Forsaken of Federal Hill

Once the pack reunites there's only one course of action left; declaring a Sacred Hunt.

Screw this, I'm done waiting Rashid agreed with himself and took the stairs two at a time up to the flat above the Outreach. He grabbed a shirt from his office before heading into the main lounge. The door flew open, and he was glad that whatever happened up here was done, it stunk of burnt chinese, bad alcohol, and blood. Most of the crew was lounging around on various couches or chairs, most of which were missing cushions in some manner or another. He grabbed a shirt from his office before heading into the main lounge

"We ready for this? Seems like everything is slowing down, I want to move in before they get themselves together."

Helen heard Rashid's voice from across the room and turned to meet him. Her face was painted to look like a wolf's skull, the symbol of her tribe. She ignored the look on his face, they were all going to be surprised to see her preforming Bone Shadow rites because they seemed to clash so strongly with the way she presented herself. But really, as they go to know her better they'd see her tribal affiliation wasn't a mistake.
"Rose is supposed to be bringing me some of that asshole's blood. I've shown May how to paint the symbol, either on your foreheads, or above your hearts. Everyone who can be in Dalu needs to be. Oh, and someone needs to get Nevermore." if he was in such a hurry he could help.
"Oh uh... s-sorry to interrupt but here's your... uh.. your mask Helen." Cho said, handing her a mask shaped like a scorpion and painted red. She smiled and took it with a thank you.
"Anyone who hasn't go learn the dance steps from Echo please, I'm almost ready." she called out to the others.

Rashid filled out as he stepped into Dalu, and past Helen,he didn't even bother buttoning the damn shirt as this point.
"I can't be in two places at once Valentine. I'm assuming the kid already has his part down. I'mma send him to grab Nevermore."

"Luke, find our boy from the other side, I gotta get taught shit!" He strode into the entertainment room where he assumed Echo was. The walls lined with music albums and a couple gratifying victory poses from his big name days, this was one of his favorites. Sure enough, she was in there, just finishing up her latest tutor segment"So, girl, what do I have to do?"

”Don't worry I'm on it,” Luke said as he pushed himself off the couch awkwardly because of his leg. As he approached Rashid he arched his eyebrow at the scent of blood that lingered around him, both his and someone else's but at least it smelled dried so he figured the boxer would fill them in eventually. At least he didn't seen like he was in a bad mood, just bloodthirsty like the rest if them. ”Find what you were looking for?” He said in passing as he headed out the door, not really expecting or waiting on a detailed answer.

Luke was pretty sure the bird wouldn't be too far from the locus because of all the stuff that had gone down and he was right. It didn't take him long to fetch their totem and head back into the room already pulling off his shirt and shifting to Dalu.

Rory checked his phone.
 Come to the outreach hon. Helen’s back. 
-Echo
Rory was glad for the good news. Maybe lighting would strike twice and he would get a call back from one of his interviews today too.
…….
Rory came though the service entrance to the outreach and made his was up the stairs. Helen and several of the wolfboods sat around with the trappings of a ritual decorating the room. By the décor he assumed Helen was leading it. When he saw her her garb confirmed it. Rory chuckled inwardly to himself – we debate on end about when and what to call a sacred hunt over and the importance of everyone’s input. And then it just happens without conversation. Not that he would have disagreed with the point at all anyway. The rival pack needed to go down. They were a threat that would only continue to grow. Their philosophy as well as their temporal actions was fiercely diametrically opposed to that of his packs, the idea of diplomacy was laughable- conflict was inevitable anyway. Of course hurting Helen doesn’t exactly hurt the argument for wiping them out either. In a weird sort of way Rory though that this experience had brought them all closer together. Helen had been hereon probationary status. Not that getting kidnapped really took a lot of effort, but she had literally paid in blood as a cost of being part of the pack. Something she could have easily avoided. There wasn’t really any more proving that she had to do in his eyes. She was family.
Rory saw Echo giving dancing instruction to Rashid. The symbolic meaning of artifacts and actions were the binding principles between Uratha and the Spirits. Echo took extra obligations upon herself that weren’t technically necessary but she felt that clothes were a distraction between the spirit world and their own and brought her greater connection to the spirits. So he never argued the practice because a distraction was a distraction no matter the rational.
Echo moved with fluid grace through the dance steps guiding Rashid though them.

Good, good, but try to really capture the dialogue in this move. You are striking but being striking at as well…. Now lets try it again, I’m Helen- hand on my thigh and lift as I strike across your back…
Rory went over to Helen and genuinely smiled. Not the practiced mask he had to put on when interacting with so many other people.
It makes me happy to see you back. Yeah. That about covers everything.
Rory fell into a place next to her not wanting to disturb her from her preparations and started to apply his own facepaint.
Rory looked up for a moment as Luke came back into the room with ‘Nevermore in tow.

Rose strode into the room and stared at her pack. They were all quite busy preparing for the rite and no one had noticed her yet. She smiled in jubilation because they were whole again. She could hear Echo giving Rashid instructions on movements. Luke had just come back with 'Nevermore. Rory was sitting next to Helen. And Cho was nearby ready and waiting for someone to need help. Helen, who looked 1000% better than the last time Rose had seen her, was putting the finishing touches together. She went up to her and gently placed the bottle of blood at her side. "It's finished," she spoke softly. In a louder voice, one directed at the whole pack, Rose relayed the information she had gleaned. "Leader is a guy named Xavier. He's very much into being surrounded by pure bloods. Some asshole named Midas makes the drugs. Lex is their dealer. And I have a good lead on where we'll be able to find Midas." Then she sat down next to Rory and began applying her own face paint.

Rory looked over and smiled at his sister as she came over. As she started to apply her makeup he stopped her. Pointing at his face
Here, fix mine, I’ll get yours. It always looks like rubbish when we do our own anyway.
As he started to apply the design on her he continued.
That’s good. It confirms a lot of what I’d found out. Xavier is a wolfblood from a pure pack that used to run in this area. He’s been doing a lot of recruiting of wolfboods and humans into the pack – lets say about 30 or so in total, but hasn’t gotten any werewolves yet.
Turn your head to the left.
They are packing some serious heat though, silver and a fetish knife loaded with poison. The building we ID’d by the waterfront is where their base it, which is great because it is also a drug manufacturing site, AND a locus. This give me a wonderful plan, I was concerned it would take some time, but if Midas is somewhere else making drugs too, it could really tie things together. On a side note, remind me to tell you about the cat spirit when this is over- I think it may be gearing up to be a major thorn in our side later.

Helen put an appreciative hand on Rory's shoulder as spoke.
"Glad to be back." the gesture from him was sweet, as he was one of the most aloof werewolves she'd ever met. She passed him the make up she'd been using to put the Death Wolf skull symbol on her face.
Then Rosie came back with a bottle of blood and Helen grinned ear to ear, which with the make up probably looked horrifying.
"Thanks, I hope you and your date had a good time." she said with a chuckle. May came up and took the bottle and made to apply the symbol on the boys as Randy riled Riley into Dalu. Cho was busy turning off the fire alarms while Randy and Riley set up the grill (as a bonfire was impractical inside the outreach).
The twins began trading what they'd learned and Helen listened closely in case anything she knew would help. Xavier. Well, he'd been really careful to keep his scent from her, but she'd recognize it if they got close. She wished she'd gotten a taste of him, tracking by blood was one of her favorite ways.
"Really? Seeker and Nevermore seem to think very highly of Cat. If he's not happy about us being here, a thorn in our side is an understatement. We really need more allies in the Hisil." but that was a problem for later.
May came up and painted on the twins. and suddenly Helen realized everything was ready. She felt excited to lead this rite.

The lights were off, only the fire on the grill broke the darkness. While she was the Ritemaster, Helen couldn't take her usual role as the Prey due to her injury. Instead, May wore the Red Scorpion mask Echo and Cho had made. She stood in the middle of a circle, between Helen and the grill. Nevermore stood perched on the grill, the flames unable to harm his twilight form. He symbolized their intention of victory, and the connection they had as a pack. He would watch the prey the entire time and judge their actions.
They symbol written in the blood of their enemies was a rune that meant "to remove poison", which Helen felt was apt on numerous levels. All the werewolves and Riley stood tall in their Dalu forms, except Rashid who took the Father's form. She wasn't shocked, many Rahu felt preforming Rites in Gauru was more pure and natural. She met the eyes of each of her packmates. They were all ready. She nodded and Echo turned on the music she'd picked out. It was tribal drums and other instruments one of the local Indian tribes sold at their gift shops, a nod to the city's spiritual history.
"The Wolf must hunt. This is how it has always been. Since the days of Father Wolf and the First Pack, our people have guarded the borders between flesh and spirit. Treat Each Spirit in Kind. The sacred oath of my tribe. One spirit, Painful Release of Ecstasy has ignored our warnings and sough allies in the world of flesh to it's own end. It has poisoned our territory with violence and crime, with drugs and death. It has declared war on our pack. Now I declare the Sacred Hunt up this Red Scorpion and it's followers, flesh and spirit alike. We may not slow, we may not rest until our foes are laid low with our fangs at their throat. This I swear. she said in the first tongue. She gave May her queue and stepped forwards with the bowl. Helen drew the knife Paper Howls had given her and slashed her palm. Before the wound could heal, she squeezed as much blood as she could into the bowl. May went around the circle, each pack member doing the same and swearing their oath. When she got back to Helen, May turned to face Nevermore and offered him the blood. The spirit nodded it's approval.
With that May grabbed a brush and began to paint the blood over her body. Each pack member would have to bloody their claws as they all danced. May would move in and out, giving each a chance to do so.
The swirl of sweat, smoke, incense and blood filled the room as the pack enacted their rite. By the end, May, Cho and Echo were panting with exhaustion, while Riley and Randy got to benefit from their moon blessings.
The Uratha though, a shift had come over them as the spiritual power of the Rite took hold.

Rory was pumped after the ritual. It was like that high you get when handling tert-Butyllithium for the first time. Rory shifted back into human form now that the ritual was over though. It was time to compile information and figure out how to take down their chosen prey.
So here’s my plan. Its going to take some time, but not much.
The crux of the plan is this. The Pack is holed up at the waterfront. This is known. The thing is their hideout is also a locus. Which is great for us. The pack is made up of wolf-bloods and humans. They are armed with silver and a fetish weapon. What they don’t’ have are any Uratha. This means that the locus provides us a back door into their home without any real means of defense. It is also a known drug lab. So my thought is I build a bomb, heck the vast majority of chemistry is trying NOT to get things to blow up so it is not that hard. We run some surveillance on their hide out, when it looks like it is well occupied, we run the bomb though. It blows and wipes out Xavier and his strapped goons. After that it is mop up, a few of us pass through and take them out, May’s killer car can be outside to run down any who make it out of the building as well. Cho can even send out some false alarms throughout the town to keep the emergency services busy responding to red herrings so they can’t respond to the building. Now I know what you are saying – but what about The Red Scorpion? If it is there, then I can find its bane. We just need to keep it occupied long enough to get the bomb through- we’re not there to kill it yet. Soon it’ll be without its temporal pack members Rory makes his hands into a sphere and then expands the out mouthing “boom” We’ll have its scent, we’ll know its bane and then we hunt it down nice and proper. Let it feel fear before its destruction. A bit of revenge for Helen to ice the cake. Now the boring part- explosive material. If Midas is running a drug shack in another place then we hit it first, a lot of drug material is pretty volatile if mixed incorrectly. So we take him out and get some material as a bonus. Alternatively Rashid can order some pretty specific cleaning supplies though the outreach Rory looks pointedly at Rashid don’t worry I’ll write you a check then turns back to the group it takes a few days for the supplies to get in. But that doesn’t mean we can’t use that time to harry them and keep them on the defensive. I’m open to suggestions if someone has any refinements. On a side note about blowing up the building (or at least setting it on fire…) If the property is just a burned out husk when we’re done with it, we could probably pool our resources to either buy the property or have Thatcher zone it so the locus is in an environment we have control over.

The Rite complete, Rashid felt at odds with himself. He was ready to move now, not in a few days. Gauru fell to Dalu and he sit down, making the couch creak in protest.

"Refinement for ya. No way in hell is the Outreach putting money down for chems that can be traced back over time. I can get one or two through that method, but I do not need that kind of attention, Rose can't deflect curious eyes if they see a conspiracy. May's garage can buy one, I'm sure you have something on your mind that can be used to clean grease, oil, or terrible taste in hardware." He waved over to R&R, quite clearly insinuating the horn that one of them installed in the truck. "Then you go out to the hardware store and buy some 'yard enhancements.' Otherwise," Rashid shrugged in agitation. "I don't like waiting. So if you are insisting on this way, there was a homemade one made a few years back. We got a gas guzzling truck, diesel has a high burn temp and should work fine, but the guys used swimming pool chlorine tablets and some fertilizers. They mixed it all with bottles of piss in a tight ass container and made it into nitro-something terra chlorine and when it went up after the spark, it exploded big. I got plenty of those stockpiled in storage for the Riverside Pool. Go out and buy some fertilizers for some personal garden project or something and get to your science if you want to do it. I'm more for going in on two flanks without a boom. Take them out the way we were born to. We don't want to go in and draw attention to our side if we have any choice at all, the less questions we draw, the better. I want blood."

Helen blanched at Rory's plan, but remained silent. Then Rashid seem to not only agree, but adjust the plan to be even more reckless. What were these boys even.... Then she reminded herself these were pups, many of who were in their first pack.
"You didn't get the Scorpion's bane from Cat?" she asked, clearly shocked. Luke had said Echo and Cho had gone to a lot of effort to get what the spirit wanted. "Without it's bane we're going to struggle to hurt it, while it will have no such issues with us. I've seen that gift you're talking about put to good use Rory, but if the bane is something obscure (which it's likely to be if the spirit is as powerful as I've been lead to believe) then we could be sitting ducks against it." that was all kinds of bad. Had the Cat decided to take Scorpion's side? That would certainly make it a thorn in their side like he'd commented earlier.
"But besides that... you're talking about blowing up a drug lab, have you ever seen what that can do to the Hisil? If this is seriously the plan, I want you all to make sure you're aware we could create a wound or worse on the other side. And at a locus point... I don't want to think about what kind of issue that will be." she'd been fortunate enough not to have ever seen a wound before, but Warren still had scars from one he and Eric had chased prey into.
"Besides that, Red Scorpion probably has a brood of spirits guarding it. Let's remember we only found out about it because lesser pleasure spirits have been riding people who buy the gang's drugs." she still couldn't believe they were really talking about this plan. It was going to draw so much attention. Then again, the pack had solved their last hunt with fire too. Maybe this shouldn't be such a shock to her.

Rashid looked over at Helen, clearly puzzled. She must have stopped listening before he finished talking. "You realized that the whole thing sounded over the top then, huh? Just didn't read the people. No. No bombs. No explosions, especially in a place that cooks at least meth, and no way in hell am I going up against something bigger than me without knowing how to hit back. Made that mistake once, ruined my record because of it." She had no idea how to read him or Luke, and she was showing it again.

He stood up walked around everyone, herding them to seats so they could get talking. "I'm not here to cause outside casualties, I put this place together to keep the rest of the community safe. I won't be a part of making it worse. Rory, your deal was to get the Bane. You didn't get it from the Cat, did you have another avenue, or the ability to get in there yourself to watch our opponent? If not, I'm heading out to find the Cat myself and find out why it turned us down, the rest of you can talk with each other and prepare yourselves for one hell of a fight."

With that, Rashid stretched himself tall and started walking out, joints popping and cracking, his whole body aching for a fight.

The amount of what I need is more than would be subtle for an individual purchase. A company would pass scrutiny with ease, but splitting the chemical purchases amongst several organizations is a better idea though. Wouldn’t want to go with the fertilizer though- too much waste, I have to consider size as well if we are going to carry this. I don’t want to drive a box truck full of stuff and go all McVey on this. I can ensure proportionality, it’ll damage the building sure, the risk of fire from whatever secondary explosions / drug lab would be my only concern for collateral damage- and that’ll be limited to broken windows probably. I’m not worried about the hisil. Chemical reactions happen all the time, everywhere. That fern over there- bam photosynthesis. I know your saying “but this is an explosion”. Every time you start a car or light a match you’re causing an explosion, happens all the time. As far as the emotional side, I somehow see an instant change of pressure resulting in death, a lot less impactful than the blood orgy or ripping three dozen people apart by hand. Did I mention the risk of collateral damage from someone going basu-im, and the fact they are packing silver? We take risk no matter how we do it, I’m just trying to mitigate it. As for the spirit, I had thought about getting its bane before I came back, but I figured it was prudent to wait for back up in case something went south. I figured the last thing you wanted was for me to take too much risk and disappear while all of you were busy getting Helen back. I can do that with ‘Nevermore and someone else as backup while the rest of you take down Midas, if he’s in a separate location, or place the orders I’ll give you. I figure just a few of us are better for surveillance than all of us heading out there.

He had a few points that... she didn't like them but they were points. She especially didn't like how crass they seemed. But then he was an early moon phase, they were always a bit more detached from their emotions. Unlike Rashid who practically seethed with anger that needed to be unleashed on something soon.
"You're not exactly wrong but... we have no idea about this place on either side of the gauntlet Rory. For all we know, they've messed things up bad under the Scorpion's orders. We just won't know till we see it for ourselves. What happened with the Cat? Echo and Cho put in a lot of work to appease him, he should have been interested enough to at least hear you out." something wasn't adding up. Maybe Luke left something out.
"I understand collateral damage is a reality of our Oaths. But bane or no bane, this is still a risky plan. Wouldn't it just be easier to use our influence on the police force to have the lab taken down? I mean, the human gangsters don't mean anything to us, only the wolf bloods. And the gangsters probably don't actually make the drugs, it's probably women they've forced into it. We're talking about setting fire to a situation we've got no idea about. And to Rory's point, we're risking Basu-im on a similar situation." neither of them was thinking right, and it was likely Helen's fault, they had every reason to hate these people. But it was her job to keep the Rage in their hearts from blinding them.
"We catch Midas, using Rose's badge. We force him to turn on his pack. We have the cops go in and shut down the lab. Rosie sniffs out the wolf bloods and they have unfortunate accidents. Meanwhile we do what we can to get that bane and recon the Hisil side of this lab. We take out the asshole at the Dollhouse, we already know there's spirits there from Luke's vision. Cut off it's allies, back it into a corner, and tear out it's throat." she hoped they'd listen to her, and that they could even pull off her plan.
"I promise you, I want them dead more than any one else. But I can be patient if it grantees my fangs tear the Red Scorpion apart and drink his essence." that part she meant. She knew it was the Rahu's traditional role, but if she got the chance, the Scorpion would die under her paws.

Helen’s plan made sense. The bomb was a plan that worked because of the element of surprise the locus gave, it did lack finesse though. And he had expected some push back from Rashid considering it wasn’t “punch something in the face immediately” but didn’t get as much as he was expecting- so it looks like some common ground was forming. So Something Helen’s plan did have. It would take longer for sure, but time was a luxury they now had that Helen was back.
Makes sense to me. I’ll support that plan. I’d like to get Xavier first if possible though, even if it is through the PD. We take their Alpha and the rest of the pack will be in recovery and we can press our advantage even over time.
As far as the cat goes, we did put effort into appeasing it, but I’m not sure that did more than get us the meeting. Nevermore warned us that the price would be steep, but frankly it was ridiculously steep. All the more so because I can find out the information easily enough myself. There were several things that worried me about the cat. Firstly it had a condition that we never call a sacred hunt on it. Sure there is a pretty big loophole there that we could kill it without a hunt the fact remains it was trying to position itself in a way where it could have free reign in our territory and violate all sorts of laws without fear of retribution or justice. It wouldn’t be asking for that protection from us unless it was planning something that would necessitate it. It also didn’t care about its personal safety from the Red Scorpion itself, its brood confirmed that that knowledge had kept them safe from the Scorpion for some time. It did warn me though about if it ran into the Red Scorpion first. This wasn’t a play to try to get me to buckle out of fear that the information might be lost forever if the Scorpion caught the cat- because we’d already established that the cat is protected on that side. Rather it was a threat directed at us. Give the cat what it wants or it is going to help out the Scorpion. I’m not saying that the cat is a direct threat- but it is definitely trying to play us. Again ‘Nevermore warned us to only deal with it from a position of power- something we lacked considerably when we were running a rescue mission on Helen. Rather the cat may prove to be an ally, but I think we will be far better off doing this after we take care of the Scorpion, and save whatever price it asks after we have shown that strength. I’m going to get the bane myself, that is happening. However, I’d rather take on the Scorpion even without knowing its bane rather than pay the Cat’s price.

Luke finished throwing all the bloody and makeup covered rags in the trash as he was listening to the back and forth.

”Look, I don't know much about the Hisil or about bombs but I know enough that something like that will attract a lot of attention. Sure, bomb labs blow up all the time but when they do sometimes they take out city blocks. We don't know what shit they already have in there, it might be like dumping gasoline in a box of tnt. On top of that, it's not just about the Hisil, what about the negative media attention our territory will get if there is a mini terrorist attack here?” He glanced at Helen as he rejoined the group and took a seat. It didn't surprise him at all that even though she was thirsty for revenge that she was willing to wait, maintaining balance was her job. He glanced at her injuries and could feel the lancing pain from his own. ”I also don't like the idea of hitting these guys head on either, I know that's weird coming from me but they know how to hurt us. We might not be so lucky to come out with a few bullet holes this time.”

”I like the idea of flushing them out. We attacked them on their territory once and it went okay but they are going to reinforce their hold on the rest of their places. We have no way of telling what kinds of spirits besides the Scorpion and his brood are hanging around there. What about some sort of trap for this Midas?”

Rose listened to her brother outline his plan for handling the Red Scorpions. Her mouth fell open. How much pull did he think she had? Her coworkers might like her but she was pretty sure Price would not just go calmly sit back down if she explained that the GIANT explosion was no big deal. Then Helen spoke up and laid out her own idea, which was exceedingly low in the use of pyrotechnics. Rose breathed a little easier when Rory agreed it was sensible, as she knew exactly how stubborn that man could be. "I'm positive shutting down the lab won't be a problem. And putting the screws to Midas would be a task I'd be happy to undertake. He'll be singing like a damn canary. As for the cat, he may be more willing to discuss terms now that we are no longer desperate. We'll see what Rashid discovers. I can't disagree that he wanted a high price. Even if Rory was willing to agree to pay it; I, for one, am quite glad he said no. Rose took a deep breath and continued."Yes, using Helen's ideas mean playing the long game but the risk for us is relatively low. I also am very willing to throw my badge in people's faces. Maybe I'll get to smack around that new "manager" from the strip club." Rose grinned in anticipation. "As for Xavier, in my experience as a cop the trail leading from him to any illegal activity his underlings are committing will be either nonexistent or buried extremely deep underground. I mean, who knows, the drug guys might already be looking at him, but I have no idea what evidence, if any, they have. If we decide to go that route we could always plant some on him or in his home. Then while he's fighting the charges, continue with the rest of the plan. The problem is, he'll probably make bail right away since I doubt he has a record. Unless...do we have any long weekends coming up? If we arrest him on a Friday afternoon ahead of a long weekend, he won't see a judge to get bail until Tuesday morning. We'd have 3 days to break his toys before he even had a chance to make a plan. Just a thought." Rose shrugged.

Outside the gang hangout Price was leaning against the forensics unit van nervously stretching a pair of examiner's gloves in his hands as the phone rang. Voicemail. Again. What did O’Keefe do so much that she was always busy? Maybe she didn't understand what “on call” was exactly.

”Hey O'Keefe, the chief said he couldn't get ahold of you earlier. We have a new crime scene for the Rabies Killer, but this one really is a doozy. Multiple victims in one house and it's a mess. I'm beginning to think that it isn't just one guy, we may have a cult on our hands and if we don't get something they are going to call the Feds in on this one. Anyway, I'm going to text you the address incase you didn't get it from the call from the station and I'm going into start working the scene.”

Rashid had stopped just short of the door to listen, his frame melting back into Hishu for their visitors before he needed to leave. There were some solid point going about, and the drift away from the explosion idea made him feel infinitely more comfortable.

"Good, we have some ideas running around now. I'm headed down to shadow in front of the mirrors, I don't want to be riding a high when I head out to find the Cat, need to burn some energy. Count me in for the harry of the gang though. During all of this, I'll be wanting to put some of our eyes on the Dollhouse soon, stop their trade coming around. I might know somebody that could tell me about some couriers if we want easy busts for the cops. I'll chase that down later." With that, he left the lounge, and went upstairs to grab his gloves before heading down to the gym.

No chance then? No, fun's over for the day. Bullshit. Yeah, deal with it. Our time will come no matter how it plays out, you're fight will be big, *if* Valentine doesn't get her claws in first.