Thursday afternoon - At the Midnight Games

[masterofgunfu]

"What happened to barely winning?" Jim growled at Kate, Curran, and Dali as they came back from the first match of our team.

We had two qualifying bouts, a semi-final, and then the big match to get through with all seven members of our team intact, but we couldn't field the entire team for each of the first three fights. Instead, we opted to split our team pretty much in half and Kate, Curran, and Dali fought our first match, and it had been a glorious smack down.

"You said sloppy!" Kate replied in mild outrage. "Look, I didn't even use my sword; I hit him with my head, like a moron."

"A man with a sword attacked you and you disarmed him and knocked him out cold in under two seconds," Jim snapped back before turning to Curran.

The Beast Lord shrugged. "It's not my fault that he didn't know how to fall."

Jim's gaze slid from Curran to Dali. "What the hell was that?"

"Crimson Jaws of Death."

"And were you planning on letting me know that you can turn people's elbows backward?"

"I told you I did curses."

"You said they don't work!"

"I said they don't always work. This one worked apparently." Dali wrinkled her forehead. "It's not like I even get to use them against live opponents anyway. It was an accident."

Jim looked at them. The clipboard snapped in his hands. He turned around and very deliberately walked away.

"I think we hurt his feelings," Dali said, looking at his retreating back, before sighing and going after him.

Curran looked at Kate. "What the hell was I supposed to do, catch the were-bison as he was falling?"

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A few hours later...

[masterofgunfu]

It was the second qualifying fight and I stood on the sands with Jim, Derek, and Raphael, facing the other team, which stood in a two-by-two formation. They had an Asian theme going on, with a huge guy who was some kind of ogre and wielding a long iron mace, a lion dog sort of creature, a thin-lipped redheaded woman with a yumi, and a man I couldn't see very well as he was all the way in the back. The Killers.

I smile pulled at my lips as I found myself wondering if they were human or dancer.

I was armed with my favorite tactical crossbow and my two SIG-saurs in holsters at on my thighs. My babies were useless while the magic was up, but just in case, I wanted them. Who knew when the tech would return. I could get lucky. Jim and Derek were weaponless and wearing nothing but the cheap gray sweats the Pack bought in bulk. They would grow their weapons when they shifted. Raphael held two knives; one that looked like a tiny samurai sword but straight and one that had a slight leaf shape.

We all stood in a row, relaxed and ready. The two heavies of the Killers leaned forward and the archer began drawing her bow, her feet wide apart, the left side of her body facing her target; Raphael. She raised the yumi above her head and lowered it slowly, drawing as it came down, until the straight line of the arrow crossed just under her cheekbone. I had to admit, she had great form.

A silver spark ignited at the tip of the arrow and ran down the shaft, flaring into white lightning. All very impressive and I was so happy she showed us what she could do.

I just waited with my crossbow loaded and pointed down at my side. I didn't feel like showing them what I could do and I already had my target pinned. The gong would come soon enough and they'd find out.

The gong struck, the archer fired. I snapped my crossbow up and fired while I looked for my next target, my hands automatically reloading the crossbow. Raphael side-stepped the arrow and cut it in two with one of his knifes.

As I was taking my bead on the ogre, the feathers of my bolt bloomed between the redheaded archers eyes and she toppled. The man beside her fell back as if swooning but never hit the ground. He'd be a worry soon, I thought as I fired on the ogre, sending three bolts into his chest and then landing one on his forehead; all of which just seemed to piss him off.

While I was playing ogre pincushion, Jim and Derek took down the lion dog and were just turning to help me deal with the ogre when the swooning man became the big problem.

Magic streamed out of him in strands that knotted together. Light flashed and a creature spilled forth. Ten feet tall, it resembled a human crouching on frog legs. It squatted in the sand, leaning on abnormally long forelimbs, and I could just see the magic ribbons binding its back and legs to the sleeping mage. Its hide shimmered with a metallic sheen, as it the creature were spun from silver wool.

The Arena fell silent.

We backed up. Just to test the waters, I reloaded and sent a bolt into the creature's maw. It vanished and emerged from the aberration's back. The ogre thing danced behind it, stomping the sand.

Then the creature reared slightly, its sallow chest expanded, and it belched a glittering, silvery cloud.

Fine metal needles rained into the sand. One grazed Jim and he snarled. Silver. Oh boy.

We retreated farther and the creature started, slowly and ponderously, chasing us. As we ran, I crouched low to see if I had a visual on the sleeper below the creature but it wasn't much. I needed a clear shot. Running closer to Jim, I called out, "Get me up higher. I can shot him."

Jim nodded and called Derek over, telling him to keep the creature distracted. Then Raphael fell back and joined Jim and we all hit the brakes long enough for them to crouch, grab my legs and then throw me high into the air. I pulled up the crossbow, aimed where I knew the sleeping mage was, waiting until he was revealed beyond the slope of his creation's back, and fired.

Bull's eye!

[OOC: While I am familiar enough with mythology to know Andrea and crew are facing an Oni and a Komainu, Andrea is not and so wouldn't use those words. Likewise, she doesn't know knives and so wouldn't know the same of Raphael's "samurai" knife is a tanto.]

Re: A few hours later...

[masterofgunfu]

"Did you see that?" I exclaimed to Kate when we were through the gates and into the hallway back to our rooms. It had felt so good to be part of a team and doing something!

"That was a hell of a shot," Kate confirmed with a smile.

"Into the infirmary," Doolittle ordered briskly. "Quickly, before the silver sets in."

I made it another five feet before the room tilted and the world faded to a tunnel. Oh yeah, I had been thrown through a cloud of magic, silver needles. I could feel my body seizing up as it tried to fight the silver. Keep it together, don't shift, I thought. I knew the only reason Curran didn't force the issues of my being an unaligned shape shifter in his territory is that the majority of the Pack didn't know about me. He could deny it; unless I shifted in front of these witnesses.

"It burns," I heard myself cry out and it did. It felt like fire and an electric jolt at the same time. I could also feel the familiar ache in my bones as my body tried to shift. I held on by sheer will but I was loosing the battle!

"Silver poisoning," I heard Doolittle snap as I felt someone, Raphael, pick me up and race down the hall. We really needed to stop meeting like this. "Bring her in."

"Hold on," Raphael said reaching for my leather vest. He had me on a table now but the door was still open. I could still be seen.

"No," I said through the pain and trembling.

"Don't be ridiculous," he snapped.

I clamped his hand. "No!"

"Now young lady…" Doolittle said, trying to sooth me. Why didn't they understand?

"No!" I cried out again as my back arched and I convulsed, little yelps of pain escaping my throat.

"We need privacy!" Kate said. My dearest, best friend got it. I had been so right when I chose her as a friend. "Please."

"Let's go," I heard Curran say, quickly followed by doors closing.

"It's all right," Kate continued. "Just me, the doctor, and Raphael. They are gone."

"I want him to go," I gasped. I wasn't ready for Raphael to see me change again.

"You're convulsing. I can't hold you still because you're too strong, and the doctor will be too busy."

"Cut her clothes," Doolittle ordered.

"No. No, no…" I cried, tears running down my face now. I could feel the change forcing itself on me. Knew my shame would be there for them to see.

Raphael pulled me to him, my back against his chest and his arms around me. "It's all right," he whispered. "It's all right. It will be fine."

I forced my eyes open at the sounds of Kate cutting my clothes. Ugly spots of gray peppered my torso, spots that were not the marking of a hyena. Spots where silver was killing the Lyc-V and thus me. Tremors caught me again and I yelled in pain.

"Don't fight the change, Doolittle said softly. "Let it take you."

"I can't."

"Of course you can," Kate told me.

"No!" I snarled through clenched teeth, too damn stubborn for my own good.

"You aren't going to die because you're too embarrassed by your hyena freckles," Raphael said lightly. "I've already seen you in your natural form and Doolittle doesn't care. He's seen it before. Right, Doctor?"

"Oh, the stories I could tell," Dolittle replied with a chuckle. "This is nothing. A minor thing. We'll have you up and running in no time."

"And Raphael thinks you're sexy in your true form. He's a pervert, remember? Come on, Andrea. You can do it."

"Change, sweetheart. You can do it. Just let the body take over."

"Change, Andrea," Kate said again. "You still owe me lunch, you know."

"No, I don't," I ground out as I tried to push past the pain and shift. If it would get them to stop goading me, so much the better.

"Yes, you do. You and Raphael ran out on me and I had to pick up the tab. If you die on me, it will be hard to collect and I'm too cheap to get stuck with the bill. Let's go."

My head jerked back, slamming into Raphael's chest and I cried out as I finally pushed the change; muscle stretching and tearing as bone grew into new lengths and shapes. Exhausted I lay there for a moment and panted. The silver still burned, reminding me this wasn't over.

Doolittle probed my abdomen with the fingers of his left hand, a scalpel in his right. "Now when I cut, you push. Nice and easy, just like you trained."

"Trained?" I choked past the pain, my voice deeper than usual but the words clear. Many shape shifters had trouble speaking in their other forms, not me thanks to my beast kin heritage.

"The silver-extraction training."

"I haven't trained!" I replied, panic creeping in. Was all this for nothing? Was I going to die in the shape I hated?

"She doesn't know how," Kate told Doolittle and Doolittle, much to his credit, didn't give a pause but nodded.

"The silver burns. Your flesh tries to shrink from it and it burrows deeper and deeper into your body. You much fight it. It goes against all your instincts, but when I cut, you must strain and push against it to force it out of your body."

"I can't," I said gasping. I was very good at ignoring my secret self's instincts but this? And while it felt like I had phosphorus rounds embedded in my stomach?

"You can," Raphael told me. "Everyone learns how to do it. Children are trained to do it. You're a knight of the Order. You can push a fucking needle out of your body. Stop crying and feeling sorry for yourself."

"I hate you," I snarled and looked to Doolittle.

"Ready?" he said and sliced without waiting for my answer. Black blood gushed from the wound. I screamed and tried my best not to break Kate's hand as I screamed and strained against the silver. I could feel it moving, inching out, and then Doolittle swiped it away with gauze.

"Good girl. Very good. Now we do it again."

It was going to be a long afternoon.