Shock watched Carmilla until the vampiress was completely out of sight. She reached up to move some hair out of her face, then dusted herself off. A satisfied smirk crossed her lips. Every cut and bruise she'd gained in that fight was worn like a badge of honor in her victory. The adrenaline rush gave her a high, but she knew it wouldn't last. The grimness of reality would soon set in. Until then, she intended to ride the high for as long as she could.

Her victory assured, Shock glanced around the outskirts for Carver and Barrel. All she saw was scarred ground and upturned dirt and grass from where she and Carmilla threw each other around. Shock also realized she didn't see the remnants of her hat, either. She quickly put two and two together. They must have taken it. Whether they did it to simply get it out of her sight, or to try to fix it didn't matter right now. Shock glowered, but tried not to let her thoughts get in the way of her victory.

That she felt [i]incomplete[/i] and not entirely herself.

She then made her way back to the tree house, as she figured Lock and Lillith were probably still searching the lair for their instrument components. Good. Shock didn't want to see Lillith or be seen by anyone else right now.

~~~

Lock actually laughed.

"The opposite, actually. When we started growing, Carver wanted to grow with us, so she actually got Finklestein to give her enhanced limbs."

He settled down, and was about to say something else when he heard the familiar rattle of wooden boards. Lock quickly moved a finger to his lips and pointed towards the slide. He slid off of Lillith's lap and ran to it with a gesture for her to follow. The implication was clear: after the brutality of what little of the fight they witnessed, they shouldn't be here, and [i]especially[/i] not the one monster in town who looked [i]exactly[/i] like the one Shock just defeated.