Yue

 11th January

17:31 GMT +2

I extend a construct barrier across the seating area and scan for targets. Glass patters harmlessly off it as… No, not seeing anything. No projectile, no body-. Ring, calculate point of impact and extrapolate-.

A thin bolt of fire leaps at me from inside the barrier, briefly illuminating-. Something, not sure what it was. I generate construct armour, but the fire flows through that, and through my-.

I take a step back as the worst of it is turned aside by my body armour, drawing my sidearm and pointing it at the apparent source of the fire. There's a bang as the slug fires, and the fire cuts out. Construct bypass. Marvellous.

I switch to power armour, rising off the floor slightly as I do so. Slowly-. Ah, I'm accelerating my mind. Zatanna has only just grabbed the Staff of Love and is hopefully working on a dispel for the invisibility. The one I shot still hasn't reappeared, which suggests that it isn't a cast on self spell. And the iron round actually hit, which means this isn't a ghost.

Another burst of fire, this one aimed at Ms Vadim. She throws herself aside as I fly through the air, hitting… Something, my kinetic barrier definitely triggered-.

There's a pulse of violet light through the room and I get a look at who I hit as they slam into a bookcase. Looks like… A really skinny midget someone stuck a crocodile head on. Nothing I remember from any of Clarice's bestiaries, though 'vulnerable to iron' and 'disguised with magic' do suggest some sort of fae creature. Not carrying any iron chains, constructs don't work…

I grab its right arm and take a magic suppression binding out of subspace, clamping it in place in a way which I hope will bind the creature. Didn't really design them with skinny midgets in mind. It turns its head my way and exhales at my helmet. Nothing visible, nothing on scans or armour sensors. The fire blasts were visible, whatever that was-. Irrelevant. I generate a taser construct and strike the creature in the chest, causing it to shudder and go limp.

Swivelling around, I watch as another one of the creatures spits a cone of fire at Zatanna, only for the fire to turn in mid-air and fly back at its source. The creature takes the hit unflinchingly, then exhales-.

Inspector Gherea shoots it with his own gun, causing it to wince and fall back slightly. Ms Vadim has grabbed a sword from somewhere and is using it to strike at another. Civilians in danger, effective permission from relevant civil authorities received. I generate a small railgun construct, load iron rounds and shoot the left leg of the one fighting Ms Vadim. It falls, the leg hanging on only by the thickness of its skin, and she takes advantage of the opportunity to stab it through the right eye.

Another leaps at her from somewhere, and I traverse the railgun and shoot it in the chest. It tumbles, the force of the impact slamming it into the floor and causing it to slide to the far wall as she pulls her sword free and assumes a guard position. It seems that unlike John, she actually knows how to fight. Another bang as Inspector Gherea fires again, but this time his target is moving too erratically for him to hit. Zatanna swings her staff and bashes one of the creatures over the head, then points the staff's head at another and fires off a slightly arrow-shaped pulse of energy. The creature ducks behind Ms Vadim's desk but the energy bolt punches straight through and pins it to the wall next to the broken window.

I check for further attackers. Not seeing anything. Though since they can become invisible… I fly directly for the broken window, filaments grabbing the broken shards of glass, forcing them back into place and making the window whole again. Behind me, Zatanna is already putting out the fires which the creatures caused as I check the balcony and the streets beyond. Nothing obviously relevant going on. Not that I'd necessarily see the reinforcements if there were.

"Anyone hurt?"

Zatanna shakes her head, a wave of her staff causing glowing violet circles to appear around the wrists and ankles of our assailants. They then float through the air to be lined against the empty wall to my right, probably dripping blood all the way. I'll have to clean the place up before we go.

"What the fuck was that?"

Inspector Gherea appears reasonably calm, considering the situation, but his gun is still in hand and he's-.

I turn around to face him.

"Inspector, you're injured."

"What?" He checks himself over, not daring move his eyes from his immediate surroundings for longer than he absolutely has to, and does a small double take when he sees the damp slashes in his right sleeve. "Ah, shit. Must have.. been the glass."

"Please remove your jacket."

I float closer as he reluctantly returns his weapon to its holster and undoes his buttons. As he takes it off the jacket sticks slightly to his wound, causing the sleeve to turn inside out. The red is a lot more evident against the white of his shirt.

Ring, scan?

A few embedded slivers of glass, no significant nerve damage and no damaged arteries. Good. Construct filaments remove the glass as I deploy my armour's purple healing ray, the beam playing over the site of the injury. He looks a little uncertain, and uses his left hand to pull open the largest tear to get a better look.

"Huh. Useful."

"Ms Vadim-?"

Zatanna shakes her head as Ms Vadim grabs a book off the floor by the ruined book case and lays it on her desk, flicking through it with her left hand while keeping hold of her sword with her right. I scan her, but she doesn't appear to be injured.

"I've seen creatures like that before. They were in here…"

Best leave her to it. I drift over to our prisoners-.

"Inspector, what protections does Romanian law offer non-humans?"

He withdraws the fingers probing his wound and looks at me-. Well, my armoured shoulder. "Depends. In theory, the same as everyone else, but… Quaestors and judges understand that it is not always practical." He moves his eyes to the creatures. "Are they alive?"

Direct scans aren't working and the aura Zatanna has put around them isn't precise enough for me to make a full assessment… The one who was stabbed through the eye clearly isn't breathing, and its muscles are totally relaxed. Dead. The rest…

Zatanna leans against the armour of my left arm. "What should I do with them?"

"Can you completely nullify-?"

She raises her staff in her left hand, beams of violet light striking the closest creature in the head, peeling back the invisibility magic from that area. Ah, I was wrong. Its head is shaped more like that of a bird, with the beak being a bizarre reptilian continuation of its face. Sharp, predatory teeth, recessed eyes, pointed ears… The skin is pale brown where it isn't… Scaled? There are spines projecting from the forearms and the scales are thick enough to form natural armour across the shoulders and back. The wound-. This is the one I shot in the stomach, and the round penetrated its intestines. I create a construct clamp and pull my projectile free before playing the purple healing ray over the wound.

"Ugh, my.. floor!"

Ms Vadim looks around the room as Zatanna continues to nullify invisibility spells. Each time the creature is fully revealed, its blood trail swiftly follows. Ring, track which belongs to each one.

Compliance.

"Ms Vadim, have you been able to identify these creatures? Are they intelligent?"

I watch as she gives up on the carpet and puts her sword down on her desk before walking over to me, book in both hands. "Yes, though I'm surprised that they exist. This was copied from a sketch made in the eleventh century."

Inspector Gherea walks over and we all look at the image. It's clearly simplified and the degree of menace is visibly greater, but it's the same creature.

"What is it?"

Ms Vadim frowns thoughtfully. "It is supposed to be a gnome." What? "But gnomes do not look like this, and they are petty thieves at worst."

The Inspector nods. "I need to call this in. Please try to keep them alive."

I nod inside my armour and turn to the next, the one I shot first.

"Certainly."