Jorge climbed. That was all he could really concentrate on. It was not THAT high to the top of the building and thankfully Jorge was in pretty good shape. He took the fire escape stairs three, sometimes four at a time, but still he was barely breaking a sweat. He knew though that in the morning he was definitely going to feel this. But the detective could not concentrate on that now. He needed to keep running, climbing, he had to get to that roof in order to make sure that Carrick didn’t actually kill someone. He needed to make sure that Elizabeth was still alive. He needed to bring that sorry excuse for a Lion to justice! So many “needs to” but only one Jorge. And the detective could not over think any of them at the moment…

His hands gripped the cool metal of railings and his feet echoed on the metal steps the second he struck his feet down and began to race up.

…all he could think of was getting to that roof.

He could hear the commotion getting louder up top. There was no way of him hoping that he would get there before Carrick or the Lion escaped, but what he was hoping was that he could get there before somebody was killed. Most of all, he did not want Liz to get hurt. Though he had just met the young lady today, she was still an innocent bystander caught in all this and if there was one thing that Jorge did not appreciate was an innocent was harmed.

He growled as he pushed through the pain and continued to climb. The cacophony was growing louder and louder and he climbed and dashed to it like a sailor be lured in by a dangerous Siren. But the detective knew that despite the danger he needed to climb. And though sweat stung his eyes, his finger shook from gripping the railings and his leg muscles wanted to scream by the end of his climb, for a moment he encountered sweet relief when he finally climbed onto the rooftop.

There…all hell was breaking loose. It was a battle for king of this jungle. And all the detective could do, as he drew his gun, was shout for Liz.

“Elizabeth! Get over here!” he announced. He wanted her to start down to ladders before he got involved. Her safety was above all right now…

A snarl echoed out of Carrick’s jaws as he turned his body as the lion shifter moved his body to receive the next few blows Carrick delivered with his claws. The beast in Carrick didn’t know exactly why but as soon as the blond one was released from the lion’s grasp it meant that he could al out. Carrick paid little attention to her as she fell from the mutant’s grasp.

Blood dripped from his mouth and Carrick licked his lips tasted like copper dosed with high levels of fear. Carrick growled again and revealed his now reddened teeth as he shift his gaze from the lion shifter momentarily to the girl who was running to the guy who had thrown something at him. Carrick snarled again and his facial features showed his rage as it pulled back revealing more and more of his fangs. Carrick decided he’d deal with one prey at a time no need to get greedy, not like the prey could escape him.

Sticking his nose up into the air Carrick’s nostrils flared as his mind traced every scent in the air. Fear was the most pungent smell. They were afraid and rightfully so. Carrick growled in satisfaction and jumped from all fours to engage another attack with the lionoid. However it seemed the prey’s instincts kicked in, he decided to fight which was fine by Carrick he was big and slow, nothing compared to what he was when his feet left the ground.

Right before they met in a collision Carrick’s wings opened and flapped once giving him a little lift over the Lion. Before he realized what had happened Carrick latched onto his arm sinking his front claws and teeth into the Lion’s arm. The golden fur that he once had was an insult to Carrick and he wanted to color it red. Which he fully intended on doing.

Lion roared with pain and shook with fury as the little cretin began eviscerating his arm again. What was wrong with the runt? Did he have a fetish for arms or sumthin’? But Lion wasn’t a deep thinker and definitely not one to stop in the midst of a fight and attempt to analyze his opponent. No, he was much more reactive and direct.

He pushed aside the fire in his arm. He’d been through worse. he’d grown up in the tough side of town. Bad injuries were old hat to him. Or at least, that’s what he tried to tell himself.

Yelling an unintelligible blarb of primal rage, Lion allowed the freak to eat his arm as he swung around behind it. He tried pushing the thing’s wings out of the way with the hopes of wrapping his healthy arm around the beast’s neck. He figured that even if the chump had sharp teeth and claws and massive freaking wings and a tail, he still needed to breathe to live.

Lion wished to discontinue that process.

---

Elizabeth watched without seeing the melee unfolding before her. The lion...and that other...thing...were fighting. As terrified as she had felt while the lion had run off with her, seeing a demonic creature appear out of nowhere to assail her kidnapper did nothing for her peace. In fact, it probably heightened her feelings of terror and disbelief. After all, despite the dinner date turning into a desperate race to save a hostage and then becoming a hostage, she’d never seen that one coming.

But maybe she was just in shock or something.

As the two bestial battlers clashed again, Liz heard her name called out. That’s funny. What were the odds of another Elizabeth being out and about in the area at the same time she was? Hopefully she was okay. There were bad things going on. And why was the nice policeman she’d met earlier waving at her? He really was friendly...

Oh.

Elizabeth blinked. What was wrong with her? The scary reality of the rooftop’s show slammed into her and she tried crawling across the roof towards Mr. Cervantes. She didn’t really trust herself standing up at the moment. If she could get dazed by laying down, she wasn’t going to become vertical. Tears began flowing as she got within arms reach of the cop.

((Permission to move Liz outta the way or down the ladder or anything, if needed, Jorge. )))

Jorge watched as the battle raged. Fur, feathers, spittle, it all flew everywhere and it was truly a terrifying sight to behold. Anyone would have been terrified from the whole ordeal, but not this detective. He knew that he needed to hold onto his nerve and keep strong since innocent lives were at stake here. Elizabeth found herself wrapped up in this mess, Carry had fallen into some more beastial state of mind, and the perp was dangerously close to losing his life. Jorge had to intervene.

But first things first…

He yelled at Elizabeth to grab her attention. It took a moment or two but when she finally caught on, she seemed to catch his drift. He waved for her to come closer and she began to slow and steady crawl. Jorge kept his gun raised but he didn’t get involved in the fight just yet. First he needed to make sure that the bystander was safe.

Roars and hisses filled his ears. He tried to keep his eyes on Elizabeth but also on the duo that were duking it out to claim the title of king of the concrete jungle. It was only when she was close enough to hold out her hands did Jorge finally make a move. Whether or not they saw it, he didn’t know, nor did he care. Her safety was most important at the moment.

Seeing she was close, Jorge holstered his gun quickly and reached out taking the young woman in his arm. Swiftly he pulled her over and towards the edge of the building that had the ladder he had just climbed up.

“I gotcha, Elizabeth, I gotcha,” he said encouragingly as he slowly removed her from his embrace and moved to block her from the vision of both Carry and the Lion. Urgently he whispered as he pulled his gun from the holster again. “Head down the ladder, okay? Head down and do NOT[/b] stop until you reach the bottom. I’ll handle this.”[/color]

Fight or flight was in affect and Carrick was in this state wasn’t the type to go into flight when a fight was so perfectly placed before him. Carrick’s wings were now moving without his permission and that angered the little beast what angered him more was the arm that was starting to slip around his neck. Carrick let another howl or rage loose into the air as he pushed off with his back paws digging further into the lion-man’s arms.

Once he got some leverage Carrick’s own hands repeated what the prey was doing to him only he was just out of reach so while his own neck was being held tight Carrick’s front claws were now trying to find their way to the Lion’s throat however he only managed to start digging his claws into his chest. The beast that was controlling Carrick would have blood and his body was acting accordingly.

Another scratch, his tailed slashed the air behind him as his wings tried to lifting up for forward however only one wing had enough room to maneuver given the position he was currently in. Carrick’s own movements were starting to slow which only added to the ferocity at which he was attacking the other beast.

(Carrick is starting to lose air so after Liz's post Jorge feel free to end the fight however you seem fit)

“Head down the ladder, okay? Head down and do NOT stop until you reach the bottom. I’ll handle this.”

The officer’s words echoed in Elizabeth's head as she forced herself to comply. Not that she really had to fight her instincts to do so. The ground seemed much, much safer than the rooftops. But then again, she’d thought that the rooftops were going to be safer than the action of the ground so Liz was probably still in large amounts of danger. After all, a raging buffalo-man could come by and drive off with her in a van.

As she placed her feet on the rungs of the ladder in order to began her descent, Liz spared only a moment’s waste to view a snippet of battle. The lion seemed to be winning, but at a dreadful cost. Even as he appeared to be trying to strangle the demon, he was becoming eviscerated as well. And Jorge was up there.

But he’s a cop. And he’s got a gun, she attempted to console herself with as her head dropped below the roof’s edge. Hand under hand she climbed down, straining to hear and simultaneously attempting to block out the scene above. But as conflicted as her curiosity was, her sanity was straightforward. Staying on the roofs was a bad idea.

And so she climbed down to the ground. But instead of running away or anything, Liz stepped back and attempted to blend in with the shadows. She figured it was the smartest thing to do. After all, she couldn’t really outrun a lion or a flying monster, could she?

Jorge had made sure that Elizabeth had started her trek down the ladder before he turned his attention back to the battle at hand. His most important task right now was getting Liz to safety and, now that she was one her way to do that, he turned his attention back to the two creatures battling for supremacy. Carry seemed to be in trouble now as the Lion pulled him into a headlock and effectively cut off his oxygen supply. Carry struggled but at the same time he was cutting deep into the Lion’s gut.

It was a death grip and sooner or later, if this kept up, they pair of them were going to die in each other’s arms.

Not on his watch. If there was one that the officer was going to allow was for one of his friends, and a perp, to kill one another. He felt out with his senses and immediately caught a large sense of water nearby. He turned and spotted a large water tank that had once been used to feed into the warehouse. It was probably dilapidated and should have been empty. But he sensed enough water in there to be of help.

The old ones he could always count on the catch rain.

Raising his gun towards the pair of them Jorge suddenly whistled loud enough to grab their attention.

“Hey!!!” he screamed as he pointed the gun at them. “Surf’s up.”

Suddenly she raised the gun, squeezed the trigger, and fired two shots into the water tank. The bullet holes immediately began to spill the watery contents. With a twitch of his wrist, Jorge suddenly the water in sudden jets towards the both of them. Water swirled and gnashed around both Carry and the Lion, distracting them enough so that they could be separated by the swirling masses of water. It was only when they were separated that Jorge proceeded to encircle the water around both their heads.

They wouldn’t drown, but it would be enough to knock them out…

If it wasn’t for the arm around his throat and part of his wing he would have let loose another fearsome roar, however when he opened his mouth all that came out was loud snarl. Carrick’s claw reached further into the creature’s chest this time finally penetrating past the bones that protected his heart. It was a shallow wound however for Carrick’s attack was once more interrupted by one of the prey that he deemed the lesser of two meals.

Carrick’s ears first twitched at the whistle then the darkened eyes of the beast that were once multicolored shifted towards the source. Carrick’s claw removed itself from the chest of the foe and before he thrusted it back in for the kill Carrick’s ears twitched to the gun shots. A sudden voice in his head told him to flee but he quickly pushed it out of his mind. This was a fight for territory and life after all. The grip around his neck didn’t lessen so Carrick’s mind told him to continue.

Carrick’s nails once again weren’t able to find its intended target due to more interruptions. It was water this time something he oddly enough found disturbing. Carrick let out a growl and a snarl as he slashed at the water that was now freeing him from the lion-mans grasp and forcing him backwards.

Wings free he tried to fight the force that was pushing him back, he didn’t like all of these interruptions he was an alpha and the rest were his prey they shouldn’t be able to stand up to him like this. Every time Carrick scratched and clawed the water continued to force him back till he decided to stop fighting it. Maybe he could out run it?

That idea was short lived when the water encircled his head. He let out a roar, which was muffled, and only bubbles escaped from his mouth. Carrick slashed angrily at the air and tried to shake off the water before he was to late. He struggled for a few more seconds then turned his attention to the man who had been the cause of all this.

He took a few slow staggered steps forward partially on all fours and swayed his head one last time attempted another roar before his body grew light and his head heavy. Carrick’s new body dropped to the ground and he lost consciousness.

Once his body was laying motionless his new skin started to revert to the skin it had once been however several traits left over from the beast had remained, elongated ears and sharpened canines. His tail flailed once then laid motionless as his body as the rest of his body returned to it’s normal naked self.

In movies, there’s generally a good reason for everything that the audience sees or hears. It builds up the plotline, foreshadows a later event, or is just plain ol’ entertaining. And something is always going on. Movies rarely spend much time at all on really boring moments. Those tend to get cut out in the screening process. Also, just about everything in a (well-written) movie makes sense, down to the tiniest detail or word-choice.

Life is not a movie.

Reason Number One: Skulking in the shadows of a building was kind of boring. Now, Elizabeth was normally a patient person, but after an evening such as this one, almost anybody could get by with slight character deviances. And her adrenaline was still pumping, since it had only been minutes ago that she’d been fearing for her life. So to compare the dull, boring, safe shadows to the actiony, terrifying, battle on the roof, well, one really couldn’t compare the two.

Reason Number 2: Things heard in strange circumstances rarely make sense unless one sees it for his or herself. In this case, Liz was utterly confused by the things she heard from the roof of the warehouse. The growls and snarls and stuff made sense, because she could figure out what was going on by those. But then Mr. Cervantes said something that made Liz think of the beach. Really? “Surf’s up?” Was this a poorly-done horror film or a 50’s beach flick?

But then Liz heard the unmistakable sounds of rushing water. Not like water from a bathtub faucet, but more like a mini waterfall. Oh, and there were some gunshots, too. Those kind of made sense, but in context with all the water and the surfer lingo? It added to the blonde’s befuddlement.

Yet there must’ve definitely been water up there (or a really good sound-effects artist) because Liz soon heard something like splashing. It was odd, though. Not the regular kind you do in a pool or anything, but that’s the closest she could think of. Unless someone was trying to hack and slash a waterfall or something.

And lastly, Liz heard gargling. Seriously, what was going on up there? But, pragmatic as always, Liz attempted to wait in the shadows until everything was clear. It wouldn’t do for her to climb up the ladder only to drown, would it?

But as stated in reason Number One, the shadows were really, really, boring. Only a minute or so after the final water-type sounds evaporated, Liz tentatively yelled up to the roof. “Mr. Cervantes? Is everything okay up there?” Curiosity might’ve killed the cat (or the winged monster creature), but Liz wasn’t going to stick her neck back into trouble. At least, not that night.

Jorge struggled to keep the water encircled around the thrashing beasts heads but he managed to do so. Droplets and spray were thrust about in every direction but the tired detective did not let up in the slightest. He simply couldn’t afford to. With how close he was, how physical over powered he was, he could not risk letting up on the pair of them. This was his last and only chance to get control over the situation and he was going to take it.

Carry, or the beast who was once Carry, thrashed and attempted to roar but up only ended up with a mouthful of more water, attempted to stalk towards him. It hissed and raised its talons to attack but, thankfully, it couldn’t keep moving without breathing. With a shaky move, it struggled to keep itself on two feet before suddenly he collapsed.

Once he was down, Jorge quickly pulled the water away and sent it flying onto the ground. It collided with a SPLASH and he sighed in relief as he watched Carrick shift back into his human form (while also still breathing). That was one down. He turned and spied that the Lion was bleeding, badly, but he was knocked out too thanks to both the pain from his wounds as well as the water. Well, that makes two of them down at least.

He sighed as he reached into his belt and pulled out his handcuffs. He stalked over to Lion and handcuffed him to a thick pipe that was embedded into the roof of the ceiling. The man was bleeding but he was not going to take any chances.

Once the suspect was secure, he turned and dashed to Carrick’s side. As he did so, he pulled off his coat and gently draped it over the boy.

>> “Mr. Cervantes? Is everything okay up there?”

Jorge shouted back.

“They’re fine!” he got up so that he could peer over the edge to see her. “Keep an eye out for my back up!! They should be coming by soon! Tell them to get a stretcher up here!”

He sighed as he turned back to Carrick and checked to make sure the kid was okay. This was a long night…seemed like it lasted forever…but at least everyone was okay.

(((OOC: Permission granted by Carrick to skip him.)))

They’re fine? Well, that’s wonderful. I’m glad the vicious monster-people weren’t hurt or anything. I mean, that would be bad. Okay, maybe Liz wasn’t the most charitable person in the world at the moment. Oh well. The two things up there were fine, so apparently they were going to have to live with it. Unless the emotional instability about a victim not caring about them pushed them over the edge and made them suddenly lose the will live and so they would die because of it. Well, everyone’s gotta die sooner or later.

Yeah, Liz wasn’t completely right in the head at the moment. But she could still follow orders. There was backup on the way. Fortunately, Mr. Cervantes had thought to call for it. That was good. Even if it was late. But it was the thought that counts, right? “Okay,” she called up to the detective. She could do that. Look out for backup, that is. Surely that was still safe, right? Although the police officers could always be corrupt....

Liz slipped out of the shadows and the small alley between warehouses altogether. She hit the main street of the district and began walking along it. Somehow she’d maintained her sense of direction the entire time. Or maybe she just remembered the layout of the place from a Carrick’s-eye-view.

Wait.

Oh my gosh! Carrick! Where was he?! What had happened to him? In the entire chase and everything, the girl could not remember seeing him. Hadn’t he been chasing the lion man? Yeah, and he was leading it away from Mr. Cervantes. But....but....the lion man....had just captured her! So where was Carrick? And why did Mr. Cervantes ask for a stretcher? Realization dawned on her, even as sirens met her ears and she saw the flashing, multicolored lights of the police round the corner.

Carrick is hurt! He could be dying! She jumped off to the side of the road and did a few jumping jacks, waving her arms wildly. “Mr. Cervantes is right down there!” she said quickly, adding in further instruction toward the location of the cop. “And he said to get a stretcher as well!” She must’ve flustered and blustered more, but two of the cars went off in the direction she pointed, along with an accompanying ambulance. She didn’t really stop to watch what the other cops did. She turned and raced back to the alley underneath the location of the frightful battle.

Jorge sighed with relief as he saw the flashing of emergency lights out of the corner of his eyes. Thankfully everything seemed to be subdued so it was only a matter of waiting for emergency crews to get up here and do their part. As the detective waited, he turned back to Carry to make sure that the boy was okay. He was passed out, completely knocked out cold and Jorge couldn’t blame him. At first he couldn’t believe what this boy had done, but powers evolve all the time, don’t they? Maybe it was just his time.

The roar of vehicles below were far closer now that Jorge stood up and peered over the edge. Sure enough, EMTs were bolting into the building with hopes of getting to the roof as quickly as possible. They hoisted a stretcher between them and hauled as much equipment as they could carry. Within moments Jorge turned to see the roof access being opened by a pair of officers with EMTs standing behind them. Jorge held up his badge and the team moved in to assess the situation.

It had been a long and crazy night and all Jorge wanted to do right now was climb into bed go back to sleep. But…he would make sure his friends were okay first.

***

Before long Jorge finally made it back down to ground level and saw men and women mulling arouns, checking every nook and cranny of the building. The two thugs that were apart of this gang were already being hauled away and placed under arrest while the last, the Lion, was being carefully hauled down in a stretcher, the team bustling to keep him from losing his life. He had sustained grievous enough wounds to make them worried but they fought hard.

Jorge watched as he was rolled back and looked up to see where Liz had gotten herself to. His fellow officers had probably already pulled her aside to get her statement, it was just a matter of making sure that everything was clear. But, personally, he wanted to make sure that she was okay. That was a hell of a lot she went through tonight.

Besides, soon she was going to see Carry being wheeled out in a stretcher too. He hoped the kid was alright…

(((Permission to skip Carrick once again.)))

Elizabeth sat in the backseat of an officer’s car, her legs hanging out the open door with her feet firmly planted on the ground. A blanket had materialized from nowhere and she was now enshrouded by it. Why? She didn’t know. Possibly because everyone thought she was in shock. And they were probably right. Either way, the blanket felt good.

She gave her statement to the man, trying to best to recall everything. She’d arrived there due to her....friend....wanting to look out for Mr. Cervantes and to keep him out of trouble. Then she was left on a rooftop when her friend had leaped into the fray to draw a target off of the detective. And after some time of seeing nothing happen, she was snagged by a lion-man and taken on a wild roof chase which only ended when some sort of demonic monster saved her by nearly disemboweling her kidnapper.

You know, maybe that last bit was why they had wrapped Liz in a blanket. When an eyewitness starts ranting about mythological beasts, people tend to start brushing them off, no matter how sane they appear. Or how much evidence supporting her theory there might be. There was blood on her jacket, after all.

“Please, sir,” Liz asked the cop as he was turning to leave. “Do you know where Carrick is? He has wings and a tail. Something must have happened to him.” The anxiety was clear on her face. The officer really didn’t know what to say.

Jorge peered around the scene. It was a complete and utter madhouse already. The wagons had come and were already arresting the mutants behind this whole mess while the rest of the team began to investigate the team. It would quickly be proven that Jorge’s story of what occurred here panned out and, hopefully, Carry was not going to get punished for getting involved in a police investigation. Though the police took help from people like the X-men, random vigilantes were not the most welcome.

But a glance at Carrick proved that the boy was going to be carrying battle scars away from this that should prove to be punishment enough. As a matter of fact, Jorge attempted to find the young boy but he was more than likely still being fussed over by the EMTs. After all, Carry had been through a lot for the evening. Jorge just hoped that he would be okay.

>> “Please, sir, do you know where Carrick is? He has wings and a tail. Something must have happened to him.”

He paused as he passed one of the police cars. He knew that voice; it was Elizabeth. He perked up and looked into the car to see that she was still trying to get help from one of the officers. The man sadly had no information about her boyfriend. Jorge, though, stepped up and gave them both a friendly nod.

“I got it George,” he said to the officer. “Why don’t you check with the EMTs to see how the boy is doing? He should be around her somewhere.”

“Yes sir,” the younger officer said with a nod and stepped away.

Jorge turned back to Liz and gave her a warm smile.

“How’re you holding up? I haven’t seen Carrick yet, but I’m sure he is fine,” he said as gently as possible. “They’ll take good care of him.”

(((And we continue on without Carrick.)))

The cop was soon replaced by Mr. Cervantes himself. Elizabeth’s heart sped up with hope. At least it was someone she recognized, someone who was more likely to tell her where Carrick was than a random boy in blue. But his words, however kind and gentle they may be, dashed her hopes against tougher rocks than the asphalt under her feet. Mr. Cervantes really didn’t understand.

Or maybe Liz just wasn’t really hearing him. All she heard was the same basic thing that all adults said just to make kids feel better. And it rarely ever did. It was usually a lie. She didn’t think Mr. Cervantes would really lie to her like that and she hoped he’d tell her the truth if he knew it. He probably just didn’t know what had happened to Carrick. So she’d have to tell him.

“But, Carrick was trying to lead the lion guy away from you before you went into that other warehouse! But the lion guy grabbed me and...an’...an’ Carrick’s probably hurt or something!” Conviction set firmly in her earnest eyes, which were growing glassier by the second. The thought of Carrick being injured. Or worse, the thought of him potentially bleeding out on some cold, lonely rooftop somewhere. She wasn’t sure how she would handle anything happening to him. As it was, she was holding herself together remarkably well, regarding the circumstances.

Yet a tear still slipped down her cheek.