[u]Ivan[/u] "Yeah, I can think of a few nice place." Ivan said as Baron examined the car. Ivan walked over out of the umbrella and over to the car, leaving Dr.Wright behind. It sure was a pretty vehicle, though Ivan never had that big an interest in cars. He stood next to Baron and suddenly remembered that he had a cigar in his pocket. He pulled out the cigar, a light-colored Acid Blondie that he bought from a suggestion of a friend and cut the tip before rifling through his coat pockets to find his lighter. No dice. "Baron, mind if I borrow your lighter?" he asked, unaware of May's presence. [u]Skeleton and Damian [/u] Damian nearly busted out laughing when he saw Tony walk up to the group and whimper his response. The kid obviously had no spine to speak of. Damian took a few steps away now that the healer was there and looked over at the car, where a beautiful girl was emerging from the driver's side. Damian's eyes widened and his mouth hung agape for a few moments as he watched her. He shook it off when he remembered he was a gang leader and began to stroll over rather pompously. Skeleton, meanwhile gestured for Antonio to come over to where Reiko was injured. "Our friend Reiko has been injured. Fix her." he said, half-growling at the kid. Damian, meanwhile approached Mercedes car and leaned on the hood with his left elbow. "Hello there." he said "Do I know you from somewhere? You look..." There was a roar of motorcycles nearby and some headlights from down the street. Was that...gunfire? "Familiar." he finished, looking up at the approaching bikes. [u]Whisper and Emilio[/u] Upon reaching the bottom floor of the Archimedes Building, Whisper and Emilio walked into the fenced-in sculpture garden that surrounded the building. It was a gift from the Museum of Art when the building opened and still contained some pieces in good condition. Emilio leaned against a bronze statue of a globe and smoked a cigarette while they planned their next move. "So where to now?" Emilio asked Whisper. Whisper shrugged and fanned the cigarette smoke away from her face. She hated cigarettes. "What's still open?" she asked. Emilio shrugged back and pulled out his phone to find the answer. "Sure there's a few different bars and shit still around." he said "Theater on 18th Street's still open. Any good movies out." "Not that I've heard of." She sat down on a bench and looked over at an odd-looking stone statue of a group of men in Victorian-style suits with what appeared to be snowman bottoms for legs. She blinked as if that would make her see it better, but nothing changed. Art always kind of annoyed her. She heard more sirens from not far away. They had to get out of here soon so as to avoid a run-in with the police. Leaving dead cops in the street was generally bad for business. "Let's just head to my place and figure our next move out from there." Whisper said. Emilio nodded and the two left the sculpture garden. They began walking towards the other side of the street, where Emilio's old Chevy s10 pickup was parked when Whisper caught sight of Nick leaving the building. She nudged Emilio with her elbow. "What?" he said. "There's that mechanic kid, Nick. Should we invite him?" Emilio was about to respond when he saw that pretty blonde girl from the bar approaching Nick. Emilio rose his eyes brows at the sight and turned back towards Whisper. "Nah. I think he's got his hands full." he replied. Whisper smirked. "For a mechanic he's sure doing well for himself." "I know, right? Where do I get a French model from?" Whisper smirked as she thought of something dirty. "Five bucks he can't get hard for her." she whispered. Emilio laughed as they walked across the street. "You're on." They bumped fists and he walked across to the driver's side of the car. [u]Taylor[/u] Upon leaving the bar, Taylor identified the only familiar face she saw around; Nick. He seemed pretty laid back for what appeared to be a gang member, and in spite of herself she found him to be rather cute. She walked over to him, being sure to click her heels sensuously across the ground as she walked. She took out a compact and studied her face in its mirror before addressing him; perfection. "So that was fun." she said, approaching him from the left "Do you beat up musclebound goons often?" --- [hider=some music] [youtube]ZH1NFziHUxg[/youtube] [/hider] She was being followed. Tara looked at her rear view mirror and saw the man pursuing her. He looked oddly familiar, like someone who she used to know... [i]Oh my God it's Desperado[/i] she thought to herself. Desperado was a former Skull, a loose cannon who could turn his tattoos into physical objects. But Skeleton, Damian, and Grease killed him years ago! She gritted her teeth as she cut off an SUV and swerved into an alley at breakneck speeds. The man on the bike behind her followed. She saw that he now was holding something out from his body. She ducked as a bullet bounced off of the back alley wall and slid to the left just in time to avoid a dumpster. He followed, and her right rear view mirror exploded as the bullet tore it to pieces. She swerved back onto the main road and sped off. She looked in the remaining mirror and saw that he was gone. She breathed a sigh of relief and turned down a smaller street heading towards the Jolly Roger, where she knew the Skulls were meeting. She eyed the skies as she drove, trying to see if the Vanguard guy was still following her. As she turned down another street, now going a more-or-less normal speed, she was cut off by a black chopper and a bullet just missed her head. She slammed on the bike's gas pedal, avoiding another gunshot as her pursuer returned to chasing her, now with what looked like a submachine gun. Quickly she synthesized a pike of shining tire spikes and threw them behind her. He swerved out of the way and dodged a speeding box truck. He drove up on the empty sidewalk and attempted to cut her off at the crosswalk. Tara threw up a wall of light and he drove around it with ease. She was about half a mile from the Jolly Roger. She turned down Haber Street and could almost see the lights at the end. She drove in a sloppy serpentine pattern to avoid the bullets as Desperado grabbed his submachine gun and emptied the clip. Tara gasped as a sharp pain shot up her leg. He shot her in the right calf. They were about 500 feet from the bar. Tara's serpentine pattern began to break down, and she was driving very sloppily. She jerked forward as another bullet hit her front tire. Tara flew through the air and skidded across the ground, a collection of yellow particles absorbing some of the fall. She got up and turned towards Desperado. The wisps of yellow light formed more tire spikes, and a sword materialized in her hand. Desperado aimed the submachine gun, and fired. The clip was empty. He cursed and the gun vanished. His right hand was moving towards his right thigh when he heard a loud "WOOSH!" come from nearby. Just as he leveled the gun at Tara, a red hot discus cut the gun barrel in two and embedded itself in a brick wall. Damian was standing not a hundred feet away, his left hand across Mercedes' body as if protecting her and his right hand extended from the monster of a throw. He met eyes with the man on the bike, and he drove off. "That's what I though." he muttered. He ran over towards Tara. "Damian..." she weakly muttered before collapsing. He caught her under the arms and carried her onto the sidewalk. Her calf was leaking blood. He cursed and looked over where Antonio was. "Do we have any other healers?" he bellowed.