xp_logs | The Gates: Demolition Elk

Rahne, with Nathan, is helping evacuate a damaged building and making good use of her powers when she comes face to face with another shapeshifter.

Nathan reached out to steady Rahne as the ground rumbled in the aftermath of another explosion. He looked back over his shoulder, down the debris-strewn street to where another building was now burning merrily away. That shot came from behind... there's fighting going on the next street over. It would probably reach them shortly.

"We need to figure out if anyone's trapped under here," he said somewhat disjointedly to Rahne, turning back to the half-collapsed building they'd stopped at. Up the street, Medusa and Angelo were evacuating another, thankfully more intact building. Too many people were taking shelter inside - not that they had any option, but walls were no protection. Not with the fighting this close.

Rahne nodded grimly, nostrils flaring. "Ye canna 'hear' anyone, I take it?" She half-shifted, snuffing the air, then looked down at her hands.

They really could not get much dirtier at this point. She dropped to all fours.

Nathan watched her shift. "Too much noise," he said helplessly. "Can you smell anyone?"

She nosed his hand, then stepped slightly away, snuffing the air and trying to sort out present smells from the chaos and smoke. #There have been people...# She had to make an extra effort to form the words. Noise indeed. Her ears twitched, and she put her nose to the ground, casting. In and out, there were probably other entrances, but she thought this was new enough.... #I think people went in. I might have to get in closer to pinpoint anyone.#

It was hard to hear her, but not impossible. Rahne's mind was familiar, strongly so, and her thoughts stood out against the roar of psychic noise that washed against his already battered shields. "Careful," he called out to her hoarsely. "I'm not sure how stable this place is..." He was already reaching out with his telekinesis, trying to identify the major support structures.

#I'd hate to trust it.# But she advanced carefully nonetheless, ears pricked, alert for signs of either life or imminent architectural collapse.

There was another rumble in the ground, though it was less destabilizing for her on four feet. She crouched just outside the empty doorway and listened to a few pieces of the building's exterior falling toward the back. Rahne caught herself baring her teeth, which made no sense at all.

But things were still again, and she didn't think she smelled any more blood than before, and if anyone was in there it was past time to get out. She stepped inside, looking around. Stairs toward the left. To the right, a wall; the door was further back, and appeared to be in the collapsed part of the building. Scents were clearer on the floor here, though, and they led back that way....

She was relaying this to Nathan when she heard a rhythmic battering --hoofbeats, was her first thought; she had just enough time to decide this was absurd when there was a terrific crash and an elk burst through the wall.

Rahne yelped and jumped back and to the side; a chunk of plaster flew past her shoulder and smashed to dust against the staircase. The elk half-raised his head, caught sight of her, and froze.

They stared at each other for a moment, Rahne in a half-crouch, the elk with his head down and one hoof raised.

He smelled of human.

Rahne sat back and then changed, standing up as she went. The elk transformed back at the same time, then looked down at himself --stark naked -- and backed through the broken wall again to get his clothes as Rahne politely looked at the other three people in the room instead.

---

When Nathan saw Rahne, in her human form, re-emerge from the building leading four others, he breathed out, relieved - but didn't let go of the building just yet. "Are you all right?" he called out to her, giving her a quick once-over before turning his attention to the rescued. "Are they?" And why is that man shirtless?

"Aye," Rahne said. "I think we're all fine."

There was more gunfire from the tank down the street, and Nathan shook his head at the building. "Do you think there's anyone else in there?" he asked helplessly, trying to focus. So much noise. So many agitated thoughts, everywhere...

Rahne shook her head. "These are the only recent scents I picked up from inside."

The four rescued people were looking nervously down the street, and Nathan gestured in the opposite direction to the worst of the gunfire, giving them a suggestive look. They immediately headed off, and Nathan released his hold on the building. "Let's go," he said - or started to say, because as soon as he opened his mouth the tank was rolling around the corner and into view, firing up the street.

The shot hit one of the buildings right across the street. Nathan reached out and grabbed Rahne, yanking her closer as he flung up a TK shield around them and another, an instant later, around the four people who were still only a few steps away. Debris rained on both shields, and he swore.

Down the street, three figures appeared - chasing the tank, Nathan realized, and his eyes widened slightly as one leapt from the ground to the top of the tank and then reached down to the hatch. The noise of tearing metal was audible even from where he and Rahne were standing.

Rahne winced. The elk man cupped his hands and yelled, which got a brief look and a wave from one of the other two tank-chasers.

"I think we should possibly be moving along," Nathan said firmly, steering Rahne away from the people she'd just led out of the building. #They may wind up making short work of that tank, but we don't want to be anywhere in the vicinity when its friends coming looking for it.#

#No. I think that would considerably pass being charged by an elk for alarming.#