2021-01-17 - For a Few Dollars More

Ravn Abildgaard's customary black jeans and turtleneck outfit wouldn't be out of place on an art director or computer engineer in downtown Seattle, but the black gloves he favours would look more natural on someone who doesn't want to leave prints. Add the fact that the sleeve of the man's leather jacket has been slashed as if someone's taken a rather big knife to it lately, and he honestly does look somewhat like somebody a cop might want to keep an eye on. He is redeemed a little, at least, by walking as if he has a legitimate errand -- and he does, because permanent residence applications don't sign themselves, and yes, the authorities do in fact do a background check, even on a white man from a Scandinavian country, before rubber stamping the appropriate pieces of paper. He does look around with mild curiosity as he's being shown where to go; the folklorist is not accustomed to hanging around police stations and he's an inquisitive nature.

Esme is sitting at her desk, speaking softly with another officer as she is passing them offer a case file. Probably something to do with trying to lessen her workload or something. She's been a little anxious since the meeting. A bit twitchy. Then again, it was nothing new really. She's been all kinds of high strung ever since late last year. She's just ready for all this to be over, even if she can't go after the big fish. Yet. Her gaze flickers towards the break room with a small frown before thanking the other officer and letting them walk off. She spots Ravn and lifts a hand in greeting as he finished signing his papers. A brow lifted- clearly silently asking what he was doing here.

Byron's had a few things on his mind as of late. News of the abandoned factory erupting into chaos raises some suspicions which he wishes to address to certain particularly parties, but he's refrained himself from doing so for the time being. Instead, he's at the Gray Harbor precinct, dressed in his usual business attire, a dark suit and tie, with a heavy winter coat thrown over the ensemble to protect against the harsh wintry weather.

While here, he's in a chatty, friendly mood as he discusses prior GHPD vs GHFD events from the past to Evelyn, a cop he's known for years now, both having grown up in Gray Harbor. "I was hoping that there'd be a schedule for now, Evie. Give the Fire Department a run for their money this year too. Maybe another paintball match. If not softball." He then adds in, "I was hoping to look into doing so for charity, though I do miss the annual family picnics. I'll be bringing Lil this time around."

Having gotten himself something to drink, Rick sips from that bottle of liquid, with a brief momentary smile. He glances around for a few moments, noticing Ravn and giving the man a nod after he's studied him for a few moments. He stups further in, overhearing that joke from the one that told a bawdy joke. He shakes his head, stepping past those other patrol officers, heading in the general direction of the break room, steps a little slow.

Having been a sporadic presence at the precinct since the opening of her store, Abitha had made a point to show up to the meeting, mostly because it had just worked out she hadn't actually handed in her resignation yet. It's hard to do when the only person you report to gets kidnapped for one reason or another. It would be a good point to offload everything she had dug up so far and put a pin in her participation. She shows up in a black wool coat, unbuttoning it as she made it into the war, revealing a casual outfit of a creme sweater and jeans. She'd opted for some fresh Nike kicks to round out the outfit. An olive green courier bag is over her shoulder, marked with the Mandalorian crest. Regardless of the email, Abitha was not obviously armed, but that had never been an issue before. Her emerald green hair, freshly touched up, was woven back out of her way.

Joe's just here to get his concealed carry permit renewed. He's talking with one of the officers, getting his fingerprints taken. They're chatting idly about hunting - the few species that one can bag year round. He's keeping an idle eye out for passersby, but the sailor's posture is lazy, relaxed. It's all just routine paperwork, after all.

Ravn upnods back at anyone who greets him or whom he recognises in passing; Esme gets a small grin on top of the nod -- the folklorist has met her a few times previously and every single time he's tried to drag her into some more or less ridiculous investigation. Maybe he's just appreciating that the detective didn't scream and hide under her desk upon recognising him. Maybe he just has come to accept the inevitable fact that some day in the not too distant future, cops are going to start to react to him in much the same way they react to Alexander Clayton; mostly with fatigue.

"Abildgaard," he supplies helpfully to the clerk, pronouncing each syllable slowly and carefully. "Ah, beeld, gor." It's very obviously not the first time the Dane has been asked how to pronounce his name -- the aa sound in particular gives an anglophonic tongue pause.

Esme rises to her feet, probably with the intention of walking over towards Ravn to chat for a minute and escape her desk. Or maybe it was to greet Abitha. Instead, something seems to catch her eye and she is now staring down one of the officers laughing and joking. She, of course, isn't one to stand by silently either. "Hey, Russo." She calls over to the one she was staring down. "Care to share with the class?"

"Haven't seen the Chief around recently..." Byron nods to Evelyn, his own tall frame leaning against the front desk, being propped up by an arm and crooked elbow. The casino-co-owner and entrepreneur has been busy out of town lately, for the most part, but that doesn't mean that he'd forgotten some of the things told to him before work (among other issues) took hold of his life. He meant to ask the woman how de la Vega were doing before Evelyn ran off, but an altercation at the entryway catches his attention, one involving that tech nerd. Pushing off from against where he was positioned, he crosses the lobby to meet with Abitha, "You alright?" With an arched brow, he looks the place over with a wary sweep.

When a hundred pound nothing like Abitha gets rammed by a full grown police officer that has things like Physical Training standards, it's no one's surprise to the result. With a startled squawk, Abitha's turned almost totally sideways, stumbling a few steps, but able to put a hand out and grab a chair, not ending up laid out on the floor. The screech as the metal drags the floor is clear, loud. The follow-up is not so much. Abitha shoots a glare back at the dirty cop, but says nothing.

Just another reason.

She tugs her bag back into place, straightens, then looks to Byron. Her words are muted, "Yeah. Fine." with all the punctuation and force to communicate her mood was less so. One last glance at the pig's retreating back, then she returns her greens to Thorne, "What are you doing here?"

Rick's mission to reach the break room gets interrupted as one of the others he was passing by asks him something. He looks just about to answer when he hears Esme calling to Russo. "One moment," he offers to the person he was speaking with, turning to see what's happening.

Finished with the paperwork, the officer helping Joe bustles off to make the card itself. It leaves him at loose ends, has him meandering towards Ravn. But he overhears Byron and notes, "He's been out of town a lot lately. He actually took a vacation, which I never thought I'd see, honestly." His tone is fond, amused.

Ravn is very notedly not one of the cops nor cop-adjacent for that matter. He's neither deaf nor blind though, and the sound of locks clicking shut is one he very much recognises. He looks around quickly in an attempt to find out not so much what's going on as where would be a smart place for himself to get out of the way of the people here who presumably do know what's going on and how to deal. He ends up heading towards Joe simply because he's nearest -- and trying to not occupy any space that running feet belonging to armed men might need any minute. If he's breathing a little faster and looking a little paranoid, surely that can be forgiven -- they tell stories in Europe, about crazy gunmen and police shoot-outs. They make movies about those things.

Esme takes one step, two steps towards the break room - ready to give Russo a piece of her mind when the lock down protocol starts. Tactics shift, her hand immediately goes to her pistol but she doesn't draw it yet. "Everyone, stay calm." She raises her voice ever so slightly - it's primarily for the civilians in the room. "We'll find out what's going on." And hopefully de la Vega doesn't come back to a pile of rubble. She takes a step back towards her desk, her phone, to try and dial down to the front desk and see if someone down there might know what's going on.

"What the..." Rick trails off, frowning as he looks around. He nodsd at Esme's words about staying calm, one hand reaching for his sidearm, the other still holding that bottle. Taking a sip, probably a little bit more calmly than what he's feeling inside.

The man's dark eyes trail behind the exiting officer, before Byron catches sight of a few familiar faces, the cops standing around telling jokes. He knows them from somewhere before. "Me?" His words address Abitha now, "I just decided to check in and see if there's a schedule up for any sort of GHPD functions. Family softball, charity events, that sort of thing. Mostly the latter, but I won't mind supporting the former for GHPD family barbecues." Returning his attention on Abitha, he flashes her a little smile.

That's when he hears Joseph speak up, recognizing Cavanaugh as his astronaut tenant. "That /is/ surprising. I mean, good for him, right?" His voice drops down into a murmur, "Any time you get a chance to leave the town, even if just temporary, I'm all for taking the opportunity." Looking back to the cluster of officers once more, as well as studying the features of the other cops and detectives in the vicinity, he asks, "How have things been with you?" He asks of Joseph, making small talk. He even recognizes Ravn in the distance now too.

And then? Obnoxious cops turn into a full blow lockdown from what Byron can tell. He's one of those cop-adjacents and has been for all his life. The room gets dark when he curses, "We're under lock down." To any of the visitors who might now already know. "For some reason..." That last part if muttered. There's a lot of people here, but he starts to do a mental scan of the place in an attempt to pick up 'strange' or 'odd' emotional signatures. As he does this, he scans the faces of everyone around him, though his mental abilities reach out to those he can't even see. He senses the usual, the panic and confusion. But there's something else and to this, his eyes narrow, turning to look at Joseph Cavanaugh at first, but then to the hallway behind him.

Abitha just about jumps out of her skin. If the last impact had set her on edge, the sudden noise pushes her over. Yes, unfortunately, Abitha is that girl that yelps when the lights drop. She clamps her hand over her mouth, eyes going wide, then pretty much melts against one of the walls, trying to stay out of the way. She tries to look everywhere at once while she registers Byron's seeking mind, melting back against the wall. Trying to stay out of the way, she stalks toward where she'd seen Esme go, watching her try to use the phone. Abitha glances to the detective's desk computer, making a finger gun toward it, a 'May I?' facial expression.

"I'm all right," Joe says, mildly, offering that lazy grin of his. Content to make that small talk, in turn. "How 'bout you?" Much less of a public presence, these last few months. The sailor's been denned up in his apartment, ostensibly working on a new novel.

Then the doors thump shut, the lights change, and the smile fades from that long face. Joe's nodding at Ravn, but he's looking around, too. A glance at Byron.....and then he's turning to look behind him, stepping off to the side of the mouth of the hallway behind him. "Someone's coming," he says, voice harsh.

Someone's coming. It's the tone of Joe's voice that makes every hair on Ravn's neck stand at attention. The sailor is very obviously not suggesting that a donut delivery is imminent. He doesn't know the people. He doesn't know the procedures. But half a lifetime spent on the streets of Europe means that Ravn does in fact know bad cop.

He lets himself be herded towards Joe because only an idiot argues with the man holding him at gun point. The Dane attempts to keep an expression of politely confused foreigner on his face while scanning the surroundings for -- monsters? Exits? Cthulhu? Something is about to go down and he's only got a few split seconds to even identify the enemy.

So nice of the enemy to make it simple. Ravn may not know who Harvey Liu is, but the tone of voice leaves him in little doubt as to the power balance there.

The desk phone is dead, so Esme's pulled out her cellphone. Her brow furrows and she whispers some low into Abitha's ear before letting her sit at the computer. But then, it's happening and she pulls out her firearm as Russo, Zakrzewski and the rest start in. There's a brief glance to her desk and then back to Liu. When the fuck did he steal the armoury keys? "Carlson, Harmon - on Russo and Zakrzewski." Esme calls out to Rick and another nearby officer.

Then her attention focuses on Liu., pistol aimed at him. "The fuck kind of game are you playing Liu? Not man enough to face off on even ground?" Keep him talking, distracted. There's a room full of Glimmering people and trained officers. Surely they'll be able to pull something off.

There's a faint nod, something passing between the two women. The geek's eyes widen, brows dropping, about to respond, but reconsidering. Abitha totally had an idea to try something probably sorcerously technological, which absolutely is abandoned as soon as people start drawing guns. Green pretty much dissapears from sight, Abitha sliding down out of the seat she'd taken and tucking her tiny stature down as small as she can beneath Esme's desk. She waits to make sure no one had noticed her... then shuts her eyes. She starts to concentrate, slowing her breathing, and remaining out of sight.

It seems that Joe's picked up what Byron was sensing, or maybe the entrepreneur had tipped Cavanaugh off, either way, Thorne nods to the practical low growl telling them that, yes, someone was heading this way. Harvey Liu's arrival shouldn't surprise Thorne at all. In fact, he was attempting to get a visual of the man as he chatted away with Evelyn, seeing some of Liu's goons here. His posture straightens, eyes focused on the cocky cop. If anything, the dark-haired man's brow lifts to match the shrug of his suit covered shoulders, "It's good as new. No thanks to you, Officer Liu." His eyes flicker at the assault rifle which the other possesses, "Nice to see you too." He needs no other information to tell him what is going down, though he keeps careful watch over the other corrupt cops in the room, making note of where each are positioned and how many they may be dealing with.

Rick draws his sidearm as soon as he sees things start to happen, glancing to Esme before nodding as he hears her words. Not waiting to see if Harmon is ready, he aims for Russo, eyes narrowing. "Okay, you know how this is, Russo, drop your weapons. You too, Zakrzewski." Trusting that Harmon will be in place here as well. "Right now!"

Joe doesn't protest, doesn't strike out. He obeys to the point of putting his hands up. Trying to look harmless, ineffectual. Not armed with any ordinary weaponry; his Glock lying safely in his headboard at home. His tone is almost conversational, as he wonders, "What is this? What're y'all doin'?"

Then Rick is drawing his gun, and Joe grimaces. This is clearly about to get Reservoir Dogs. He shuffles half a step closer to Liu, not generally a move one sees towards a man with a rifle....and reaches delicately out with his power to slide the safety back on. Hopefully, it won't be noticed.

Ravn is not a strong physicalist by far -- he has in fact been described as a soft ping by several people. Even so, he's got enough of of the shine to possess a keen spatial awareness, and pick up on the fact that next to him, Joe is moving something. He can't tell what without looking and perhaps giving the game away, so he doesn't. He contemplates a distraction because that is what he's good at -- not fighting, not intimidating, and certainly not moving. He's a confidence artist and a thief, not a policeman.

Then the clerk starts to scream. Well, when you want a distraction -- gloved fingers slip to the screaming lady's desk, very quietly scooping up a pair of scissors and slipping them up one sleeve, ready to be slipped back out sharp end first if he sees an opportunity to use them. Will Ravn shank a man? If that man is holding a gun to his head, the answer is a definite yes.

With his sights trained on Liu at that very moment, Byron picks up... something coming from Joseph. He's not quite sure what Cavanaugh is up to, but he knows that the man is up to something. Still, Liu's rifle is aimed at the back of the other man's head and that makes Thorne cautious. Just the fact that Harvey Liu was in full riot gear with the assault rifle at the ready, now that's got the businessman's full attention.

So there's around five corrupt cops in this place that he can notice. Most of them are faces that he's familiar with, having seen them in the presence of Liu in the past. "Look. Liu. You don't want to do this. This isn't who you are." From everything that he's picked up on the head corrupt cop during each of their encounters, this is what he'd come to. Unfortunately, he hasn't spent enough time in the company of the others, but he'll try to reach out mentally, make them second-guess their life choices, perhaps, even weighing them down with the guilt of what might happen if they go through with this. Other than that, he keeps his arms out and raised as a show that he's not up to anything.

If this fails, he makes eye contact with Joseph, as if trying to tell him to get out of the way if he can.

Esme steels her resolve. She has to have some faith that they can take control of this situation. She glances to Joseph to check how he seems to be doing. Then to Byron and Ravn. She takes a step forward. "And you think I'm not above hurting you? Or any of the other assholes in this building helping you?" Barely batting an eyelash at his threat outwardly. Though she may be mildly panicking inwardly.

"You're on the losing end here Liu. So give up." Though she would push her Glimmer out to try and change the gun's trajectory just in case Liu does try to shoot Joseph. Her finger is on the trigger to fire in case him or Mike try anything - trusting that the other officers in the precinct have the rest in their sights and can handle it.

What can she do, what can she do. Abitha's mind races along six different paths. Eventually, all six find the same conclusion. Guns can't fire if their firing pins don't hit the bullet. She breaths in one last time... Then reaches out, hands lifted, forefinger and thumb making a pinching motion as six threads of her mind's eye seek and grab at each of the corrupt cops guns. She holds the contact as she holds her breath, her mind straining, but doing the work. Their pins would not meet bullet. This was the mantra she thought.

Oh, so now he's gotten both Zakrzewski and Russo to aim at him? That's quite great, isn't it. Rick lets out a bit of a breath, but he doesn't lower his weapon yet. "Ah, come on guys," he offers a bit quietly in the direction of Russo and Zakrzewski. "Why would you be doing this, hmmm?" Offering them an attempt at a disarming grin, he remains focused on those two for now. Not doing much more than waiting, he realizes that if both of them are aiming at him, they're not aiming at the others.

He's not aware of what Abitha's up to. No, all Joe's focus is on the rifle barrel against his skull. Nothing like a gun to narrow one's concentration.....and despite the cool of the air, there's sweat on his brow. He's not moving, not beyond a dart of his gaze to Byron. Reaching in with his power, weak as it is, to do the rifle an injury that'll disable it permanently, before Liu's as good as his word and really does turn his skull into a Pollock painting.

Ravn grits his teeth and waits, sharp improved weapon still concealed in one hand. He's never watched anyone die before. He's never watched anyone kill with the shine before, either. He bites back the instinctive urge to attempt to embed those scissors in the face of the man in riot gear -- not out of any desire to be a good and law obedient citizen but because his wits tap him on the shoulder, figuratively speaking, to point out that actually the pros are all standing still and not doing stupid things so maybe he shouldn't either.

He waits. He has a sharp instrument. All he needs is an opportunity. But for now, probably best to apply some of those smarts he prides himself so much in having, and following the lead of the people who are actually trained to handle this kind of situation.

From her little hiding spot under a desk, Abitha continues to channel, continues to hold her breath. Her hands continued to hold their pinching position. While her Gift was absolutely a subtle thing, the longer she goes, the harder it was to hide. She was not giving up, though. Innocent people did not need to be shot. The bad guys? Well, she just hoped the actual good cops would just take the opportunity to blow their fucking heads off already. Please? For fuck's sake? If only she could flex her mind, or say something, but her current predicament took all her concentration, and she would not give.

Esme stared for a moment as the poor clerk slumps to the floor. Fucking, fuck fuck! Is written all over Esme's face in that split second. Then her expression hardens again. "Actually, how about I do you next." She advances another step and two things happen. The first is that she discharges her firearm towards Liu's leg - primarily as a distraction, not really expecting the riot gear to go through. The second is that she tries to throw her power out towards Liu in an attack, but- you know...she's never actually used her power like this before. It might take a few precious seconds to figure out how to aim it. But- hey! Her shot actually went through, so maybe she wouldn't have to figure it out.

Byron can sense the distress through the ranks of corrupt cops, something that was all his doing. He wanted them to feel a sense of guilt for lashing out against old friends, co-workers and the innocent public as a whole, if they continued with their threatening actions. It's hard to keep control of a room this large and he can also sense the anxiety and tension felt within once the 'good' cops, or the ones not under Reyes' payroll try to get everything in order.

However, what he was not antic.... well, he must have had some idea that things might go south, or else he wouldn't have tried to hint at Joseph that he might want to move. That was if Liu was planning on blowing his tenant's head off. When Harvey Liu targets another innocent, Byron can only silently seethe beneath his breath, watching the clerk's body crumple to the floor. He knew that person.

Shit was really going down now. "Liu.." He nearly says with disgust and a shake of his head. He looks as if he might wander over the downed clerk's way to check up on them, like the good citizen that he is, but he expects the cops not on Reyes' payroll to take action now. With Liu having Lilith-like abilities, that's the one to take down. Focusing his thoughts on the ring leader of this gang of corrupt cops, he tries to bombard the man's mind with anguish and pain. If anything it will keep him distracted and unable to break anyone else's bones or worse.

"Ah, Russo, you'd better be careful. At the moment, you look more like you're going to shoot poor Zak there in the foot or something." Rick smiles to the two aiming at him. "I once saw a man shoot his buddy in the foot like that. With how his friend screamed, I thought my skull was going to split in two. Quite bad stuff, that." Who knows if it's true or not, but if it can help add to the nerves of the two of them. "You don't look quite well, Zak. Ate something bad? Don't tell me you ate that old sandwich I forgot to take out of the fridge. I was going to throw it away, sorry." A shake of his head. "Now come on, guys. There's still time. Just lower your weapons, and I'm sure they'll take into account that you didn't shoot anyone..." As he hears the firearm discharged, he lets out a bit of a breath.

Joe blows out a breath when the rifle barrel swings away from his head. Even though he's pretty damn sure he's managed to make it unusable until it's repaired....and that Liu hasn't realized it.

Then the clerk is bleeding and Esme fires at Liu's clearly armored leg.....which is enough to earn her a bewildered look. "The hell is goin' on here? What do y'all want? Is this a hostage situation?" Not glancing at the front door...even as he reaches out with his power to try and bust the electric lock. Here's hoping he can give them all a way out.

It is not, alas, subtle. Hard to miss the blue-white arc of electricity between his hand and the door.

Esme's shot at least makes the man look down for a second. And then he issues that order -- kill them. Ravn feels a sudden kinship with the figurative rat trapped in the corner, and like it, he decides go down fighting. Piercing riot armour with a pair of scissors is probably not the best idea; he aims the scissors at the man's eyes instead.

Does he expect to do any real damage? No, not really. Might he prove enough of a distraction for some of the people here who actually can? Possibly. Watching a guy run face first into a brick wall is distracting, right?

How are you supposed to hold your breath when you get hit in the head that hard? Abitha sure didn’t know. A yelp of pain rings out, the green haired nerd folding and clutching her head, cowering under the desk, reeling as her mind had just snapped back to herself under the flash of searing pain.

The gig was up, the guns were free.

"So you won't forgive me for not having thrown away that sandwich, then?" Rick offers to Zakrzewski, offering the man a brief sigh. "Ah well..." There's a brief pause as he chuckles. "You know, with you both focusing of me, you didn't pay attention on the others... Now, Charlie!" he calls out, in the general area of behind those two. Not that there's anyone there, but with how wavering their mental state is, may it can distract them. He waits a few moments after the call, before he rushes forward, trying to tackle at least one of them. It's risky, but he needs to try something to avoid them to get their resolve back, right?

Hearing a shot ring out through the precinct, around the same time that Byron begins his mental assault, the man in the suit pushes forward to give Liu the most painful and anguished sensations, bringing him emotional despair. What Thorne hopes, however, is to ensure that the Firestarting, Bonebreaking cop wouldn't able to do more of the same to anyone else. The word to have everyone killed is given though, but Byron presses on. Someone will have to take Liu out eventually.

Seeing the... Swedish bartender launch himself like a maniac towards Liu, Byron hesitates. May as well pile up on the guy. "I'm going to try to shock him, keep back if you can." He's pretty sure Ravn can understand them, they've spoke before in the past! With that in mind, if and when Ravn is out of the way, Byron will attempt to grapple with the man, to try and electrocute Liu in the hopes of knocking him out.

If Esme notices Joe's look - she doesn't say anything to it yet. "Do it Thorne!" Esme affirms with Byron's plan. She hears that awful crack of head meeting drawer and really hopes that Abitha is okay. She'll check on her next - first though. They really need to get Liu down and out of here. If he falls? Esme is sure the others will stand down. She advances closer - keeping her gun trained on Liu. "You're over Liu. Just accept it." Now - hopefully Byron's plan works and then she can start slapping cuffs on people!...Or at least get closer to it.

Ravn going for Liu's face with the scissors makes Joe's eyes widen. There's not a lot that can conjure genuine shock on those features, but that definitely counts. "What the fuck, man?" he asks, but his tone is at least partially one of approbation. The Dane has clearly impressed him.

Then Rick's going for one of the other dirty cops, and Joe's turning his attention there. He holds out a hand, imperiously, and Russo's pistol wings its way over to slap into his palm. He's turning it instantly, aiming it at the cop and says, with enormous satisfaction, "Accio Glock, you bastard."

It's just a punch to the face. No big deal, right? Surely anyone aged three and up has taken one before, on the playground, in the schoolyard, on a night out drinking with the boys, getting a little rough. Ravn goes sheet white and curls up on himself, holding his face where the blunt end of the scissors did no noticeworthy damage. From the look of him he's half a second from fainting; there's definitely something going on there beyond Liu's love tap.

On the win side, curling up like that means that he gets down -- which is what Thorne suggested. Silver linings.

Okay, so his plan wasn't perfect. Trying to get free as he's held down and pummeled, Rick doesn't quite succeed. But then he hears that slide being racked as well, letting out a bit of a breath as the pummeling stops and the two men has lifted their hands in surrender. Looking around, he sees Joe with the gun, offering the man a smile and a nod. "Thanks." Getting to his feet, he looks around, taking a deep breath before he moves ready some handcuffs to make sure the two will be restrained.

Seriously, Mike? You're just gonna slam a drawer in the face of a twenty something girl that looks like a stiff breeze could knock over? Well, bad decisions just seemed to run rampant all around. All the subtlety she'd tried to show, to just quietly help, not expose the normies to the Veil, stay out of the firing line? Wasted. With a crackle and thrum, Abitha glows like a flaring firefly. One hand that had been clutching her head snaps outward, facing a palm to Mike "It-Was-All-For-My-Wife" McFuckFace and loosing a serpent-like curl of lighting into the cop.

Hope the wife likes her bacon fried crispy, Mike.

Scuffling with a cop in full body armor is not Byron's idea of a good time. There's a lot of push between them, both vying for the upperhand. Almost at the exact same moment, both Glimmer users struggle to unleash their abilities, while Thorne continues to try to physically render Harvey Liu useless. The pulse of his electricity courses through the cop's armored body, just as Byron can feel his own pain and discomfort when Liu tries to tear into him in any way that the man could, straining against the man's lethal assault and feeling the pressure upon his skull. Then, it's finally over, the force subsiding, leaving him with several burst capillaries which Lilith with baby him over once he gets home.

Breathing hard, he looks up at Esme, giving her a weary nod as he props himself up to allow the cop to do what what she wishes with Liu. "This asshole has the capability of being deadly if he sets his mind to it." He then has to ask, though by now, he's giving a visual sweep of the room to see what the hell was going on, "Did you know?" He's asking Esme of Harvey Liu's abilities. In the distance, he watches as Abitha fries one of the other cops after hearing his sob story. Thorne says nothing about this, but from what he tell, this looks to be over.

As soon as Liu slumps back, Esme rushes forward so she can slap cuffs on him before he can come to. "I can see that." Esme murmured to Thorne. "Good work though. All of you." Though she'll get the thanks to the rest of them once this is all sorted out. She winces just a bit when she hears the sound of Mike getting electrocuted to hell and back. Go Mac. Once the cuffs are on Liu, tight, she shakes her head to Byron. "Not a clue." That she could recall at least. "But...not so sure if these cuffs will hold him for long. Help me get him to the drunk tank?" Aka a holding cell. Who knows how long they had before he came around.

"One of y'all wanna turn off that alarm system?" Joe's voice is slow, deliberate....but the blue eyes are wild, as he keeps his gun (it's his now, right?) trained on the cops before him. He's not winding down until all the perps are secured. "I think I fucked up the rifle," he adds, sounding apologetic. "Tried'a bust the lock, couldn't manage it...." Like his biggest concern here is damaging police property.

Byron wasn't a cop, but there was a point in his life where he thought he'd make a decent one, because his father was a cop. Here, however, he'll leave the cop business to the actual GHPD. As a capable citizen of Gray Harbor, he will do his duty to help Esme get Liu to stand and to haul him away. With his grip clutched upon one of Liu's arms, he catches sight of the aftermath of Officer Mike Whathisname getting shocked. Perhaps, the full fault shouldn't rest on Abitha's shoulders, when the corrupt cop who just informed them that his wife was being threatened suddenly pulls out his gun to blow his brains out. Byron knows that he put that guilt into the corrupt officers' minds in the beginning.

Looking to Abitha, he considers what to tell her, but ends up with a generic, "You did what you felt needed to be done. None of that was your fault." Maybe, he'll let her in on what happened later, but for now, Liu and the others need to be behind bars and he needs to reach out to one Joey Kelly.

Ravn manages to pull himself on his feet eventually. When he does, he more or less does a slow fade. Maybe he doesn't feel like discussing that embarrassing moment with anyone while he's still seeing stars and little yellow birds. Maybe his nose really is broken, but more likely, he's just really, really bad at taking a punch. Disappearing unnoticed, on the other hand, is something he does very, very well.

And in that one, horrific, gruesome moment, the entire path of Abitha’s involvement comes full circle. There, with the warm splatter of a dead man’s blood spotting her face, something inside Abitha just crumbles. She begins to shake, her revulsion at the scene, at the carnage, at her own true nature. It had happened again. Her response to pain, to fear, was to aim murderous energy.

This time, a man lay dead. Not just hurt, not permanently maimed. Dead.

Byron’s assurances fall on ears that were deafened to words, the only sound registering the rushing pump of her own blood in her ears. She locks her eyes closed, she pushes herself further up under a desk. She wasn’t going anywhere. They could take all the men away, they could silence the screaming alarms. Abitha was not moving.

She was under that desk still when EMT’s arrive, the confused paramedics forced to carry her bodily out of the station and cart her away to the hospital.