riverviewlogs | [Closed; see note] Trigger Scent Hunting

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[Closed; see note] Trigger Scent Hunting

who: Laura Howlett and You
what: Laura has been afflicted with the Trigger Scent - and is ready to kill.
when: Thursday, Early Friday morning, after this unsettling post.
where: All across Riverview.
warnings: Violence/blood, potential death (mainly NPC).
Note: If you would like to be involved, I may be able to squeeze you in; just hit me up at

simpledog! I have a plurk here regarding this plot.

Laura isn't herself.

She doesn't really feel anything — see anything, think anything. It's more just an all-encompassing need to kill, some sort of mentally paralyzing fog where all she can think is that she needs to track and hunt. If you'd asked her, before the trigger scent was used, what this strange liquid was? She wouldn't be able to tell you. It's new information, something the scarce files Gabriela stole away didn't cover.

Too late now.

She prowls through the city, her steps fast and her nose sniffing at the cooling air. She smells her targets. Some are stronger than others, closer by. Some are moving. Some are stationary. Whatever the case, she stops firstly by a local liquor store where a man is stumbling out with a beer in hand. She doesn't know him, and she won't remember that he's her first victim. Poor guy just got doused with the wrong thing, wrong time, wrong place. With him easily neutralized, she moves on to the next scent—

Likely one of you.

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Her nose twitches as she sniffs, but it seems whatever Gyda's saying is going through one ear and out the other. The eyes are just as vibrant red as they had been in the feed, leaving her stare like something out of a horror tale as they transfix on the other girl.

Careful, Gyda, the claws that burst from her knuckles can cut through quite the assortment of things.

That bike, for one, which she's more than willing to slice through in trying to get to you.

[Alex wasn't an idiot, she had been in the caverns with Laura when they had been kidnapped, and she knew that there was no way that she could take Laura down in any meaningful way, especially when it seemed like she wasn't herself. There were other people who cared about Laura who would deal with that, and Alex would help afterwards.

But there was something that she could do now. She could find out whoever was the bastard who sold out a kid to a monster and make them pay for it. The monster had mentioned files on his post, and she knew better than most just how hard it was for people to actually end up getting files. Hell, she couldn't get them, and she was her charming self and knew several people by name.

Several people who she was sure weren't the ones who did this. This was something new, and Alex Reagan was taking it upon herself to search the apartment to see if she could find anything about the files. After all, what was a little breaking and entering between friends? Besides, the place was mostly abandoned and she felt like she'd been to dozens of them before this one. Standing in the room with her flashlight, Alex just swallowed and hoped that Laura was going to come out of this okay.]

This wasn't Laura. Whoever this was..her friend was gone.

The thought no sooner left her before the girl rushed at her. Thanks to her training with Ivar, her reflexes were faster than when she first began, and she quickly lifted the bike up to deflect her attack, shoving it away in hopes that the claws would get caught in the metal and trip her up.

Soon as the bike was free from her grasp, Gyda quickly backed away, knife in hand. Tempting as it was to run away, she knew well enough how fast Laura was..how she was gifted. The best she could hope for was to cripple her enough to make a run for it.

*Lola was going to enjoy the last fleeting idea of summer, yes it was gone. But, that didn't mean she couldn't wear big sunglasses and drink rainbow colored cold fruity concoctions for a little while longer. While showing off her arms, wearing shorts, and just kinda enjoying how cute she looks.*

Hmm... maybe I can get my helmet and jump myself someplace good for a selfie.

*She was wearing her jumping boots, like she did sometimes. Just to be super used to wearing them in case something happened.*

*It wasn't cause she was still terrified cultists might kidnap her again and she's a bit paranoid. Not that. Nothing like that!*

With a yell she brings her blades down and through the metal of the bike, yanked in front of her just in time — the metal claws cut through the metal pipes too easily, the adamantium blades glinting dangerously while pieces of the girl's ride clatter and smack to the ground.

Laura lunges again with little time to waste and is clearly wholly devoted to the idea of trying to cut Gyda to pieces; however she dies is fine, in Laura's foggy and twisted mind, as long as it can wash away the smell — and leave room for the next scent. Watch those blades, they're stabbing through the air like dual spears.

[It's Friday, early morning, do you know where your rabid mutants are?

Laura herself has had a very eventful morning — and Lola is next on the list, though Laura has no clue who she is in this state; she doesn't recognize anyone or anything, nothing except the familiar odor that clings to an unaware Lola. Those kids, throwing around water balloons, splashing cups on people, they're rude, aren't they? Now the dry chemical is dragging Laura out of the woodwork.

She starts toward her, shoving a man so hard he nearly crumples unconscious against a nearby wall, and her blood-red eyes are glued on Lola. She doesn't seem too eager to do this subtly; the trigger scent makes her maddened, eager to finish the work.

Look out, Lola. The claws're out.]

[ It's the worst possible thing that could happen, right now. Jim curses inwardly a thousand times over when he nearly runs into the group of teenagers, eyes wide and hair messy, still panting from the fast sprint in hopes of putting some distance between himself and Laura.

Speaking of— his eyes are quick to find her again, when a soft light reflects on her claws. She moves, and unsure whether she's about to jump or not, he quickly pushes his way through the group, placing himself between Laura and them. ]

Get out of here!!

[ Not willing to wait any longer, he lifts up his phaser and shoots, mostly blindly but still trying to aim to where he saw her last. ]

*Fortunately, Lola's really good at recognizing body language, expressions... empathy. It's a life saver. She couldn't really describe any of it, but she can tell what she's looking at. And when she spots Laura- the claws aren't even the first problem. It was a tickle on the back of her neck, a skin crawly feeling.*

*Trying to get a sense of what's wrong is when she sees the claws. And, well, there are a lot of reasons Laura might be doing things against her better nature. But for the moment Lola's not going to care. That's a later problem, now is a 'find help and get out of here' problem.*

Everybody run right now!

*She's small but man her voice carries, she's definitely drawing attention. She then takes two steps and jumps. A burst of white light out of her stylish but slightly impractical boots, launching her up so she can land on a second floor balcony to a restaurant. Which causes a lot more chaos, and more attention as she runs across several tables and starts looking for her next jump point. While looking back to see where Laura has gotten to in all the- chaos.*

Had she been able to, Gyda would've thanked Freya, Odin and the Valkries for Ivar's training. Sadistic as he was in battle, he tried to instill those same traits in her soon as she recovered her sight.

She wasn't thinking about this at the moment, her mind too busy on avoiding Laura's claws. She ducked one and used her knife to parry the other, reaching around to slice at her arm and follow it up with a stab to the shoulder. The entire time her free arm is trying to keep Laura's claws away from her.

Pain in her arms and side were sign enough of the bite of the claws, but she was still able to move and fear and adrenaline kept her from knowing the extent of the damage.

Between the sounds of grunts, metal on metal and the smell, surely someone was bound to notice the death match between two teen girls.

That someone leaps out of the air. Doreen comes at Laura from the side, in what is more of a flying, full-body shove than a tackle. It's an attempt to knock the young mutant a few feet away from where she herself lands gracefully on all fours.

It's a little more violent an attack than she'd like to aim at someone Laura's age, but the girl is a friggin' feral Wolverine clone. Laura would heal quickly, Gyda wouldn't.

"That's not gonna keep her down for long. We need to run."

Laura doesn't slow at the knife Gyda stabs into her shoulder — she keeps attacking like its a toothpick in the grand scheme of things, snarling and looking more like a wild animal than a friend or fellow human being. The stench of someone else's blood makes her all the more eager to strike, and she prepares another slash—

But is then knocked backward by Doreen, Gyda's knife still embedded in her shoulder. She slams into the ground and ends up rolling over herself a few times before moving to get on her knees, glaring up through a tangle of hair at the new arrival; she reaches up and plucks the knife out of her shoulder, throwing it aside near the destroyed bike.

She's already prepared to launch again, and when she's upright, the wound in her shoulder has already sealed back shut.

[Lola's probably relieved to see Laura isn't aiming for any one person in the crowds in particular; one man does try to grab for her, maybe trying to play hero — she slams her knee into his head hard enough to knock him unconscious — but her targets don't appear to be anyone in the throngs of people. No, she's racing toward the building Lola is currently hopping on. And she vanishes, though Lola can probably hear the distinct sound of Laura scaling the side of the restaurant with her claws.

Coming up for her, it sounds like. Wanting to get a chunk out of her. Everyone nearby scrambles as she leaps up over the railing, looking for her target, teeth bared and claws at the ready.]

[Maybe Kirk's a better shot than he gives himself credit for; the phaser's blast hits her square in the chest, and she goes falling — many stories, she falls, smacking hard into the concrete while the panicked crowds rush away. An opportunity presents itself, she knows — her training kicks in, and she lays there in a pool of blood from a headwound, eyes open blankly as she plays dead.

She doesn't remember using this tactic on Stephen Strange.

She doesn't even remember knowing this target; his face is a blur to her, unfamiliar in her haze.

But playing dead is instinctive, a perfect way to gain an upper hand.]

She's aware that her knife's now stuck in the girl's shoulder, but everything in her is telling her that's the least of her worries. Now she's without a weapon, against a warrior who could only 'literally' be disarmed, and all she could do was avoid them and keep an eye out for anything she could use.

The tackle comes as a surprise, the force knocking her to the ground and making her aware of the pain in her arms and shoulder. She forces herself to ignore them (with only mild success) when the newcomer gets to her feet.

She almost doesn't want to follow the girl's advice. Laura would chase them and even if they were friends, she didn't want to die (again) without some show of a fight.

"She'll just chase us down." She said, her arms and side burning from the pain. She's unarmed this time, quickly looking for something to use as Laura stood up, and she wondered if she could be fast enough to grab at her knife again.

[The shield was strong, and could handle physical hits pretty well. It could take a stronger hit than his armor, too. Still, the strength behind Laura's attacked knocked Keith back. He stumbled, keeping his feet. He found himself fending off her claws like he would a pair of swords. He tried to stay defensive in his moves.

Keith also tried to get through to her, calling her name, trying to get any kind of recognition, but he realized after a while that it was just falling on deaf ears. This was like his fight against Shiro, but, at the same time, not. She wasn't talking back, interacting with him. She was just fighting in a blind rage, like nothing else mattered. There didn't seem to be conscious thought, just animal instinct.

That actually scared him a little.]

"She can try." It wasn't cockiness speaking. Squirrel Girl knew from experience that she was faster than her universe's Logan and Laura. Not by much, but by enough.

Doreen bolts towards Gyda, quickly picking her up while trying to keep from aggravating the girl's injuries.

"Look dude, you reek," she says as she starts running, "The trigger scent's all over you. If I can get you to someplace to wash it off, Laura'll stop chasing us."

And move on to someone else, but that could be dealt with after Gyda was out of danger.

[Well. Now that Laura's been captured, Shiloh has little reason to stick around long — the further away from the crime he can get, the better. He's got no reason to get caught if he can get out and go longer, cause more trouble, figure out how else he can best use his time among these mindless idiots; these fools who denied the First People and ruined all hope for a better Riverview.

So he rushes through the alleyways, using the darkness to his advantage, a bag over his shoulder.

And makes sure to hide his bald head and metal arm in a hoodie.

Best not get found out here, yeah?]

[Laura is after a street kid who had accidentally splattered with the trigger scent — a boy who is definitely out past his curfew, rebellious prankster that he is. He runs and runs and runs, gasping for breath as his endurance runs low. Behind him, a wartorn Laura is on his trail; she's covered in dry blood, some hers, some others, and her clawed fist is pulled back and ready to kill.

"Please, leave me alone! I don't know what I did! What'd I do?!"

She doesn't care; she's hardly Laura right now. She's X-23-23, made specifically for this job.

It's the only thing that matters.]

[She dodges down, crouched low — and as she swings in with her claws, another claw bursts through her shoe from between her toes. Most people never get to see the footclaws, but she is more than eager to use every blade she's got on her target now. She kicks upward, and if Keith had been just some normal civilian with no combat training, she would certainly be slicing his head in half from up the middle.

Look alive, buddy, don't let her add anymore scars to that face of yours.]

Judging by the feral scream and sound of fast little footfalls, Laura wasn't wasting any time in racing after them; Doreen was definitely faster, could keep ahead of her — but losing her completely might take a little ingenuity.

And perhaps a little climbing, if all else fails.

If Gyda looks over Doreen's shoulder, she can see as much.

[ oh.

whatever she'd been expecting, it definitely wasn't that. she blanches, eyebrows shooting up, and takes an automatic step back, head twisting this way and that while she looks for something to fight back with. there's a series of garbage cans nearby – she picks up a lid, testing its weight with a few short, hard swings. ]

I like your knives. Very cute. [ the girl doesn't seem to be showing any signs of slowing down, so villanelle appropriates the stance of a baseball player ready to bat, legs slightly bent, garbage can lid held over her shoulder with both hands. ]

[And his fine plan would work if it weren't for the fact that he's not quite as sneaky as he likely believes himself to be. See, a guy with a metal arm and a chip the size of the moon on his shoulder tends to stand out a bit. People remember him. And people talk, especially when a woman in rather, uh, interesting but still kind of intimidating looking armor is asking questions. Double that when said man did something to a girl and set her loose on the population in kill mode. People kind of get mad about that.

Hawke, in particular, is none too happy about what he did to Laura. And unfortunately for Shiloh, Hawke's good at two things: finding people and killing people. She's applied those skills over the past couple of days, first in trying to find Laura and then, when she realized she had no means of stopping her and decided to leave that to more capable people, in finding the culprit. It took a lot of questioning and cajoling, even a threat or two, but eventually Hawke got an idea of where this guy might be.

Which is exactly how she's there at the end of the alleyway that he's running down. She's leaning against the side of the wall perpendicular to the alley, casually playing around on her phone. He'd have to come out this way eventually, and lo and behold, here he comes. Hawke looks up as he runs past, brow cocked.]

Late for something?

Gyda bit her lip hard to keep from crying out as she was picked up, biting so hard that she could taste her own blood. The pain was only minor compared to everything else.

Over the girls shoulder, she tried to keep watch of Laura chasing him, praying to the gods that they were with them. She was only vaguely aware of what the girl's talking about, but she catches the jist of it, wondering what she was talking about 'trigger scent' and how it got on her.

"My tunic!" She muffled another cry. "It was soaked in something, we need to get it off!"

Dogs tracked by scent, but they had no time to get enough dirt for mud. Better to try and take her off the sent then waste time to cover her in mud.

*Relieved isn't the word. She's glad other people aren't in danger, but she's in danger and she would not be nearly as cute with scars so that's totally not allowed. There's nowhere to go that's higher here, there's no really good footholds up on the third or fourth floor. And the angle's all wrong for the next building over.*

*Thus Lola's cursing, in Spanish, under her breath.*

*Still, she has a plan, it's just kinda bad and not really safe, but she knows she can't beat a twelve year old in a knife fight. She takes one of the tables and tips it onto its side, food and plates smashing to the ground. She jumps, kicks off of it, and launches herself to the opposite side of the street. Basically if she can keep moving she should outpace Laura just because of how her boots work if anything else. Provided the few seconds it takes to pick herself up off the street when she lands don't break anything.*

[Keith grunted a bit with the effort, but he leaned back, letting himself go all the way over, flipping backwards to get some distance. The good thing about his armor's functions was that they were highly responsive, and the shield was able to react to his need to use that hand to catch himself and push off. It disappeared so he could to do exactly that. But he didn't reactivate it. Instead, he pulled a second weapon... a dagger that, with a flash of like, shifted into a sword.]

Come on, Laura... why are you doing this?

[He was still maintaining his defensive strategy, but he definitely remembered her healing ability. This was going to have to get messy, wasn't it? Not again... Not like with Shiro... please don't make him fight you, Laura.]

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[Closed; see note] Trigger Scent Hunting

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SORRY THIS TOOK FOREVER!!

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