Oh, Whatever Shall I Do Now?

Avril skipped along down the sidewalk, a bright grin plastered onto her face. Her hair bounced about, a few strands ending up getting in her way, but she didn't pay any mind to them. Several bystanders shot her odd looks, thinking she must be a loon. Of course, she probably was, but the girl wasn't paying any attention to them, either. She had a target, one could call it, and she was set on getting there. It was taking longer than she wanted it to, though, and for a moment, she was debating on stealing a car. Not that it would help - bobby pins probably didn't unlock car doors very well.

Her grin widened as the corner store came into view. Brilliant! No better way to spend a day than wrecking an establishment. What was she going for this time? Attention? Time? Hm, it'd been a while since she'd bothered checking the time, so why not? Pulling her cell out of her pocket, she glanced at the clock before putting it back inside and strolling into the shop. 'Oh hello, miss, what can I help you with today?' An old woman stood at the counter, smiling at Avril, completely unknowing of what was about to go down. 'Oh, nothing, just taking a look around - have you got any lighters?' Now the clerk was confused. The woman didn't look like a smoker, but then again, maybe she was just getting into it. Terrible habit, that was. 'Yeah, up at the counter here. Anything else you'll be needing?' Spinning around, Avril stomped her foot dramatically to stop herself, facing the poor elderly woman with a gleam in her eye. 'How about gasoline?' Before allowing her to answer, she swiped several bags of crisps off a rack, littering the floor with the plastic.

The clerk fled as fast as she could, screaming as she made it to the sidewalk. By then, there were quite a few faces staring in through the glass. Avril carried on, kicking down the flimsy shelf and moving on to the next. A couple moments later and not a single one was left standing, leaving barely any room to walk. Not that she needed any. Making her way to the freezers, she began taking out boxes, one by one, and chucking them across the room. Why didn't other people do this? It was fun! Giggling madly, she hurried towards the center of the rubble, taking a quick, exaggerated look around, then pulling out the lighter she'd snatched and flicking it on. She bent down and drew a circle of fire around her, catching several items with the flame. 

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Avril twirled a bit of her hair around her finger, giggling to herself as she looked at the time. Ha! Only 4 minutes - nearly a record. Shoving the mobile back into her jeans, she took a quick glance at the flaming corner store before running off down the street, aware that more than a few people were watching and several must have called the police and firemen by now. Not a problem, she'd just need to be faster than they were. Or at least more clever with her hiding spot. Moving into an alley, she jumped into a dumpster and shut the lid, her breathing echoing around in the empty metal. She had to keep herself from laughing as she waited for the sirens to come and leave.

He had heard the fuss, a woman wanting to buy gasoline, huh. Fire engines were on their way already, chaos was all around. He might spare the lady's life, besides he had already killed and the need was satisfied.

Darren walked along the alley way, he had rubbish bags, which concealed the latest victim. That man put up quite a struggle, more than he should have let him. He opened the lid of the dumpster and without glancing inside, he threw the bags inside. Sirens were upon him but today they were occupied with something entirely different, hopefully, he was forgotten by the forces although highly unlikely.

"Now…where should I go? Docks? Been there, done that…whatever, the docks it is." Darren muttered to himself.

He needed to find whoever had committed this crime, possibly another lunatic or pyromaniac or an alien, they always loved doing stupid rituals that set shops burning down. There was that one time where…someone was coming along the alleyway, a police officer perhaps?

Darren shuffled behind the dumpster and pulled out the knife, as the police man passed and turned to look at the crouched figure, Darren lashed out. He finished the officer off by a single stab to the carotid artery.

"Littering the floor, we can't have that but I am rather busy at the moment, so…goodbye." He hissed into the dying officer's ear.

With that, he proceeded to walk off, the heat of the flames finally getting to him.

Cafrin shimmered onto the corner of the street where the store stood burning, looking down at her transporter to see where she was. She shook her head and glanced up to watch the flames burn the building's structure. "Always too early." She told herself as she started walking down the sidewalk. Police cars and rescue agents were already arriving, there was no need for her help here. She looked down at her dress, the hemline covered in soot and dirt from her last encounter, there was no way she wouldn't be recognized here. She sighed, raising the hood of her red cloak and kept walking, playing with the bow on her left pigtail.

Well, that escalated quickly.


Esther gawked at the sight in front of her. Some crazy chick was throwing bags and stuff around in a shop, littering the whole place while the poor elderly lady ran out the door, utterly terrified. Then all the sudden, there's the shop in flames and the woman ran off.

Now here, Esther had no mobile, so it wasn't like she was going to call the police. Her legs kicked into motion and she followed the woman - at least attempted to - and ended up in an alley. She gasped as the life was stabbed out of an officer by a obvious criminal, probably somehow in league with the Fire Shop Lady.

She stared silently, really hoping he didn't see her while he whispered something in the sad man's ear. Even if she was able to defend herself, he had a knife. He started to walk off, leaving the body on the floor of the alley like the heartless criminal he was.

Lucius was walking down the street, how cliché, when the wailing sirens caught his attention. He briefly glanced over his shoulder before they went whizzing by, his head following at a quick pace and his eyes widening. There were two firetrucks and several police cars and at least one ambulance. That in itself told the small boy that whatever had gone on to draw the need of the emergency team, it was something big. That made him feel sick to his stomach. What had happened? How many were hurt, dead, dying? That wasn't fair, why was life so unfair? Why did sad things have to happen?

Curiosity always got the better of him, didn't it? The urge to run, find, discover took over his limbs and soon the boy was running down the street at a quick pace. People shouted at him, perhaps in warning as he whizzed by but showed no signs of stopping. He was getting close, that much was obvious by the sounds of chaotic action, smell of smoke, and the thick, black cloak that was pluming upward. Lucius got to the corner and stopped, staring at the ruined store while he panted and looked around for any that were possibly injured.

Surprisingly, there were none that he could see and that confused him more than anything- even more so than relieved. Who would do something like this?

Cafrin stopped and watched as someone started running toward her, no toward the store. She yelled at him to run away, that he wasn't needed, but he didn't listen and ran straight into the building. What is he thinking? She asked herself before sighing and watching from the street. Oi. If he isn't out before I count to ten, I'll have to go get him. She shook her head and started to count, keeping an eye on the action as the firemen worked hard to open the nearby hydrant. "One" She said, counting out loud so she could concentrate. "Two" Cafrin stepped closer to the store, why run if she was that close. "Three" Before she could get to four, a policeman stepped into her way. "I'm sorry, miss, but you can't go in there." She smiled at him and nodded. "I just wanted to know if everyone was ok."

((I'm tired but this reply is so easy so I'm doing it anyway. Also, this turned around really long for a late night reply.))

Avril yelped, scrambling back as the garbage bag was tossed in at her. What was this, then? Far to warm to be proper garbage, but not exactly warm enough to be a kidnapped person. Making quick work of the tied end, she opened it up and raised an eyebrow at the contents. Oh. Well that would explain the heat and squishy factor. Hesitating for a moment, she reached inside and poked at the face, prodding at the eye most of all. It was a rather pretty color, and she was tempted to take it. Her fingers tried to curl around the object before she remembered there'd be a muscle back there and she didn't have anything to cut it with. Yet another reason she really should look into finding a dagger or something. Knives were great and all, but not nearly as cool sounding as the word dagger. Maybe that was just her opinion, but the word knife was just... weak.

Sighing, she wiped the bit of blood on her hands off on the poor man's face and pushed the lid open, peering out and spotting a girl there. Did she dump this guy in here? Nah, she was too innocent. That, and she was terrified by the stiff on the ground. With a cheshire grin, she climbed out of the metal box, letting the plastic top fall with a loud bang. 'What're you doing back here? Getting away from the flames? Not gonna do much good, they're only going to spread until someone gets here already. I swear, this is probably the slowest they've ever been.' With a casual shrug, she turned and bent down to take a look at the body. Fairy fresh murder, warmer than the last, and his heart was still flickering slightly. Taking her hand off his wrist, she sighed and picked him up, slinging him over her shoulder and opening the dumpster with her other hand. A moment later, she had tossed him in with the other, flashed a bright grin at the woman, and sped away.

She had no bloody idea where she was going, but that didn't honestly matter. On one hand, she wanted to go get a dagger and come back for the eye, on the other, she wanted to find out who'd killed the pair of 'em. Just to say hi and maybe ask why he didn't snatch the oddly colored body part himself. Then she remembered. With a groan of annoyance, she spun on her heels and headed back towards the heat, knowing she wasn't going to last long with the lighter just sitting there. It had her fingerprints on it now, and if by some chance - which she wasn't going to take - that it survived the fire, it was going to become suddenly quite hard to go around like she did. 

An odd sight caught her eye - what was a little boy doing here? Sure, it wouldn't have been so odd if he'd already been around with his mother, but she didn't see him earlier. Raising an eyebrow, she leaned down and tapped the side of his head, craning her neck so she could look at his face. 'Oi. What're you doing, standing around here? Didn't your mother ever tell you not to play with fire? No, actually, don't let me say that. I don't like hypocrites.' Taking the boy - whose eye she was also tempted to steal because of the color - by the shoulders and facing him away from the fire, she rushed towards the flames and tried to find the lighter. No way was she being tracked like this - she might have been a lunatic, but she wasn't stupid.

((I would apologize for the length but I'm kind of proud of it >.>))

Darren turned around, knowing that he was missing the action. There were more people that had gathered within the alley. He saw that a woman had climbed out of the same dumpster that he had thrown the trash in, meaning only one thing…

He needed to get rid of her.

He began walking towards the woman, knife shielded from view. Darren had no intention of killing her yet. Not until he found out what the woman knew, besides, he had been taught that it was more acceptable in killing bad guys and this…woman had something to do with it.

"Hey, um…seen my frisbee anywhere? It's my daughters, I was taking it and it slipped out of my hand. Have any of you seen it?" Darren asked. He chuckled at himself, he had used this excuse way to often to even be used.

Darren's eyes darted around, spotting the woman, who was with a small boy. Her child perhaps? No, the way she looked at him was off but didn't all parents do that anyway?

"Sorry…I need to excuse myself." Darren walked over to the woman. "Hello, I am Duncan. We met very briefly at a party? On the planet Massa?"

He stuffed his hands into his pockets, feeling the syringe. Not yet…she isn't guilty, she might not even be part of the fire.

"I work as a…" Darren stopped, he hadn't thought that far…journalist? No, too overused. Forensic scientist? Well that would have to do. "Forensic scientist as the lab a few blocks away."

He grinned, hoping this one didn't look fake but genuine. Darren looked at the flames. They were hypnotizing and his eyes glazed over slightly, allowing his mind to wander.

Oi, snap out of it. You have a prime suspect here!

He knelt down to the boy and held out his hand for a shake. "Nice to meet you, what's your name?"

((Sorry for skipping you all but I just need to >.>))

Avril spun around and took a look at the man, who had stopped her just before she'd gone into the flames. Planet? Well obviously the man was lying, she hadn't even been on another planet - if that was possible. Were there other planets? Maybe he was a loon. No, he knew he was lying, the way his eyes moved and.. what was he doing with his hands, there? Well if he was going to lie, so was she. 'Oh, that's right, I remember you! What happened to your religious cleansing? Thought you were to be sacrificed? Oh well, suppose we could just do it right now, eh?' She motioned towards the flames, a bright grin on her face. 'Better now than never! Or have you changed your mind, hm?' Getting closer to him - much too close for most people's comfort - she poked him in the center of his forehead. 'Now, how about telling me who you really are, hm? I'm not that stupid - did you really think I wouldn't catch the planet thing? How mad are you?' 

Darren spotted her lie immediately and red alarms were going off in his head. She had definitely something to hide. A low growl escaped his lips as she entered his personal space and poked him on his head.

"Religious cleansing? Aha, your funny. But the last bits and my name are true. Me mad? I wouldn't call it that…"

He gave a small smirk, removing his hands from the trouser pockets, nothing in them. He nodded back at the group and smiled, hoping to indicate that everything was going fine. "Tell you who I am…not really into that sort of stuff."

It was annoying that they were having some sort of competition, an old instinct kicking back in. Something that he had never experienced for a long time, the flight or fight instinct and this was telling him to run. She was guilty of something, he stood up, tilting his head.

"The trash bag…that was me. But you did something on a much...grander scale.You were the direct cause of that destruction of that building." He hissed, low enough so that this woman could hear him but none of the others could.

Cafrin kept smiling at the officer as she noticed another girl go inside the building. "I'm sorry, I must be waisting your time. Excuse me." She told him before walking back the way she had come, reaching for her bracelet. "There's two ways to get into a burning building." Cafrin laughed to herself before placing the distance and coordinates and hitting the big button. She didn't know if the officer was still watching her when she shimmered behind the counter of the store, but she was now watching the other two from behind a pane of glass, in the drink cooler. "Oh, that wasn't planned well. Would you work correctly for once? Please?" She complained to her transporter before the cold seeped into her. Shivering, she opened the door and stepped out. Not good. Not good. She thought, looking at the two of them. Flames stood between her and the others, making her start to laugh.

Lucius started at the woman who had come to crouch in front of him. At first he looked kind towards her but soon his expression changed to that of confusion. He wasn't playing with fire at all, he was here to make sure no one was hurt. Sure, most would ask what a small boy his age could do and the answer for them is nothing. Well, the only thing he was capable of doing was easing the panic and nerves that seemed to be radiating from the area. It made him uncomfortable, he hated people in distress. Speaking of distress, the woman now skipping away from him was disturbed- mentally, that was.

He didn't bother speaking and began looking about once more until a man decided to approach him. Why was he introducing himself to him? Duncan. Interesting name. Lucius trailed behind the man and the woman who previously spoke with him, interested to see what he could find out. Sadly, whatever they were saying didn't make sense to the small boy but he picked up on their tension quite quickly. A feud perhaps? Did they know each other?

"...."

"I-" Esther started, but smacked her lips shut. No conversing with the enemy! she warned to herself. She tried to compose herself, but she'd never witnessed a murder before. The red-haired woman threw the officer in the bin, talking casually about the delays of the departments. Esther grimaced and sidestepped awkwardly as she let the woman speed past her, with no intention of stopping her. She wasn't the killer; she was the shop-burning-down-using-Lays-chips-bags-as-fire-starters lady. That's not a word - Well, considering there are five words and they are separated by dashes, it is not 'a' word, just five perfectly real words separated by dashes. That would be like Shopburningdownusinglayschipsbagsasfirestarters - Now, that is a nonexistent word.

A moment later, there was a boy, then a woman, but she didn't notice much of that. She was paying all her attention to the garbage bin, where a body of a poor man lay. She urged herself to go tell the other officers, but she didn't want to get herself in trouble if, say, the murderer was still here and watching. Then, as if he was listening to her thoughts, she stared as he reappeared from the corner and head towards the crazy woman, thankfully not noticing the sane one - Esther - who actually had the look of a murder witness. He was after the one who threw away his body. Maybe he was mad because she ruined his trap or something? He made an lie about having a frisbee and needing to find his frisbee. Esther blinked and rose an eyebrow at the strange pair as the lady prodded his forehead, with the same insane grin she had on with her.

And this whole time, she didn't even move, just watching like a dumb whitetail staring at the headlights. While in her shock trance of sorts, she didn't notice how dangerous it was back there, with two criminals crazy enough to do anything they pleased, especially when she had the face of a ruined innocent that saw something no one should have.

Avril raised an eyebrow, looking about dramatically. 'When did we start whispering? Is someone listening? Course I burned the shop down, don't ask stupid questions.' With that, she was back on her quest for the lighter, thinking she might as well hold onto it if it proved to be this useful. 'Oh, and by the way, you aren't as great of a liar as you think you are.' Grinning brightly, she found an opening in the fire and squeezed her way in, hurrying around obstacles to get to the center and find the thing. And now that she thought of it, she should probably grab those other lighters and get them out of here. Or get the little boy out of here. Either way - because those things were probably going to explode and she still wasn't a murderer. She let other people do that bit for her.

Just as she neared where she thought the offending object might be, she realized someone was in there. Straightening up, she faced the freezers with a confused expression. 'How'd you get in there? Is there a back entrance I don't know about or something? But still, why hide in there? Just cause it's cold doesn't mean it won't go up with the rest of it, love.' What was wrong with people, today? Did they not have common sense? Sure, maybe she didn't, but she thought she had a pretty darn good reason for it. Shrugging it off, she turned around and crouched down, sifting through what she could that wasn't already flaming.

Darren rolled his eyes, stuffing his hands back into his pockets. He followed her, a few meters away, the hand reappeared, holding a syringe. "I wouldn't do that if I was you." He was leaning against a pillar within the blazing building. He had watched her for the past few minutes and was intrigued at her use of crisp packets and lighters.

He pushed himself off the pillar, the syringe hidden. "Name's Darren. Worked for Torchwood and I think you have caused…enough damage." He took a few more steps forward, plunging the syringe in the general direction of her neck. He feinted and grabbed her by the neck, in a choke hold.

But where would you go?
'Probably leave her here to die...'
Bit unlike you.
'Stop talking to me would you, I'm trying to get her unconscious.'

Cafrin looked around quickly and smiled, stepping through the debris and clearing away more of the fire. "Yeah, the freezers are a bit away from the door, but why are you in here? You left and run back in like you want to burn in here." Cafrin shivered a bit, the warmth of the fire warming her up from the freezer. She looked over at Avril before noticing the needle in Darren's hand. "Tisk. Tisk. Boys shouldn't play with such unuseful things." She told him, smiling as her foot of her black boot landed on Avril's lighter. Cafrin stood there, looking at Darren with her hand out for the syringe. "You both need so much help, it simply oozes from your minds."

(Sorry it's so short, trying to write it out before a doctor's appointment.)

Avril spun around, raising an eyebrow at the man as he entered the shop. What was he doing? He didn't need to be in here. Not to her knowledge. What was with all the people following her all of the sudden? It was getting a bit weird. Once he finally came out with the truth, a small grin made its way to her face. 'There, wasn't so hard was it? Not sure what Torchwood is, but that's nice.' Then the last bit caught up to her. Oh. Well that wasn't as nice.

Avril's eyes widened as she jerked out of the way of the needle, only to end up being held in a choke hold immediately after. Her hands clawed at his fingers desperately, air coming through to her lungs, but no where near enough to keep her conscious. She coughed as she began to run out of oxygen, her eyelids fluttering shut as her hands fell away. A few moments later and she was out, hanging limply from the man's grip.

'Hi-ya!" cried from behind the murderer as Esther plunged her elbow in the general area of the back of his neck. She'd seen him with the needle and she couldn't hold herself back. Yeah, it probably wasn't a very good idea since the only one supporting the unconscious woman was him, but it was worth a try. "Let her go!" she commanded, her voice laced with false, nervous authority. She wouldn't let him get away with another murder. He probably injected her with some sort of poison, something that could kill her in seconds. What if her assistance added up to nothing and could end up killing the both of them?

Why, oh why do I always end up doing things that are so stupid? My loving, angelic nature must be a curse, she thought as she got into a defensive position, just in case. Ah, such truthful sarcasm.

Darren grunted in slight pain as a person elbowed him in the back, yet his hold on the woman remained. She was unconscious and needed to be taken back to his 'base.' He let out a sound, supposedly a laugh. "Not one of my options, now get out of my way." She must have thought that he had killed her. She was wrong. He began to drag the woman out of the smoke infested building, passing the other group on the way out.

He nodded, pretending to rush her away to a hospital but veered sharply to the left and down a set of stairs. It wasn't long until she would wake up but he secured her on to his table with holotape. He quickly but lightly slapped the side of her face, when an unexpected phone call echoed through the abandoned railway station.

"How the hell are you still alive? I killed you!"
"So little confidence in me, Darren. With that in mind, I'm out to get you."

The caller on the other side hung up, leaving Darren in a brief silence. He swore loudly and walked over to the table, which his knives were neatly placed.

"Sorry, may have to end you quickly…"

Cafrin gasped as she watched Avril get pulled out of the building. "Ok, kid. if you want to live, take my hand." She walked over to the boy with a smile. "I can't promise that I'll take you somewhere nice, but it will be safe." Cafrin looked down at her bracelet. The transporter was blinking, a sign that it was charged and ready again. Where did he take Avril, and why is he trying to kill everyone? She asked herself, trying to think quickly while waiting for the boy to choose.