Fight Club [Stenson/Sam/Audun]

[qhostqrowls]

On the outskirts of Wathais, among the crumbling factories and derelict buildings, there stood a warehouse. The massive structure was silent and shrouded in darkness, like everything else around it - save for a thin sliver of yellow light that peeked through one of its blacked out windows. Apart from that, nothing else seemed amiss. Only those attuned to magic would notice the spellwork that clung to the structure - a intricate muffling spell, to silence noise, keeping the commotion contained within the metal walls.

And what a commotion it was. Inside, a crowd of supernaturals roared and cheered, huddled around a massive, circular cage almost as large as a football field. Within it there were two equally large animals, one silent and self contained, the other strutting and roaring and whipping the crowd into a frenzy.

“Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome our newest challenger to the ring - Sirocco! Pitted tonight against a long-time favorite on his very first fight-”

Audun barley twitched as his fight name was called out. He sat to the side of the ring, tail curled neatly over his claws. His opponent - Brutus - paced and postured opposite him, flaring his frills and whipping his stocky tail from side to side like a dog. The tawny reptile watched him with flat, unimpressed eyes, tuning out the commentator and looking over his opponent. Brutus was also a drake - bulkier then himself, but that didn't mean anything. Neither did the threat displays.

He would show off in the fight - and afterwards, when he'd won. He was confident he would win - the other had no tact or style, relied on brute force and the power of his jaws. The younger drake turned his head to the side, something like a sneer curling his animal lips, and yawned. A snarl rumbled in Brutus's chest at the gesture, and he raked his claws through the dirt.

The crowd cheered, bets already running high and wild. There had been many smaller fights beforehand, but this was the highlight of the night - a fight between two massive draconics, like a scene out of Godzilla or Jurassic Park. Both contestants were well muscled, sleek creatures, savage and skilled and scarred from previous tussles. There was a lot at stake for them both - the title of champion and the considerable cash prize that came with it. That was what Audun was in for - boxing professionally wasn't proving to be lucrative enough. He didn't really enjoy these illegal backalley fights, with their vague rules and bloodthirsty patrons, but he supposed it was good practise…and the prize was really too tempting to turn down.

The bell rung.

Brutus barreled forwards immediately, jaws open wide. Audun rose in a swift, fluid motion as the other neared, slipping to the side and whirling the moment he was behind the others shoulder. He sunk his teeth into Brutus’s scaled scruff, hooked his claws into the meaty shoulder, and tore. The other bellowed and reared, ramming him against the side of the cage. The magically reinforced structure did not so much as buckle under their considerable weight.

Audun hissed, the breath knocked from his lungs, and sent a kick that would have gutted a lesser creature. Blood splattered over the floor. He twisted and clawed his way out of his pinned position, leaping into the center of the cage. His stripes shone brilliantly in the dingy yellow light. His tail snapped behind him, splitting the air in a warning whip. And then he lunged again, patagium half flared, rising to grapple the other.

[NightshadeVII]

The dullahan was thankful for the veil of darkness that covered Wathais now, especially dense here in the abandoned district, where no lights were turned on in houses, no squares of yellow was cast out behind windows to illuminate the cracked pavement, riddled with fractures that branched out almost tree-like. Neither was there any lamps that were working anymore, some were broken, light blubs shattered until they were nothing more than unrecognizeable piles of glass, and others had given up long ago, a lack of maintenance leaving them to decay. So the soft darkness, the abandoned streets and empty houses, made the dullahan feel wonderfully anonymous, as he knew that no one would see him and no one would know what he lacked. Still he tugged at his hood with gloved hands, the movement an unconscious habit more than anything else at this point.
Calmly, he scanned the surroundings, noting how every house and every factory was worn down, tilting to one side or the other like fallen giants finally accepting their surrender. And yet they were nothing more than husks that were slowly falling apart, emptied long ago and left without a purpose. Just another thing time could chip away at and tear down. It was somber in a way, a ghost town, or perhaps it was more akin to a graveyard.
However, Samael knew that he was looking for, a certain building riddled with magic in order to conceal what happened within. He remembered the description from the phone call.

An anonymous tip was always something to be careful about in Samael’s book, something that should never be trusted fully. It might very well just be a joke, some super who had thought calling the WDSA and telling them of a supernatural incident taking place, when there was none, would be fun and a great use of everyone’s time. Other a times they were exaggerated, an event blown up to something much bigger than it really was by some bystander or participant, a product of their panic. And rarely the anonymous tips were deliberate and malicious. It happened rarely, barely ever, but the dullahan always prepared himself for the worst that could happen in any situation, no matter how harmless it might seem on the surface. Bitter experience had taught him that. And to top everything off, he wasn’t alone. While Stenson was more than capable of defending himself and Samael did not doubt his abilities, he couldn’t help but feel protective of the officer.

“Gotta love late night shifts, right?”, he mused, turning to look at the gargoyle. The dullahan didn’t really need to turn to look at Stenson, his field of vision wide enough to detect him, but still, he knew that people often preferred to be looked at while they spoke. And Samael couldn’t exactly show that he was looking at someone, other than turning his head.
The two had been walking for a while now, looking for the right place and even if it hadn’t taken long for them to get here after the call was recieved, they still had to be sure that they entered the right building, to avoid wasting time.

Illegal super fights. No matter how many times the WDSA stepped in and stopped them, they always seemed to pop up somewhere else instead, newer, bigger and better than ever. And the events knew how to draw people, both spectators who wanted to bet, try their luck and fighters who were in it for the money, or just waiting for an opportunity to show off their savagery. Samael didn’t mind stopping these fights, putting an end to the violence and perhaps even stopping some from getting critically wounded or perhaps even killed. It was the least he could do, and he wanted to do it.
Still, he was glad that he was here with Stenson. Two was better than one, right?

Finally the two officers came to a building, a warehouse like so many others, just as dark, crumbling and seemingly abandoned. If it wasn’t for the single sliver of light that managed to cut out through a window, sharp as a blade before vanishing into the night, never to be seen again. Everything was oddly silent, revealing nothing of what was going on inside, but there was a lot of things that could do that, spells, charms and even certain auras to name a few.
Up until this point, this was the only building that had shown any signs of activity, any hint of life, so it seemed like it might be their best bet.

“I guess this is it?”, he looked from the building to Stenson, “ready?”

[Pearl Dragon]

“Gotta love late night shifts, right?” Sam asked, breaking the long silence as Stenson pulled the Charger into another slow, bending turn down the next low lit street. A hooded figure disappeared into an alleyway at the approaching headlights, one of many hoodlum shades they'd already seen lurking about the streets of the abandoned district. Things were quiet, and even the punks that prowled about in the dark were not of much concern to Stenson or the other agent, despite their guilty, sleeking nature.

"Yeah, usually not much going on. But a call is a call, always need to check it out." Stenson answered after a moment, easing the car around the next turn. They were moving slow, searching and observant of any sign that something might be going on around the dark, empty buildings. The moment Stenson spotted the same elusive glimmer of light as Samael, he was already focused on it. It wasn't much, but with a trained eye, both were able to pick it out almost instantly before it could shimmer away, hidden behind whatever charms and shrouds placed around to hide unwanted activity. Stenson gave a low sigh and began to slide the Charger up to the curb. The car's motor hummed barely above a smooth whisper, not once giving away their position with any kind of rumble or revving before Stenson killed the engine and plunged the entire vehicle into darkness. The wash of white light that was the headlights blinked out, and left the world in velvety shadows which the Gargoyle's eyes were easily able to cut through. He was certain Samael would also have no problem with the dark once they were out and ready to move.

"I guess this is it? Ready?" Samael asked, to which Stenson nodded after sitting for a moment watching the building. Even while it seemed so still and empty from the outside, there was no denying the feeling that now crept over both of them that this was the place. There was an energy in the air that he couldn't shake, and he rolled his shoulders once before climbing out of the driver's side. "Yeah let's go. Hopefully it's just a bunch of kids, maybe a few teen Supers roughing each other up. The only thing that worries me is the strength of that silence charm. Not many can hold sound in that well, even if it were a cat fight. If things get rough, stay back. I'll do what I can to keep things under control until back up arrives if need be. From the sound of it, the report didn't sound huge, but big enough that it can't continue."

Stenson waited until Samael was ready before making his way towards the entrance of the building. The doors were chained shut from the outside, but Stenson made short work of it with a sharp twist of his hands between the links. Metal cracked and slid with a choppy ring to the ground where the chain landed coiled like a dead snake. "Here goes nothing." Stenson said before pulling the doors open. The sound greeted them like a wall of cheering, jeering vibration. Almost immediately, nearby heads began to turn and eyes began to widen in fear at the uniforms and badges. The place wasn't huge, but it was big enough to house two clawed and snarling dragons now ripping and tearing at each other from within a caged ring. Stenson let out another low sigh at the sight.

[qhostqrowls]

The first warning shout at the sight of the officers was drowned out by the roar of the crowd and the snarling of the drakes as they tussled within the ring. But then there was another, and another, a spreading ripple of panic at the uninformed figures. The shout came again, louder this time. More heads turned. Elbows jostled and shifts threatened and then someone bolted for the window and the stampede began.

It went unnoticed within the ring, and by the spectators closest to it. Audun dodged a splayed claw cuff and whipped his tail up. There was a harsh crack, and a thin line of blood appeared on the larger drakes muzzle. Jaws snapped shut, rough skin split and bloodied claws flashed through the air.

Audun noticed the movements at the fringes of the crowd. He paid it no mind. Smaller scuffles always broke out in joints as seedy as this one, fights between hot-blooded, riled up patrons. The young reptile threw himself back into the fight with gusto, closing his jaws over the back of Brutus's thick neck in a violent scuffing motion, all four sets of claws dug deep into the others skin to anchor himself there.

[NightshadeVII]

“Ready”, Samael nodded, a small movement, barely visible in the dark, were it not for Stenson’s night vision. It was obvious that both officers hand tried it before and wanted to get it over with as soon as possible. The dullahan listened as Stenson explained what he had been considering, nodding in agreement. The silence charm was indeed worrying, potent, and if that said anything about what they’d be met with inside the warehouse, there was a very real possibility that it could be more than just a few teens roughing eachother up. Then came Stenson’s request that Samael stay back should it get rough, and Samael would have liked to believe he would have been smiling, if the gargoyle knew anything about Samael, it had to be that he tended to try and help, even when things got rough. He was bad at staying back like that. Still he understood and appreciated what Stenson had said.
“I do know how to take care of myself, Stenson”, Samael chuckled, joking, making it sound as if he would be smiling if he could, “but I hear you. No need to take unnecessary risks. You’re a lot better at calming people down, too. More trustworthy.”

It didn’t take long before panic spread, like rings in the water, rippling through the crowd of people. Had the situation been different, might have overwhelmed the dullahan, sparking old instincts and reflexes before he had a chance to stop them. Luckily that didn’t happen now. It always helped when he didn’t need to speak too much to others. This was an assignment that required quick damage control before anything else.
And besides, when he knew why he and Stenson were here it was easier to keep a cool head... so to speak. Discipline and a sense of purpose did wonders to focus, sharpened it and narrowed it quickly, so he could catch onto an objective and stay on it. Even if he wasn’t proud of how he had acquired that skill, he couldn’t deny it’s usefulness.
The dullahan had invested in light armor, that was easily hidden beneath clothes for occasions like these, where there were many people present. With the tension brought on by the officers and the excitement at the prospect of bloodshed already heavy in the air, the sight of a headless being, a herald of death, wouldn’t do anything to make the situation easier. So the more ‘human’ he could remain, the better.

Quietly, barely moving his head, Samael scanned the room, not paying much mind to the masses around them and instead zeroing in on the object of their focus. A metal cage, of course, classic, to keep whatever inside from doing too much damage to the audience perhaps. But it was what was inside the cage that retained the dullahan’s attention. Two large drakes at eachother’s throats, fighting with such ferocity that one might believe that they couldn’t exist any other way. Blood mixed with the snarls in the air, every droplet freed appearing to the dullahan as a sphere of ruby in the air, before it was gone.
More than just a few young supers roughing eachother up.

“I’ll get the fight stopped.”, Samael said, nodding at the cage before looking back to Stenson, “before anyone gets killed in there.”
Samael waited for Stenson’s assessment, so they they were in the clear about what the other was doing and to see if perhaps the officer had other ideas that might work better and more effectively.

[Pearl Dragon]

Stenson stood, a statue among fleeing figures, as one by one the Supers that crowded around the metal cage began to panic and flee towards windows and exit doors. Most of the doors were chained from the outside, or barricaded by debris left abandoned by the previous warehouse workers. A few were able to shift into smaller forms to squeeze through the bottoms of the doors, but others were left pressed against the metal doors and walls as the crowd pushed their way into dead ends. Stenson made no move to pursue the crowd, those who escaped through higher windows and oddball openings would escape no matter what. Instead, he radio'd to HQ for a parameter check, instructing responding agents to set up check points along different streets and corners for signs of further illegal activity. Most of the fleeing Supers in here were teens, some young adults, and all more than likely naive to the consequences that came with illegal fight clubs such as this. Stenson was more concerned with finding whoever was running this particular operation, not the audience.

"I'll get the fight stopped before anyone gets killed in there." Samael said from Stenson's side. Stenson nodded in agreement, trusting that the Dullahan would be able to get the drakes' attention, at least enough to cease their brutal combat. He glanced over at the cage, wincing at the ferocious ripping and snarling sounds coming from within. Even with the chaos of panic erupting all around them, the dragons were too caught up in their rage and brutality to notice the arrival of the officers. "Good call, but be careful. Those two might be too far gone in their fight, just see what you can do to get their attention."

Moving through the panicked crowd that split like the Red Sea to avoid him, Stenson made his way towards a makeshift bar built from old machinery and piles of wood and metal. The bartender, a rather wide-eyed goblin, stared at the approaching officer with a fearful grin. Ironically, he was caged in by the metal and old machinery, originally meant to protect him from brawls and attempts at robbery, but now a small prison. He moved with a waddled gait towards the nearest metal plate that was hinged and locked and began to scrabble at it with small green hands. Stenson rounded the bar towards the other end of the tiny door, and right as the goblin pushed his way through he was scruffed by the neck of his shirt and lifted eye to eye with the officer. "You're under arrest for the unlicensed sale of alcohol and gambling, and perpetrating illegal organization of Supernatural fighting." The goblin gawked at the officer, struggling and grappling at Stenson's arm as he was read his rights. Stenson spun the goblin around, holding him now against a wall so that he could attach a charmed pair of zip-tie hand cuffs to its wrists.

"Ssssss'not me! S'not me! You's got the wrong goblinsss! Ahck!" The goblin hissed, his face pressed against the brick as he was cuffed.

"Oh? Well, maybe you could point me in the right direction then. Or...tell me, since you're currently without useful hands to point." Stenson replied, turning the restrained goblin around. He nudged him forward back towards the cage to check on Samael.

[qhostqrowls]

As the panic intensified in the crowd, Audun finally took proper notice of the cause of commotion. He leapt away from Brutus, staring at the uniformed figures - and then he was staring at the corrugated ceiling as a muscled shoulder barralled into his side and sent him skidding across the arena. His jaws parted in a pained hiss and he scrambled to his feet as the other drake lunged again.

“Wait-” he lurched backwards as Brutus’s jaws snapped shut inches from his muzzle. The other was ignoring him completley, fighting with the same dogged savagery of before. He hadn't noticed the stampede at all. “Officers!” he yelled, breath heated with flame - which was just about the only thing he was banned from using in the fight. “There's officers! Stop!”

At that the other finally paused, swinging his head in the direction Audun motioned in. An ugly snarl distorted his already brutish features into something completely savage as he caught sight of the officers.

“Fuck!” came the deep Draconic growl. “I can't get caught for a third time. Fuck!” the look he gave Audun, with his little glittering eyes, was anything but friendly - but there was something almost companionable about it, now it was an ‘us and them’ situation. “Get out and dont snitch if you're caught. Or I'll actually kill you.” and with those parting words the broad chested drake ran for the barrier, landing heavily on the other side. There was the sound of shattering wood and glass moments later, but Audun was not watching the others escape. He didn't care what happened to him.

Instead he was already running for the other side of the barrier, clearing it in a much more agile leap. He landed in a crouch, closer to the knight then expected. He leapt backwards with a fierce hiss, and then snapped at the dullahan, the back of his throat glowing orange, heat shimmering in the air between them.

“Get out of my way.” came the snarl, and even if the other didn't understand draconic, the meaning was clear as he aimed a splayed claw swipe at the other to sweep him to the side. He was unreasonably angry at the interruption. He had been winning! These kind of organizations only ever broke up the consensual brawls. Never there when they were needed. They’d certainly never helped him. 

[NightshadeVII]

Chaos and panic was spreading through the establishment, as desperate supers scramble to get out, tripping over eachother and pushing one another, desperate not to get caught. Every person for themselves it would seem. Samael remained unfazed, pushing through the crowd with ease in order to get to the cage. He honestly doubted that a most of the feeling guests even paid him half a second’s mind, as they were more focused on themselves than anything else. A part of him couldn’t help but find it ironic that he was actively trying to stop two people from killing eachother, considering what he was, but then again, this was his own foolish attempt at redemption.

The dullahan was already quickening his pace, as he saw one of the drakes leap over the fence, rushing off and probably breaking through a wall. It seemed like it had been the larger, more barrelchested of the two that had been so eager to get away. So perhaps he had been in WDSA custody before.
Unconsciously, Samael adjusted his gloves, quickly scanning them room for entrances and exits, making a mental map of the place, so he best knew how to move if it came to a confrontation. It was different, with the panicking masses, but better than nothing. Samael knew he had to hope that he could take the drake in peacefully, most of the time, the supers fighting in clubs like this, hadn’t been introduced to other options, which were much safer and much more promising.

The dullahan reached the cage, just as the other drake jumped down. Clearly surprised, the drake jumped down snapping and snarling at the faceless figure before him. Summoning his shield, Samael braced himself, but didn’t get into a fighting stance yet, knowing he should try to appear as non threatening as possible.

“Calm down. I’m not your enemy.”, Samael said, his voice calm and measured, steadfast, it was clear that he meant what he said.
“I just want to understand what’s happening here.” He continued, not swayed in the least by the snarling drake, “please.”

Then the drake swiped at him claws splayed as he tried to push him aside. Without even thinking, Samael braced, lifting the shield to block the swipe and resist it, managing to stand his ground. The drake was strong, there was no doubt about that, and even though Samael had supernatural advantages himself, he knew he couldn’t waste all his energy resisting and bracing against blows. However, he also knew that giving ground right now wouldn’t help. So he would try to talk with the creature, reason with it. It was obviously angry, and perhaps nervous, Samael didn’t know, but if he could convince it that he just wanted to help, they’d both be spared a lot of unpleasantries.

“I’m not your enemy. You have my word. I just want to help you.”