An Arm And A Leg (Ash City Alts)

Dzara Kendell stood still for several moments after Mr. Pinstripe faded from sight, her heart still racing from the confrontation. Time seemed stopped as she adjusted to still being alive. Slowly, common sense trickled back in and she replaced stillness with action.

She turned on her heels and quickly covered the few steps to Mr. Zanth’s side. After a brief glance to read the equally brief message written on the slip of paper, she tucked it into a pocket as she went. She took care not to upset the device in her left hand. Knowing there was no way she’d be able to budge him on her own, she reached out and grabbed hold of his robes with her right hand. She bit her bottom lip as she looked around the warehouse.

Dzara concentrated on the shadow of a crate on the other side of the room. It had worked in practice, but that had been years ago, before she had married Jacob. It had been a lark back then, a clever way to sneak past the Sisters for a late night snack.

The first hop was mildly disorienting, but proved that she could still do it and that she could take a person along with her. The second hop took her to the exit; the third, outside into the snow. By the seventh jump, she had the hang of it again and was about a block away from the warehouse.

She paused and looked back towards the warehouse that hid the underground laboratory. Then she glanced down at the device in her hand. She bit her bottom lip, thinking for a moment, weighing the odds of Mr. Pinstripe’s probable location. A cold wind blew a dusting of snow against the skirt of her dress. She hesitated a moment longer before making a decision.

’Mr. Pinstripe, I’m going to press the button in a minute. Get clear of the building.’

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Dzara uses Shadow Jump. [7/18]

Dzara uses Telepathy to communicate with Mr. Pinstripe.
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"Hurry before they find you," Pinstripe's soft baritone voice replied in her mind.

Sure enough, Dzara heard marching around a corner. The cogs were hot on her trail! But could she loose them in time?

Dzara press the button before dropping the device. She secured her grip on Mr. Zanth's robes. Then she started teleporting again, taking longer and longer jumps, covering blocks in blinks of an eye. She had no true direction except for away but was sure to divert from a straight line as she went. If they were going to follow her, she wasn't going to make it easy for them.

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Dzara uses Shadow Jump.
~Destination: as far away as possible.
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In the middle of the ensuing explosion, which reduced the Church laboratory to an insanely high mushroom cloud in mere moments, something stirred, freed at last from the cage in which it had been kept for far, far too long.

As its feral eyes opened, it knew only that it had to escape. Now was its chance! Running like mad, it found its way at last to the open air only to cross the path of, and knock right out from shadow-jumping, Mrs Kendell and the doll she carried.



The creature, which Dzara could now see from her unceremonious position on the ground, was lupine in design but stood upright like a man. In one arm, it carried a deadly, serrated sword.

As he looks back to the cloud dissipating, where he was once housed, he grins with an evil laughter. "Im finally freed from that hellish place."

"So this is what the world outside of the labs are supposed to look like, they seem nothing as to what the wastelands those damn scientists fed me rumors of, its more lively than what it was in there... and so many opportunities for ~gratitude~ towards the ones who imprisoned me there."

Looking down to the people below his feet, with somewhat of a grin, "And i guess your the ones to thank for the opening of my cage giving me freedom." Picking up the broken Doll, "Why run so far from here, it was a little tiresome to track you down all the way out here."

"We have to hurry," she said as she managed to get to her feet, deciding that any enemy of the scientists in the lab could at least be useful in the short term. Besides it would be better to get away then try to retrieve the broken doll. Why does nothing go as planned? "They're already following us. It would be faster to continue jumping away. We'd cover more ground."

She hesitates a heartbeat before extending her hand towards the monster.

Watching as she is extending her hand towards him, "So i guess your running away from something, and with this thing ~as he holds up the broken Doll~, i guess they are after this."

Reaching out his monstrous hand, he agrees to follow "Well i guess sooner or later ill finally be able to pay back those scientists in full for what they did to me." Grinning he picks up the Doll over his shoulder and follows the person into the shadows.

'This is just an excellent way to start the day, i was freed from the labs. Met the person who freed me and now i can start the road to revenge against the people who sent me to that unrelenting place of hellish torture.'

"While I understand," she said as she hurried to catch up with the quickly leaving werewolf, her short legs having to move three times to his single stride, "your desire to stretch your legs after being in a cage, we really do need to hurry."

With that said, she reached out with both hands, one hand fisting in Zanth's robes and the other gripping a bit of the werewolf's tunic. Then she began teleporting again, taking both with her.

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Dzara uses Shadow Jump.
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The three arrived in front of another warehouse at the address Pinstripe had provided. Clanking was heard inside the hangar-like structure along with humming in a small but lively voice.

As he watched the city blinking by in strides, 'What the hell is going on here... is this something that was done to me in the labs.'

Looking towards his backside he sees the girl that was responsible for freeing him had grabbed hold to the scruff on his back and was dashing into each shadow, 'So this is what they were telling me about in there... ive heard of people able to do things like this, but have never seen it done.'

Now knowing what was going on, as the city started to slow down and they were nearing what he would have expected as their destination, near the front of some unknown building to him, he looked back to the girl. "What is this area, and why are we stopping here? Is there something we need to do here?"

As the wolf's words broke the silence, a gnome with some techish looking goggles and a prosthetic arm came running out of the garage.



"Alright, what's all the racke--HOLY HERA!," he gaped at the wolf-man-thing in front of him!

"We're looking for a Mr. Sal," Dzara said moving around from behind the large werewolf, careful to keep one hand on Zanth's robes. "Mr. Pinstripe sent us."

"You found him," Sal spit off to the side, hitting a can with a clang, "So what seems to be the trouble?"

"I retrieved this doll. He needs to be repaired. Mr. Pinstripe made it seem as if you could help."

Looking the doll over for a moment, Sal slowly nodded, "Bring him in and I'll take a look."

Turning around, he walked inside.

Listening to the conversation about someone named Pinstripe, guessing he was a friend of theirs and so was this Sal person in-front of him was someone who could be trusted... for now. He hefts up the Doll over his shoulder ready to carry it in.

Looking over to the girl who he was with,
"So i guess we can trust this guy Sal, since your other friend Pinstripe sent us here, and Sal hasn't tried to attack us yet."


As he starts walking into the room with the doll over his shoulder looking for a place to set it down on, "By the way, i guess i didn't get your name earlier. The names Himura, Himura Shinari of the Dark Suns. I would like to know the name of the ones who set me free from the labs."

"My name is Dzara Kendell. The doll you are carrying," she paused turning over how to answer in her mind, "is called Zanth." She tensed slightly as if expecting a blow before relaxing just as quickly.

Hearing her name off the Doll as Zanth, he heard stories about this one in particular. About how he was able to manipulate other Dolls himself even with him being a Doll, which is somewhat an unexpected occurrence.

Setting him down on the table where Sal motioned to, he looked at the Doll. "Well i guess somehow he got the hell beat out of him, somewhat befitting to battle but still live... or in his case be in one piece or close to."

Looking Sal's way, "There's not much you would need to fear from me, except for the passerby scientists from the labs. Ive been knowing someday i would be able to escape from there, just a matter of time, and it came with the help of them even if by pure coincidence."

"Where did you say these scientists were from?," Sal was suddenly a bit wary.

"I retrieved Mr. Zanth from a laboratory earlier today with the help of Mr. Pinstripe," she said, being deliberately vague about the details. It was on a 'need to know' basis. Mr. Pinstripe may trust this Sal, but she still did not know him.

"For me, all ive ever know was from the time i was in the labs. Never knew much of a past nor had much for a future in there. Once the building fell and opened up the world before me, all i knew was i wanted to escape, but the scent of the person fleeing was the one that freed me with some explosive so i had to find where it lead to."

Looking back over to Dzara, "And when i found the source, it was you and this Doll here."

"As for the scientists, they were always wearing protective masks and clothing when they were around me, saying i was something contagious if i had attacked them. So not much i can give you there."


Giving off what would have looked like a grim smile from anyone's perspective as he remembered the day when he hit someone making them bleed watching the scientists scatter about and all of them ended up killing the one scientist on the spot.

Looking over the doll as it was laid out on a workbench for him, Sal wasted no time prying open the chest plate and going to work on the circuitry beneath, whistling as he saw the intricacy of the wiring, "They never built them like this to my knowledge. Whatever you've got here is state of the art. Someone will be looking for him."

"Yes, there will be those who seek him, but somehow I think Mr. Zanth would prefer they not find him." She inched around the werewolf, careful not touch him, but still keep an eye on him as well as one on Sal. She stopped when she reached the head of the table, resting one hand causally on Zanth's shoulder.

As if on cue to that statement, the shapes of large men passed by the tinted window, apparently headed for the door to the sounds of heavy trodding.



"You guys probably better go wait in the back then," Sal advised.

Taking advice from Sal, Himura looks towards the back and motions for Dzara to follow, being as quite as he somewhat could be with his voice.

"What about you doing that one thing you did earlier that made us go through the city, because i don't think there is enough time for us to get back there carrying Zanth without making a lot of noise. Your way made it quick and quiet."

As he motioned towards the back he picked up Zanth with one hand, and glanced to Dzara "We need to go."