Coffee After An Appointment

[Marta]

Marta encouraged Ricky to go. He had to - Marta could sense this was a sort of turning point for him. But he called his girl that was a friend that was not his girlfriend to keep an eye on Marta. It wasn’t how Marta would have preferred to meet her, but it would work. Ricky left to find Nox and Nox’s friend stayed. Marta said nothing, only looking at the baby in her arms.

What am I supposed to do with this thing!? Marta thought. She’d never held a baby before. No - not thing. Person. Child. Life.

Marta looked at Lily - she was so small and so vulnerable. She was so very precious. Marta literally held her life in her hands. Right now, she alone was responsible for her safety and care. She was the most precious thing in Nox’s life, and he had trusted her with Lily - not his friend - her. The weight of that responsibility hit Marta. It was enough to send her into a panic attack.

But it didn’t.

Marta knew that was significant. But she filed it away for later as Marisol arrived. ”Yeah that’s me. This is Lily,” she smiled.

Marisol did too. ”nice to meet you and Lily. You want me to hold her,” Marisol asked.

”No. I got this. We should get her home,” Marta held Lily tighter. That would be a safer place for Lily.

Marisol nodded. She pulled out her wallet - likely to get a cab. The pair then left to head to Nox’s building.

[Enrique]

Enrique followed, trusting Nox’s words. It wasn’t odd for hunters to use tech - likely Nox had something he couldn’t see informing him of what was going on. They rounded the alley and there was the victim and the victims killer - a dreykan. Shit there were more of those popping up lately. He’d include that in his report later. Something was making them more desperate - especially if they were coming out in the daylight. A chime came in through his earpiece as he got a message from Marisol. She was there and was escorting marta and the baby home.

Nox grabbed something to use as a weapon. Ricky had thought Nox was one of those godlings. At least Marta had said something like that. Enrique pulled out one of his guns, but the monster had rushed in, and it clawed Nox on the side. Ricky flinched. He’d been on the recieving end of that before. Some hunters mocked him for his choice of older style revolvers, but there was a reason for it. He didn’t have to aim. The familiar weight of the weapon made aiming instinctual. In reality it saved maybe a second, but in his line of work seconds matter. The gun came up, the trigger was pulled and the dreykan fell to the ground. Ricky noticed Nox shove his improvised weapon in its face too.

Ricky moved quickly, going to Nox’s side. He’d was bleeding pretty good, but standing. ”Lets get you out of here. Don’t worry about your little girl. Friend of mine is taking her and Marta to your home. Let’s get you somewhere we can get you patched up.”

[Cade]

Cade watched as the other man raised a gun and shot the thing in it's head just as Nox's stick went straight into it's skull.

It was unnerving how easily they had dispatched it. Though as Cade was about to shout, what the fuck was that he noted the blood seeping through Nox's t-shirt and hoodie. He clutched his side like he'd been seriously injured and from the amount of blood he probably was.

The other man was by his side telling him his kid was safe. And they needed to get somewhere to handle this. "We need to do something now. We can't wait. I'm a doctor, let me see."

Nox shook his head. "Don't waste your time, just pack the wound and we'll keep pressure on it. I have a healer at home. Just get he home." Nox took a step to move as he unraveled the sling he'd been carrying the baby with and started rearranging it.

"Good idea." Cade took over having the other man help him get everything wrapped around Nox tightly. He was going to die of hypothermia if they didn't get him someplace warm soon. The only thing good about being this cold he was loosing less blood.

Nox started talking to the air. "Wicked I need cameras scrubbed from the moment the dreyken attacked to when we leave the vicinity." He paused a moment then spoke again though Cade wasn't sure if he had received whatever answer he was looking for or if it was just a pause, he looked paler every second they worked to patch him up. "Sky, alert Liv, I need her at the house, it's an emergency."

Again there was no answer but Nox seemed satisfied and then added. "Sky, Plot the easiest way home while avoiding as many cameras as possible and send it to both Cade and Ricky's wallets."

Cade interjected "We can just take a cab. Or call an ambulance, you need immediate attention."

Nox looked at Cade. "And you want to explain what happened? Sky, send Jacob a message and tell him there is a dead dreyken that needs cleaning up. and tell him I'll explain later."

Nox collapsed to a knee but was still conscious. "At least just take a fucking cab home." He looked to Ricky for help in that front at least.

[Enrique]

Enrique let the doctor do his thing while he removed his coat. Doc wanted to take a cab, and Ricky likely wouldn’t have wanted to take one either. Just one more person asking questions. He looked towards Ricky for support on this. ”Is anything I say going to convince you to take a cab?”

Yeah, let’s bleed all over a cab,” he rolled his eyes. ”Probably not. Unless I pass out.”

There was a possibility of that. They had to move fast. Ricky check his wallet - mostly looking for the distance. The route was taking them underground. No interference. Traffic was heavy here.  Can wouldn’t save them time.

”Know you’re not gonna like it doc - but we’re faster on foot. Traffic is gonna slow us down a lot. We’ll get there faster on foot,” Ricky removed his coat and put it on Nox, revealing two more revolvers hooked up to his shoulder holsters. No pride. You’re getting a ride anyways,” Ricky said to Nox. He looked about a buck fifty. Ricky could do this. The movement would keep his temperature up for the time being. He also had on a hoodie and thermals. ”Come or stay - it’s your choice doc, but try to keep up if you’re coming.”

Ricky moved in front of Nox, took his arms and wrapped them around his neck and picked up Nox in a piggy back carry. He began to run, and was glad that even though he hadn’t kept up with hunting so much, he had kept up with his cardio. ”You just keep quiet, keep those eyes open, and think about that little girl you’ll be holding in your arms tonight.”

[[with nox]]

[Jacob]

Jacob received a text from Nox. He needed a clean up crew for a dead dreyken. It wasn't a call he'd usually make. So why now? The message also said he'd explain later, but when he texted back Nox didn't answer.

Something bad must have happened if he couldn't clean up his own mess. The fact that he called Jacob meant it was dire.

It wasn't hard to send a clean up crew to the site. Jacob went as well to see what had happened. A stick jutted through the dreyken's face and there was an obvious gun shot wound, he wasn't alone.

This didn't look like something Nox would do. Definitely not his MO as of late. Much more like the days of old. There was a lot of blood everywhere, there was no telling whose was whose. And the victim was dead dead long before they had arrived on the scene.

Jacob approached the tech guy who was shaking his head. "We have no idea what happened here sir. The video is scrubbed, all static and you can't see anything. Someone got here before we did."

Jacob nodded. Sounded like Nox. He was very good at covering his tracks. "Just cover our tracks then. We'll figure out what happened another way."

The tech just shrugged and did what he was told.

Before you know it things were back to normal, maybe a little too clean for a dirty alley way, but there wasn't much Jacob could do about that. It'd be filthy again sooner rather than later.