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The rabbit’s face filled with joy for a moment as she smiled wickedly with her bucked teeth showing proudly. She never expected that she was actually going to hit her target! Yes, it took a few more shots than normal, but they were hits!

BANGBANGBANG!

She had forgotten about the others. Madison’s pride fell as she went back to the ground and the safety of the table. Her arms burned as she felt her tender muscles ache, most importantly her open wounds. But what was even worse was the fact that her ears felt as though they were being penetrated by the bullets themselves. Since she was lacking something to protect her ears, and because of her sensitive hearing this was practically a nightmare. As she rested for a moment, a small sound of barking seemed to echo within her ears. It was muffled in comparison to the ringing that was surrounded her train of thought. She knew she couldn’t stop. Turning her head to the side, her eyes widened just a similar to Max’s earlier...except he was missing in action now. There was no train of blood, nor were there any remains of his shadow. She was alone. But worry did not fill her face as normal, she seemed confident.

Max had gone to do something.

And it was her turn to help him out on the front.

Fumbling almost, the rabbit attempted to move the dark metal hammer back in order to be prepared for her next rounds of rapid fire. The only thing she had to be concerned with was not hitting either Max or Wocky who were on the battlefield.

With a quick movement the woman moved herself back out from hiding with her weapon pointed outwards. Noticing that Jabberwocky seemed to be playing tug of war with one of the corpse’s legs on the left side of the room, she was focusing on the right. With the press of her index finger, the loud sound of thunder filled the room as she moved from one corpse to another. Each one required at least two shots before falling to the ground as another addition of carnage.

Shaking from the pain of the recoil against Madison’s body, her pistol finally turned to where one of the corpses sat across the room. He wasn’t the last one, but he was her next target. With a squinted eye she squeezed the trigger to make her shot.

There was only one problem...

Instead of making a bang like it had for the others, there was a clicking sound and nothing else. Horrified, the rabbit began to smack the side of the pistol in attempts to have something exit out. Instead of a bullet, it seemed that a pile of smoke left the tip of the barrel. Madison had seemed to have finally met what people would like to know as running out of ammunition. With her focus being on the pistol she seemed to lose track of the war zone that she was in.

Within seconds the sound of whizzing passed her ear right ear quickly followed by a searing pain. Dropping the weapon to the ground in front of her the woman dropped back down to the ground and clenched onto her ear. Gently, she rubbed her fingers gently over the rim of her snow white ear. It wasn’t as soft as it once was, it was wet and slightly squishy. But what was worse was it burned very similar to her shoulder wound.

Madison had been shot.

It may have not been as extreme as Max’s shoulder, but a small part of her ear was now missing. Since bullets tend to have some heat to it, it was almost instantly cauterized. Her only problem was the fact that it was nothing short but another addition of pain. With her left hand tightly clenched the woman smacked against the steel that she was hiding behind.

Taking a deep breath in, the woman moved herself on the floor in hopes to find what would have been something to make her new found toy work again. Guns didn’t seem to be useful without those small metal bits, and that’s what she needed to find. From where she was sitting, it was quite easy for her to catch a small glimpse of that smug creature who claimed a part of her ear. However, it only seemed that Jabberwocky had taken care of him as he looked as though he was tearing flesh from the body that rested on the ground.

“Good boy.”

What the...

Madison stopped for a moment from digging on the inside of the filing cabinet in search of some sort of extra ammunition. It seemed almost as instantly she opened the drawer more gun fire had summoned. However, it seemed far faster than the shots that were being released into the air and dingling once connecting with the floor. With curious eyes the rabbit slowly moved her head over to between the crack of where the edge of the table was between the filing cabinet.

It seemed the gunfire had moved from coming from just the zombiefied law enforcements. There, Maximos was standing in the middle of the room with two similar pistols in his hands. His movements were nothing short of being choppy and rigid, but rather he was moving as though his arm was completely fine. It almost seemed as though that he was completely fine and that he was a master of this form of weaponry. There was even a flip or two which caused her face to fill with excitement as his movements were more sharp and calm.

And then suddenly with his final flip, he landed in front of the table and she could see nothing but the debris and dust flutter around the room. It was hard to see if there was anything left as dust filled the room like a heavy blanket of fog. It wasn’t till a gun Madison saw a small lightening fast stream of light pass by and hit the table. That was an indication that something was not in their favour. As the dust cleared, ALL of the shots that Max had made seemed to have failed as they remained where they were. From the angle that she was at it was practically impossible to even see if he took the hit.

But there was definitely one thing that Madison could see....

It seemed that both of their attempts did not work as well as they thought.

The man jumped over the table and landed beside her and rested up against the table slightly. With shaking hands he offered what appeared to be earmuffs. However, despite his efforts, she wasn’t looking at that, Madison was staring at the new gaping hole that was in his arms. He wasn’t the same anymore, the man was now in pure agony. She couldn’t really hear him, but she could see that his lips were moving. But they were nothing more than the attempts to repress the burning passion inside him. The passion to succumb to his pain. His own palm was now a multitude of colors and the rabbit could barely speak. In fact, Madison didn’t seem to be as cheerful as she was earlier with the gentle sincere smile of innocence, nor did she have her sad face which only reflected her rough journey she had been on. But instead there was something new...something that not many people had seen before. Her snow white ears were pointed sharply down to the ground that matched her angled eyebrows on her face. Both of her fists were tightly clenched together almost making her knuckles turn a shade of white that even her own skin could not match. Her lips were no longer seeming as full as they once were but rather a straight line that almost twitched ever so often.

This was the face of a pissed off Madison.

She was angry about the entire situation that they were in. From the beginning of this adventure it seemed to bring nothing but aggravation and pain. They were in a no win situation with creatures who seemed to find it necessary to make things difficult by attacking them. Her companion and friend, Maximos was now in more agony than ever as he tried to help her because she needed to be protected. Even the wound that she had tended too was now replaced with another hole and an even bigger hole which almost seemed to make it look like a waste of time. It seemed like that somewhere the universe was not on her side today. In fact, nothing was on her side. And quite frankly she had enough.

The rabbit didn’t seem to be angry with the Shadow though, but rabbit her blame was aimed at someone else entirely. But if those foul things had not been there to begin with, Max would not have been hurt and everything would have been solved in a moment’s time. But instead, they were constantly delayed n some way.

And it was entirely their fault.

Now, Max still seemed to have the headphones around his neck despite the fact he was doing his best to provide her more help than before. But she was clearly ignoring it. She wasn’t trying to be rude, but it was clear by her facial features she was in a different mood.

Madison was now showing the animal that she truly was.

Turning her body away from Max and towards the filing cabinet Madison lifted her leg off of the ground. It almost looked as though she were aiming for something. With a quick movement there was nothing but the sound of a loud bang that added to the gunfire. Madison had very strong legs; it was a great perk considering her genetics, and thus the leg from the fallen desk and broken off as well as having the addition of her own footprint encased within the side of the filing cabinet. Once having the broken piece of metal which was really nothing more than a bar at hand, the rabbit grabbed a hold of it within her paw.

Her movements had than went towards the wheelie chair that had been sitting behind the table where someone had once sat. Bending forwards, the woman pulled the chair towards her. Near the base, Madison quickly made her adjustments to allow the seat to be far more comfortable. But there really wasn’t much to change as she pressed a button to cause the back of the chair to be higher up. It was looking rather comfy, almost good enough to provide a wheelchair for the wounded man. Hopping her body into a crouching position the woman than pushed herself off the ground and began to run out into the gunfire with her bar firmly in place while using the armrests as a steering wheel. At first she was half way bent, as the back of the chair was being used as her cover. Her speed was still very quick as she began to move.

There was no time to try and avoid gunshots.

She was wanting revenge.

Once picking her target the woman bolted towards it. However, that wasn’t enough. Once reaching a few feet in front of them the rabbit did was any child would do, they hopped on to enjoy the ride down a long hallway. With the additional weight now onto the chair, the seat moved slightly faster. With her body kneeling against the chair the woman swung as she passed the creature. Thanks to the help of the back of the chair, she had some protection for her major organs, especially since her adjustment onto it.

Her first swing really didn’t seem that graceful, afterall this was something she just came out of the blue. But there was definitely one thing that seemed rather consistent with her attacks. She wasn’t particularly aiming for anywhere but the head.

With her first swing it really didn’t seem to make an impact. But once passing the wall she had her leg extended outwards as she was propelled towards a wall. This only provided one option, to push her foot off the wall and back towards them.

But this time she was ready.

Madison let out a loud cry as she went to take another swing again with much more force and power behind her move. And luckily for her, it was a hit! Since zombies have often been found to have a weakened bones do to the lack of calcium forming, it was very much like smashing a pumpkin, except that this one was far messier than the ladder. Madison’s entire front end of her body was sprayed with both green and red pieces of zombie bits which would cause any woman to flinch in disgust. This however only fuelled her rage as she pressed onto the next.

Madison was playing her own game of Zombie Pinball and she was going for her next target.

"Quite and indeed,"

Katsumi regarded the stranger with unguarded curiosity. Nuances in dress and style told enough about a person that she might be able to tell what angle they may be playing at. Of course, the fact that some went out of their way to hide their angle was taken into consideration as she gauged their visitor as more or less unassuming.

Is that the right word, I wonder...

All in company bowed respectfully, though only she spoke. "I had begun to wonder if using such an... unorthadox means to garner attenion was going to work at all. I'm glad that I was proven incorrect. Do you have experience dealing with the undead, miss -- ?"

“Go,” she supplied, letting the vowel cut short to distinguish it from the English verb. “Matana, but ‘Mat’ works just as well.” There was a brief fumble as she began to extend a hand, but quickly clasped it back to mirror the group’s gesture, if a little uncertainly. The mention of their not expecting a call for help to be answered was not lost on her, and she filed the peculiarity away for future rumination.

“Happy to be of help,” she answered instead when she straightened from the deep nod, her cheerful courtesy a happy medium between being aloof and overzealous. “I was not involved in the effort against them in the past months, no. I’ve made more…acquaintance with otherworldly spirits, but I’m familiar enough with the supernatural in general. Know the dos and don’ts, certainly.

In fact, I was meaning to ask if you intended a certain way of handling the remains, as I’d hate for somehow contaminate the process with my own, ah, equipment,” she ended tactfully, figuring the explicit mention of the rubber gloves and Ziploc bags perhaps too much information. The bag did give a couple metallic clinks under the muffled thump when she patted it in demonstration, however, so they would just have to interpret that as they would.

Madison wasn’t known to be the smartest crayon in the box, but occasionally something clever would come along. Whether it be finding something that would be suitable for eating when she was starving, or even making bandages out of jackets there was always something. And this time her cleverness came from her form of transportation. While travelling between corpses, the rabbit ducked down to make herself quite a bit smaller as to use the back of the chair as a shield. It wasn’t much, but it was doing the job. As soon as she was down for a few moments, the rabbit pushed herself back up in order to make her next swing. It was gory, it was messy, and it was dangerous, but her movements were elegant as she made her swings. And of course it wasn’t like she was alone out there either. Since her sides weren’t covered when she was passing various zombiefied cops, her new found friend was beside her. With Jabberwocky’s fierce teeth, he was slowly managing to knock them down just as she took down the other side. He had a duty to protect this woman, and there was no sense letting down Max now.

Slowly, each of the gunshots seemed to fade of as the numbers seemed to drop as the bodies hit the floor motionless. Her work was almost complete. With one last push off the wall with her grinning boot, Madison was sent off to her final destination, the last one standing. However, thanks to her lovely collection of bodies on the floor it was no longer a smooth ride as the various trips from beforehand. Continuing the natural movements that she was performing to slay the beasts the chair seemed to lose it’s balance as it managed to hit the well beaten torso and caused the rabbit to go flying.

“AHHHHHHH!” Madison’s body was tossed through the air towards her final opponent as though she were a ragdoll of some sort. There was no admirable grace along with this tumble as she displayed on the battlefield but rather arm flailing. This was probably the first time that Madison had fallen back to her basic skills; she wasn’t a warrior goddess nor was she an Amazonian blood monger. She was nothing more than an average young lady, who happened to flying towards the rather unpleasant decaying villainous scum.

WHACK!

Instantly there was a sound of flesh smacking against one another and a sound of splashing liquid hitting the floor. With the final sound of a thunk hitting the floor it seemed that the battle was now complete. There was no noise, there were no more groans. But the sound of shaky breaths left her lips as the battle finally ceased for the time being. With her body completely drenched in blood and goo the rabbit stared at the body that she was resting on as a rotten cushion. Without a word she pushed herself off the floor and made her way over to where her friend was resting behind the table.

With shakey blood covered hands Madison quickly frantically began to look over Max. Slowly the black dog made his way over whining slightly as he witnessed the injuries that he was injuring. It was clear that he was feeling nothing more than pain. Nervously, she moved Max’s arm delicately.

“Okay...um...uh...we’re going to make sure everything is okay...um....okay... Oh Jeez... your bleeding out.” Her words of comfort seemed more for herself. He wasn’t doing well; he really wasn’t doing good at all. And what was worse, there wasn’t really much she could do. She was drenched in blood, her was in pain as well as her, and her friend was suffering.

This quest really wasn’t ending well.

Maximos was immune to words at the moment.

Right now, Maximos was having a dream. He was laying down in a grassy field overlooking the ocean with his arms around a woman who's face he could not see. The woman smelled like blood and death. The woman was warm and wet, and gradually getting colder. The colder she became the tighter she clung to him. It was a very peaceful dream, and he could have stayed in it forever. Infact, left to his own devices it was very possible he might have.

And then Madison tried to delicately move his arm. Despite her efforts, moving his shoulder gentle or not was akin to stabbing rusty and jagged metal edges, not blades but simply sharp sudden edges, into bruised and beaten flesh and dragging it...delicately...across. The resulting...



...was enough to force anyone from their bloodloss induced dream world and back into reality. Maximos was present, and he was awake, and he sober and left gasping in the seconds after his own agonized outcry. The gasps slipped through his corpse pale lips in deep full gulps of air and through a face that winced so hard it looked as if it was trying to implode upon itself. Gasps, in moments became simply deep breaths, and those in turn faded into single sigh. Maximos' face evened out, and his eyes opened, lazily and blinking staring into the growing puddle of his own blood.

"That's sure alot of blood. Someone isnt doing very well Madison." He said in an even, pain-free voice as if the ragged screams of second before hadnt occurred. He righted himself, shoving off his good arm until he was sitting up with his back to the overturned table. In the quiet after his shout, the room seemed deafeningly silent. Too quiet. The quiet, he imagined, before the storm. It was only then, it seemed that he looked down and recognition flashed in his eyes. He blinked a few times then looked at Madison with a mischievous grin, something akin to the boy who got caught stealing cookies before dinner. "It looks like I'm not doing very well, Madison."

Injuries aside, Maximos and Madison while in this situation together were not in the same situation. Madison was, as made very evident during the course of this adventure, a normal girl. She was doing her best against near impossible odds that she did not understand and had nearly no experience with. She was a sheltered little girl put up against Armageddon. And Maximos, was an adventurer. He was nearly twice Madison's age and had spent just about all of his life from when he could walk until now, preparing for, participating in, and fighting Armageddon's. Well, not always apocalypses, but there were definitely various situations of various threat levels that mounted up to a vast lifetime of experiences that let Maximos chuckle, then say and mean things like... "I've had worse."

This, was who Madison and Maximos were. Who they are. Each approaching the same situation from completely different points of view. And yet, adventuring is not about who you are. Greatness is not a birth right. Legends are not handed out on street corners. Adventuring is about who you become. Not about what you've done, but what you do. When the chips are down, when the situation is grim, what normal people do or employee to survive the impossible is the stuff of legend. Maximos spoke in an even, calm voice befitting his true age as opposed to his apparent age. "We can get out of this, just fine. But its going to require doing some things I know you wont like."

Madison, was just a normal girl. Maximos, was a man with a very mean injury that had bled itself numb, and who flicked his good wrist, with bit of prestidigitation befitting a magician...or a man with things literally up his sleeve...he produced a paintbrush in his open hand and offered it to Madison with a smile. "I need you to take this Madison."

Either the moment she took the pen, or just a few seconds after it was offered Maximos' arm would falter and sort of droop down onto his lap. His fingers still offered the brush, his eyes still implored her to take it. "And I need you to follow my instructions exactly, and trust me."

Madison entered her a normal girl. Maximos smirked, and waited patiently until she had the brush before he said. "Your going to do some magic."

Madison was leaving a spellcrafter. "Now draw a circle, right here in the middle of the puddle. A big one..."

The situation started off as immediately magic. The very moment the brush touched the blood it began to draw in glowing indigo ink that switched its glow from deep plum to dark cobalt indiscriminately like a bruise. And yet the fact that it glowed at all meant it was magical. If Madison drew the circle, Maximos was direct the next shape. A line. Smaller circles within the larger circle at key points. Soon, if she was amiable, it would move to letters. Or rather, the shapes of letters. A triangle like the top of a house, a squiggly line with three loops...so forth, and so on.

The truth was, that Madison could stop whenever she wanted. She never even had to begin, and nothing in Maximos' voice or face would have pressured her. But as long as she followed his instructions, he gave them. His voice stood calm and even the whole time, as did his breathing, except that as time pressed forward his voice became gradually softer, and weaker. But even in that his smile never faded.

Was it a few seconds? Or minutes? All of that was depending on the rabbits ability to concentrate and follow instruction. Maximos would never rush, but he had a sort of health imposed time limit. The arcanum wasnt difficult....but would she do it? Could she do it?

"Good." Maximos said and smiled a quiet peaceful smile and did something like a nod, only his head barely moved. He looked down at the array on the floor, then looked back to Madison and took a deep breath. He winced and his shoulders twitched but his arms simply would not follow the motion through. Yet, there was a sort of pride somewhere in the gesture.

In truth, the Shadow looked half asleep. And yet, even Madison likely knew that sleep was not what comes of blood loss and injury. After another slow and purposeful breath the Shadow spoke again, slower, just barely above a whisper. If not for her ears she might not have heard him at all.

"This part is a bit harder." He said. And he felt her, cold and wet fingers running smoothly down his spine. He blinked and for a fraction of a moment he saw her again, entangled around him hanging on for dear desperate life. Just a moment. He told her in his mind. Just a moment longer.

"I'm going to give you the instructions, and then I'm going to take a little nap. If it all works..." Another deep breath in, his lips now the color of snow quivered involuntarily with a bloodless freeze. Her fingertips brushed his face, his head no longer pounded, the white glow in Maximos' right eye faded like a dimly lit cigarette leaving only a dull hue. He gave Wocky a smile, and nodded at the cloth unable to pick it up but recognizing the gesture. He wanted to say something, but his mouth felt heavy, as if his jaw was being pulled down by some unseen force.

"I need you to copy that symbol, as best you can...right here on...my..." Maximos' eyes shut, his voice faded off into a mumble. She was pressing her benumbed finger to his lips, and pleading for his silence. He heard her breath now, and as the sound reached his lips his breath faded away. Slowly, his head began to sag to the side, leaving a fat red streak along the back of the table. His head, cold and wet was falling effortlessly into her bosom. He fought for a moment twitching slightly upright, but like a child wanting to sleep just a few extra minutes before the bus arrived, he just wanted to rest and instruct Madison later. And then his shoulders fell slack and began to topple. Only, as his shoulder moved, his wound was bent oddly. The cloth of his jacket dug against the fresh bullet graze and the resulting spasm sent a flash of red hot pain through his entire shoulder. He hadnt the energy to scream, but the flash of agonizing life brought him back to the here and now.

"...my shoulder. On my shoulder. One hand, on both symbols..." He chuckled, something so weak yet happy. She said something about years of service, vacation and a chance to relax. He mumbled softly. "...she's so convincing...almost..."

And then he saw her face. He couldnt make out the details but he imagined Madison's face was anything other than happy at the moment. And, with that came certain other slow realizations. He could relax, he had earned that...but that would leave her here and stranded and...well it wasnt very fair. Beside, he owed her a duty. He forced a breath in and continued. "...imagine two cups. One empty, one full. Imagine...pouring water from one cup...to the other cup...remember the sound...remember the weight...imagine it as best you c..an...dont..." His voice faded again, his head drooped and his final words faded into an uneven breath, and Maximos slumped forward, fell still and faded into silence. "...stop. Goodnight..."

And still warmly smiling, Maximos stopped breathing.

The woman rejected him almost immediately. Her cold hands shoved his shoulders back and then her arms crossed over her chest and she pouted. The sun danced along the blades of peaceful grass and glimmered like sparkles across the ocean and pierced Maximos' eyes at just the right angle to force him to cover his eyes and lose all sight of her face.

"You could have stopped this. You could have turned yourself to shadow, or simply filled your veins with the stuff." She seemed deeply saddened, if not for the hint of a laugh at the back of her voice.

"I know. But I dont get to see you very often, lets enjoy our time together." Maximos said, and then properly spun around and lay his head in the chilly lap. She let out an offended grunt but then lowered her hands over his shoulders, and eventually through his hair.

"You skirt the line Reaper. You know your one of my favorites, but I wont save you. She and that God of yours, had better be worth the risk. It could have just been a bad dream, you dont know that this will work." Her words were stern, and yet soft. Direct, but not threatening. Maximos looked up, but she reclined her head back to take in the sky and he saw nothing of her face. The sun that shone so brightly had begun to dim, clouds were rolling in and the blue sky was turning steadily gray.

"They are. And it will. I trust her." He said with a smile. The grass grew dull, the water no longer sparkled, the clouds rolled in heavier and thicker. Within seconds the sunlight was just a memory and the sky was all grays and near blacks. The woman sighed, long and drawn out. And then the clouds broke, and began to rain. She leaned forward and lengths of long hair cascaded over either side of her face, rendering her face pitch against the clouds.

"Our time is up." She said, and softly kissed Maximos' forehead. Her lips cold as ice.

"Yes indeed. Until next time." The Shadow replied. "Always a pleasure, Boss."



For Madison, it was the sound that came first. The sound of water sloshing, back, then forth, back then forth. The imagining forced itself into being a realization. Despite what her hands were doing she would be able to feel the weight of the water passing along, she would feel one cup grow heavier and the other grew lighter. It seemed that the full cup, did not want to empty. It grew lighter, and lighter still and yet with each passing moment it continued to pour. It poured several times what a tea cup should hold, and the opposite cup never once over flowed.

In reality, things were moving. It began as a slow trickle at first but it increased steadily. Maximos had smattered blood here and there in splashes, puddles and ragged lines. His vitae spilled out along the cracks in the tile like the scarlet veins of some vicious plant. And it was those farthest veins that responded. They flowed outwards with gravity, but as Madison overcame her emotions, as she focused...they stopped.

And then they retreated. Slowly, like tea being poured from a glass the blood moved backwards. Lines and trails returned to larger puddles. Splatters unwound into perfectly round stains. And then, in turn, those stains began slither, and crawl, and eventually roll up Maximos' arm, and across Madison and past or through anything blocking their way. They rushed through Madison's hair and left it dry...or at least dry of his blood. The stream of red rushed up his arm and scooped up everything that had soaked into the fabric. And as the blood reached his gunshot wound, it was sucked inside as neatly as soda through a straw.

It took a few moments, which probably felt like hours, but very soon the last of the red was gone from the surrounding area and with a wet popping sound, the wound was visibly sealed with a sheet of black matte. Like a black bandage somehow melded into his skin. Depending on if her eyes were open or closed, the Bunny might see this. But if she didnt, her unique ears would certainly hear the sound the followed.

Tha-thump. The first beat was always the strongest, and it was followed by a very shallow, breath. And then another, and then another stronger than the first. And finally one very deep breath, as Maximos' good hand lazily flopped on her head and very softly he said. "You did it."

He was smiling, from ear to his face was dry...at least of his blood. And with each passing second color was filtering back into his cheeks and lips. Not much, as Maximos was naturally a very pale individual, but certainly enough to mark him as alive.

"Thank you...you saved my life." His hand slid unevenly off of her head and then laid softly on her own hands, and the paintbrush. "You can keep this. You've earned it. But...I feel I owe you an apology...something...has happened."