“This is a waste of time,” I yawn to Jonas, the EMT up at the front of the ambulance, and stretch my arms. I get the kinks in my joints out with satisfying pops, reenergizing my tired body just a little bit more. I glance my reflection in the perfectly shined metal. Tired bags hung under my eyes, making me look like I just got hauled through a knot hole. I’m always telling myself I’ll sleep earlier or take a nap, but I never do. Tonight for real, maybe. 

“Dr. Bishop told us to keep you waitin’ here, and I wouldn’t want to be on the wrong side of one of his spine-crushings.” That one was from Rachel in the passenger seat. She and Jonas were here for injuries. I was here for the super injuries, in every respect of that phrase. “Besides, wouldn’t want you getting used as an example by those activist groups who want the government to crack down on independent capes,” I hear Jonas interject. Inwardly, I cringe at that comment. 

“Mmm...” I agreed, fiddling around with my Nebula W7 for a bit, “I guess I can’t blame you guys.” I turn to look out the open ambulance door and at the looming Scarborough Enterprises building, lobby entrance already torn open by some mask by the time they’d arrived. I take a breath and aim the gun in my mind. My senses expand, like a magnifying glass and a filter both placed over my mind’s eye at the same time. 

Female lupine. Female humanoid. Female humanoid. Female humanoid. Male humanoid. Several corpses. Large pool of blood. An infinitesimal amount of microbes (not that that was particularly unexpected). The rest of the facility was otherwise empty. The majority of the potential threat entities were gathered in one of the floors above, in an open room littered with dead. Adrenaline levels were skyrocketing in that room. From that, I could surmise that there was a high likelihood of a battle taking place above. Lower down, two lone figures stalk around the building. The closest one is the wolf near the lobby. I don’t know enough else to sniff out what it’s doing. Same for the other independent. 

I rub my temples. On one hand, I could sit here, play phone, and wait out the storm. On the other hand, I could get in there, see what’s going on, and rally the two independent capes - or fight them off if they turn out to be villains acting as reinforcements for the fight above. I sigh loudly, getting a few sympathetic looks from the two up front. I was going to hate myself for either decision; I was sure of it. 

I look back down to my phone, type some text, and set it down on the ambulance bench beside me. A few moments pass until I’m sure Jonas and Rachel are busy engrossed in this conversation about a certain TV show set in some fantasy world with a bunch of backstabbing, screwed up character fates, and some kind of game. At that point, I get the hell out of Dodge. Sorry Jo and Rach, but I’m pretty damn sure those capes aren’t professionals, and like hell I’m letting them get taken from behind by potential back up.

As soon as my feet hit the pavement, I’m running across the lot, the unzipped and oversized EMS jacket fluttering behind me. If I were in a better mood, I’d compare it to some kind of Baywatch-esque slowmo scene of a beautiful and heroic (sort of) young lady rushing to save the day (sort of) and put down conflict (sort of). I give a cheeky little wave to the cops that see me, but are helpless to stop me, as I enter the threshold of the Scarborough Enterprises building. 
[hr]
I whistle loudly at the giant dog on the other end of the hallway. Probably not my best decision in hindsight, but at least I wasn’t holding a ball or a stick. Nope, none of those - just a ziploc full of appleseeds and whatever remained of my hopes and dreams. Which was why the other hand was empty. 

Kek.

“Bow-wow,” I joke, raising my hands to show I meant know the wolf no harm. But even with that gesture, I load the gun in my mind. What was the saying? 'Offer one hand, but arm the other'? Something like that. I just didn't want to get caught off-guard if this hound didn't turn out to be a cape. “Not a bad guy, but I'm looking for them. Yourself?"
[hr]
[b]Mentioned:[/b] [@Raijinslayer]
[b]Burn Roll:[/b] [url=http://www.roleplayerguild.com/rolls/1258]8[/url]
[b]Burn Counter:[/b] 3
[b]Conditions:[/b][list][*]Afraid (-2 to directly engage a threat)[/list]