2020-01-05 - Why don't you look at me?

Back to work for Stephanie as she arrives to the scene with her newly certified partner Devlin. It's nice to have something to focus on again after the much needed time off. Still, it's always sad when she's called to do her job, though she manages to keep herself mostly emotionally detached from her work. There is enough in her life that she doesn't need to bring her work home.

Dressed in her uniform, she looks to the police to see what they want to do with the bloody scene.

Devlin steps out of the EMS truck and calmly walks to the back to grab the standard kit, "What's the Sitrep?" he calls over his shoulder, hoping one of the cops provides a fast update as he first pulls out a stretcher followed by his starting to load the usual cases of gear but pausing so he can add to or change the loadout if needed. Judging by his voice, just another day to Devlin.

Despite still suffering from bouts of hypothermia from... well, some sort of wintry disaster, Byron still had work to do, so even though he's quietly shivering beneath his suit and tie and all the those layers and the heavy coat that's worn to help ward off the icy chill, he's in his Wraith, having just left the A-Frame rental cabin area, where he'd been inquiring about how lucrative that venture had gone. By the time he passes by the Broadleaf apartments, the place is surrounded by police and ambulances. Thus, he drives slowly, somewhat rubbernecking, but he knows that the cops hate civilians poking around in their business, he's had to deal with that at his own apartment complex, so while he's curious, he'll observe from the distance for now. "Under new management and recently opened. Good luck with that one." He'll murmur beneath his breath, as he steps out from his own vehicle, his leather gloved hands tucked into coat pockets.

Normally not a big believer in being around when the police are, Everett's decided to stick around. After all, he was here first, sitting in his car with the seat all the way back and trying to get some peace of mind somewhere that wasn't at his place. When the first blue and red, or red and blue, started to show up he gave it a glance but paid it no mind. But now that there's a few of them, he's seat is back up and he's paying more attention. Time to screw the lid back on the bottle in the brown bag in his hand and stuff it into the glov-- no, they'll check there. Under the seat. Yeah, it'll be safe there. Then keep looking on all the while staying somewhat warm.

A uniform leads the EMTs up, "It's not pretty. Victim... well you'll see - but it looks like you're out here check. I think it's a waste of time, obvious DOA but I ain't the chief, and I'm not a doctor - so I was informed."

The door to the apartment has been opened and a young man is stretched out, looking as if he fell in some stretching leap. Hands out in claws before him, and blood is pooled in the short entry, channeled out beneath the front door. The shirt on the body is torn, and the body remains face down,

Outside it's cold, it's loud, people are gathering, and there is a pressure in the air that is ignored, or just not noticed, by most

Stephanie points out to Devlin, "See how the blood pools over here? There's no blood on the body. It's like it's been carefully collected or something weird." She points to the side of the body. "And check out the fingernails on the floorboard." As an experienced paramedic, she knows this is quite unusual.

Thorne has absolutely no business inside of the building and he's glad that for once whatever is going on isn't plaguing his own rental apartments. So standing amidst the nosy crowd, his eyes scan the officers milling around outside and making sure that no one other than the authorities are allowed entrance into the apartment, unless, of course, the person was a resident themselves. The cold wind was uncomfortable against his already quickly chilling skin. He longed for the heat inside of his car and, in fact, he might have headed that way and just driven home if something strange didn't catch his eyes. Something which makes him take pause. There's a silent look cast out around him to sense if anyone else had seen what he had, before his dark eyes lift to view the window of the apartment which the police and EMTs seem to be busy in. Or that would be his guess.

Devlin begins to survey things and then nods after what Stephanie points out. "We need the ME." He steps carefully, "Depending on the ME, we may have to try to check things carefully with out disturbing the scene. 4 Tours.. never saw anything like this.. looks almost deliberate." He then keys his mike to request the ME.

Army green eyes narrow, a tree trunk thick neck leans forward while Everett squints against the flashing lights and the fog on his windows. The squinting deepens before his head returns to the normal position and he sinks back to his seat. Lips purse with consideration. Then he reaches under his seat, takes the crinkling brown bag from underneath and pulls the glass bottle mostly out until he can judge, for himself, how much is left from what he's been sipping. Putting the bottle back, there's a moment of hesitation before the cap is unscrewed and a thirst is quenched, then the bottle is returned to its perfect hiding place.
The door to the old Grand Prix creaks as its opened and the car gains noticeable height when the owner exits the vehicle, slamming the car door behind him. From the little lot with tree-shaded parking, Everett checks to make sure it's safe to cross the street, bundling up inside his leather jacket while he checks, and then heads around the side of the building. Ain't nobody got business stabbing people in this town but me.

Hera gets curious or gets the need to leave her gallery from time to time. On this occassion, her dedicated furry companion walks along her side. Then, he catches wiff of something. The dog immediately tenses and, acting unlike he normally does, he rushes off to go investigate. It's all so quick that she is late in calling him back. Fortunately she isn't wearing her high heels this time, flats are better when walking the dog but she's not fast enough to catch him like she wants. "Hans!" she yells but when she finally comes close enough to her furry friend, she freezes as she sees the scene itself. "What the?" she asks, this clearly isn't good, right?

Outside the building, there is a sensation of stillness in the buzz of police trying to keep nosey folk out of the building. Even for those who don't Glimmer it is palpable. The window where the police and EMTs have entered, it clouds over, visible to those just outside, as if a great breath was blown over all of the glass panes at once.

Within, the body laying there, being observed, and attended in anticipation of the ME - the uniform that had walked up with Steph and Devlin turns slightly, "Whu?" cocking his flashlight towards one of the side halls. "Look... you guys hear any of that?" clearing his throat momentarily.

As Hans strains and struggles, when the windows steam, his hackles are up and something has him down, growling, standing protectively in front of Hera, causing police to turn and look. "Ma'am get him under control."

Devlin looks over to the officer, "What noise? Pretty sure he isn't breathing." He looks back to the body, "Waiting on the ME." He listens to the reply from Dispatch, "Damn.. not sending Yule. Or well, someone else is coming though."

Stephanie looks over her shoulder to see Hera. It always threw off her focus when civilians were disruptive to a scene she was working on. Still she simply asks, "Hera, what are you doing here?"

She observes where the uniform had shone his light and she decides to walk forward just a little bit in that direction after observing the windows having clouded over. Whatever it was, that feeling of stillness, it made her extra uneasy with the potency of her Glimmer. She glanced over at Devlin, trying to keep her cool. "Should we go check it out? We really can't do anything with this body without the ME."

Hera tries not to be too rude, though given the circumstances she's rather direct. "Trying to get him under control!" she says as she approaches her dog and tries to leash him. "Settle down." She tells the canine, but there's a bit of worry in her voice, not to mention anxiety. Hans never just runs off like this and if his hackels are up this isn't good. "Back...back..." she tries to hook the collar in the hopes things don't get too bad. Yes, part of her is clueless but a tense dog and officers gathered, this can't be good.

The barking dog seems to be attracting all sorts of attention. Some from the other gawkers and then, eventually, from the officer who is probably trying his darndest to keep the peace outside of the building. Byron half-turned to regard the excited pup with a curious look, before his eyes lift to regard Hera, flashing over a rather sheepish smile to her being scolded. But seeing just how tense the dog is, he takes a few steps to close the distance, "Need any help with that?" If she doesn't get things under control, he'll try to calm the beast down in his own mentalist way.

Nevermind that he's semi-distracted by what he thought he may have seen up at the window. Despite, treating everything like normal, that's still on the back of his mind. In fact, despite the chill, there's a tension of his own now when he notices just much of a strange turn things are taking in regards to those windows.

Without any intention of being stealthy himself, and when you're this gorgeous huge, not many think you can be. But Everett's attention isn't on the scene as it unfolds inside, or even the front doors. Once he's crossed the street, the gorilla puts his paws into the leather jacket's pockets and meanders to the side of the apartments, a building that tall, might have a fire escape around back, or another way for him to climb to the top. A quick check around to make sure he isn't being followed, Everett spots Hera, or maybe the dog her diversion is causing. A sly smile appears on the right side of his mouth and if she glances his way, he takes his left hand out of his pocket, points two fingers at his eyes and then one at her before he checks his theory.

"Officer, has anyone fully cleared the apartment?" Devlin suddenly asks, "Confirming no other casualties or other people are present?" His tone conveying authority that will not be ignored.

Stephanie is startled by Devlin's voice for a moment and an inadvertent projection of her anxiety hits any Mentalist in the room around her. She might have had her Glimmer abilities since high school, but it wasn't until the last year or so that her Mentalist capabilities had manifested themselves.

"First thing done, even with all the blood man... We're the... only live people in here, right?" the uniform points the flashlight down the hall again, stepping carefully over the blood and the body. "Stay here, I'll check it out again."

There are fire escapes, the fire code wouldn't allow there not to be, allowing Everett easy ingress to where he wants to sneak. The dog, too, allows him to get in close without notice. As if her being here with Hans was tipping dominos along the lines of serendipity.

Hans continues to growl, back up close to Hera, looking up at the apartments, keeping by his master... and then he stops, whining now, ears laid flat.

As the uniform disappears down the hallway and into a room, the EMTs both feel, and even see, something drift from the region of the main living area window, and after the cop...

Hera doesn't have any glimmer abilities to manifest, but her dog has manifested something. But then she spots Mr. Gorgeous Mountain of Muscle and yeah, he distracts her, so much so that she isn't able to 'latch' Hans as much as she would like. "You asshole, I am definitely not your bitch!" Though where he is at, he likely can't hear that, right? Maybe, maybe not. Fortunately he's not as excitable but when Byron offers to help she moves in to latch, "Uhm yeah I mean, I dunnno." She's mad at Everette or well, something, and that might not help her mood in this situation. "If he comes near me my dog is going to have his crotch for dinner." Maybe Mr. Wrestler is what is making the dog mad, right?

\At first Devlin grumbles something about rookies doubting their check.. Either you did or didn't.. then the grumbling ends faster than it started as something catches Devlin's attention.. "Shit.." He grabs his old Kell light, you know.. those big 5 d-cell clubs turning it on as he holds it as if ready to use to strike someone besides illuminate things. He stands up, and easy for any near by mentalist to feel that in hostile territory feeling from him. He then moves, keeping his stance low as he smoothly steps.

Stephanie immediately feels Devlin's reaction in the periphery of her mind, prepared for hostility. Following behind him, she closes her eyes to focus at the creature from the Veil she'd seen just then and conjure a translucent red ball of energy to injure the thing and throws it at the direction of the creature as it follows the officer... She was never a big fan of her Glimmer, opting to only use it for the most extreme of emergencies. At this point, she is definitely feeling this counts.

Turning the corner, Everett spies the wrought iron workings of a fire escape while still thinking 'Stupid dog' about someone on one side of that leash, and pulls his hands out to double finger-pistol shoot them with a wide smile which is quickly wiped away before anybody could clam the biker even knows how. It's still a little bit of a jump for him to grab the bottom rung and then pull the ladder down before he can climb up the worked iron, using the railings as he starts to climb up the stairs, but pauses at the first story, looking over his shoulder to the ladder he just pulled down.

"Meh, who's going to be dumb enough to go up the fire escape?", he says to himself with his low voice, turns around and starts to climb the stairs. It's winter. It's snowy and its cold, so his eyes are down, watching his footing and not up. Not up, all the way to the top of the building. At least, how many windows was that? 20? 23? Eh, how bad can it be?

Byron's mind is often difficult for most mentalists to penetrate, as he prefers, but if he is sensing anxiety around him, it's just him assuming that that's what people would feel when confronted by... whatever the hell is going on in that room. He offered his assistance to the woman, though when Hera starts to get all defensive, calling /someone/ in the crowd an asshole, this definitely makes him take pause. There's even a moment where he looks over his shoulders to better pinpoint who exactly has gained the woman's ire. "I'm afraid I have no idea who you're referring to," Though after a quick scan of the crowd, he's come to some conclusion. It's better than stating what /he/ believes is causing the dog's anxiety, however. "But if your dog is overly stressed, you might want to take--" He pauses, before something from that room catches his attention. He's not sure what it was. A red light? Something. Either way, his focus has returned to that right now.

Hera is somewhat oblivious to some things, but poor Byron. He is NOT an asshole. He's just a nice guy trying to help. "Oh...oh crap!" she says, hoping that he doesn't think /she/ called him an asshole. Yeah, maybe the notion of trying to be a 'lady' just got thrown out the window. "I'm...I'm sorry that, huge guy over there, he's a REAL jerk, don't let his massive size fool you. He was trying to beat up on one of my friends and I do /not/ like that." Forget the fact that it was all professional at the time but she heaves a sigh of relief now that Hans isn't in uber growl mode. "Thank you very much Sir, for your help." She then goes to try to comfort the 'hopefully leashed' dog by scratching him behind the ears, "It's ok boy, it's ok."

Hans likes scratches, which have been offered, Doggy eyes happy, tongue lolling, and no threat present, the dog makes a lazy 'wuhf' sound as he leans into the attention, immediately giving Hera a 'Why does this not happen so much at home?' look.

Everett's Vertical Adventure? It takes him to the correct floor, the escapes mounted to face hall windows and he can see where there are cops visible and the room door in question open. Now he can peep. Maybe breath hard.

The red ball can be heard smacking into something wet, and when Devlin turns to the room where the uniform went, the man is mantled by shadow. A shadowy form, there but not clutching its hands to its chest, leaning towards the man's face, its jaw working and he simply shivering as if dealing with a chill in the room. It's a bedroom, and it looks like it's been tossed instead of being messy. Whatever it is continues to stare at the uniform, and then towards the ones who glimmer, baring its teeth.

WTF?? Ok, the Veteran of 4 tours has seen a lot of shit in his time but this.. Ok.. someone was not feeding him a line of shit. Following his instincts, Devlin moves using the Tai Chi brush knee technique with the flashlight being used for blocking as he steps forward. Almost unconsciously as his right hand moves into the push/strike energy is released by him at the creature.. the colors looking like a ying yang ball to those that see it.

However flustered Hera might feel right now, Byron just casts an easy smile her way, followed by an amused laugh. "No offense taken either way." Another brief look is shot over towards this Giant, recognizing the man well enough. He's hard to miss. "That's unfortunate." He'll comment about the man who beat on Hera's friend. "This town is full of lushes and," Mental cases? "And quite a bit of troubled people. Hopefully, for your friend, things turned out alright?" There's a brief glance now given Hera and then the dog. As long as the dog isn't going berserk , he's not going to try and calm it. In fact, after what he'd seen from the window, he's more than curious at what's going on up there. "I hope everything's OK." More small talk, though this time his gaze is focused on that window, taking notice of the guy making his way there.

Stephanie, having been standing behind Devlin the entire time, watches as her colleague charges forward and she says, "We gotta throw it back where it came from! If it came from a tear somewhere, I can find it."

Climbing up the fire escape seemed like such a good idea at the time.
Puffs of white fog expel from his lungs each and every time he takes a deep labored breath, willing his feet to move forward, climb just one more step. Doing a double-take to his side, he sees another window coming just into view, and a couple of steps after that yields results. Patrolmen in the hallway.

The brute ducks back and retreats a step so he can peer in brings his big hands up to his mouth and exhales on them. Thighs burn, hands, feet cold, this isn't Florida weather. A glance at the window sills and he purses his lips and then returns his eyes back to the pigs in the hall. Nothing to do now but wait. And stay out of sight.

Hera shakes her head at Byron and says, "No no no, I should act better than that, more proper. I am sorry about that." she tells Byron, "And, thank you for your assistance. I have heard strange rumors in this town about people being a bit, well, off balance but trust me, other cities are worse than this. This place is a true Utopia." Yeah, filled with spooky things that go more than bump in the night. "My friend is ok and, I thank you Sir. I appreciate your kind regards." But, she does start to look worried and she asks Byron, "Do you think everything is ok? I mean, my cousin is in there. I know he's seen some horrible stuff but still, he's my family." Well, the clueless one has to worry about something apparently, especially since the gorgeous mountain of muscle isn't in the right aim for her high heeled shoes.

"Your cousin?" Byron asks now, brow furrowing, "I hope that your cousin is a cop or EMT? Or does he live in the building?" He might not get a clear view of what's going on, but he has a good sense of it. Whatever did happen, it surely wasn't good. "The police are up there," He reminds her. And even though he's not convinced of this himself, he'll still say, "I'm sure that they'll be able to get everything under control." By now, he /knows/ something is there. Something dangerous enough to warrant someone using their Talents. However, it's not really any of his business, so he won't go rushing up to assist. The cops would try to stop him anyway if he cared enough to do so.

The stance and the feeling of glimmer pushing at it, the entity looks hisses at the pair of EMTs before its hands try to caress the cop's cheeks. Mouth dropping open, it looks again, mouth opening.

The cop, stops, breath coming in sharp gasps as he feels something change. He looks, left, right, and then turns. His eyes recognize something and he screams at the same moment his bladder releases, his gun is dropped, and his own flashlight as he turns to sprint for the door, to get out of the room.

The scream sets the cops outside on alert, and the ones in the hall. Guns are drawn and people begin talking into walkies hooked to shoulders. Hans whines further and is back up on all fours, standing defensively towards Hera. Those outside can feel a... pulse in glimmer as well, for those who glimmer.

"Devlin! We gotta push this thing through the weak point in the Veil! It's close by!"

Stephanie attempts to use some telekinetic force to push the creature towards the tear in the hallway. The glow in her hand manifests itself in orange this time, as a thick translucent orange beam shoots out from both of Stephanie's hands, pushing the creature towards her intended destination for it.

Hera untenses a little as she continues to chat with Byron. "EMT and, yeah, you're right. I'm not an expert in these kind of things, not at all." She doesn't know that something is in there, but apparently her dog does. Her eyes go wide and she looks back over toward the commotion. "Oh dear." she sighs, "He's rarely this tense. He really isn't." But, as long as he doesn't bolt, she can't panic herself.

Huh? is Devlin's initial reaction to what Stephany is saying.. now he is starting to feel like a boot dropped onto a mountain ridge in Afghanistan without complete training.. "Oh.. push.." Well.. think fast.. tripping works in a lot of things.. so... trying the drill he got shown.. he tries the TK force to pull one of the ~thing's~ feet in a direction that disrupts its stability.

A scream.
Guns drawn.

You know, it's a time like this that a sensible person would leave. But with a glance down forty-one crossing sections of fire escape framework, Everett realizes he's still not all that sensible. Instead, time for option B.

Digging inside his leather jacket, he takes a step away from the window as he extracts his black smartphone from his jacket. His face is briefly illuminated while he unlocks it, turns the flash off and then takes his spot back, this time armed with his phone like he should have had in the first place. Man, the tongue-lashing Alexander or Kevin would have given him.

While things were not completely calm, despite the conversation which Byron was trying to hold with Hera, he is somewhat relieved to hear that the woman's cousin was an EMT and not the victim. Then that piercing scream cuts through the chilly evening. It's hard to say whether Hera's EMT cousin will turn out to be an actual victim once all of this over. "I--" His words are cut off and for a moment, despite the deep chill that the hypothermia that he's suffering is giving him, he's focusing on that window, gauging the minds of all within, trying to pick out who the 'good guys' were as opposed to what he may have seen, that darkness, just moment earlier.

Grabbed by Stephanie's will and shoved, whatever it is slams into the wall, making a wailing sound that almost sounds like wood timbers creak to those without, while those with glimmer hear a sound of pure devastated sadness. Clinging to the wall it leaps for the window.

In the hall, the cops who were reacting, and Everett can see are shoved by their compatriot. One man is pushed over and his weapon discharges, the round slamming into the ceiling ad sending down a plume of plaster dust, the fleeing cop still pelting down the hall, headed for the stair.

Glass explodes outward towards the grounds below, and for a moment people like Byron are presented to the sight of a shadowy form leaping clear after. Sailing so far as to grab hold of a lamp pole, head lifting, and mouth opening. There's something in it, a wail that echoes for those without the gifts... but for one in specific there is a little more. A wailing that those who glimmer can hear.

Cursing under her breath, Stephanie goes back to her aggressive tactic. Rushing towards the same window the creature had jumped out of and she eyed it, as she focused her Glimmer again. The familiar red glow forms on her hands again, and this time she manifests a tennis ball sized sphere of energy, both the size of a tennis ball. She throws them both towards the creature to again, intending to again create a wound.

Watching his phone rather than the action to make sure everything is in frame, Everett makes a face when the gun goes off, brows rising. Whatever the cop was aiming at, the brute figures he musta hit, rather than plaster, the sound of shattering glass following. With a grunt of disbelief, that's about it for the big guy. Phone and he are taken a step down again and turned off before turning the phone off and stuffing it back inside his leather jacket. Then a long, distasteful look at the stairs. A hopeful look to the window, the elevator inside the apartment building? Yeah, no, cops are shooting at things in there. Time to go. At least he had a rest.

Under his foggy breath, he murmurs after the not too long, "Fuckin' stairmasters."

Hera winces a bit as she hears the wail and she shakes her head for a moment. She then looks over at Hans who remains protective, but perhaps a bit nervous. Blinking she takes a moment to focus on things again. "It's ok Hans, it's ok boy. Just need to make sure your cousin comes out ok."

Devlin not fully getting what is going on. Rather than follow to the window, He moves now to follow the direction the cops went, "What fucking idiot fired his weapon without a target?" As he finds a bit of refuge in being a voice of pissed off authority. "Coming down!!" he yells to keep some idiot from shooting him. The BRIGHT light waved in a up/down pattern as he spreads the focus to illuminate area.

After delivering his own dose of fear into the mind of the shadow creature, Byron's ducks down with the others outside, once that window shatters and glass rains down to the streets below. Quickly, his eyes follow behind the shadow thing, forcing him to turn and watch as the creature darts away. He can sense the grief? The sadness emitting from the thing and unlike Stephanie, he's not about to go after it. A curious look, however, is given Hera, giving this woman a thoughtful look even as Hans must be going crazy by now. "What was that?" He asks almost innocently, perhaps gauging if she'd seen what he had.

As Devlin moves, he can sense a bit of panic and anxiety coming from Stephanie. She was a non-combatant, she wasn't used to being in this sort of situation. But then as she watched through the window, she could see the creature escaping. Why wasn't anything being done about this? Why was the creature being allowed to escape? What if someone else died because of it? The panic and anxiety quickly turned into anger and frustration.

The guys in the hall are picking themselves up, looking to Devlin as he yells at them "Hey, fuck you Ambulance-Boy, go see what the hell is up with Jimmy!!" The cop being pulled off the ground nursing the back of his head, having been divested of his firearm after his fall.

Out the window the creature on the pole screams, sludgy blackness bursting from lines cut into it's back. Fat tears like used motor oil run from its eyes and become like slushy mucky snow. Bent over double it looks like it is retching, and then it is leaping and running into the night, sobbing.

Hans between where it was and Hera, barking furiously. A good guard dog, refusing to leave his charge, hackles up, circling her if anything dares to get close.

The cops at the bottom of the stairs acknowledge Devlin's signals, Jim is babbling in a corner. His bowels have released down, sitting in his own filth, panicking to the point that he can't even get back up.

Hera begins to get nervous herself. Seems like Hans isn't doing well in this situation at all. Biting her bottom lip she prompts him to move away. "There's something wrong, we should go, I hate to, but we should go."

Stephanie seems to radiate in anger and frustration now though not intentionally, feeling like she could have done more, a feeling all too familiar to the paramedic. She goes back down to ground level, towards the EMT truck, past all the cops and all the other EMT that have shown up, and she goes to sit inside the truck, in the driver's seat, though she doesn't move.

At the bottom of the fire escape, Everett takes another break, this time leaning a hand against the building while he bends over and pants like he... well, like he just climbed up and down forty-two flights of stairs. "Mother... fucker," he pants a few more times. Standing erect, he holds his abdomen, maybe just to make sure his guts aren't spilling out his skin. "Phew. Stairway to heaven that is not," he murmurs to himself again, and sets back on his path back around the building.

Byron is glad he's not present to hear what's being yelled out within the building and to what Hera says, he nods slowly, "You're not wrong." Even when he utters those words, he can't take his eyes off of the shadow thing. Turning back to Hera, he murmurs, "Might be a very good idea to head back home into the warmth by the fireplace and away from... whatever the hell happened here." In fact, once the creature is hit again and takes off into the night, taking careful steps, he moves to check the area surrounding the post. It looked like it was bleeding or crying. He could sense that much, but something was oozing out of it and his curiosity wants him to find out what.

WHAT!! you can see the NCO in Devlin cut loose being told fuck you. "Listen you lousy excuse for a tin badge... I'm the asshole that patches those holes when someone shoots or stabs you.. AND I do it when someone is still shooting at you. So I hear that Ambulance boy shit again and I will clean your fucking clock and fix your boo-boo." as he comes down the stairs. The patented PISSED OFF NCO glare in full effect. He walks right up to the cops glaring at them to even talk back at him. He then turns towards the terrified cop then looks over his shoulder, "How about one of you numb nuts get bring this man a bottle of water?" He then goes from Angry to calm in the time it takes to flip a light switch as he kneels near the man, "Rough night.. huh, Jimmy? At least it isn't ISIS shooting at us.. huh?"

One of the cops moves as told, heading foe the trauma kits for water and one of those blankets. Jimmy is just sobbing and retching, when Devlin asks about it being a rough night he just vomits, hard, hard enough for the first release to shoot out a good foot before he's just going into shock. No. Definitely not one who glimmers.

Hans is calming some, as whatever it was trying to protect Hera from? Seems to be gone.

And at least no cops saw Everett scaling the building He's just cold, and tired... Maybe he feels hunger pangs - maybe not. Maybe he just thirsts for the blood of his enemies...

Hera begins to usher her dog to follow her home. "Let me get that kibble for you, ok? I don't know what you were sensing but, home is safe, time to go home."

Stephanie is taking the time in the EMT truck to regain her composure, having that be the first time she'd really used her abilities that intensely. It was as if she'd had an adrenaline surge. She is clearly emotionally charged and not useful. Though she has to wonder what Devlin would think about her retreat. She quietly steps out of the truck to watch her partner handle taking care of the officer in shock.

Speaking of enemies.
Good thing that pup has calmed down.

"H-hey, toots," puffs Everett beside Hera. "How's it going in cougar-town?" He doesn't give her time to answer though, up noding his head towards Byron's back while the other man is checking out post. "What's he doing?" Looking up, Everett shields his eyes to take a look from how high up the window was shattered, and then down to the pole. "Crazy," he murmurs to himself, then checks both sides of the street but not to see if the coast is clear.

Devlin goes into mode as they say, he reassures Jimmy as he helps the man settle against the wall. "It's all good... we're here for you." He glances over his shoulder hopefully to see Stephanie as he mouths, Bring Stretcher.. move slowly and be nice His attention returns to Jimmy, "Should have seen me loose it the first time I saw some shit in Iraq.. " He continues to reassure the man as he starts using a couple of cravats he keeps in a pocket to help get the worst of it off the guy.

Stephanie slowly and steadily brings out the stretcher as Devlin requested. She speaks in a calm and gentle voice. "Hi, I'm here to help too." She contemplates her next course of action as she watches Devlin take care of Jimmy.

While he may be friends with a bunch of investigators, Byron isn't exactly one himself. He's curious about this shadow fiend, sure, but it's gone. What he does find is pools of a couple of different substances, all of which he examines as he crouches down before the splotches. None of them look corrosive, though on first sight one's mind might have been tricked into thinking so. He watches as the 'blood' the more wide-spread substance seep into the snow, burning it's way through. But from what he can tell, it's not destroying anything else but the ice and snow.

The 'tears', however, that was a curious thing. It wasn't burning through the ice the way the blood was and wit that in mind, he reaches for a stick to prod at it. It wasn't eating the stick up there. Good. He's more prone to gather a sample of the tears than he is of the blood, so he does just that. He has investigator friends, those who Shine. They may be interested.

No sign of anything unusual that way. Nothing the otherway. Everett purses his lips and sticks his hands in his jeans pockets while he crosses the street again, heading back to his car. After all that climbing, nothing like a good long sit, and maybe a sip from the liquid dinner under his seat. Or some actual food.