"Damnit!" Zoey exclaimed as Paul re-tightened the restraint she had been undoing. She looked up at him as he picked up Aello, "Wait, what. No, you can't take her!" Zoey suddenly bolted for the door, she ran right through Krystal and any obstacles inbetween, including Paul and Aello if she had to. Getting to the other side of the door she quickly attempted to slam it shut and bolt it from the other side.

Krystal gave Zoey a quick nod when Paul turned his back. "Wait! Hold up, dude. She's still alive if you're taking her. I thought you were going to burn us both. And what happens when they find my remains in a house you owned?"

"I don't own this house," he called over his shoulder. "Paul Petrov owns it."

The door to the basement suddenly slammed shut right in front of Paul. He kicked it with his foot and pushed it open before Zoey had a chance to bolt it. He walked through the ghost again, and stopped. He could see his breath, as if the room had suddenly gotten cold. The confused look on Paul's face shifted to worry. "No..." He dumped the unconscious Aello onto the couch. After grabbing an iron poker by the fireplace, he held it out in front of him like a weapon.

Jack turned his head at the sound of the sirens.  At Zed's urging, he grimaced as he got to his feet.  "That's my cue to scat."  Jack snatched the doctor's cell out of the bag stuffing pile Bogie had made.  A quick look at the Contacts list and Jack had an address.  "Thanks Bogie, I owe you one."  He shot a glance at the poultice on his wound. "Come on, cat.  I'm driving."

Lead the way, human, but please try to remember the words of a wise man: you're supposed to wear the red stuff on the inside.

Jack's left arm ached and it didn't work well, but adrenaline is a wonderful drug.  He knew later he would be down and out, but right now, pain was very manageable.  Jack ran to the car, opened the door, let Tom jump in first and got in himself.  Muscle memory set the key into the slot and the engine roared to life.  He made two quick feeble attempts to close the door, but his arm would not cooperate.  "Fuck it"  Jack said.  He dropped the shifter into Drive and stepped on the gas.  The door slammed shut as the car lurched forward.

Tom shifted back to human form for a moment, just long enough to take out his cell phone and explain: "Almost forgot... Lost too many calls this way."

"Paul's house isn't too far away, but of course we are gonna have to zig zag a little to get there.  Hang on!"  Jack passed a UPS truck and cut in front of it to make a sharp right turn. The blare of a horn, screech of tires wasn't followed by metal crunching.  Jack had timed it just right.

Tom hung on, resulting in a couple of deep scratches in the seat, and grabbed the phone with his telekinesys to prevent it from dropping.

{I'm immortal, you're not: you may want to-} At that moment, the phone rang. He switched it to loudspeaker mode and listened.

"What is she saying?" Swerve right. "What is going on?" Jack asked. Swerve left across the center line, passing a beat-up pickup truck towing a ramshackle trailer full of scrap metal.

{I don't hear anything that you don't... I think we're eavesdropping.}

Paul's voice came through, not very loud, but clear enough. Tom's anger grew steadily as he listened.

"An artist with Darwinistic tendencies?  He is crazier than I thought." Jack said.  He had not gotten back onto his side of the road.  The oncoming traffic was giving him a wide berth.  And honking horns, the finger, and several choice phrases.  But a city bus and a garbage truck were plugging up his roadway.

"Hang on!"  Jack accelerated the last few horses in his engine as he sped toward the behemoth vehicles in from of him. "Short cut."  Jack hit the brakes and turned hard left into an alley between the houses.  Normally used to enter one's garage or carport, it was not much wider than a single lane.  And that space was squeezed by the garbage cans set along the sides awaiting their weekly pickup.  Jack clipped two of the large plastic cans, punting them into the air spilling the contents as they flew.  Jack winced. "Sorry about the mess," he said to the owners unknown.  "Just a couple more blocks and we're there."

Tom couldn't decide if he wanted Jack to slow down or speed up.

The words that came from the phone next made him decide: "Good luck getting here in time."

The phone went dead, and the cat looked up to Jack. Yep he'd heard it.

And I thought his driving was insane before...

The car came to a screeching stop in front of Paul's house, and Tom wasted no time popping back to his human form and recasting his shield.

He looked at Jack and said: "Please don't get yourself killed, Zoey would never forgive me."

"Right. In that case, I'm right behind you."   Jack said.

Paul slipped his free hand into his pants pocket, while his other arm continued to wave the fireplace poker in front of him. "You can either keep coming after me, or you can save them," he said to the air around him. He pulled a cellphone out of his pocket and pressed a speed dial button. There was a small explosion in the kitchen that shook the house and blew out the windows. Flames began to rise and spread quickly. "That was just the first one. You don't have much time." He headed toward the back door.

"Is it too late for that sedative?" Krystal called out after Paul. Krystal quickly started thinking aloud, "Come on. Think, think, think. We've been in worse." she paused as if thinking that over, recalling all her times that plans had failed and she'd almost been killed. Finally she shook her head, "Actually, this is probably the worst."

For almost no reason at all she looked around at the smoke. She tried to find something Paul might have left behind that she could cut her restraints loose with all the while singing lowly, "Hold tight. Wait 'til the party's over.
Hold tight. We're in for nasty weather.
There has got to be a way.
Burning down the house!"
Pausing her song she called out. "Zoey? Can you see if this thing has wheels or is it bolted in place? The way this guy works, I'm going to assume it's bolted." As she waited for some kind of response Krystal went back to her song.
"Here's your ticket
Pack your bags,
Time for jumpin' overboard.
Transportation is here.

Close enough
But not too far,
Maybe you know where you are,
Fightin' fire with fire!"
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 16:55, Tue 27 Jan 2015.

Zoey reflexively stepped back as he swung the poker toward her before she remembered that she's already dead, "Wait, how'd you know I'm here and what do you think that's gonna do? Wait--No, don't!" at the sound of the explosion Zoey took his words into advisement and left Paul alone. Hearing Krystal she ran back into the room, "Hey I'm here, and yeah it's totally bolted. Damnit, how much time do you think we have?" Zoey asked as she began frantically trying to undo the restraints on her arms again.

Krystal thought about Zoey's question, "Well, let's see... Normal fire burns at 420-degrees and a normal fire log last about 2 bottles of wine so if we factor in the entire house of 9,043 square feet we have... carry the 9... Ah, yes. The answer is; Who cares the place is on FIRE!" She started looking around for anything to help. "Okay, I only have 3 questions. One. Did he leave my butterfly knife in my purse? Two. Is there anything behind me that might help. I can't see. And, three is kind of personal but I'm sorry... How did you become a ghost because if all else fails I want to haunt that bastard for the rest of his worthless life!"

Jack closed his eyes reflexively to the bright orange glow that filled the windows of the house. He felt, more than heard, the concussive blast as the windows blew out. The force knocked Jack off his feet onto his back. Heat washed over him as glass, wood, and assorted debris fell about him.  Jack rolled over and shook his head to clear it of fragments before he opened his eyes.

"Ugh.  I'm getting too old for this." He stood and looked at the house as the fire rolled out of it.

"Krystal! Krystal! Are you in there!  Zoey!  Oh God. Is anyone in there?"   Jack looked for an opening that wasn't garenteed to end in barbecued Jack.  The options did not look promising.

Tom considered the entrance carefully, then ran at full speed at the door, and jumped over the flames. "Right!" He said, patting himself to check that he wasn't on fire. "Okay! I'm big, and not furry, so no fire. See? Easy!"

He frowned and looked around. Something weird... "Maybe see if the back entrance is safe? I'll try to find Krys, I'm sure she'd love to have a safe way out. I... Think I can feel her."  He coughed once as he inhaled some smoke, and switched to telepathy. {This is gonna suck. Do you see a garden hose out there?} He turned around, keeping the mental channel with Jack open, while trying to follow that strange feeling that seemed to pull him.

Krystal looked up, then to Zoey, then the door. Did she hear that right? She had to be sure. "Zoey. I thought someone called my name. Or I'm hallucinating from the fumes. Can you go check upstairs?"

Zoey continued to move with a panicked pace, "Your bag? Yeah okay, knife would help"  Zoey moved toward the bag before the next question sunk in, she turned quickly toward Krystal. "Behind you? No, I don't see anything useful." She turned back around as Krystal kept talking, "Trust me, I wish I knew the answer to any of this. Okay, now I just gotta concentrate on opening the bag...You heard something? Someone. Oh! Yes, I called for help, here's hoping the calvary has arrived, I'll be back...don't go anywhere?" Zoey quickly ran upstairs and began calling out, "Jack? Tom?! We're down here! I mean, Krystal, she's in the basement! Through the bedroom?" she muttered as she looked around.

Tom went back to cat form, to use less oxygen and be closer to the floor, where it should be safer to breathe.

He tried to follow the feeling pointing him to (what he could only surmise was) Krys: it was clearly growing stronger or weaker depending on how he moved, making him think of a game of hot and cold.

Being shaped like a rod rather than a pole seemed to help determine the direction... Which was good, since he needed all the help he could get.

Through his channel to Jack, he kept relaying his progresses to keep him in the loop.

{OK, I think I can feel her... Left? Whoah, fire. Not the right way. Straight then. Living room, and getting colder. Also, more fire. Right... Getting warmer here, and no fire in sight. Big fan of no-fire. I think this is the master bedroom. Definitely getting warmer... Wait, is that Zoey? Zoey! I'm here. Where's the door?}
This message was last edited by the player at 22:01, Tue 03 Feb 2015.

Krystal called out, "Well, okay - I guess I didn't have to go to the bathroom THAT bad." to no one she continued by rolling her fingers, "Irony. I'm in a burning house and can't reach my cigarettes."

Hearing Zoey shouting and names she thought she saw light shifting around the door at the top of the stairs. "Closet! I'm in the closet!" He stopped shouting and thought about that for a moment before adding, "Phrasing! Bam!"

Krys's voice from... The bathroom? Looked like. And there was an open closet. Right. The hidden door at the back was ajar, and there was just enough room for Tom to squeeze through.

He jumped down and looked around, then quickly shifted back to human form.

"You? In the closet? Now there's some irony... And no, I don't mean it in an Alanis Morrissette way." He quipped, even as he his pupils shifted to vertical slits and his claws came out.

He gave a good swipe at the straps, then another, and one of them fell apart. Methodically, he proceeded to cut all of them.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:02, Tue 03 Feb 2015.

Krystal fake-growled at Tom, "Give my girl some slack. She's Canadian, so English is like a second language to her." As she was being freed, Krystal started rubbing her wrists and then checking her arm where the blood was drawn. Her next thought was to see if Paul had left anything behind like ink or samples.

Jack quickly looked at the outside of the house at Tom's suggestion of a garden hose.  All he saw was an in ground sprinkler system.  {That is a no go on playing fireman} Jack thought back. He attempted to follow the Bast through the doorway.

The rising heat and smoke stung his eyes as Jack entered the burning house.  He closed them briefly.  When Jack opened his eyes again, he had lost sight of Tom.  Jack tried to follow the directions he was hearing in his head, but it just confused him.  Jack just was not fully comfortable 'hearing' without using his ears yet.

Jack ducked down and moved forward as his visibility reduced due to smoke and heat.  Jack bumped into something low and hard with his shins.  He lost his balance and landed on a large soft lumpy piece of furniture.  Jack pushed himself back onto his feet, and in that process, discovered the lumpy bits seemed to be a girl.  His heart leaped with excitement as he tried to gather her up to him.

"Tom, I found her!  I got Krystal.  I'm getting us out of here." Jack shouted.  Awkwardly, Jack lifted the unconscious female form with his good arm. He half dragged, half carried her toward what he hoped was daylight and not fire, away from the most intense heat.
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:18, Thu 05 Feb 2015.

Jack half-walked, half-crawled through the sliding glass doors and onto the porch, dragging Aello with him. There was a door to his left that led from the porch to the garage, and it was open. He could see the big garage door on the other side going up, and then a car exited the building onto the street. It wasn't well-lit and with his watery eyes from all the smoke, Jack was going to be hard-pressed to get a good description of the vehicle, let alone a plate number. The fire broke through the wall that separated the kitchen from the garage. The porch wasn't going to be a safe place for long.

As Tom worked the straps off, Krystal scanned the room one last time. She saw her purse with the contents spilled out, her phone submerged, her blouse picked up and folded on the counter, and realized it was all replaceable. Once Krystal was free she all but threw herself at the stairs. "Tom, go cat!" it would keep him lower to the floor and he could guide if needed.

Opening the door and going through the fake closet she grabbed a long sleeve shirt and threw it on. Even in a black bra she still felt very exposed and vulnerable right now. The need to take a very long shower and drink a very expensive bottle of wine was tugging at her. She tried to go back to the back door but the fire was already there.

"Bedroom. Let's go!" She took one step before adding, "Do NOT make the obvious joke."

She remembered a way out through the patio and felt she could take a moment to go by his DVD collection. Finding that Paul had NOT replaced the movie she'd taken before she decided to grab the Mad Max like film. Once outside she looked over the DVD and flipped it over to read the back while coughing.

Tom shapshifted back just outside the closet door. {Right. Going cat, avoiding obvious jokes. Do try not to steal the house while we get out, oh precious ruby: we are kind of in a hurry. Try to hold your breath.}

From his vantage point, the lower amounts of smoke allowed him to have a better view of the house - and it was not a reassuring one. {This way. Keep away from the fire. Good girl. Keep moving, almost out.}

As soon as they were clear of the house, he transmitted to Jack: {Yes Jack, I have Krys and we are out. Where are you?}
This message was last edited by the player at 17:32, Thu 05 Feb 2015.

{I think I'm on a back porch by the garage... What a minute, if you have Krystal, who do I have?} Jack thought back.  He didn't ponder the who he had too much. He was determined to get away from the fire with whoever he had.

 Jack adjusted his grip on the girl yet again as he lunged toward the grass and off the porch.  Finally clear of the structure. Jack just laid in the grass a moment and sucked in the sweet fresh air.  He was exhausted.  But he was free of the fire and he had the girl with him.  For the moment, that was all that mattered.

As the group managed to get to the grass behind the house, they could hear sirens rapidly approaching. A second explosion, from deep within the house, knocked everyone to the ground. They had gotten out just in time. The house had become a raging inferno and the fire department was going to have to work hard to keep it from spreading to other homes.

Fire trucks and paramedics came rolling up, followed by police who started moving a growing crowd of onlookers to a safer distance. Aello remained unconscious but with a faint heartbeat. She was quickly loaded into an ambulance and rushed to a hospital. Hopefully they had doctors on staff that were familiar with treating paras. Everyone else was being treated on scene for smoke inhalation. Jack had been placed on a gurney and was being prepped for transport, too. The cops had a few questions for the group, as they tried to piece together everything that had happened.

Krystal tried to get a communication to Zoey, through Tom or otherwise.

I know we are asking a lot from you, sweetie. But is there any way you can -? Never mind. I'm more than sure Paul's going there for his lixed inks and I you there isn't any more you can do to stop him on your own.

Krystal resister the treatment like a child at first, then more aggressively. "Get away from me! I want a female EMT or a female officer present. Now!" she recoiled from one guy's gloved hand as if someone were trying to shove a bowl of countless tiny spiders into her lap. "Step off or I will punch you in the damn nose with every intent on breaking it!" she snarled, glaring as if daring the, sadly, good looking EMT to call her bluff.

Krystal found it almost too easy to get the police off her back. She told them about the tattoo parlor and Paul. Then she explained she wasn't feeling well all of a sudden and left. Next thing she remembered was waking up in his basement, tied up, shirtless, with her phone dunked in water. She then blamed the drugs for not even remembering how she got out of the house, and made sure to repeat a few things as if her short term memory was affected. All the while, her stolen DVD was tucked into her belt along her spine.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:21, Thu 05 Feb 2015.

Zoey mostly stood silently while the group was getting treated by the EMTs, she felt a little awkward watching them get patched up while she had no risk involved. When Krystal spoke to her she got closer, "No, I don't want to let you out of my sight again." Zoey said with concern. She reached her hand forward absentmindedly to comfort Krys, before stopping herself short. She attempted a warm smile as she continued to stand there awkwardly.