Burned Circle - ThirdWizard's Dresden Files Game

As Logan comes back out of the house, the ghoul is already fleeing, even though he didn't get far. Keira easily keeps up with him and positions herself between the ghoul and the direction in which he is running, obviously not intent of letting him escape that easily. The large panther swiftly paces back and forth in front of the prey, making it hard to find a way out of the trap.

The ghoul with Kiera moves left, then right, only to be blocked as it tries to make its escape. A ghoul isn't a particularly resourceful creature, but it also isn't a particularly courageous one either, and its eyes widen as it watches its companion on the other side of the lawn, with Juno bearing down on it. Seeing its companion bloody, beaten, and leaving it behind, its eyes suddenly dart from the ghoul to Keira to the street finally seeing something its been waiting for - the thing Juno spotted when she came running into the front yard. It's buddy in what has now become a get away car coming his way. This its its only chance. It doesn't have any speed advantage over Kiera, and it doesn't have any clever tricks to get by. Instead, it just has the instinct to run when things get hard. It pushes itself, fear and need driving it, and it barely squeezes by the defense, a swipe of Keira's claws half an inch too late to catch it as it barrels by.

And that get away car? A dark Cadillac circa the 1970s, its headlights off, slowly rolls its way down the street toward the house. Both front and back passenger door are slightly ajar, ready for its companions to hop in. And, that's exactly what they do. The ghoul fleeing Malcom and Juno arrives at the car first, pulling open the back door and diving in head first to lay on the back seat. There are visible blood stains left on the door from the monster's oozing shoulder wound down its arm. The door is pulled closed from the inside loudly. The other ghoul is right behind it, this one pulling open the front passenger door and climbing inside.

As it sits down in the passenger seat, the window opens. The ghoul slides down in its seat to reveal the driver, by its looks another ghoul in human guise, pointing an SMG in one hand out the window over its fleeing companion's head. That's when things get really loud. The gun lets loose several short bursts of bullets, spraying the lawn, and laying down fire against everyone in the front yard. Dirt and grass are kicked up as Juno ducks behind the tree. Kiera goes flat in her were-form, making herself a difficult target, and bullets fly above her. Logan drops hard on the concrete, getting a few scrapes, but that's better than taking a bullet, even when you're a changeling. The house and lawn take some bullet fire, leaving holes all over the place. Malcom, thankfully, is in the back yard and wasn't in the area of the spray.

As soon as the bullets subside, the engine of the Cadillac roars to life, its headlights turning on, and the car starts to accelerate down the small residential street.

Lights start to turn on in surrounding houses, and you can see peeking from behind closed curtains. It's doubtful that this neighborhood is accustomed to gun fire in any way, especially automatic fire.

An unsatisfied growl can be heard from Keira, as the ghouls jump into the car to escape their grasp. But they were not gone, yet. Thinking quickly, she figures that while fast in her beastform, the bike is faster still. With the speed of lightning, her shadowy form rushes back to the backyard, where Keira had dropped her clothes earlier.

A moment later, the young woman runs towards her bike, yelling to her companions.

“Come on! We can still catch them and get some answers!”

Then she kicks in the gear and zips off after them, not waiting for a response.

Juno leaned out just a little from behind the tree as the car started to speed away, her heart hammering as she focused on the license tag to try to read it before it got too far off. A stab of resentment flared as Keira ran to her motorcycle. The werecat could afford to be brave...she had a lot less to fear from a face full of bullets.

Her gun was in her hand now, as was her cellphone. The words to put an APB out were already on her lips when she stopped herself. If the police started chasing that car, those ghouls would have less than no concern about bystanders. And God help the cops who stopped them.

She muttered some colorful language and shouted, "Logan, Mal, get back to the car NOW!" She practiced what she preached too, running out from cover to the driver's side of her old beater and wiggling the key expertly to get the door open in the minimum amount of time.

Malcom nodded to Juno as the order came in, he wasn't in the mood for arguing with someone who could drive better then he could. Hell, half the city could do a better job driving then he could. Malcom's license had nearly been suspended a year prior when he got in a major accident on the highway and he couldnt convince the police that he was in a high speed pursuit.

They never believe you till the monsters come out of the woodwork.

Malcom yanked the car door open and threw himself into the passenger seat, "I dont recommend I use the boomstick too much, might shut down your car. You calling for back up?"

Logan looks over his shoulder at the bullet holes in the duplex. He almost runs back in to make sure Mara is unharmed, but he knows that the burst of gunfire will be getting attention very soon. He grits his teeth and runs for the car, squeezing his bulky frame into the backseat.

Juno grimaces at Malcolm's innocent and entirely sensible question.

"These things aren't human. Even a desperate criminal usually won't act with complete disregard for the public. He won't just go plowing through a crowded sidewalk for example. I'm a little worried these things might, if we push them too hard. I'm also worried that if the police pull them over, they will not be prepared for a car full of angry, scared ghouls armed with submachine guns."

"It's just...since when do spooks carry guns? That's really not playing by the rules. I thought magic messed things like guns up. I'm not happy about keeping all this quiet, but if that's how the game's played...fine. But if they're going to cheat..." She shakes her head angrily, puts her car in gear and sets off in pursuit!

As Kiera and Juno race down the street to keep up with the fleeing Cadillac, the two passengers look out to see the neighborhood ablaze with activity. Cameras and cell phones can be seen held up by people in windows, others talking on the phone as they peer out, eyes wide at the commotion. A few brave souls have even stepped outside their doors to get a full view, idiotic as it may be to go outside when one hears gunfire. Mara is among them, staring blankly as you plow down the street away.

A hard right in pursuit leads you north, and out of sight of the neighborhood. You can see the Cadillac just ahead, having had trouble pulling away down the suburban road, clipping a trash can someone had forgotten to pick up earlier tonight. The two pursuing vehicles start closing the initial gap quickly.

[sblock]
Keira: +5 this round, total +5
Juno: +3 this round, total +3
Ghouls: -1 this round, total -1
[/sblock]

Juno shifted gears and kept her car not just in the race but gaining as they tore around a corner and thundered down the streets. It wasn't that she was a super good driver...though she was in rare form that day; grooving to the blood music of adrenalin and stress hormones...it was that the ghouls were pretty bad ones. More than once they clipped obstacles trying to take corners too fast, and they kept skidding around and wasting speed.

They didn't seem to have been in a getaway attempt very often before. While that appealed to the hunter in Juno, it worried the cop a great deal. When this chase migrated to areas where there were pedestrians and a lot of other traffic, the ghouls were going to do damage and hurt people even if they didn't mean to. Most human beings, even fleeing for their lives, would at least try to avoid other people in their haste.

Juno doubted the ghouls would feel that compunction.

"We have to finish this fast," she mutters to Logan and Malcolm. "If they head downtown, driving like this..."

She's interrupted though by a most unwelcome noise.

The wail of police sirens.

"...they're going have the police after them," Juno finishes with a scowl. "And probably us."

"Malcolm, I need you to get my cellphone out of my pocket. I'm going to give you the number for dispatch."

She shifted her hip as much as she could to give him access to her front right pocket, and thanked her lucky stars that she kept her wallet in back, phone in front, rather than the other way around.

Keira, on her bike, weaves through the traffic, racing past a few cars while giving chase to the ghouls. She had reacted quickly, and therefore she was able to catch up to them quite well, but her mediocre driving skills are showing now as she puts in the wrong gear, letting her engine screech and she loses a bit of ground due to having to slow down a bit.

Of course, she had no idea, yet, what would happen, if she actually caught them. There were three of them, and they had automatic guns. But that was something to worry about later.

Pushes the thought aside, Keira presses on. Her instincts were those of a hunter, and at this point, the ghouls were her prey.