Lumen's breath was coming out in little puffs of mist as she hurriedly made her way between the shadows of the container pier. Her suspect was getting ready to make an exchange and she needed that photo if the police were ever going to catch this guy and keep him. He'd been avoiding people like the plague because he could smell a stakeout happening. Lumen had been brought in because of the M connection. In short the Boys in Blue wanted to know if he was a supplier to the Unicorn Man.

The elusive Unicorn Man. Lumen didn't call him by his name as the other's on the case did. Sebastian made him sound too human. She'd prefer to just keep thinking of him as the Unicorn Man until she knew he wasn't some paedophile or kidnapper. The suspect she was following very well may lead her to him. She had a feeling that if she could find the Unicorn Man this whole mystery might unravel.

Click she snapped a few shots of her suspect heading into one of the warehouses. He was a big burly fellow - didn't show any signs of mutation- but that didn't mean he didnt have one. He certainly had a big package under his arm. It might as well have had a giant M on it for all the good it did him.

She waited a few moments then followed into the warehouse. Come on big guy... she said to herself. "Give me the money shot...." She hid herself behind a stack of cardboard boxes and peered out beside them just as the buy guy was meeting up with a little bald guy. She readied her camera. As he passed the package, and she took the photo, a look of complete horror went over Lumen's face. The camera had flashed. Somehow, she'd bumped the auto function on. The two men looked up, the two men took out gun. "Shit!"

She still had the dark so she moved as far away from that stack of boxes as she could. Just in time. They opened fire. "Shit shit shit!" Lumen ran for the door.

((I.C. Um, yeah this thread might need to wait on the other just to ensure what mode Aedus is in. I am hoping to avoid going lava mode. at the very least there will be some history between the two.))


Aedus was jogging again, he decided against the same ware house area as he jogged last time, the path would bring him across the alleyways that he met Blood in, He saved him from some mobsters and while he wasn’t obsidian at the moment he still wasn’t taking chances on someone deciding he looked close enough and had an itchy trigger finger, he still however was up for running random security and preventing someone from becoming a victim.

Aedus turned a corner and was keeping a pretty good pace when he heard gunshots, he spun and hit the ground. Just thinking about mobsters had him taking evasive actions quickly. He dove behind a truck and kept close to a tire until he realized it was coming from further in…

He caught his breath from the initial shock and concentrated on figuring out where exactly it was coming from and what its target was. He spot a women run out of a door one building down. Was she the prey or the hunter…she had a camera in her hands not a gun. Someone didn’t like her taking pictures. Aedus took off towards the building next to hers and then ran along the wall of the warehouses toward the door that she just exited.

The two men came busting out of the door pointing their guns- one a shot gun and one a revolver straight at a young man. "What the hell? Move outta the way kid you wanna get yourself killed?" grunted the bigger man giving him a shove.

"No wait," said the smaller man "You see a blondie boy? You'd talk if you knew what was good for you. Aint smart to be lurking around Nancy's parts. He don't take kindly to trespassing. Be easy on ya if you point us in the direction she went." he snarked.

Lumen meanwhile was doing her best to get us much distance between herself and the two men but when she didn't hear footsteps behind her she stopped to catch her breath and look back. They had both stopped and were talking to another. An accomplice? She'd be real mad if she undershot how many gang members were here. She hid herself behind a pallet of crates and took a moment to examine her shots. Well, the flash had made the bag really stick out so at least she got her shot. She could put these guys away for good.

Now, should she try and get a photo of the third now that her cover had been blown? Run back home? Or call the police?

Aedus threw his hands in the air and spat out the first phrase he learned in French class. His eyes were open wide in alarm. He didn’t want to be obsidian right now, he didn’t want to burst into lava. He wanted to be shot even less, but if he could avoid both…well that would be nice.

"What the hell? Move outta the way kid you wanna get yourself killed?"
"No wait," "You see a blondie boy? You'd talk if you knew what was good for you. Aint smart to be lurking around Nancy's parts. He don't take kindly to trespassing. Be easy on ya if you point us in the direction she went."

Aedus took the shove and stepped back forward. “Parlez-vous français ?” ~~do you speak French?~~
From there his French became much less useful for speaking to thugs anyhow. The confused looks of the gunmen said everything he needed to know. He learned French for one reason only; to say sweet things to girls and know what the heck he was saying…all an all he thought that the French would approve of his priorities concerning their language.

“J'aime votre visage”~~I love your face~” he stated calmly. “Vous et je devrait trouver un endroit calme.”~ You and I should find a quiet place ~ He lowered his hands and looked towards the guns.

In as thick as he could manage French accent he spoke some English. He was channeling Jude and pepe le pew “I understand the word Blondie.”

The pair lowered their weapons from the face of the faux Frenchman.theylooked at each other with a look of indecision. The smaller guy held the hand gun to his face once more and Aedus was going to take advantage of the one lowered weapon, he had to act while at least one was down.

He weaved to the right to get the weapon out of his face and then grabbed with both hands and threw his weight into it and slammed the hand gun into the big man’s face. His nose sprayed a red river from his nostrils. He had succeeded in not only slamming his own weight into the mans face but the other man’s as well. The smaller fellow was off balance and so Aedus riped the hand gun from his hand as he stumbled. Aedus stepped into the large man’s face closing the small distance it would take to tear him to shreds with the double barrel. Aedus wedged the pistol into the man’s Jaw.

“Hand me the shot gun or die.” Aedus spoke gutturally in his normal New York accent. “last chance.”
He felt the shotgun press into his hands and he took a step back. He leaned the shot gun back on his shoulder and took a couple steps back.

“Kneel by the wall hands on your heads and I won’t kill you both. If one of you runs inside or shouts or so much as makes me wonder what you are doing I will empty all the ammo you just gave me in to your soon to be bullet ridden corpses. I am going to take my time leaving. And you had better believe I will be watching you too as I do.”

Aedus walked calmly backwards, watching as the men did as he said. He slowly back tracked toward where he last saw the woman go. If she was smart she never stopped running.