knightsoflegend | paris ♔ tried to save myself but myself keeps slipping away

[GDI. Faith doesn't have time for these guys and she's mostly concerned that fighting the two of them will just draw more in... so she needs to make this go quick so that the rest of them don't get any ideas.

With the pool cue missing the intended target, Faith opts for the one that didn't think she was someone to listen to and goes for a right uppercut to the jaw (atk 42 | dmg 14) and follows that up with a left cut to his side (atk 29 | dmg 18).]

[ with a sickening crunch, faith knocks some teeth out, and leaves a nice dent in the guy's side. quinn's head darts aside as the pool cue whiffs through the air where it just was, and he manages to reach up, grab it, and slam an elbow back at the guy's face, wrenching the stick free from his hands (successful disarm!).

the one fighting faith actually looks like he's reconsidering this and backs away, one palm raised in a gesture of surrender, the other clutching his fucked up jaw.

the one behind quinn, however, tries to wrap an arm around his neck, but quinn slams his elbow back again with an attack of opportunity (atk 28, dmg 7), cracking the guy's nose aside and cutting off his grapple attempt. ] There's just no reasoning with some people.

[Faith watches the guy back off, but she keeps her hands to the ready - because she is not going to just stand around and get hit when she thinks it's clear.]

Do you want to keep going? I mean, I just got started. [She's cool with continuing to break teeth and bones and faces and possibly more.]

[ quinn cracks the pool cue over his knee, and then tosses a small wad of bills aside at the other guys chest, which he utterly fails to catch. ] Keep the damn change.

[ they both seem to have had enough, at least, and quinn nods to the door before they can change their minds. ]

[yes, let's get back to the impending terror. Faith exhales and turns to the door, pushing it open to once more try to get a read on where Max and Lissa went off to and if the know where Helen is.]

[ they head out into the dark alleyway, the door clanging shut behind them, leaving them out there alone. ] Sorry about that. You just can't take me anywhere. [ he glances down the narrow expanse between buildings. ] You think your friend came this way? [ spot check, faith! ]

There were four of us. I could've sworn I saw Max and Lissa head to the back. [Faith runs her hand though her hair, glancing around. (Spot 22) sure did just borrow dice from my brother in the middle of moving him out.]

[ and she also notices the leg sticking out, further down the alley... ] ... Just don't tell me that's your friend.

[The moment she sees the leg her stomach drops.]

Shit! [Faith moves to the body and a wash of panic and guilt come over her.] I shouldn't have left them. [Kneeling near the bodies, she shakes her head. The anger welling up in her.] I thought I -- this is my fault. [She's not even sure what to do.] Helen isn't here. [her hand runs over her face as she stands up. Once to her feet her fist clenches and unclenches trying to focus.]

Why did I leave? [The self-accusation starts up as she paces near the bodies, then she moves back to kneeling as she tries to just not really lose her cool.]

Hey, whoa. [ he squats down beside her, casting a disturbed expression at the bodies before sweeping his eyes back to her ] You're not the one who did this. I'm ... sorry about your friends, Faith. But you can't blame yourself for this. [ diplomacy... 24?? ]

[She shakes her head, she understands the sentiment but it doesn't change the fact that she was the strongest one with them and she left them alone.]

I left them alone, Quinn. [She's not quite as angry, since he did seem so diplomatic about it??, but she does still harbor that guilt.]

I thought I was making a good call and I left them behind. I left and they were killed because I wasn't here to stop it.

You said it yourself - you thought it was a good call. Why fault yourself for doing what you thought you had to do? [ he doesn't let her answer, putting a hand on her shoulder ] You said there were four of you. Maybe we can still find your other friend.

[She frowns, shaking her head again.]

It's not like I made a bad call and something went wrong, I made a bad call and two people are dead, Quinn. [She needs to find Helen. She reaches into her pocket and finds her phone, moving to call Helen.]

Even worse to try to take the blame on yourself, then. Trying to live with that guilt when it's not anything you did on purpose will shackle you, Faith. Cripple you, if you let it. [ he is strangely intense about that point. meanwhile, helen's phone goes... straight to voicemail. womp womp. ]

[When the phone goes to voicemail, she glances up to him and tries to see the reason he's expressing, but this isn't something she's unfamiliar with. When she had blood on her hands, she didn't care and she's killed plenty of people... creatures on missions and not cared, but this is different. This is... this was part of her team.]

I'm not going to let it, but I can't ignore where the fault lays. [She knows she needs to call Wynn, to let him know that Max and Lissa are dead and she can't get a hold of Helen, but she almost doesn't want to. She wants to call Jack, because she trusts Jack -- but she knows she needs to call Wynn.] I need to call someone.

[She stays near the bodies and at this point she doesn't care if Quinn hears one half of her call. The longer she waits, the further away Helen could get.]

I get the feeling you don't mean the police. [ which ... does not seem to bother him. ]

[She doesn't answer him, but mostly she doesn't think he expects an answer. She just does the right thing and calls Wynn.]

Yes, Sir Lehane?

I screwed up. [She opens with it, because it's the main focus of her mind.]

We tracked one of the victims to a bar. We split up. Max and Lissa went out back and Helen stayed inside watching something on the TV. I left with a vampire that I thought might lead me to the group, but when things felt off I stopped. I'd left the line open on my phone, so if I found something Helen could track it.

I heard something on the line - something loud enough to make me reconsider just how quickly I needed to get back to her.

[She just blurts it all out.] Max and Lissa are dead. I'm in the alley with their bodies, right now, and when I call Helen it goes straight to voicemail.

[ WYNN IS SO OVER GETTING THESE PHONE CALLS. ] Do you know what killed them? Was it these vampires you seek?

[Faith's hand reaches to Lissa's neck, moving her so she can look at the injury. (spot 14) It's definitely vampires, but Faith can't be sure that it's the ones they were after.]

It looks like it, but all I have is what I see here. I can't say if it was them or some other vampire. [Her elbow rests to her knee, still crouched low to the ground.]

They just left them out here, though. Either they knew what they were doing or something went wrong... but if it was the same group they shifted their MO and decided that a frame job wasn't in them this time.

[Her tone shifts to something far more apologetic, heavy with guilt.] I let you down. I shouldn't have left them, but I need to find Helen. Can you get someone to ping her phone? [Knowledge Pop Culture 16 - because that's what they do on TV shows all the time to find a missing person. {Feel free to have him ask Felicity to do it LOL I can just add her into my next tag.}]

[ no need, because kneeling beside her, quinn picks up a broken cell phone off the ground (spot 20) and taps her on the shoulder, raising both eyebrows apologetically. ]

[FROWN.]

Nevermind, I think her phone is here. It's broken. I don't like this... [Faith stands up.] I don't want to leave them here in the alley, but I can't just wait around if she's out there.

[Faith takes a beat and makes a quick choice.] The vampire I was with, he was taking me to an apartment - and he didn't seem too eager to let me just walk away from him. I left him in a pretty sad state... I can go back to him. See if he has any answers - but I don't want Max and Lissa just in this alley.

It will take some time for our allies to meet you. Is there somewhere nearby you can safely stow them, without losing the vampire in question?

Hold on. [Faith puts the phone down, covering it with her hand as she glances around (spot 9;;).]

I need somewhere that I can put them, somewhere that someone won't go nosing around and calling the cops. [Said to Quinn.] Do you see anything or know of somewhere?

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