``I want the {FiRE} back. [Bridget / Open]

[bridget]

As Bridget walked along he remained embarrassed at his outburst of fanboy happiness. It was tough with him, he really wasn't very tough or battle hardened. He just really admired those who could lay down the law and fight with the best of them, and May was one of those. She actually took him in years ago during the first fight against Testament when he'd not long been removed from his village at 12 years old. Bridget was even more naive and for lack of a better term 'dumb' back then. He often was more trusting of people and constantly got himself in some kind of big trouble with the wrong people. "Well, she's only second in command. Captain Johnny has an air ship, they travel by sky now. Not like back in the old times when they had boats. he said with a shrug. Anya seemed to add that her ex had an eyepatch. "Eyepatches are manly! My friend Baiken is missing one of her eyes... and her arm too! She doesn't have a patch though, but it'd be totally cool if she did! Bridget called Baiken his 'friend' that's a vast overstatement. Baiken happened to only protect him to keep her samurai honour by not letting a kid die. He really annoyed her with his constant questions about samurai and her vast weaponry. However, she'd always team up with him if need be.

As Bridget walked along happily he bobbed his yoyo in his hand, it was fairly large and had various mechanical gears across it. "I do! I usually end up back in America though. I haven't been back to England for ages" Bridget often missed England, but he couldn't risk going anywhere near his old village again, he'd hate to cause them more trouble. He does often phone his mother but it's not the same.

Bridget gazed at Anya as she spoke of working in a department store. It really didn't seem like the job someone hunting zombies would take. Halfway reminded him of that guy in those Evil Dead movies. "I don't think I could work at that, I've tried real jobs and they're soooooo boring!" Bridget said, squealing the last part out in his usual hyperactive way. As they walked he noticed Anya looking at various signs. It must be a sure fire way to tell they're close to the destination.

Anya then seemed to ask how long Bridget had been here. "A month or so now, you?" Bridget asked with a smile, hoping to hide the fact he's quite scared ol the possible threat that might occur at any moment.

[Anya]

Upon hearing the phrase "air ship", Anya raised her eyes skyward as if she expected to see one floating over them right at that moment. Because that would go over well among the citizens of New York, them being as on-edge as they were after this recent zombie invasion. She really would have liked to see one of those ships, though...the idea of modern-day pirates certainly was intriguing, especially since she'd been unaware of their existence until now. Her thoughts beginning to wander, the demon imagined what a pirate air ship might look like...would it be parading around with one of those skull-and-crossbones flags? It was certainly something to think about, but Anya was suddenly jolted out of her thoughts when Bridget mentioned another friend of his, someone named Baiken. Mildly taken aback by Bridget's description, she blinked at the bounty hunter with wide eyes.

"What happened to her?" she asked bluntly, though not without a bit of concern. Xander had lost one of his eyes when Buffy had led a reckless attack on a ruthless mass-murdering agent of the First Evil's...she couldn't imagine what it would've been like if he'd lost an arm as well. Maybe this Baiken girl was a pirate too, or something. Weren't pirates supposed to get into all sorts of scuffles?

Well, Bridget seemed to be acquainted with some very interesting people, to say the least. Maybe it came from traveling so much; though evidently he was from England, as his accent suggested. When he told her that he hadn't been back there in quite awhile, it was not without an edge of slight longing to his tone. Anya considered this for a moment; if Bridget missed his home...couldn't he just go back? Sometimes the vengeance demon tended to forget that humans couldn't just teleport wherever they wanted in the blink of an eye...not to mention that Bridget's work probably didn't leave him with a whole lot of time off. Still, she had intended to ask, but was quickly distracted at the mention of 'real jobs'.

She had to agree with him there; normal human work was unsatisfying to say the least when you compared it to a more supernaturally involved lifestyle. Still, the money got her through. Counting it up everyday after work, doing her little 'capitalist dance of superiority'...it made everything that much more fun! "I'd much rather have my own business," she admitted lightly. "I used to help run a magic shop. A real one with spells and ancient artifacts, not one of those cheap places with the cards and smoke and mirrors...and those terrifying hats that people pull bunnies out of." Anya shivered a little at the very thought. She'd never understood the trick behind that horrific routine...but anything that involved creating those floppy-eared, cotton-tailed menaces out of thin air had to be dark magic. Quickly attempting to fight off these nightmare-ish thoughts, the demon spoke again. "The whole bounty hunter thing is pretty freelance, right? It's not a bad gig at all, once you think about it..." After all, bounty hunters got to travel, and seemed to lead pretty free lifestyles...and Bridget definitely didn't seem unhappy.

"But yeah. I've lived here for a few months now, and I still can't--" Quite abruptly, she stopped speaking, for her gaze had fallen upon the next street sign. '14th Street', it read. And a little ways down, she could spot the subway entrance. Pausing in a moment of hesitation, Anya tried to peer into the darkness that led underground. The entrance was blocked off; flashing lights and yellow 'CAUTION' tape galore...all of which could easily be ignored. Impending danger, however, was a little more major. Taking a deep breath as if to expel any inwardly rising fear, the demon nodded in the direction of the entrance.

"If the dramatic flashing warnings are anything to go by, I'd say we're in the right place."

[bridget]

Bridget had a puzzled expression on his face when Anya seemed to look up to the sky, he in turn swung his head up to look upwards to see what had caught Anya's attention. "Umm, I don't see anything." he spoke out with a shrug, not quite sure what the reason Anya had been looking up. Quickly dismissing it he took quick strides with his clunky blue boots as they were on the way to this destination. Along the way Anya asked about exactly what happened to Baiken, that was quite the story. "Oh, well. Umm, there's this guy called 'That Man' right? Anyway, he hurt her eye and arm and stuff. Bridget had never really come into contact with 'That Man' but he was widely talked about in his circle. Honestly, Bridget wouldn't even go near him even for a million dollars.

The young blonde bounty hunter was deep in conversation with his new friend. Anya mentioned how she wanted to run her own magic shop and caught her saying something about bunnies being pulled out of hats. "Ohmygosh! No! Pulling bunnies out of hats is so mean. I love bunnies! They're small and furry and cute!" Bridget ended up squeaking the last part out, hating the thought of someone sticking a rabbit inside a hat like that, it was positively cruel! However, Bridget always did have a love for animals, especially the cute and furry ones like rabbits. It always brought to mind how he used to be surrounded by animals around his friend May. May often had a metric ton of animal companions, mostly her pet dolphins that accompanied her on the travels. As Anya now asked about the bounty business and how it worked. "Well, really it's just put up for the public to see who's wanted and I go wherever to find them if they haven't been claimed yet. It's fun sometimes." As they walked along Anya was musing about how long she's been in New York before suddenly and abruptly stopped. The place they were at now looked almost destroyed, flashing lights and police tape all around. "You know, I think you're right." he said sounding slightly scared.

[Anya]

'That Man'? Well, at least this villain, whoever he was, had the brains to keep his identity vague. It was better than 'Adam', anyway, she thought with some amusement as she recalled the mutant creature who'd attempted to wipe out the human race back in Sunnydale. But That Man did sound kind of formidable, if he was the cause of some girl losing her eye and her arm. Anya shivered slightly; she supposed she could add this person to her list of people she didn't want to meet in a dark alley. Jeez, that list was getting long...

...Wait, what, bunnies?! Momentarily distracted from the task at hand, the vengeance demon turned to stare at Bridget with wide, disbelieving eyes. He loved bunnies? How had those little hopping menaces managed to convince so many of their innocence?! "Not to mention vicious!" she couldn't help but blurt out. Anya couldn't even think about them without going into a mild state of panic. Those disturbingly long ears, big blank eyes, terrifyingly sharp two front teeth...even when she'd been evil, their existence had plagued her. Shaking her head, Anya grumbled a little as they continued on. "Stupid little fluffers. They win everyone over 'cause they're so cute and fuzzy. But I know their game..."

Thankfully, she wasn't left to dwell on the topic of bunnies for too long. Their arrival at their destination was much more pressing, but in comparison to her rabbit-phobia? The idea of heading into a dark tunnel full of zombies wasn't nearly as frightening. Taking a deep breath, she twirled the flashlight in her hand before flicking it on. A moment of hesitation followed, and then she tore her gaze away from the subway entrance to look at Bridget again. She couldn't appear too nervous - Bridget was already beginning to sound a bit frightened, and Anya knew that if she babbled on about what was about to happen she'd most likely only end up making things worse for him. She stood up a little taller, and tried to make things as brief as possible when she spoke next:

"I'll go first." The idea wasn't appealing to say the least, but the demon figured she had very little choice. She was the one carrying the flashlight after all, and she was trying to avoid Bridget getting hurt in this whole affair - if that happened, it'd be all her fault...

"Stick close, and...make sure nothing freaky sneaks up behind us." With that, Anya tentatively moved forward, stepped gingerly over the police tape, and headed into the darkness. The beam of the flashlight fell upon the stone steps that led down into the station, one hand lightly brushing the hilt of the thin-bladed sword at her side. This situation currently required two things of her: to keep quiet, and to not panic...neither of which she was particularly good at. Her senses alert, the demon slowly began her descent into the tunnel, straining to listen to any sounds that might be coming from below...

[bridget]

Bridget stared at Anya as she seemed to be surprised Bridget liked Bunnies so much. Bridget loved the cute little things, it was one of his favourite animals due to their inherent cuteness. He remembers fondly in the fairytale forest where his friend Dizzy used to live, was almost completely filled with cute little bunnies and various other animals. "I've never seen one being vicious, they're so friendly to me. I love them." Bridget said quite loudly in usual chipper and cheerful way. It wasn't possible for him to really dislike a cute little animal and he was friendly to almost all of them, save the scary ones that is.

Soon, Bridget's fear grew, he saw the dark tunnel ahead and it was anything but inviting. Anya seemed to be looking at him almost as if to check up on the young bounty hunter as she shone the flashlight on the entrance of the tunnel. "O-Okay. You go first.... he said quietly, shaking a bit at the prospect of what could really be inside here. It honestly didn't look like this was going to be much of a happy adventure.

Bridget followed suit silently as Anya voiced for him to stay close, stepping over the tape and sneaking forward, which really wasn't easy in those big clunky boots. Amongst all the darkness he gripped tightly onto his yoyo, staring into the bleak darkness as the flashlight Anya was holding seemed to only uncover a small amount of the way.

((Sorry it's a bit short.))

[Anya]

The walk down the subway steps was long. And dark. And just...generally smelly and unpleasant. The demon scowled in distaste as she headed further into the blackness, casting light over as much of the tunnel before her as the flashlight's beam would allow. So, this whole walking into peril thing? It was even less fun than she'd thought. And she couldn't even turn and reinstate conversation with Bridget to lighten the mood, as it was prudent for them to keep as quiet as they possibly could. Feel better, now that you're risking your life to go out of your way to clear out a horde of darkness-dwelling undead? Anya questioned herself bitterly. Doing the right thing was kinda tedious sometimes.

At any rate, unless there was some unseen source of light set up in one of the subway stations below, it looked like this darkness wasn't going to let up. Her light brown eyes darted down to glare at the flashlight she held in her hand. "Stupid, useless..."

Quite abruptly, she ceased her muttering as the light pitter-patter of...something, disrupted their otherwise unmoving surroundings. Anya tensed slightly, whipping around to cast light in the direction that the noise had come from. There was nothing to see, though...just the deserted expanse of the stairs before them. Agitated by the increasing tensions this situation was igniting, the demon paused suddenly. Quite frankly, she was considering her options here. The subway was a lot bigger than what she would've found convenient, and now...she was beginning to wonder how much of a good idea fighting zombies with only a flashlight's beam to see by actually was.

Well. This was just great. There was only one solution to this problem that she could think of, and given that she was currently in the presence of a human, it wasn't exactly ideal. In comparison to their actual survival, however, concealing her demonic identity seemed like a very trivial issue. So with a light sigh, Anya turned to gaze at the bounty hunter behind her as best she could. "Um, Bridget? Please don't...uh, panic. Or shout. Or make...any sudden movements, preferably." she whispered the warning quietly, her voice edged with anxiety, before following up with the utterance of a single last word, "Ilumina."

Whoa, alrighty then! Anya blinked uncomfortably in the sudden rush of light that had spread from her palm, brightening the area around them with a candle-like glow of about fifteen feet around. Anya wasn't a practicing witch...well, not anymore, anyway, but she'd had some skill with magic as a human...and she'd picked up a few things from Willow since then. Illumination spells were fairly simple to perform, anyway, and though she'd thought she was a little rusty on her Romanian...it seemed to have worked well enough.

"Hmm. Well, that makes this sort of superfluous, I suppose." she chirped, turning off the flashlight with a soft click. She'd been about to speak again, wanting to make sure her little display of magic hadn't elicited any sort of negative reaction from Bridget, when... a low, growl-like groan echoed from below.

Hmm. That had not sounded good...

[bridget]

Bridget strolled along slowly as his eyes peered at the dark tunnel in front of him, only partially illuminated by the flash light. There was something that deeply terrified him about the dark, how unknown everything was. You really had no way of telling what might come for you. He almost clung to Anya a few times as the noises of the tunnel were something truly scary. His hands gripping on the sleeve of a top a bit to make sure he didn't stray away or lose where she was.

Bridget glanced to Anya's hand, seeing Anya's displeasure with the feeble amount of light the flash light was able to give. Admittedly, he felt similarly displeased. However, his was more fear than anger that Anya seemed to be showing. His whole body jolted when he heard a noise that almost sounded like an animal's footsteps. Quickly, he held a hand over his mouth to muffle the scared scream before it escaped and lead anyone directly to them. It seems there was nothing at all when Anya turned the flash light to the spot the noise seemingly came from.

Soon after, Anya turned to Bridget and asked him not to panic or make any sudden movements. He smiled a bit and nodded. "Okay, I'll stay totally still. I trust you." Bridget chirped out, soon noticing Anya speaking some random word in a language he hadn't ever heard of. "Hey what does that mea-" Bridget covered his eyes as a burst of light illuminated the way, coming out of Anya's hand it seemed. "Wow, so cool!" Bridget said quietly, seeing Anya now turning off the flashlight. However, things didn't all seem well, that low growl seemed pretty scary, turning Bridget's smile into a look of sheer terror.

[cheryl]

You are a United States Marine! You do not get placed in harm's way! You are harm's way!

The words of her Drill Instructor from so long ago still echoed in Cheryl's mind. That certainly helped others in times like this, deep down underground where abominations that craved your warm, living flesh lurked. Cheryl, on the other hand, didn't need such psychological hyping up to do her job. It was, well, fun. She was inside the dark, subterranean world below New York. Even better, she and her squad were armed to the teeth, with plenty of potential targets.

For Cheryl, it was like paintball or a video game. She was shooting zombies and collecting a paycheck for it. She was underneath New York, going on an adventure. How many others could say that? And how cool was that?

Circumstances had changed since Cheryl was stationed in New York. When she first got here, the place was hellish. It was under martial law and she and her comrades had been put into position where they had to occasionally fight their own dead. Thanks to S-Mart's miracle drug, however, that was no longer a problem. The ranks of the living dead thinned until hardly any remained. And then there was the weather. When Cheryl first got here, it was cold and snowy. Now, it was warm and sunny.

But that didn't have much bearing in the clothing the Marines wore. Instead of their Winter wear, they wore a slightly thinner and cooler version of their digital camo BDUs. Their Summer wear was indistinguishable from their Winter wear though. Each member of Cheryl's squad was also clad in body armor, in the form of thick vests and helmets. Each had weapons, both holstered and drawn. Carbine rifles was the choice of each of the eight Marines, save for Cheryl who wielded a 12-gauge shotgun.

And there was another thing about her gear that made the goblin girl stand out: her rank insignia on the front of her helmet, which was now that of a Gunnery Sergeant. Cheryl would never have dreamed she'd be a Gunny, and in so little amount of time, but the zombie apocalypse and her job in special forces caused her to gain rank quickly. A higher rank also meant a bigger paycheck and a slightly bigger squad for her to control. Marines and other military personnel were the only people she could control now though, since martial law had ended a while ago.

Speaking of control, she had that over the situation as well, at least for now. How long that would last, she didn't know. So far so good though. Each Marine was well armed and had nightvision goggles that served them well in the underground. Cheryl had the goggles too, but didn't need them. Goblins have a natural affinity for seeing in the dark, after all. Her big ears also helped her to pick up sound in the darkness. Like the distinct moans of a zombie or hiss of a licker.

All was mostly quiet now though. Even when they split up, hardly any of the squad members reported contact over radio. The lack of enemy contact led to a little complacency though, even in Cheryl. Alone in the darkness, she eventually started hearing moans. No hissing and growling, just moaning. An unwelcoming sound, since it shattered the illusion that the zombie threat was completely over and done away with.

That's how Cheryl's serious side felt, anyway. As a senior NCO, she had to feel serious. If she didn't, then her squad mates might die because of her carelessness. And how she hated it, how she longed to go back go being goofy and giddy. She just couldn't help herself now though. She willed her serious side to be quiet. This was no reason to be afraid, no reason to feel dread. No, this was fun! She kept herself from giggling, which could be picked up by her Marines over the mic in her helmet, but the Gunny couldn't help herself from grinning a big, toothed grin.

She ran toward the sound of the zombie menace, almost skipping gleefully. Once she got there, she found, to her dismay, only two. Still, some fun is better than no fun. Cocking her shotgun, she opened fire, careful to avoid hitting their heads, at first. Waste of ammo and maybe even outright careless on her part. After all, if she emptied her gun and needed to reload, what if she's ambushed by even more zombies?

But she didn't worry about that. The giddy little noncom was lost in the moment, pumping holes into the zombies' chests and amputating their arms with her shotgun blasts. But for her morbidly giddy and careful attitude, she made sure to aim the last rounds at their heads, stopping them dead in their tracks.

The two undead immediately fell limp to the floor after the blasts to their heads. The gunshots had alerted the other Marines of the battle and their comm system was soon a buzz of communication. Like a mother, Cheryl had to reassure them.

"Contact in one of the tunnels heading...West, I think? Two of them. No sign of anymore. Over."

"Two? That was a lot gunfire for just two. Over."

Gunnery Sergeant McAllister did her best to keep from giggling nervously, like a child caught with their hand in the cookie jar. One of her own Marines had almost spotted her carelessness. Truth be told, Cheryl was a horrible liar. Rather than make up some bullshit story, her subordinate's remark merely provoked one response from her.

"Shut your face, Andrews..... Over."

"Yes, ma'am. Over."

So Cheryl was almost exposed for her carelessness; or perhaps one or more of them still speculated on her going wild with her shotgun and lashing out like a child pulling wings off an insect. Little did the Gunnery Sergeant know, though, was that her gunshots may have alerted more than just her Marines. Little did she know that two unauthorized civilians were in the underground with her and that her shotgun blasts might cause a certain former demon and feminine young boy to close in on her position and investigate.

[Anya]

Cool? The comment momentarily distracted Anya, long enough to allow her to send a brief curious glance Bridget's way. This wasn't a reaction she often got; performing any magic in the presence of the Scoobies had rarely resulted in more than a haughty condescending remark from Willow, and around anyone else...well, running and screaming would most likely be involved. Bridget seemed more impressed than frightened or even shocked, however, and Anya couldn't help but feel a bit relieved. Panic and inquiries would hardly be a good thing in this situation, and well...at least this made one human who didn't seem to consider her freakish. She smiled a little, but refrained from replying with the low, growling moans echoing through the tunnel still in mind. If there were zombies nearby - and at this point that was pretty much confirmed - they needed to be careful, and quiet, and --

Her thought process was abruptly interrupted by a much louder noise that shattered the silence; the near-deafening mechanical blasts of what sounded like...rounds from a shotgun? Startled, Anya inadvertently broke her concentration for a fraction of a moment, resulting in the light illuminating the area around them flickering slightly before she regained control. What on earth...? Wide-eyed, the demon turned to stare back at Bridget, wordlessly communicating her bewilderment. The blasts could only mean one thing: there was someone down there. Someone besides themselves and their zombie 'pals', and taking a moment to absorb this...Anya wasn't sure whether it was a good thing or a bad thing.

"Ohh-kay! That was interesting! Looks like we're not the only zombie-killers down here...that, or we're about to run into some subway-dwelling psycho with a gun." Sometimes the vengeance demon's 'optimism' left something to be desired, but she didn't actually seem much perturbed by the thought as she grinned brightly at Bridget. The shots had sounded reasonably close by, close enough that it was possible that whoever was responsible had just taken out the undead that had been just about to close in on Anya and Bridget themselves. Though she couldn't be certain of that, and there was every possibility that there were still more of the creatures lurking somewhere below - best to proceed with caution.

Best to. Not mandatory. Indeed she practically bounced the next couple steps in her avid curiosity to discover exactly what sort of company they were about to find themselves in, and she paused only to glance back at Bridget once more. "Come on, we should probably go do that whole 'friend or foe' thing now..." she told the teen, evidently brushing most of her wariness aside by this point. Or at least, that was what she'd have him believe.

Her descent of the last several steps was quick but oddly quiet, but once she found herself on the floor level...it became apparent that the illumination she was providing wasn't going to be quite as useful as planned. Not with the various turns and corners that obstructed their view, at least. That, and it would probably alert any light-sensitive zombies to their presence a bit ahead of schedule, but...no use being subtle now!

The blonde advanced uncertainly through the tunnels, her eyes narrowed in an attempt to determine any shape or form beyond the expanse of light her spell had cast. Partly out of genuine curiosity, and partly just because the silence was starting to get to her, she called back to Bridget, "Weird. The whole place seems empt - GAHH!"

She broke off abruptly with a squeak, apparently having spoken too soon. Because when she rounded the next corner, it was only to find that these tunnels weren't so empty. On the bright side, they hadn't encountered a zombie...yet. Still, the woman before them was armed and adorned in all sorts of intimidating military gear, and...and she was...kind of familiar?

One look at the girl's distinctively pointed ears was enough to bring Anya back to several months ago, when she'd first moved to New York - lost, disoriented and pretty much alone - and a certain goblin marine who'd been one of the first to actually approach her. Funny, the people you ran into while hunting the undead underneath New York City. None the less, the vengeance demon immediately brightened after her little moment of recognition, a chipper smile replacing her wary expression after a brief hesitation.

"Cheryl?"

[bridget]

Bridget was in awe of these amazing powers. "I wonder if this lady is a gear? Ohmigosh, she can use magic. So cool!" He thought to himself, accidentally letting out an excited squeak before covering his mouth. "Sorry, I get overexcited sometimes." He said with a blush, looking down and focusing himself back on the task at hand. Bridget often found himself randomly excited about something or other. It really wasn't hard to distract him with his incredibly short attention span. Bridget trundled along in a slightly cheery mood until he heard these incredibly loud banging noises.

"Ohmigosh! Bridget shrieked before hastily covering his mouth, staring down. "Sorry... I guess I'm a slight liability. he said apologetically. Bridget often felt like he was quite useless in a team. After all, he was not that great of a fighter. In no way was Bridget a coward though, he made up for it in courage. He was never known to back down from any fight, no matter how big or small. Although, this could always turn bad for the young bounty hunter. Much like his fight against Raven, ending up with him almost killed if it hadn't been for Officer Kiske's intervention. Bridget nodded silently as Anya mentioned that there could be a dangerous person around, or a fellow zombie hunter. Bridget often hated to see firearms in use, he often employed the use of small scale explosives and non lethal weapons, but guns were always something he quite happily avoided. After all, Bridget would hate to cause any type of fatal injury, death was something he really didn't understand due to not ever experiencing anyone around him dying.

The young bounty hunter nodded when Anya said they should really check what side this person who fired those shots is on. Bridget didn't know quite what this person's agenda would be, but to have fired so many shots must mean they're here to kill something... hopefully not him and his new companion. Bridget quite carefully crept along down the dark tunnels. At least they had some light, didn't help with the corners though.

Suddenly Anya shrieked halfway through a sentence. In turn, making Bridget jump up and let out a scared squeal before composing himself when he saw this lady was a regular looking soldier, apart from her ears which were pointed. "Hey, look at her ears" Bridget said, attempting to try and say it quiet and subtly... and failing, having said it quite loud. Suddenly he covered his mouth and just stared at the lady in the military outfit. Anya spoke up, seemingly knowing her. "You know her?" Bridget said, now smiling as Anya seemed less tense, meaning this likely wasn't a crazy gun happy criminal.

[cheryl]

After the brief one sided battle, the GySgt. removed her helmet in order to scratch her head. After hours of wearing it, her partially shaven scalp had developed quite an itch. Maybe it was another careless action on her part, but she couldn't help it. Nothing was worse than an itch you couldn't scratch.

With her helmet momentarily off, her ears perked out into view. Oh, how they were sore from being inside that helmet. With the contraption still on her head, she looked indistinguishable from a human, save for her eyes. But without it, there was no hiding those indistinguishable goblin ears. Her ears weren't just for show either.

She could hear things that humans and most other thinking creatures couldn't, and her hearing served her well down here. Narrow corridors and hallways, and a keen sense of hearing, meant that Cheryl heard things often before she saw them. It made it difficult for zombies to sneak up on her. But what's this....

Her ears flickered as she detected footsteps. It didn't sound beastial, and therefore ruled out the possibility of the more evolved T-virus created creatures, such as the licker. It was also fast paced, ruling out the possibility of a normal zombie. And there was no moaning. No, just labored breathing, as people often did when they were rushing.

At first, she thought it was some of her comrades hurrying to her location. After all, she did just get done firing off some rounds at a couple of zombies. She was about to decide whether she should thank them for trying to help or chew them out for patronizing her, but then realizes it was not the distinct sound of their combat boots. Nor did the footsteps sound weighed down with combat gear or muscle, as muscle tended to be relatively heavy.

She could guesstimate their weight by hearing alone, but she hadn't the time. What she did have time for though was to speculate whether or whether not they were hostiles. Something told her, gut instinct perhaps, that they were not. What she couldn't tell by merely hearing them though was that they had a means of illuminating the darkness.

And there came another goblin strength, or perhaps weakness in this case. Besides keen hearing, they were gifted with above average sight and had a natural night vision. Both senses served her kind well, as goblins evolved as a nocturnal species of fae. Although day light would neither kill nor blind them, their eyes were extra sensitive to changes in light.

As Bridget and Anya finally neared her, and quite suddenly, the light from Anya's palm would cause a world of pain for Cheryl's eyes. She wouldn't even register Anya calling her by name, at least not at the moment. All she would do is use her forearm to cover her eyes while she shrieked, "Turn it out! God! Kill the light! Kill the light!"

[Anya]

As Bridget called out from behind her, commenting on the distinctiveness of the goblin before them's ears, Anya startled slightly - more from just the volume of his voice in addition to her own jumpiness than anything. Tearing her gaze away from Cheryl for a moment, she tilted her head slightly as she turned to survey her companion. The teen seemed to have realized how loudly he'd spoken, for he now stood beside her with one hand covering his mouth. Anya bit her lip slightly in an attempt to try and stay serious; it appeared neither of them were exactly subtle...never the less, she'd been about to confirm the question he'd just asked when a sudden shriek of pain from Cheryl caused the vengeance demon to whip around and face her again, bewildered.

"Turn it out! God! Kill the light! Kill the light!"

For a fraction of a moment Anya could do nothing but stare, her eyes wide - and then, all at once, she registered what was happening. With a quiet gasp of realization, she switched her deep brown gaze to the source of her spell's illumination. After a frantic moment of concentration, she managed to dim the light, lower and lower until it barely held the strength of a candlestick, flickering dimly in the darkness of the tunnel. She winced slightly, the goblin's pained cries still echoing in her ears - goblins, as she recalled now, were especially sensitive to bright light. Which certainly explained Cheryl's reaction, given the darkness she'd previously been enveloped in. The demon fidgeted guiltily for a moment, regaining her composure.

"It's alright. She's a friend, not a threat." Not to them, at least, and before proceeding Anya wanted to quickly reassure Bridget that she did indeed know the marine they'd just run into and that she wasn't some hostile enemy they needed to worry about. That said, she lowered her hand to her side to that even the barely-there lighting it provided now was scarce - couldn't be too careful, she figured, and narrowed her eyes slightly to try and make out Cheryl's form in the shadows.

"A-are you alright?! I...am so, so sorry. I figured the light would be, you know, beneficial in helping me and my friend here not get eaten by zombies - but the whole night-vision thing..." she trailed off anxiously, her eyes darting to the ground as she worriedly assessed how bad the damage might be. And, as always, Anya had a tendency to be a bit overly dramatic. "..Can you see? Oh God, I hope you haven't been...blinded for life! I would feel horrible! You'd have to walk around with one of those guide dogs or something, and..and..." Well, okay, perhaps she was more than a bit overly dramatic...but it wasn't this that caused her to trail off this time. Rather, it was the realization that there actually could still be zombies around..and it was probably better to keep her voice down.

[bridget]

Bridget's gaze was on the Goblin, who he remembered meeting not so long ago during the initial war against the t-virus. He remembered he was with Jill Valentine when a very odd goblin lady turned up and acted really crazy. However at this point, he wasn't really scared of her, now feeling sorry as she had been reeling from the harsh effects of the light. Bridget sighed a breath of relief as he saw Anya quickly dealing with it, dimming the light a fair amount from what it was.

"Oh! I know that, she helped me and Miss Valentine a short while ago. It was against some zombies in Central Park. That was my first ever time I saw some. It was scary..." Bridget said, remembering quite how hard it was for him to kill his first zombie. It really had a bad effect on him for the weeks after, having had to come to terms with himself actually killing another being.

Soon Anya was starting to do something VERY familiar to Bridget. Rambling, Anya was now going into a fearful speech about hoping she hadn't blinded the goblin woman and Bridget could only stare wide eyed in shock. "Ohmigosh! I hope she's not blind! You're right that'd be horrible!" Bridget didn't react well at times like this when someone mentioned something so tragic as this. It's probable that this woman hasn't been blinded for life at all and that both of them were completely overreacting. Bridget then turned to Anya, looking up and wondering what they would do next.

[cheryl]

(Sorry that took so long, and sorry so short)


Much to her fortune, her old acquaintance dimmed her light just enough. She blinked the pain away, blinking her eyes rapidly in fact. "Fucking ay," she said, spots still in front of her eyes. Recovering from the blinding light as she was, she was completely distracted by her incoming communications coming from the radio in her helmet.

"Gunny? You okay, Gunny? Please respond. Over."

Finally, her eyes and vision recovered to a point where she was able to use them again. She held her hand in front of the light, from where she stood, as though she were someone looking into the blinding sun. "What the fuck are you doing down here?!" she demanded, quite angrily, her rage masking her genuine concern over their well being.

As frightened as the effeminate blond boy was over the goblin's outburst, he may be about to have an even bigger outburst. Shortly after Cheryl asked them what they were doing down here, her squad came rushing through the stone halls and corridors, armed to the teeth. After all, for all they knew, the reason she screamed and stopped responding was due to her being subdued by zombies.

"Freeze!" one of the other Sergeants shouted as the squad came to a halt and leveled their weapons. Thankfully, the differences between the dead and undead were apparent enough for them to not mistake Bridget and Anya for zombies, and therefore open fire on them.

"It's okay. False alarm. I'll handle this, just continue on with your patrols," the still watery eyed Gunnery Sergeant explained, with all the exhaustion and frustration in her voice as someone rudely awoken early in the morning by an alarm clock. The Staff Sergeant that was 2nd only to her replied with "Yes, ma'am," before he and the others disappeared back into the darkness.

[Anya]

((OOC:// No worries, don't feel rushed ^^ Busy-ness happens. ))

Bridget knew Cheryl too? Well, this was convenient! At least now they wouldn't have to go through any awkward introductions...but unfortunately, the optimistic thoughts stopped there. Thankfully the light didn't seem to have done any lasting damage to the Marine's eyesight, but her temper didn't improve quite as quickly.

"What the fuck are you doing down here?!"

Anya merely blinked at the goblin's seething tone, staring with blatant inquisitiveness rather than the wariness that the situation probably warranted. What did it matter if they were down here? It wasn't as if a few zombies posed any real threat to - oh. Her eyes widened slightly with realization as she abruptly recalled the fact that the last time she and Cheryl had met...they hadn't exactly had a heart-to-heart about not being human. With York around, Anya hadn't exactly been too keen to disclose the fact that she was a vengeance demon, which meant that from Cheryl's point of view both Bridget and probably herself would be viewed as civilians. And civilians didn't exactly...roam zombie-infested subway tunnels. Riiiight.

She began to reply, but before she could get a word out a sudden shout of "Freeze!" sounded, and a whole squad of Marines filed into the tunnel. And they all had guns...which were pointed directly at the demon and the bounty hunter. Most people's first instinct probably would have been to obey and freeze on the spot, but Anya's told her to get out of danger fast. Instinctively, she reached out and grabbed Bridget's arm - if the troops decided to shoot at them for any reason, she would need to be ready to teleport them both out of danger. Luckily, however, Cheryl was quick to tell her companions to fall back - and they didn't hesitate before listening to her. It was only once the weapons were safely lowered and the squad had begun to continue on its way that Anya finally relaxed her grip on Bridget's arm, and breathed a barely audible sigh of relief.

Then, anxiously, she turned back to Cheryl. She still owed the goblin an answer, she realized, and for a moment she hesitated. But after one last glance at Bridget, Anya at length gave a slight shrug. Might as well go with the truth. "We were hunting zombies." the demon replied blankly, as if this were a daily activity that plenty of people partook in. "Which...I'm guessing is the same thing you were doing, right? We probably scared 'em all away by now, though. That, or we're drawing them right to us...hmm.." Anya tipped her head to one side thoughtfully, musing over the matter as if either way it didn't much effect her.

But...if she didn't want to come off as completely insane, she realized, she'd probably have to give Cheryl a bit more than that. Which was why she quickly shook her head and added, "Uh, but there's no need to worry! Bridget here's a qualified bounty hunter - right, Bridget?" She glanced toward where the teen stood again, both prompting him to answer and taking the opportunity to quickly gauge how he was handling this whole incident. "And I'm...well..." Anya hesitated here, with a shifty glance toward the clearly unnatural light that still flickered dimly in her palm. Stating 'I'm a demon' wasn't really something she had a problem with in the presence of a goblin, but Bridget...? Well, she wasn't quite sure how he'd take it. And when you weren't sure how to predict someone's reaction in a matter like this, and you really sucked at lying, Anya had learned that it was better to just...keep quiet.