There.
There was only one person he knew who could so expertly dodge and weave her way through the crowd. It was too risky to move down himself. He might've been camouflaged, but being so had it's drawbacks. He was too big, too bulky to maneuver through the crowds of people and police cars without being noticed. No, that would be impossible. He redirected his attention back to his person of interest, who had been handed something by a stranger and was now hailing a taxi. Smart girl, she played herself common. He had yet to meet her, but he had seen no reason to suspect she had gone dull as of yet. He certainly hoped that someone with as much potential as her wouldn't be a hinderance to whatever it was this person wanted of them. Because if your limb was caught in a bear trap it was best to chew it off, you'd be better off then chancing the hunter. Anyone who was holding them back, he'd make sure to give them a good, solid chewing.
He briefly wondered how her liver would taste, served with a nice side of fava beans and a chianti.
His attention was brought away from the road, it wasn't like he could watch for much longer as she was driven off, but taken away by something more.
He smelled sweat, he smelled the bodily chemicals created when fear was going through someone's mind, the smell of adrenaline and blood flow. He took a step back from the ledge, and turned around. There a woman stood. She was averaged sided, small compared to him, and quivering like a leaf. He allowed his camouflage to drop, and he shimmered back into a human's line of sight. There was a moment of silence between the two, the one shared in that brief moment between predator and prey, the moment when the antelope looks the crocodile in the eyes just a millisecond before it strikes. The look the crocodile returns? A stare of determination, and in his case, interest on finding out if the person's health defects based on the condition of their internals. "E-excuse me sir," the woman stammered, holding out a wallet. "Y-you s-seemed to h-have dropped t-this." she continued. She looked like she was about to cry.
"No, I didn't."
The woman dropped the wallet and ran, and he took chase by sheer instinct, and he was on her in a second, with one of his feet firmly planted on the small of her back, his huge sickle claw positioned to cut through her spine any second. At this point the woman was balling, clawing at the ground in some feeble attempt to escape. He leaned down, allowing some of his weight to be placed on the woman's body. She hacked and gasped, sounds of her ribcage struggling to keep his weight up and not smash her like the fly she was. He craned his long 'S' shaped neck down to her neck, and allowed his tongue to dance over her ear, taking in her smell and the taste of her flesh. His body rumbled for a minute, before he retracted his foot, and placed it right next to her head, using his long tail to balance out his body. He opened his mouth and two huge fangs flexed their way from the roof of his mouth like that of a rattlesnake cleaning it's teeth. The woman dared not move.
"I'm not hungry."
Within a second he was gone, turning around in a whirlwind of scaled and muscle. As soon as he was a decent distance away the girl ran. She had never run faster in her life. Hannibal picked up the wallet, opening it up. There was no ID there for him, or cash. Simply a picture of Wally Gator. He snorted and his lip curled upward in a smirk. Inside the wallet was a note, designating where the location he was supposed to go to was, along with some stupid love note. Something about Magnet Theater. How arrogant. He shimmered into camouflaged state once again, and followed the street signs below from the rooftop to his destination.
He had been stalking Citrine for a short while now. Not that she knew. He had arrived about ten minutes after she had, and at this point he was constantly flicking his tongue out of his mouth to track her scent. He knelt down, getting his nose close to the floor, and followed. He had first found the two knocked out men and thought for a moment if he had been followed. He smelt the air.
The wheeled around and whipped his tail, which nailed the poor soul following a little too close and sending him smashing into the wall, pieces of brick coming down with him. He didn't know if his shadow was dead. He didn't smell dead. He didn't smell particularly alive though either at this point. Maybe he had stopped his heart? He reached over and gave the man a few solid flicks to the chest, and soon enough he felt the ever so soft thumping sound again. Yes, he had stopped his heart. But there was no excess blood on his hands. In fact, he had done his good deed for the day. Might as well double up so he wouldn't have to be a good samaritan tomorrow. He picked up the man, along with the two others that had Citrine's scent all over them, and continued on Citrine's trail, eventually leading himself to an elevator. He stepped in, and hoped that the elevator didn't have a weight capacity below 1500lbs, because he was pretty sure he was approaching that point with the combined weight of himself and the three men he had carried. Someone would be thrown out if it wasn't. Thankfully for the unconscious men, the elevator groaned and then began to slowly lift them all up to the floor that had been listed in his little direction slip in the wallet.
He exited the elevator, and invaded the conversation just as the twit spoke about his brethren and Citrine denied their closeness. He gruffly tossed the three men he was carrying off his shoulders, their bodies landing heavily in front of the elevator on the floor. He hoped they had a janitor with an exceptionally high pay grade because that hired muscle was going to become his food if they didn't clean it up by the time they were done with this business meeting. "Citrine," he said, his whole body shimmering in and out of camouflage for a second as his body adjusted to the new lighting in the area, but ultimately remained visible. "I'm hurt." he said, taking a moment to look at his ex-coworker, and then to the man across from her. He smelt tea. Finer tea based on the separated ingredients. This man spared no expense. Then again so did John Hammond in Jurassic Park and that backfired tremendously. "Remarkable boy. I do admire your courage in calling us here. I think I'll eat your heart." he said. It wasn't as much as the threat, and more of the way he said it. So dismissive, yet serious. As if it was the kind of thing someone said on the day to day basis.
"Then again, all good things to those who wait."
