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

[bridget]

Bridget stared idly at the goblin lady as she seemed to regain her eyesight quite quickly. It honestly took a load off his shoulders, he'd hate for this woman to be blinded for life. He wouldn't wish that on anybody, no matter how evil. Suddenly, Bridget jumped a bit. His bright blue eyes were wide as saucers at the language coming out of the goblin lady's mouth. After all, he's used to hearing swearing from Roger but from the mouth of someone so pretty? That was new. He stared at her with a shocked expression on his face, almost as if he was about to say something before stopping himself.

Before Bridget could even begin to comprehend how harsh and offensive that language was he found himself and Anya surrounded by heavily armed marines who had just told them to freeze. "Ohmigosh!" Bridget squealed out in a girly tone before looking incredibly embarrassed but scared at the same time and covering his mouth, shutting his big eyes tightly in fear. If there was one thing he couldn't deal with it's someone pointing a gun at him, because whenever he's experienced that it was strictly because they were out to kill him. He felt Anya grip tightly on his arm, allowing her to due to the fact that he knew if anyone that she wasn't going to attempt to hurt him like a bunch of heavily armed soldiers.

However, fate must have had something different in the cards than first thought, because the soldiers stood down on the goblin lady's command. Bridget opened one eye, peering to see the soldiers now retreating. He felt the grip on his arm lighten and sighed to himself. "That was so scary... he said in a soft whimpering tone, still shaking from the fear of almost being gunned down.

As Anya seemed to be explaining herself. Bridget beamed a smile and nodded. "Mhm! We were taking out the trash!" he said in an attempt to sound tough, his high pitched upper class voice completely negating all the toughness that phrase was meant to portray. He almost felt like he had to really up his masculinity if he was going to be around a woman like this. After all, he couldn't let a woman be more manly than him. However, when Anya mentioned that they might had drawn the monsters to their position he stood wide eyed, hoping this wasn't the case as he really didn't want to have to fight them all in one go.

However, Bridget kept the chirpy attitude up as to not bring down morale too bad. When Anya mentioned that he was a bounty hunter he nodded excitedly and tried to attempt a tough voice. "I'm Bridget Harkness, bounty hunter employed by the Holy Order. I fight all that is evil and.... I like beating the snot outta people!" he chirped the last part out, stumbling while trying to make a cool sounding introduction. After all, the goblin lady might not really remember him. His eyes turned to Anya now, she was stumbling on her own explanation and it was interesting to him why she would hesitate.

[cheryl]

Maybe they scared them away?

When one is about to engage an enemy, one would do well to learn the respective traits of said enemy; in this case the legions of undead turned by the mysterious T-virus. With the suggestion that maybe they scared away an enemy too dumb to feel fear, Anya demonstrated she not only didn't do her homework on zombies, but also hadn't been fighting them for very long at all.

But the comment, whether it was serious or meant as sarcasm, seeped through a crack in Cheryl's military discipline armor. It got through to the core of her being, and although she must remained serious and professional (especially in front of civilians), the couldn't help but snicker at the silliness of it all. It was almost....cute, actually.

Anya did more than just make a funny though. While the Gunnery Sergeant withheld her questions, Anya explained that she and her companion were down here hunting zombies. She also revealed that her companion was a qualified bounty hunter, but neglected to say the same about herself, implying the bounty hunter label could not be applied to her as well. And there was something else of interest that was said....

"I fight all that is evil and.... I like beating the snot outta people!"

While she could certainly sympathize with the latter statement, she wasn't sure how to respond to the former. Fight all that is evil? A more philosophical mind than Cheryl's might ponder what evil is. Could the zombies really be called evil? Or were they merely victims of a disease, this T-virus, and therefore blameless for their actions?

And maybe Cheryl's mind was more philosophical than most would give her credit for. She flicked her ears, much like a dog would in response to an annoying insect, a gesture of curiosity or deep thought in goblin body language.

This was hardly the time or place for philosophical discussions though. She neglected to tell them to get out, for now, so that she could ask about the bounty hunter's status. And find out what motivated Anya to be here.

"Sooo....you're like, a bounty hunter? Do you have paper work? A license? Did this Holy Order commission you to kill zombies in New York's underground?" she said, directing her questions at Bridget, and then to both him and Anya, "Or did you, like, get really bored and figured this would be fun. I mean, it is, but still...."

[Anya]

'Taking out the trash'? Anya blinked, rather thrown by the bounty hunter's little idiom...given her tendency to take things entirely too literally. She turned to stare at Bridget and spent a moment looking moderately puzzled...before deciding to just shrug it off. Humans were so silly sometimes. They never said what they meant and they never meant what they said, and--well, now she was just confusing herself. A smile quickly reappeared back on the demon's face, and she nodded brightly despite her confusion. "Uhh, yes! The undead, brain-eating trash. We were taking it out." she confirmed with a straight face.

True to form, she remained somewhat oblivious to Cheryl's amusement regarding her 'scaring the zombies away comment'. Though a majority of the things that came out of the vengeance demon's mouth were either cause for amusement or exasperation, Anya characteristically tended to take most of it quite seriously, so it was mostly with blissful clueless-ness that she smiled cheerfully at the snickering goblin - simply because her laughter was somewhat contagious. Wait, no. They had to serious. Like in those horror movies. People never laughed or smiled in horror movies. ...Or if they did, it was right before the monster reached out and grabbed them. At the very thought, she cast a faintly worried glance over her shoulder and back into the darkness.

She did, however, chuckle lightly at Bridget's last statement. Beating the snot out of people? He didn't exactly seem like the type, but then again Anya wasn't the best judge of human character. She listened wordlessly to the questions that Cheryl directed at him, and paused to allow Bridget to answer before considering the Marine's last question. Boredom? Well...yeah, okay. That was kind of part of it. But if Anya ran off to fight zombies every time she got bored, she'd be doing it--well, all the time considering her attention span. But more than that, she'd just been reminded of her real reasons for coming down here. "It's more of an obligation, really. 'Cause if you can fight zombies, well then...shouldn't you? To protect people, and all that heroic stuff." Not that Anya really knew much about heroism, but she was trying...which was why this little trip, and a majority of her evil-fighting, were more about redemption than anything.

"...And we were kinda bored.." she couldn't help but admit after a moment.

[bridget]

Bridget felt Anya awkwardly staring at Bridget after his little comment about taking out the trash. He hadn't really put much thought into it and really just wanted to sound cool in front of the goblin lady. His bright blue eyes squinted as he realized he really just made himself look kinda stupid. "Oh brother, I just made myself look a fool. Please get it, please don't make me explain." Bridget thought to himself, hoping he wouldn't need to explain his actions to his new accomplice. He had a habit of making stupid little comments which confuse the other people, some called it part of his charm and others simply found it annoying.

However, he must have been in luck because Anya actually seemed to understand what he meant and responded by mentioning the zombies. Bridget's hands remained at the hem of his blue and white dress, nervously clenching at it as he really didn't want to have to deal with any more zombies any time soon. With this military goblin woman there it simply cemented the fact there was likely a good amount of the undead flesh eaters down here. Bridget had only had to deal with a few zombies and he already knew they were some of the most freakishly scary things to exist.

When Cheryl directed a question to Bridget about his job as a bounty hunter, he looked at her almost puzzled with the mention of license. He put his finger to his lips deep in thought before deciding to respond. "Well, I guess the Holy Order just sorta pays me for bringing in bad guys... it doesn't happen often. I've maybe had a few jobs in the past year. Oh! I almost got Sol Badguy one time! Officer Kiske stopped me though.." he said with a slight pout, almost in a childishly annoyed tone that the number one bounty escaped his grasp. His stubbornness towards catching Sol knew no bounds. However, he had no idea that Sol was one of the most dangerous men on the earth. It also seemed that Anya was responding in kind to Cheryl, wording it much better than he could. Bridget often wasn't too eloquent, he was always polite but just didn't have a huge vocabulary. I guess that's what happens when you don't really get educated beyond a few years of school. Although, Bridget did have to agree with the last statement Anya made, they were pretty darn bored. He nodded in agreement, simply letting out a single phrase. "Uh huh, we were bored too." he said quickly.

[cheryl]

Cheryl listened intently as the two explained themselves, although her posture and actions probably suggested otherwise. As they talked, she casually looked down at her shotgun. She cocked it one last time to get rid of the empty casing in the chamber, the sudden sound of which perhaps startling Anya or Bridget.

After that, she started to reload, the distinct sound of shells going into the shotgun's chamber filling the air. It was a sound instantly recognizable to those familiar enough with the weapon. A melody that coincided with each of the eight shells. Eight, Cheryl had completely emptied the gun while having fun. All eight previous shell spent, amputating rotten limbs and sinking into the torso, in order to bring forth a fountain of gooey entertainment for the somewhat sadistic goblin.

Her ears even still rung from the shooting. That was something that took her a while to get used to. It was painful for her nocturnal eyes to be exposed to bright light too quickly. The other pain, from her keen hearing responding to a gun's loud retort, she'd at least gotten used to.

And her ears, they now stood up, listening to both Anya and Bridget speak. It was the only body language, subtle as it was, that hinted she was paying attention to them. But Cheryl seemed to be aware that she looked lost in her own little world, and that they might assume she too apathetic toward them.

After they finished talking, she responded with, "I'm listening. Oh wait, you're done?" She casually bent her arm up, resting her shotgun on her shoulder.

"You do know it's illegal to bounty hunt in most places, especially without a license, right?" she said, her gaze meeting Bridget.

Although she made eye contain with her unknown, fellow UK native, her voice didn't contain a hint of contempt or malice. Rather, her warning was stated in a lighthearted, matter-of-factly way.

[Anya]

Anya blinked thoughtfully as Bridget struggled to explain that he didn't exactly have a license per se...hmm. Well as far as she was concerned, money was money! If she ever ran into someone willing to pay her for zombie hunting (illegally or no) , she knew she'd jump at the chance, but for now it looked like she'd just have to stick with retailing. Besides, heroes didn't charge people for their services. ..However convenient such a practice might be. Ah well, c'est la vie. "I don't blame you! Money is important. You should always take every opportunity you can to earn it. " Anya chirped knowledgeably, her eyes shining at the thought of the capitalistic wonders of the world. Oh, wait. That probably had sounded kind of bad, she realized as she reflected on the words she'd just spoken, especially in the presence of a military officer. "...Um. As long as you're not doing anything too illegal." she added quickly.

After that the demon managed to remain quiet for the most part as Bridget finished speaking, barring a bit of fidgeting here and there - and a slight, startled jump when Cheryl cocked her gun. Quickly composing herself, Anya frowned slightly at her own obvious uneasiness, wondering exactly when she'd become so jumpy. She'd fought zombies before. Granted, mostly on the wide open streets of New York and not here in the dark, narrow subway tunnels, but even so! Restlessly, the demon attempted to distract herself by re-focusing her attention on Cheryl as the goblin reloaded to gun and finally glanced up to answer Bridget again.

As Cheryl pointed out that what Bridget was doing was technically illegal, Anya cast a glance at the teen simply out of curiosity of wanting to see his reaction. As for herself, she just offered a light shrug in response. You probably needed a license for a lot of things - hell, it wouldn't be unlike the human community to require a license for...having demon working to fight monsters in their city. She wasn't sure if such a silly thing existed, but the possibility was one of the many reasons she didn't run around broadcasting what she was. At least Cheryl didn't seem particularly inclined to go off and report the bounty hunter, though. For the most part the Marine seemed fairly calm about the whole affair actually, and her demeanor was enough to quell Anya's gradually escalating state of unease - at least momentarily.

Still, they couldn't forget where they were. Anya certainly couldn't, anyway - her sense of hearing, while nowhere near as heightened as Cheryl's, was still a bit sharper than a human's - and she was distinctly aware of each and every sound that came from the tunnels beyond, which admittedly were mostly the innocent sounds of water dripping or the occasional scuttling of a rat. But, well, wasn't it true that your imagination always conjured up potential threats that were far more terrifying than what reality offered? Her expression slowly grew a bit more somber as she peered out into the darkness. "How many of them do you think are still out there?" She couldn't help but tentatively ask, unsure of how many Cheryl had managed to kill so far.

...Not that...she was frightened, or anything. She was a vengeance demon! Perhaps something horrifying as a room full of rabbits might have daunted her, but a...haunted-house-setting-esque dark subway full of undead creatures who could potentially pop out at any moment?

....Pfftt....

[bridget]

Bridget stared at the two women, it really was quite strange he'd been around them both for a short time and they weren't annoyed at him. Usually people got quite annoyed at the young man after a few moments due to his hyperactive and very optimistic nature. It wasn't really his fault, he just wasn't as jaded by the real world as most people were. Bridget saw the whole world with rose tinted glasses, happily hopping from one adventure to the next and not having a care in the world.

Bridget jumped a bit at the sound of the cocked shotgun, soon relaxing and watching the shells loaded into the firearm. He wasn't really a fan of guns, having never used one in real life and knowing that generally they weren't a weapon a person survived from in many cases. Bridget hated killing in any form, he was even uneasy about killing zombies. Then again, as they were already dead he made an exception.

Soon, Cheryl mentioned the fact that in many areas bounty hunting is an illegal activity. Bridget's face went white with fear, his big blue eyes opened wide at the prospect he might end up detained by this lady. "Well... Uhm... I.... Ohmigosh, please don't arrest meeeee!" Bridget dragged out the last word, fearful at the fact he might end up stuck in jail with a few of the crooks he's taken in before. Bridget kept the fearful look in his eyes. Admittedly, he really should have realized that if he was arrested the Holy Order would have came sharpish to pardon him, but when he was scared logic often went out the window.

[cheryl]

With the discovery of the T-virus, the very thing that reanimates the dead and causes them to turn on the living, the zombies and their ilk seemed to have become less menacing. An unknown was no longer an unknown, and with light shed upon the mystery, it no longer seemed quite as frightening. Ghosts, evil spirits and the dead rising from the grave seemed magical and mystical. But all caused by a virus, a force of nature? Well, there's nothing magical about that at all.

And since it was a force of nature, it could be dealt with by natural means. So it was, with the advent of the miracle cure, that an antidote to the dreaded T-virus had been found. No longer could the undead strengthen their legion. As such, their numbers grew fewer and fewer. Martial law was lifted and everything went back to normal. Or rather, everything was going back to normal. There was always the risk of the virus mutating, as viruses tend to do. And even if it didn't, there were still a handful of the infected to be taken care of.

"How many of them do you think are still out there?" Anya would ask. Cheryl dawned her helmet again, tucking her ears back into it and thus hiding her goblin features. All of her goblin features except her eyes. The sclera, or white part of the eye, was black, with the pupil a shade of green that seemed to give off a hue in the darkness. Her gesture of putting her helmet back on meant only one thing, that Anya had reminded her to get back to work.

How many of them do you think are still out there?

She grinned, a facial expression that was almost malevolent and evil, but still had that child-like feel of glee to it. But it was a malicious and morbid grin none the less. "Hopefully enough...." the goblin finally said in response.

Shortly after she finished reloading, she'd told Bridget about the dangers and legal technicalities of bounty hunting. The young lad didn't take the news well. Cheryl didn't stick around to see his reaction though. She turned on the ball of her foot and jogged off, motioning for Anya and Bridget to follow her. She could tell the young bounty hunter was shook up though.

"Don't think to much into it. Not like I'm gonna say anything," she called back over her shoulder. And hopefully, they were following her. And if they did follow her, they may notice that Cheryl wasn't leading them toward the surface, so they could lead. She was leading them further around in the underground.

Somehow, during their exchange, her attitude toward them had changed. Instead of clumsy, incompetent civilians that needed to be pushed out of the way, lest they get in the way, they were now something more. They were....people she could have fun with. All sorts of horrific, morbid fun.

[Anya]

'Hopefully enough'? Anya shifted her weight nervously from foot to foot, a bit unnerved by this response and the mischievous grin that had accompanied it. Cheryl certainly didn't seem to have any reservations about bounding off to face what was quite possibly an entire horde of the undead - but then again given the circumstances, her enthusiasm would probably only benefit them. While Anya didn't quite share her eagerness, she did manage to force back the slight twinge of doubt that had begun to ebb at her. Sure, it was pitch dark up ahead. And sure, there could be countless threats lurking in that darkness - but at the end of the day, zombies (mutated and disfigured as they were) were just...dead humans. They knew no magic. They possessed no holy weapons. And she was a demon. Ideally, this wouldn't be one of those 'easier said than done' cases.

When Cheryl darted ahead, motioning for them to follow her further into the tunnel, Anya only paused a moment to glance back at Bridget. The teen seemed half-preoccupied with the possibility of being turned in by their new goblin companion, but now that that had been cleared up she was more concerned with whether or not he'd really be up for this. He'd come this far, of course, which certainly spoke volumes for his determination - but if they followed Cheryl down into the tunnel there'd be no going back. Regarding him inquisitively for a moment, she hesitated. "It may benefit you to know," she began, careful to keep her voice cheery. "that besides summoning bright lights that end up accidentally blinding our potential allies, I can also teleport! You know...in case things get..." She trailed off, unable to select a word that quite fit the potential calamity of their situation. Hopefully, he'd at least take some reassurance in the fact that she could get them all out of there in a second if worst came to worst...er...given that she'd actually be able to find her two companions in the dark. But she wouldn't mention that part. Giving Bridget an encouraging smile none the less, Anya turned and, not allowing herself to think this through any further, hurried after Cheryl.

It was a tricky line to toe, keeping the illumination in her palm dim enough not to hinder the Marine but just bright enough to allow her to at least make out the shapes around her. Still, Anya was done leaving things to chance - and she wasted no time in drawing the blade again lest any zombies be...lurking nearby. Mostly, though, she knew they'd need to rely on Cheryl's senses above all else - even with little to no lighting, she knew all too well that the goblin's eyesight and hearing were several times better than her own. If there was something watching them somewhere in this darkness, Cheryl would be the first to know about it.

[bridget]

Bridget cringed slightly at the Goblin girl's words. He honestly hoped there were as little zombies around as possible because they just gave him the creeps. I mean, sure he'd fought vampires and ghosts but zombies were all rotting and disgusting. Bridget could only try to prepare himself for the oncoming battle with these wretched ghouls. "Oh... this isn't good." he said to himself quietly, a bit shook up from the scaryness of this whole situation and just how within minutes might find himself in yet another battle with the undead.

Wait, so Cheryl WASN'T going to report him?! Wow, must have been a good impression he made if she wasn't going to a say something about a lawbreaker. Bridget almost always did something against a criminal, no matter what. After all, those who don't follow the law end up in danger. Still, it was odd that he was actually considered to be committing a crime due to not having a permit to collect bounties here. He always thought if you fight crime you're doing good no matter what. "Good people never break the law..." he muttered to himself idly. Still, the more pressing matter was the fact he might end up inside a zombie's stomach if he made any wrong moves.

Thankfully, Anya seemed to want to help calm the scared teen's nerves by mentioning how her powers can help teleport them from harm's way. It really was a good thought to know he's not in any clear danger so long as Anya's alright. Bridget smiled back to Anya, idly bobbing his yoyo up and down in his hand. It's funny how many people didn't quite understand how good of a weapon this simple children's toy could be. It contained countless weapons inside and used wire strong enough to tie someone up of a decent amount of strength up with and keep them there indefinitely. It also worked to give Roger a homing target, something telling the young bounty hunter his robotic bear sidekick might just end up being needed shortly.