13794/One little, two little, three.. cranky little bastages

One little, two little, three.. cranky little bastages
Date of Scene:	07 September 2021
Location:	Centennial Park, Southside, New Troy
Synopsis:	Vampires are the catch of the day.. Faith, Hannibal, and Sarah learn a little more about each other.
Cast of Characters:	Sarah Connor, Hannibal King, Faith Lehane

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Sarah Connor has posed:
Midnight. Perhaps a little bit later..

After her shift, Sarah was talking a loop around the park. In Central Park there were actually hiking trails to use! In order to stretch though she used the fitness trails. Sure she wouldn't have company? Not after midnight!

Sarah made certain she had her 'extra' equipment on - of course. She needed the extra weights to keep her body at maximum. Between ankle and wrist weights, and, of course the pistol at her back, she felt minimally able to tackle a 5k run.

*stretch*

Hannibal King has posed:
There was a long and pronounced yawn coming from the gentleman splayed on the park bench. He had his left arm on the rest, and his right was along the back of the bench. He wore a mix of tactical gear and regular clothes. His boots were sturdy, but civilian grade. His pants had plenty of pockets, a few straps for holsters tied to his legs. Although the sandy colored trench coat covered the left holster, the right one was on display. Also, with his arm that way, the holster under his arm was visible, although in the darkness, the black holster wasn't too obvious, especially as he wore a black bullet proof vest under the trench coat.

Most vampires kept late hours, but Hannibal King wasn't like most vampires. He kept to a normal routine. But he had heard that some vampires had been preying on people in the park, so he was on a bit of a stakeout, no pun intended. Next to him on the bench was a brown paper bag with the Burger King logo, and a white cup, also with the graphics.

Faith Lehane has posed:
Unlike a certain slayer with a very large stick in an opening where one should not be, Faith tended to move around a lot. She didn't stay camped at the Hellmouth. Or any of them, since there was more than one. After all, there were bad things all over. Which is what brought her to New York City. She was following after the trail of a nest of vampires. Not that she had their exact location yet. But since she was here? Might as well do some hunting.

She was walking down a path in the park. She was wearing a pair of jeans, a jean jacket over a dark red tank top. Her dark hair was down loose as she preferred.

Someone like Sarah or Hannibal might be able to pick up she had something in the jacket, by the way the material was weighted in certain areas, but it didn't hang like a gun. Yet she had something in there.

Then her senses went off, picking up there was something in the area that was not-human. That's really the only way to put it. She was already keeping an eye out but that was putting her on higher alert because she knew something was here. Which is when she spotted Sarah. And the man on the bench. The latter was a familiar face. "Last time you lost your meal that way," she commented to Hannibal but her eyes went to Sarah again. The question was if Sarah was the monster...

"Lady, it ain't safe out here at night. You should probably go home, try your jog in the morning when there are more people around."

Sarah Connor has posed:
"Oh, for Jesus Christ's sakes!"

Sarah may have said it just a little too loud for the company. But then again knowing the usual company, perhaps not.

"I prefer it dark. Thanks, but no thanks." Sarah already looked at Faith. Smart mouth. Probably made people think she was all that. But she held herself just so. And the man.. Holy crap. Didn't know leaving his arsenal for anyone to see was asking for it - for the wrong types of people: the cops.

"No, I'll be okay." If she could take down a Terminator, anything else was easy.

Hannibal King has posed:
Hannibal King was a licensed private investigator. He had licenses for all of his guns, and they were in the system, even his custom ones. He had endured his fair share of problems with the cops, and knew someone who could hack into databases. His Sun Dogs were officially called SML TME in the weapons registry, an inside joke making it sound like Smile Time.

Seeing Faith and Sarah, he knew them both, or at least had met them both. He got up, taking his food and his drink, which he drank through a straw. Afterwards, he played with his lips, "eww, I hate paper straws with a vengeance. But not enough to team up with Samuel L. Jackson. You couldn't pay me enough to guard that man's body. Or his wife. There's not enough gold in Fort Knox for that." Tossing the straw into his bag, and the lid, he drank directly from the cup, "mm, sugar watery goodness." Sensing that they may not know each other, "Faith, this is Sarah. Sarah, this is Faith."

Faith Lehane has posed:
"Your funeral." Faith just shrugged it off. If people wanted to get themselves killed, she couldn't stop them. Course, she had no idea what this woman was capable of. She still wasn't sure if she was the monster cause she was sensing one. And Hannibal had helped her kill vampires so she assumed he wasn't the monster.

Yeah. Assumed.

Glancing back to Hannibal then to then woman, her surprise showed on her face. Then a look back to Sarah. "Nice to meetcha."

Sarah Connor has posed:
So she had a name.

"Let me guess, your parents were religious?" That or Faith was a nickname. Either/or.. "I suppose you know this man.. and for god's sakes" To Hannibal - for it was Hannibal - "Why are you sitting here with everything out in the open?"

Okay, when she had business, she really didn't care about licenses or keeping everything hidden away. But him?! He was giving everyone a bad name!

"Let me guess, there is something around here?" She quirked a brow, and looked between the two of them.

Hannibal King has posed:
Once he had stood up, all the weapons had disappeared from view, as they were covered by his trench coat. The bullet proof vest could still be made out, but it was black, and a dark night, so from a distance, it would appear to just be a black shirt. He looked to his food, "I thought I'd get a bit of exercise while I eat my junk food." He took another swig of the sugary goodness. "I heard that there were some bad people doing bad things to good people here at night. So I thought I'd check it out. You know, see the sights, catch a Broadway show, see a public mugging, the usual things you do in New York."

Faith Lehane has posed:
"They hoped I would be. Didn't stick," Faith replies. "They'd be rolling over in their graves if they'd named me Chastity though," she adds with a laugh, glancing around a moment then focusing on the pair she was conversing with.

Sarah's question made it obvious she knew more about the world than the normal person. Which maybe was how Hannibal knew her. "You a hunter or something?" she asked the other woman.

Then she glanced to Hannibal. "There's something around. Not sure what. I was suspecting Sarah here. You something extra? Not human?"

Sarah Connor has posed:
Sarah had to laugh a bit. She could almost see him doing exactly what he said. "Don't think that your trench coat is a deal breaker, unless you're a teenager full of angst."

"Ha. I take it, you aren't." Sarah had no doubt Faith did the 'knocking her boots' with anyone she chose to. Perhaps either sex. But Faith's question has her asking one of one own, "Hunters? I don't think so, unless you have a nickname for my type you want to share?" Hunters really sounded as if she was more after the terminators instead of laying low for the most part, and raising her son to become the salvation of the world.

God lord, it sounds worse when she thinks about it against the girl's name.

Hannibal King has posed:
Hannibal had decided to take a bite into his burger right as Faith made her chastity joke, and he nearly choked on his food from laughing. He coughed a bit, bending over, looking like he was going to heave, but he drank some more of his sugar water, "I think some of that went down the wrong tube." He coughed some more. And when Faith asked him if he was something extra, he replied, "well, my mother always said I was her special little boy, and I believe her. You're not telling me she was lying, are you?" And he took another bite, hoping no one would make another good joke as he chewed. After chewing and swallowing, he said, "there's all manner of beasties out there, some natural, some supernatural, and a few artificial. It's not good form to ask. Deal with them, and then figure it out from the body. It's only polite."

Faith Lehane has posed:
"So you aren't a hunter since you don't know what one is." She glanced over as Hannibal was choking, waiting untl he recovered. When he did, she tilted her head to the side at his response to her query.

"Actually I was asking either of you. Cause I can sort of sense things that aren't human usually. And my sense is going off and nothing else seems to be around right now other than you two. So one of you may be a monster. Which hey, I don't care as long as you're on my side."

She looks at Sarah again, obviously trying to figure out by visual alone if she was the suspect in her Faith Tingles going off. They weren't tingles. And they weren't pleasant. But it was a warning system, sixth sense sort of thing so there was that.

"Hunters are people that professionally go after monsters. Like humans who do it. For whatever reason. Not profit cause they don't get paid."

Sarah Connor has posed:
Hannibal's answers made her frown. After all there was 'unnatural' like terminators - easy peasy, but when he brought up the questionable ones..

Faith put it more simply: monsters. And sure probably didn't mean the kinds who controlled conglomerates. "Ah. I only hunt.. wait.. I am setting off your .. whatever it is. Good grief, get your thing fixed." Grumble. "Hah, they don't sound too far off taking no payment for it. It's not like people really believe things are so bad they beg you to save them. Of course they don't get money."

Hannibal King has posed:
Hannibal rambled on, "You know, I've thought about that. Asking people I save for money. Trench coats don't grow on trees. But I could never get past the idea that I'd be a heel to ask. That's why I turned to private detective work. They come to me with a problem, boyfriend cheating, girlfriend cheating, being stalked by a shapeshifter, demon, or paperboy with six months unpaid newspapers. I mean, who buys newspapers anymore?"

Faith Lehane has posed:
That drew Faith's attention to Hannibal and then she shook her head. It was too much to try to process at once and she had the feeling her brain broke in the middle somewhere. Or his did? Maybe that was more like it.

"You just follow random thoughts to their conclusion, huh?"

She glanced back over to Sarah. "Either you're something or," she motions to Hannibal. "Or you're something. Or there is something in the bushes watching us that we can't see."

Sarah Connor has posed:
"Ugh." Sarah had quite the same feeling that Faith had about Hannibal - except she didn't believe him. She was quite certain than while he joked his way through all encounters, he was watching everybody else and learning.

She turns to Faith.

"Trust me, if you were on to me, you'd be dead. No, I'm plain old human."

Hannibal King has posed:
Putting his hands up, showing off his palms, "You got me, I'm secretly a super soldier created by the government to battle the forces of darkness, waging a one man war, although if I'm waging a one man war, wouldn't I have support? On second thought, it's probably someone or something in the bushes." And then to Sarah specifically, "hey now, even if Faith is, will be, or was onto you, she shouldn't be dead. She's a hero. Hero's only die in the epic conclusion of a multi-film arc, or any episode written by Joss Whedon."

Faith Lehane has posed:
"I wouldn't go that far," Faith said, giving Hannibal a frown as she shrugged. "I just don't whine about the cards I've been dealt. Unlike some other people." She's speaking specifically of her counterpart of course. The 'real' Slayer. Or the good one. Not that Faith was bad but she tended to do what she wanted instead of following the rules.

She did like Sarah's confidence that she'd be able to take her. Faith figured she was wrong, because of course she didn't know with Sarah could do. And especially if she was actually a human. With Sarah not knowing Faith was Human Plus, it would be a nice confident belief.

"Well hopefully they'll jump out soon. I'm getting antsy."

Sarah Connor has posed:
"Nah, you'd have webs. The questions is would the be like Shelob's, or Spiderman's." Wait a minute.. no, he's too cranky to be Spiderman. ..Right? She laughs for a minute and the Joss Whedon joke. "Don't like him, do you, I presume?"

"Wait, you didn't say that.. what are you, anyways?"

Now Sarah is curious. And wonders if he's not edging on the truth.. and she should be afraid.

(Like she never wasn't afraid of anyone as far as trust goes. *rolls eyes*)

As for her.. she only has the confidence to go on (plus a goodly amount of on the job training, ahem). If she falters, her son is lost. So, she can't, it's as simple as that. But she doesn't know Faith. She has now met magic, and damn, she's grateful that terminators aren't magic users.

Hannibal King has posed:
"A handful," is what Hannibal says without a moment's hesitation when asked what he is, before he adds, "okay, okay, I'm a private detective from Milwaukee, and I moonlight as a hunter, vampires, demons, people who that Sean Connery isn't the best James Bond, you know, the real evil in this world." It was tough having something of two human lie detectors around, but Hannibal King's gift for gab could cover anything. His conversation is so laced with snark, sarcasm, and wit, that it's always hard to discern what he's being serious about, and what are the jokes.

Faith Lehane has posed:
"Private detective who hunts things on the side. Sounds like a Hunter. Sort of. And I'm a Hunter. Sort of. So that leaves Sarah as the odd man out but anyone who is okay jogging in parks at midnight in New York City? I figure you probably can handle yourself too. Throwing in that threat you made about if you were a monster."

Faith can't help chuckling a little as she reached into the pocket of her jacket to pull out a pack of cigarettes. Box, not soft pack. They sometimes would survive through the night. She pulled one out then a lighter to bring it to life as she puffed in air through it. A moment later she exhaled a plume of smoke and tucked the lighter away in the pocket along with the pack. She at least had the decency to be downwind a bit apart from the duo.

"Anyone that doesn't think Connery is the best does deserve to be hunted," she had to agree. "Say what people want but he was the O.G. even if the movies didn't age well for modern times. Who cares. It's an old movie. Take a pill and get over yourselves." Not them but in general.

Sarah Connor has posed:
"Me?" Sarah had to think. "First of all, in order: Evelyn Salt, Jason Bourne, and if I had to pick a Bond, it wouldn't be Connery. Try Daniel Craig. Sorry. I stand by my decision."

As for what she is..

"Let's just say I'm jaded. I figure there's a lot going under the pretty little life that most people want to believe in. I don't. Call them monsters, or pretend humans?" Oh, so close. "Call them what you will,"

Hannibal King has posed:
"Odd woman out," Hannibal King corrects Faith, although his tone of voice suggests he was mocking the woke people online who care about such things. He doesn't ask for a cigarette, nor is one offered, but the smell doesn't bother him. He's a habitual smoker, currently trying to cut back, but it's always a losing battle. It feels good, and most of the negative side effects aren't applicable to him.

He frowned at Sarah when she said Daniel Craig is the best bond. "You'd have to be," jaded that is, "if you think Craig can hold a candle to Connery. Although her thing about pretend humans, "well, that's the trick, isn't it. The monsters don't usually dress all in black, with horrible faces, long, boney fingers, or think of themselves as evil. Nine times out of ten, it's the factory worker who thinks he can sell some stuff stolen from work on the side, or cheats on his wife, or his taxes, or is hiding a secret murder from a decade ago that the cops never figured out."

Faith Lehane has posed:
That earns Hannibal another look. "I don't hunt humans. That's for the cops. Or you, to earn a paycheck from taking dirty pictures of cheating spouses. I just hunt monsters."

She does nod to the words from Sarah. "Some are pretend humans. Try to live their lives like everyone else. But most are just monsters." She has no idea what Sarah is actually referring to! "Preying on humans like we're crablegs on the Chinese buffet for six ninety-nine."

Sarah Connor has posed:
Sure. She did trust people to listen to her .. once. Where did it get her? In a mental hospital. An extremely high security mental hospital. Now after breaking out, she had that on her record, plus the FBI was out to get her.

There were quite a number of things she didn't feel comfy about spilling her soul to relative strangers. Let them earn them. Or when the topic became important.

Right now? It wasn't important enough.

"Good thing. I'd have to beat on you." She winks. "By the way, those cigarettes are going to kill you."

Hannibal King has posed:
"Oh no, I take the dirty pictures of cheating spouses for free. Sometimes. Depends on how good it is," Hannibal King joked. "Why, what have you heard?" With his vampiric senses, King could smell that both women were, or at least have been smokers. He decided not to rat Sarah out, but he did give her a look.

Getting a bit more serious, "I joke a lot, but nitty gritty time. It's not just the spouses that go bump in the night. There are real monsters out there, vampires are real, demons are real, supervillains are real, and that's without thinking about things like Gods, Ultron, and whatever comes from the stars."

Faith Lehane has posed:
"What he said," Faith says as she takes another drag off the cigarette. She holds the smoke in her lungs a long moment before exhaling. "The only good thing is there are some things that are made to fight those monsters. Created to stand up to the things going bump in the night and making them stop disturbing everyone's sleep." She grins, unapologetic. "I'm one of those, by the by."

She doesn't elaborate but she does flick ash off her cigarette before addressing what Sarah said. "Cigarettes won't kill me. My life span is maybe ten years? If I'm lucky. So I'm going to enjoy everything until that day and I'm taking some of the fuckers with me when I go."

Sarah Connor has posed:
Sarah did listen to each of them. They actually seemed like the sort of people she may have gotten along with way, way back. Well, that's not true. Way, way back she was a different person. She went to school. Worked. Went off with her friends on Friday night. Not the kind of person who rubbed elbows with people like Hanninal and Faith.

Okay, she used to smoke. But she had given it up in order to make certain of being alive to keep John alive as long as possible.. Ok every now and then she snuck a puff or two. It was the only thing she had left of her former days. So sue her.

Nowadays? She doesn't trust anyone. Yet sometimes she reluctantly worked alongside .. acquaintances.

"Not my funeral." She shrugs at Faith. To Hannibal, she laughs a little bit, but not in a kind way. "I know. I just don't know exactly if you are joking."

Terminators she was familiar with. The others? Not so much.

Hannibal King has posed:
"And I was made in USA. It says so right inside my... wait, that's too much information." Hannibal King joked again. At least they hoped he was joking. Because that would be a terrible idea for a tattoo.

Eying Faith, he said, "hey, cheer up, just because there's never been a Slayer who lived to see great grandchildren doesn't mean you won't be the first. I have..." he was going to say Faith, but instead paused, then immediately moved on with an, "anyway little miss walking armory, I'm pretty sure that you're not entirely a stranger to this world. I think I'm carrying more, but it'd be close."

Between his senses and experience, he knew that Sarah Connor was packing a number of weapons, both guns and blades. Most were very well hidden, but he could smell them as well. Being a vampire detective was a huge boon. He should talk about it with Angel, who stole his shtick.

Faith Lehane has posed:
When Hannibal dropped the S-word, Faith shook her head a little then glanced over to Sarah again. The Slayer was out to the bag now. It was enough to say she was the thing made to fight monsters but now the name of that thing was out there. Not that she cared. Course, not that Sarah had a clue what a Slayer was technically.

"You got a stake? Or a machete? Cause if this is who I think it is, you'll need them," Faith said in Sarah's direction.

And that is when they heard the twig break in the bushes nearby. In a moment, things were going to get ugly.

Sarah Connor has posed:
"Got a six inch blade, but I don't think that's what you mean."

Sarah didn't really know what a Slayer meant. For all she knew, it was slayer with a little 's'. Probably a gang? Like the ones south of the border. Really she didn't care unless she was working for the terminators (very unlikely), or some gang that she had reason to be against - also unlikely.

So far, Faith, and Hannibal, did not seem to be a problem. ie they didn't make her nervous the way FBI did.

"Why.." She knew the way Faith, and Hannibal,, perked up this was not normal. But not to take out the guns? That wasn't normal. "What is it? And how do I protect myself while giving you help?"

Hannibal King has posed:
Faith didn't strike Hannibal as the overly sentimental or cautious type. Plus, the other one made no attempt to hide her origin, in fact, often getting quite upset when a force of darkness did not know her by name. To Sarah, Slayer could be just another term for hunter. But above all, Hannibal King didn't care.

Having no... to give was wonderfully liberating. And at that thought, he could hear Thomas Benjamin Wild Esq. singing 'I've No More... to Give. Sadly, before he could hum or tap his foot to it, Faith had pointed out the broken twig. "Thanks for reminding me. I've still got to see that movie. Danny Trejo, Robert DeNiro, Jessica Alba, Don Johnson, Michelle Rodriguez, Cheech Marin, Jeff Fahey... even Steven Segal and Lindsay Lohan can't bring that cast down."

"It's not the size of the blade," he was ready to pull out a gun, bullets, or sun dog, stakes, or bladed weapons, depending on what he was going to face, "but how you use it."

Then in an honest answer, "that depends on what we're dealing with. If it's vampire, a stake through the heart, decapitation, fire, or exposure to sunlight will do the trick. If it's a French Poodle, they also work, but then you'd be the monster."

Faith Lehane has posed:
Faith started to open her mouth when Hannibal gave the explanation. At the poodle comment, she blinked at him a moment then shook her head. She reached into her jacket, pulling out a wooden stake and tossing it in the direction of Sarah lightly, so the other woman would be armed with something more helpful.

"If it's a vampire, bullets might knock it back or slow it down a bit but they won't kill it. Stake to the heart. Decapitation." Thus why she asked about a machete. A six inch blade was doable but messy. "They are super strong compared to humans. Fast. They can drain you in short order so don't let them bite you. You won't die if it happens and it can be stopped fast enough but that's tricky in a fight so try not to get bit."

And that's when the figure stepped out of the bushes. The man was dressed in what could only be a bad 70s acid flashback. Bell bottom pants, a tie died t-shirt. Platform shoes. His hair was longer and shaggy, more like the styles of that era as well. "Heard you were looking for us, Slayer. Here we are." And with that, more vampires began to appear from the bushes and foliage around them. There were at least seven of them. Maybe more not visible.

"Thanks for saving me the work," Faith said with a smile. "Y'know, I thought B was kidding about that fashion thing but you are proving her theory."

Sarah Connor has posed:
"Gee thanks." Sarah said drolly and reached out with one hand and took the wooden stake.

One of two things were happening here. One. Faith, and possibly Hannibal, were playing a joke on her. Easy enough to see them trying to do it. She wasn't going to fall for that, by that way. Or.. two. Whatever these two purported to be (vampire slayers, to be exact) it probably would be best to let them do their thing.

Now, Terminators were fast (not as fast as vampires!), and most definitely strong. Sarah was probably in better shape than the average person. "Next time I'll remember to pack my machete with me." She said it with such a straight face she could have been serious.. could she?

There were 8 of them. And two and a half of them. Apparently even odds.

Hannibal King has posed:
Hannibal was going to lend Sarah one of his Sun Dogs, but Faith offered the stake first, and it would be impolite. Plus, she might as well learn the classic way. With their quarry appearing to be vampires only, he drew two Sun Dogs, and sensing a look of confusion from Sarah given that Faith had just said that bullets will only piss off an delay a vampire, he added, "Magic Bullets, like the one that killed JFK. But not the one that killed JFK, because that would be way before my time." Yeah, he was a little awkward there, but with his jokes, that may have just been one that didn't land, instead of his momentary hesitation at actually having been alive and an adult during JFK's assassination. He just wasn't in Dallas at the time.

Eight against three, or two and a half if Sarah preferred, seemed to be even odds. So Hannibal shot two of them at far range, his 'bullets' flying through the air, imbedding themselves in the vampire chests, or clothing, and exploding in a bright light show, almost as if a flash bang had exploded in their pocket. "Six on two... six on two... you know girls, I think I'm going to sit this one out." Yeah, this wasn't even remotely even odds. Both Hannibal and Faith could easily take them in a clearing like this, as long as they could keep them all from dog piling, and Sarah seemed like she'd take to this well based on her bearing, presence, and apparent experience.

Hannibal King then mimed kissing the smoke from his sun dogs, "ranged attacks against melee fighters. Gotta love it."

Faith Lehane has posed:
"He has great toys." That's all Faith is able to get out before the vampires react to the sudden loss of two of their number. Sarah may be seeing her first dusting. The bright light from the Sun Dog round going into the vampire, it seeming to go up in flames immediately then a fine coating of dust falling to the ground or getting carried away in the wind as though nothing was ever there. No clothing, nothing left behind.

Immediately, the Slayer was moving as soon as the vampires began to drive forward toward the trio. She had her hands busy with two of them at once, their leader trying to flank her.

Two went toward Sarah, their faces contorting into a demonic face with a heavy brow, fangs and yellow eyes. They growled and moved in for the kill.

And despite Hannibal's show of force, he would not be left alone as two went his direction, using their speed to try to close the distance before he would have a chance to shoot them.

Sarah Connor has posed:
*That* did get a rise from Sarah. "What the fuck? Six on two. You're joking, right?" Despite her protests she still began to hunker down and make plans as to who would be first under her. "Are you certain these aren't humans?"

Because she had yet to kill a human, and she would like to keep it that way as long as possible.

"Damn, to heck with 'they don't work'. A second's time /is/ a second's time." And maybe she'll come up with a plan, even if it was only to drag out her blade and use it.

And that's all she had time for before everything went to hell in a handbasket, so to speak. She caught a glimpse of the first one's dusting.

"Holy." Wouldn't it be so neat if the terminators just cleaned up after themselves like that? But nooooo she had to burn them instead.

The two rushing at her were not being gentle in the least. At least they answered her question about them being human. Now she had nothing holding her back anymore. And despite the uselessness of her guns she took out the biggest of them, which had a kick to it and used it on the furthest one, preparing to stake the first. At least with terminators she was used to cutting, etc, them.

It shouldn't be so different to obliterate these.

Hannibal King has posed:
"No, Batman has great toys; I just have three AP science high school students tied up in my basement so they can apply science to the supernatural. I bet Batman has at least three college students tied up in his basement. They're probably from MIT too."

Hannibal fully intended to let Faith and Sarah sort out the rest, with Faith helping to teach Sarah how to dust them, but two decided that he would not be allowed to sit on the sideline. They began to close the distance, and the funny thing about quickly closing the distance against a guy with a gun. No matter how fast they were, bullets were faster. At least before you start getting into the speed force and stuff like that.

He fired two more rounds, nailing one, but the other missed. He was a good shot. But he was also trying to keep an eye on Sarah, so he was a little distracted. When the first one came at him, he was knocked onto his back, arms going to his guns to try and point them away from the attacker. They fought, struggling, and Hannibal fired off a round. The vampire on top said, "you missed," and Hannibal said, "I wasn't aiming for you... this time."

The other sun dog round hit one of Sarah's attackers in the back, and in the distraction, Hannibal was able to gain an advantage, kicking the other one off of him. Hannibal rose to his feet and killed the last one, close range to the chest. It was almost too close for him. Thankfully, the light of the sun dogs wasn't enough to incinerate another vampire unless they were actually grappling. And even then, it was iffy. They were designed that way. It'd suck if he shot someone and killed himself in the blast.

Looking to Sarah, "you okay, kid?" She probably hadn't been called kid recently, and Faith was younger than her, but she was less experienced in dealing with vampires.

Faith Lehane has posed:
Faith was a flurry of motion. Blocks, kicks, punches. Working on keeping her three attackers at bay for now. She managed to get one lined up and a moment later, a stake was in her hand and slammed into the chest of the vampire. He exploded in a burst of ash and was gone. Not as flashy as a Sun Dog. Just as effective. Took a bit of effort to get the stake in but even someone like Willow could do it. Some sort of vulnerability to the wood perhaps that made the ribcage useless in that one particular form of attack.

"Most of the stereotypical tropes work." *BOOM* She turned her head to see what that was only to see one of the vampires after Sarah exploding in a burst of light and dust, thanks to a Sun Dog round.

Leaving Sarah with one opponent. Faith took a punch to the face and had to get back to focusing on her own fight.

The entity Sarah was fighting was strong and fast, but the woman was well used to fighting things like that. He wasn't a strong fighter. More swings and punches instead of practiced technique. Allowing for Sarah to easily block his strikes, to begin getting him into a position where she could drive that stake home.

Sarah Connor has posed:
"Me?" Sarah had just enough time to get out of the space, and whirl around with a stake at chest height and put it in vampire 'one' chest. "With 1 being a yawn fest, and 10 being normal.. probably a 9."

She might be joking? Probably a ten. Which is to say, normal, but deadly. Very deadly.

Sarah made her mark, and for just one moment she, and the vampire locked eyes. It opened his mouth but the only thing he got out was a noise of confusion before going up in dust. "Who are you calling kid, anyway, huh?"

Quickly she looked around. Only Faith had any left. And it was the leader of the pack. Of course.

Hannibal King has posed:
It was easy to think that stabbing a vampire through the heart was difficult. And with a blunted blade, it would be. But people have been inserting sharpened objects for millennia. If it's sharp enough, and reasonably durable, it'll go in, no matter how strong someone is. The real issue was the ribcage. You had to aim it properly. A sharpened stake would rip through flesh like a hot knife through butter, but it wasn't going through bone.

And really, clothing was the real issue. So few vampires thought to wear body armor like Hannibal King did. Even when he didn't wear a tactical vest over his shirt, he would usually wear some kind of better protection over his heart when he went out. Even a zipped up leather jacket would make it much harder for someone to stake him.

"Would you prefer rookie, sport, or newbie?" He asked Sarah, watching and ready to step in and help Faith, but he was reasonably certain that another Slayer wasn't going to be called tonight. She had this.

Faith Lehane has posed:
It was a pretty quick fight, to be honest. All of them knew what they were doing. All of them were deadly, in their own right.

Soon it was left to Faith and the leader of the vampires. He wasn't that old, as vampires went. Less than 100 years old. But he was a good fighter. Had a few tricks in his book.

Thousands of years of Slayer instincts had more.

Soon she had him in a head lock, positioned behind him. "See this is the part where I tell you I'm going to let you live. Tell you to go warn all your friends that I'm in town and I'm coming for them."

Then she smiled, that wild feral look that made her seem a little--perhaps not quite as sane as she might've seemed normally. "I hate those movies."

She drove the stake into him and he had a moment to look at her in shocked surprise before he turned to dust. Faith wiped off her clothing a little and tucked the stake back into her jacket, an inside pocket designed for it.

She looked to Sarah and Hannibal. "You both good?"

Sarah Connor has posed:
Faith was.. unbelievable. Like really unbelievable. Sarah was a damn fine fighter without powers - and she was. Even ask John. There was no one like it when it came to taking out terminators. No one.

Faith was better.

"Other than being called 'kid' I'm okay. Probably they weren't thinking of me as a threat." Sarah kicked the dust with her boot and muttered, "Damn it must be great to have them clean up after themselves." Louder then, "You?"

Hannibal King has posed:
Hannibal quoted a schlock movie from the 1980s, "Good, bad, I'm the one with the gun," even doing his best to sound like the actor in it. Given their ages, it was very likely that they had not seen the movie in question, so it was just a weird line, Hannibal being Hannibal.

"Would you have preferred ma'am?" He added for Sarah, a term she probably disliked, but who knows, maybe she liked it. Then added more seriously, "looks are always deceiving."

Faith Lehane has posed:
"It is a lot easier than burying them. A lot of demons don't self-destruct. You have to drag the carcass around and dig a hole somewhere. It's exhausting."

Sarah probably will get it since she has to do the same with Terminators. Faith glanced at her more curiously now. "You seem to have been in a fight or three in your time. Good at handling yourself. I'm impressed."

Which was saying a lot as Faith was not normally impressed. By anyone. She did grin a bit. "I think the kid was cause you were the new vampire killer here. You popped your cherry. I'm sure he'll come up with a cool name for you later or something."

Sarah Connor has posed:
For Sarah, movies normally go right over her head. She really has had no time to sit around and relax.

"Oh." Sarah didn't laugh about the name. She did say, "I guess. Geez, it's been awhile since I've popped my cherry. Hell, it's been a long time since I have done anything with my cherry."

Now she smiles a little bit. "I've been around for a while. Thanks. And you too. You're much better in overall fighting, I can't say that I have been practicing on vampires." So she doesn't kill humans, but she doesn't normally kill monsters. But she most certainly kills something.

What though?

Hannibal King has posed:
"Depends on where you kill them. If it's a nice secluded spot, you can use thermite on them. Just got to be careful you prep things first, otherwise you might set the neighborhood on fire.

Hannibal didn't say anything about the cherry, verbally... but he was saying quite a bit with his body language. It probably was better left unsaid. Instead, he moved on to the elephant in the room. "So, you're new to killing vampires, I'm guessing you're new to killing demons too, and I'm assuming that you aren't a sociopath who kills humans, so... ex-special forces, or is there something we're missing here?"

Then as a final effort to coax the truth, he added, "come on, we just popped your cherry together. I think the time for secrets is long gone."

Faith Lehane has posed:
"Wait, Special Forces do kill humans. Although they probably aren't all sociopaths." Faith hedged on the side of verbal caution there. Cause just numerically? Some of them probably were.

"To let you know, most of the old tropes work on vampires. Holy water, crosses, sunlight. Garlic only some of them. Others order extra on their linguini."

How she would know that? Don't ask. Faith continues. "I have a cheat code sort of built in. Chosen One. Long line. Only one is chosen a generation blah blah. Although that's a lie too but not getting into that now."

Then she looked curiously at Sarah, wondering if they might get some info or if the other woman will shut down.

Sarah Connor has posed:
What was she? Really, what was she, and was she going to tell them a little? A lot? Or nothing?

"Thermite, yes." That much, Sarah feels comfortable with disclosure. "I've been hunting.." Hunted by. Same difference when you got down to it. After 18 years, she may as well call it hunting. "..a particular being that has been trying to obliterate me." And John. Most definitely John. "I've picked up a few things along the way."

Now she waited for the guffaws.

Hannibal King has posed:
Hannibal King, for once, was succinct and to the point. There was no wit or comedic timing in his voice or actions. He simply said, "how can we help?"

Faith Lehane has posed:
"Wow. You got him speechless. Now I like you even more," Faith said, looking at Hannibal in surprise. Then back over to Sarah.

"But he's right. You helped us out here. And we both hunt bad things. What are you being hunted by? Any idea? Know what hurts it? I have a team that can do research into all sorts of supernatural shit I can call out. Including him." She hooks a thumb at Hannibal.

Sarah Connor has posed:
Sarah looked at Hannibal. And then she looked at Faith.

Although she shook her head no, it would seem to be at herself because she lowers her voice and begins. "Terminators. From the future. They are looking to wipe the humans off the planet. And the only thing keeping them from accomplishing it is me."

Well, John. But they would have to get around Sarah first.

"They look like humans. Have mimicry. Can be anyone. But I would say compared to your vampires? There's not very much difference between them as fighting goes." She laughs bitterly. "Except they don't drink your blood, and as far as I can deduce, they're not allergic to garlic."

"I know. I'm making this up."

*shrugs*

After all she did spend some 'quality time' in an insane asylum.

Hannibal King has posed:
The look Hannibal gave Faith spoke volumes. We were going to have words, but now wasn't the time. Her story, it didn't sound too credible. A simple hack of the various government databases would discern that she was in a mental hospital, not that they call it that officially, and yet, they dealt with vampires, demons, and there were people like Martian Manhunter, Iron Man, and others out there.

"Terminators aren't exactly the most descriptive of monikers. So they kill things. So they look like humans, but what are they? Aliens? Robots? Mole Men? You're not giving us much to go on."

Faith Lehane has posed:
"Can be anyone?" That part caught Faith's attention. Mimicry and changing form? "SO they're shapeshifters? I mean I know there have been robots trying to destroy the people before. Ultron was one of them. Read about that somewhere."

She looked at Sarah a bit more closely. It would be easy to dismiss her as a nut job. But it would be easy to dismiss the idea of vampire hunters and Slayers too. Vampires, demons, monsters. So was this any more far fetched other than it time traveled?

Sarah Connor has posed:
Sarah just shakes her head. "You're crazy, you know that right?" And she might be able to say that, after all, she was an ex-client of an insane asylum.

"Look. Whether you believe, or not.. and I must say, I'm not supposed to believe in vampires, and here we are, post dusting them off.. they're true. They're from the future. And I wouldn't say they're shifters. Well, not the usual sorts. Not D&D kind of shifter. But they take on the form of someone here to slip in the crowds. They're aural facilities are.."

Again she shakes her head.

"Forget it. It sounds hokey to me, and I'm living it."

Hannibal King has posed:
Hannibal King was more confused by that explanation than he was before it. He pointed to Faith with his thumb, "hey, she's crazy. I'm perfectly rational. I just want to know what's hunting you, or you're hunting it, or them. If you don't want to tell us, that's fine. But keeping us in the dark will do nothing but make it harder for us to help. So why not tell us? What's the worst thing that could happen here?"

Faith Lehane has posed:
"Here, let me help you out on this a bit," Faith says as she gives Hannibal a brief glance and a nod.

"How the fuck does this go now. 'Into each generation a slayer is born: one girl in all the world, a chosen one. She alone will wield the strength and skill to fight the vampires, demons, and the forces of darkness; to stop the spread of evil and the swell of their numbers. She is the Slayer." Somehow she manages to convey the big S instead of little s on the last word.

"Now, whoever made this plan didn't really think it through obviously cause one girl against a world of monsters is a bit crazy. But when one dies, the next Slayer becomes. Gaining the skills and memories of the past ones, but not like in a way I remember it consciously. It's just there. And I'm not the only one. So that's bullshit too. Cause there are two of us cause the rules get kind of gray in the middle with modern things like CPR and stuff."

She shrugs. "So if you worry you're going to sound crazy, I'm the one that thinks I'm the Chosen One. Or One of Two. Whatever."

Sarah Connor has posed:
What was the worst thing she could experience from this? Besides going back to the insane asylum, she could be rearrested. And that wasn't the worst. The terminators could be lurking around any bush, waiting..

Of course when Faith lays her story out, Sarah began to feel better. Sort of.

"All right. In the future, and not by much now, the world will be overthrown by robots. During that time they discovered that the rebellion - that's us - will be headed by me. So, they are returning to my time to try and wipe me out."

Okay, she fibbed a little. They were trying to get her until her son was born. John was why they originally tried to obliterate Sarah. Now? She has made them go through her to get to him.

"They are robotic, covered in flesh to fit in. But they're faster, stronger, have a computer chip with more than our computers today. Fortunately I know little bits that gives them away. But I'm afraid they will eventually come up with the next version."

"Better?"

Hannibal King has posed:
"It sounds better when coming from a British accent," Hannibal helpfully contributed after Faith did so well to remember the spiel that her watcher had given to her. "Ah, so that explains it," he added after hearing that CPR was the reason there were now two Slayers. He had been curious about that.

Hannibal didn't show any outward sign of disbelief after hearing Sarah's tale. The fact that she claimed to be the leader of the human resistance raised some red flags. But he knew better than to spook someone. Especially someone well armed. "Well, you're basically describing the Matrix, so I'm not sure I'd call that better, but at least it's out? assuming of course that's all of it?"

Faith Lehane has posed:
"They always said in the movies the computers would turn on us."

So for Faith, this doesn't seem all that far fetched. Throwing in some of the stuff she'd seen, it wasn't crazy at all. Perhaps Sarah had met some of the few people on the planet who wouldn't take it as nut talk.

"So how do you kill them? I gave you pointers on vampires so fair's fair. And how do you recognize them?"

Seemed she was ready to hunt some monsters.

Sarah Connor has posed:
"Pretty much. Only they want humans to be killed, except a few doing manual labor. And even that has a finite amount of time."

But she had to think about the rest.

"They're easy to kill if you go about it the right way. Shoot 'em it the head. Then you have at most 2 minutes to remove their central processing unit before they are back. They are self healing to a point. And if you don't burn them the other one's have, well, a homing system - kinda, and will use those parts as extras."

Or worse.

Sarah shrugged. "As for how I know them? After 18 years I have learned to pinpoint them. Uhm.. They are not as fluid a speaker as we are. Meaning they can't think on the fly. Some are completely focused on the task at hand, and will shut down when their mission is complete, waiting for the next one. And when they see me, eventually the rest of humanity ceases to exist, and becomes collateral."

Hannibal King has posed:
Hannibal was taking her at face value, but what she was saying did sound far fetched, even by supernatural standards. He made his living as a private investigator, and he couldn't help but think that Sarah was holding something back. The question was what. "So, someone who's socially awkward, autistic, could be mistaken for one of these things?" He was trying to get a bead on how to identify one.

Faith Lehane has posed:
"So we probably wouldn't be able to spot them as easy. And being machines, they wouldn't set off my senses I'm guessing. Since they aren't your typical monsters and whoever the ancient people are that set up the Slayer giig wouldn't have accounted for them." Like CPR.

Faith brushed her hair back from her face, more trying to process this than anything else. "I believe you. Just not sure how best I can help you. You said this thing has been after you for years. I take it there is more than one of them, since you seem to know how to kill them so figure you have."

Sarah Connor has posed:
"If someone was autistic and could be stronger, faster. Sure why not."

Oh god, he just gave Cameron's details to a T.

"Like I said, they aren't looking for you. Either you would be ignored, or you would be collateral damage. I told you, it's.. Listen, you don't have to believe me. I'm not asking you to join the resistance. Really I'm not Hannibal."

As for Faith.. "Right. And they have infrared sensors. And output through the onboard computers. More than I've got." She laughs a tad bitterly. "The original Terminators were easier to take out. But as we have beaten them back, believing that we had won, they came back stronger than before. "

Hannibal King has posed:
Hannibal King's senses might be able to detect them. It really depends on things like how quiet is the machinery under the skin, do all the orifices, mouth, nose, eyes, ears, belly button, genitals, and butt, mask any scent of the metal underneath. But he wasn't sure. He had been fooled before by other beings.

Stroking his chin, he idly mentioned, "hey, just because I have devilish good looks like the great Benicio del Toro, this isn't the Last Jedi. I don't have a problem joining," a glance to Faith, "or being a friend of the family. I'm just trying to make sense of this, what can I do to help, how would I even know one of these things if it was standing in front of me."

Faith Lehane has posed:
"So this is less a single hunt and more they keep sending them. Well,if you ever need the assist, I'd be glad to try to take one on. Do my duty of adding new stuff to the database that is Slayerhood." Faith snorts a bit as she says it, realizing how silly that sounds. But it would be new experiences for a future Slayer to draw on as needed.

"I'll give you my number. You can reach out to me if you ever need help. Don't have a lot of resources or anything, but I'll do what I can."

Sarah Connor has posed:
She looks between them, and eventually nods.

"If you see one, you'll know. Or begin to suss out the difference now that you have a clue. As for cell phones, give me your number verbally, not by paper. Too easy to use it for blackmail and such."

(She was mostly afraid of the 'and such'.)

"For them you will need a gun. Preferably bigger. More oomph." Then she gives them her number - a burner phone to be careful (still). "If you do happen to find one, don't attack. Let me know first. Oh. One more thing, don't ever start a conversation with 'hello'. Always give the date first. ALWAYS."

Hannibal King has posed:
Hannibal King pulled out a mobile phone. It had a pink case with Hello Kitty on it. And was that glitter? This had to be a burner phone. It'd be too frightening for it to be his personal one. But he would give his number, and add the burner phone number Sarah just gave him, "all right, added you as 'Kid', to avoid suspicion. Of course, I do hope I don't get run over by a speeding car. That'd be awkward when the paramedics contacted you thinking you were my next of kin."

It was his way of diffusing that date thing, but he was smart enough to figure out that was an identification thing. If she was dealing with shapeshifting robots from the future, they could probably recreate voices. He also added Faith's number in, "and I added you as Cheerleader," because it was the farthest thing he could think of. She probably wouldn't be caught dead in a uniform, and would kill him for even thinking it. If only she knew.

Faith Lehane has posed:
If only he knew indeed. But it was an easy $200 so she wasn't going to complain. They hadn't even wanted anything weird. Just her to wear it while they sat around and drank. Although the bet she lost? She still owed Xander for that.

"Think you should put that for the other one. She's the perky cheerleader type." Which might give Sarah a little info about the other one, or at least Faith's thoughts toward her.

She gave her number, which was also actually a burner phone cause she couldn't really afford something more on a hustle for money lifestyle. She did glance over at Hannibal.

"Not that I want you to get hit by a car but that would be hilarious."