was one of them, but she hadn't seen that for herself, yet.

One thing was certain, though, Sitara didn't think this was funny.  She was willing to be pleased that little things went their way, but seeing people she knew and respected in any sort of distress wasn't an ideal situation.  She'd found Darren's adoration for Katya to be kind of cute because it appeared to put him into a lazy, pleasant mood, but this upset Kimber, and that wasn't amusing in the least.  The fact that she'd walked into the assembly to see Kimber with a gun trained on Stavros Arun didn't hurt her ability to be mild in any reaction that might upset the girl, but if there was someone to send after anyone who was upset, Sitara was one of the top choices.  The only thing working against her here was that she had shot Xavier up and put him in that bed, but Kimber seemed to understand the necessity.

How was her day?  The sad thing was that it was supposed to be a dark sort of joke, but Sitara had a legitimate answer to it.  "I just found out that my best friend is alive.  It's looking up," she said softly, smiling just a little.  Yeah, the situation was BAD all around, but she could appreciate the little (and in this case, not-so-little) victories.  Connor being alive was a huge relief for her, and from this point forward, she intended to stay close enough that she could ensure he stayed that way.  Since nobody had known where he was until he showed up in front of the guildhouse (and since he'd been under attack when he did), she knew that it could have been much worse.  Everything else still sucked, but one step at a time.

Kimber's sudden concern for Erik could have been because of the friend comment, but Sitara didn't quite understand where it had come from.  "He was in the assembly last I saw him, I passed him when I followed you.  What's wrong?"