July 8th
"Well, that was a fairly productive night." The first and tallest of the three figures stated as all of them leisurely made their way back to the abandoned building they called home. Unmasked and yet shrouded by the darkness that spread through the city, kept in check only by the faint moonlight, they walked unafraid, moving briskly through the back alley and shady shortcuts of the city as though they were in their own neighborhood, or one of San Diego's main streets in broad daylight. In a sense, the former was true, and perhaps this was what allowed them to traverse such dangerous corners of the city unconcerned, and virtually unopposed as well.
"Fairly productive?" Asked the one standing to the right, her voice clearly feminine, unlike the first's, and her height contrasting as well. She was almost like a shadow, only her pale face and her bright eyes causing her to fail to blend in with the night completely. The two other figures turned to look at her as they walked. "I don't disagree, but that's a bit of an understatement." She stated
"Ah, yes, I get where you're coming from. I guess it's just that I don't feel like we did much of anything that's tangible, just more intel-gathering. As far as I know, the last important piece in this puzzle was laid down several days ago." The first one said to the second, who merely gave a small shrug in response before making a turn towards a rather derelict-looking part of the city, approaching a series of dark, lifeless buildings. The other two followed suit, fast approaching their destination as they looked forward and to the sides, searching for any signs of interference in what they considered to be their turf, or the presence of any unwelcome guests.
"You're wrong, Beast. It may not be something readily tangible, but what we did today was no less necessary than what we did the fourth. I cannot copy or absorb the memories of other people--not without a lengthy and complicated process anyway--and if we don't procure as much information as possible, our plan will have a higher probability of failure." The third of the mysterious figures said, face covered by his characteristic hood, with strands of white poking out of it here and there. His voice was stern, yet calm as he spoke. "If you're as committed to this as I, you will understand that its importance compels us to leave as few aspects of it to fortune as we can."
The tallest of the three scratched his head as he slowed down slightly to think better, starting to trail behind the others as a result. "I mean, I get that, I guess. I think the plan we have right now is pretty much foolproof, though. Even if something unexpected comes up, we should be able to deal with it." He said.
Taking point, the figure to the left of the first shook his head even as he continued walking forward and scanning the area. "It isn't as foolproof as you think. Our individual talents are a huge component of this plan, but it will still pay to be prepared. Plus, the more things we expect and account for, the better we'll-" The hooded one spoke, cutting himself short before finishing his sentence and raising his hand as if ordering the other two to stop. With his other hand, he pulled a full face black mask with various arcane symbols on it out of his hood and put it on.
"What is it, Hex?" The girl asked as she pulled out and donned her own mask, shaped like a skull but lacking the mouth area.
"The magic circle. It's been damaged." The hooded boy said. Immediately, the other two understood what this implied. Both Ghost and Hex glanced at their partner, and Beast nodded in response, putting on his vampiresque domino mask and moving towards the abandoned building in the center of the block with resolute strides. Suddenly, he kicked open the door, revealing the inside: whereas the building had once been bare of all decor and furniture, now there were several couches and a couple tables and other pieces of furniture, along with several crates, some of which were open, displaying that they were full of blood-red syringes.
Not a moment after the three had made themselves known, the new occupants of the building, who had been either going through the contents of the crates, playing cards on one of the tables or simply lounging around, immediately sprang to their feet and drew their weapons, firing them wildly at the intruders. Unfortunately for them, Beast had expected this, and had thrust a palm forward before the first shot was fired. As a result, not a single one of the bullets reached him or his teammates, or even made it out of the house: instead, they floated in the air, hovering a few centimetres away from the young man's hand, most of them flattened after suddenly impacting an invisible, unbreakable wall.
"You're gonna have to try harder than that if you want to kill us in our turf." Beast teased the mobsters. Without prior warning, a burly man clearly under the effects of Blood lunged at him, aiming to crush the cocky teenager with a single crippling blow. Instead, he found himself easily overpowered, the masked boy grabbing his fist and breaking his arm with ease before lifting him by his scalp, ignoring the relentless flailing, which became more and more frantic as the man realized his lungs were rapidly running out of air for some reason.
Another Blood-addled man attempted to sneak up on Beast and strike at his blind side, but before he was able to do so, he collapsed into a heap of writhing flesh and bone instead, screaming his throat and lungs out at the sudden unbearable pain he was feeling. The culprit turned out to be something that could be described as a glorified laser stick with a pistol grip attached, which was being held by Ghost.
"Thanks, sexy." The masked boy told the girl, earning a couple raised eyebrows, before unceremoniously tossing aside the now unconscious body of the first attacker. The rest of the mobsters, who were not under the effects of Blood, stayed back and eyed the intruders warily, still holding up their guns, even though they had proven to be surprisingly ineffective weapons despite their usual reliability.
"Wait..." Ghost said softly as she analyzed the intruders. Mostly Hispanic or Asian men, relatively well-dressed and with a few specific fashion and weapon choices that identified them with a specific organized crime syndicate based out of San Diego. "You're with that Jack Scar guy, aren't you?" She inquired.
"What's it to you, whore?" One of the mobsters replied angrily. Frowning at such a rude treatment, Beast pointed a finger pistol at the man and then pulled an imaginary trigger, the motion being followed by an invisible force slamming into the man's gut, causing him to fall to the ground, groaning and clutching his stomach.
"Didn't your mother teach you to respect women?" The telekinetic said with clear distaste, before glancing to his left at the hooded leader of their modest triumvirate. "Anyway, what should we do with these guys? I don't think we want them or their friends snooping around where they don't belong."
"Knock them out. I'll erase their memory so we can dump them away from here and not worry about them coming back." The hooded boy commanded. With a simple nod, Beast raised his hand, and all the mobsters floated up into the air, at the mercy of their foe.
"So, how did you know about this Scar guy anyway?" Beast asked as he sat on one of the couches left behind by the mobsters, who had been unceremoniously dumped out on the sidewalk several blocks away from there.
"You'd be surprised by the amount of information you can uncover if you're smart and look harmless enough." Ghost replied with a small shrug while leaning on the back of the same couch, watching Hex walk all around the inside and outside of the house, completely focused on fixing the damaged magic circle that displaced their hideout and concealed it from prying eyes, setting up all sorts of protective wards as well in order to avoid something like what happened that night from taking place again.
"Right." The young man mumbled, grabbing one of the red syringes from a nearby crate and observing it, squeezing out a little bit of the liquid and sniffing it before smearing it on the couch. "You know, this whole Blood thing has been a really good distraction for us, since nobody pays any mind to something that's not them, but if their dealers are just going to crawl into other people's hideouts like that, I can't wait for it to be over."
"It should be over soon. I'm sure someone is onto their trail by now." Hex spoke as he continued working, surprising his two teammates. "I heard that all-black guy is hunting them down." He commented.
"What guy? Blackout?" Ghost inquired, earning a nod from the hooded boy.
"I'm surprised those kids from the Zoo haven't tried going after them, though. The only thing I've heard of them after they made their big debut is that one of them got arrested." Beast spoke, clearly unaware of the events that were taking place at that very moment, both over at the docks where a Blood production facility was about to fall, and at the prison where a despised inmate was being broken out by a pair of vigilantes.
"I hope they're not getting themselves in even more trouble." Ghost commented, earning a surprised look for a moment.
"Oh, yeah. They're your classmates, aren't they?" The boy commented, to which she simply shrugged in response.
"They are. I wouldn't quite call any of them my friends--perhaps at most friends of a friend, for some of them--but I also don't want to see a repeat of the massacre. Even my mother was distraught when that happened, and she was no friend of the Wonder Warriors." The girl said. Mention of the Young Blood Massacre made the mood feel somber, even for three teenagers who operated on the wrong side of the law such as them, and so, a heavy silence settled in. Eventually, Ghost spoke up once more in an attempt to change the topic.
"By the way..." She began, gently plucking the red syringe from Beast's fingers. "This thing doesn't have anything to do with... you know, you, does it?" She asked, obviously referring to the young man's vampiric nature. However, Beast simply chuckled and shook his head.
"Very different stuff. My mentor explained it to me once before we parted ways, after we met some guys from the other side. We both consume blood, but we're very different otherwise. We have several other powers and less thirst, for one. I think we can go berserk more easily, though." The young vampire explained, before shrugging. "Not that that's going to affect me any time soon, so don't worry."
"I'm not worried. You're too bull-headed to give in to bloodlust like that." The girl teased him, before tossing the syringe back into the crate and sitting down on the backrest of the couch. "Anyway, what are we going to do with... all of these drugs?" She asked.
"Destroy them." Hex spoke up again, turning back to his associates. "We have no use for this garbage anyway. But first..." He trailed off, kneeling and placing his palms against the ground, the numerous tattoos that covered his arms beginning to let out an arcane glow. The light extended to various symbols and shapes on the floor of the building, arcane energy beginning to flow through and fill up the circuits.
Then, suddenly, the abandoned house was empty once again.
