Voodoopunk [Closed- Goibniu/Claes the BEST COP TEAM EVER]

This time when Goibniu fired, his shot will fail, not because of his poor aim, but because something had stopped the bullet midway. The cream shimmer of a ward was now surrounding the man and woman, and his threats to shoot once more only caused them to stare back.

Before Goibniu could respond to anything else, however, he'd hear someone land behind him. Turning around, he'd see another masked person, but would find his vision quickly met with a metal pipe.

***

When Goibniu awoke, he'd find himself lying on the street surrounded by debris. The dust had cleared up, but there was destruction everywhere including broken windows, blown up walls, and holes in the street.

Goibniu would feel a gentle hand shake him awake.

"Officer? Officer!"

If he looked to the source, he would see the woman he met at the checkpoint again. She looked at him with concern.

"Officer, are you alright? You took quite a heavy blow to the head. It's a miracle you aren't bleeding your brains out."

To Goibniu's surprise, the bullet didn't hit thanks to the magics that imbued the assailants. This only caused the Enkidu to appear more distressed and angered, as he looked at the two in disgust. He was about to warn them about how their tricks would not work on him, followed by a Roar that would erase their barriers, but before he could get the first word out, something loud was heard behind him.

And when he turned, the first and only thing he saw was a metallic rod, landing on his face with tremendous force.

-----

It came too fast for him to notice, but just as quick as it came, the subsequent sleep ended just as fast. He felt confused and disoriented when he regained his consciousness, as something seemed to shake him, as well as seemingly addressing him. With enough effort, he opened his eyes, revealing the woman that came to their checkpoint, the same one he sent Kalt to check out.

His head was hurting, and it was noted by the lady with the mention of the blow. "Nnnggh..." He said, as he moved his hand to his head, trying to calm it in vain. "I... I feel..." And then, the memories started coming to him, making him go from drowsy to worried very quickly. "Claes...! What... What happened to Officer... Alfson?" He quickly said, suddenly trying to force his body to stand up.

"I'm afraid I don't know, sadly," the woman said as she tried to help Goibniu into a sitting position. "Here, let me heal you up."

The woman would raise a gloved hand and Goibniu would quickly see a flurry of Cartic marks arise. A pale glow would awash over Goibniu to help him recover his wounds. While she'd be able to heal his head wound, Goibniu would unfortunately still feel fatigued and sore.

"That's the best I can do," she said. "That said, the chaos seems to have died down. I'm not sure where your friend is, but I may have an idea as to where they might have taken her. If you're willing to follow me, I can lead you there."

She'd then hesitantly add with a worried smile, "It might be the tiniest bit dangerous, though."

She place her thumb and index within an inch's width to demonstrate.

To his relief, the woman was well versed in Cartic magic, enough to cure most of his wounds. While the physical fatigue didn't vanish, the seething pain from his wounds relented until it was practically gone, leaving Goibniu rather sore, but more physically able. "Ah... sweet jolly, I needed that. Thank you Madam." He said, managing to smile at her.

And to his luck, she even seemed to have an idea of where Claes could be, which made him look at her with wide eyes. "You do? Capital!" He said, as he tried to get up. "By all means, do take me there! I am not afraid of danger, it is my duty to keep a fellow officer safe!" He announced, before he placed his hand on his holster, before realizing he didn't have his gun. "Wait a moment... Where is my pistol? I had it with me before I was knocked out!"

"You mean this thing?" she said raising up the pistol a little TOO close for safe handling to Goibniu's face. "It was right next to you. I just moved it a bit to get closer. Here you go."

She'd hand it to Goibniu before getting up from the ground. She dusted the pencil skirt of her dress with her gloved hands before looking around.

"Hmm, it seems no one's in this neck of the woods anymore," she said. The area around them, minus the dust and debris, was pretty abandoned. There were several areas blocked off, but it seemed that the Expiate had gone off to more crucial areas.

The lady would offer a hand to help Goibniu up.

"I suppose you already know my name thanks to my papers," she said. "But I guess it's better to introduce myself properly. My name is Arabella Sphynx, charmed to be sure. It's a pleasure to meet you Officer McCrae. Though, I don't think I ever caught your first name?"

Rather than being spooked however, Goibniu was delighted to see his pistol was still in pristine condition. "Aha! This is perfect." He said, quickly retrieving the weapon from her. "I would have my head handed to me if I have no way to defend myself." Once he was ready, the lady noted how desolate the area was, something which made Goibniu frown in disappointment, but he shrugged it off, as he knew he had a duty to perform. His partner was in danger, and he needed to save her. "We can only hope the rest of the officers can quell any other flames elsewhere."

Accepting the hand, Goibniu quickly stood up again, feeling eager to search for Claes. "Ah, it is Goibniu. Officer Goibniu McCrae, at your service." He said, as he made an Expiate salute to Arabella. "I do find it rather strange that these ruffians would leave me alive, albeit unconscious. They must have needed to retreat urgently. But that's neither here nor there, we will get our answers mighty quick, so lead the way Lady Sphynx." He said, hopping they won't be late to save his partner. Claes is a strong lady, but always having back up ready is important!

"Yes, it is a little strange," the woman named Arabella said. "But I guess we can't find out from here. I'll show you where I saw them go."

She'd help Goibniu up and then look around warily. She was still holding her cane, but had it raised above the ground as a weapon rather than to aid her in walking. The woman would pull Goibniu into the alleyways.

Dust filled the air in thick clusters, so thick that as they walked through the alley, the few rays of light were clearly defined. Goibniu would notice at the other end that Expiate officers were going around inspecting and trying to detect for Cantic activity. When they reached one end of the alley, Arabella stopped Goibniu from going forward as some officers passed by.

It was odd, to say the least, almost as if she was trying to avoid them. Whatever the case, Goibniu wouldn't have much say as she lead him out of the alley and into yet another one. The difference, however, was an oddly placed manhole.

"They went down here," she said pointing to it. "I noticed this place earlier during the explosions, but wanted to confirm they were going down here as well. Do you think you'll be okay climbing down?"

Their trek would take them to the alleyways, a daft and dank location he could only imagine those fiends could come from. Of course, this reminded Goibniu that he saw the woman inspect the alleyways before, and he recalled sending a nurse to let the Expiate search that alleyway for her. His curiosity didn't let that matter rest as they traversed the thick atmosphere. "Mmmh.. Lady Sphynx, I do have a question." He said, keeping his voice quiet. "Have you been approached by other Expiate officers after you passed our checkpoint?"

But before he could get an answer, he was stopped by Arabella, and making other Officers pass by. He definitely felt it was rather odd that they had to avoid them, but he theorized that, perhaps she wanted to help him get the fiends by surprise? Sending one man was risky by it would be much more stealthy than an entire platoon. And then, they reach the one location they were looking for: a manhole.

"Huh, so they scurried back like rats?" He said, not hiding his discontent for this group. With a twirl of his gun, he turned to Arabella, a look of confidence in his face. "Fear not madam. As long as I can rescue my partner, I'll brave Dearmad if I have to. I do thank you for your help, and now I will put a cap on this case." He said, before he jumped into the manhole without hesitation.

"An Expiate officer?" Arabella said when Goibniu asked her. Her eyes shifted around uneasily. "Oh, no, I don't believe so. I was so eager to escape the chaos earlier that I doubt I would have noticed, even if it were the case. Is there any reason why you're asking?"

Soon enough, though, Goibniu jumped down the manhole which caused Arabella to yelp.

"Officer, I sincerely think you shouldn't jump especially when there are--"

The moment Goibniu jumped his body and fall down a solid twenty feet onto a concrete ground.

"...ladder steps," he'd hear as an echo upstairs. "Are you hurt? Hang on! I'll be down in a moment!"

Goibniu would hear steps rattle against what he would now see were ladder rungs embedded into a concrete wall. Meanwhile, what he would see in front of him was a long tunnel way made of concrete and brick, barely lit and with a ghastly greenish glow towards the end.

Now that was... rather strange. No Expiate officer stopped her? That could mean that the nurse either wasn't able to send anyone, or something happened to the officer that did go to check up on her. However, right now he was not able to check what was the deal with that, Arabella's question remaining unanswered as Goibniu made a dynamic entry to the depth of the sewers.

Of which... he might have miscalculated the height between the street and the floor below them. 6 long meters of air followed by the sudden existence of solid ground, which caused Goibniu to land in an awkward manner. He still stood up, but his legs were bent and shaking, feeling a rather fortuitous pain shaking his very core, his face scrounged up in a look of silent agony. "... Yeow..." He mumbled, as he quickly went to a wall near him, placing his body there to try and gain support as he panted heavily, trying to make his legs not support the full weight of his body. "I'm, I'm alright Madam! Just a.... just a rather abrupt fall, tis all!" He said, trying to quell the worries of Arabella, even if it was a bit hard to mask the terrible ache he felt.

However, to distract his mind from the pain, he tried to focus on what was ahead of him. A tunnel stood tall in his direction, the maddening darkness only broken by a very faint light in the distance. "What the..." He muttered, as he put on his goggles,
adjusting them so that he could zoom in and get a better view of what's in front.