Fox Hunt (Open)

City Hall seemed like a fitting place for this gathering. Shivering Jemmy smiled. She had gathered everybody who owed her a favor. The result was a small army standing on the steps of City Hall. Some of them might think City Hall was their target. Only a few knew the actual plan of the day.

Everyone had arrived now, so Jemmy decided it was time to get the mission underway. She grasped the ribbon of her balloon and allowed it to lift her a foot into the air.

"Thank you everyone for coming. You have a dangerous foe to face today. That's why there are so many of you. Don't worry, this is not going to be a fair fight. The plan is to steamroll the enemy with undue force."

Jemmy had wanted to have a large photo of their prey, but sadly there was none to be found. Even if there was one, it wouldn't help. She would just have to describe the man as well as she could.

"Our target is a man with a face of shadow. The only name he has is 'The Hat.' He wears a trench coat and a fedora. Unfortunately, he cannot be sensed or tracked by magical or telepathic means. He is completely undetectable by any means other than sight or sound. Because of this, you will have to sweep the city until you find him. I won't say you have to kill him, but it would be preferred. He is very dangerous."

Jemmy closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Any questions?"

Kasha had come in with Jemmy to join in her little hunt for the mysterious man known as The Hat. Honestly, he wasn't sure at first why he should have come. This was Jemmy's enemy, not his. Why should he concern himself with her business when his job is simply to take care of Annie? Then again, Jemmy had made that job a lot easier lately. Even at this very moment Annie was back in a warm home with Jemmy's maid, Marleigh; enjoying good food, clean clothes, and a warm bed. In addition, helping Jemmy would likely get him some brownie points for in case HE ever needed a favor from HER in the future. And chances are, it's likely to happen. So here he was, sitting on the far edge of a crowd that was gathered for the sole purpose of hunting down someone with whom Jemmy had some kind of dispute.

Kasha sat quietly on the ground in his wolf form, respectfully paying attention to Jemmy as she floated along and informed them of the situation. After listening to what Jemmy had to say, Kasha paused to think for a little while. Not being able to sense the hat would make him hard to find...but easy to spot. Hard to find because Kasha would have to rely on his eyes; and easy to spot because there weren't a whole lot of people that Kasha couldn't sense. So if Kasha saw him, but didn't sense him, and fit the description she gave, he could know instantly that it was the hat. However Kasha did have a few questions. Jemmy, along with any other mind reader, would hear his thoughts go out to her. ("There are indeed a few questions that I have. You say we will have to '...sweep the city until you find him.' If this means we don't know where he is, do we at least know a general area; or will we be sent to search the entire city? If we split up, will we go individually or in groups? When and if he is found, how will we signal the others? What kind of a fight should we expect from The Hat?")

Kasha paused at this point to let Jemmy answer the questions, but then another came to mind. So he telepathically called out again. ("And...are you certain that no risk of harm will come to the child under my care as a result of me helping you?") Kasha knew that Annie was waaaaaay back at home; but wanted to know that she would be okay in the future as well.

Bloodmoon sighed and said, "What area was he last seen in and known abilities?" He honestly didn't know why he was helping jemmy besides having the little lord of chaos owe him. Bloodmoon began to think while he was skilled as a tracker had little to go on which was not a good on a hunt of this size. He looked around and tried to see if he could find people to locate anyone he knew their abilities to or just knew. When he spotted Kasha that unnerved him a bit but then again it wasn't his problem but if any was here he would need to stay close to her as he was swore to protect maidens. He quickly made his way over to the spirit. As he waited for answers to his questions.

Of all the people to ask the first question, Jemmy hadn't expected it to be Kasha. Kasha seemed to have quite a few questions, actually, most of them revealing some fear about the upcoming hunt. Bloodmoon asked similar questions. Jemmy could answer all of them at the same time. Jemmy smiled at Kasha, reassuringly. "We have no idea where he might be, other than that he must be in Jump City, somewhere. He was last seen two weeks ago in a diner. He did not eat. You will all be split into groups, and on your way out the door you will all be provided with little ear-pieces that will all be on the same channel."

Jemmy activated a slide show, and a picture of a thin, silver dart appeared on screen. "The Hat is an Agent of Order, imbued with anti-magic powers. He can produce these darts at will. If they hit their target, all your powers will be severely weakened, and they will hurt you...a lot. It is possible that they also affect powers that are not magical in nature."

The next slide showed a photo of three men in fedoras sitting at a table. None of them were The Hat. They were simply being used for visual aid. "The Hat can split himself into three different bodies. As long as one of them survives, he will live on. All three must be destroyed if we are to kill him."

The next slide showed a cartoon picture of a super hero with a force field. This was the best picture Jemmy could find on Google to represent this particular power. "It is likely that he can also create an aura of anti-energy. Like the darts, this will severely weaken all super-powers with his range, just without the pain. This will probably be a final defense, since it requires a lot of gusto to pull off. He may have other abilities, but I do not know what they might be."

Kasha asked if Annie would be put in danger from the events of this day. Jemmy frowned. "No. I can't promise anything. But he didn't kill Bow when she sheltered me in Titan's Tower. I am the only one he is after. The Hat is an assassin, created and sent to Jump City for the sole purpose of killing me. He has no reason to attack anyone other than his target."

Jemmy gave a strange look to Sophie. There was a lot going on inside the girl's head. It reminded Jemmy of her own mind, actually. She was used to it, but it could be a bad thing for a human to feel so internally conflicted. After the argument in Sophie's mind ended, Jemmy answered the girl's question, though she sounded a little annoyed. Jemmy was sure that she had already provided this information.

"Tracked? He can't be. He doesn't even show up on video cameras, whatever those are. That's why so many of you are gathered here. We're going to pretty much make a big line and sweep across the city. As for identifying him, he doesn't have a face. There's nothing but a dark shadow under his hat."

Perhaps allowing questions had been a bad idea. Jemmy had to actually think of the answers to these questions, and she had to be careful not to scare her little army too much. She also had to make sure not to give them a false sense of security. The Hat was dangerous, and had to be approached as such.

"Look, I know not all of you like me. A lot of you are only here because you owed me a favor or you want one from me. I don't mind. But this guy is trying to kill me, and I don't wanna die. You are all really tough, so let's not worry about this. Just get out there, and take him down."

In an instant, Jemmy telepathically communicated who the members of each team would be. It could be seen as an act of Order, but Jemmy didn't care. She was a 'Lord,' after all. Even Chaos could not sustain itself without a little order, and that was certainly true right now. Kasha, Bloodmoon, and Sophie were all on the same team. Beyond that, the plan was limited. They were telepathically encouraged to get out on the streets and just start wandering around, searching every restaurant, apartment building, and warehouse until they or someone else found The Hat. Some people might have their homes broken into, but Jemmy didn't care. Her life was more important than their privacy.

Kasha listened to Jemmy as she answered all of his questions, and when she was finished with them he inwardly sighed with a slight annoyance.  This 'Hat' wasn't going to be easy to find, and even if he was he wouldn't be easily brought down.  Kasha now lay down where he was to listen silently, but what he soon heard was the sound of another person, apparently waking up.  Kasha turned his head to look and see Sophie, a girl who didn't seem to be very happy to be here.  He couldn't tell exactly what her situation was, but he felt as if the girl was here as if she was being...threatened?  At any rate, Kasha was able to gather that she really didn't like the collar, and that she hoped to be rid of it if she helped Jemmy.  Kasha paused for a bit just to observe the girl, but soon diverted his attention again.  

The wolf listened to the rest of what Jemmy said before suddenly getting her telepathic message, telling him that he, Bloodmoon, and Sophie were a team; and that the should just start searching.  He stood up at this time, and turned to face his two partners before heading out with them.  He didn't really need an earpiece.  It would just fall out, and he couldn't talk anyway.  Sticking close to the other two would allow him to hopefully gather whatever was going on, and he would trust them to speak for him.

As Kasha thought about the situation, he already seemed to feel regret for helping hunt down The Hat. This man had done nothing to him or Annie, and his duty was to protect and care for her. That's it. Likely the only reason that he was even here was the fact that Jemmy was Annie's friend, and if The Hat killed her than Annie would not only be upset but likely back on the street again. But at any rate...he was committed now. Best just to get it down with and go home.

((OOC: Just a note: For Sophie, this thread is taking place after this thread ))


Sophie glared at Jemmy. She didn't like this girl... then again, she didn't know her - right now, she didn't like anything very much. She'd been coerced into being here, forced, as if she was an animal to be sicced on something... and she hated it. Her knuckles popped a little, and the scent of her own blood under the antiseptic bandages stung her nose, swirling as a deep bass crimson mist (to her synesthetic senses - she could hear and see scents as well as smell them.)

Sophie took stock of herself as she stood, looking distant as she did so. She hurt a little bit... she was still injured, but she could feel the stitches in her body, feel her flesh already closing around them. She'd never been wounded with silver yet... at least, not until last night. But her wounds had been cleansed, and stitched shut, stuffed with gauze, and she was clean. That at least... wasn't an entirely unpleasant sensation. It'd been a while since she'd felt this clean. And... satisfied. The pale, silver-haired girl in the formal suit grinned a little, and shut her eyes a moment. Giuseppe... he'd been made to pay. The beast in her breast rumbled joyfully at the thought, even as she let out a soft grunt.

Moment of introspection over, Sophie set her blue-grey eyes on Kasha and Bloodmoon. Bloodmoon... she recognized that lad. That night she'd fought the monster Lan to save his life - yeah! That's when she'd seen the young man! She nodded to him amicably, and bumped him a little with her shoulder. "Hello again." she murmured, and then... looked to Kasha properly. A... a wolf. SORT OF a wolf. She had no idea what to expect, but her own wolf inspected the creature and found him... strange. A wolf... of shadow, of living darkness, of magic. She could feel him staring at her too, and felt.. oddly naked in his stare. It wasn't a malevolent attention... but it was certainly unnerving!

"My name is Sophie." she said softly, still staring at Kasha. In the depths of her eyes... just barely visible... was a tiny ember of violet light - something inhuman. If Kasha really could read her mind, maybe he'd see the silver wolf that dwelt in her breast, that rumbled and stirred beneath the surface - an... angry, but not at all unnatural presence in the otherwise well-formed, athletic young woman. She almost wanted him to see, to know. For some reason she thought that might make her feel better.

She offered her hand to the wolf to sniff - it was what canines did to get to know someone, smelling them. She wondered if a Shadow wolf was any different?

Bloodmoon sighed as he was bumped into by Sophie as he was informed that him and Sophie were to be on the same team with Kasha he as she said hello deciding he might as well be polite he said, "hello again to you too Miss . Sophie"
He then looked at Kasha and asked, "Annie isn't taking part in this is she?"informationey waited to find out what area that they where to search after retrieving his and Sophie's ear piece.

When he came back he saw that she was offering her hand to Kasha so he could smell it tapping her on the shoulder to get her attention he offered her ear piece to her and said, "Nice to be working with you and sorry about what happened in the alley I didn't know you where trying to help me at the time only information I had to go off of was what i knew and assumed that you where there to help the dog lunes as the last recorded incident of our patrons champion's meeting resulted in death for my patrons champion just because the lune wanted to kill her for the fun of it."

The teams departed from the building, and the hunt began. The three wolves moved fast. Even though The Hat apparently gave off no scent, Jemmy had a feeling that the three natural hunters would find him first.

Fear rose from the people of Jump City as the three walked the streets. Some of them had already seen other groups of meta-humans on the hunt, and knew that something bad was brewing.

Sitting far above the street and looking out a window, The Hat knew who the three wolves were looking for. His contacts had told him of this grand hunt for him. When an army was organized, it was difficult to keep it secret.

For now, The Hat had managed to stay hidden, but he knew that wouldn't last forever. Eventually, one of Jemmy's search teams would find him, and call destruction down on him. His only real chance to survive this would be to meet them head on.

A minute later, a door opened in front of the three wolves. The Hat stepped out. Beneath his fedora there was no face, just a dark shadow. The Hat held his arms out wide in a peaceful gesture. "I'm surprised that such intelligent beings have sworn their lives in service to the Shallow Brigade. Surely, that monster hasn't truly fooled you. Shivering Jemmy is a monster, the manifestation of Chaos. She is inherently evil, and would not change even if she could. I'll give you this chance. Change sides. Help me bring an end to her evil and save countless lives."

So Sophie and Bloodmoon knew each other from somewhere? Interesting. Where from and how seemed not to matter at the time though; this was a time and place to deal with the task at hand. Kasha looked into the examining eyes of Sophie, a rather peculiar girl. There seemed to be something about her; or..rather something inside her. Kasha could almost see something in her eyes; a sense of fierceness and strength. He couldn't tell what it was but knew it was something strong, almost monstrous. The girl offered her hand, and sensing no ill intentions Kasha found no reason not to sniff at it. It was only the proper thing to do when someone offered their hand.

In answer to Bloodmoon's question, Kasha would only stare at him from where he sat. No...Annie wouldn't be joining them, but a wolf with no voice wasn't about to communicate this fact. Sometimes Kasha didn't mind not being able to talk though. It saved a lot of effort.

The three soon made their way out into the city, on the hunt for the faceless, hooded man. Unfortunately the only way to find him would be with your eyes. Figures. Mental sensing would be too easy; cheating even. No, it was going to be a proper search tonight. Or was it? As if he had already given up, The Hat came out of hiding, turning the attention of Kasha right to the man and bringing the search to a halt. But The Hat hadn't merely given up. No...he seemed as if he were trying to persuade the three of them to reconsider.

Call him a traitor, but Kasha was perfectly fine with this. He was never on Jemmy's side anyway. He was never on anyone's side except his own and Annie's; and his 'side' wanted answers. The wolf sat down right where he was after The Hat spoke his little segment, and watched and listened to see if The Hat had anything else to say about Jemmy. If this man was sent with the sole purpose of killing the girl, then he should have done some heavy research on her. At the very least, Kasha wanted to see what secrets he could get from this man about Jemmy. He still did not know what he would ultimately do, kill the hat or not. He certainly wasn't going to let The Hat go, and if he ran Kasha would likely default to trying to chase after and kill him. But The Hat wasn't running. He seemed certain that he at least had a shot at convincing them to abandon following Jemmy; and Kasha wanted to hear the argument. Hopefully one of the others asked questions, as Kasha certainly couldn't. Sometimes it was annoying not being able to talk; but you learn to live with it.

Bloodmoon sighed as he now knew that he didn't have to worry about annie being hurt. Sighing as Sophie ignored her ear peice he placed his in his ear. As they began the hunt Bloodmoon was only mildly surprised at how it felt to be with Sophie and Kasha he felt like they where in a pack though a loose one his surprise came at how easy his wolf side accepted Sophie Kasha it had already accepted. Bloodmoon kept a lazy eye open as he noticed that the citizens of jump seemed to know on some level that they should find cover and fast. He was caught off guard when the hat came out of no where when they turned down an alley way , but snorted in amusement when the hat assumed that he served Jemmy. As he listened to what the hat said he noticed that Kasha seemed to be hearing him out while Sophie seemed to want her collar cut if the snipping motion she was making was anything to go by.

Bloodmoon merely looked bored he really didn't care about the hat and Jemmy's personal war but he unlike most saw that the world needed to stay in a some what balance state of order and chaos. While he would try to stop the hat somewhat he would not try to go out of his way to protect Jemmy he still hadn't let go of the fact that he had been turned into a rabbit seeing as no else decided to speak Bloodmoon decided he would but not before shutting off his ear piece and said, "None of us are bound to protect her and we have our own reasons why we are apart of this hunt while I don't know about Kasha's reason I am guessing Sophie's has something to do with her collar judging by her actions and as for mine is I'm just in a fighting mood and I don't feel like being turned into another animal again."

The Hat laughed pleasantly, delighted at how well this conversation was going. What were the odds that all three wolves would feel no loyalty to Jemmy at all? Apparently, the little Lord of Chaos was not good at making friends, not that it surprised The Hat.

"I understand your position," The Hat said. "This isn't your war. You owe nothing to Shivering Jemmy." He walked up to Sophie, who was indirectly asking for help removing her collar. The Hat reached into one of his deep pockets and produced a pair of scissors. He cut the collar with ease, negating any magical nature it may have held. The collar fell loose to the ground. "We are even. You may leave, or you may stay. It is up to you. Only you should decide your destiny."

The Hat walked up slowly to Kasha next. "You are a being of magic. I can tell. You understand how dangerous Shivering Jemmy is. Perhaps there is someone you wish to protect. Side with me, and we can make sure that monster can never hurt anyone again."

Finally, The Hat walked up to Bloodmoon, making sure not to appear threatening. "So you have felt the sting of her wrath. You are lucky to still be alive. No, it's because you are strong that you're still alive. If you are truly looking for a fight, then Shivering Jemmy would be a much better opponent than myself. Imagine, being the warrior to slay a Lord of Chaos. I can give you the power to put you on even terms with her. Observe."

The Hat slowly reached into his pocket and pulled out a dagger. He made sure to act in a non-threatening way. He didn't want to get attacked out of misunderstanding. Holding the dagger firmly, he infused it with the power of anti-magic. All three wolves had a connection to something magical and otherworldly. Suddenly, they would all feel the power within them shake and weaken slightly. They would innately know that The Hat's weapon was a genuine threat to anything magical.

"Give me your blade," The Hat continued, "and I can do this. I can give your sword the power of anti-magic. You can then kill Jemmy. Just a quick stab to the chest, and it will all be over. You will be a god slayer, a warrior unmatched in glory."

He took a step back to look at all three wolves at once. "I await your answers. Balance is overrated. In this balance, wars are raged and people continue to suffer and die. Only in perfect Order will we find peace. Kill Jemmy, and you will save the world from itself."

So it seemed that The Hat got the hint as to what Sophie's predicament was and got her out of it.  Good for her.  But then The hat turned his attention to Kasha, and started to approach.  The wolf stood up again, and made sure to keep at least a small distance between them.  He couldn't sense this man's intentions or what he planned to do; and having been informed that he had anti-magic powers made The Hat quite a threat to Kasha, and he wasn't going to take his chances with this man.  However, it seemed that The Hat wasn't interested in fighting, but rather in talking.  

So he could tell Kasha was a being of magic; it didn't take a master investigator to figure that out.  But what he said after that raised Kasha's attention.  "You understand how dangerous Shivering Jemmy is. Perhaps there is someone you wish to protect."  It was pretty clear now, the hat had been watching Kasha.  Perhaps simply because he was watching Jemmy, and Kasha happened to be living with Jemmy now; but it was unlikely that he would just happen to guess that Kasha was someone's guardian.  The idea didn't sit well with Kasha. Just the thought of being watched by a man more than capable of killing both him and Annie, who also held the ability to avoid early detection by Kasha's telepathy, was a very unsettling thought.  

Kasha listened more as The Hat tried to convince Bloodmoon to fight and kill Jemmy for the pride and glory of it, and it convinced Kasha of something.  The Hat was a smooth talker, and would say whatever he had to in order to try and persuade them to kill Jemmy.  Kasha didn't trust that kind of person, especially someone that he couldn't look into the mind of.  This distrust was displayed when The Hat pulled out an anti-magic dagger, and feeling it's effects, Kasha moved well back from it.  So The Hat was willing to apply this effect to Bloodmoon's weapon?  Interesting...  Kasha wondered weather or not he would accept the offer.  

Finally The Hat stepped back to address them all, and Kasha's opinions of The Hat further declined with his next words.  Balance was overrated?  Did he really just say that?  Balance meant everything in the mortal realm.  Too much chaos lead to mass war, death, violence, and destruction; but too much order led to complete domination and slavery.  Jemmy may be a danger to some, but at least her intentions were obvious.  She didn't hide under the cover of shadow or try to subtly manipulate people into behaving how she wanted them too (that Kasha knew of).  No, she was the kind of person that openly stated her purpose; that knew her place in the world and what she needed to do.  This openness was something that Kasha respected.  Jemmy didn't hide her intentions, motivations, or actions (possibly because she was incapable of it).  It wasn't hard to know what she was doing, and if someone didn't like it they could confront her about it.  They might get their head bit off...literally...but there was still that openness at least.  If Jemmy was going to be evil, that evil would be obvious; if she was going to be good, that would be....confusing, but hopefully also obvious.  But The Hat worked under the cover of secrecy; his ultimate goal other than simply killing Jemmy was unknown.  No-one knew if he was good or evil.  He had no desire to create balance and seemed to only want Jemmy dead.  It made Kasha ask why.  Why did The Hat want Jemmy dead?  Was it simply because she was a lord of chaos and he wanted order to win?  Was it because he was blindly following orders from someone higher up?  Kasha didn't know, and without that knowledge he felt like he couldn't make a proper decision as to whether to listen to The Hat or not.  

At this point, Kasha really regretted getting himself into this.  He didn't have enough information to make a decent decision on what he should do.  Try to kill The Hat?  Try to kill Jemmy?  Both?  Neither one?  For now, he decided neither one; but he had made a commitment to help Jemmy.  Not in writing, but there was still no honor in going back on one's word.  Kasha wouldn't attack The Hat...for now; but he felt obligated to at least let Jemmy know they had found him.  Unfortunately...Kasha didn't have a way to do that right now.  Bloodmoon and Sophie were the ones with the earpieces, not him.  Kasha looked to them both, wondering if they would call her up and tell her; but he soon snapped his gaze back to The Hat.  He didn't trust The Hat with that empty face and unsearchable mind of his, and wasn't going to take his eyes off the man.  He instead kept his telepathy and hearing on alert to see if one of the others would send for help.  If they didn't, Kasha would just have to take off running and find someone himself.  He would likely lose The Hat if he did that, but if the others did nothing than that would be the only option in his opinion.