Ambush

Location | Shore of Ashes; North part of Southside
Date | 15th of July 2022
Time | Midday
Weather | Warm
Attire | Victoria | Landon | Scorpio | Francis
Topic for | @Linus and who else of our serpents who wants to join in - or Coyotes of course ~
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It had started out with an almost innocent text from Scorpio, to meet him at the Shore of Ashes, odd place for a meeting. But Landon hadn't thought too much about it when he had told Victoria that Scorpio needed their help with something, so of course the three had headed towards the shore on their bikes.  It so turned out when they got there that there was no Scorpio, only a set of cops aiming at them yelling for them to get on the ground.

Scorpio however, had many explanations for this. None of them any would like, he could be very thankful for the fact that Imogen had been able to track and trace him and get him free, he was beaten mostly a couple of broken bones, completely lacking of fire as they had contained him in water. It had been Elijah's idea really, pissed at what had happened around with the serpents and wanted to prove to them that they weren't to be messed with. They wouldn't allow it, Helio wasn't even in Southside, out making deals with other devils and the like. Scorpio almost fell in on the floor once him and Imogen got inside, a pained groan left him. "Where is Victoria, Landon and Kennedy?" His hoarse voice broke through the silence, he was hungry, tired and in desperate need of some heat. "Fucking Coyotes," he cursed a little. "They set them up, can you track my phone? Find out where they are?" he asked Imogen once he was finally sitting upright again. There was no time to waste really. Francis came downstairs looking at the scene, with eyes demanding to know what had happened.

Linus was taking a sip of his whiskey as he smelled it; what the—he moved away from the bar that he was tending now that Victoria had decided to see what Scorpio was up to.
But before he could step outside, Scorpio came in, hanging over Imogen, that looked like she was about to break under the pressure of holding him up.
“What the fuck” he said under his breath; “what do you mean fucking Coyotes? They are out meeting you at the Shore of Ashes because you told—Fuck” he turned around and kicked a chair standing closet to him, it broke, and he cursed once more. Imogen flinched, not really happy with the situation, helping Scorpio over to a booth where he could sit down. “I need a laptop”, Imogen said and turned to look at Linus and Francis “Now, did I fucking stutter?” her voice roared as she looked from one to the other, “Why do you need a laptop, we know where they are at, we don’t have time to waste” Linus argued, but one of the other Serpents came running with a laptop and Imogen sat down, and hissed, this was almost an ancient model, why couldn’t thieves sometimes at least steal something worthwhile?
“Then go; I’ll keep you updated when I have a visual of what is going down,” she said while she started typing over the keyboard with lightning-fast fingers. “You are not going anywhere” even though she didn’t look up, it was clearly directed toward the boy sitting across from her, trying not to bleed out in the process. Linus nodded and ran toward the cars, wanting to get there as fast as possible.

“So, guys, I think this might have been a trap”, Kennedy said as she killed the engine on her bike, feeling how her chest was heaving in light panic, not that she should be afraid; she would get out of this no problem, no, she was scared that her luck would mean that Victoria and Landon would be taken in.

Scorpio wanted to say more but he still had trouble even put his thoughts together on what had happened, other than the shadow demon's annoying tricks, then with a little convincing from Ares of course it had been a power battle of will between the three of them - Scorpio had known if he hadn't at least tried they would likely have taken him down all together - or at least got a chance of trying. He understood why his father was frustrated, and he was also right - there was no time to waste. Finding comfort in finally sitting down, even if he felt far from his best.

Francis was more than ready to just get going, watching the other serpent member come with one. Even if he was a careful planner when it came to making the best heists and everything in between, he had never been one to follow a plan when it came to situations like this unless it had been something where he wasn't needed as soon as possible, even if he could make a good enough plan or two as they drove there - they didn't know the scene. He knew this. But he also knew police and them, if he knew The coyotes right enough at this point, they had planted something near the three to make sure they would get taken in or worse. Francis took one of the other cars, wanting to make sure they hit the area from different sides, causing a possible distraction.

Scorpio just kept sitting still, "the only place I'm going is to neverland," he mumbled a little bit underneath his breath, tired, "can someone please get me a lighter or a bloody candle," he mumbled a bit more in a low growl. He needed some fire power. "Can you see anything?" He wondered knowing better than to rush Imogen, but well he was out of patience at this given moment.

Victoria raised a brow, lifting her hands up as the guns aimed at them. "You don't say," she took a sharper breath in feeling her heart skip a beat. "Just do what they say, don't give them a reason to open fire," she tried to convince perhaps Landon, maybe herself not to do anything stupid, just hearing the cops yelling at them to get on their knees from what felt like all parts of the circle they seemed to have folded around them. Completely surrounding them. Landon didn't like this either far from, but lifted his hands up more the less. But she also knew that sometimes the police didn't really treat other's fair, the main reason it had her worried, sure if the three of them had piercing blue eyes, fair skin and dirty blond hair - would they even be aiming at them in this moment? No, not like this. Victoria was tempted as her knees slowly made it to the ground to cause an earthquake or make a wall of soil to protect them, yet knowing any unwanted movement could cause a firing. Of course it was neither Landon or Victoria's first run in with the police they had just never been taking in like this before, and she hoped today wasn't going to be the day either - but as the cops walked closer she began to realize her chances perhaps were slim. Then also realizing this weren't normal police it was from the department that was connected to the patience that got locked up in Eichien House.

The lighter and candle were produced for Scorpio the moment he called out for it; it was clear no one dared to say anything as Imogen started looking through the footage—“Yeah, they are at Shore of Ashes, surrounded by what looks like people from the Eichien House, this doesn’t look good, what the hell has Helio been up to” she hissed, not wanting to admit she knew the man better than some might think, they had a daughter together, after all, a daughter that thought Imogen’s own sister was her mother, and not her. One day the truth would come out, but just not today.
“I’ll see what I can do, but there isn’t much I can do from here”, she cursed as she connected her phone to the laptop and then found her wireless headphone so she could talk with Linus while she was trying to do as much as she could from this end.

“Yeah, I say so”, she hissed, not liking this one bit; she could feel how her hands started to get clammy; there was no way she was going to be taken like this. Maybe it was finally time for her to conquer this fear and let her friends know just how powerful she was. “When I say go, you two get to cover, okay?” she said, letting her eyes trail over the raised guns—the usual happy and cheery Kennedy was gone, and Fang had taken over. “Now” she told them and took a step closer; even though the men shouted not to move, she just walked—one man stepped forward, raising a baton to hit her, but she stepped aside, grabbing his wrist and managed to twist it around, so it snapped. Another had come behind her and wanted to fire his gun, but the mechanism jammed and with a stunned look, he inspected the gun, but while the man she had just broken the wrist on screamed on the ground, she spun around and took the weapon turned it around and, in her hands, it suddenly worked perfectly—a bullet through the brain, and the person sank to the ground. With a displeased look, she dried off the blood, turned and killed the screaming man by her feet.

Linus was flooring it, twisting through the streets at a speed that almost made it impossible to predict if he was going to crash or not—but he managed to stay on the road and swing by passing traffic without so much as getting a scratch on the car.

"What the fuck" Imogen blinked and then turned the screen so Scorpio could see what the hell was going down at the pier "did you know Kennedy could do that?"

Truth to be told, Scorpio needed way more fire than just this, but he could easily make his own fire power once he got it kick started. So, he moved his hand to the lighter to turn it, with the idea of lighting the candle, but as he listened to Imogen he just moved the lighter to light his other arm on fire, picking up a small hobby knife and cut up his skin - letting the flames peel the rest of the skin so flames rose from the blood, his demon shape begging to come out and play. He let out a sigh, "it's not Helio, he is out of town. Elijah likes to play rough," he snarled a little bit of the shadow demon's smug smile, Elijah was playing with fire.

Victoria narrowed her eyes a little bit by Kennedy's words, and Landon blinked most confused really, "wh-" he was about to say something when the now sounded, and Victoria created a wall of soil to cover her and Landon up, then hearing the shooting starting. "Wotcher doin' we can't just sit 'ere and do nothing?" He mumbled clearly worried about Kennedy, even if it was only the police who shouted out in pain. Victoria could smell the blood, watching the rest just rush to rather the girl who attacked, not paying much attention to Landon and Victoria, not till Victoria at least noticed how they tried to sneak up behind Kennedy to fire some sort of arrows to sedate her, first then the ground underneath them turned to quicksand, making them sink faster as they panicked.  Their panic managed to get them firing around like crazy, which in luck for Kennedy wasn't in her direction.

Scorpio watched on the screen as Imogen turned it towards him. "No, but it doesn't surprise me," he mumbled a little bit with a small sigh, having his arm burn up was kicking up his natural healing and he did really need that.  "We are all capable of insane things when pushed into a corner -- what the heck is happening now," he mumbled in a lower curse moving closer to the screen as the shooting started.

Imogen shook her head; she didn’t know what was going on if she was being honest; everything was seemingly turning into a bloodbath, and the three of them weren’t going down without a fight, so much was sure. “I have no idea; let me start figuring out why they even want them in”, she mumbled, pulling the laptop back to her, and started typing faster than she did before, snarling a little because of how slow it went instead of when she was normally on her own computers. But she could manage; truth be told, Imogen could work her magic with anything that had the connection to go online, it was just a matter of how fast it would go.

Kennedy managed to turn her head around as she heard something behind her; her eyes were shining in a blue silver, her dragon features starting to show as her skin seemed almost vibrant as scale-like features began to form over the usually dark tinned skin.
With a huff, she set off, using the sinking bodies to jump from, until she managed to get over to the people that were standing on the other side, all of them seeming to be so surprised and in awe with how the woman had managed to jump from screaming man until her feet were planted safely just in front of them, that they forgot to fire their guns.

Kennedy wiped the last blood off her face, which only made it worse “They are all down; you can come out now”, she shouted, just in time for a car to park not far from them. Linus got out with his gun in his hand, only to realise that there wasn’t much for him to do here. What on earth was going on here? “Is everyone all right?” she wanted to know as he walked over to the first dead police officer; well, this would be a mess to clean up.

Scorpio tried to think of what he had heard while being taken in by the Coyotes, which to be fair hadn't been easy to focus on while being there. Elijah had an evil touch that was for sure, and Scorpio was going to make him, Ares and Tamotsu pay very much once he saw them again, he didn't forget faces that easily. "Victoria once told us that both Ares and Helio are experts in getting into other people's head while sleeping, causing nightmares - maybe its not because of an actual job but rather an act on a fear from a nightmare they are afraid will be real," altered enough, fear could make people do the most stupid thing. After all he was a master in both horror and bliss, as well of illusions. And well if they couldn't hit them directly after the protection they had put up, then they could hit the area around them. "They might just be trying to show us what they are capable off, leaving us with the biggest mess to clean up now," he sat further back in his seat trying to let his mind wander into the minds of his enemies trying to pitch together what they were up to. "Can you get a look into the area of their little club, Fallen Phoenix Street - because they have gotten so fucking poetic," he could snarl at how annoyed he was at these demons, but he also knew now wasn't the time and the angrier he got, the stronger the flames became - knowing if he kept on going he would have to go outside not to burn anything down.

Landon knew it was dangerous whenever things like this happened and both him and Kennedy were at the scene. Her luck mixed with his jinx, it protected them both by a force of luck, which meant he had to really try his best to focus this negative and bad luck on the police people rather than his friend next to him that tried to shield him from the shots, but also knowing she wasn't as lucky as him or Kennedy. Victoria could easily smell the blood, it was such an intense scent forming in the area that she knew just what was going on. ...you can come out now, Victoria lowered the soil wall and exhaled turning to see Kennedy and the last steins of blood that refused to wiped easily away, Landon walked closer to Kennedy raising a brow at her if she was alright or not, while Victoria turned her head over her shoulder as she caught Linus' scent. A bullet had managed to trace her right arm, just gently ripping up a piece of flesh but nothing major. "I think so," she exhaled looking at the dead people, "what happened, where is Scorpio?" Victoria asked Linus hoping he knew just a little bit more than the three of them did.

The next question was, where was Francis? He had stopped further down when a group of coyotes thought it was a good idea to stand in front of his car and block his way. Which mostly had just ended with him being more or less clocked in their blood, because one should no better than to stand in his way - had he gotten a few hits himself? Of course, nothing he cared much about as he left the bodies, calling Orion - because if anyone could make someone disappear it would be him, everyone knew once Orion put his mind on something he could make things happen, and they could use some help covering this up. He hadn't even seen the final crime scene yet, but he knew already, and Francis knew if you missed his own capabilities and Orion's knowledge they could make the mess less of a mess easily. Finally he parked his car next to Linus' stepping out, having both Landon and Victoria press their brows together by why he looked like someone who had been over thrown with paint only it being blood. "This is one hell of a mess, I called Orion - he is on his way," he mumbled a little bit.

“So, you’re saying that these men have had a dream about these three being something horrible, and now they are going to kill them?” she widened her eyes and looked back up at Scorpio; her fingers found the necklace hanging against her chest bone. It wasn’t as if it was going to protect her from such attacks, but it was a small locket with a lock of Daphne and her hair, so if there were ever anything that would happen to her, people would know that she had a daughter.
“Okay, I’ll just make sure to erase what has been written about them in the files” then she went back to work, not that she was working on the database long before he asked if she could get a look into the area of the Coyotes club. “I can—” she stopped and chuckled as he commented on the street “very poetic,” she said with a smirk, then opened a new window and started hacking into the live feed. She watched as a beautiful dark-haired woman was pacing back and forth, yelling something in Spanish; she couldn’t quite make out what she said. “I think we have trouble in paradise”, she chuckled and turned so he could see; “at least she doesn’t look pleased with them”, she hummed.

Linus clicked his tongue and watched how Kennedy started walking around, picking up every gun and took out the ammunition.
“He was being held hostage by Elijah, they tortured him, he only just managed to get back—so this was a set-up from the start, hey Kennedy, are you all right?” it was first, then the shapeshifter looked up and straight into his eyes. He pulled in a deep breath and shook his head; “can you two get back on your own?” he wondered, before walking over and placing a hand on the now shaking woman, “I'll get you home, okay?” he whispered, Kennedy nodding and then without saying anything she followed him to the car where he placed her in the front seat—just at the same time as Francis pulled in and looked like a Van Gogh painting. “Pretty”, he said with a smirk and then nodded “yeah, you got that right, fucking hell” he shook his head and placed his hand against the back of his neck.

The Coyotes were desperate for some, of not any hold on the Serpents in their try to not fade away into nothing. It wasn't a good look on them, and despite wanting to actually wanting to go there and burn their entire world down. They would expect him to react fast - after all, he did do most thing in life with the impulsive instinct of being reckless. If it wasn't because there was so much more in this matter than just his own life, he just might have found the first car and crashed in their building to prove a point. He looked at the screen, clearly Ximena wasn't pleased about how all of this had happened, "she doesn't." He wondered what would happen when Helio got back, if it had been his plan all along - or if he was going to be just as pissed as Ximena. Reality tv; Coyote style.

Victoria raised her brow, Elijah was making moves, poking around for weak spots. "Yeah - shouldn't be a problem," Victoria nodded looking over at Landon that nodded to confirm as well.  Her eyes then looked at Kennedy and breathed out, it wasn't a good sign really. Then she watched Francis showing up painted in blood and all, maybe she should speak to Helio about what was going on. See if she could get something out of him. But she shook her head, before shaking her shoes off and handed them to Landon who grabbed onto her hand with the other one. Then starting to earth surfing her and Landon back to the headquarters as their bikes had taken too many hits doing the shooting. And she believed that Orion and Francis would return it to the Serpents when cleaning up the mess.

"I will explain later, just get back to the headquarters, I will deal with this mess," he gestured towards the pile of death police officers, not the worst thing they had to clean up over the time, but a mess either way. So, once they had started to drive off he got to work, waiting for Orion's assistance on the matter.

"And they are back, maybe I can get the last the last kick of fire power I need," he mumbled a little getting up from the chair. Even if his movements were far from stable and his left arm still pretty much on fire to take the worst of the pain. But the power from a lighter and a candle could only do so much. He walked over and opened the door, stepping aside to let his father and Kennedy inside, then Landon and Victoria coming in a bit further away - Scorpio was still impressed every time he saw the earth surfing. "Remind me that I want to go on one of those rides one day," he chuckled as Victoria and Landon walked inside as well.  Victoria let her eyes wonder over the demon's bruised and ripped skin, burning arm - she didn't ask questions on it or how he tried to recover. Landon followed everywhere Kennedy went wanting to help in some way if he could.

Imogen folded her lips for a moment and sat there looking at the screen. For a moment, she wondered if she should do it or not, but if anyone on this side should talk to Helio without it complicating things, it would be her. Not that she thought that Scorpio would be happy, but, well—they hadn’t exactly made clear lines in the sand what they were, even though they liked each other, so much was clear. Maybe she just had trouble with commitment when it came down to it, always wanting to be free and independent. This was why she hadn’t told Helio that she had gotten pregnant, and their daughter was living with her sister, believing that the sister was the mother of her child.  

She hummed, turned the laptop, and then took her phone and started texting through an encrypted number. We should talk, when can you meet me? Oakheart harbour and you come alone. When she had sent it, she placed it with the screen facing downward. Her eyes turned to the door when Landon and Victoria came through the door. It seemed like they had come through it without any wounds or scratches, rather lucky if you asked her.
Then in came Linus with Kennedy, who looked like someone starting to unravel at any moment. Linus sighed and looked toward the shapeshifter and then at Landon “take her home, make sure she has what she needs,” he said to the fallen angel before he walked behind the bar and started pouring everyone a glass. “You, okay?” he asked, looking at Victoria before pushing a glass toward her and taking one himself.
Imogen stood put, taking her phone with her, before she walked over and into the kitchen where she ignited the gas stove, then she stepped back into the bar “come, let’s get you patched up”, she said with a small smile and lent her shoulder to get Scorpio into the kitchen.

Landon nodded, and took an arm around Kennedy to help her get home, worried out of his mind. Tonight was overwhelming, just like they had all had seen a scene of dead people, Landon had seen the scene of the slaughter repeating for his eyes, then every single thing had pretty much been for him to grab - secrets, truths and the like from the deceased ones, powers he still didn't understand. But one thing was sure, his power on its own exhausted whenever he knew how someone had died - and some people around here had history of more than one death.

Victoria's eyes stayed on Landon and Kennedy as they walked out again. It was possible the best, making sure she recovered from whatever had been unleashed. Then finding her feet just walking towards the bar to sit down, moving her head towards Linus as he pushed a glass towards her, "yeah - " she exhaled before taking a larger mouthful of her drink. She should get the wound checked, but it was mostly just the skin burned from the trace, so she didn't value it was an urgency. "I'm just pissed," she chuckled lowly, not that she looked pissed, but Victoria could be very collected when it came to her anger till someone managed to just push her over the limit. And she was angry at what Elijah had thought was an good idea, the entire plan - how it had set Kennedy over the edge.

Scorpio walked by the bar, "time for some roasted Scorpio," he grabbed a bottle from the shelf and opened it with his teeth as he entered the kitchen, as Imogen lent her hand on his shoulder to guide him in there, taking a few mouthfuls of whatever bottle he had taken - Scorpio hadn't really been looking. He placed the bottle down on the kitchen counter. Then not without struggle he took his shirt off, showing the many bruises and cuts. They had taken down the fire alarm a long time ago, which for this was the best for all parts. "Don't get too spooked, its not like you see a man on fire every day," he hummed a little, at least his humor followed him. Then he moved his hand towards the stove and it took less than seconds as his body responded to the heat and ignited, making him close his eyes taking in the freeing feeling from the fire absorbing into his skin, recover the damage that had been done.

Linus hummed in agreement about the pissed part; he was, too, even though it was far more apparent when you looked at the male shapeshifter rather than his counterpart in Victoria, who stood relatively calm and collected. He took out his phone to see if his brother had texted him, but when there wasn’t any news, he pushed it away, topping off their glasses with more alcohol. His eyes turned and looked toward Imogen, that helped his son into the kitchen, where she had made sure to turn on the gas burners. One could argue that he wasn’t very considerate toward the son who had been caught and tortured. He had never been father material, and he had always raised his son as he had done to the others that had been part of his crew, with a stern hand and rarely showed any emotions. Now, had Scorpio died, they might have seen another person entirely, the grieving father who would tear down the whole city to get to Elijah and take his revenge. But right now, he needed to stay the calm and collected leader, even if he had already failed in some aspect.

Imogen let her eyes wander over his bruised skin, but she took a step back when he told her not to get spooked; she didn’t. Instead, she became fascinated with seeing how the fire licked over his skin and set him ablaze.
The soul demon could have walked out, back to the bar and sat down, but her eyes wandered from Scorpio down to the phone in her pocket. She fished it out, hoping that Helio might already have texted her back, and with a soft sigh, she pushed it back and waited for Scorpio to be done with his process of healing his own body.

She downed the next drink as well, letting the alcohol wash away the thoughts and the anxiety trying to sneak in. Surprise attacks where you and your friends got shot at, wasn't really the thing she held on to the most. Reminding her of the friend she had lost. Even so, it was far from the worst thing she had experienced. So, Vic knew she would be fine. Victoria narrowed her eyes a little bit, wondering for a second what was going on inside the head of Linus, but she didn't ask. Not now. Now they just waited for Scorpio to heal up and for Francis to text that things were good.

Once Scorpio had finished his healing he headed silently to the bar with the flask he had taken moments ago, taking a few more mouthfuls from it. He was alright. Already planning in the back of his head how he wanted to get some sort of revenge.