Last stop...👻

[mermalaide]

The train is going to stop running soon. A cup of coffee from a vending machine would probably keep things moving a little more. The train was starting to be deserted. Only the two female Shinesengumi officers where there and, as they were undercover, were in plain clothes. "It's getting close to the time the trains stop. This was a little before the last victim was attacked." She didn't know Anri too well, but they had some shared experience. Not many women joined the Shinesengumi, you had to be pretty tough. 

Momiji gestured to the vending machine that had smokes and coffee. It seemed like a salaryman staple. Other than the vending machine that sold ironed, pressed shirts in it. "Let's wait for a few more minutes and start retracing the path the victim took." The last train came by, but was shut down for patience and was skipping the stop. Momiji thought she saw something as tall as a child peeking out in one of the benches as it went past. "The hell..?"

The order decided to post a few Shinesengumi at a few of the known attack points tonight. There would be a few Shinesengumi at each station on the off chance this thing would spawn at any one of them. It was a high alert, Teke-teke were always hostile and would attack humans. Six girls had been attacked this month alone. One of the girls had worn red and that caused Teke to aggro her. Momiji smirks. Her sword is hidden under what was a non-descript looking red cloak.  I hope that thing comes for  me, it will get more than it bargained for.

[datmass]

Anri would not have been what Momoji expected, but then the most she knew about her was basically through Max, and he had only mentioned a little about her in passing. So, when the order had passed down that "You will be working with Fuyunaito.", all sorts of images or notions must've formed in her head of this woman as tough as Max Fuyunaito, the yokai hunter. But...what she probably hadn't expected was a small-framed young adult woman with glasses, mainly-blue attire, and a cello case on her back on a motorcycle, one who seemed to be very business-like with an owl's stare about her. Then again, her opening line had been "Greetings, Fujiwara-san. I look forward to killing this creature with you.", and not even with some sort of sadistic anticipation, either. She felt that way because it needed to die for what it had done.

She hadn't said much after that, except to explain that the cello case was her cover for her presence - an evening rehearsal - and where she had stashed her sword, opting for an old gangster movie moment of using cello cases to hide weapons. And although this wasn't a tommygun she had in there, it was decidedly more lethal...in her hands. She didn't mention the fact that Momoji seemed like Red Riding Hood in her red cloak, looking a little too much like a victim waiting to happen. It probably wasn't important. How many Teke-Teke were likely to be genre-savvy? If there was even one, Anri would be surprised, but if not...then this one was in for a surprise. Because while Momoji was eyeing the presence of a child suspiciously here...Anri was waiting for the sound, the telltale sound of the thing crawling. Once she heard it moving, the hunt was on...

[mermalaide]

"I do as well Fuyunaito-san." If Momiji was little red riding hood, which would have made her laugh, given the black inugami that merged with her, Anri was a tiny gangster owl. Both thoughts were amusing. She saw the look at the look, and felt the need to explain. "Teke-san doesn't like red, in fact it enrages her." She probably did not need to say more. But, to elaborate further, "With my abilities, I am more than quick enough to distract it, so we can kill it, but it has to be lured out likely."


The idea of her being bait was a bit amusing to her, given that she was part inugami. A wolf in sheep's clothing, literally. But she did not say that. "We will want to be the most appealing to this thing by default." She got the impression that it was not Fuyunaito's first time hunting for yokai either. The Shinsengumi were only going with officers that were experienced tonight. It felt good to get out there and hunt harmful yokai and yurei. Admittedly this was more on the yurei side of the house, but they were given things that would help to subdue and seal yokai so that a priest or priestess could destroy it. From what she had been told about Anri Fuyunaito, was that she was more than capable, but also a bit of a glass cannon, which Momiji could relate to. She would do her best to make sure that Anri would not take as much damage. Momiji felt like he speed gave her an edge to staying out of reach and the red cloak was almost the same function as a bullfighter's mantle. 

For now, things were quiet. The best thing to do was likely top pretend not to notice, all the while listening. Wearing the cloak gave her another advantage, when she came closer to Anri, she was able to show her sword without giving it away from her cloak. "I know the manto is a bit, well antiquated, however, it affords me the cover of a moving target while maintaining the ability of weaponry, even if I do look.. well odd to say the least." 



"So Fuyunaito-san," She glanced at her watch, noting that the last train had come by a few moments ago. "It looks like the station is closed. We may have to walk home." This was said for the benefit of a possible Teke. So far nothing, but she activated her ability Garou just to be sure. Her senses became more finely attuned.  Her garnet colored eyes hidden by circular dark lenses. Her ears had been hidden under her hood as she moved, so nothing really visible yet.

[datmass]

The need for bait was well-understood. It's just a shame that it had to be human bait to bring the thing out. Fujiwara knew what she was doing, of course. Practically all of them did, save for the inexperienced, and it was any senior member's duty to help the uninitiated live long enough to gain that experience. Suffice it to say, she was right about Anri: Not her first time hunting. Although her duties varied, combat seemed to play a large role in them, most of the time. She could not use her padded suit on this one, though, so she would have to be careful when attacked. Just because the Teke-Teke had no legs didn't mean it couldn't get at them fast enough. Upon being shown the other's weapon, Anri nodded. As long as Fujiwara was confident with it, it would serve. Half of fighting was knowing what you were doing, after all.

So! They sat, and they waited, and the train didn't show. Every now and then, Anri would look at her watch, look down the tube, sit back down, fiddle with her phone... She was playing the part of being mildly impatient, even letting out the occsional sigh of annoyance. When it was announced that the station might've closed already, Anri lowered her head and grumbled "I thought there was still one more..." before getting up with another sigh. They were acting, of course, because while the Teke-Teke wasn't likely to be a genius, it still needed to feel like all of this was natural.

"Sorry about this, Fujiwara-san. I thought we would catch the last one, and now it looks like we're more delayed than usual. At least no one will bother us on the way."

That was an extra bonus, which sounded like purely innocent conversation, but boy if you took it in another context? Yikes. But they would start to head from the station in a promising direction now, ears pealed for any and all movement, especially if it was chasing after them.

[mermalaide]

Momiji raised an eyebrow. Anri was good. She got it quick too. Momiji played into it a little and they began to walk together. "Is that what you wanted me to yourself about, you could have asked Anri-chan." She played up the blushing girl trope, though, personally, she hadn't felt that way before. It felt a bit awkward. No, that wasn't right, she had felt that way. But that day, they spoke poetry by the river. She shook the thought out of her head. Haru needed to stay out of her thoughts for now. The flower of combat was to be watered with the blood of Teke this night.

It was so late. The station was already becoming quite dark. Her ears prickled and she felt something akin to an icy hand on her back. Something was there, something behind them, watching and waiting. She felt like if she turned then, something would rush them. She took Anri's arm for a moment and spoke so softly that you could mistake it for breath if it was anyone listening other than Anri. "I think it's here. Let's walk a little further." They didn't want to get caught in one of the back alleys, thought it felt like they were naturally moving that way.

There was a little bit of a scraping sound behind them. 

Teke-teke...Te-ke..

She could hear it now. "The moment I move away, it will come at me. Be ready, it will run straight at us, but head for me."

[datmass]

The glasses girl let off a play-acted smirk, saying "Well, I've never been very good at being forthright on my feelings. Just ask my brother.", although this was not both not true and the expression was essentially not real. She had simply looked herself in the mirror at one point in order to fake it. Truth be told, an genuine Anri smile was a little more subtle, and a lot more difficult to earn. But at least this would serve well enough for the act. Good thing too, because soon Momoji was certain that their quarry or something was following. To her request, Anri merely nodded...and waited. They waited for confirmation, for the sound that-

'Teke-teke...Te-ke..'

As per request, they were moving out more onto an open street than a dank alley. Wise choice. Momoji stated she would move away, and the creature would charge her red-cloaked self. Anri...was poised for anything. She would need a second to break her katana out of the case, but the cello case was rigged to pop open if it dropped - with a spring, no less - so she would have it almost immediately at the ready, once things got underway. She prepared for the moment and poised for the attack...

[mermalaide]

Rank C Ability: ‘Run rabbit! Run!’

Momiji felt her legs burn and she looked back. As Teke started to sprint (as well as you could, mind you as a torso), Momiji was one step ahead of here. "Ha!" Her cloak was already to the side and her hand was on the hilt of her sword. She managed to draw a gap between herself, Teke-teke and Anri. "Eyes on me you degenerate!" Teke seemed to be wielding some sort of scythe, something she seemed to use to slash at her prey. But these girls were no prey, they were Shinsengumi.

The nasty creature looked like a school girl that had been slashed in half and was missing her legs. "Where..where-are they!?" She gave a gurgling cry and rushed for Momiji again, Momiji was playing keep away. "Where are my legs!?!" She looked horrible. Momiji noted that she looked like she had been struck by an oncoming train or something of the nature. But there was no time to muse over this. She drew her sword and blocked a scythe swing. It enraged Teke, who eyed the cloak and started to really bear down. Momiji could keep this up for a bit, but she hoped that this would give Anri more than enough of an opening.

[datmass]

For her part, Anri made a token effort to look scared - but not much more than that would be necessary, given how laser-focused the Teke-Teke was, right now - as the yokai passed. Most people didn't know, but creatures who were arms and torsos could actually move very fast. I mean, you say that the lack of a lower-half is a problem, but with enough practice, any one of them could move around like raptors, and when you're talking about a supernatural entity, stamina is not usually an issue. Now, Momoji was using her ability to speed up in order to keep the half-a-woman from slicing her with that weapon, allowing Anri to act with quiet haste instead of loud banging haste that would alert the target. It was a little hard to tell the weapon, per se, what with that frantic fervor going on, but the going theory was kama, sickle, or scythe. It didn't really matter, though, as the Teke-Teke would slice apart a victim with virtually anything it could find, or rip-and-tear by hand and teeth if nothing was available.

With Momoji actively engaged in combat now, Anri had her katana out and was ready to fight. She waited for the yokai to give near-to-all attention to the mounting frustration that was her red-cloaked opponent, and then...her actions were swift. She came in darting from behind, sword held low, and went as far as to step down hard on the Teke-Teke's rear flesh. This was to perform two actions: First, it would stop or slow down due to someone pressing down on what remained of their lower back. And second, it would cause the front to pop up just a little, if not alot from the yokai spazzing out from the sudden contact. Why this? Because she was opening with a triangular series of slashes that would cause damage to the three most important points on the creature, the neck and arms, before sliding back in preparation for a retaliation by the yokai...which she would meet with a prepared Vacuum Strike, if it was foolish enough to attack her head-on.

[mermalaide]

The two acting in tandem was oh so dangerous for Ms. Teke. With Momiji as a distraction, Teke was getting more and more furious. So much so that the swinging of her scythe was getting sloppy. She was breathing through clenched teeth. Momiji was hopping over the scythe each time it swung towards her ankles, like a dangerous game of skip it. Momiji cackled at it maliciously as she did so, it was more to make it blind to anything Anri was doing behind it's back, and she was careful to not look in Anri's direction, mostly for fear that it would alert Teke-chan that someone was playing behind her back.



It begain to try and sweep, spinning around for a circular attack, it was shocked that something was bearing down on it's back and Teke screatches at the young women. "Yoouououou TRICKED ME!" It was a horrific howl of pain. It aggroed, slashing at them again in an arc. Momiji saw what Anri was about to do and threw her cloak onto Teke's face. She spring into the air, jumping up and away from the attack Anri had, and was ready to bear down after. 

[datmass]

Attacks from a legless torso demon could not possibly hit above the waistline without some kind of a catapulting leap, so what Anri mainly had to watch for when she closed in before was low attacks, generally of the sweeping variety. One such attack had the Teke-Teke sswing around in a circular arc at the both of them, which Anri saw and heard, leaving her only having to hop up to avoid being scythe-cut. Not a difficult persuasion for one constantly watching for it. After all, Momoji wasn't having any trouble with it. When the other Shinsengumi agent threw her cloak over the yokai's head, Anri was instantly prepared, and thus came a part of swift Vacuum Wave Strikes at the chest - directly through the cloak without delay, followed by a repositioning of her blade so it was prepared to stab, and Anri was going for an attack up the throat so her blade would travel into the Teke-Teke's head! When we say that she's a swift executioner, we mean she really tries her damnedest!

[mermalaide]

The sound of a cracking skull could be heard, it sounded as though a sword had pierced through. Momiji's eyes had been wide and she had held her sword at the ready, on the off chance that the thing was not done. That strike though was a quick one and put the woman, or thing rather out of it's misery. Typically, they had to be exercised, but with blessed and elemental weaponry, this was not always the case. Black blood came from it's mouth and it spat it through clenched teeth with a gurgle.

"I.. I will take what is mine..."

Ms. Teke coughed blood onto the pavement where the two women stood. It looked like an oil slick. Momiji watches it collapse. "Nice work." She bends down and uses her phone to take a few pictures and to send a message in the group chat for the Shinengumi that are part of the operation. "It might be a good idea to bag this one. There is still a collector about."

She pulls out a garbage bag and gets ready to clean it up. "You were briefed on what's currently happening with missing yokai and human persons?" She was hoping that Anri was in the loop, but ready to let her know any of the newer developments.

[datmass]

Even as the creature expired, Anri did not take her eyes off of it until she was absolutely sure that it was dead...or re-dead, as the case may be. The thing about grudge-embodied Yokai and creatures of a spiritual, revenge-taking, or similar area was that it was difficult to say whether they lived or not. This one had black blood, which was an indicator that it might be a corpse animated by a spirit of vengeance for its lost legs, rather than a living-but-disabled yokai creature. Anri had never killed a Teke-Teke before now, so this was kind of a new experience for her. She only nodded when Momoji complimented her work, taking a rag from the cello case to wipe off her sword. When the topic of bagging and the stories of the collector came up, Anri then also produced a pair of rubber gloves and her own bag, as well, ready to help with the clean-up.

"I generally get a number of combat assignments, so I was among the first to receive the clean-up order."

Considering her focus and expertise in going for the kill, no one would doubt it. Anri was sent off to kill things more often than others, so naturally she was a little more in on things regarding this sort of hunt. Once they were done bagging the remains of the Teke-Teke, she removed the gloves - stuffing them inside the bag, which her bag in particular was wrapped around the sickle to prevent it cutting through the bag - and faced Momoji with a serious glare.

"You weren't told beforehand, but there is talk among others, regarding this eater of the dead. I was told this operation may be considered a practical test run of a potential strategy to combat the creature."

She needed not elaborate. It clearly meant that someone was considering using bait living or dead - to try and lure out this fiend. The monster in question was likely more dangerous, but if this operation was considered a dry run, then they could prepare a more-involved one in an attempt to ensnare and destroy the greater threat.

[mermalaide]

Together they would put the thing in a bag, and, for extra measure, Momiji had talisman stickers to slap all over the bag, so that a priest could exorcise the remains when it was brought back. There was no way that the thing would stay dead for long, even with those wounds, but they could incapacitate it, and it would certainly look dead for a while. Momiji wiped her sword out of caution, she had merely kept it at bay so there was no blood this time. She used that torn and, at this point ruined, red cloak.

She wrapped the Teke part she could reach in it, and put it in the bag. Momiji listened a bit to Anri and helped put it together. At this point, she had been among three that had actually fought a collector and lived. "Myself and two others killed one. However, I get the feeling it wasn't a stand alone incident, and we were urged by a few of the higherups not to discuss it." She was not happy about that. The other members needed to know, and on a limited basis, the general public. This thing was a danger to anyone not in the know, hell, even some in the know.

"I have a really bad feeling. I have never seen a yokai like that, nor have I heard of one like that."

She looked very pale, though, that was natural for her. Almost deathly white skin, and long straight black hair. It was polished, yet a bit unkempt in the street lamp. "Bag in a bag?" She held out the bag so that Anri could stuff her pieces in as well, and then she would tie it shut and put the wards all over it. "I think the captain was saying there would be a priest on grounds, for us to take this too. I can text them and let them know we are on our way with this thing."

[datmass]

The idea of using a lure into a trap to find these things and take them down in a practical and measured response was for best. Because if there were many of these things, not only would that explain the erratic course- since it was not one, but several they were tracking - but it would determine how well they could integrate the killing of these collectors, as a matter of course. Once it was a properly studied yokai, they would kill it like all the other things that threaten the safety of others. Momoji was understandably concerned by the presence of these things, since she had apparently been in a fight with one. Anri gave her a look of some measure of intrigue.

"I see. Well, if there are more of these, then it seems likely that we can lure them into a trap with the promise of bodies, and then execute them. That it is a yokai unheard of..."

She paused for a moment, thinking about it. Unheard of. There were always mysteries in life. New things happen all the time, and yokai were unending in variety, though... She was knowledgeable on most kinds, and any she did not know from her studies, she could easily consult another from the organization, Shiro, Max, her mothers... Essentially, to not know what this yokai was would be surprising, to say the least.

"...is definite cause for concern."

She nodded to the double bagging, and as that proceeded, Anri noticed that this situation - not the Teke-Teke, but their collector beast - put the other girl on edge. Likely, Momoji was wondering when the next attack would be. Would it be when a known acquaintance was out on a job? Would it attack her while she was alone and without backup for several miles? Anything can happen in this group, so it was understandable to be on edge.

"Send the text, and just focus on the task at hand. If you're feeling we're still at risk, here and now, then I will make certain that nothing takes us unawares."

As far as she was concerned, she was still on the clock, and combat mode for Anri tended to be on for even longer in her life.

[mermalaide]

"Certainly."

She could not help but nod and flip out the phone. Teke was starting to really reek. She typed out something short and sweet to her mentor, Saito Shibara. He was an older Shinesengumi that was charged with teaching initiates generally. He was stern, neat and by the book. Most people knew Shibara-san from one thing or another. He was high up in records, and taught sword play. He was constantly out either hunting or scouting for new blood, and had an almost permanent resting bitch face nine times out of ten.

Fujiwara/ Sir, we have apprehended the target. Teke-teke possible B+ or A rank. Proceeding to designated temple site. Target is securely knocked out and has seals on it's container. 

Shibara/ Acknowledged. Proceed with caution. It will reconstitute in transit. BE ALERT

Fujiwara/ Affirmative. En Route.

Her fingers flew and you could tell that she was used to typing reports on the go. Her phone looked like an old fashioned Blackberry. And it looked like it took a beating. Most of the Shinsengumi had phones like that or old flip ones out of habit. Try having a yokai eat or spit acid on a new iphone. "Alrighty, let's move. I think the site we need is a few blocks." She got ready to pick up the bag. It was pretty heavy. The weapon the Teke dropped seemed to dematerialize when she fell, so that was one less thing to worry about.

"We better pray this thing does not break. Shibara and a priest will be waiting for us."