Crime & Punishment. [OPEN - PISCES]

[[*DOC]]

Pisces nodded firmly with a broad grin, moving to sit atop one of the reading desks on the first floor of the library, swinging her legs absent mindedly, fiddling with one of her tonfas and attempting to clean Hallie's blood from the blade on her shirt. It wouldn't be long until the two freaks returned, but this time, they'd be ready for them.

Rho giggled delightedly as Hallie fed from her new friend 'Fred', simply glad to see her bruises and injuries beginning to fade away, a new lease of life blooming in the small creature. Clapping her clawed hands happily, she nodded, taking the girl's hand before beginning to skip off in the direction of the library, met by a thankfully empty street, due to her previous kidnapping. "Awwh, everyone ran away..." She murmured quietly at the sight, before climbing the steps to the library, keeping Hallie in tow.

Pushing open the door, Rho peered inside, eye narrowing as it fell upon the sight of Pisces, sat so innocently and care-free mere metres away from her. Once more, Rho's happy demeanour began to sink into a state of vicious, sadistic mania, her spider legs standing out on end, a low hiss escaping her lips.

"I'm so glad you waited for me, pest..." She spat, releasing Hallie's hand, flexing her claws menacingly and striding forward a few steps, keeping her eye trained on the hunter. Pisces stared back levelly, trying not to let her fear become apparent, hopping from the table, tonfas in place and ready to fight.

"How kind of you to bring my target back... I'll be killing you both now, okay?" Pisces shot back, falling into a defensive stance, waiting for the perfect opportunity to make her first move. Unfortunately, it seemed that she waited a little too long, as Rho, in reaction to her words, let out a strange, animal-like roar, a whip of silken webbing shooting from her fingers, swinging at Pisces' neck, seemingly solid and razor sharp. Pisces managed to dodge at the last moment, the webbing only managing to catch her cheek, creating a slice across it so clean that one would think it had been done by a scalpel.

Letting out a small cry of pain, Pisces quickly hared behind the closest bookshelf, and kicked it with all her might, sending it toppling towards Rho and Hallie, holding hopefully enough weight to at least hold both of them down.

[Sky]

Akio simply laid on the second floor, watching the scene unfold slowly below him. He was silent, waiting for the perfect moment to strike, which he almost thought was going to be the first blow. But he had faith in Pi's fighting skills and knew she would be able to avoid such a blow, not entirely but enough as not to get killed or seriously injured. He smiled, she was quick, but her moves still weren't as fluid as they could be. The bookcase idea was good though, should catch the other two off guard.

[kiddie]

“I d-d-don't mind that they ran,” said Hallie absentmindedly, “They were Poop Heads anyway.”

Yawning and rubbing her eyes, Hallie waddled after Rho as though she'd woken up from an afternoon nap refreshed and rejuvenated. Meals like that placed her in a pleasant mood, so Hallie made sure she received her share of “Fred”s. Unlike Rho's personality, Hallie remained fairly consistent—by her standards—as they entered the library once more.

That's when the bookshelf came crashing down.

Screaming bloody murder, Hallelujah held her hands up and managed to hold up the bookshelf. Both of her hands were shrouded in a light yellow light, the essence of whatever force she'd extracted from Fred. Hallie shook under the weight however, knowing it was much too large for her tiny body to hold upright. Not even Fred's energy could allow her to hold it forever.

“B-b-break the bookshelf, Rho!” screamed Hallie, “It's too heavy! It's too...massive!”

Hallelujah! Another vocabulary word on the brink of death!

[[*DOC]]

Feeling the bookcase smash against the back of her head and neck first, as Rho was a head taller than Hallie, she let out a cry of pain, before staring at Hallie in surprise, grateful and relieved that she'd managed to hold such a weight. Complying with her request, she created a few large spikes of webbing that smashed through the bookcase, the wood and piles of books easily falling apart around them once she'd made enough holes.

This left Pisces in plain sight, but the girl had been ready for it, her tonfas held aloft with their blades out, running at Rho before she had a chance to react, slicing her across the stomach in a cross pattern. Rho screamed, staggering backwards and losing her balance, hitting the floor with a thud, webbing quickly shooting from her fingers to create a protective shell around her as she sobbed, nursing the bleeding wounds.

Pisces attacked the shell, but to no avail, the webbing seemingly practically indestructible. Frowning, she decided that she'd let Akio take over on that account, and turned to face Hallie, realizing that she could easily take her on, particularly after last time. Running at her, she pulled one arm back, aiming to plow the length of the tonfa into the side of the Damned's head.

[Sky]

Akio smiled and drew one of his pistols, shooting the webbing that had formed a shell around the spider like damned and leaped off the second floor, swinging his trident out and down against the shell, the carbon fiber handle giving from the impact, but not breaking just as it had been designed. He slipped back, his trident at the ready as he waited for the damned to come out of it now probable weakened a hell of a lot shell.

"You did some good work here Pi, if you hadn't been caught off guard like you were I bet you could have beat her with little trouble."

[kiddie]

“If you d-d-didn't try to kill me before, Chubby Cheeks, then we w-w-would've left you alone,” huffed Hallie, “I was r-r-reading and minding m-my own business when YOU tried to hurt me. Now you HAVE to die in c-c-case you t-try to hurt me again! It's not fair! You suck!”

As the Pisces came running after her, Hallie shrieked and somersaulted right between the hunter's legs. Again, her poor tail had been too slow to follow her and received the worst of the tonfas. It seemed the Pisces was prone to having Hallie leap upon her, only this time, Hallie had coiled her bloody tail around the hunter's neck. The very tip hovered above Pisces' eye and twitched, as if short circuiting after the previous attack. If Pisces wanted to pry Hallie off, she'd have to saw through the snake scales...and possibly her own neck.

“I know you like Chubby Cheeks a-a-alive! I'll p-p-poke her eyes out and squeeze her n-n-neck if you don't leave Rho alone!” warned Hallie. The little monster giggled without warning and stretched Pisces' cheeks, as if trying to get her to talk. Unfortunately for Pisces, Hallie was unable to retract her claws.

“My name is Chubby Cheeks! I don't l-like people who read!” laughed Hallie, making a shrill voice that was supposed to be Pisces, “You have to save me so I c-c-can be mean to people. I'm stinky and stupid and HALLIE DOESN'T LIKE YOU! HALLIE WILL POP YOUR CHEEKS IF YOU KEEP HURTING RHO.”

[Sky]

Akio stayed silent as he heard the little damned shrieking about random stuff that he had no interest in. That is until she started talking about popping out her eyes and then started screaming about popping her cheeks too.

"Oh shut up you little bitch," stated Akio as he turned, raised his pistol, and shot of a single round, aimed right at the tip tail of the Damned who had everything wrapped around his little sister. If the shot hit the .45 caliber round would completely separate the tip of the tail from the rest of it. After he shot he rushed forward, his trident aimed to completely separate the tail from the rest of the body. As far as he was concerned that was the most threatening aspect of the little damned. The sooner it was gone the better.

[kiddie]

The flesh tore apart before Hallie had a chance to scream.

Surprised, Hallie stopped talking and let go of Pisces. The ground was unforgiving as she hit the ground, but not as terrible as the searing pain that began in the stump of her tail and coursed up her spinal chord like columns of fire. It tried to coil around her, as if wanting to protect her from further pain...but a piece was missing. A few inches away from her, the tip of her tail was twitching violently in a small pool of its own blood, the bone peeking out from under the scales. A moment later, the rest of her tail had joined it as the trident snapped it in two.

Howling in agony, Hallie twitched and trailed to crawl away from Akio. The stub twitched behind her feebly and releasing a spray of blood and scales.

“No more!” she begged, “No more! Mercy! Mercy!”

[[*DOC]]

Pisces couldn't hold back a scream as Hallie's claws dug into her cheeks, slicing deep and drawing pools of blood, until suddenly a shot rang out through the library, followed by the hazy sight of her older brother running at the Damned who had her pinned, severing the rest of her tail clean off, allowing Pisces to slip from her grip, clutching at the deep cuts in her face, grimacing in pain.

But this was their chance to take out at least one of them... But unfortunately for them, they had made a small miscalculation. Rho's web may have been weakened, but the vicious tarantula Damned had merely been biding her time, not nearly as weak as Akio had bet on. The moment that Hallie's screams met her ears, a primal shriek filled the room, Pisces barely having a moment to turn around with wide eyes before Rho was just short of her, leaping and spinning to land a powerful roundhouse kick into the girl's stomach, her stiletto heel piercing her shirt and skin, sending her flying back into the wall.

Pisces barely even had a moment to regain her eyesight and composure before Rho had leapt through the air at her, clawed hand pinning down one arm, her mouth wide open and fangs bared, straining against Pisces' flailing limbs to sink them into her neck. In the moment of struggle, Pisces noted in terror that Rho's fangs seemed to be dripping with a vile smelling venom, that would surely not go down well if they entered her blood system.

"DIE YOU PATHETIC CUR!" Rho snarled, eye narrowed, scarlet and shining with violence, the colour almost the exact same as blood.

[Sky]

"PISCES WATCH OUT!" Akio shouted out just a little too late, she had already been slammed into and bitten by what smelled like venom. He frowned and stepped forward before a confident smile flashed onto his face. "Hold in there sis, let me take care of this Damned and then I'll get you that medical attention." But what he hadn't stated was that he hit the panic button inside his coat.

It would send word to the nearest members of the family, and if none were in range then it would have been pointless. If they were Pisces would get her medical attention sooner while Akio simply took care of the creature before him that had powers that resembled a giant spider. He stepped towards the creature and smiled. "Hey, how about me? I'm more experienced then my sister there. Trust me, I'm not one you want to ignore at all."

With that said he rushed forward, his trident swung around in a quick feint to the left, switching quickly to a stab at the right side of the creature. Whether or not either attack hit he didn't care for he took a quick step back, taking a defensive stance. He needed to teach the Damned that she couldn't attack the Suzuya family, not like that. Even if he didn't kill it he didn't care, just as long as he scared it enough to keep it away from his family.

[kiddie]

“Rho! I w-want to go home!” cried Hallie, “It hurts! Please, can we go home? P-p-please?”

The stump of her tail thrashed behind her, spraying blood on the library floors. Not only did the stump hurt, but her entire spine was pained from the attack, her vision bursting into blurred colors as her consciousness wavered. If she were to attempt to heal such a wound, she'd loose so much energy she'd be paralyzed, but the pain was unbearable. If Rho was injured like she was, then there was no chance at escape. They'd both be at the mercy of Chubby Cheeks and Co.

“Leave her alone!” cried Hallie, “I'm done playing! No more! N-n-no more!”

Voice horse from the pain, Hallie wailed a final battle cry, projecting bursts of energy from her fingertips in the direction of Akio. That was the last of her reserves, meaning no more healing or above normal strength.

[[*DOC]]

Almost falling for his feint, Rho managed to leap back at the last moment to dodge his stab, the web like substance shooting from her fingertips once more, wrapping around the trident and yanking it from his grip with inhuman strength, preparing to run at him and attack like she had with Pisces, but stopping as she heard Hallie's pleas, faltering for a moment, before throwing the trident down to the ground and backtracking in Hallie's direction.

Betting on her blasts of energy throwing Akio for a moment, she quickly ducked, putting one of Hallie's arms over her shoulder, and looping her own around the little Damned's waist to support her, before moving quickly towards the doors, knowing that it was probably best for them to back out now as opposed to taking any more risks. Hallie was severely injured, and the cross slash across Rho's stomach was still bleeding; if she went for much longer without seeking medical attention it was likely that she would bleed out anyway.

Quickly moving out through the doors, Rho turned back and quickly shot thick webbing over the library doors to delay them from chasing after the two of them, knowing that it would at least take a few bullets to crack the substance, and longer to claw it away enough to move through. Once the two of them were at a safe enough distance, Rho's knees gave out, sinking to the ground with Hallie at her side, clutching at her bleeding stomach.

"I-Is Hallie's t-tail going to grow b-back?" She asked nervously, her voice jittery and shaking with blood loss, features drooping as she became weaker.

[kiddie]

The tail had been more than a weapon, it'd been Hallie's source of balance. Without it, she teetered and tottered as though she were trying to balance on roller skates for the first time, never sure when her feet would slip from underneath her. Stiff, electrifying pain shot through her delicate spinal chord with every movement. Oozing and fractured, the tip of a yellowed out bone poked from the tattered scales where her tail used to be. It took all her strength and a few whimpers of pain for Hallie to finally pull herself upright, feet trembling in the splatters of blood underfoot.

“I h-h-hope so,” said Hallie, “I walk funny without it.”

The little girl tried to tug Rho along by the hand. With so much blood being lost from the both of them, it was a miracle either remained conscious. Or was that just the adrenaline? Once it wore off, would they both be goners? Would the hunters find them unconscious and defenseless on the streets?

“Come on, Rho! C-c-come on!” she said, “They might follow us! Y-y-you need to get up! I'm scared!'

After giving a fearful look around, Hallie's feet wobbled beneath her and she came crashing down on her sensitive tail bone with a howl.

“P-p-please, Rho?” Hallie whimpered, “I don't want them to f-f-find us. I need you t-to help! I c-c-can't walk right.”

As if trying to burrow herself underground, Hallie nestled her head in between the crook of Rho's arm and her stomach. The tiny creature nuzzled her nose against Rho, finding the closeness comforting. In a way, Rho was a sister to her—the only sister Hallelujah had ever had.

[Sky]

Akio raised an eyebrow as the damned who had attacked his sister more violently retreated, gathering up the smaller one as it went. He would be lying if he said he wasn't grateful, it meant he could get his sister off to the house. He deactivated the panic switch and walked over to her, noticing that she wasn't moving at all except for the slow rise and fall of her chest and occasional eye movement. The poison must have paralyzed her.

He sighed and shook his head, knowing that he would have to carry her. He picked up the discarded trident and flicked it, the handle collapsing down and the three points collapsed down, making it easy to store the weapon in the hidden pouch of his coat. He then proceeded to scoop up Pisces in what many would call "princess style." He started walking, kicking open the door as he marched out of the library. It was a good thing their home was only two or three blocks from there, meant he could get her there quicker.

"Hold in there Pi, wont take us long to get back."

[[*DOC]]

Coughing a little as she tried to rise, albeit very unsteadily, back to her feet, Rho clutched at her stomach, eyes squeezed shut. She could feel her hands growing damp just from being held to her wounds, causing her to swallow nervously, unable to bring herself to look at her blood stained fingers. She needed to rest desperately, but she couldn't leave Hallie in her current state without giving her something to get her energy back.

Pulling herself upright with a stifled cry, she made sure to gently pull Hallie up with her, still supporting the girl with one arm, her attempts to scan their surroundings futile as her vision began to blur with pain, instead resorting to sniffing the air delicately, her heightened smell and hearing picking up the scent and heartbeat of another human, thankfully not the previous two that had left them both in such a state. A human female, in her mid forties... She would have to do for now.

Pressing on, her legs still frail and weak, she eventually found the woman, not hesitating to shoot webbing from her index finger, morphing it into a sharp needle that plowed straight through the woman's temple, killing her instantly.

"T-there... Hallie can... feed... now..." She murmured, dropping to the floor, before crawling into a dark corner, suddenly lifted off of the floor by her webbing, fastening her into a strange, silken mass hidden away in the shadows, instantly dropping off into a deep sleep in her web, allowing the strange substance to cover her wounds and knit her skin back together.