Starring:
Guest Starring:
Summary: A gang of heroes prevent an event that could have been quite ugly. Seth curses a woman and child with skin over the eyes, and Jack leaves a message for the Griffith Park alpha.
Date It Happened: January 31st 2002
Targets
Los Feliz
The sun has sunk below the horizon, leaving the western horizon aglow with faint purple and gold and blue that slowly ebbs away. The last quarter moon is faintly visible behind sparse clouds in the high-arching January sky. It's cold for a California night, but nothing more than a light-jacket chill. Snowbirds would find it refreshing. The neighborhood of Los Feliz is alive with activity as the daytime strollers scurry home and the nighttime prowlers leak out into the streets. Griffith Park is just finishing closing up for the night, but there are plenty of clubs and bars and restaurants to take in the spillover crowds.
One such night time prowler is Angel, the black Plymouth GTX parked a few blocks away to facilitate transport to his chosen lurking area. He moves through the busy, milling crowds of people with the practiced walk of someone quite used to avoiding humanity in plain sight.
Dajan isn't so much a prowler, per se. She's scoping out the clubs and bars because it'll be handy to know where to take the boss when the boss gets a mood to go party again. Plus, always fun to let people know she's a blogger scoping out the place. Best way to ensure good service. She spots a likely venue, and heads toward it.
Not to far from Angel is Lilith, though she hasn't seen her recent acquaintance yet. Her hair is in a high ponytail and she wears a tight red tank top and black jeans along with a pair of black boots. Her eyes scan the street as she walks, just getting out of work!
MatthewSnow birds may enjoy the weather, but there is something to be said for being just a little warmer. Working his way towards the side of one of the buildings, he manages to squeeze in a couple quick, but futile, "Hey man, can ya spare a buck?"s before he hones in on a laundry exhaust vent. Not the freshest air in the world, but its warm. It also does a good job of warming up his own, not quite so fresh smell, several days since his last bath, and for noses keen enough to pick it up, blood, and not his.
The warlock walking (limping) the streets is certainly not the finest example of a human being that society has to offer. Seth has just finished with some business in the area and is therefore in what one might term a 'good mood', though the person he's left behind is not really in the best of ways - that tends to be the case when you suddenly find your eyeballs sealed over by your own skin. As he walks the man reflects to himself on the nature of a woman scorned and how much a particular scorned woman is going to be paying for the retribution dealt out to her adulterous husband. He stops at a street corner to readjust his grip on his cane and promptly gets distracted by a pair of legs. About two seconds later, Lilith will find herself whistled at. It's a talent Seth has.
One of the members of humanity emerging from one such bar is Dr. Elizabeta Montagne. In a perfectly clear state of mind after only having half a drink with a colleague, the redheaded woman walks down one of Los Feliz's streets — the opposite side from people like Angel and Lilith — and to fend off the chill, zips up a trim-fitting leather jacket, designer and undoubtedly expensive.
Not far away from Doctor Montagne walks Janice Bryce with her toddler Britney pushed ahead of her in a stroller. Janice walks with a pronounced limp and, like Matthew, smells of blood — though her blood is more recent. Her daughter also has a whiff of blood about her and has her little arm in a sling. She's dozing off peacefully after having had dinner with her mother in one of the local restaurants, and now the pair are heading home. Janice is momentarily distracted by something in her purse, but she does not stop walking, which puts her in danger of running right into Bette.
Right up against the side of the building by which Matthew warms himself is a man hunched over and wrapped heavily in blankets and rags. He doesn't look up, but he speaks in a heavy Cockney accent to the other man: "You smell nice, pup." From beneath the fabric, a glinting grin is briefly visible.
Matthew turns his head down to the voice and grin, a bit of a confused look briefly on his face before he pushes a rather fake smile on instead. "Uhm… yeah, thanks. You, um, too." the kid answers, as he rubs his hands together. "Don't you know where someone could get a bite around here, would 'ya?" The second question is hesitant, and with a laugh. Not sounding as if he expects an affirmative answer.
Even when surrounded by all sorts of people with all sorts of perfumes, colognes and body odours, the smell of fresh blood cuts through like its right under his nose. Once upon a time, Angel might have gone looking for a meal and, indeed, there is still a part of him that encourages that reaction. But a sensible head takes over and he moves to cross the road towards the source of the scent, concerned about the possibility of someone with a supernaturally-induced injury? Maybe. It never hurts to check.
While not gifted with the preternatural nose of an undead, she is on the other hand gifted with other senses that let her know of the recently injured. Curious, and concerned, she has a look around, blinking into the crowd. She spots the mother and child, and a familiarity clicks in her head. Something the boss said.
"Excuse me?" Lilith calls out with a hand on her hip as she looks around to see who whistled at her. Her dark eyes narrow as she searches, as she searches the pyro spots Angel and begins to walk towards him.
The warlock must be losing his touch. Normally he can at least get a woman to cross the street to get away from him, but apparently things just don't work that way these days. Seth can't hide the faint expression of disappointment on his face, but soon he's once again got his attention directed somewhere else: crippled children are always entertaining, especially when their guardians look like they're on a collision course.
Bette shakes the delicate gold chain links of her watch further down her wrist in order to catch a glance of the time, but she's not so distracted that she doesn't see the mother and daughter on a collision course. She's a perceptive one, that Bette. She steps to one side, flashing a smile at Janice. "Pardon me," she says politely as she makes her way past, looking over her shoulder with a lingering smile, particularly at the little one with her arm in a sling. While the doctor is definitely more than passingly familiar with blood, she has no sneaky supernatural senses that trigger, and she keeps striding down the sidewalk without a second thought.
Janice recovers from almost running Bette down and immediately goes apologetic: "I'm so sorry. It's just— " She shrugs helplessly as she fumbles around in her purse again. Britney remains asleep, blissfully unaware. The child and mother's injuries are at least a week old, already half-healed. They might smell of something not quite right — not quite human. As she continues to smile and apologize over her shoulder to Bette, Janice stands to run into yet another innocent bystander — Seth.
The man in the rags rises to his feet, still grinning. "'Course, pup. There's plenty to eat 'round here." As he says it, the man stretches out an arm to lay it across Matthew's shoulders in a friendly manner, then glances over his shoulder toward the woman and child. "C'mon. You smell that, don't you?"
Matt doesn't quite accept the arm comfortably, but he doesn't exactly shrug it off, either. He takes a deep breath in at the question, and he smells lots of things! The other blood, of course, and the smells coming from the other restaurants. He's a little slow on the uptake, and goes along with it. "Oh Yeah," he answers with a more honest (and hungry) smile and a nod, and follows the ragged man's lead on this one for now. "Smells good."
A familiar voice. Angel turns his head slightly to look in Lilith's direction but the scent coming from the seemingly-normal folks draws his attention away. He keeps his distance, of course, as even without his game face on he can be pretty intimidating when he lurks too nearby. He continues to take in the scent, trying to make sense of it - not quite human isn't all that unusual in Los Angeles and not always dangerous but you never know.
It seems now it's his turn to almost run into Bette, apparently, but he too is wary enough of his environment to move in time. He's not quite polite enough to apologize, however, simply stepping to one side to let her pass while keeping an eye on Janice and Daughter.
"Geez, watch out, lady," Dajan calls toward Janice, moving to intercept the woman. "You seem to have your hands full," she says, solicitously. "Need a hand getting home with your little one?" While the intent is sincere, to help mother and child, Dajan wanted to get close enough to know if the vibe of half-healed wounds was coming from them. And it is. They match the description. Which means, they probably need protection. A champion she's not, but she's better than nothing. "How 'bout I help you and your little one get safely home, huh?" Where's a taxi when you need one?
Unlike Bette, Seth really isn't that good about moving out of the way. He has this assumption, you see, that everyone else will move out of his way no matter what. Even if they're not paying attention. So he gives the woman with the stroller not the slightest bit of attention after she fails to provide him with quality entertainment. It seems to be a night full of spoiled chances at fun, so he occupies himself with staring somewhat-mournfully at another pair of legs. This time they belong to Bette.
Bette's strides are long, purposeful — distance quickly gets between her and the woman and child. She doesn't stop when the imposing man in the coat moves past her, but she does turn to look over her shoulder afterward - her glance has nothing to do with supernatural suspicions, though. In glancing back, she catches sight of Seth and, with a vaguely arched eyebrow, eyes him before focusing on the important act of, you know, watching where she's going.
Dajan doesn't quite make it in time to stop Janice from accidentally bumping the stroller into Seth's leg — the gimp one, as fortune would have it. That's what he gets for being a lech. She quickly jerks back and starts making with the apologies again: "Oh my god, I'm so, so sorry." To Dajan, she shakes her head a little. "No, no, it's okay, we're fine. Really." Britney stirs a little at the jostling, but otherwise remains asleep.
The man in rags steers Matthew right toward the woman and child, glancing at Dajan as she makes her intervention. This does not seem to faze him as his eyes dart to Angel, then Bette, who is walking toward the pair. "Smells bloody delicious," he rumbles to the boy next to him before his grin takes on an even more devilish gleam. He slips his arm off Matthew's shoulders and suddenly leaps into Bette's path, reaching out to snag her by the throat and bodily hurl her against the wall. The other hand withdraws a carving knife from the folds of his covering. "Hello, love. How's about a bit of something for me and my friend?"
When Lilith steps up alongside him, Angel takes a step off to the side and into a handy-dandy partially-shadowed alcove. He gestures for Lilith to follow him, nodding his head towards the mother and the stroller as he begins to speak in hushed tones.
"There's something not right about those two. I'm thinking - "
He doesn't have time to voice his theory, however, as raggedy man decides to grab Bette and brandish a knife at her. He springs into action, covering the ground between them at ancient vampire speed, and attempts to yank him away from her by the shoulders.
Alright… not what he was expecting. Matt's eyes flash bright, and panic sets in quickly. "Shi-" he begins to curse as he grabs for his own weapon from inside the back of his coat. It is the top half of a little league bat that's been snapped in two. He begins to run towards his 'friend' and Bette, but it isn't entirely obvious which one the bat is intended for.
"Okay, tell you what, you can argue with me later," Dajan says, urgently, to Janice as she spots the scary hobo man doing his thing with Bette. "You guys need to get home. Immediately." She glances up at the moon, and flinches. No help from the boss on this one. She begins pushing the woman back the other way, away from the suddenly commenced hostilities.
"Demons you thin-." Lilith doesn't finish her sentence as Angel springs into action and she follows as quickly as she can after him. She pushes some people out of the way as she makes her way over to give Angel some backup.
It takes a second for the pain to register, but when it does - Seth lets out a strangled yelp and drops his cane, which clatters to the ground, in favor of dropping both hands down to clutch at his bad leg. "/Christ/, woman! You're not going to be 'fine' for much longer." The man's ability to back up this threat is questionable, but there's suddenly a slight hint of tension on the air. To those in the know or with the appropriate experience it might be evident that something magical is starting to circle the area. Would Seth curse a mother and crippled child right in the middle of a populated street?
…You'd better believe it. The sudden bit of violence not too far away should provide an excellent distraction, and Angel seems to be involved to boot. Though the warlock might not know the vampire personally he knows him by reputation, and that reputation says that the following few moments are probably not going to be pretty. As Dajan starts to interfere the warlock straightens up and gestures towards the offending pair, muttering something in a guttural language under his breath. Poor Janice. Poor crippled kid. Only not really.
The redhead is just about to turn down onto another street when her high heels scrape on the sidewalk, her steps interrupted by being, oh, hurled against a wall. "Jesus Christ— " She's a ragdoll, in that moment, all her perception thrown for a loop. With a shriek, Bette's hands come up to meet the side of the building and stopping her from hitting her head. Quickly, she reels around, her widened eyes expressing a sharp mix of shock, fear, and fury.
Instinct says: run! What actually happens: she stumbles back against the wall, staring at what seems like five hundred things happening at once and trying to calculate all of them.
Janice doesn't know what all that muttering means, but she is a little off-put by Dajan's tugging. She takes a step back and frowns. "Look, we're fine, all ri— " She doesn't get to say much else, because just then her vision becomes obscured — by her own skin, which is creeping and growing up over her eyes. It's only now that Britney awakens because she seems to be suffering a similar fate. Screaming ensues, coupled by frantic flailing and backing away from Janice.
Angel doesn't get hold of the ragged man, for the ragged man has been keeping his ears open and senses alert. Just as the vampire is leaping forward to grab hold of his shoulder, the hobo whips around, bringing Bette with him. Bette is unceremoniously flung right into Angel's arms, and then the man is jetting down the sidewalk, barreling directly toward Janice and Britney. He's fast. He's uncannily fast.
"Holy—" Dajan gasps as the woman's skin begins growing to shut her eyes. It's an oath of reaction, rather than a call upon anything actually holy. She turns the woman and the baby around since they can't argue the point anymore. "You're not fine, you're in trouble." Trouble she may or may not be able to help with. And then she realizes the hobo man's on the way. "Oh…bloody hell," she murmurs, and yanks back on mother and child, hoping to pull them from harm's way so he'll pass them, rather than trying to get the now cursed pair to safety any other way.
When the ragged guy changes directions, so does Matt. Turning quickly on his heals (not the most graceful movement) he begins to chase after him, too. Or maybe with him? His bat begins to match his stride. His face has turned angry, his chest rumbles a little bit, and he definitely looks like he intends to hurt /someone./ He is fast, but not uncannily fast, and so isn't likely to reach the pair before the ragged man does.
Angel does his best to catch Bette when she's thrown towards him, too polite to let her get flung away while he takes off to catch the super hobo. He gives her a brief looking-over to make sure she's not in any sort of seriously injured state before he tries to set her on her feet and take off in the direction of the bad guy du jour.
It's a handy thing that Angel is uncannily fast as well.
"Shit." Lilith follows after Angel.. again. Her eyes are focused on Angel. Her hands pat her leg to make sure that her dagger is there and yep it is, just in case. The woman looks behind before she takes off after the baddie with Angel. Just.. not.. ya know uncannily fast..
Since no one seems to be paying him any mind - which is a good thing - Seth ignores all the action going on almost directly next to himself and stoops down unsteadily to pick up his cane by its middle, the metal handle lifting into the air first. If his luck holds out he'll be down the nearest alley before anyone even thinks to seek out the cause of the sudden horrific blindness that has stricken both of the helpless victims being herded off by Dajan, but as he rises again he takes a hard look at the bum who seems to be causing all the trouble. He's obviously not human. However, the warlock isn't willing to stick around and find out exactly /what/ he is.
What is one to do when they're thrown through the air by some freak with a carving knife? Scream like a girl, that's what. Not only is Angel accosted by the woman being used as a weapon, he's the lucky winner of a high-pitched shriek. It's short-lived, at least. Bette automatically tries to hold onto the hero-type in an attempt to regain some form of equilibrium until she's set back on her feet.
… in time to see the four of them — hobo guy, Matthew, Angel, Lilith — running away. Seriously? Did that just happen? Left to her own devices, in shock, jostled, and wondering how that much chaos was shoved into half a minute of her life, Bette cocks an elbow and holds out a hand in the air, staring down the street incredulously as if to say 'what the hell was that?'.
The hobo goes past Janice and Dajan, all right, but not empty-handed. As he hurtles down the sidewalk toward them, he launches himself into the air, snatches the toddler from her stroller, and hits the ground in a graceful roll. When he rights himself — bent in a crouch with one knee to the sidewalk — he's got the child clutched to his chest and the knife pressed against her throat. The blankets and rags have swept back from his head, revealing a thin face beneath an unruly mop of brown hair. His large brown eyes have a wild glimmer in them as they dart from one face to the other, and his grin is broad and unbalanced. "Easy, mates," he purrs in what is now a thick Australian accent. "Let's not get carried away."
Dajan swears as she gets the mother safely out of harm's way, but the kid is snatched. "Okay, buddy," she says, hands out from her sides. Why did I not bring the freaking dagger with me? Oh, yeah. I was vetting clubs for the boss. "Let's not. How 'bout you give the baby back…take me instead." Crazy? Yes. Reckless? You bet. But that innocent kid will die if harm comes to it. Dajan will just hurt awhile. Until she's rescued. Or escapes.
Matt also slows to a stop, the anger still plastered on his face as he eyes the now nabbed kid. His chest heaves in and out, his knuckles turn white as he squeezes the bat harder and harder, and the low rumble in his chest does not subside. Other than that? Not too social, I'm afraid.
"I wouldn't do that if I was you," Angel says to the hobo, expression grim and intimidating."
He clenches his fists at his sides, doing a number of things at once while apparently just standing there. He sniffs the air, trying to get a hint of what the hobo might be if not human. He also takes a furtive look about the area for a way to possibly put some swift, painless distance between the homeless cockney Australian man and the toddler.
As Lilith catches up with Angel and the bad man, she tilts her head and puts a hand on her hip. "Now I'm breathing heavy. You are in big trouble." She says to the man and looks to Angel. Ready to follow his lead. Her eyes are narrowed and she is indeed breathing heavily.
The sudden collection of scary people hastens Seth's retreat, the man limping around the more violent group while eyeballing Angel, the Werewolves, & Co. The victim of attack number one is still standing there like a moron and so he heads Bette's way - possibly drawn by his previous observation of her body. Which gets a B+. The warlock moves a little too quickly for his own comfort but he does so out of necessity, because shit is obviously Going Down in about two seconds. "Hey, lady. Maybe you want to stop gaping like a fish. This is assuming, of course, that you're still interested in continuing to lead your life as a living, breathing human."
Bette soon snaps out of her self-involved moment of trying to figure out what just happened to her — because, hey, did that guy just run off with a baby?! At first, she seems stuck to the spot at first, unable to will herself to move — once she springs into action, swept up by a notion of helping to save the day, she stops a second later, unsure what she's even planning. So she does the logical, responsible thing: she reaches into her purse, dangling down her arm at this point, swiftly fishes out her cell phone. Seth gets a cutting glance — wary, since everyone is violent and insane tonight here in Los Feliz. "I'm calling the police," she snaps matter-of-factly, in the midst of dialling 911. "Then I'm going to continue my life as a living, breathing human."
The man smells distinctly inhuman — in fact, his scent resembles that of the wounded Janice and Britney, though his is much, much more pronounced. It's recognizable as werewolf, to those who have the knowledge. The surrounding area is fairly empty, save for cars in the street and a distant throng of bystanders that have gathered to watch the events in stunned silence. Like Bette, a few have their phones out and are dialing. There are some doors in the buildings to the side that allow entrance into the businesses, but it's anyone's guess as to whether or not there are other exits in the establishments.
The offer from Dajan just earns her a grin. "Nah, you're too big to carry." Then the man's focus snaps back to Angel and Matthew and Lilith — and to a lesser extent, Bette and Seth down the way. "I could get you breathing heavier, sweet," he informs Lilith slyly, "but I don't have time." He starts to slowly ease himself up into a standing position and back away from the others, heading for a nearby corner. His eyes go to Matthew. "Hey, pup, what's this? Turning on one of your own? Really, now. We'll get a bite sometime, you and I." And with that, he disappears around the corner, child still in tow.
The mother, blinded, is still screaming for her baby. The baby is probably screaming too, because she's too little to know to be quiet in a situation like this. That's fine, though. The dude is now distracted, so she turns invisible and moves to sneak up on him in an attempt to yoink the baby free while — and damn, he slips around the corner. So time to give chase. Still invisibly. All the profuse swearing is in her head now, and she also slips into levitate mode so her footfalls don't give her away.
Now it's Matt's turn for some serious 'What the heck?!' Especially as the girl he thought was there a minute ago isn't. "Hey, I know bums should stick together, but this is taking things a bit too far…" he calls out weakly after the ragged dude, but not before he left them. He does his best to give chase, but he still doesn't have any super speed goin' for him, yet, so those odds for success aren't too high.
Angel gives Matthew a definite Look when he calls out, although it is only a momentary thing as the hobo is taking off with the toddler and there is rescuing that needs doing. He picks up speed as he runs towards the corner to hurtle around it, not slowing down to try and mask the fact that he's not exactly human. He gives no lead to follow; however, as the plan right now consists of chase bad man.
"Get real." Lilith growls and she almost pulls her dagger out in public but she bites the inside of her cheek and doesn't say a thing. Lilith then shrugs her shoulder and grabs her dagger and whips it out as she is now in pursuit. "Why does he keep running, can't he take a beating like a man?" she sighs as she chases. If only she could run super fast as well.
"Don't be ridiculous," Seth helpfully advises Bette, slowly drawing up even with her. Dialing 9-1-1 is for noobs, and the last thing /anyone/ involved wants is for the boys in blue to show up and spoil all the supernatural fun. To make himself a little bit clearer Seth lifts his cane and very suddenly strikes outward with it - hard - intending to knock the cell phone right out of the tattletale's hands. He might miss. He might also end up cracking her on the knuckles. Who knows! "You can continue breathing much more easily if you just run for your life."
… sdftgyhghvjhbj! "Ow!" Bette snaps her hand close to her person as her phone goes skittering, probably broken, over the pavement. She grasps her smarting knuckles with her opposite hand, glaring at the man with the cane with a look of offence and righteous indignation. "Are you insane?" she practically yells, eyebrows spiking up. "You know what, don't answer that. Of course you are. Everyone's insane tonight, brandishing knives and— baseball bats and— canes. Fine! This is me, running for my life." Cradling her hand, Bette whirls around to stomp away, confidant that the people across the street with phones are doing the civic duty she was interrupted in. Not feeling so confident about turning her back on Seth or the ongoing madness, however, she casts frequent glances — and spiteful glares — over her shoulder.
But upon rounding the corner, they will discover that the hobo is gone, likely disappeared around the other side of the building. The child's screams are still audible, however, and are not moving, indicating that the child is no longer mobile. They're muffled cries, though.
And so when Matt rounds the corner and doesn't see the mean super-hobo… he stops cold, and tosses his bat hard against the pavement bellow. It bounces, clatters, and cracks a little bit. "Great, so he can fly, too? Definitely just gonna doe eye a restaurant next time." he half jokes as he shakes his head. It is only after his adrenaline starts to die down that the not so gone baby hits his ears and stop his now exhausted panting.
Angel rounds the corner but then there is nobody there - that is vexing. He's lost track of the kidnapper werewolf and this causes him to frown quite … frownily. The joking from Matt just gets a subtly pissed look from Angel who apparently doesn't find the situation all that funny. He turns back around to move towards Lilith, doing the exposition thing.
"That was a werewolf - or at least he smelled like one."
"Damn furries." Lilith says aloud and places her dagger back in her boot sheath. "What do you want to do? Let him go?" Lilith looks to Matthew and raises an eyebrow before she shakes her head and continues to look and listen to what Angel has to say.
All Bette will get from Seth as she keeps giving him the Evil Eye is an ear to ear grin and a little wave of a hand, fingers waggling at their tips. She seems to be on her way. It's fine by him even though it means the B+ legs are leaving the area, since this is one hell of a weird scene to be at in the first place. The warlock doesn't bother to respond Re: His Sanity and instead turns his attention towards the group near the alley, trying to unsubtly eavesdrop. He neither retreats or advances from his current position, because this way he can also watch Bette go, if she is still going. All's fair.
The child's cries still remain in one spot, muffled. Maybe the hobo dropped her … ?
Alright, adrenaline rush is over… there is a smart thing to do. Run away, now. Unfortunately… baby. Matt gives the girl with the knife thing going on for her a quick shocked look and begins to try and hone in on the crying himself. "Werewolf, heh… yeah right." Matt tries to feign disbelief… poorly, and then says "Uhm, you two hear that, right?"
"You're not fooling anyone," Angel says to Matt when he makes with the 'What is werewolves?' thing, "Was he a friend of yours?"
He does indeed hear the muffled crying and he begins to gravitate towards it, looking around to try and spot the source as he goes, "He might still be around. If he is, he's gonna find out what being beaten to death with your own arm feels like."
"Oh! Oh! Can I cut his fingers off?" Lilith asks like a child, but is clearly teasing as she follows after Angel and looks back at Matt. The woman's hand goes again to her dagger and she prepares to light it up, her hand is out stretched in front of her.
The cries are coming from a dumpster behind the building. Shouldn't be too hard to find. Inside is the child, abandoned, with a piece of paper stuffed into her pocket. The crumpled note reads in spidery red:
deliver 2 grifith park
2 hanna
<3 jack
Out in the street, the sound of sirens can be heard.
The conversation being had by the Good Guys is very silly as far as Seth is concerned, and he starts wandering towards them - stopping along the way to pick up Bette's fallen cell phones - and then continuing onwards until he can peek his head around the corner. Why? So he can tell them so. He glances around at the group of White Knights with a perked brow, lifting his cane so he can gesture around the street with it. "Sorry to break up the party, ladies, but the people who put the crazy people into cells are coming. You might want to clear off or at least form some sort of believable alibi before they get here. Morons."
"Over here." Matt calls over to the pair when he thinks he knows where the baby it, but with vague threats to his well being in the air, and police nearby, he isn't exactly too keen to reach for it, and simply backs away. "No, don't even know who he is, just wanted something to eat." And then after a moment of thinking about what he said. "/NOT/ babies. Something to eat that /isn't/ babies." The sirens definitely have him nervous, as well as the advice the new guy has to get the heck out.
Angel gives Matt another long look before the shouting of the man with the cane makes a good point in a highly antisocial and insulting way. He glances towards Lilith as he approaches the toddler in the dumpster, reaching to retrieve her as well as the crumpled note which he reads and pockets. Time to get that back to the lab … if he had a lab. He's probably just going to put it on the desk at the Hotel and look concerned until somebody comes up with an explanation.
"You should get outta here," he says to Lilith upon hearing the sirens, "It's not gonna be easy to explain the sharp things you're carrying."
He makes no mention of what he plans to do in terms of a 'getaway' but he's good at the whole disappearing into the shadows thing. He gives the toddler a once over, noticing the whole 'skin for eyes thing' and reasoning that it probably isn't a matter for the police now. The whole situation screams supernatural.
"Awesome. Not only are you morons, you're baby-eating morons. Do they call you Dingo where you come from, kid?" Ever the voice of constructive criticism, Seth eyeballs Matt. He and Angel have something in common! For about two seconds. The warlock pockets Bette's phone safely away and smirks at the small group nearby, though he's soon watching the blind woman instead. Serves her right for hitting him with that damn stroller. "If you're going to sacrifice the child to some dark power, be sure to send me an invite. That sort of thing is always worth watching." The cripple is apparently willing to take his own advice as far as the imminent arrival of the police goes, and he tips his cap before shuffling off as hastily as he can manage.
The child continues to cry. The mother, meanwhile, has been blindly feeling her way toward the commotion. No longer out in the street, she is in the alley and making her way toward the sound of cries.
"What happened to her-" Matt, begins to exclaim as he looks at the flesh-eyed mother and kid. But as the sirens get louder and louder, he gets nervous-er and nervous-er. He has about two dozen questions he wants to ask, and exactly /zero/ time to ask them. "Listen, me going to jail is a /really really/ bad idea. They need help." Looking over his shoulder, he looks at the way out that doesn't involve heading into the streets towards the crowd that saw the fight and potential police.
Angel looks over to spot the approaching mother who appears to have the same 'skin over eyes' problem that the toddler has. His conclusion to all of this is bad magic and, of course, he's going to help. Treating Seth with a healthy dose of grim ignore, he brings the toddler towards her mother and attempts to try and sound comforting - no mean feat for him.
"She's here … I think you should both come with me, though."
Well, the Hotel is bound to be pretty safe when it comes to avoiding werewolf attacks. And Wesley might know something about 'skin over eyes' syndrome. Luckily, the Angelmobile is parked down the block and he knows the alleyways well.
